:: Unknown ::
Chapter 1
"Left! LEFT!" The interceptor
pivoted, breaking formation for only a second as the spiraling
death coming from the Taiidan ships whizzed by it’s cockpit.
The interceptor’s pilot flipped around, kicking in the
engines, and coming right at the three scouts coming right at
him. "Get back in formation!" the squad leader barked
over the comm., but the pilot refused. He knew something was
waiting that he had glimpsed, but his squad leader didn’t.
The pilot did a quick flyby of the Taiidan interceptor in the
lead, his sensor’s array tilted to fly right between the
ship’s wings. Surprised, the squadron flipped, trying to
keep a bead on the fast-moving interceptor. That moment of
indecision on the squad would be it’s last, as the rumble of
the ships getting ripped apart vibrated through the pilot’s
ship. The fireball quickly consumed the ships, as the plummeted
upwards towards an asteroid, slamming into it. The pilot looked
over his shoulder, and smiled, seeing 3 defenders tuck their rail
guns back into their shields. The pilot knew it was worth it for
the designers to incorporate the third gun into their
underbellies. Their relations with the Bentusi had been very
fruitful so far. His thinking was shattered, however, when a
squawk came across his intercom. "Hellfire! Just what do you
think you were doing with that stunt? You know better than to
break formation! Get back to base, we have to finish defending
Fleet Command." "Aye, sir, heading home." Hellfire
turned off the intercom. "Selfish bastard," he thought.
"Just because he’s been a pilot since launch doesn’t
mean he’s better than the rest of us. Didn’t even thank
me." Hellfire slumped back into his cockpit. Even the
modifications he’d made didn’t seem to make it
comfortable right now. He’d have to adjust it later.
"This is Fleet Command. Groups 1 and 3,
attack Taiidan bomber group 4 on your scanners. Group 2, attack
the ion cannons. Salvage group 10, capture that unidentified
frigate that’s protecting the ion cannon frigates from us…
ion group 6, provide cover for the corvettes, your shots seem to
be able to hit them. Corvette group 9 and support group 8,
provide support for the bigger ships… and everyone, come
back alive and I promise the cooks will have something extra
special for you." The battle ensued around the MS, as
everyone was working their hardest to fight off the invaders. As
the fight ensued, the salvage corvettes got the defense frigate
and brought it on board. This was about the time that Hellfire
arrived. The Taiidans had brought in some backup, and the MS was
starting to smoke. As he weaved in and out of the ships, he
prayed to God that the cryo pods were safe…
"Fleet, it’s time for trials of our
new weapon… clear the port side of the Mothership, we’re
going to try to open the door." Hellfire flew around,
smiling as he watched the bay door opening. Docked to it, was the
new pride and joy of the Kushan fleet. A destroyer emerged from
the cavernous side of the Mothership, and, almost immediately,
the twin ion cannons took down two frigates assailing the
Mothership. As Hellfire watched, and waited, he was surprised to
find that a fighter had broken off and was firing at him! He spun
and juked, and then grinned as he decided to give his friends on
the destroyer their first gunnery attacks. He sped for the
destroyer’s bow.
"Holy shit, what is he doing?"
"Hell if I know… but… WAIT! What’s that
behind him?"
"It’s a pair of interceptors! He’s leading them to
us!"
"Ready the artillery, we’ll get some kills out of this
yet, and prove ourselves to the ion gunners down there."
Hellfire grinned as he stared at the barrels
turning to face him, and aiming right ahead of him. He saw the
shots coming towards him, and spun, thrusting full throttle, as
the artillery slams into the following interceptors, destroying
them.
The battle continued for about an hour, but
now, with the destroyer, the Taiidans were outmatched and
outgunned, and had to retreat at the last moment. Hellfire
piloted his interceptor into the docking bays of the Mothership,
but not without a tinge of pain as he looked over the empty bay
slots where his friends used to park. Hellfire stepped out, and
walked along the crosswalks to the door into the main bays. Upon
exiting, the ship compacted slightly, making room for the other
fighters. Hellfire went to his door, and went inside his room to
prepare for the debriefing.
"What now, gentlemen?" A melodic
voice echoed through the large command room, as a beautiful
woman, floating in the air, appeared on the viewscreen between
the giant panel windows that looked out onto space. The room was
occupied by a massive onyx-colored table, surrounded by 10 men.
"This is the third attack from the Taiidans this week, and
our forces are dwindling. We are trying to move, as you know, but
the collectors just cannot take in enough. We had the unfortunate
disadvantage of having the quantum waveform drop us off in a bad
part of the galaxy, in-between the two nearest arms." A
three-dimensional map of the surrounding space appeared above the
desk. The resource collectors were focused on, and, as the map
rotated, all the men saw that there just weren’t enough
resources here. "We can jump in about 5 days, I’d
estimate, but I doubt we’d last that long without a
casualty. The question becomes, what should we do?"
Mission commander Segra Baldwin spoke up from
his seat at the head of the table. "Calm down, Karan. We
aren’t lost yet. I think that we shall get a decent resource
boost from the frigate we captured." Segra looks around the
room slowly. "Unless, you feel that someone awake on this
ship is qualified enough to pilot that… that thing down
there, now that our Taiidan captives killed themselves." The
room was silent. "I thought not. Now, our engineers estimate
that we will get about 650 resource units out of that thing, as
well as a lot of information on how their shields work, and how
to adjust our railguns to get past it. However, something has
been unsettling me for quite a while, now. It seems like the
closer we get to Hiigara, the tougher our opposition is. I do not
feel that we will be able to make it with what we have now. The
Bentusi have been quite helpful, but it just is not enough. We
need something more."
From the back of the room, a normally quiet
voice spoke up. It was that of Treasurer Jax Nejra. "I have
been planning for this for quite a while, ladies and
gentlemen." He pressed on the desk in front of him, and a
diagram of the Mothership appeared in the place of the sensor
report. "First, I am proud to report that, as soon as we get
some more minerals, we shall be able to complete our first Sensor’s
array. This one has been specifically designed for a twofold
purpose. First, it shall float near our Mothership, and increase
her scanning abilities immensely. Second, this one has been
programmed with the Bentusi language, and we shall be able to get
in touch with them if need be. Which, brings me to my second
idea," Jax said, in response to the glaring eyes of his
contemporaries. "You might not like this idea, but trust me,
it’s necessary."
Chapter 2
The Journey
"Byron, I want to talk to you."
"Yes sir?" Byron ‘Hellfire’ Jackson said, as
he spun around to face his commander
.
"You still have a racer’s spirit inside you… But
that has NO PLACE in my squadron!" The commander’s face
hardened, as he glared at Byron. "You may have led the
enemies into a trap, but if you do not show restraint, and
transmit your plans to Fleet Command first, next time, we could
all end up dying! I wasn’t pleased with your buying your own
interceptor in the first place, so I will tell you this. If you
pull a stunt like this again, you will be forced to give back
your interceptor, and you will NOT be reimbursed!" Byron’s
eyes went wide, as this swept over him.
"But.. that’s 4 years worth of my
salary! I could never afford—"
"THEN YOU WILL NOT DISOBEY ORDERS!"
"Aye, sir."
"You are dismissed."
Byron sighed, as he left the room. "Damn it," he
thought. "All I tried to do was help him save his precious
ships. The war isn’t with ourselves… Hell, we weren’t
even supposed to be at war!" He continued walking, then took
a lift up to the cryo storage levels. He followed a path through
the tubes, rubbing his arms at the cold. After what seemed like
an infinite time along a path he has walked almost daily, Byron
collapsed into a crutch He looked up at the cryo tube, and
frowned, only seeing the faintest outline of the woman behind it.
"We’re never going to get home, Alexia. It’s just
going to be too hard. And those Taiidans…." He curled
up on the catwalk, frowning.. until a familiar voice from his
mind calmed his nerves. "Don’t give up yet… There
is something coming that I know will change things for our
favor." Byron leaned back, almost as if he were getting a
back rub.
"Byron.. I love you. Byron.. By---fire… HELLFIRE!"
Byron’s eyes shot open, as he looked towards the way he
came. Running towards him, yelling, was Myrian Nejra.
"Hellfire! Get out of your trance, man, we’ve gotta get
ready!"
"Ready for what?"
"What do you think, hollowhead?"
"Oh, that. Fine, if you insist." And with that, Byron,
and his best friend Myrian, went to the living quarters of the
Mothership and partook in their weekly game of fencing.
---===---
"OUT OF THE QUESTION!" Segra yelled,
while pointing at Jax. "WE WILL NOT DO SUCH A LUDICROUS
THING!"
"Calm down, Segra." Karan said, sighing. "I will
say this to you, Jax. Our people are the most important thing on
this ship, and even if the rest of the commanders go with your
idea, which I doubt, I will not. You have not been awake all the
time since we left Kharak, but I would ask, if you were asleep,
would you like to be one of those who is part of what you are
proposing?"
"The difference is, my dear computer," Jax said with a
sarcastic tone, "is that I’m not. And if we do not do
something soon, we shall all die at the hands of these attackers.
"We’ve held our ground well so far, we didn’t have
any casualties in the last ambush," The commander of Byron’s
unit said as he left his place near the door and took his seat at
the table.
"But that was completely due to our excellent cloak and
destroyer pilots. They can’t hold off something that can see
them," Jax said. Just then, Karan bowed her head, closing
her eyes, as they glowed slightly. She then looked over the
assembly.
"Colleagues, I have just been informed that we have gathered
the proper amount of resource units to allow us another
hyperspace jump." A large map of the guidestone appeared
above the table, as Jax withdrew into the shadows. As he did so,
however, the commander put his large hand on Jax’s shoulder,
stopping him and receiving a look of fear from the commander.
Karan ignored the two. "We will be jumping here." A
point lights up on the 3 dimensional map of the guidestone.
"If all goes well, we shall be near
another nebulae, and we shall be able to greatly bolster our
resources. I shall be awaiting your command, Segra."
"By all means, start the launch. Let’s leave this
hell-hole."
---===---
"All citizens, prepare for hyperspace
jump." Byron looked towards the intercom, allowing Myrian to
get off a clean hit on Byron’s chest. "Hey! That wasn’t
fair!" Byron said. Myrian just laughed, tucking her foil
under her arm.
"Serves you right." Byron grinned
himself, then started taking off his fencing suit. Myrian did the
same, then walked over to him, patting him on the back.
"You did good, though."
"Thanks for the compliment." Byron smiled to her, then
walked to the windows. He watched as the collectors and research
vessels, as well as the patrol craft, parked inside the
Mothership’s hull.
"I wonder, Myrian, do you think that they
will put the Babylon inside the Mothership the same way that they
took it out?"
"I doubt it. It was so big, and we had to work so hard on
it. I think that it’s hyperspace generator’s as
powerful as the Mothership’s, so it can jump on it’s
own."
"Well, it’ll be just like the first jump, then. Were
you awake for that?"
"…no, I missed that bad time in our history. Were
you?"
"Nah, but they woke me up when those pirates attacked. Said
they needed more pilots in a hurry. I’ve been awake
since." Byron lowered his head.
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing… just old memories." Byron smiled to her,
then looked out the window. "I always love this time in
hyperspace."
"Yes, it is truly beautiful."
"No, it’s more than that. I often look out there during
a jump, and wonder if we are looking into God’s home. It
resonates with me on that deep of a level."
"Oh… I never looked at it that way." They both
looked out as the hyperspace ‘window’ appeared, and
enveloped the ship.
"You know, I heard a rumor once that the ship actually seems
to hum when it passes through the jump," Myrian said.
"Really?" Myrian nodded. "Why? The stress?"
"No, it’s because that… whoever it is at the
center of this hull, and I have heard that it’s a person,
takes pleasure in the feeling of the hyperspace around the hull.
It kind of supports your ideas about that being.. um… god’s
country."
"Maybe." Byron looked out with awe as the window
closed, and looked over the nebulae they warped into. "Hey,
look at that! We warped near a planet!" A water colored
planet could be seen in the nebulae, above them. It looked like a
rocky, barren planet, for it didn’t seem to be in the star’s
habitable zone.
"Let’s hope it’s friendlier than the last
one," Myrian said.
"Yeah… do you think Hiigara looks like that?"
"I don’t know. I hope not. But, do not concern yourself
with that." Myrian said as he turns around and looks over
the habitable area of the Mothership, grinning as she watches the
people going about their off-duty lives. Byron continues to look
out of the window, until something catches his eye.
"HEY! What’s that?"
"What’s what?" Myrian said as she turned around.
"It’s… gone now.. but…" He looks at her.
"What the hell’s wrong, Byron?"
"I.. um… I have to go. It’s been fun, Myrian, but
I have to go do something!" With that, Byron ran off,
towards the lift towards the command deck of the Mothership.
