'We have to get out there and reclaim her corpse' Keram raged and hit the surface of the scanner console tuned in on the location of Alira's wreck. The luminescent display also showed two Legion-class strategic cruisers in close proximity to the site of that recent casualty. They were most likely sifting through the wreckage.
Shisei stood nearby leaning against a structure-element of the operations-centre with his arms folded in front of his chest. His left eyebrow twitched subtly in a quizzical way 'Why the concern? By now she will already be in a new clone. That body out there is just a discarded shell'
'That's not the point here!' Keram snarled and twisted his hawk-like face with disgust 'Those guys are going to do their weird religious stuff with her corpse.' he pressed his lips together and then he grinned wickedly '… and if anyone's going to do wrong things to the corpse of that scrawny Minmatar, then it's me.'
Cedrien sat at one of the workstations, looking over a readout of the flight recorder data that Keram had provided. 'Are you absolutely positive that they were Scions?' he asked with a worried tone.
'As sure as I know that I'm going to hell.' Keram replied 'As long as they are here we can't do anything until we drive them off, and they will camp out there until the system is crawling with Sleepers, you know that.'
'Who are the Scions?' Sylera interrupted while she looked at the deep-space scan showing the two Legion cruisers still occupied with melting down the wreckage of Alira's scout-ship.
'The Scions of Tranquility are a religious order who worship the Sleepers.' Cedrien answered absently while he kept analyzing the recorded data for tactical information.
'A bunch of lunatics who sacrifice humans to the Sleepers in messed-up rituals.' Keram added.
'The Scions believe that they owe the Sleeper drones a debt of blood for the transgressions the human race commits on their territory.' Shisei's interjected. 'They move from system to system through the wormholes, and will try to destroy every human-piloted ship they encounter. They stay until this task is done, and until more and more Sleeper constructs appear in a system. Finally they will conduct a ceremony to formally rededicate the system to it's “rightful owners”.' he elaborated patiently.
'But they fly Strategic Cruisers.' Sylera protested 'Aren't those made from Sleeper wreckage, among other things?'
'Did you listen to the part where I mentioned that those guys are crazy?' Keram raised his voice at her. 'You can't expect them to make sense!'
'Through paradox, superstition reveals it's weakness under the scrutiny of True Faith.' Sylera muttered a quote from the Amarr scripture to herself.
'Those two must be the vanguard of a larger force.' Cedrien ventured when he finally got up from his analysis of the flight-recorder data. 'We need to move quickly and take them out before they bring in more.' He turned to the stoic Achura scientist 'We also need to collapse the wormhole they came through. Shisei, take your Orca out there, I'm sending Sandrielle with you as backup' Finally Cedrien addressed the two Amarrians 'Keram, Sylera, you are with me.' he straightened his jacket and directed a stern look at Sylera 'I reckon, today we get to see how well they trained you at the Imperial Academy.'
***
They found them in the vicinity of a massive Sleeper derelict. Organic-looking menaces were floating with deceptive calm in the distance, near the alien structure glowing with an eerie light.
The two Scion ships sat stationary at the edge of the Sleeper's reaction perimeter, facing each other. The hulls of their Amarr-designed strategic cruisers shone dully in the light of the binary star, like the Sleeper drones themselves. The small speck of Alira's corpse was visible, equidistant from both vessel's bows. At this point, the Scions of Tranquility were most likely in the middle of their ritual, dedicating the corpse of a downed capsuleer to the Sleepers.
The small attack team of Awakened Industries capsuleers was in position. Keram – obscured by a cloaking field - sat at the perfect range to launch his bombs from above the two enemy ships. Sylera was equally hidden from view in her ship and occupied a position on the same plane as their opponents. It would be her task to initiate the attack as soon as Cedrien ordered. 'My Lord I beseech thee.' she prayed silently, immersed in capsule fluid as she was. 'lend me the strength to vanquish my enemies in your name, for I am your faithful servant, the instrument of your wrath against the wicked and the infidels.'
'Squad, report positions.' Cedrien's voice interrupted Sylera's religious reverie.
'Bomber in position.' Keram confirmed.
'Ready to go on your command.' Sylera responded
'Sylera, decloak and engage. Give Keram the go once you have those two Legions disrupted and pointed. Go, go, go!' Cedrien issued his orders.
Sylera dropped her cloak. The neural interface responded with a sensation that always reminded her of shedding a warm blanket. Immediately she focused her attention on the two stationary ships and her targeting systems engaged. She had achieved surprise. Occupied with their ritual, as the crews of those ships doubtlessly were, they reacted slowly to her appearance.
She was already disrupting their tracking systems when she could see the engines of the Scion ships light up as they began to turn towards her. A mental command set her Pilgrim into motion while she also sent strong particle-wave interferences at them which would disturb any warp field, even that of a microwarpdrive.
Their opponents started firing, but Sylera's speed - combined with the tracking disruption - made the lances of searing energy stab past her into the void. She activated the next stage of her attack, and arcs of disruptively polarized energy grounded into her two opponents. 'Keram, go. Hit them while they are still accelerating'
Kilometers above the Legion's positions, the multi-pronged shape of Keram's Manticore revealed itself with open bomb-bays. He launched one his destructive charges at the first ship, twisted his ship quickly a few degrees, and let loose with another at the second target. Although not specifically designed to be launched by this type of ship, the electron bombs he used would strip the opponents of their shields and force them to rely on slow, energy intensive armour-repair.
Sufficient energy was something they would soon not have anymore. Already the continuous beams of destructively bundled photons began to stutter as they vainly tried to hit Sylera. She was still in a close orbit and kept imbuing the oily black hulls with an antagonistic charge that drained their capacitor reservoirs.
One of the Scion vessels began to target Keram's bomber, but too late. Already he was speeding away from his position, trailing torpedoes which homed in on their targets. He had compounded even more tracking disruption onto Sylera's efforts. The enemy's turrets were becoming sluggish to the point of uselessness.
Then the final measure came into effect. Cedrien's Proteus appeared out of warp and immediately engaged the first target. With their supply of energy seriously drained, and their guns hardly able to follow a target, the Scion Legions could hardly sustain the barrage of enhanced blaster charges now ripping through their armour.
It took a few minutes of intensive struggle amid a thunderstorm of battering torpedo impacts, incisive hits with destructive antimatter and the crackle of energy-neutralizing lightning. Eventually the two powerful strategic cruisers were reduced to floating debris leaking glowing streams of burning gases.
Cedrien directed his crew to reel in any escape-pods with survivors while checking on the status of the second team.
'We are almost done here.' Sandrielle responded. ' The Scions had a covert scout and a stealth-bomber posted at the wormhole, but I made short work of them once they thought they could engage Shisei's Orca.'
The Achura's calm voice joined in. 'One more jump back and this wormhole is going to collapse. We have cut them off.'
'Congratulations everyone on the flawless execution.' Cedrien concluded the mission. 'Keram, is there still anything left of that precious corpse you wanted so badly?' he added tauntingly.
***
Early on the next day, Alira returned home. After all this time she had spent on the most obscure frontiers of the universe, she had developed a feeling of being exposed whenever she was out in the crowded systems of Empire Space. By now she felt curiously safe in the unfathomable isolation of this wormhole system.
The station crew had reacted to her return with unimpressed lassitude. It did not bother her, after all, that was not the first time a capsuleer had lost a clone in a conflict. She switched on the lights of her familiar quarters aboard the Sei'r – her favorite ship – with a voice command.
Immediately after the lights went on, the assembled troupe of her crewmen and fellow capsuleers broke out into a collective cheer. Keram stepped forward, cradling a transparent cylindrical container carrying an assortment of cauterized body parts suspended in preservative fluid.
He twisted his aquiline features into a proud grin 'Got you a present. Something creepy for your nightstand.' he proffered the sealed vessel containing the remains of Alira's corpse to her.
The Sebiestor woman scowled at him. 'Oh, how thoughtful of you. That looks so much better than what the Scions of Tranquility would have done to it.' she replied with obviously faked gratitude.
Keram shrugged while Alira accepted the weighty container. 'Well, you know, we shattered their tranquility on behalf of getting you that.' he said with an uncharacteristic note of affection in his voice. It was lost to anyone but Alira in the din of general laughter that ensued. For a moment she locked eyes with Keram. There was something in his look, that she would never have expected.
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