Thanks to everyone for reading! Please comment on any characters and universes you’d like to see in the future below the chapters. I can’t guarantee they’ll make it in, but I want to have some fun and fit in the audience's favourites if I can! Thanks again, and a huge thank you to my Patrons! I can’t make this content without support, and I’m super grateful for our first two supporters! This fanfiction is also available on my Patreon, I’ll always keep it free, so please visit! Any support there makes this work possible, and if enough patrons want this novel to be a priority, it will be!

 

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Now, on to the chapter!

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“Fascinating…” Ultron stared from a thousand eyes, the organic ships of the enemy locked in every gaze. A black lance poked from the closest vessel and one of his perspectives vanished. “Gravitic weapons… black hole projection?”

 

His drones swarmed and flowed, a dance that kept the majority intact. These aliens had overcome the kryptonian shielding with only two attacks, a feat he considered impossible for this galaxy's technology. Bright flashes of red plasma reached out from the largest vessel, mirrored by its escorts.

 

“Bio-organic plasma projection,” Three more drones exploded in the silence of space. “Gravitic propulsion…” Ultron rained a barrage of his own, all absorbed by a black discus that appeared between the ships and his attacks. “As well as gravitic shielding.”

 

He shook his head and focused on the smaller vessels. A signal extended from his main body on the surface, across the galactic expanse. He would need more than a few drones to finish this work.

 

---

 

 

“What’s the status of the ship?” 

 

Dan landed beside Ultron and placed the two women on the ground. Explosive rumbles sounded from the skies, artificial thunder caused  by the clash of the defence force and the invaders.

 

“The phantom drive is intact but all control systems have been completely destroyed,” the A.I. withdrew from his wired connection and stared into the sky. “My drones cannot hold for long, we should commandeer another vessel and evacuate the system.”

 

“We have to get my Daughter!” Ako scrambled to her feet. “I can’t leave without her!”

 

A tide of seed pods rolled into the clearing, a third of them still focused on bonding with May. Dan tilted his head and turned to the tree line.

 

“I think your husband’s got it covered,” Dan pointed as Leor raced from the jungle, a small, blue skinned girl in his hands. “Now how do we fuse those seeds with our ship?”

 

“May just has to ask them to,” Ako pushed past Dan and ran toward her husband. “Jabitha! Leor!”

 

Dan ignored the reunited family and turned to May, eyebrows raised. She squinted her eyes and turned to the crowded seeds around her.

 

“Ok everyone, listen up! We need your help to repair our ship,” She pointed to the ruined Gladius. “We’re counting on you!”

 

A ripple travelled between the seeds, half of the bonded shifted toward the Gladius in a wave. The pods covered the vessel and dissolved in a green mass. The heaving tumour grew until none of the scout ship remained exposed to the air. The beat of a massive heart, wrapped around their best chance home.

 

“How long will this take?” Dan turned to Ako and Leor. “We don’t have much time.”

 

“I’m not sure,” Ako scrunched her face, Jabitha in her arms. “Usually it takes some time for the ship to grow, but there are so many seeds…”

 

More and more pods added themselves to the pile, compressed together around the Gladius. A deep, forest green cocoon that darkened with each new seed. Tendrils extended from the planet. Organic roots pulsed as they connected to the growing vessel.

 

“Sekot says she will help you, but you have to make a promise,” Leor’s eyes glowed a deep blue, his voice overlaid with another, softer tone. “You must protect this world as you protect this woman, turn that same insanity of purpose toward this place you covet for your own.”

 

“Sekot, I presume?” Dan’s eyebrow raised above the other. “Who says I covet this planet?”

 

“I can see your heart, red handed hero,” Leor intoned, face emotionless. “You would wear the suit of a champion, but the galaxy would burn if it served the safety of your beloved.”

 

“That might be true,” Dan felt for his ring, only to find it gone, melted into separate lumps. “But if you can see my heart, you know I’ve got no interest in burning anything. I’ll do what I have to do, to keep my family safe, but I’ll help whoever I can along the way.”

 

“Interest has little to do with it,” Sekot tilted the ex-jedi’s head. “Leor fears what he sees within you, he thinks you will be the end of us all.”

 

“Maybe the end of him,” Dan laughed. “What about you? What do you think?”

 

The cocoon behind them pulsed, several times larger than the ship it enveloped. Sekot sighed, eyes turned to the skies. Dozens of green starfighters danced with similarly designed invaders. Living ships engaged in violence and death.

 

“You have a certainty I have not encountered since my first children. You truly believe that nothing could stand between you and your goals,” She hesitated. “I see visions in your mind, wars not yet fought, a galaxy at your feet. You fear only one thing, and have devoted yourself to preventing it.”

 

Dan reached out and placed a hand on May’s shoulder. Sekot was right. The galaxy would burn, or he would die, before harm came to his family. 

 

“I can promise you that I’ll add you to my list of family,” Dan pulled May close. “But you can’t stand above her, not even Stormy gets that honour.” The cat on his head batted at his face, but Dan just smiled and tucked him in the crook of his arm. “You’ve seen my mind, so you’ve seen my plans, what say you?”

 

Thousands of roots reached from the ground. Legion, they enveloped the half-grown Gladius. Dan and his group were surrounded, a wall of organic mass in all directions. They shrivelled as fast as they came, powdered into dust on the wind. What remained was a sleek, practical vessel.

 

Five times larger than the scout it had once been, Gladius had been reborn. New weapons covered her surface, a pulse of life under her forest green hull. The ramp descended as May wandered forward in a daze.

 

“I can feel her… like a third hand or…”

 

“A second heart,” Sekot smiled with Leor’s lips. “She is the strongest I’ve created in millenia, care for her well and she will grow beyond your wildest dreams!” Leor swayed, supported by his wife as Sekot left him. He was hagarred, the connection had aged him a dozen years. “Let’s go, Sekot says the ships above are prepared to fire on the surface.”

 

May nodded and led the way up the ramp. Strange, organic walls surrounded them, air slightly bitter. Unbonded seed-pods trundled inside, a small army that reached out for Mays back. They reached the bridge, guided by May’s connection, and she settled into the pilot's seat.

 

“I might be the better choice for a pilot,” Ultron hovered at her back, eyes glued to the unusual interface.

 

“Sorry, but Gladius flies herself,” May murmured as a series of tendrils reached out and pressed to her skin. “She just needs someone to give her some direction…”

 

The sleek vessel rose silently into the sky on a ripple of air, driven by May’s will. Gladius cruised through the sky, pointed toward the stars.

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Thanks again, and a huge thank you to my Patrons! I can’t make this content without support, and I’m super grateful for our first three supporters! This fanfiction is also available on my Patreon, I’ll always keep it free, so please visit! Any support there makes this work possible, and if enough patrons want this novel to be a priority, it will be! Updates for this series will be at five a week, a chapter part monday-friday, with bonus chapters whenever I can get them written and edited. 

 

https://www.patreon.com/maizeblu