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The Frontier meets its ultimate fate.

"You look down on me? You pity me? Walk away. That's right, Howard. You know why I didn't take the job? Because it's too small! I don't care about it!

---

Leo piloted the ship, while Fieru primed all weapons. “I have a missile lock. Not sure it’ll get through the rockets I’m sure they’re about to rain on us, though.”
“Hold on the missiles. I don’t want to accidentally destroy the cargo bay we’re supposed to infiltrate.”
“Point defence is a-okay.”
“Here they come…”
Without any warning, the open rocket batteries began disgorging explosives into space. “Fieru?”
“Coming into range…”
“Wait!”
Five or six of the sphere ships broke off and began firing goop at the rockets. The rest continued on a course away from the Frontier. After the initial blast, the Evil ship began to move towards the main body of ships, which included the Rocinante. There was another volley of rockets, this time aimed at the whole assault team. “Activate that point defence, Fieru, let’s do our part.”
Some of the sphere ships made it close enough to fire their goo-like weapon directly at the missile pods. There were still hundreds of the things, and no shortage of rockets. As a volley of them came into range, the Rocinante’s computer scanned them, then began firing tiny beams through them. However, most of the shots missed. The ones that hit had the desired effect, and the rockets exploded prematurely. Leo furrowed his brow. “Fieru… the computer is missing its shots!”
Fieru was already troubleshooting. “I don’ know why… shit, everything looks good!”
Leo moved them out of the way as a sphere ship came in and disabled another group of rockets close by. “I think… the computer can’t completely compensate for the local space. It’s much much thicker than we’re used to. Shit ton of particles to get in the way.”
“Try and compens-”
A rocket struck their shields. Something in the ceiling came loose. “Shit! Uh, couple more of those and the shield’s useless.”
Leo bit his lip. “Just hold on, Rocinante. You’ve made it this far…”

~~~

Leph was taking potshots at the Evil ship whenever he was sure he wouldn’t hit a friendly. It didn’t seem to have any effect on the hull, but it felt like it was what he should have been doing. Zach came up from the engine room. He wrung his hands nervously. “Hey, uh… how’s things going up here?”
Leph glanced back. “We’re good… Everything seems to be going good, yeah.”
“Cool. I’m gonna… stick around. There’s nothing for me to do down in the engine room.”
Leph stood and took the captain’s chair. “Great! You can man the particle cannons.”
Zach grinned, happy for anything to do. “Yes, sir!”
“Zach, don’t start.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Leena’s console beeped. “Leph, they’ve reached the target.”
Leph hit the intercom. “Strike team! The assault team has reached their destination and the Evil has followed them. Good luck!”

Nai gulped. “I’m not ready. I don’t wanna go!”
Yalogalil grabbed his arm, slinging his rifle over his back. “Don’t be silly.”
Nai was pushed out the door as Yalogalil grabbed a weapon case. “Move it or you will carry my plasma launcher!”
They jogged down the hall after the surprisingly fast Sytis. “Y’know I designed a much more effective-”
“I am betting you did!” Yalogalil laughed.
They entered the airlock and waited with the Sytis. Yalogalil glanced at Nai a couple times, then put a paw on his shoulder. “Nai, you are terrified.”
“Damn right I am… I’m no soldier, I’m a designer!”
“Calm yourself. I will protect you.”
Nai nodded. “I know.”
The Sytis eyed the two, wondering if Yalogalil was telepathic.

Rico and Lenny got the call as well. They kept in communication as they moved slowly after the strike team, a few kilometers behind. “Ready, buddy?”
“No.”

What Teliko had eaten for breakfast, she did not know. All she knew was now, battle imminent, the food had turned to fear. She paced her room, distracting herself by cursing her father. By now he was in the cockpit, ordering people around and doing whatever it was captains did when they were about to fight an interplanetary warlord. Since speaking to Czyak and being assaulted with the thoughts and whims of all the Sytis around her, Teliko began to see her own emotions as little bubbles floating in a tub of water. It felt easier to sort them all with that mental image, each bubble growing with her emotions and, when Sytis drew near, bubbles would float in from the air and float away again. The more time passed, the more she began to notice something strange about her emotional basin. Her bubbles began floating around the center of the water, where a tiny little molecule was growing. It was pure black, not an emotion, but a whole being in one little coffee bean of a bubble. It terrified her. “Teliko? Are you in here?”
She gasped and whirled on the door, Dez peering through it apologetically. “Whoa, hey, sorry to startle you.”
He let himself in, Cyan following after. Teliko narrowed her eyes at him. “Where’s Czyak?”
“He left when your mom called a red alert.”
“Its battle stations, not red alert.”
“Whatever.”
Dez clapped his paws. “Since I’m a journalist and not a soldier, Serleah suggested I keep an eye on you two.”
Teliko sat in her chair as Cyan sprawled shamelessly on the floor. “I don’t need babysitting.”
Dez crossed his arms and tried not to look too hurt. “Think of me as your bodyguard.”
“Prison guard.” she muttered.
Cyan grabbed a data pad from under Teliko’s bed and started playing a game on it. “Chill out. You’ll get to fight mega-evil or whatever next time.”
The black bubble grew a little, and Teliko had to actively suppress it. The room became intolerable, like the closet had. Teliko grabbed her head and shook it. She began to see objects in the room with a sharpness her eyes couldn’t achieve, especially since they were shut. “Teliko? Are you-”
She stood, and Dez began hovering. He glanced down casually as though he might have grown taller shoes, but when he realized he was just floating, he yelled. “What the-”
He slid aside as Teliko walked past him. Cyan tossed the game aside and followed. “Sorry man!”
She searched for Czyak, following his mind to the airlock. He was standing there, waiting until it was time for his role in the plan. “Czyak!”
“You should be in your room. It might not be safe.”
“Shush. Czyak, we have to talk about something.”
Czyak gazed at her for a few moments before closing his eyes. “It is… important to you. I can tell.”
“Yes… You and I are going to join the strike team, and we’re not telling Leph.”
“I… I cannot do that.”
“Look at me!”
He did. Teliko took down the barriers in her mind, letting Czyak submerge himself in it. He was nearly sick. “Please… stop…”
She threw up her guard. “Sorry, Czyak, but… s-something’s happening to me. I can… I don’t know how to describe it.”
She closed her eyes and looked. Czyak could feel something crawl over his scales, then move towards the airlock. “I can almost touch it. Its… coming from out there. I have to follow it!”
Czyak turned and cycled the airlock. “Take this.”
He produced one of the training suits and fastened it into her shirt. The airlock opened, and they stepped inside. Cyan, who had been eavesdropping nearby, ran back to tell Dez what had happened.

~~~

Even through the opaque force field, Grey Fox, Cain and Polos could see the battle quite clearly. Grey Fox had finished work on the beam, but with this new obstacle he was still in a bad mood. Cain and Polos were watching the battle from the computer, which Cain had coaxed into showing them sensor data. The two glanced out into space now and then, especially when one of the sphere ships was destroyed.
Cain shook his head. “This isn’t helping. Look, we gotta move fast. They’re getting their asses handed to them on a pedestal!”
Polos shrugged. “If I could get a closer look at those generators, I might be able to strengthen them somehow.”
“If they lose out there, what good would a stronger generator do? We’d just have to wait five more minutes until Grey Fox turns us into a green energy source.”
They all jumped as a particle projectile struck the bay’s force field. There was no effect. Polos gulped. “We’re fucked… just- computer thingy! Show me a schematic of those force field generators!”
The computer showed a garbled mess of data. Cain scratched his head. “Can you decipher that?”
“No… yes. I think…”
He traced his claw along the wall. “It uses some sort of… graviton generator. Cain, this is advanced gravity manipulation. Something like this could triple the gravitational pull of a whole planet.”
“And they’re using it to generate a force field?”
“I could make billions off this…”
“Polos!”
“Um, Grey Fox will have a hard time taking the field down, but the generator itself is pretty fragile. All he’d have to do it shoot it or even knock it over.”
“He hasn’t tried that yet.”
“He doesn’t have computer access.”
“But you do?”
“What do you mean? Of course I do!”
“I mean… complete access. Can you alter that schematic?”
“I… don’t actually know. One sec.”
He raised his paws, remembered there were no keys, and coughed. “Um… delete element E54.”
A large portion of the file disappeared. Cain scratched his head. “Huh. That was easy.”
“Wow, there’s no security whatsoever built into the operating system!”
Cain’s ear twitched. “Close schematic!”
The computer turned off and Cain turned. Grey Fox was walking towards them. “Excuse me.” he said.
He snatched the computer and walked back to the beam generator. Cain grinned. “Good work.”
“Uh, thanks.”

Grey Fox sat down with the computer, pointed it at a flat surface on the beam generator and clasped his paws in front of his face. “I want to see technical schematics.”

~~~

God was struggling. His mind no longer felt like his own, and his mental armies were battling over control of every synapse. Incredible bursts of emotions he never knew caused him incomprehensible pain over every scale on his body. “God!”
He snapped out of a convulsion and glared at an intruding Rhetorician. “What?! M-m-… my powers are still here, little thing, s-so make it fast!”
“We are having… trouble. We have destroyed only three Sytis ships, and we are afraid the number of rockets we have stocked will not be sufficient.”
“Beams…”
God doubled over and rolled on the floor in a ball. “AHHH!! GRR! BEAM! Bring… bring…”
“Sir, should I have a physician-”
“B-BEAM!”
“Yes sir. I will bring the main cannons online. It will cause a significant power drain, we will need to-”
“JUST DO IT! And… target their sup… do they… did they bring… support vessels this time?”
“We did detect some large-”
“DESTROY IT!”
The Rhetorician left God on the floor of his throne room, in a puddle of blood that was not his own.

~~~

Cyan and Dez pushed into the cockpit at the same time. “Leph! Teliko just-”
“Hey! Teliko’s-”
They paused, the three watching them. Dez cleared his throat. “Excuse me, Cyan…”
“No, you go first…”
“One of you, report!” barked Leph.
Dez fiddled with his claws. “Teliko… left. After the strike team.”
“What?!”
Leph crossed the cockpit as Leena stood. “What do you mean, “left!” You were supposed to watch her!”
“Well,-”
Cyan jumped in. “Uncle Leph! She used her… y’know, mind powers! To, uh, overpower him!”
Dez shrugged. “I-I’m sorry Leph, but one minute she was sitting in her chair and the next I was floating in the air and she was storming out!”
“Leena, take command. I’m taking a shuttle and-”
An explosion rocked the ship. A pipe burst from outside, and steam from the coolant system began flooding the main hallway. “Oh, bullocks!” Zach shouted.
He ran out of the cockpit. Leph braced himself against a wall and yelled in Leena’s face without meaning to. “Report!”
Leena grabbed her console and answered shrilly. “We just took a hit! Shields are down!”
The com beeped, barely audible over the hiss of superheated coolant. Cyan coughed, and Dez led him to the far side of the cockpit. Leph took his chair again. “Where?!”
“Coupling on cargo module four! Leph, we’ve lost the section!”
“What happened to the damn shields! We got them fixed up three months ago!”
Zach ran back into the cockpit. He was wearing a face mask. He opened a hatch on the wall, threw it aside, and pulled down the emergency bulkhead release. The com beeped over Leph’s shouting and the door’s clanging shut. “Zach! What the hell are you doing?!”
“There’s a major rupture to the AHA! I need to get that hall depressurized before we have an ion detonation! Maybe I can freeze the breach…”
He dashed to the engineering station, the com beeping. “Dez, get that com!”
Leena looked up. “Wait! Zach, you can’t depressurize the hall!”
“I have to do something!”
“You don’t understand, the space here isn’t as cold as the space back home! It wouldn’t help!”
Zach’s hands quivered over the control panel as a silence fell over the cockpit. Dez spoke weakly. “Uh, Rico wants to know if we’re alright.”
Leph cut the com manually. “Leena, how many shuttles are left?”
“We lost one… so one.”
“Leph you can’t go out there. The coolant’s filled the ship by now, you’d die.”
Leph grabbed Zach’s mask. “I’ll be fine.”
Zach grabbed Leph and held him in place before Leena could. “I don’t think you understand how serious this is!”
“My daughter’s out there!”
“My only option is to eject the ion engine. Most likely it’ll enter orbit and explode, away from us.”
“Then do it!” he tried to shake loose of Zach’s iron grip. “Leph!”
“What?!”
“When I eject the engine, it’s going to cause the coolant system to lock up. There’ll be a dozen pressure breaches, and most of the ship will most likely break apart. Engineers call it a connection null, which is just a fancy way of saying there’s a big hole in a bunch of important stuff. For sure we’ll lose the cargo pods. I’m going to have to separate the cockpit from the main body if we’re going to make it.”
“Let me leave first.”
Leena touched Leph’s shoulder. She was trembling. “We’re in more danger than Teliko right now. I’m going to call Serleah, and ask her to get Teliko and keep her safe.”
Leph punched the wall and fractured his knuckles. “Fuck!”
Then, he took his seat. “Call Serleah. Zach…”
He took a deep breath. “Do it.”
Zach rubbed his eyes and began flipping switches. “Bye, Wordy…”

Rico and Lenny were the closest to the Frontier when the engineering section disconnected from the main body. Both watched silently as the engine room and a segment of hull slid away from the Frontier. A thruster fired, and the room was launched into orbit. It looked as if the Frontier had just shed a hangclaw, the rather ugly looking ship appearing to fare as well as someone suffering from one. Ice grew around the hull where the engine room had been, and both men began to hear creaking. The nature of the space in the area clearly allowed for sound to travel, and so now Lenny and Rico were privileged to be the first people to ever actually hear a H-Model Troop Transport undergo a rapid coolant system explosion caused by an ion engine connection null. It was akin to the sound of a bartender grinding ice in a blender a thousand times over, as heard by someone with their head submerged in a tub. “Jesus…” Rico muttered.
The cockpit disconnected next. It was tiny in comparison to the bulk of this ship, and it rocketed away into space. A jet of fire suddenly appeared, where the cockpit once was connected to the main hall. The rear of the Frontier detonated after three minutes, collapsing for an instant before scattering debris everywhere. Next, sections of the main hull began to dent and glow red hot. These areas burst like diseased skin, spraying white hot coolant into space. The mixture of coolant and the fluid of space mixed together, creating beautiful sunset swirls around the dying ship. Shortly after, the corpse of the Frontier flipped over, disgorged all cargo pods, and died.

Leph cried. “My ship…”