1:3:3 Issues

Sighing. “So here’s the problem. While Granddad was out getting things ready, he left my Mum and Dad in charge. They died so we had to  start delegating things more. Granddad’s still the leader but we share his responsibilities between the three of us. Me, Sky and Mauve…” Blue paused awkwardly. “I’m the only one here right now and without them, we’re sorta stuck here.” Their voice trailed off.
“Are they off planet or something?” Char prompted.  
“No. They’re still on Rexel, just… unreachable at the moment…” Blue didn’t sound too sure of something.
“Well, we should at least meet them before we start anything.” Lore turned to leave.
“We can’t.” Blue blurted. “I may have sold them to The Syndicate.” Blue paused. “I definitely sold them to The Syndicate.”
A wave of confused anger washed over them. They weren’t sure why they were angry or if they even were but they knew why they were confused. “I’m sorry…What?” Lore turned back.
“We needed the resources. It’s not like you left us with unlimited money.” Again, Lore was hit with a pang of guilt. “That’s why there’s no one here. There are fifty ships down here and not a single pilot in sight. They’re all working the mines or the ‘-Sixty’ plants to make enough money so we can leave.”
“You do realise you’ve got fifty ships?” Char looked down at Blue.
“And barely a full tank of fuel between them. Plus there’s been something odd going on at the old Protectorate plant. And if it’s what we think it is then we’re damned if we try to leave and damned if we don’t.”
“The Vengeance should be good to go though and while I’d hate to see it, she’d be perfect for courier work.” Char looked the ship up and down, smiling.
Blue again grimaced. “That would also be a no. We’ve got no idea how her engine works. Most of the ship’s been locked off. We fixed the outer hull damage but that’s it. Granddad had to tow her in and the tablet never told us how to fly her. Plus, even if we could get her spaceborne, The Ministry delegate all off world work. They control ninety percent of imports and exports so with our Syndicate ‘ties’ they would never hire us.”
Lore was about to suggest something else but, at that moment, a series of alarms started to blare.
“We’ve got company!” Blue shouted as they ran towards the nearest wall. Lore and Char followed. They approached a monitor which revealed three figures dressed in rapidly blackening armour huddled around the front entrance.
“Let them in.” Lore scanned their surroundings for any kind of door release.
“Who are they?” Blue hovered their finger over a button.
“They’re with us.” Char slammed their hand down, unlocking the outer door before sending the lift back up to the ground floor. “We’re going to need them.” Her patience had been worn thin by Blue’s ‘timed release’.
“It helps to see all of your assets when you’re planning.” Lore smiled apologetically.
It didn’t take long for the clones to arrive. Char met them and brought them over to The Vengeance. Ace stood back and smiled.
“Just like the simulations.” They muttered. Magpie stroked the side panelling.
“Over here.” Blue had started walking back over to the engineering bay attached to the hangar. “Make yourselves at home I guess.” They gestured to some seats. There weren’t enough for everyone. Blue logged themselves into their terminal and loaded a map of the Rexel Five complexes. Before the map could appear, a series of headlines flashed onscreen.
“Hang about. What was that?” Lore jabbed at the terminal. Blue minimised the map and returned to the headlines. Lore’s face dropped. The reason why remained unknown until they were already in the lift and heading back to the surface.
“Oh.” Char whispered under her breath.

They were certain. They knew it would work… Or at least they thought they did. As the lift trundled to the surface, the possibilities rampaged through their head. What could they have expected? They literally handed over the leader of the main human settlement as a bargaining chip under the threat of cosmic comeuppance from a golden deity. It may have helped but they were rather polite about the whole situation. They were a stained glass window, fragments and shards of their past making up their present yet it wasn’t enough to make them whole. They had felt confident in their ability to face whatever Rexel had to give but now, the pressure was mounting.
“I’m an idiot… What the hel am I doing?” Lore shook their head as they whispered to themselves.
“What you’re told.” They mimicked what they thought their creators voice might sound like.
“Can’t even do that right.” They whimpered as they exited the lift. They swiftly activated their mask. “I suppose we didn’t do just what we were told. Maybe we should have.” Lore closed the door behind them as they began their lonely stroll across the square. The crowds had thinned significantly leaving the square looking rather bare. Lore walked alone. After confirming that fact, they lowered their hood and drank in the weirdly warm, toxic fumes that surrounded them. Two gulps was enough for them to definitely feel the burn without the lasting damage. They took another before they lowered the hood.
“Toxins detected.” A warning tone played. “Activating lung purification systems.” The hood dug into their shoulders and something wormed its way under their skin and into their lungs. It hurt like hel but all that Lore could think about was how much they deserved it.
“If you had done what you were told, this wouldn’t be happening.” Their creator returned. “And again, you’re not following the instructions.” Lore shook their head.
“I’ve already failed once. I think they’ll be better off without me.”
“No they won’t.” A new voice spoke. It belonged to a gruff faced, gravel voiced Rexian sat on a sheet of card.
Lore looked them over. “I’m sorry if I bothered you.” They tossed a few Rel into his cup.
“Been a while since I’ve seen a Rel. Since the formation of The Ministry this has been a Unit only system. Humans wanting independence from The Protectorate. He shook his head then gathered the Rel and handed them back to Lore. As he did, Lore noticed that only two of his arms actually moved. The lower pair appeared completely paralysed.
“Are you ok?” Lore knelt down to inspect the Rexian.
“I’m fine.” He smiled. “Lucky to be alive.” The arms fell away slightly revealing them to be fake. “Oops.”
Lore squinted at the beggar’s face. “Hang about…” They got in closer. “Brian?”
“Shush. I’m meant to be dead.” Brian reached into his pocket. He removed a burnt out Breacher and placed it in Lore’s hand. “Turns out there’s more than one way to charge a Breacher.” Lore tried to return it but Brian refused. “Keep it.” His palm had the outline of a Breacher’s charging port scarred into it; four small dots sat in his palm with a circle surrounding them. “Your journey has only just begun. You’re going to make some mistakes. The Quatarrian Republic wasn’t formed in a day. Learn from Illia and do better for Rexel. You’ll bounce back.”
“Quatarr had an empire not a republic.” Lore scratched their head through their hood.
“Ah… I shouldn’t have said that… Or did I say it to prove that everyone makes mistakes? You’ll never know.” He smiled. “Anyway, keep the Breacher. If you replace the power core, it should work. Quatarrian transporters are good but they’re delicate. Always trust Earth-made for that sort of escape.” He injected himself with a needle he produced from his beard. “Keeps me breathing.” He smiled. “How long has it been for you since I ‘died’?”
“A couple of days.” Lore smiled. “It’s good to see that you’re still alive.”
“I’m human. We always find a way.” He winked.
Then it dawned on them. Lore played with the burnt Breacher, spinning it around their hand; as they did, it seemed to regenerate, a thin layer of burnt rubber shed to the floor revealing a flawed but ultimately usable Breacher underneath. “Thanks. I think I know what I need to do.” Lore smiled. They tossed the Rel back into Brian’s cup. “Keep it.”
“Glad to be of help.” Brian reached out to shake their hand. As he made contact, he vanished in a flash of white, the three Rel had found their way back into Lore’s hand. As they turned to go back to The Hole, Lore felt something brush past them. They shrugged it off as the exchange from Brian’s sudden disappearance.

Lore left the alley. Char was waiting between them and The Hole. They didn’t know what overcame them. Lore just ran at her. They jumped into her arms and she willingly accepted them. Shrouded in the smog, alone in the square, they stood, wrapped in one another. Lore lowered their mask and placed a gentle kiss on Char’s. They were quick to reinstate their protection but not to withdraw their closeness. They lingered for what felt like forever, wordlessly, until Lore couldn’t hold in their epiphany any longer.
“I know how we’re going to get the fleet off the ground.” They whispered.
“I thought we were having a moment.” Char groaned.
“We were, but now, it’s time we got started…” Lore moved back slightly. “But thank you. I needed it.”
The two returned to The Hole, hand in hand.
They decided to take the quick route and hopped in the lift.
“So…” Char began.
“So?” Lore retorted.
“The kiss… Spur of the moment or first of a regular thing?”
Lore thought for a moment. “That depends on what happens next.” Lore smirked as the lift doors opened. “Tell me everything about the mines.” Lore shouted across to Blue.
Char waited in the lift for just a moment, holding on to the intimacy, disappointed at how it failed to linger.
Blue waited until Lore joined them before answering. “Well, there are two ways in. The back route and the one we used last time.”
“I’m guessing last time was when you sold your family to slavery so what’s the back way.” Char snarked.
“The cooling ducts. It’s not just Carbon that they’re mining down there. Recently they discovered a vein of Hydroxine, much to The Unionist’s disapointment. It’s a highly potent fuel additive; extremely unstable and extremely traceable too. You could go anywhere in The Protectorate with a tank of properly ratio’d Hydroxine and C-Sixty but The Protectorate would see you coming. The cooling ducts are unguarded and provide a direct line between the surface and the mines.”
“I’m sensing a downside.” Char looked to Lore.
“The name’s a bit of a misdirect. They’re less about cooling the tunnels and more about venting the heated steam that the mining drills give off. We’d have a window of about ten minutes between bit changes to go from the surface to the mines before the drills start up again and we get steamed alive.” Blue crossed the vents off of the diagram they had unfurled before them.
“I think I know how we’re getting in.” Lore turned the tattered Breacher in their hand. Their own Breacher slipped down their wrist and, for the briefest of moments, collided with its wounded counterpart. A firework of white exploded in their face as they frantically tried to unhand one or both of the Breachers. “Never mind.” Their vision blurred considerably, they tried to place Brian’s Breacher on the table. Missing, it fell to the floor. The jolt was enough to expose the power core.
“Where did you get that?” Char was delicate as she lifted the band from the floor before going back to retrieve the core tray. She inspected the tray and made a mental note of the serial number that ran along it. “May I?” Lore’s vision returning to normal, they obliged. For the first time in forever, they removed their Breacher and handed it to Char. Gently, she opened the power core tray and scanned the serial number. “Impossible… Actually, I guess not.” She returned the tray.
“What?” Lore rubbed their eyes before returning their Breacher to their right wrist.
“That spark. Fflatz Paradocxer… A Paradox spark. The same Breacher from different points in its own history. The spark is a warning though… it should have been worse.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Blue was still rubbing their eyes.
“No.” Char shook her head. “There must be something different about the power cores. Where did you get this?”
“Brian gave it to me.” Lore sounded nonchalant.
“Brian’s dead… Isn’t he?”
“Not quite. Apparently he used the shots to kickstart the Breacher, hence the damage.”
“Also explains the new power core.” Char was about to put the tray back into the Breacher when Lore spoke.
“There are two slots…” Lore raised their eyebrows suggestively. “Could we?”
Char went over the plan in her head. “Two Tempora crystals shouldn’t cause any damage. That’s if they’re both Tempora.”
“Only one way to find out.” Lore popped open their own tray and placed the second crystal in the empty slot.
“Secondary power source accepted. Update available.” A familiar voice came from their wrist.
“Gideon?” Lore looked at the Breacher as if it could see them.
“Indeed.” A holographic display appeared featuring the patch notes of the update. “Please take action on the update.”
“Adds multi-core transit allowing for multiple jumps to be made in rapid succession, lowers recharge time, adds Inconspicuous mode, allows for increased connectivity with authorised devices and removes existing bugs and bloatware.” Lore’s finger hovered over the accept button. “How long will the update take?”
“If you maintain your current connection to local internet, fourteen hours.”
Lore looked to Char for her opinion. She merely shrugged. “Going to have to do it some time. Now seems as good of a time as any.” Lore tapped the box.
“Beginning update.” Gideon flashed the progress bar before the Breacher became little more than a somewhat stylish watch.
“Ok. That behind us… I think I have an idea as to how we’re going to get in and off this planet. Together.” Alliances.