Belinea

by Andrew Mack

  On the bridge, Farra was talking into the intercom again. “Captain Newton. There is no need to board. This is not a military exercise. We are performing a religious Quisessa ritual on these souls, so they can be at peace with the energy around them. We ask that you respect our customs, we mean no harm to you. Enough blood has been shed.”

  After Kimmel hit a switch on the floating torpedo gurney’s side, it began blinking yellow as he shoved it towards the big cargo bay doors. He sprinted to the nearby smaller crane and grabbed the heavy cord, proceeding to run back and jump on the F-36. He hooked the cord onto the F-36 and jumped down to a floating tow car. Kimmel dragged the F-36 across the bay floor towards the cargo doors. The floating torpedo gurney was now next to him, bumping into the doors. He yelled into his intercom, “Farra, open the first set of doors, now!”

  In space, the two bodies Sallor bumped into were now spinning away, out of his reach. Sallor hit his mini-thruster, but it turned him the wrong way. He could see the Serpian Patrol ship slowing down more as it got closer to the cargo ship. Sallor spun again and regained visual on the two frozen bodies. He hit the mini-thruster again, this time working it correctly to close in on the bodies. Wiggling his fingers as he got to within inches, he was finally able to grab the wrist of the adult body.

  Farra could still hear Captain Newton of the Serpian ship through the intercom. “AuFa Cargo vessel, turn off your engines and open your back cargo bay doors, or you will be fired upon.”

  Farra was scrambling to find the button that Kimmel had just told her about. She then hit the button that opened the inner doors.

  As they opened, Kimmel pushed the floating gurney through so that it would bump into the more massive outer doors on the other side. He then hopped back into the floating tow car. Just as the doors were wide enough, he dragged the F-36 through, and yelled, “Farra, hit the button twice, I need the inner doors closed.”

  Farra, still clearly not feeling comfortable in her surroundings, looked for a second before spotting the button and hitting it twice. The first set of inner cargo bay doors stopped, and then went back to shutting.

  Sallor got a clip around the ankle of the adult body, before attaching a cord and connecting it to his suit. He then turned around and began heading back to the ship, both bodies in tow.

  Watching the inner doors close behind him, Kimmel jumped out of the floating tow car that dragged the F-36. He jumped up onto the top of the F-36 Pirra and got in the cockpit. The inner doors behind him were now struggling to fully close because the cord he had attached to the F-36 was preventing the doors from sealing shut. If the doors did not completely close, there would be a breach. It was a risk he was going to have to take.

  The Serpian Patrol ship was on final approach, slowing down to a crawl as it was about six hundred meters from the AuFa Cargo ship. Kimmel then told Farra, ``Open the outer doors.”

  Farra hit the button, and the doors opened. However, because of the crane cord breach, the pressure was not stable. Both the F-36 and the floating gurney quickly escaped the holding area and went out to space. Everything not tied down in the giant bay, including the frozen bodies, began traveling to the inner doors.

  Captain Newton of the Serpian Patrol Ship was surprised when he saw the damaged F-36 fighter ‘float’ out of the cargo bay doors. He looked at his crew and said, “The outer doors are open to be boarded, but why is all that debris coming out? Is that a fighter?”

  Kimmel was now being flung into space inside the F-36. The tether cord from the crane reeled off a bunch of slack. After twenty meters, the cord ran out of slack and jolted the F-36 back into some stability. Kimmel’s head snapped back. For a brief moment, the F-36 was gently bouncing, almost stable. He began looking for the floating gurney with the yellow flashing lights. He finally saw it, heading out to space towards the Serpian Patrol ship. He turned on his guns and fired four shots at the floating gurney. All four shots missed badly but came very close to hitting the Serpian Patrol Ship.

  The Serpian Captain Newton, asked, “Did those shots come from that fighter?”

  His sonar officer replied, “Yes, sir. The scanners did not pick it up.”

  Captain Newton was confused. “Lock on and fire back.”

  A Weapons Officer looking at the screen yelled “Sir, there is no heat to lock on to, it’s engines are off. That’s why our scanners missed it.”

  Captain Newton then said, “Religious ritual or not, take out that fighter.”

  As a couple of engineers were trying to lock in on the F-36, the crane from inside the cargo bay was slowly giving way. Just as the engineers from the Serpian Patrol craft were about to fire, the crane came unbolted from the cargo bay structure. It moved all the way to the inner doors, banging them head-on. The extra twenty meters of slack caused the F-36 to move instantly closer to the Serpian Patrol Craft, before getting ‘jolted’ back to stability by the crane hitting the inner doors. The shots from the Serpian Patrol Ship missed the Fighter.

  Sallor, who was closing in on the cargo ship from sixty meters away, witnessed the whole shootout. Hitting his little booster, he whispered, “Come on, faster.”

  In the cargo bay, the crane was still trying to pry its way through the small crack between the inner doors. The frozen bodies were piling up behind it, trying to escape as well.

  On the Serpian Patrol Ship, the Lieutenant fired again, just missing Kimmel’s F-36, still bobbing in space. Kimmel adjusted his eyes and saw the flashing yellow coming off the floating torpedo gurney as it got closer to the Serpian Ship. As he buoyed up, he aimed and fired two shots.

  The second shot hit the floating torpedo gurney square. The torpedo exploded, putting a small hole in the front of the Serpian Patrol Ship, changing its direction. The F-36 that Kimmel was in, still tied to the crane cord, got blown back, then wobbled violently from the explosion. As alarms and flashing lights were going off all over the Serpian Patrol Ship, Captain Newton was trying to regain his balance from being thrown from his command post.

  The explosion immediately pushed Sallor back another thirty meters. After stabilizing, he redirected towards the cargo ship, the two frozen bodies still in tow. He said, “Quillisar Farra, I am coming.”

  Kimmel got a couple more shots off at the passing Serpian Patrol Ship, connecting with the rear engine. Kimmel tried to fire again, but nothing happened. He was out of rounds. He whispered, “Oh shit….”

  Captain Newton yelled at his crew. “Status?”

  A Lieutenant answered. “Engine Two is hit, sir.”

  Captain Newton yelled back. “Take out that Fighter!”

  Another officer answered, “We have to swing back around, sir.”

  The Serpian ship was doing a full turnaround. Kimmel was running out of options. He looked on the wing and noticed that the F-36 had one more torpedo on it. He turned on the circuit board to aim it, but nothing happened. There was no way to launch it. The wing had been too severely damaged. He tried turning on the engines. The right one was destroyed, but the left one came on, at a fraction of strength, with smoke coming out of it immediately. The computer voice inside the cockpit spoke. “Engine at twenty percent, and failing. Critical failure.”

  Kimmel saw the Serpian ship had almost come back around. He thought for a quick second, then looked inside the cabin for a relief mouthpiece. He found it in the emergency drawer, and quickly bit into it, relieved he could breathe. He pushed a few buttons, and the voice inside the cockpit said, “Torpedo activated.”

  Kimmel blew the emergency hatch for the F-36 fighter. He turned the engine to full throttle. The voice in the cockpit said, “Warning, engine levels not stable, critical state.”

  Kimmel climbed out and grabbed the back cord that was buckled to the F-36, to keep it from going anywhere. He kept trying to unbuckle it, still struggling because the F-36 was trying to get loose of the buckle with one engine trying to escape. The Lieuten
ant from the Serpian ship said to Captain Newton, “Sir, the engines are turned on, I got a lock on the fighter.”

  Kimmel finally got the cable cord unbuckled. The F-36 began spinning out of control, mostly away from the cargo ship. Captain Newton yelled, “Fire!”

  As the F-36 was spinning violently out of control, the shot whizzed past Kimmel, between the F-36 and the cargo ship. Still clutching the cord as hard as he could, Kimmel looked up and saw Sallor, in his spacesuit, controlling his mini-thrusters towards him. The computer voice inside the F-36 kept repeating, “Danger, Danger, critical engine overload.”

  The Serpian Ship, Captain Newton, yelled, “Fire again!”

  This time, as the spinning F-36 was near his Patrol ship, the shot connected. The explosion from the F-36 did further damage to the front of the Serpian patrol ship. It also set Sallor’s course a little sideways. At the last moment, Sallor missed Kimmel. He was too far above him. But Sallor managed to grab the crane cord and clip it. Holding on to the cord, he guided his thrusters back to the cargo ship. As he looked down, he saw Kimmel had grabbed onto the ankle of the frozen adult he was towing. They had made it back to the Cargo ship, where Kimmel yelled, “Farra, close the outside bay doors, now!!!”

  The Serpian ship was floating out of control. It had taken on too much damage, and parts of the front were in flames. Kimmel had barely gotten inside the transition area between the inner and outer doors when he noticed the outer doors closing behind him. The room was finally beginning to destabilize from the pressure. The outer doors shut tightly, and Sallor yelled, “Farra, open the inner doors.”

  The inner doors opened. The crane was butted up next to where the doors were. All the bodies, debris from the cargo bay, and equipment had all piled up next to the doors as well. Kimmel threw out his mouthpiece, and ran to Sallor, talking into his intercom. “Farra, the doors are closed! Get us out of here!”

  Farra, hunched over hurt from the explosion, got back up. She looked at the control panel and then asked through the intercom, “Which button?”

  Kimmel was collapsed on top of Sallor. Some debris had punctured his leg. He yelled, “The button next to the throttle. Hit the button, pull back on the throttle.”

  Captain Newton had managed to get down to the firing position of his Patrol Ship. He threw out the officer who was unconscious in the chair. He sat in, lined up the scope, and saw the transport.

  Farra found the button, hit it, and pulled back on the throttle. With a massive increase in speed, the cargo ship jolted just as Captain Newton had fired two shots that had missed. In a few seconds, the ship got to a safe speed that allowed it to jump into Hyper-EXtension speed.

  Belinea 4.2

  Twenty Years Later…

  Avola

  Four beams, supported by multiple large rocks, made a diamond shape in the rocky mountain area. Elevated in the middle was the body of Officer Belbin Marrat, who had died three days prior. The funeral arrangement was made on a high plateau in the red rock mountain area near the Avolian base. On one side of the diamond, four Avolian Quill Priests dressed in red had their hoods on and were praying. On the other side of the diamond, eighty-four soldiers stood at attention. The soldiers were in their dress grey uniforms with red trim. In the front were their leaders, Octavious Killian and Kaya Killian. On the other side of the diamond, between the soldiers and priests, were the dead soldier’s family members. Ambassador Syren flanked them as well.

  The Head Priestess, Quillisar Balerra, walked up to the diamond. She said, “Energy is added, energy is taken, the peace is the energy around us. The energy is in us, and when the light of our energy is extinct, the energy is added to the light around us. We are the energy.”

  The rest of the audience responded in unison, “The energy is in us.”

  Quillisat Balerra continued. “Belbin Marrat’s energy has not died, it has moved on, redirected back into all of us. The energy never dies.”

  The rest of the audience responded in unison, “The energy always lives.”

  The three other priests all got to one corner of the ceremony site. On each corner, each priest revealed from their rings around their neck, in order: fire, instantly lighting a corner; water, rotating like a sprinkler, and a red rock with silver stripes on the third corner.

  Quillisar Balerra went to the final corner, at the top of Marrat’s head. The corner pointed to the cliff off the mountainous rock. The sun was setting, casting an orange glow on the red rock of the desert mountain landscape. She took from her hands some orange-brown sand, manipulating it into a small tornado in front of her. The Head Priest continued. “The Quisessa is a time for rejoice. A time to reflect on the energy we are given, the energy that reforms, and the energy that returns, reborn from the fire and stone.”

  The rest of the audience responded in unison, “The energy is in us.”

  Quillisar Balerra continued to move the small tornado of orange-brown sand around the diamond and over the body of the deceased. After a few seconds, Octavious Killian walked to the bottom of the diamond, near the feet of Marrat. The Priest who had lit a small fire there took two steps back. Killian pulled out his ring, making the ring turn into a red saber. He kneeled, placing the red saber on the bottom of the diamond beams. He whispered, “The energy must live on.”

  After a couple of seconds, the saber was on fire. It then lit all of the beams, until there was a diamond shape fire around the dead soldier Marrat. All of the priests took one step back and held both of their hands up towards the sky. Octavious continued to kneel, as the entire body was now engulfed in flames. As the dead body was burning to ashes, Quillisar Balerra said, “The energy is now in all of us.”

  In unison, the group responded, “The energy never dies.”

  After about ten seconds, all of the priests took their hands down and walked over to the family members. Octavious extended his saber, and hooked Marrat’s ring out of the fire. It had turned entirely silver now. Octavious then walked over to the family, still holding the ring with his saber. He came up to Marrat’s daughter, and let her look at the ring. Crying, she politely nodded, and Octavious held the ring up. He shouted so everyone could hear. “The energy never dies…”

  As he held the ring up, the red-orange sand from the ground twirled into a very thin tornado, straight up to the ring on Octavious’ saber. It instantly disintegrated the ring, turning it into sand as well. The tornado then disappeared.

  Starting with Kaya, one by one, the soldiers came up to the family of Belbin Marrat. As Kaya joined him, she and Octavious began walking away from the funeral. Neither was crying; neither was smiling. As they walked away, their cousin was waiting for them away from the funeral. Donovan was not dressed in the best of clothes; he was still dirty. The siblings walked up to their cousin, and Octavious said, “Donovan?”

  Donovan had his head bowed, almost unsure how to address his cousin. Octavious grabbed his shoulders. Donovan spoke, virtually on the verge of tears. “I came to pay my respects. I did not think that I belonged in the Quisessa.”

  Octavious looked down on him; he was significantly shorter. “My cousin, the Quill welcomes all. The energy is in all of us.”

  Kaya came over and hugged her cousin. Donovan responded with a half hug, almost embarrassed. “I feel awful. I am responsible for his death.”

  Kaya looked at him, putting her hand on his face. “Donovan, Marrat was a soldier. He knew what he was getting into. Soldiers die, even the best ones.”

  Kaya took a few steps back. Donovan didn’t know what to say. “But this isn’t a war.”

  Kaya responded, “But it is my cousin. And there are only two sides. Ours and theirs.”

  Donovan, on the verge of crying, shook his head. “Octavious, I never meant for this to happen. We wish the Guild were back in charge, and we know that’s what you are fighting for.”

  Octavious looked solemn. “Yes, and we will
keep fighting. Kaya and I cannot thank you enough for the information. Every bit helps.”

  Donovan looked at his cousins. “Which is why I am here. We have families, too, Octavious. It is dangerous the information we provide.”

  Kaya looked at Donovan, almost crying herself, and said, “Of course, Donovan, we know. We can have the Quill provide you with whatever you and your family need. Food, clothing....”

  Donovan, now with a tear down his face, replied, “Money?”

  Kaya looked confused. “Money?”

  Donovan, in almost a pleading voice, responded. “We know what the Vait is worth Kaya. The Majavkee have us working twice as hard, twice as long, for only a fraction more money. We just want what is fair. That is why we came to you. We heard you are selling the Vait through other channels.”

  Ocativous responded, almost dumbfounded. “Yes, in addition to food and shelter, we use it for ammunition and weapons to provide security for you and the miners.”

  Donovan shook his head. “We have food and shelter. What we want is a better future for our children. We want fair pay for the work we do. If you just take it and use it for weapons, you are no better than the Majakee.”

  Kaya now looked angry. “Donovan, I have seen your conditions. The Majakee are treating you like slaves. The conditions are awful. They don’t care about you or your families. We can only get back to how it was if we can successfully remove them and the Council. They are the enemy.”

  Donovan looked at his cousins long and hard. “I am not a soldier, but I have fought for a long time. I don’t know how much more we can fight.”

  Octavious said softly, “Until we make this a safe place for our children.”

  Donovan walked away. Kaya and Octavious just watched Donovan walk away. They then looked at each other before proceeding to step out in the opposite direction. After a few seconds, they heard a voice shout at them. “Octavious….”

  Both Kaya and Octavious stopped, turning to recognize Ambassador Syren. They waited for her to join them. As the Ambassador approached, they continued to walk, now all three of them together. The Ambassador said, “My condolences.”