Skinner was almost at the edge of the plaza when he felt something change. It was as if the air around him suddenly became charged with static. Even through his polyform suit he could feel it – just like back on the Gesiak. Something was very, very wrong. He was about to turn around and try to see what it was—even against his better judgment—when the ground beneath him began to shift. The metal plates holding the catwalks together were buckling and bending, as if drawn downward by some immense gravitational pull. Skinner scrambled for purchase, grabbing hold of a twisting guardrail and looking back over his shoulder. “Lumos, what the heck is this?!”

“Immense neutrino dispersion field building beneath the surface of the swamp,” Lumos said. “In excess of thirty-four million energeic units.”

Thirty-four million was insane. “No way – that’s not—” Before he could try to refute her, the water beneath the plaza was shoved aside as if by the hand of God. A sphere of translucent blue light expanded from beneath, pushing the metal plating, water, swamp plants and Zeatsana eels away from the center. Skinner held on for dear life as the guardrail was bent ninety degrees upwards, carrying him with it. “—possible…”

At the center of the blast was the Constellation Commander, his black armor chewed and dented in various places. His helmet had been partially eaten away by his encounter with the carnivorous inhabitants of the swamp. A single red eye, the size of a lemon, stared out of the gaps. The energy swirled out from around him, keeping the water at bay.

Skinner didn’t wait to find out what the Commander was going to do next. He slid down the vertical pole and landed hard on the remaining metal panels. They were shaking and rattling under the force of the swirling energy. He took off towards the gate, following Lumos’s leading lights, intent on reaching the dropship she was still pointing him towards. “Lumos, I need solutions!”

“In progress, Captain,” she responded, her voice filled with static from the dense neutrino interference. “The presence of a Psionic was not factored into the original escape plans.”

“You don’t say?!” Skinner yelled into his helmet.

There was a rushing noise behind him as the water below the catwalks raced in to fill the recently-created void. Something slammed into the panels behind him with enough force to knock him on the ground. Several of the metal sections plunged into the water below, disappearing into the roiling green muck. Something slammed into his legs, coiling around his body like a serpent before lifting him into the air. Skinner struggled in vain as he was dragged backwards and turned around until he faced the Constellation Commander. “Clever,” he snarled, his eye still burning red.

The Zeatsana had chewed through his armor in some places, and Skinner could see the bleeding bite marks. Although the Commander was trying to put on a brave face, his labored breathing revealed how much pain he was actually in. Blood trickled in rivulets out of some of the plates in his armor, dripping down onto the catwalk. Skinner twisted in his Psionic imprisonment, trying to free himself. The problem, as he’d learned once before, was that Psionics utilized nothing but neutrinos and energy. There was nothing to push against to earn his freedom. “Yeah. I sure thought so…” he said.

The Commander, who had been holding his arm out with the palm up to draw him in, closed his fingers into a fist. The Psionic tendrils tightened, almost squeezing the air out of Skinner’s lungs. “The artifact. Where is it?”

“What artifact?” Skinner gasped as soon as the energy lessened. “You chased me off before I could get anything!”

He was yanked in until he hovered a few inches away from the Commander. From here, he could see more details about his assailant. Beneath the cracked helm was a relatively human face – or at least one that had human DNA influencing its structure. The single eye he could see was bulbous and huge, very similar to Lumos’s eyes when she chose to appear on his hologram plates. It seemed to swirl with colors, shifting between a brownish-green and red. The Commander’s skin was grayish-black and mottled, comprised of reptilian plates. “I am not going to ask you again,” he said, his eye flaring and shifting to one of the most vibrant red colors Skinner had ever seen. “You either tell me where you put the Gaither Key or I’m going to dip you in this swamp inch by inch until those eels eat you alive!”

Skinner was about to respond when Lumos interrupted him, her voice filling his helmet. “Shield purge ready, Captain. Brace yourself to run!”

His suit’s energy shields, although weak, suddenly flared to life and pulsed outwards in a sphere. The result was a weak EMP that disrupted the Psionics holding him; not a lot, but enough to drop him to his knees. The Commander snarled in frustration, taking a step forward and lifting his arm. Bluish fire crackled along his forearm as he built up another Psionic attack.

One of the colonists tackled him around the waist from behind, propelling him forward. Skinner rose from his crouch and drove a solid uppercut into the Commander’s jaw. He could hear his jaw slam together as a spray of blood squirted from the ruined sections of his helmet. The colonist continued forward, slamming the black-armored menace into the guardrail. “Get going!” he yelled. “We’ve got him!”

Two more colonists rushed the Commander, grabbing hold of his Psionic-charged arm to keep him from pointing it anywhere. That wasn’t going to work for long and Skinner knew it. Psionics didn’t depend on physical direction. They behaved like a physical limb of their own, controlled more by nerve impulses and thought than anything. Even so, the colonists were buying him a moment. He barreled past them towards the dropship. “Thanks!” he yelled. “And thanks, Lumos!”

“My pleasure, Captain. Please be warned, his Psionics are extremely powerful. I will likely not be able to do that again. You will also need to repair your shield capacitor as soon as possible. That pulse fried the emitters.”

“Better than being dipped in the swamp,” Skinner said. “I’ll make do until I can afford a new one.”

The Constellation dropship was hovering just outside the northern gate with both access ramps down. Skinner pelted up one of them into the crew bay, still following Lumos’s guidance. A surprised Constellation guard tried to reach for his pistol but Skinner had already seen him. With a grunt, he threw himself bodily into his opponent and knocked them both to the floor. Surprised and confused, the guard had no chance to defend himself as Skinner hurled him bodily from the dropship and punched the door controls. “Ok Lumos, we’re in.”

“Upload me into the main terminal,” she said. “Make sure to check for any resident CI pilots first.”

Skinner didn’t know what a Constellation CI chip would look like, so he just tore out any peripheral software adapters until he was sure he was safe. He plugged her into the terminal, stepping back so she could work. He chanced a look out the main windows and saw the Commander bodily hurling the colonists away. Even from here, his rage was palpable. His Psionics swirled around his body like a blue thunderstorm. Every now and then, bolts of it would arc off his damaged armor and come into contact with the metal walkways. Some of the metal turned black… some of it melted.

“Lumos, you might want to fill me in on what exactly he is!” Skinner said. “Because I think he’s coming this way!”

“Initial analysis of his physical structure indicates a blending of multiple DNA types,” Lumos said as a holographic map of the system appeared in the cockpit. “He seems to share quite a bit of structure with you, but Humans are not known for possessing Psionics like his.”

“Pity, too – I could use them…” Skinner said. “What else can you tell me?”

“Unplug me and return to the crew cabin – the dropship is going to take flight. You need to prepare for a hard drop into the spaceport so we can recover the Dangerous.”

“What’s the plan,” Skinner said as he pulled her chip from the console.”

Lumos blipped into his ear the moment her chip was connected. “We return to the Dangerous and prepare her for takeoff. The Venan-class ships are already aware of my intrusion into this ship. I was not subtle – this is meant to be a diversion. The moment they attempt to follow the dropship, we are taking off in the Dangerous and jumping away from this colony.”

“Solid plan,” Skinner said as he ran back into the crew quarters. He snatched a rifle off the wall and tucked it through the straps of his bug-out bag. He pocketed a few clips of ammunition as the ship lifted itself abruptly into the air.

“I do not believe firearms were part of that plan,” Lumos said.

“No, but I can sell ‘em later,” he said. “Or use ‘em if these guys get too close. My little pistol isn’t going to get me very far against the Constellation. Especially not that lunatic out there.”

“Considering his level of Psionic mastery, I suspect bullets will be of little use. The required force for him to keep that much water at bay is immense. That also does not factor in protecting himself from the local fauna, or picking you up, or exuding enough force to buckle metal platforms and bend guardrails.”

Skinner didn’t say anything. He opened the side door as the dropship flew over the colony. They were almost over the spaceport when the ship lurched to a stop, hanging in the air. “Lumos?!”

“Psionic tether! He has grabbed the dropship from below!”

Skinner jumped, leaping forward towards the spaceport roof. He landed hard on his chest, groaning in pain as he scrambled to his feet and ran up the gentle incline towards the top. The ceiling above his ship was open – he could drop down from up here and hopefully not break every bone in his body.

The dropship was still trying to fly upwards, aiming to break out into the atmosphere. Skinner could see the coils of blue light wrapped around it like the arms of a giant squid. The metal hull plating creaked and groaned beneath the Psionic onslaught. “Lumos, I have a new plan!” he said as he reached the open ceiling above the port.

“What is the new plan, Captain?”

Skinner jumped down onto the Dangerous, landing just above the main cockpit. The curved body worked against him as his feet lost their purchase and he slid down the port side. He grabbed hold of an access ladder to stop himself from flying off the side and into the swamp below. “Ugh… we’re going to fire up the Dangerous as soon as I’m in. Shield all circuits pertaining to navigation, critical power and the DS Reactor.”

Lumos was quiet for a few seconds as he climbed sideways across the Dangerous’s hull and into the alcove where the port-side door was. “Captain, without power to the thrusters, we will not be able to attain orbital velocity.”

Skinner looked up as a horrendous sound filled the spaceport. The dropship, still held in the Psionic tethers, was being crushed by the immense pressure. He could see the rivets bursting as the frame began to cave in. Sparks exploded from the cockpit and emergency lights flared along the lateral stripes. “We’re not going to achieve orbital velocity at all at this rate,” he said. “Work with me!”

He forced the door, racing for the bridge without bothering to close it. Lumos was quick to point this out. “Captain, even if we escape the planet’s surface, both doors are open. We will depressurize quite quickly.”

“Then close them as soon as we have power,” he said as he exploded onto the bridge. “But we need to get out of here… like, yesterday. Can they trace us?”

“I will do my best to ensure that they cannot,” Lumos said. “What is your plan?”

Skinner ripped her chip out of his helmet as he sat down, plugging her into the main panel. “Just spin up the ship,” he said. “I need to focus.”

“Affirmative,” she said as the ship slowly came online around him. Lights winked on across his dashboard, giving him a diagnostic of his ship’s overall health. He bypassed it all, skipping straight to his reactor controls.

An explosion echoed through the spaceport as the far doors burst open. Skinner could see them through the front window as they spun through the air and crashed into the swamp. His black-armored opponent was striding towards him, blue fire wrapped around both arms this time. “The aforementioned circuits have been shielded.”

“Good, throw all reserve power to shields. He just crushed a Constellation dropship. He can fold us like a scrap of paper,” Skinner said as he began disengaging the safety locks on his DS Reactor, removing it from Lumos’s reach and bringing it under his manual control.

Psionic tentacles slithered around his ship, sparking against the shields Lumos had raised. “Captain, what are you doing!? Without those safeguards, the DS Reactor could—”

“Lock in the coordinates to Schunston!” he said. “Before he crushes us like a tin can.” The massive ship overhead pulsed with another EMP. Skinner felt it wash over the ship like a wave of static. His shields flared, still resisting the Psionic forces squeezing them like a stress ball. Lumos had done a good job of shielding the circuitry. While the lights pulsed and died, his control interface remained. Vital systems remained online as well. “Lumos!”

“Affirmative, Commander. Destination set: System:Guevami/Planet:Schunston.”

Skinner sat down, reaching over his head and flipping several switches. The gravitic clamps holding his ship to the docks released, dropping the Dangerous downwards. It splashed into the water, throwing eels and slime everywhere. The sudden drop dragged the Commander forward by his own Psionic tethers. He found himself staring down into the swamp, using as much force as he could to prevent the Dangerous from sinking. “Lumos, fire the DS Reactor! Now!”

“Captain, if you fire the reactor, the resulting pulse will destroy most of the colony,” Lumos warned him.

“The Constellation has already done that,” Skinner said as he keyed in his authorization code on the panel to his right. “Fire the reactor, Lumos!”

The familiar drop happened in his gut. As if sensing what was about to happen, the Commander released his Psionic hold on the Dangerous and instead threw up a barrier around himself. A moment later, he vanished from view as the rainbow light surged around the ship. Skinner took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The bubble he’d created dragged part of the swamp water, dirt, eels and bits of catwalk through space with him. It was messy, and he knew he’d managed to destroy a good portion of the spaceport with the resulting Casimir wave and vacuum collapse, but he was free.

“How long to Schunston?” he asked.

“Long enough for you to bring the DS Reactor back under my control, Captain,” Lumos said. “Leaving it disconnected from primary systems like this is dangerous.”

“I know, but we had no other choice,” Skinner said. “I’ll reconnect it in a second… just let me catch my breath.”