Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Homeworld - Tales of the Vjel-Amaj: Aira's Quest - Part I ❯ Chapter 2 - The Mistrust ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2 - The Mistrust

With the discovery of the incredible form hidden within the thickest wake, Aira's mind is held in astonishment, for this divine discovery was not caused by her innermost desire of her imagination.


Not knowing of what was happening, the rest of the crew kept calm as they awaited the last slow freighter of refugees to dock. Still escorted by two leftover interceptors of the `Vjel-Amaj' and the vaygr fighter, the heavily damaged freighter drifted ahead. Free of all hostilities due to the AI-controlled torpedo frigates expending their payload and thus holding their positions from afar, the freighter slowly cruised its way ahead to the rally point of the `Vjel-Amaj' that was only 15 kilometers away and surrounded by six abandoned large frigates.

Meanwhile, the Captain currently was not at the bridge. The ship's status was at condition yellow. Though aware of any visible dangers that could appear, things did seem to be calm. Just a moment ago, the Captain ordered Hailynn to maintain bridge command as he would make his way to the deck where all the refugees were to be detained.

“Hey, Hailey”, someone of the bridge crew called out to her, “Alpha One through Four have safely returned”, he informed, “According to their status, it looks like they came out of this mess without a scratch.”

Letting go of her controls, Hailynn looked over her shoulder, “Understood”, and stretched herself arms. Her body was strained from the long and strenuous flight through hyperspace.

“- I hope we will be out of this mess soon”, another officer remarked, “and I hope the Hiigaran Navy will pay a decent amount for this mission. The intelligence information was pretty lacking if you ask me. Not even the freelance assignments we took over from the Kiith Somtaaw were this lacking.”

“Aye, but it looks like we will be out of this place soon - That is, as soon as that ship would finally dock. Can't that slug fly any faster?”

“Now now...”, Hailynn replied calmly and explained, “We will surely learn more of what happened, but all we know for now is that they sustained heavy damage from a single torpodo hit. With our appearance and their despair, the superior of that frigate insisted the others to disband from the group formation for their sake.”
“Well, that explains their slow pace I guess...”, the crewman leaned himself against the side of a console, “but that still does not explain what is actually going on here. It was said that we were only supposed to extract hiigarans and the frell out. I cannot believe the Captain actually accepting the vaygr refugees for transferring onboard. To be honest, I would be surprised if none of them were to be insurgents.”

“We can count on our security integrity”, the other officer proudly confirmed, “I still do wish to know what this assignment is all about. Specifically how this hunt in this forsaken star system actually started and what they will be saying to the Captain.”
Hailynn crossed her arms, her face showing a grudge upon something she observed on a secondary surveillance screen, “Good point, but we will figure that out, sooner or later. Not only that, it's that vaygr pilot out there... who I can't trust. Two years ago, Makaan was defeated and yet we now end up being sent on a rescue mission just to see fleeing hiigaran freighters with a vaygr fighter at the lead - who is concerned about the refugees consisting of his and our people... with vaygr AI-controlled torpedo frigates behind? I don't get who might be behind this with Makaan not even on the lead?”

With a pause, Hailynn and the officer looked at each other, only to conclude their similar thought. With their thoughts leading to the same answer, both simultaneously said, “Remnants.”

“This region is not `far away' from vaygr space, Hailynn. I really don't know what we will do with that vaygr pilot once the freighter arrives. Whatever I am to assume, the Amaji Council will know what to do next once we return back to hiigaran space. This is something politic between ours and other kiithid and I wouldn't want to be in between.”

“Call back the two remaining interceptors”, she ordered, “We will see what the Captain will decide about that vagyr fighter later, but the earlier those two dock, the better.“

“Will do. How will we perform our retreat once the objective has been completed?”

“Now that you remind me”, Hailynn remembered, “I will need to have Aira align the navigation system one more time at least to find the escape route to the least denser region. Excuse me please -”. Adjusting her headset and intercom device, Hailynn turned herself back to her station and said, “Aira, this is Hailynn. Could you please align navigation one more time? I require a lead destination to the best area for you to be able to plot the jump out of this system.”

There was a brief pause - No answer.

Aira heard the familiar voice, but she was startled. Paralyzed by the divine object hidden among the thickest dust cloud, the gigantic ship shaped like a reversed needle slowly moved away from the dense area...
A majestic Kadeshi Mothership... with a sphere of pure energy focusing at the center of its bow...


“Hey Aira, you copy?”, Hailynn repeated, messing around with her headset one more time, “Aaai-raaaaa?”

The fearful girl shivered, stuttering non-understandable words.

“Ma'am”, one of the officers within the bridge called out, shortly interrupting her commline.

“What is it?”
“I am picking up an unidentified faint reading, radiating from 8 o'clock, angle +67° high, approximately 13 klicks from our position away.”

“You sure that is not some asteroid?”

“Ma'am, asteroids do not emit this type of energy naturally”

“What type of energy are you reading?”

“It's a focus of ionized energy... Nothing to worry about since it doesn't resemble to be a hyperspace signature, though.”

Strange, Hailynn thought. Pressing a few keys on a small screen to her left, she wondered what was wrong with Aira. Insisting to see how she was doing, she set her display to show the girl over camera. Just as Hailynn was about to greet her again, she discovered the girl staring with glassy eyes wide open, for sure under the influence of being mentally connected with the sensory station. Very strange stuff this Bentusi technology was, she thought again. Nonetheless, Aira was always capable of reacting to her environment, but this time, her startled face and her pale skin gave Hailynn a cold shiver down her spine...

Turning her head to the officer who informed her about focused energy, she nervously asked again, “Did you say... ion?!”


- Despair... -

Aira suddenly screamed, her voice shouting in such foreign dialect that nobody could understand. Her sudden scream disturbed the quietness of the bridge as she spoke in agony and despair. Not understanding a word she said, Aira unconsciously spoke desperate pleas to everybody, trying to refer to something out there in space. Unfortunately, her intercom device was not set to outer space communication either. Erratically looking at nearly each crewmember, she tried to tell them something, but they could not understand her as she continued to speak in a very ancient and foreign language.

What ever got her excited, it was definitely serious...

""<Get the Captain to the bridge, now!> - Freighter Seven, Vaygr pilot -!"", Hailynn shouted immediately, “Scramble immediate-!!!”

Blinded by a sudden flash of light, Aira needed to turn her head as a beam of pure energy emitted from the lurking Mothership...

Too late.

Without receiving any warning on time, the beam emerged downwards from a very high angle, aiming directly at a certain target. Nothing could stop it as it pierced through the gaseous wake that existed among them... The already crippled freighter's hull busted among its side as the beam violently tore its way through the dorsal portside of the ship. Just barely able to dodge the beam, the Vaygr fighter barely managed to escape the imminent blast wave and countless scraps of busted debris blown everywhere.


Screams were heard as the freighter desperately broadcasted an emergency call, ""Th-This is freigh- <minor explosion>ven We're under attack! We're under attack! Decompression alert - Stabilizers down <other voices can be heard, some screaming damage reports> - Something just hit the ship! *frrrsschhh*""

Looking upon the screens viewing the devastating event, the crew of `Vjel-Amaj' helplessly observed another minor explosion occurring from the port side of the ship.

Entering the commline, the vaygr pilot shouted, “”A damn ion beam just struck the freighter's port bow! The freighter won't - !””.

The freighter pilot interrupted, “”- This is freighter seven... The engineering deck has just informed <not understandable voices in the background> me that the beams impact has breached through one of the reactor core's infusion conduit...!””

Astonished by his message, Hailynn shouted, “”Jettison the core before it explodes! We can still extract you before -””

“”- It is too late - Core meltdown is imminent, rescue command. ””, the voice of the freighter pilot called out. Silence filled the bridge of the `Vjel-Amaj' cruiser. The voice spoke further, “” We realize we are not going to survive this explo- ...<alert sounds>. For the sake of our people and the lives of the vaygr refugees, please extract them from this misery and return them to safety. The vaygr fighter pilot and his people are not our enemy. Let not prejudice lead your minds. Do... Do not intend to perform any rescue attempts. If our lives are the price for the sake of the others, then we will accept our fate... May the gods of Kharak- ””


All went too fast. Fate did not leave them enough time to end their prayers. The transmission ended abruptly as a brief but silent outburst of pure energy occurred. All commline frequencies fuzzed and were immediately terminated with the core's breach. The violent blast wave expanded along with countless parts of debris. Astonished and startled, the crew was still surprised by the sudden attack...

“Freighter seven has been destroyed!”, a crewman announced loudly.

“Aira!”, Hailynn shouted aggressively, “Where did that beam come from?!”

“From... From... ”, the girl stuttered.

“Attention, we have a fusion shockwave coming in straight to our ship!”, another officer reported.

“To all decks, brace for impact!”

Within seconds and for a long moment, the ship rumbled and quaked as the blast wave and parts of high velocity debris of various sizes knocked against its hull. Luckily, the explosion had not caused any noticeable damage...

Awoken from the shock, Aira snapped out of her astonishment. The Kadeshi Mothership was now clearly visible to her... along with several smaller objects emerging fast from its hull.


“Commander Delixa!”, somebody shouted, “I am detecting several ultra high frequency beams being focused on our ship... We're being marked!”

“Th-there is something coming towards us... fast...”, Aira said quietly to the others.

“What?!”

“Confirmed!”, the previous man reported, “Multiple torpedoes inbound. Distance: 9km. Count 12... Correction, 17... 21! ”

“For frakking sake, what is attacking us?! Damn it, Aira! Tell us what is out there”, Hailynn shouted back.

Hailynn's shout was so intimidating that the adolescent girl became more scared. There was no time for speaking softly, for this situation was very serious.

“It's - Its...!”

“NOW!”

“It is a ship - Mothership of Kadesh!”, Aira mispoken.


Just entering the bridge, the Captain barely understood the last part of the sentence. Unlikely to the reaction of the others, he remained calm, not even showing a slight bit of anxiousness.

“A Kadeshi Mothership?”, he asked with low and calm voice as he made a few steps further into the bridge.

“Yes sir!”, Hailynn said, “I will be engaging a course away from this position - but I'm flying blind here, sir!”

“We will not risk any further. To all stations”, the Captain called out to everybody, “Code: Black...”

Astonished by his command, Hailynn questioned him, “- But sir, Aira informed us that such a retreat would be too dangerous. We might get caught under the influence of the black hole's event horizon!”

“We have no other choice I am afraid. The vaygr pilot will have to be left behind. He is a Vaygr. He will survive.”

Harsh, but true. Vagyrs are naturally and physically focused on surviving in deep space just by their own ship.

“Our marine teams will still be able to detain the vaygrian refugees, but as your statement before on this contact, Commander: We cannot trust the Vaygr. It is their nature. There is nothing more we can do in this sector. We must escape before the torpedoes can cause severe damage.”

Hailynn, who was for sure the first one to mistrust the Vaygr pilot, suddenly remembered the voice of he freighter pilot and what he said... Let not prejudice lead their minds... but without any other remarks, she replied, “Very well, sir... Announcing 'Code: Black' to all decks. Prepare for an emergency Blindjump!”

A guilty feeling slowly overcame Hailynn's thoughts. Leaving the vaygr pilot behind to meet his fate did disturbe her somewhat.

Aira's body was becoming anxious again... for soon they would be entering the invisible and violent dimension of unknown ether known as hyperspace. Tormented by the recent attack and the soon occurring blind hyperjump, the young being grabbed her emblemed necklace... squeezing it this time so hard that her hands began to hurt with each pulse.

But only this blind hyperspace jump would either be rescue or pure death... A danger so threatening that she trembled with each moment that passed by. Aira stared at the Kadeshi Mothership... “Why...?”

""The jump will be too sudden for our engineering crew to shut down all systems safely, so expect the core to to cause a full powergrid shutdown right after the jump initialization. Navigation and wavefront stabilizer will still be online"", an engineer reported to the whole ship.
Following at the of the transmission, Hailynn took word, ""- Brace for sudden impact. Code:Black will occur in Ten... nine... eight... seven...””

With every second she counted downwards, Aira and the crew began to hear the deep bass trembling of the hyperspace module and began to feel the ship trembling as it began to emit the flux field for tearing a rift between time and space once again...

""six... five... four... three... two ... one... Hyperjump!""

Aira knew exactly what was going to happen next... with each beat pounding just as hard as the ship's rumble... With a last and heavy rumble, the ship shocked with great intense...

*...*, she opened her eyes again.... The ship immediately stopped rumbling.

Something must have gone wrong....