White overhead lights bled against polished black floors while officers, medics and mechanized soldiers moved through the massive command base in organized forms. The low hum of machinery vibrated endlessly through the walls alongside distant alarms and overlapping announcements from Control.

It upset K, it never did before but now it did.

Now that a huge hole sat in his memory.

Lex would not stop staring at him. The wheels in her head spinning like crazy as she processed everything he had been saying.

"K,"

K shot her a glare.

The redhead sighed dramatically before tugging at the sleeve of her combat jacket.

"Okay, okay, grumpy. So explain this to me again...you conveniently forgot an ENTIRE battle and everything that happened before the battle up to after or why you took out your pellet?"

"I didn’t forget and I wouldn’t say conveniently."

"You literally just said—"

"I remember pieces. Fragmented pieces"

Lex slowed slightly beside him. They were walking down the corridors again.

"What pieces?" she asked quietly.

K’s jaw tightened.

"...a Vashki."

"That’s not specific. Everyone on Meredith can never forget what a Vashki is"

"It spoke to me. Ever since I got off that ship when I was little, I always understood them. I always understood Thira. Lex, this Vashki spoke to me"

Lex blinked once.

Then twice.

"...okay that’s not helping your case. Besides you watched the testimony Thira gave that day, he said he was a prisoner on that ship as well you and that you two shared a cell and he taught you their language to comfort you."

K ignored her.

"...K."

"I know what the testimony said"

K kept walking.

"I thought it was the neural damage at first. Thira said I should give it sometime that I would get my memory back once I have fully recovered"

"Then do that! Stop making bullshit conspiracy theories...scared the shit out of me"

"I already did, I spent a week in a cryotube. I think that’s enough recovering"

"Okay. Let’s assume your memories magically poofed away, why didn’t you say it during debrief!"

K scoffed.

"What debrief? I woke up with half my memory missing and a pellet shoved back into my neck."

Lex looked around quickly before pulling him toward the side of the corridor.

"Keep your voice down."

K frowned.

The woman lowered hers immediately.

"Do you understand how bad that sounds?"

"I know."

"No, I don’t think you do." Lex rubbed her forehead. "K, if Command, no the admiral, hears that a Vashki recognized you specifically—"

"It wasn’t just a Vashki."

"...what?"

"It was something more."

Lex stared at him.

"...How do you know that?"

"..."

"K. How many rings did it have?

"...the rings...I don’t know, this is why I need you to help me"

"Let’s think this through, we’ll wait it out. Give it two to three days, if you still don’t remember anything...I’ll get that card for you.

The redhead’s face paled slightly. Bak would kill and eat her for breakfast for sure. Reporting this to him wasn’t entirely a good idea and not reporting to him was a even worse idea. K had been a menace for the past week but he was still her comrade-in-arms. She needed to dig deeper.

"...how many...like where were the rings located?" she asked quietly.

K thought for a moment.

"...neck, wrists, fingers...spine?"

Lex immediately grabbed his arm.

"We’re going to the Admiral."

"What?"

"Nope. Absolutely not. I’m reporting this."

K yanked himself free instantly nearly flingling Lex across the room.

"You promised to help me."

"I promised NOTHING."

"You literally followed me for an hour."

"Following you does not mean I promised you! And I’m following you because Bak ordered me to!"

The words slipped out before she could stop them.

.

Both of them froze.

Silence.

Lex looked horrified with herself.

K slowly turned away from her.

"...Admiral Bak told you to follow me?"

"..."

"L-0-0-3."

"Oh my stars, stop doing that terrifying voice thing."

"You were spying on me?"

"No! ...yes. But in a friendly way."

K stared at her blankly.

"There is no friendly way to spy on someone."

"Well maybe if you acted LESS suspicious—"

"What exactly did he tell you?"

Lex hesitated.

And that hesitation alone answered enough.

K felt irritation crawl beneath his skin.

Ever since waking up from the cryotube, emotions felt...wrong. He didn’t know if he could call them emotions.

Muted one second.

Too sharp the next.

He felt on edge with his memories missing like this.

Like somebody had reached into his skull and rearranged things while he slept.

"K..."

Lex’s voice softened slightly."...I don’t think Bak trusts you right now."

K chuckled, "yeah, no shit"

That almost made her more nervous.

"That’s funny."

"What’s funny?"

"I don’t trust him either."

The hallway suddenly felt colder.

"I wake up with my memories missing, I never went for that debrief amd yet somehow I did. Now he has you follow me around and I’m the one whose suspicious?"

Lex looked around nervously.

"Okay wow. You REALLY shouldn’t say things like that in Command. And if there’s anyone you should be questioning it should be Thira!"

K glanced toward one of the security cameras mounted high above the corridor.

The lens shifted slightly.

Watching him.

"...too late."

Before Lex could respond.

Warning sirens erupted across the base.

Red emergency lights flooded the corridor instantly.

Every soldier nearby stopped moving.

Then the announcement came.

"ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL. OUTER ORBIT DETECTION SYSTEMS HAVE IDENTIFIED UNKNOWN VASHKI MOVEMENT."

The entire hallway exploded into motion.

Officers sprinted past them.

Mechanized soldiers rushed toward deployment sectors while alarms screamed throughout the massive facility.

"Armor up!" A soldier tapped them as he passed.

Lex cursed immediately.

"Why now?!"

Another announcement blared overhead.

"ALL ACTIVE MATYR UNITS SUIT UP AND REPORT TO DEPLOYMENT HANGARS IMMEDIATELY."

K frowned slightly.

He really wasn’t in the mood or right mind to fight.

"What?"

Lex shook her head quickly.

"Vashki scouting groups appear around Meredith all the time."

"I know that"

"Then why are you just standing there?"

K didn’t move.

Then another voice echoed through the corridor behind them.

"Well isn’t this adorable."

Both turned instantly.

Lieutenant Finch stood several feet away holding his rifle over one shoulder. His tired eyes moved between both soldiers before settling on Lex.

"You were supposed to be ’spying’ on him quietly."

Lex pointed at K aggressively.

"I WAS until he started saying insane things!"

Finch sighed heavily.

"Fantastic. He’s not only going rogue but insane now"

K crossed his arms.

"You knew too?"

"A little birdie chirped it in my ear, you see"

"You’ve been avoiding me."

"Hmph, you wish."

"Why?"

Finch walked closer slowly.

"You want the truth?" he asked quietly.

"Yes."

The lieutenant stared at him for several long seconds before speaking.

"...then you best get your ass out there and do what you were made for"

"You were there that day, you saw everything "

"I don’t know what that play-pretend doctor Vashki did to you in that cryotube, son, but the ones that can end us are here now...focus on that"

K’s heartbeat quickened.

The hallway noise around him suddenly felt distant.

"What happened?"

Silence.

Lex looked toward Finch sharply.

"...Lieutenant." Her tone somewhat pleading.

"Meet me at the hangar, armor up if you don’t want to see Meredith in flames"

"Sir! Yes Sir!" Lex reluctantly saluted and began pulling K away, "come on, we have to armor up"

———•———•———•———

2130 hours.

Clarity.

"This is N-Squad to H-Squad, give stats on your position" Finch spoke into his comms, eyes scanning the perimeter.

Static.

"H-Squad to N-Squad, no sign of enemy life forms" Lex reported back.

"What the hell are they up to now?"

An hour ago, command base was in absolute chaos as troops stormed out after the announcement.

And now the battlefield was as silent as a graveyard.

No crossfire.

No Vashki in sight.

Just a huge humming ship in the atmosphere hovering over them.

"Control, our eyes in the sky, stats"

Static.

"Control to N-Squad, enemy ship in sight but no Vashki has descended the vessel into our atmosphere"

"Roger that, advance?"

Static.

"N-Squad advance and scan the perimeter"

"Roger"

"K and Cobra on me, Steel and Gusto cover us!"

"Yes Sir"

K adjusted his helmet, his visor scanned the area searching for Vashki life forms. The other soldier, Cobra, gripped the sword that sat at his hips listening for anything that didn’t sound like armored boots against hard pavement.

"Steel and Gusto are in position" Steel adjusted his sniper scope, watching as his comrades advanced

"Stay on standby" Finch signaled to K and Cobra to keep moving.

"Why are they not attacking?" Steel asked.

"Why don’t we call out to one of them and ask?"

K was about to say something when fragments flashed violently through his head.

Smoke.

Silver blood.

Pain exploded behind his eyes.

K staggered hard.

"K!" Cobra grabbed him instantly before he hit the floor.

His vision flickered violently.

The road around him distorted for half a second and suddenly he wasn’t in Clarity anymore.

White walls stretched on to a massive dark chamber.

Cold hands holding him. Rocking him like a child.

A layered voice speaking softly beside his ear.

"Found you, demon child"

K gasped sharply as reality snapped back into place to be greeted with frozen looks from his comrades.

"...K?"

Pale white fingers with vibrating rings were wrapped around his neck, behind him a smooth faceless creature purred. Bioluminescence glowing rapidly.

"Such a fickle body"

K didnt waste a second.

He jabbed his elbow into the Vashki’s head and shoved himself away from her breathing hard.

The Vashki screeched, it’s face opening to show a set of slimy mandibles.

"What the hell..."

Finch’s expression darkened instantly and began to fire. Plasma rounds bouncing off the creature’s body and it just stood there taking each hit.

"Tell him to stop firing at me or I shall snap your other friend’s neck"

K looked up slowly trying to catch his breath,

"Liue—"

Crack.

Pulse thundered in his ears as he watched Cobra’s neck twist in a grotesque manner,

"He will be next and so will be that one with the long weapon and his friend "

"...stop" he reached for Finch’s rifle, "Stop!"

Another alarm erupted across the base.

This one louder.

Different from the usual alarm.

Then Control screamed through the intercoms:

"CODE RED. CODE RED. UNKNOWN VASHKI ENTITY HAS ENTERED MEREDITH AIRSPACE."

Every soldier in the area froze.

Because Code Red alerts only existed for one thing.

High-ranking Vashki.

Lex went pale instantly. They had just fought some last week now they’re back again.

"...No."

Finch immediately activated his comm. Raising his rifle again.

"Control, identify target!"

Static answered him briefly.

"MULTIPLE RING SIGNATURE AND BIOLUMINESCENCE DETECTED. U’KAN. FEMALE U’KAN!"

Static.

"Fall back and wait for back up!"

The lieutenant swore violently.

K felt cold. Hot? He couldn’t tell with all the thudding in his ears.

"I didn’t come here to fight, demon child, I know you understand me"

"Hold fire! Do not attack it!" K roared,

"Are you out of your mind?!" Finch retorted immediately,

"If you shoot it, it will kill you like it killed Cobra"

The Vashki folded its arms behind its back, as if content that its message had been delivered.

"What do you want?"

"My name is Luituka, wife to Ira’Oka of Kun"

"I asked what you wanted?"

"I came to see the demon child who put a hole in my husband"

"I have no idea what you’re talking about"

"You and I shall have a duel, if you refuse, I will tear your planet apart"

"And what is the purpose of this duel?"

"I want to see your strength, prove your worth to me, demon child"

K pushed Finch behind him, "you want a fight so bad? I’ll give you one"

Luituka let out a loud screech, "the stars have heard and acknowledged it, now come demon child, let’s fight and see who emerges victorious"