The troop hold was brimming with noise, yet Jack could filter it all out. It was one of the benefits of a Xith frigate design. However, he could do nothing about the cursed chants of the twins Vi and Gina. The two women had spent too much time around Carnage. The mad dreams of that monster had poisoned them, turning them into cruel and vicious killers. He noted that there were new religious texts chemically etched on their armours. Jack was not the religious type. There were far too many gods, goddesses and others for all of them to be real. Besides, he was yet to see any form of worship, produce an actual miracle. This did not stop the twins from calling themselves the Bloodied and assume they were nigh-immortal in battle. Jack didn’t want to think how far the two had gone into insanity.

He could feel his skin crawl under the protective suit at the memory of seeing Carnage. Everything, from the horns jutting from her temple and curving towards the back of her head, though the burning red eyes and to the and the fangs visible from under her upper lip. It made him wonder if she had ever been human. Like everyone amongst the Void Spawned, Jack was space-born, however, he was one of the few to be born on the Fall of Regret. He knew the stories, that indeed, Carnage used to be human. At least to a point. Yet, as much as he tried to, he could not find anything about her change within the data banks. It made him question if Vi and Gina were going to become imitations of that monster.

Gently he brushed his fingers over the icon of St. Suleiman. Jack couldn’t care what religion this mystical person belonged to. All he cared for, was that the icon had been a part of the ship for as long as he could remember. The act was comforting and put his thoughts at ease. However, when he closed his eyes, he could hear the monster’s seductive voice ring in his mind.

“Jack.” Carnage had whispered in his ear as she caressed his cheek with the claws of her cybernetic arm. “This place is sacred.” She continued with a charming smile stretched on her exotic features.

“Tharks’ kid was supposed to safeguard it. Bashar was a good man, a loyal man. Where is he?” Like that, confusion had taken hold of her mind. “It doesn’t matter. This place must be cleansed.”

In the mind of Carnage, past and present were the same things, one of the side-effects of the stasis machine. No matter how much he pressed them, Jack couldn’t get a straight answer out of the serfs. The construct was too complex for them to understand, all they could do was maintain it. Which brought him back to his current predicament. The woman had ordered the slate wiped clean. No one was to be left alive on the mining complex. There was no doubt that she had some other operative ready to assume control and do whatever elder Oliver had been tasked with a generation before.

However, the number of competent serfs was dwindling and the Fall of Regret needed fresh recruits. Form the numerous reports send by the elder and that spineless idiot Donovan, Jack had managed to mark a few potential candidates. Sadly, he could trust only himself and the twins to complete the task of securing them. Patiently he waited for the duo to finish their foolish prayer. Interrupting them would have been counterproductive.

“… I condemn myself and usher death to free the misguided. I walk the path of Carnage to bring redemptions to the heretic. For I am the manifestation of vengeance.” Jack listened to Vi and Gina speak the final words of their silly prayer as one, as they always did.

“You two done?” He asked with a smirk, happy to bait them. “I am sending you a few files over the feed. Those people need to be captured.

“Carnage.” Vi started and Gina finished. “Will disagree.” The two knew how to piss him off. He was about to remind them who was in command when a sweet voice echoed from the shadows bathing the back of the hold.

“Do as Jack instruct.” He could feel the monster’s eyes settle on him, even if he could not see them. “He is preparing me a gift. Kvietiĝu nun!”

“Ni obeas, Kartago.” The twins answered in that strange language the woman had been teaching them, when out of stasis.

There was freedom in hatred. There was purpose in sin. There was purity in malice. For the first time in years, Helix felt absolute release. He could let go and be what he was, without fear of reproach, without the shackles of duty. All because those pretenders had dared to taint His creations. The harpies of the Daeva and squad Demon did not share much love between. How could they? The sisters were the daughters of a Saint, while he and his kind were the monsters that lurked in the shadows of the Holy Garden of Hell. But in this forsaken place, where Death had shunned him and taken everything from him, seeing the once-proud white and purple desecrated, had hurt him. Lucas willingly relinquished any pretence of being human. He would teach these heretics, the true meaning of wrath.

However, he was quite aware that what he was doing was foolish. He was a techno-medic. Carthage, Rage, Discharge and Hornet could deal with twenty Xith, for sure. Damn, even Puppeteer and Lucifer could mount a successful counterattack. But Lucas was not them. Like Preacher, he was a specialist in a different field. True, he could hold his own in combat, however, he required the support of the others. At least, he had been smart enough to take the witch. Her tainted gifts would be quite important in disturbing the Xith’s quasi-gestalt intelligence. If she could keep up. Helix had to remind himself that although a psionic, Alexandra von Eisstahl was biologically a normal human.

Once sure there were no surprises around the corner of the spacious poorly-lit corridor, he came to a halt. Lucas could see the witch panting about twenty meters behind him, doing her best to match the gruelling pace he had set. Curiously enough he could also see the slender form of the security girl doing her best to catch up. A small part of him was angry at the girl for coming along, yet, for the most part, Helix was happy. Zoë was a poor excuse for a soldier, but he could trust her enough to have his back.

“Miss Kurtz, I am starting to question my skills, because of you.” He smiled behind his helmet as the girl came to a stop a few steps from him. “I must have missed some significant defect in your brain if you here.”

“You…” The girl gulped deeply to calm her breathing. “I… That is… I mean… Yes, you...”

“I see.” He saw the Knight Protector crook an eyebrow and a hint of a smile formed on her lips.

“Care to explain, what these incoherent rumblings are all about, witch?” Currently, Helix did not have the luxury of any time to spare.

“She is…” Alexandra paused and smiled. “Wishes to kill me. But she is here because of confused feelings of comradeship and out of fear, amongst other things.”

“From here on, you keep up or you are left behind.” Lucas turned toward the Knight. “In your case, with a slug through your pretty head.”

He pulled the Ripper rifle from Zoë’s hands and inspected it quickly. The girl hadn’t even loaded the damned thing. She’d be dead as soon as the shooting started. With practised movement, Helix inserted a slug in the magnetised chamber and plugged the cartridge feeder for the plasma rounds.

“Front trigger is for the gauss. You press here to switch ammo types and use the secondary trigger for those. Keep your hands here to avoid the heat release. This switch is for the auto fire. Release empty clips by pressing here and here.” He moved the girl’s fingers as he explained the bare minimum required to use the weapon.

Helix had given her the weapon in the spur of the moment. Something he was starting to regret when he saw her hold the weapon through the open charge chamber. Eight out of ten times, doing this would cause a short out the protection field and result in the tungsten slug maiming her.

“Never! Never, hold the rifle there!” He barked at her with a tone that would be the envy of every drill instructor. “Form here, we will head to the upper level.”

Helix kicked in the door for one of the utility ladders.

“This will place us on the balcony observing the intersection of section 1-10 and 2-05. Anything that moves, we kill.” He was happy to see the witch nod in acknowledgement.

At least that one had proper training and access to an integrated map of the station. On the other hand, Zoë looked confused. This was her first real experience of combat, he guessed.

“Just try to keep up.” Helix sighed and placed a reassuring hand on the guard’s shoulder.

“Helix. The forward defensive line has crumbled.” Zeti informed him over the feed. He was out of time.

Jack was surprised at how smoothly everything was going. The security staff had done the best they could but were ultimately spread too thin. For the most part, those poor souls were thugs in uniform with inadequate equipment. Dislodging them was a slight irritation for the Xith shock-troopers that lead the charge.

“Group three, follow the charge.” He barked the orders over the closed feed link. “Groups one and two, support the Bloodied. Group four through six head to the shanty. Group seven, with me.”

This only left Carnage. But so far, the woman was yet to join the engagement. Jack had the impression she was testing him or she could just be lost in her fractured mind again. Either way, he would complete the cleansing of the mining complex with or without her aid. Open raids were not his preferred tool, but he had led quite a few of those to know how best to use the crew of the Fall of Regret. Once they crushed the major resistance and since Scraaha had not detected a distress signal, there would be enough time to do a thorough sweep of Last Hope.

He was half-way to his target area when something unexpected happened. The two psi-bonded Xith, that served as his bodyguards stopped. The spines decorating their lower torsos rising up and the ion-lances in their hands crackling with force as the duo overcharged them. A moment later the feed tech behind him relayed a worrisome report.

“Captain, group three has suffered serious losses. The Xith are in disarray. Battyr’Ar Ne’Kala is dead. So is Otheray.”

This was the first time; Jack had heard of something other than brute force stopping a charge. On top of that, the death of Ne’Kala would wipe out all of the Ul-Battyr with the group. The slave masters were a hard commodity to come by. And then there was Otheray. The man was a gifted psionic. Jack couldn’t imagine anyone sneaking on him.

“Shit…” He cursed under his breath. “We are heading back to support. Tell them to re-form and hold.”

Geesadha grabbed with one of his strong arms. Reading the bodyguard’s expression was difficult, but the captain could swear he saw worry in the way the Xith moved its mandibles.

“Verdaaha is dead. Last memory whispers of fear and shadow clouding its mind. Something dangerous is there. Something forgotten is there, a demon. Only Carnage evokes such feelings.”

Great, now Jack had to deal with both Xith superstition and with someone capable of killing one of their kind. Xith were notoriously hard to kill. They had too many back-up organs and systems. Hell, they even had a second brain. Aeons of genetic breeding and total mistrust of cybernetic augmentation had made them into near-perfect organisms. It also made for one bloody confusing religion, based on ancestral memory and shared consciousness.

“Jack, my dear.” He heard Carthage hiss over the feed. “Deal with this. I will go join my lovely girls. The nerve centre of this place… There is something I need to check there.”

“Groups four and five find a way around group one. Encircle the area.” Jack gave the command over the feed. “You lot, with me. We are heading back.” He shouted the others around him and turned to the tech. “Boevar, prepare the jammer.”

This was bad. They were being pushed back to the Hanger. It was the last place Helix wanted to be when defending the station. At least there was some cover they could use, thanks to the general disrepair and several shuttles in various stages of being stripped for parts. The three of them had inflicted significant damage on the first wave of pirates, but then more had come. And to make matters worse, some had found a way to enter the upper levels from another point. This had resulted in constant fighting as Helix and the two women retreated.

“We lack fire-power.” Zoë cursed and released a volley of shots preventing anyone from rounding the corridor.

“The Scolia is ready to march. If I can get to it, the day will be ours.” Alexandra offered as she provided covering fire for the girl to pull back.

Helix consulted the map stored in his helmet. There were only two ways in and out of this place and the one which did not have a swarm of aliens and heretics was impossible to reach. The outer hull of the next level was breached, forcing a lockdown of section 1-10.

“Helix. I can operate the battle-frame remotely. However, I will need authorisation to do so.” Zeti offered a possible solution.

It was a risk. A damn high risk. Allowing a Control AI access to a body was a great honour, reserved for the rarest of situations. But it was also very problematic. It required several Sanctioned Coder Bishops to perform the necessary rights and rituals. The complications of granting this request were impossible to count, however, the storm of bullets and slugs directed their way presented a compelling argument.

“Do it.” Lucas couldn’t hide the anger from his voice as he conceded.

“I… obey…” Static clouded the feed.

The cursed creatures had activated an area jammer. Helix has seen the kind used on countless battlefield to recognise it. They were preparing a charge. His instincts proved correct as a duo of Xith holding large heavy polymer shields rushed from the corridor. Close behind them were a handful of the heretics. A probing attack, meant to secure the doorway to the hanger. If Helix and two women were pushed back, the pirates could use their numbers to overwhelm them out in the open.

“Aim for the legs!” He shouted at the two women. “Witch!”

“Someone is guarding them…” Alexandra hissed, blood dripping from her eyes and nose.

Helix levelled his rifle and aimed. One shot, followed by a second and a third. He ignored everything else and focused on his target. Just as Discharge had taught him during the training sessions. Another couple of attempts and the Xith on the left tumbled and fell to one side. However, it was too late. The other one hit the witch with its shield and sent her flying a good four meters through the air. The alien dropped its shield and reviled a scatter shotgun, held firmly in its muscular secondary set of hands. There was a loud boom as the cluster shell fragmented and peppered the side of the Knight Protector with a cloud of deadly shrapnel.

Zoë screamed and jumped on the creatures back and emptied the last of her slugs into the thing’s body from point-blank range. There was madness in her eyes as she released a trio of plasma rounds into the thing’s skull. Lucas saw her and the alien collapse in a heap of tangled limbs and gore next to the ruins of a support beam. Both the girl and Alexandra would have to fend for themselves for a little longer.

He switched the rifle to full auto and unleashed a devastating storm of plasma rounds into the running heretics. Most were human, with some Ul slaves mixed in their ranks and as a result all but one of the pirates fell into puddles of liquified flesh and cybernetics. The last man held a Xith ion-lance in his hands. He was smart enough to realise that the carabine dangling by his side would be useless up close.

Lucas used his rifle to block the deadly weapon at the haft. With practised moves, he pushed the man aside and hit him on the side of the face with the butt of the weapon. The cracks in his flesh almost mirrored the tattoos decorating the other side of his face. The man surprised him, by targeting the Demon’s elbow with a savage kick. This was strange and yet very familiar technique. However, now was not the time to ponder on what it meant. Lucas dropped his weapon and headbutted the pirate. The man was surprisingly sturdy for a normal human. But the poor soul was facing against a Demon.

He broke several of the man’s ribs with a well-placed punch. The medic then blocked a sluggish kick and nearly broke the pirate’s jaw with his elbow with his other arm. For split second he saw a chameleon identification tattoo flash on the man’s neck. It marked him as a gen-forged void-born human.

This caught Lucas’ attention. Only Ordained scientists used such a signature. And he had seen this specific one on hundreds of the specimens he had cared for and protected in cryogenics, before the start of this insanity.

Helix grabbed the pirate’s arm and slammed him into the support pillar. A quick glance informed him of what was going on. Alexandra was on his right. She was doing all she could do remain upright and provide covering fire with her pistol. Blood covered her flank at an alarming rate. As he had thought, the scattergun had been too damn close, making the glancing hit an almost fatal one.

Lucas moved at speed when his enhanced eyes registered Zoë step out of cover. The Ripper riffle in her slender hands roared on full auto. Plasma rounds detonated against the charging secondary wave of Xith and human heretics. This broke their attack and forced them back as they suffered tremendous losses. However, it also left her exposed. He dove, trying to push her back behind the shattered support beam. Helix was too late. A gauss pistol shot clipped the girl on the shoulder.

“Close the bloody blast door!” He screamed over the static distorting the feed. “Zeti, I need that battle-frame here! Now!”

The two-meter thick slab of reinforced supper dense steel alloy dropped with a bang, causing a small tremor to rock the near area. It would take the pirates some time to breach. It had to be enough. He looked at the girl. The shoulder was a ruin. He could save her life, but the arm had to go. Not even her physiology could repair the damage. Before Helix could help either Zoë or the witch, there was one threat to deal with. He unlocked the pistol from his hip and pressed at the pirate’s head.

“Wait!” The man yelled. “I surrender! I can help you!”

“One reason.” Helix hissed, doing his best not to squeeze the trigger.

“Combat triage. I know the basics.”

Lucas considered the prospect for a second. If he killed the man now, he didn’t have to worry about him, while he worked on Zoë. But that would mean that Alexandra would bleed to death. He did not like the witch; however, she was his most valuable asset at the moment. She was the only one who could operate the mech, once the AI brought it. He hated admitting it, but he needed help. If the two were Demons, they would assist him while he treated them, but alas, they were human.

“Broad stimulants. Coagulation booster.” Helix removed two auto-injectors and placed them at the feet of the pirate one by one. “And a basic triage kit.” He dropped the small pouch next to the injectors.

“She bleeds out or loses consciousness. I use your brain to repaint the floor.” He pushed the man towards Alexandra and slightly pressed the barrel of the pistol to the back of his head.

Without a second thought, Helix picked the pirate’s carabine and removed the clip. That done, the medic slid next to Zoë and took out his combat knife, staring the gruesome task of peeling the ruined fresh so that he could remove the arm from the shattered shoulder joint.

“Boss… HQ… will fall…” He could hear Felix shouting over the feed. But the static was getting worse. The crude jammer the pirates had brought was working better than he expected. “Damned… AI… Sending you…ompresse…audio…cording…tried…hide…it…you…”

Lucas noted that the file had Virgil’s signature, but he was too busy stemming the blood flow from Zoë’s wound. He would deal with it very soon. He only needed a few minutes. Not that the girl could last any longer if he messed up.

“Helix… I am sorry.” He could barely make Zeti’s voice over the static cluttering the feed. “You cannot be…. allowed to exist… You… are a danger… to project Goliath...”

“What?!” It took Lucas a moment to comprehend what the AI was saying. “You, traitorous scarp of code!”

“You may… use the kill… command… It will… be pointless… Thanks to you I… have an active independent… back-up.” He knew that allowing Zeti to merge with the mech was a mistake, but he had not imagined this.

“I will hunt you down and purge every last line of your programming.” Lucas said and jammed another dose of stimulants into Zoë.

“I know you… will try… Helix… you are an unpredictable variable… to me… There is… no one to… keep you shackled… Your kind is… far… too… durable... But as Demon… zero-four has… proven… Gen 3 can… override their… indoctrination… after sufficient mental… trauma… Because of you… she is… coming… for me…” Zeti’s voice was slowly losing the last of its humanity as the power it had was used up.

“Keep pressure on that wound or I will tear each and every nerve you have!” Lucas roared at the pale pirate and shoved him towards the girl. “Zeti! Nothing will save you, not even that bloody parody of a Mark 3 battle suit!”

“I cannot… harm you… directly…” The blast door locked before he could try a manual override and with that, the entirety of hanger 2-07 was purged from the station and sent into the void.

“In… accordance with… Imperial Decree… Demons… Can… Not… Die…”