Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Homeworld - Tales of the Vjel-Amaj: Aira's Quest - Part I ❯ Chapter 3 - Pursuit ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3 - The Pursuit

The unusual looking girl was surrounded by a faint darkness that only lasted a few seconds. It was only these seconds that shocked her with a flashback of her past. A moment that once scarred her soul with terror, an event that happened only a few years ago, a moment of horror that occurred every time the blanket of darkness surrounded her.

An endless gush of wind streamed past her body, pulling every strain of her hair towards a certain direction. She felt it... Struggling to breathe, pure death was slowly tearing the air away from her lungs and those of others. So many things swung past, her mind not able to recognize them. Lacking of oxygen, her young body weakened with every struggling breath as she heard the endless screams of choking people. Screams of people gasping for air hollowed within her mind. She suddenly fainted... only left with memories of pure terror.

This very moment scared her before her eyes slowly spotted some lights illuminating ahead within the bridge emitting from the navigation station.

Her mind fooled her. The screams and cries of agony faded away as she heard voices among her surroundings, voices of others shouting what has happened... She was in safety. The hard beats started to slow down again as her breathing calmed down...


“Did we make it to hyperspace -?”, Officer Orelis asked from somewhere of the bridge.

“You've got to be kidding...”, Hailynn snitched and shook her head, “You haven't noticed the missing rumbling, have you... obviously?”

All speeches seized as Hailynn's voice spoke up, “...We have a problem...!”
“Explain, Sub-Commander”, the Captain ordered, his voice unusually calm.

Aira listened to the voices ahead, “We are still in normal space, sir!”, Hailynn replied loudly with a surprised expression, “Navigation is still online, as `Chief' said, but I am totally blind without sensory!”

“Ma'am, sensory will come back online in a few seconds”, another one of the bridge operatives remarked, “Our `sensor operative' should be able to support you shortly - but Captain, I must remind you that - !”
“Yes, I am aware of this”, the Captain replied with a firm voice before straightening his view ahead, “We are still in danger...”
“Torpedoes are still inbound for sure! Awaiting obs' to come back online to state their position again, sir”, another voice shouted from somewhere within the darkness of the bridge.
““Engineering, Chief Brogan!””, Hailynn called out through her headset, “”Damage report. What is going on? Did the 'mod' suffer damage from the blast wave after all?!””

With a short buzz, Chief Engineer Brogan's voice was heard over all speakers as he explained:
“”Bridge, the hyperspace module is fully operational. Something else has caused the wavefront field to collapse - It was neither caused by any malfunction of the ship nor by the explosion of freighter, over!””
"“We need power asap, `Chief'!”
“”Should only take a moment, ma'am! We're on it. Engineering, over and out!””

“Why are we still in this place...”, Hailynn wondered.


Aira looked down, she need not to think about what has happened. Her past experience gave her the explanation... The very soft female voice spoke a few words, at first not heard by others.

Aira's voice spoke up, “Eh-Everybody, I know what caused this. I know why we are still ...here"

The bridge went quiet again as they heard the girl speaking.

“The M'gresh- eh I mean... The Kadeshi Mothership... I-It is responsible for the cause... Just moments before, I sensed a strange feeling", the unusal shy girl explained, "It enveloped me... a disturbing field just before our attempt... It was as if we were near... a planetary object emitting a gravity field... ”

Shocked by Aira's explaination, Hailynn needed not to hear more as she shouted, “Captain, it's a hyperspace inhibitor field!”
“Indeed”, he replied, “An artificial gravity well... It must be the same field according to the history of the 'Pride of Kharak'.”
“Sir, the `Vjel-Amaj' should be able to `outrun' that Mothership. We could still -”
“-That would not stop the mothership from launching another volleys of torpedoes upon us, Commander.”

With a short pause, the Captain took this moment to make a decision. Meanwhile, several stations, including Aira's, went back online.

“...Maintain status `code:black'”, the Captain ordered. His words confused the others.
“B-But sir, the hyperspace module is unable to generate the wavefront to enter hyperspace... How are we to - ”, Orelis remarked.
“Officer Orelis, remember, the `Vjel-Amaj' is a hybrid cruiser. The Bentusi blessed this ship with technology to our advantage. Our ship should still be able to perform a `Phasejump'...”

“'Phasejump, sir'?”

“Yes, Phasejump...”, Hailynn continued, explaining what the Captain meant, “One of the more or less `experimental' propulsion systems concealed within the hyperspace module of the cruiser. To cut things short: It's nothing more than a `short range' jumper... We never insisted to us it...”
“- until now”, the Captain added, “If we are to survive this, then our only chance is to escape the enemy. Officer Orelis, contact Engineering for the preparation of the Phasejump .”
"Yes, sir."


An frightened shout is heard from Aira...
“W-We are in danger! The Needleship is focusing on our position!”

Turning herself around, the female commander looked beyond her seat. Hailynn never saw this girl so excited - so scared. Whatever it was - it had to do with her past. She knew that for sure.

“Please, we must escape!”, the girl cried.

“”This is Engineering! Bridge, as ordered, the phasedrive is charging - but it will require time! Confirmation of its completion will follow when ready! Over and out!””

“Calm down, Aira.”, the firm voice of the Captain said, “Sub-Commander, engage an escape route! We must clear the opening made from the explosion and re-enter the denser regions immediately!”
“Yes sir! Engaging new course heading”, Hailynn replied and focused herself on her controls.

The controls of the `Vjel-Amaj' were in her hands. Though her field of view was filled with endless fields of blue clouds around, her guidance system still was able to reveal a course away from the incoming dangers. Engaging the system's thrust control, the ship vibrated as its powerful fusion thrusters ignited once again.

Officer Orelis suddenly spoke, “Sir! Torpedoes are inbound and have bypassed the 3km barrier. Six o'clock, very high!”
“Confirmed, the torpedoes have gained quite a speed and are closing in fast!”, another operative from the observatory added.

“Captain - Our point defense system will utterly be useless against such fast moving target with these interferences among our ship! I suggest dispatching our fighters one more time to repel the attacks!”, the fleet coordinating officer shouted out.

“Denied, F.C.”, the Captain refused his suggestion, “Our priority is to escape this sector as soon as possible. Dispatching units would only delay our escape. If we are too - ”

“Hailynn!”, Aira shouted, “Turn the ship away from the left, hurry!”

“What?!”

“Do as she said, Commander - HARD Starboard!”, the Captain commanded loudly, trusting the words of Aira.

Surprised but eager, Hailynn pulled her right hand as far as she could along with the pairs of pedals adjusted to her intentions and as she took actions, the ship immediately responded to her movements. Feeling the motion slightly due to the artificial gravity field only being slightly out of phase, the ship flew a sharp curve to its right side.

“Could somebody tell me what this is all a-!”, Hailynn shouted, but then heard a short alarm that caught her attention. A long object just barely missed the ship's left bow as she saw it bypassing along one of her screens, “-bout?!”

The object on her screen suddenly flew a very long curve, disappeared into one of the denser clouds and reemerged from it, unable to catch its momentum due to its high velocity. Astonished by the sudden attack they barely dodged, Hailynn shouted, “What was that?!”

“It was a torpedo, ma'am! *eh* and we're lucky its proximity warhead did not respond though being so close...”, an operative explained, sighing how lucky they were.
“How is that possible! The volley you reported should still be at least 2.5km away from our position! Was it cloaked or -?!”
“- It is coming back to us!”, Aira shouted.

Indeed, the high velocity torpedo shortly disappeared within a thick cloud again and again it appeared from it, focusing on a direct course to the `Vjel-Amaj'. But this time, its opportunity of landing a hit along the broadside of the ship was a lot greater than its first hideous attempt since this time it was approaching nearly from the same horizontal plane.

“Hailynn! Evasive maneuvers! Orelis, immediately activate the PDS!”, the Captain commanded loudly, not as calm as usual.

“Our defensive systems are unable to target the incoming object - but we will do the best as we can”, the officer replied and grabbed his headset, ”Fire control. Engage erratic firing mode. Maximum spread!”

Tension was filling the air.

Just before the defensive systems of the `Vjel-Amaj' focused upon the incoming danger, a violent explosion occurred just to the right side of the ship. Suddenly, a garbled but somewhat familiar deep voice was heard among an open frequency. It was the voice of the vagyr fighter pilot:

“”Hiigaran Cruiser! I was able to destroy the torpedo that was about to strike your starboard side! Attention, the pursuing ship is using ellipse torpedoes! Prepare for incoming torpedo attacks from all flanks! I am glad you managed to detect it before it struck upon your hull! Do not worry about my status. My fighter has sustained damage from the freighter's explosion but I still am able to maintain control...””

Hailynn looked to her right as she saw the vaygr fighter dashing past the ships side, followed by a smoking black stream of its damaged thrusters and trails of clouds spreading away. Multiple ticks were heard... only chunks of debris from the destroyed torpedo bouncing upon the hull, luckily its warhead already destroyed.

The Captain slammed his fist upon his chair, “Flankers... The enemy is trying to fool us with its direct-fire torpedoes!”

“Sir?”

The Captain explained shortly, “That Needleship knows were are practically blind. It knew we were only able to detect the volley because of the open field caused by the freighter's blast wave. It knew we would not be able to detect any flanking objects - That is... Our sensor operator just barely saved us from suffering a dangerous dorsal hit upon the ship...”

Aira remained quiet, she was too shy to say a word.

Shortly rubbing his face, the Captain leaned back into his seat.

“Aira - Concentrate. Concentrate on our vicinity”, the Captain demanded.
"Huh?"

“We're counting on you on this one, Ai' ”, Hailynn added, “You're my eyes!”

This responsibility was becoming too much for this young girl. With the pure anxiety flowing through her body, she took a look upon the blue holographic sphere that surrounded her, anxiously trying to spot whatever thing might appear.

The `Vjel-Amaj' continuously flew ahead at a high speed, piercing into unknown regions and countless fields and layers of blue clouds, barely dodging the attacks of single torpedoes. The Kadeshi Mothership, though massive, still kept upon the trail, high above and several kilometers away from the smaller Amaji cruiser that tried to escape.

Within moments, the crew of the bridge suddenly heard multiple alert sounds. The sound of incoming danger...
“Torpedoes have just bypassed the k-one barrier!”, Officer Orelis reported, referring that the torpedo volley has crossed the 1 kilometer perimeter and is within the red zone...

“Another hidden object is coming from the right! This time a bit higher from before!”, Aira shouted loudly.

“Dive - DIVE!”, the Captain commanded.

Taking action, Hailynn pushed both controls forward as hard as she could and invoked a roll to intensify the dive angle. Only able to see her guidance display showing the verticle angle designators spinning at a moderate rate, she was nonetheless navigating totally blind.

“”Hiigaran Cruiser! Providing covering fire!””, the vagyr fighter pilot's voice transmitted.

Firing with its special mass driver weaponry, the vaygr fighter fired a constant stream of shots into the deep blue clouds.

“What is he doing?!”, one of the bridge operatives asked, “We can hardly target a thing out here! So why is -”

“Captain!”, Orelis shouted - surprised -, “Detecting multiple explosions among the dense regions - The - The vaygr fighter is defending our ship by providing covering fire and has already destroyed a few of the incoming torpedos!”
“It seems as if our `ally' possesses better pinpoint-sensors than our ship...”, the Captain pressumed, “-No offense, Aira.”

“...?”

“Sir, fire control and our `supporter' won't be able to provide sufficient covering fire for the last groups of heavy torpedoes!”

“”Bridge, this is Engineering. We have completed preparations for the initial 'Phasejump'. With the help of Sensory, Navigator Delixa should be able to plot a jump into safety. Engineering, out.””

“We just might be able to get out of this mess after all”, the Captain said to himself and then rose his voice, “Delixa, Aira, you heard Engineering. Commence the phasejump as soon as possible.”

“Yes sir!”, Hailynn confirmed and turned herself back to front, slightly smiling devilish somewhat, “They won't be stopping us this time!”

“H-Hailynn”, Aira called out, “I am totally blind. Absolutely no visible stars - ”
“Don't worry, Ai' - If we get out of this region and the trouble, we'll be jumping afterwards into safety in no time! We're blind, but not dead yet! Blindjump!”

Just as she ended her over-euphoric sentence, she looked aside and saw the damaged Vaygr fighter further away still firing into the dense clouds. Again, Hailynn stared upon that screen, startled about the pilot. If their first attempt in escaping had been a success, the future of their lifesaver would have been in despair... Somehow, guilty feelings were overwhelming her thoughts. Clearing her voice, the hiigaran woman came to decision.
“”Vaygr fighter - This is Commander Delixa of the `Vjel-Amaj'! We will be performing a jump out of this dreaded region! I want you to - ””

“”What are you talking about, hiigaran? Haven't your crew noticed the inhibitor field filling this whole sector!””
“”For the sake of your people, vaygr, just trust us this time! No time for explanations! Get -””

“”I don't know how you have the chance to escape through a jump but do it now! There is no way I will be able to dock with these torpedoes coming straight for us!””

“Commander, he is right”, Orelis added, “Our fighter bay is inappropiate and only supports space for hiigaran fighters. The vaygr fighter is too large - not to mention, incompatible for docking!”

“Fifty seconds”, Aira said over the commline to Hailynn, reminding her that the time was already running.

Taking the mentioned words in account, Hailynn shouted:
“”There is still a possibility! Get your fighter as close as possible to our hull! If you can get at least under 40 meters, you will be enveloped by the same field that would bring us out of here!””

A moment of silence...

“”There is no need for heroism in staying behind, vaygr! You have 30 seconds to get here - Just get here to us here, NOW!””
“”- I'm on my way, but don't expect any sorry...””, the Vaygr pilot announced.
”What the frell did he mean with that phrase?”



- Three... -


Having difficulties, the vaygr fighter altered his course directly to the `Vjel-Amaj', while being chased by the field of torpedoes coming straight in for them. Gaining a headstart, the fighter made its way like an arrow piercing through the clouds.
“Hailynn”, Aira said, “The vaygr fighter seems to have accepted your words and is almost here.”

Taking a look at the time for the jump to occur, the Vaygr pilot only had approximately 20 seconds left. There was a moment of silence albeit the anxious atmosphere present within the bridge.

“Did he make it?”, somebody asked... just before a very loud `DONG' sound occurred as an intense vibration was felt throughout the whole ship.

“”Hiigaarans - I have done as you said and am as close as I could get with this damaged fighter.””

“He'll pay for that!”, Hailynn remarked loudly but then took a look at the time. The timer just entered the last 10 second bracket. At the same time, the waves of torpedoes were dangerously closing in on their position. Worried like never before, she became anxious like the others - other than the cool-minded Captain - as the torpedoes entered the last few hundred meters.

It was a going to be a close call...

“SEVEN... SIX...!”, Hailynn's voice announced.

Aira herself already felt her body getting more anxious. Two of the officers kept announcing the position and distance of the volley of torpedoes that were about to strike upon the ship. Thoughout the whole ship, humming vibrations were soon to be heard, increasing with each bypassing second.

“FIVE...!”

“FOUR...!”

Without any warning, a sudden and very slight shock impact was felt throughout the ship. For a split second, everything turned black and white for the kushan eye and then returned to its normal color.

Totally surprised, Hailynn at first continued,

“THREE... t-two... 'wo... ???”


Astonished faces. A few shouted, thinking that the torpedoes have struck... embarrassingly. Hailynn turned herself and looked at the bridge crew...

“Did we... `jump'?”, she asked, having trembling hands.

“You've got to be kidding...”, Orelis snitched back at her.

Unable to respond to the same unexpected remark she told him back then, she stayed quiet, only throwing an annoyed facial expression...