Chapter 6

"We can't afford to screw this up! If Phase One fails, the whole plan will collapse and we'll be spending the next few months working out a new one!" Waitstate knew it wasn't what the others wanted, nor what he really wanted. He needed to give one last reminder to his crew of the importance of the mission.

"Oh, NOW we can't afford to screw things up" Artifice replied. "Screw ups never seemed to be a problem with you in the past, but NOW they mean the Universe."

Waitstate had reached his patients with Artifice. "You've gone from my best friend to a total waste of time in less than a stellar cycle!"

"I never did like you, you lacked the courage to do something as simple as serving a decent drink!" Artifice shouted back.

Waitstate lowered his tone, but his voice was just as angry. "No one forced you into my bar, and no one force you into LONAC. If you're not going to do anything useful, perhaps you'd consider taking a permanent leave."

"I'll wipe the rosters clean myself!" Artifice replied with fake enthusiasm. On that note, Artifice walked away. Whether or not the words they exchanged with each other were heart-felt, Artifice was going to pack up his things and leave.

"Now, if none of you have any complaints, we'll continue." Waitstate paused for a moment, but no one said anything. "Very well, we'll proceed as planned."

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Computerscream was monitoring almost the entire ship on his own. It was a task he could readily handle, but there were still many features of a Cult of Mordalis ship that he still didn't know everything about.

Unexpectedly, the air lock hatch opened. A small group of androids walked through. Computerscream scanned them for life signs, but found none. He just assumed they were space station androids, most likely security. One of them walked up to the hull of the ship and appeared to be hailing at first. Then, after walking down the side of the ship, it stopped again. In a split second, it leapt onto the side of the ship and clung to it tightly. "Drone must have a few data errors. I'll just have to debug it, free of charge!" Computerscream said to himself. He activated the ship's shielding, but it had a negative affect. The energy somehow reacted with the drone causing it to explode. A small hole was formed in the side of the Doom Gaze.

"Xaraxus, we have a problem here!" Computerscream screamed into the comm. "There has been a hull breach. Two drones entered the ship before I could fully reactivate the shields in that area. They seem to be placing charges."

"I asked you to do something as simple as watching the ship!" Xaraxus shouted in reply. "Make sure you take the shields down, they'll only make matters worse for internal explosions if it comes to that. We'll be there shortly."

Noticing he was disturbed, Cyron turned to Xaraxus. "What is it Lord Xaraxus?"

"Idiot. Outsmarted by mere drones. No matter, a battle was going to begin sooner or later" Xaraxus replied.

"What about the book?" Cyron asked.

"I'll take care of that later" Xaraxus answered. "All members of Spectral Death are to report back to the Doom Gaze at once!"

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"I want all teams to converge on the Doom Gaze, now!" Waitstate shouted as he led his team into the Doom Gaze. He knew it would be a while before the others arrived, but it would be enough to sandwich Spectral Death into an all out attack.

Waitstate ran into the ship, being met by surprisingly little opposition. The others tried to follow, but were startled by automated gunfire from the ship.

"Admiral and I will hold off the guns, the rest of you follow Waitstate" Shadowstrike shouted.

"We'll what?" Admiral asked quizzically.

"Just follow my lead" Shadowstrike replied.

The others entered the shuttle as Admiral and Shadowstrike distracted the gunfire.

"Ready Striker?" Admiral asked turning to Shadowstrike.

Shadowstrike nodded. "You got it!"

They stopped shooting and ran to enter the ship. Just when they got to the opening, they were grabbed from behind.

"I don't think so!" Cyron shouted.

"Aaaaahh!" Toom had a very limited vocabulary.

Cyron and Toom threw Admiral and Shadowstrike against the hull of the ship.

Cyron looked face to face with Admiral. "Not nearly as tough as you look."