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--User Colonel Sigma --Audio Log #0000439 --Recorded on 1907 standard hours, 36-1 u.d., Y-2577

Alright, we're about to take off from Santella in a moment. This was such a waste of time, honestly.

Ever since that... that THING from fucking wherever in the universe it's deciding to taunt us from appeared in our home comms, it's been useless detour after useless detour. I should have backed off when we found that stupid radio in Carene... Ugh, and I can hear Jaq's voice from here, too. "Oh, there's a hidden frequency there!" "If you tune it enough something else might appear!" ACTUALLY shut the hell up already, fuck! What's stopping me from just going up to this AI's face and blasting it away, hm!?

Ugh, my apologies. I just can't stand this sort of thing, especially on such an important mission like this. For me, this thing could catapult me to the top! I mean, who WOULDN'T want to beat the lights out of a rogue destroyer in the middle of space? I practically jumped at the chance of going on this mission, and thankfully the commanders all agreed that I was practically the ONLY star pilot capable for the job. It would have been a waste to push me aside for this thing... but unfortunately, that imbecile Jaqcour had to show up. Apparently he organized this whole investigation? So annoying, that horse. He's done nothing but move us through pure fluff so far, and I'm sick of it...

Bleh. Perhaps it's for the best that I just suck it up. I'm doing nothing if I keep complaining about it, and besides, Jaq won't take all the credit for this thing. I just know he's gonna shove me out and steal the spotlight for himself, this being an intergalactic operation. I have to keep myself on my paws if and when it came to it, but... hm. I probably shouldn't admit this, even to my own private audio log, but...

I have a plan to wrest away any involvement from Jaq in a single instant. I also know how to access his audio logs so I can erase those as well, and, should the worst befall unto him, I can go the extra mile and take credit for his projects, too. Of course, I'm only doing this in case that brute wants to act tall and mighty. Which he will, of course. And yet, I can't really... how do I say it. It feels like this is excessive, but I know I'm just making the most of this hypothetical. At least, until I can convince the crew tha--

(THUD. Creeeaaaak...)

Oh, for FUCK'S SAKE, WHAT IS IT NOW?!?!

---

The incredibly furious tiger stormed out of his living quarters with a dark scowl on his face. Most staff on board only took one look at the suited, enraged cat and his flickering tail and quickly shifted away, while any other passerby that had not noticed him was "gently" shoved aside. Colonel Sigma would quickly walk across the halls, an indescribable rage welling up in his stomach. If he heard what he thought he heard, then that could only mean...

"Sigma! Sigma, please hold up!" Someone with a strange accent from behind the cat yelled out to him. Sigma would only turn his head for a moment to see who it was, some white furred rabbit with dirty denim overalls and a black undershirt. One of the engineers, it seemed, and the tiger thought if anyone had the answer to what had happened, surely it would be him.

With a few onlookers still experiencing some shock from his passive outburst, the Colonel turned around to face the engineer as he skipped over to Sigma. "Ugh, what is it? I heard some bad sounds, I think it rocked the whole ship..." The tiger shook his head in some defiance and then stomped the ground, making the rabbit hop a little. "You better have a damn good explanation of what's going on!"

"That's actually why I had to call you," the unnamed rabbit started, taking a bit of time to catch his breath in between words. "Endeavour's been a bit busted in the engine room for some time. Fuel's okay, but the thrusters were on its last wings and just gave off the moment we tried to take off..." The rabbit's voice trailed off a bit as he now saw Sigma's scowl turn into deep hatred. The rabbit eventually began visibly shaking while very slowly stepping back, expecting the full fury of the top starpilot to level him. "So, ehm... I don't think we're--"

"So we aren't leaving." Sigma growled to the rabbit, who froze in his tracks. His voice was low, deep and unnervingly calm, raising a lot of alarms to everyone around them, including the engineer, who cowered as Sigma continued. "Okay. Tell me what happens next, then. Tell me who I need to blame."

The rabbit cowardly raised his arms, still horribly anticipating the worst from the apex pilot. Quickly, he struggled to get out the words he wanted to say. "Th-th-the commanders!! They wanna talk! Augh... y-you gotta go there for something! Please don't hurt me..."

The tiger stood there, still infuriated, still pissed. For a few seconds it seemed as if time had halted in this one specific moment, until Colonel Sigma eventually moved his head towards the nearby elevator, where he figured he would have to go to get to this impromptu reunion he was roped into. Eventually, the starpilot moved forward, only slightly pushing the engineer out of the way, who awkwardly yelped in response and nearly collapsed to the floor.

The tiger only waited at the elevator for a few seconds when the metal doors swiftly slid open, allowing the pilot to enter inside. He poked a little too hard on the digital screen instructing him to press the button of the floor he was going to, and after a bit of a struggle, the elevator rocked for a moment before zipping to its destination. More impatient seconds would pass until the doors slid open again, and he stormed out passing by a small band of chefs who all scurried away in shock.

The pilot's boots sounded with each step, and it only seemed to be getting louder once he approached the meeting room he was called to. Sigma couldn't believe this luck. Just what the hell is going to stand in his way now...

The rounded titanium separators slowly crawled apart as Sigma stepped through them and into the private meeting room, where a few commanders and chiefs were talking with each other in seemingly random parts of the room. Just from their positioning, it was clear that the current situation was not anticipated, with many of his higher ups still engrossed in their conversations and checking various equipment even after Sigma unceremoniously walked in. In fact, only the two people in front -- the grizzly bear Commander Hark Manderwell, and a rather aged beaver that Sigma hadn't seen before -- looked up and acknowledged his presence.

"Hm, Sigma," the commander barked immediately, only remaining stern and reading from a sheet of paper he was holding. "You're very clearly riled up, so I won't beat around the bush. The Endeavour's thrusters have unexpectedly broken and require extensive repairs, however, the menace we're up against keeps advancing and extending its reach." With a quick glance to the enraged tiger, the bear motioned his head to the nearby hologram globe, which Sigma immediately switched perspective to.

This hologram globe displayed inside it, in a myriad of blue and teal hues, the intergalactic map of the observable universe, peacefully spinning around. A few moments would pass until this display would eventually zoom in on the planet of Santella, where they currently were, along with a small model of the Endeavour, the large scale spacecraft that the crew used to get from planet to planet at lightspeed, tinted red. A small line protruded from this model which led to the word "REPAIRING".

"As you see, Sigma, the Endeavour will need to stay in Santella while things get sorted out, but unfortunately, this rogue AI is not as patient." Hark flipped over the paper and continued to skim through it, while the hologram now zipped away from the view of Santella to an undisclosed part of the galaxy, where a ship colored entirely in black spun around aimlessly. Suddenly, a white line attached itself to this ship, which lead to the word "TRAVELING", along with an estimated speed just below this of--

"Wh-- half the speed of light?" Sigma's furious and unwavering attitude suddenly tensed up, only staring at the hologram as it indicated just how fast this ship was going. "That's the fastest speed it's gone on record, right?"

"It appears so," Hark nodded and continued with his statement, "and it doesn't look like it'll stop. At this rate, it might reach us first before we get to it, and considering the weird crap that's been happening around our galaxy recently, who knows what that might result in..." The tiger simply watched on as the hologram now zoomed out slowly to reveal the projected path of the stray ship, a straight, dotted line in front of the ship, with a little footnote simply reading, "CURRENT DESTINATION: UNKNOWN".

"Unfortunately, desperate times call for desperate measures... I didn't think I'd have to resort to this, but with the way things are going, we truly do not have a choice." Sigma, upon hearing this small lament from Hark, visibly glared back at him, seemingly understanding what he was implying.

"...Commander, you don't mean--"

"Yep. I was hoping it would be under better circumstances..." The bear walked over to the hologram globe, pushing a few buttons from behind the stand, which caused the display to fade out and show a transparent blueprint of the Endeavour. "Ah well. Yes, Colonel Sigma. The reason I called you here is because I want you to travel ahead to your next destination, Salazar, and inform our team there that we'll be behind schedule. And to do this..." The hologram view zoomed in to a small section of the ship, near its hangar at the very bottom of the spacecraft. To the side was a suspicious looking door that only few knew where it led to, himself included. The door opened to reveal a set of stairs, which then led to another, much larger area... that looked like a more compact version of the Endeavour he was used to.

"You'll be piloting our newest spacecraft, the Endeavour Discovera. It's got the essentials that a much smaller crew would need on board, while preserving the same features that we have on here. We were hoping to premiere this after this little excursion, but it seems our hands have been tied by a cruel twist of fate." Hark sighed as he stepped away and moved a hand around the hologram globe, causing the transparent area of this new ship to spin around slowly and show off its features.

Sigma ogled for a moment at this new contraption with mixed feelings. Ever since he laid eyes on the physical blueprints for this years ago, he wanted to be the first to pilot it... but now that it's actually happening, he didn't feel ecstatic. He just felt bitterness at the thought of having to occupy the same space as Jaqcour for this, because of course it was going to happen. Despite the tiger colonel and the horse sergeant not getting along that well, they were recognized as an inseparable team, not to mention both of them were friends from childhood. It seemed that no matter what Sigma did, Jaq was there, too, and he wouldn't have minded it if it didn't feel so... invasive.

"Now, of course," the ursine commander continued, ignoring Sigma's deep and thoughtful gaze, "premiering this new craft ahead of schedule means that it's still going to have a few imperfections, which is why I've enlisted the help of Cameron here." In that moment, the beaver raised his head and stepped forward a bit, allowing Sigma to see him in full. Above average height, somewhat athletic, kinda chipper but otherwise a rather mellow kind of pilot, the tiger deduced. As long as he wasn't standing in the way, he would be a good repla--

"You, Jaqcour and Cameron will travel in the Discovera to Salazar and bring the info to our team, and since you and Jaq need to be there anyway, you two are to stay there until we can catch up." ...right. Inseparable team. Shit. Hark now adjusted the hologram to display the route they would take, with an estimated arrival time of approximately 7 standard hours at a moderate speed, which would mean that they would need to depart soon if they wanted to make it over there by Salazar's sunrise. To Sigma, this was yet another nuisance.

Cameron eventually introduced himself. "Hello, Colonel. My name is Cameron Marr, and I'm the general director and overseer of the Endeavour Discovera. It's a shame we have to ship this out on such short notice, but I'm thankful I and my crew decided to come along for this particular mission, as there were still a few things we had to sort out." The beaver extended one hand out to Sigma, who very slowly accepted the handshake, still deep in thought. Cameron continued, "I'll be piloting the ship overnight, so don't worry about a thing, you and Jaqcour get the rest you need for the road ahead. Now, about the Discovera, you should be aware that..."

The beaver broke the handshake and then continued on, clearly ecstatic to talk about the project he worked so hard on, moving over to the hologram and manipulating it to show all the ins and outs. Sigma, however, was only barely listening to him. He was stuck in a world of his own, thinking about what horrible luck this has been. First Jaq becomes so engrossed with exploring the galaxy that he stops at any habitable planet, then one of his blasters nearly explodes on him while chasing down a criminal, and now the one thing that he was looking forward to taking total credit for, sapped away at the last second. He could bear that horse and some total stranger to be along for the ride, but it was just so disheartening to have the honor of driving a luxurious ship like this taken away from him. And not to mention that weird dream he had...

"When I find that fucking robot..." Sigma said in his mind, to himself. "I'm going to punch the lights out of it and rip all of its cords... Just gotta hold out a little longer. It'll be over soon."

---

--User Sergeant Jaqcour --Audio Log #0001688 --Recorded on 2253 standard hours, 36-1 u.d., Y-2577

Oof. I'm having such a whiplash of emotions right now... mainly that I still can't believe I'm actually inside the Discovera!

Alright, gotta get serious for a moment. (ahem!) This is Sergeant Jaqcour Duret, recording this message from... heh, from the Endeavour Discovera. We are currently en route to the planet of Salazar, take off from Santella was roughly one hour ago. We are riding this new ship due to a technical fault in the Endeavour which needed to be fixed, and our enemy's trajectory is showing no signs of slowing down. Therefore, I, alongside Colonel Sigma Wilkes and Discovera Head of Operations Cameron Marr, must continue to our next destination and temporarily separate from our main ship, with the hopes that they can rejoin us in the following days.

I would love to talk about just how exciting simply being inside this beauty of a ship is... but we're facing a rather important issue, and, well, I believe it'll inevitably become a lot bigger than ourselves. So! The summary of this ongoing adventure has so far been minimal. Exactly 42 universal days ago, Anubis Central Space Control received a distress signal from a cargo and factory spacecraft deep in an unmarked territory of the galaxy. This wouldn't have been a huge issue if it wasn't for what this distress signal contained: an entire list of crew members on board the stranded ship with all their names crudely crossed out and a voice log from what we presume is the ship's core AI assistant sending vague threats to us, specifically. We decided the best course of action was to explore the cosmos and attempt to neutralize this rogue AI.

Our first order of business was to triangulate the exact location of the stranded ship, which we had to do using other planet's maps and graphs of the universe. However, we quickly faced a problem in that our communications system had begun to malfunction, suspiciously immediately after our first contact with the AI, meaning that we needed to retrieve these objectives physically. Our first stop was Demiune, and there isn't much to say. We got the data we needed and had a bit of time to fight some minor crime before we headed off.

Next, we flew over to Carene, where we would have just been there for the data too, if not for a high-voltage signal originating from deep underground. After fighting off some unidentifiable monsters, we found what they were guarding: an ancient radio-like device that transmitted static at an abnormal frequency. The Anomalies team is looking into it still, but what they found so far is concerning. Somehow, this is tied to our AI culprit in some capacity, and that sent some alarms running in my head.

And now we have the last planet we visited, Santella. Once again, we needed their data and such, but here Sigma and I were caught up in a terrible hostage situation. Some hooligan who was seemingly twisted in the head tried to blow up an entire nuclear complex! The more we studied this roadblock, however, the stranger the circumstances seemed. I'll spare you the details; once we took down the offender, well, turns out they were possessed by some dark force after they picked up an artifact, a pristine pin for the Haltex Industries company... the same company whose stranded ship was now taken over by a cruel robot. That was all that I needed to hear.

We have a good estimate on where this ship is located now, but just to be sure, I'll request Santella's data and combine it with our current models once the Endeavour reaches the planet. Besides, we'll be stuck on the planet for a few days anyway, so I may as well gather my bearings and truly pinpoint this mystery. Perhaps once I arrive I'll be back with a new report, but for now, I'm heading off to sleep. I have to be well rested for whatever lies ahead.

...ooh, these beds are so comfortable! I just love this ship...!

---

The flight to Salazar was expected to be a little rocky, but the Discovera so far held up quite well, which was great news for Jaqcour, who really needed some rest after what had happened earlier that day. After an intense hostage rescue and subsequent takedown of a lunatic attempting to blow up a nuclear plant, Jaq was practically waiting for any chance to sleep the stress off. And so, that is what he did, turning off the lights in his temporary room and letting his eyes close gently shut. A cool breeze flowed throughout the room, and a single window off to the side displayed the relaxing sight of space whizzing past him. All seemed to be calm.

...But this calm would only last a pair of hours, at best. Jaqcour was seemingly awoken by his own accord. They were still hours away from their destination, judging from the window view, and no matter how hard the horse tried to just close his eyes and sleep away the rest of the flight, he just... couldn't. There wasn't any particular reason, either. He was groggy, unrested and seemingly insomnia ridden. And on such an important night, too...

At times like these, Jaqcour would usually stay up and work on his other duties. But there wasn't anything to do that was important, and every sort of equipment he could entertain himself with was still stuck in the Endeavour. With seemingly no other option, he rose from his bed and shambled over to the tiny bathroom nearby, staring at himself in the mirror for just a moment and sighing.

"This can't be a coincidence," the sergeant would tell himself. "If this AI has the power to mold minds to its will and bring despair to entire planets... Hmmm..."

It would be a few minutes later that the sky-blue colored horse, dressed in nothing but a spare shirt and shorts, walked out of his room towards the pilot area. There, he would see Cameron sitting at the control desk idly, but sensing the sergeant, he would swiftly turn his head around and greet him.

"Can't sleep, sergeant?" The beaver gave a warm smile as he raised a single hand to wave to Jaqcour before turning his attention back around to the vehicle he was piloting.

"Mmph... Guess so." Jaqcour lazily moved up to Cameron, his mind flowing between fully awake and just about to pass out. Unlike the large congregation of seats that the Endeavour had for its pilot room, the cockpit of the Discovera was a single, sliding swivel seat, which didn't leave the horse much room to sit down on save for a few sturdy steel boxes meant for storage. He used one hand to drag one of these boxes by its handle underneath him, carefully descending his body weight onto the box until he confirmed it could support him.

Jaq stared at the various different buttons and levers on the control panel, and idly appreciated how Cameron occasionally shifted his seat around to one side and calmly adjusted things around before moving back to the center. Being a pilot commanding a starcraft took serious dedication, Jaq was aware of this. For a ship that's as robust as the Endeavour, a lot of managing had to be done, and seeing the efforts of what would normally be a crew of ten high-ranking pilots condensed into a single space for just one person mesmerized the equine.

"Hm, for someone who knows this ship from the inside out, I really thought you had some flight experience," Cameron piped up, derailing Jaqcour's thoughts and making him blink a few times. "It's remarkable how you managed to even find your way so quickly. Were you there for the first private viewing?"

The horse nodded, gently blinking his eyes in an effort to remain concentrated. "Oh, yeah. The crew couldn't stop talking about it afterward, and I'll admit I still have an admiration for spaceships of any kind. Driving one, though, seems very scary."

"At first!" Cameron quipped, chuckling a little while he moved around again. "But once you get used to the open air, it's almost like driving a car."

"A rather large car that goes at breakneck speeds..." Jaq finished the sentence for Cameron, while still staring at the assortment of controls. "I don't even know how one person can manage all this."

The beaver nodded and pressed a button off to the side. He then twisted his chair around to face Jaqcour fully. "So, slightly off topic, but I think I have to bring this up now because it's been too ingrained in my mind, and you're the only person I ever see with Sigma when he ain't alone." The beaver then leaned in towards Jaq with a sort of hushed voice, which the horse responded by mirroring this movement slightly. "You ever noticed that Sigma's been... how do I put it, out of order lately?"

Jaqcour tilted his head a bit, confused at this question. He replied to Cameron in the same, soft and quiet whisper. "Uh, how exactly? He appears about as grumpy as usual, though I do notice that the stress of the mission might be getting to him."

The beaver nodded his head, now looking worried. "Nuh uh. I don't think it's the stress. The Sigma we know, the one that flew to all three of our moons in record time and didn't stop bragging about it for weeks, clearly has something he doesn't wanna share." The beaver looked to his side briefly before reaching to his back pocket. "And... well. I don't like bringing this up, but..."

Jaqcour could only watch as Cameron now took out a small keychain-like item and held it in front of the sergeant, who immediately widened his eyes. "Sigma held on to this before we took off. I recognized this thing from Santella's power plant... ah, yeah, that look in your eyes tells me everything I--"

"Sigma stole this??" Jaqcour snatched the keychain away from Cameron while standing up and holding it up to the artificial lighting, to confirm it was the real thing. Sure enough, Jaqcour was currently holding the Haltex Industries pin that was found in the hands of the possessed civilian just hours prior. He had specifically notified Anomalies to investigate the artifact and keep it in the Endeavour until there were conclusive results... How did Sigma even get his hands on it??

"Sorry 'bout this. I wanted to bring it up sooner, but, well, y'all looked like you were enjoying the cruise." Cameron leaned back on his chair, slowly turning around and pressing another sequence of buttons. "Alright... this'll be a long shot, but I think we can test run this thing, now that there's probably a use for it."

With the push of the final button, a small section of the floor seemed to raise up. Jaq watched as this piece protruded from the ground and unfurled into a sizeable scientific workstation, which included a holographic model viewer and a small anti-gravity display case.

"Say hello to the Discovera Workbench!" Cameron announced with a bit of fanfare, which quickly trailed off as he continued. "...which is still in alpha, mind you. Limited functionality and all that. This stuff doesn't come cheap or fast!"

Jaqcour approached the workstation, his hand still holding the pin while he skimmed around the various gadgets. "...wow. This wasn't anywhere in the initial blueprints..." Still marveling at the tools at his disposal, Jaq gently snapped open the display case's plastic-like cover and placed the pin inside. With one firm push in, the display case was once again functional, with the pin reacting by floating around in the center, idly spinning around like one of those ancient computer screensavers. The model viewer would soon display a rough wireframe of the pin on its display, and the touch screen tablet imbued into the table below quickly flashed data about the pin.

Jaqcour skimmed through this data, tapping around and catching any relevant info, until he found a section for fingerprints. A few unknown matches, but there were three clear hits, these being dated to be the most recent ones: Jaqcour, who had grabbed the pin briefly not too long ago, Cameron, who had held on to it, and...

"Sigma." The equine sighed as he saw what he'd been fearing. "Anomalies Unit had extracted the pin from the site with gloves, which is why there's no data on them. Sigma took the pin just an hour before we took off, and then it says you managed to hold it just before I woke up, Cameron."

"Ayep," Cameron agreed. "Snuck inside the colonel's room and swiped it as quickly as I could." The beaver now looked around and slumped in his chair before continuing his sentence. "I guess it's moot to ask, but... you don't happen to know why he would steal that for himself?"

Jaq was deep in thought, debating on whether he should say something about this. It seemed too farfetched of an idea, he would probably be seen as crazy for it, even... But a hypothesis is a hypothesis, and there was no denying that this was one coincidence too many.

"...Okay. It's going to sound strange, Cam, but I need you to stick with me." Jaqcour sat back down on the metal box, twiddling his hands around before finally looking up to the beaver, who had turned his seat around to face the sergant as well.

"Carene had a radio tuned to static, but emitted an abnormally high frequency. It was also guarded by monsters we have never seen on any record. Santella had that pin, and it apparently was enough to fully possess an individual. Most reports that we got after we found the distress signal from deep space but before our communication got jammed were all from different planets in various neighboring galaxies asking for help, fast. It was a huge blowout that simply could not be ignored. So now I theorize... What if, the closer we move to the anomaly, the deeper we go to that stranded ship... the stronger the enemy's influence becomes?"

The beaver nodded along, chiming in after this brief info dump. "Would certainly explain the other strange stuff happening. I hear Salazar is experiencing some sort of power outage as well as uncharacteristically high crime rates in the past week."

Jaqcour hummed in response. "Then we have to be careful... Let me take it a step further. Assuming no sentient life is safe, then that possibly means that the enemy's next victims could be anyone within this cosmic danger radius... including us. You mentioned Sigma was acting strange, right?"

Cameron raised his eyebrows as he only answered a part of the horse's question. "Yeah... he didn't look excited to drive the Discovera, and I know that was his dream because he told me so months ago... don't tell me you're--"

"Yes, I am about to say it, and it'll sound stupid, but..." Jaqcour took just one deep breath in before he finally got to his point:

"What if Sigma is being possessed as we speak?"

THUD. A loud noise echoed throughout the Discovera, rocking the entire ship to one side before stabilizing. Sigma and Cameron were thrusted slightly to one side, almost losing their balance.

"What the-- an asteroid??" Cameron barked, quickly turning around to the front and keeping the Discovera as stable as he could. Cameron would look up to the view outside while slowing down his speed... but to him, there was nothing. It was just a vast and expansive filed of space.

That was, until Jaqcour loudly yelled, "Pull down! Asteroid above!" The beaver was confused and didn't do so until some time later, much to the horror of Jaqcour, where the two of them could hear the scraping of some sort of rocky material against the metal of the Discovera.

"Wh... what do you see?" Cameron tried to reason with Jaqcour.

Jaqcour could only stare at the window in front, as he responded was he saw. "It's... It's a whole asteroid belt! We're in the middle of it and there isn't any end in sight... And I'm the only one able to see it, huh..."

Cameron frantically but elegantly pushed a few buttons here and there in response. "Oh, crud. Maybe you were right on this whole possession theory. I can't see any of these dang rocks! And it seems like the Discovera can't, either..." The beaver then turned around briefly to look at the horse, who seemingly understood what this entailed.

"...I have to pilot it, don't I?" Jaqcour nervously looked over to the controls and gulped.

Cameron quickly stood up and locked the seat to the middle, where the steering controls were, while dashing over to the other control panels and pressing more controls, seemingly at random. "Just take a seat and move around the ship the best you can! I'll take care of everything else! This is an asteroid belt, right? We don't got much time to dawdle!"

With an audible gulp, Jaqcour sat down on the plush seat below him while he gripped a steering handle and looked ahead. Currently they were in the clear, but a few more asteroids up ahead could be seen, threatening the straight path the Discovera was taking.

"Alright, I got a bit more time right now!" Cameron shouted and pressed one more button before quickly leaving the room, prompting Jaqcour to look over to the beaver as he ran out. "I'm gonna get Sigma on this now! Just stay there and don't crash!!" And just like that, Jaqcour was all alone, only barely being able to pilot a ship that was stuck in an asteroid belt of seemingly his own imagination.

With a few deep breaths, Jaqcour closed his eyes and let his instinct take over. He would only faintly hear yelling from some other place behind him, possibly Cameron yelling at Sigma to wake up. But it didn't matter now. He nervously guided the large ship over the mysterious flood with nothing but his limited pilot knowledge and an incredible amount of fear.

---

"Yeah, we're fine, thanks." Sigma simply nodded off the attendees as he was led to his and Jaqcour's room. The tiger, along with the horse sergeant tagging behind with a rather stern face, eventually strolled in the bedroom. Jaqcour sighed, just happy to be standing on firm ground again, let alone being alive after what had happened overnight... which Sigma was NOT happy about, something the colonel would make incredibly clear in a few moments.

Sigma once again fended off an attendee while waving them off. He then closed the door behind him with a rather firm slam, before slowly turning around to Jaqcour, who had already gone and sat down on the bed. "So," the tiger started, chuckling very sarcastically. "You did it. I couldn't be more fucking proud of you."

Jaqcour looked up to Sigma, his face grimacing as he very calmly explained the situation again. "At the very least the Discovera escaped with minimal damages. Cameron explained the whole thing to you quite clearly, but you simply refuse to accept anything I say."

"Because I CAN'T trust you!!!" Sigma roared back, his smile quickly fading away and pointing one exposed claw at his partner. "Sure, I heard the damage being done, but that was because of your form. You weren't piloting like someone with more experience would, even if Cameron was there with you the whole time."

Jaqcour scoffed, almost about to enter a laughing fit himself. "Oh! So I'm supposed to believe that the rocky skid marks on the sides are because I pulled up too hard once? You're SO cheap, Sigma! I didn't think you'd have to find ways to COPE this much, huh?"

Despite being the only one in the room standing, Sigma seemed to shrink a little as he heard this, but very quickly regained his form and even poked his exposed claw at the horse's chin. "Okay, FINE. Sure! We'll believe that you were the only capable person to drive the ship, and we'll also believe that we were facing an invisible asteroid belt. Uh oh! Now there aren't any records from that night. You and Cameron would be DISGRACED by the commanders. Is that what you want?"

Jaqcour lifted up his chin with a smug smile on his face. "Hm. At least we'd have something in common now. I illegally drove a spacecraft without proper training, and YOU stole vital evidence from an active crime scene. It cancels out!"

The tiger backed away after he heard this, briefly going wide-eyed before those eyes set on fire with rage. "How-- HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!"

Jaqcour finally stood up and revealed, from his pocket, the pin that was looted from Santella. He waved it around in front of Sigma in a taunting fashion. "Oh, this? Cameron noticed you had it on you and thought that was REALLY uncharacteristic of you! So he stole it while you were sleeping your ass off." He then pushed it away and stomped one foot in front, calling attention to Sigma. "And now that we're here... I have to ask: Why? What was the reason for this?"

Sigma looked at the slightly taller sergeant with a great deal of defiance. "Grrr... that's NONE of your business. Now, back off, before I--"

"If your objective is to just call this entire mission as your own doing, you're doing quite the terrible job at it, I must say!" Jaqcour taunted the colonel once more, and something inside Sigma snapped.

"I SAID. BACK. OFF."

Suddenly, the door slammed open, revealing a very tired and exhausted Cameron. It became clear that he had come here running.

"Guys! Stop your fightin'... Ack!" The beaver had to catch his breath for a moment, before he spoke up once more. Both the tiger and horse looked at each other, confused, and then back to Cameron. "We gotta get out of here! This was a trap!"

Immediately, both sergeant and colonel pushed away from each other. Jaqcour wasted no time and quickly turned around to grab his travel bag, while Sigma stood there in confusion. "What. You telling me we got... tricked into going here??"

Cameron nodded his head violently, still incredibly exhausted at the marathon he had to run just to get to this room. "Yeah! The command center here was already overrun with goons of all kinds, and they were the ones to send false coordinates to us in Santella! The ship isn't going any faster, and there isn't any crime increase! It was all a set-up to lure you two here!!"

Sigma's brows furrowed once more, about to lose his composure. It took a single slap from Jaqcour in the back to get him to start moving, clearly still tilted about the recent conversation. "Start moving, you idiot! Our lives are in danger!" Jaqcour commanded, prompting a snort from Sigma before he finally decided to move.

Cameron then backed away, struggling to keep standing but exiting the room to run another marathon. "Get your stuff packed, I'm gonna start the Discovera! We don't have more time!! Get to the ship an--"

BANG. Suddenly, Cameron was hit by an unknown object, causing the beaver to yell in agony before collapsing to the ground, writhing in pain while holding one of his shoulder blades. Both the sergeant and colonel watched on in horror as Cameron struggled, and it was here when Sigma lunged forward and tried to assist the beaver.

"Wha-- Sigma, are you insane!?" The blue equine reached for his blaster, fiddling around with it momentarily. "Sigma, get back! That wasn't a normal gunshot!"

As Cameron's body slowly laid still on the ground, Sigma whipped his head back to Jaqcour, pure ire all over his face. "YOU SHUT THE HELL UP! I'm NOT going to let you dictate what I do! This person needs our help, and I'll give it to him!" Sigma flipped his head back to a deadly silent Cameron, soliciting a frustrated growl. "Come on, nerd, don't sleep on me just yet... Let's see what we've got here..." The tiger examined Cameron's neck, allowing him to see that he was stabbed by two pins, in the same fashion as a taser gun. Sigma decided to remove the pins carefully, which made Jaqcour incredibly nervous.

"Okay, fine!" The horse stomped the ground and pointed his blaster at Sigma, ready to fire at a moment's notice. "If you aren't going to listen to me, I may as well say it for the cameras recording us: That was a modified B105 Plasma Hand Cannon, a weapon that has been banned in almost every planet for how deadly it is! This is also a trap for you to--"

Before he could finish his sentence, however, a hand immediately shot up and began choking Sigma. Quick observation revealed to Jaqcour that Cameron had seemingly risen back from the dead, but while retaining the exact same appearance, there was one key difference: His eyes were pure black, looking dead ahead at the tiger while he gathered the strength to stand up and raise Sigma higher into the ground.

But that was all the information Jaqcour needed before one precise blast was fired from his gun. The bullet of pure energy traveled to Cameron's hand choking Sigma, causing him to immediately let go of the colonel and flail his arm around. Another blast was fired, this time straight to the beaver's cranium. This made the possessed Cameron groan in pain again, but this time he stood still after a second before once again falling flat to the ground again. A black, shadowy mass emerged from the beaver's body and quickly slithered away after he did this.

As for Sigma, he was once again on the ground, sitting upright and coughing while catching his breath. He was barely aware of what was happening before a hand extended out to him, letting his head focus on it. Eventually, the world became clear again: Jaqcour's hand was extended out to him, and he could see Cameron as well, presumably dead for real. "Get up, idiot. We need to leave this place now," the horse barked at the sitting tiger. Sigma reluctantly accepted the hand, and Jaqcour helped him up to his feet.

"Okay, Jaq. What the FUCK was that?" The tiger proclaimed again, groaning as he still felt deep marks where the beaver's hand once was.

"Sigma, looks like they're after you," The horse began, and paced around Sigma as he explained the situation. "If they somehow know you're, like, THE starpilot of the cosmos, then of course you have a much bigger target on your back... To answer your question, that was a possession, and I assume that's this thing's ultimate goal."

Sigma once again was enraged. "Ugh, more magic bullshit... Look, Jaq, can you please--"

"You are in NO POSITION to be complaining, dumbass!!" Jaqcour shouted back at Sigma. Now he was the one losing composure. "You wanna be the tough guy? Think you can outgun all of these people? Fine. Be my fucking guest!" Jaqcour grabbed his travel bag and headed straight for the entrance, but it wouldn't be long until he made another thing clear to Sigma while standing outside the doorframe:

"But don't you ever beg for your life again. If you die here trying to be a fucking hero, I won't attend your funeral."

BANG. Another gunshot could be heard, and this time, it hit Jaqcour, who dropped his bag and whinnied while trying to pull out the pins that just jabbed him. Unfortunately, however, the horse, too, collapsed to the ground as he lost consciousness without any fanfare.

Sigma, dumbfounded at the events, rushed over to Jaqcour's aid, trying to shake him awake. It would only be here where he flipped his head to one side and find someone standing there, gun pointed directly at Sigma with one hand. In the brief moment they saw each other, a deep hatred sowed within Sigma...

BANG. And now it was gone, replaced by a sharp, intense and agonizing pain on his arms. All of Sigma's muscles tensed as he used what little force he had left to yank away the pins that were stuck to him. Even though he was successful, the damage was done. Sigma would drop to his knees, the strength in all of his body being sapped away by the second. Before he hit the ground, Sigma would only look up to find the culprit staring back at him. The colonel once again was filled with a deep hatred, making it known by growling as loudly as he could. That was the last thing he did before tumbling down to the floor, unable to support his upper body anymore.

Sigma's eyes closed slowly on their own. He knew this wasn't death, as he saw with the beaver. He had just been knocked out... He'll wake up again... hopefully soon...

---

Back at Santella, things were about to become hectic once more. The repairs on the ship continued overnight to have the best chances of taking off as soon as possible, but no one in the crew had any idea of just how much worse the situation had gotten, until a single, gentle alarm sounded in the meeting room while a few commanders were discussing attack strategies. Immediately, all members inside wildly turned their heads until they happened upon the source of the alarm: a large notification on the display screen on their roundtable notifying that an urgent message was about to be revealed.

"Buh?" One of the commanders pointed to the side of the screen, noticing something incredibly odd. Most other commanders followed suit after what he had said afterwards. "That's Sergeant Jaqcour's vitals, he's gone offline!"

Panic would only rise once more when the actual message arrived. It was a textbox on screen hurriedly detailing what had transpired on Salazar, as if someone other than their staff had sent the message in distress.

"WEVE BEEN TRICKED" "SALAZAR IS WHOLLY OWNED BY ENEMY" "THIS WAS ALL A RUSE TO GET SIGMA" "AND JAQCOUR ISOLATED" "PANTERA LEGION IS HERE" "PLEASE HURRY"

"Pantera Legion?!" Hark shouted from his position, almost choking as those words escaped his mouth again. "I thought we drove those delinquents out of the galaxy ages ago!" Most commanders around him either agreed and scratched their heads trying to figure out how this was possible, or tried to bring up rumors and sightings in recent memory. The truth, though, was that no one has truly seen the legion at all after their fateful encounter nearly 8 years ago over one of Anubis' moons, and it would be a well aimed cannon shot from Colonel Sigma to the leader of the pack to end it all for good after 3 arduous days of battle.

In the midst of everyone's clamoring, however, the ursine commander saw a strange sight. Jaqcour's vitals briefly went back online, showing he was fine... but then they levelled off somewhere in the middle. If Hark remembered correctly, the only time this ever should happen was if a member was in a coma or--

"Possession." Hark quietly remarked to himself, grimacing at the thought. "Someone mentioned before that Pantera was working on a mind-control mechanism, but it wasn't functioning last time we met. Guess it might be ready now, hm, old pal? Still salty about your loss, or are you after something bigger...?"

To the bear, he would seemingly get his answer after seeing, out of the corner of his eye, Sigma's vitals knocked off the air.

"One last dance, then?" Hark questioned, again to no one but himself, before breaking out a very faint smile. "Fine. You'll get your fun once I'm there..."