Fan:Nebula
| Nebula | |
|---|---|
| Author: | |
| Completion Status: |
Incomplete |
Prologue
Aboard the starship Ghost:
"So, will you join us?" the man said. They stood aboard a space ship, thousands of miles away from any habitable planet.
"Yesss... we will," a hooded figure said. Two red eyes shone from under the hood.
"You swear you shall only use your powers of mind control against our enemies, not our allies, correct?"
"Yes," it croaked.
The man nodded.
"Rally the fleet, prepare to warp."
"Yes sir."
"All weapons loaded?"
"Yes sir."
"Good."
"Set warp to ZETA-13," the man said.
"Sir, that is the location of more than half of the Nexus Fleet!"
"Yes, that is correct, and pretty soon it will be the graveyard of half of the Nexus Fleet!"
Chapter 1
Nexus Tower:
The door slid open, and a man walked inside Xeron's office. Xeron was now a member of the high council, who voted and made decisons on behalf of the Nexus Force.
"Sir, we have received word that ZETA-13 has been attacked by a mysterious fleet of ships."
Xeron's brow furrowed.
"I wonder....," he said. "Do we have any idea who is responsible?"
"It is believed that they are rebels from the previous rebellion."
"But.... wasn't it the Darkitect that led that rebellion?"
"Yes it was, however apparently these people still believe in the ideals of the rebellion. They believe that they should be able to make all choices, and that all choices, including declarations of war should be made by a vote of the people."
"But what if the people have incorrect information?"
"That is why this cannot happen."
"So they attack?"
"Clearly."
"We must strike back, ready the remaining fleet, I will go on the NS Nexus, are there any other ships that are ready to go immediately?"
"Yes sir, the light cruiser Firefly."
"Send it along as well, we must stop this Rebellion before it destroys us."
Chapter 2
Aboard N.S. Nebula:
Robert Steward, or Fixer, as he was normally called, looked up from his console.
"Sir, scans show two ships ahead of us, surrounded in rubble," he said.
Admiral Phalanx nodded.
"Put it on the main view screen."
A picture appeared, in front of them loomed two hulks, they were surrounded by small pieces of metal and glass.
"It's the fleet," Silver "Hawkeye" Lee, the lead scientist aboard the Nebula said. "Destroyed."
The four faction leaders walked up, they were old now, and had come aboard the Nebula to see what was going on.
"Identify those ships," Plalanx ordered.
"Roger," Fixer said. He pressed a few buttons.
"Unidentified class, one heavy warship and one heavy cruiser," he whispered, as if he had to be careful so that the enemies wouldn't here them.
Phalanx nodded, and was about to speak when Fixer interrupted him.
"Enemy light fighters, classification: Shadows, incoming! Closing, high speed!"
"Launch Eagle fighters, send them to attack the enemy fighters. Lock conventional missiles on enemy warships."
"Yes sir!"
Captain Lawrence, last name unknown, callsign "Genus" was the top pilot aboard the Nebula. Now he sat in an Eagle fighter.
"Launching in three, two, one," a voice said over the loadspeeker. The ship accelerated into space. Quickly Genus took his bearings and advanced towards the enemy fighters.
"We've got around 30 fighters inbound," he said, communicating back with the Nebula. "ETA, two minutes."
"Roger that Genus, you are clear to attack," the voice crackled over the microphone.
Genus aimed his fighter at the enemies.
"So long," he whispered, as he fired a long burst of machine gun fire towards them. One of the ships exploded into flames. Quickly he switched to his unguided rocket pods, and fired off more than a dozen rockets. They exploded in mid-air, destroying another two. Then Genus noticed a Shadow behind him. A burst of machine gun fire ripped into his fighter, and the lights fizzled and went out.
Chapter 3
Aboard Nebula:
Slikor felt something strange creep into him, not into his body, but into his mind.
"Do you feel it?" he whispered.
Phalanx looked at him, but did not speak. They had all been put into a trance by this strange power.
"It's the Cyclonians," Hawkeye said in a hushed voice. "The tales tell of them, cloaked hooded figures with red eyes, they have the powers of mind control. Records say they have been gone for thousands of years!"
Slikor's mind wasn't normal, though. His mind was different. It was the way he had been born. He had the ability to extend his mind and connect to others, and through that control the other's mind. In other words, he was the only one aboard the Nebula who had the powers of mind control. He struck back at the strange mind, slowly he felt the other's mind slip back, back, and back, until it was gone.
In the void of space:
Slowly the lights flickered back on. A red light on the fighter's command console began to flash. Genus cursed. An enemy was locking on with missiles.
The words "enemy missile launched" displayed on the screen. Genus slammed his fist down on the flare button, and flares were thrown out the back of the craft. The missile missed. Quickly Genus turned his fighter around, bringing his guns to bear on the Shadow that had just nearly destroyed him. He fired a long burst, and the fighter exploded into a ball of flame. He turned his Eagle around once more. Quickly he switched his weapon type to lock on missiles, as a targetting crosshair appeared on his view-screen. He aimed at the enemy.
The words "locking" flashed for a few seconds, which was then replaced with the word "locked". Genus fired the missile, it streaked through smash at thousands of miles an hour, hitting the enemy ship, creating a huge shockwave that knocked out the power of many of the enemy fighters. Then Genus went in and destroyed them with unguided rockets and machine guns. Behind him flew the rest of his squad called Chrome squad. It was an easy victory.
Chapter 4
Aboard Nebula:
All Eagle fighters had returned to Nebula, except one, in which the pilot was forced to eject. The battle, however, was not over. In the bridge Fixer noticed a red light on his command console.
"Sir, the 2nd landing deck has been breached!"
"I will go investigate, alone," Slikor said.
Plalanx shook his head.
"No, alone you don't stand a chance if there is a full squad of rebels.
"You'd be surprised," came the reply.
Hawkeye whispered something to Phalanx.
"Alright, you may go," Phalanx said.
Slikor walked out the door of the bridge, to the main elevator. He pressed a button on the control console, and the elevator began to descend. He arrived quickly, and the door slid open. Quietly, he walked inside. He looked around, straight ahead of him were a squad of seven men, wearing gas masks. Slikor reached out with his mind. One man began to shake, as if he was sitting in the freezing cold water of the arctic. The others looked at him. While they were distracted, Slikor advanced. He drew his sword, and attacked. One attacker spun around just in time, and blocked a sword slash with his gun. Slikor, with one flick of his wrist knocked the gun out of the man's hands. Then with another, he smashed him. He lunged at another, smashing him. Soon there was only one man left. The man fired, but in his haste, he missed. He began to run, as he struggled to reload. Slikor didn't bother chasing him, he aimed, and threw his sword. It spun through the air, reflecting the artificial light, until it arrived. The man fell to the floor. Slikor walked to where he lay and picked up the sword. Little did he know, however, that the squad's objective was not to destroy the Nebula with their guns, but with chemicals.
Chapter 5
Aboard the Nebula's bridge:
"Sir," Fixer said. "Alarm in the 2nd landing bay: chemical."
Phalanx's brow furrowed.
"Radio Slikor, I need to talk to him." "Yes sir."
"Slikor, what is going on there, we are getting a chemical alarm."
Slikor caughed.
"Green gas- not enough air-," he croaked.
"Get a squad down there at once," Phalanx said.
"Roger that."
Delta squad:
"I heard it's a chemical alarm," Jim said, he was the squad leader.
"No idea," another said. They were all wearing gas masks, just in case.
Finally they arrived.
Jim pressed the button on the command console, but the door didn't open.
"Need breaching charges," he said.
The delta explosives expert, who they nick-named "Boom" handed him a packet of C-8. Jim put it against the wall, and moved away. Just as he detonated the explosion, green gas began to seep out of the hole in the door.
The squad walked in.
"Close the door," Jim said.
"But how?" Boom asked. "We just blew it open?"
"Command, lock down all doors in hallway 3 2nd hanger deck. Chemical alert."
Quickly three doors fell behind them, blocking the gas.
"There he is," one of the men said, pointing to a figure lying on the ground.
Jim nodded. It was Slikor.
"Let's move."
Quickly they moved towards him, and put a spare gas mask on him. The squad medic shook him. Finally he opened an eye.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"We are here to get you out."
"Wait, what happened, and who am I?"
Jim looked at the medic.
"Severe memory loss, we need to get him out of here, but we just shut the doors."
"We'll go through the vent," Jim said. He walked towards the wall, and took off a panal revealing an air vent.
"We have to go through here."
Chapter 6
The vent smelled, it hadn't mean cleaned in a while, but the gas masks protected them.
The medic dragged Slikor through the vent.
"Where are we trying to go?" one asked.
"The bridge," Jim replied. "This vent leads to the bridge."
They followed Jim. It took over half an hour, and the vent was hot. They were wearing full body armor plus chemical warfare suits, so there core temperature was well over one hundred degrees. Finally they arrived. Jim popped the vent and leapt through.
"Surprise," he said. He stood in the middle of the bridge. The medic jumped out, carrying Slikor.
Phalanx smiled.
"Good work, I'll put you up for promotion."
"Thank you sir, but I didn't do it alone."
"Then you're all up for promotion, go get some rest. We'll take it from here."
"One more thing, he's lost his memory."
Phalanx tryed not to look angry.
Jim saluted and walked out of the bridge with the rest of Delta squad. Slikor was quickly brought to the medical wing. Hawkeye, who was the best doctor aboard the Nebula, hooked him up to a computer. He shook his head.
"The chemical has done damage to his central nervous system, and his brain."
He looked at the computer. A zig zag line showed his heart beats. Then suddenly the light began to flatten. Hawkeye's brow furrowed.
"What... the," the line continued to become straighter.
Slikor did not move. Finally the line became perfectly straight.
His heart had stopped beating, but that didn't mean he was gone. He could still be revived, Hawkeye was the best doctor on the Nebula, but he still wasn't a very good doctor. He had no idea how to revive his patient.
Chapter 7
In the Nebula's medical wing: Hawkeye looked around frantically. He grabbed the electro-shock pads, and connected them to Slikor's chest. He pressed the button. Electricity flowed through them. Slowly, Slikor's chest began to rise and fall once more. Hawkeye breathed a sigh of relief. The straight line turned back into a zig zag, as began to sit up.
"Who are you?" Hawkeye, asked, testing him.
"My name is Slikor," he said.
Hawkeye smiled.
"You have your memory back."
Slikor nodded. He began to get up.
"Hey!" Hawkeye said. "You're going to be staying in bed for a while."
He pushed Slikor back down, Slikor was too weak to resist.
"I'll be back in a moment," Hawkeye said.
At the Nebula's bridge:
"Strange," Fixer said.
Phalanx looked at him, and so did Xeron, who had just come to the bridge to watch what was going on.
"What?" he asked.
"I don't know, but secondary power systems are shutting down."
Phalanx looked at him as if he were crazy.
"THEN SAY SOMETHING MAN!"
Fixer looked tacken aback.
Then his brow furrowed.
"Wait, I see something. It's a virus, a computer virus, biological in nature, it's taking control of the systems."
"Biological?"
"The gas must of also contained some sort of computer virus."
Phalanx scowled.
"The secondary power systems are infected, they serve as a sort of base for the virus, from which it can spread."
Suddenly the lights went out. A few seconds the later the secondary lighting turned on.
"Lighting offline," Fixer said.
Phalanx looked around.
"If it gets to life support...."
"I'm trying something," Fixer said. He inputted a few lines of code.
"No, the virus is too powerful now. Our basic anti-virus systems won't hurt them. We have a choice, we can try to break the network, which could destroy all our systems, or we could try to destroy the virus with our own."
"There is another option," Zemith, second engineer in command said. He held up a wrench.
Chapter 8
Fixer looked at him skeptically.
"I don't like this id-," he began.
Phalanx shook his head.
"Whatever he has in mind, we might as well try it. The two ideas you gave us weren't very good. Let's see his."
Zemith nodded.
"I need to get to the secondary power controls, if you want me to fix the problems," he said.
"Do it," Phalanx said.
"Yes sir," Fixer agreed.
He and Zemith walked out of the bridge.
"What is your idea?" Fixer asked.
"You'll see."
"Probably a bad idea, if you aren't brave enough to show me."
Fixer and Zemith had never been on good terms with each other.
Zemith smiled.
"My idea is better than any of your ideas."
Fixer scowled.
Finally they arrived at the secondary power unit.
"So what are you going to do, open it up?" Fixer asked.
Zemith smiled.
"No," he said.
Fixer raised an eyebrow. Zemith brought up his wrench, and brought it down again, hitting the power until. He hit it again. It smashed.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Fixer asked.
"I just fixed the problem," Zemith the said. If the secondary power unit is the base of the virus, then why don't we just destroy the base."
"But, but...," Fixer said.
Zemith smiled and walked away.
On the Nebula's bridge:
"Sir, I think Zemith should be demoted. He fixed the problem by smashing the power unit, and didn't tell me his plan before hand. He was rude to a superior officer, which could possibly start mutiny," Fixer said. He was trying to convince Phalanx to demoted Zemith.
"Fixer, he fixed the problem, unlike you, so you should probably shut your mouth, however, I"ll talk to him, and you, later."
Fixer scowled but didn't say anything.
"Dismissed," Phalanx said.
The door slid open, as Fixer walked through it.
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Zemith looked at Phalanx.
"Sir, we are detecting a large object, moving towards us."
"Put it up on the screen," Phalanx said.
"Yes sir."
A starship appeared, and written on the side of it was the word Ghost.
"It's the Ghost," Phalanx whispered. "The rebel flagship."
"Sir," Hawkeye said. "They're launching missiles."
Phalanx spun around.
"Conventional or nuclear?"
"Conventional," Hawkeye said.
"How many are being fired?"
"Fifty, approx."
"They could tear us appart," Phalanx said. "Spool up the warp."
"Yes sir, it will take around five minutes."
Phalanx nodded.
"Missiles, inbound, they'll hit in around thirty seconds," Zemith said.
Phalanx cursed.
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
An explosion rocked the ship.
"Can we jump yet?" Phalanx asked.
"We should be able to," Zemith said. "But the missiles destroyed our warp drives!
Chapter 11
In the Nebula's main flight deck:
Genus ran towards his fighter. He had orders to fly a hit and run mission against the Ghost.
"Genus, you are cleared for launch," Zira said. She was now the flight controller, making sure all pilots took off at the right time and place.
Suddenly there was an explosion. Genus was knocked off his feat, and hit the floor just as a piece of shrapnel flew above his head.
Genus looked outside to see a huge gaping hole in the ship. Men poured through it, they wore vests are masks, and carried machine guns.
Genus struggled to get up, and drew his pistol.
He dropped one soldier, and then another. Finally a medic dragged him out of the scene.
On the Nebula's bridge:
"Sir, sir!" Zemith said. "The main landing deck has been breached!"
Phalanx spun around.
"Enemy foot soldiers are onboard!" Zemith said.
"What squads do we have available?" "Alpha, bravo, charlie," Zemith said.
Phalanx nodded.
"Send them down to deal with the foot soldiers. We need to get our warps repaired, Zemith, get down there and fix them."
"But, sir...," Zemith said.
"What?" "I don't know how."
Chapter 12
"What do you mean you don't know how?"
"Fixer never taught me."
Phalanx sighed.
"Get me a direct line to Fixer," he said.
"Yes sir."
The microphone crackled
"Fixer, we need you to fix the warp drives," Phalanx said.
"What? Zemith can't do it?"
"No, he can't."
"Then fix it yourself."
"FIXER, YOU GET DOWN HERE AND REPORT TO THE BRIDGE IMMEDIATELY!"
"Yes sir."
Alpha squad:
"Let's move," then squad leader said.
He kicked the door open.
Men stood in front of them.
"IDENTIFATION!" the leader shouted.
The men raised their guns, and where about to fire when they heard a muffled shout. One of the men writhed around, with a gloved hand over his mouth. Then, he fell. Genus stood behind him. He downed the rest of the men with his pistol.
"Thanks," the squad leader said, aware that Genus had just saved his life.
"Let's move," Genus said.
They creapt through the main launch deck. Then Genus heard a noise. He looked at the leader, who had heard it too.
Genus leapt forwards, turning around a corner. He fired three shots, and the man hit the floor.
"Wait," Genus said. "I here a sound."
The squad leader spun around to look at him.
"What?"
"It's a beeping noise...."
"Wait, I think I here it."
"It's coming from that fighter over there."
"Let's go."
They arrived at the fighter. Then the squad leader noticed something. There was a small object stuck to it, making a beeping noise and flashing a red light.
"EXPLOSIVES!" he shouted, but it was too late.
Chapter 13
Genus was flung back, and the squad leader, hit the ground hard. He was wounded. Genus got up and went to the squad leader. He shook him, but there was no response. Genus grabbed the squad leader and began to drag him off the scene when three men wearing gas masks appeared. The held flame-throwers. A burst of fire erupted from them, burning the rows of fighters in the launch bay. There was an explosion as the fire reached the fuel tanks. Genus fired his pistol at one of them, hitting him and seding him flying. He downed another. The third one advanced. Genus fired, but his gun clicked. Out of ammo. The enemy charged, he sent a burst of flame in Genus's direction. It singed his hair and skin. The man advanced, and knocked Genus to the floor. He drew a pistol and aimed. He was about to fire when he was sent flying backwards. Genus looked around, to see Phalanx holding a smoking gun.
"What are you doing here?" he stammered.
"I decided to see how my squads where doing. Fixer's decided to fix the warp drives for us. I'm tasking you Genus, to be his personal body guard."
"Yes sir."
"Report to the bridge."
"Will do so immediately."
Genus jogged towards the elevator, hit the breaks, and pressed the touchpad that opened the door. Then he pressed the button marked "bridge" and began his assent. Then, there was a crack, and the elevator stopped moving.
Chapter 14
Genus cursed. He got on his intercom.
"Hey, this is Genus, I'm in an elevator and its not moving."
The man on the intercom laughed.
"You're kidding right."
"No, seriously, send down an explosive squad immediately?"
"Sir, I'm not authorized to do that."
"JUST DO IT NOW!"
"Alright sir, but it is under your orders."
"Yeah, sure."
A few minutes later Genus heard a crack.
"Stand back," a voice cried.
Genus moonwalked backwards.
There was an explosion as a hole was ripped in the elevator, but it wasn't the explosive squad, it was a rebel squad.
The men wore anti explosive suits, and skull shaped masks. They wore a patch named "Renegade". Renegade squad, Genus had heard about them. They where the rebel elite. The members of Renegade squad aimed and fired. A bullet hit Genus in the chest, but his body armor protected him. With his pistol he fired, but incredibably the skull mask protected the men. Genus threw his grenade. He had cooked it for two seconds, and it exploded one second after he threw it. The high power grenade blew a hole in the elevator, but it also blew a hole in the launch bay. It exploded a line of fighters, causing a huge chunk of the ship to fly off. The Renegades were thrown out into the vacuum of space. They activated their jetpacks and flew towards the Ghost. The issue, though, was that Genus didn't have any protection against the vacuum of space. He held on for dear life to the a chunk of what remained of the elevator. His legs dangled dangerously in the vacuum. He knew that he couldn't survive long while being exposed to the vacuum of space. He hoped the explosive squad would arrive in time.
Chapter 15
Genus remembered his time in the pilot academy, where they had been taught that a human could only last one minute exposed to the vacuum of space. He counted the seconds. 45, 46, 47, 48, still no explosive squad. 49, 50, his heart began to beat faster and faster. 51, 52, 53, he stuggled to hold on as the deadly pull of the vacuum tried to suck him up in it's evil power. 54, 55, 56, he only had four more seconds to live. Then suddenly he felt someone pulling him, up. The squadron had arrived. He held on for dear life, as they pushed him through the door.
"You should get some rest," the squad leader said.
"No," Genus said. "I've got to get to the bridge."
"Sorry sir, but we can't allow you to do that, Phalanx's orders."
"I don't care what Phalanx thinks, I'm going."
"We can't let you," the leader said.
Genus pulled out his pistol.
"I'm going."
"HEY! HEY! Put the gun down!"
Genus walked out with his pistol trained on the men.
He was going to help Fixer get to his destination no matter what.
He took the elevator to the bridge.
"Hey," Phalanx said. "I ordered you not to come here."
"I forced the squad to let me."
"This, is mutiny!"
"I've got a mission and I'm going to complete it no matter what."
Phalanx nodded.
"Sounds like Genus. Go for it."
Genus smiled. At least Phalanx understood. He motioned for Fixer to come with him. Fixer led a squad of engineers with him, as they walked out of the bridge.
Chapter 16
The engineer squad, led by Fixer and protected by Genus made their way to the lift. They arrived safely at the warp drive room. It was a huge room, with cylinders that now sparked red and blue flames. They stood behind a panel of glass, preparing to enter the actual room. "OK," Fixer said. "We can't go in yet, we have to see if there is a hole that could suck us out into space."
Genus didn't reply, he didn't want to think about his previous experience. Suddenly Fixer frowned.
"This is strange, and much worse, there is no hull in the spaceship frame, the explosion come from inside!"
Genus looked at him oddly.
"Worse? I'd say that's better!"
"No, no, it's not that. How could the warp drives have exploded from the inside?"
Genus shrugged.
"Malfunction?"
Fixer shook his head sadly.
"Our systems would of warned us of a meltdown, the probably of that is almost 1:10000000000000000."
"Then what is your theory?" Genus asked.
"I believe that this, was sabotage."
"Really? More likely the rebels used landing craft and sent men to destroy the warp engines."
"No, that's not possible," Genus replied. "There would be a hole in the hull if that was the case. No, the individual who did this is part of the crew."
Quickly Fixer but the engineers to work. Genus and Fixer walked out, and went back into the lift. Suddenly Genus pressed a button.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Fixer shouted, as the lift jerked to a stop. Genus typed in an access code, and the elevator stood still.
Then, Genus did something totally unexpected. He pulled out his pistol, and aimed it at Fixer.
"So this is your revenge," he whispered. "This is what you do because you commited mutiny and Phalanx punished you."
Fixer backed away from him.
"I, I, have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Yes you do!"
"No, I don't!"
"You destroyed the warp engines, and you, will pay."
Chapter 17
In the Nebula's bridge: The warp drives where fixed, and the Nebula had issued an emergency jump to an unknown location. Meanwhile, Genus walked in holding Fixer at gunpoint.
"Sir," Genus said. "Fixer says that it was sabotage by one of the crew who destroyed the warp engines. I think he did it."
Phalanx looked at Fixer furiously.
"Did you?" he whispered.
"No, I, I," Fixer began, but didn't finish.
"Lock him up in the brig," Phalanx ordered. The guards dragged him.
Zemith touched Phalanx's arm.
"Sir, I don't believe it was Fixer. I know who did it."
"Who?"
"You'll see."
With that Zemith walked out. He arrived at the lift, and went to the officer's housing wing. He walked to a door, and pressed a button. The door slid open. A man sat in a chair inside. He had orange hair, one blue eye and one orange eye, and he wore a badge that marked him as an officer.
"Rex Redwolf," Zemith said. "I know what you did."
Rex raised an eyebrow.
"What did I do?"
"You destroyed the warp engines."
Rex banged his hand against the table.
"This is ridiculous! You don't have any proof!"
"Funny thing is, I do."
Zemith took out a sheet of paper. On the left where dates and times, and on the right where messages.
"Someone in this room has been communicating with the Ghost. Let's look at the messages shall we? One says, "the deed is done, warp engines destroyed" another, marked with todays date says "preparing to C7 the ammuntion deck." Destroying the ammunition deck would destroy the entire ship."
Rex growled. With astonishing speed his hand moved to his holster, and Zemith found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol.
Chapter 18
Zemith threw himself towards Rex, knocking the pistol out of his hand. Zemith tried to reach for his pistol, but Rex grabbed it and fired. The gun clicked, it wasn't loaded. Rex threw it across the room. Zemith threw himself towards Rex, and knocked him backwards. Then he grasped him and put him in a headlock, trapping him. Rex spun around and punched Zemith in the nose, as hard bone impacted soft cartilage. Rex reached down and drew a long knife.
He smiled a horrible twisted smile.
"Zemith, you never should have come here my friend."
Zemith smiled.
"I beg to differ."
With one swift motion he drew a knife and threw it. It whirled across the room. Rex ducked and it whistled above his head, smashing the glass view screen. Rex lunged with his knife, and Zemith side-stepped the attack. Rex grabbed Zemith and brought the knife down, but Zemith had twisted out of his grasp. Zemith reached down towards his belt and pulled something out. Rex's eyes widened.
"I'm sorry," he said. He threw the package towards Rex, and pressed a button. There was an explosion, as the room exploded. Both Rex and Zemith where thrown backwards, and they fell through the huge hole in the floor.
"You fool!" Rex gasped.
Zemith smiled. He reached slowly for his communicator. He pressed a button.
"A squad is inbound," Zemith said. "You'll have some explaining to do to the discipline division."
Rex growled. Zemith didn't reply.
Chapter 19
Rex began to crawl across the room. Zemith rolled over, and to his shock he saw that Rex was holding the pistol that had been swiped out of his hand. Rex aimed, and fired. Zemith shuddered, and his vision went black. Rex quickly ripped open the air conditioning vent, and began to crawl through it.
In the Nebula's medical wing:
"What happened?" Phalanx asked.
"You should ask him later sir, he needs to recover," Hawkeye said.
Phalanx shook his head.
"No time."
Zemith inhaled and exhaled.
"How am I?" he shuddered.
"You should be OK."
"I, I...."
Phalanx ****ed his head to the side. Genus and Slikor stood behind him.
"What?" "Rex, it was him. He destroyed the warp drives, he is a rebel spy."
"Where did he go?"
"I don't know," Zemith gasped.
"I think I know," Slikor said.
Phalanx looked at him.
"What?"
"There was an air vent that was knocked in, he must of crawled through it."
Phalanx nodded.
"He's probably in the electrical control section, we have to get him before he destroys it."
"I'll go," Genus said.
"I will too," Slikor said.
Phalanx smiled.
"I'll send Nighthawk in."
Nighthawk was the elite of the elite. They where the best of the best aboard the Nebula. "Go arm yourselves," Phalanx ordered.
"Yes sir," Genus said, a look of excitement on his face.
Chapter 20
At the Nebula's electric control section:
Rex placed the explosive charge, it had a twenty minute timer. He had already placed most of his charges. Finally he placed the last one. For a second he wondered if it where right for him to destroy the Nebula, but then eh remembered what had happened on Crux Prime.
3 years earlier on Crux Prime...
Duke Exeter was thrown backwards as the mech pounded him to the ground. It aimed and fired. Duke screamed. The mech was about to fire again when a figure holding a riot shield crashed into it. He was an assembly member, even though sometimes he used space ranger gear. The mech was smashed, then stromlings swarmed in, pinning the minifigure. Duke drew his sword and smashed one, and smashed another, but there where too many.
"I'm sorry," he said, and ran away.
At the Nebula's electric control section:
Rex grimaced. He had hated the Nexus Force after Duke had left him on the Crux Prime. He had managed to defeat the stromlings, and then he gladly joined the rebels, and became an infiltrator. Then he heard an explosion, and hurried.
Nighthawk squadron:
Genus turned the corner.
"Clear," he said.
Slikor nodded.
"I sense him, he's here. We must hurry."
Xeron kicked open a door, and Jackal leapt forwards.
"Clear."
Zemith placed a charge on a wall, and stood back.
"Detonating..." the wall was blown down.
Zemith saw something.
"Charge ahead," he said. "Watch out, it's possible he set some sort of double detonation so if anyone comes here it will detonate."
Zemith pulled out a strange device. He aimed it at the explosive charge, and pulled the trigger. A blue ray erupted from the emmiter, disabling the charge.
"Clear."
Nighthawk squad advanced.
Slikor smashed a lock with his sword and rammed the door with his soldier, it broke completly off it's hinges.
"Charge ahead."
Once again Zemith used the blue ray to disable the charge.
"Clear."
Another door was kicked open.
"Charge!" Zemith shouted. "IT'S GONNA DETONATE!"
Chapter 21
There was an explosion as the squad was knocked backwards. The electric generators where destroyed, and compressed air was released in a hissing noise.
"We've gotta get him and force him to disable all the charges before they detonate! We don't have time to sweep and clear through every room and find all the charges!" Xeron ordered.
"We're getting closer," Slikor whispered. "I can sense him, this way."
They followed Slikor down the hallway. Gases from the generator filled the room.
"Gas masks on," Xeron ordered.
Genus smashed through a door. A man stood crouched behind it, holding a device with a small antenna. Genus knew exactly what it was. If he pressed it the charges would detonate and destroy them. He only had one viable course of action. He aimed and pistol, and fired three shots. They tore through the detonation device, smashing it into a billion pieces. Rex growled. He drew a riot shield and a gattling gun. He began to fire a rain of bullets. Genus dived behind a pile of rubble. He threw a grenade and ducked. There was an explosion. He got up from behind cover, believing that the grenade had destroyed the threat, but the riot shield had protected him. Jackal aimed his sniper rifle, a high velocity bullet flew across the room, puncturing the riot shield.
"GO, GO, GO!" Xeron cried. "IF WE DON'T GET THE CHARGES KEY THIS SHIP WILL TURN INTO SPACE JUNK!"
They charged. Rex kicked open a door and ran through it. His pursuers ran through and skidded to a stop, and the chase continued.
"He's here!" Slikor shouted. He drew his sword, a stream of bullets sent him flying back to cover. Genus fired his pistols, disabling the gattling gun. Then they all charged. They knocked Rex to the ground, and tied his hands.
"Nebula actual," Xeron said. "We have captured the objective. I repeat, mission succesful."
Zemith ripped the charges key out of his belt and pressed the button that sterilized the charges. Misison accomplished.
Chapter 22
At the Nebula's bridge:
Rex was dragged in, with his hands behind his back. Phalanx turned to look at him.
"How could you?" he asked. Rex smiled, and then Genus noticed something.
"Wait!"
Rex continued to smile like an idiot. Between his teeth was a strange device. Then there was a boom, and Phalanx fell backwards. Rex laughed.
"Old man," he said. The guards pulled him back, and tackled him.
A squad of medics took Phalanx away to the medical wing. He had been shot in the stomach.
In the Nebula's medical wing:
"Will he survive?" Slikor asked.
Hawkeye shook his head sadly.
"I don't know," he said.
Slikor cursed, and stomped his foot.
"You know making loud noises could be bad for his mental health at this stage?" Hawkeye asked.
Slikor growled. He slammed his fist on the doors touch pad. A long crack appeared on it. The door slid open, and Slikor walked out.
At the Nebula's bridge:
"So who takes command now?" Fixer asked sadly.
"Well, according to the chain of command," Slikor began. "I am the second in command, so I am now the commmander of this ship."
"What?" Fixer asked. "But you've never ever even commanded a ship!"
"And?" Slikor asked. "Soon I will of."
Fixer shrugged, and went back to his station.
"With all due respect sir," a guard began. "I don't think you should have this position. I beleive you should give it to someone else."
Slikor smiled, and smacked the guard in the face.
"Shut up," he said. "Fixer, fix this ship on a course to the nearest rebel star system. We're taking revenge on those who forced me to be in command of this ship."
"Yes sir!" Fixer replied, and locked in the coordinates for a warp.
Chapter 23
The Nebula warped in to the coordinates Fixer had plotted. Suddenly Fixer screamed. Slikor turned to look at him.
"What?"
Fixer fell to the ground. Then Slikor knew, it was the Cyclonians. He could sense them. The fought back, pushing their minds away from the ship, but he was one against many. There was little time, he had to get the ship out of the sector.
"WARP US OUT!" he shouted, but Zemith didn't.
"ZEMITH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" "I cannot, the rebels are right," Zemith began.
His mind was clearly under control.
Slikor punched him and threw him off the warp console. He sat down and pressed the emergency warp buttons. He felt the minds fade away.
Zemith got back up.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Cyclonians, the aliens that the rebels formed an alliance with."
Zemith shook his head.
"I feel strange...."
"Go get some rest," Slikor ordered. "You where one of the many under their control."
As the bridge went back to it's normal activity they didn't noticed the strange insect that began to creep towards them.
Chapter 24
Suddenly Jackal collapsed. Slikor spun to see what had happened. A strange insect had climbed on him, quickly it scurried away. Slikor ran to see if he was alright. He began to spasm, clearly the creatures were venemous. Quickly a few medics took him to the medical wing. Then suddenly another man collapsed, and then another. Slikor spun around to see almost half of his men being taken away on stretchers. An insect creapt towards him. It was green and had hundreds of legs. Slikor destroyed it with his sword. Goo splattered. He walked over to the radio station.
"We are evacuating the bridge, it is full of a strange type of insect that is infecting the crew."
The men left the bridge. Then Slikor hit the emergency gas release. Toxic gases poured down destroying any form of life that might have remained, but there was a problom. Inside the bridge Genus had not had time to evacuate. He groped for his radio, but it had lost connection. He cursed, and made for the air vent. He almost tripped as the gas began to take effect. He kicked the vent open and began to crawl through. He coughed, he felt his life force slipping away. He continued to grawl. He reached to his belt, but he didn't carry an explosives to blast his way out of the situation. He knew he was in desperate need of assistance. Then, slowly, he began to feel calm, and eventually he just closed his eyes, and drifted away.
Chapter 25
At the Nebula's auxilary command station:
"Ventilate the bridge," Slikor ordered.
Fixer nodded, but then frowned.
"Sir...," he began.
"What?"
"The vent is blocked...."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"What is blocking it?"
"I don't know sir, it's not safe to go there as the vent is full of toxins."
Slikor nodded.
"Send down delta, outfitted with chemical warfare gear."
Fixer nodded. He brought delta on the line, and gave the order.
Delta squad:
The explosives specialist kicked the hatch open, and they walked inside. Delta had a new squad leader, named Yuri. They climed up a ladder. Then they had entered the hatch.
"Alright," Yuri said. "We have no idea what is in there, but get ready."
They put there gas maks on, and slid their gloves over their hands. Then, they climbed inside the vent. The whole vent was full of dark green gas. They pulled down their thermal vision. They began to crawl down the vent.
"We're almost at the block," the explosives specialist said through his com-link.
Then Yuri noticed something.
"Hey, look up ahead."
There lay Genus.
"It's Genus," Yuri said. "He must have been left in the bridge, we've got to get him out of here."
Suddenly there was a strange whooshing sound. Yuri looked around, to see that his gas mask had broken. He tried to breath. as the toxic fumes filled his lungs.
Chapter 26
Yuri screamed. His hands where frozen around Genus's legs. Swiftly the rest of the squad began to pull him back the way they came, but it would take too long. The explosives specialist drew a long knife. He brandished it and brought it down hard on the vent. A small crack appeared. He wedged the knife inside the crack and pulled. The vent toar open, sending them tumbling onto the hard ground below, the gas found it's way throw the hole, and began to creep towards them. Yuri, he was now safe, pressed the emergency door release, and a door sealed the gas's path. He radioed the command station.
"Sir, the blockage was Genus."
"What?" Slikor asked.
"I repeat, the blockage was Genus."
"You mean, Genus, Genus?"
"Yes sir."
"Roger."
The connection fizzeled out. The squad medic did a quick check on Genus.
"His heart's not beating, and he isn't breathing...."
Yuri looked horrifed.
"But we can still save him if we get him to the medical wing in time."
"How much time do we have?" Yuri asked.
"That's the problem, my guess is about two minutes."
Yuri cursed.
"It will take us at least five to get to the medical wing from our current location."
"I have an idea," the explosive specialist said.
Yuri nodded.
"Whatever it is, do it."
The explosives specialist put down three packets of C-7, and detonated them. A gaping hole was ripped in the ship tearing vents apart, destroying generators, and severing wires. The ship creaked from the impact, as delta squad fell down and down through the hole they had created.
Chapter 27
Yuri rolled to break his fall, but he still hit with so much force that his whole body shuddered. A man ran to see what had happened. He helped Yuri up.
"Where are we?" Yuri asked.
"The medical bay, why the heck did you have to do that?"
"We had to get Genus here, but taking the lift would take too long."
The medic dragged Genus onto a bed. He did a few quick tests.
"Heart not beating, not breathing...."
The medic attached shock pads to Genus's chest. He pressed the shock button. Electricity flowed into Genus's body. One eye opened, then another. Genus rolled his head to one side. His mouth moved, but he didn't speak.
"Now you can get out of here, report to Slikor."
Yuri nodded. They took the lift back to the auxilary command station.
Slikor turned around.
"So you destroyed the main vent, thousands of wires, and a lift mechanism, all to take one man to the medical wing?" he asked.
Delta squad looked at the ground.
"Sorry sir."
Slikor smiled.
"No need! It was a great decision! We can always fix machines, but not humans. Go get some rest."
Delta smiled.
"Mission accomplished," Yuri said.
Chapter 28
"Jump," Slikor said.
"Yes sir."
"Wait," a voice said.
Slikor spun around.
There stood Phalanx.
"I'm taking back command."
"I'm sorry sir," Slikor said.
"No problem, you did a good job."
Slikor smiled, and sat back at his station.
Phalanx ordered the jump.
"Wait," a voice said.
Phalanx spun around. A strange figure cloaked in black stood in the doorway.
"You sshall not orders the jump," it hissed. It reached out. Phalanx squirmed back. He drew his pistol and fired, the strange Cyclonian figure reached out his hand. The bullet bounced off. The figure reached his hand out, and a tornado of dust formed around him. A jet flew towards Phalanx. He ducked, and the ray smashed through the main computer console. Phalanx leapt up and punched the figure in the face.
The figure hissed. It grabbed him by the neck and lifted him high into the air. It through him backwards, and he hit the ground hard.
Chapter 29
Phalanx drew a knife and threw it. It hit the figure in the face. It hit the ground, and growled and shuddered. Phalanx pulled himself up, and to his horror the figure began to decay, and it melted away.
"How could a Cyclonian have gotten here?"
Phalanx shrugged.
"Hopefully there aren't any more."
Then the alarm went off.
"Sir, sir...," Fixer said. "An unauthorized fighter is leaving the launch bay."
Phalanx spun around.
"You're kidding!"
"No sir."
Phalanx growled.
"Is there a problem sir?"
"Radio the medic bay, immediately."
"Yes sir."
But there was just static.
"It's not possible, the radio connection is broken!" Fixer said with wonder.
Phalanx nodded.
"Rex has escaped, he let the alien in, and is no trying to get off this ship. Launch a quick reaction force, immediately."
"Yes sir."
Chapter 30
The quick reaction force:
Genus breathed in and breathed out.
"5," the speaker roared.
"4."
"3."
"2."
"1."
"Launch." Genus watched as the lights flashed behind him. He watched as his squadron flew into space.
"Scanners on," he said.
A small blip appeared on his screen.
"I've located him."
He turned his Eagle fighter in the direction of Rex. Then suddenly a huge blip appeared on his scanner.
"Looks like we've incountered an asteroid belt."
He looked at the window, and gasped. It was no asteroid belt, it was the Ghost.
Chapter 31
"HOLY BRICKS!" Genus shouted.
A green ray emerged from the Ghost and hit Genus's Eagle. Genus braced for impact, but nothing happened. He realized it was not a laser, but a tractor beam. It began to drag his fighter in towards the landing bay.
"THE GHOST, IT'S USING A TRACTOR BEAM!"
"Can you get away?" Phalanx asked.
"I'm trying...,"
Genus hit the joystick, but his craft didn't move.
"No reaction."
Phalanx cursed.
"Then get ready, do you have your pistol?"
"Yes." "Do you have epxlosives?"
"No."
"Alright, prepare your pistol and get into a fighter as fast as you can, and get out of there- do you understand me?"
"Yes sir."
"Alright, Phalanx out."
Chapter 32
The fighter landed inside the Ghost's landing bay. There was a crash as the fighter skidded across the floor. Men surrounded the fighter.
"Come out with your hands up!"
Genus hit the Eagle's fuel ejection button. A fuel tank ejected out of the fighter. A red fireball engulfed the landing bay, as the men who had come to take him where taken by the flames.
Genus hopped out of the ****pit, holding his pistol. A man ran out and set a stream of bullets towards him. Genus aimed at him and fired three shots. The man fell down. Genus ran towards the doorway. He smashed through the door, and spun around. A bullet whizzed by his head. He turned around and punched a man in the face. The men stumbled back, and Genus kneed him. He continued to run. He took a right and then a left. He took a lift up to the flight bay. He kicked the door open and ran out. Three men aimed and fired there machine guns. Genus took out two. The third fired a burst that hit him in the arm. Genus stumbled backwards and hit the floor. His vision blurred. He fired three shots, and the man fell. He saw a Shadow fighter right ahead of him. He began to crawl, as his energy drained. He reached out and pulled himself up the ladder. He pressed the button to open the ****pit.
"Finger prints not recognized" displayed on the screen. He cursed. He brought his fist down on the console and it smashed. He pushed his figures under the ****pits lid, and pried it open, then he crawled it, and slammed it shut. He pressed the launch button, and watched as the Shadow fighter accelerated into space.
Chapter 33
But then the flight doors began to close. Genus cursed. The Shadow scraped against the the flight doors. Genus cringed as pieces of the ship flew off. As he flew into space, suddenly his console pad turned off. The fighter's lights went black. Clearly the destruction caused by scraping against the flight doors had turned off the ships computer systems. Genus would have to fly manual, something he had never done before. Even his communication systems didn't work. He turned towards the Nebula. The ship's flight doors were half way open. Genus piloted his ship down towards them. His wing hit the wall and was cut off, as his fighter spun around crashing into the rows of fighters preparing for launch against the Ghost. A huge fireball engulfed Genus as the fighter slammed into the wall. Genus's head slammed against the console, his arm flailed and it hit the class ****pit, causing the glass the smash. Genus crawled out, and fell off the edge of the fighter. He groaned. A man ran towards him.
"Genus, is that you?"
Genus nodded weakly. The man reached out his hand, and Genus took it.
"The name's Cobra," the man said.
Genus nodded.
"Thanks."
Cobra helped Genus, as they began to stumble towards the lift.
Chapter 34
Cobra pressed the lift's single button. The doors slid open. The two of them stumbled inside. He pressed the button to go to the bridge. Then, unexpectantly the elevator stopped. Cobra turned around. The door slid open. Four men wearing skull masks stood in the doorway. They wore a patch marked "Renegade". Cobra fired his worholer. Genus fired his pistol, slumped over Cobra's shoulder. One of the men fell. They ducked behind cover.
"The Ghost must of sent landing parties!" Cobra shouted.
Two heads peeked out. Genus smashed one, and Cobra smashed the other.
Then a man leapt in. He kicked Cobra in the stomach. Cobra gasped. He stumbled backwards. He ducked as the man's pistol whizzed over his head. Cobra headbutted him in the stomach, and swung his wormholer down.The man sidestepped. Genus fired three shots, but he missed one and the other two were deflected by the man's armor. He pulled the trigger again, but the gun clicked. Cobra punched, but the man blocked it. Than Cobra had an idea. He jumped by the man, and pressed the lifts close button. The lift's doors shut, leaving the man trapped inside. Quickly he fired at the lifts panel, causing it to short circuit. There was an explosion as the lift exploded. Cobra sighed. He walked over to the stairs and began to ascend.
Chapter 35
Theyn crashed through the bridges door. Phalanx spun around.
"What happened?"
"When I launched the Shadow fighter from the Ghost," Genus began, "the flight doors began to close. The fighter was damaged, and I had to land manuallly. I was injured, and Cobra found me. Then we took the lift, and the elevator stopped and four rebels from Renegade come out and attacked us. We smashed them and took the stairs."
Phalanx nodded.
"So they sent landing parties?"
"Yes," Cobra replied.
"Fixer," Phalanx began, "how many landing parties are there?"
"I think it's only one."
"Good, warp us out of here."
"We're not going to try to get Rex?" "No, he's in the Ghost, it would be too dangerous to try and get him back." "Roger- I'm prepping the jump."
Suddenly an explosion rocked the ship up and down.
"What was that?" Genus asked.
"The Ghost is firing it's main battery of laser cannons, we can't sustain much more of this! We have to warp."
Phalanx nodded.
"How long until we can warp?"
"Estimate: 10 seconds."
The ship rocked up and down.
"Shields down to 25%!" Fixer shouted.
Another explosion caused the ship to move violently in all directions.
"Shields are offline! There firing another salvo!"
"Here, jump is prepped- warping!"
The ship warped to a different place in space just as the salvo flew by it's last known location.
Phalanx sighed.
"Get Genus to the medical bay," he ordered.
Chapter 36
Phalanx stood at the bridge. Four men walked inside, but he didn't notice. They walked towards him.
"Why didn't we stay and fight, sir?" one asked.
Phalanx began, "It would be too risky. We would lose many men."
"But we could put them out of the fight for good."
"No, there isn't any guarentee of that." "Then get back there and fight! Warp us back!"
Another twenty or so men walked and stood behind the first four.
"No. You have no authority to order me around." "Than, admiral Phalanx, your are no longer in control of this ship.
Phalanx spun around, he had been staring at the view screen the whole time.
"Is this some sort of joke?" he growled, "because it isn't funny."
"No, I am removing you from command."
Phalanx drew his pistol, as all twenty four men aimed there rifles. Three loyal guards backed Phalanx up, aiming their weapons.
"Run," they whispered. "We'll hold 'em off." "No, Phalanx whispered. "I won't let you stay hear and get smashed."
Phalanx aimed his pistol at one and then lowered it. The man smiled.
"Good, now drop the gun and everything goes fine."
But Phalanx just shook his head. He turned around and aimed the pistol at the jump calculating computer.
"If I shoot that, you'll have to plot the jump manually which could take days, even weeks, and if you make a mistake we could jump right to the middle of a star."
Suddenly the man growled with rage.
"You wouldn't dare!"
Phalanx shrugged.
"I have nothing to lose! You're going to mess up my ship anyways, so what harm will it do if I destroy the computer?"
"I'll shoot!" the man threatened.
"You wouldn't," Phalanx said calmly, "you know that if you do I might be smashed but one of my guards would smash you first. You see gentlemen? There is no way you can win, plus, do you think I'm stupid."
A few of the men nodded.
Phalanx laughed.
"I'm not, I expected one day some of you fools would try this, so I installed safety precautions."
A few men raised their eyebrows.
"Goodbye," Phalanx said.
Chapter 37
A panel slid open below the men, and they fell down. The panel slid back shut.
"Don't mess with me," Phalanx said.
He spun around to see one of his guards holding a gun to his head.
"They were just protesting, how could you do such a thing?"
"Now you are revolting?" Phalanx asked.
"How could you?"
Phalanx shook his head. He punched the man in the face. The man aimed and fired, but Phalanx had smacked the gun out of his hand. Then a man snuck behind Phalanx and he blacked out.
Chapter 38
Phalanx woke up. A man stood above him.
"Why don't you just smash me?" Phalanx asked.
"Because I'm here to show you this."
"Show me what?"
He looked at the wall and saw the jump timer running.
"No! You couldn't! It would destroy the whole ship!"
Then suddenly a man leapt into the room. He wore a black suit, and had night vision goggles, and his face was covered in a mask with two holes for his eyes. He kicked the man in the face, and then threw him across the room. He ran to the jump timer. It read 10 seconds. He didn't know the code, so how could he stop the jump? He drew a pistol and smashed the timer. It froze the jump was stopped.
"Thanks," Phalanx gasped. The man ran out of the room. Phalanx wondered about his identity. Three guards ran into the room.
"Are you OK?" one asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine!"
"Alright."
He reached out and helped Phalanx up.
"Who was that?"
"Who was who?"
"A man just came in here and beat the guard up."
"Did you see his face?"
"No, it was covered!"
"Oh well, everything worked out in the end!"
"Good."
Then suddenly the lights went off and red lights began to flash.
"Oh no," Phalanx said, "we're running out of fuel."
Chapter 39
"About how long can we last without fuel?" Phalanx asked.
"Only about another two hours."
Phalanx shook his head.
"How close is the nearest planet?"
"It will take at least 24 hours at slower than light speed."
"Then we'll have to warp."
"What!? That will use every ounce of our remaining fuel! We'd have to warp exactly, to the nearest inch, of where we wanted to be! If we warp than all our fuel will be gone and we'll be put into free fall!"
"I agree, but what other choice do we have? Logically it's all we can do."
Fixer shook his head.
"I don't like it."
"Fixer, you have to do it."
"Yes sir."
Fixer locked in the coordinates. He tried to mask the fact that he was shaking. He had no idea what would happen to the ship after the jump.
"Two minutes until jump."
"Good. You've found a landing pad and locked in the coords?" "Yes."
"Good work."
Phalanx inhaled and exhaled slowly.
The time passed slowly. The clock finally ticked down to 20 seconds.
"Five seconds," Fixer whispered.
"Jump."
The ship warped away from it's current position. The alarm turned on, alerting the people in the bridge that there was no fuel. There was a grating sound.
"What's going on!" Phalanx shouted.
"We've hit the landing pad harder than expected!"
Phalanx curse as huge chunks of the ship began to fly off.
Chapter 40
The lights flashed on and off.
"What's the status report?" Phalanx asked.
"About 1/4 of the ship was destroyed."
Phalanx cursed.
"Let's get off this ship and start repairs. What planet are we on exactly again?"
"It's a unknown planet in the delta-xz sector. It's mainly for ship refueling."
"Are there any other ships here?"
"Actually yes, there are a few rebel light ships."
"Then they could attack us!"
"Interspace law prohibits attacks when both ships are in landing bays, but it's likely that the rebels will ignore the law."
"Alright, how long will it take us to fix this ship?"
"Normally maybe a month, but if we use every single man on the ship we could do it in about a week."
"Do it."
"Yes sir."
A buzzer began to ring. Phalanx picked it up. The rebels were contacting them.
Chapter 41
"Hello Phalanx," the rebel captain said over the communication link. "My name is captain John Thresher." "Hello Mr. Thresher, why are you contacting us?" Phalanx asked.
"Because you have arrived at our space port."
"What do you mean, "our" space port! This is an international space port!"
"No Phalanx, that does not matter. We'll give you one day, before you leave."
"What! It it will take at least a week to repair our ship!"
"Than you'd better hurry up."
"No, we need more time." "We're not going to give you any more. Unless you leave we'll blow you to bits!"
"Interspace law would not allow it!"
"You still don't get it, do you? You're not following our terms, you can do alot with a little cash. The owners of this space port let us do almost anything we want. Destroying your ship could get us in some trouble, so we are reluctant to do so, but if we have to."
"All right," Phalanx sighed, "we'll comply. Phalanx out."
Fixer turned to him.
"Are you really going to comply with their demands?" he asked.
"No, of course not! They threatened to destroy us, but we are going to destroy them."
Chapter 42
"But sir," Fixer began, "that would violate the interspace laws!"
Phalanx shook his head.
"This place is lawless. Didn't you here what he said? He basically said they bribed the spaceports owners to let them do whatever they want."
"So what do we do now?" Fixer asked.
"You really didn't here me?"
"No sir... but...."
"Load the conventional missile tubes, now!"
"Yes sir."
"How long will it take?"
"Approx 2 minutes."
"Alright."
Fixer imagined how surprised this John Thresher fellow would be when the missiles were inbound.
"Missiles loaded."
"Good, lock them on the ship."
The rebel ship was a heavy cruiser, a little smaller than the Nebula. It didn't carry fighters, but it had a powerful missile armarment.
"Missiles locked."
"Good. Open up the communication line."
"Why?"
"I'm going to say goodbye."
The screen fizzled on. The same figure, this Captain Thresher stood there.
"Hello Admiral Phalanx," he said, "are you ready to leave this spaceport?"
"No," Phalanx began, "I'm just here to say my goodbyes."
Thresher smiled.
"Good, so you saw reason then?"
Phalanx just smiled and shook his head.
"Goodbye."
Thresher spun around as he heard a boom. The ship shook.
"MISSILES!" someone shouted.
Thresher looked back at the communication screen. His face was twisted in rage.
"I SWEAR I'LL DEFEAT YOU SOMEDAY!" he shouted. Then he jumped out the bridge's window.
He fell down and down, and then dissappeared.
"He must of been smashed," Fixer said.
"Most likely."
On the screen they watched as the ship was engulfed in flames. Phalanx turned around.
"Let's get out of here."
"Right, but there's an issue."
"What?"
"The Ghost is right above us, like, right above us. Literally 100 feet above us.
Chapter 43
Phalanx spun around.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"Prepare laser batteries for fire."
"Yes sir, but..., they aren't working!"
"What, how!"
"The rebels must have some sort of short range laser jammer that only works at short range."
"Than switch to rockets."
"They don't work either!"
Phalanx shook his head.
"Is their anything we can do?"
"We could try to jump out of here, but it would be dangerous."
"No. Get the Ghost on the communications line."
"Yes sir."
The screen fizzled on. A man appeared, he wore a black armor plated jumpsuit and sunglasses, even though it wasn't sunny at all.
"Hello, Phalanx. My name is Captain James Darker, of the starship Ghost."
Phalanx laughed with scorn.
"You call that hunk of metal a starship?"
Darker scowled.
"You have no choice but be destroyed. Our short range jammers have taken all of your weapon systems offline."
"So you're going to destroy us, in the airspace of an interspace port?" "There are no laws with the goverment gone."
"Who said it's gone?"
"Come on, face it, you are one against many. You don't stand a chance. Prepare to be destroyed."
Phalanx shook his head.
"You said you deactivated all of our weapons, well you were wrong, we have one left."
Darker raised an eyebrow.
"Get out of my way," Phalanx said to Fixer. Fixer got up, wondering what was about to happen. Phalanx sat down at the control station. He angled the ship upwards, straight towards the underside of the Ghost. Then he accelerated towards the other starship. Darker spun around on the screen and began to shout orders, but it was too late.
"Round 1 is over, I suggest you try to do a little better in round 2," Phalanx said, and than he cut the communications. The Nebula hit the underside of the Ghost there was a sound of screeching metal, and then silence.
Chapter 44
Inside the Ghost...
Rex held on as the Ghost struggled to gain altitude. The ram from the Nebula had caused the ship to plumet towards the ground. The Nebula had warped away, leaving the Ghost to it's peril. The Ghost finally levelled off. Rex sighed. He hated the Nexus Force, but he realized that in all the months of this chase, the rebels hadn't done anything at all. Rex thought back to his childhood. He growled. He remembered the horrible thing the Nexus Force had done.
30 years earlier...
Rex was a happy 5 year old. His life was fine, he was under the protection of the Nexus Force. The war with the maelstrom was going well. That was when the ships arrived. His planet, C-37 in the Avion sector had been safe away from the war, but that safety would not last. One day Rex walked outside. The rain and fog clouded his vision. Suddenly he saw a figure in front of him, it wore blue armor. He began to walk backwards. He still couldn't see the figure clearly.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm from the Nexus Force, this planet is unsafe. The maelstrom is coming you must leave."
"Mealstorm? What's that?"
"Nevermind."
Rex's parents walked out. The man quickly explained the situation. They boarded a rescue evacuation ship, but there were only room for two people. His parents selfishly took it, and left Rex to go on another ship, to another planet.
6 years later...
Rex who was now 11 had always wondered what happened to his parents. They had gone to a different planet he presumed, but where. One day he saw a newspaper. He headline- maelstrom attacks planet Delta Z-12. Rex continued to read. There was a list of the people smashed. Then two names caught his eye. His parents. They had been smashed. Tears began to flow, he read the article, and it filled him with rage. The Nexus Force had come too late, they had got the alarm, but had dismissed it. Rex made a promise to himself. He swore that he would avenge his parent's and fight the Nexus Force.
Chapter 45
On the Nebula...
Fixer leapt up from his seat.
"We did it!" he shouted, "well, you did it!"
"No," Phalanx corrected, "we all did it. Put us on a course for Nimbus Station."
"With all due respect sir, why are we going there?" "Because that's where the rebel main bases are."
Hawkeye walked up to them.
"There defenses are too strong, they have plasma shields that protect them from attacks from the outside, the only way to attack them if from the ground," he said.
"Alright, then we'll maintain altititude at a safe distance above the planet and send down ground teams."
"Good idea. Do you have any idea about who could lead them?"
"I'm thinking Xeron. He did this once, he can do it again."
Hawkeye shrugged.
"He is a little....," he didn't finish the sentence.
"Old?" Phalanx asked.
Hawkeye nodded.
"No problem. You go brief Xeron on the topic, alright?"
"Fine."
In the briefing room...
"Hello men, as you may know, we are going to be sent on a mission. Our ship is currently maintaining a constant altitiude and orbiting Nimbus Station. The station is protected with a plasma shield, so the only way we can get in is via boots on the ground," Xeron commanded.
"Yes sir."
"We need to disable the key rebel bases and ship yards, understood?"
"Yes sir."
"And we need to get back to the ship in time, if the ship is in the wrong position for our exfil we'll end up running of fuel. Do you understand the importance of this?" "Yes we do sir."
"Alright, come to the launch bay tomorrow. We're taking a trip to Nimbus Station."
Chapter 46
"You all ready?" Xeron asked.
Ripper nodded, he was the second in command.
"Alright. Buzzsaw, let's go." Xeron had requested that Buzzsaw be the pilot, for old times sake. The shuttle lifted slowly off the ground.
"Let's do this."
The launch doors opened, and the shuttle flew out. Ahead of them they saw the sphere that was Nimbus Station.
"This reminds me of old times, Xeron said."
Buzzsaw laughed.
"It's gonna be a lot more dangerous now. We only have three days to get in, destroy a landing pad, two bases, and a supply line and get out in time, or else we're stranded. The ship has to leave at the exact time. It will take off if we don't arrive. Even if we're close to it, like 100 feet away from it, and time is up, it will leave."
Xeron shook his head.
"Then let's hurry up."
"Good idea."
Buzzsaw hit the acceleration pedal as the shuttle flew into space.
"Putting it on autopilot now," he announced.
Buzzsaw looked behind him to see the two other shuttles.
Than suddenly there was an explosion and the lights went out.
Chapter 47
Zemith spun around. He was in the lead fighter with Xeron and Buzzsaw.
"What's going on!" Xeron shouted.
"The power's shutting off," Zemith said, "even the engines. As we passed through the plasma shield it must of affected us in some unpredictable way."
"We're falling!" Buzzsaw shouted.
"Try the emergency engines," Zemith replied.
Buzzsaw hit the button. It clicked, but nothing happened.
"Oh come on! It doesn't work!" "No!"
Xeron looked behind him and saw one of the rear shuttles falling towards the ground. It exploded in a burst of fire and flame. Then suddenly the lights turned on.
"It's working!"
They were now barely two feet off the ground.
Buzzsaw pressed the emergency engines button as fast as he could. Slikor breathed a sigh of relief. He had been silent the whole time, he tried to keep a blank face, even though they all knew he was panicking as much of the rest of them. The shuttle began to hover off the ground.
Buzzsaw got on the intercom. "Land, land now. We can't have any other power failures."
"Yes sir," the other pilot said. He looked out at them and waved. His name was Razord, and he had been trained by Buzzsaw. The shuttles landed, and the doors popped out. They looked outside.
"Well here we are," Xeron said, "Nimbus Station."
Chapter 48
The squad began to move towards the main square. They used the bushes as cover. Ahead of them stood a guard. Slikor walked towards him and drew his sword. The guard spun around.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"What are you doing?" Slikor replied.
"What?"
With that Slikor lunged smashing the guard.
"Let's move."
Finally they arrived. Zemith peeked out of the bushes.
"Here we are," he said.
Stealthily they walked forwards, balanced on the balls of there feet, ahead of them stood the supply line.
"Cover me," Zemith whispered. He walked forwards and put explosives all around it.
"Let's move, so that when they hear the noise they won't come here and find us."
Xeron nodded. They moved out. They walked for circa ten minutes. Than Zemith put his binoculars up to his eyes.
"Target located."
He pressed the detonator. They heard an explosion in the distance.
"Target 1 nuetralized.."
"Alright, Xeron whispered, let's keep going."
Suddenly they heard a shout and looked behind them. Razord was gone, and in his place was a hole in the ground.
Chapter 49
"What the!"
Xeron leapt down through the hole. He fell down and hit the ground he rolled to break his fall. He looked around, but saw nothing. He began to run through a long passage. He ran as fast as he could breathing hard. He heard footsteps up ahead. he began to slow but forced himself to keep up the pace. Then suddenly he saw a shape up ahead. Razord lay on the ground. Xeron noticed a small wound. He tested his heartbeat, nothing, he tested his breathing nothing.
"Xeron to Slikor, do you copy?"
"Copy Xeron, what's going on, what happened?" "I don't know, but he got smashed."
"How are you going to get out of there?" "Just blow a hole in the roof." "It could be dangerous...." "Doesn't matter. Do it." "Yes sir."
There was an explosion and it forced Xeron back against the wall.
Chapter 50
Then Xeron noticed something. A shape of a human, skittering through the tunnel. He got and began to run towards it. He got closer and closer and closer, but suddenly he heard a rumbling noise. He looked up at the tunnel, it had begun to crack. He could either go forwards and get trapped in or he could back and lose his target. He made a split second decison to keep going.
"What are you doing!" Buzzsaw asked.
"I'm going after him." "Who?" "I don't know." "You have to come back!"
"No, you keep going and destroy the targets."
"No!"
"That's an order!"
The microphone fizzled out. Xeron breathed hard as he ran. He drew his pistol from it's holster. He saw the shape ahead of him, he fired three shot, but the figure turned right and he missed. Xeron cursed. He continued to run. He heard the footsteps slow ahead of him. He accelerated forwards. The figure spun around, he was wearing a skull mask and in his hand he held a machine run.
"Goodbye Xeron." "No, no!" "I'm sorry." Suddenly there was a loud crack. The tunnel was crashing down. Xeron stumbled backwards. He heard gunshots, but they had been deflected by the falling rocks. Xeron spun around and began to run back as quickly as he could. He slowed down at a dead end. There was no escape. He drew a grenade from his tactical vest and threw it against the wall. He backed away. There was an explosion and the wall came crashing down. He began to run, almost tripping over the remains of the wall. Ahead of him he saw light. He leapt out. He turned around to see a rebel force of maybe 100 men. advancing towards them. He looked at the rest of the squad.
"There's too many, you go, I'll hold them off!"
"No," Slikor shouted, "we can't leave you!"
"Just go!"
Xeron fired his pistols downing the first men who had charged at him. He pulled the triggers over and over again, until the pistols simply clicked. Out of ammo. He drew a knife and slashed at a few more men. Finally, he fell. He thought of his squad, and his mind drifted away.
Chapter 51
Xeron's distraction had worked, but he was gone. The squad ran into the forest. Tears rolled down Buzzsaw's cheeks.
"He's gone, we'll never see him again," he whispered. Slikor shook his head.
"Let's put our energy into fighting."
"I agree, let's go."
Zemith pulled out his GPS. They ran through the forest for about an hour, until they finally arrived at a clearing. In the center was a large tower with a radar dish. Zemith ran towards it. A laser scanned him. he cursed, an alarm turned on. He drew a pistol and fired at the speaker, it exploded into sparks. The alarm shut off. Quickly he ran towards a fuel tank and planted a charge.
"Alright, let's head for cover." They began to run. Once they reached the forest they dived behind a bush and Zemith his the detonator. There was an explosion that sent a shockwave that made them fall. Slikor did a quick count to make sure everyone was there. "Wait... someone's missing," he said.
"Seriously?" "Yes."
"Who?"
"Bolt."
"I'm trying to contact him," Zemith said, tapping his helmet which held the communicator. Then suddenly they heard a rumble in the distance, it sounded like an engine, Zemith turned to see where it was coming from. The clearing in which they had landed!
"The ship!" he cried.
"No!" Buzzsaw shouted.
"Quick, let's go."
They began to ran towards the ship.
They arrived quickly, they had run faster than they could have every believed. They looked up to see the face in the ****pit. Zemith recognized the face, Rex. The ship was now hovering about ten feet up in the air, it hovered over a cliff.
"I have an idea," Buzzsaw said.
"What?"
He began to run towards the cliff that the ship hovered above. If he failed he would plummet to the ground and be smashed, but he had to do it, for Xeron. Then the jumped, and closed his eyes as he felt the whoosh of air around him.
Chapter 52
Ever since he had been a little boy Buzzsaw had wanted to fly through the air like a bird, but this wasn't exactly the way he had imagined. His hand hit something. He opened his eyes. Below him he saw canyons and clearings and forests, and the other members of his squad. Above him was the shuttle. He had on for dear life. He lifted one hand and grabbed the wing. He let go with the other. He dangled with one hand for some time, before he pulled himself up and climbed onto his the wing. Buzzsaw felt the whoosh of air as the shuttle glided through up towards the sun and the stars. He drew his pistol, and slammed it against the window of the shuttle. Rex spun around to look at him, there was a look of panic stretched across his features. Rex pulled hard on the shuttle's lever, causing it to do a barrel roll. Buzzsaw barely held on, as his body was spun around. Once his hand slipped, but he managed to get his grip before anything happened. The shuttle leveled off, and Buzzsaw aimed his pistol and fired three shots into the protective glass screen. It shattered and he jumped in. Rex grabbed him and pushed him away. The shuttle begin to lose energy without Rex behind the wheel, and began to plummet. Buzzsaw stumbled backwards. He drew his pistol. A crack rang out, the gun had jammed. Buzzsaw swung it at Rex.. Rex gasped. He punched Buzzsaw hard in the stomach. Buzzsaw felt pain, but forced himself to ignore. With one final effort he picked Rex up, and threw him against the control panal of the now free falling shuttle. Rex blacked out.
