Time seemed to pause, before suddenly unpausing. Just as Phovos was about to insert the last data stick into this weird, Voidborn console, something had exploded, and Phovos had felt a burning sensation on her skin. However, it seemed that none of that seemed to… have happened? Elksia had plucked the data stick from Phovos’s fingers and was tutting to herself.
“Don’t do that again.”
“Why not?” Phovos blinked several times. “What just happened?”
“Nothing happened. I undid it!” Elksia waved her free hand around, before shaking out her wings. “Console’s rigged to trigger that tanker there to burst and cover us in acid. But I managed to stop that. Saw it happening.”
Tenuk, the smallest of the trio, bowed awkwardly. “Thanks, angel.”
“No worries, my darling little Tennypoo!” Elksia was still smiling. “Being able to see several seconds into the future does come in handy sometimes! Still, I, uh, kinda dunno what to do now.”
Phovos inspected the console again, looking for another port. However, she quickly stopped when Elksia gave her a concerned look, suggesting that the same thing might happen again. Instead, Phovos placed the data stick in her pocket and pulled out a new device, a small communicator.
“Retvik… er… Flamebearer? You there?”
A voice crackled from the speaker. “Is something wrong, Lifetaker?”
Phovos tutted, not liking her codename. As far as she was concerned, it kinda pigeon-holed her into a specific job, that of a vicious predator, when, really, Phovos was capable of doing a lot more.
“The last console is booby-trapped. Should we look for another one?”
“Let me see if there is another console, one moment.”
The line went silent. Tenuk, Elksia and Phovos all awkwardly looked at each other, waiting for some sort of response. So far, their little mission had gone pretty cleanly. They’d avoided a booby-trap at the second console, a simple pit trap, but everything else had been fine. Eventually, the line crackled back to life, but the voice was different, overly sweet and feminine.
“Doomblade here, should be a new console directly above you. Do you need directions or can you get yourselves up there no problem?”
“No, shouldn’t be a problem, boss!” Elksia beamed, flapping her wings eagerly. “Is it going to be booby-trapped?”
“Don’t know, Threadwarper. Just be careful.”
The line went silent again. Phovos and Tenuk turned to Elksia.
“How are we going to get up there?”
“Easy, I’ll just, like, weaken the ceiling, enough to make a small hole, then Tenuk can slip through, insert the data stick and job’s done!”
“What if it’s booby-trapped though?”
Elksia paused. “Eh, I should be able to sense it. I sensed the other traps.”
Phovos tutted, not really liking the plan. But Tenuk just shrugged, he seemed to be fine with it. Somewhat satisfied, Elksia handed the data stick back to Phovos, moved to one side, then placed her talons on the ceiling above her, tucking in her tail and wings as she did so. The fledgling Time Drake concentrated on the metal, which slowly started to rust and peel away. However, after a few moments, she stopped.
“This… is gonna take longer than I thought.”
“That’s fine!” Tenuk had already thought of a workaround. “That canister there is full of acid, right? We can just use that to make a hole. Or at least speed things up.”
“But how do we get the acid from the canister to the ceiling?” Phovos looked confused.
“Hm, good point…” Tenuk thought to himself, but quickly came up with an answer. “It’s a tad risky, but if we all backed away behind some cover, we could just use the data stick to set off the trap, which should splash across the ceiling. My telekinesis isn’t great, but it should be good enough. Elksia can then work out a weak point and increase the corrosion from there with her time powers.”
“That should work…” Phovos felt somewhat useless, but pushed that feeling aside. “Where can we hide?”
Tenuk pointed to a nearby corner and made his way towards it, taking the data stick from Phovos as he did so. The three of them crouched behind the corner, with Elksia unfurling her wings and using them as extra protection. Unlike Phovos and Tenuk, she could more easily just undo any damage to her own body.
Concentrating on the data stick, Tenuk began moving it with his mind, struggling slightly to focus on two things at once. The data stick hovered awkwardly through the air before clinging fruitlessly off the console several times. On the fifth attempt, he managed to insert the data stick into an open port, which immediately triggered the acid trap. The canister exploded, coating the nearby area in bubbling liquids, destroying most of the console in the process. Tenuk only just managed to pull the data stick away in time. Thankfully, most of the acid seemed to quickly drain away via several grooves in the floor.
Looking rather pleased, Elksia lifted herself into the air on her wings and looked for a weak spot. She quickly found one and, again, pressed her talons against the ceiling. After a couple of seconds, a small hole began to form. Elksia forced a claw inside the hole, widening it further until she could stick her whole hand through.
“Can you squeeze through that?” Elksia asked.
Tenuk came over to inspect the hole. “Uh, yeah, should be able to.”
Still holding the data stick, Tenuk shrank himself down, until he was pixie-sized. He flapped both pairs of wings and pulled himself through the hole, disappearing into the darkness. Phovos and Elksia could hear footsteps above them as Tenuk returned his normal (but still quite small) size. There was some quiet muttering, followed by a familiar click sound. However, a shriek quickly filled the air, and a torrent of freezing cold water blasted through the little hole, soaking everyone present.
“Well… at least it wasn’t acid…” Phovos frowned as she shook herself down, then started squeezing water out of her furry mane. “You alright there, Tenuk?”
There was a small gasp before Tenuk answered. “Yeah… just a bit… cold… Data stick is inserted, the little green light is on. Could have warned us, Elksia….”
Elksia just shrugged. “Sorry, out of all the possible futures I saw, I didn’t predict we’d be showered in ice water… But we’re all good though, right?”
Tenuk shrunk himself down, reappearing through the hole in the ceiling, before returning to his normal size. “Yeah, we’re all good. Phovos, want to call our boss and your boyfriend and let him know we’re done?”
Phovos pulled out her communicator, still soaking wet. Thankfully most of their gear was waterproof. “Hey, uh, Flamebearer, we’re done.”
“Alright. Doomblade says she is getting your data stream in perfectly. According to our maps, there should be an escape route directly to your right. We will bring the ship around and meet you there to pick you up.”
“Thanks, dear…” Phovos smiled weakly. “We’ll see you there.”
As the three of them turned around, they spotted the doorway their boss was talking about. It had a weird gold border, with a sign above it written in a language that none of them seemed to understand. Elksia approached the door and opened it, only to be met with a large gush of wind and a lot of nothingness.
“We were that close to the edge of this vessel?” Tenuk blinked.
“That’s convenient…” Phovos also blinked, not enjoying how all the air was being sucked out. Sure, none of them really needed to breathe, but the empty feeling in their lungs was never pleasant.
After a few silent moments, the familiar silver plating of the Thantir Three loomed into view. The ship awkwardly backed into the open gap in the side of the Voidborn vessel, with a small, metal pathway connecting the two ships. Waiting for them in the cargo bay doorway was Retvik, the Decay Lord in charge of this current operation. He immediately saw how wet everyone was and snapped his fingers, generating a warm breeze to help dry the three Decaylings.
“Good work, friends!” Retvik smiled as he helped everyone on board, before removing the metal pathway and pulling the cargo bay doors shut. “Go get yourselves cleaned up and we can head back to the main ship. Galyn will be pleased with our work.”
Tenuk and Elksia both nodded and rushed off, racing down the main corridor to their private quarters. Phovos however hesitated, shivering slightly.
“Is something wrong, dear?” Retvik asked, taking Phovos by the hand, warming her up with his fire powers as he did so.
“No… Just, I dunno, I felt kinda useless.”
“You are not useless!” Retvik beamed reassuringly, pulling Phovos into a hug. “You are a wonderful little thing, do not forget it.”
“Even if I have this stupid Lifetaker codename?”
“Yes, well, Galyn can be a little… silly when it comes to his codenames and weird traditions…” Retvik trailed off, before hugging Phovos again. “Come on, let us get out of here. These stupid Voidborn ships always put me on edge…”