Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27324808-20160708020658/@comment-27324808-20160708021111

Prologue

The war was nearing its end.  Every minifigure could feel it, Intrepid Fusion Eclipse especially.  Avant Gardens, the world he spent the most time on, was at last clear of Maelstrom.  The worlds of Gnarled Forest and Forbidden Valley were only minimally infected now, their infections quarantined and held down to such an extent that they could not resurge.  Only Crux Prime was left with a dangerous amount of dark forces.  He'd seen it on the internet, or on TV, about every minifigure had.  Thanks to an accidental explosion during a scouting mission, the Venture League had unearthed another Maelstrom mine, this time far beneath the fragment's surface.  The faction leaders had organized a daring attack, by the combined forces of every faction, a final strike into the heart of the Maelstrom.

Rank 3 soldiers from every world were called to take part.  The reserves were enlisted.  Meanwhile, lesser ranked members and even the F2P were brought over to defend Nexus Tower, the obvious Maelstrom target in case the strike team were to fail.  Preliminary scouting reports had discovered a nearly uncountable number of new Maelstrom enemies in the mine, forged from the infected rock itself.  The Myriad, they were called, and they had to be defeated now.

Every able bodied Rank 3 was on Crux Prime now.  Hundreds of minifigures stood with the faction leaders on the edge of the crevice revealed by the explosion.  Charred rock crunched at their feet, blown out from the ground.  Down in the crevice was a ground floor intersected by streams of exposed magma that glowed not orange but purple, Maelstrom to its core.  Stromlings, Ronin, and never before seen Maelstrom Rock creatures, born of the infected world itself, occupied the crevice.  They guarded a series of tunnels that disappeared into the crevice's wall.

Of the hundreds of minifigures, there were brave fighters, retired veterans, brainstormers fresh out of their laboratories, property builders - they were all here.  Even minifigures who were better off elsewhere, weary minifigures, who were not ready to endure the gruelings of this war again, not yet.  But they were here anyway.  Intrepid Fusion Eclipse could think of two such persons, and that was why he, a Level 45 F2Per, stood in the crowd as well.  He wasn't a Rank 3, not in just one faction, but in everything.

It was easy for his pals to hack him into the Nexus Force's membership database, not once but four times.  He was four different people: Aiden, a Sentinel with Rank 3 kits in Space Ranger, Samurai, and Knight.  Alex was a Venture Leaguer who was Rank 3 in all of its respective classes as well.  Same for Chloe and Evelyne of the Assembly and Paradox.  Nevermind that those were girls' names and he was obviously a boy if you inspected him long enough, but under his Bat Lord helmet and Breastplate of Armored Inspiration, no one could tell.  He could switch into any faction's gear at will, if he needed too.

The Bat Lord gear wasn't his.  It was Grand Masterly Shadow's, but he had loaned them to Intrepid for the mission since they fit in and because Intrepid's own set was lost.

Duke Exeter was restating the battle plan and the rules of engagement.  "Group A will first clear the opening, and Group B will provide support from here and those two points."  He pointed to two outcroppings on the other side of the crevice.  Once given the clear, Groups B and C will enter the tunnels."

Hael Storm stepped forwards.  "Stick in groups of four, keep eyes on each other but leave enough room to move!"  The minifigures nodded.

"I think I'm Group C.  I'm going into the tunnels." the minifigure in front of Intrepid said softly.  He wore black Paradox Space Marauder gear, and looked strong enough in his armor, but Intrepid could see that his shoulders were sagged.  He wasn't completely fit for a number of reasons.  Under his helmet, Intrepid pictured brown hair and a weary face, with eyes that were alert, but ultimately unsure of himself and his capabilities.

Intrepid patted him on the shoulder and handed him some Hiccup Tablets.  "Take some my rations.  You'll be fine."

A Sentinel Samurai standing next to the Space Marauder said gloomily, "I'm in Group C too."

Intrepid handed her a notion potion and she drank it with dramatic vigor.  "You'll both be fine." he grumbled.  "You don't see me complaining.  Across all of my identities, I'm in all the Groups."

"Haha." the Samurai said.  "Now you said you'd shush about that."

"I will."

"I'm in Group A." another voice announced.  Intrepid turned to face a decked out Buccaneer, who spoke excitedly.  "Duke Exeter will be leading the first charge, but I'm going to get ahead of him and deliver the first punch.  I've got this new Mk5 Pea Shooter with Talli Reeko's name on it."

The mentioned Stromling Invader commander was in the crevice the last time Intrepid saw.  And as the weakest of the Crux Prime bosses, everyone loved calling first dibs on smashing him.  This Buccaneer would be lucky if he could run faster than Group A's Daredevils.

A hush fell over the army as Group A was called to assemble.  "See you in Nexus Tower." the Buccaneer said, and went to join Duke.  He disappeared out of the throng that was Group C, not to be spoken to again for a time no one could know for certain.  But people can hope.

"We'll see him again." Intrepid said brightly.

"No one's suggesting otherwise." the Space Marauder pouted.

"You need more hiccup tablets, my boy." Intrepid said.

"Since when are you the joker?" the Samurai asked.

"That's Evelyne talking." Intrepid said.  "Okay, Aide- I mean Intrepid's back.  And I'm as sour as you.  This whole thing is horrible."

"I wouldn't say that," the Samurai said.  "We're ending the war."

"The ends don't justify the means."

"Well it's a nice ending!"

The Samurai sighed.  Intrepid sighed.

Group A began their charge.

The end of the war was about to begin.

One Month Earlier

The rocky ground that stretched for miles outside Nexus Tower was empty and clear, but Charles remembered it differently.  The last time he was here, the location was covered in a purple mist, so foggy it was like a fence, so thick it could be felt, and impossible to see through.  But now this part of Crux Prime was as scrubbed clean as a liberated Block Yard.

Ironically, only the discarded bricks of a Spider Boss lay in one spot on the former battlefield.  The remains were previously Maelstrom infected but were now as inert as the ground he stood upon.  A most vicious battle had been fought here, Charles knew.  He saw pictures of it on a computer in the house where he had been staying.

Now he stood at this very spot, looking into the sky at the spire of Imagination, extending up from the top of Nexus Tower and out into space.  It was taller, thicker, and brighter than ever before, and more brilliant when viewed in person.  Apparently it was growing, and Doctor Overbuild wanted to delegate more teams to study it.  They were only held back by the also large presence of Maelstrom Dragons and Dragon Invaders that had amassed around the Nexus's circumferance, flying around and around it, always circling, always in the air, never landing.  There were so many of them that no careful person would want to send anyone near them, or be near them at all.  It was quite oxymorous that Maelstrom dragons would hang out near their polar opposite, the Imagination Nexus itself, but Intrepid Fusion Eclipse had explained it to him simply.  "We own Crux Prime now.  Where else can they go?"

Looking up from this calm part of the previously harsh, frenzious world, Charles could see the Dragons now.  They were just dark specks, contrasting against the brilliant glow of the Nexus.  There was also a gray, shiny, metallic speck, as well, that was streaking across the sky fast and banking irregularly, headed for the Nexus.  Not a dragon, but a rocket.  It would reach the Dragons soon, and that made Charles anxious.

Otherwise the air was empty, the day was cool and quiet, the winds were still.  Charles closed his eyes and breathed in Crux Prime.  The new world calmed him.  It used to be such a harsh place, vibrant and violent, chaotic, but now there was peace.  It was not the Crux Prime he remembered, but he was happy to let the new Crux Prime overwrite his old feelings for the world.  It was different, but also the same.  He welcomed it.  It was good and better.

Footsteps approached from behind, and Charles opened his eyes.  He turned to the smiling boy at his side.  Usually a proudly dressed Venture League Buccaneer, it was unsual for his friend to dress casually.  But it was a special occasion.

"Good to be back, huh?" his friend said.

Charles nodded and laughed.  "That's the fifth time you've asked me that, and I will give you the same answer every time, my good friend.  It's better to see you again, Cheerful Power Rover."

Rover gave him a slap on the back.  "And me you, Gallant Strong Cyclone!"

Song of the Swans - Being the Seventh Book in the Stromling Saga Part One - The Beginning of the End

Chapter 1

Charles was better known by his Nexus Force given name, Gallant Strong Cyclone.  It was the name his friends both knew him and addressed him by.  It was what Kate called him, speaking into his earpiece over subdimensional radio communications.  "Cyclone!" she screamed.  "You should be up here with us!"

Looking up at the sky, the metallic object swooped and dove in a large, random, elliptic path around the Imagination Nexus, buzzing the Dragons.  It was too far for him to discern its features, but he knew it was a double cockpit Pod Rocket.  Cyclone heard Kate's laugh as the rocket did an aileron roll in front of a particularly purple Dragon, attracting it to pursue.  The rocket then blasted towards another Dragon before twisting up and around, causing the pursuing Dragon to collide with the other one.  They both fell a few hundred feet downwards in the sky before regaining control.  If Dragons had expressions, these ones looked annoyed.

Cyclone heard Rover laughing next to him, since he had a subdimensional radio receiver as well.  It was amusing, but Cyclone was not keen to forgetting caution.  "What are you doing up there?" he asked.

They heard Intrepid's response.  "We're getting a closer look at the Imagination Nexus."

Cyclone looked dismayed as three Dragons suffered a mid-air collision this time.  "That's not what you're doing."

"If you're so interested in knowing, come up and see for yourself!" Kate shouted with a whoop.

"Our rocket's back there," Rover said, angling his chin and pointing with his hand to another double cockpit Pod Rocket, parked on the ground nearby.

Cyclone shook his head.  "No... Kate, Fusion... guys, this seems dangerous."

"Everything is, to some degree." Intrepid said.

"But this is unnecessarily-"

"Besides, the average minifigure is more likely to smash from a landshark attack than a Maelstrom infected lizard." Kate said.

Cyclone scrunched up his face in annoyance.  "Not when you're in the sky, surrounded by Maelstrom infected lizards."

"That's why you should be up here, where you're safe from the landsharks!"

Rover laughed at the exchange.  "Let them have their fun, chap." he said.  "They'll be fine."  He lead Cyclone back to their rocket.  "Now let me tell you about the time I took an arrow to the knee..."

"It's not fun for me," Cyclone protested, craning his neck to the sky again, even though he was trying to ignore them.  The whoops and screams of fun, more like terror, in his ear didn't help.  He took the radio device out.  "Who designed these things?  They're the clearest I've ever heard."

Rover shrugged.  "Intrep gave them to us, ask him.  I'd ask him, where'd subdimensional come from?  It's not a mainstream technology."

"No, it isn't." Cyclone agreed.  "But from what I've gathered, without this dimension-ing magic, Kate and I would still be stuck in another universe.  And I haven't gathered much, since Fusion's been-"

"-more than unccomunicative." Rover finished.  "Secretive.  Elusive.  But hey, you're back, we're together again.  It's great!  How long do you plan on staying out of action, by the way?"

Cyclone shrugged.  "I don't know.  Mostly I want to stay relaxed and keep exploring what we left behind, but we've basically covered all of the Nimbus System by now.  Now I just want to kick back and enjoy the peace and quiet."

Rover smiled.  "Got it, man.  I can see how our losers of travel partners aren't helping.  We can fly back to Nimbus Station."

"Nah," Cyclone said.  "I'm fine waiting.  Tell me about that, what was it, 'Arrow to the knee'?"

After the two "losers" finally stopped harassing the dragons, the quartet proceeded in their two rockets to their Nimbus City apartment, in Nimbus Station.  The world was still in the process of being urbanized for civilian life; perhaps it was premature, with the war still going on, but properties were running out and people needed places to live.  Nimbus City and its suburban towns were young and fresh.  Intrepid had rented a flat for Cyclone and Kate with his money, while they still worked with the Nexus Force on getting their assets unfrozen.  Behind the scenes, Grand Masterly Shadow and Elite Distant Tofu were hacking the Nexus Force vault and freeing Cyclone and Kate's stuff themselves.  They were all hanging out in the apartment now.  It was big and roomy, and quite luxurious too, and no one objected to six people crashing in the living room yet: Intrepid Fusion Eclipse, Grand Masterly Shadow, Elite Distant Tofu, Cyclone, Kate, and another guy called Calm Thoughtful Tornado.

It was Tornado who unlocked the door when Intrepid, Cyclone, and Kate returned from their day trip to Crux Prime.  Rover had gone his own way, so it was just the three of them.

"What's for dinner?" Intrepid asked immediately.

"We're hungry." Kate added.

"No one's ordered anything." Tornado reported.

"What are they doing?" Intrepid asked.

"Playing Brick Clicker while they pretend to hack the Nexus Force vault."

Intrepid's brows furrowed.  "And what have you been doing?"

Tornado's face reddenned.  "Playing Brick Clicker."

Next to Cyclone, Kate was happy to dramatically facepalm.  When no one said anything, she asked, "That's still a thing, right?"

"Clicking flash games are the thing now." Intrepid said, heading for the dinette and looking in the refrigerator.  "We have milk, leftover rice, and bread.  Who wants rice sandwiches?"

"I'll order takeout," Cyclone volunteered.

"We have enough leftovers to sell our own takeout." Intrepid said.  "Discounted of course."

"Now someone has a sense of humor." Kate said.  Intrepid looked up, then back to the refrigerator, becoming silent.

"Takeout it is, then." Cyclone announced, and went to the phones.  On the dinette's bar, there was a pile of some twenty prepaid I-bricks plugged into charging hubs.  Cyclone tried to find his I-brick at first, so he gave up and grabbed the first one off the top, and was about to call Sue Shi's 'Straunt when suddenly all of the phones rang at once.  Cyclone jumped back, surprised.  Kate, Tornado, and Intrepid all looked at him, and Intrepid ran over.

"It wasn't me." Cyclone said, while Intrepid inspected the phones.  Then he turned to one of the bedrooms and screamed.

"Luke!" Intrepid shouted.  "You gotta fix the programming, they're not supposed to be doing this!"

Grand Masterly Shadow's blond head popped out of the doorway.  "Yeah, that's wrong.  Just ignore them."

"So... loud..." Tornado groaned.

"Death to my ears." Kate said, getting up.  "We should go outside."

Intrepid pressed OFF on one phone and the ringing stopped.  "No need." he said.  He read the caller idea.  "It was my brother.  I'll call him back."

"You have a brother?" Kate asked.  "Why'd he do that to us?"

"Yeah... his calls are supposed to have a higher priority.  And someone interpreted that to mean they should ring on all the phones."

Cyclone raised an eyebrow.  "I don't think prepaid phones are supposed to work like that."

Intrepid jerked a thumb in the direction of the bedroom.  "These ones do, after what we've done to them."

"I admit it was a bad idea!" Luke called.

Intrepid stepped outside into the apartment hallway, taking his I-brick with him.  He closed the door behind him.

"I'll still get some air." Kate said, heading for the apartment's balcony.  "You coming, Cyclone?"

"Sure," he said.  Intrepid was gone, Luke was quiet from the bedroom, where presumably he and Elite Distant Tofu were programming, and Tornado sat around doing nothing.  Cyclone finished ordering a shipment of takeout, then went to join Kate outside.

Their apartment was on the twentieth floor, so there was much of the scenic Nimbus Station to overlook from the balcony.  Kate had her hands hanging over the edge, the rest of her leaning on the railing when Cyclone stepped out.  The wind was present but fairly slow, but it still managed to rustle Cyclone's brown hair.  It danced around in front of his face, and he grabbed at it and sighed.

"I need a hair cut." he said.

"Me too." Kate agreed, still looking at the city.  "Those Assembly sure build fast.  There wasn't a Nimbus City last time we were here."

"I think we lived in Brick Annex." Cyclone said.

"That was nice, wasn't it?"  Her voice was wistful, though Nimbus City seemed nice enough to Cyclone.  Maybe it was something to do with their flatmates.

Over the balcony's edge, Nimbus City spread for miles, its streets and buildings rolling over Nimbus Station's characteristic hills, with parks and trees dotting the landscape in every square.  At its edge were clumps of trees that remained after the urbanization, with smaller suburban housing built in the forests, not in place of them.  Those houses would need additional reinforcement to survive falling trees, Cyclone's inner engineer noted.  Perhaps in the future the trees would need removal after all.  Or they could be transplanted, lifted up and put on top of the houses.  Maybe he should join the Assembly Engineer's Guild and patent that.

The door opened again, and a younger teenage girl with shoulder length red hair walked onto the balcony.  Cyclone and Kate turned to her.  She was one of Intrepid's teammates, he recognized, Elite Distant Tofu, who was apparently named Mara.  "Hey," she said, "I just wanted to let you two know, while you were out sightseeing this lovely afternoon, we got a visit from a Nexus Force officer.  The Force is interested in meeting with you two again, if you're keen."  She shrugged.  "Personally I'm surprised they tracked us here, since we bought the house in Luke's and my name."

Kate and Cyclone shared a glance.  "Interesting.  Forgive me for asking, but are you guys anarchists or someting?" Kate asked.

Elite laughed.  "No, just independent.  Just so you're aware, they will visit again tomorrow."

Cyclone shrugged too.  "Okay.  Sounds cool to me."

"I'm sure it is." Elite said, and left.

The takeout delivery arrived before Intrepid came back.  When all of them sans Intrepid were seated in the dinette or the couches in the living room, Cyclone asked, "Should we wait for him?"

"No," Luke replied, and dove into his fish and rice.  The others followed suit.

The evening turned to night, and the time passed midnight without Intrepid coming back.

"He's still outside the building," Luke replied when Cyclone asked about him.

"How do you know?" Cyclone asked.

"Tracker." Luke said.  "We look out for each other."

"Oh."

"Do we have trackers too?" asked Kate, who was listening from a couch in the living room.

"No.  Want one?"

"No."

"By 'no', Luke means not yet." Elite said.  "We'll get them on you soon enough."

"No!" Kate shouted.  Cyclone left Intrepid's two weird friends, and sat next to the couch on the floor.  Tornado lay sprawled on the other couch, asleep.  The past week's nights that they lived in the flat, Luke and Mara had shared different halves of the floor in their "bedroom", which actually did not have a bed, rather just two chairs, two desks, and lots of computers, while Tornado, Cyclone, Kate, and Intrepid alternated between the couches and the floor in the living room.

"Honestly," Cyclone said, "we should set up the second bedroom already.  With beds."

"Who would get them?" Kate asked with a yawn.

Cyclone rubbed his back.  "I want one."

"These couches are nice."

"I wouldn't mind one either."

Kate clutched her blanket.  "Sorry, your turn was yesterday."

Cyclone smiled and curled up on the carpet.

He was awoken early the next morning by the sound of loud rustling, clanging, and tossing of things into a backpack.  Rubbing sleep out of his eyes, Cyclone squinted until he saw what was making all the noise.  Indeed, a backpack was on the dinette table, and Intrepid was throwing clothes, weapons, rockets, consumables, and all sorts of stuff into it.  Their landlord's eyes fell on the pile of prepaid phones, and he went and grabbed a bunch into his arms.  A couple fell on the floor, and the ones he didn't drop were shoved into his backpack.

"Going somewhere?" Cyclone asked.

"Yes." Intrepid huffed.

"Now?"

"Yes."

"Why the rush?"

"I feel like it." Intrepid said, then he looked into his backpack, a confuzzled look on his face.  Then he reached in and starting throwing stuff out.  "Where is it, where is it..." he muttered.  A stray object flew through the air and bounced onto the other couch, thumping sleeping beauty on the head.

"Ow!" Tornado cried, glaring at everyone before stuffing his head under his pillow.

"Found it." Intrepid said triumphantly, taking out a strange black rectangular object.  He frowned at it, then disappeared into Luke and Mara's room.  He came back with a screwdriver, a wiring kit, and electrical tape, set all that on the table, then had to go back into the room to bring his thing back, and bring that back to the table.  He began operating on the object, and some sparks flew out.

"Wear a welding mask," Cyclone grumbled, shielding his eyes.  On the couch next to him, Kate stirred and awoke as well.  She opened her eyes once and regretted it.

"Darn it Intrepid, what are you doing?" she mumbled, keeping her eyes closed now.

"Done!" Intrepid announced, lifting up a wristband made of electrical tape and tied up wires, with the black object, now a square, on one side like a watchpiece.  He put it on and let it settle tightly in place.

Cyclone's eyes widened in recognition.  "Is that the thing you used...?"

"Yeah." Intrepid said, before tossing his tools in his backpack and putting that on as well.  He looked up.  "My friends, it's been great to see you all, but now I must I bid you farewell.  I am leaving."

Cyclone's eyes maintained their wideness as his thoughts turned to confusion, and he stood up.  "Wait, tell me more?  What?  Why?"

The bedroom door opened, and Luke and Mara ran out.  "You can't." she said.

Intrepid turned to her.  "Wait, tell me more?  What?  Why?" he demanded.

"A Nexus Force official is visiting today and wants to see you." Elite said.

"What?" Intrepid repeated.  "This is the first I've heard of this.  Why didn't you tell me?"

"I told them," Elite said, pointing to Cyclone and Kate.

"You don't say anything about Intrepid," Kate pointed out.

Elite looked miffed.  "Oh, well now you know."

Intrepid sighed.  "This isn't something I can wait for.  I've got to leave."

Kate got up, and with an aggressive steadfastness no one except Cyclone could expect from her, said, "You're being very vague about this, Intrepid.  Can't you just tell us WHY you have to go, and where?  Maybe we can help you."

Intrepid threw his backpack on the ground and looked at the ceiling.  "Ugh." he grumbled.  "Fine.  You won't understand."

Kate smiled.  "Try me." she challenged.

Intrepid began.  "Make of it what you will.  My family was smashed in a Maelstrom attack on a planet called Elistra III, five years ago, just after I joined the Nexus Force."

"Oh." Kate said.  "Intrepid, that's horrible."  She looked troubled.

Intrepid nodded.  "But that's just what I thought."  He continued.  "I thought they were smashed on the planet during the attack, but I've now learned things happened a little differently.  You see, we had evacuation ships which left but were never found... and now I don't know.  I thought my family was buried, at peace, you know, but apparently they were not among the accounted for."

He shook his head.  "My brother called last night, and said he'd received a strange call from someone claiming to be a relative?  That's all he said he was, my brother said, but he had something to say about the, 'fracturing of dimensions' around my home planet?"

"More of this dimensions stuff?" Luke cried out.

"I think we're all lost at that." Kate said.

"I'm as confused as the rest of us," Intrepid said, and by the look on his face he seemed sincerely unsure.  "But... there seems to be more I can learn about their deaths, and, this caller seems to be implying there's a chance..."

Intrepid looked directly at Cyclone and Kate now.  Intrepid's eyes were wide, almost as much as Kate's were, and Cyclone's as well if he guessed.  He knew what Intrepid was going to say next.

"There's a chance I can save them, like I saved you."

He let that sit.

Intrepid swallowed the lump in his throat and looked down, shaking his head again while he studied the floor, instead of everyone's faces.  Last he saw, they were all looking at him, or at each other, taking that in.

Kate's voice broke the silence.  "I..." she started, "I'll just say, I still don't exactly get the whole dimensions aspect of things.  You told Cylone and I something about it, before, when you saved us.  Barely anything to make sense of, though.  Could you tell us more?"

She looked at him expectantly, Cyclone as well.  Intrepid still wasn't sure what to tell them about the dimensions, what he knew, and how much more it concerned him... and them.  He looked up and shared a long glance with both Cyclone and Kate, turning to one then the other.  And he said, hoping to sound genuine, "I'd love to explain more later, but I barely know anything about how dimensional technology works either.  There are things I still need to figure out, before I can tell you anything more.  I'm as clueless as you."  Intrepid doubted they bought it, but he could hope.

He quickly changed the subject.  "It's ridiculous to think my family's still alive - I can't make any sense of it, so I'm not counting on it.  I can think about learning the most about the Maelstrom attack as I can.  I want to do the right thing and hopefully find the evacuation ships, or their wreckage, and help put to rest those who were lost.  If my family's among them, it'll solve my mystery.  It's a personal mission, so none of you have to come."  He slung on his backpack, and looked at his 'watch'.  He could use it and go... but he was hesitant.  He turned to his friends.

"We are coming." Luke said resolutely, and Elite gave him thumbs up, signalling her affirmation.  Intrepid smiled.  He could count on them.

Tornado groaned and stayed under his pillow.  "I'll scare away the Nexus Force." he mumbled.

"Best stay out of sight so you're not sent back to jail." Intrepid advised.  Tornado seemed content with holding the fort.  Then Intrepid turned to the other two people in the room.

Cyclone was looking at Kate, who looked back at him.  "Sounds more interesting than talking to the Nexus Force." she joked.  She and Cyclone turned to Intrepid.

"It's the least we can do for you, Intrepid." Cyclone stated.  "We'll come with you.  We'll help.  We'll find your family."

For Intrepid, he wasn't sure if this complicated things more than it helped.  But he could appreciate extra eyes.  And he needed to work on his people skills, so the experience would help, right?  He gave the assembled group a smile.  "I want to say thanks, you all, for sticking with me.  It's settled then."  He grabbed the first spare backpack and tossed it to Cyclone, who caught it with both hands.  "Pack up and let's go."

Chapter 2

The rocket zoomed across the heavens, nothing but the darkness of space above it, and empty air separating it from the ground.  The pilot liked nighttime flights.  The atmosphere was quiet and peaceful, perhaps just in this part of the world, but here he could pretend he was really flying in space.

The call came suddenly, and it startled the young pilot.  Setting the controls to the RC rocket to autopilot, Intrepid reached into his shirt pocket for the buzzing Brickia.  It was his dad's old phone, but now it was his to play with.  Brickias never lost their clutch power, people said!  Indeed, it was an 11 year old cellphone by this lovely year of 2010, but it was still capable of taking calls.  The only problem was that Intrepid, whose name at this time was actually Aiden, never really expected a call, since it ran out of service years ago....

Aiden was scared, excited, and intrepid.  He felt interest and trepidation at answering this mysterious call.  He pressed the green button and put the Brickia to his ear.  "Hello?"

The voice that answered sounded familiar, but foreign.  Bewildering.  Bewitching.  "Glad to hear you're safe." a man's voice said.  "We'll speak again."

"Who are you?" Aiden asked.

Then the call clicked off.

Aiden looked around.  Spooked, he landed the rocket and took it inside the house with him.  He locked the doors and never took a nighttime flight again.

Six Years Later

The Nimbus sun shone brightly in the rearview mirror of Intrepid's Pod Rocket as it streaked out of the system, headed for the fourth star in a far off star cluster.

"Engaging hyperdrive," he said into his comm for his travelmates to hear, and flipped a switch on the controlboard.  The cockpit glass artificially dimmed as the stars lit up exponentially, and stretched to form streaks.  Without the auto-dimming feature, he'd have to wear sunglasses to protect from the unnatural expansion of light and heat that came with hyperspace travel.  Either way, it was a long trip ahead and helped bored occupants fall asleep.

It was technically daytime in local Nimbus Station time, which Intrepid had spent the last week acclimating too again, so he wasn't tired enough to try sleeping.  He also didn't want to sleep.

He began to think.  He thought about where they were going.  Elistra III was a beautiful world with beautiful cities.  A lot had been done in the years since the attack to fix it up and restore its beauty.  He hadn't been there to see the rebuilding but he'd seen the results.  He thought about the efforts of his brother, Alex.  Alex had made a name for himself as a handyman and a problem solver.  He ran a business, and he was only fifteen.  It helped that he was the brother of Intrepid Fusion Eclipse, who was infamous among the Elistrans for coming to save them... nevermind it'd taken awhile.

Intrepid realized he was quite the hero to many people.  It bugged him, and he found himself thinking about the rest of his family... he hadn't come back in time to save them.  He wasn't a hero to them.

But what if they were alive, and he found them?

Intrepid shook his head to clear the thought, as he did every other time his brainwaves broached the subject - but this time it stuck.  He didn't like it.  He never allowed himself to think about his family, who he lost.  He was a hero to Alex and the others because he came back and did save them, but he'd saved only them because he'd wasted time on Avant Gardens, when he could have come back earlier.  Then he could have saved everyone.  Their deaths were his fault, and he couldn't allow himself to think about that.  The shaking of his head turned spastic, enough to prompt a reponse from the travelmate who sat in his own rocket with him.  She'd been so quiet for once that if he'd forgotten she was there he might have screamed.  But her voice pulled him back into reality.

"Commotionem capitis in populis."

Intrepid turned around and for a second he thought he was staring at a particular red haired girl... no.  He blinked.  It was just Kate.  And she was in his rocket.  He frowned.

"What'd you just say?" he asked.

Kate pointed at him.  "That thing you did there, shaking of your head, it's called 'commotionem capitis' in Latin."

Intrepid frowned harder.  "What's Latin?"

"It's a language I picked up in another dimension."  She smiled and leaned forwards.  "I thought you'd know something about that."

Intrepid frowned as hard as he could, and his forehead muscles started hurting.  "Here's something I don't know: why are you in my rocket?"

"First," Kate began, counting her fingers to enumerate, "it conserves energy to share a ride.  That's another thing you get taught a lot in the other dimension.  Second, this is a two seater rocket, so why not?  See first.  Third, I want to talk to you."

"Oh."  Intrepid turned back to the front of the rocket and eased his eyebrows.  Aaah.  Much better.  He wasn't sure what else to say about that, except, "Oh."  He contemplated ignoring her and just watching the stars go by.   The Pod Rocket's twin engines were mesmerizing when he tried angling his eyes outwards to stare at them both at the same time, but that hurt his eyes.  And it was rude.

"I don't really want to talk..." Intrepid started.

"Fine!" Kate said.  Intrepid almost turned around again, surprised.  She gave up that easily?  Well, good for him.  Now, with his eyebrows aching from all his frowny faces, he actually did feel like lying back and sleeping.

Out of courtesy, he asked, "Do you have enough room back there?"

"That's talking!  But yeah, I do.  Why?"

"Will you have room if I recline?"

"There's plenty of room for me to recline too."

"Good to know." Intrepid said, and he began to lean his seat back, but not before sliding it forwards.  "I've never really sat in the back..."

Kate was silent, as if she was waiting.  She WAS waiting, for him.  Intrepid realized what he did.  He was talking!  Aw, bricking naw.  If she had some reverse-psycological plan to get him talking, it was working.  Not anymore!  He shut his mouth, and stayed shut up.  He shut his eyes, too.

This was going to be a long ride.

Intrepid actually fell into a dreamless sleep, and when he awoke it was to an unholy buzzing in his pocket.  His I-brick?  He reached down and indeed, he had an incoming call from an unknown number.

"You have reception in space?" Kate asked, perplexed.

Intrepid raised his eyebrows, and leaned his seat forwards.  "I didn't think so..." he said, puzzled.

He felt Kate's smirk behind his back.  "More dimensional technology?"

"I haven't figured it out that much yet," Intrepid assured her, and brought the phone to his ear.  "Hello?"

The voice that answered was that of a man.  "Glad to hear your voice, Aiden."

"What?" Intrepid responded.  The voice almost sounded familiar, but it was not a voice he recognized.  He didn't think he'd heard it before... "Who is this?"

He saw Kate gesturing in the rearview mirror.  "Speaker phone." she hissed.  Intrepid complied, and set it as such.

"Aiden." the voice continued.  "All you need to know is our family is safe.  And I can help you find them."

Intrepid met the reflection of Kate's eyes.  They burned with an intense inquisitiveness.  This call wasn't doing anything to ease his mind either.  "And, you are?" Intrepid repeated.

The mysterious caller laughed, and some recessed part of Intrepid's brain expected the caller to hang up then.  But instead, after a pause, the voice replied, "Oh, as if I haven't made it obvious enough!  I'm closely related to you."

"Prove it." Intrepid pressed.

"I know who you're close with." the caller began, and warning bells began to flash in Intrepid's head.  How much did he want the others to know?  How much did he want to know?  He hovered a finger over the OFF button.

"You have a brother, Alex, who you miss very much.  But even more, you miss your father, your mother, and your two sisters." the caller said.  "Who else are you close with?  If we extend from the familial to the physical, then you'd be sitting close to a certain Ka-"

"Enough!" Intrepid shouted.  "Give me a name or I'm hanging up now."

The caller laughed again.  "Talmid.  Tiberius Talmid."

Intrepid raised his eyebrows again.  Did the name Tiberius ring a bell?  No.  He'd never heard it paired with his family name.  And anyone could find his family's name by looking in the yellowpages.  He took a moment to say nothing.

"Remember me, yet?" the voice who called himself Tiberius asked.

Intrepid sighed.  "Never heard of you." he stated, and hung up.

He turned around to meet Kate's gaze.  Her eyebrows were raised, too.  "Odd." she said.  "Can't say I've heard of him either.  So I certainly don't remember him."

Regarding that last part... Intrepid realized sullenly, perhaps the caller wasn't so unknown after all.  He hadn't known his name at the time, and he still didn't know his motives, but if Intrepid looked back enough, he realized he actually did remember a certain mysterious caller.  The vocal mannerisms and accent were familiar.  It had to be Tiberius.  And this unnerved Intrepid.

This meant that he didn't only have an estranged relative, but an estranged relative who had been stalking him for the last six years of his life.  Maybe more.

Of course this unnerved him.  What else did Tiberius know?

"I want everyone to maintain constant radio contact from now on." Intrepid's voice instructed.

"Gotcha fam." Luke radioed in from his rocket.

"Sure." Elite said from hers.

Cyclone did as he said and turned his transmitter on.  "What's going on, Intrepid?" he asked.  He looked around, outside the cockpit glass, in front of him, to the sides, and behind.  There was nothing peculiar out in space that he could see, that could hint to Intrepid's order.

Kate's voice cut in.  "We're being spied on."

Concerned, Cyclone asked, "Shouldn't we not be talking to each other, then?"

"Apparently that doesn't matter." Intrepid interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Cyclone asked.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Kate pressed.

Intrepid groaned very audibly.  "It doesn't matter what we say, when, how, and to who, because there's this creepazoid out there who knows everything!"

"What Intrepid means," Kate translated, "is we got a strange call from someone who told us things about us, what we're doing, now."

Cyclone shivered.  "That's disconcerting."

"You bet."

Cyclone continued looking around.  Space looked normal as far as he could see, as far as hyperspace-stretched stars appeared normal.  The other three rockets, Luke's and Mara's and Intrepid and Kate's, cruised along ahead of his.  He looked at his sensors, extended the range, and did a double take.

"Anyone else picking up something large directly in front of us?" he inquired.

"Yes." Luke reported.  "But I don't see anything."

As he continued watching, Cyclone noticed that the radar blip wasn't changing position on the screen... relative to his rocket, it wasn't moving.  It was staying at the same distance ahead of them.  Following them.

"I think we should-" he started.

"I'll drop into normalspace and troubleshoot this." Intrepid said.  "Could be a sensor glitch?"  Cyclone detected something present in Intrepid's voice.  Was he sounding hopeful?

"You're a sensor glitch." Elite said, and Luke laughed.

"What even-" Intrepid began.

"I've been fixing these rockets for years.  Any claims of 'sensor glitches', I take as personal insults to my ability, and I am only responding in kind." Elite said.

Intrepid responded by returning his and Kate's Pod Rocket to normalspace.  Immediately on Cyclone's screen, the radar blip began to close in.

"Not a sensor glitch!" Intrepid verified.  "It's the Maelstrom."

Cyclone pressed a switch, and his rocket returned to normal speeds as well.  Luke and Mara followed suit.  In front of them, to their horror, was a variety of Nexus Force spacecraft flying in an intercept formation.  There were personal rockets like theirs, larger cargo rockets, and even a Venture class cruiser.

And they were all infected with Maelstrom.

Cyclone set his jaw.  The pilots of the other rockets knew what to do.  He could see their shield generators charging up, auxiliary fins swinging into position for extra maneuverability, and their weapons systems, whatever they had, deploying and getting ready to fight.  Missile racks folded out from under their fuselages and previously concealed laser turrets popped out of blast doors.

Cyclone's pressed a button with the icon of a pea shooter, and his own rocket began to transform into the same fighting machine as the others.

"We're not just running away from this?" he asked.

He imagined Grand Masterly Shadow's chest puffing up as the blond haired boy said most valorously, "We serve the goodness of minifigurekind.  We will always fight until this Maelstrom threat is vanquished, never to hurt any good minifigure again!  Or until we smash trying."

"Try not to get smashed," Intrepid chided.  The Maelstrom fleet was getting closer now.  "These guys are in the way between here and Elistra, so we have no choice but to fight here and lose them now, or they'll follow us all the way there."

According to his computer, the Maelstrom were now ten seconds away.  Cyclone gripped his flightstick.  "I haven't fought the Maelstrom in more than a year," he said, "and even then, I don't think it was ever in a rocket."

Five seconds.

"There's a first time for everything." Kate said.  "Look at m-_~, *static* -br- get to fire a turret."  Her voice was becoming garbled as the Maelstrom fleet began to jam their transmissions.  Cyclone thought he heard her finish with, "See you guys on the other side."

Three seconds.

Cyclone responded, though he doubted she could hear him anymore, "You too, Kate."

One second left and the Maelstrom were here.  Cyclone's hands closed around the triggers on his control sticks, and taking a deep breath he squeezed them.

Chapter 3

It may come as a surprise to most minifigures, that the Maelstrom's reach can be felt even outside the Nimbus System.  It was these extraplanetary forces that attacked the infamous Venture Explorer.  They were known to patrol between the worlds of the Nimbus System, especially around the Darnau, but some Maelstrom infected ships were seen farther out, preying on other Nexus Force troop ships.  A lot of Stromlings and Mechs can be sourced from ships full of recruits.

One moment space was calm, peaceful, quiet.  The next moment it was a chaotic deathtrap to anything without shields.  Silent missiles, launched from Luke and Mara's rockets, exploded prematurely, confusing the first squadron of Stromling rockets and scattering their formation.  Cyclone and Intrepid swooped in, picking off the most of them as another squad circled around from behind.

Kate swung their rocket's turrets to face the approaching light crafts, and dual bolts of energy blasted from its double barrel.  Moving at half the speed of light, with an arming time of half a second, they flared brightly and changed color, from blazing yellow to a burning bright blue,  and by themselves arced towards the Maelstrom targets.  On impact with the charged bolts of energy, four Maelstrom rockets lost their clutch power and were turned to spacebricks.

"Whoa." Kate gasped.  "I like this gun."

"It's a powerful one," Intrepid said, "the rounds are self-aiming.  Make sure to only aim it at things you want to blow up, the energy won't distinguish between friendly or foe.  You can press that button there to load basic ammunition."

"Got it, Mr. Encylopedia."  Kate continued firing the turret and blasting rockets apart, while Intrepid lined up a surviving rocket from the first squadron with the forward lasers.  He fired, taking it out, and repeated the process with the last two.

He saw that Cyclone, Luke, and Mara were heading to engage a third squadron of Stromling rockets that was trying to flank.  Saw, but couldn't hear.  There was only static in his earpiece thanks for the Maelstrom jamming them.  But there was one person he could talk to.

"Aim your guns at that cargo rocket," Intrepid said, pointing to one nondescript looking Botany Bay class transport next to the Venture class cruiser.  It lacked any guns, so he suspected it was the jamming ship.  Kate's turret aimed ahead, and Intrepid aimed the missile launchers.  They fired at the same time, basic fast moving rounds from the turret that peppered the transport's shields.  Intrepid banked and rolled to avoid return fire from the cruiser - now that there were no Stromling rockets around them, the cruiser could safely fire its main batteries without worry of smashing its own forces.  Intrepid's evasive maneuvers brought their forward lasers to aim at the transport for a second, and Intrepid adding a small amount of additional firepower to the assault.  Kate's turret was always firing, and the transport's shields failed just in time for the missiles to impact it.

Explosions rippled across the transport and it split in half, and its smaller sections disappeared with little blasts of light.  Kate cheered but Intrepid didn't smile.  He still heard static from the radio, which meant they hadn't destroyed the jammer.  The transport had probably been just a transport.

They were now very close to the Infected Venture class cruiser, skimming just over its shrink-wrap shielded surface to avoid its gun arcs.  Through its side windows, they saw Stromling crews running around the interior, crewing the bigger ship and trying to get guns to face on the smaller, faster, more agile rocket.  Kate fired at the windows, but the shields were stronger on the Venture, and the energy blasts dissipated harmlessly.  They were too close to the self-aiming rounds, they wouldn't charge up fast enough.

"I think we should run from this one." Kate said.

"I'd like to!" Intrepid answered.

He  watched as another Botany Bay class transport sidled around the Venture's rear.  Unlike the other transport, this one had guns, which it brought to face the little rocket, but it didn't fire yet.  It was waiting for a clear shot.  Pushing the engines, Intrepid quickly banked up, away fom the Venture, giving the transport time to shoot.  Its powerful quadguns all fired at once, creating a lightshow of lethality that streaked towards their rocket very quickly.

Intrepid and Kate watched as the lasers neared, then Intrepid made a quick evasive swerve back around the Venture's rear.  The transport's guns followed the rocket's path, and kept firing into the Venture's engines.  They stopped firing then, but it was too late.  Enough weapons fire hit the Venture to breach its shields and disable its engines.

"Nice!" Kate congratulated.

"We're not out of this yet," Intrepid warned, as they cleared the Venture's profile and the transport prepared to fire again.

"There's another squad of rockets, 8 o'clock!  They're coming in hot." Kate announced.

Intrepid turned and saw them.  They began firing.  He also saw the next volley firing from the transport, aimed just ahead, above, and belows of them, effectively creating a wall of doom, trapping them.  He swung their rocket, missing most of the Stromling rockets' weapons fire that came in from behind, but a few bounced off at their rear shields.

"Remember space is three dimensional," Kate said.

"Right." Intrepid said, and pulled the rocket into a dive.  They swung under the disabled Venture cruiser, and the Stromling rockets followed.  Kate returned fire, forcing the Stromling rockets to evade and keeping their forward weapons off ot them.

"What's their objective here?" Kate asked.  "Destroy us or infect us?"

"Either." Intrepid said, dodging an antennas and other outcropping's from the Venture while watching out for any flares from its shields.  A collision with a shield barrier would atomize them, and that wouldn't be nice.  They reached the front of the Venture and Intrepid banked up and over its large forward windows.  "Any sign of our friends?" he asked.

"I don't see them." Kate said.  "They must have escaped already."

There was a clear window of space ahead of them, aligned with the path to their destination planet - directly between two more Botany Bays and another, fifth squadron of Stromling Destroyer-type rockets that began loading torpedoes.  Intrepid grabbed the hyperdrive lever.  "Hold on!" he said, and, pulled it into 'engage'.

Light, laser bolts, and shapes all stretched as the hyperdrive engaged.  At the same time, a series of laser blasts happened to come at their rocket from behind.  The hyperdrive was still speeding up and Intrepid rolled the rocket to dodge most of the lasers, but one happened to strike a forward engine right in its center.

Then the hyperdrive engaged and sent them into a spinning escape.

It took Intrepid a few seconds to realize what was going on.  The inertia made it hard for him to hold his head steady, and focus on the view outside.  They'd escaped the Maelstrom fleet, and were thousands of miles away from them by now, but the rocket was spinning out of control.  The stars spun.  In hyperspace, this was incredibly dangerous, since an off-course rocket could quickly fly itself into an asteroid, a planet, or a star.  Intrepid tried to turn the hyperdrive off, but the rocket continued to spin around.

Wait.  The stars looked like stars, dots and not streaks.  Intrepid realized what happened.  Since one of the engines was knocked out, the hyperdrive was only partially engaged, and it was spinning them around.  Actually, that didn't make sense at all.

"This isn't good." Kate said.  She didn't sound good, either.  Intrepid didn't want to open his mouth, since he felt sick too.  He felt he had to reassure his travelmate that they were going to survive this.  They were going to survive this, right?  He'd made it out of some strange flights before.  This one wouldn't be different.

"We can get out of this with manual controls," Intrepid said, pushing the unresponsive control set aside and reaching for the hydraulic levers under the dashboard.  "There's a set under yours as well."

"Found it." Kate said.

"Okay, pull the left one until I say stop," Intrepid instructed, and he pulled his right stick until the rocket's counterclockwise spin began to slow.  "Good." he said.  "Keep going."  After several intense moments, the rocket finally stopped spinning.  "Great!  Oh."

"Oh, what?" Kate asked, straining to look up from her efforts.

"There's a planet directly in front of us."

Kate turned around, and over Intrepid's shoulder saw a large blue and green sphere that was quickly filling up the cockpit glass.  "Oh.  Uh oh."

"Push both levers away from you," Intrepid said, "I'll pull mine, to pull up."

Kate pushed, but they wouldn't move in that direction.  "They're stuck."

"Okay, we'll go the other way.  Pull them and I'll push."

The rocket began to angle downwards painfully slowly.  Trails of flame began to appear over the cockpit glass as they entered the planet's atmosphere.

"We're making it, keep going!" Intrepid said.  They breached the atmospheric barrier, and a sea of clouds appeared in front of them, over their heads at the angle they were approaching, upside down.

They were still moving incredibly fast.  Their rocket passed through the clouds, and the ground appeared.  It looked like hills and plains.  They were a few degrees from level now, but the ground was fast approaching.

At that moment the engines died, and the rocket began to slow.  Looking up, Intrepid saw the ground looming.  A dark shape was paralleling their path - the rocket's shadow.  It was getting larger.  They were under the influence of the planet's gravity now, and their hair flew up to the cockpit roof.

Were they slowed down enough to survive the impact?

Intrepid felt another hand grabbing his.  He closed his eyes as the rocket crashed.

Luke's rocket has escaped first.  A flash of light signified its entering hyperspace.  The Stromling rockets that had pursued the escaped escapee now banked around and levelled off, picking their next target: Cyclone.

The brown haired boy felt his tufts pressing sweatily against his forehead as he angled the rocket to attack.  The strategist in his mind told him he could take them out before they fired at him.  But he preferred grounded combat to this.  Here in the vastness of space, his rocket cockpit felt stiflingly small.  He found it uncomfortable to breathe.  Cyclone didn't think he was claustrophobic, but the thought crossed his mind now.  And of course it didn't help ease his mind that there were Maelstrom rockets trying to smash him.

The engine behind him whined as he turned the controls and entered a barrel roll above and over the attacking rockets, but they went right past him.  He realized with a start that they were now heading straight for Elite Distant Tofu's rocket, which was dodging fire from the infected Venture, a Botany Bay class transport gunship, and now every rocket squad in sight.  He couldn't see where Intrepid and Kate's rocket was.  Perhaps they'd already escaped.

Elite's rocket was taking hits, and Cyclone didn't think a rocket was designed to take that much of a beating.  He swung his rocket upwards and around, arming the missile launcher, and pressed the engines.  How much more could Elite take?  He diverted power away from the shields to go as fast as he reasonably could, even though he was well in the firing arcs of the Venture's broadside.  But it wasn't firing on him yet.

He was right on top of the nearest group of rocket's chasing down Elite, and quickly let loose a hail of missiles.  Each shot was true and impacted in the rockets' aft thrusters, disabling some and completely destroying the others.  Next in line was the Venture class itself.  Cyclone felt a sudden urge to eradicate the threat, it was getting closer, or he was getting closer to it, and the moment would soon pass.  There was half a volley of light rockets left, and he aimed the forward blasters at the Venture's shield distribution node.  He didn't really know what component he was shooting at, but it looked important.  A second of sustained blaster fire was enough for the ship's shields to visually fire, and Cyclone fired the rockets.

He kept firing even as he pulled up to avoid the impending explosions.  He'd gotten closer than he'd thought, and his rocket bucked and shook as something caught up with him.  A shockwave!  Looking in his rearview mirror, he realized that the Venture was falling to a series of growing explosions.  The missiles had done critical damage.  There was a final burst of heat and light from the ship's center, and then the Infected Venture was no more.

A small white flash in the distance caught Cyclone's eye, and he saw that Elite Distant Tofu had escaped.  The Maelstrom rockets were flying about in a frenzy, no longer coordinated with their leader ship lost.  There wasn't a better time to be gone, Cyclone thought, and engaged his rocket's hyperdrive with a flourish.  The Maelstrom disappeared behind him, and Cyclone sighed with relief.  He leaned back and let his hair fall in his face.  His locks were black.

Cyclone sat up with a start.  His hair wasn't black.  He reached up to grab at it, when he noticed the color of his hands was wrong as well.  Instead of fair, they were purple.  And instead of a thumb and fingers, one of his hands was a sword.

His heart pounded in his chest.  Lightheadedly, Cyclone realized it was no wonder why the Maelstrom hadn't attacked him.  Because something had changed, and now he was Maelstrom again, too.

End of Part One