Alex Rowe

[NiCAD]

Two hours after receiving the order, my small fleet departed for the jump hole. Preparing for the worst, I traveled through first, with the eagles and Praetorian following. (Corsairs bring up the rear in any Zoner operation, usually by their own choosing; bloody cowards.) As we had been expecting trouble, we were not disappointed.

The moment we materialized in Omicron Kappa, a salvo of Nomad energy blasts tore through the ranks of the fleet. My eagles scattered, and I myself was forced to consume half of my shield batteries after only a few seconds of battle. We were able to sustain minimal losses, however, as my cruiser`s missile turrets were more than a match for the unshielded Nomad fighters. With only two lost eagles, we proceeded to the Silvana`s last known location, but we knew the situation to be catastrophic long before our arrival.

The Silvana was covered in Nomads. Hundreds of them, perhaps thousands, were crawling over its surface, through its windows, infesting every inch of its mechanics. As despair filled me, I picked up my radio and attempted to contact commander Dingle, to no avail. Anticipating that the Nomads had already disabled all means of self-destruction, I formulated a plan to rob them of their prize. I quickly barked orders in to the wide-area command system, the hearing of which caused four eagles and the hired Corsair to immediately flee the system. Those who remained had resigned themselves, I suppose, to honorable suicide.

Powering up my cruise engines, I assumed the lead position, with the remaining eagles surrounding my ship. We beelined for the Silvana, breaking formation once we had been completely encircled by the Nomad swarm. The eagles were quickly destroyed by superior Nomad firepower, though they took many enemies with them. My destroyer fared little better, but it held together long enough. Eighty meters from the Silvana, I sealed my evacuation suit, bracing against the commander`s chair.

My ship smashed head-on in to the Silvana`s bridge, destroying the glass and bending the frame out of shape. I leapt through my cruiser`s destroyed windows and in to the Silvana, landing on the floor of the bridge. There, before me, was Commander Dingle.

Seeing the Nomad on his head, I wasted no time. I drew my knife, severed Dingle`s head from his body, and began to tear the major Nomad brain away from its host-to-be. Upon the host`s death, the creature retracted its tentacles immediately and began to lash at my face. I would not be deterred, however, and I planted both of my hands firmly on the Nomad`s primary cerebral nexus, raising it to my own head. I almost hesitated, but my resolve was firm. I planted the Nomad on my own head, and as its tentacles tentatively curled around my body, I thought, knowing it could hear, We could be partners.

The Nomad was ecstatic. It eagerly wrapped its tentacles around my body, enveloping me, embracing me, and we became one. I felt my mind expand, my mental capacity exceeding that which I had thought possible by many thousandfold. I felt myself brimming with a new monstrous intelligence, and began to issue orders to the Nomads onboard. There was a Nomad battleship nearby, which was staying sentinel over the Silvana for the duration of its transformation. I commanded the small Nomads onboard my ship, helpless to resist my orders, to rotate the main weapons and obtain a firing solution on the Nomad battleship. I gave the order, and the Silvana's two forward-mounted heavy mortars blazed to life, sending two meteors of fiery death hurtling in to the side of the unshielded Nomad battleship. As it exploded, I sat back in the commander's chair, now smeared with the blood of my forebear.

"It is time," I said to the emptiness assembled, and all of Sirius, "For my revenge."

Transcriber's Note: This is where the narrative ends. To the best of our knowledge, this Rowe-Mercurior hybrid now commands the Silvana, and generally confines its operations to Omicron Kappa and the surrounding systems, killing off careless brethren who stray too close. It seems that Rowe has a liaison with the Zoner Guard, from who his orders come.