Celestial Incursion

by Eddie R. Hicks

“Let’s hear it.”

  “There’s no need,” Alesyna said with a worrying glance at him. “She has asked me to pass on one request, use this space bridge to enter the Sirius system and—”

  “Sirius . . .” Peiun interjected. The name of that system keeps coming up, what is so important about it now? “That’s human-controlled space, what could she possibly want there?”

  “It would not be the first time we entered human space uninvited,” Alesyna said.

  “And I have a feeling it will be the last, humans can detect space bridge jumps,” Peiun said, reclining back on his chair.

  “There’s more, Captain,” Alesyna added. “She has provided me coordinates of a planet within that system, and we are to go alone without the aid of a command ship as we do have an MRF installed.”

  “An MRF that is damaged like the rest of this crumbling vessel.”

  “The MRF has been fully restored, sir,” Alesyna said. “Thanks to the station’s crew.”

  “The stations crew . . .” Peiun said, facing Alesyna, quickly realizing the real goal of the station’s repair crew. “I get it now, they didn’t complete repairs because they were focused on collecting the substance off the hull AND repairing the MRF.”

  What Peiun didn’t get, was why he only now learnt of this and how did Alesyna suddenly know about it. She seemed clueless like him as to what the station’s repair crew had been up to. Keeping the repairs of the MRF a secret he could understand, as EISS made relentless attempts in the past to sabotage Imperial-made copies of the device and the ships that had it successfully installed. MRF was stolen human technology after all and the Rezeki’s Rage was docked at a station constructed, operated, and located in UNE space. Even his HNI didn’t show any reports of the MRF being repaired in the ship’s logs, or its existence within the list of all ship systems and installed devices.

  None of that, however, explained Alesyna’s motives for keeping that information from him. If she was concerned about an EISS spy aboard, she could have informed him in private, they had more than enough time to do so while they waited for clearance to leave the station.

  “Alesyna, how long have you known about the MRF being operational?” Peiun asked.

  Alesyna’s snickered. “Perhaps we should follow the direct orders of the Empress before she adds our heads to her collection of those that defied the Empire?”

  He shot her a grin, and she shot one back and returned to direct the bridge’s crew. Alesyna wasn’t going to give up the answers he sought, at least, not right now. He recorded the newly discovered clues in his personal logs, saving them with his HNI. Perhaps Careiah was right about what she witnessed. I’ll have to keep her a lot closer going forward.

  “Contact the space bridge and inform them that we wish to travel to the Sirius system.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “Activate our newly repaired tool.”

  The Rezeki’s Rage’s mass altered as the MRF activated and it approached the space bridge. The team of psionics serving aboard the space bridge used the full power of their minds in conjunction with the space bridge itself to teleport the Rezeki’s Rage away from existence. The Rezeki’s Rage and crew was psionically rebuilt atom by atom in its desired location, the Sirius system.

  Such a process with a ship as large and massive as the Rezeki’s Rage, would have taken years. With its mass reduced, however, the process had been reduced to a mere hour. A surge of psionic power erupted in space bringing the Rezeki’s Rage back into existence and accelerating within the heart of the Sirius system toward the coordinates provided.

  New Babylon.

  And it was under siege by the invader fleet as their organic ships and dragons swarmed out from the vortex of the maelstrom, delivering punishing strikes against the small UNE fleet and it’s failing defensive formation around the planet.

  “The invaders . . .” Peiun said, standing up from his chair, looking intently at the view screen.

  “The Empress must have sent us here to help the humans,” Alesyna said.

  “If that were the case she would have ordered an entire fleet,” Peiun said, getting a grip on his raging thoughts. “Not a single damaged frigate.”

  Peiun ordered for the ship to come to a full stop, not that it did much. Their space bridge jump delivered them right into combat. Their shields took seven direct tachyon hits once their presence registered with the invader ships.

  Peiun sat back down and watched beams of tachyons race back and forth across the view screen. “What can you sense about the coordinates?”

  “A transport,” Alesyna said as her eyes shut to focus and enter a quick ESP trance. “It’s . . . one of ours, an older model, but Hashmedai none the less. There’s a human ship on approach to it.”

  “On screen—” Peiun paused to reflect on his previous talk with Careiah, remembering the previous captain’s fascination with transports. Older models at that.

  He shook the thoughts away for the time being and gazed at the new image that appeared on the viewer, showing what existed directly below their ship. A top-down view of the volcanic surface of the UNE protected world where the transport Alesyna sensed had landed. Another ship had landed next to it. The view screen’s magnification shifted to its maximum setting giving them a closer view of the area.

  Peiun smirked at the sight of the human ship next to the transport. “It’s the new ship Foster has been given.”

  What Foster and her newly commissioned ship was doing on the surface of such an inhospitable world, next to the transport no less, was another question to be asked. Along with how the Empress knew of the transport’s existence in the first place.

  Two direct tachyon hits to the aft and port sides of the Rezeki’s Rage made it clear that Peiun’s objectives would have to wait a moment longer.

  “There’s nothing we can do to complete our mission so long as these invaders are here,” Peiun said. “Let’s assist the human fleet.”

  The young and eager bridge carried out Peiun’s orders. The Rezeki’s Rage jumped into the heat of the battle while still under the effects of the MRF. Altered mass gave the Hashmedai anti-capital ship frigate increased speeds and maneuverability. It opened the option for Alesyna to further assist by sending slight telekinetic pushes against the hull of the Rezeki’s Rage to evade incoming enemy fire should she predict it. Her psionic powers also supported in their ability to dive up or below UNE ships that were in the way, striking the invader ships that lurked in the distance.

  The flesh of the alien organic ships singed and melted as the gap between the Rezeki’s Rage and invader capital ships closed with a torrent of plasma fire from its forward cannons. Dragons were vaporized instantly, reducing the numbers that were meant to assault the planet’s surface. A burning UNE battleship was saved from what was supposed to be its end when the Rezeki’s Rage with its full overshields came about and soaked up the tachyon barrage that was meant to end the crippled human ship. Green orbs of plasma shone their light against the reflective hulls of the UNE ships when they glittered away from the Rezeki’s Rage and delivered destructive blasts that sent targeted invader ships adrift.

  The Rezeki’s Rage efforts, as valiant as they were, weren’t enough. Its performance was still lacking due to the minimal repairs it had received, and it would only be a matter of time before Alesyna’s psionic powers grew tired. The true strength of the Rezeki’s Rage, or lack of it, was staged to become unmasked. The Hashmedai crew and their predatorial hunting instincts did nothing but buy the humans extra time to stay in the fight longer. A fight that would sway in the favor of the invaders one way or another if the six obliterated UNE vessels and hundreds of escape pods adrift were an indication.

  The invaders relied on their numbers and fire power, something Rezeki’s Rage and the shrinking human fleet did not have. Peiun mused at the thought while his HNI brought up a tactical overlay of the system.

  He then remembered the invader’s fleet one weakness.

  “Alesyn
a, find the charybdis ship with your mind,” Peiun said.

  “At once, Captain.”

  Peiun’s quick review of the tactical overlay showed that the charybdis vessel was nowhere near the invader fleet, the maelstrom, or the planet. No new invader ships came through the maelstrom since their arrival, ruling out that the charybdis was still inside. But at the same time the invaders needed that ship close by to guide them back through the maelstrom when the time came. It was in the system somewhere, hiding from the fiery battle in orbit of New Babylon.

  “Found it,” Alesyna said as she updated their tactical data with the results from her ESP scan.

  Peiun’s HNI pulled the newly acquired data, updating the holographic map of the system that appeared over his eyesight. The charybdis ship was found under escort by three invader capital ships and hundreds of dragons flying in a defensive convoy formation. A straight line extended outward and predicted the estimated trajectory of the newly discovered convoy. It was on a direct course to the human colony known as Terra Nova. Said convoy was not under attack by any UNE ships, of course not, the convoy was in the process of plowing through a newly created debris field from the remains of UNE vessels.

  “Ignore everything else,” Peiun said. “Take us to the charybdis and destroy it at all costs.”

  This wasn’t going to be a battle that would be won by military might and firepower. This was a fight to force the enemy into submission, and the eminent destruction of the charybdis would deliver those results. The invaders fled the battle at Paryo when Rezeki’s Rage ended one of their charybdis, and they’d do it again once they end this one or, at least, severely damage it.

  At least that’s what Peiun’s hope was. The Rezeki’s Rage pulled away from the turbulent orbital battle and entered sub light speeds on a direct course to the small invader convoy. He eyed the estimated time of arrival that counted via his HNI and hoped that the debris field in front of its convoy slowed it down long enough for them to catch up.

  May the Empress forgive us if this plan fails.

  41 Odelea

  XSV Johannes Kepler

  Smoldering wastelands, New Babylon, Sirius A system

  August 12, 2118, 17:58 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Odelea’s hands didn’t tremble.

  Not even when she aimed the magnetic pistol at the Dragon Maiden and shot it four times.

  The same pistol she hesitated to use in the past became the weapon that saved Captain Foster’s life. Odelea looked down at Foster’s unmoving body, unsure of what her condition was, though the tattoos on her hands still shined their luminous blue color. Next to Foster’s body limped the Dragon Maiden, holding her gut that bled and pooled next to Foster, having dropped its staff weapon on her as a result. The Dragon Maiden’s blood-soaked arms were visible thanks to the destructive power of the magnetic pistol shattering a segment of its armor, and with that came the shocking discovery of what lay beneath.

  Blue glowing tattoos. The skin of the Dragon Maiden and Foster were nearly identical.

  Odelea continued to aim the pistol at the Dragon Maiden, as newfound confidence gushed through her body, fueled by the knowledge that the Dragon Maiden was unable to use its HNI hacking ability while the extended damping field covered the entire lab. The field evidently had the adverse effect of limiting the Dragon Maiden’s psionic powers from what Odelea had witnessed when she had hidden in the corner during Foster and the Maiden’s fight.

  The Dragon Maiden gave Odelea a defiant glare and she slowly backpedaled in a lame manner. Its blood-drenched and fractured armored body shifted next to the containment field where its male partner had been confined to.

  Odelea pulled the trigger once again.

  A warning shot put a sizeable hole into the floor next to where the Dragon Maiden stood.

  “Why are you here?” Odelea said, speaking in the strange alien language the invaders used.

  The Dragon Maiden’s face looked and smiled at Odelea from its cracked dragon-head-shaped helmet. “You speak our tongue?” it replied back in its language.

  “I have been studying your language, though I admit this is the first conversation,” Odelea said. “Your friend has not been very talkative.”

  “He is my brother, and you have caged him like an animal.”

  “Your brother is a threat to the survival of my people . . . of all the people in this galaxy.”

  The Dragon Maiden snorted in an arrogant manner as its hypnotizing emerald eyes shifted onto Odelea’s pistol. “Aryile, female, herbivore species, close to the bottom of the food chain on the world they evolved from.” She paused to spit a glob of blood at Odelea. “Aggressive tendencies are not a natural evolutionary trait of your species, fleeing from danger is. I am not afraid of the inferior weapon you wield, or the natural desires to flee you are trying to repress.”

  “The Hashmedai and the other species we share our nation with has taught the Aryile the importance of self-defense and military might.”

  “Aryile, Javnis, Rabuabin, Vorcambreum, Linl, Hashmedai . . . humans. You are all thieves; you have all taken what rightfully belongs to us.” The glowing tattooed arm of the Dragon Maiden pointed at Foster’s unmoving body. “She being the worst of you all; a traitor and a thief.”

  “What have we stolen? Explain it all to me so that we may negotiate peace.”

  “Peace?” The Dragon Maiden looked surprised at Odelea’s words.

  “We do not have to be enemies,” Odelea pleaded. “We can work together to better one another. But we cannot get to that stage if we do not understand exactly how we have wronged you.”

  “Look at your worlds, look at your technology, look at the sheer number of your pitiful beings that offer no thanks to the one that made it happen. Hand all of that over, all of which you stole, and repent the actions of Marduk.”

  Odelea’s face became distraught while lost in thought and lowered the pistol. “Marduk . . .” she murmured.

  “Can you make that request happen?” The Dragon Maiden said calmly.

  “I cannot this very moment; it is not that easy.”

  The Dragon Maiden growled at her. “Then there shall be no peace!”

  The Dragon Maiden briskly placed her hand upon the computer terminal connected to the containment field and reminded Odelea that it still had minimal access to its psionic powers. The computer exploded, erupting into flames and sparks, sending an electrical short that disabled the force field, freeing the captured Dragon Knight.

  Odelea’s pistol returned to action, blazing at not one, but two targets. None of her bullets hit, her unfocused skittish mind worked against her. The Dragon Maiden and Knight duo laughed as they assaulted Odelea, knocking her to the floor next to Foster, kicking away her pistol, amidst her screams and cries of terror.

  Odelea tried to get away, the pain that rushed forward into her body served as a deterrent, forcing her to crawl and flail her panic-stricken arms and legs to get to safety. The blood from the Dragon Maiden on the floor caused her to slip and splash into it. The boot of the Dragon Knight rolled Odelea on her back as he held a Voelika high up in preparation to finish her, and probably Foster, off.

  The tattooed hand of the Dragon Maiden held onto his arm. “Let her experience what her species is good for,” The Dragon Maiden said to him. “Cowering from predators.”

  The Dragon Knight lowered his weapon and spoke harshly at Odelea. “We are not finished Aryile.”

  The duo marched out of the labs as the fear Odelea tried so desperately to hold back returned. The fear forced her to curl up on the blood-soaked floor and watch helplessly while the two left the confines of the labs dampening field. Their abilities returned, adding to Odelea’s fear, for she knew if she were to step out of the lab now her HNI would become compromised, while the full extent of their psionic gifts would be made available.

  The thought of retrieving the pistol didn’t even come close to gracing her thoughts.

  The Dragon Maiden and Knight stood at the open
door to the lab. They gave Odelea one last fleeting look before their combined psionic powers illuminated their bodies, bathing it with luminous bright blue light that slowly made their existence diminish away from the ship.

  “Tiamat is eternal!” Were their parting words to Odelea before teleporting away.

  42 Foster

  XSV Johannes Kepler

  Smoldering wastelands, New Babylon, Sirius A system

  August 12, 2118, 18:15 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Captain Foster’s senses gradually returned to her, starting with her ability to hear, namely the sound of the heartbeat monitor next to her. Then came her ability to feel, like the medical bed she found herself resting on . . . and the pain in her head. Sight was last when she finally mustered enough energy to sit up and open her eyes.

  She was in sickbay aboard the Kepler along with Williams, Rivera, and Odelea who rested on medical beds adjacent to her while Doctor Kostelecky examined her wounds with a medical scanner. That’s when Foster remembered the situation they were in, and hoped she wasn’t out cold for long.

  “Aw, hell,” Foster groaned.

  Kostelecky returned back to Foster. “Easy there, Captain.”

  Foster sat at the side of the bed. “Kostelecky, how long was I out?”

  “About five minutes.”

  Foster looked at Williams and Rivera whom both sat at the edge of their medical beds. “What happened to you two?”

  “The same thing that happened to you,” Williams snickered with a grin. “How’s it looking, Doc—Doctor?”

  “You’re a big boy, you’ll be fine,” Kostelecky said to Williams, waving her medical scanner over Foster’s wounds. “As for you, Rivera—”

  “I fainted,” Rivera said, leaping off the bed.

  Williams’ mouth twisted. “You fainted? That doesn’t sound like something you’d do.”

  “I thought we lost you two to that woman,” Rivera said to him.

  That woman . . . The Dragon Maiden, right, she boarded the ship. “What happened to our intruder?” Foster asked.