This is a Chain story passed between @zakludick and @therneau. Each writer authors a post based on the events of previous episodes and carries on the story.

There is very little collusion between the writers as it is challenging to discover and develop a story by attuning the writing to the partner's plot, style, and presentation.

Last Time on Space Lore ZT

Log 14 by @therneau


After detecting that something was coing their way and in no way friendly, desperate deliberations forced the rude AI, J5 and the Cyborg Specialist Aujuk to negotiate a fusion of the Lazarus Falchion and the Pathfinder XVIII

Space Lore Log SLZT#15

"Approach vector locked in." Navigator Khree's voice was hard. He was trying not to let his emotions show, but there was chatter all around the ship about this insane plan of the Captain's and that unnatural half-man, Aujuk.

But he was a Navigator of the Pathfinder Corps. If a Captain instructed him to plummet the ship through the heart of a star, then he would follow his Captain's commands.

He had not been harmed in the assault on their ship and it worried the Ectofee that it was this fact alone that kept him from feeding the almost mutinous chatter aboard the vessel.

The Pilot, G'Kyelle had not yet returned from med-bay and the 2nd Officer Beatra had taken her station. The 2nd Officer had been on a sleep-cycle and not on the bridge when the attack occured.

This also meant that the human female had not suffered the attack on the bridge. Regardless, the human had a bruise on the side of her face.

"Are you injured?" Khree asked. Pilots and Navigators sat paired in front of the Captain's seats, their position giving them a view outside the vessel as well as access to a variety of screens.

Beatra flinched and touched her cheek. "Naw. I just fell when the ship got jostled." The human had a strange accent compared to the other humans on the crew. All save the half-human who had no distinguishable trait. Khree surmised that she was from another homeworld than the others.

They had gained enough on the little deadly Corvette vessel to be able to see it. It was not the way a Corvette should look.

The engines had been modified somehow, the shapes and the patterning suggesting that they were no longer stock model. It did not look like a hack job either. There were additional trusters but the proportioning and the shapes all the components made it look as though it was manufactured.

It was impossible of course because the Lazarus had only just left them behind as they had traveled away from Vorcia III.

The Captain barked an order from her command chair. "Engines to 20%, they will stop to allow us to align."

"Align for what?" Chief Ingth had recovered but the suspicion was obvious in her voice. The Tillari female had broad shoulders that made her seem uncannily muscular. Living on this ship must be a bit uncomfortable for such a heavy species that did not ordinarily use their legs to support their weight.

"The... uh... well, you are not going to like this." Captain Freyai said.

"Are we not lining up for docking Captain?" Khree asked, attempting to cut the tension.

"What are you planning on doing with MY ship?" The Chief was angry and had left her station, moving slowly on her stout little legs. Her fangs were bared. "Don't tell me you are doing what I think you are doing!"

"Chief Engineer, calm yourself down. That is an order." The Captain had stood. Her upper pair of arms were pointing.

The cyborg human walked slowly into the intervening space between the Captain and the Chief Engineer. "There is another vessel approaching us Chief."

The Tillari snarled and retracted her teeth. Her face took on a softer expression. "Machine man. You better explain yourself. There is just no what that I am allowing that thing out there from linking with the Pathfinder."

It was only now that the rest of the crew on the bridge realized what was going on. Khree had a hot feeling at the back of his neck, as his kind felt when they felt when in distress.

"We will have to, in order to survive." The Cyborg was explaining.

It seemed a fraction of a second away from total chaos on the bridge of the Pathfinder XVIII when Khree spotted something on his console that made his body feel even hotter.

"Ship contact!" He shouted out.

Everyone froze. Anyone on the bridge that had thought of doing anything stupid would have to think twice before acting. The Captain sat back down in her command chair and ignored the towering Chief Engineer as her hands flew over her controls. "Location. Speed."

Khree took the cue. This is how they will be able to keep order on the ship. It was not usually like this. The crew usually followed their Captain where she led, but this attack and then negotiating and then merging with their attackers seemed insane.

"The vessel is coming from Vorcia III, speed is accelerating... It will gain on us in three hours...or less. Something..." Khree tapped away at his console. "Something just shot off from the unidentified ship! It is like a cannon shot. The projectile is large."

"At this range?" The pilot asked next to him.

"I don't know." He said softly, then louder. "Approximately ten minutes till impact."

There was a shudder as something connected with the vessel. The Chief Engineer growled but decided not to challenge her Captain further. In ten minutes time there would be a result that would explain everything to them all, if they survived.

The Queen screeched aboard her Cluster Ship.

The thief was getting away. It must have already begun the process of modification its vessel in order to espace. The Cluster Ship was also being modified and parts repurposed, but it would take too long to catch up.

The rail cannon was ready, the Pod inside of it was scuttling with her minions. Electromagnetic energy hummed along the tube and the Queen willed it to fire.

The Pod shot out at a massive amount of force. It would get there much faster. The Queen could be there and here at the same time, her consciousness invested in one of the Pod's passangers. She needed to see this thief for herself.

She will delight in his destruction!

Log SLZT #15 completed!

That was fun! Let's see what @therneau does next! A bit more of a curve-ball on this one! Mwahahahahaha!

The keyboard is passed on to @therneau to add in SLZT Log #16 of the story!

by @zakludick	by @therneau
SLZT#1	SLZT#2
SLZT#3	SLZT#4
SLZT#5	SLZT#6
SLZT#7	SLZT#8
SLZT#9	SLZT#10
SLZT#11	SLZT#12
SLZT#13	SLZT#14
You are HERE!	UP NEXT!!!

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