Hallowed Nebula

by Eddie R. Hicks

  It was Foster’s turn. She touched the vortex key and felt the circuitry and wires that were under her tattoos link with her nervous system and merge with it.

  She wasn’t in her body anymore.

  Like an invisible guardian angel, Foster saw the Johannes Kepler in orbit with the Rezeki’s Rage nearby. The plan was working. Foster was able to see the Kepler become covered in the goo, obscuring its glossy paint job. Tendrils formed from the goo and reached out, touching the Rezeki’s Rage, spreading the goo onto it. It was by far the weirdest thing she ever saw in space, and Foster had seen quite a bit. She wasn’t looking forward to writing the after-action report.

  With both ships protected, she created a vortex just beyond the orbit of the moon and the two ships accelerated into it, vanishing within the sea of storm clouds and white flashing thunder strikes, into a universe with its own set of rules.

  XSV Johannes Kepler

  Debris Field, Hallowed Nebula Core

  July 30, 2119, 07:57 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  The journey to the nebula wasn’t long, like riding an express subway during non-peak hours. The maelstrom took the Johannes Kepler and the Rezeki’s Rage just a few hundred kilometers away from the old destroyed Imperial command ships floating in the nebula’s core.

  One could see Kur off in the distance surrounded by specks of dots and flashing pulses of light. That was until the Kepler pushed into the densely packed field with the Rezeki’s Rage behind. After that, it was twisted metal, old slag, and halved Imperial warships drifting around inside of a battle-torn sphere that was once an old command ship.

  Rivera had pulled Foster’s hand off the key at that point, sending her mind back into her body within engineering. Kostelecky was monitoring Nereid’s vitals as she drifted with her arms outward in the tank like a dead body. Rivera began the aquarium’s shut down routine in preparation to recover Nereid.

  On the bridge, the crew was tending to their duties, while the amazing view of the nebula’s core was blocked on the view screen by the insides of the old command ship wreckage they entered.

  “Welcome back, Becca,” Williams said, offering her chair back.

  When Foster took command back, she eyed Tolukei who was motionless at his station like a monk in deep meditation.

  “I take it Tolukei is doing his ESP thing?” Foster asked.

  “He started the moment we returned to normal space,” Williams said, taking his post.

  “All right, everyone, stay sharp,” Foster said. “We’s vulnerable until Nereid gets back.

  The overshield rating on the view screen had Foster worried as they continue to drift within the debris inside the nebula’s clouds. It was at 0 percent and would remain that way until Nereid was revived. Standard shields were the only thing they had, Rivera managed to get a 108 percent rating out of it by cutting power to parts of the ship they didn’t need. If anyone needed a coffee break, they were screwed until this was over.

  With the ship hidden from direct sensor scans, all that was left was to wait for Tolukei to conduct his wide ESP sweep. What was happening over at Kur entered Tolukei’s mind, and with it merged with the Kepler’s systems, he updated the map of the region. Slowly as each minute slipped away, a holo screen populated with red dots scattered around a large central object. The state of the situation did not change. There was still a raging battle for the control of Kur.

  Two red dots flashed on the holo screen when Tolukei updated it. They weren’t part of the battle for Kur, they were moving away from it.

  Proximity alerts roared when updated ESP data was transferred to the Kepler.

  “Two Draconian scout ships just dropped out of FTL!” Chang said.

  Foster kept calm, she had to. Mistakes couldn’t be made this early. “Heading?” she asked.

  Williams adjusted the hologram and had EVE plot an estimated trajectory of the two stray dots, the Draconian scout ships. “Heading right for the vortex we just exited,” he revealed.

  “They must have detected our vortex open and shut,” Foster said, and then established a comm link with engineering. “Bridge to Kostelecky, how much longer ‘til we get Nereid?”

  “She’s a bit tipsy, Captain,” Kostelecky’s voice played over the speakers. “She’s walking like she was binge drinking.”

  “That’s not good . . .” Williams said with a hard grimace.

  “Give us more time,” Kostelecky said. “This aquarium took a greater toll on her body than we predicted.”

  “Should we snap Tolukei out of it?” Pierce asked.

  “No, we stay the course,” Foster said, and faced the view screen and the spinning wreckage ahead. “Mister Chang, keep us out of their scanning range with the debris, make sure there’s something in front of us at all times.”

  “I’m on it!” Chang said and swiftly took the helm controls, piloting the Kepler as per Foster’s instructions.

  The best way Foster could describe the situation was that it was a game of cat and mouse. The two Draconian scout ships were the cats; the Kepler and Rezeki’s Rage were the mice that wanted to leave their hole in the wall. When the Draconians neared, the Kepler moved to hide with the Rezeki’s Rage following behind. Careful steps had to be made to ensure Kepler and Rezeki’s Rage drifted at the same speed as the wreckage and debris. Radio silence had to be enforced, and chatter between the Kepler and Rezeki’s Rage became nonexistent, only further making their actions challenging.

  The Draconian scouts came to a stop near where the vortex had shut. They waited for what seemed like five years, probably taking scans. The two organic ships split up, pushing into the field, they knew something was up. Nereid needed to hurry up. Foster began to worry if Nereid was stalling on purpose, she was after all a devotee to Tiamat and their mission was to prevent her resurrection. Now that Foster thought about it, Nereid had been really silent on the subject. Like, did not utter a word about it since it was made public. Not assigning Nereid to a team boarding Kur was a good idea upon second thought.

  The two scouts didn’t stop their search of the field. One ship neared a mangled and twisted Imperial carrier, shining white rays of searchlights upon it. On the opposite side were the Kepler and Rezeki’s Rage. ESP data showed the scout lowered to examine the underside of the carrier. At the speeds it was moving at, it could find itself in sensor range of the two in seconds.

  Chang was way ahead of it, however, pulling the Kepler up to hover above the top of the carrier, the Rezeki’s Rage followed suit afterward. By the time the scout came up to check, the two ships were long gone, coming to a stop behind the wreckage of what was once the side of the old command ship they were in.

  What became of the second scout was anyone’s guess at that point.

  “Chang,” Foster said, beaming. “Has anyone told you how amazing you are?”

  “My ex-girlfriend did, once.”

  “That was more than I needed to know.”

  Chang snickered. “Hey, you asked.”

  “Captain, Nereid is on her way back now,” Kostelecky said via the speakers.

  She acknowledged the doctor, and then faced Pierce who was compiling all tactical data at his station. “How’s that ESP data?”

  “I think we have enough to work with for now,” Pierce reported.

  The fog of war cleared. Tolukei’s ESP provided the crew with enough data to enter the fray without flying in blind. A copy of it was sent to the Rezeki’s Rage, officially breaking radio silence. It was go time, and Foster sent Chang their flight path to the battle.

  “Get ready, Chang,” Foster said. “Odelea, contact the Rezeki’s Rage, and tell ‘em to follow our lead.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  Nereid arrived on the bridge, her body was covered in the goo’s residue, and her outfit loosely fit on her body, her left shoulder was completely exposed. She clearly jumped into it at the last second. Nobody objected, of course, appearances were the last of anyone’s concern.

  “Nereid, take over,” Fo
ster instructed. “Tolukei, take five and rest up your mind.”

  Tolukei gasped like he had been holding his breath, staggered, and stepped away from the psionic workstation, allowing Nereid to take control, merging her psionic brain with the Kepler. The overshield rating went from 0 to 100, quickly. Then dropped to 98 three seconds later, the second scout ship found them.

  “Want me to make a break for it?” Chang asked.

  Williams shook his head. “We might want to do something about these scouts first.”

  “Agreed,” Foster said. “Rezeki’s Rage only has sub light, they won’t be able to outrun ‘em. Tell the Rezeki’s Rage to form up, we’s gonna go loud.”

  Weapons powered on, MRF devices activated, and the Kepler and Rezeki’s Rage flew side by side in a coordinated strike against the organic scout ship. The Rezeki’s Rage made the first strike with a barrage of plasma. Tachyon beams were the response from the scout, forcing the Kepler to dive in and take the blows, the Rezeki’s Rage didn’t have overshields. A spray of particle beams from the Kepler turned the scout into what looked like overcooked meat in space. A follow-up barrage of plasma sent the scout into an uncontrolled tumble and it crashed into the wreckage of a frigate.

  Coming about, the two came to face the remaining scout. It opened fire first, sending beams of tachyons at FTL speed. None of the two ships were able to avoid it. The Kepler's lavender overshield flashed and rippled, the Rezeki’s Rage’s primary shield sent waves of blue colors across its hull. The scout’s attack locked onto the Rezeki’s Rage, ignoring the Kepler, they did their homework. The Rezeki’s Rage was the hardest hitting and least protected ship without its overshields.

  Vynei’s past experience in the Union Navy was put on display once again. Using the rail guns, he sent a steady stream of high-velocity rounds that punched gaping holes through the fleshy hull of the bio scout ship. He didn’t let up, turning the Kepler into a Gatling gun that continued to put holes into the singed flesh of the scout where plasma from the Rezeki’s Rage hit. It stopped operating after two minutes. Foster assumed its crew was killed by the bullets.

  “Nice shootin’, Vynei,” she said warmly to him.

  “It’s what I get paid for,” Vynei said.

  “Mister Chang,” Foster said with her smile still spread on her face. “Take us in once clear of the field.”

  Chang followed the path given to him, and the Kepler arrived at Kur via sub light, entering the fray at the least cluttered point. Exploding ships flashed randomly, white beams of tachyon light crossed ahead of the Kepler and Rezeki’s Rage’s path sporadically. A burning Terran ship rammed a Draconian bio-ship as a last-ditch move. The explosive blast turned the view screen white for ten seconds before it returned to the view of the gaseous clouds of the nebula, the megacity-sized Kur, and the remaining Terran alliance ships exchanging shots with dragons and bio-ships. It was hard to tell who was winning.

  The Rezeki’s Rage broke off, sending multiple orbs of green light into a bio-ship that was approaching the Kepler. Peiun’s message was loud and clear, go, we’ll cover you. A hard burn sent the Kepler flying to Kur, making its presence enlarge on the view screen. By that point, the Prometheus informed them they had begun to target Terran and Taxah Hashmedai ships since a number of them picked up the Kepler.

  The combined fire of the Prometheus and Rezeki’s Rage helped take off the pressure. Any ship that locked onto the Kepler had to think twice if they really needed to shoot it and not at the Rezeki’s Rage and the plasma bombardment it dished out, or the hailstorm of particle beams from the Prometheus. A few Terran and Taxah Hashmedai ships stopped shooting altogether or had engines shut off. Penelope chuckled to herself whenever that happened.

  At fifteen minutes into the burn, Kur took up 80 percent of the view screen. There were fewer Terran and Taxah ships at that distance, but a lot of wyverns and smaller bio-ships. Vynei manned the guns again, shooting a path to Kur. EVE provided electronic support for the weapons, making it a lot easier for Vynei to get a weapon lock. Chang made impressive rolls to dodge wyvern breath attacks, zip around bio-ships that refused to move out of their way, or the odd slag from a doomed ship.

  The burn down to Kur was almost complete. It looked as if the Kepler was flying above an alien city that happened to be floating in a nebula. The Kepler’s overshield rating dropped off steadily with each second, at that point, only the wyverns were a threat. A few wyverns exploded into chunks of meat when rail gun rounds hit them as retaliation. As Foster predicted, none of the ships above wanted to risk hitting Kur with the Kepler close.

  “I’m picking up a few HNI signals,” Penelope said, and waved her hand. In its wake came a holo screen with a map of Kur and several flashing dots. She passed the screen to Foster.

  “That must be them, keep tracking them, Penelope,” Foster said, eying the data.

  “This will limit my ability to muck up the Terran’s alliance ships still in range,” Penelope said. “My hacks have really helped the Prometheus and Rezeki’s Rage quite a bit.”

  “We’ll take the chance,” Foster said. “Kur is huge, we’s gotta land as close to them as we can.”

  Penelope directed Chang to the source of the HNI signals within Kur. He made a quick course correction, and the Kepler continued to burn toward it. A horde of wyverns fell upon them. It looked like a flock of birds at first swooping down until their dragon mouths opened.

  “Wyverns!” Chang said.

  “Stay on course!” Foster ordered.

  The Kepler pushed. The wyverns got up close and personal, not caring for their own well-being. Despite the frustrated face on Nereid, and the fact she had to use so much of her power to get them there, she remained standing, determined to see this through, and the overshields holding at 76 percent showed it. It was proof that her psionic powers had grown significantly, she might have been stronger than Tolukei.

  Speaking of Tolukei.

  “I’m feeling better, Captain,” he said. “Shall I assist Nereid?”

  “Save your strength, Tolukei,” Foster said to him. “We’s gonna need it all once we land.”

  The Kepler broke through the cluster of dragons, making a hard turn to the left then plummeting fast. It came to a rough landing on the surface of Kur, using the magnetic locks in its landing gear to keep it still.

  Foster wanted to breathe in relief, celebrate because they made it alive and with overshields still active. But they weren’t finished, not even close. The flock of wyverns they flew through wasn’t finished either.

  She stood from her captain’s chair. “All right, y’all suit up, we’s going in. Dom, you got the bridge.”

  Foster went from the exit, stopping when Williams held her arm. “Becca,” he said, and she faced him. “Stay safe.”

  She nodded, happy to hear the voice of her childhood friend express concern. “You gotta promise me the same thing, Dom.”

  68 Karklosea

  Kur

  Hallowed Nebula Core

  July 30, 2119, 08:45 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  The human special forces team called EDF, from what Karklosea recalled, gathered in the Kepler’s cargo bay having finished grabbing their equipment from the armory behind.

  Their leader, Chevallier, said a few words to the two psionics, Maxwell and LeBoeuf in their language, then double-checked the status of their assault rifles. The weapons used by Maxwell and LeBoeuf were of a different make than Chevallier’s. They were able to channel their psionic energy into them and fire blasts of energy, almost like Karklosea’s redeemer when it was in its rifle mode.

  The entry ramp lowered while the four got their helmets on. They were about to step foot onto the exterior of Kur. Despite its city-sized looks, it was still a ship and its outside was exposed to space and lacked gravity. Self-irising shields activated near the opened entry ramp, allowing for the atmosphere of the Kepler to remain.

  “Our team is moving out first to clear the path for Foster’s,” Chevallier said in Karklo
sea’s native tongue.

  “Understood,” Karklosea replied with a nod.

  “I want you to take point, and Captain America the shit out of anything that gets too close.”

  “Who’s America?”

  “It’s . . . er, never mind.”

  Karklosea lifted an eyebrow to Chevallier not that she could see it with the helmet on.

  The four stood shoulder to shoulder. They were covered in battle armor with helmets pumping breathable air to survive the vacuum they stepped into as they passed through the irising shields with a blue hue. Magnetic boots powered on, and they made slow and steady steps across the surface of Kur.

  It was hard to believe they were walking on the surface of a ship. Karklosea couldn’t see the edges of it from her position. It looked like it went on for hours like they were on a planet already. Up above was the nebula, battling Terran alliance ships, and remaining Draconian bio-ships. Two ships had exploded, spreading their glowing slag in every direction.

  As they marched toward an airlock, or Kur’s equivalence of one, wyverns dropped to the surface, unaffected by the lack of gravity or vacuum. They roared like the winged serpent beasts they were, not that she could hear them. Pods made of flesh crashed around the dragons with Draconian soldiers clawing out from them and deploying their magnetic boots.

  Karklosea drew her redeemer, said a quick silent prayer to the Gods, powered her psionic shield on her wrist, and charged in. She kept her left arm with the disk-shaped psionic shield forward. The Draconian forces saw her as an easy target, her psionic powers were up for the challenge of deflecting their tachyon rifle shots.

  The first wave of wyverns was of little concern, as Maxwell and LeBoeuf swatted them away with their minds, and then vaporized them with the psionically generated incendiary bursts of their rifles. The second wave diving in was an issue to be dealt with later.