Chapter CDXII: Not That Covert ~Naaro/Vector/Ark

With a book titled The Definitive Guide to Building AI Chipsets open face down on the floor and the ream of paper schematics spread across his lap and over the sides of the armchair and a small pile of other robotics books, Ark had allowed himself to drop into a doze. Half-asleep, his mind seemed to be at its most creative, spitting out the most brilliant of his ideas and plans, all of which would be forgotten the moment he awoke. He knew so much potential would be lost, but right now, it did not concern him. What did, though, was whether or not that really was the door creaking open just slightly, and whether or not those really were voices on the other side.

“What is it?”

“Ark’s in there, but so’s Mecha.”

“Right. How are we gonna take him down?”

“Look, leave that bit to me…”

Ark’s sleepy eyelids drooped shut and he was lost once more in his creative power, but that quickly came to an end when the door slammed open.

“Hey, laserlips! You lookin’ for me?” Vector boomed.

Mecha snapped to attention and seemed to be full of eagerness as he toned, “Priority One sighted. Engaging program.”

“Catch me if you can, junkpile! See ya!”

There was a strong gust of wind as Vector sped down the hallway, followed by another from Mecha, making the schematics and the book fly out of Ark’s lap and across the room. Ark started to get to his feet as Naaro entered and marched over to him, helping him up. “It’s me, Ark, there’s nothing to worry about,” he assured him. “Lich sent us. We’re gonna get you out of here and onto a smaller ship, and off to Fa’Diel to rejoin your brother there…hello, you with me?”

Ark blinked and looked up at Naaro. “Uh…yeah, I think so. I’m sleepy.”

“Well, you’re gonna need to wake up pretty quickly,” Naaro replied, slightly concerned. “Where’s your spear?”

“There,” Ark pointed at the fabric-covered lump on the pedestal as Naaro trotted over to it. “It’s got a–”

There was an electric snap followed by a whispered “ouch”.

“–yeah, one of those.”

“How do you turn it off?” Naaro asked, shaking his hand.

“He had a remote, I think,” Ark mused, rubbing his eyes. “Though, there could be some sort of internal switch.”

“He? Richter?”

Ark nodded.

“Great,” Naaro sighed. “Look, you deal with technology; come here and figure it out.”

Ark trudged over to the pedestal and knelt down beside it, giving it a once over. The painted Yoshi tilted his head as he looked at it, letting out a soft “hmm”, then dived into his Mana Storage and set to work.

Vector had always liked games. He loved to have fun, and thus tried to make everything he did into a game. Never once did he give a thought to the game he was playing now: a rather deadly game of cat-and-mouse. He charged down the corridors of the Pentastar as fast as the narrow halls and sharp corners would allow him. Following dangerously close behind him was Mecha, his bladed fingers heady to slash away at the blue Yoshi, and with one singular thought running through his silicon mind: Kill Vector Sprint.

“Target is in a disadvantageous area.” Mecha thought to himself as he followed Vector. “Self knows the layout of this vessel better than target. Target also lacks Self’s proximity and directional sensors.”

With complete confidence in himself, and a deep, passionate hatred for Vector, Mecha increased power to his turbine, and started gaining slowly on Vector. However, the blue Yoshi was keenly aware of the change in pitch coming from the robot’s screaming engine, and true to his form, did something that Mecha, nor any decently sane being would ever be able to predict. He stopped.

Vector slammed his feet down against the deck plates, the tacky rubber on the soles of his shoes trying its best to grip the smooth surface, creating a resounding screech that forced Mecha to turn off his audio sensors, lest he damage them, and made Vector put his own hands to his head. The blue Yoshi slowed to a stop within the space of ten seconds. Mecha, however, did quite the opposite: he accelerated as rapidly as his turbine would allow him, and positioned his body to tackle Vector at the end of his charge. And tackle Vector he did.

Vector had stopped near a wall, which by the sounds of things after the screech caused by his shoes, was probably the galley. A thin, yet strong wall of fibreglass stood between the corridor and the mess. Mecha impacted Vector, sending the Yoshi and his robotic counterpart tumbling head over heels through the wall, punching a hole though it and sending shards of the material flying about, both landing in a galley of very surprised crewmen. Vector pulled himself out from the mechanical menace, and looked around. He was surrounded, utterly, by infantry, officers, and others serving on the crew of the warship, who had been enjoying their evening meal just a moment ago. Almost every one of them was staring at him; not only did they have a fond hatred for his kind, but most, if not all, knew exactly who was standing in the middle of their galley.

Fear welled up in Vector’s throat, as he scanned the room with his eyes, his hand moving slowly down to his blaster…only to find it gone! In a panic, the Yoshi looked about, and found it; it was lying a good four meters away from him. It must have undoubtedly come out of its holster when he crashed through the wall. Fear was replaced by curiosity when the Tairez crewmen started getting up, and heading for the exits of the galley, some rushing more than others.

Vector smiled, and took a semi-victorious pose. “Yeah, I’m too much for ya, eh?” he said to the retreating humans. None of them spoke to him: they just left.

This of course, caused immense curiosity to well up inside of the Yoshi; then he remembered who he had come in with! Vector turned, just in time to be knocked backwards by a punch to his jaw. Dazed, confused, and now with an aching jaw, Vector looked up, and his eyes met Mecha’s, which were glowing a deep, angry red, like two crescent shaped embers against their black background. Something was different about the robot… but what?

Then it hit him: Mecha had sprouted weapons. Situated over his right shoulder was what looked like a collapsible gatling gun, his forearms had sprouted what looked like small laser cannons. The robot was giving Vector that wild stare, the one it always got when it was about to do something very bad.

“Vector, my biological counterpart,” the machine said in its synthesized voice, “Self hopes you like the new weapons installed on this new chassis. Self designed these just to combat you.”

“Really?” Vector asked. “I’m flattered,” he said, being smart-alecky despite the situation. The Yoshi then grinned. “They’re worthless if ya can’t hit me with them.”

Mecha knew this. And Vector was on the floor, not in any position to use his speed to any advantage. So the robot extended its arm at Vector, and fired off a shot from one of the forearm mounted laser cannons. The blue Yoshi’s reaction time was honed further than Mecha had anticipated, however, and he rolled out of the way. He jumped to his feet, and ran to the back of the galley. Mecha fired the gatling gun after Vector, and succeeded only in perforating the tables of the galley.

Meanwhile, in the Pentastar’s combat information center, Richter was watching a small screen with all the glee of a child in a candy store. On the screen was the video feed from a security camera on the galley, and watching Vector run for his life from Mecha was bringing him unfathomable joy.

Naaro tapped his foot impatiently, standing with his arms folded and his back to Ark, facing the door. "Not to pressure you on hurrying up or anything, but we're in the captain's lodge of a gigantic space battleship, and he could walk back in at any moment. Y'know, just so you're aware."

Ark rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly. "Spare me the sarcasm and let me work."

"Alright," Naaro agreed, giving his own sigh. The door was closed, but Naaro was still able to see if anyone was outside: a video monitor above the door gave the room's occupants an excellent view of the corridor. He kept his eyes on the screen, ready to hide and tell Ark to do the same should he see anyone approach the door. He didn't like having to use stealth, but deep down he understood the sense it made to be covert. After all, the them-to-us ratio created odds even the luckiest man wouldn't bet on. As he continued to look at the monitor, he heard the distant sound of an alarm. He turned to Richter's desk, and saw a flashing red light upon it with the words 'Intruder Alert' painted onto the metallic panel below the light.

"Intruder alert…well, looks like Vector's made himself known to the place," Naaro remarked. He then turned to Ark and said, "Again, not to pressure you on hurrying up, but –"

"I know! I'm working on it!" Ark snapped, his nerves increasingly racked by the alarm and Naaro's nagging. He studied the wires and let out a “tch” with a self-deprecatory shake of his head as he realised he had re-routed one into the wrong position.

Naaro sighed again, and turned back to the monitor. The look on his face turned from a look of frustration to a look of concern as he saw a squad of rifle-toting sentries moving toward the door.

"Ark, sit down and act like nothing's happened!" he said, putting a sense of urgency in his voice but keeping it hushed enough that the sound would not travel out into the hall. Ark had just unlocked the energy barrier around his spear, and was about to let out a cry of triumph as he heard Naaro. He looked back at the monitor, noticed the guards, and nodded. He hastily returned his tools to Storage, and then moved to the chair and sat down. Naaro searched the room for a place to hide. He glanced back over at the monitor as he did, and saw that they were opening the door. He mouthed a Karmali expletive and quickly crawled under the table, getting himself underneath just as the door opened.

"You, lizard!" the lead guard shouted. "What happened in here?" The rest of the guards filed into the room and shut the door. Ark counted about eight of them, each holding a rifle.

Ark looked at the guard and did his best at acting ignorant despite his heart racing. "Nothing's happened in here, Syoro,” he shrugged. “I've been sitting here sleeping most of the time."

The guard moved closer to Ark and pointed the muzzle of his rifle at him. "Don't play stupid; 01 was assigned to guard you, and he crashed into the mess hall tussling with Vector! Explain, now!"

"Honestly, Syoro, I don't know,” Ark replied, trying his hardest not to cringe as he continued to feign ignorance. “I figured the robot went off to do something or other. If something did happen, I must have slept through it.”

The guard looked at him for a few seconds, and scoffed. "Don't know, huh…well, you're still in here, so I suppose there wasn't any real harm done."

Under the table, Naaro's face assumed a triumphant look. They were going to leave: his last-second hiding job had worked!

"However, I'm going to station two sentries outside. The Admiral wouldn't like it if you got away on him," the guard added.

Naaro's triumphant look faded and he mouthed another Karmali expletive. Even though his hiding job had worked, they would still have to give themselves away just to get through the door.

"Oh well," he thought, "at least we'll have the spear before we're discovered.”
That was about the time the guard caught sight of a maroon-colored hand beside the table leg.

He looked over at Ark and smirked. Ark cringed, realizing that the guard had spotted Naaro. The guard aimed his weapon, planning to hit Naaro without him ever knowing. Noticing this, Ark did the only thing he could think to do: "Naaro! Look out!"

As Naaro heard Ark's cry, his eyes widened and he quickly threw himself aside, taking two of the table's legs out from under it and causing it to crash to the floor. The guard cursed as his blast penetrated the table and struck the floor rather pointlessly.

"Another lizard…we have no orders to let this one live; blast him!"

Naaro quickly got to his feet and moved toward the closest guard, spinning and ducking out of the way as the guards opened fire. He grabbed the guard and tossed him into the group gathered behind the leader, causing all of them to topple over. The leader fired another blast at Naaro, this time at a much closer range than the other had been. Naaro still managed to dodge, flinging himself out of the way and into a roundhouse which slammed his heel directly into the side of the leader's face, tossing him into the wall.

By this time, the other guards were beginning to get back up on their feet. Naaro smirked at them and thrust his hand toward them, shouting "Kamar Beam!" As he did, energy of a brownish hue screamed through the air and struck three of the guards, burning them clean through. As their bodies dropped, the other four took aim and began to fire indiscriminately. Naaro leaped over their blasts and came down on top of them, planting his feet into the chests of two and pushing them to the ground, making an unpleasant crunching sound as their backs met floor. The other two were now on either side of him, and looked panicked. One went for his pistol; Naaro quickly grabbed his hand and pulled it up and as far around his neck as it would go before kneeing him in the gut. As that guard fell, Naaro turned to the other only to see him beginning to open the door.

"Hold on buddy…don't start what you can't finish now!" Naaro jeered as he jerked the guard back and delivered a Kamar-powered hyper elbow to his screaming mouth. He fell to the ground, silenced for good.

Taking a quick glance-over of the seven enemies at his feet, Naaro turned to the leader, who was now up on his knees. He had a pistol aimed at Naaro, a hand on the desk, and fear in his eyes.

"Don't touch me you freak…I'll fire!" he warned shakily, clearly ready to wet his skivvies.

Naaro smirked; he was going to have a little fun with this guy. "Alright, I won't touch you," Naaro said, in a reassuring tone. He tried to sound as sincere as possible, keeping his true intentions secret. "I think I'm going to show you mercy. Hand over the gun, and I'll let you walk out the door alive, okay?"

The leader looked at Naaro sceptically, considering his options. After a moment, he decided that he would probably have a better chance of survival if he accepted this offer of mercy rather than attempt to stand up to this guy. "A-alright," he replied, voice still shaky. He handed Naaro the gun. As Naaro moved aside, he quickly made for the door. As he turned the handle, Naaro put a hand on his back as if providing comfort.

"Psyche."

In the blink of an eye, Naaro's hand lit up with Kamar and the leader was blown through the door, splintering the wood out into the hallway as his mostly charred form struck the far wall. Naaro chuckled, and turned around. "Alright Ark, took care of…that?"

As Naaro looked around, he couldn't see Ark anywhere in the room. As he glanced more closely at the chair though, he saw a magenta-colored tail sticking out conspicuously to one side. "Ark, it's over…quit hiding behind the chair."

Ark came out from behind the chair and looked at Naaro, frustration on his face. "I thought you said we were being covert!"

"We are!" Naaro replied, rather surprised at Ark's lack of gratitude.

Ark thrust a finger at the body in the hallway. "Tell me just what is covert about that, huh?"

"Oh, come on," Naaro answered, "being covert failed so I had to make with the ass-kicking! You could at least be a bit thankful I saved us both!"

"They were going to kill you," Ark snapped and drew his hand to his chest. "I was given protection by being Richter's prisoner."

"Perhaps so," Naaro retorted, "but you were a prisoner. You said it yourself. Now you're not."

Ark rolled his eyes and folded his arms, relenting in his indignation. "Alright, thank you for beating these guys up." He went over to the Ebony Lance and took it in his hand, resting the butt on the ground.

Ho, the Bearer of the Xol’Arago still wishes to help me out, Eriuch rejoiced.

Ark did not reply to the weapon. "So, what now?"

Naaro opened his mouth to speak, but as his eyes trailed over the desk, he noticed what the leader had been supposedly resting his hand on: the button on the desk marked 'Captain's Cabin Alarm' was depressed. "We get the hell out of here, now," he said, stepping out into the hallway.

Ark looked down at what Naaro had seen, and then looked around the room. He marched over to the pile of books and began to make them disappear into his Storage, one by one. He did not condone stealing, but he would never have the chance of seeing this knowledge again otherwise; or so he hoped. He then looked to the schematics. He could leave them here and explain to the robot monstrosity that an accident befell the doomsday machine plans.

I have this accursed collar, Ark, Eriuch reminded him. Take it.

Naaro stamped back up the hallway. “I hope you’re coming.”

Ark sighed and took the paper into Storage. “Yeah.”

He got up and followed the Karmali back down the corridor. The two glanced down either end of the hallway and picked one, heading down it. They would now have to find Vector and get off the ship…with the entire place on alert, that wasn't going to be easy.