E.E whistled. "Damn. If I didn't know better, I'd say that's the real slimy bastard." Elevora exhaled softly. "I'll manage his shift reports and communication patterns. But you must hurry." "According to the memories, the 42nd commander is known for unpredictability. He changes his protocols every few cycles," Aildris stated. Angy's horns flickered. "Good. We'll handle him." Aildris placed his hands on the ground, releasing a stream of color that expanded across the station floor. "The phasic lock is set. No one enters this chamber without permission. And if they try… they'll find themselves looping the same hallway until they give up." Falco grinned. "Handy." "Alright. Let's move. The sooner we leave this place, the sooner we stop the next target," E.E stated while turning around. As they prepared to depart, Elevora glanced at them one last time. "Don't take too long. And be careful." Angy gave her a faint smirk. "You too." The ship detached from the station two minutes later, drifting into the glittering expanse of open space. Elevora's illusion stood at the command deck window of the station, silently watching them leave. ... ... The vast dark nebula ahead swallowed the ship as the stars stretched into long lines of light from the acceleration. The transition into hyper-drift rattled the metallic frame before stabilizing. Inside the ship's med-bay corridor, Angy adjusted her gloves with a sharp exhale. "We're cutting it close. We can't afford week-long travels between commanders if we want to find the leaders." Aildris sat cross-legged near the pilot seat, recalibrating trajectory charts. "Unfortunately, even though his memories held location of others, the 42nd is the closest. The others are scattered across cosmic sectors." E.E leaned back in his chair. "Man… this is like running through a chain of bosses with no save points." Falco chuckled. "Except these bosses are uglier than anything in games." Angy leaned against the wall near the viewport, watching the crystalline dust clouds drift by. "Elevora's a good actress. But she has to pretend to be that thing for days." Aildris folded his arms with a calm look. "She'll manage. Her emotional presence is stable. And she knows the stakes." They remained quiet for a few moments before Aildris continued. "But we need to talk about strategy. According to the database from 62nd ship, the 42nd commander isn't like the others. He is… inventive." Falco raised a brow. "Inventive how?" Aildris tapped the console, bringing up a floating holographic display of the commander's profile. It was an elongated alien being with translucent plates over its limbs and a set of spines along its skull. "His station is known for experimental security systems," Aildris explained. "Living defenses. Autonomous traps. Rotational gravity corridors. You name it." E.E. sighed. "Of course. Why make things easy?" "Our objective remains the same," Angy reminded them. "We capture him, extract information, then replace him." E.E tilted his head. "You think Elevora can keep handling multiple stations at once?" Falco shrugged. "She's tough. But we should hope we don't reach that point." Their journey through the cosmic drift continued for hours before the engines entered cruising mode, filling the cockpit with an ambient buzz. The lights dimmed to a soft blue. ... ... (( Six Days Later )) The closer they drew to the coordinates the 62nd commander had reluctantly handed over, the more the ship trembled. At first it was small, like a gentle ripple rolling through the metallic frame, nothing the vessel couldn't handle. But as time passed, the turbulence escalated into violent convulsions that made the entire body of the ship shudder like an animal sensing a predator. E.E braced one hand against the vibrating wall. "Uhh… this is new." Falco's feathers bristled as his talons scraped the floor for balance. "This isn't environmental. Something's doing this." Aildris sat calmly but his eyes narrowed as colors shifted within his pupils. "It's intentional." Angy simply lifted her head without saying a word at first. She sniffed the air as though she could smell the turbulence, and frowned. Her instincts felt… wrong. Like something was out there, tampering with the fabric of the space around them. The ship lurched sideways again, sending them sliding across the floor. E.E cursed as he slammed into a control console. "Whoa whoa whoa—what the hell is this?!" "Cosmic storms shouldn't reach this intensity," Aildris muttered. "Not even near a collapsing star." Falco fluttered up onto a higher rail to steady himself. "I don't like this. I really don't—" The ship jerked so violently that alarms blared causing lights to flash across the cockpit. Angy was already at the main console. "The readings are going crazy. The spatial density is… fluctuating like someone's squeezing space itself." E.E swallowed. "That sounds bad." "It is," Angy replied flatly. Their customised ship normally endured everything. Not even cosmic hurricanes, gravity spikes and spatial distortions had ever shaken it this much. But now every alarm in the system blared red and error warnings flashed across the screens. "We need to pull back," Falco warned. "Whatever this is, it's not natural." "That would be wise," Aildris responded, "but I don't think we're being allowed to." As if proving him right, the storm intensified. Space rippled around them like boiling water and their vessel groaned due to the pressure. Then Angy pointed forward. "There. Look." E.E squinted through the cockpit glass… and his jaw dropped. "Yo… that's a star, right? A literal star?" A massive burning sun sat ahead, radiating blinding heat and cosmic energy. It filled their entire view, burning gold and white with plasma swirling across its surface like an ocean of fire. All of a sudden, it moved. The star twisted, folded, compressed, reshaped itself until its surface contorted into the shape of limbs. Arms, legs, a torso, grew out of it. After a few seconds, it finally completed its transformation into a massive humanoid form whose head alone dwarfed their ship. "Oh hell no," E.E whispered. Falco squeaked, "No one said anything about fighting a whole damn star!" Aildris leaned forward while assessing the situation. "This… is some sort of guardian." The star-being bent down slightly as its face of fire formed rudimentary features while its eyes burned white-hot. "PASSWORD…" its voice boomed like solar flares ripping through space. Angy tensed. "The 62nd commander…" E.E hissed, "That bastard! He sent us here without telling us we'd have to pass—this!" Falco's feathers puffed nervously. "This looks like a setup." "It is a setup," Aildris agreed calmly. "He mostly expected this to be the end of us which would in turn free him." The star-being enormous molten hand rested beside their ship like a continent of fire as it leaned closer. "PASSWORD…" it repeated. Angy muttered, "Think. What did the commander tell us about the 42nd commander?" E.E scratched his head. "Something about him being… strict? And weird." Falco nodded quickly. "He kept… livestock? No, no—he collected something…" Aildris added, "He was obsessed with… patterns? Or was it routine?" They threw out their first guess. "ORDER." The star-being paused and for a moment, it seemed like the flames stilled... "WRONG." Its voice shook the ship like thunder and a beam of heat seared inches past them, vaporizing empty space. "Try something else!" Angy barked. E.E's eyes darted. "I remember Aildris said he liked—uh—control? Discipline?" "REGULATION!" Falco yelled. The star-being paused again. The group had tensed looks as they waited for the verdict. "…WRONG." The being's core brightened as it leaned back. "You now have ONE attempt left before incineration," it declared as energy gathered in its chest, forming a miniature sun. Angy clenched her teeth. "One more try…" They huddled close, thinking desperately. "What else did he say? What else did he—" Falco interrupted, "He mentioned food once. Something about how the 42nd liked to eat—" E.E snapped his fingers. "Beef? No—he talked about raising—" "Lifestock!" Falco corrected. "Was it… cows?" E.E said uncertainly. "Do space cows exist? Would aliens even call them cows?" Falco voiced with uncertainty. Angy repeated the word softly. "Herd…" Aildris frowned. "That seems too simple." The being's chest glowed brighter, preparing to fire. "We don't have much of a choice..." They made the final guess. "HERD!" Silence... Utter silence... The star-being remained motionless… and then said: "WRONG. The answer was cattle." "What?!" E.E yelled. "That's—THAT'S CLOSE TO WHAT WE SAID!" But the being didn't care. The attack was already launched. A sun-sized fist of nuclear fire crashed forward and hit the ship. Everything exploded and light swallowed the entirety of this region in space. The spacecraft shattered into a billion flaming fragments, melting metal instantly into floating bright droplets. Angy, E.E, Aildris and Falco were scattered like dust, flung outward by a cosmic shockwave. Angy's body tumbled through space like a ragged projectile. Her skin tore along her arms, leaving streaks of blood drifting in zero-gravity. She coughed out more, struggling to get bearings as she landed on a chunk of their obliterated ship. Airless and frozen silence pressed against her, but her body instinctively held its breath. Space didn't scare her anymore. What scared her was the star-being raising its hand again and this time, Aildris was directly in its line of attack. A third horn suddenly erupted from her forehead, crackling with dark-red energy.