I kissed Dixon goodbye and she squeezed me and purred. I raced off to the main port hangar. When I arrived, everyone else was already there. I pulled my bike inside the scout expecting to find Styx, but Mox was there instead. 

"I figured Zandar would need some help maintaining the Brick's systems and I know at least I can be trusted with the Vedma." 

Mox was sitting in the copilot seat. He reached down to his side and picked up a Veltearrik Acid Blaster. 

"I'm not sure you can be trusted with this either. So I'll hold onto it, if you don't mind. I never mentioned to anyone that you left your gun behind the last time we boarded the Vedma vessel." 

He was right. I was struggling with their influence. I could feel them coming and it made me happy and excited, which I'm sure was a bad thing.

"You're nowhere near as bad as that Dr. Death, but those witches got a hold of you." 

I couldn't deny it. It was true. 

"Pull your gogo up as close to the font as you can. I want to get my Sentinel in here. We'll keep you honest." 

He gave me a big Varan smile. I wasn't sure how the Sentinel was going to fit, but when I looked out the door, it was standing beside the ship. I pulled my bike as close to the seat as possible, ordered Wingus and Dingus to get in the back two chairs and to tap into the ship's systems and start learning them. I powered down the gogo and compressed it into a square. The Sentinel droid crawled through the door sideways and took up the entire back compartment.

Uzi forwarded a communication. The Magus was on a direct course to intercept the Banga. Between them and us were three Varan ships, a diamond scout ship directly followed by two golden Brick style ships, surrounded by a bunch Vedma fighters. It was the scout that was sending the communication and they were Varan. Mox projected the message on the front of the cockpit. On the image appeared two female Varan, one black and white and one bright blue with intense red eyes. 

Mox's tongue shot in and out of his mouth in a fury. "Taegu and Macrai, who else is with you?" 

The black and white Varan answered in the Varan language. She said they were alone and that the other two ships were overtaken by the Vedma ray. When the first ship was boarded, everyone was killed. They had the scout ship in the cargo bay of the second ship. 

They were heading back to the Varan system when they picked up the Banga warning about the Vedma approaching. They confronted the Magus and lost both ships immediately. They were the only two that survived. They got into the scout knowing it could resist the light ray and figured they might be able to make it to the Banga easier than back home. They were running fast and needed weapons and fuel. 

"We'll distract them, you get inside the Banga. It'll be a slim chance if you can get in here, load up, and get back out to fight before the Vedma take control of everything," replied Mox.

The lizard ladies agreed. Uzi cut in and said they would have a full complement of diamond missiles ready and waiting. I pulled the Blue Hand scout into the airlock. Dr. Death was inside already standing next to the Brick. He nodded to us. I told him to be careful out there and don't accept any communication from the Vedma. He didn't reply. He just looked pissed off. I took that for a good sign.

The airlock opened, we shot into space, and it began.

We raced full speed in the direction of the oncoming ships. I couldn't see them. Death was riding on top of the scout. His propulsion unit was fast, but we were much faster. The Brick pulled ahead of us. I increased our speed to the maximum. The Brick was still pulling away like we were hardly moving. I pushed the scout until I could get nothing more and the Brick was still pulling away. I could see the sparkle of the diamond ship coming in the distance. The two golden Varan ships were right behind it, one on either side. 

"Why can they outrun the golden ships, when I can't even keep up with the Brick?" 

Mox snickered. 

"You know we tricked out the Brick, it's not your average Varan craft. Watch." 

We watched the rapidly approaching ships. The Brick was on a direct collision course with the gold craft on the right side. 

"Blunt's got a fix on that cruiser. It isn't going to be pretty." 

I began to have that uneasy feeling that I didn't really belong in battles, a kind of nausea mixed with anxiety. 

I assumed the golden Varan ship was full of Mega Therion soldiers. It attempted to break formation realizing the Brick was heading right at it, but the Brick was coming way too fast. The Brick hit it square on. They were the exact same size. For a second we could no longer see the gold ship as it was eclipsed by the Brick. Then there was a terrific explosion. The gold ship was destroyed on impact. The front folded in on itself and exploded into a million pieces. After the blast subsided golden particles flickered in the emptiness of space. 

For the moment I wasn't scared of anything. When the Brick was around we were invincible. Blunt came over communications speaking Varan. He wasn't going to be able to take out the other one in the same fashion as he couldn't build up enough speed. He swung around and cracked into the side of the second gold ship. I opened fired with my laser cannon and peppered the golden ship with dents, but did no real damage. 

The Varan ladies zipped past us in a flash of glittering light. The Brick knocked the remaining golden ship off course enough for them to get away. They would make it to the Banga. 

"You're home free ladies, gear up and come back to help us," said Mox.

They replied, "sure thing, long scaled one," or something like that in Varan. I gave my playboy copilot a look. 

"Long scaled one?"

He shot his tongue out at me. "They're calling me old." 

"Here they come!" 

The golden ship was heading right for us. I could see that the cargo hold was blasted open from the inside. Probably how the two Varan women got out. I ran and they chased. I spun the scout around to fly backward. Blunt, genius pilot that he was, knew exactly what I was thinking. He maneuvered the Brick around and collided with the golden ship's corner, effectively changing its flight angle. I locked on two missiles and fired. The Brick butted up against them giving them nowhere to run. The two diamond missiles went right into the cargo hold and exploded inside the ship. Debris and robots were sucked out into space. The gold ship stalled and went adrift. 

Mox smacked me on the shoulder. "You two make a great team." 

He giggled with joy. For a minute I was enveloped in his optimism until the fighters caught up to us. The first thing I saw was dozens of missiles coming right at us. 

"Go!" or whatever the Varan word is for fast action. 

Since I was already facing them I punched it right at them, firing the laser cannon at the missiles directly in front of us. Some exploded, others slammed into us, shaking the scout but causing no immediate damage. 

"Head toward the adrift bar of gold and pull into the cargo hold. We're getting out." 

Mox went to the back compartment carrying his fencing foil and acid gun. He opened the front of the Sentinel droid's chest and tossed in his sword and the gun. Then he curled into a ball and climbed in himself. I pulled into the cargo bay.

I jumped out of my seat, pulled a belt over Wingus and Dingus and got inside my gogo. I opened the scout's door. The cabin depressurized and the gogo smashed into the unphased Sentinel. It pushed the gogo back into place and climbed out with Mox inside him; a robot trojan horse with a lizard surprise. The door closed, the cabin pressurized, and I climbed back out of my gogo. It was freezing. I adjusted the climate controls. Mox signaled to get out, so I did. 

When I pulled away they had already headed off toward the ship's central elevator. Dr. Death went with them. I glimpsed the two hulks moving into the ship, one sparkling crystal the other dark dense rust. 

I immediately had several fighters to deal with. I managed to dispose of one when the Magus came into view, still some distance off. 

Mox called me. 

"This bar of gold is totally under Vedma control. We liberated it form the robots still aboard but the virus is in the computer system. There are Mega Therion bodies everywhere. Killed when your missile depressurized the ship. I'm shutting down the engines and attempting a manual restart." 

He hoped the virus would be easy to get rid of.

The Brick took off at ramming speed toward the Magus. I continued to dogfight the fighters that didn't chase after it. I figured I would have to go back for Mox and Death. 

"I've regained some manual control," said Mox. 

The golden ship went into motion, picked up speed, and followed the Brick. 

The Magus was getting closer. She was big in front of us. Surrounded by hundreds of fighters. All its weapons fired and explosions filled the sky. Nothing stopped the Brick and it collided with the Magus at full speed, hitting dead center on the hundred deck ship. A fireball shot out of a three-deck deep hole, then flashed out in the void of space. The Brick didn't come out the other side. 

All the Magus guns now fired on the golden ship. It was starting to break apart. I used it as a shield, hiding behind it. I saw the Dr. Death's diamond suit in the cargo hold door. Then he rocketed out. I sped forward and he grabbed hold of the scout. Then I turned and ran back toward the Banga. The golden ship crashed into the lower decks of the Magus in another colossal space explosion. The Magus kept coming, trailing smoke and debris. I didn't see the Sentinel anywhere. 

The scattered fighters reorganized and all came after me. I ran. I was halfway back to the Banga when I saw the other diamond scout returning.

Death was screaming at me through his communicator. 

"My suit isn't affected by the virus! Turn around! We can take them!" 

I swung wide. Death was firing like a madman from the top of my scout. 

The returning Varan scout raced past me and blasted a hole in the tailing Vedma fighters. Taegu and Macrai came over the ship's communication again speaking in Varan. They essentially said something along the lines of 'payback time.' 

I took up a position just behind and slightly above them. Blasts from the Magus filled the space in front of us. As did countless Vedma fighter craft. I was trying to conserve my missiles and take out as many of them with the laser cannons as possible. I had a human battle turret on the roof blasting ships out of the sky with his handheld rust cannon. The small Vedma fighters were not much of a match for two Varan scout ships fully armed, but I was working through my missile supply and I knew there was no reload. 

I also knew the Banga wouldn't be sending any fighters. They were in the process of powering everything down. We were close enough that I could communicate over my rust transmitter. I informed Jonas and Uzi that the Brick was stuck inside the Magus and not communicating. I assumed it was ok, but Mox and the Sentinel had possibly been destroyed crashing the gold cruiser in a suicide run. The Magus was definitely damaged but hadn't slowed at all. 

Mox came over the transmitter. "I'm fine. I'm going in after the Brick."

 We came up on the Magus again. Death was blasted off the top of my scout. I saw him tumbling through space. I was taking heavy fire and it was shaking the ship something awful. The large laser cannon blasts ricocheted off the hull, but missiles exploded on impact. The scout's systems were taking a beating. We took both scouts in near the Magus and flew close along its surface, firing into it constantly. We may have knocked out some of their weapons, but it was hard to tell. 

All around us were flashes, explosions, and fighters trying to kill us. We headed up toward the Brick's impact crater. As we got there I saw the Sentinel, apparently undamaged, climbing into the smoking hole. It was cavernous, gaping and full of electrical fires. I could see the interior decks of the ship and somewhere around the middle was the dark rectangular shape of the Brick. It was intact but possibly damaged. Blunt didn't answer hails. 

I peeled away and went after Death. He was being blasted around space like a human pinball. The fighter weapons couldn't damage his suit, but his ion pack wasn't powerful enough to remain steady against so many laser blasts. He fired wildly, trying to hold on to his gun and keep his orientation. He would take a hit and go flying in one direction, then get hit again and go sailing in another, spinning like an out of control crystal gyroscope. 

I called to him, but he didn't answer. I fired two diamond missiles and destroyed two more fighters. I came up underneath Death and slowed to almost a stop. His spin sent him crashing into the scout. Luckily, he managed to grab hold. I punched it as we were taking fire. 

He spoke dizzily over the communications. "Thanks, man." 

I told him to hold on and executed a series of rolls followed by an improbable double loop that put us behind three short-lived Vedma fighters. We were right on top of the Banga. She lay ahead of us, a massive continent floating in space. Even though she was at full thrusters, it seemed as if she wasn't moving.

The firing stopped and all the fighters broke off and headed toward the Banga. She opened fired with everything she had and was crushing the number of fighters by the second. Uzi could have easily fought them all off. Then the light beam came flashing out of the Magus. It scanned across the massive scape of the Banga. Uzi let loose every outward bound missile and cannon he had in a last-ditch effort to delay the inevitable. Fighters exploded in mass all around the ship. The diamond missiles were immune to the ray. A wall of rockets sailed passed us. Our two diamond scouts weaved in and out of them. They pounded the surface of the Magus. The entire front of the ship seemed to explode. 

The burning Magus positioned herself right above the Banga and all firing stopped. The 100 deck conical Vedma mother ship that traveled the galaxy for thousands of years was looking her age. There were countless holes belching fire making the ship look like a burning building of terror. A serious crack was forming where the Brick entered. It rolled in space. I could see clear into their hangar bay. The door was destroyed and the inside looked like a scrapyard. Out flew four of their grappling ships. 

"I hate these guys." 

I warned Taegu and Marcai in Varan, but they were already on the other side of the Banga hunting fighters. These four were for me. They came right at me. I tried to run firing missiles as I fled. One was destroyed. The other three fired their big claws at me. All three connected. The big metal clasps wrapped around my ship and clamped down with a bite that never let go. They were reeling me in. I tilted and lost control. My cannons were faced away from them. 

"Death help!" 

He was already ahead of me, firing into the cables at close range. One broke, then another. Before he could blast through the third the other two ships shot him off the top of the scout, sending him again spinning wildly into space. 

I fired my engines and spun around the last grappling ship like a slingshot. I maneuvered until I got a clear shot and locked a missile. The grappling ship broke in half as I pulled away from it at full speed. The other two ships, both firing on Death didn't know what hit them when I fired my last two missiles and destroyed them. 

Death regained control and headed down to the Banga, rocketing along her surface. He was heading to the other side of the large globe that contained the supernova core. Uzi informed me that the port airlock had been compromised, all regular communications were gone, and only those of us with equipment that could resist the light virus could communicate now. 

On the Banga, they prepared for boarders. My once beautiful Blue Hand scout was now a scorched and tarnished mess with three iron bear traps clamped on it trailing industrial-strength cable. The third claw was dragging a good-sized chunk of a Vedma grappling ship behind me.

The Magus drifted above the Banga shining down its light beam of control. It was crazy that the comparatively minute Magus could so easily defeat the colossal Banga. The Banga was clearly infected by their virus. However, the engines continued to go. The shielded control room worked. With the Vedma in no real shape to pursue, I thought maybe we could outrun them and find a way to remove the virus before it spread throughout the ship. 

A series of explosions erupted on the starboard side. Fighters were flying in. Taegu and Marcai followed them. They announced this in Varan. Only I understood. I relayed the message to Uzi. He told Werner to move his team. I had no idea what good mammoths would do against starfighters. At least the pilot zero-Gs were armed with the rust-blade rifles. The grunt units with Forklift at the port side had only lightning swords.

It was then that the three sisters sent out their welcome message. It was sent ship-wide. The three of them appeared projected on my screen. Faye spoke directly to me. 

"Hello Hands, we've come back for you. Our ship is in distress and we will need to set down for repairs. It's so nice of you to open your port hangar doors for us. We see Captain Jonas is swimming with our old friend the little white whale in the Banga's sea. We can't wait to see how he's grown. Part of the Banga is not responding and possibly your engines and life support systems are at risk. We're all too glad to lend a helping hand with those areas when we dock with you. I hope none of you have forgotten us. We'll dispatch our robot repair crews presently." 

The communication ended. The Magus could still maneuver. She fired retro-rockets and moved toward the port side of the Banga. I attempted to send a message to Mox in Varan over our transmitters. I assumed the Vedma were listening and hoped they didn't speak the language. He didn't answer. I was much faster than the damaged Magus and was able to easily catch up to her and positioned myself near the Brick's impact hole. I could see the Brick inside motionless. They were getting closer to the port entrance. The Magus titled and lined up its hangar bay to the Banga's. 

There were repair robots already climbing all over the outer hull of the Magus. They connected and sealed the two ships together. I flew along the outside of the Magus shooting off the repair robots. The Magus seemed to power down. I continued to fire at it, not doing much damage. 

As I made a second pass they fired a volley of rockets at me that detonated in front of my ship causing some kind of electrical field. When I flew through it most of the systems on the scout went offline. They really were good when it came to incapacitating ships. I drifted, dead in space.

For a while, I was nothing more than an active listener. Uzi lost all control of the Banga's outer weapons systems. Taegu and Macrai rocketed through the Banga's interior chasing fighters in the starboard side highway system. Something like twenty or so Vedma fighters managed to make it inside and were now traveling through the passageways of the ship at will. Forklift had his men in position just inside the port hangar. The door they were behind opened up and he was face to face with legions of robot troopers. They fired diamond rockets over the boarding troops straight into the Magus hangar bay. I could see the reverberations of the internal explosion pulse through the ship. 

Forklift and the lightning sword elite Zero-G grunts attacked the wall of oncoming robot troopers. He had another hundred commandos who were basically unarmed. Their weapons all having been deactivated by the Vedma virus. They couldn't use any robo-combat suits either as they were also under the virus power. They fought to the end. They took weapons from the advancing robots and fired on the next row of them. They slashed through hundreds of them. The hulking size of our zero-G grunts was their only advantage. They rampaged forward smashing robots with their bare hands. When they reached the second wave of Vedma troopers who were armed with heavier assault weapons, they were all cut down. 

Forklift went wild and in his indestructible rust suit, he stood his ground firing and firing. The hangar filled with bodies and destroyed robots. The Magus hangar fire was going out and the exhausted Forklift yelled that he had done it. That he had held them back and saved the ship. He was the only survivor of the hangar battle. The last communication we heard from him, as apparently more Vedma entered the Banga, was "They're here." 

Silence followed.

"I'm coming for you buddy!" yelled Werner over our transmitter link.

Uzi cut in and ordered him to move his forces to an intercept position between the port hangar and the rust bunkered control room. Several of the mammoths had been killed by Vedma fighters and the giant dead furry mammals lay in the corridors off the starboard hangar. It would take them so long to march to intercept the boarders; it wasn't even funny. The battle for control of the Banga took a serious shift in time and scale.

I had my own problem to deal with, if I couldn't get my scout moving again the Banga would pull away from me and I would be lost in space forever. Suddenly the scout jerked in the direction of the Magus. Then I drifted some more, then another tug and another. I realized that Death was outside pulling the scout toward the Magus. He was holding onto the debris from the grappling ship and pulled me behind him on the wire that connected to the clamp. He reached the surface of the Magus and started climbing up. He was shooting repair robots as he climbed and heading toward the hole the Brick made. 

My scout crashed into the side of the Magus and dragged along its surface. Inside, I was treated to horrific scratching and screeching sounds. Out the window, the Banga looked like everything was ok and the Magus looked like it would never fly again. 

Death braced himself at the edge of the impact hole and pulled the scout in. He dragged me down to where the Brick was wedged, turned the scout around, and pointed to a section of the Magus interior hull. It was in between us and the cargo hold entrance of the Brick. He stepped out of the way and I fired my laser cannon. It had little effect, but I kept firing. A large section of the deck broke away. Death moved back in front of me and pulled out the deck and moved it to the side. It was a tight squeeze, but he was able to push the scout through. 

I got power back! I backed out and fired to punch a hole through the deck, big enough to fit through. I maneuvered into one of the side hallways inside the Magus. I could see that the security doors down the hall were closed to seal off the ship. We didn't have to worry about anyone bothering us. I backed up to the Brick cargo bay door. Death pounded on it. I thought about the radio silence moment we had when we first saw the Brick. The door opened and I backed in. The cargo hold was packed so I had to stay in the airlock section. Death stepped inside and the outer door closed.

Once inside, I had that feeling of safety again. I walked with Death through a small clearing past all the vehicles and robots, stacked to the ceiling. They were all jumbled around during the battle and the various collisions. The robots were organizing themselves back into secure positions. It was a good idea to hide them here. All the robots on the Banga had been shut down in hopes of keeping them safe, but once the Vedma got control of the ship they could easily activate them and infect them all with the virus. We reached the elevator, the door opened, and the Sentinel droid was inside with both axes a glow. 

"You don't have to fight this time," I said.

The Sentinel stepped back and we stepped in. We rode up to the flight deck. Mox and Blunt were working on the Brick's computers. 

"My scout is a wreck. I have main power back, but I'm out of missiles. What's going on with the Brick." 

Mox smiled, giggled, shot out his tongue, and returned his attention to the computer. Blunt craned his neck around and smiled as well. 

"We're playing possum." 

He seemed to pause for a moment, then asked me in Varan if he had said that right. I told him his grasp of English was more than impressive. Mox sent me and Death back down to the cargo hold to reload the scout with diamond missiles and to clear out the scout to fit us all. I had Wingus and Dingus park my gogo in the space where the missiles had been stacked. 

Atop a pile of robots two stories tall, the silver Lutung looked down on us as we worked. We attempted to pull off the first grappling claw. It had some kind of an electric locking mechanism. They were controlled via fibers in the cable line. Mox came down and saw what we were up to. 

"Stop! stop! stop! Those clamps are under Vedma control don't connect anything to them." 

Luckily, my rust transmitter made me impervious and Death was in his diamond suit. Mox opened up a container and pulled out a handheld computer interface. He disconnected it from the Brick's computer system, then physically pulled out its transmitter unit. 

"Watch this." 

He used the interface to send a signal down the wires of the clamp. The clamps opened and fell to the floor. Then he held the interface out for us to see. It was infected. The screen had that strange Vedma language on it. 

"We brought in a small panel from the Magus and have it isolated in the lab. We're trying to hack into it, but it's a risky operation. We've been doing basic scans on it and anything we connect to it instantly becomes infected." 

I wanted to get us back into action, to tell Mox that the Banga was boarded, that half our troops were probably dead, that we needed to act before we lost the whole ship, but it was nothing that he didn't already know. 

"What's our next move?" 

Mox waved his hand and the Sentinel droid glided up behind him. 

"We're going on a manhunt. We're gonna get that squid Professor Mildabbar. And we need him alive." 

I asked if he knew where he was. Mox explained that if they started to scan the ship they would know the Brick was functional. Furthermore, as soon as we start moving through the decks they are going to know anyway, so we need to do everything simultaneously. And of course, we were counting on the hope that the Professor was still on the Magus and not part of the boarding party already on the Banga.