Disappeared into the darkness

[Dashiell]

Chapter 6

Enemy or...?

Gilgamesh made sure Stoat left Capetown unhindered as he left for Rostock. On Rostock Gilgamesh waited with his ship for the word to take off. Damoclass would take over from here. All Gilgamesh had to do was stay close. Damoclass had already reached the Rostock hangar before Stoat had even left Capetown. He asked the chief engineer which ship would be Stoat'€™s. The chief told him what he needed to know. Damoclass walked up to the gunship, opened its doors and waited in the hold for Stoat to show up. Stoat evetually showed up and wasn'€™t pleased to see Damoclass onboard his ship. Taking Damoclass with him, Stoat eventually left Rostock and hooked up with the small group of ships that would escort him to Leeds. These were the Orcas Vulcan and Grampus, the destroyer Mary Poppins and Gilgamesh in his Wasp. The trip went smoothly as Damoclass tried to reason with Stoat. He wanted to persuade Stoat to serve his purposes, not those of DeVirgo. And, somewhere deep down inside, he actually felt pity for the Bretonian Guildmaster. Damoclass had been in his position, but had retained his sanity thanks to his own research. His secret research onboard the Eden.

'€˜Look Stoat, things won'€™t turn out the way you think'€™

He tried to reason with Stoat but to no avail. In the end, Stoat drew a gun on Damoclass and ordered him to leave the bridge where they had been talking. A blaster this close, even Damoclass'€™ head would turn into a messy pile. He decided to back off into the hold and try more... direct means later on. At Leeds. He never got the chance.

Chapter 7

Wilde chase

Damoclass heard sounds of a fight. He looked out of one of the ports in the hold and saw no less than 6 Wilde gunboats flying around, fighting the hunter ships.

'€˜Ah... such perfect timing, my friends'€™

He could feel the gunship rock and tumble as it was obviously trying to evade incoming fire. He looked up at the camera observing the hold. He walked towards it and waited. Then, as he felt a savage shuddering going through the ship. He knew Stoat would be distracted at this time so Damoclass stepped underneath the camera and looked up. He saw the panel he was looking for. The panel covering the main control cable tree.

'€˜Deny me my 1 chance will you? I think not, Stoat. You will serve your purpose. I have come too far to let it all go to waste because you cling on to dear human life.'€™

Damoclass tore off the panel and ripped out the cables. He immediately felt the gunship was slowing down and had stopped its evasive maneuvers. He took out his old six shooter from his shoulder holster, opened the cylinder and removed 1 round. He replaced it with another round, this one had a round head and was slightly heavier than the normal round Gilgamesh'€™ old revolver fired. Damoclass casually aimed at the door that led to the bridge and fired off the round. The door was blown open and Damoclass walked through it, holstering his revolver. He saw Stoat turning around in a flash. He looked Stoat in the face and spoke.

'€˜Well Stoat. Looks like you'€™ve run to the end of your road'€™

Stoat launched himself at Damoclass in blind rage. A fight ensued. A fight that was won by Damoclass. He walked up to the controls and opened a channel to communicate with the Wilde ships present. He would not be possessed. He believed, to his very core, that the Wilde would not be able to get to him. His personal research had made possible to create a chip. A chip that would, when implanted, allow Damoclass to control the nomad infection. Not the other way around. This was the time. Everything Damoclass had plotted, all his plans had led to this 1 day. The day where he would beat the Wilde hold on man.

But Stoat was not that easily beaten. As Damoclass was waiting for his visitors to reply, Stoat attacked him from behind. Caught by surprise, Damoclass was given quite a potent beating. As he tried to fight off the crazed Bretonian Guildmaster, he could feel he was lifted up and he was thrown with sheer force into the displays of the bridge controls by Stoat. This was finally enough to knock out Damoclass, as he lost consciousness.

Chapter 8

The fall of Damian Damoclass

He could hear faint sounds. Screams over the comms, the grinding of metal and... footsteps.
Damoclass got to his feet, still swaying as the Bretonian Guildmaster'€™s final attack had done some damage. He turned around with blurry vision and saw a man standing in front of him.

'€˜Stoat, you blind fool'€™ Damoclass reached for his revolver '€˜You served your purpose, you may die now'€™

The man in front of him stepped forward towards Damoclass as Damoclass took aim. Then he noticed the man had glowing eyes.

'€˜Oh shyte... not this again...'€™

Damoclass lowered his gun. He drew upon his full length and grinned, filled to the brim with foolish arrogance. He would not be controlled, as the Wilde staring at him would soon learn

'€˜Come on then mate. Give it your best!

The Wilde approached him and Damoclass saw the tentacle like organism coming from his mouth. It struck at Damoclass and knocked him back as it entered his body. Damoclass had to fight the reflex to get the thing out of his mouth. He would let the Wilde do as it pleased. It would soon learn.... nothing at all.

For all his pride, arrogance and confidence Damoclass had overestimated himself. Or underestimated the Wilde. His dreams would never be as he lost himself to the Wilde, the one thing he vowed never to let happen.

Chapter 9

The enrichment of life

Gilgamesh was fighting like mad outside. He had no idea what was going on inside the gunship. The Wilde force was too powerful and all ships but Stoats and Gilgamesh's were destroyed. Then he heard Damoclass'€™ voice over the comms:

'€˜Gilgamesh, Stand down.'€™

Doubting what he heard for a second, he stood down. The firing stopped. The fight was over. The Scorpions were still there, so very close to Gilgamesh'€™ fighter. Yet they did not fire on him. He knew what that meant. Then he heard the sound of a struggle over the comms, followed by Damoclass voice shouting something. Gilgamesh decided to call in backup. This was going south very fast. But, again, his radio refused to work. In frustration, he smashed the console. Now the hud went black, and all dials and digits were not responding.

'€˜Damn cheap Kusari build quality!'€™ He shouted.

It was the last thing he'€™d ever shout in free will. A voice called to him. An unknown voice. Everything went blurry and Gilgamesh felt as if he was observing himself from afar as 2 Corsair Osiris appeared. Gilgamesh attacked them, assisting the Wilde ships, and Stoat'€™s gunship. Yet he didn'€™t know why he did that. After the 2 Osirises were destroyed, a ray of light struck the Wasp and it was dragged off with force by one of the Scorpions into a jumphole. Gilgamesh was almost unconscious as he was dragged into an unknown system. There, the Scorpion turned around and approached the damaged Wasp. The canopy was torn off and everything went black as a snake like creature approached the unconscious Gilgamesh.

He and his overconfident master had both fallen to the Wilde. They were lost to mankind and disappeared into the darkness forever.

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