▽
The plan Fam had suggested would indeed be pandemonium. It was a risky bet, but I couldn’t deny that it had its advantages. If we caused enough chaos at the flagship command center, it could slow down the entire fleet. And the longer we did that, the longer we could keep them away from the agency. Moreover, it would buy us time to negotiate with Iris. Granted, that would only be if things went our way... But even that flash of optimism was enough to break us out of our current deadlock.
“All right, let’s do this! Is everyone ready?”
Everyone nodded in response to Fam’s rally, and when they did, an electromagnetic wave surged forth from Fam’s forehead. Not a moment later...
Bzzt!
All the lights in the hallway went out.
“What?!”
“What’s going on?!”
“The lights!”
The crew members milling about were all taken by surprise. But while they were panicking, we kicked off the wall and slipped past them.
“Come in! Come in! Damn it... The comms terminal is out too!”
We could hear various curses in the darkness coming from the crew. Be it transmitters or terminals, nothing was working for them right now. And there was a reason for that—Fam. As a gremlin, her most notable feature was the horn on her forehead capable of releasing electromagnetic waves primed for messing up all kinds of electronics. The young Fam I knew had yet to learn to control it properly, but it seemed future Fam could use it on command without any issues. When I asked her why she still wore her wave-blocking headband if that were the case, she told me it was a fashion statement. But I also knew it was important to her. Squallow had given it to her, after all.
At any rate, things quickly deteriorated into absolute chaos. A spaceship was basically a giant hunk of sensitive electronics, after all. Communication systems, alarms, security devices... The entire ship was practically paralyzed, leaving it defenseless against intruders like us. The crew was mostly armed with optical weapons like laser guns, which were also rendered useless right now. That was another benefit to Fam’s plan as it significantly reduced the risk of us, y’know, getting shot. And thanks to that, we finally arrived at the command center door safely.
“Hmph!”
The door was an auto-open model. Its sensors were down thanks to Fam, but Lea didn’t have any trouble forcing it open. And once we had the chance, we all charged inside.
“What’s going on?!”
“I don’t know! Thirty percent of the ship’s control systems are down! The cause is unknown!”
“Did the pirates just now do something?!”
“It’s more likely to be the intruders! We found the space suits they discarded, so why haven’t we found them yet?!”
It seemed the inside of the command center was just as chaotic as the hallway outside. All sorts of angry shouting was flying back and forth. It wasn’t completely dark in here thanks to some emergency lighting, but it was still quite dim. The brightest source of light was several monitors that still appeared to be working.
“Where’s Iris?”
“I can see in the dark just fine, but there are so many people...”
Apparently Lea couldn’t spot her immediately either. But just as we were all starting to wonder...
“Silence!”
A woman’s voice roared overtop all the ongoing yelling. It silenced the room and got even our attention. And when we turned to look... There she was. She’d given up her twin tails and had her hair down, but there was no mistaking it.
“Iris!”
“Use whatever transmitters are still functioning to notify the rest of the fleet: we are temporarily suspending the march! Confirm the other ships aren’t suffering the same issues! Leave the weapons check until later; prioritize regaining control!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Next, confirm the safety of all crew members! Send personnel to areas communication has been cut to!”
“Right away! We’ll send someone immediately!”
“As for the intruders, give all crew members the green light to use force! Let them know they are authorized for combat, but prioritizing the checks comes first! We’ll comb the ship afterward!”
“Understood!”
Iris fired off order after order in rapid succession, and the men beneath her responded immediately. They were intent to carry her wishes out to the letter, which kept them quite busy. That gave us a golden opportunity. While they were distracted, we could snatch Iris without anyone noticing. And in order to do that...
“Harissa! Lea! Let’s do it!”
“I’m with you!”
“Likewise.”
At that, the three of us split up from the doctor and the others. We left them behind for now, carefully approaching Iris while avoiding the crew members in the command center. And once we were close enough...
“All right, Harissa! Work your magic!”
“Okay!” she replied, raising her staff. “Ealim Nekram!”
“!”
The moment Harissa cast her invisibility spell on Iris, Iris’s expression changed immediately. While the magic made her invisible to everyone outside of the spell, it also allowed her to see those of us who were already invisible under the spell’s power. That meant she could now see us.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“Harissa?! And you—”
Before Iris could say anything else, Lea moved around behind her and put a hand over her mouth. Iris struggled a bit, but not even her strength was any match for Lea’s.
“Lady Iris?!”
“Where is Lady Iris?!”
“Did anyone see where she went?!”
Without their commander, the command center fell into further chaos. But that was only fair. From their point of view, Iris had just vanished into thin air. However, even invisible, we’d eventually be discovered if we stayed in the command center. We’d have to get out of here before they stumbled upon us. First things first, I approached the still-thrashing Iris.
“Lea. Connect Iris to the telepathy too, please.”
Lea nodded and complied, all while continuing to restrain Iris.
“Iris?”
“!”
When I called out to her telepathically, Iris responded with a flinch. Whether she was surprised by me speaking directly into her mind or whether she was surprised because she finally realized who I was, I couldn’t say. But either way, she looked at me with wide eyes.
“What? No way...”
“Iris, there’s something I must talk to you about, but I can’t reveal myself to anyone other than you. Would you come with us so we can talk? Please?”
“...”
Iris hesitated for a moment, but then nodded silently.
“Okay, then let’s go somewhere quieter. Follow me.”
The rest of us all nodded at each other before sneaking out of the command center with Iris in tow.