Temple of Doom

"" is the fifth episode of Vagrant Queen. It premiered on April 24, 2020.

Synopsis
The team arrive on Wix to unexpected revelations; betrayal leads to a bloody showdown.

Recap
When we last left our heroes, they had just plummeted onto a desolate, sand-strewn planet with nary a chance of survival. As fate would have it, they all did survive, but just barely. After Isaac, sent far afield because of a faulty ejector seat, thwarts a giant sand slug, we learn, through flashback, how Isaac got separated from Earth and his wife. He was on a fact-finding mission orbiting Jupiter when the winds over the red spot on the planet picked up, causing a delay in his return home.

The ship is still intact, though Krob requires medical attention. Dengmar goes out searching for Isaac, and just in time, too: an unnoticed injury in his abdomen knocks him out. Perfect time for another flashback. While preparing to land back on Jupiter, Isaac and his pilot got sucked into a portal through space that blasts them into, you guessed it, a galaxy not their own.

When Isaac finally wakes up, it's in the sick bay with Elida. She tells him that the Admiralty has confined her mom to an ancient tomb built and used by her ancestors. The tomb is some distance away, and they have to get there on foot. Meanwhile, on Arriopa, where the Admiralty have installed themselves at home, Lazaro's parents hear from a messenger a litany of his failures and decide to demote him — to an enemy of the people. They send in the army to arrest him. Tough love!

Meanwhile, early on in their journey, our heroes are beset by reptile-like creatures that twine themselves around their bodies, threatening to strangle them. Rather than run away, Isaac cuts his comrades free. Adversary bested. Later, they trudge on and reach the tomb; only, it's been submerged in piles of sand, and also… no one's there. Guards aren't there, even Elida's mom isn't there, Hath tells her. But, why the bait and switch?

Basically, the monarchists wanted to lure Elida to this place so that she could access a weapon of legend — the sterzaad, and the promise of her mother was the only way for them to do that. Elida is rightfully pissed, and she storms off into the sand. Isaac heart-to-hearts with her, and she reluctantly comes back. Elida, along with the monarchists, descends into the tomb.

To open up secret doors in the tomb, Elida must spill some of her royal blood. Then the place lights up like an Electric Daisy Carnival. They reach the threshold of the sterzaad, and before Elida can insert herself into the weapon (kind of like a stone exo-suit), Dengmar intervenes. He elects to go first in case the weapon has dire consequences. It does. In short order, the sterzaad rips apart Dengmar's body like he was a lobster on the Fourth of July.

Elida pops herself in there and survives — must be the royal blood trick again. The device illuminates a tiny sphere on a plinth: it must be the sterzaad. Then the tomb starts to crumble, and they all make a run for it. But in the main chamber of the tomb, Isaac and Amae have been taken hostage by the Admiralty, which have located the crew. Rather than have Lazaro blow Amae's brains out, Elida tosses him the sterzaad instead. Then, another flashback.

Turns out, Isaac, under Lazaro's interrogation, spilled the beans on the groups mission in exchange for a one-way ticket back to Earth. Lazaro stuck a tracking device on Isaac, and then, at the latter's request, beat him up good to make it look like it was a struggle. It's hard for Elida to hear. When Lazaro demands from Hath the "conduit," a fight breaks out and the walls start coming down.

Lazaro runs off with the sterzaad and the conduit, and just as he emerges from the tomb, he's arrested by a squadron of Admiralty guards. But Lazaro puts the sterzaad in the conduit, and kablooey: no more Admiralty guards. The combo gives awesome powers. Back in the tomb Krob is slain, and Hath falls under some rubble and must be left to die. Lazaro scurries off in his ship, and, when they make it to safety, Elida tells Isaac: it's over between them.