3 Bertron

When I was younger, I always dreamed of what it would be like to pilot a spaceship in the middle of a battle. I had been a big fan of Star Wars growing up and I remember how the Jedi always used to make piloting a ship through a hail of laser fire so easy. The weapons used by Kryptonian ships were slower, but more powerful and yet, I still struggled so I honestly questioned myself as to how the Jedi did it.

Then I realised it was more than likely the Force that gave them their hax level flying skills. However, I certainly didn't possess Jedi-level flying skills and in fact, I would wager that flying a ship was one of my least developed skills. I certainly wasn't bad, but my training had always been focused on armed and unarmed combat as well tactics and leadership skills. Learning to pilot a ship was of course part of my training but it was more of a secondary priority. As soon as I was deemed able to take off, land and pilot a ship from point A to point B without trouble then that part of my training was considered completed.

And I had shared the same opinion.

Now, however, I was regretting that decision, I could feel my heart pounding, sweat trickling down my face and my grip upon the controls tightening with every flash of blue light that zoomed ahead of me. Numerous beeps sounded from the consoles all around indicating newly arriving ships coming to join the dozens already nearby and even more beeps indicating hundreds of weapons locking upon my ship.

Yet I could barely afford to even acknowledge these things as I focused all my attention on flying. I pushed my controls from left to right with varying degrees of time spent on either side. Constantly avoiding flying in a straight line while also ensuring not to fall into a similar pattern. It was working for now, but for how long I wasn't sure because with every minute that passed and every time I drew closer to the edge of Kryptonian Space, more and more ships arrived to stop me.

And it was only natural that I would reach my limit eventually.

Nearly thrown off my seat, I let out a grunt as an alarm exploded from the ship as it was struck. Struggling to retain control of the direction of my ship, I felt numerous more energy bolts striking against my ship all the while the structural integrity deteriorated. Luckily for me, I managed to retain control and at that moment, managed to exit through the edges of Kryptonian Space.

I suppose I should pray to Rao for his aid considering at the moment I retained control of my ship, many of my pursuing ships pulled away. No doubt recalled by their fleet Commanders, but there were still pursuers and each of them was marked with the emblem of the Spear of Rao, my own personal unit. 'Traitors, the bunch of them. Once this is over and I get my powers, I'll make sure to kill each and every single one of them. If they survive Krypton's destruction that is.'

I would admit, I had been a little lax in taking advantage of the knowledge I possessed. But to be entirely honest, I hadn't been given the chance. I was under heavy scrutiny from many factions and that meant escaping was all but impossible. Then I had been thrown from battlefield to battlefield and surviving was my main focus.

And as another energy round struck my ship, I knew that my chances of escape were all but finished. No matter how much I pulled at the controls, the ship wasn't budging from its careening through stars. I could just imagine it, smoke billowing out from the back of my ships as the Kryptonian ships continued to give shape. Though I suppose I should count myself even further lucky that my former comrades didn't decide to just blow me out of the sky right here and now. On the other hand, it meant that they were intending to take me alive, which possibly meant I was going to be publicly executed or something along those lines.

I honestly wasn't sure, but I knew one thing, if I was going to die, it was not going to be quiet.

And as my ship continued to fly through the air, I heard a loud beep on a nearby console and knew I had exited a second Sector and was entering Sector 2817. Sighing out as I saw the rapidly approaching planet enshrouded in a black smoky fog. Even as I looked out to see the yellow sun shining out in this star system, I couldn't help but feel some measure of anger, but mostly sadness.

I was so close to getting it and this was how it was going to end. With me crashing into a planet before I even got a chance to taste the power of a Kryptonian exposed to a yellow sun. But that seemed to be a distant memory now and I just leaned back, staring at the yellow sun as the planet rushed to meet me.

-X- Line Break -X-

"Commander, the ship of Tah-Zod has crashed against the planet." Rux-Ze newly promoted Commander of the Spear of Rao turned looking over his shoulder with his arms clasped behind his back at the aid walking towards him. "Our sensors indicate he is still alive and moving."

Nodding his head, Rux-Ze moved towards the console, pressing buttons and bringing up the schematics of the geographical landscape surrounding the crash site. This had been his job and something he had done many times when serving under Tah-Zod. "Where is he heading? The only place of note is this mountain here. Are there any other lifeforms in the immediate vicinity that Tah may be aware of?"

The aid, Drog-Mo shook his head. "No, from what our sensors indicate that the planet is barren." He then pointed at the mountain. "And if Tah-Zod continues on his current path, that is exactly where he will be arriving. However, it is possible that the fog surrounding the planet is interfering with our sensors and there may be other lifeforms that we have as of yet, not detected."

"Hmm." Rux-Ze cupped his cheek in thought before coming to a decision. "I want two squadrons to head down to the planet's surface. The rest of us will remain in orbit here. If more lifeforms are detected, I want one squadron to pursue Tah-Zod while the other determines their threat level. In the meantime, the rest of the Spear of Rao will remain here and move accordingly."

"But Commander, he's just one man!" Drog-Mo exclaimed and Rux-Ze shook his head.

"That's exactly why Tah-Zod's Sub-Commander and the previous inhabitants of the Gunship were killed. They overestimated themselves and underestimated Tah-Zods abilities. Unlike yourself, he didn't gain his position purely because of his family name." Drog-Mo grit his teeth in annoyance. "He earned his position from nothing and gained the respect of Dru-Zod enough to be adopted into the Zod family. That takes more than just simple skill to accomplish."

-X- Line Break -X-

Breathing heavily, my gaze flickered open and closed, vision blurry as my head rang. It was a sensation I was familiar with, one that only originated from being near an explosion or surviving a crash. Which meant I was alive and despite that, I couldn't help but chuckle though that quickly went silent as I felt my body protest.

"I would suggest you rest, you survived quite a crash." Looking up, I caught a glimpse of a strange, blurred figure that as my vision gradually became clearer, revealed to be a small alien. It had wrinkled brown skin with large protrusions of bone wrapped in tight leathery skin above his beady yellow eyes. "You are quite severely injured."

"W-who are you?"

"I am Bertron. A scientist and you have stumbled upon my planet." The now named Bertron replied. "I have to admit when my sensors reported you breaking this planet's atmosphere I was quite worried, but I heard your crash. I thought you were dead at first and intended to salvage your ship for supplies and technology. Kryptonian technology is very advanced and very rare to come across, but you could imagine my surprise when I found you alive."

"Then why save me?" I asked, trying to figure out what this strange alien scientist wanted with me. My eyes had already cleared, and I knew I was being carried upon a hovering table of some kind, but there was no sign of any salvaged technology. "The technology and my ship are still there?"

"Because a living Kryptonian as an ally would be far more valuable to me, than technology," Bertron replied and my eyes narrowed at the back of his head, something wasn't right here, and I knew. The name Bertron sounded familiar, it was not a name I heard in this life, but one I remembered from my previous one. And while my memory was foggy of that time, I knew it had negative connotations of some kind.

Then we reached the foot of the mountain and I began to pick up signs of a structure of some kind built into it. Parts of the floor while covered in dust, but I could still clearly make out the metal flooring and as Bertron stopped, a large cylinder object rose before him, Placing one hand upon it, there was a rumble and the wall in front of us opened up revealing a long, lit corridor made entirely of metal. Not all of it was matching which suggested that I was not the first ship to crash upon this planet.

As they continued down the corridor, eventually they came out too large opening, there were three doors, one leading back the way they came and another two directly across from us. Decorating the walls numerous chambers each holding deformed creatures in a murky green-yellow liquid. And scattered throughout the room was technology of all kinds.

Bertron brought me to a stop and moved over to the largest piece of technology in the corner of the room, on top of which laid a huge vat bubbling yellow liquid. "What is that?" I asked as Bertron pressed a few buttons here and there as the machine whirled to life.

"This is a little piece of technology I created many years ago," Bertron said as the same liquid entered into a syringe. "It is synthesised yellow sun radiation, you may not be aware but, it provides Kryptonians certain, powers that would almost appear, godlike." He explained, taking the syringe and walking towards me.

"Then why give it to me?"

"Because healing is one of those abilities yellow sun provides you and you're more use to me dead than alive. Being more powerful is more useful for me as well." Moving forwards, Bertron injected the syringe into my arm, directly into where a large patch of my armour was missing from the crash.

I grunted out, feeling a burning sensation filling my body, my teeth were grit tightly as my back arched, muscles tensing and screaming as the power filled every fibre of my being. Eventually, though the burning subsided, the pain did not as I felt my hearing pick up and amplify even the most minute of sounds till it was deafening.

Then a sudden and deafening beep filled the cave and it made me collapse to my knees with a cry of pain. "Well this is fortunate; it seems more test subjects have arrived. Wonderful, finally I can see what my creation can do against an army of Kryptonians exposed to a yellow sun." And despite the overwhelming pain, I was going through as I attempted to gain control of my senses to make them more manageable, I was still aware of Bertron walking away down a second corridor.