The battalion I was assigned to had been sent on a routine rendezvous with a Venture League Recon Unit on Crux Prime. Expecting heavy resistance, we left hours earlier then when the meeting was scheduled. However, there little to no resistance to speak of and we were obliged to wait.
A deep feeling of suspense washed over us. Crux prime was deathly silent that day, and the spiraling arms of the maelstrom dominated the sky like tentacles reaching to blot out the sun.
The famed Burham Blazer was a member of our crew. He studied the arms of the maelstrom and nodded slowly.
“Ya know, I’ve been to the Maelstrom.” He started slowly
By this time he had already had the attention of the entire group. Taking the silence as a queue to go on, he continued.
“This was back when I was still a Grunt, see? T’wasn’t long after the Baron went bad that Exeter and Hael Storm went on an expedition of sorts to see what this thing was. As one of the first to join the force, I was chosen to come along.
“It was just them two, a half dozen other grunts and me that boarded the ship. None of us had known what we would find there, or could have even guessed for that matter.
“Slowly we approached the Maelstrom, except we hadn’t give’n it that name yet, until that day it was still Typhonus. As we came closer to it, the tension grew until finally we came close enough to see its eyes, oh those terrible eyes, they were like daggers that pierced through your soul. Mind you, this was back when you couldn’t just glance up and see it at any given moment, we had to get up close. It wasn’t at full power then I guess, prob’ly a good thing, we may have never survived else wise.
“We was brave men though, all o’ us stayed calm. ‘Till it grabbed us that is.
“Aye’ it grabbed us; our ship shook with the fury of the impact, throwing us to the floor, still though we remained calm, but then-” he paused for dramatic effect, the entire battalion waited with bated breath
“-It started to pull us in.” He said the words with such relish as to make the rest of us gasp. Relishing our reactions, he grinned and continued.
“Hael Storm made a dive for the controls. Putting the engines on full power, he attempted to escape from the Maelstrom’s clutches. However, the ship was no match for the terrible might of the being of chaos.
“The entire crew just stood in awe, even the Duke himself was speechless. But then, ‘fore anyone could stop me, I shoved open the door and leaped toward the Maelstrom, my broad sword drawn and my blaster at the ready.
“The Maelstrom, as I had hoped, threw the ship back and sucked me in faster then lightn’ng and- hold up, what’s this?”
A stromling invader had made its way to the rendezvous point. With a quick motion, Burham pulled out his blaster and downed it with a single precise blast.
“Anyway” He carried on, the threat having been taken care of “The next few moments seemed to take both hours and an instant at the same time. It sure messes with one’s head. At the time, however, I was more worried about the Baron- or the Darkitect as we’ve come to call him now. Being in his presence flooded my mind with his feelings of utter hatred and unstoppable fury, but I also felt a feeling of sorrow, and hurt, as if he were only striking out against a spiteful world.
“Having someone else’s feelings in your head hurts. Especially with feelings like those. I hardly had time to clear my head when I found myself having to dodge some sorta purple energy beam. Swiftly avoiding them, I worked my way up to him, when he swung his staff at me, knocking me back several feet. It didn’t take me long to get back on my feet again. Then, leaping into the air, I slashed the darkitect with my broadsword. Screaming in pain, he threw me out of the Maelstrom at a sickening speed.
“Now I’m not sure what happened, but I think my mind was plum worn out from having someone else scream feelings into it, and I woke in a hospital bed in Nexus Station. One of the minifigures explained to me that they had found me asleep on the ground in Avant Gardens, and got me to a hospital as quick as they could.
“But the greatest surprise of all came when I found out how long I had been in the Maelstrom. I saved the crew of that ship over eight months before anyone heard o’ me again. They all thought I was dead! Overbuild says it had something to do with temporal distortion resulting’ from a large concentration of energy or somthin’. But the best part is, that they were gonna build a huge statue celebrating my victory over the maelstrom where they found me sleeping.
“But look, the Recon Unit decided to show up. Time to get back to work then”
Next: Burham Blazer and the Pirates Song