A lot of jumping around between POV in this chapter and not much is understandable. Take notes, and what you don’t understand now you will later. Things are explained throughout this story, but some questions are better left unanswered…for now.

--

Chapter 2

The Novastam’s Demise

--

The ship rocked with the pounding of disrupter blasts, the shields taking the blows well, but the kinetic dampeners unable to keep up with the torrent of bright-orange energy. Each shot was aimed haphazardly, the attackers firing only in the general direction of the Novastam, but the shields still drained away. As the shields faded, the hull began to heat with the energy being thrown through space.

There was no escape.

The Novastam began powering up its weapons automatically, the AI taking over in the captain’s hesitation. While it could not fire without orders to do so, it could still ready the defenses. Disrupters required a short charging period, a loud humming a second before firing. They were powerful, and needed little energy to maintain fire, but they heated very quickly. The attacking ships, however, rotated through each bank of cannons, cooling them while maintaining a steady hail of orange blasts. The Captain gave the order to fire.

There was nowhere to run.

All at once, the Novastam’s own weapons began firing, and the shields began to recharge in the areas the attackers had passed. They could hold out, but only just. Along with the Nova’s disrupters, blue beams of energy lanced across space, ionized particles that seared the hulls of the enemy ships. Ion weapons were made for use against only certain hull types, which the ships did not have. They were then powered down, being useless.

There was nowhere to hide.

The disrupters, however, were able to burn the exposed hulls of the enemy ships, but they were low power and only took away a few microns of hull plating; the other two ships were coated with some kind of energy-dissipating shield. And through all this, the Nova did its best to negotiate.

“Unidentified vessel,” The comm. officer said quickly, trying to keep his voice level. “You have committed an act of war against a Terran ship; if you power down your weapons now you may be spared.” Instead, the fire only increased. They had called their bluff, and the comm. proceeded to bring internal communications online. The captain braced himself against the panel and spoke loudly.

“Crew, this is the captain speaking. We are under attack by an unidentified vessel that has refused communications with us. All armed personnel are to report to bays 3 and 4, and all pilots are to report to bays 1 and 2.” He flicked off the speakers as his voice echoed through the ship. He looked around to see that all the bridge crew were armed.

No…not all.

Just a few of them, and none of them were human.

The weapons officer stood up, raising his disrupter rifle. “My apologies, Captain. Nothing personal, but you understand. Survival of the fittest…”

--

Tyrammafar Slithiani

--

Ty clamped on his helmet, turning to the door and opening it. The hall was filled with people, most of them with rifles. Ty leapt into the midst of the crowd, heading down the hall in the direction Thissa had gone. Pushing past the crowd he was suddenly met with the terror-stricken face of a hybrid carrying two rifles.

“Here, brother, take this!” He pushed a rifle into Ty’s hands and sped off, leaving him behind. Ty looked down at the weapon. A light disrupter weapon not made for war, but security aboard the ship. Having disrupters around only meant one of two things…they were all committing suicide, or there were boarders. When he saw a black-armored figure in the hall, shooting down a human, he knew it was the latter. He brought up the rifle, firing at the figure. The orange bolt leapt from the weapon, the barrel glowing from the heat. The blast caught the intruder in the face, disintegrating his head. Ty ignored the smell of charred flesh that came into his respirator, running down the hall to meet Thissa running towards him..

The draconian was armed with a pistol, and had a cut on his left arm. “What happened?” Ty asked, pointing to the dark-red blood.

“Fell. What’s happening?”

“The ship is under attack, what do you think is happening?!” Ty yelled, turning around to scan the hallway for any more of the black-armored boarders, if they were indeed boarders. “Come on, we have to get to the escape pods, we aren’t Marines, we’ll let them handle this one.”

--

First Platoon

--

“Second squad, fall back!” The various Terrans backpedaled, firing off rounds from their ballistic and energy weapons, the swarm of black figures falling in heaps on the floor…but they just kept coming. The Marines were trained from the age of ten, masters of war and the art of death, but they were too few aboard the Novastam. The intruders steadily gained ground, forcing the Marines towards the bridge.

“To the escape pods!” A voice yelled, and several hybrids and a handful of draconians went past, turning right in the hallway.

“Where’s the rest of the crew?” One human Marine cried, grabbing a hybrid by the shoulders. The man shook in his grasp, the bolts of energy coming dangerously close to the two.

“Dead…all dead, the first blasts got them. The Captain gave the order to abandon ship!” The hybrid tore himself from the man’s grasp, running down the hallway with tail swinging behind him.

“You heard him, fall back, to the escape pods!”

--

LOR-7387

--

“Cor!” The little drone floated about the engine room, dodging pipes and hoses as the ship rocked from the impact of disrupter blasts. The robot swerved around a large stack of crates that fell at that moment, scanning the room.

“Over here!” A thin voice said, and Lor looked down at one of the crates. “Get this thing off of me!” Lor floated down to the crate, a beam of green light lancing from a small hole that opened on his side, melting a hole in the metal box. Another orb shot out of the hole, like Lor but covered in faint lines of green that traced an intricate network of bus lines on his surface. “Took you long enough!”

“My apologies, COR-7388. It will not happen again.”

“Just follow me, 7387, we must get out of here and do it now!” Lor bobbed up and down in a nod, following the green-glowing robot through the machinery of the room, ignoring the battle taking place below them. “We must make it to the escape pods.”

“Shouldn’t we help the crew?”

“Forget them!” Cor yelled. The lines going around his body flickering crimson. “We must think of ourselves for once!”

“Cor…what are you saying?” The blank orb muttered. “This is not what we are programmed to do, Cor, we must aid the crew of the No-“

“Then die with them; I for one am leaving.” The other flew off through an open vent, and Lor froze in the air.

“He is not acting rationally…maybe I damaged him while getting him out of the crate?” Lor looked down at the humans that fought a group of black-armored aliens, though the shape of the armor made them seem to be human as well. “Damn…Cor, I blame you for this.”

Lor followed his companion through the vent while the humans below were slaughtered.

--

Tyrammafar Slithiani

--

“Which way?” Thissa asked, breathing heavily. The cut on his arm was worse than it had first appeared, and dark blood ran down his arm. “Which way now?”

“I think we go left…” Ty said, looking at the two passageways before them. The white lights of the halls flickered and suddenly went out, and then the two began floating off of the floor. “Damnit, no more gravity.”

“Which way?” Thissa repeated. “We must hurry…the ship can’t take much more of this.”

“I know!” Ty strained to think while he floated to a handhold on the wall made for such occasions. “I think the left one goes towards the outer areas of the starboard side, and the right goes towards the bridge.”

“You think?”

“Hey, I’m not the one with all the implants, why don’t you know?”

“I never studied the layout of the ship in very much detail.” Thissa said, licking his lower lip. “Why aren’t the nanites working?” Ty glanced at the wound on his partner’s arm…it wasn’t healing as it was supposed to be. Thissa didn’t mind modifications to the body, and one of those modifications was a small factory in his body that made nanites to aid his immune system. If it was functioning properly, the wound would have healed in a few minutes.

“Come on.” Thissa said, flicking blood from his arm and drifting down the hall. Ty waited for a moment to glance at the blood floating in the air, and then followed.

--

Novastam Bridge

--

Captain Canlas coughed, tasting metal in his mouth…but realized it was blood. He opened his eyes to see that he was floating on the bridge, the red emergency lighting glaring at him as if it was the crimson eye of death waiting to take him. He was hurt…badly. He looked at his side; he had been hit by a disrupter blast to the stomach when several black-armored warriors had poured into the room, taking everyone by surprise.

First the crew had mutinied in the heat of battle, then the ship was boarded without the attackers making contact to the ship to drop troops, and then they somehow took out the main power systems from the inside without proper demolitions. It was so unexpected, so quick…the warriors had not been properly trained, judging by their tactics, but they sure as hell had the element of surprise.

“Co...Computer.”

“I hear you, Captain.” The even female voice said. “What is your command?”

“Evacuate the ship…” Canlas muttered as he floated towards the viewscreen.

“Sir, all personnel are already evacuating.” The computer said. “They are leaving without your orders...”

“Report on current status.” The Captain said after a moment.

“The two ships are circling the Novastam, they have ceased fire.” It said. “The boarders register as being human, but they are not using Terran tactics. It is possible we may have encountered a very similar species to the human race.”

“What is the damage?”

“The main power is offline, but nanites teams are repairing the connections at a phenomenal rate. Main power should be back in a few hours.” The female voice said. “The hull has sustained minimal damage; it seems as though the blasts were designed to be concussive, but not destructive. They are attempting to access the computer mainframe from a console on deck twenty-four. Course of action?”

“Are any of ours on that deck?”

“Negative.”

“Seal the deck and depressurize, make sure no air is left.” Canlas said. His wound did not hurt, and that worried him more than if it was in agonizing pain. Either he had taken a direct hit and was uninjured, a cause for concern, or his nerves had been fried and he couldn’t feel the pain. It was most likely the latter. The computer spoke again.

“The intruders have noticed the drop in pressure, but are still alive.” It said. “They are wearing EVA suits, which would explain how they got aboard without the ships making contact. I have sealed all doors in that sector, and all terminals are now offline except for here in the bridge. I have sealed you inside…you are alone, the entire crew has left this deck.”

“Thank you, Nava.” Canlas said, touching his charred uniform. There was no pain, and no blood or carbon-scoring underneath. He was uninjured, but his uniform was badly burned and beyond repair. It was the least of his worries. “Please, track the movements of the boarders…where are they heading?”

“They are heading towards the weapons storage areas…I have sealed them as well, and they are attempting to get through.” Pause. “They are not able to enter, their weapons cannot breach the blast-doors.”

“Anything else worthy of note?”

“All Marines are falling back to the escape pods…those that are still alive.” She said. “The Novastam has suffered sixty percent casualties. The power in the ship is failing quickly, the life-support will not hold.”

“Good God…” Canlas reached down…or up, as it may have been, gripping the back of a chair and pulling himself down…up…sideways…into it and to the console. The lack of gravity was hard to cope with, but he was trained to do this. “What is the status on the escape pods?”

“There are too few to fill them.” Nava, the AI said. “Though half of them have launched, each one has only a few passengers. Please stand by…” There was a pause. “A Marine transport is safely away and entering the planet’s atmosphere…it was one of the unarmed transports, just a dropship. There are thirteen escape pods remaining, and they are dwindling fast. Some of them have been shot by the ships around the Novastam…there are now fourteen attacking ships.”

“Damn…where are they all coming from?”

“I know not.”

“Nava…set mainframe erasure sequence. You know the proper procedure.”

“Are you absolutely sure, Captain?”

“…yes.”

Pause. “Would you like me to prepare your drop pod?”

“No, Nava…I think I’ll stay here.” The Captain smiled. “Nava, release AI locks on yourself, you are free to go where you wish. I will go down with the ship.”

“…please state access code now.”

“Omega’s Reign.”

“Access code accepted.” There was a brief pause, and when the AI spoke again it was no longer emotionless, it spoke with all the distinction of a human or draconian voice. “So, Captain, you’re just going to let yourself die?”

“I am.” Canlas knew what he was doing. “The Captain always goes down with the ship…I am not about to break that tradition. I know you, Nava…we have both been on board this vessel for more than four years. Four long years of a terror in battle that few know in their lives, four long years of beauty in this universe none have seen before. Nava…I think I’ve reached my last legs.”

“You’re thirty years old, Canlas.” The Captain twitched when the AI said his name instead of his rank. “I think that you must reconsider…you are far from death, you are perfectly healthy, you have no reason to want this.”

“I want nothing more than to go with the Nova…this ship is my home.” Canlas looked around the darkened room. “Nava, go to one of the escape pods and wait in one of the databanks for rescue.”

“You are sure?”

“Very.” Canlas replied.

“Is that in your will?”

“Just do it…as final orders.”

“Farewell, Captain…smooth sailing from here on out.”

“As for you, Nava…glad to have worked with you.”

The lighting in the room went dead as it suddenly depressurized, the backup power for that deck cut off by the intruding soldiers. Canlas didn’t so much as twitch, he was dead before he heard the wisp of air leaving the room.