by Joe Crouch
Slipping and sliding on the ice-covered floors, he burst through the double doors which led outside, snow and a chilling wind rushed into the facility as the doors swung open. “Over here,” Fez shouted from a path that snaked away from the compound, waving his arms in the air to get Sean’s attention. A loud buzzing encompassed him as three Xuron soldiers glided through the air towards him. Throwing the weapon to one side, he hurried towards the group who now ran down the path and headed towards the ship, but the injured female Ioution they had in tow slowed their progress. Seeming to acknowledge this, Fez picked the women up and threw her over his shoulders, throwing his bow over the steep cliff that blocked off the vast majority of their escape route. He looked behind him, slogging through the thick snow as fast as he could, five Xuron now chased them, no longer flying, their wings must be only for short flight he thought. The aliens seemed to struggle as much as they did with the conditions, kicking up snow and ice as they moved.
It wasn’t long before the pursuers opened fire on the group, plasma bolts impacted all around them throwing snow and ice into their faces, obscuring their vision. Light weapons fire came rushing past Sean as Yumie and Farel blindly shot behind them, blindly hoping to hit something. The team rushed down a long, winding track that stuck to the side of the ravine and snaked all the way to the bottom. Catching up with Fez, he looked over the edge, it was still a long way down, they had to maintain their speed and, most importantly, their luck to make it back to their shuttle. Without warning, a single Xuron landed in front of the group, hissing as it did, it’s wings spread wide. It raised its weapon and fired. Its reckless aim hit the cliff face, rock and debris blasted outwards and slammed into the stunned team.
“Get down!” Yumie shouted from behind. Dropping to their knees, Yumie fired in uncontrolled bursts tearing small impact holes into the unsuspecting Xuron. The corpse fell to the floor and a light coating of snow began to gather and cover the body. A loud screeching echoed off the cliff face, blasts from enemy weapons fire drew ever closer.
They reached the ravine floor, Sean looked up to see four Xuron in a controlled descent gliding down towards them, their wings beating furiously as they tried to maintain their velocity, creating plumes of broken up snow that whipped about in the cold air. The weather had begun to slow, the wind still ripped through the ravine but now they had an almost clear view of where they were going. Fez was visibly exhausted, he panted heavily and fell behind succumbing to the fatigue that was often common on these demanding operations which was only exacerbated by having to carry a full sized Ioution on his back. He fell to his knees dropping the female to the ground, rolling onto his back he knew this was the end, he was defenceless, tired, and had little will to carry on, so he just lay there, staring up as the sun tried its hardest to penetrate through the thick fog. Weapons fire impacted around him as he faded off into a deep slumber, it was only an Ioution figure kneeling next to him that snapped him out of it.
Yumie had taken up a position defending the Captain, unleashing the full might of his armament. The pursuing Xuron took cover behind a formation of rocks that rose out the craggy ground. “Come on, Captain, we all need you, get up,” Yumie shouted, slapping the groggy Ioution across the face. Shaking his head, Fez shot up, the shuttle was close, all he had to do was secure the injured. As if fate had read his mind, Yumie was struck in the leg with a scorching plasma blast, dropping to the snow he cried out in pain, his armour had deflected a portion of the projectile, but the fiery burst still tore his flesh apart. Fez rushed over to his friend and grabbed the neck of his armour and dragged him through the cold wasteland as weapons fire rushed past in both directions.
“Keep firing, Yumie,” Fez ordered as Farel threw the trembling female over his shoulders and bean sprinting back to the ship. Running over, Sean grabbed Yumie’s weapon and opened fire on the Xurons position. It was a tense few moments, checking over his shoulder he could see the other Ioutions had taken up a defensive position in the shuttle, Fez closed in on the ramp, it wasn’t long before they could be out of there. A loud crash came from the ship, a Xuron plasma weapon had struck the hull.
“No, no, no!” Farel fumed, “They’ve hit the shield emitters.” Sean walked backwards up the ship’s ramp, still firing. “Who’s going to fly the damn ship?” In a telepathic motion, heads snapped to the experienced Human.
“Whoa now, calm down, I nearly killed us all the last time I took the wheel,” Sean trembled.
“You’ve got to do it, I’m tending to Yumie and Farel will have to fix the emitters for us to pass out the atmosphere,” Fez barked. Stomping his feet, Sean slammed the button to shut the hatch and leapt into the pilot’s seat. Sliding the visor on, the active display flickered into life, a large pulsating notification informed him the vessel was under fire. Focusing his mind on ignition, he willed the craft to life as a resonating hum sound filled the ship.
The Ioution craft lifted off the ground with little effort, snow blasted around and enveloped the ship. Weapons fire impacted the hull rocking him in his seat, damn they don’t let up he thought. Suddenly, his display morphed into an aiming reticule positioned over the firing Xuron, with a single thought, the gentle hum turned into a roaring beast as a charge built and was spat out of the shuttle’s point defence system. The rock melted and turned into a crystalline structure as the plasma slammed into it, the point defence continued to fire as the aliens began to scatter, two of them took direct hits, vaporising them back into their component elements, the fleshy dust which lingered in the air was soon scattered by the breeze.
Sean placed his hands over the two bubbles that were set into the console and let his unconscious mind take over. Energy built all throughout the shuttle as she drew power from every non-essential system. Pushing one of the spheres, the ship crept forwards to screams coming from the compartment behind, “Turn the grav plating on you idiot,” Fez shouted, with a clank the plating activated, binding everyone safely in place. Before long, they began to soar across the sky, but before they left the planet’s atmosphere the shield emitters would still need to be repaired. Focussing on a new flashing warning his heart dropped, proximity alert, inbound craft, a radar-type display appeared in his view, showing two Xuron craft approaching fast from behind. If there was ever a time to learn, it was now.
Yanking the controls, he sent the shuttle veering to port, the lack of G-Forces played tricks on his mind. A rear display came into view showing the two pursuing craft, they had a dart like appearance, two wings extruded from each side with cannons that hang neatly underneath. Sean watched as plasma fire lanced towards their shuttle, impacting on their armour sending sparks flying. Focussing his attention on one of the craft, a more detailed list of information displayed fixed to its position. Speed, power, and weapons capabilities were all shown, a flickering red triangle around the soaring enemy caught his attention. Before he could do anything about it, a projectile spewed out from his shuttle and cut through the sky. It followed the Xuron craft wherever it turned, eventually impacting on its exterior, turning it into specks of dust from the catastrophic explosion, whoa, does this thing have missiles? he wondered.
The shuttle streamed through the air pulling into a vertical ascent, he watched the enemy take a gentle, wide berth to intercept, pulling up as it did. Noticing another triangle was flashing over the incoming craft he focused, sending another warhead thrusting towards its target, the ship exploded in a brilliant blue light as debris rained down to the ground below.
“Woo, hell yeah,” Sean screamed, I was just in a dog fight and won he thought.
“Good job, I always believed in you, even through the screaming and holding on for my own life,” Farel shouted, “Oh, and the shields are fixed, we’re good to ascend.” He wasted no time and pulled the ship up into a controlled ascent, they left the atmosphere and headed back towards the Mar’Ell.
* * *
Arriving back at the Mar’Ell and docking in one of her few landing bays, luck prevailed with
Sean as the automated system grabbed the ship and piloted her into a safe mooring. The team left their shuttle exhausted, but there was still work to be done, Yumie had been shot as well as having the newly found female Ioution to take care of. Climbing out the shuttle with a limp, Sean more clearly noticed her features, she was tall, skinny beyond any Human measurements, she had no hair covering her shining bald head but her deep, dark green eyes burned a hole through his soul. She was in shock but oozed an intelligence that intrigued him.
He waited for everyone to exit the ship before powering it down, he felt more comfortable within her cramped hull after they had survived their first fight under his piloting. Everyone made their way towards the med bay, Fez helped his friend Yumie shuffle along with his damaged leg and Sean helped their new acquaintance stand upright. The mission had gone well, they recovered the intel and even managed to save a prisoner, but something was off about her, she had an aura about her presence, they all felt it, but no one discussed it – They didn’t even know her name. He knew he would have to keep an eye on her.
Opening as they approached, the door split in two to reveal the med bay, rows of medical units lined the white walls, concaved bed like structures stood above the clinical white floors, with metallic instruments scattered about onto free standing tables. The doctor, a smaller Ioution with a darker tone of grey skin, walked toward the injured, kneeling to inspect the damage, “Another plasma burn? When will you imbeciles learn to respect your own bodies, if it isn’t excess drinking or fighting it’s something else.” Pushing himself up off his knee and still rambling he walked over to a set of tools, grabbing what looked to be a spray of some kind and applied it to Yumie’s leg, a white liquid coated the entire area, “Stay off it for a few days, go get some rest…” The doctor turned his attention to the recruit, his eyes widening, “Do you know who…” The doctor was cut off as the female Ioution leapt forwards covering his mouth.
“Thank you, at least someone had the sense to do it,” Fez sighed as he strolled out of the medical facility. Sean waited around leaning against an empty pod, curious about what the doctor was about to say, the women let him go, sighing, she knew it was a secret that couldn’t be hidden any longer.
“I’m High Councillor and Geneticist Xe’Olo, it’s a genuine pleasure to meet you all,” pushing himself off the pod, Sean stood upright, meeting her eyes, unsure of what to make of it all. Xe’Olo approached him extending a hand, “This is how your species greets one another is it not?” grabbing her palm and shaking, he was more confused than ever, how does she know of our species? he wondered, I’m the first Human aboard any vessel.
“How did you know how to do that,” he asked, “The Earth greeting I mean.” The High Councillor seemed taken aback, almost insulted with the question, pacing around the room she gathered her thoughts.
“We’ve observed your planet for a long time, I’m not sure what you’re doing on this ship exactly, but there are a lot of well kept secrets among your people it seems.” He perked up, there it is again, secrets among my people, not is all as it seems he thought. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, unsure if to push for answers and risk knowing too much, or leave it be for now and return to it later. Opting for the latter, he smiled and walked out of the med bay.
The ship’s air felt still, the hallways and corridors were empty as he thought to himself, thinking on what the two-different species had said about his world. He knew the Xuron could have just been trying to mess with his mind, but the Ioution adding to the mystery didn’t help, although he noted it wasn’t as if he or his race knew much about the outside galactic community – Or do they? he asked himself. Purging the thoughts from his mind, he continued towards the bridge, and entering, he saw Fez in a heated discussion with another officer.
“That’s a week off course, I have no desire to return just yet,” Fez barked, “Send a message back that we have other worlds to visit first.” Sean watched on as the Captain took up his station and looked down on the others working below him, he was obviously angry, punching keys into his terminal with force.
“What was all that about?” asked Sean.
“Ioution High Command want the ship to return to our capital system, Iunius, they think they deserve a face-to-face debriefing on our last mission, but the admiralty are retired fools who think they still command respect.” The alien rose from his chair and walked over to navigation. “Nav, plot a course for Pulio, I think the crew deserves some shore leave,” walking towards the exit hatch, Fez motioned for the Human to follow.
The pair strolled with no specific route in mind as they sauntered through the hive like hallways, eventually arriving in the mess hall. Sitting down neither of them said anything as they relaxed back into their seats. Ordering from the automated terminal at their table, their meals arrived with the robotic waiter, he knew he was tired as he pushed against every sense telling him to shut his eyes, just for a moment. “You seem tired, Earthling, why don’t you go and get some rest, it’s been a long day.” He knew Fez was right, he was tired, but he couldn’t sleep with the thoughts of his home world, it would be almost impossible.
“What do you know about High Councillor Xe’Olo?” Sean questioned. Fez’s reaction was instant.
“She’s a piece of work, a geneticist working on a biological weapon to combat the Xuron’s immune system, however much I may despise their kind, I have no desire to commit genocide, a sentiment the High Council don’t seem to agree with.” Fez paused, working his way through his meal, “There’s a lot me and the council don’t agree on, actually, they’ve been a constant problem for the last century and there isn’t much we can do about it.” It was comforting to Sean knowing galactic politics were just as stuck in their ways as politics back on Earth, but he couldn’t help feel a little of the sheen of optimism had been wiped away from his hopes about the galactic community.
The conversation carried on for another hour, turning to the different races and what he needed to know about the community he was now involved in. Each race had their own large trading stations, Central Trading Hubs, CTHs, which serviced their own sphere of influence with goods from the other races. Transit and trade to smaller and planetary hubs was allowed, but the CTHs were free-for-all stations where anyone could dock, permits for inner-sphere trading were more difficult to acquire. He also learned that most borders were lined with highly acute sensors, detecting all kinds of signatures, from slips-space flights to galactic anomalies that might be a problem for the inner systems. These were the sensors humanity had tripped around the Xuron borders, it seemed as if they had just gotten unlucky on their first real drive test. Lastly, each galactic power had the right to their own fleet, each race having to ensure a standardised docking mechanism, allowing all fleet ships from the various powers to dock, repair, rearm, and refuel at any maintenance station – This was the station the Humans had been asked to construct. Everyone knew it would take years for anything even remotely usable to be stationed in orbit, but Sean knew that when humanity needed to get something done, more often than not, they would come together to accomplish it.
Luckily for the Terran Empire, some of their larger ships had been on either the Moon or Earth for repairs or other maintenance work when the Xuron struck. There was no doubt that the attack decimated a large portion of their fleet, but they were resilient and would rebuild quickly, bigger and better than before. With the discovery of the HS Drive back home, maybe now they could expand their own galactic influence, colonising new worlds, god only knew Earth had become crowded, expansion was not a passing interest, it was an absolute necessity for the survival of the race.
Retiring to his cabin, he lay on his bed, “There must be something I can find out,” he whispered, even though no one was around, “Something’s fishy, and I’m going to be the one getting to the bottom of it.” Feeling pleased with himself, making a commitment he knew realistically would be almost impossible to keep, he faded off into a deep sleep, allowing the magnitude of his wor
ds to pass him by.
Chapter 10
“Nav, how long until we finish our slip course for Pulio?” Fez asked, standing proudly on the bridge.
“Two hours, Captain,” the officer replied. A quiet excitement had built around the crew of the Mar’Ell during their travel to Pulio. The world was known as the galaxies playground, you could buy anything, sell anything, do anything there and it was all legal. When colonised, the first colonists constructed dozens of domed structures all connected with gangways. The small colony had expanded into a massive all-encompassing mega city with seven different space ports servicing the people. It didn’t come without its own problems, though, the atmosphere wasn’t breathable and pollution produced by the inhabitants didn’t help. In modern days, the atmosphere had become partially breathable through extensive terraforming projects, although they hadn’t been all that successful, leaving toxic gas clouds to roam the surface. The last time the crew of the Mar’Ell was in town, a senior galactic senator was caught indulging himself with the various modified alien species. Beings would augment their own appearance using either cybernetics or surgery to appeal to a certain clientele, and there was a market for everything a back-alley peddler could peddle.
Excited for the trip, his first time on a what should be a friendly alien world, Sean had gotten himself pumped up to experience the different cultures, but most importantly, the foreign beverages. He had a wild side back on Earth, never nasty, but instead he found himself fumbling around after a few beers. It wasn’t long before a flash of blue light erupted through the bridge as they slipped back into normal space. “Pulio control four, this is the Ioution fleet vessel Mar’Ell, requesting permission to traverse your space and take up orbit,” there was a long pause.
