:: Unknown ::
Kehlia walked down the
plankway towards the bridge as the engines of the Kushan heavy
cruiser fired up. Small in stature (around 5 feet 3 inches), she
was in her lower twenties, with shoulder length brown hair. She
was well fit with a great smile that didn't see the use it once
did. As she entered the bridge, the long view panels opened the
darkness of space before her. The Kushan mothership was fading
out of view to the right as the detachment headed towards its
destination.
The heavy cruiser took the lead, protecting the
carrier that it was assigned to. A small dispatchment of Ion and
regular frigates also joined, flanking the carrier to the left
and right. As she stood there, assessing her resources, the
objective began to come in view through the forward view. A long,
bright yellow strip stretched across the whole of empty space. A
rich and volatile gas cloud slowly was coming into view. Probes
were ordered to be sent out to survey the area, she knew the
Taiidan were never far. As the contingent of ships closed in on
their destination, the whole of the forward view was filled with
the bright and beautiful gas cloud. The volatile cloud churned,
bringing life to stars deep within its core. There was an
infinite amount of gas here to harvest, all they needed was
enough to make another jump.
As the probes reached their destinations, the
data began to roll in. Space was empty. No enemy probes, let
alone enemy ships. The order was given to bring the ships to a
stop and dispatch the fighters. As the cruiser lurched to a halt,
the carrier began to spew out support craft to guard the
harvesting operation. After a quick pass to flush out any hidden
enemies, the harvesters were dropped out of the carrier and began
their operation.
Kehlia felt uneasy. It was tough not to, with the
Taiidan and pirates always ready to destroy anything and
everything Kushan. As if the constant threat wasn't enough, she
was blind, and she knew it. None of the probes could operate
through the heavy gas clouds directly ahead. She wasn't raised a
great tactician or leader, how many of the Kushan really were?
She did know what danger was though and this was it. She doubted
that anyone would be crazy enough to go deep into the volatile
gas clouds but she wasn't taking any chances. The order was given
to move a wall of defenders and a few frigates to the perimeter
of the gas cloud where they were harvesting. She also moved the
cruiser and Ion frigates closer while ordering the fighters to
patrol the edge. The carrier continued to take in harvesters back
behind the defensive wall.
The mission had gone well so far, and they were
nearing their objective when the first volley was fired. A large
burst came deep within the gas cloud, ripping through the middle
of the wall of defenders. The bright explosion signaled things
were going wrong, fast. One of the frigates to the left rocked as
it was hit by missile after missile, sending it reeling off
course and into the frigate next to it. The two frigates exploded
brilliantly and quickly died back to the darkness of space. The
fighters were ordered to quickly identify the location and
designation of the ships that they were being fired upon by. The
fighters disappeared into the rolling gas, vanishing from radar.
The wall of defenders tried in desperation to quickly move but
were being annihilated from the unknown assailant. One after the
other blew as they were ripped apart. The frigates were given the
order to move into the cloud, the heavy cruiser lagged behind to
still give protection to the now relatively undefended carrier.
White flashes erupted against and within the yellow backdrop of
the gas cloud as friendly and enemy ships alike burst into
flames. The assailants still remained unseen to Kehlia, not wanting
to abandon the carrier. The comm signal was mostly garbled by the
interference of the gas cloud, making any kind of strategic
decision difficult. Then, through the soupy yellowness came a
friendly frigate, badly wounded and being chased. The call came
over the comm signal from the panicked crew, begging for
assistance. The enemy cruiser behind it was pummeling the
frigate, ripping off large portions as it tried to make its
escape. As badly as Kehlia wanted to go and help her comrades, she
knew better than to go that deep into the gas clouds to give
assistance. The Ion frigates flanking both sides of the heavy
cruiser were ordered to hold steady and not to leave their
positions. No later had the order been given than the one of the
Ion frigates broke away. Kehlia screamed through the comm to get it
to come back, but the captain had made up his mind to go give
assistance. Now only two ships remained to protect the carrier,
but it was much worse than that. The realization hit Kehlia like a
plasma bomb. She frantically ordered the cruiser to turn and head
away from gas cloud. As she grabbed the comm to order a complete
withdrawal, the Ion frigate, going to help its comrade in need,
opened up upon the enemy cruiser. As the Ion stream reached the
gas cloud, an electrical storm enveloped everything. The
resulting explosions ripped outward from the gas cloud. As the
hulking cruiser turned to escape, she looked and saw the other
Ion frigate get enveloped by the shockwave. She knew she wasn't
going to make it. As she ordered full speed away from the area,
the view panels were awash with light as the shockwave overtook
the cruiser.....
The battle chatter that was coming from the
resource operation had died. Kultaris stood over the comm officer
aboard the Kushan mothership, listening to the dead static coming
through. The last frantic orders of retreat must not have been
issued in time. The dispatchment of their only carrier and
protection force had been destroyed. The mothership was low on
resources, they needed that resource run, and needed it badly. It
was bad enough to be stranded, it was much worse now to have lost
such a huge contingent of ships and Kushan life. The low resource
level not only prevented another jump, but limited the remaking
of defensive ships that could be built. The mothership was a
sitting duck. Not near enough firepower to defend nor the
resources to escape.
As the shockwave overtook the heavy cruiser,
the viewpanels were awash with hot, white light. Kehlia closed her
eyes as the rumbling and the jolt of the shockwave shook the
ship. The sudden movement threw her to the ground, then all was
quiet. The incredibly bright scene quickly dimmed and was gone.
Slowly she opened her eyes to see the viewpanels filled with the
wavy blue of hyperspace. The hyperspace navigator had done a
blind jump, without a doubt saving everyone on board. Kehlia, awash
with the cascading of feelings, got up but quickly stumbled to
the cold deck plates. Rising to her feet again, she looked around
to see the other officers with the same stunned and confused look
of emotions as her. Some began to rejoice, most sat stunned,
while others just broke down and cried. Nobody had a clue where
they were going or what the situation was, but that didn't
matter. For the moment, they were alive. Kehlia struggled over to
the navigation officer's console, still shaky after all of the
events. As she reached the console, the officer stood up to
address Kehlia. The slightly portly officer was dripping with sweat
and shaking vigorously as he attempted to salute her. Kehlia quickly
brought his arm to his side and hugged him
Kultaris quickly paced back and forth across
the bridge of the Kushan mothership. He had absolutely no clue
what to do. All the time and resources invested into the
virtually brand new carrier were lost. Thousands of trained
fighters and friends were lost. An immense amount of collected
resources were lost. Fifty percent of the Kushan defense was
lost. As if that wasn't enough, he knew that the enemy was here,
and it knew what the Kushan were up to. This area was picked for
one reason, and one reason alone, the vast gas cloud that just
consumed so many Kushan lives. He knew he couldn't head in that
direction. He needed a new defense, but he also needed a new
resource gathering force. Which was more important at this point?
When was the enemy, if ever, going to attack? He was stuck, and
without a miracle, that was about as good as the situation was
going to get...
Kehlia stepped back from the hyperspace navigator.
She needed to figure out what exactly had happened and where they
were going. She asked the nav officer what had happened when he
made the jump. The portly officer replied, saying as they were
banking to flee the area, he saw the carrier make a blind jump.
Realizing that they were as good as dead, he got a lock on the
carrier and jumped right behind them. As the shockwave
approached, the cruiser bucked and entered the safety of
hyperspace. From all accounts they had lost all of the protection
force. However, although the overall mission was a failure, the
newest member of the fleet, the massive carrier, had escaped as
well. The relief was only momentary as the re-entry warnings
began to howl through the ship. The carrier was coming out of
hyperspace, and the cruiser was coming out right behind it. Kehlia
quickly ran over to the comms officer, ordering a message to be
sent to the carrier the second they dropped out. As the wavy blue
of hyperspace quickly faded to the deep blackness of space, the
hectic orders came through the comm from the carrier.
"All gunners, focus forward fire power on
the Taiidan carrier!"
The Kushan mothership began to crank through
its last amount of resources as the final collector rolled out of
the bay. The ship and its limited defenders had moved to a small
area of asteroids, trying to gather whatever resources it could
find. Kultaris didn't have a clue how they were going to get
enough resources to get a sizable defense, let alone enough to
make another hyperspace jump. As the first resource collector
approached the asteroid field, an explosion ripped the ship in
half. Mines. The order was given to quickly pull back away from
the asteroid field, but a chain reaction had begun. The mines
attached to the asteroids began to detonate, one after the other.
The force turned the relatively minor debris into a weapon of
mass destruction. The rock projectiles pulverized the defenders,
too slow to get out of the way. As one blew after the other, they
reeled into each other in their panic, destroying the entire
squadron. As the rest of the fleet began to flee, one of the
larger asteroids flew through the resource collector, leaving a
gaping hole in the middle. Kultaris clenched to the railing as
the mother ship lurched to escape. Nothing was going right, and
he knew that it was going to get worse. The nav officer spun
around from his station and yelled up to Kultaris.
"Sir, we have unknown signatures heading
our direction!" Kultaris closed his eyes. This was
definitely going to get a lot worse.
Kehlia grabbed the nav officer and ordered an
assessment of the situation. The Kushan carrier was directly
ahead through the viewpanels, opening fire upon the enemy
carrier. There were no Taiidan defenders, anywhere. Something
wasn't right, the enemy carrier wasn't even firing back. Kehlia gave
the order to the carrier to cease fire. Everything was still, the
entire area was abandoned. The cruiser accelerated to approach
the enemy ship and then it was clear to what had happened here.
The enemy carrier had been hammered. The hull was full of small
holes and darkened by constant bombardment, far beyond anything
the Kushan carrier could have done. Although heavily damaged, it
wasn't abandonable by any means. Something else had happened
here.
"Sir, we have an incoming comm from the
approaching unknown ships!" Kultaris ordered it to be put
through. The words that came through were slow, and simple.
"Surrender." Kultaris leaned back against the railing
of the Kushan mothership. Surrender? Who asked for surrender? The
Taiidan surely don't take prisoners and the pirates could care
less. The computer didn't recognize the signatures of the ships,
they were certainly something they hadn't seen before. Kultaris
looked over the nav officer's shoulder. Only three ship
signatures registered. They wanted us to surrender on account of
three ships? They had to be big, but even given that, that was
quite the request of them. The three ships slowly trolled into
view of the Kushan fleet, what was left of it at any rate. The
ships were around the size of a heavy cruiser, nothing big and
certainly nothing to declare the Kushan to surrender over. What
card was this new enemy holding? Kultaris's question was soon
answered as hundreds upon hundreds of tiny agile ships poured
from the hangers of the enemy cruisers.
Kehlia gave the order for a dropship with a small
scout party to inspect the Taiidan carrier. If they could snag
this carrier it would surely overshadow her defeat at the gas
cloud. The dropship docked with the vacant carrier as the two
salvage ships began to head toward their capture. After a few
short moments, the scout party's reports began to roll in over
the intercom.
"Ma’am, there was definitely some
on-ship fighting here, and looks fairly recent. Blast marks and
blood trails run across and through most of the corridors. But no
one is here ma’am, there aren't even any bodies. Whoever hit
the place took everyone out with them, dead or alive."
Kehlia leaned back against the cold railing on the
bridge. Funny, she actually felt bad for the Taiidan. They were
sitting ducks, without any defense. They threw everything they
had at us during our gas harvesting mission, and lost any
possible defense for their carrier. That also means whoever did
this was still out there, along with the now undefended Kushan
mothership. They had to gather some resources to make the jump
and they had to do it fast. The order was given to abandon the
carrier for now, they would come back for it later. As Kehlia began
to leave the comm station and head towards the nav officer, an
excited voice came through the comm from the scout party. They
had found something!
Kultaris looked through the forward view of the
Kushan mothership as the hundreds of minute enemy ships washed
over the hull. The ship rocked as hundreds of small particle
drivers opened up. Two defense frigates reeled back and forth in
an effort to track the fast ships but it was no use. Even when
one or two enemy ships were shot down, it did nothing to effect
the enemy's overall effectiveness. The swarm quickly surrounded
the two frigate ships, ripping them apart. The motherships
gunners blindly shot into the thick group of ships, hoping to get
lucky. But taking out a few ships was nothing when in these shear
numbers. A valiant crew aboard one of the resource collectors
plowed through the wave of fighters, taking out as many as it
could before it blew apart. But all of it was of no use, there
were just too many and they were all too fast. Once again, the
comm channel opened up with only one word from the enemy ships,
"Surrender". The hull of the mothership was beginning
to fail under the continual fire from the numerous ships.
Kultaris looked around at his officers, none gave him a look of
surrender, and he wasn't about to do it himself. No sooner had he
spoken then the mothership jolted hard and the lights began to
dimmer. They were dead. Power was failing, and without it, any
chance at survival was gone. The enemy cruisers were moving
towards the mothership, they were coming to board. Kultaris
ordered everyone to arm themselves, they weren't going to be
taken without a fight.
"Sir! We have friendly ships jumping in
from hyperspace! It's Kehlia's detachment from the resource
gathering mission!"
"Open all fire upon the near enemy
cruiser!"
The heavy cruiser's ion streams ripped through
the enemy cruiser in a heartbeat, unprepared the assault it found
itself under. Hot white flashes signaled the death of the enemy
cruiser as it blew apart. Kehlia quickly ordered the cruiser,
carrier, and supporting craft to move to intercept the now
enraged fighters. She also ordered the recently acquired plasma
bombers to be launched. Kushan scientists had been working
forever to try and design a cap killer bomber, but they always
had been incredibly unstable. As it would turn out, the captured
Taiidan carrier happened to have a new dispatchment of their
plasma bombers, couldn't have been better for the Kushan. The
carrier and cruiser positioned themselves between the swarm
fighters and enemy cruisers, keeping them busy while the plasma
bombers went to town. The cruiser was ineffective, to say the
least, against these agile fighters. Ion cannons blew through the
middle of the swarm, taking out a few as they came in but leaving
most intact. The heavy cruiser rocked and shuddered as the
fighter swarm pelted it from all sides. The enemy was doing no
better though as the second enemy cruiser blew apart under heavy
bomber fire. The third and final cruiser wasn't going to stick
around though. Leaving its fighters behind, it beat a hasty
retreat, jumping into hyperspace. The relief was only momentary
though, as the hundreds of tiny fighters still remained. The
continually pounding upon the heavy cruiser was beginning to take
its toll. The hull was loosing its structural integrity, and
loosing it fast. Kehlia gave the order to retreat towards the
mothership, in a hope to consolidate their power. She knew she
couldn't outrun the fighters, she just had to hope she could make
it to the mothership in time to gain some support fire. As the
cruiser lurched towards the mothership, the constant rumbling
grew quiet. The enemy ships weren't following! Now what the hell
was going on? The cruiser was scrapped, they could easily finish
it off but yet they sat there, motionless. Then the realization
of it hit her. They were out of fuel! Ha! For all of their speed
and maneuverability, they were nothing without their support
cruisers. An exchange of speed for fuel meant nothing without
someone to refuel you. Hundreds of enemy ships sat, waiting to
blown out of the sky, one by one. This was more than just a
chance to take some target practice though, this was a chance to
learn more about a new enemy.....
Kehlia breathed a sigh of relief as she sat back
in the shuttles chair. Everything was calm for now. The shuttle
jolted as it detached from the cruiser and headed towards the
Kushan mothership. The events of the past day were beginning to
fade from her mind, but she knew they would all come back when
she had to explain to her superiors and peers what exactly had
happened. She could only hope that her valiant efforts in the
previous hours would more than weigh against her catastrophic
loss during the harvesting mission. For now though, she knew she
could relax. Days worth of sleep would have to be made up in the
five minute trip.
"Ummm, sir.." Kultaris turned around
to face the intelligence officer that had entered the bridge.
"It seems sir that the unidentified enemy who attacked us
has no intentions of us capturing them. As our salvage ships
began to close in on the fighters, they self distracted. I'm
sorry sir." Kultaris sighed and sent the intelligence
officer on her way. Another great opportunity lost, he was
beginning to dislike this area more and more. No sooner could he
let this new bad news settle than Captain Thruark came bellowing
onto the bridge. Damn it, thought Kultaris, this was the last
thing he wanted or needed to deal with at this time. The heavily
built captain was around six feet tall with blonde red hair which
had receded halfway back his head. His green eyes and heavy
mustache gave the burly captain quite the menacing look.
"Look what she's done now sir! How many
times does it take for that manufacturing slave to screw up
before you will take any action?" Thruark was crimson red in
the face, obviously not happy. Kultaris just leaned back and let
Thruark vent all of his frustration.
"She isn't fit to fly a scout fighter let
alone command a heavy cruiser! Kehlia should be down in the
manufacturing bays where she belongs!" Kultaris looked up
from Thruark to see Kehlia slowly strolling into bridge. Kultaris
took a deep sigh. This was great, just great. Thruark spun around
to see the figure of his hatred come before him.
"Well, if it isn't for the little lady
now. Did you have to abandon another one of your ships?" Kehlia
just looked away from Thruark and addressed Kultaris.
"Sir, the cruiser and carrier are
currently under repair. The captured Taiidan carrier and plasma
bombers will arrive shortly to be looked over and repaired if
necessary. With your permission sir, I would like to brief
you..." Kehlia shot an icy glare over at Thruark.
"..another time." Kultaris nodded and dismissed Kehlia. As
she strolled out of the bridge Thruark yelled after her.
"None of you alliance breakers from Kiith Hraal should be
commanding anything! Go back to the manufacturing decks where you
belong!" Kehlia paused as the words hit her back, then
continued out of the bridge. Kultaris grabbed Thruark on the
shoulder and spun him around.
"Never do that again Thruark, especially
in front of the crew!" Thruark lowered his head and stormed
out of the bridge.
"I can't handle this, I just can't do it
anymore." Kehlia placed her hand on the frosty cryo-pod before
her. "Is this all worth it? All these people are dying Dad,
to find a home which may not even exist. This harmony for all
Kushan is a joke, the Kiith lines are still drawn, they always
will be. I just wish you could be here right now to help me. I
don't know what you did to get me where I am, and to get yourself
cryo-frozen but I don't know if it was for the best." Kehlia
rose to her feet, a tear slowly rolling down her cheek. "I
really hope this is all worth it Dad." Kehlia gathered her
stuff, kissed the cryo-pod and walked out of the chamber....
"Sir, repairs have been completed and the
fleet is assembled. We have the required resources to jump and
await your orders." Kultaris looked out the view panels
ahead of him. The heavy cruiser and two carriers were beginning
to pull tightly together as the last of the smaller craft went
into their respective hangers. Kultaris walked over to the comm
officer and paged the cruiser.
"This is Kehlia sir, go ahead." came
through the comm port.
"Well Kehlia, this is about as quiet as its
been since we left, I think it's about time we got a name for
your little ship there." The comm was quiet as Kehlia paused
for a moment.
"Well sir, my Father has been a big
influence in my life and on the life of our trip. He believed
this journey was what our race was destined to complete. In his
honor, I would like it to be christened 'Sojourn'.
"Well then captain, take the Sojourn to
lead position, and prepare to jump." Kultaris closed the
comm and strolled to the center of the bridge. "Nav officer,
alert the other ships, and begin jump sequence." The
waveform event began to form before them. The bluish waves washed
over the mothership as it shot into hyperspace.
Kehlia reclined back in her chair aboard the
bridge of the Kushan heavy Cruiser 'Sojourn'. The dazzling blue
waves washed across the view panels as they continued through
hyperspace. Harder on herself than anyone else could possibly be,
the events of the past few days rolled through her head over and
over. She should have known better than to have ion cannons
anywhere close to a gas cloud. Thruark was right, she had no
right to lead people into battle. Kehlia rubbed her eyes hard,
trying to wash away the thoughts in her mind and just relax.
Maybe Thruark would calm down a bit now. He finally got command
of a capital ship, the Taiidan carrier SHE had captured. Ha,
there is some gratitude for ya. She didn't care for the Taiidan
carrier design, so rough and cold, much like the Taiidan she
supposed. Of course Thruark wasted no time in naming his command
ship. The 'Avengence' nearly doubled the manufacturing power of
the Kushan fleet. The Kushan carrier still remained unnamed, who
needs a name for a ship anyways. Kehlia moaned to herself, she had
to get some rest. She slowly rose to her feet and notified the
nav officer she was heading to her quarters. It was time to have
that date she had put off with her pillow.
Cerlayne walked across the row of auxiliary
fusion pylons, making sure each was functioning properly. The
pylons didn't supply any power during normal operation but were
only backups for the cryo-chambers should something happen to the
main core. If the main core went down, the people onboard would
hopefully have enough time to fix it, but even a momentary power
failure in the cryo-chamber would be a catastrophe. A single
degree variation could kill the 5 million in cryo-stasis.
Therefore it was decided to create these backup fusion pylons, in
case of such an emergency. Although only lowly grunt work,
Cerlayne still knew the extreme importance of keeping these
online and running. Cerlayne whistled to herself, keeping with
the hum of the pylons. Their low hum was all that would keep her
company during the long shift hours.
"Captain. Captain."
Kehlia's eyes slowly rolled open as the comm in
her room opened again. "Captain. Captain." She couldn't
have even closed her eyes. Kehlia rolled to her side and looked at
the clock. Three hours, how could that have been three hours,
seemed closer to three minutes. "Captain. Captain, are
yo.."
"Yea, hold on one second." Kehlia
interrupted as she swung her feet over the edge of her bed. She
pulled her silk gown over herself as she rose to her feet.
"I'll be to the bridge in a minute."
"Understood ma’am. We'll be dropping
out of hyperspace in the next ten minutes or so." The comm
channel closed. Kehlia slowly pulled herself into her officers
uniform. You just had to love the impreciseness of hyperspace
travel, she thought to herself. Who knows when we'll stop
exactly, I guess we'll stop when we run out of resources. Kehlia
shook her head, there had to be a better way. Kehlia pulled her hair
back into a ponytail and headed through the deckways to the
bridge.
Kultaris looked intently out through the
viewpanels, waiting for the drop back to normalspace. What fun
dangers would await this time, he thought to himself. The wavy
blue of hyperspace broke apart before him and faded quickly back
to the deep blackness of space.
"Nav officer, I want a complete readout of
our surroundings asap." The nav officer nodded at Kultaris
and began to work away.
"Sir, the Sojourn, Avengence, and other
carrier have successfully fallen into normalspace ahead of
us." Kultaris smiled to himself, they really had to name
that other carrier, kind of took the whole drama out of it.
"As of yet sir, we haven't picked up any
enemy vessels in our direct vicinity." Heh, 'as of yet', the
nav officer picked his words very nicely. Kultaris ordered the
manufacturing bay to begin to turn out some probes to see what's
out there.
"Sir, there is an open communiqué out
there, do wish me to put it through?" Kultaris nodded at the
comm officer as he patched it through. The voices on the comm
were weak and under great distress.
"Taiidan force: We head to your
superiority and surrender. Please, this is a medical ship with
woman and children aboard. We carry no means of defense and will
obey by your command. Please cease fire!"
The communiqué broke up. "Nav officer, do
we know where that is coming from?"
"Yes sir, we know the general direction
but we have no clue as to what either force is comprised
of." Kultaris quickly ordered the probes to be scrapped and
to start churning out some fighter craft.
"Comm officer, order the three capital
ships to form point around the mothership and head in the
direction of the communiqué."
"But sir, we don't know what kind of a
force is out there, if we just wait for the probes I'm
sure.." Kultaris shot a quick look at the comm officer.
"That was an order, not a request, let's
move."
The 'Sojourn' rocked back as it accelerated to
take point of the fleet. The distress call had broken up just
minutes before and she knew they had to hurry. The two carriers
took point to both sides as the mothership loomed behind. The
bridge was quiet in anticipation of what was ahead, only the
vibrating deck plates broke the silence. The small alarm from the
nav officers station seemed to shrill, making everyone's heart
skip a beat.
"Ma’am, we have enemy signatures
directly ahead. There are three large Taiidan signatures along
with smaller support craft. Um, the craft under fire also
registers as Taiidan." This had all the writings of a trap,
a poorly executed one at that. However, it wouldn't surprise Kehlia
if the Taiidan had begun to turn on one another, they weren't
known for their humanitarian efforts. Kehlia was heading towards the
comm when the message came through from the mothership.
"Continue to move in on the Taiidan attack
force but be prepared for a trap." Well, that answered her
first question. She knew her second one would be answered soon as
the flashes of battle began to come into view.
The 'Sojourn' rocked back as it accelerated to
take point of the fleet. The distress call had broken up just
minutes before and she knew they had to hurry. The two carriers
took point to both sides as the mothership loomed behind. The
bridge was quiet in anticipation of what was ahead, only the
vibrating deck plates broke the silence. The small alarm from the
nav officers station seemed to shrill, making everyone's heart
skip a beat. "Ma’am, we have enemy signatures directly
ahead. There are three large Taiidan signatures along with
smaller support craft. Um, the craft under fire also registers as
Taiidan." This had all the writings of a trap, a poorly
executed one at that. However, it wouldn't surprise Kehlia if the
Taiidan had begun to turn on one another, they weren't known for
their humanitarian efforts. Kehlia was heading towards the comm when
the message came through from the mothership.
"Continue to move in on the Taiidan attack force but be
prepared for a trap." Well, that answered her first
question. She knew her second one would be answered soon as the
flashes of battle began to come into view.
The Taiidan drone frigate closed in on the helpless medical
frigate as it was rocked from the side. The 'Sojourn' opened all
forward batteries directly upon the Taiidan war machine. The
Taiidan commander quickly came about, ordering his support craft
to intercept the Kushan fleet. He stood on the bridge of the
drone frigate, leaning over the rail in front of him.
"Order all ships to engage the Kushan scum. Focus all
firepower on the lead heavy cruiser!" The support craft
screamed by the slower frigate, opening up upon their nemesis.
"Bring the carrier around, and have it start churning out
some plasma bombers!" barked out the commander. The Taiidan
commander smiled to himself. The nav officer read only the heavy
cruiser, mothership, and a Kushan carrier. Once the heavy cruiser
was out of the way, the Kushan would be easy pickings. The new
Taiidan Kaark Class plasma bombers would make short work of the
supporting carrier and mothership. Not to mention the Kushan had
just dropped out of hyperspace, they had to be low on resources.
The commander smiled again, this would guarantee him the respect
he had been seeking for so long. Disposing of medical 'waste' was
far below his excellence. The commander leaned against the rail,
lost in his own world. The nav officer yelled again.
"Commander!" The commander's head snapped up.
"What?"
"Sir, we have another Taiidan carrier in the area, it's
coming in quickly." The commander hit the railing and mood
quickly darkened, someone was coming in to steal his glory.
"Order the Taiidan carrier to come around behind us and join
with our assigned carrier."
"Sir, they aren't responding, and they are still coming in,
fast." Who the hell did they think they were, this was his
operation. "Sir!" The commander looked out through the
viewports. The unknown Taiidan carrier filled the entire view.
"Order our assigned carrier to close in and back us up, we
may need..."
"Sir! Our carrier is heading away, it's leaving the area and
making the jump to hyperspace!" The Taiidan commander sat
dumbfounded, why had his support carrier just fled? The commander
turned to the viewports again to see the unknown Taiidan carrier
open fire.
Thruark ordered all forward batteries to open fire upon the
Taiidan drone frigate. The frigate rocked as the gunners sprayed
the hull.
"Ha ha! Stupid Taiidans! Launch the plasma bombers, and
fighters, lets finish this off!" The Taiidan drone frigate
fired up its engines, accelerating towards the mothership.
"Keep on that frigate! Nav officer, what’s the battle
status?"
"Sir, the mothership has sustained minimal damage, with the
'Sojourn' taking most all of the attack. It's heavily damaged and
limping towards the cover fire of the carrier and
mothership."
"Well surprise, she almost destroys her flag ship again.
Good thing we're here so she doesn't take everyone down with her.
What’s the status on the enemy drone frigate, has it been
destroyed?"
"No sir, it's outpacing us and has outreached our
batteries." Thruark sat upright in his chair.
"What about the plasma bombers? Haven't they hit the frigate
yet?!"
"No sir, they can't get through the drone frigate's heavy
defenses. The frigate is on a course to the mothership, but with
it's armament it shouldn't do much harm." Thruark sat back
in his chair uneasily, he had let them get by him. His only
consolation was the drone frigate wasn't a cap attacker, the
mothership and carrier combined fire power should take care of
it.
"Sir! We have a BIG problem!"
Cerlayne crashed to the ground as the mothership shook violently
again. Something was hitting them hard. She stumbled her way to
one of the viewpanels in the pylon generator chamber. The chamber
lay at the very bottom tip of the mothership, to more easily
contain any of the extreme accidents that could occur, causing
Cerlayne to have to strain her neck upwards to view along the
skin of the mothership. Large chunks of the mothership were being
blown apart but she couldn't make out what was hitting them so
hard. Then, one of the enemy fighters streaked by her viewport
and slammed into the section above, throwing her to the ground
hard. God, they were crashing right into the mothership! The
mothership's gunners and support craft tried desperately to take
out the enemy ships, but the damage was still being done.
Cerlayne slowly crawled to her feet and looked back through the
viewport. Then the real danger came into view as the distant
star's light danced off of the hull of the Taiidan drone frigate.
It was heading straight towards the mothership at full speed!
Kultaris gripped the railing in a desperate
attempt to hold his footing as the mothership shook from tip to
toe. The once clear victory was now being smeared as the
mothership sustained heavier damage. The constant shaking slowed
as the last of the fighters were pegged off by support craft
fire. Kultaris stumbled back into the railing, trying to support
himself back up.
"I want a complete damage analysis, we had
to have taken some heavy damage." "Sir, structural
integrity is holding, but the hull has taken quite a beating
and..." The nav officer quickly broke in.
"Sir! The Taiidan drone frigate is closing
in on us, fast!" Kultaris looked up and out the viewports to
see the frigate barreling towards the Kushan mothership.
"God, there's no way we can get out of the way."
Kultaris said.
"Increase engine power to full and try to
get the hell out of the way if you can, nav officer." The
mothership groaned to life as it desperately tried to veer out of
the way but it was too late. The frigate was locked on to the
bridge, and they weren't about to get away. Kultaris grabbed
tightly to the railing preparing for the immenent impact.
Cerlayne quickly drew her head away from the
viewport as a brilliant white ion stream flowed across the
mothership. The Sojourn's main batteries opened fire upon the
frigate in a desperate attempt to stop the suicidal ship. The
drone frigate lurched to the side and blew apart, sending the
forward compartments reeling downwards toward Cerlayne. Her
momentary relief turned to utter fear as the front half of the
Taiidan frigate continued on a path directly for her. She
stumbled backwards to the ground, quickly jumping back to her
feet and running down the tight corridors. She had to get as much
crew out of the area as she could before they sealed off the
area. Her fist slammed against the alarm, sending a shrill wail
through the area. Quickly, she ordered as many crew out as she
could as the sealing doors began to fall. "Come on! Let's
go, we got to get out of here fast!." God, she thought, she
hadn't shut down the auxillary fusion pylons. If they were on and
they got hit, the damage would be catastrophic. She quickly
sprinted down the hallway, sliding up to the main pylon control.
Shaking violently she punched in the access controls and shut
down all of the pylons. Cerlayne whipped back around to make a
run for the doors, but she was too late. The hissing of the doors
sealing was the last thing she heard as the drone frigate smashed
into the Kushan mothership.
Kehlia looked in horror as the Taiidan drone
frigate ripped into the bottom of the mothership. They were too
late. The resulting explosion washed the entire area in hot white
light. Kehlia grabbed tightly to the railing as the Sojourn was
assaulted by flying debris. As the light dissipated into the
blackness of space, the damage was ever apparent. The entire
bottom portion of the mothership was gone! Kehlia put her hand to
her mouth. God, how many had died. Kehlia blinked in disbelief at
the catastrophy, trying to bring herself back in command.
"Ahh, secure the area and keep an eye out nav officer. I
want a shuttle readied as soon as possible to take me to the
mothership." Kehlia slowly walked off of the bridge shaking her
head. Hundreds more had died again, all for a new home.
Kultaris sat forward in his chair with his
hands over his face. It could have been much worse ..... but the
hundreds that were lost ..... god, it was all just too much to
handle. The damage was severe, but somehow the auxillary fusion
pylons had been spared. Someone obviously had the prescence of
mind to shut them down before impact, a decision that cost that
someone their life. Kultaris let out a long sigh, straightening
himself upright in his chair. Thruark quickly came running up to
Kultaris, his face as red as ever.
"Sir, I saw the damage, I can only hope
most were spared. My crew did the best they could to stall the
frigate. She almost cost us everything this time sir."
Kultaris, still silent, raised his eyes to Thruark. "Sir, we
have to do something about her. She left her point as guard and
almost caused the destruction of everything we hold dear in the
process."
"You arrogant prick!" Thruark spun
around in time to catch Kehlia's fist straight in his face. Thruark
tumbled backwards, crashing to the deck plates. Kehlia walked over
to him, placing her boot over his throat. "Thruark, you just
killed hundreds of your fellow Kushan today with your
arrogance." Kehlia pushed harder down on his neck as he
struggled. "You had the easiest job of all, and you screwed
that up! Easy pickings on a surprised frigate and you couldn't
handle it. Hell, the carrier fled, and you still couldn't take
care of it! Instead, your ignorance let him get away and kill
those that weren't even in battle." Kultaris rose out of his
chair and pulled Kehlia away from Thruark.
"Enough of this, we have enough problems
as it is." Thruark slowly rose from the ground, blood
trailing from his nose. "You two need to return to your
ships and begin any and all repairs that need to be done. We'll
send out a party to go retrieve some resources as soon as we have
a decent task force ready. We're also going to need..." The
comm officer broke in,
"Sir." Kultaris broke away from the
two other officers and headed to the comm station. "Sir, we
have another incoming transmission from the unidentified medical
vessel, I'll put it through."
"Unidentified task force, we thank you for
your intervention. We are heavily damaged and loosing systems as
we speak. We appeal to your mercy and request assylum aboard your
ships."
God, he had forgotten all about the ship that
started this whole mess. Thruark shuffled over to the comm
station.
"Sir, we can't take in Taiidan. It's
probably just a trap, who knows what is on that ship. If it's not
a trap, it's something the Taiidan don't want, and if they don't
want it, why would we?" Kehlia quickly interjected in.
"We came all this way to answer that
distress call. In no way are we going to abandon it now, not
after what we just lost."
"But sir, they are on a medical vessel.
Who knows what diseases we would be exposed to. We should just
finish them off, it's the humane thing to do." Kehlia shot a
disgusted look at Thruark.
"Sir, we have more than enough room aboard
the Sojourn, you can't possibly be enertaining this savage's
ideas..." Kultaris threw up his hand infront of the two and
dismissed them. He had a lot of thinking and not much time to do
it.
Kultaris ran his hands across the cold railing
in front of him. His eyes ran out into space, wondering what the
hell he was going to do. The small medical vessel had continued
to call for assisstance but had now drawn quiet. The eerie
silence sent chills through him, people were dying out there.
Could he risk his own people for the lives aboard the Taiidan
medical ship? The silence through the bridge continued as he
gripped tighter to the rail. "God damn it! increase speed
and bring us close to the Taiidan medical vessel. Order the
Sojourn to prepare a boarding party and bring any survivors
aboard. Tell Kehlia to be prepared for anything and notify the
Taiidan vessel we're coming aboard."
The boarding ship slowly rolled past the forward viewpannels of
the Sojourn. Kehlia watched closely as it made its descent towards
the medical vessel. "Keep all forward batteries trained on
the ship, I don't want them to pull any funny business on us now.
Tell the boarding party commander to update me as soon as
possible." The comm officer nodded and turned back to her
station. Kehlia walked up to the forward viewpannel and looked out
upon the medical ship. The hull was in horrible shape with
puncture marks spread all about it. They were going to be lucky
to find any survivors. "Ma'm, the commander has docked
successfully and is calling in." Kehlia broke away from the
window and headed to the comm station. "Go ahead
commander."
"Ma'm, most of the ships systems seem to be down. We are
slowly making our way to the bridge and have had no contact yet
with anyone aboard. Ooh, wait a second here, we've got a body
over here. God, it's an elderly woman. This is strange though,
it's tough to tell with the damage sustained, but this woman
doesn't look Taiidan at all. You have to be kidding me. Ma'm, we
have more heavily damaged bodies, looks like more woman and some
children."
Kehlia drew away from the station. That wasn't any medical frigate,
it was a ship full of women and children. As bad as the Taiidan
were, they didn't execute women and children without reason, at
least Kehlia didn't think they would. The comm from the commander
came open again.
"My god! Ma'm, you're not going to believe this."
"Kushan?!? How the hell could they be Kushan? Are you sure
about this Kehlia?" Kultaris leaned over the comm station,
waiting for a response. "Yes, sir. There isn't any mistaking
it. From our accounts we have recovered fifty survivors and two
hundred bodies." Kultaris closed the comm and walked back to
his chair. All along they thought they were the last of their
species, but somehow their were more. Maybe some were kept back
as a slave race for the Taiidan, who knows. Why the hell had he
waited to go rescue those aboard the ship. If he would have just
issued the order earlier, who knows how many more Kushan could
have been saved. The question that rested heaviest on his mind
though was whether or not their insurrection was the cause for
the execution of those aboard the medical vessel and countless
others who may lie elsewhere.
Kehlia stood in amazement as one by one the rescued Kushan walked
down the corridor and looked back at her in equal amazement. Who
knew how many other Kushan were under the oppresion of the
Taiidan. There was a new mission to be had now. This was no
longer a search for a home lost. This was a search for a
scattered people and the complete destruction of the Taiidan.
