Chapter 3
Kopaka stared at the red wall of metal in front of him, thinking.
The first task he and his team needed to overcome was getting into the Star. There was an easy way to do that, of course: with his mask power and Botar’s teleportation, they could teleport safely into the Star. But perhaps the easiest solution wouldn’t be the right one; they also needed to create an exit from the Red Star for any survivors to leave. Botar had a limit to how many people he could teleport with, according to Hydraxon.
That meant they had to break through the wall somehow. The walls had already proved to be resistant to his elemental power, and his powers were too drained from overusing them on the Star anyway.
These walls are meant to hold up to the vacuum of space, Kopaka thought. How can we get through them?
“Maybe there’s some type of door?” Quilha suggested. “I doubt the Great Beings designed this thing with teleportation as the only way in or out.”
Kopaka suddenly remembered the escape hatch that he and the other Toa had used to escape the Great Spirit Robot. He scanned the wall of the robot, looking for a similar hatch, and finally found one… way up in the air. With the lens in his mask, he estimated that it was 80 Bio from the ground. The Star was likely not meant to land crooked like this, and the hatch would probably be closer to the ground if it landed normally.
His first instinct was to use his elemental power to make a pillar of ice and lift the group, before he remembered his powers were drained. Pohatu could easily have lifted the group, but he wasn’t here either.
But there was one more way to get there. “Ivohku, do you think you can get us up there?”
Ivohku nodded, and the group joined hands, before all of them started to rise upwards, lifted by Ivohku’s gravity power. The three Matoran rose the fastest, but they held on to Kopaka’s hand and stayed with the rest. It took them about a minute to reach the hatch. Ivohku adjusted the gravity on the group until they all hovered in front of it.
“Looks like an Air Cycle hatch,” Ruhko said. “I’ve seen them before on sea craft. When it’s pressurized, it’s practically impossible to open, but in an atmosphere, it’s just a matter of pulling it open.” Ruhko grabbed the handle, pulled… and nothing happened. “Well, unless it gets stuck.”
“Allow me,” Hydraxon said. Jamming one of his wrist blades into the side of the hatch, he twisted it to the side, until it finally snapped open. There was a slight hiss of air from the Air Cycle lock as it opened. Beyond it, there was an open tunnel.
Hydraxon pulled himself in first, then helped the rest get in. The hallway slanted heavily to the side, and Kopaka had to brace against the wall.
He paused to take one last glance outside. Hopefully, when the group was ready to leave, they would have Pohatu with them, and he could create a stone ramp down to the surface. If he was still alive… no, Kopaka refused to think that. Pohatu would be fine, and Kopaka would find him.
Grimly, the Toa of Ice turned and walked into the dark hallway.
Ivohku’s Mask of Night Vision lit up the darkened hallway. As he did so, he realized he had no idea how long it had been since he’d been here under his own power. How long had the Kestora controlled him?
Unwittingly, his mind flashed back to the last time he remembered being on the Star…
Years ago…
“The won’t even let us look at it!”
An irate Iron Toa slammed his hand against the wall of the Red Star. He was one of the first Toa of Iron who had been killed by the Makuta, simply because his power posed a threat to them. Then, he had been forced to watch as more Toa of Iron and Magnetism came to the Red Star. He wanted to warn them, that the Makuta had gone dark and they were in danger, but he couldn’t, because he was trapped on this infernal star of the dead.
“Calm down, brother,” a low voice said from the corner. This came from a Toa of Earth who had been part of the Iron Toa’s team, and had died fighting beside him. “Let the Kestora do their duty. This is their land, not ours.”
“I think calling this place ‘land’ is a bit of a stretch,” a Toa of Air said. “But he’s got a point. The Kestora’s duty is to get this place fixed. Our duty is to protect people, even here. That six-armed monster is still up here somewhere…”
“If it’s the Kestora’s duty, why haven’t they done it?” Ivohku said. He was the most recent Toa to arrive here. “Some of you have been up here for thousands of years! Maybe whatever’s wrong here, the Kestora can’t fix.”
“See?” the Iron Toa said. “He agrees with me.”
“So what do you suggest we do about it?” a Water Toa asked.
“There’s all kinds of people stuck here,” Ivohku said. “Crafters, inventors, tinkerers, even the Nynrah Ghosts. Surely there’s someone who can get this place working and get us home. Because I think it’s obvious the Kestora can’t do it.”
“One should not try to take the duties of another,” the Earth Toa said. “This is what the Kestora are supposed to do.”
“Yeah, and the Makuta were ‘supposed’ to protect the Matoran,” the Iron Toa pointed out. “And look how that turned out. They kill people to suit their own needs. You think the Kestora keep them dead for the same reason?”
“No,” the Earth Toa said. “I don’t think that.”
“Maybe I do,” Ivohku said. “And maybe it’s time we did something about it.”
It took some time, but Ivohku had rallied other Toa to his cause. He had led a group of Toa against the Kestora.
The attack didn’t go as planned. And just like the Makuta, they decided to eliminate the threat. A new weapon was built, ironically by the Kestora named Makuta, and soon all of the Toa were under their control.
Ivohku had led them to their doom.