by Eden Blue
Krekken Forces
Dumon Troops: 150/20,000
Dumon Fighter Ships: 9/100
Rekkus Spire Shield: 0%
Rekkus Spire Auto Cannons: 27/40
Rekkus Spire Citizens: 2,099/6,491
Evan's Team
Shield Maiden: 64%
Hera: 100%
Bruiser: 59%
Pris: 76%
Titan (Ravager): 73%
Parasites: 9,467
Evan sank to knees as he watched the citizens clean up the parasites and then begin firing into the soft parts of the titan. City cannons fired without regret at the creatures exposed eye. The titan could do nothing as plasma cut through hide and burned away insides. Ravager’s shell cracked and plasma fire cut into the broken areas, destroying internal organs and any parasites inside.
Hera flew down and landed on the roof.
“You did it!” Lydia said excitedly over coms.
“We did it,” the Engineer smiled.
Something metallic flew by and landed on the roof. Evan turned his smile to Bruiser as the exo-suit lumbered close. Pris reached down and helped Evan to his feet. The exo-skeleton slid back into the E-pack.
Experience points rolled in on Evan’s visual display. Points calculated and added to his levels. The player smiled as alerts filled his eye.
Level 20 Terran achieved!
Level 21 Terran achieved!
Level 22 Terran achieved!
The player now had a pool of skill points to raise his skill levels as he saw fit. Taking down a Titan boosted up his levels immensely and he looked forward to unlocking new skill perks. Looking to Lydia, he assumed she was smiling too from the experience point flood.
The Shield Maiden hovered over the rooftop, bay doors opening.
“Time to leave,” Nyn said over comms.
Bruiser picked up Evan and Pris. Hera and Bruiser’s thrusters fired as they blazed up to the open bay doors. Once inside, the doors closed and the ship turned, its nose pointed at the black sky. Nyn fired the thrusters and the ship shot into the sky, leaving a streak of light in its wake.
Sub commander Korr aimed at a fleeing parasite, blasting it twice and watching it roll to a stop. Stepping forward, a shadow moved to his side. The Krekken Sub commander turned to see Jamie’s smiling face. He was about to say something when the Terran entertainer dropped her rifle and threw her arms around him. They kissed deeply as the Shield Maiden flashed into the sky, their embrace once again shutting out the rest of the world.
Fourteen
Evan pulled the chip from his E-pack and walked over to the vault. Pris had already pulled out the Tempest Crystal and laid it on the Exo-suit Bay floor. The crew had gathered around as Evan stepped closer and knelt down. The crystal was out of its casing tube and vibrated with a calming light. The player placed the chip on the crystal, the crew bending over to see.
Venna watched with dark eyes. The doctor stood to her side, arms crossed but head tilted toward the crystal in curiosity. Nyn stood behind Evan, her eyes darting to him and the crystal. Lydia sat on the bay floor, legs crossed and arms holding her up as she leaned forward. Pris stood by Evan’s side, eyes taking in the data flow between chip and crystal.
A sensor burst flashed. Evan immediately felt a signal lock on his control implant. Information poured into his visual display as the chip pulsed over the crystal. Pris looked up and stared at Evan. Soon the rest of the crew turned their heads to him with a questioning gaze.
“I’m receiving coordinates and a small message ‘I’ll be seeing you soon, brother’,” Evan said simply.
“Is it to some far away secluded section of space?” Lydia perked up.
Evan shook his head and closed his eyes, “No. It’s right here in the Gwyndolin system. I’m pulling up a system map now.”
Evan watched as the system appeared in his vision, planets moving around the sun in real time. A flashing point appeared right by the yellow gas giant, Sunarr.
“It’s by the gas giant, Sunarr,” Evan said out loud.
The group looked to one another before all eyes turned to Venna. The Shri-Ka tilted her head forward, shadows covering her eyes.
“We came all this way and fought with everything we had. I have questions as I’m sure most of you do, but it is up to Evan if we continue. It is after all, his brother we will be seeing, the same brother that killed the guild and nearly murdered us.”
The mood shifted into gloom as eyes turned to the Engineer.
Evan stood up, “Let’s go see Ryan and get those answers.”
The crew nodded in agreement as the Tempest Crystal pulsed with light.
***
The crew was on the Bridge as the Shield Maiden moved through space, the gas giant Sunarr looming into view. Its size was impressive as swirling shades of yellow and light brown circled the massive planet. Venna had just finished giving a progress report on the state of the Krekken fleet since the battle. The entire Krekken chain of command had been disrupted as large broken pieces of ships now floated around Tuvorr. Evan thought to stay and help them reorganize, but second guessed it in case they decided to turn their guns on the Maiden.
The Shield Maiden’s shields were back up and the ship suffered light damage from the battle. Pris set about repairing what she could of her arm and then proceeded to begin repairs on Bruiser. The rest of the crew watched as the gas giant loomed closer.
“We are reaching the coordinates,” Nyn said plainly.
Evan looked at the main screen, “There is nothing out here.”
“Ryan could be hidden out here or maybe he is on his way,” the doctor said.
Venna eyed the screen with calm coolness, “Ryan will show.”
The crew waited as Nyn scanned the area. Space was silent. Nothing moved, but the rotating gas giant. Evan’s calm demeanor began to slip away, his annoyance bubbling up. Doubt began to linger as he felt this might have been one huge mistake. Then a beeping rose up from Nyn’s console.
“A ship has appeared off our starboard side. It’s the Black Dagger.”
The screen flickered and displayed Ryan’s ship as it floated toward them at a medium pace. The ship looked like a dagger with a long-pointed nose and small hilt near the rear. It was a Raptor Class ship, nearly the same size as the Shield Maiden. The ship slowed to a halt as coms registered a signal. Venna tapped at her control console and opened the channel.
“Glad you made it!” said an excited voice over the speakers.
Evan stepped forward, “Ryan…”
“Not over coms. Follow me and I will answer all your questions when we dock,” Ryan said and cut communications.
The Black Dagger turned mid drift and engines burned. Nyn realigned the Shield Maiden to follow. The two ships moved parallel to the gas giant. Evan’s fingers flexed as a nervous tingle ran up and down his spine. He hated all the cloak and dagger, but it did feel good to hear his brother’s voice.
The Black Dagger shifted and drifted closer to the gas giant. The Shield Maiden followed until it was directly behind Ryan’s ship. It was then when Evan looked out. The crew’s eyes drank in the sight before them with wide eyes.
Floating in space, high above the gas giant’s atmosphere was a massive elongated ship. It looked like a battleship, but four times the size. Evan blinked, having never seen a ship that big before. One end pointed at the gas giant while something floated far from the rear of the giant ship. Scans came up on screen as it rotated. A giant round disk floated with a camouflage screen. The fabric was miles long and it displayed in sync with the gas giant’s swirling bands. It was big enough to block out the giant orbiting ship, cloaking it from sensors and visual recognition.
“I can’t believe it. They built a giant cloaking shield to hide the ship,” Evan said astonished.
“I didn’t think it was possible,” Lydia said as she stepped forward and marveled at it.
“It hasn’t been done to my knowledge, but it seems it is possible. As long as the shield d
oesn’t move, it will work exactly as Shield Maiden’s landing cloak,” Evan explained.
The Doctor shook his head, “They made that to hide that giant ship. Why here? There are thousands of systems you can hide something that big.”
“We will have to find out,” Evan said as he continued to stare.
Bay doors opened along the front end of the massive ship. The Black Dagger floated in with the Shield Maiden close behind. Gravity emitters took hold of the ships, drawing them in and moving them onto the landing pads. When the ships landed and were clamped down, the bay doors closed. The clang of closing bay doors caused Evan’s heart to take on a thin chill. Sealed inside the big ship, the Engineer hoped everything was going to be okay.
“When we exit the ship, stay close together. We don’t know what to expect,” Venna said with a stern voice.
Heads nodded in unison. Venna and Nyn stood up and joined the rest of the crew. Walking together, they reached the lowest part of the ship and opened the exo-suit bay doors. A ramp slid out and the crew made their way down. Venna took lead as she slithered down to the bottom of the ramp. Former guild members and sentries stood at the ready, Ryan in the middle with a big smile.
Evan watched as he stepped off the ramp, Ryan’s men moving forward with their rifles pointed. Lydia’s arm reached up to take hold of her rifle when several men shook their heads. Converging on the group, they held out hands.
“It’s just a precaution. Please hand over your weapons. Don’t worry, you will get them back,” Ryan said with a calm tone.
Venna pulled her pistol and handed it over. Lydia pulled her rifle and gave it one long look, Jamie Spiral’s autograph facing her as she handed it over. Pris handed her rifle over. Evan simply stared, taking in the sight of his brother and questions tugging at his mind.
Ryan stepped forward as his men moved back into formation, “I’m sure you all have a lot of questions. We can walk and talk as I take you to the Control Bridge.”
Venna slithered forward a few feet, “Before we go, I have something to give you.”
Ryan watched as Venna slithered forward and brought her body down so they could see eye to eye. Ryan looked to the Shri-Ka’s dark eyes. The soldier stood his ground as Venna lifted her hand up and gave his face a hard slap. Ryan’s body stumbled to the side, but he didn’t raise his hand to his stinging cheek. Instead he stood straight up and looked to the Shri-Ka with a half-smile.
Venna launched herself at him. Ryan lifted up his hands, catching her by the wrists. Venna tried to break free when Ryan brought her close. The Shri-Ka glared at him for a long moment before relenting and pressing her lips to his.
Evan watched as his brother and Venna kissed. Arms held each other as the Captain’s tail slithered back and forth across the gray metal floor. The kiss lasted longer than anyone was comfortable with. When they parted, red touched Venna’s emerald green cheeks as anger boiled in her eyes.
“I’m sorry I asked this of you, but you were the only one I could truly trust,” Ryan said in a low voice.
“You could have told me everything. I still would have followed. Instead you nearly had us killed and travelling across the galaxy to find you,” Venna hissed.
Ryan tilted his head forward, “I know, but I had to be sure. If you were captured, I had to make sure that no one could find out about what we’re doing here.”
The Soldier looked into Venna’s eyes and gave her a sly smirk, “I’m happy you made it.”
Venna’s angry expression melted. Raising a hand, she touched Ryan’s cheek. The Soldier curled his fingers over hers and kissed it. Hearts swirled with desire until the Doctor coughed, and coughed again.
Ryan and Venna turned to the crew as they stood. Evan was about to say something when the sounds of metal footsteps filled the area behind them. The Engineer turned to see sentries marching down the ramp of the Shield Maiden. One of them was carrying the Tempest Crystal while others stepped along in formation. The sentries turned at the bottom of the ramp and exited to the left and right. The one with the Tempest Crystal marched straight to Ryan.
The soldier looked down at it and nodded. The sentry marched off with several of Ryan’s men surrounding it. Ryan turned back to the crew, questions painting their brows.
“Let’s start walking shall we,” Ryan said with an edge of flair as he turned and started walking.
The crew of the Shield Maiden followed the Soldier as he led the way. Evan moved up and walked by his brother’s left with Venna on his right. Vickers, Nyn, and Pris took up the rear and Lydia trailed close behind the Soldier.
“The sentries on your ship are part of our defense forces. I had a number of ships filled with them so when they arrived, they would help defend the Arc Light.”
Evan looked to his brother, “What is this all about?”
Ryan smiled as he continued to look forward, “It's better that I show you.”
The group continued to walk.
Lydia’s hands clenched into fists, a fire burning in her heart, “Why did you have the guild slaughtered!”
Ryan turned his head, one eye taking in Lydia’s furious expression, “I’m sorry you had to experience that, but it was better for you to be there so you understand the gravity of the situation.”
Ryan looked ahead, “The guild needed to die so we could do our work in peace.”
Lydia stepped closer, “That’s not good enough!”
Ryan nodded, “I know. To be honest, I’d really rather show you, but we won’t be there for a few minutes, so I suppose I need to tell you something.”
The Soldier talked as he walked, “Over a year ago, a scouting vessel transmitted a job to help assist with deep scans of the two gas giants in this system. The request was an innocent one, paying credits for a small amount of work. The nature of the request changed when the person sending it out turned it into an alert. It wasn’t up for very long before it was silenced.”
The end of the corridor loomed into view as Ryan went on, “Jamie Spiral knew the person and asked for the Azure Guild to investigate. The person who sent out the request was never heard from again. We guessed that they were warned and left or met a terrible fate. Death is one way out, but we know that sometimes you can be kept a prisoner for a long time in Nova Sky.
“I took my crew to investigate Jamie’s request and see what this was about. There had been talk about titans in the nearby systems so we thought we’d hit two birds with one stone.”
The group reached two large doors at the end of the corridor. The soldier turned and faced the small group, eyes filled with excitement, “We thought it would be something simple like a salvage operation or something. We never expected to find what we found. Beyond this door is the Control Bridge for the Arc Light. Try not to touch anything.”
The doors slid open and a large Bridge lay before them. Players manned terminals and consoles as a wide screen filled the opposite wall. On screen were streaks of yellow gas, swirling around and a strange black structure floating in the far distance.
Ryan stepped in with the group close behind. Eyes drank in the dark shape amid the yellow swirling atmosphere of the gas giant. Ryan nodded to one of his people. The screen magnified on the strange rhombus shape floating in a sea of yellow. Information displayed to the right of it, indicating its size and distance. Evan stepped closer, his eyes drinking in the information. The structure was bigger than the Arc Light and solid. Wisps of yellow stretched over it from time to time but it floated on silently in the pull of the planet’s gravity.
“What is it?” Evan asked with gentle awe.
Ryan smiled as he stood to his brother’s side, “That is what this is all about.”
Ryan turned to everyone, “When I brought back to the guild leaders what we found, I fully expected us to come together to find out more of what this thing was. The guild wasn’t always just about expansion. It was about exploration and finding new things to help the guild and people of Earth.
“They instead decided
it wasn’t worth the time or effort. They wanted to stay safe and since this system was under Krekken control, they didn’t want to stir up trouble between the guild and the Krekken.”
Ryan’s demeanor shifted as he spoke on, “I worked with them at first to come to a compromise, but they refused. I had actually reached the point of begging and they responded by shutting me out of guild meetings. They said I was obsessed and had lost focus.”
Ryan clasped his hands behind him and stood with his chest out “I knew there was something more to it, so I took a few loyal guild mates to investigate the structure. We sent heavily armored ships to explore the thing, but the gas giant’s atmosphere is dangerous, even at this range. Our time near the structure was limited due to the gravitational pull and toxic atmosphere so we made the best of it. We crawled along the outer edge and managed to find our way in if only for a short amount of time.”
Pictures appeared on screen of carvings and strange, alien language. The carvings were that of giant monsters. They all looked different, but they all seemed to have the same type of action carved into the walls. The monsters were destroying people of many different races. Evan squinted, taking in the images. Some of the people were humanoid. Others were races Evan had never seen before. All of them were being attacked by the monsters.
Ryan talked with his back to the screen, “The scientist I enlisted told me the carvings match the known races, but there are three more races displayed. Races we have never encountered.”
A video of the structure appeared in the middle of the screen. Holes appeared along the structure and light burst forth. The planet’s atmosphere was being sucked into the glowing white holes for some time before they slowed and then shut down. The holes closed and the structure floated on like nothing had happened.
“We took that video eight months ago. The structure does that from time to time, sucking in Sunarr’s atmosphere before it closes up again. We didn’t know before what it was doing until it opened.”
