Belinea

by Andrew Mack

  The Lieutenant Commander nodded his head and spoke, “Welcome to the Torsalli Space Port.”

  Willits responded. “Thank you, Lieutenant Commander.”

  Bezra then quickly said, “Gentlemen, this is where I leave you. You are in good hands.”

  Willits and Jones nodded as Bezra walked off. The Lieutenant Commander continued. “We would like to escort the Ambassador to a more suitable and secure location given his long travel from Braccus.”

  Willits immediately frowned. “Actually Lieutenant Commander, the Ambassador is perfectly comfortable given his conditions here on the ship. My understanding is this second transport ship should be here soon, so if we could keep your security team outside on guard, we feel it would be the quickest and best solution moving forward.”

  The Lieutenant Commander looked confused but nevertheless nodded his head in agreement and said to Willits, “As you wish, Commander. Is there anything further my team can provide you with?”

  Willits shook his head no and responded, “No, thank you. However, while your team is guarding the ship, Commander Jones and I are going to conduct a quick security sweep of the area, perhaps find something to do before we file a report to our commanders.”

  Willits provided that last statement with a half-smile and a wink. The Lieutenant Commander seemed a little less rigid now and more understanding of the situation. “No problem Commander, I am sure it was a long flight. My security team will be more than happy to stand guard here.”

  Willits continued, “And as a matter of discretion, I need to get the Ambassador’s traveling assistants off the ship.”

  The Lieutenant Commander was now really confused. Jones interjected, “Give us a minute, you will understand.”

  Willits and Jones walked back into the ship, and within a couple of minutes had come out with Cocoa and Harmony. One look at the ladies from the BRG Lieutenant Commander, and he completely understood now what Willits and Jones were referring to. He, too, had to deal with many other potentially embarrassing Ambassador situations. Willits whispered to the BRG Lieutenant Commander “The Ambassador and is still sleeping with one of his assistants. We will be back in one hour.”

  The BRG Commander nodded and smiled. Willits, Jones, Harmony, and Cocoa now walked back up the tunnel towards the space station. They went through a security area that got them off the military side, and onto the civilian side. They boarded a transport elevator that seemed to ‘shoot’ them, along with ten other passengers, across the station to the other side of the port. They walked down a few more corridors until they came upon a vast terminal room. They went up to the desk station where a Torsallian asked them, “How can I help you?”

  Willits smiled and asked, “I need two tickets for Braccus.”

  The Torsallian said, “There is a civilian flight that leaves in thirty minutes, and another in four hours.”

  Willits said, “Thirty minutes is great. When is the next transport down to the Ascarla region of Torsalli?”

  She smiled back and said, “There is a transport that leaves in about one hour.”

  Willits kept up his smile, “Excellent, just enough time for us to get a drink while we wait. I will need two additional tickets for Ascarla, please.”

  Belinea 3.15

  Battle Cruiser 54

  Second Moon of Pyliss

  AuFa Supply Station

  The Battle Cruiser pulled into an orbit. Captain Kimmel and Commander Devanoe watched from the bridge as a rather large cargo ship flew up from the moon’s surface. The ship pulled up next to the Battle Cruiser, flying side by side. A long tunnel bridge extended out from the cargo ship towards the side doors of the Battle Cruiser, connecting the two ships. One of the bridge officers shouted across the bridge, so Commander Devanoe and Captain Kimmel could hear “Docking Tunnel locked into place, sir.”

  Captain Kimmel then responded, “Proceed with cargo transport Lieutenant.”

  Commander Devanoe whispered to Captain Kimmel, “Captain Vincella, thanks you, sir.”

  Captain Kimmel rolled his eyes slightly. “Captain Vincella has a lot more problems then we do.”

  Inside a stolen Civilian Transport Ship, Taz and his crew navigated the ship towards the Torsalli Space Port. His First Officer Verkato pointed out the window and said, “The Ambassador’s ship is on the military side of the port.”

  The ship then made a turn, so it was going around the massive Space Station. Over the speaker, a voice came out “Civilian Transport Ship 7481, you are in a restricted area, please leave at once.”

  First Officer Verkato responded, “This is Civilian Transport 7481, we are a little lost, we are looking for Dock Slip 117.”

  Alexis Devanoe had woken up with a splitting headache. Squinting her eyes, she looked around the cabin. She noticed Ambassador Bird asleep on the other side of the room. Alexis stood and walked to the door, which she could not open. The electronics in the room were not on either, making the room very dark outside of some running lights on the floor. Alexis shouts at the equipment. “Computer on, give me a status, please.”

  Nothing happens. “Computer on, please. “

  Still, nothing happens. Alexis walks over to the Ambassador and begins shaking him. He slowly awakens to the sound of her saying, “Ambassador, wake up.”

  The Ambassador turns over and suddenly squints his eyes. “Uggh, my head.”

  Alexis answers, “Mine too. I did not think we drank that much wine.”

  The Ambassador then sits up. He asks, “What is going on here?”

  Alexis responds, “I don’t know. Nothing seems to be on.”

  The Ambassador surveys the situation for a second before he says, “Computer on, please locate Commander Willits.”

  Again nothing happens. Alexis, sounding nervous now, says, “The door will not open either.”

  Ambassador Bird stands up. He tries to go over to the door, stumbling a bit. It does not open. He then says, “Computer, override the door to open.”

  Still nothing. “Computer, lights, please.”

  Still nothing. The Ambassador goes over to the screens and tries pushing buttons. Alexis goes back over to the door and begins banging on the door really loud. “Help, anyone!!!”

  But still, nothing happens. Alexis stops pounding. The Ambassador looks over at her and says, “I think we are trapped. Any ideas?”

  Alexis turns around for a second, then briefly thinks. She is now genuinely nervous, as is the Ambassador. It is clear they are somehow prisoners. She then crosses her arms. In doing so, she notices the wristwatch she is wearing. She looked at it for a few seconds, finally concluding they have reached all avenues to escape their situation. She pushes the panic button on it.

  Aboard Battle Cruiser 54, Captain Kimmel, and Commander Deavnoe are watching the cargo transfer. Nick’s wrist-watch tracker suddenly blips. He looks at it and immediately holds it out as it is beeping. He raises a considerable eyebrow as Captain Kimmel looks on, in somewhat mild disbelief.

  Aboard the Civilian Transport Ship, Taz and his crew continue toward the military side of the Space Port of Torsalli. Over the intercom, a voice says, “Civilian Transport 7481, Dock Slip 117 is on the other side of the Port, please proceed there immediately.”

  Nobody on board the ship says anything. They are all looking out the window until it finally comes into view. First Officer Verkato points out the Ambassador’s C-62T in the distance on a docking slip “There…..”

  Willits and Jones are in a bar that has a fantastic view of the entire Space Port. They are sitting on bar stools on a railing, finishing their drinks. Over the intercom, a voice says, “Final boarding for Transport Ship 9255, service to Ascarla.”

  Willits looked at Jones as they stood up. “That’s our ship, time to go.”

  Jones asked, “Any regrets, now is the time?”

  Willits, without smi
ling, said, “No. They get what they deserve.”

  The two walked over to the boarding dock and had their identifications scanned. They proceeded down the tunnel and onto the transport ship, which had about forty big chairs and a total of thirty passengers. Willits and Jones got a couple of seats next to the window. Jones asked Willits, “Where?”

  Willits pointed out the window until Jones saw it. Once he did, he nodded and said, “Got it.”

  A hostess came over and said, “Drinks, gentlemen?”

  Willits said, “Two Woodfords, neat.”

  The hostess nodded. She walked away. Willits reached into his pocket and pulled out a switch box. Over the intercom, the pilot said, “Welcome aboard everyone. We are now departing Torsalli Space Port and should be landing on Ascarla in about twenty-five minutes.”

  The hostess came back with the two bourbons. Willits said, “Thank you.”

  As the ship was backing up, it began to leave the docking slip. Willits could see the C-62T out in the distance, very far away. He looked at Jones and said, “Ready?”

  Jones nodded. Willits grabbed the switch box and pushed the button.

  The Civilian Transport had an excellent view. All of Taz’s crew looked outside the window and saw the Ambassador’s C-62T explode from the inside into a million pieces. It immediately turned into a fireball right next to the Space Port. Most of Taz’s crew held up their hands to block the flash of light getting in their eyes. All of them look shocked. Taz immediately turns back to the controls, turning the Civilian Transport ship around. He manages to get the ship out of there as fast as possible.

  Commander Devanoe is still looking at his wristwatch, which immediately stops blinking. Devanoe now has a look of panic on his face.

  Willits and Jones watched the explosion of the C-62T in the distance. Both had an emotionless expression on their face. The ship continued to fly through the atmosphere towards the surface below. After a few seconds, while both are still looked out the window, Willits turned to Jones and said, “Paper, rock, scissors on who tells Kimakawa.”

  Jones turned to Willits and held out his fist. Willits held out his. They both said, “One, two, three…”

  Jones won with rock, while Willits lost with scissors. Willits, matter of factly, said “Two outta three.”

  Belinea - Episode Four

  Rituals

  Belinea 4.1

  Serpia 2137 (Twenty Years Prior...)

  The massive cargo ship was stationary, except for a few hisses from auxiliary engines to keep it in place. Commander Kimmel was in the main bridge area, jumping from seat to seat. Kimmel ran the scanners, looking for frozen bodies in the debris. He would fly the ship closer to them and extend a large crane arm that connected Quillisar Sallor, in a spacesuit, by a cord. After attaching a clip around the ankle, Sallor would connect the frozen body to the cord and push it to the outside doors of the ship. Once both sets of doors opened, the outer and then the inner, Quillisar Farra would transfer the frozen body to a floating gurney. Farra then pushed the computer-guided gurney towards the end of the bay. As it floated by an empty gurney heading back to Farra, it continued, past dozens of frozen bodies, until it stopped in front of a medical robot. The gurney turned forty-five degrees, and the frozen body would fall to the floor.

  Kimmel spoke on his intercom. “My Quillisar, we have been at this for almost four hours. How many more are there?”

  Farra responded while walking back to the elevator that would take her to the bridge of the ship. “Keep looking, Kimmel. We need to get all of them.”

  Quillisar Sallor, from inside his spacesuit, spoke on the intercom. “Quillisar Farra, do we have a total?”

  Farra got on the elevator and responded, “One hundred and thirty-six. We need to find two more.”

  Sallor then questioned. “Quillisar, you know I will do anything you ask me….”

  Farra again spoke into the air but picked up by the intercom. “What do you want to ask?”

  Sallor said, “You brought Commander Kimmel and myself here to collect these bodies and perform the Quisessa.”

  Quillisar Farra was still riding the elevator as it took her to the top of the ship. She got off and walked down a corridor, directly into the small bridge of the ship. She was solemn when she spoke. “And the contents in your bag suggest otherwise?”

  Quillisar Sallor responded, “So you would like me to come inside and proceed?”

  Farra shook her head. “No, we have to get away from here before we can do that.”

  Farra, still in her red priest cloak, walked up to Kimmel. Kimmel looked completely confused by the conversation Farra and Sallor had over the intercom. He glanced at the screen, which had an alarm bell go off. The computer voice from the panel said, “Warning, incoming ship, hailing frequency open.”

  Farra responded. “Is it AuFa?”

  Kimmel quickly answered. “No, my Quillisar. All the AuFa ships are gone by now.”

  Over the intercom, he could now hear the hail from the other ship. “AuFa ship, you are in Serpian Territory. Please identify.”

  Farra said, “What do we do?”

  Commander Kimmel said nothing. He looked at his screen again, doing a ship scan. Kimmel whispered, “It’s a Serpian Patrol Cruiser. Sallor, get back in the ship, now.”

  To Farra and Sallor, that meant nothing. They had no understanding of warships. Farra asked, “What does that mean? Can we get out of here?”

  Kimmel looked over at the screen again and began turning the main engines on. He responded almost in wit to Farra. “Maybe if I had a crew or even a ship that had any weapons.”

  Sallor then spoke while looking out at all the floating debris from the ship explosion. “Quillisar, I think I see two more bodies.”

  The voice over the intercom repeated. “AuFa ship, please identify or prepare to be boarded.”

  Commander Kimmel went into military mode. He spoke directly to Farra. “They will board the ship, and dispose of those bodies.”

  Farra asked, “And us?”

  Kimmel responded. “Prisoners if we are lucky. Execution if we are not.”

  Farra was taken back. “Even a Priest?”

  Kimmel looked at her dead serious. “They have no religion, they do not care.”

  Farra looked startled. Kimmel continued, showing Farra the control board. “This button opens the first set of inner doors, this button opens the second set of outer doors. When you hit this button, and pull back on this throttle, that will get us out of here. Do not pull the throttle back until we are all inside, and the doors are closed. Got it?”

  Farra asked, “Where are you going?”

  Kimmel answered, “To buy us some more time.”

  Farra nodded in acknowledgment as Kimmel walked out and took the elevator down. He hit a button on his shirt. “Sallor, you have to get back inside, we need to get out of here.”

  Sallor, now seeing the bodies, estimated they were about sixty meters away. “Kimmel, we got two more bodies out here, we can not just leave them.”

  Kimmel now got off the elevator and said, “Sallor, that Serpian ship is about three minutes out, and we will be dead if we do not leave before then.”

  Farra found the button to communicate with the incoming ship. She said, “This is Quillisar Farra, to whom am I speaking?”

  As she stood next to the screen, a voice came over. “Quillisar Farra of unidentified AuFa ship. This is Captain Newton of the Serpian Military Defense. The time allowing AuFa and Belinean ships to retreat has passed. You are now in violation of being in Serpian territory.”

  Kimmel sprinted to the medical robot. He grabbed a floating gurney and pushed it to the other side of the bay, where a partially destroyed F-36 Pirra fighter was. Sprinting to the F-36, he could hear on the intercom Farra’s response. “Captain Newton. We are a cargo ship, retrieving dead bodies.
We have no weapons and wish you no harm. “

  Outside in space, Quillisar Sallor had gone as far as he could go, still tethered to the crane. He could see the two frozen bodies still floating out in space. It was clear to him that Kimmel would not fly the Cargo ship any closer to the two frozen bodies. Sallor looked at the outer doors of the ship, then looked at the bodies again. In the distance, he could see the Serpian Patrol Ship begin to slow down. He paused for a second, then unbuckled his tether. He hit some controls, and his suit gave some short bursts, gliding untethered, towards the bodies.

  An alarm went off in the bridge and bay. “Warning. Safety tether is unbuckled.”

  Kimmel hit his intercom device on his shirt, allowing only Sallor to hear her voice. “Sallor, what are you doing?”

  Sallor was focused on the bodies. “We are not leaving without them.”

  As Kimmel got to the severely damaged F-36, he noticed a torpedo, loosely locked on the crippled wing. He disengaged the torpedo with his tools, which weighed almost 160 pounds, just as the floating gurney arrived underneath the wing. The torpedo ‘dropped’ onto the floating gurney, and Kimmel strapped it so it would not fall off. He could hear over the intercom “Quillisar Farra, your AuFa ship is in violation of our treaty. Prepare to be boarded.”

  Out in space, Sallor was now thirty meters from the floating bodies, adjusting the course of his suit with his mini-thrusters. Untethered to the crane, every tiny movement put him in a different direction. As he got closer to the bodies, he could see a man holding hands with a toddler. He was not used to the suit; he was a priest, not a soldier. As he got closer, he hit the wrong booster, which spun his body around. When he had fully turned three hundred sixty degrees, he was face to face with the two bodies and bumped right into them.