by Matt Harvell
“But it sounds like it could be really helpful. I know we have you, but two would be better than one, right?”
“It would be, though I think you should focus on the beams before entering the minds of your enemies. It’s a very draining ability, one that keeps your body and mind at risk. I figured you wouldn’t be worried about that so soon. You like to be on the frontlines, don’t you?”
“I know, I know, master the basics before trying to learn a top-tier ability. Sometimes, Zorann, you’re so predictable.”
“You’ll be glad you did. Plus, it can be extremely stressful foraging around in minds. Some minds are stronger than others, yet even the weakest will can cause unforeseen issues. Patience is monumental when channeling through others.”
“To be able to sway enemies to die, betray, or even kill their own, I’m surprised your people even practiced that ability, nonetheless mastered it.”
“They’ve mastered the ability, but they seldom use it. It’s seen as a last line of defense. I wish they could fully understand the good we’re doing here. They would rather shun me for helping out the majority than try to understand why I’m on this team.”
Sasha looked toward her. “Hey, at least you have us. Maybe one day they’ll understand, and hopefully be impressed with how well you’ve trained me.”
“Now wouldn’t that be amazing. Well, enough of the pity talk. I’m sure they’re waiting for us down there.”
Zorann started for the hall, as Sasha followed her move.
“You're always thinking of everyone else, Zorann. Thanks, I appreciate it, and I'm sure everyone in the crew does.”
“It's always a pleasure, glad Jack suggested me for his crew. Now let's get up there, they'll be waiting for us.”
Chapter 4
Now stepping off the lift, Akeihl and Jack could be seen huddled around Zim, who were crowding the available space in the already narrow cockpit. After nearing the group, Sasha overheard Jack giving Zim info on using some of the advanced systems the Scimitar featured.
“I'm sure they briefed you on the shadow drive, this is the control to set it on or off. We've tested it out a few times, works well, just haven't had any opposition to test it out on.” Jack said, pointing to a black button on the side of Zim’s chair.
“I'm eager to test it out, would have been interesting to have in the simulation today.” Zim said.
“Maybe PAL and Luke could set up one for your cruiser. We'd have to see how this one works, first. LOP was happy when they designed this prototype, but they want to make sure it's a viable option, not a hazard. At least before they implement the design in more ships.”
“Is there any danger with the drive? I didn't know it was a prototype.”
“Well, any prototype will come with that caution, but Luke and PAL see no worry, besides it giving out for no foreseeable reason. It's pretty small and contained, while also being separated from the main engines. Should be no problem.” Jack reassured Zim.
“A very good idea. If you're not worried, I won't be. Sounds like we're all in good hands.” Zim smiled, then turned to Zorann and Sasha.
“The loop is almost ready, we were just waiting for you both, ready to head out?”
“We’re ready, at least I am.” Zorann said.
“Then you can take us out, Zim. I believe you know the way.” Jack said.
“Of course, Captain. Hope you don't mind me flying us there, I'll let the autopilot hit the loop.”
“No problem here.” Jack said.
Zim reached for the handles, and gently lifted the Scimitar off the platform. Accelerating and ascending gradually towards the sky, the ship left a thick spray of dust clouds in their wake. Sasha watched Zim pulling back and forth, while adjusting and getting used to the manual handling. She had seen PAL messing with the manual controls some late nights, but most of the time everyone used the autopilot function. Decelerating a bit before the loop, now in sight, Jack looked towards Zim.
“Would you like to do the honors? They should be ready for us.” Jack said, the loop fully open.
“I'd be happy to.” Zim pressed on a communication pad to his left. A console popped out to call the LOP headquarters. Then Contacting the headquarters, the console emitted a low hum, until changing the screen to an image of the LOP insignia. After a few seconds, the low hum was replaced with a woman's voice.
“Yes, LOP Scimitar, you are permitted to head through. Destination is Earth, correct?”
“Yep, we’ll wait for the loop to be fully prepared.
“Should only be a minute, standby. I'll keep on the line.”
“Thank you.” Zim said.
Filling with a tannish finish through the loop’s inner center, the loop would be ready for transport any moment.
“Okay, Scimitar, you can head through.”
“On our way.” Zim said, punching in the autopilot code for Castille’s loop. Moving toward the loop, Zim rested back into his seat. “Should be smooth flying from her. . .”
Before reaching the loop, suddenly the tannish center started to dissipate.
“That can't be good, hope we don't get stuck here. I was hoping to get back, and these loops can take forever to fix.” Zim said, leaning forward and turning off the autopilot.
“I don't think there was a malfunction, it looked exactly like a ship coming through the loop.” Jack said.
“So, you think a ship came through the loop? If they did, they must've been camouflaged, because we were right in front of it.” Zim said.
“Would be my best guess, well, we won't be leaving at least till we sweep the area. I'm assuming headquarters has no updates, but we've got scanners they don't. Activate the shadow drive and turn on the cloaking scanners, after the regular scanners. Fly the perimeter, hasn't been too long since they may have come through.” Jack said.
“I hoped it’d get interesting, this is, weird, though. I've never heard of anyone hacking the loops.” Zim said. Starting to patrol the vicinity, the radar started picking up other ships around Castille’s system.
“Now seeing the ships around us, turn on the cloaking scanners. Maybe we can find this rogue ship.” Jack said, intently observing the Scimitar’s position in contrast to the many freight vessels and traveling traffic. Once Zim activated the cloaking scanner, a red dot appeared, while moving low and slowly across outskirts of the Castille sector. “Set an interception course, don't get too close.” Jack said.
“Got it.” Zim said.
Before losing their hidden view, Zim dashed toward a meeting spot a bit past where the ship would be. Once arriving, Jack looked over to Sasha.
“You might want to jump on weapons, I don't think we’ll need them, just in case.”
“No problem, I'm on it.” Sasha moved to her left and sat at the weapons system array.
“Send a distress signal when they're about a half a minute out, I want to see how they respond.” Jack said.
After reaching the predetermined location, Zim sent out a distress call to the cloaked ship. Abruptly, the red dot stopped in its tracks.
“Looks like they heard it.” Zim said.
“Now we wait.” Akeihl chimed in.
Five seconds passed with no response, then, the dot started thrusting towards the ship.
“Looks like they want to play. Sasha, you should have a target on their cloaking device. Now that we're in range, Lock on and disable it.” Jack said.
“My pleasure.” Sasha brought up the ship diagnostics and set the phasers to hopefully penetrate the ship's hull and disable the cloaking device. Orange beams jutted into open space, then stopping, only to reveal the location of the hidden ship. The anomaly was about a third of the size of the Scimitar; it reminded her of the old ships she used to see in the dark zone. But this ship seemed newer. No ship she could recollect from the dark zone was that defined, nonetheless using a cloaking device.
“Looks pretty harmless, to me. So, what should we do?” Zim said, studying the available schematics of
the enemy ship.
“We’ll call headquarters, have them bring a ship to tow them to custody. Whatever they did, doesn't seem to be of accident. It's serious trouble to tamper with the LOP, especially the loop system.” Jack said.
Before Zim could contact headquarters, a beam emanated from the enemy ship, now embracing previously unsullied hull. The hit shook everyone around, and Sasha had nearly fallen from her station. When looking towards Akeihl, she reached over to help him get himself up. Akeihl ran toward the diagnostics console, while keeping himself upright.
“Looks like they took out our main engines, won't be going anywhere without those. Pretty good match for being so small and I thought we were over-prepared.” Akeihl said.
“The shadow drive is an energy source connected to the ship's main circuits, right?” Zim said, while getting up from his seat.
“Yes, but it's a cloaking device, not a propulsion device.” Sasha said, looking puzzled at Zim.
“That's the thing, we've lost the source of energy routed to it, not the ability to push another energy source through it. I can try manually adjusting the settings on the diagnostics console, if you'd like me to.” Zim said.
“Might be our best option at this point. The shadow drive won't do us much good now. Sasha, are all the ships weapons functioning properly now?” Jack said.
“Says so on the screen, looks like PAL and Luke got the kink fixed.”
“Good thing, await my order. I don't want to fire, but we need to keep an offensive.” Turning to Zim, Jack sternly spoke. “How close are you to getting the switch done?”
“Give me thirty more seconds, and we’ll be out of here.” Zim’s fingers frantically danced upon the diagnostics screen, his fingers moving as If the console was already second-nature.
“I don't think we have thirty seconds.” Akeihl pointed toward the viewscreen, as the enemy ship started charging up a black beam underneath the underbelly of the armored ship.
“Sasha, you're gonna have to fire when they fire, try and give Zim some more time.” Jack said, sitting down in his Captain’s chair behind Zim’s.
“I can do that, but I don't know what the impact will hold. Those pulse beams they shot earlier was pretty powerful and instant.” Sasha said.
“Better than straight impact. Watch front, I think they're about to shoot.” Jack and the crew watched as the stained black sphere, now half the size of the enemy ship, started hurtling towards the Scimitar.
“Fire.” Jack addressed Sasha, locking eyes on the incoming sphere of energy. Sasha sent three of the five charges toward the sphere. Meeting in the middle and joining with the sphere, now encasing both ships energy, the sphere launched towards its destination . . .
Note from the Author
Hi! I hope you enjoyed reading through the first in a long-running serial series. I am hoping you enjoyed it if you got this far, but if you’re not a fan of shorter works, I totally understand. If you did like the content, I do plan to have longer works out in the future. I will also be bundling each story once there’s a reasonable amount, so you may choose to get them that way for a better deal. If you’d like updates about new releases or want to get to know me a little better, please consider joining my newsletter list down below. Also, before you go, I’d love if you considered leaving a review. Reviews are the lifeblood of beginning authors and help readers in an immense way. Thanks for reading!
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