Chapter 34
The Battle of Elex
Part 9: Dichotomy

How can you stand yourself? How can you gulp air without gagging? So many lives lost and for what? How could you?!

Federation Carrier Salachimorpha - Docking Bay

The dock doors gave Kaiolas leave to enter the ship, opening as soon as they got the chance. Salachimorpha might have taken a beating, but it was not blind. Yet the First Lieutenant was able to leave and return with Captain Kelso intact. Colonel Myult was looking, but she wasn't seeing. Amidst the course of battle, Myult had lost track of the fine details. I can't say I'd blame her.

This portion of the Federation fleet had taken substantial losses. Myult found a little bit of comfort knowing it was only a small portion of the fleet, and that the number of survivors from the Absolute's attack met expectations. But she couldn't deny the outright evidence of failure if she ever bothered to look out the main vantage point of the Salachimorpha bridge - she watched helplessly as the Space Pirate fleet regrouped with the Absolute and vanished through wormholes. Somewhere on the other side of those wormholes was the Ultimatum Ready and likely the rest of the major components of the Pirate fleet.

Kaiolas stepped through the open airlock, too eager to plant her feet back on the closest thing she had to solid ground. "I'll be back with help as soon as I can," Kaiolas said over her shoulder.

Kelso didn't have much of a say in the matter. Ridley's attack on the Federation ships near Absolute exploded with Kelso's ship very within its radius. Even the best of reactions wouldn't have helped him. He could barely move on his own as a result.

Still, he couldn't help chirping up. "What if Myult shows up while you're gone?"

Kaiolas exhaled through her nose. "That's exactly why I have to go now. I can't carry you fast enough to avoid her if she's headed here."

Too late. As soon as Kaiolas turned back, she locked eyes with Myult. Two Federation officers slipped past the colonel, headed straight for Kaiolas. She didn't flinch as they cuffed her wrists, rather she might've even held them out to make it easier for them to cuff her. Federation soldiers needed all the help they could get after all.

"Put her in 2A Block," Myult barked at the officers, gritting her teeth as they pulled Kaiolas out of the room.

Myult kept her composure as Kaiolas was coerced out. This had to be routine, as routine as scrubbing toilets or swapping out old plasma rifle cartridges. Myult couldn't, wouldn't, let a typical arrest get the best of her. Then again, Kaiolas wasn't the typical officer.

"You had orders, Ensign Kaiolas." Myult kept her eyes locked forward as Kaiolas was pushed by her. Kaiolas didn't flinch. Ensign. Kaiolas wouldn't give Myult the satisfaction of seeing her dismay. She looked right at Myult, stopping herself despite the officers' pull.

"You're right," Kaiolas replied. Now she had stolen Myult's gaze. Kaiolas looked right through Myult. "I did."

The now-Ensign disappeared around the corner, an officer on each side.

Federation Carrier Salachimorpha - Brig, 2A Block

The carrier Salachimorpha still hung in the space near Elex. Now that the pirates had left the area, there was no big rush for the Federation to evacuate.

They weren't anticipating the pirates to return as soon as they had left. Although, it wasn't like the Federation to be particularly capable of proper forethought. But they had other reasons, too. Smaller resource and medical ships were warping into the area to repair and help the wounded. The ships that had participated in the battle couldn't warp out via wormhole without the risk of being torn apart or smashed into jelly before making it to the other side.

Almost every significant Federation ship involved, especially the Salachimorpha, had sustained critical damage that threatened any transportation except manually piloting through realspace or being towed. Thus, they waited not just for resource and medical ships, but an envoy of other ships to help escort them out of the area.

Further, the Federation's other objective - containing the X - also failed, and evacuating the area in a rush wasn't going to change that. The Federation didn't recover a single parasite. Most of the X had been destroyed by the Absolute and Ridley; the SA-X had been captured; and the remainder of the X mass had shriveled away or just outright disappeared. Containment was the obvious starting point for capture, and the Federation had accomplished neither. The Federation was still without the SA-X or any meaningful amount of X parasite to experiment on, something they desperately wanted to do.

The Federation fleet had taken a hit it couldn't ignore, but for now one it couldn't immediately get vengeance for either. That was a facade the Feds had no problem wearing as a mask - I knew too well how every executive officer was chomping at the bit to find those pirates. Or me.

I could picture it so easily. A boardroom of Federation officers spewing venom and saliva at one another, red in the face about how a bunch of organized insects defeated their fleet, about how some flying monster was able to do a job individually that an entire navy couldn't pull off. Or how one individual was able to destroy one of their most important research and testing vessels, and still be on the run.

Shouting, yelling, screeching. I'm sure by just a few minutes, they'd all be sucking oxygen so bad, everybody else in the room would pass out from oxygen deprivation.

But for now, they were biding their time. A surprisingly smart move by the Federation. In her cell, Ensign Kaiolas was doing the same.

Kelso rapped on the rusted bars of the cell. "You hungry?" Kaiolas kept her eyes on the floor. "Not for food," she said.

She pulled her head up like it was a sack of bricks and smiled. "I'm glad you're okay." She sat up and met him at the bars, a smile from ear to ear. "It was worth the trouble."

Kelso responded in kind with his own smile. His right arm was tucked snugly into a sling. His other limbs were riddled with bandages. A small limp in his right leg. You couldn't help but respect Kelso's tenacity. He could take more than his fair share of a beating. He survived the attack on the Absolute and Ridley's attack on the Federation ships near the Absolute, and somehow made it back to survive another day.

She remembered Kelso saving her from the debris in the destroyed bridge of the carrier. His heads saturated in blood. The serrated edges of torn steel gripped in his palms. The veins in his neck about to burst as he lifted the debris off of her. She hoped they wouldn't have to survive a third emergency before getting some rest, although she was certain Kelso would somehow survive that too.

"I never got to thank you," Kelso said. "For going out there and saving me. So…"

"Thank you," Kaiolas interjected. "I...hadn't gotten the chance to thank you either."

Whatever words they had to follow, they both choked on them and swallowed hard.

"So where's Myult?" Kaiolas asked.

Kelso thought for a moment. It was easier said than done through the pain. "Probably back at the recon deck. Someone's got to give the orders."

"Yeah," Kaiolas rolled her eyes. "Hopefully that changes soon."

Kelso chuckled. "I can't blame you for being mad about the lock-up. I would've done it." He tried to sound as certain as he could, but he really didn't know if that was the truth. He didn't hesitate to rescue Kaiolas as the bridge burned down around her. That didn't require forethought. Going against strict orders was a whole other ordeal. Then again, would he have not rescued Kaiolas on the bridge, or anyone for that matter, had it been going against orders to do so?

"It's not that," Kaiolas snapped back. "Myult let the pirates beat us. Then she let the pirates get away with an X specimen. We're empty handed. All we took were heavy losses."

Kelso nodded. "I'm sure she'll get an earful from Dane." The Fleet Admiral had been absent from this whole ordeal up until now, and even now only mentioned in passing. It was easy to forget how all-encompassing the Federation was. This was but one battle, involving just a small slice of the entire Federation fleet. The Federation had entire systems of worlds and colonies to govern, and managing the entire fleet was not the only thing on the Fleet Admiral's shoulders. Kelso couldn't imagine what else Dane was dealing with if he didn't have time for what seemed like a very significant skirmish against the pirates.

"None of us are safe under her command, Kelso." Kaiolas clenched her jaw. "I had to go save you. But I also knew I'd be safer on my own than trusting her with my well-being."

"Well, that I'm not sure about," Kelso said. But Kaiolas certainly was. She looked him right in the eyes. "She's not fit to command, Kelso." Kaiolas turned on her heel and sat back down on her cell bed. "Can't you see that?"

Federation Carrier Salachimorpha - Recon Deck

To call it a zoo would be laughably inaccurate.

The churning surge of voices suffocated the recon deck. Troopers in half-assembled, charred power armor raised their voices over jumpsuit-clad technicians and badge-wearing officers. They responded in turn, only escalating the volume in the room as it spiraled out of control.

One of the loudest voices was Chief Warrant Officer Malcolm Everet. Everet worked directly under First Lieutenant Kaiolas. Myult unceremoniously promoted him to First Lieutenant to fill the void left by Kaiolas, but he firmly refused. He'd spent the better part of a half hour arguing against Myult's treatment of Kaiolas, and now was one of many within the cacophony of voices.

Everet was an officer, but he was built like a trooper, or at the very least a fridge that could fit into trooper armor. His stature was tremendous and unsettling, but he spoke with coolness and gravity. His words were well-chosen and specific. But even the best of words can't break a strong colonel. Myult had to prove that.

Nearby was Skylark Team's Onius Tempur, a usually mild-mannered trooper with only a few missions under his belt. Next to him was Skylark Team's Captain Daent Luasha. After several years of combat as a Federation sniper, she moved herself from the back of the battlefield to the front, leading Skylark Team on several Federation missions to protect Federation-held worlds from Pirate raids. She no longer wanted to sit in the back, watching her comrades advance ahead of her experience on either side of the pack made her one of the most formidable Federation soldiers, and one of the most dangerous. Skylark Team wouldn't have survived the siege of Albatrum without her, though she'd never remind them of that fact.

There's nothing Luoasha would send others to do that she wouldn't do herself. Kaiolas did something nobody else had done on the ship, and for that Luasha would defend her until she was out of breath.

Evert, Tempur, Luasha - they were part of the many Myult was trying to reign in just as Kelso hobbled into the deck. As his luck would have it, he appeared just as Myult was finally able to dial things down and address everybody.

"Reports confirm that the pirates have secured an SA-X specimen," Myult shouted. She never raised her voice. At the top of her lungs, the colonel dominated the entire room. The crowd was so stunned hearing her at that volume that they instantly gave her their undivided attention. I was far more interested in that the Federation had officially adopted the "SA-X" name, or at the very least were using it for now. The Federation wouldn't know an original idea unless it was some kind of creature they could dig out of a hole, put into a jar, and turn into a bioweapon.

Colonel Myult continued. "At 800 hours, the pirates secured the X, and then initiated their retreat."

"So why aren't we chasing them down?" asked Tempur. The clamor of the deck rose again in agreement.

Myult clasped her hands together. "We're in no condition for a hunt. Anybody can see that. We're going to regroup and give chase once we're in a position to do so. Any earlier and we could risk losing more ships, and much more than that."

Evert couldn't help but speak up. "The First Lieutenant went right to the pirates and brought our men back. We're all capable of chasing them down and finishing this fight." Again, the clamor rose in agreement.

"The First Lieutenant said we should give chase, too." Everyone shifted and turned to see the very back of the crowd, where Kelso had spoken up, as he leaned up against the doorframe to relieve the pain. He had replied to Evert, but he made sure everyone else heard him too.

"I think she's right," Kelso continued. "Who knows where their fleet is going? If we lose the Absolute or spend too much time tracking it, we won't be able to stop them from experimenting on the X. Every second we're not in pursuit, they could be working it into a weapon, or creating more copies of the SA-X, or cloning their own soldiers."

Tempur jumped in once more. "The pirates won't be as accommodating to us as we are to them. We should hunt them down!"

Myult slammed an unlucky control panel with a balled fist. "Enough! Captain," she said to Luasha, "do a better job of controlling your team. And escort Captain Kelso out of the deck while you're at it. He should cool down before he speaks out of turn again." She raised her voice. "That goes for all of you."

Kelso needed help walking, but he didn't need help taking a hint. He was shuffling out of the room before Luasha could even reply, "Yes, ma'am."

Luasha clapped Kelso on the back with a bright smile. Kelso smiled back, but couldn't help his pained cough. As he doubled over, Luasha took the opportunity to slip a thin rectangle into his pocket with her free hand.

On their way out, Myult addressed the rest of the deck. "Ensign Kaiolas had trouble following orders. Your orders are to return to your posts as we await evac and medical ships. We'll be exiting the area at 1100 hours. Don't make the same mistake she did."

Those on the deck got the hint. Most of the crowd filtered out of the deck, leaving only the Colonel and those whose posts were within the deck itself. Finally, Myult had the time to think. But that was short lived.

"Colonel." A scrawny, beady-eyed officer approached. He wasn't someone Myult recognized. "Fleet Admiral Dane is on the line. He wants to speak with you immediately."

Pirate Carrier Absolute - Docking Bay

There's no such thing as silence within a ship. The mechanical hums, the shifting creaks and pangs, the voices and shuffling of movements made, ships coming to and fro. Even the quietest of places on a ship were filled with some kind of noise. Sometimes, though, the loudest places made for the best respite. Very few want to be alone with their own thoughts for too long.

So when Weavel stepped out of his ship with the docking bay, he knew something was amiss. It was quieter than he had ever heard before. Not a single ship moving or even idling. Nobody patrolling or wandering the halls. Even the machinery seemed to be whispering to one another.

Weavel quickly came to the startling realization that he was the only pilot to dock in the bay for quite some time. He knew that meant the spot where his ship was usually docked was obviously open for a potentially long enough time for somebody, or something, to notice.

Just over two dozen pirates slowly filtered out of the ship behind him. They were all Weavel could manage to rescue before he risked endangering himself and his ship. The graveyard of vessels outside of Elex had become a deathtrap of endlessly spinning debris ready to tear apart anything that got too close. Ships that hadn't exploded already were ready to burst at their seams. Weavel couldn't risk getting too close, as much as he wanted to, and eventually had to turn back.

Weavel directed the injured to the Absolute's medical bay. When a thick group of armored troopers approached Weavel's ship, he knew it wasn't to help the injured.

Pirate Carrier Absolute - Bridge

Weavel's mangled body landed with a hefty thud at the entrance of the bridge.

A pair of troopers hoisted him up and dragged him into the center of the room. His legs were cut halfway down each thigh. His scythe arm had been violently torn off. Puncture wounds dotted his torso like the coat of a jaguar. If dozens of blows were delivered to his visor, it would've been a genuine underestimate. It looked as though he'd been rammed into by his own ship.

Commander Veron dryly addressed the room. "Weavel. Special Forces."

When Weavel came to, he realized how deep in the pit he really was. The bridge was awfully stuffy and quiet. Officers and lords of all kinds encircled him. Commander Veron, Master Superior Ulron, Superior Helgon, Superior Trirun, and all their underlings stood within the innermost circle. An impromptu council had been called, and Ridley was perched at the very head.

Ridley glared at him, crouched with his tail wavering behind him like a python ready to strike. Weavel couldn't help picturing the last time he saw Ridley - flying through the vacuum of space with the SA-X in his maw. The body was long gone now, Weavel with the absolute faintest idea of where that could be, but he couldn't shake the image from his head.

"You had an order to follow," Ridley began. "What was it?"

Weavel lifted himself up with the one remaining limb he had. "Return to the Absolute."

"And what did you do?"

"I disobeyed that order to find any survivors and escort them to the Absolute with me."

Ridley's tail shot out at Weavel like a bullet, catching Weavel in the neck. With the wedged-in tip of his tail, Ridley pulled up and out with a sickening tear. Weavel's empty shell collapsed to the floor. Above it, Weavel's helmet-clad brain held by Ridley's tail. A long, slimey brainstem dangled from the helmet, dripping with matter and fluid.

Ridley stared into his reflection upon Weavel's visor with a knowing look. "You have initiative, Weavel. Drive. But what kind of leader would I be if I let you defy me?"

Ridley's tail reeled back, dropping Weavel's head to the floor. "Not a very good one. You know that."

Another pair of troopers stepped forward, followed by a group of scientists. As the latter wheeled in a gurney of sorts, the former plucked Weavel's head from the floor and brought it to them.

They wento work disassembling the components encasing Weavel's brain as Ridley continued. "And then you saw Cameron Randall."

Ridley beared a toothy smile. "You took pity on him. I can't blame you for that. But I will punish you for it."

The scientists finally broke upon the helmet. Wires were sunk deep into the folds of Weavel's brain, and now they were extracting them one by one. Weavel had no way to react, but his swelling brain matter told enough.

"Science Team implemented technology into Cameron Randall that would've been used to upgrade you, Weavel. You sealed your own fate when you took pity on him," Ridley said.

"What a waste," Commander Veron chimed in. "Now there's two bodies we can't use."

That very same moment, Veron was almost reduced to the same state Weavel was in. Ridley's tail came within centimeters of piercing Veron's torso. His speed and accuracy was terrifying, even Veron was so surprised he choked on his own words.

"The only waste was made by Science Team," Ridley said. "You've killed all your pets. Now what's left?"

Weavel's brain sloshed in one scientist's leathery claws until it was finally dropped into a vat of viscous fluid. His pink matter was plugged with wires once more, all leading to the base of the container.

Commander Veron shifted nervously. Master Superior Ulron placed a claw on his shoulder, shaking his head. Veron knew better than to disturb the beast yet again, but he knew what was coming. Science Team and its projects were overseen by Commander Veron himself, and now he felt like the entire program was on thin ice.

Ridley roared at the rest of the council. "From this moment on, all human experimentation programs will end immediately. Science Team will now focus on a test subject of a much higher importance. The X Parasite. That is where our future lies. Humans are too weak to shoulder our bioengineering efforts. The X Parasite has limitless potential, and now we have its greatest byproduct." He said it with confidence, especially considering the Ridley-X clone he encountered prior to joining the battle at Elex was swiftly destroyed by Ridley, while the SA-X put up much more of a fight.

"But sir." Commander Veron finally spoke up. Master Superior Ulron looked away.

This time, Ridley slowly approached Veron, right until Veron could feel the warm breath on his mandibles. "Yes, Commander?"

"I know I brought this up to you privately, sir," Veron continued. "But it's only right and fair to bring it up again for the whole council." Now Veron looked out at the many faces surrounding him. "Science Team has made great advances with our human test subjects. Cameron Randall exceeded expectations, and Weavel was next in line to receive his enhancements. We can find more test subjects, we absolutely can. Soon enough, we'll be able to outfit our whole army with these upgrades. We could take our foes prisoner and mold them into soldiers. We could set whole Federation colonies against their masters! We've broken through so many boundaries, who's to say we have any limitations at all? We deserve to-"

KRSSSSHHH - just like that, Veron's voice vanished. A guttural sigh, then a cough with blood. Then Veron belched, spewing crimson and bile in a pool at Ridley's feet. His tail skewered Veron clean through the abdomen, it's sharp tip slick and glistening.

Ridley leaned in, just moments before Veron would collapse in a heap. "Your last words were well-chosen, Commander," he said with blaring green eyes.

Ridley stepped back, letting Veron fall to the floor. "A shame," he said to the council. "Well before his time."

Not a single soul in the bridge dared to look anywhere else but at Ridley. Ulron, Helgon, and Trirun couldn't give their comrade any kind of farewell.

Veron died alone, surrounded by everyone.

Ridley then addressed the council as a whole. "I'll be taking over Science Team from this point on. Today, we begin anew."

Abruptly, Ridley headed for the door. He peered over his shoulder as he exited.

"I hope you're all ready to work on this new project. Don't let Veron's death go to waste."

Another bout of silence fell upon the room. Ridley sauntered to the door...only to stop.

He lept back in the blink of an eye and burst into the air. His wings obscured the lights above like a demonic eclipse. Then he dove, right for the council itself.

First Helgon. Ridley pierced him right through the heart. Then Ulron. Right through his heart. Then Trirun. Right through his heart.

Ridley dumped the bodies on top of Veron's corpse. The pile was still warm. A pool of blood began outlining the husks, begging the council to pay attention. They never averted their eyes.

Ridley's eyes burned green. "Now that's a compelling argument."

Federation Carrier Salachimorpha - Brig

Ensign Kaiolas ran her eyes across the ceiling hundreds of times. Down each and every crack, every space between paneling, every spot of rust and dust. There was no plan to devise, at least not one worth putting effort into. Her breathing was easy, but she couldn't understand why. She drank in the silence and savored it. She knew it wouldn't last long.

Tap tap - Kaiolas rolled her head to the side. Captain Kelso stood at the bars of the cell. Between his fingers, a plastic keycard with rounded edges and a pitch-black stripe against its side. Kelso tapped the card at an adjacent panel. "You're not the only one unhappy with Myult," he said as he opened the cell. He slid Luasha's keycard back into his pocket.

The ensign had gotten used to her new home, at least a little bit. No battles to fight. No lives to save. No orders to take. Yet she couldn't stop herself from swinging her legs off the bed. She got up to face Kelso reflexively. It didn't matter what she wanted now - her body and subconscious had made their choice.

"She's not going after the Absolute, isn't she."

"No, not yet," Kelso replied. He clapped his hands behind his head and sighed. "Once they've jumped through all the right hoops and signed on all the right lines, I'm sure that's exactly what they'll do. But who knows how long that'll take."

Kaiolas looked away, and Kelso continued. "We took heavy losses here. I'm sure she wants to get us back out there as soon as possible. There's only so much she can tell us."

She could hear the uncertainty in his voice. She almost accused him of taking Myult's side right then and there, but she knew better. She knew Kelso was better than that. And she knew better than to jump to conclusions. Truly, she knew very little of what was going on in the grand scheme of things. It was best not to misinterpret what little she had.

The next moment, Kaiolas was striding past Kelso, heading for the docking bay. Kelso followed right behind, hoping to slow her down but trying not to cause a scene. To no avail. Kaiolas was at the docking bay as quickly as she was out of her cell. Thankfully for the both of them, most of the ship was too preoccupied elsewhere to notice them searching for a ship.

"Wait," Kelso said, just as they stopped in front of a small Federation cruiser. It was the perfect size for a pair to make their escape. "I'm not going to stop you, but at least tell me where you're going. Tell me what you're about to do."

Kaiolas inspected the exterior of the ship with great care. "I'm doing what the Colonel won't. I'm going after that carrier."

"With what?" Kelso asked. "A lifeboat and a pistol? You'll be shot down before you even get close enough to do anything."

"That's what Samus Aran would do," Kaiolas said. I couldn't have been more flattered. "And you know that."

Kelso grabbed her by the arm. "Maggie…" He choked on the words before they could come out. "You're not Samus."

"You're right." Kaiolas pulled away. "Thanks to the Colonel, now I'm just Ensign Maggie Kaiolas. She stripped me of my entire career for saving your life. I'm not going to fool myself thinking I could build it up again."

"Maybe she'll reinstate you. She has the power to pardon. If she doesn't, Fleet Admiral Dane definitely does. He wouldn't let you be punished for this."

"I don't want to be pardoned," Kaiolas said firmly.

Kelso searched for an answer, but came up empty. "You might be okay being one of the military's dogs, but I've found a new path. I'm not changing my course." Kaiolas bit her tongue, but it was too late. She had come to one of those conclusions she shouldn't have. "I'm going to do this. This is what I was meant to do."

Kelso winced. He wasn't one to believe in fate. His skin crawled at the idea of there being some kind of purpose or meaning behind everything. Behind his life. If that was the case, was his destiny to just be another officer in the Federation? What kind of path was he on?

Kaiolas stepped past Kelso to make an attempt at entering the ship, but Kelso stood in her way once more. "Let me come with you."

"Absolutely not," Kaiolas said. She pressed up against him and brought her lips to his. Goosebumps raced up his arms as her warm breath stroked his face. Their lips locked in embrace, and for that moment Kelso felt he'd been in that hangar for an eternity. He wished the moment would last that long. But finally, Kaiolas pulled away. "You have a future here," she said. "I don't. I'm not letting you ruin yours."

Kaiolas turned away. "I-I'd feel a lot better being there with you. I want to see you again."

When she turned around, her arm was cocked back. She struck Kelso hard, bringing him to his knees as he gasped for air. He collapsed to the floor, arms wrapped around his abdomen. He could do nothing but watch as Kaiolas prepped the ship and readied herself to board.

Kaiolas leaned down to him and kissed him on the forehead. "You will. I promise."