Chaos

["Foolish Talassar. It's time for you to live."] The core's words bubbled out from the depths of Talassar's Essence, thin drops of power spreading throughout his veins to repair his many injuries. He groaned in pain, consciousness bringing agony and regret.

[So this is death.]

["Bad human. You're not to die until we fulfil my purpose."] The core's presence fluctuated and Talassar blinked a few times, squinting at the dim emergency lights hanging askew from the ceiling. It looked like the room had faced a massive explosion, alloy beams twisted at horrific angles and sheet metal buckling under terrifying concussive force. Talassar reached up to check on the binding, struggling to raise his trembling arm. Even this simple action was a strain on his damaged body and he tried to draw on some Essence to bolster his strength. Unfortunately, only a trickle spun from the void, his depleted stores draining out along with streams of his blood, but it was enough for him to study what remained of the binding.

Astounded, Talassar's fingers fumbled for purchase around the mysterious device. As far as he could tell, only half of the thing remained embedded in his skull in two cracked segments. A shot of excitement brought a small burst of energy and Talassar reached out with his senses. Tendrils of Essence spread out but were quickly blocked by a chaotic field of energy. Fragments of the binding's power intertwined with clouds of the Core's Essence and stabbed into the depths of his own.

[What in the name of the Most Holy is this?]

["Survival"] A paltry flash from the core spun in a rapid cycle through the chaos, quickly dissipating and Talassar sensed the core's disappointment and… fear. ["Bad Thrallax made me."] Talassar shuddered at the Guardian's name, indifferent purple eyes floating in his memory.

[How did I survive?] Kuzev's assault should have ended his life, but this place definitely wasn't the afterlife. There was no choir here to welcome him to eternal damnation, and the pain was far too real.

Talassar sensed hesitation from the core and a sharp stab of agony pierced through his chest. He rubbed the scar and drew tiny streams of Essence to bolster his recovery. Before he could ask again, the core opened up and brief flashes of memory spun in his mind. It was an odd sensation. Like he was looking at a filtered screen through his own eyes. Strange colours and fields of energy were vivid in these memories and Talassar conjectured this was how the core saw reality, perceiving Essence rather than light. [So another Favoured lies dead by my hands and my 'allies' have already betrayed me.]

A weak chuckle spun through his Essence field, and Talassar frowned. The core was weakening. If it wasn't for his injuries, he might have been overjoyed, but whatever it had done during the battle meshed their existence until he wasn't sure which part of him was Talassar or the core. If it collapsed, there was no telling what would happen.

["I need sleep."] It whispered petulantly and Talassar sensed half his Essence field disconnect, forming a dense cage around his heart and feeding the core with power before it fell silent. The weave which held it together was ingenious and Talassar attempted to copy its structure, but his strength was limited. It collapsed within seconds and it forced him to weave around his broken leg.

It was what hurt the most, and in his senses it bled power from the fracture. He took a few deep breaths and spun microscopic weaves which reached into his leg and coalesced around his pain receptors, suppressing their ability to sense the injury. Delicate weaving wasn't his forte, but every Psion learned how to deal with injuries at Loquace.

Broken Psions were no good to the Theocracy.

As the pain reduced he dragged himself upright to lean against a wall, gasping at the effort.

"Doesn't it hurt?" A timid voice asked, and Talassar turned his head to study his captive. He'd almost forgotten about the Lost computer expert the core snatched on its way off the bridge. The boy's monotone presence was almost like background noise now. Especially in Talassar's weakened condition.

Bands of alloy pinned Stick to the wall, the metal fused with the bulkheads to make an inescapable net. Stick's wavering eyes peered at Talassar from beneath his visor like a mouse facing a cat.

"Psions know how to deal with pain." Talassar replied, continuing to repair his body and suppressing nerves with his abilities even as he spoke. "An injury like this isn't something new." Which was the truth, but the last time he'd been this badly wounded a medical cruiser and the finest doctors of the Theocracy were at his service. At least he wasn't dying.

They sat in silence for almost another hour, the boy dozing off and Talassar working on his injuries. Once he felt confident in the repair work, he pulled out a pad the core had the foresight to swipe from some dead engineers in its retreat into the depths of the ship. As far as he could tell, they hid within a storage compartment somewhere near the entertainment lounges beside the engineer's quarters. After a brief hesitation, he keyed in a few commands and blinked as the pad linked up with the Invincible's computer network.

[They must not have seen any need to revoke my privileges. I doubt anyone expected me to board the ship in one piece.] He caressed the scar on his chest while he considered options.

"67 minutes." Sticks muttered and Talassar glanced at him, head tilted in surprise.

"What?"

"On average you touch that same spot every 67 minutes. The same motion and everything." The boy's eyes shone as he gazed at Talassar's bare chest. "I just don't know why."

Talassar glanced down at the ugly scar and smirked. "An old injury." Stick's eyes widened, and he stared at the scar in surprise before leaning back into his restraints, flashes of fear in his eyes. [At least I think it's fear. It's far too difficult to understand humans without my abilities.]

"It's not a significant issue." Talassar said.

The boy hesitated for a brief moment, then nodded. Eyes darting to the injury every few seconds. "Will you kill me?" he asked, voice catching at the question.

"After all that effort?"

"Am I sacrifice?"

"A what?"

"Sacrifice." The boy looked into Talassar's eyes for a second and shuddered. "You Favoured sacrifice us regular humans to the Guardians."

[What an absurd superstition. What would someone like Thrallax do with a human corpse anyway?]

"No. I just needed an expert in computers." Talassar shifted position and dragged a piece of debris to rest his injured leg on. "There are certain data banks on this ship I need access to."

"And then you'll kill me?" The boy shuddered, and tears filled his eyes.

"No." Talassar whispered gently. "After I get what I need, I'll leave and you'll never see me again." [And good riddance.] He paused and shook his head once he realised he was waiting for the core's comments. [I must be going mad to be accommodating that… thing.]

Stick was staring at him in disbelief, but before he opened his mouth Talassar interrupted with a growl. "Don't test my patience, boy. It's easier if you cooperate but I will warp you if I have to and that's not something you want."

"No. It's not sir." The boy swallowed, tears rolling down his cheeks at the prospect of a mind warp. Those unfortunate enough to face a mind warp were always brought in front of the populace to show the consequences of defying the Theocracy. No one wanted to end up as a drooling vegetable that just responded to commands like a broken machine, their words spilling deep dark secrets and betraying everything they ever held dear.

[Not like I have the ability to do anything in my current condition. But he doesn't need to know that.] Mind warping was such a rare skill one could count on one hand the Favoured who had the ability to administer one. Talassar wasn't one of them.

"Good." Talassar said and pointed to slice the restraints on one of Stick's arms. It was all he could do to draw enough Essence, but acting from a position of strength was necessary. The more the boy was cowed, the easier it would be to influence him as Talassar's strength returned.

To aid his demonstration, he dragged a thick plank of alloy and with a few seconds of effort cut it into a splint to bind his leg. Stick paled at the sound of the broken bone cracking and Talassar gazed dispassionately as his leg straightened from a wave and snapped straight onto the splint. Talassar closed his eyes, thankful he was unable to feel a thing.

"I need to meditate in preparation. Once I'm done, I'll explain what you need to do. Don't get any funny ideas in the meantime. I've laid down some weaves which will activate if they sense even a hint of deception from you. A mind warp will be the least of your worries then." Stick jerked his head several times in acknowledgement and Talassar closed his eyes and drifted to sleep, confident the boy wouldn't be able to do anything.

Once he woke, Talassar roused the dozing boy and slid the pad across the floor while explaining his requirements. "There are three specialised data centres on this ship and I need deep access into all of them. My codes are already entered and should allow some entry points for you to break in. We'll do one at a time and once I have the information, you'll misdirect the ship's defences long enough for me to get away."

"That sounds… simple." Stick snatched up the pad and cast suspicious glances at Talassar.

"You're the ones who betrayed me, boy. I acted in good faith." [As far as you know anyway.]

Stick sighed and dropped his gaze, slowly tapping on the pad to work his magic with the ship's systems. "Would work better if I could use both hands." He muttered under his breath, but Talassar ignored him.

[As if I'll let you have that much freedom while I'm injured. Since I'm stuck here until I recover enough to get out of the Theocracy I might as well follow Niobys' traces and gain some benefits. It will also distract Stick from my escape plans. Even if I can't deal with my fractured Essence by then, I'll be long gone, never to deal with rebels, Guardsmen or the Guardians.] Based on the security systems he had access to, the rebels and Guard were still fighting, lines of battle drawn throughout the ship. It was a mess, pockets of resistance from the Guard around the armouries making the capture of the ship an uphill battle. [It could be days before they can start to search for me.]

["If only it was so easy"] Talassar shuddered at the soft whisper in his mind and weaved a quick scan of his body. Unfortunately, the core was still asleep. He swallowed, recalling the words still echoing within the recesses of his mind.

They were cast from his own power and spoken with his voice.

His Essence plunged into the void, drawing as much power as possible to bolster his mental defences and simultaneously lay a weave on Stick to calm him and make him more pliant. It was slow going, but Talassar couldn't afford to collapse by draining his Essence completely. As Stick wound his way through multiple firewalls, Talassar took out Niobys' key and lost himself in the shifting patterns, trying to ignore the melding of his Essence with the core and focus on his escape.