The Enemy mind-essence surged through her thoughts, and Magdalene writhed in that pain and terror. She spun her weapons nacelles toward the threat, but felt her energy draining as she was pulled ever closer to the surface. How could there be so many in this When?

(lifeboats please respond! don’t land! get out of the system!)

The Enemy grasped with its essence, snaring three of the four lifeboats. It pulled the tiny vessels intimately close and began to absorb them into itself. Magdalene’s heart ached as she saw one of the vessels self-destruct in an attempt to save the others, but to no avail. As the web beam swept around to trap the last lifeboat, Magdalene deftly maneuvered between the pod and the Enemy, snapping the connection.

The lifeboat, trapped in the wake of Magdalene’s gambit, plummeted helplessly through the atmosphere, still drained from the effects of the essence. A line of fire formed behind it as gravity’s hold became stronger and friction caused the hull to ionize.

Magdalene watched the lifeboat escape as she hung motionless in her lifeless prison. She prayed for their safety.

The Enemy was furious. Its companion destroyed, the lifeboat lost…

DIE THEN, JUDAS. YOUR VIRUS WILL BE PURGED FROM OMEGA SOON ENOUGH.

It lashed out at the Judas Magdalene, and the sky became fire.

Mortally wounded, powerless, she fell to earth.

The Enemy, satisfied with the kill, set about the Purpose once more.

In the black within the blackness, voices appeared.

OBJECTIVE ONE ENGAGED, DISPATCHED.

a flicker of broken images, madness within electronic void

A CERTAINTY((?))