71. The Gas Giant

 
A week doesn’t sound like a long time to travel through space until you realise you have nowhere to go except the ship and nothing to do that doesn’t involve the ship. Every day, the gas giant, one of the planets in the system slowly grew in the Illustria’s view screen. And every day the skeleton crew of the Illustria found things to amuse their time.
 
“Okay, so see, I can put a force cube in a room,” Marius demonstrated his latest embedded cypher, “Now, no one can get in.”
“I bet I can,” Nox replied, poking the force field with a finger.
“Well, you’re not no one, are you,”
She shrugged.
 
An hour later, Marius put up another cube this time around the chair that Nox was sitting in.
“And I can put a force cube around individual items…even people. Now, they can’t get out.”
“I bet I can,” Nox said and bamfed beside Marius with a cheeky grin.
“Yes, you’re very clever.”
Fureva-Yung walked onto the command deck and into the force wall built around her chair.
“Very good, but can you bring down the wall? I’d like to sit in my chair.”
“Er…sorry Fureva-Yung. Once made, the force cube stays up for an hour,” Marius said then remembered Nox, “But Nox could teleport you in.”
“Bye!” Nox waved and disappeared…again.
She was doing that a lot lately.
 
As sensors could make out more details on the planet, it was clear that getting to the fuel refinery wouldn’t be all clear sailing. The whole refinery station was in the centre of a massive storm that could last months or even years. The Illustria, meant for long-distance space travel, was not equipped to enter the planet's atmosphere. The two smaller vessels on board, the fighters and the drones all had their strengths and weaknesses. Fureva-Yung and Marius were in constant circular discussions about how to make
 
 
 
“The fighter is easier to fly in an atmosphere. I bet even I could fly it,” Marius said at one such discussion.
“Yes, but the drone has more capacity. We could all fly over in one,” Fureva-Yung countered, “The fighter can only take two.”
“Yes, me and Nox,” He replied, “The drone's shape will mean it will flop all about it the storm.”
“I do not like the idea of you and Nox flying into the storm. You are not trained to fly.”The Admiral scowled, and around and around, the arguments went.
 
The only one really working was Jaden, who had successfully pulled the engine out of the damaged fighter and was now trying to repair it. Good thing too as there were only three of them remaining on board. The fourth was lost in a fight with shard-controlled drones. In that fight, Nox had bamfed Jaden out of her floundering ship before the drone destroyed it. It was with the same lifesaving action the group was counting on for this latest mission.
 
Nox spent some time trying to connect to the refineries' communications. Her first attempts failed outright. The system just seemed to ignore her command codes. An attempt with Fureva-Yung’s bracelet was initially successful, but as soon as Nox tried to find out any information, she was disconnected. She tried hacking the system, using one of the navigation systems to piggy-backed into the refinery's computers. This worked for a while and she was able to poke around. She confirmed there was a heavy lifter vehicle for delivering fuel to an off-world ship on board the station. She’d begun sifting through internal sensor information before the connection was finally severed.
“Do you think there’s a shard in the system?” Fureva-Yung asked.
Nox thought a moment and shook her head, “It didn’t…feel like a shard. It didn’t find me fast enough, and then disabling my codes seemed…. clumsy. No, it’s not something in the computers but something on the station.”
 
Diving into the raw data collected from the internal sensor information, they determined that as many as twenty individuals were residing in the station. Things had gone from a simple fetch quest to a diplomatic mission.
 
Ultimately, it was decided that a fighter, a pilot, and Nox would head out to the station, dock and make contact. As soon as Nox was in a good location, she would teleport back and bring the other two across. It was when that deciding who would pilot the fighter became heated.
“If we are meeting a new people then I should pilot the fighter,” Fuerva-Yung stated.
“But if the locals are hostile, I can put up one of my force shields and trap them inside. Or vice-versa, provide a safe place for Nox to teleport you both over.
 
Nox went along with it all, that was until Marius brought up the fact she would need to wear a space suit.
“Oh no, they’re all too big on me, and I have to keep pulling up the sleeves. I can’t breathe inside them, and they crumple up my wings…” She complained, refusing even to consider one of the ship’s standard suits.
“Ah, but what if I made you one of my custom suits?” Marius replied, whipping out another piece of io to start making the suit, “Just to fit you?”
 
As the fighter had already been decided and it had no environmental systems without a suit, Nox finally and reluctantly agreed. Later, as she fitted on the custom suit, she looked in a mirror in the change rooms and admired Marius’ work.
“You know, you were right, “She said thoughtfully, “Sometimes bodies are okay.”
Used to the girl’s complaints about the skin bag she felt she needed to live in, Marius did a double take.
“What? What does that mean?”
“Huh?” She replied, realised she’d said something she shouldn’t have and bamfed away.
 
Twenty minutes later, both Marius and Nox were flying through the storm towards the refinery station. Things had been relatively smooth sailing up to sighting the refinery. A little turbulence and a lot of checking instruments for the right direction. Marius had flown well and kept the fighter on course, but docking was going to take a little more skill. He flexed in a piloting skill, making him more competent at flying for ten minutes.
 
It looked good until winds whipping over the station caught the tiny fighter, flipping it head over tail to dive into a tailspin.
“I’ve lost the station! Navigation is all over the place,” Marius said as he struggled to gain control of the fighter.
“I’ll get navigation. You get the ship.” Nox replied and brought up navigation on the console in front of her. By the time she’d reestablished the navigation system and plotted a new course to the station, Marius had pulled the fighter out of the spin and was in control again. Unfortunately, they’d used far more fuel than expected. They were once more twenty minutes away, fighting against gravity and low fuel.
 
Marius kept a steady course to his credit, and even corrected for turbulence without a hitch. They were once more in sight of the station when Nox’s sensors gave a beep and a bright flash erupted from the station.
“Incoming!” Nox yelled, pointing out the bright streak heading directly for them.
“I’ve got!” Marius grinned and rolled the fighter into an intentional barrel roll. The energy bolt sailed below them.
 
As Marius righted the fighter, Nox searched and found the dock, an open square of light on one side of the station.
“Ah Marius, not to be the problem person,” She said as a familiar glimmer flicked up across the dock portal, “But I think a force field has just gone up across the dock.”
“Well, you’ll have to bamf us in as I fly by won’t you,” And maneuvered the ship into position.
 
Unlatching her seatbelt, Nox pushed herself forward wrapping her arms around Marius’ neck. If this was to work, she only had a moment to see inside the Dock as they flew by. Already the ship’s alarms were warning that fuel was low. They were only going to get one chance.
 
When the portal flashed by it was sudden. Nox saw a few metres into the dock past the force field and bamfed them inside. Going from moving to stopping in a fraction of a second, they fell to their hands and knees. As they righted themselves, they became aware they were not alone. Four blue-skinned humanoids turned surprised expressions in their directions. About Marius’ height, all four had two tails, large floppy ears, short snout-like faces and blue glowing eyes.
“Hey! We love blue guys!” Marius exclaimed as all four brought up their hands and fired blue beams of light in their direction. Marius and Nox rolled away, dodging the projectile rays before Marius created a cube of force around them both.
“Ouch!”
“Did it explode?” Nox guessed, not taking her eyes off the humanoids in front of them.
“Yes, I barely got to use it too,” Marius complained bitterly, rubbing where the cypher had short-circuited.
 
A flash of light from outside and the station rocked gently under the force of an explosion. Nox and Marius looked out the portal into the swirling storm outside to see the fighter scatter into pieces against the station's hull.
“Ah, you get to tell the Admiral we lost another of her fighters,” Nox nodded to the humanoids in the dock, “And I’ll try talking to them.”
We lost the fighter, Marius sent via the telepathic connection as Nox turned her attention to their hosts.
Please, we mean you no harm.
Marius! Came back Fureva-Yung’s lament from outside the storm.
Surrender and you won’t be harmed, Replied one of the individuals, surprised at the new mode of communication.
We only need fuel for our station near the sun. We will get what we need and leave.
The four individuals discussed something with each other before the one Nox had targetted with her communication turned back to the trap duo.
What do you offer?
 
In the meantime, Marius updated the other two with what they’d found inside the station.
I don’t know this race, Fureva-Yung confessed after Marius’ description, I don’t know if they can be trusted.
Tell Nox, Jaden added, that when she teleports out to get us, she should not make it look like she can teleport at will.
 
In the meantime, Nox was selling the benefits of their group to their hosts.
I can talk to computers…um..we have an Admiral of the Ferrian Forces with us?
What’s an Admiral? Who are the Ferrians?
Once the great wars were over, it seemed the Ferrians had slipped away into obscurity in this part of the Universe.
Ah…We have two outstanding fighters … and one really great engineer.
Nox could feel the attention of the one she was connected to waning until she’d mentioned Jaden.
Do you have an engineer? They replied, We have a need of an engineer.
Nox nodded.
 
“I’m going back to get the other two, are you going to hold the fort here?” She asked Marius who was trying to communicate through the force wall with sign language and a smiling face.
“Do you think they’re sincere?” He asked, taking in their host’s unblinking expressions.
Nox thought a moment. She’d not look at the blue alien’s surface thoughts, but they seemed genuinely surprised at how she and Marius’ had teleported in past the force field. Sometimes she forgot how incredibly powerful the group had become.
“I don’t know, I guess we won’t know unless we try.” She said, and pulling out a random piece of numenera as a pretext, she bamfed back to the ship.
 
When she returned with Jaden and Fureva-Yung it was outside the force cube. Marius’ was still making his silly faces and getting nowhere. Fureva-Yung started a subsonic rumble that shook the air of the dock in greetings from the Ferrian Empire. The blue-skinned aliens looked at each other perplexed.
“Do you want me to connect them to the network?” Nox asked the group, “You’ll have to mind what you think.”
Fureva-Yung, Jaden and Marius still in his force cube all agreed and Nox connected the four individuals in the dock to the network.
 
We will show you what to fix, Said the first, who seemed to be their current spokesperson. Jaden stepped up, followed by Fureva-Yung. Nox made to follow.
“Hey, bamf me out of here!” Marius called, stuck in his force cube.
“I don’t know…you did crash another fighter…” Nox mockingly replied, tapping at the force cube wall. They were very sturdy.
“Come on! I didn’t crash the first one! Bamf me out of here!”
“Bamf me from across space. Bamf me out of my crippled ship. Bamf me out of my own force cube,” Nox sighed. Though bamfing was now effortless for her alone, as soon as she had to teleport others it was like trying to move a mountain. Still, she felt bad he’d lost his force cube implant. Its loss would have hurt, and she seen the burns and seen how hard he’d practised to with it. It had been useful, even for a short while. She sighed, teleported into the cube and bamfed him out.
 
Meanwhile, now they could communicate directly with their host, were asking lots of questions.
How long have your people been here? Fureva-Yung asked. She felt particularly proprietorial about the mining station and was unsure how she felt about the Squatters.
A century it has been our home, Their hosts responded, reminding Fureva-Yung how long her people had left the system.
Where did you come from?
Space, Was the vague reply, We travelled. Our people often settle old relicts like this. The rest moved on, but we stayed and make it work again. Here, is what needs fixing.
 
Jaden stepped in and quickly ascertained the problem. The stabilisation system that held the station high in the gas giant’s atmosphere was struggling. Though most of the system inside were fine, thrusters on the outside of the station had been knocked out, probably by the storm.
How long has the current storm been blowing? She asked the blue people.
Only a few months.
Jaden sighed. She knew that such big storms could last centuries and move rapidly on or stay in the same place for years, but there was no way of telling what they would do.
Nox and Marius had caught up by now and Fureva-Yung had silently directed Nox to an empty console.
With her serious expression firmly in place, Jaden said out loud, “I can fix the problem in here, but we have a bigger issue. There are parts that need replacing on the outside. Someone will have to go for a space walk.”
“Outside? In the storm?” Fureva-Yung replied, gathering the source of Jaden’s concern quickly, “Okay, what do I need to do?”
“Hey! You don’t need to go, one of us can,” Marius said, meaning him. Jaden would be busy making sure everything was working inside and Nox didn’t look up from her console, “We could bring across a drone from the ship. There’s certainly no reason to go out into the storm unprotected.”
 
Meanwhile, Fureva-Yung had found where they kept the safety line and attached one end to her personalised space suit, “After how hard it was to fly a fighter in that wind? No,I will go out.” Fureva-Yung replied as she repeated what Jaden had told them to the residence.
 
“Good news, at least, “ Nox said out loud from the console she’d hacked into, “There’s a lot of fuel and the heavy lifter, though switched off for a long time, seems ready to take whatever fuel we want up to the Ilustria. It’s booting up now, and it’s status looks pretty good. All we need to do is load the barrels and send it out of the atmosphere.”
“Good. So, Jaden, please fix the connections to the stabilisers inside the station. Nox, bring the external sensors up. Jaden, tell me what I need to do.”
“And, what do I do?” Marius asked.
“Try not to destroy anything.”
 
With instructions and spare parts provided by Jaden, Fureva-Yung marched to the airlock with Marius close on her tail. Marius grumbled something under his breath that Fureva-yung chose to ignore as she clipped the other end of her safety harness to a loop. There was nothing left to do now beside close the inner door and release the pressure.
“You better come back, “ Marius said, checking Fureva-Yung’s space suit for the fourth time, “I won’t be held responsible for the Dritmen Riot that will ensue if you don’t.”
“I will be sure to keep the industrial relations of Tiltspire in mind as I face the storm on the outside of this vessel,” Fureva-Yung replied. They stared at each other a moment.
“Make sure to connect both your tethers to the outside.”
“I am ready with the first already.”
“You know Nox is not going to be able to bamf you back if you fall off. There are no windows on that side of the station, and her teleport won’t work through cameras.”
“I am aware.”
“Just so you know.”
“I know.”
 
Marius stepped out of the airlock and closed the door. The lock snapped into place and the airlock light went from green to red.
“Computer, depressurise the airlock,” Fureva-Yung said into station intercom and she suddenly heard the hiss of escaping air slowly grow quiet. Her suit ballooned around her as the pressure in her suit exceeded that of the air around her. The light in front of the external door went from red to green.
 
From a portal in the door, she could see the swirling red and purple gasses of the storm, as well as a violent eye on her short walk across the surface of the station. With one final shrug of her huge shoulders, she reached out and opened the door. It slid away into the wall, the last of the atmosphere left in the airlock giving her a nudge out the door. She looked around and found the second loop, the first on the outside of the vessel and clipped herself in. Checking it was attached securely, she unlatched the line inside the airlock and looked around for the next attachment point. Across the station’s hull were railings spaced at regular intervals. She reached up and attached the new line to a railing, checked it was secure and unclipped the second.
 
In this manner, Fureva-Yung slowly made her way across the station. Every once in a while, a remote camera would pop up out of the hull to watch her progress. She could feel Nox’s eyes watching through the camera as Jaden coped by feeding streams of information through their telepathic link. Behind her, the storm roared at her back, but Fureva-Yung ignored it as much as she could Jaden’s constant nattering.
Did you hear what I said? Jaden asked after Fureva-Yung had been silent for a long stretch, Fureva-Yung? Nox can you still see her through the cameras?
I can pay attention to the storm or to you, Jaden. Which would you prefer, Fureva-Yung grunted and she threw a safety cable past a broken section of hull to a railings several metres away. The wind whipped away the lead and she waited for a lull before trying again.
Oh yes…of course…its just…nevermind…Jaden replied, molified.
I am fine, Jaden, Fureva-Yung did her best to reassure everyone on the link as he threw out her line again. This time it caught on the handrail. She yanked it a few times, kept the tension on the line and let go the other safety.
In fact, it has been surprisingly easy, She boasted and heard Nox and Marius groan in her mind.
Fureva-Yung had a surprising trick for finding things simple and making them complicated. This was no exception.
 
Around the horizon of the space station, debris from some broken ship came directly for Fureva-Yung, currently only tentatively held on by one cable loosely wrapped around the safety rail. She leapt forward, reaching out a huge gloved hand for the safety rail and lay flat as the remains of the fighter sailed overhead. Tiny pieces of the ships hull, clattered against her helmet, until she felt the scraping and bashing of metal against metal. Turning her head she saw a path of destruction carved into the side of the station by the fuselage of the fighter. Hand rails had been stripped from the surface, a long gash left in their place.
FUREVA-YUNG! Her name screamed at her from three different minds.
I’m here, She said, taking a moment to catch her breath, But we will need to send the drones out to do a few repairs.
What happened? It was Jaden’s voice.
Marius’ parking is terrible!
A camera popped up not far from Fureva-Yung’s head in an undamaged section and surveyed the damage.
But….but…, Was all that seemed to come from Nox.
It looks a little hairy….no offence…out there, Fury, Now it was Marius’, I don’t think you can keep moving.

Fureva-Yung looked around. Other safety rails went around the damage area, though further away.
Nonsense, Furvea-Yung said and once firmly clipped into to the railing she currently held started a complicated rigging and climbing routine. Like a spider, she’d swing out her line, catch it before letting loose the secondline. Within half an hour, she was where she needed to be and was replacing parts.
 
It’s all looking good in here, Fureva-Yung, Jaden finally said as the last part locked into place and Furvea-Yung allowed herself a moment to watched the storm. In the atmosphere of the gas giant, the wind howled like a beast as the winds made teeth out of wisps of gas and cloud. A giant screaming maw leading to a crushing death man kilometres below. It was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever experienced.
 
Eventually, Fureva-Yung started the long trek back to the airlock. Tricks she had used climbing up didn’t work the same climbing down and more than once she swung out into open air only held to the station on a thin safety line. Eventually, hand over hand, Fureva made it back to the airlock. The door opened and she clipped herself inside. Through a small portal in the second door, three faces stared back eagerly. The door closed, the air pressure returned to station standard and the lights switch from red to green. Nox made it to her first, flying through the half opened door to wrap herself around Furvea-Yung’s helmet. The other two stepped, and helped her out of the suit.
 
Where is the fuel you require? The blue aliens asked, oblivious to the celebration.
We know where it is, we will move it onto the transport now, Admiral Fureva-Yung replied, In the future, can we come back and negotiate further?
Yes, you have shown yourself to be truthful.
I am Fureva-Yung, Fureva-Yung pointed to herself.
We are the Vulp.
 
Fueling was simple. The liquid fuel was in pressure vessels easily manevoured by lifting exo-skeletons on board the transport. The process of taking the transport out to the Illustria and transferring the fuel, swapping empty containers and returning to the mining station was boring, tedious and uneventful. Nox showed the Vulp how to use the communication system on board the station, which setting up a permanent backdoor for herself. Before leaving, Nox took out one of her pieces of crystal and reshaped it into a crystalline dragonfly.
She handed it over to the Vulp leader,It is a figurine of an animal that lives on our planet. Dragonflies the best hunters and flyers in the world, but they are only small. Some of the most surprising things are small.
 
The flight back to the Star Gate went smoothly. Smoother for some as Fureva-Yung decided to use the Oil Gland artifact on herself. After its use, her hair usually soft, lay back on her skin, slick like that of a seals.
 
They were back on the station. Shield was repaired and replaced and damage to fuel tanks sealed and the tanks refilled. Marius took out the crystal he’d carried with him from the datasphere of the Eastern outpost. Though not heavy itself, it had been a burden on his conscious for since capturing that particular piece of malignant shard. He connected it into a similar port on the station as Nox connected with the Tilted Spire.
“All ready their end,” She said and looked to Fureva-Yung sitting in the very comfortable command chair.
“Fire it up,” Fureva-Yung said and Jaden turned on the Gate way.
 
The station shook as a subsonic resonance rumbled, gaining in pitch and intensity. Out the wide smoke tinted glass of the station beams of light leapt from the station directed at the star. On the star’s surface, a rectangle of darker light slowly appeared. The Star Gate was open.
“Begin transmission,” Fureva-Yung commanded and Nox typed in a command. A beam of energy, sent from the other side of the universe, redirected through the station and straight into the portal. For minutes and data streamed through, all they could see was the bright white beam. A minute later, a second stream appeared and the crystal on the station went dark.
“Transmission completed,” Nox confirmed as the Star Gate automatically started to close once more.
 
The Star Gate and Tilted Spire were finally free of Shard influence. Fureva-Yung, Nox, Jaden, and Marius all silently looked at each other in awe of the moment. From running for their lives against the malignant shard that had taken over Cerelon, they had permanently captured two shards behind the Star gate. No longer lost and helpless refugees, together they had overcome personal and group obstacles and come out the otherside stronger. Now it was time to return to where it had all began. Now it was time to face the final malignant shard, at Cerelon.