Alec pushed the entirety of the vial in his arm into speed and focus. It all slowed, and Alec took the time to place T’sala. She was on the way to the baron, but if she acted rashly as Maywil had with her rage in the train, it would be more than Leana. The war and Teretha on this planet would be done. He marked a path to the base of the ladder, then abandoned it for a riskier one along a sapper line. He holstered both revolvers and gathered two of the whips from the apocalypse crew in motion. The blinks of the soldier's eyes around him took minutes to his focused mind and speedy movements. The path ten feet down the line was cleared before the first soldier called out in pain.
In his motion, Alec was surfing a wake of carnage and blood, crashing in like a tidal wave of pain behind him. The whips had ripped and torn, dis-arming soldiers along the way. The clank and splatter of severed arms still grasping weapons followed like thunder. By the time he had reached the end of his path, the smartest of the soldiers had begun firing in his direction. He watched every shot land and avoided them with ease, most likely appearing as if he was dodging bullets to the soldiers attempting to hit him. He could feel the rush of Aamaranth slowing with the incredible excersion.
He took a giant leap from the platform to a sapper in the middle of an upswing. The whips wrapped around the metal, and it held, unlike the fleshy arms of the soldiers behind him. Alec used the momentum to pull himself up in an arc, connected by the whips. He let go and flew through the air, with his incredible speed, he rattled the catwalk he managed to land on, up the forty-foot ladder. T’sala was nearing the top. She looked up ahead of her and saw the digital glint of his eyes, clearly recognizing the ring of his spurs. He breathed slow, heavy breaths as he reached for the last Aamaranth vial in his armband. Now all that remained was the tenth of a vial of the raw Teretha liquid blue power. T’sala called from below. “Offworlder, you are off plan and off position.”
“As are you.” Alec was too tired to hide the frustration in his voice as he fumbled to slot the last vial. “That T’sala, that! That is why you were to target the circle, not seek vengeance for your brother's ghost.” The anger on T’sala’s face was fierce in the light of the rift station. As she pulled herself up onto the platform, she was finally able to see the Dreadnaught and hundreds of soldiers rushing to this planet from another through a wafer-thin portal. T’sala began to speak, but Alec cut her off. “From here, T’sala, you have to do it now! He can wait.” Alec turned to indicate the Baron Von Sinclair sitting behind the protective glass of the control station.
The baron was not there. Alec was still fumbling with the vial, trying to slot it as he saw T’sala’s eyes widen as she focused on something over his shoulder. The baron, piloting an armoured mecha-suit, landed on the catwalk. The sound of magnetic clinchers punctuated the air as the feet of the suit the baron was in bonded to the metal. With the added stability the punch Alec felt from the metal hand at the control of the baron knocked new constellations into Alec's view. He needed to get the Aamaranth slotted.
“No!” It was T’salas’ voice calling out, but Alec could not see her. His vision was blocked by the ringing punches that bared part of his metal skull to the outside light. Alec’s grip faltered, and the vial fell from his fingers. This time, the slow motion was not of Aamaranth focus but pure horror. Alec saw it bounce on the metal grate with T’sala reaching out for it as he did. Below, the battle raged on. Preacher was no longer alone; Maywil, Doc and Smudge were there. They walked back to back toward the platform, surrounded on all sides, being forced to the dreadnaught. Far away, the Teretha were falling back, now that Quip had the children safe. Alec thought he could see a dust trail returning in the distance. Quip had no reason to come back, but he was wild and untamed now. In what looked like their last moments, Alec could respect a choice to go out with friends rather than hiding with the vulnerable.
Alec’s focus on the vial did not aid him. T’sala hesitated, taking her attention from the bouncing blue vial and turning it to the baron for a moment. That moment was enough, and it slipped through both of their hands to the platform below. The transparent tube did not shatter but lodged itself near one of the weapons crates.
Will pushed Alec forward in the absence of Aamaranth. In his despair and devastation, he roared, and the baron broke his rhythm for a moment. Alec struck. The knee of the man, not the mecha-suit, was the weak point in these heavily armoured models. There was a small access hatch there that gave under just the right pressure. Alec had the right amount even without Aamaranth. He heard the metal bend and buckle, and then a scream of pain from the baron.
T’sala took her moment and pounced like a wild cat. She had abandoned her firearm, and with the Aamaranth naturally in her Alec watched in awe as she braced her feet against armoured shoulders and pulled on the helmeted area. There was a shower of sparks and metallic grating noises as the baron's head was exposed, unarmored. T’sala tossed it below, and it landed on some soldiers near Preacher. She clawed at the Baron's face, finding purchase and blinding his left eye. He cried out. “You purple bitch! How you are yet here is impossible!”
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“Then witness the impossible woman. You may have been the fire I was forged in, but the metal is all mine. The strength within is mine!” Each ending of a sentence was punctuated with T’sala scratching more at the face while metal hands tried to pull her free of her perch on the mecha-suit. With the leg injury, the Baron could not move easily. Alec stood tall, using the handrail to steady himself. He looked to his shoulder where the drops of Teretha Aamaranth sat in a vial. Alec’s shaky hands pawed the vial free, and he slotted it. He felt the rush as the remaining shimmering blue disappeared into his arm.
“He is in retreat! Now is the time, Alec, help me end this abomination!” T’sala was desperate. The baron had managed to pull her free and was attempting to pull her struggling form to the forty-foot fall off the platform. Alec looked past them with focus to see the dreadnaught meters away from the rift. Preacher, Doc, Smudge, Maywil and three Teretha were standing in a circle fully surrounded.
“I’m sorry”, Alec stated as he used the last push of Aamaranth to spring himself past the distracted baron towards the control room. Alec could see the twisted, victorious smile of the vulnerable baron, realizing no aid was coming to the Aamaranth woman. Alec knew she would be fine, even if she did not, but the look of betrayal on T’salas’ face was complete. Her opportunity for vengeance was lost as the baron tossed her off the edge of the catwalk.
Alec got to the control booth just as the baron was turning, and T’sala was nothing but a screaming voice falling to the void. He punched the door lock, and the security door slammed shut behind him just in time. The baron had managed to hulk over, despite the injured knee and began banging on the door. These control rooms were made to withstand incredible force; the barons' attempt would be futile, and Alec now had the time he needed. He began the shutdown sequence that Smudge had gone over with them all as a failsafe for such an occasion. He was able to recall it in perfect memory with the tiny bit of Aamaranth, but Alec could feel it waning even now.
The shutdown still took some time, and Alec hoped he had just enough. The Dreadnaught was getting closer by the second, but Alec knew he could get it done just in time. Then the unthinkable happened. Sparks burst from the control board, and he felt a lurch as the booth pitched forward with a metallic crunching noise. Alec looked to the side to see the Baron, wide-eyed in rage, with his magnetic, clinched feet braced against the platform supports while his hands pressed the control booth forward. The mechanics inside the armoured suit groaned, and Alec tried to hurry. Cables snapped free, and more sparks sprang from the controls. A small fire started in the corner. This crazy fool could cause a rift-storm like this, but with the look of mania in the baron’s eyes, Alec knew he did not care.
The booth set itself free just as Alec felt the exhaustion from lack of Aamaranth set in. He took his last movement to open the security door before it lost power, and then his body fell, free-falling to the platform below. Alec had heard some say one’s life passes before them before death. Alec doubted death had time for that in his case, so it settled for a clear picture of the present. One last slowing of time before it stopped for him.
The control booths fell, crushed a large portion of the soldiers, and Aamaranth charged with rifles. The ensuing explosion lit the world in a vibrant purple-blue. Maywil was being dragged by Smudge; she was limp and unconscious, and tears stained Smudge’s eyes. Doc was calling to the boy from where he stood beside Preacher. Behind them, a group of soldiers were taking aim. They were doomed. That was until Alec saw the shimmering cockpit of Quip leap over the ramp and land in a bloody splatter of the guards taking aim at Doc. Alec felt a sense of calm knowing he and Quip would end this how they began it, together.
Still stuck in time, Alec took in the rift station itself. The dreadnaught had reached the portal, and the main gun arm had exited and was priming for devastating fire. But the rift itself was crackling and firing purple arcs and smoke. Soldiers on both sides were running from it, abandoning the battle, knowing full well what it meant. Any nearby were about to witness a rift storm. To his left, he saw T’sala dusting herself off where she had landed unharmed, cradled by his impact suit. She was marvelling at her survival as her eyes met his. He knew from his own Aamaranth skills that even from this distance, she was seeing him as clearly as if they shared a dinner table. He saw her in that moment truly, as did she him, and they both knew the inevitable. Alec was going to die.
It wasn’t his life that passed before his eyes, but just the last days of getting to know the Aamaranth woman. Despite her volatile nature and even the self-focused revenge that had lost them their plan, Alec knew he had found love in his bio-mechanical heart for her. In her gaze in that moment before time would end for Alec, he knew that she felt it as well. The rift station let go a tearing sound that sundered the sky. Purple arcs reached out like angry octopus tentacles wrapping themselves around Alec, his allies and enemies in kind. Then the world went black.
The cable the Grounder carried would tune this rift to whichever planet was programmed by the station on the other side. Without the proper tune it could cause a Riftstorm where they would all get ripped apart cell by cell. Some had claimed they fell through unstable rifts into other planets. Alec didn’t know if he believed it, he’d seen more blood on unstable platforms than magic disappearances."
