Chapter Text
Lady Parra was not a fan of children. She didn’t say anything — she was a reserved woman who rarely wasted her breath on anything “trivial” — but she glared at Epona each time the girl crossed her path and was more prickly than normal whenever Epona was on her bridge. In other words, she was prickly nearly the entire day-long trip to the Edenite colony of Karner.
Karner was not far from Kaola in fire-mage terms – the fire-mages were the only natives of the Milky Way who regularly visited other galactic clusters – but Lady Parra said that they hadn’t been using their fastest modes of ship propulsion lately to “stay under the radar.” Zordon was surprised, as no one had mentioned any need to stay under radar to him, but he didn’t press for an explanation. Questioning a fire-mage’s tactics on her own bridge was not polite. Questioning a prickly fire-mage anywhere was stupid. He guessed that it had to do with the battles presumably happening between them and the ice-mages since he handed Lord Naatam information about Brinlen.
Fortunately, though there weren’t any children on the ship for Epona to play with, most of Lady Parra’s crew felt quite differently about the young Eltarian’s presence. They were quite happy to have Epona there and eagerly spent their off-duty time with her. This freed Zordon to receive battle updates and give advice and orders when he was needed, which simplified the trip greatly for him.
That said, he spent as much time with Epona as he could. He quickly confirmed that her ability to see the Grid was no minor skill: she could tell Grid alignment effortlessly, any magical skill or spellwork that was directly affecting the alignment — “fire mages are sparkly!” — and even could pick out strong emotions by the pattern within the energy she saw. Epona was quite happy to show off her ability to Zordon once she realized that it wasn’t something that everyone could do, but he counseled her not to show anyone else. She seemed to see the Grid in a way no one else could, and that sort of talent had to be kept quiet in times of war. In addition, Zordon spent some time talking to her about telepathy — as he’d developed telepathy shockingly late and then repressed it for years, he couldn’t teach her much of the skill, but the customs of its use were vital for her to begin to absorb.
Zordon was very worried for her safety, but he was glad to have her with him again. He spent more time laughing that day than in the last month. As they neared their destination, though, Zordon asked Epona to follow an off-duty mage to his quarters and play there. Whatever they found, it seemed best not to have a four-year-old on the bridge when they did.
“Excellent,” Lady Parra said as Epona left.
Zordon looked at her. Was she finally going to say how much his daughter annoyed her?
She met his gaze with the same closed, neutral expression that she always wore. “We’re entering the Karnian system slightly ahead of schedule,” she clarified.
“Ah, wonderful,” he said politely.
He took up a seat next to her command chair as the ship dropped out of hyperrush into normal space. The stars reappeared around them, and they cruised smoothly toward an especially large and bright white one. In a few minutes they were passing the outer planets of the Karnian system. The plan was to first check on the Edenites’ colony, then try to find their missing ships.
“Now approaching Karner Prime,” reported an orange-haired woman at navigation.
A huge blue and yellow sphere dotted with white and gray clouds took over the viewscreen as they neared the colony. Zordon sat forward. He was always eager to see a new planet in person. A moment later he rocked back, blanching. “By the Power.”
Cloud cover couldn’t conceal the vast scorch marks across the planet’s surface. They ran like gashes around the planet. Some looked to be hundreds of miles long. Around them the yellow vegetation had burned away, leaving vast patches of black ash. Zordon guessed that some of the areas were still burning.
“Karner, this is the Ignan ship Beacon requesting permission to enter orbit,” began Parra’s communications mage, speaking into a sound-wave receiver at his station. After a few seconds, he went on, “Karner Colony, this is the Ignan ship Beacon, sent by Prince Dregon of Edenoi and the War Council. Please respond at once.”
Zordon and Lady Parra exchanged troubled glances when the message again got no answer. “Bring us into orbit. Sarrai, begin scanning for major settlements,” Parra ordered.
“Entering orbit,” said the orange-haired helmsmage, though he frowned as he said it. Entering a planet's orbitspace without permission had caused interplanetary wars all on its own. Under the circumstances, Zordon could hardly disapprove.
“There’s a lot of interference from ash in the atmosphere,” scarlet-haired Sarrai reported at sensors. Judging by hair color, she was the youngest of the Lady's bridge crew, but she had proven to be quite competent. Like Zordon himself, the wizard mused. “It’s hard to get anything concrete.”
“Planet Karner, Ignan ship Beacon requesting an update on your status. Is anyone listening?” the yellow-haired communications mage added with frustration.
“Problem,” the sensors mage said.
Lady Parra sprang out of her seat and to the sensors station. “Define ‘problem,’” she snapped, looking over Sarrai’s shoulder at the console.
But Sarrai pointed up at the viewscreen. “*That.*”
A long, narrow silver creature had just broken through the outer ring of planetary gases and was slithering toward them, its miles-long body rippling as it moved through the nonexistent atmosphere. Its nearer end was dominated by two massive, glowing red eyes.
“Prepare for battle,” Parra commanded. Zordon caught her eye, surprised by the instant and Fel’Hari-like reaction. “It does no harm to be prepared,” she said mildly.
“It looks just like the thing on the recordings,” one mage commented worriedly.
“Lady,” the communications mage said suddenly, “incoming signal.”
“From the planet?” Zordon asked with relief.
“No, sir. From the, ah, snake.”
Lady Parra paused a second but said, “Let it through.”
A quarter of the massive viewscreen at the front of the bridge went black, replaced a moment later by the silver-and-black interior of a one-man cockpit. In the pilot’s chair sat Kiori of Eltare.
Every movement on the ship stopped. Zordon himself felt like someone had just run him through. Kiori looked unhurt -- but she was clearly changed. Delicate black lines like tattoos lightly patterned all her exposed skin, giving it a savage, alien look that Kiori would have loathed. Far worse were her eyes: something moved inside them, pale, shadowy spirits that lurked behind her dark irises. When she saw her callers, her beautiful rose-brown lips pulled into a wide, mocking smile.
[Well, there’s a face I wasn’t expecting just yet. Hi, honey. Like my new toy? We call her Serpentera,] Kiori taunted. There was a vicious pleasure in her voice that was wholly foreign to it and soured her rich, melodic tones.
Zordon knew he should say something, but he couldn't think what. His brain couldn't wrap around what he was seeing, let alone conceive of a response.
Lady Parra stepped into the silence. "Are you responsible for the condition of the Edenite colony Karner?" she said briskly, as if talking to an enemy. Zordon's still-dizzy brain was affronted.
[Hmm... responsible? I'd say not. Only one person can claim that distinction. You know, the one who's gaping at the screen like an idiot child.] Zordon closed his mouth. [If not for his selfish stupidity, these people would never have opposed my mistress. None of them would've died. Screaming.] Her lips spread into a sick grin. [But it sure was fun to watch. Just like your deaths will be.]
Lady Parra waved her hand at the screen and someone turned the sound off. Muted Kiori went on for another second, then her bloodthirsty smile melted into annoyance and the picture winked out.
Lady Parra didn't waste another moment. "Shields at full. Helm, ready to engage, protocol sev-"
"No!" Zordon interrupted Lady Parra.
She turned in her chair, eyes flashing. "This is my bridge," she said, quiet and deadly.
Zordon stood, half surprised to find his feet willing to support him. "And as war leader-"
"I've led this ship and this crew too long to see us die because a man can't fight his wife!" Lady Parra cut him off.
He drew himself up straight in a way that managed to ignore that there were several people in the room taller than he. "As war leader," he said again, a little louder, "I have overriding command of any vessel in confrontations which may be critical to the war and," he cut in just ahead of her protest, "I have never backed away from a battle because of my emotional involvement. If you think I'm going to throw in the towel because Repulssa's got my wife under a spell, you are very wrong about me and we have a serious problem. Do we?"
Being examined by Lady Parra was, he thought, rather like being examined by a hungry lioness. After a long moment, she stood and stepped a few paces to the right of the captain's seat. "Choose well," she said, her expression almost passive again under its layer of calm.
Zordon took the vacated seat more as a signal to Lady Parra's bridge crew than anything else, though he was grateful that his knees didn't have to keep holding him up any longer. Whatever he'd said, this battle was going to try his commitment. Fortunately, he knew Kiori well enough to know that, even under a spell, she wasn't out for blood. Primarily.
Hopefully.
"Rothell, hail the snake," he said.
“Yes sir,” the communications mage replied.
Kiori's tattooed face reappeared, looking put out. [Ohw, don't go surrendering already! I haven't spilled nearly enough of your blood yet!]
"Kiori, listen to me," Zordon said in the calmest voice he could muster. "Whatever Rita's done to you, I will get you free of it." Kiori laughed, but Zordon cut her off with, "Now, why by daemons does Repulssa have you out here?"
Kiori cocked her head to one side playfully. [Got you out here, didn't I?]
"Yes, and there's no way Repulssa could have predicted I'd come. You almost managed to keep us from finding out that thing you're in exists. It's not a lure for me."
[No. It's not,] Kiori admitted, still smiling. [My mistress couldn't have guessed you'd be this stupid. Won't she be pleased when I tell her I've killed you.]
Zordon nodded once, ignoring the threat. "Thank you. That's exactly what I needed to know." The savagely pleased smile dripped off of Kiori's face. "One more thing: how many others are out here?"
[Others?] Kiori said, brow furrowing.
It hit him. "Oh. Oh, really." A smile of victory spread his own lips. "Serpentera is a prototype?"
Kiori let out a curse in a language so foul it made Zordon flinch instinctively, and she cut the communication line. He turned to Lady Parra.
"Now," he said, "you can destroy it."