by Joe Crouch
“Is that what I think it is?” Sean asked, placing the headphones down with a shaky, unstable hand.
“If you think Xuron chatter, then yes, it is,” Yumie replied, “It might be nothing, signals propagate long distances and judging by the clarity, or lack thereof, they are pretty far away from our current position.” Running a hand through his outgrown hair he took a seat beside the Ioution, taking a moment to gather his thoughts.
“You’re probably right,” he finally conceded, “What would they be doing out here? It doesn’t offer any real tactical advantage.” With a nod, Yumie straightened his navy-blue jacket and stood.
“Don’t think too much about it, Sean, out here the smallest thought will burrow deep into your mind and take hold, it’s best to ignore it and let it all play out,” Yumie said, turning to leave the bridge. With a worried glance over to Taris, he let the panic take hold, it’s nothing he thought, shaking his head, nothing at all. Almost in a sprint he leapt out the seat and stormed off the bridge, trying to clear his mind of what he had just heard, there had to be something to do on the ship…
***
Screaming, Sean’s eyes snapped open as he woke in a cold sweat, he lashed his arms out looking for any weapon close-by, sure he was being attacked by whatever stood beside his bed in the dream world. Panicking, he let out a deafening screech as he curled into a ball, protecting his skull from any wrongdoer.
“Shh, shh,” Taris whispered, gently rubbing his head, “It’s alright, you’re safe, you’re aboard the Mar’Ell with me and no one is coming for you.” After a few moments, he unclenched his legs to slowly roll onto his back, looking up at the petrified Ioution that lay beside him, running her hand gently across his tingling scalp.
“I’m home,” he muttered through pursed lips and teary eyes, “I never thought I’d see you again, it was as real as anything, the cold of the metal digging into my mind, the scratching of the restraints around my ankles…” With a sigh Taris held him close, wrapping her arms around him as she pulled the distraught Human closer. “Don’t leave me,” he whispered, the warmth of her body calmed him down, making him sleepy, “Don’t ever leave me.” As he was drifting back to a world other than his own a large jolt throughout the ship rocked him awake. Within a few moments, a general alarm shrieked across the ship alerting the crew that something was wrong.
“Get up,” Taris yelled, climbing over the groggy Human, “We have to get going, anything could be happening.” Sat on the edge of their bed, he watched as she slipped into her tight-fitting uniform, ensuring her plump, rounded breasts were secure as she zipped up. “Come on!” she shouted at the gawping male.
It wasn’t long before the pair rushed out from their quarters and charged towards the bridge. The red warning lights that illuminated the corridors were an ominous warning to what Sean could only imagine was an attack. His heart began to race as he mentally prepared himself for combat, his muscles tensed involuntarily at the thought of holding a weapon with the intention of killing.
Slamming through the door to the bridge, Sean shouted out, gasping for breath, “Where do you want us, we’re ready and willing, put us to work.” Every head turned to face the two who stood there, panting. There was a moment of silence before Fez turned in his chair, frowning and confused.
“What are you doing?” Fez inquired, “You were not called to the bridge.”
“But we heard the alarm” Taris panted, wiping her sweaty brow.
“Alarm?” Fez said, furrowing his forehead, “That was an alert telling the engineering team that there was a problem with one of the drives, nothing either of you two should be concerned with.” With an embarrassed glance towards one another, they skulked off the bridge with their heads hung low, just one moment of something is all I ask Sean thought.
***
“So, Zarid, how are you finding life aboard the Mar’Ell?” Sean asked. Him, Taris, and Zarid had found themselves sat together in the observation room, browsing through the vast database of sectors and systems the Ioutions had knowledge of. Darkness engulfed the room, but the bright holographic images that were projected out from the walls immersed everything in a faded, multispectral glow. They viewed Desciea, the Ioution Capital world, it’s lush green landscape with rolling white clouds illuminated every surface in the small room. Looking at it closely, the image reminded him of Earth, as it did before, but this time he had no feelings of a being far away from its home, he was glad to be rid of the cauldron of despair he had found himself in.
“I like it,” Zarid replied, kicking back in the adjustable seat, “You have every comfort known to the galaxy, food replicators, sonic showers, weapons that, while not the cream of the Ioution fleet, make other races tremble. I would say life is pretty alright at the moment.”
“Of course you mention the weapons,” Taris scowled, receiving a dismissive glance from the cybernetics covered Fre. There was an underlying current of hostility between the two of them, neither spoke openly about it, but every interaction seemed to be laced with poison and bile. Ignoring it, Sean circled the room, holographic images were painted across his body as he strolled in front of the projectors to get a better look at the planet.
“How many of you are there?” Sean questioned, stood motionless at the other end of the room.
“Enough,” Zarid evaded, “After so many centuries… or millennia, of oppression we felt the innate desire to rebuild our species, so we did.” With his face awash with the faint blue glow coming from the control panel, Zarid changed the planet image to something new. In a flash of bright white light, it morphed to a new world. Its surface was a muddy brown but was discoloured by the deep red hue of the atmosphere, large mountains spiked out from the rocky surface as large, purple oceans sat between the four continents. “This is our home world – Koran,” Zarid said, puffing out his muscular chest with pride, “It may not look like much but we get a lot done with little.”
“I’d love to see it properly one day,” Sean replied, observing the flashing red dots which indicated large settlements or cities. “Maybe we can…” he was interrupted by a ship-wide communication.
“All officers report to the bridge, slip exit is imminent,” came Yumie’s voice.
“Well, I guess that’s it for today then,” he shrugged, placing a hand on Zarid’s shoulder as he passed him and left the observation room. Ioution officers with their sharp uniforms and perfect posture sauntered past him with a respectful nod in his direction, he was unsure if he would be welcome on the bridge, but he couldn’t miss the most exciting moment of the last few months of his life.
On the bridge everyone was getting comfortable in their chairs, an air of excitement built but people remained cautious of what they would find, it was probably nothing special after all. Slumping down into a seat he had claimed as his own he watched as officers flicked on their displays, stretching their arms as if they had just been woken up or disturbed. “Five minutes until slip exit, Captain,” Yumie said, turning to face Fez who sat heroically on the centre stage, lording over his minions below.
“Excellent, thank you,” Fez replied. Sean could tell the Captain was nervous, the stoic Ioution was usually calm and collected, but pride was something he couldn’t shy away from and any discovery would make him immensely proud of himself as well as the crew. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he watched the digital countdown timer that sat front and centre of the bridge, as it ticked to below a minute remaining his heart felt as if it was trying to punch its way out from his chest.
“Ten seconds Captain, nine, eight, seven, six, five…” Yumie counted down, the entire bridge crew tensed up with every number, “Two, one, exit.” In a blinding flash the ship slammed out from slip space arriving at their destination, a few among the crew began to cheer before Yumie shouted over the top of them, “Two contacts,” he screamed, “One of unknown origin, the other…” he gulped.
“Xuron,” Fez growled.
Chapter 8
“Power to all for
ward weapons!” Fez yelled, “Redirect power from non-essential systems to shields and get me a report on what we’re facing out there.” Only a matter of seconds had passed since they slipped into the unnamed system and detected two foreign signatures. One was of unknown origin but the other was a Xuron lying in wait for the Mar’Ell to arrive. Bridge crew scattered about, now fully alert to the danger that sat near the unidentified signature, Sean turned to face his console, bringing up the outside viewing camera.
“Power build-up detected…” Yumie was barely able to finish his sentence before a superheated bolt of plasma streaked from the Xuron ship, it’s long, wavy, luminous green tail wagged behind as it flew towards them at high speed.
“Evasive manoeuvres,” Fez barked, standing and pointing towards the region of space he wanted helm to push them into. Oblivious to the Captain’s motions, helm threw the ship to starboard in a swift motion. Power coursed through the ship as the grav engines struggled to respond to the sharp, immediate change of direction, and as such, they couldn’t avoid what was coming. With a loud crash, plasma slammed into their external shielding rocking everyone inside the ship, Sean was thrown forwards and slammed his forehead into the metal terminal he worked at. Regaining his composure, he looked down at the camera, wisps of green gases flowed off from the energy barrier, looking as if the plasma were evaporating.
Sean held onto his chair as the Mar’Ell swung about riding the wave of gravity the ship produced as it travelled, the manoeuvre was violent and gut-wrenching as the pilot attempted to bring them about, returning to a stable course. “Captain, forward banks are at full capacity, ready on your command,” the tactical officer declared, staring intently at his targeting display.
“Banks one through five, fire,” Fez ordered, sitting confidently back into his throne. An odd feeling rushed through Sean as a bright, red energy built on the underside of the ship, the tips of his fingers tingled for a moment before five thwump’s echoed through the walls in quick succession. Streaks of energy arced across space like lightning, jumping from point to point as it made its way towards the Xuron ship. They let off a visible heat as the faint view of the enemy was distorted by the heatwave that emanated outwards from the streaks of red death.
“We got a clear reading, Captain,” tactical declared, “It’s a Xuron destroyer but it seems to be low on personnel, I’m only detecting minimal life signs aboard the vessel.” Ignoring the conversation, Sean zoomed his view in towards the Xuron destroyer wanting to see the destruction first hand, he didn’t have to wait long. One after the other the five bolts thumped into the port side of the ship, the first only produced minimal cosmetic scarring, but with each subsequent hit the damage became worse until eventually a large crater was dug deep into the ship's plating. With a personal celebration, he watched as two more bolts of plasma lanced out from the destroyer, “Two more incomings,” tactical yelled.
Within moments the ship was once again rocked on its axis as the two powerful balls of plasma smashed the Mar’Ell, the dissipating blue energy of the shields wrapped around the vessel as the honeycomb structure flashed past the bridge’s view. “Incoming fighters,” Yumie yelled.
“Activate point defences,” Fez replied, “Keep the range close, I don’t want them avoiding our fire.” Ports across the side of the ship opened, revealing smaller cannons hidden within their tiny chambers, with a clank the dual-turreted weapons fixed into position, working autonomously to acquire and destroy targets.
“One of the new things you hinted at?” Sean asked, turning to Fez.
“It’s one of the benefits of having a famous ship, we get the first choice on some new technology,” he smirked, “But we had to lose our kinetic weapons.” Returning to the overview of the battle. Xuron fighters were swept aside with ease as they kept banging their heads against the metaphorical wall that was their point defence. All around the Mar’Ell was a graveyard of organic compounds and mechanical parts, drifting aimlessly as a reminder to all those who approached. Without waiting for Fez’s command, the tactical officer let off five more streaking beams of energy towards the lumbering destroyer. The gap between them was engulfed with weapons fire large and small from both sets of ships creating an almost impenetrable curtain around the vessels.
With a lucky hit, the Xuron destroyer lurched onto its side and spewed out a viscous, green liquid as the atmosphere was ejected from the large breach which now cut through the ship. “Yes!” Sean cheered, “It’s going down, just pick off those fighters and we’re good.” As if obeying his command, the tactical officer diverted power from the main weapons to defences. With an increased rate of fire, the space surrounding their cruiser was engulfed in nothing but bright red luminous veins of energy which slammed into the helpless fighters. As he relaxed back into his seat, the Mar’Ell was rocked once more, spilling out from his chair he crashed to the floor as an alarm began to blare throughout the ship.
“Damage report,” Fez yelled once he regained his composure.
“Large plasma damage to our bow, Captain, mostly cosmetic it seems, looks like they channelled their remaining energy into one final shot,” Yumie said, not breaking concentration from his display.
“How’s the destroyer doing?” Fez asked.
“Badly, they’ve sustained vast thermal damage to their main supply lines as well as damage to their main reactor, they aren’t dead in the water just yet, but they aren’t far from it,” Yumie reported after a few moments. Fez sat contemplating, he was completely lost in thought while the ship dialled back the point defences, they had done their job, the fighters were retreating to their sinking ship.
“One final barrage,” Fez declared, breaking from his thoughts, “Charge forward banks and finish them off, we cannot allow them to get any signals back home, no mercy shall be given this day.” No one was stunned at the move, they were the enemy after all, but this was an execution and not an action taken in fair combat. With a pulsating energy coursing through the ship, the finality of the situation was apparent, with three loud thwumps, energy contorted towards the destroyer. Destruction was almost immediate as miniature explosions ran along its hull, detonating one after the other in a uniform fashion until they reached the rear of the vessel. Then, in a blinding white hot light the destroyer exploded from its rearmost point, shattering into large chunks which spun away from the skeleton that remained. In an unprecedented move, the bridge crew stood in unison, slamming their right clenched fist into their left shoulder. He remembered it being a sign of respect shown by the Ioution marines but was confused as to why the flight crew had adopted, what he had been told, an archaic tradition.
“So, what now,” Sean asked, looking around at the crew who in turn glanced towards their Captain.
“Now,” Fez said, letting out a long, calming breath, “Now we find out what that other signature is and how viable it is for retrieval or inspection.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Yumie declared, turning to face his console. A light chatter filled the air on the relaxed bridge, they had destroyed a Xuron ship and found their contact intact, so far it had been a good day. It didn’t take long for Yumie to come back with what he had found. “It’s a ship,” he said to a chorus of gasps that filled the room as each person scrambled to look at the blurry image being displayed on his data pad. “It’s a ship that we have no information on, it’s a design we know nothing about – its origins are completely and utterly of unknown origin.” Sean looked at Taris with an excited twinkle in his eye, this was what he came back for.
“So, do you think it’s dangerous?” Sean questioned, “I mean, can we go over there and explore its insides, I bet there’s plenty of useful things for us to pillage.”
“Well, here’s the thing I hadn’t gotten to yet,” Yumie gulped as the crew shuffled their feet nervously, “Remember when we declared a small contingent of Xuron on the destroyer…”
“Yes…” Fez said, already knowing what was coming next.
“Well, they’re on
the new ship, not a huge amount, though…”
“What’s not huge,” Taris scowled, lurching forwards over Yumie.
“… About ten… or twenty,” he said through gritted teeth, waiting for a slap around the head. One never came, instead, people regressed back into their chairs with a sigh, apathetic towards the situation. Standing, Fez drew the rooms attention before speaking.
“This is why we are here,” he said, projecting his voice, “We didn’t know what we would find, it turns out we’ve found something incredible yet we get downhearted at some Xuron? This isn’t the Ioution way. It’s time we arm ourselves, fly over there and claim that ship ensuring its history remains intact and not lost to the depths of space.”
“I’m going,” Sean stood, nodding towards the appreciative captain.
“No,” Taris said, standing, “We’re going.” One by one various members of the crew stood to show their support, lacking a trained combat team everyone would need to pull their weight.
“I’ll come,” Zarid said, stood casually leaning against the bridge’s door frame, “I fancy a bit of action, plus I’ve never fought one of these aliens before, it sounds exciting.”
“It’s decided then,” Fez beamed, “Get to the armoury, grab a weapon and some armour then reconvene in the hangar, I’ll ensure some shuttles are readied for us.” The atmosphere was electric as the crew sprinted away from the bridge leaving only a few of them behind, for many, this was their first experience in combat so Sean knew the usual squad would need to pick up the slack. Fez ambled towards them with a toothy smile scrawled across his face. “Exciting, isn’t it?” he asked rhetorically in a monotone voice.
