Birth of a Wish

[Chronicron]

Mistress. Why did it call her “mistress”? A question that phantasmically found its way into Nemezida’s mind, if only as a noisy distraction from what was actually happening. The command center was in ruins and barely functioning, however, it shared the same distinction with the rest of the ship that Nemezida has picked up on as she was chased by that metallic amalgamation. The lack of people. No bodies, no signs of struggle, no belongings left behind. Given her encounter, the probability of the ship’s crew fleeing was out of the question. The question of whatever happened to them was not her priority, however.

Transmission. Initiated.

“This is the Overseer. Code Eighty-Six. I repeat, Code Eighty-Six. The Nomads have adapted a new way of possessing people, one that is not discernable to body or brain activity scans. All SCEC units are to be marked for immediate termination. All ships reporting that they air from the Pripyat are to be terminated on the spot."

Condition of Code Eighty-Six. An emergency in event if the Pripyat and everyone related to it would become compromised or worse. Code Eighty-Six would dictate that the Pripyat would initiate a complete self-destruct sequence and for the next in the chain of command to assume control over the State Security Agency. In such situations, Nemezida was not the one for big speeches, and any unnecessary last wills could only damage the message's details if they were to reach the other end.

Transmission. Sent. Transmission. Sent. Transmission. Sent.

A repetitive affirmation was the only sign that her message could have been delivered. Not wasting any moment on sentimentalities, Nemezida approached the main control display. The quickest and most assured way to overload the reactor and to cause it to detonate was to send a signal through a mechanically rigged line from the command center, a safety measure that she personally saw to have installed onto the Pripyat during the retrofit. One more move and the threat would be gone, she thought. She was trained and mentally prepared for this her whole life.

But nothing happened. There was no confirmation, no reaction, no alarm, no farewell message. The ship continued to float in open space. The communication link was still malfunctioning. A glance at the control panel showed Nemezida something she would never think of - the reactor, and the majority of its surrounding systems, were not there at all. Not simply “missing” or showing as disconnected. Completely gone.

Transmission. Sent. Transmission.

Mission. Trans. Mission. Sent

Mission.

Mi-s-Tr-e-s-s.

She turned sharply. Instinctively, she shot the communication link, not knowing whether it would help or not. Suddenly, the ventilation grids of the flooring not too far from the observation deck have gone up into the air. A terrific undead blend of metal has once again caught her trail, crawling from out of the ventilation ducts piece by piece, slowly reassembling its form. A spectacle which Nemezida would not get to see - she was already on the run, dashing through the command center's doors and locking them behind her.

She couldn't afford to think about the “why” and “how”. All she had were the cold facts - the beast is directly linked to the very ship she was inside of. Her only course of action was to reach the reactor room and to send it into an overdrive manually, and she had to avoid any and all electronics and security measures on her way there.

Newly fitted Tempest-class carriers were designed with manual maintenance and labour in mind. Every section of the ship would be accessible for personnel either through the main halls or through networks of intertwining maintenance shafts. One would get easily lost in such a maze, thus every crewman had to be extensively trained to learn the shafts and how to navigate them. Nemezida knew them all as the back of her palm, and she also knew that they connected to the same ventilation system that the beast had crawled out of during their last yet brief encounter.

The fastest route to the reactor came to an unfortunate and abrupt end - a section of a wall pierced the railing and flooring ahead of Nemezida, making her advance impossible. Which meant she would have to take a detour through the shield generator maintenance.

Another collapsed section. The general cheapness of Pripyat’s retrofit was giving way to many collateral damages. Cursing Aralsk's manufacture threefold, Nemezida quickly drew a path through her memorised layout of the system. On her way through, she saw blockages to other routes that would lead her to the reactor room directly. Her other only option was to reach it through the main hallway, which would mean alerting the beast to her presence. Yet she knew that the wretched amalgamation would not get her in time.