“Are you calling my engineers incompetent?”
“Don’t be over-sensitive, it doesn’t suit you. I’m just saying that we have more resources than you do.”
“Last I checked the Kregan Empire’s resources are—how should I put this mildly—nearly nonexistent. As a matter of fact, I wonder if I shouldn’t just take your father’s place myself. The timing for a coup seems pretty ripe.”
Xonax slammed a fist on the desk. “Yes, it is! But this is my coup, don’t make the mistake and think I would just let you swoop in and take what’s mine. You wouldn’t stand a chance against our planetary defenses.”
“Maybe we wouldn’t, maybe we would.”
“Altanor!” insisted Xonax.
“Cool your jets, Prince. I’m not interested in running the ashes of your pitiful and broken empire. I just want to make sure we understand what’s going to happen next.” Altanor’s face twitched. “You know, be on the same page.”
“You need to engage the enemy when they come, no matter what forces they bring along. That’s the page we’re on.”
“That’s where I’m a little blurry. If they come with an armada of Arcadian ships, we both know they’ll wipe us out.”
“Except that it won’t happen. Both sides have lost the bulk of their fleets. They’ll have a couple of ships, three at best. I would think even you should be able to handle that. With the information I gave you, you can penetrate their shields, and that should give you the advantage you need. But remember, we don’t want to destroy them, we need to get our hands on the boy, so you just prolong the battle while he finds his way to my ship to rescue the princess.”
“I don’t like that part of the plan.”
“Would that be because you didn’t come up with it yourself?”
“It played a role.”
“Well, get over it!”
Altanor stretched his head to the side and his neck cracked. He then turned and spat between his teeth. The muddy liquid splashed on Xonax’s brand new carpet leaving a messy stain on the fabric.
Xonax rolled his eyes. “That’s disgusting.”
Altanor shrugged. “If you ask me, it was in dire need of a personal touch.”
18
Kevin walked with Lacuna onto the bridge. She leaned and whispered. . .
“Whatever chance you had to get something extra at the end of this, you can kiss it goodbye. Staying locked up in a small room for two days is not my idea of fun.”
Kevin didn’t bother answering. While he had to admit that Lacuna had certain charms that made him feel funny sometimes, his focus was solely on rescuing a kind girl that he almost kissed. An experience he had been looking for pretty much forever, but the universe could have a weird sense of humor at times.
“When are we jumping out of hyperspace?” asked Kevin.
“Any time now,” replied Ziron. “As for you,” he said hissing at Lacuna. “No funny business.”
“Whatever,” said Lacuna. “As long as I get my hands on what I came for and you fulfill your promise of providing me with a shuttle, you’ll get the precious sub-space frequency and location of the ship where Princess Kalliopy is being held. Then you can detect its current location and do whatever the hell you’re going to do that will most likely end in your lives being forfeited. I’m just glad I won’t be there to see you fail.”
“Yeah, because doing a good deed would kill you,” snorted Boomer from the side of a console.
“Oh, great, the talking quadruped is here too. Why does your race interact with such dumb pets in the first place?”
Boomer’s fur rose on his back and he growled.
Kevin slowly extended a palm, informing his friend to let it go. While he shared Boomer’s sentiment, if they were to succeed in their endeavor, they would have to get used to Lacuna’s inflammatory personality.
Kevin sympathized with Boomer though, especially after how his buddy had been stung by her.
The ship exited hyperspace, and the Osiris’ viewport filled with stars, a truly massive asteroid belt in the distance, and an equally large blue-purple nebula on the port bow.
Mira’s holographic floating face materialized between the viewport and the crew.
“Scans are inconclusive, can’t detect any power signature, which doesn’t bode well.”
Ziron turned his attention to Lacuna. “So? Where next? And you’d better not have embarked us on a fool’s quest, or you’ll find yourself stuck in the middle of nowhere.”
Lacuna mimed being cold. “I’m so sooo scared,” she added, a tad heavy on the sarcasm, even for her. “And let’s make one thing clear: the lack of trust is mutual, okay? So let’s drop the cheap shots and just do the work we came here to do. That way we can part ways as soon as possible. Believe me when I say that I’m not exactly fond of your company either.”
“I like Ziron’s idea,” Boomer said, “should anybody care.”
“Enough,” said Kevin sharply. “I’ve had it. Bickering like kids won’t get us anywhere. Let Lacuna tell us where to go next, and let’s recover the fleet. Then we can all say our goodbyes and be on our merry ways.”
Ziron cocked one eyebrow. “Merry?”
“It’s an express—you know what, forget it.”
“Our next stop is the nebula,” said Lacuna. “That’s the reason your super-duper AI didn’t detect anything. And why no other people found the fleet for all this time.”
“I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t have just sent ships to comb the nebula, they could have found them,” said Kevin.
“It’s a little more complicated than that. This system is unstable.”
“Unstable how?”
“Well, there’s a wormhole that pops in and out at random intervals.”
“That hardly constitutes instability,” Ziron complained.
“It does when the thing on the other side of the wormhole is a massive black hole. Why do you think there are all these large rocks floating around? This used to be an inhabited solar system with eleven planets, but billions died.”
“If that is true,” said Kevin, “then the Fleet could have been destroyed too.”
“That’s what everyone else thought as well. Hence nobody has been looking for the fleet for centuries. Between you and me, I also thought the same until I delved more into Jared’s files. Apparently, it’s unaffected by the gravity pull due to the nebula’s composition. Or something…”
“That’s not how physics works,” snorted Ziron.
“Yeah, well, all I know is that’s how this place works,” Lacuna shot back, “and I suggest we enter the nebula before the wormhole decides to randomly pop-up and ruin the oh-so-lovely day we’re having.”
“Agreed,” said Kevin. “Set a course to the nebula, full impulse. Make it so.”
Ziron blinked a couple of times. “Aye, aye, Captain, I guess. A memo about my demotion would have been nice, though. Just saying.”
Boomer laughed as he came to sit next to Kevin.
“Love your Picard impression,” he whispered.
Kevin grimaced. “Oh, snap, I was going for Janeway.”
“Never mind,” chuckled Boomer. “You should have said: ‘There’s coffee in that nebula,’ then.”
They both cracked up as the ship’s sub-light engines rumbled to maximum power and shortly after, the Osiris entered the nebula.
After forty minutes of slow travelling inside the massive nebula, Mira’s modified sensors, courtesy of Lacuna’s in-nebula scanning technique, finally found the fleet of old Arcadian battleships.
Life scans came back negative, but then again, it might have been interference due to the density of the nebula’s composition.
The shuttle departed the Osiris, with everyone aboard.
“I’m not sure I should have left the Osiris on her own,” protested Ziron, now stretching his legs as he left the floating pillow behind.
“Does he do anything else beside complain?” Lacuna asked.
Ziron hissed.
Lacuna grimaced for a second. “If you say so.”
“Don’t worry, Ziron,” said Kevin. “Mira is taking care of our ship. I just hope she can beam us out in case we need her to.”
“She should be able to extrapolate a fix based on the sensor modifications I’ve applied, the same ones that allowed her to find the fleet inside the nebula,” said Lacuna. “But there’s very little chance she will need to, it’s named the Ghost Fleet for a reason. Nobody has set foot aboard one in a thousand years, so not exactly expecting any uninvited guests or surprises, except perhaps a millennia-old fermented fart smell.”
“That’s one big assumption,” commented Boomer. “There could be other life forms that explored the ships, roamed around, and god knows what onboard these ships.”
“We’re going in with suits anyway until we can confirm or activate life support,” said Ziron.
“Yeah, ‘cause that’s gonna stop space zombies from eating our brains,” said Boomer.
“Sorry, pal,” said Kevin, “I guess I shouldn’t have watched all those horror films with you. Didn’t really realize you’d understand them this much, you know.”
“Don’t sweat it, buddy. I really enjoyed those moments we spent together, no matter what was on TV.”
Kevin smiled. “So did I, truth be told, I’m not sure I would have had the courage to see most of them if it wasn’t for your presence.”
“Hey blue mop?” Lacuna looked to Ziron. “Should we give them the room?”
Ziron’s eyes squinted and he replied with indignation. “Blue mop?! Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Ziron sneered. “Now that’s irony for you.”
Lacuna shook her hair vigorously and it began to change from blue to purple.
“I knew it!” said Ziron, pointing a claw at her. “Nano-paint.”
“Nice trick! Doesn’t look cheap, though,” said Kevin.
“Well, I was half right anyway,” objected Ziron.
“Yeah, let’s put that on our tombstones if we fail,” barked Boomer. “Was half right, just the wrong half.”
“Nobody is dying on my watch,” said Kevin absently as he guided the shuttle to land on the biggest ship in the fleet, the Orus. “Everyone clear on the plan? We get in, restore power to the fleet, and get out.”
“Just like that?” said Lacuna.
“Yeah, just like that,” said Kevin seriously.
However, something nagged at the back of Kevin’s mind. Why were Arcadian ships named after Egyptian deities? Kevin knew that they had a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time, but his curiosity begged for an answer.
“Hey, Ziron?”
“Yes, Kevin.”
“Why are your ships named after Egyptian deities?”
“Egyptian you say. . .” Ziron’s eyes blinked a couple of time. “Oh—I see. It’s not entirely impossible that we visited your world, you know, a long time ago.”
“Oh—Wait! What?”
“I believe this is a conversation for another day, don’t you think?” said Ziron, clearly trying to change the subject. “Let’s first focus on getting Princess Kalliopy back.”
Kevin guided the shuttle onto the landing pad. As he climbed out of his pilot’s seat, he pointed a finger at Ziron.
“Okay, but we are having that discussion afterward.”
Ziron replied with an uncomfortable nod. They all walked to the back of the shuttle and put on their atmospheric suits. Another of Ziron’s inventions. A smooth oval contraption that resembled a stone was attached to them, which raised a force field, allowing them to breathe.
“Will that be enough oxygen? What if we’re in there for hours?” asked Kevin.
“The device can convert most outside atmosphere into clean air for us to breathe.”
“Most?”
Ziron shrugged. “It usually works.”
Kevin buried his face in his palms. “Why I even ask these questions at this point is beyond me.”
19
Upon entering the ship’s corridor, Kevin reestablished his leader role.
“I think we need to split up into groups.”
“Funny you would say that, ‘cause I thought we should stay together,” said Ziron.
Boomer coughed out, “Chicken!”
“Where?” said Ziron, madly looking from side to side.
“Never mind that,” said Kevin as they arrived at a three-way crossing. He looked at the wrist device Ziron had given him prior to getting into the shuttle. “We can locate each other with these anyway, right?”
“That’s correct. The blue dots will be us, I’ve given our guest another color.”
Lacuna looked over Kevin’s shoulder as he activated the holo-scanner. Three blue dots with the first letter of each other’s first names appeared and one single red dot.
“I don’t know whether to be offended. . .,” said Lacuna, before fluffing her hair in the air. “Or feel special.”
Kevin was getting antsy. They needed to move quickly. He was still haunted by the holo-vid of the princess being held and mistreated by the Kregans. He would do anything to make sure that her current predicament wouldn’t last one minute longer than it had to.
“Whatever works for you,” said Kevin. “You and Ziron go to the left, that should lead you to the bridge. I’ll check the engine room with Boomer.”
“Sounds good,” said Lacuna. “Hey moppy, you coming?”
Ziron hissed harder than usual but complied.
As Kevin and Boomer advanced toward engineering, a strange creaking noise tore through the silence.
“Hey, Boomer, remember that movie we saw together: Aliens?” Kevin asked.
“Remember? I can’t believe you had me watch that. My shit was moist for over a week after that,” said Boomer. “Just saying.”
“Uh—too much information, pal.”
Boomer raised one of his legs and relieved himself against the bulkhead.
“That’s just gross.”
“Well, have you seen any trees around here?”
Kevin chuckled as
Boomer trotted back next to him.
“What if there’s some Xenomorph on board this ship? What do we do then?”
“Well, you change into one too and kick its ass, that’s what.”
A strong wind and a clacking noise startled Kevin.
“Like this?” said a deep Boomer voice.
When Kevin turned his head to the side, he jumped and fell back on his ass, hard.
“Too much?” said Boomer, in full black-as-the-night quadruped Xenomorph form, it’s second mouth retracting.
Kevin took a giant breath. “Cut it out—you almost gave me a heart attack!”
Boomer morphed back to his Beagle form, his tail down, displaying his best cute look: big, watery eyes and his tongue hanging out. The works. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay, but don’t waste the armor’s energy for jokes that can make me shit my pants, we may need the power later.”
Boomer raised on his back legs and saluted. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
“You’re silly. Let’s go,” said Kevin with a big smile on his face. “Between you and me, I’m a little worried.”
“Why’s that?”
“It looked like the Kregans mistreated Kalliopy. I just want us to get to her before it’s too late, you know.”
“About that—Isn’t it a little crazy that we both risk our lives to save a complete stranger? Even one as cute as Kalliopy?”
“Cuteness has nothing to do about it.”
“Yeah, nor does the kiss she owes you, right?”
Kevin couldn’t hide his emotions from his best friend. And he had told him all about it when he got back from the encounter at the pond, right after winning an interstellar battle. He’d been so proud of himself that he had felt compelled to tell Boomer all about it, of course.
“Kiss or not, this is the right thing to do. Ziron saved our lives on Earth. And
he’s protecting our family too. The least we can do is try and help Kalliopy.”
“Not to mention that if the Arcadians lose this war, the Kregan might decide to come to Earth and enslave us all, or worse.”
Kevin stopped walking.
“What’s up?” asked Boomer.
“I hadn’t thought of that. Well—all the more reasons to hurry and get this fleet up and running. Looks like the survival of our species might ultimately depend on us helping the Arcadians win.”
“No pressure, then. I hope that’s one amazing kiss you’ll get, I truly do.”
Kevin activated his comms. “Ziron? Come in? What’s our status?”
“We’ve just entered the bridge,” said Ziron, a little static overlapping with his voice. “Hang on.”
“What’s taking so long?” asked Lacuna.
“Let me work, I have to try and restore power beyond emergency lights. Not exactly an easy thing to do on a ship whose tech is older than most of my lineage.”
“A little testy, are we?”
“Can I please have some quiet? Why don’t you look around for your precious artifact? Whatever the hell that is.”
“Alright, if you prefer being alone to defend yourself in case an intruder shows up, I’m fine with that.”
Ziron’s fur shot up as if magnetized. “Oh—then perhaps you shouldn’t wander too far, then.”
Lacuna smiled as she walked around the bridge.
“I think I got it,” said Ziron.
A humming sound followed by lights progressively turning on flooded the bridge.
“That’s it for power,” said Ziron. “There seems to be plenty of it to fire up the engines, too, which is good. Now, let’s see if I can restore life support.”
“Good job,” said Lacuna.
Ziron shushed her as he opened a comm to Kevin.
“Kevin, I got the power back on.”
“We can see that, good job, Zee. What’s next?”
“Life support, then engines and main computer. The sooner I can access the computer core, the sooner I can try and establish a link with Mira for remote controlling the fleet.”
Fire at Will: A Space Opera Adventure With LitRPG Elements Page 13