This story is obviously fiction. This story will also involve sexual and intimate relationships between two (or more) males, and if this offends you or it is illegal for you to be reading, then please leave. If you are under the age of consent for your community, please leave. And if it does offend you, I honestly don't know why you're even here in the first place. To the story... away!
STARLIGHT 7
"Why stand and fight when you could stand to disappear? After all, you don't need this hypothetical cloaking device everyone's ranting about to turn invisible--it is not a matter of evading sight, nor is it a matter of tricking the beholder; rather, it is a matter of not standing out, of no one caring enough to even notice that you are worth their time."
~Ira Kari o san Rin;
The War Among the Peaceful
"Destination, please?"
"Umm, let's see... twenty-third--sorry, twenty-fourth stop, the Taenelt System."
"Okay. Please authenticate verification of all ships in your party."
"...I'm sorry?"
"You must authenticate your ship registration IDs before boarding the rail station, sir."
Snow of Effulgence bit his lip, shooting Zahn, across from him, a worried look. "Right. Ship 1: ID IPTC VII-091982. Ship 2... um, ship 2..."
"Please repeat ID for your second ship, sir."
"Uh..." Snow glared at Zahn more intensely. Zahn, briefly lost in thought, suddenly snapped back into reality and handed Snow a piece of paper. "..." Snow struggled to read the chicken scratch that Zahn called handwriting. "ID IDTC IV-820192."
A pause, high tension; finally, "IDs confirmed. Please dock your ships at the rail station at 1200 hours. Fee will be 2300 credits."
"Thank you." Snow ended the communications. He stared at Zahn, frustrated. "You didn't tell me we had to provide ID."
Zahn, appropriately, shrugged sheepishly. "I guess it's a new rule, I dunno! At least I wrote that down just in case."
"Yeah, what is this, anyway?"
"It's a fake." A look of disapproval from Snow. "What? I got connections, ok? Anyway, I was studying Astra's blueprints that Ahn sent over, and I cross-referenced them to all the ship models I memorized... basically, the Astra could pass for a class IV Dillien trade vessel with an off color scheme."
"Except for the fact that the words `Astra 7' are emblazoned in big red letters on the side."
Zahn blushed. "Well, you know, hopefully no one will notice. But we're screwed if anyone finds out before we get to the Hyperborea Quadrant."
"Which is more than likely if they ever decide to look out their windows."
"...Look, I'm trying to shoot up here."
"Oh, Zahn."
A red light on the communication panel blinked on and off. Snow turned and flicked several switches, then quickly spoke into his earphone, "Independent Merchant Vessel Blizzard, this is Snow, how may I help you?"
"It's me."
"Hi, Dea-Lin. What is it?"
"'What is it?' Did you and Zahn reserve spots at the Rail Station?"
"Yes, yes! There was a mix-up, but, um, it's fine."
"...Whatever. Look, I just packed up the food supplies on the Astra with Pahn. Darrin and Martine are still bumming around on the station somewhere, so as soon as I get `em we'll be set to go."
"Astra's geared up?"
"Astra's--they're fucking DR Researchers, they're perpetually geared up. Shoot Ahn a message, he should be at the comm station by now." With that, Dea-Lin ended the transmission.
Snow noticed that Zahn for some reason seemed flustered. Snow furrowed his brow. Zahn averted his eyes, attempting to cut off Snow's latent empathy, to no avail. "Do you know something I don't?" Snow asked.
"Yeah. And I'm worried."
Snow frowned. Reyn could not lie, but they could certainly be vague. Snow sighed, wondering, "Are they involved in something bad? Again?"
A touch hesitant, Zahn said, "Darrin is involved in something old. Let's hope not bad." And he left it at that.
Matt had left the group to enter an Atsizi pet store, and it was an unlikely trio he left; Darrin and Martine, of course, who tended to partner up when barhopping, kept Flower of Morning Light company, who had never heard of "barhopping" before at all. There was no word for it in Tintalan, but Martine explained it to her in Basic.
"No," Flower declared, and its existence, and apparently the existence of bars in general, was invalidated.
Darrin pulled Martine closer to him, masking his mumbling with the rabble of the station. "Let's ditch `er. There's gotta be a nunnery somewhere around here, right?"
"I'd like to, really."
"Like to what?!" Flower yelled over the echoing crowd. Martine chose not to respond, grabbing Flower's arm and following Darrin into the Cloud Over Senna, a very dull but very full tavern that probably had just as many blaring projection screens as it did customers.
They took seats at the first empty space that freed up at the bar, Darrin then Martine then Flower. Darrin waved down the bartender, an old, robust Flavin, and ordered something indistinguishable. Martine did the same, while Flower had a hard time articulating that she didn't want anything to drink.
A voice, over the blare, which seemed to be directed to the three of them: "Nice to see you here--is there a bastard child convention I didn't know about in the next system?"
They turned to face a young Arjidin, with long dirty blonde hair the same shade as Darrin's and a rather nasty smile. Being full Arjidin he was taller than Darrin and certainly bigger, although Flower couldn't tell while Darrin was still sitting down. Behind the Arjidin was a very buff Tintalan, his physique in a tight muscle shirt, blue streaks on his cheeks and cropped-short indigo hair. Beside him was a very pretty Atsizi woman, her emerald skin glowing, her pine-green hair in curly tresses and her pupilless eyes focused intently on Darrin. She wore a pale pink lab coat that she kept her hands concealed in.
Martine stood up first, although Flower had inferred that the Arjidin was speaking to Darrin. "Leave us alone, Esti," Martine asserted calmly. "We didn't know you were here, much less come looking for trouble."
"Oh, that doesn't matter. What was your name again? Martin?"
"Martine."
"Right, Martin. The problem is, me and my friends can't help but notice when your buddy walks into a bar because of his damn halfie stench!"
Darrin now slammed a hand on the table and jumped to his feet, fists and teeth clenched. "If you like your jaw, you'd best shut your fucking mouth," Darrin growled into Esti's face.
"What's the matter, not happy to see me? Bro?" Darrin seemed about ready to explode; the Tintalan man and Atsizi woman stepped forward as though to indicate that they would protect Esti, and as they did Martine did the same on her side. Flower of Morning Light, however, simply sat and stared helplessly. Esti saw her in the corner of his eye, and said with a sly smile, "Got some new eye candy, huh? A little different from your tastes, if I remember right."
"Yeah," the Tintalan quipped, "female." Flower made a sour face.
Martine rolled her eyes. "Look, boys, girl, let's just leave it. I don't wanna make a scene, especially right now, of all times," Martine tried to direct the last part to Darrin, but he was obviously too caught up in his own incandescence.
"Oh, I see. You have to work the whore house. You're all in uniform and everything!" The Atsizi giggled, delighted with herself, and now Martine was in a tizzy.
"What the- bitch, you did not just make a whore joke to a Meresyn. Bitch, you-! Bitch!"
"Articulate, anyone?" Esti said through a laugh.
Martine looked over at Darrin. "Darrin, would you officially like to christen this a full-fledged ass-kicking?"
Darrin gave a wicked grin. "With pleasure!"
"Darrin, Martine! Cool it!"
Before the fighting could break out, the silhouettes of Dea-Lin and Snow of Effulgence cut through the light in the doorway. Dea-Lin, swift, appeared between them in a flash and grabbed Martine in one hand and Darrin in the other. "We have things to do!" she hissed.
"Yes, we do!" Martine rebutted with a struggle, trying to lunge at the Atsizi.
"Aww, Mommy had to break it up," Esti sang.
"Esti! Sea! Xyla!" The three of them perked up like dogs, becking to the call of a tall and slim Reyn woman with long dreads dyed purple and an inexplicable air of authority. She simply pointed to her side, and the three of them, apparently wounded, complied to her command.
Dea-Lin let go of her men, looked to the woman, and smiled. "Thank you, Cahn."
"No problem at all. I'll make sure these three don't cause you any trouble," she said with her own smile, then taking the time to scold Esti in particular. Esti did not bother to look her in the eye.
"I'll do the same with these two. By the way, the Paradisa looks in prime condition."
"Why, thank you," Cahn said, genuinely. "I'd say the same for the Blizzard, but I'm more curious about the ship you're escorting... is it Dillien?"
Dea-Lin decided to ignore her question altogether with a polite nod. "If you'll excuse us, we have a Rail Station to catch."
Cahn made a sweeping motion towards the door. Dea-Lin swooped past her; Darrin and Esti exchanged a glare as they exited, as did Martine and Xyla. Flower of Dawn made sure to hurry out unnoticed, while Snow and Sea let a derogatory air linger between them before breaking apart.
Dea-Lin talked while leading Darrin and Martine. "What is wrong with you two? I mean, Darrin, I know you can't restrain yourself whenever Esti pops up, but Martine? I thought you knew better than that!"
"She made a whore joke!"
"There are racists in the galaxy, and sometimes you got to ignore them when it's very important..." Dea-Lin suddenly became aware of Flower. "...And you did it while she was with you! I can't leave you alone for three minutes without you doing something unearthly stupid!" Mortified silence. Dea-Lin shook her head. "Thankfully I have someone on this ship who can keep track of you..."
Darrin mumbled, "kiss-ass," to Snow, and Snow rolled his eyes at him. Now in the docking bays, Dea-Lin let Darrin, Martine, and Snow step onto the Blizzard on their own, while she briefly stayed behind to catch Flower.
"Hey, Flower. On behalf of those two, and myself, I'm sorry. No one should have to be exposed to that degree of idiocy this early in the morning."
Flower shrugged. "It's alright. Now I know your core crew's weaknesses." Dea-Lin furrowed her brow. With a cryptic smile Flower then turned, her dark hair shedding a golden shimmer of light, and skipped back onto the Astra 7.
Pahn, at the Navigation, and Ahn, at the helm, silently input code while Zack temporarily manned the Communications array. Tapping the microphone on his headset, Zack cleared his throat and flipped several switches. "Blizzard, this is Astra, are you there?"
After a brief pause Zack heard Snow's serene voice on the line. "Astra 7, this is Blizzard, we are good to go. Please tell your helm to prepare for synchronized undocking."
"Will do, Astra out." Zack peeled off the headset and, continuing to work at his station, yelled at Ahn over his shoulder, "Blizzard's ready, go ahead and synch nav computers."
"Alright."
The bridge door slid open, and Flower frolicked in. Zack handed her the headset as he vacated the Comm, taking a seat at the empty Survey station. "Where were you?" he asked.
"Mm. On the station. With Martine and that Arjidin."
"Darrin," Ahn corrected, still handling the helm.
"Yes, Darrin. As I suspected, by the way, he is a leklak."
Zack flinched at the old Tintalan word for "hybrid," crossing his arms as though against a chill. "Uh, it's kind of rude to ask someone their species makeup, Flower."
"Oh, no. I met his half brother. Esti, I believe it was."
Pahn suddenly looked disturbed. He spoke up across the bridge to Ahn, "What was the Arjidin's full name again?"
"Darrin arji Grata."
"No maternal name...? Then it's conceivable that Darrin's brother could be Esti arjin Kata arji Grata."
Zack shook his head in confusion. "Is that someone famous?" he asked.
"Infamous," Pahn clarified in his characteristically patronizing tone. "At least among administrative staff. He is one of the crew of the Paradisa Red. It's a Corsair ship responsible for the most military and civilian raids in the greater Shambhala and Hyperborea quadrants."
Flower wagged a finger to herself. "Come to think of it, Dea-Lin did mention the Paradisa."
"If that's the case, then that was their crew."
"So?" Zack said with a shrug. "If they knew who we were, wouldn't they have raided us by now?"
"Perhaps they don't know who we are, yet," Ahn replied. "But if they were to find out, we would be prime targets. The Paradisa Red appears to be a bitter rival to the Blizzard as it is."
With a frustrated grunt, Flower made a tantrum face. "With all due respect, we could use better bedfellows, Pahn."
"I do not regret any decision we made. But I am concerned that the Blizzard's connections are ill-suited."
"Connections or no, I think our need for them outweighs the risk," Zack said. As they finished their conversation, the viewscreen turned into an image of deep space. The Astra had undocked, and the Blizzard, a nimble thing with bright-blue-glowing thrusters, took the lead. Zack heard Flower make contact with Snow via her headset. Leaving, he announced, "I'm going to the Computer Room," to no response.
The hallways were, of course, empty: the Astra 7 could fit at least fifty people on a good day, but the minimum skeleton bridge crew was five. They were operating it with four. That didn't count Shora still in the infirmary, Dr. Bolero at her side, and then--
"Oh, uh, hiya, Zack."
--Private Mathias Tremel, who seemed to be their version of Security Officer at this point. Zack gave a whimsical smile. "Hello, Matt."
"Err, uhh," Matt, still in his t-shirt and cargo pants, looked rather awkward at six feet tall in an empty hall. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, thanks. Oh, and thanks for your gift. It was very sweet," Zack said genuinely.
"N-no problem! It wasn't a problem at all! I didn't mind it, I hope you like `im--I mean, it. Did you give it a name?"
Zack briefly thought to himself. "Nope. I'll think of one while I'm in the Computer Room. Where are you headed, anyway?"
"Err, the Bridge. I'm kinda confused on how the weapons work on this ship, and I dunno who to talk to."
"If you have weapons questions, you want Flower of Morning Light. She's at the Comm Station right now."
"Flower?" Matt furrowed his brow and lowered his voice. "Isn't that the girl?"
Zack nodded, "Yes, that is THE girl."
"...The Tintalan Girl?"
"Matt, you know that Old Language proverb? `The hidden blossom is never with venom, but the brightest is for certain.'" Matt nodded. "Well, it's complete shit. Flower is living proof of that." Despite Zack's words, Matt's frown indicated that he still didn't seem convinced. Zack shrugged. "If you don't believe me, then I suppose you could ask Pahn for help. But trust me, you want to ask Flower."
With that, they parted ways, and Zack traversed four decks to reach the Computer Room. The inside of the Room, cold and blue, was untouched from when he last left it about a week ago, fleeing from swarms of Phantoms.
"Username zalton4156. Passcode vespertine gamma."
Aurora and Dawn, twin faces of light, appeared in a brilliant flash. "Hi, Zack."
"Hi, girls. You're about to dock onto a Rail Station. Please, discreetly, reinforce the inferior and port infrastructures of the Astra with Aura Fields."
A pause for processing. "It's done. Aura Fields of 12% strength have been plated onto inferior and port armor."
"Great. Continue delaying broadcast of identification codes as well."
"As you wish." A stuttering noise interrupted their serene coos, and suddenly it was only Aurora speaking. "Foreign object detected on external inferior deck."
"Wh-what do you mean?"
The intercom beeped and then welcomed Flower's voice. "We're connecting to the Rail Station now. You should strap in for the initial acceleration."
"Wait, Flower, could you hold for one minute? Aurora says there's something-"
"Nope. Docking now."
The Rail Station was nothing more than a small checkout booth floating just outside the Senna Space Station, although it was attached to a vast and immense metal rail that reached far out of the solar system and branched into an even more enormous network. Before the invention of Magnetoaccelerators, and far before the invention of Warp Gates, Frictionless Rail Stations were the only method of somewhat quick galactic travel open to the general public. They were only practical for solar systems that were abnormally close to one another, however, and for all other intents and purposes inter-quadrant wormholes had to be found and used, of course with a hefty toll.
The Astra 7 clicked nicely into the Rail like a key into a padlock, as did the Blizzard in front of it. Elongated lights indicative of nuclear accelerators turned on one by one on the Rail, the two ships slowly growing faster along it until the stars became a series of glowing streamers outside.
Zack found himself gripping his seat until the artificial gravity compensated for the external change in speed. He finally called the bridge again after about five minutes. "Flower, are you still there?" No response. "Flower!"
"Connection failed. Service error in Deck 12."
This, Zack thought to himself, was bad. Service error meant that a physical breach in the communications line must have occurred. Since communications on the Astra was relayed through aureole-based nodes, a physical breach meant an aureole leakage in Deck 12. If the aureoles were allowed to diffuse far enough into the Drive Core, that meant explosion by destabilization of the Core. Not to mention the entire irony of the situation, in that the nature of the breach prevented Zack from calling for any additional assistance.
"Aurora, temporarily seal off Deck 12 with reinforced security doors." It wouldn't be enough to hold off stray aureoles forever, but it would prevent Deck 12 from getting any more hazardous as Zack made his way over himself.
Deck 12 was the deepest part of the Astra 7, and it had only several types of rooms: two cargo bays, for loading and unloading, three network nexuses, one of which would house the service error and was probably filling up with aureoles right now, and four airlocks, for ejecting trash. Zack reached it quicker than he thought he could, but he still thought not quick enough that he could go back to the Bridge and ask for help.
Before inputting the manual codes so that he could enter the deck himself, Zack opened an inconspicuous compartment in the near wall. It was one of many emergency lockers and this one had, along with a space suit and several fire extinguishers, Sidium supplement pills--small capsules filled with finely grained sidium. The metal was found to be miraculously resistant to aureole diffusion, and ingesting trace amounts of it leant temporary physiological resistance against it. Zack swallowed them heartily.
"Aurora," Zack said as he entered Deck 12 and saw that the lights had died. The halls were shadowy but for the iridescent aquamarine streaks on the wall. "Please describe any recent damage done to Deck 12."
"Communications Network Nexus: service error. Temperature Control: service error. Ambient Lighting: service error."
That made sense. Temperature and lighting for Deck 12 were grouped together with the Communications Nexus for convenience sake. But if all three were severed, that meant a rather large gaffe must have occurred. Zack reached into his pocket and retrieved his portable computer, (a flat piece of metal that unfolded a holographic screen and keyboard; multipurpose and very useful, but not as powerful as his "suitcase computer") holding the screen in his hand and using its fluorescent emerald glow as a flashlight.
At the end of one of the halls Zack found a door that had what looked like fine silvery dust diffusing out of it. That, surely, was the Communications Nexus. Zack saw that the door had automatically locked, and he typed the manual override code into a keypad while brushing the star-like aureoles out of his face. As he expected, a torrent of the bright stuff exploded out into the hall like a river breaking through a dam. It felt warm passing through his body, but Zack knew the sidium would prevent any poisoning.
As the misty light began to clear, Zack saw the Nexus, a bundle of bright blue sheaths that centralized in a pylon then ran along the floor, ceiling, walls. The breach was on the right wall: what appeared to be four metal claws had penetrated the wall from the outside, tearing nasty gashes into the network nodes.
Although he was now glad that he had installed a soldering torch into his computer, Zack wasn't sure what these claws meant, much less if the damage done would ultimately be more devastating than he thought. He ultimately decided to weld the wall to the claws themselves, effectively staunching the aureole leakage. He aimed the side of his computer at the breaches and input a code; the torch sputtered and fired a laser from what looked like a cord input of the computer. As he let the white-hot laser do its work however, an overcoming feeling of dread overcame him. These claws obviously coincided with the foreign object Aurora found on the Astra's hull. He longed to get the handiwork done as quickly as possible, so he could maybe sprint back to the bridge and warn the crew.
As soon as he completed the repairs, however, a cacophonous crash from the other side of the claws made Zack jump. Instinctively, Zack shut himself inside the Nexus room, his back to the door, lit only by the lingering residual aureoles. Another crash. This time it obviously came from outside, in the hall, and it sounded like an explosion. Then, footsteps. Zack cursed to himself: corsairs! He heard their voices through the door.
"Hey, what the fucks is the shiny stuff in the air?" A male voice, young, gruff, and dumb.
"Aureoles." Female, with the hoarse double voice unique to an Atsizi. "No, don't go near them. I'll give you injections first."
"...So either they ran into some Phantoms, or we have hit the jackpot." Another young male, although this one sounded far more smug. "What do you need in order to find out?"
"I can plug my neural interface into any part of the ship with a wire port." A Reyn, judging from context clues. "But I think we can assume without a reasonable doubt that this is the Astra 7."
Zack's eyes widened. He knew someone would find out eventually, but this was something else altogether. The footsteps went down the hall, and Zack held his breath as they tried to open the door to the Communications Nexus.
"It's locked. Cahn, plug into it."
And then Zack knew he was cornered; the Astra's security protocols were strong, but if this Reyn had direct neural interface capabilities, they wouldn't stand a chance. Desperate, Zack ducked down on his knees and turned his computer on. With one swift motion down the middle, he soldered the door shut.
"...I unlocked it, but it's still not opening."
"Whatever, we just need to make our way to a floor plan... let's split up and look for one of those wire ports."
He heard the footsteps diverge away from him, and he sighed with relief. That is, until he realized he had locked himself in.
The door to the bridge opened and in stepped Private Tremel. Flower noticed him first, and she greeted him with a sweet smile. "Hi there, Tremel. What is it?'
Remembering what Zack had said about her in the hall, Matt blushed. "Uhh, well I was hoping to talk to Pahn, actually."
"Go ahead, Tremel," Pahn said over his shoulder, not bothering to look at him.
"I had a question..." Again, Matt shot a quick peripheral glance at Flower, to see if she was staring, but she was caught up in more important work. "...about weapons..." he looked again. Still nothing.
Pahn paused. He froze the starcharts he was observing on his viewscreen and turned around to face him. "What are you asking me, and why?"
"Err, if I want to use a heavy rifle inside the Astra without risk of blowing a hole through the hull... would I use the DRR 86 or the Crescent Moon Rifle?"
Flower answered in a split second. "The Aura's inner hull plating is reinforced to be shock proof. Firepower from a heavy rifle won't do irreparable damage unless it's prolonged and concentrated." Pahn, as though expecting Flower to answer the whole time, stayed silent. "Having said that, Tintalan rifles have a tendency to pierce through heavy metals and cause unnecessary collateral damage, so unless you're fighting Phantoms I'd go with the good `ol Solan D-Double R."
Matt, somewhat stunned but more accurately taken aback, fumbled with his voice a little before answering her. "H-how'd you know so much about weapons?"
She gave a look that seemed to say, "What a stupid question," maybe because it was indeed a stupid question. "Well, considering I'm the one that designed the weapons on this ship, it's part of my job."
"Flower," Ahn interrupted the conversation with a stern call of her name. Matt was more relieved than Flower could imagine. "Did you find out what Zack was trying to tell you before we connected to the rail?"
"Oh, right." Flower flicked a switch and put her headset back on. "Sorry, Zack. You got cut off..."
"Connection failed. Service error in Deck 12."
Flower, Ahn, and Pahn suddenly, at once, exchanged a worried glance. Private Tremel blinked lamely. "What does that mean?" he asked.
"One, the Communications Nexus has a leakage. Two, if we don't stop the leakage, the Astra's core could explode," Ahn replied.
"Alton may be fixing the problem now. Flower, you go down and help. We can handle things up here." Flower nodded at Pahn, stripping off her headset and heading out the door. Matt, not eager to be ignored by two Reyn for several hours, ran after her.
Pacing back and forth, letting the Communications Nexus light his contemplation, Zack put the pieces together in his head. The foreign object Aurora sensed was a pod of some kind. It attached to the Astra right when they connected to the Rail Station; that would make sense, Astra's computers would interpret the latching on of the pod's claws as secondary turbulence inflicted by the rail. Maybe the pod ravaged the communications system on purpose, or maybe (and more likely) it was coincidence. But lingering on the idea that someone had somehow gathered the Astra's floorplan beforehand made Zack think: who had seen them on the Senna Station?
And then he frowned. The Paradisa Red.
Still, either way it was too late now to quickly expel the pod without doing fatal damage to the ship. Figuring out who the culprits were was secondary to dealing with them.
The first thing Zack prioritized was the welfare of the entire ship. Obviously, these corsairs had every intention of finding the Bridge and taking the Astra hostage--considering the probability that the pod had an escort (whether it was the Paradia Red or not), nothing the Blizzard could do would help then. So, it would make sense to prevent them from getting to the Bridge altogether.
Zack turned his computer on again. Typing in a series of passwords, he connected to the Astra's mainframe remotely. Aurora's face now appeared on his computer screen. He turned down the volume and whispered, "Aurora, lock Deck 12's security doors. Rotate random 20-digit alphanumeric password every .01 seconds until you have direct orders from me to stop."
"It's done." Zack smiled. Neural interface or not, that would be a bitch to crack. Now, however, came the matter of not only escaping, but sending the corsairs back where they came from. Trying to communicate with the Bridge, Infirmary or anyone's quarters was out of the question; although the central pylon of the Nexus was in perfect shape, the intra-ship connection nodes were decimated, and it would take an expert like Shora to repair them.
But then something occurred to Zack; communication within the ship was impossible, but what about communications outside of it? The Array in charge of relaying messages between ships was located on the dorsal side of the Astra, far away from the damage done here. Zack kneeled down and opened a panel under the central pylon, placing his computer next to it. This would be tricky, but if he wired it right it would definitely work...
"You know," Zahn mused while throwing and catching a small silver ball up into the air repeatedly, "I could think of a lot of ways to disguise the Astra."
"Oh? Do tell," Snow said flatly. He was engrossed in writing something on a notepad, but he wouldn't let Zahn see what it was.
"We could paint it. It'd have to be pink."
Darrin, across the Bridge, stuck his tongue out. "Fucking nuts! You call that invisible?"
"NOOO, Dillien ships are usually pink. We'd look like those class IV Dillien trade vessels--you remember, Snow."
"Uh huh... and it was a good idea..." Snow said apprehensively. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, anything for our gender to enjoy?" asked Darrin through a chuckle.
Zahn pouted. "We could texturize the ship. Dissolve and mold parts of the hull so that it doesn't look like the Astra anymore."
"I suppose you'd use nanites," Snow thought aloud. "You'd need a LOT more than we have in the Astra's infirmary to do what you're asking."
"Yeah, I know. We'd use Miracle Metal."
"What?"
"You know, Miracle Metal. That stuff the Oolians came out with that turns metal into putty."
"I know what it is, Zahn, but it was banned galaxy-wide. Not only did it permanently liquify metal, but it worked on Carbon-based life too."
Zahn's eyes widened as he caught the silver ball in his hand. "You mean it works on flesh?"
"Uh. Yeah."
With a yelp Zack dropped the ball on the floor. When it melted into the floor and turned it into a pile of quicksilver, Snow jumped to his feet. "What the-- that was Miracle Metal! Zahn!"
Zahn clenched his teeth nervously, drawing his knees to his chest. "I didn't know! I got it back on the Senna Station and I thought it would work!"
"Oh Lights, don't you tell me you have more of it." Zahn continued his nervous stare, and Snow's question was answered for him. "We gotta get rid of it before Dea-Lin finds out!" Snow ran to the ladder and slid down; Zahn took a moment to stare at the melted floor before following him.
Darrin, marvelously unaffected what just happened, started from his seat to eye the hole in the floor that had formed; he snickered when he saw Martine's room on the other side.
"Hello?" Darrin's ears swiveled and perked up; it was a small voice, and it sounded electronic. "Blizzard, are you there? Gods, please, someone answer me!" Darrin looked left and right; besides Pete steering, no one was on the Bridge. The sound came from Snow's headset lying at his station.
"Are you going to answer that?" Pete asked without taking his eyes off his viewscreen.
Not seeing other choice, Darrin reluctantly got up and strapped the headset to his cat ears. "Ye-llo?" he greeted.
"Who is this? Snow, is that you?"
"No, this is Darrin. Who the fuck's this?"
"Darrin?" Darrin heard the person on the other line mumble something to himself. "This is Zackary Alton, on the Astra."
"Ooooh, yeah, little Solan twerp. How are ya?"
"Shut up!"
"Wha-"
"Sorry! Gods, I'm sorry. Just, it's just, I'm scared. You have to do something to help us, please!"
Darrin looked at the ladder to the bridge, hoping Dea-Lin or Snow or someone more qualified could take over. He then looked at Pete, but obviously he was just as oblivious. "Uh, hold on a sec, kid," Darrin said softly, "What's going on?"
"There are Corsairs on the Astra. They must have attached a pod to our hull when we hooked onto the Rail Station, and they've invaded our lower deck."
"Shit! Well, shit! Why are you calling me, boy, warn your buddies!"
"I can't. The corsairs destroyed our IntraComm. But I locked them on the lower deck for now."
"That's good. Then just run to your bridge, and you know, do something-"
"I'm locked on the same deck as them. I welded myself in."
"...What the fuck!"
"I didn't have an option. Darrin, the security doors aren't going to hold them forever!"
"Alright... alright! Just wait there, and I'll get Snow, and he'll message your Bridge."
Darrin heard a frustrated sigh. "You don't get it, do you?" Zack said urgently. "Even if you do warn our Bridge, they'll be helpless. We only have one combat-ready person on this ship, and if he can't communicate with anyone else then all the corsairs have to do is split up and they'll have the Astra taken. Now, there's a Reyn with them. And if I'm guessing correctly he's breaking the code I used to lock us in as we speak. If you're sending help, it has to come NOW!"
Suddenly, a crash. Zack gasped. Darrin furrowed his brow. "Kid, what's going on?"
"I think they found me. They're trying to get in. Shit, they're trying to get in!"
"Calm down! Did you-" Darrin stood up for no reason, paced back and forth, punched his hands frantically in the air. "-did you get a glimpse of the corsairs? Did you see who they are?"
"I heard four of them. One Atsizi female, one-" The crash again. "-Reyn male and two other males, that's all I know for sure; hey, please don't tell me this is the Paradisa Red."
This made Darrin stop in his tracks. "...The Paradisa..." he whispered mostly to himself, but Zack apparently heard him. "Your Atsizi is Dr. Xyla, and the Reyn Pahn Nine Hundred Million something... Kid, sit tight, I'm coming to get you, alright?"
"Wha-" Darrin didn't have time to listen to the rest of Zack's monologue; he had torn the headset off of his ears and slid down the ladder, running down the hall past Snow and Zahn (carrying a mysterious crate) and into the Cargo Bay where the escape pods were stored.
"Hm. Well, that's strange," Flower said out loud, confronted with the locked security doors. "Aurora, under whose permission did you lock these doors?"
"Technician Zackary Alton."
"Zack...?" Flower opened the wall compartment and counted the number of sidium capsules. "Well, it looks like Zack locked himself in, for some reason or another. Tell me, Aurora, is the service error on deck 12 resolved?"
Another glitch-like sound. "Aureole leakage has stopped, Flower. However, a systems reboot is required before lost functions can be restored."
"Hey, I don't wanna sound stupid, but..." Matt's preface seemed to worry Flower, but he continued anyway. "...what's going on? Why's the deck locked?"
"I wish I knew. Still, Zack did it on purpose. He may be in trouble."
"Then, can we break the door open?"
"Why... would we...?" Flower mumbled partially to herself. "...yeah, I suppose we could. Here, take a Sidium pill." They both swallowed the supplements eagerly. "Now, these'll only last for about an hour, so we gotta be sure to keep this an in and out--wait!" Matt had raised his rifle, about to blast out the door full on. He gave Flower a curious look. Flower, daintily but effortlessly, wrenched the rifle from his hands and aimed it at the upper left corner of the security door's threshold. With a single shot, a heavy round of ammunition penetrated a small point of metal, and in a shower of sparks the security doors pried themselves open. Flower sighed, throwing the weapon back into a shocked Private Tremel's arms. "These security doors are shockproof. With the rounds you're using, it'll save us a lot of clean up if you aim for the manual override controls," she explained.
Matt, very much impressed, largely ignored her last statement, earnestly asking, "Where'd you learn to shoot like that! You got the aim of a pro."
"Oh. Why thank you. I field test all my inventions, so it's part of the job. Shall we?" Flower led the way into the dimly lit halls of Deck 12, obviously less fearful than her companion.
A scruffy blonde Arjidin; a dark-haired, musclebound Tintalan; a smug and luminous Atsizi; a Reyn with his entire head covered in cybernetic implants. Zack, positioned awkwardly on his knees in front of the Communication Nexus, computer still in hand, froze in place.
"Well, hello, little DR researcher," the Arjidin said with a menacing smile. "Are you the bitch that locked us in?"
Zack eyed the hole in the wall made by their microexplosives. "I'll take it you're the corsairs that blew up part of my ship."
"Ugh. Let's just kill him," the Atsizi woman proposed, pulling a syringe out of her lab coat.
"Not yet," the Reyn declared. "Anesthetize him first. I can install neural implants and lift pertinent information from his brain."
"Aww..." the Arjidin, in almost a mocking tone, cooed as he knelt down to be eye level with Zack. "...but he did such a good job at trying to thwart us. Maybe you can just tell your computers to let us out, and we won't have to hurt you. Huh? How about it?"
Zack paused, glancing nervously at the Tintalan, who had pointed a pistol at him. And then he nodded. "Oh, Dawn?" Zack said to the ceiling, the Arjidin smiling expectantly. "Emergency program Zack-Theta."
They comprehended Zack's command too late: a piercing, high-frequency noise suddenly resonated in the nexus room: the Corsairs, in stunned surprise, dropped their weapons to cringe and cover their ears. Zack was barely better off, but in the panic he shoved past the Atsizi out the door and into the hallway.
He had to admit; he was just a little proud of the last-minute emergency program he made in less than the span of a minute in his portable computer. But whether it was enough to save his skins was little up to him: he now ran with an infernal ringing in his ears, well aware that his pursuers were probably less than 5 seconds behind him. He had to think fast--how could he defend himself? How could he hold out long enough? Perhaps in search of a weapon, he quickly took a turn into one of the cargo bays, just as he heard the frantic voices of the arguing Corsairs.
But upon entering the bay, Zack cursed to himself: by chance he had picked the mostly empty one, which had nothing more than a dozen crates of miscellaneous items. Not sure what else to do, Zack swiveled and soldered the door shut behind him again, and ran for the crates. He fried one open with his torch and found the food that Pahn and Dea-Lin had purchased back at Senna: non-perishable fruits and vegetables, frozen meats, and an assortment of brandies and rums--most likely Dea-Lin's choice. Zack took two bottles in hand and glanced at the alcohol content, grinning softly to himself.
"Little bastard!" Esti screamed, his hearing not yet restored. Small rivulets of blood trickled from his feline ears. "I'll shoot his head off!"
"Hold your horses..." Pahn 999,709,712, kneeling before the soldered-shut door, planted another red disk onto it, setting the timer with swift swipes of his fingers. "...alright, stand back."
With a small explosion the doors to the cargo bay burst outward. The four of them, weapons in hand, charged inwards, veiled in smoke. By the time it cleared, they realized that they were stepping in heaps shattered glass and a large puddle of clear liquid.
Esti sniffed and frowned. "That's-"
The red laser of a soldering torch shot from behind the crates at the pool of liquid. It burst into a huge river of flames; Pahn, always vigilant and apparently aided by leg enhancements, jumped out of the fire first, but his companions weren't so lucky. Esti and Sea rolled out of the flames amid groans of pain, their arms clearly burnt. Xyla, her lab coat aflame, screamed in a panic, running into the middle of the cargo bay and flinging her clothes to the winds.
"Dawn! Extinguish fire in Cargo Bay 2!"
White plumes of cold clouds rained from the ceiling, putting out the flames that had blocked the door. Under cover of the chilling smoke screen, Zack ran out from behind the crates towards the exit--
--only to be blocked by Pahn, who had jumped in front of him from a dozen yards away. In one quick motion, Pahn grabbed Zack by the neck, lifting him high up into the air, his legs squirming. "You're pretty shifty," Pahn remarked. "It'll be my pleasure to take some of that wit for myself..."
"Hey!"
Both Zack and Pahn turned to see Matt, rifle in hand, with Flower in tow. Matt stopped as he aimed and fired several rounds into Pahn; they bounced off of metal patches on his shoulder, but the impact was enough to make him release Zack, who collapsed on the ground like a rag doll.
Flower, not wasting any time, reached into Matt's belt and grabbed a pistol, firing volleys directly at Pahn's head: combined with Matt's firepower, Pahn was forced to retreat backwards, covering his face with his armored arms.
While Flower preemptively charged into the cargo bay, Matt took a moment to hover over Zack, who was rubbing a severely bruised neck. Not needing to say a word, he helped Zack to his feet, gave him a pat on the back, and handed him his dropped computer.
Esti, still struggling, had just gotten to his feet when Flower pointed her gun to his head. Then Sea, in almost the same state of injury, got up behind him, and Flower was forced to point the weapon back and forth between them. "Uh? Private Tremel?" she yelled, a little panicked.
But then Flower felt a pistol fixed to her own head--it was Xyla, what was left of her clothes a tattered mess, parts of her hair singed. "Put it down," she panted, her trigger finger shaking.
"Don't even think about it!" Matt said as he rushed Xyla, shoving his rifle into her back. He, of course, was taken aback when he felt the cold chill of a knife, an extension of Pahn's arm, tingling on the back of his neck.
Zack, not about to be left out, had charged the torch on his computer and pointed it directly at Pahn's neural interfaces; a move he was sure would be fatal. And when Sea had mustered the strength to point his rifle at Zack, the situation quite fully became a standoff between 7 tired, angry people. Paranoid eyes darted back and forth; hands trembled, breathing quickened, any one of them ready to make a move at any moment.
But the tension was cut short: all at once, there was a cacophonous noise, a storm debris, and a shockwave that sent all 7 of them to the floor. Zack looked up, his mouth agape; an escape pod had sunk itself into the far wall of the cargo bay! And it wasn't a small thing either--it took up about two thirds of the wall, a metal dome that protruded obtusely like a bubble sitting on the surface of a pond.
And who else, armed to the teeth with two rifles and nimble as could be, exited from the pod's hatch but Darrin. He jumped down and, in no time, fixed a rifle at Esti and a rifle at Pahn. It was enough of a shock to let Zack, in the heat of the moment, kick the weapon out of Sea's hand, and Matt to wrench away Xyla's pistol.
"You..." Zack fumbled weakly as he rose to his feet, "you came."
"'course," was all Darrin said. He smiled at Esti, obviously satisfied, in response to which Esti simply mumbled a curse word.
"Ah! So you had claimed that ship! I do apologize, it won't happen again."
"Of course, of course. Still, I have to admit, hiding under the ship itself, latching on at the exact same time as the Rail Station docking clamps? Very clever!"
"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I pioneered the technique. I have to say though, your men are rather ingenious themselves. I don't think Esti would ever have the guts to launch an escape pod while attached to a Rail Station."
"Oh, that? Don't say that, Cahn, it's not ingenuity, it's stupidity, plain and simple."
Cahn and Dea-Lin shared a bout of polite laughter over the viewscreens. Snow rolled his eyes.
"I'm glad we got this cleared up. They're being held in our companions' ship right now, so you can pick them up as soon as we land on Taenelt 4."
"It's a pleasure, Dea-Lin. Paradisa out."
Snow shut the viewscreen off with verve. Dea-Lin gave a heavy sigh, rubbing her face in her hands. "Shit. Shitshitshit. That was close. But I swear, I will bite Darrin and Martine's heads off for leading them onto this shit."
"Dea-Lin, why do you always insist on being so polite with Cahn?" Snow asked.
She looked at Snow almost with pity. "Rival's rapport. Don't tell me you've never had it. Sometimes your worst enemy is your best friend." Snow took several moments of silence to digest her words. "By the way, where did this hole in the floor come from? Was someone dragging acid through here or something?"
Taenelt 4 was a pleasant if humid, mostly green planet with very few large cities. They had found a low-key starship garage on the surface of the planet on purpose, if it were possible for such a huge building to be called "low-key." Still, its relatively difficult-to-place position in the middle of a jungle made it enough under the radar for their purposes, which mainly consisted of a paint job.
The crews of the Astra and Blizzard stood outside the scaffoldings, watching as the huge silver arches of the garage sprayed the Astra shades of metallic white. Snow looked over at Zahn. "So... you're sure this will work?"
Zahn nodded eagerly. "Yeah! The shuttle from the Paradisa combined with the escape pod from the Blizzard alter the Astra's appearance like crazy!" Indeed, he was right: two large spherical pustules now protruded from the lateral flanks of the bottom deck. "Not to mention they give the Astra some extra rooms. But basically, we can pass it off as a generic Solan ship."
Darrin, stoic, felt a nudge next to him. It was Zack, smiling. "Hi guy," Zack said softly.
"Yo. How's your neck?"
He shrugged. "Hurts. Could be worse. I did a lot worse to those guys..."
Darrin laughed. "Yeah! You did! Man, little dude, I can't believe you did that much damage against four armed Corsairs using a computer and a soldering torch!"
"Well, I would've died if it weren't for you, though..." Zack turned to his left to face Matt and Flower. "...and you guys too. Thanks."
Flower simply smiled, and Matt waved it away, remarking quite humbly, "It's my job, I think."
"Yeah, well, if this experience has taught us anything, it's that now is the time to get a disguise," Dea-Lin declared, walking up with Pahn.
Pahn nodded. "The next step is to come up with a new name."
Zack pursed his lips. "Well, we have to keep the number the same. Solan computer protocols don't let you change that no matter what."
"So it's Something 7," stated Snow. "How about Starlight 7?"
A quiet moment. And then, a series of nods and affirmative noises.
Later that day, a Pia Trade Vessel, the Blizzard, accompanied by a white Solan freighter, the Starlight 7, departed the surface of Taenelt 4. The two vessels, headed for the Hyperborea Quadrant, paid a total of 2200 credits for use of a Magnetoaccelerator: nothing unusual to be logged at all.
Wow guys! I haven't written in a while!!! But I assure you, none of these stories are dead, they're just... on hiatus... while I deal with college :D I'm actually on Thanksgiving Break right now, so that's how I managed to finish this chapter. But come Winter! More to come! :]
As per usual, thanks for reading!
Questions? Comments? Recommendations? Fan Mail? Hate Mail, maybe? Wanna just chat? Email me at ThePleiadesCall@gmail.com . Love to hear from you!
If you like Starlight 7, maybe there's the very vague possibility you'll like other stories I've submitted:
Charmed Reborn (celebrity), Final Fantasy Rosa (celebrity), Pokemon: Amethyst (celebrity), Teth (fantasy), Diana Celes (High School), Hallow (sci-fi/fantasy), Crystal (Encounters).