Nexus Effect

Ch.135

“Babe? Babe, please wake up. It’s been so long.” Saren stirred for what felt like the first time in ages to the worried gaze of his lovely Paretia. “About damn time. At least you don’t look like you’re shredded jerky.”

“H...h…” She offered him a water bottle and he took it with his remaining hand, squeezing it to pour the water down his parched throat faster. “Gah, hak, ptoo! Ah...thanks Par. How long have I been out?” Saren sort of lost track of himself after he’d been rescued and stabilised by Doctor Chakwas. The fact he was clearly still in the good doctor’s med bay meant something must have gone SNAFU in regards to returning him to the Citadel for processing.

“It’s been almost a whole month since you got to this universe. Don’t freak, yes, we’re in a different universe. The only reason you’re here and not on the Citadel is because of how quickly Penny had to deploy in response to your salvation being abducted.” Paretia bluntly informed him, which he appreciated greatly. It was so hard to find people able and willing to just tell things to you straight. He liked that about her.

“So I’m guessing I’m approved for robiticization or whatever the Feell Twins call it?” Saren asked his mate, who made a so-so hand gesture. “Then something is wrong. What is it?”

“This universe has an alien nanite plague called Aparoidedation. Nora just barely survived thanks to cosmic intervention from both Primus and Urta. It works on both synthetics and organics, but synthetics are more vulnerable. Given this new situation, everyone felt it prudent to give you a choice again, but this time more on whether to delay it or go through with it right away in spite of the situation.” Paretia informed him and Saren sighed in agitation. There was always a problem, no matter the situation.

“Tell them to convert me whenever they get the chance. I’d rather die standing than on a bed.” Saren then looked Paretia’s body over with his remaining eye. “Well...unless other circumstances cause me to die in bed.”

“Oh you~!” Paretia giggled and slapped his chest, making him cough as well as laugh.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“We have three Primes?” Bumblebee asked a squad of his recruits. “This is weird, we’ve only ever had Optimus Prime from my universe.”

“Who is Optimus?” One of the recruits asked as they worked with the data pads Bee had given them. They didn’t get why he gave them data pads instead of just letting them use their omnis. Hopefully they’d get that you couldn’t rely on a single thing all the time.

“Right, I’ve been teaching early battle in Cybertronian history, not the civil war yet. Well, I guess I should tell you about a conflict that lasted millions of years. To start though, I have to explain the Primes, their father Primus, Unicron and the Quintians.” Bumblebee exposited for his students.

“More history?!” A red Autobot named Hotrod groaned and Bumblebee smiled, knowing the Parallel. This Hotrod was not the same as his and the former Quarian had changed his name after a few months, mostly so he could have a ‘cool robot name.’ Bee couldn’t for the life of him understand why this particular Quarian wanted to fight when he seemed so immature, but Nexus had allowed him to join their ranks so Bumblebee was training him along with the rest.

“You’ll need to know this, Hotrod. You’ll learn of how the Thirteenth prime is a position held by many bots. One of them being a holder of the very same name you chose. And since we can exchange information in this virtual space much faster than real life, it should only take a day or so.” Bee chuckled at the groan. “We’re still covering trillions of years people, it wouldn’t be a five minute Ted-Ed Talk.”

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Okay, this is the battle plan for Titania.” Fox explained as he brought up the image of the surface. “We used what drones we had left to get images of the surface-.”

“-And shared with us, so I don’t get why we’re all on your ship, Pup.” Wolf rolled his organic eye at this asinine delay to what should quite blatantly be a smash-and-grab of Pigma and the Aparoid Core from the deadly situation unfolding on Titania due to the swine.

“We’re all here, Wolf, because if we’re working together on a battlefield, we need to have at least as much faith we won’t stab each other in the back while on the same ship.” Fox sternly insisted with his ears bent back. He didn’t like Wolf, but he respected him enough to tolerate his presence.

“Also, your ship is kinda…” Falco trailed off as he looked out the window at the junker Star Wolf used as their mobile fighter carrier. It was like one of those many boxy ships Oikonny had in his fleet on the first level of Star Fox Assault. The red ship was also not well-maintained either. It looked like a good tap from a stray bit of debris could tear a rend in the side. “Yeah…”

“The Pack Parade is an old girl, have some respect. She’s been in service for decades and hasn’t failed once. She may not look pretty, but she’s got heart.” Panther growled at Falco and the pheasant rolled his eyes.

“Can I come?” Asked the towering hyper-busty purple female Ridley. I am getting a bit overloaded here with all the science-fantasy and sci-fi genres getting blended into my life.

“I vote no on her going. She may be super strong or something, but we’re dealing with a whole group of Goras. Remember that these things made Titania a no-go zone for centuries.” I brought up in protest, having been quiet thus far since I wasn’t addressed.

“I’m of the same mind, Eleanor. If they weren’t 30 feet tall and able to destroy traditional armies, I'd go for it, but not this time. Besides, you’d get sand in all kinds of unpleasant places.” Lois, the female version of Wolf from a different universe that was apparently this fem-Ridley’s mom said. The purple brute huffed indignantly and sulked against the wall from where she was next to both Local and Our Gildas, who hit it off quick, but Local Gilda was envious of Our Gilda’s body.

“Then can we summon someone who can?” Eleanor asked in annoyance, her tail worming about and brushing against various people without care. Said people had either annoyed or amused reactions.

“So we’re dealing with a Bioweapon?” Urta asked, changing the subject promptly to avoid wasting more time bickering as she rummaged in her cleavage with both arms elbow deep. Is that what I look like when I’m digging for stuff in my Inventory? That’s silly!

“When aren’t we dealing with a bioweapon?” Sunset sarcastically asked and Star Fox along with Star Wolf all nodded in shared suffering.

“Well, recently we got our hands on a nasty little bugger calling himself Noxus. For some reason this Skaven started using some old magic mixed with a plant called the Thorian and sent a whole legion of plant-converted colonists to fight off a Hell invasion. Mind you, most of these people were still alive when they were converted. The things they turned into were also nothing like the Thorian and he called them the Infestation.” Urta informed everyone not in the loop as to these events, myself included.

“What?!” Yola and I asked as Penny stiffened up.

“Yes, I just recently got his body to convert into Nidus Prime.” Urta said, pulling out a disgusting organic heart-like pulsing orb that was only vaguely similar to the orb I had for Nova before giving her to Marrow.

“You have a Nidus Prime?!” I cried out in fear while backing away from the crazy vixen.

“Yes and He’s loyal to my wife to a fault, even if his methods are toxic. We’ve also found four candidates for Necros recently too. The Milky Way is a hotbed for the outlawed frame candidates.” Urta exposited and I felt sick at the fact the Empire would use such things.

“So you're suggesting that we fight apocalyptic bio-weaponry with apocalyptic bio-weaponry?” Wolf asked the vixen incredulously and she nodded. “...I like your style. Let’s go with that so we can focus on hunting down Pigma. After the Titania Incident where Andross was almost resurrected, all activity on the planet has been banned, so why not add another reason to never come to this sandbox?”

“My lady, why not also Oberon, Titania and Inaros?” A Loki Warframe asked after he appeared from thin air. Oh, right. I guess some of Hunter’s entourage never left. Spooky!

“You’ve been on my ship and haven’t been helping?!” Penny barked at him, only for Urta to raise her hand and then point at nobody, only for Ivara/Kasumi and KG to appear in the same way with the former posing saucily and the latter smacking his face against her shoulder.

“Is that the pot calling the kettle black? I don’t do anything around here and you don’t object.” Kasumi blew a kiss at my Spectre wife and then vanished.

“But I…” Penny mewled and scratched the back of her head.

“Sister, you never take on stealth missions. You have a stealth team and never use them.” Urta reminded Penny with amusement and she tried to argue, but sighed and hung her head.

“Is there anything else I’ve missed?” Penny asked in exasperation with a look around.

“I’ve upgraded EDI’s already impressive stealth capabilities.” Loki voiced.

“I...EDI?” Penny said into her omni as she left the bridge, her own input already given up to this point. I don’t like how we’re forced to play by the local rules of engagement. Why can’t we just bombard the surface of an inhospitable uninhabited planet from orbit?

“While she is doing that, please explain what an Oberon, Titania and Inaros are?” Fox asked as he eyed Loki warily.

“They are Warframes, like Ivara and Loki. Oberon helps create forests and make life by sapping the ill energy from regions and replacing them with healthy energies. Titania is akin with fairies and nature, a guardian of what Oberon creates. Inaros commands the sands.” Urta briefly exposited as she examined the orb of the Empire’s first Nidus.

“So they could ‘restore’ a planet’s ecosystem?” Slippy asked eagerly.

“Yes, after Nidus does his work. It won’t be as stable as what the Coven could do, but it would make the planet habitable.” Urta staunchly claimed with a proud puff of her chest, which made her partially unzipped hardsuit creak and the zipper moved down her stomach.

“Won’t be stable? Do they need to stay on the planet to ‘nurture’ nature until it can do its own thing? Like dryads?” Lois questioned and Fox held up a hand to stop everyone from chatting.

“We can worry about saving planets later, right now we need to focus on our main objective. Now, besides these Warframes, is there anything else anyone wishes to share that may help with our chances?” Fox asked with a look around and Urta once again spoke up.

“Well, I received word from my husband Berserker-.”

“The guy with spiky bone-decorated armor is your husband?” Wolf demanded of the goddess.

“Yes. What of it?” Urta asked with a tilt of her head.

“He was on Katina and helped deal with the ground forces while my team dealt with the aerial enemies and hard targets.” Wolf answered and Urta groaned and muttered about ‘vacation’.

“He was a real badass, super-sexy too. He even had a celestial fighting alongside him.” Lois continued and Urta sighed.

“That sounds like my husband and his new mate.” The vixen slime goddess shook her head. “He’s supposed to be on vacation, but I guess he couldn’t ignore the action, especially if it interfered with his sibling’s vacations.”

“Well I’m glad he leaped into action. He made the ground battle so much easier to manage. Now then, let’s get on with things. Pigma’s greedy ass is gonna get us all killed.” Wolf grumbled bitterly.

“So, uh, what did this husband of yours say?” Falco inquired and Urta snorted.

“Right. He said his people are also working on finding a cure for the Aparoid nanites. However, if he’s already gotten personally involved, then Runner, his sister, is definitely going to be involved soon. Hopefully Hunter at least is actually vacationing.” Urta informed us and I felt relieved that Berserker was wise enough to get eggheads to make solutions.

“Really now?” Peppy questioned, looking intrigued.

“That was part of the reason why we need that Core Memory! If I can analyze it, I can pull data from it and if we take it to my dad, we can find a way to counter their nanites entirely!” Slippy declared, which got nods of approval from the locals assembled. Oh. Right. Slippy’s dad; Beltino Toad, was perhaps the greatest scientist in the Lylat System with Andross dead and gone.

“Well then, let’s get things started. Urta, I know we might get flak from Corneria later, but go ahead and deploy your bioweapon to weaken or even outright kill the Goras threat down on Titania.” Fox said before looking at everyone else. “We’re going to let Urta’s bioweapon work, um, their magic. After we see the results, we’ll head on down to hunt for Pigma.”

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Oh...dear. That isn’t good.” Pepper patted his brow with a handkerchief as some sweat beaded upon his brow after getting a report, courtesy of Discord and Ahti somehow running a physical cable from the reinforcement fleet assembling beyond Corneria’s moon. The application was even called Discord and had text, video and voice chat capability. Where was this application in his earlier years in the military? It would have made his periods of desk duty so much easier!

The fact it also actively hosted social media content was a plus. Those cute pet videos were helping him keep his spirits up during break periods. He may need one in a moment. “What is it, Pepper?” Celestia asked in concern from her desk that was at a right angle to his.

“Mercenary teams Star Fox and Star Wolf have received aid from beyond the Lylat System. They apparently arrived via the ‘Dimensionator’ device Slippy Toad developed based loosely off his father’s warp gate technology. They have advanced technology that puts many of our advances to shame, while at the same time are enamored with the advances G-diffusion technology and other power generation has achieved...sadly, their tech includes highly illegal bio-weaponry.” Pepper scrolled through more of the report in interest.

“Well, technically Pepper, since they’re not from this system, they have no way of knowing their technology is illegal. Don’t we have provisions for that? I’m pretty sure I made some…” Celestia brought up her own files and Pepper gulped.

“Well...they’re about to drop what amounts to an S+ damage rating on Titania since the Aparoids have infested and reanimated many of the Goras corpses there.” Pepper shook his head ruefully, understanding Fox’s logic in going along with this plan. Titania was uninhabited, hostile and only had mineral resources to make it at all worthwhile. The only sorts out there are-.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Hm?” A gruff and raspy voice grunted, turning away from his mining laser’s targeting system. “...Dug, environment status report.” The owner of the voice demanded before he continued to carve away at the rock hiding the rich vein of titanium in the canyon wall.

“Scanning...reporting. Rapid increase in atmospheric temperature south-southeast of current position. Increase in tectonic activity, registering an unusually high 7.6 on the Seismic Scale. Tremors of Goras life-forms are increasing. Dormant threats awakening. Advisory: strategic retreat.” The robot seated in the co-pilot seat of the ship reported and the man growled.

“What’s got the Goras all riled up?” He flipped some switches, the pivot turret of the mining laser aiming forward and locking in place as his seat slid along the track, then flipped back upright in the cockpit from the mining system’s interface to reveal a scarred and dirty horned lizard who couldn’t be past his twenties despite his grizzled look. “Damn it. Alright Dug, south-southeast you said?” The shirtless reptile asked as he assumed control of his ship, guiding them up out of the canyon.

“Affirmative. We’re going to check it out, aren’t we?” Dug asked in exasperation as the bulky tarnished silver and black gunship with the name Silver Lining on the port side rose into the air.

“Dug, if you keep running away from everything, you’ll never know how to get ahead of it if you don’t see it first.” The man smirked with a playful grin of sharp teeth and his golden slit eyes eyed the 3D hologram map to get his bearings right, while also saving the location of that titanium vein for sometime later.

“Klippa, you say that about everything.” Dug complained, the cylindrical robot slumping his head forward in resignation.

“It’s what got me this sweet ship and your whiny rust-bucket ass off that jerk, ain’t it?” Klippa asked rhetorically before reaching under the console and opening the mini-fridge, cracking open a can of carbonated vodka, because beer tasted like piss, not that he’d know, ew.

“Can you not drink when you’re piloting?” Dug grumbled and Klippa chugged the high-proof carbonated liquor like it was beer.

“Pah! Ah~. You know I don’t fly half as good if I don’t drink first. Blame yourself for making me drink all the water first and now I’m stuck with good booze while I wait for the moisture vaporator to condense more-.” The large cloud caused by a massive explosion caught their attention and Klippa chuckled as he tuned the ship’s shields for ‘max debris interception’ at expense of weapon power. “Let’s just watch the fireworks.”