Star Breaker

    "What was that? What happened? What did you do?" The normally taciturn Movik was frantic. When the sphere uncoupled itself, he had started to wring his hands and when it shattered into blazing particles that they could see from their vantage point above the breaking asteroid, he freaked.

    "I did nothing. Whatever or whoever was inside that sphere is now out in the cold blackness of space."

    "What do you mean who? What do you know?"

    "The planet consciousness inside me felt the proximity of a star. That star is now humming happily as the creature from the sphere tears apart those rocks." It was hard to see, but here and there a form appeared, shattered a rock between its hands and then dodged away to strike another one. At the rate it was going, the great asteroid would be head-sized balls when it struck Morganti's atmosphere, easily destroyed by entry.

    "An Avatar? Oh, nononononono." He was clutching at his head now, rocking back and forth, moaning as he watched the fragments of the sphere come apart wherever they touched the debris. "Where did the asteroid come from?"

    Kale had to ask the base for that question. "This is Kale-Gant to Sector Guard Base Morganti."

    Mala's tired tone came through the communications unit. "Go ahead, Avatar."

    "Has an origin for the rock been determined?"

    There was silence for a few moments while she brought up the information. "It has been travelling for just over four hundred years. Remnant of the Emhara system. Their white dwarf went black, the nearest planet to the star exploded, but everyone was evacuated. Is everything okay?"

    "Yes. The bulk of the asteroid has been destroyed. Did you get the shield up and running?"

    "Only just. When you get back, you are going to have to work on increasing food yields. I am afraid I had to replace quite a bit of energy and the commissary is pissed."

    "Whatever you need, Fixer. Make me a list."

    "Will do. See you when you get home. Sector Base Morganti, out."

    Kale turned to Movik. "Whoever made the shell, made it from the same alloy that the occupant is so cheerfully tearing apart. The Emhara system ring a bell?"

    If it was possible for Movik to turn any greener, he would have. As it was, he sat on the floor, rocking himself into a pattern saying, "Nonononononononono," as a constant chant.

    With the momentum of the oncoming disaster modified by the lack of forward movement, Kale guided the shuttle closer. He wanted a closer look at the occupant. When she came out, he focussed the scans on her and took in the pale skin, midnight hair and humanoid body. It wasn't until she turned to wave at the camera that he saw the appalling truth.

    With an asteroid heading to Morganti, Kale volunteers to retrieve the Star Breaker, a weapon that has the ability to shatter anything in it's way. When he takes possession he feels a familiar presence, a star's Avatar is trapped within the sphere. Carella has been waiting for her freedom, and when her sphere collides with the asteroid, she is naked, free, and in the mood to blow something up. Kale is struck by her beauty and power, and she wants nothing more than a comforting touch after her violent venting. Upon returning to Morganti they find out who she is, but not why her memory has been wiped. Together, they may find a few answers to questions they had never even imagined asking, including How could a Terran who disappeared two years earlier have spent the last four hundred years as the Star Breaker?