The whole crew started preparing the mines and recalibrating the lasers on the Vulture. Nexeer gave Six the coordinates to the location where his grandfather was usually and Six took the Vulture to the location. When they got to the coordinates, there was no one there so they started implementing the plan.

When all was ready, they moved back a bit and fired the lasers. The rip in space-time was so strong that it pushed the Vulture back a long way away. They needed twenty minutes to get back to the rip. When they got back the titan of time was there fixing the rip in time-space. The titan of time looked at the Vulture and asked. “Did you do this?” His voice was so loud that the whole ship shook.

“Yeah, grandpa we did.” Nexeer said.

“Nexeer? What are you doing here? Why did you do this? How many times do I have to tell you not to play with space-time?” The titan of time said.

“Hundreds of times grandpa. I did it because I need your help and you weren’t here.” Nexeer said.

“I was on vacation. You could have looked for me in our vacation realm.” The titan of time said.

“Oh, I honestly forgot.” Nexeer said. “But since you are here I need the blue Astrum back. Mom sent me to get it.”

“Why is she not here herself?” The titan of time asked.

“You two haven’t been speaking for thousands of years. Why do you think she didn’t come?” Nexeer asked.

“That is a good point.” The titan of time said and extended an arm toward the ship. On his palm, a small blue object appeared. “Open your hand Nexeer.” The titan of time said and as Nexeer opened his hand, the titan of time transferred the blue object to Nexeer’s palm. It looked like a blue rose made out of glass.

“Thanks grandpa and sorry about that rip. It won’t happen again.” Nexeer said.

“It is alright. I will fix it. It was nice seeing you. And say hello to your mother.” The titan of time said.

“Will do. By grandpa.” Nexeer said and the Vulture hyperjumped back to base.

As they exited the hyperjump Three, through the comms, said all the crewmembers to the meeting room. The Vulture docked and they headed to the meeting room. As they entered, they all had smiles on their faces.

“So, you got it?” One asked.

“Oh yeah, we did. My plan worked perfectly as ever.” Three said.

“Good. Nexeer give me the blue Astrum.” One said.

“No. I can’t.” Nexeer said.

“I’m not going to use it, so it won’t corrupt me. Just give it to me and I’ll put it in a safe place.” One said.

“I know that you won’t use it but that doesn’t mean it won’t corrupt you. As we speak, it’s slowly corrupting all of you. We need to fix that before all of you rip each other apart to get to it.” Nexeer said.

“What do you mean that it’s corrupting us? And how are we going to fix it?” Three said.

“When I stole it the Astrum got damaged and there’s only one person that can fix it.” Nexeer said.

“Who?” One asked.

“We’ll get to that. You first have to understand why it was made.” Nexeer said.

“Why is that important?” One asked.

“You’ll understand. Just listen.” Nexeer said.

“You know the old saying * We were brought together by fate *. Well, that one is true but only for a small number of species like humans.” Nexeer said. ”For humans, Fate brings together soulmates, and for millennia it was like that. However, each time that she brought two souls together she got a little bit bored with how easy it was. So she started making it harder like for two humans, for two soulmates to meet each other.”

“But why would she do that if her job is just to bring two soulmates together. Why make it more difficult?” Two asked.

“Think of it like this you have at task to do, like… To bring one ball from one place to another ball and you do this for thousands of years. At one point, you get bored and you swing the table, where the balls are, a little, so the ball doesn’t go straight, it zig-zags towards the other ball. That makes you want to see what you can do with the balls further.” Nexeer said.

The crew looked at him in complete silence.

“I know it’s not that simple but that’s what started to happen with my mom millennials ago. Before I was born. You know that she is not in charge of the fate of just humans, she is in charge of the fate of every species. The only difference is that other species tend not to have soulmates as humans do. Two, your species doesn’t have soulmates. Adults from your species meet, have a child, take care of it until it turns six or seven and then they give you a way to a school that teaches you how to use and make weapons.” Nexeer said. “Did you ever see your parents after they left you?”

“Once. They were glad that I lived through school.“ Two said.

“My mom uses your species when she needs a specific weapon made. She pulls her strings to manipulate the events so that two adults of your species have a child and then that the child makes the weapon for one of her plans.” Nexeer said. “Three, you live in large families and take care of the children like they are your own, no matter who the father and mother are. Do you have a male and female that live together for the rest of their lives?”

“No. The whole family lives together and all my brothers and sisters are actually my half brothers and sisters or we aren’t related at all.” Three said.

“Six, your planet has families with a mother and father, have children, but you don’t choose your partner, your parents choose them instead. They arrange marriages because of financial, political or social reputation. Has there ever been a case on your planet that someone married out of love?” Nexeer asked.

“No, and I don’t want to have a family. That’s why I left. I just want to fly spaceships.” Six said.

“Seven, your species is by far the most complicated. You let technology choose your mate for you based on factors to improve your race. Then you have a child and a robot nursery takes care of the child so you don’t do something wrong or traumatize it. Do you stay with the chosen partner after you have a child with them?”

“That’s the most efficient way. We don’t stay with the partner. When we want we chose another partner.” Seven said.

“You see One? From the six of you here only humans have soulmates.” Nexeer said.

“You didn’t ask four.” Six said and everyone looked at him with disappointment.

Nexeer just continued. ”That’s a completely different world. Fate doesn’t meddle in Threes race that much. A string here and there when she needs something. She sometimes pulls strings in your race Six, but you Seven don’t interest her at all. All of her attention is directed toward humans who have soulmates and with whom she could play out her scenarios, her games as she likes to call them.”

“She calls them games?” Three asked.

“Well isn’t it the same for you when you plan your plan to solve a problem? Don’t you enjoy putting the pieces together and making the plan?” Nexeer asked.

“Yeah, good point.” Three said.

“My grandpa told me that at first, when you humans couldn’t travel through space, she would make more challenging obstacles for each of the soulmates. It got so bad that wars were fought in the name of love and thousands were killed just to make two soulmates meet each other. She was like that for a long time, she liked the drama, she wanted more and more drama, until, in one of her plans, something went wrong, one of the souls died and the other took her own life. That set off something in her, something she didn’t even know was inside her. She made it right and the next time the souls were born at the same time she brought them together, but she never forget the thrill she got from denying the soulmates to be together.” Nexeer said and sighted.

Nexeer sat down in a chair and crossed his hands. He had a serious look on his face.

“I was born around that time, when her plans, the games, got more and more elaborate. When you humans started traveling through space, she got a completely new field to play. She started using other races and pulling their strings to make the obstacles for you. Amongst other plans in motion, for the first time, wanting to feel that thrill again, she intentionally wanted to deny two soulmates to meet again. That’s when she and grandpa fought. Grandpa tried to stop her, but she already decided and put the plan in motion.” Nexeer said.

“Do you have beer?” Nexeer asked.

“Yea, sure.” Six said and got him a beer.

“Never go five years without beer.” Nexeer said, took a sip of beer and continued. “My mom’s first plan failed, catastrophically. It ended with a white giant star turning into a black hole. Her problem was that she was arrogant and used other races, like yours Two, and some others, evil ones to start a galaxy war. She thought that the scenario would play like the scenarios on Earth she had done hundreds of times. Now you’re thinking * But fate should know everything *. I can tell you she doesn’t. She knows only what she plans and there are ways to cheat fate.” Nexeer said.

“That’s an old myth. You can’t actually cheat fate.” Three said.

“You can. Seventeen million dead souls in a black hole are proof of that. The human Fate wanted to stop from meeting his soulmate was smarter than she thought, stole a weapon of mass destruction from Twos world and in the final battle turned a star into a black hole, defeating the evil aliens. He ended up living the rest of his life with his soulmate.” Nexeer said.

Nexeer took another sip of beer and said. “That was never a part of her plan and if she wasn’t so arrogant she would see her mistake. Eventually, she did learn from her mistakes and decided that she couldn’t trust the races to do all the work for her. That’s when she made the blue Astrum.”

“What? She made the blue Astrum? Why?” One asked.

“To have better control over who has it and cause more drama. But I think this time her real plan is to create a lot of drama between soulmates and deny them to be together.” Nexeer said and looked at one with a serious look.

“So if she made it we have to make her fix it?” One asked.

“Yup.” Nexeer said.

“How are we going to do that?” One asked.

“We ask her. I’ll do that part.” Nexeer said, drank the last of his beer and stood up.

“Mom! Mom I need to talk to you. Can you come here?” Nexeer said.

The meeting room got colder, ice started forming in the corners of the glass windows and a cold wind started blowing around the room. When the wind calmed down, in front of Nexeer stood Fate. She was bigger so tall that her head almost touched the ceiling of the meeting room. Her skin was white, but it had a silver glare, her hair was silver intertwined in a braid three times her height. She had a white dress with silver leather straps and a crown of blue flowers and vines. The flowers and vines came down from her crown and they decorated her braid.

“Nexeer, long time no see. I see you made it out of the prison.” Fate said.

“Don’t give me that speech. I know you put me there and I know you got me out.” Nexeer said.

“No hi mom, how are you or a kiss. Straight to the point with you. As always.” Fate said.

“After five years of those barbarians doing experiments on you, you too wouldn’t be in the mood for chit chat.” Nexeer said.

“It was your own fault for stealing the blue Astrum, giving it to my dad and messing with my plan.” Fate said.

“Admit it, you were pissed at me for giving it to grandpa and that’s why you ratted me out to those barbarians,” Nexeer said.

“Yeah, I was mad. However, I did not rat you out. I just told them how to find you.” Fate said.

“So, how did they find me?” Nexeer asked.

“We are celestials. We can move freely through space, we don’t need to breathe and we do not emit heat.” Fate said.

“So they found me with a simple thermal scanner.” Nexeer said. “You witch.”

“So why did you call me?” Fate asked.

“When I stole the blue Astrum it got damaged.” Nexeer said and took out the blue Astrum. “It has a crack that is releasing the poison that’s corrupting the souls of everyone, not just the ones who use it. You have to fix it.”

“Only if you give it back to me.” Fate said.

“Not a chance.” Nexeer said.

“Then I will not fix it.” Fate said.

“What if I take it back from where I stole it. Would you fix it then?” Nexeer asked.

“Hmmm… That could work. It would be as if you never stole it in the first place. Yes I would fix it if you agree to bring it back to the place where you stole it from.” Fate said.

“Then we have a deal.” Nexeer said.

Fate put both hands over the blue Astrum and a white light shone through their hands. A silver string appeared starting from the blue Astrum and heading upwards. Fate pulled at the string and the string disappeared.

“All done. Now take it back. Or I will find a worst prison this time.” Fate said and in a gust of wind she left.

“Whoa! Your mom is really something.” Three said.

“So, where did you steal the blue Astrum from?” Two asked.

“From Zeddicus treasure vault.” One said. “Six, go to the Vulture and set a course for Veirus, and hyperjump as fast as you can.”

“How did he know that?” Nexeer asked.

“Everyone knows about Zeddicus Nexeer.” Two said.

Chapter Management Edit Chapter Chapter 4: The wounds Chapter Text

They exited the hyperjump in the solar system where the Veirus planet was and hid behind one of the other planets so the patrols couldn’t see them.

“First things first, we haven’t been here for more than five years. We need a scan of Zeddicus’ fortress and access to it.” One said. “Six. Take Loki and fly over the planet cloaked. Scan everything with everything you got, just don’t use the deep pulse.” One said.

“I’m on it.” Six said and took the Loki out of the hangar.

“Three. The only one who wasn’t down in the fortress is Seven. Think of a way that we can use that to send him in as a recon mission.” One said.

“Seven, how are the gadgets for Two’s hidden weapons going?” One asked.

“I made her a bulletproof vest with six hidden guns. The guns are under a plate that their scans can’t see through. Each gun has three ammo mags to reload and two rockets. She can control the guns with these glasses and voice commands. When she puts the vest it in the scanner it’s going to look like a normal bulletproof vest.” Seven said.

“Two, do you think that will be enough?” One asked.

“With my regular hidden gear and the weapons I can take from the enemies, I think it will.” Two said.

Three came back and said. “We can give the Seven the Dagger. He’s a runabout, like an exploration ship but bigger. Seven is from a race obsessed with technology so he could go there and ask to trade technology. I think that that would work.”

“Yeah, that could work.” Seven agreed.

“Good work three.” One said.

“Alright then. Take the Dagger and go down. Don’t bring any weapons. Take the Sleep shooter just in case.” One said. “We need to know who has access to Zeddicus’ tower and information on security around it.”

“Got it.” Seven said, got into the Dagger and left for Zeddicus fortress.

A few hours later, Six came back with Loki.

“Did you scan everything?” One asked.

“Guys, you’re not gonna believe this.” Six said and started the file transfer to the ship’s computer. They all went to the meeting room and waited for the files to transfer.

As the transfer was over Three took a tablet and put up a 3D picture of the planet above the table. “Am I seeing this right?” Three asked.

“Yeah, the whole planet is barren, it’s a desert.” Six said. “There is just the massive fortress on the planet, nothing more.”

“Zoom in on the fortress.” One said.

“It’s a fortress under a dome and the dome is covered by some kind of shield. I think Seven would know more about that. The shield and the dome make it impossible to enter the fortress from above. It has only four entrances. Three, switch to thermal scan. Each of the entrances has guards inside and above it. There are around a hundred soldiers at each entrance. When you enter, you walk on the upper level that is circular and has soldiers around the inner entire circle. You see them?” Six said.

“Yeah. Is there a shield on the upper level at the inner circle?” Three asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t see one. Three, go to the lower level and back to normal imaging. There is only a single way to get down to the lower level and here is a shield that goes from the entrance to this big two-story building. There’s a small room before the entrance to the building and then a big room and three two smaller rooms. There are two guards outside the building, two in the small room before the building, and four guards inside.” Six said.

“Why are they so many guards inside?” One asked.

“There are so many guards because the first room is where they scan you, the four guards inside are there because there are three doors in that building. Two guards have the key for the door to the Zeddicus tower. One has the key for the treasury door and the other for the vault where I stole the blue Astrum from.” Nexeer said. “And there is a shield on the first level in the inner circle above the lower level. It’s not just above the lower level, it’s also below and around it and if you touch it, you die. It’s also undetectable by any normal scans. Maybe by a deep scan.”

“How do you know all that?” Three asked.

“You hear things here and there when you plan to rob the place.” Nexeer said.

“Yes and the tower has only one floor, the top floor. At the bottom, there is an elevator and it just goes to the top. Six said.”

As they were talking Seven entered the meeting room. “Guys, you’re not gonna believe this.” He said.

“That fortress is massive. When I came in I walked in, I walked on a circular plateau. My every step was being watched. I need to rethink our gadgets now that I know their security protocols. The two upper floors are homes for soldiers only. There has to be thousands of them in there. Two, we will never have enough weapons.” Two said.

“What about Zeddicus tower?” One asked.

“It was hard to see from all the soldiers standing at the inner circle but what I could see was that the only people allowed to go there were some gray guys in red and gray robes with some kind of paper scrolls and I think house cleaners.” Two said.

“Then it’s good that we have a shapeshifter with us.” Three said. “You can shapeshift into the gray guy like you shapeshifted last time, when you stole the blue Astrum.” Three said.

“No can do.” Nexeer said.

“Why?” Three asked confused.

“You remember when my mom told me how they captured me. That I don’t emit heat. One thermal scanner and my cower is blown. And one more thing.” Nexeer said.

“What?” Three asked.

“I can’t shapeshift into something I haven’t touched.” Nexeer said.

Everyone was looking at him confused.

“Yeah. Let me show you. I can’t shapeshift into Two, no matter how hard I try. But, if I touch her...” Nexeer started to say and saw a big gun pointed directly between his eyes.

“If you touch me it will be the last thing you will touch in your life.” Two said.

“Ok. Bad example. But you get my point.” Nexeer said.

“So we need to go to the fortress, find a gray guy and let you touch him so you can shapeshift into him. And we have to make you pass a thermal scanner.” Three said.

“Ok Three, you know what to do. We need a plan.” One said.

“I’m on it.” Three said and left the meeting room.

“Six, upgrade the weapons on Dagger. Better safe than sorry. Two, Seven go work on weapons and gadgets. Nexeer, come with me.” One gave the orders to his crew and went to the kitchen. Nexeer followed.

“Want a beer?” One asked.

“Shure.” Nexeer replied.

“Sit.” One said and Nexeer sat opposite of him. “When we go down to Zeddicus fortress I’m gonna need the blue Astrum.” He said.

“You know I can’t give you the Astrum.” Nexeer said.

“I didn’t say that I want you to give it to me. I said that I would need it. Did you see anything when Fate pulled the string after fixing the Astrum?” One asked.

“I did.” Nexeer said.

“What did you see?” One asked.

“If I tell you I could change that event into something worse and as I told you there’s a way to cheat fate, so it’s not worth mentioning.” Nexeer said. He again saw One getting shot.

“Yea, you’re right.” One said.

“So will you help me make things right? Will you use the Astrum?” One asked.

“Yeah. I will.” Nexeer said.

Two days later Three ran into One’s quarters.“ I got it!” She said. “I just need two pieces of information and I think I have a plan”.

They called everyone to the meeting room. When everyone arrived, Three said. “I got it. I figured out a plan. However, it all depends on two things. First, Nexeer can you shapeshift into inanimate objects?” She asked.

“Yea sure.” Nexeer shapeshifted into a chair then shapeshifted back.

“That’s good, one down, one to go. I need one volunteer to be a heat source so Nexeer can pass through thermal scans.” Three said.

“I volunteer.” One said

The crew looked at him and Three asked. ”You sure one?”

“Yes.” One said.

“That’s it! We have a plan!” Three explained the plan and said. “Now let’s celebrate!”

There was a tradition that before such a difficult mission everyone celebrated their time spent with the crew because, who knows, maybe this is their last time here amongst their friends, amongst their family.