Chapter 10

“This is the area of the distress signal,” Sunspot said as she looked over her console.

“Look, it’s Artifice!” Roadkill shouted as he pointed to a dot on the screen.

“Waitstate isn’t with him. What could have happened?” Sunspot asked.

Admiral Lilwall stepped down from his seat. “I dunno, but we’ll soon find out.”

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Artifice was lying yet again in the med bay, or rather, Xaraxus was.

“His wounds aren’t that bad” Lifeblood reported. “A few centimeters to the left however and he would’ve been dead, again.”

“Can he speak?” Admiral Lilwall asked.

“Yeah, and a lot more than that” Xaraxus said as he struggled to sit up.

Admiral Lilwall forced him to lie back down. “What happened? Where is Waitstate?”

Xaraxus shook his head. “We were attacked. Waitstate was pinned under a console- he told me to leave.” Xaraxus turned his head to the side. “He saved my life.”

Admiral Lilwall was not satisfied. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would Spectral Death just try and kill Waitstate rather than hold him captive?”

Xaraxus shook his head again. “The Doom Gaze is literally falling apart. It’s most likely they botched the abduction attempt. I wouldn’t count out a hostage situation if he’s still alive.”

“Don’t worry too much about it. We found you, we’ll find Waitstate” Admiral Lilwall assured him.

“They’ll never find him in time,” Xaraxus thought to himself.

“His repairs are complete, all he needs is a recharge cycle now” Welder stated.

“So I’m free to go?” Xaraxus asked. “If there’s even a tiny chance of finding Waitstate I’ll help.”

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Waitstate freed himself from the debris inside of the shuttle as it came to a halt. Had he crashed? If so, why was he still alive? Waitstate looked outside of the shuttle. He was still floating in space. He looked out of another window and saw that the ship was being drawn closer to a worn down vessel marked with the very familiar symbol of Spectral Death.

“Time for me to get out of this mess” Waitstate said to himself. He activated his cutting lasers and opened up a hole in the ship. Waitstate transformed to his flight mode and took off in the opposite direction of the Spectral Death shuttle.

Jupitor boarded the shuttle soon afterwards. He looked around but saw nothing.

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Xaraxus had been sitting on the bridge of the ship for what seemed like hours. He was doing his best to divert the crew from Waitstate’s current location with false leads.

“Find anything yet?” Sunspot asked.

Xaraxus shook his head. “I’m doing my best, but none of these maps have a location that looks familiar to me.”

“Keep working on it” Cirrus said drearily. “The Doom Gaze has picked up speed. We should still have time before we have to attack.”

“Waitstate could die out there!” Xaraxus pleaded.

“I’m know Artifice, that’s why the entire crew is working on getting him back,” Cirrus said trying to comfort whom he thought was Artifice.

Xaraxus was silent for a few moments. “What’s wrong? My troops should have reported the abduction by now,” he thought to himself.

“Admiral, we’re getting a distress call, it’s on our frequency” Roadkill reported.

“Where’s it coming from?” Admiral asked.

“A shuttle, one of ours. More specifically, the one Waitstate and Xaraxus took out. One life sign.” Roadkill doubled check his readings. “It’s unidentified.”

“When it’s in range, pull it in” Admiral Lilwall ordered. “I sure hope you’re okay out their Waitstate.”

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Jupitor looked up and saw Waitstate flying away. “It always has to be the hard way,” Jupitor thought to himself

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“I can’t believe I made it this far without that goof noticing me.” Waitstate tried to activate his comm. system but nothing happened. “This is not the time for a malfunction.”