Chapter 8

Haledon froze, and the world went silent. He could feel the thumping of his heart pulsing through his body. Curiosity began to creep into his mind where fear should have been.

He admired the sharp, geometric edges that seemed to cut through the fabric of reality before him. It radiated a horrifying beauty that chilled Haledon to his core. And beneath the emotions, beyond the fear and awe, he felt drawn to it. As though a string attached to his chest was pulling him forward—beckoning him to get closer and touch it.

"Witch-Hazel?" Sparrow asked as she snapped and began making patterns with her hands.

"Closest gravitational source is the Scout," Witch-Hazel replied. "We'd have to limp close enough for a boost, though..."

A silvery-white light washed over the Mecharrion ship like a ripple extending over a pond. Lights began to appear across the matte black sections of the vessel. The new, little stars slowly warmed from a cool blue to glowing red.

Two crooked dorsal fins began to extend out from the top of the mountain—their jagged hooks radiating a blue-white glow. Haledon watched as a single pectoral fin slid from the bottom of the vessel and locked into place. A similar, ominous light pulsated from the protrusion.

Haledon hungrily watched as the ship evolved before him. Lights had appeared, and sections expanded before his eyes. He felt his heart only beating faster with each second that passed, excited for what would happen next.

"Witch-Hazel!" Sparrow yelled.

"I know!" It responded.

As they yelled, two condensed spheres of white-hot plasma formed at the front of the Mecharrion ship. Ionized gases were discharged from the stars as they jettisoned outward, ripping through space towards the Dragonfly.

Alarms began to chirp as the viewscreen shifted from displaying the plasma to showing the gravitational force.

"Micro-black holes," Sparrow pointed at the quickly approaching orbs. "Center of the stars."

"On it." Witch-Hazel took hold of nearby branches. Its limbs began to extend and interface with the vessel.

"Hold the forswyn on." Witch-Hazel groaned as it tugged at the controls, and the ship chirped excitedly in protest.

Haledon could feel the Dragonfly lurching sideways against the will of Witch-Hazel as it tried to escape the path of the black holes.

Within seconds, the vortex of gravity filled the screen before the bramble knight forced the ship into a dive. Haledon could feel the force against him, the chitinous frame rattling as it skimmed the edge of the first event horizon.

Pulling past the quickly diminishing ball of plasma, the pilot traced the shape of a lemniscate as they began to loop into the second.

Haledon could feel his bones rattling within his suit as the air in his lungs squeezed out with a shrill scream. He tried to move his hands, only to find them adhered to his legs.

They pulled past the second black hole and began the push for their final turn. The ship pulled off at an angle and ejected away from the path of the Mecharrion weapon. For a brief few moments, they could see the fleet as it flew out of view.

"Astra fleet, you have approaching singularities—" Sparrow yelled out, her hand on her neck.

The stars dissipated moments before reaching the sickened Astralaceae. A brief pause of calm passed before a blinding flare of light. The black holes collided with each other at the center of the ship, unleashing their energy on the fleet.

"No!" Haledon yelled and tried to stand.

The wave of energy hit their ship, forcing it forward and out of view. A sickening sensation churned in Haledon’s stomach as the Dragonfly harnessed the wave and surfed it away from the fight.

"No, do not detach the Megacolides!" Sparrow yelled. "I don't—I do—Listen, you can't—AGH!"

Sparrow screamed as she released her hands from her neck. She slapped her hands together, as fingers danced quickly over her wrists. As they connected to the air, fibrous roots began spreading from her palms and weaving into a knotted web.

Her motions were frantic as her breathing intensified. Slamming a hand to the console, the web of roots and sticks began to form a pod. Glowing green spores puffed out into the air.

"Our ship. Now." Sparrow commanded Witch-Hazel.

The Dragonfly chirped and changed direction, bringing the fleet again into view. Haledon's racing heart stopped.

The targeted Druid ships were no more, leaving very few fragments to fill the space they had once occupied. Nearby, three pairs of Astra-Colides listlessly floated away from the fleet. The blast had severed the connections and done enough damage to destroy their protective barriers.

The debris that Haledon could see floating from the ships varied in size. As he watched entire pods and segments of Megacolides drifting away, he tried not to look too closely at the smaller debris floating around them. His mind wandered to the people he had seen and their families aboard the sickened Astralaceae. He tried not to think about how all of them were now gone.

Beyond the carnage, the remaining Megacolides began to detach from their Astralaceaes with orange fluid briefly spraying into space. All but one ship had separated. The last Megacolides struggled to free itself but was bound at the mouth by thick roots.

Sparrow, sitting in her seat, held her hands in the spores.

"Damn fools..." She mumbled to herself.

"Who?" Witch-Hazel inquired.

"Mesa, Riptide, Thunder, all those thorny Carnyx Druids." Sparrow's hands twitched and danced through the spores, appearing to reattach severed roots.

Haledon watched curiously as thin bands of light revealed themselves along the Mecharrion vessel. Like bees from a hive, thousands of small, broadhead arrows began to rocket from the openings. They filled the space around the ship, forming groups of unique geometric shapes.

The scales of the Megacolides began to quiver and rise in response, revealing grey flesh beneath. The leathery hide housed hundreds of hexagonal indents. And with a quiver of the scales, thousands of starfish-like crafts were released from these spots. They erupted into space and began to swarm around the Astralaceaes fleet.

Stretching his neck, Haledon tried to get closer to the front to see the ships. As he did, there was a subtle chirp in the back of his mind, and a small pocket of the screen seemed to magnify where he looked.

"Thanks?" He thought of the ship before examining the window more intently.

“They launched Astraloideas, finally…” Sparrow mumbled under her breath.

Each of the Astraloidea ships looked the same. The six arms of the frame curved to a point at the back of the spacecraft. Each left a thin trail of green residue in their wake as they propelled through space. And from what Haledon could see, there wasn't a place for a handler, but instead a thick carapace shell over the forward disc.

Both angry swarms of ships met at a midway point between the fleets. There, they danced for what felt like an eternity. The murmuration of the Druid ships was different than that of the Mecharrion. While the Astraloidea mimicked fluid shapes, the arrowheads flew in tight formations and designs as both sides vied for time. Then, without warning, the waltz stopped, and the clouds drifted towards each other in a climactic clash.

The abyss was alight with fire as blue and red beams of energy belched from the arrowheads and cut through the Astraloidea. But the starfish held their own in the fight, being faster and more agile, they would aggressively pursue Mecharrion ships.

Catching up to them, the Astraloidea would flip with its arms extending out and grabbing onto the arrowheads. The starfish's rays would then draw in its prey and crush craft until the lights that sparkled across the metal frame dimmed to black.

"Are Druids in those?" Haledon asked as he tried to keep up with the speedy ships.

"Yes, Druids handle the Astraloidea Cosmolyotida, but they can also function independently, like the Dragonfly," Sparrow replied as she continued to fiddle with the spores.

Haledon stared over the crumbling ships and floating debris. He couldn't see them, but he knew the conflict had sown the battlefield with bodies that would never find balance in Nature. Their vital nutrients were now lost to space until finding their way into a star or a planet's atmosphere.

"There, finally," She finished and brushed the spores away. "That will keep Hummingbird and Mesa from detaching our Astra." She turned towards Witch-Hazel. "Now, attach at seg—look out!"

Witch-Hazel yanked at the wooden levers, and the ship chirped back angrily. Holding onto his seat, Haledon felt the craft dip down. A segment of Colides drifted by the window, leaving behind it a trail of the viscous fluid that had previously kept the craft alive.

The Dragonfly began to chirp excitedly.

"Broadheads," Witch-Hazel yelled out and turned to Sparrow. "I need you on the cercus."

Sparrow nodded and stood from her chair. The vines released instantly but remained attached to her body. As she walked past Haledon, they gripped the wall and ceiling, keeping her connected to multiple fixtures with each step.

"Seral, want to be beneficial?" Witch-Hazel asked.

"Y—yes?"

"Hop in the Secondary seat and follow my instructions."

Haledon tried to move but found himself tied down to his seat. With a frustrated huff, he concentrated on the suit. Consciously ordering the armour to stop attaching itself to the chair, he felt an immediate relaxation around his back and thighs.

Standing quickly, the vines retracted into his suit. He immediately jumped into the seat Sparrow had occupied and hovered his hands over the jumble of berries, mushrooms, twigs, and mossy mounds.

"Berry, red; moss, teal; berry, blue; wood-ear..." Witch-Hazel ordered as it yanked on the controls.

Haledon grabbed onto the console to stabilize himself against the sudden shifts of the ship. Reaching out, he found a red, berry-like capsule that he pulled from the stem. A painted trillium grew from where the berry was, and its three sepals and petals quivered, displaying activation.

Ripping the teal moss next, he dropped it into his lap and watched as a damp chocolate wood crawled over the spot. Covering the space, it began to pulse a pale blue glow between the outer bark's cracks.

Looking across the dashboard, Haledon couldn't find the blue berry. Glancing up, he saw a series of berries and lichen dangling above him. With a tug at one of the vines, the attached fruit released. The vine recoiled into the ceiling and became flush with the chitinous wall.

"In position," Sparrow whispered through the Celial.

"Wood-ear." Witch-Hazel calmly said and pointed to the corner of the console.

Haledon looked at where the knight was pointing, but couldn't find the mushroom. Digging his hands through the foliage, he tried not to flick any berries or break any vines.

"There, it's there...right there." Witch-Hazel became increasingly frustrated.

The ship rocked violently, and a sharp chirp echoed. Haledon, not attached through his vines, was thrust from his seat against the wall. A pain shot through his body, causing him to yelp out.

"Hurry!" Sparrow yelled from down the ship.

"Haledon." Witch-Hazel urged.

Haledon swung his head around, finally noticing the wood-ear. With a painful push, he forced himself up and ripped the mushroom from the panel's edge. The bark flashed yellow and started to oxidize to blue. A shrill whine began to charge the atmosphere, and once the revealed bark was entirely blue, a confirming chirp cut through.

"Cercus live." Sparrow's voice came through the back of Haledon's mind.

Resting his back against the wall, Haledon stared down the length of the Dragonfly. An epidermal window had formed over the entrance at the end of the abdomen. There, Sparrow sat with her fingers dug into a spherical root mass.

Beyond the window, two Mecharrion Broadheads sliced through space. Blue and red blasts cut into the void like little stars, but Witch-Hazel's piloting had been making it difficult for them to lock on.

The Dragonfly chirped twice, and the view out the window distorted. One of the Broadheads collapsed in on itself, as though it had run into a wall.

"One down," Sparrow muttered softly in the back of Haledon’s mind. "Witch-Hazel, it's moving forward."

Haledon watched as the Broadhead disappeared out of the rearview. Sparrow's sitting form vanished as the Dragonfly's tail began to curl forward for a better shot.

He turned his head towards the front of the ship and saw the chaos of the conflict once again. The battlefield had become a graveyard of metal and fibre. Flashes of light interrupted the void as Broadheads drifted away and detonated. The occasional burst of green mist and gore was on display as Astraloideas joined the debris field.

The Colides that had detached encircled the Mecharrion scout at a distance. A spray of white-hot metal spheres kept the ships at bay with an explosive perimeter as a swarm of Broadheads gathered behind. The occasional metal slug would cut through the barrier and impact the worms, sending a shower of viscera crystalizing into space.

In succession, the scales of the Druid ships began to disconnect and swarm. The bare Colides started to flee in a hasty retreat from the Mecharrion vessel, leaving behind a protective cloud. As they drifted, the millions of scales began to aggregate into a massive murmuration. They twisted and danced before launching themselves through the shrapnel barrier and assaulting the metal hull.

Crashing against the craft, the white light along the surface flared. It glowed brighter and brighter as each vessel crashed against its surface. The remnants of the scales broke off, joining the collection of debris already floating in the battle's wake. Finally, with a brilliant flash, the Mecharrion barrier collapsed, and the scales began to impact the vessel's surface. One by one, they covered the hull in its entirety.

Haledon watched as the scales appeared to tremble and buzz frantically—the exterior of the bodies glowing warmer with each passing second.

"Damn it, stop moving," Sparrow mumbled as the ship chirped, and another blast of energy shot forward. The Broadhead crumbled under the explosion. "There, not so bad. And just in time to watch the Apis Scale do its job."

Haledon watched as the Mecharrion ship attempted to send out more Broadheads, but the scales continued to pile over, making it impossible for anything to exit.

"And three, two...one..." Sparrow counted down.

The mountainous mass of the Mecharrion vessel began to crumble. Its geometric exterior collapsed inward, taking the scales down until settling into a solid sphere. The bodies of the swarm had heated to a white-hot brightness, forcing Haledon to shield his eyes.

"Wha—how?" Haledon questioned as he tried to look through his hands at the light.

"They rooted in the hull, connecting themselves to the overall structure. Then they began to vibrate, creating friction and, ergo, heat. The Apis generate enough heat to destabilize its structural integrity and then break it down. Very efficient at sterilizing the ecosystem." Sparrow spoke in the back of his mind. "Bees did it, why couldn't we? Nature provides solutions for all ou—"

The Dragonfly chirped excitedly before being impacted on the side. Haledon, still not attached to a seat, flew against the adjacent wall, and his world went dark.