My second fanfic...rate?

[Droid803]

A fanfic which ideas have been building in my mind for quite some time now.

I've decided to let it out.

 

Again, its vaguely connect to SW - it takes place in post-apocalypse SW Galaxy, whith a LOT made up, drawn from various sources such as animes, movies, games, etc. But mushed together to create a believable universe.

 

So basically, for those who are impared reading the introduction, a group of beings had ascended to the level of being god-like, and this group of "celestials" begin to govern the universe. But of course, there is always the splinter faction. No, this story is not about the great war between the gods, it is the story of what comes after. The galaxy has been wiped of life forms during the final stages of the celestial war. The celestials have been wiped out, and their enemies, banished through a black hole, never to return. This is the story of the new civilizations that rise from the ashes, and learn about the great empires and great people that came before them, how they learn about the technologies, and the shock of first contact. In a way, it is modeled like Earth would be like in the mid-far future if they were to meet an alien race (like in halo), but a shocking event forces them to set aside there differences, and protect their galaxy from the return of the enemies...

 

Dramatis Personae (at the moment):

Au'skas - a former admiral, put placed in sole command of the first ship designed for interstellar travel (somewhat of a demotion, but there's no fleet to command, so he's a captain now)

Issat - the chairman of the council of elders, the governing body

Rishyk - a member of the council, and a general

 

here begins the story:

 

==============================

Introduction: A step into the past

Date: ??

Location: ??

 

Before the beginning, there was a great war, and a great battle, after which there was nothing. The celestials, the ancient order of the multiverse's protectors, were no more - the multiverse was gutted by the terrible machines of the dark force. One world remained - the creation of one of the two last celestials. The world from which all that is and will be have sprung.

From the dying fires of the last war rose a new universe - one that held the seeds of life and evolution, to replace what has been lost. This is the beginning, where history ends, and the present begins.

 

==============================

Prologue: The torch is passed on

Date: ??

Location:  Archive Room, Spire of Memory, Surface, Gevra, Gevra System

 

For a time, there was peace. Before the primitive civilizations of the new realm learned to control their planet and their resources, before they learned the art of interstellar communication and travel. The return of the final celestials marked the end of this time. This archive chronicles the final meeting between our people and the celestials, and of the subsequent development of the first nullspace traverser.

 

[PLAYING RECORDING: Archive 0001: The beginning of the modern era; RECORDED ON 90:61 Hcram 91, 7002; BY: Issat, Chairman, Council of Elders]

"There they stood, in the entrance of their strange structure that would take to the air and to the heavens, they spoke to us, and gave us our future."

"They said that with the 'technology' within the sphere the one with long hair held in her(?) hands, we would be able to expand our knowledge and contact with other 'races'."

"They gave us the sphere, and without another word, they entered their ascendant structure and dissapeared. We never saw them again."

"It took our greatest minds a hundred and seventy years to decipher the cryptic script in whcih the inscriptions were written - the final instructions of our gods."

"From those instructions, we gained the wisdom to use and construct what would be known now as nullspace traversers - engines that would allow us to propell our vehicles at speeds greater than that of visible light."

"In the two hundred years it took to aquire the knowledge, we had developed sufficient technology to traverse our system, but never before have we ventured outside our known space."

"This would be the key to unlocking the door that is our system. The only way for us to achive a higher level of evolution."

[END]

 

==============================

Chapter One: Discovery

Date: 34:53, Enuj 62, 7052

Location:  Deck, Shipyard (SHP) No. 133-7N355, In Orbit, Gevra, Gevra system

 

Au'skas walked toward the docked exploration vessel Finder, his eyes darting across the polished, plated surface of the ship. It is heart and pride of the Gevra people and it had taken fourty years to finalize the modifications on the nullspace traverser within the Finder, and another five years to test its safety. At last, the first vessel to leave the system with a planned destination was ready. Au'skas was proud to have been selected out of the admirality to captain the exploration ship, and to pioneer usage of the nullspace traverser technology for the rest of the fleet.

"This will be a day long remebered! It will be the day that our people first explore the outer reaches of space, outside the safety of our system!" With that final speech, Au'skas stepped inside the hull of the Finder. Au'skas took a long look back at his people. Although this is just a test jump to a nearby system that shouldn't take more than an hour to be back, he felt a feeling that he wouldn't be seeing his home for a long time.

"All clamps disengaged, statis fields dispersed. Crew reports sublight engines online. Power core operating at peak efficiency. The Finder is away." The crew members reported as the ship gradually separated from the shipyard, like a child clinging to its mother's leg as it leaves on its first day of school.

"All right everyone, we've been though this before. A short jump to the low-mass planet in orbit around the neighbouring white-dwarf star Irii. We'll be back before the hour's up." Au'skas sighed and sat down. At least I hope...

The nullspace drive system gave a short whine before activating and sending the Finder hurtling trhough null space and appearing near Irii-2.

 

***

Date: 35:14 Enuj 62, 7052

Location: Bridge, Exploration Ship (ExS) Finder, Moving into Orbit, Irii-2, Irii system

 

Au'skas gazed out through the viewport as the Finder neared Irii-2. There's somethng wrong...isn't this a low-mass planet?

A brilliant blue sphere dotted with small green and yellow landmasses with the occasional grey mass, Irii-2 looked approximately the same size as most habitable medium-mass terrestrial planets. As the Finder set itself into orbit, the terrain of the planet changed as the ship crossed to the far side. The land gradually became darkeer and more jagged, rather than the smooth hills and oceans, there were jagged veins of magma amongst sharp peaks reaching up as if it wanted to bring dow the sky. Then, the ground gave away to nothingness.

"So...this is why it reads as low-mass. Four fifths of the planets volume is...missing, blasted away by...something..."

Gazing back up at the stars, Au'skas stepped back in awe - thousands of derelict ships dotted the space around the planet, ranging from small, Gevran-sized debris to large moon-sized ships. What...is...this? The remains of a great battle, it seems. Neither side appears to have won - they would have salvaged it otherwise.

"Turn us around and land on that large triangular island we passed earlier. There may be something there we can use, or something that will tell us what happened."

"Yes, Captian. Brining the Finder into low orbit now."

"Land on that structure over there on that island."

"Yessir. Landing clamps ready."

 

***

Date: 35:38 Enuj 62, 7052

Location: Cargo Bay, ExS Finder, Landed, Irii-2, Irii system

 

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"Issat of the Council, this is Au'skas of the Exploration ship Finder. We have found many derelicts and wrecks around and on Irii-2. It seems that this world isn't what we thought."

"Intruiging, tell me more."

"It seems like the celestials didn't lie about the great war. The relics of it are all over this place."

"Indeed. Good work, Au'skas. Bring back whatever data you and your team can gather. maybe a bit of scrap from the derelicts too."

"Of course. our science teams are ready to take a look at this wreck."

'[Link Disengaged]'

Au'skas sighed. I guess that feeling I had back at the shipyard wasn't wrong then...Why did I drag myself down here again? As the teams departed into the wreck, Au'skas took a quick galce around at the flat, shimmering oceam around him before stepping into the bridge of the downed ship. Noting the faded name painted on its side "Flare-III".

"Ok people, findany active computer systems and copy any data you can from it."

"Yessir!"

The teams searched and took data off the side consoles and computers, not letting the fact that there wasn't as much as a single dead body on board the wreck.

 

***

Date: 36:18 Enuj 62, 7052

Location: Bridge, Flare-III wreckage, Surface, Irii-2, Irii system

Au'skas looked around. The only computer system that wasn't throughly copied onto a data drive were the few technical data consoles on the side of the corridors. Cautiously pressing a large button on the console, Au'skas noticed that all operating systems of the wreck was activating, and a schematic showed whcih systems were offline.

"What is this? A...15 kilometer long shaft? That island in the distance is the prow... So we truly are primitive in terms of technology. This appears to be some kind of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation array that focuses the energy along the central shaft and releases it in a single beam as a weapon. The power required to operate this is...insane! It uses more power in a millisecond than we have ever used in our entire history. Damn. Where is that power core?" Au'skas mused as he read the data off the diagram.

"Captian, you find something?"

"Yes, copy all the data off the computer at that far wall - we havent acessed it yet. I think we have gotten what we came for. Oh, and can I have an empty data disk?"

"Sure..."

Taking the empty disk, Au'skas looked for his chance to access the hidden files at the computer station he was at. Plugging the disk in and ripping the files, Au'skas quickly glaced across the file names and cryptic text it was written in. Upon the hitting the last file, the transfer stopped.

"What! Au'skas slapped the disk and read its status. Less than 30%. Either the disk was borked, or the final file was way over 7 TeraBytes in size.

"Hey, trooper ExS-F-0093, can I have another one of those disks? The larger 50TB ones."

"Sure. Found something big?"

Au'skas nodded wordlessly and bent down to continue the transfer. Immediately, the transfer began, slowly filling up the normally impossible-to-fill disk. The transfer completed, filling the disk to 87%. As the transfer finished, a trooper called out.

"Sir, there seems to be some sort of projector here. I'm not sure what it is."

"Take it with us. Give the scientists something else to play with."

"That is all."

"Ok then, lets head back."

 

***

Date: 37:15 Enuj 62, 7052

Location: Bridge, ExS Finder, In Orbit, Irii-2, Irii system

"Ok men, that was a good haul, but Issat wanted us to bring in one of the derelicts too."

"Which one?"

"That long one there should work. Its close to our jump vector so it shouldn't be too much strain on our conventional drive systems."

"But sir, what can we use to drag something of that size with us?"

"Use the landing clamps."

"Yessir. Landing clamps ready."

"Good."

"The salvage is attached and ready for hauling."

"Report on engines."

"Strain appears to be minimal. It seems our drives are more than powerful enough to haul a ship twenty times our size."

"Then I guess we can build bigger ships, no? Whatever, just start the nullspace traverser. Lets go home."

"Jump vector reached. Initiating nullspace traversal."

Au'skas fiddled with the disk that contained the strange file. The inventory logs showed that this was the only 50TB disk used, meaning there were no other such files. But it was a tech panel. Why would someone store such a large file on the tech panel? All the maps and schematics have been transferred...

 

***

Date: 37:30 Enuj 62, 7052

Location: Bridge, ExS Finder, In Orbit, Gevra, Gevra system

Real space unfolded in front of them and the shimmering green sphere of Gevra unfolded before them.

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"Captian Au'skas of the Exploration Ship Finder, this is Minister-General Rishyk of the council of elders. You have been granted permission to drop the derelict and all salvage off at shipyard No. N3X-771M3. Any data can go there too."

"Affirmative. Shifting to vector now."

"Research teams will recieve the derelict there - it's the only shipyard large enough to accomodate that impressive haul."

"Well, tell the ship designers that if you not making hauler ships, you can make larger ships. These engines are more than powerful enough to move that derelict."

"Noted. After dropping off the salvage, head back to shipyard No. 133-7N355. We'll debrief you there. Rishyk out."

'[Link Disengaged]'

Well, at least they didn't specifically request for my data disk...I'm interested in knowing what is in here myself, without the knowledge of the rest of the empire. Why am I making this harder for myself?

 

[Chapter One End]

[Mikan Cyclone]

I love it.  Awesome.  Tad bit jumpy at the beginning, though.

 

By the way, what does his race look like?

[Droid803]

Crap, well, I forgot to say it lol...

I planned for them to be like...lizard-men...lol.

 

I just realizied that the first chapter has no action whatsoever...well, that will change...once I finish writing ch2...took me a while to get ch1 done...

[HK-47]

Very awesome! 

 

Will it have any 'connection' to your other fan-fic?

 

Waiting next chapter...  ;D

[Droid803]

Mega-Uber-Necro-Bump...

 

==============================

Prologue, Part Two: Advance

Date: ??

Location:  Archive Room, Spire of Memory, Surface, Gevra, Gevra System

 

[PLAYING RECORDING: Archive 1847: The spark of war; RECORDED ON 90:61 Yraunaj 84, 7053; BY: Issat, Chairman, Council of Elders]

"The discovery of the derelicts around Irii-2 sparked an revolution in shipbuilding."

"For the first time in out history, we had something to look to, to learn from, something to guide us, letting us improve constantly without trial and error."

"One such development was a way to permanently create superconducting metals. The vacuum of space provides a well enough coolant, but standalone superconductors lose their properties when too near stars and other anomalies, rendering them useless."

"The development of the permanent supermagnet, first reverse-engineered from the large derelict hauled back by Finder, it led to the deveopment of the magneblade - a blade premanently charged with electricity."

"Further refinements and copying of the technology allowed us to create large-scale MACs firing shells the size of a medium-sized mining vessel."

"Many developments still eluded us, such as the massive power cores, and LASER arrays."

"We were lucky to have this source of inspiration, or we would have never been able to save ourselves from the Zuyaer Combine's relentless offensive into our slowly-expanding territory. Or the strange intervention of the Nema'ddi, but that is not part of the story right now."

"Of course, it was all probably meant to be...wasn't it? Everything fit together all too perfectly."

[END]

 

==============================

Chapter Two: First Contact

Date: 12:12 Tsuaga 54, 7052

Location: Bridge, Modified Exploration Ship (M/ExS) Finder, Patrolling, Asteroid Field G-4Y, Gevra System

 

"M/ExS-En-0093, can you remind me again why we are on Patrol Duty? We're an exploration ship!"

"I have no idea sir. Rishyk ordered us to patrol this sector of asteroid field G-4."

"Oh bother."

Au'skas turned around and sat down in his chair. Taking out his disk, he began to twirl it in his hands and think.

Somehow, I've got to figure out how to access this file. From all appearances, it seems to be a mass data storage - its the only likely thing. Then again, our technologies are on totally different levels. Wait! I've got it...its got to be...-

"Sir, we've detected an unidentified engine wake disturbance. Its notably less hidden than any our ships would carry."

"What is it then. Bring us in for a closer look."

"Yessir."

"That logo. Its the same logo that was shown on all the mass broadcasts from the Zuyaer Combine. Its probably an advanced scout. Send a coded transmission to fleet command telling them to rally a small fleet at Aief. We can't let them know they're this close to us."

"Yessir...Sir, scans indicate that they are targeting us!"

"Target with all cannons, load all missile tubes with standard explosive missiles, and prepare to jump to Aief."

"12 fast moving heat sources coming our way!"

"Full power to engines, return fire!"

"A second volley is coming"

Au'skas eyed the blue bolts flying towards the ship. Why do I get the feeling I've seen this before...

"Hard to port! Evade! We don't know how powerful those things are. We can safely assume that one direct hit from that thing will damage our craft. We can't have that."

"One of them skimmed us, slight scorching of the hull, but no breaches. Our cannons are not doing visible damage against their hull."

Superheated bolts. I remember now. Its like our powerplants back on the surface. Most likely some form of plasma.

"Get to that jump vector now! Aim for the starboard plasma battery! All missile tubes, Fire!"

"We're at our jump vector!"

"Good. It looks like its following us. Get us out of here. NOW!"

 

***

Date: 12:25 Tsuaga 54, 7052

Location: Bridge, M/ExS Finder, Rendezvous with Aief Defense Fleet, Aief, Aief System

 

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"Captian Au'skas of the Modified Exploration Ship Finder, this is Rear Admiral Jy'knek of Aief defense fleet. We have recieved the call from fleet command, and are ready to engage the enemy."

"Thank you, can you keep this channel open?"

"Of course. It is procedure to keep this channel open if there's need to contact each other."

"We're recieving some sort of broadcast from a source which appears to say Zuyaer Combine Forward Scouting Fleet."

"Play it."

"Forwarding now..."

 

'[FW: We have found you; From: Zuyaer Combine Forward Scouting Fleet (Translated)]'

["Running for home? You will be annihilated and your planet burned down!"]

'[End forwarding]'

 

"Au'skas, we're detecting an incoming jump signature. Too slow and large to be one of ours."

The space shimmered and the Zuyaer scout pouring out into RealSpace, trailing smoke from its starboard plasma battery.

Here it comes....

"That's it. Watch out for those heavy plasma batteries. One direct hit will burn a hole in the side of your ship large enough to see through."

"Acknowedged. All cannons, fire!"

"We're going to knock out its drive system from behind. It doesn't appear to have a very good fire arc on the heavy plasma batteries - they're linked forward."

"We'll distract it from the fro--ahhhh!"

'[Link Disengaged]'

"This isn't good, already we're down to two-thrids our number. Load the missile tubes. they're the only thing that seem to do significant damage to that thing."

"Yessir, all tubes loaded."

"Circle to its back and fire all missiles at its primary drive engine."

"The ship is launching fightercraft from that opening in its back!"

"Change of plans. Thirty degrees to starboard. Target the hangar with all missile tubes. Fire."

The missiles scrambled towards the hangar and detonated, disabling its airlock doors and sending everything inside hurtling into the vacuum of space.

"One squadron managed to launch. Should we inform the rest of the fleet?"

"There's no time. The flagship with opened connections to all of the ships is lost."

"They're headed straight for us."

"Then we can't ignore it, can we? Have all the cannons track those fighters."

"What's that glow?"

"I don't want to find out. Blast 'em."

The cannons blazed and sent a wave of shells at the attacking fighter squadron, which simply broke its formation and reconverged on the Finder, peppering it with plasma bolts.

"Technicians, is there any way to get those cannons to fire faster? Those light plasma cannons aren't lethal, but we should be sitting here absorbing fire."

"That would require an overhaul of the firing belts and the loading rig..."

"I don't care how you do it, just get it done before we're shred to bits!"

"Yessir, we're on it!"

"Load the missile tubes, there's no use wasting time that we could use bombarding that ship. Continue evasive maneuvers until the cannons are ready."

The much smaller and nimbler Finder cricled the rear of the large Zuyaer cruiser and unleashed volleys of missiles at its massive hull, staying out of its devastating cannons' firing arc and avoiding the fighter squadron's main bursts.

"How much longer will that cannon rigging take!?!?!"

"Just a few more seconds sir, and....ready! All cannons ready!"

"Good! Track those fighter craft! At least they can serve as anti-strikecraft weaponry."

"Yessir."

The ship's cannons blazed and sent sprays of fire into the enemy fighter squadron, tearing half of the craft to shreds while the others broke off.

"They're breaking formation and retreating to the cruiser!"

"There's no problem there, the ships hangar's blown. Continue pounding that ships engines!"

Breaking off from engaging the fightercraft, the Finder cricled around the cruiser and unleashed another barrage of missiles. Circling to the front, the hsip lined up for another run.

"Uh sir, they're targeting us with their heavy plasma battery. There's no time to evade!... Our engine block is hit, we can't maintain course, we're going to get pulled down into the gravity well!"

"Brace for impact! Lower the landing gear! We're going to have to make a crash-landing on the surface!"

[Dorkthehunter]

I'm really glad that you are posting in the fan fic forum. I really need to start posting my own work here. Since I'm on break, maybe I will.

 

First off, it's a good story. Sometimes it is nice to say who is speaking after the diolague is spoken. I think that would help improve it a little more. But don't do it too much, which will make the story more choppy.

 

I can possibly do an in-depth review of the different parts going paragraph by paragraph if you want me to.

[Droid803]

Necro-Bump again.

This story is taking waaaay longer than I expected, since I had it all planned out already. But, nevertheless, its taking forever.

 

Chapter Three (PART 1)...gotta finish part 2 of CH3 today, and start CH4.

 

 

==============================

Chapter Three: Deathtrap

Date: 13:40 Tsuaga 54, 7052

Location: Bridge, M/ExS Finder, Crash-Landed, Aief, Aief System

 

"Is everone alright?"

"It appears so, captian. Our engine block is down and our nullspace trraverser damaged. The forward missile tubes and cannons are blocked."

"Can you give me an update on where we are on the surface?"

"Somewhere in the mountainous northern hemisphere, wedged between two mountains at the end of a valley."

"Is the communication working?"

"Its up, but we can't get a lock of our own position to report."

"Open a connection with main fleet command."

"Yessir."

 

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"Minister-General Rishyk of the council of elders and fleet command, this is Captain Au'skas of the Exploration ship Finder. We have been crashed onto the surface of Aief and have a battle report."

"Good. Send it."

"sending now..."

"Recieved, thank you for the technical data on their cruiser. We can now have scientists work of finding a weakness from the data you provided. We have dispatched a second fleet carrying the one of the new weapons found at Irii-2, they should be able to conduct an surface sweep for your ship as soon as they finish dealing with the scout cruiser and any reinfocrements it may be getting."

"Thank you."

'[Link Disengaged]'

 

"Sir, scanner reading shows a fleet of unidentified ships has arrived."

"Is it ours, or theirs?"

"From the velocity and size, it would be there's. One of them is splitting off from the main fleet and heading for the surface."

"Deploy a perimeter of turrets and bunkers around the rear of the ship, and get the technicians to repair the hangars. If they find us, we're going to have to hold them off until either our fleet arrives or our engines are back online!"

"The one that broke off has launched several ships roughly the size of our ship. They appear to be headed for us."

"They're probably carrying landing forces, I want you to get those defenses up now! After hearing the report from that cruiser we damaged, they might be more prepared for us now."

"We're on it."

"I'll meet you outside."

Au'skas headed for the armory and retrieved his triple-barrel shotgun, magneblade and a few detonation charges. He prefered to use the ranged weapons that was used by the marines before the space age, but the new close-combat magneblades proved effective in the simulations. This would be the first time they would be put to the test against an enemy assault force of unknown strength. Things were simpler when all we fought was each other, but at least now, our race is unified by a common goal...

[Droid803]

Ah this took much less time than expected. And I just got an idea. Since I'm not very good at explaining visual descriptions (and I'm not good at picturing things from descriptions), I'm going to post some links to the various ships and people that appear in the story...when I find the time.

 

 

Well, here's part 2 and 3 of Chapter 3. posted in a separate post because um... its kinda big.

 

***

Date: 14:00 Tsuaga 54, 7052

Location: Surface, Aief, Aief System

 

Stepping outside the main the rear exit into the center hastily-constructed defense, Au'skas surveyed the surroundings. The small valley sheltered the crash site quite well from three sides, leaving only the open valley floor as a viable landing zone for then enemy. This is where we'll make a stand, and where we'll be able to get close enough to see how they look like.

The small force of soldiers from the Finder manned the turrets and took cover behind the rocks and set-up walls as the first lander dropped off enemy soldiers and fire suppression fire from its light plasma batteries. The call went up to return fire, and the Finder's rear cannons as well as the machine-gun turrets unleashed a barrage of fire at the unloading craft. A major shell from the Finder's main cannon struck the open frontal unloading section of the craft and threw the departing soldiers into panic - some jumped, some took cover, while others were shredded by defensive fire. The dropship took several more hits and crashed onto the valley floor as smoldering wreckage. The second dropships took shots to its exposed interior and joined the first as a smoking wreckage at the valley floor.

"Good work! Gun turret 2-1a through 2-3b pick off the stragglers, otherwise continue fire on those dropships."

As the thrid and fourth dropships neared the ground, they reversed their facing so the opening faced the opoosite direction, placing the dropship itself between the soldiers and the defense guns, protecting the soldiers from the Finder's cannons.

"They adapted quickly enough. Change of strategy. Focus on the troops that they deploy. It doesn't seem we'll be able to exploit their dropship's weakness further. Everyone, cover! It's charging its main plasma cannon!"

The dropships unleashed a wave of plasma fire at the entrenchment and smothered half the turrets and troops under a wave of superheated gasses. Sending Gevran soldiers diving for more solid cover behind the large monolithic rocks that covered the valley floor. The turrets that remained blazed and spewed lead at the charging enemy troops.

As the first wave of enemy troops hit cover from the suppressive fire, the real battle began. Both sides were surprisingly evenly-matched - waves of troops landing and taking cover from the suppressive fire.

At this rate, we're going to run out of ammunition before we can get off this place. There has to be another weakness we can exploit to gain the advantage. Au'skas surveyed the scene from behind a large menhir. There! A ledge! I can use that to get behind the enemy.

Drawing his shotgun, Au'skas made his way to the ledge and too cover behind a low natural rock wall. As he made his way along the ledge,a dropship flew up near where he was. Leaping from the ledge, Au'skas took hold of the dropship's platform and pulled himself inside. It was empty, save for a single pilot in the cockpit.

This should take me up to the ship that's unloading troops. Au'skas checked his belt for the detonation charges and smiled. This isn't going to be pretty for them.

 

As the dropship neared the hangar of the large cruiser hanging in the sky, Au'skas set the charges and waited for the dropship to land in the hangar. As the dropship touched town, Au'skas threw the charges onto the nearby hangar wall and went into the cockpit of the dropship.

"Yo." Au'skas said as the blew the head off the Zuyaer pilot. Throwing the corpse aside Au'skas stared the the incomprehensible symbols on the control panels and sighed. Right. Language barriers. If this button does what I think it does...

The dropship's loading bay door slammed shut, crushing several Zuyains as they boarded the craft to be taken to the surface and sending the few that were onboard into confusion.

Now to get out of this hangar before it blows. Au'skas grabbed what appeared to be the method of controlling the ship and pushed it, sending the dropship lurching forwards and into open air. Hearing noises, he drew is magneblade.

The confused soldiers in the hold now clued in to the fact that someone else was piloting the dropship and headed towards the cockpit, where they were cut down by Au'skas.

An explosion sounded behind him and he turned the dropship around to see smoke belching out of the hangar that the dropship had just left. Au'skas pointed the craft to where the Finder had crash-landed and strated descent.

As the dropship made its descent, Au'skas familiraized himself with the various controls of the ship including the targeting controls. Ah, another dropship. Time to give them a surprise.

Taking aim at the other dropship, Au'skas hit the fire button and his dropship unleashed a volley of searing plasma fire at the unsuspecting victim, riddiling it with holes and sending it spirialing down towards the surface. These things can't even resist their own cannons!

As more dropships flew past, Au'skas fired on each one in succesion and destroyed them, leaving a chain of destroyed hulls on the valley floor. With the last dropship downed, Au'skas landed his dropship by the Finder and hopped out.

"Welcome back, captian."

"Thanks." Au'skas walked back to the beeping comm station.

 

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"Captain Au'skas of the Modified Exploration Ship Finder, this is Minister-General Rishyk of the Council of Elders and fleet command. We have arrived. Standby for retrival."

"It's much appriciated, Minister-General. We'll try and hold out till then."

"We've gotten the technical data on that scout cruiser. Appears like it can also serve as a high-altitude bombardment platform. Watch out."

"We will."

'[Link Disengaged]'

 

"Captain, you might want to take a look at that."

"Ah. Oh bother," Au'skas said as he gazed up at the glowing heavy plasma batteries on the cruiser, "Take cover!"

The entire ground force of the dove and took cover behind various rocks and outcroppings as the valley was blanketed with plasma fire. Those that were unlucky were caught by the blast and disintergrated, those that were lucky saw the heavy plasma batteries on the cruiser explode  under heavy fire from an odd looking ship descending upon it.

 

***

Date: 16:50 Tsuaga 54, 7052

Location: Surface, Aief, Aief System.

 

"Everyone all right down here?" Rishyk said as he leapt the two feet from the hangar of his ship to the floor.

"Most of use are still in one piece, thanks to you." Au'skas shook hands with the elder Gevran.

"Actually, no. Thanks to yourself. Without the technology on the derelict you dragged back home, we'd never have been able to replicate the mass-driver technology found on this here ship."

"You give me too much credit, Minister-General." Au'skas replied.

"Ah, yes, the projector mechanism on the Flare-III wreckage you were so keen on seeing repaired is right here! Since you were the one pushing for it s completion, I guess its right to let you have it and test it first." The elder gevran turned around and produced a disk shaped object with a hole in the center. "We've even had it rigged so it can play our disks."

"Again, you are too kind, Minister-General."

"Well, we got a few more Zuayer scum to wipe out over this system. So I'm going to drag your ship back out into space. Everyone best get aboard my ship for the time being."

Well, I'm glad to be finally getting off this hellhole. All I need to do now is to find someplace secret to veiw the contents of that disk, now that the player has been restored. The time will come though...

[Droid803]

I have NO idea if anyone actually reads this, but anyway, chapter 4...its a little....long.

 

 

==============================

Chapter Four: Awakening

Date: 1:00 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Captain's Quarters, M/ExS Finder, Escorting Conflagrator-class Cruiser (CfC) Impact, Orbital Platform 11-23-D, Aief System

 

Au'skas sat at the table in his room, sipping liquid out of a mug as he inserted the disk into the holoprojector. As he inserted the disk into the slot on the side of the machine, it blinked to life. Au'skas worked the controls, selecting the large, 43.5 Terabyte file and pressed play. At once, a strange figure with waist-legnth hair appeared in the air above the projector.

"Hello." The figure said in, surprisingly, Au'skas's language of Gevran.

"You speak my language?!" Au'skas said in surprise to the odd figure in the hologram.

"Why not? If you studied up on your history, you'd know who I am." The figure replied.

"You're not...the one that gave us the technology...are you?"

"Its not surprising is it? We left you the technology to get to the graveyard. So, it makes sense that we leave something where only you can get to."

"R..right," Au'skas replied, baffled by the fact that he was engaging in a conversation with a hologram, "so this means that you're-..."

The hologram cut him off, "Formalities aside, let's get down to what needs to be covered here. There is-"

An alarm rang and the lights dimmed red.

"Captain, you're needed at the bridge right now!" A crew officer shouted over the intercom.

"I guess you're needed on the bridge, take this." The holoprojector spit out a small round disk. "Put that on your neck, we'll be able to share our thoughts through that." The hologram flickered out.

Au'skas stared skeptically at the small disk and gingerly picked it up. Upon examining it at close range, it appeared to be some sort of neural device, with several small spikes at the bottom on the disk to connect to his nervous system. Well, I guess I can trust her... Au'skas took the disk and placed it on his neck.

Hello. I prefer this to talking out in the open where someone may call you an insane maniac for talking to yourself. I think you'll find this easier too." The hologram's voice said from inside his head.

Well, there goes my private thoughts...

I'm not going to judge what you think. After all, I am-...

Ok. I get it.

Au'skas hurried out of the captain's quarters and ran down the hallway to the bridge.

 

***

Date: 1:10 Tsuaga 55 7052

Location: Bridge, M/ExS Finder, Escorting CfC Impact, Orbital Platform 11-23-D, Aief System

 

"Captain, a Zuyaer strike force has just entered the system, they'll be within firing range soon."

"Tell all hands to get ready for battle. Load all missile tubes."

 

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"Captain Au'skas of the M/ExS Finder, this is Minister-General Rishyk aboard the CfC Impact. We'll take care of the big guys, just keep those strikecraft away from our engines, or machine gun batteries can't target back there."

"Understood."

"Good. Rishyk out."

'[Link Disengaged]'

 

"Change of plans. Load flak missiles into all missile tubes and begin autotracking with all cannons. We're going to be doing anti-strikecraft duty. make a loop behind the Impact, that's where we'll have to cover."

"Affirmative, captain. Relaying orders."

You sure that's such a good idea? The hologram's voice again spoke into Au'skas's mind. The engine wake will probably tear this ship to shreds.

Engine wake causes damage?

Those engines on the back of that ship emit particles and energy waves powerful enough damage the ship. I would know for one since those engine units came from the wreckage at Irii-II.

"Actually, avoid looping directly behind those engines. We don't want to risk any damage."

"Order received."

"Zuyaer fighters inbound and two o'clock." The scanner operator shouted.

"Get a lock and fire missiles." Au'skas glanced around at the wall of incoming plasma and added, "Evasive maneuvers!"

The ship pitched sharply and rolled to avoid the incoming blobs of superheated gas.

"Hard to port and fire all missiles!" Au'skas shouted as he spotted a large plasma bolt hurtling towards the ship.

The guns blazed and the ship spewed forth missiles as it pitched and rolled to avoid the worst of the enemy fire, cutting down fighters as they attempted to swarm the battlegroup with sheer numbers. Through a break in the fighter swarming, Au'skas got a true sense of the scope of this battle. Several other battlegroups from both sides had arranged themselves in a random jumble of formations as the ships tried to bring as much firepower as possible to bear against the enemy, fighters  continually launching and heading into the battle.

"Keep it up! Here comes another squa-" Au'skas was cut off as an explosion rocked the ship.

"Sir! We've taken a minor hit to our port thruster block!"

"Damage report!"

"Of the port engine block, engines 1 and 3 are offline, engine 2 has sustained minor damage. Hull integrity at 78%"

"I want crews to try and patch this up as quickly as possible. Divert power from engines 4 through 6 on the starboard engine block to engine 2, and maintain evasive maneuvers!"

 

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"It's Rishyk. Cutting formalities during battle. I'll keep this short. Long range scanners are detecting a second fleet arriving. Be prepared for the worst. Rishyk out."

'[Link Disengaged]'

 

More? What's there about this blasted sphere to want? Au'skas puzzled over the meaning of fighting for this planet.

Nothing at all. You'll see. The voice in his head answered his question.

Au'skas glanced out the viewport to see a battered fleet of Zuayer ships slowly emerge from nullspace. Upon seeing the battle, they froze and turned to see a pursuing fleet of unknown ships appear and open fire. Caught between two enemies, the damaged fleet split off and engaged the both sides.

"Who are those guys in the shiny ships?" Au'skas asked noone in particular.

"They're identifying themselves as the Nema'ddi, captian."

And would you happen to know anything?

What, I may be a celestial, but when I was last around, they didn't even begin to name themselves yet.

It figures. Another unknown race is it?

 

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"Hey, it's Rishyk again. That new fleet. They may be our enemies enemies, but we don't know their intentions. Keep sharp."

"Yea, we will."

"Good. Keep up the good work. Rishyk Out. Hold up a second. The Zuyaer are hailing us. I'll broadcast the conversation."

 

'[FW:Transmission From: Zuyaer Combine Sector 11-6BX Defense Fleet]'

"I do not enjoy engaging in a converssssation with the enemy, but the ssssituation doessss not allow that opssstion." The Zuyaer commander hissed through the comm system.

"Neither do I, but what is it?" Rishyk replied.

"Assss you can very well ssssee, we are under attack by the Nema'ddi. They care nothing but for war againsssst other racesss...I am ssssuggesssting a trusssce until they are defeated."

"Why should I trust the enemy?"

"Are they not firing upon you assss well? Try hailing them they will not ressspond."

"..."

"You ssssee? We will forsssake our conquessst of this planet if you aid usss in getting ridd of thesssse sssscum."

"It's not like we have a choice."

"Good choissssce."

'[End forwarding]'

 

"So, we're to cease fire on the Zuyaer?" Au'skas asked.

"For now. They don't seem to be very trustworthy, but they've ceased fire on us. We should at least do the same."

As the Gevran and Zuyaer ships ceased fire upon each other and turned towards the Nema'ddi ships, something emerged from a black hole several systems away.

It can't be... The voice in Au'skas's head whispered in disbelief.

Why am I getting a bad feeling about this? Au'skas let loose a shiver and focused onto the task at hand...

 

[CHAPTER FOUR END]

[Logan Felipe]

I like the addition of the visual descriptions.

 

one thing I use when writing sw fanfics a lot is using emotions and metaphors to describe a ship, place, character, etc.

 

The biggest key is to immerse yourself fully in the imaginary environment. Try to develop a virtual tour of the setting mentally.

 

What this does is create a false, yet effective substitute for actually experiencing something. People like John Steinbeck wrote about what they've personally experienced. This fills that purpose. Also, whether or not you're writing, imagine each of the characters in your fanfic interacting with each other. once you have a specific archetype established, you'll find the dialogue remarkably lifelike. Another key with dialogue is consistency. As long as the character's "voice" is consistent, he/she could high-strung, enraged, quiet, emotionless, etc., and sound perfectly legitimate. A bit of background information early in the story (which chapter depends on each chapter's length) can also intrigue readers.

 

All in all, balance is crucial. Hope you find this advice helpful. I'll be looking forward to the next chapter.

[Droid803]

==============================

Chapter Five: Outrage

Date: 4:00 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Bridge, M/ExS FInder, In-Battle, High Orbit, Aief

 

What did those fools do!? The voice inside Au'skas's head seethed in anger as it had been for some good time now. They tried to draw energy from the black hole of Nostrius and...

And what?

You know what I was going to tell you before we were interrupted by the battle? The voice seemed to start to calm down.

No, you never got to saying it

Have you ever heard the story of the before-time? It's inscribed onto the hyperdrive unit I left behind.

No...you mean...they're not dead?

It would have been impossible. All we could do, and what we did, was weaken them enough to be banished and sealed.

And now...they've awakened?

I would never have expected it to be so soon. This adds new urgency. And you might want to watch out...

Huh? Au'skas spotted the Nema'ddi missile heading towards the ship. Uh oh.

"EVADE! Hard to starboard!"

The engines groaned as they jerked the ship sharply to avoid the incoming missile, which flew past and detonated behind them, sending the ship spiralling forward and into a wall of enemy fire.

"Damage report."

"All engines offline except for engine 4, Hull intergrity at 62%. Missile tubes 2 and 4 are inpoerable; Cannons A and B are destroyed. Targeting systems offline."

"Try and get docked with the Impact using whatever engine power we have left. We're sitting ducks now in this ship."

Au'skas scanned the battle for the Gevran flagship and found it unleashing huge metal shells that at a Nema'ddi cruiser, which did not appear to be taking significant damage from the large shells. The FinderPulled up close to the side hatch and extended its docking tunnel.

 

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"Minister-General Rishyk. Our ship has sustained heavy damage and we're pratically sitting ducks out here. Permission to dock and transfer personell aboard your vessel for the time being?"

"Granted, be more careful next time. Come aboard."

'[Link Disengaged]'

 

The crew of the Finder scrambled for the tunnel and the relative safety of the Imapct.

 

***

Date: 4:25 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Bridge, CfC Impact, In-Battle, High Orbit, Aief

 

"Welcome aboard the cruiser Impact." Rishyk spoke to the recently-arrived crew of the Finder, "We could use a few more hands here."

Au'skas looked out through the panorama windows at the battle raging around them, watching the Nema'ddi cruiser finally take a hit from the Impact  that left a sizeable hole in the side of the ship.

Before we were so rudely interupted, you were saying something about something urgent. Au'skas thought to the voice in his head.

Yes, everything falls into place now. I'm not going to bore you with an ancient history lesson, but the basics go like this. Before, we were normal people that simply had strange powers who devoted their lives to making the galaxy a better place. Of course, there were always those who seeked to use it for their own gain. In the ever-continuing struggle between good and evil, something snapped. Someone discovered how to control the flow of energy and create or stop chemical reactions, which allowed us to basically ascend to an immortal state. We could be killed, but we would never die naturally. It also gave us the power to manipulate our surroundings in ways previously not possible.

What does this have to do with me? Or the war we're in right now?

Listen! I'm not done! That was long before my time, and after gaining the more power, there were those who obviously weilded it for their own selfish ambitions. So, the universe once again took sides. Those who supported the darkness, and those that fought against it. The universe was gutted by that war, which ended in the sacrifice of most of the universe to seal the dark ones in a place of no return.

But now, you're saying they are coming back?

Precisely. In the eons since the new universe ws frabricated, the barriers holding them in place gradually weakened due to lack of maintenance, while those that it held back continually recovered grew stronger... An explosion rocked the ship as she finished her sentence and everyone was thrown to the ground.

"Damage report!" Rishyk shouted.

"Nothing serious, we've taken a slight hitto starboard, but the armor's holding."

Continue, please Au'skas asked after the brief interruption.

There is nothing more to tell about the past. This is for what happens now.

What do you mean?

Do you think it was a sheer coincidence that you found the disk? Did you ever think that you were meant to find it? This may sound cliched, but I need you to do something.

What would that be?

That disk, didn't contain the data for my holographic self, it is a link - it tells the player where to find me. It'll also tell you.

What the hell is with this roundabout method. You're a celestial, a god-like being that can manipulate your surroundings. Why the hell would you need me to go find you? Shouldn't you come and find ME?

Look, to ensure that I would be able to contact you, I placed myself in a statis condition, effectively sealing myself outside of the flow of time and space. i had no idea when you would show up.

What is specail about me? I get dragged into all the worst things, don't I? Au'skas yelled within his mind at the voice residing there.

Not nescessarily, the voice continued to explain, you are oblivious to my hints aren't you?

Indeed , I don't get you at all!

You, are one of us. You just haven't went through the process of unlocking your power yet. If you want to try it out, come find me. I can lead you there.

Fine, I'll go.

Au'skas sighed and he turned around, calling out "I'm going to refresh myself!" as he walked toward the bolted steel door that separated the luxurious bridge from the rest of the ship. Walking down the cold steel-lined hallway that ran the backbone of the ship, Au'skas considered the facts that were presented in his mental conversation...

 

[CHAPTER FIVE END]

[Droid803]

Yea it's been a freaking long time since I posted anything.

I've decided to continue it - too good to let it go to waste.

 

==============================

Chapter Six: Escape

Date: 4:30 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Corridor 12716, CfC Impact, In-Battle, High Orbit, Aief

 

Au'skas braced himself against the wall as the Impact took a heavy hit from a Nema'ddi Cruiser.

"Seal decks 17 through 22, fire control!" Rishyk's voice shouted faintly from behind the closed door.

I've decided. Au'skas metally projected at the voice residing in his head.

Then we must go as soon as possible.

Alright, I'll find a reason to slip out.

As Au'skas turned around and walked towards the bridge, the ship again shook as Nema'ddi missile detonated just a few levels below where he was standing. Opening the door, Au'skas surveyed the panic-stricken crew rushing to fulfill Rishyk's orders, madly pressing buttons on their panels.

"Minister-General..." Au'skas asked tenatively.

"What is it?" Rishyk replied.

"There is a favor I wish to ask of you. We had already deducted that there is more to the wreckage around Irii-2 than we first suspected. The data on this disk is conclusive evidence about that theory - I had another look while I was out. I need a nullspace-traverser equipped ship - there are a set coordinates on the disk that could point toward further wreckage sites, which would immensely help the war effort. I wanted to ask before the battle but never had the chance." Au'skas stated as he waved the datadisk in his hand.

"Hm...there's not much you can do now anyway. A reinforcement fleet should be arriving soon, you can transfer on board the Reciprocator-class Gunship Victorious. I'm trusting you on your hunch."

"Thank you."

That wasn't so hard, was it? Au'skas spoke to the voice in his head, then turned to look out through the panorama windows. The Nema'ddi fleet had closed in an the ships could be seen with much more detail. Their armor seemed to absorb a certain amount of fire before taking physical damage - a barrier that would stop all projectiles, but when struck repeatedly, would fail, allowing projectiles through. After a few moments, the a voice sparked in the comm.

 

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"Minister-General Rishyk. This is Admiral Kra'salya on board CfC Instigator of the Gevran fourth fleet, we are entering the Aief system."

"Recieved. we could use some backup here. Just to note, do not fire on Zuyaer ships, repeat, do NOT fire on Zuayer ships."

"Affirmative."

'[Link Disengaged]'

 

The space behind the Impact opened up and the Gevran fourth fleet entered the system. The Instigator immediately unleashed a salvo upon a damaged Nema'dii cruiser drifting in its line of fire.

"The Victorious is pulling up alongside now, there's your ride, the rest of the Finder's crew is transferring onboard as well." Rishyk nodded at Au'skas as he turned and ran down towards the docking hatch.

 

***

Date: 4:40 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Bridge, RcG Victorious, Docked with CfC Impact, High Orbit, Aief

 

Au'skas took one final glance at the Impact before his Gunship disengaged docking procedure and parted from the larger cruiser.

Alright, now where to? Au'skas aksed to the voice in his head.

I doubt it is charted on your starmaps yet. The coordinates from this system is 44.66'88"X 23'21"Y 12'2334"Z, distance 130000 Standard Deviations

Alright.

"Engines at full power! We're disengaging and making a jump. Our vector is 44.66'88"X 23'21"Y 12'2334"Z. Set distance for 130000SD" Au'skas relayed the coordinates so the rest of the crew could hear.

The Victorious turned and headed for its jump vector, unleashing a final volley of shells at a Nema'ddi frigate, which replied by sending a volley of missiles back at its attacker.

"Four heat sources heading towards our position. They're Nema'ddi missiles." The sensor officer shouted.

"Evasive maneuvers! Rear machine guns try to shoot down those missiles!" Au'skas barked the orders and gripped the side of his chair.

The Victorious spun around, narrowly avoiding three of missiles as they exploded into a shower of shaprenal, peppering the ship with slivers of metal.

"We're going to make it!" Au'skas the Victorious neared the jump vector at full speed. As the nullspace portal opened in front of the Gunship, the final missile struck the rear portion of the ship, blasting it into a mangled mess that promptly split off.

The ship shook violently as in entered the portal and Au'skas closed his eyes, bracing for the worst.

 

***

Date: 4:50 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Bridge, RcG Victorious, Unknown Area

 

Au'skas opened his eyes and looked around. The bridge was completely intact, the crew members opening their eyes one by one. They weren't dead. For now, and that was all they could be sure of at that moment.

"Everyone alright?" Au'skas asked. A murmur from the crew confirmed the statement. "Damage report?"

"All systems are offline, the only things we have are search lights - enough battery power for two hours, auxiliary maneuvering jets - six bursts, and backup life support, sir, enough to last us three days."

"Ok, so lets sum this up. We make a blind jump to who knows where, and get hit and dumped out somewhere along the way so We have no idea where in the seventeen hells we are. We have no engines, no comm, and just enough air to last us three days. Wonderful."

An eerie silence fell over the already-shaken crew as they realized the predicament they had fallen into.

Wait, I doubt this is far from destination. The voice in Au'skas's head said.

What do you mean?

The nullspace traverser completed the jump - I can feel it. This is close by. The station should be somewhere here...

"We're pretty much hosed no matter what we do, but do a sweep with the search lights - there might be something here we could use." Au'skas suggested.

The lights engaged, tracing out the shadows of the ship's wrecked parts drifting past as well as painting bright lights of the clouds of larger debris surrounding the ship - wreckage from another ancient battle? The lights danced in a lazy arc, lighting up the wreckage until they fell upon a structure, larger than the rest, locked in position somewhere in the distance. Au'skas squinted to try and discern its shape, but it was fuzzy and obscured by a cloud of swirling dark matter and debris.

That's it. the voice in Au'skas's head whispered, barely noticable the Eye of Revelation, the sphere of suspended animation. There it is...

What?

The construct that holds my physical body and a plethora of technologies intended for those who could find it. It is impenetrable, save by my word.

"That...thing in the distance. Bring us closer. That looks like something we could use." Au'skas said.

As the remains of the Victorious drifted up towards the station, the crew gazed at it, mesmerized by the surrounding dust cloud's reflections and refractions in the beams of light. All of a sudden, space lit up as the sun broke over the horizon of the immensely large, planet, silhouetting the field of wreckage that formed its rings, drowning out darkness with a wave of light. When the star's rays hit the dust cloud surrounding the station, it lit up in a cascade of iridescent lights, flickering, glowing, radiant. The crew continued to gaze at the brilliant display, captivated by the wondrous sight as the blasted hull of their ship drew closer to the station. The flickering individual lights merged, forming images of wondrous things.

Hey, wake up. Going to crash! The voice in Au'skas's head snapped him back into reality.

"Watch it!" Au'skas shouted, releasing the crew from the spell of the dust cloud, narrowly stopping the ship beside a docking prong before it impaled the ship and caused further damage.

"Docking procedure completed, as best as we can with what we've got." An officer reported.

"Good, prepare a boarding party."

I've disabled the station's defenses the voice in Au'skas's head stated, free to go in now.

Au'skas headed into the station cautiously despite the assurance - something whirred in the darkness inside the station and he had heard it...

 

[CHAPTER SIX END]

[Droid803]

==============================

Chapter Seven: Return

Date: 5:00 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Main Deck, Platform Eye of Revelation, Orbit, Unknown Sector

 

Au'skas squinted into the darkness, trying to discern what had made the noise. Seeing nothing, he motioned for the rest of the team to move forwards. As soon as he stepped into the threshold, a single, glowing red light light up. As he stared into the immobile red glow, an aura of dread and uncertainty came flooding over Au'skas and an involuntary shiver went up his spine. A moment later, the unwavering red light moved. Reflexively, Au'skas flicked out his mangneblade and ran it through the neck vaguely-humanoid hunk of metal that the glowing red light was attached to where the head would have been. The head flew in an arc across the room, laning several feet away. The mechanical body shuddered and fell over. At the same time, singular red lights went on around the circular chamber.

"There's more of them!" Au'skas shouted to the rest of the team, too late, as bolts of orange energy jumped from an extrusion on the machine's arm portion, lacing into the soldiers and killing them where they stood. Au'skas leapt, diving behind the wreckage of the destroyed machine and slicing through the torso of another two machines as he landed. Bolts of energy flew at him from all directions as Au'skas leapt towards a fourth machine, severing it at the waist, then spinning around to deflect the shots with his magneblade, demonstrating swordsmanship skills he didn't know he had. The bolts reflected off the electromagnet blade an deflected at random angles, occasionally lacing into a machine and causing it to explode. Dancing in a zigzag pattern around the circular chamber and lashing out to decapitate machines, Au'skas fell into a rhythym - block, dodge, slash...block, dodge, slash... One by one the machines fell, either to their own fire or to the magnetized blade. Seeing the final enemy, Au'skas lunged and thrust his blade through the torso of the final machine, rendering it a useless piece of scrap metal.

Au'skas stood up an glanced around the room littered with smoking wreckage for the smallest sign of movement. Seeing none, he returned the blade to its sheath to recharge. It was then that he noticed the voice in his head had been silent for the entire time.

You lied! Au'skas mentally projected, you said the station's defenses had been deactivated! This cost the lives of my fellow crewmen!

The outburst was met by silence.

Now you're quiet? Au'skas asked, irritated that the voice in his head had seemingly vanished, Fine. I'll find you...and I expect you to talk!

Au'skas took a long look around the room for anything that might contain the physical form of the voice that once resided in his head. A green blinking light caught his attention and cautiously, Au'skas advanced. It was a control panel of sorts - with writing engraved in some cryptic language unlike what he had seen on other constructs. Taking an assumption, he hit the large button in the center with a flashing green light. As he hit it, a strange voice announced something over the announcement system on the station in an unknown language. The wall in front of him opened up to reveal a small white chamber, well lit, but with no features on the walls. At the center, one of the two figures that were referenced in relation to the nullspace traverser sat, in a meditating position. Her eyes opened and said in the voice that used to reside in his head, "Hello. I think we've already met, but I haven't introduced myself. I've had many names over the eons, but to you, I am the last Celestial, the Avatar of Renewal."

"What was that about?!" Au'skas asked, slightly angered, while gesturing the heaps of smoldering wreckage behind him.

"Those," the figure in the room said, "were not part of my defenses."

"Then..."

"We should leave now. I'm sorry about the loss of those soldiers, I did not foresee that this station would be boarded by their sentinels...no, I did not foresee that they would awaken before I did."

"Alright lets-" Au'skas was cut off by an explosion that rocked the Eye of Revelation.

 

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"Captain! We are under fi-"

'[Link Disconnected]'

 

"I'm going to activate the external turret grid, there's a two-person shuttle in the hangar three levels down, its going to take a few minutes to warm up after all that time in stasis!" Renewal shouted to Au'skas, "Go! The lift is over there!"

Au'skas nodded and ran for the lift and hit the button for the hangar. The lift moved at an extreme rate - the door opened after an instant of free-falling, and Au'skas stood at the back of the hangar, looking out at space through the atmospheric containment field. The dust cloud around the station served as a one-way illusory mirror, allowing Au'skas a perfect view of the fleet of skeletal ships resembling Hammerhead sharks and Manta rays approaching above the horizon of the gas giant, silhouetted by the sun from behind, unleash columns of orange fire at the station. Au'skas ran into the only craft in the hangar and powered up the systems, suddenly being able to interpret the cryptic script the controls were labeled in. The craft whirred to life, lights lit and diagnosis systems ran checks on the craft's critical systems.

"Lets go!" Renewal shouted as she ran up and sat down on the vacant seat, just as the systems checks finished. "The station's external turrets should buy us enough time to reach the jump vector."

The craft lifted up and flew past the atmospheric containment field, out through the dust cloud and into open space. Immediately, the skeletal ships sighted the shuttle, and a huge column of orange fire erupted from the mouth a Manta-ray ship, headed straight for the small escape shuttle.

 

[CHAPTER SEVEN END]

[Droid803]

==============================

Chapter Eight: Prelude to Destruction

Date: 5:30 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Escape Shuttle, In-Combat, Unknown Sector

 

Au'skas pulled hard on the controls to avoid getting incinerated in the orange blast. Even so, the huge column of fire singed the left wing of the shuttle, clipping it off. Pulling a barrel roll to avoid a volley of smaller shots, the shuttle's two passengers strained under the motion of the shuttle's evasive maneuvers.

"Where's the jump vector!?" Au'skas shouted as he yanked on the controls again to pull away from some flak, "they're starting to launch...fighters!"

The belly of one of the large manta-shaped skeleton ships opened up, and out poured thousands of broken-disc shade craft.

"The computer is preprogrammed with the vectors for five safe locations set up after the final war. the nearest vector is near the tail of that large battleship." Renewal replied.

"Then here goes nothing!" Au'skas slammed the thruster to 200% power, "I fly, you shoot!"

The small escape shuttle sped into the incoming cloud of fighters, shots from its single rapid-fire laser cannon lacing through the thin armor of the flimsy enemy craft. Pulling a downward spiral to avoid a torrent of small orange bursts, the shuttle spun to avoid large, inaccurate bursts from the back-mounted cannons of the manta-shaped battleship.

"Go into the little valley between the two rows of spine that line its vertabrae!" Renewal shouted towards Au'skas while firing another burst of laser into the enemy fighters, "Most of the heavy cannons can't hit us there!"

"Alright..." Au'skas stated as he lowered the speeding shutting into the narrow valley between the spines. A final large streak of orange fire flew overhead as the craft sped along the bottom of the valley, swerving to avoid the occasional spine that rose between the two larger spines.

"That spine up ahead, fire a torpedo into it! The shards from the explosion should take out a few of the fighters!"  Renewal said as she again pulled the trigger, "Actually, lets wreck this ship a bit. fire it into the large spine at the end."

Au'skas nodded and continued to concentrate on avoid collisions in the narrow tunnel, while dodging as much of the pursuing fighter's fire as he could. Nearing the large spine, he released four missiles and pulled up and left to avoid running into the spire. The missiles struck the spine at its base, four huge fireballs consuming the bottom portion of the spine, engulfing a good number of the fighters as well. At the same time, fireballs erupted from the hull of the battleship at random locations, throwing up chunks of the hull into the path the pursuing fighters. As the shuttle flew off  the rear of the gargantuan manta-shaped battleship, a tremendous shockwave threw the shuttle forward. Au'skas activated the nullspace traverser and spared himself a moment to look back and see the enormous battleship heave and split into two.

"I never expected THAT to happen." Au'skas stated as the ship jumped into nullspace.

"Neither did I. That must have been a coolant node or something - the explosion looks similar to a core overload." Renewal replied, smiling.

"Right..."

 

***

Date: 5:50 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Escape Shuttle, In Orbit, Haven A

 

"Now you've seen the forces of Those who were Banished, the Dark Praetorite," Renewal said in a serious tone, "we got lucky that time - we managed to escape relatively unscathed and destroyed one of their battleships as well."

"That fleet was immense..."

"They've spent eons rebuilding after their defeat. The disturbing of the black hole of Nostrius provided the perfect opportunity for them to overpower the Guardian ships we left to prevent them from escaping." Renewal sighed, "I can only hope that we will have some time before they discover the safe havens and the sentient species."

"What will happen if they do?" Au'skas asked tentatively.

"The Scion of Misery will have servants to enslave once again...all of what my people fought for so long ago would be lost. Individually, the three sentient races don't stand a chance...but if they pooled their knowledge and expertise, it may be possible to mount a significant defense..."

"The three sentient races?" Au'skas asked, afraid of the answer.

"Yes, the ones who have been fighting amongst themselves - the Zuyaer,the Nema'ddi, and the Gevrans. You have some training to do...and I need to recuperate my power. We can only hope that they can see past their differences and unite to face the coming Darkness."

The shuttle drifted up to a space station and docked, and Au'skas and Renewal walked out and inside.

"Come on! We have lots of work to do before we can do anything to change the outcome of this conflict, but we should be done in time so brighten up!" A suddenly-cheerful Renewal smiled and motioned for Au'skas to enter the training chamber.

 

***

Date: 5:50 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Bridge, CfC Impact, In-Battle, High Orbit, Aief

 

Rishyk stared in disbelief as a fourth faction entered the system. The immense skeletal ships appeared in the distance and rapidly closed in, unleashing huge columns of orange energy at the three battling fleets.

"What is this madness!?" Rishyk exclaimed as a large orange plume struck the Instigator, in the distance in front of the Impact, splitting the cruiser into two burning halves.

The comm screens flickered on, and the leaders of the Zuyaer, and Nema'dii fleets proposed an alliance against the mysterious new arrival that was technologically and numerically superior to the three fleets combined.

Rishyk's head hurt - the destruction signal of the Victorious working on his conscience not helping at all. He motioned for his fleet to open fire on the nearest huge skeletal manta-shaped battleship and cradled his head in his hands...

 

[CHAPTER EIGHT END]

[Droid803]

==============================

Chapter Nine: Interlude

Date: 6:30 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Bridge, CfC Impact, In-Battle, High Orbit, Aief

 

"Situation Untenable! All forces, retreat!" Rishyk shouted over to the comm to the captains of all surviving ships - there weren't too many. In the battle prior, almost constant chatter aboard the comm system revealed the truth - the Nema'ddi were pursued to the system, followed by the strange skeletal ships, who had knocked out their comm system. Arriving at a system with two fleets already fighting, they assumed hostility and opened fire.

"Wissse Counsssel..." the Zuayer commander hissed in reply, and then hissed some orders to the remnants of the fleet.

In the forty minutes prior, the large skeletal battleships had tore through the three allied fleets, decimating them. Rishyk gazed out at the enormous debris field as the Impact swung its prow around and engaged its powerful engines. The skeletal vessels had closed in to near point-blank range and spewed columns of fire at the retreating vessels, immolating them as they turned around to flee.

"All fleetsss...dissssperssse! We don't want them following ussss to any of our homeworldsssss...."

"Alright! Crew! Our jump vector is 10.22'45"X 89'12"Y 22'15"Z, distance 145801 Standard Deviations! Fleet, set random jump vectors! We don't want them following us!"

The Impact Swerved again, barely avoiding a plume of enemy fire, and engaged its nullspace traverser and leapt into nullspace.

 

 

***

Date: 6:00 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Training Chamber, Haven A Station, Orbit, Haven A

 

The training room was dark, but it was bright enough for Au'skas to see that it was devoid of any obstacles on the floor. The dim red-ish light cast long shadows and twisted the room's dimensions - the perfect lighting for training people's senses - Au'skas knew. It was the same lighting that the trainers used back on Gevra to weed out potential Marines that did not have good sense perception. Au'skas had passed the Marine corps trials with flying colors - he didn't mind the lighting.

Au'skas watched as Renewal swriled her arms in the air in front of her, materializing a gleaming sliver blade engraved with cryptic hieroglyphs.`

"This is a training activity to assess your swordsmanship skills. Your objective, disarm me. Conditions to prevent, becoming disarmed yourself." Renewal smiled and twirled the gleaming blade above her head as she spoke.

"But I've never had any practice in duels!" Au'skas objected, "I've only been taught how to use the blade for stealth killing when I was a Marine!"

"Don't speak nonses," Renewal's smile faded as she spoke, "you destroyed a full compliment of sentinel assassin droids single handedly without a scratch."

"I didn't even know what I was doing!"

"Well then, you seem to have good innate ability, let us begin, the purpose of this is to refine your innate ability into reliable, useable skill."

As soon as Renewal finished the statement, she vanished and appeared in front of Au'skas, who barely had time to avoid her downward strike before she instantly switched direction and slashed at his feet along the ground. Au'skas brought his magneblade down to block the strike with speed that surprised himself, and quickly leapt back, out of Renewal's reach.

"Fine then! Let's dance." Au'skas shouted and lifted his blade into a stance mimicking Renwal's.

"That's the spirit!" Renewal said as she blinked from view and appeared again, this time to Au'skas's right. In a fluid motion, Au'skas brought his blade to precisely where Renewal's blade arced, and the two blades sparked in the power-struggle. Both pulled back and brought the blades together, again and again, slashing, blocking and parrying. Then suddenly, Remewal disappeared once more and appeared this time directly in front of Au'skas, blade raised. Au'skas watched as his blade arced in slow motion backwards until it hit the floor of the room and shattered.

"Hm...not bad for a first try," Renewal smiled and waved her hand and a new magneblade appeared. She tossed the blade over to Au'skas. "Now, when..."

 

***

Date: 7:00 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Bridge, CfC Impact, Orbiting, High Orbit, Unknown Planet

 

Rishyk was staring at the empty vastness of space as contemplating the situation when the comm bleeped online.

 

'[Establishing Connection...Please Wait]'

'[Link Engaged]'

"Minister-General Rishyk, this is Chairman Issat. Lord Protector Xwelk of the Zuyaer and Fae'rski'tar'ix-yn of the Nema'ddi have requested the representation of out race at the Stuhko-VII Station to negotiate how we should work together. I have important business to do, and I have chosen you to represent us."

"I am honored."

"Date is 0:00 Tsuaga 56, 7052 at Stuhko-VII."

"Affirmative."

'[Link Disengaged]'

 

Rishyk knew that the alliance that was to be negotiated was crucial to the survival of all three races, yet he could not shake the feeling that there was to be some kind of double cross. Regardless, he gave the order to be at Stuhko-VII at the given time, and relayed information to some of the ships with higher-ranking commanders. The Impact turned and faced its jump vector and pulled itself into nullspace towards the meeting ground.

The Stuhko System was two thirds of the way across the galaxy from where the Impact launched itself into nullspace. Rishyk sat down in his captain's chair and dozed off to sleep - it would be a long ride and a long day ahead.

 

***

Date: 11:50 Tsuaga 55, 7052

Location: Bridge, CfC Impact, Orbiting, High Orbit, Stuhko-VII, Stuhko System

 

"Minister-General, we have arrived at the Stukho System. The rest of the fleet has been gathered, along with the Zuyaer and Nema'dii forces."

"Good. Prepare the shuttle for launch." Rishyk noted the two large battleships floating a ways away from the station - the flagships of the Nema'ddi and Zuyaer fleets.

Rishyk walked to the back of the bridge and into the lift which would take him down to the external docking ports where several shuttles were strapped on to the hull. Selecting the one that was the least damaged, he and two personal guards stepped in to the small, metal box and shut the hatch. The shuttle broke away from the larger craft and used its maneuvering jets to position itself on the space station docking platform where a tunnel extended to connect it to the main structure. Rishky stepped out of the shuttle and walked into the station.

 

[CHAPTER NINE END]