Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

Alex watched Yaron flee, a smirk forming on his face.

He was unaware where Yaron was planning on going, so he wasn't too worried about Yaron getting very far.

The Kree captain's fear was evident, and it amused Alex to see such a 'mighty' pirate reduced to a panicked mess.

He knew Yaron was headed for the command deck, but he had no idea why.

There was no rush; if Yaron wanted to make a stand there, Alex would oblige him.

With a casual gait, Alex began to make his way toward the command deck, his steps echoing in an eerie manner through the silent corridors.

He wasn't in a hurry.

The ship was practically his now, and one frightened pirate wasn't going to change that.

Suddenly though, a loud clunk echoed through the ship, followed by an alert blaring from the ship's intercom in a language he didn't understand.

Alex's casual confidence immediately dwindled.

He had not heard the intercom activate since boarding the ship, meaning that whatever was happening now was pretty serious.

"What the fuck is happening? What did he do?" Alex muttered, his heart pounding with a sudden rush of rage.

His relaxed approach was instantly replaced with urgency.

He accelerated to high speeds, darting towards the command deck with a sense of dread clawing at him.

He didn't know the exact route there, but his speed ensured he would get there quickly regardless.

'I swear, if this last Kree has done something to the ship…'

Alex was seething with rage and worry. He hadn't considered the possibility that the Kree might resort to a desperate, kamikaze move.

The thought of his hard work and planning all going down in a 'If I die, we both die' gambit was infuriating.

As he sped through the corridors, Alex's mind raced and hoped that the worst hadn't occurred.

He turned corner after corner, each step through the poorly designed interior bringing him closer to the command deck.

The sound of the alarm grew louder, a constant reminder that he was getting closer.

Finally, he reached the doors of what he assumed was the command deck, as they were the most lavish and important looking doors he had seen so far in his time on the ship.

He stepped inside, his eyes scanning the room for any sign of Yaron or sabotage.

The blaring alarm and flashing lights only heightened his urgency.

But to his confusion, the room was empty.

There was no sign of Yaron or any tampering with the ship.

Alex frowned, frustration and bewilderment washing over him.

"Where the fuck is he?" he muttered under his breath.

He wasn't in the range of his spatial perception.

For a moment, Alex considered the possibility that Yaron might have headed to the engine bay to cause some real damage to the ship. But as he turned to leave, something outside the window in what should have been endless emptiness caught his eye.

A small ship was moving rapidly away from the freighter. Alex squinted, taking a closer look, and his eyes widened in realisation.

The ship was of similar design to the freighter, using the same metals and technology.

"An escape pod!" Alex exclaimed.

It all clicked into place: the loud clunk, the blading alarm and Yaron's sudden disappearance.

'So the escape pods were located by the command deck…' Alex thought, cursing his oversight.

But it wasn't like he would have made it to them without encountering the Kree anyway, as they were all concentrated at the command deck before they headed towards the loading bay to find him.

More importantly though, Yaron had managed to escape, and the implications of that were dire.

'If he reaches a Kree population centre, he could spread word of my existence, and that of the human race!'

While Yaron didn't know the name or origin of the human race, just the fact that an unknown alien was in Kree territory would set off alarms in the upper echelon of the Kree.

"No! I can't let him escape!" Alex decided.

He jumped into the pilot's seat, his hands flying over the unfamiliar controls.

He found a joystick-like device, which could only mean one thing.

Steering.

He grabbed the joystick and redirected the freighter's course to follow the escape pod. But then, the pod vanished from view.

"He entered Warp space!"

Alex felt a moment of despair before his determination reignited.

He pressed every button he could find on the pilot's controls until, finally, one seemed to have activated a countdown sequence.

Three short seconds later, he was pushed back in his seat for an instant as the ship accelerated and joined the escape pod in warp space.

Though Alex wasn't hopeful that he would be able to catch up with Yaron.

Those 10 seconds of lead he had gained on Alex amounted to quite a long distance due to the disparity between the two ship's speed.

After an agonising few minutes passed though, Alex spotted the escape pod far ahead, slightly increasing in size as the minutes continued to tick by.

"This ship's faster in warp than his!" Alex realised with elation.

He closed the distance over the next 20 minutes, until he was close enough that he could see the grooves on the escape pod's metal sheen.

Inside, Yaron was frantically moving about the cockpit, clearly aware that he was being pursued.

"Fuck, why does this ship have no weapons!" Alex cursed, trying every button that remotely had a label that looked like it had something to do with weapons, but had no luck.

It made sense since the ship was a freighter, Alex was just frustrated.

'Alright, I might be crazy for trying this, but to hell with it!'

Alex had gotten fed up with his plans always coming to a sudden halt or hitting multiple road blocks, so he decided to take things into his own hands.

Since there was no technological solution to his problem, he could only rely on his own strength.

He moved to the airlock attached to the command deck and entered it.

Inside, he pressed a button on the control panel to activate the ventilation system, filtering all the breathable air out.

He held his breath as the system completed its cycle.

Click!

Alex pressed the most prominent button on the panel next, opening the last door separating him from the warp tunnel outside.

He felt himself become weightless as the gravity stopped holding him down, but he ignored it, grabbing onto an outstretched piece of metal on the exterior piece of the ship to stop himself from floating away.

He then covered himself in Phoenix flames, protecting him from the freezing temperatures, and then concentrated more Phoenix flames into his palm.

'It worked before with normal flames, so it should work again with my Phoenix flames.'

'I only hope space won't affect how it works too differently…'

With that, Alex unleashed a concentrated burst of Phoenix flames, directing them toward Yaron's escape pod.

The flames shot forward, a brilliant, fiery streak in resemblance to a comet cutting through the empty void separating the two ships.

As the flames reached the pod, they engulfed it in an intense blaze.

'It seemed I didn't need to worry after all…'

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