Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Homeworld - Tales of the Vjel-Amaj: Aira's Quest - Part I ❯ Chapter 8 – Hailey’s Comet ( Chapter 8 )

“- VAYGR BATTLECRUISER CONFIRMED!”

“Ma'am, what are we to do?!”

- “Enemy Battlecruiser, positioned port bow, distance only 290meters away!”

“Commander Hailynn?! Your orders, ma'am?!” “- Orders, ma'am!”

“We're in trouble!”

“- Ma'am, requesting orders! Commander?!”

Voices from all sides filled the bridge.

And there it was: The behemoth wider than the widest screen of the observatory... remaining where it was. The view of the Vaygr Battlecruiser held Hailynn's mind within its grips. She was outright stunned by the pure adrenaline that rapidly pulsed through her body, eradicating any chance of soothing her her panic.

“- W-We should charge our defensive weapons and blast them away!-”, one voice mindlessly shouted.
“That won't even cause a scratch on its armor!”
"We must defend ourself with something!"
"- with nothing but sticks 'n' stones?!"

Everybody - operatives, officers... even Kaydaana - were calling out for her, but she did not react. Not even the burning hot coffee stain upon her uniform could awaken her.

The pure death is out there, it has found us...

Feeling a struggling pull, both of Hailynn's shoulders were turned towards Kaydaana, who tried to gain her attention. Hailynn's mind was dazed, needless to say that she was sweating and breathing heavily. The manaani woman shook her several times. As Kaydaana shouted at her, she noticed that although Hailynn's body was turned towards her, her eyes however remained focused upon the gigantic screen, both wide, hypnotized and their pupils as thin as needles.

Shortly stopping her shouting, Kaydaana paused, before she decided to do something. The perhaps only way to Hailynn's her mesmerized state. Lifting her hand to a certain height, Kaydaana threw a sudden and unexpected open hand upon...


Chapter 8 - Hailey's Comet

*SPACK*

The sound of a loud and not so gentle slap cracked among the deck, ending all speeches as everybody were surprised by Kaydaana's sudden unusual action...Sslapping a high-ranking officer without warning.
With a surprised face, Hailynn turned her head towards Kaydaana, who still stared at her with her vicious green eyes. It was a painless smack... but it somewhat violently broke the mental blockade within Hailynn's mind. Hailynn stared towards Kaydaana... with her face astonished... not to mention her red cheek...

“SNAP outta it, NOW!”, Kaydaana ferociously shouted at Hailynn.

“Y-you...”, Hailynn stuttered... she wanted to say something, but her eyes turned back at the screens revealing the battlecruiser.

“- NO no! Look `t me!”, the dark-skinned woman shouted again and again and turned Hailynn's head.

“Th-the -”

“Damn it! Snap outta it! We're not dead YET!”, Kaydaana yelled at Hailynn with her own hands squeezing Hailynn's shoulders, “Ah know yah need - another smack -!”, she snapped and rose her hand again.

But just as Kaydaana swung her hand, Hailynn's reflexes reacted by catching her arm at the midst of the swing and focused her eyes on the tan-skinned woman.

“Don't ever smack me again, Kaydy - or I'll -!”, Hailynn shouted back at her but again paused. Kaydaana smiled joyfully, but why?

It took a second until Hailynn finally had some control over herself again but understood what actually freed her. It was Kaydaana's slap that woke her from her shock.

“Finally - Yah back -!”

Hailynn only gave a faint but akward surprised smile. She had control over her mind, but her body was still at unease. Feeling a soft hand, Hailynn's hand were gently touched and held by both of Aira's hands, who threw a very troubled glare. Looking around at the bridge, everybody had his or her eyes upon Hailynn, anxiously awaiting her action.

What were they to do and worried if they were to survive, their eyes seemed to ask.

She felt it - It was all up to Hailynn.

“- We...”, the female commander said to Kaydaana, whose mouth reminded open as she stared upon Hailynn.

This can't be the end.
The pure death was out there, but it had not struck upon them... yet. For the sake of Aira and the lives onboard, Hailynn's body jolted as she suddenly shouted, “WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! CONDITION RED!


- Hunt -

With the whole ship suddenly alerting condition red status, anxiety spread among the whole ship, many of them not knowing what was going on. Men and women ran to their stations and as this occurred, the lighting within the bridge flashed at first deep red, then darkened the whole area, dimming all artificial lighting of every stations while only maintaining a red lights among certain areas of the bridge. Hailynn, who threw a look at the gigantic vessel, only saw one way to survive.

The deep voice of the Vaygr pilot, who probably was the only one who remained calm, said, “I recognize the vessel. That must be the crusade's flagship of the `Scay'Gra' - The same flagship that is leading the clan's hunt for all of your and my people throughout this system. Our situation is critical.”

“Shad-dup, Ray...!”, Kaydaana snarled... and immediately apologized - surprisingly.


“Everybody, listen up!”, Hailynn shouted, gaining everybody's attention, “We need to get out of here - I want the hyperdrive to -”

She suddenly paused. She totally forgot something. Something that drew her attention away, causing her to throw a nervous glare beyond the vaygr vessel.

The miners.
They are still out there.
She bit her teeth together...
Those god-damned miners...

“- Correction - Have the hyperdrive system to be prepared for extensive use right after we extract those foolish miners! I want the hyperdrive to be charged for a focused longjump back to Amaji space - It will be a rough one-way trip but we have no other choice... So - as soon as we have them, we're leaving this frakking place - once and for all!”, she angrily shouted.

Aira pulled herself back slightly, feeling the angry vibes surrounding Hailynn. But not only her anger caused her to fear back... It was her words as well.

“Ma'am! There is far too much interference due to our position being too close to the `mining fields'”, one engineer explained loudly from the other side of the bridge, “We can compensate, but we require quite some time, Commander!”

“<Who the ...Why the frell are we so close to those god-damned fields?! Who forgot to maintain safety protocols?!>”, Hailynn whispered to herself but then smacked her forehead. There was actually only one person who was capable of controlling the ship besides her.

“Commander Delixa”, Ensign Fenna announced, an operative situated at the helm-navigation station of the bridge, “I am unable to plot a course out of this system from this area. Observatory was able to figure a navigational possibility out of here, but Ops is unable to give us a decent feed of our destination - that is, if Pethera were still here. Sensory on the other hand should be able to do this instead, ma'am - If Aira were to mount her sensory station, she would be able to perform the hyperjump for us, using her `own way' of guidance.”

Hailynn slapped the side of her head again as she thought, “<Pethera - pff - and damn it, who let the newbie take over the helm?>” - But there was no time to worry about that now.

Hearing everybody's speech as she stared at the screen, Hailynn turned away and demanded, “Alright. Ensign Fenna -”, she called out, calling the ship's navigation operative at the helm who just spoke to her.

Ensign Fenna, a young Kiith-Amaji woman, was scared by her name being announced again and left her hands upon the cruiser's controls and asked, “Y-Yes, ma'am?”
“Plot a direct course to the position of the miners and fly directly over the Vaygr Battleship. We MUST enter the fields before they manage to fire upon us!”

Fenna gulped. This was a rather tough expectation Hailynn was requesting, for this young woman was only a fourth class navigation operative-in-training who happened to be unlucky to take over the night-shift - and - who happened to experience this trouble during the last few minutes of her shift. In general, only a few others of the crew actually only understood the very basics.

Her hands shivered as she replied, “Y-Yes, ma'am! Engaging thrust profile!”

Turning over Aira, Hailynn suddenly demanded, “Aira. I need you to guide us.”
“Wha- ?”, the girl timidly replied.
“Our navigational scanners will be blinded as soon as the ship will enter those fields - that's for sure - and I don't think we will be able to plot a safe hyperjump destination - but you can, Aira. And with those fields suppressing our long range navigation, it will all be up to you who can memorize the patch of stars within your mind, regardless of where we will end up once we're in there. You are the only one who will be able to save us through hyperjump! You are our eyes and ears!”

The girl was already overwhelmed just by hearing her task... Feeling Hailynn's hand upon her cheek, Aira looked up upon her caretaker. In such time of anxiety, it was Hailynn's hand that shortly calmed Aira down, yet it was desperately pleasing her to help...

“I-I... I will vow to your d-desire, my naji... ”, Aira stuttered. The girl's eyes sunk down slightly. She seemed eager to fulfill Hailynn's plea, but its result would be in leaving this dangerous but ancient beautiful star system... and with it... `Rahji'... Kadesha's lost love.

“We trust you all, Aira - Now board your station, please!”

Accepting her plea, Aira immediately walked away, circling to the right side of the bridge, bypassing the Vaygr Kaydaana called “Ray” and began climbing up to the higher situated sensory station, which remained on stand-by, only awaiting a certain entity mind to reconnect to it symbiotically.

“Manaani. This kadeshi child. She is the `eyes' of this vessel?”, the Vaygr pilot asked.

“Y'ah, Ray. - And she's not a child, big guy. The young girl is our sensor operator and the only one who can connect to the ship's sensitive navigation and sensor systems thru' a mind-machine interface”, Kaydaana explained, “An' mah-oh-mah, she is a strange but friendly being.”
“I understand.”, he replied and focused his view on Hailynn, who coordinated the ship.

“Engage all defensive and navigational support systems. PDS, all pulse field countermeasure systems, grav-generators, arrays - EVERYTHING!”

“Roger!”
“Affirmative! 221;

More voices throughout the bridge confirmed.

“C-Course set, ma'am.”
“Engage. Move - Move - MOVE!”

Feeling the sudden rumble throughout the ship, the thrusters of the `Vjel-Amaj' at first glowed, ignited and then blasted along with supportive maneuvering thrusters engaging, causing the whole ship to turn.

Hearing an alerting sound, Officer Orelis suddenly shouted, “Attention, they've spotted us now - and we're being marked, too! Whatever took them so long, they're going to be hot on our trail from now on, Commander!”

Again, Hailynn bit her teeth together, annoyed by the thoughts of saving those damned miners rather than getting the out of here for the sake of the cruiser...

“They're going to blast us to back to Kharak if we don't get out of here!”, another operative shouted.
“- Picking up a plethora of direct-guided signals upon our ship”, observation operative Quan shouted, “Cannons, beamers - and missile turrets - are being focused upon our ship ma'am! Also expecting the use of heavy fusion torpedoes. I don't know if we will be able to defend ourselves, ma'am - Once those things are inbound, we could be history!”

Grrr! - Hailynn growled, “- Enough! We are not dead yet! Engage high maneuverability profile... and have all decks to be pressure-locked-down ASAP! We will be needing all the maneuverability we can get, so charge those inertial stabilizing grav-generators to full effectiveness and have sickbay ready for possible casualties!”

“Affirmative, ma'am!”

Doing as she said, the gravity generators located throughout the ship's interior began to generate weak but independent fields of gravity, lowering the ship's physical mass to a minimum and raising its overall maneuverability as the result of its purpose. As this took place, every intersection of the ship automatically sealed with barrier gateways and doors in order to condemn all sections from decompression if such should occur, having only to be accessible through high-level authority of officers.

- A distant voice is heard. Aira's eyes flashed open within her mind as she shortly ignored everything happening among the ship. Was it her imagination? The sound of a voice... a faint... howl... that suddenly went silent. -

The `Vjel-Amaj' was once again engaging a desperate escape... but this time being hunted by the dread Vaygr.

Suddenly, the voice of the Captain was both heard upon all speakers of the bridge and Hailynn's shoulder-mounted comm-unit, “”Captain to bridge. What is going on?””, he asked, sounding very calm - to the surprise of many upon the bridge.

Hailynn slapped the side of her forehead, regretfully being reminded of a fact she totally oversaw. Having the lock-down status active, she unfortunately forgot that this would block the path of the Captain as well. It would take very long for him to access each door one-by-one - and for the sake of the ship might having to suffer severe hits, a fall in cabin pressure throughout the ship due to hull breaches would cause severe casualties.

No chance in calling the order back now. Hitting the button on her shoulder unit, she immediately explained, “”Captain - A Vaygr Battlecruiser has emerged from hyperspace right next to us! We are engaging an escape route through the sphere-fields to extract the miners and then to escape through hyperspace! I am sorry for the lock-down, sir, but we are expecting heavy artillery... We are en route to extract the miners and perform a longjump before it is too late. I-I was not sure if that was the right thing to do, sir - but - ””

“”Your reaction was appropriate, Commander - No need for apology. You are in command now, Delixa. I will coordinate the internal crews from here while you command the bridge. Thus, the bridge is all yours, Commander Delixa, and I am entrusting you the fate of the `Vjel-Amaj'.””

Hailynn paused at first, then responded with an insecure, “”Y-yes, sir...””

“”The crew will fulfill your orders with honor, Commander. You all are the best of the best. Don't let me down... - Pride -””

With the ending of the commline, Hailynn slowly made her way to the place where such superior commanding officer like her should be for now... Sitting down upon the seat, the captain's chair, Hailynn somewhat mentally felt the dreaded avalanche of responsibility, authority and the soon struggle of escaping death coming upon her. All means of communication and command was now in her hands...

Fearfully sighing, her delayed reply was “...Pride...” as her hands clutched the sides of the sophisticated seat... along with herself sinking slightly into the chair. Just for these few seconds, desperate concerns filled her mind.

The ship began to rumble and shake...
Ignoring the big black stain on her uniform, Hailynn grabbed into the secret pocket of her uniform and pulled out a very small cartridge filled with pills. Pulling out two of different colors, she shortly stared at them and then closed her eyes before urging herself to swallow them. Opening her eyes again, she made no second thought of thinking if it was the right thing to do.

Obviously, her body was already being stressed... and soon, her body was about to suffer another two drugs, next to the heavy caffeine and adrenaline already pulsing through her body. And again, these two pills she took several times during the last shift, an inhibitor and a secondary one to keep her cool, were soon too affect her as well. But there was no time to worry about her health...

Feeling the motion of the ship engaging several course changes, the ship rolled slightly and flew ahead, attaining a direct course into one of the vast and dense region of the energy fields - with the anxious feeling of being chased!

“Kaydaana!”, Hailynn suddenly demanded.
Surprised to be called up, Kaydaana looked towards Hailynn and immediately replied, “Ah know what yah thinkin', Hailey! Leave it to the `strikers' - WE'LL handle that sucker if we must and -”
“Negative... Kaydy - You will be my X.O. for now.”
“and - WHAT - How come?! Why do we always get denied?!”
“This is not the time for arguments - I need you as my right hand! Right here! Right now!”

Kaydaana bit her teeth together and accepted, albeit their ranks being equal.

“Delixa. Manaani. Does this ship not have the capability to counterattack?”, the Vaygr pilot interfered.
“Jus' in case ya haven't noticed, RAY!”, Kaydaana yelled at him, “This ain't no... Battlestar Majestica -whaddever - or however yer people would call those g'damned gunship vessels!”, and rose her tightened fist.

“Orelis”, Hailynn called out, ignoring Kaydaana's speech.
“Yes, ma'am!”
“Contact that damn Dr.Asad! Get him on the line, please!”
“Will do!”

“Entering the outer layer of the fields!”, Fenna shouted. Fenna's grip tightened her hands among her controls as sweat pearls ran down the side of her face.

Diving into the outer fields of the regions, the `Vjel-Amaj' is soon followed by a much larger vessel, chasing its `prey' predatorily like a shark. Indeed, this behemoth was after the escaping cruiser. The fields were in fact regions surrounded by spheres of white streams and surreal colored gas formations. Bursting through another colorful layer of thick gas and leaving a knocking trail among its path, the `Vjel-Amaj' altered it yaw rate several times by the hands - and feet - of Ensign Fenna.

Nodding with his head, Officer Orelis finally received a signal, “- I got him, Hailynn!”
“Put that frakking fool through to us!”, she demanded angrily.
“Aye!”

With a short delay, Dr.Asad suddenly shouted before Hailynn could say a word:
“”HEY! What took you people so long! How dare you leave us out here without a word! Some kind of pervert joke you Amaji like to pull off, I guess - ””

“”Shut UP! And listen -””., Hailynn struck with her voice, but was again abruptly disturbed by Asad's ignorant speech.
“”<garbled fuzz>Oh not you again, Commander Delixa! Just-in-case you haven't notice, Missy, we are lost without the guidance signal that is no longer emitting from your position. I will just assume one of your ignorant subordinates forgot to maintain and you want to apologize to us now - so - just let us finish gathering the last bits before -””
“”You frakking greedy miner! We're under attack and are being chased by a Vaygr Battleship!””
“”Ehhh... And you are luring them right to OUR position?! Arr-Are you CRAZY, Missy!””

“”- Knock it OFF! We're coming to extract you NOW, idiot! So, get y-””

Interrupting her speech, one the bridge operatives shouted, “Barrage! Barrage!”
“Ma'am, at this speed, we will be way to fast to be able to have those ships dock!”

"Tarrrget all incoming missiles and engage suppressive fire by our defensive batteries!”, Kaydaana demanded, taking over crucial commands for Hailynn, “Focus the fire upon our rear arc - fire-at-will!”
“Commander!”, Orelis shouted as well, “I don't think we will stand a chance at all as soon as they launch all weapons - and fighters! We are detecting the Trinity-Cannon being charged up! We might be able to outrun the battleship but with its long range weaponry - we will be as good as dead sooner or later - Don't think these fields will offer sufficient protection!”

As the `Vjel-Amaj' gained even more on velocity, the whole crew felt the ship trembling as every grav-field generator entered full efficiency along with the defensive arrays firing suppressive flak-fire to protect the ship from the rain of missiles engaging the ship. Rows of minor explosions occurred far behind the `Vjel-Amaj', but with the constant stream of missiles being engaged upon the cruiser, the trails of explosions were coming closer.

“”You still there, Missy?!””, Dr.Asad's voice shouted, “”Now if you don't mind, we would like to end our harvest and - WHAT'S THAT THING ON THE SCREEN?! <Other voices shouted at him, obviously the pilots of the primary resource collector> WHAT, they really are LURING that BATTLESHIP straight at us?! Wha-””.

“Damn it - Orelis, we're not getting anywhere with this damn guy! Lock my comm-signal to the pilots of those ship, please!”, Hailynn demanded as she was being shaken by the ship's change of momentum caused by the artificial gravity.
“Roger!”

Awaiting the signal to be locked, Hailynn ignored the speech of Dr.Asad complaining over the open commline. Using her arm, she wiped sweat from her forehead.

“Ma'am!”, operative Quan announced, “We have another problem. With us being on pursuit, I don't think we will have any chance to perform a dock at all! The fields are affecting both the sensors of ours and those of the enemy - but in the long run, these fields are not dense enough to hide within.”
“Isn't there anything out there that- ?”, she asked, but then ended her question abruptly.

She paused as she stared upon the secondary screen on the side of the seat that revealed a simplistic display of the region that surrounded them. Pressing certain keys, she focused the display upon a certain large celestial body not far away from their current position, somewhat enveloped by a minor field of radiation.

“Commander - I have the pilots of the miners on the line and will patch them through to you, ma'am. One moment *pause* - Done. They are awaiting your word, ma'am.”

Ignoring the noise, the tension of the ship being shaken and moved around, Hailynn lowered her view and rubbed the side of her forehead. Many already said that there was no escape, some already were praying to the gods - heck, were they even here in this forsaken system? ... and indeed, the odds were looking bad.

The Vaygr vessel was far to powerful for the `Vjel-Amaj' to take on.

The `Vjel-Amaj' as it was was simply not designed to be a warship...

Deep breaths did not help her at all as she still remained uneasily - yet, her hand slowly reached for her comm-unit upon her shoulder and called out with firm voice:
""To all units... We will not be able to perform docking while being under pursuit - and although I have my grudge, I am not willing to hyperjump out of this system without you"", she paused, before her voice slowly became intense, ""Hence, all of you out there are to follow MY orders from now on and no longer the command of Dr.Asad...! No more fooling around! Disobey my orders by going on a sightseeing mining tour - and I will MAKE sure the `Vjel-Amaj' will be out of here while the Vaygr will take care of YOUR `hinds!”

A few crewmembers threw surprised faces.
She continued her speech, ""Now... if we want to survive - We must find a place to hide in order to perform docking procedures... and I know the best place...! So, attention fleet and bridge personnel, engage rally point to the following nav-coordinates being transmitted: Indigo-Bravo 78.91x - 273.89y, relative bearing -67° at three o'clock high... Rally-point: The equatorial region of the comet's tail! Over!""

Everybody now threw even more astonished faces, not to mention, those of the pilots on Orelis' screens at the side of the bridge.
“T-the comet, ma'am?!”, Ensign Fenna's voice shivered - unsure of her demand, “For the love of Kharak, th-that is a big comet... and -AHHH!”

A violent energetic explosion occurred dangerously close at the left dorsal side of the `Vjel-Amaj'. The aggressive outburst of a detonated object expanded aside to the ship, just barely touching it with its debris and blastwave - followed by a row of dumb-fire rocket volleys being suppressed by the defensive arrays of the chased cruiser.

“Th-that was close!”, Kaydaana shouted, “What tha frell was THAT?!”
Needless to check the screen, Orelis turned around “- That was one of the heavy fusion torpedoes that missed us, ma'am...! Heh...Commander Delixa, the pilots have accepted your command to approach the comet - but they want to let you know that you must be out of your mind <and you can count me in, Hailey>.... They say will maintain radio silence but will ping a signal every now and then upon a hopefully secure frequency in order to be found by us - but with intense protest of Dr.Asad. I can still hear him shouting. I'm not sure if the pilots will be able to keep cool with this guy on their backs -”, he added, yanking his headset from his ear.

“We'll argue later about that idiot, Orelis! For now, Ensign Fenna, keep the `Vjel-Amaj' steady and head for that comet! Evasive maneuvers - !”

“But Cap- I mean, Commander - What are we to do at that comet?!”, the unexperienced navigator cried as she tried to maintain the erratic flight.
Explaining her intentions as the ship again wove and shook side to side, Hailynn shook her head and said, “Not just `at' the comet... No. Our only chance of survival is by... entering the atmospheric tail of the comet! Those miners should be the first to enter that dense field that should offer much protection and a hideout for all of us until we are able to extract them one-by-one once we find them again! So try to keep a lock on their signal as well as possible - and with Aira's help, her sensory should be able to penetrate the atmosphere for the lookout of our units. Obs, scan-report of the comet!”

Taking over the speech, operative Quan continued, “Yes, ma'am. Distance to comet, 3.7 km. Diametric size of the comet's nucleus: 97km! Its velocity is relatively low - with our current velocity, we would only need to accelerate our approach to enter the trail. The outer ionic layer and the interior fields of the tail is in fact a wide spread region or trail of massive frozen water clumps and clumps in various sizes along with unknown dust, larger masses, solid materials and mineral and is expanded beyond the reach of our scanning capabilities. For sure, this trail is caused by the melting and breaking surface due to the star wind.”
“Frozen w-water?”, Ensign Fenna asked loudly as she aimed for long dark blue trail of comet.
“Expect a heavy icestorm - blizzard - You name it, Ensign”, Quan remarked, “The sun of this system has already been affecting it ever since it entered this system, causing the comet's exterior layer to become instable.”

His female colleague of the same kiith, operative Kenta, took over, “The comet itself is naturally emitting a minor field of x-rays and other types of harmless radiations among itself and will for sure offer sensorial protection from those guided missiles, ma'am. I don't see that much of a trouble for our systems. The chucks and debris of frozen water will offer enough for a hideout - but you must understand that this will be a very dangerous attempt to maneuver a ship of such size! We will need to dodge as much as possible in order to avoid hull damages. Our ship should be able to penetrate more denser areas than the vaygr ship, but I have my worries in just how eager they are to go.”

With another patch of explosions smacking among the proximity of the `Vjel-Amaj', Kaydaana demanded, “Damage report!”
“No severe damage to report up to now, Colonel!”, Orelis replied, “Only minor damage to the exterior armor - We have already received other minor hit from those dumb-fire rockets, but that won't kill us yet!”

The `Vjel-Amaj' was lucky that it was very tiresome and difficult to target this small cruiser that was escaping the gigantic vessel. Yet, the `Vjel-Amaj' was slowly expressing more minor hits by the rockets - while not as accurate, powerful or deadly as the heavy arsenal of the behemoth, they approached in large patches at blinding speed, darting upon the cruiser like a hail of death. During their escape, Orelis stated that the three resource collectors “Bees” and the resource-cargo ship “Hive” have entered the x-ray field and thus will soon be below that outer field of the cometary atmosphere of the frozen comet. With both communication and sensor linkings disrupted, Hailynn soon began to worry if they would find each other as soon as expected - Yet there still were possibilities of finding them effectively. Following the plan of Hailynn, she were to soon see if these Vaygr were going to be cunning and brave enough to follow her - in the eyes of the others - insane intention...

Indeed, as the `Vjel-Amaj' pierced through several layers of gas fields, the crew soon discovered what Quan meant with its trail being beyond scanning range. Discovering the blue tail of the comet, it was a blue line, long and wide, that exceed beyond the eye's reach - along with a pitch black part of the tail not even barely reflecting any light... and as they approached it, it was soon to become alike a dark blue horizon. The darkness was the most fearful worry of all... The comet, being a rotating behemoth and throwing a constant stream of thick prismatic sparkles and chunks itself, threw a shadow among its curved tail...

Looking to her left side, Hailynn shortly observed Kaydaana, who kept annoying the others with her commands. Despite the lives being endangered, that crazed mananni woman did seem to enjoy the command - somewhat sadistically. Nonetheless, it was a good thing that she was here... for once...

Aira has been supporting Fenna over the time, willing to help as much as she could. As the barrage took place, a constant worry filled Hailynn's mind... They were barely escaping - and with the pure death pushing them into the comet, she feared if the comet was the actual death trap.

Having no choice, they were soon to enter the deeps.

With several screens beginning to fuzz and show garbling images, Kaydaana suddenly asked, “W... Hey - What's goin' on? Are our sensors damaged?”
“No ma'am - ”, Orelis said, soon to be followed by Quan's words.
“- Negative. We have already entered the cometary field just moments ago”, Quan added, “-and that is not all. I guess the interferences are worse than i presumed... and I am detecting... turbulences ahead... I cannot really explain but expect a heavy `storm' ahead...”
“Hoo boy!”, Orelis sighed.
“Oh no”, Ensign Fenna said with a very concerned voice.

“Report. What is it!”, Hailynn demanded.
Looking upon the main screen, Hailynn and everybody else discovered the live feed view of their flight being filled with frozen water particles - dense snow and ice - The field of view was slowly being consumed by the area of effect of the comet's tail.

Several dumb-fire rockets flew beyond their path, missing the `Vjel-Amaj' and randomly collided with invisible objects in the pure darkness.

“Ma'am, we are soon to be entering the layer where light cannot exceed”, Quan noted, “Our conventional surveillance systems will very soon be unable to guide us through.”
“We'll be blinded any moment!”, another operative shouted.
“No - we are not blind yet!”, Hailynn shouted, “Aira will still be able to see where we are flying to. Have navigation to be live-fed with her sensory station and all others - and set survey on low proximity modus by using other special ways of survey!”

Timelessly floating amidst the `Vjel-Amaj', Aira's holographic being was surrounded by the intense ice storm and its darkness, enveloping her with ice and snow rushing past her... She knew this was only happening within her mind... but the endless deep of the blizzard that surrounded her was merely crushing her with its ever-bitter freezing embrace. Her small body curled and cowered together.

Nothing could really explain what she was experiencing...

Unknown to the others, her skin revealed goose bumps.

She was shivering... and the cold air merely crushed her lungs. Fear filled her soul. This... loneliness... It was alike what she still suffered... but she felt the mere isolation stronger than before.

Aira's thoughts spoke in her Kadeshi language.

Undeniable...

This was Kadesha's tear...

The tale of her last tear was true...

All her pain...

Her agony... misery... sorrow... was shed by this tear for Rahji... before she ended her existence.

A tear for her lost love. Never was she to learn if Rahji would ever receive it... during life or beyond death. Having found Kadesha's tear... maybe there was hope... for Rahji and her divine goddess.

I feel your sorrow... How... oh how can I sanctify your sorrow... Kadesha?

A tear slowly slid down along Aira's cheek.

Oh Kadesha... Sorrowing for so long...

Your endless sorrow tormented your lost soul for eons.

Aira closed her eyes, praying for the lost goddess of her culture... embracing her necklace, the Eye of Kadesh. Fulfilling her soul with urge and despair, Aira began to feel a plea... as if her journey was not over.

No...
Her determination...

Her quest in returning to Kadesha's Grave with a relic of Rahji - at least something of his remains - would perhaps unite the two in the vain lost ether of death... and end their everlasting... sorrow.

Kadesha... I have found your tear. My return to your grave shall cleanse your lost soul. I endeavor my soul for your salvation.

But how was Aira to find a relic of Rahji? Once her naji and the souls of the others were to be retrieved, the `Vjel-Amaj' would require Aira to leave Rahji... thus tearing her soul away from this sacred world and for sure never to return again. With the frenzied Kadeshi pilgrims crusading through Rahji's remains... cleansing the unclean... Aira was sure that this was not what Kadesha wished...

Oh why were these people not respecting her legacy?

- Far beyond, Aira once again heard that howl... that crying howl... Who is it? Is it you... Kadesha? -

But as her thoughts were lost in the enigma, a bright flash from behind suddenly surprised her. Heat radiated upon her... merely attacking her skin with searing heat as the flash came closer.


Another row of explosions occurred - but this time, several of them impacted upon the hull. With Orelis shouting and other screaming, the ship - though hit - did not suffer severe hits due to the small warheads - but with their current flight, the `Vjel-Amaj' was an easy target.
“-Watch out!”, Aira voice cried - but she noticed the incoming danger too late, due to her absent mind...

And just as they thought that was all, they suddenly began to see a lot more among the ship... Why was it getting so... bright... as if a giant flare was emitting from behind...

But what was it?
Flashing by, a massive bolt of energy rushed passed the `Vjel-Amaj', at first melting and vaporizing everything within its way - no matter if it were massive rocks of ice or a water particles - before instantly being sub-freezed by the cold vacuum of space again, revealing a long frozen tubular path as it struck ahead!

Many were shocked by this dreadful event.

Aira tried to calm down... Her distracted mind nearly caused the ship to suffer a severe hit... or even its destruction.

Descending and dashing ahead, the bolt of energy bashed its way ahead at blinding speed... until its illuminating light was covered by the darkness.... soon to bash into something a lot more massive...

Shocked by the bolt of death, many of the bridge crewmembers were stunned by what may have nearly happened.

“Ha-!”, the wild-hearted manaani woman snarled, “Missed us by ah mile!”
“Mile?! That was frakking close - not even a hundred meters!”, Orelis corrected, staggered by her somewhat insane remark. He shook his head. That hit could have destroyed the ship... and just for the fact that the Vaygr `missed', Kaydaana seemed be way too excited as she devilishly smiled upon their chaser's failure.

“Gods of Kharak... Thank you”, operative Quan said.
“- Everybody, stay calm!”, Hailynn demanded again, “Ensign - what is wrong?! Can't you -”


She paused...
Raising herself, Hailynn saw upon the main screen several images flowing, rapidly changing in color, intensity, flashing in all sorts of unusual ways... revealing the exterior field ahead and among the `Vjel-Amaj'. With random explosion occurring around, the crew began to see in one manor how Aira were to see things, despite it not being as irritating to her as it was to them right now.


-Again, that that voice... Again that howling cry... Why are you crying? Is it you... Rahji... Kadesha? Please... I plea you... Answer my soul...

Silence...
But then... She heard the voice... It was far away... but it was calling... it was calling out for her...
-

Countless debris of ice, shards, rocks and frozen boulders were seen among the fields, along with a massive `wind' of snow and ice particles being blow among them. With Quan explaining, the high velocity and the sun's wind were perhaps causing this `blizzard' - with them entering this threatening `ice storm' as the ship approached the deeper core and equatorial region of the tail.

What caused Hailynn to worry even more were the increasing numbers of collisions of minor ice blocks slamming among the hull and as time flew by... followed by even more crunching and `tacking' sounds being heard elsewhere. Spotting a rather large floating `ice asteroid' far ahead, Hailynn demanded Fenna to perform a course change, but nothing happened.

“Ensign Fenna!” , she shouted and made her way ahead to Ensign Fenna's station, “What is wro- ?!”

Fenna's hands remained where they were. She seemed stunned by all she has experienced up to now...

“Dodge!”, Hailynn shouted. Fenna tried to say her word, but not a single word left her lips... Turning her face with her hand, Hailynn discovered that the young woman was subtly suffering a shock - but not alike Hailynn's recent shock... It was a nervous breakdown! She was panicking - probably because she never had been in such life-endangering situation such thing before. Staggered by the way of the innumerable amount of giant rocks of ice, the next area was dangerously filled with objects bouncing and repelling among each other - not even reacting to the blind rocket attacks - soon silenced by the cold darkness.

“Holy crrrap! Fire control!”, Kaydaana cried with her manaani accent, “Aim fer the incoming objects an' blast `em! Fire, FIRE!”
““To all decks - BRACE FOR IMPACT””, Hailynn shouted among her radio and anxiously grabbed Fenna's stunned right hand. Tightening her grip upon her hands and squeezing the small levers and sophisticated buttons among that control, Hailynn fretfully pulled the control to the side, along with ship immediately reacting to that action. With the powerful turn of the ship, momentum still was felt throughout the ship - and soon, brocks of ice shattered among the hull several times along with ice shards of various sizes darting and hailing upon the ship.

“D-Damn it - Orelis - Kaydy, help me get her off the chair before she KILLs us!”, Hailynn shouted urgently.
Fighting to get ahead to the helm of bridge, both Kaydaana and Orelis tried to make their way but the ship altered its course several times, making it difficult to move ahead - This time swinging the rear vertically and in an unorthodox manor due to Hailynn being only able to hold one of the controls of the ship at the time. Alike a one-armed man on a row boat, the `Vjel-Amaj' swayed with each movement she tried to compensate with. Her right hand was upon Fenna's, whose own hands nervously squeezed the controls along with Hailynn still trying to steady the ship by fighting with the axial control. The ship was indeed flying too fast, merely dashing into the deep filled with hazardous objects.

“Ensiiign - Fenna, let go of the controls - You're going to kill us if *ngggn*!”, Hailynn shouted but fought trying not to be torn away by the sudden momentum as the ship did another harsh change of course. The inertial grav-field of the bridge and its exterior were phasing a bit out of sync. Fenna tried to respond but shook her head and mindless lifted her feet... Unfortunately, her feet were secured by the pair of various pedals that she forgot, making the ship once again cause the ship to spin and yaw over the y-axis - out of control.

Noticing the problem, Hailynn figured out that Fenna had been maneuvering the ship without the right supporting systems, false protocol guidances, somewhat reversed and akward controls and manually altering the grav-fields to perform high velocity course changes... For one, it would be a smart move... but within the hands of a trainee...?
Despite being in space, with the gravity fields, inertial stabilizers and other effects of astro-physical momentum, each change was felt throughout the ship at the same time it was bashing fields of levitating ice rocks. Even the whipping stream of `ice-wind' and ice crystals were causing an unusual turbulence and harsh resistance regardless of being in space. Hailynn fought trying to keep control... Fenna's tight grasp had nearly all thrusting and yaw-triggers pressed, making the whole situation worse than it already was.

Again, one rocket exploded upon the hull of the ship while another batch of others detonated elsewhere! Finally joining the two, Kaydaana appeared upon the left side of Fenna's seat along with Orelis who had trouble finding a hold.

Looking to the other side, Hailynn's attention was caught by the dreaded collision alert... that one sound that toned in a threateningly manor.

“Kaydy - finally - grab her other hand and make sure she doesn't -”, Hailynn said, but then heard a familiar *spack* sound upon the cheek of Fenna...

Eh...

Letting go of the left control, Fenna looked over at Kaydaana while she laid her left hand upon her smacked cheek. Alas, her right hand slipped off the other control joint as well.

Being partially able to take over, Hailynn's body immediately leaned way over Fenna's lap by throwing herself ahead, reaching for the lower control. Intentionally wanting to take over the control, there was not enough time to get Fenna away from the damn chair. Despite her method, Kaydaana's slap was a cruel but surprisingly mind-curing technique... Crazy manaani woman indeed...

Damn rookie navigator! Not much time left!

Something was out there and either they or the large object were closing in too fast on each other.

“Got to pull out of here - NOW!”, Hailynn shouted and slammed both controls to the left, skillfully keeping her middle and index finger upon the thrust control triggers of the sophisticated control stick. With the sudden course change Hailynn caused by her left hand, the heavy jolting force of physical momentum threw Kaydaana's self over Fenna's lap as well and with her chest over Hailynn's head.

With Orelis merely hugging the seat in order not to be knocked away, he was already annoyed by all this trouble that was going on... This was the most intense and crazy assignment he has ever taken on.

Another strong vibration rumbled the ship as another large brock of ice shattered upon the hull.
Quan shouted, “- Look like we might be getting away from that Vaygr Battlecruiser - they still are firing upon us but their hit ratio is lousy!”
“Yeah - but wait till they blast another shot with that Trinity-Cannon!”, somebody replied loudly.

Hailynn's head was down-forced by Kaydaana's body and pressed between the legs of Fenna. Unable to see where they were flying, Hailynn lost her touch to the left side of the navigation system. Trying to get up, her arm accidentally knocked the right hand control, causing the ship to be shaken again. It was not easy to see a thing. While she did try to deactivate the mess that “newbie pilot” Fenna had calibrated, Kaydaana's rather wide bust was blocking the view.

Fighting to raise her head, Hailynn moaned aggressively, “Get off my head, Kaydy!”
Orelis shook his head as he saw the bunch rather tangled, but as he raised his head, he spotted another object closing in according to Aira's guidance survey, “-Incoming object, two o'clock!”

“Gnngh - Kaydy, hit the left control - hurry!”

Looking to her left, Kaydaana spotted far to many controls, two sophisticated control sticks and other grip controls... “- Ehhh- which one of `em?!”
“Any one of them - Hurry! And not too hard -”
“Wha-?”
“Not too hard! ....*pant*”, Hailynn was out of breath as her body was getting over-excited,”just... smoothly!”

Fighting to get up by using her right arm to lift her body... and unfortunately pushing Hailynn's head between Fenna's legs again, Kaydaana nervously grabbed the one of the left controls and turned its X-Axis to the side. Doing as Hailynn said, the ship slowly yawed to the left, despite the sensitivity protocol still not lowered. With that being done, Hailynn used her imagination, trying to analyze the incoming threat in the `storm' that surrounded them. Closing her eyes, she magnificently turned, moved and twisted her hand, wrist joint and arm... causing the ship to somewhat elegantly evade the threat.

Making a desperate movement with her hands, Hailynn trusted her imagination and instinctively pressed certain keys in a special sequence and finally managed to run an automatic sequence causing all settings to be reverted to her natural settings and functions... Slowly but surely, Hailynn was getting hand of the ship again.

Looking down upon her lap, Fenna blushed with hand left hand on her cheek, having both Commander Hailynn Delixa between her legs and Lieutenant Colonel Kaydaana Manaan making an annoyed grumble. Kaydaana finally turned herself around but had trouble getting her balance up. Using her left hand, she snatched the collar of Fenna's uniform to lift herself up with her somewhat busty torso - since Fenna was still strapped tightly by seatbelt harnesses. Fenna did not say a word, as the face of the angry looking manaani woman approached her face with that furious intimidating sting of her dark green eyes again...

*Snap-Clip-Clip-Click-Snap*
Orelis detached the seat harnesses of the inexperienced pilot.

All Kaydaana said was, “Move - now!”
Being pulled away, both Kaydaana and Orelis dragged the staggered trainee pilot to the side of the bridge, bringing her to one of the seats and strapped her with its seat-harness.

“- and stay THERE!”, the manaani woman demanded with an annoyed voice.
“You two - strap yourselves - Vaygr, you too as well! This is going to be a rough flight!”, Hailynn shouted suddenly, “Orelis, maintain your station - and Kaydy, the captain's chair is all yours! I need you to take over all operations!”

Gazing ahead, both discovered that Hailynn has taken over the navigational control of the `Vjel-Amaj'. No time for arguments and concerns as trouble was coming from all sides. With her hands upon the complicated controls of the helm, Hailynn was getting more and more anxious than ever as sweat began to appear upon her forehead. All this stress was already too much for her, but she just could not stop now...


“Everybody - Brace yourselves!”
Giving herself an overview the threatening situation, Hailynn turned her head to all directions, swiftly analyzing all arcs, seeing from high, low and behind, all incoming dangers through the help of Aira's sensory feed.
Her shoulders sunk...
So many missiles...
So many asteroids...
and all were coming in for them...

 

***

*Pant* *Pant* *Pant* *swallows* *gasp*

Breathing restlessly, the over-stressed female hiigaran navigator at the helm was out of endurance. Slowly raising her head, her face shimmered the reflections of the illuminating buttons, displays and controls, only to anxiously observe the arcs of the screens that surrounded her. Her surroundings were darkened. The bridge invoked the darkness as the rest of the ship. Despite the ship powered down, her hands still tightened the ship's primary navigational control...

Did we lose them?

She was outright tired and felt sick. Her hair scrambled and messed up from the recent events. Her body already exceeded its limits, crying for rest and serenity with nearly every muscle feeling strained. She lowered her head, fighting with each rapid breath. Soaking wet of sweat, her uniform and undergarments were totally uncomfortable.

Not a single voice spoke...

Only listening to the endless sounds of random chucks of ice knocking upon the ship's hull.


Supplemental to Chapter 8


= Somewhere deep within the comet's tail =

Hailynn's mind was still disordered by the events that happened the last hour. Slipping her trembling hands away from the controls, she rubbed her face several times, trying to cope with her uneasiness. Albeit only navigating for an hour, this flight was probably the wildest in her entire life.
It was an hour of pure hell. Flashbacks filled her mind:

With many people shouting and screaming, the ship was shaken by a nearby shockwave emitting from one of the devastating fusion torpedoes launched by their Vaygr pursuer. Due to the intensity of the energetic explosion, the wave caused several issues and matters of malfunctioning systems throughout the ship. Along with the failure of the exterior grav-field generators, the ship lost vital navigational and propulsion aids that led to Hailynn's major difficulty in navigating the ship.

With the innumerable thousands brocks of ice floating incalculable throughout the surrounding the treacherous `storm', Hailynn unfortunately bashed the ship through, being knocked from one asteroid to another due to their uncontrollable flight. Plunging deeper into the comets tail, there was no chance in really telling how far they were - other than the increase of Hailynn's difficulty in trying to avoid crashing and severely breaching the hull.

Despite her observatory screens being supported by Aira's sensory station, the violent and bizarre `storm' of ice crystals was dense and hid all minor objects already dashing straight at them, whipping and smacking the ship like a leaf soaring through wind.
At this point, her mind only threw images through memory... The ship flying sideways... barrel-rolling... spinning and yawing at a dangerously high rate! With the frequent loss of several gravitational control systems, every single body in the ship suffered the effects of physics as momentum tried to crush them...
To both, the whole crew and her, this tremendous flight was a pure nightmare... Excluding Kaydaana, who seemed to be the only one having pure joy of being a `commander' on the captain's chair while experiencing yet another wild and fierce flight... and of course to the annoyance of Officer Orelis who had to follow her loud-mouth.

So many worries filled Hailynn's mind - wondering if they were going to survive - wondering if she was truly the right person to save the `Vjel-Amaj' and the lives onboard from being destroyed. So many doubts...
With another heavy fusion torpedoe exploding among the vicinity, the blastwave temporarily knocked out many vital systems and with it, Hailynn's capability of maintaining overall control. With her memory firing images through her mind, the shock of possibly dying stunned her as the ship spun at a very dangerous rate and then - at first crash-landing upon a wide surface and sliding among it...
For the next five to eight minutes, voices were shouting, many of them shouting at her to stop the ship. Fearing the worst, she frightfully fought with the last available system - desperately trying to stabilize the ship from rolling and sliding upon the vast frozen surface... Praying to the gods, her strenuous struggle was cumbersome and terrifying for every single soul onboard...


- Favor -

*deep breathing*
Hailynn threw her back upon her seat.
With the ship being slightly angular, the `Vjel-Amaj' rested upon the surface within the `storm', covered by snow and ice.
Surprisingly, relief began to fill the bridge as several voices sighed, not believing that they have survived this horrific flight. Voices of others were heard, but among the group, a few were nervously panicking - however one merely panicking louder than the others suddenly. Turning her head to the right, Hailynn discovered it was Ensign Fenna who fought to remove her seat harness.

Fiddling with the locks of her belts, she angrily shouted “D-Damn it - Nobody said this god-damned job was going to be this… this INSANE!”, she shook around even more, “G-Get this blasted damn thing OFF me! Damn it! I'm just a frakking freighter pilot!”. Fenna threw one swearing after another with the babbling as she panicked, her wild manor actually hindering her from opening the rather simple mechanism of her seat harness.

Hailynn turned her head back as she listened to her and others trying to handle their stress. Feeling guilty, the hiigaran woman sunk into her seat. Thinking about all of this, it was somewhat her fault for not having the ship prepared for this `adventure'. Fenna was right. Despite that nobody was able to foresee the future, Hailynn was responsible, not only for this wild flight but for all decisions causing the `Vjel-Amaj' even to be assigned for this operation - and of course, the somewhat insane decision of entering a comet's tail.

This whole assignment and its unknown embedded madness actually were caused by her decision. Though being only second-in-command, she remembered the event of the Captain calling her to his quarters. She remembered her somewhat joyful face, finally hearing word from the Captain of the `Vjel-Amaj' taking part on something… important.

Finally, a real assignment that indeed had importance - Unusual though, the Captain insisted her to decide what to do. Of course, he trusted Hailynn as his right hand and loyal Commander, but there must have been more to it - more than him just asking for a second opinion...
As if he was not sure of this himself...
Or as if he wanted to leave the decision for Hailynn...

But speaking of the Captain, for sure she was going to be in serious trouble - not to mention the somewhat `lambasting' she caused upon the ship and the verbal harrassing and actions against a high leader of the S'jet...

Starting with the costs - that is, if they should ever survive getting out of this mess, she was definitely going to be blamed, court-martialed, and maybe even get banished if not executed for taking on such a high authority of S'jet...

Just as Hailynn's mind nearly wandered off, she suddenly heard the typically loud annoying voice of Kaydaana. Hailynn turned her head again to the back.

“Woooohooooo!”, Kaydaana cheered annoyingly, “Wow - Hailey... Nevah knew yah could flah this crazy with such a big ship - Mah oh mah, maybe I should have changed mah career back then after all - ha!”

The manaani woman straightened her back by merely throwing herself up upon the captain's chair that seemed more like a throne. Shortly slapping a hand upon her chest, it was needless to say at all that she more than enjoyed this frightful flight.

Damn adrenaline junky..., Hailynn's mind thought.

Smoothly feeling the surface of thi simpressive seat with the both of her hands, “Ah knew we could count on yah, Hailey- and actually. Ah'm gettin' used to this com' chair... but back t' business - Officer Orelis?!”, Kaydaana suddenly demanded.
“Yeeees... ma'am?”, he recalled, obviously annoyed as he detached himself from one of the nearby secured seats.
“What's our status - Are we still intact or will we be stuck here forevah?”
“- Full damage report”, Orelis insisted to call.
“Sorry sir - Engineering and internal damage indicator grid is offline - but will come back online shortly. All I can say is that we do not have any deck breaches or decompressions reported. Hull integrity was for sure heavily affected from the collisions, but it should still hold together. Primary power grid should power up as well soon-”

Observatory operative Quan voice interrupted, “Sorry to interrupt, but I am picking up several signals among the vicinity through our passive detection systems. Not sure but it is originating from far away - few are coming closer. Expecting hostile strikecraft... and I am also detecting one signal originating from further away from a different angle...”
“I-I can sense it as well”, Aira's shaky voice explained, “One is... Waving... Searching...”

Obviously, Aira was able to feel the presence through passive awareness as well.

“That waving one must be the vaygr.”, the vaygr pilot said.
“Wha-”, Kaydaana curiously asked, “Noooo waaaay, Ray! We dived waaaay deep enough - There are so many ice rocks out there, there is no way sucha big ship like theirs could get through- !”
“You do not understand, Manaani.”
“- Eh *gulp*”
“We Vaygr hunt. If our prey escapes - We will seek. We will percieve. We are very... patient.”

“Damn!”, Hailynn shouted, slamming her fist against the side of her seat. Gaining attention of the bridge crew, all eyes turned ahead to the helm of the bridge.
“Zann! Under no circumstance are you to activate the whole power grid!”
“But - ma'am...?”, Technical Engineer Zann dubiosly asked.
She shouted further, “That vaygr vessel is still out there... and the vaygr is right. *pant* This is a hunt with us as the prey hiding from the predator!”, Hailynn sunk her head only calming herself a bit down, “We might be in safety for now, but *gasp* they're scanning the whole area from afar - and I'm not risking anything else from here on... Status: Blue, full subtlety and low profile from now on!”
“Don't be silly, Hailey!” Kaydaana refused, “We can still get outta here... err, we can - can't we?”, looking over to Engineer Zann.
“The hyperdrive is still capable of getting us out with a longjump performed by Operative Aira, ma'am. But it is a one-way decision. I must again advise that such a long range jump all the way back to Amaji space would need a day, but would strain the hyperspace module's conduits and field over its maximum. We should still make it but -”
“Enough fer us, ha!”

A weak but familiar wave somehow caught Aira's attention. Despite her station being inactive, she still received a faint presence as her hands still rested upon the orbs.
“I can feel something else seeking for us...”, her soft voice said.
“-Yeah ... duh, honey - It's just that vaygr ship!”
“No - no... This one... It is... familiar. One of our ships... a tracer signal trying to find us... leaving a sort of... path....”
“Aira!”, Hailynn frantically shouted, “Do you know where it is exactly coming from?!”
“I do, my naji...”
“Wha' - Hey, whoa - Yah not plannin' on stayin' here, Hailey, are you?! Hey, I'm the captain here, eh!”

“Kaydy, knock it off -”, Hailynn shouted back at her, “We're not heading anywhere -yet.”

Thinking of the situation concerning helmsmen, the crew of the `Vjel-Amaj' was not provided with sufficient navigators at all... Only two were available - Herself as the most experienced and the navigator-in-training known as Ensign Fenna Amaj. Despite the long flight through space to this dreaded starsystem, Hailynn insisted not to provide the crew with unnecessary personnel, such as several cryo-shifts. Though of course not knowing of how this whole mission would take course, Hailynn's thoughts of guilt slowly became stronger. Being deep within this frozen hell of the comet's tail, having a vaygr battleship hunting them and only her aside to Fenna being the ones able to fly the ship - They were in serious trouble.

She gravely underestimated this whole operation...

Erratically looking around, Hailynn's thoughts shortly wandered, trying to come to a conclusion. She rubbed her eyes several times again. She needed to fight against this strange weary and nauseating feeling somehow... but why was she feeling this way? The pills were not affecting as they should...

The anxiety of the crew was somewhat calming down - but considering herself, her body was still wild, she actually still had adrenaline pumping herself.

No time to worry about this...

Disassembling her seat harnessers, Hailynn strapped open her vest, trying to receive at least some fresh air upon her sweaty self.
“Everybody listen up!”, she shouted loudly and began explaining a plan she slowly built up, “As I said, maintain 'status:blue' and end pressure lock-down. Kaydaana - I need you and your squad out there -”

“'bout time, Hailey!”, the manaani Colonel snarled victoriously.
“Don't fool around, this is serious!”, Hailynn argued, “If I'm getting this right about what Quan said, then we and our `men' out there are in serious danger. The Vaygr Battlecruiser must have dispatched strikecraft units out for those dreaded miners and us! I want your squad for search and rescue! Get those fools back so we can get out of here - Aira will support you through the comm for guidance!”
“*wink* Gotcha all in check, Hailey - Ray, yah comin' with me!”, Kaydaana said over to the vaygr pilot who stood aside.

“Manaani... I respect your rank, but I must reconsider Delixa as my lord of command.”, the Vaygr replied with his usually deep voice.
“'uh muss reconsiduh Delixa as muh lord of commund'”, Kaydaana copycatted resembling and spoofing his deep voice, “- and like ah said, Ray. It's `Kaydy', `Kah-y-dee'!”

He ignored her words.
“Vaygr... ”, Hailynn's voice said, only calming down slightly.
“By your command?”, he militaristically greeted. The surroundings of the bridge went silent again, nearly all but Hailynn staring upon the only visible eyes upon the face of the Vaygr.
“We will need any help we can get... therefore I -”
“Commander Delixa. You and others may not or do not wish to understand my culture - however, I will bow to all your commands. I accept your command and will support your units for this task. I will obliterate those who will oppose us.”
“No, it's not about that, Vaygr. I am asking you...”, she paused and laid her back upon her seat again, “... for a favor. Not as your superior, commander - or `lord of... command' .... as you would say...”

Needing not to think long, some did see that the Vaygr pilot only briefly staggered by Hailynn politeness asking him for a favor, before he replied, “I will fulfill your... favor, Delixa.”
“You are a skillful pilot, 'Ray'. I want the two of you to take care of each other - that is the least I can order...”
“'nough talkin' - Let's move! I need to get my men to `work' - Pronto!”

With Kaydaana and the Vaygr swiftly leaving the bridge, many suddenly sighed - as if they were happy that a certain entity of annoyance left the bridge. Needless to say - It was not the vaygr they were happy to see gone.

Walking over to Hailynn, Orelis sighed, “I know I'm only a Deck Officer, Hailynn - but for the love of gods, please don't ever put her again on command of the bridge again... unless you wanted to punish us and - ...”, but as he approached Hailynn's seat, he discovered that she was not alright at all.
“Comman- , Hailey - You alright? What am I saying, you look terrible!”
“Th-Thanks”, she ironically replied...
“No kiddin', better get a medic over here.”
“Don't be silly, Orelis - I've never felt be- ... Ore- *choke-urging*... You have the bridge!”, feeling a sudden urge, Hailynn suddenly got up, swaying slightly to the side as she hasted to leave the bridge, hunched with her hands upon her mouth.

Surprised by her all too sudden reaction, Orelis looked around, assuming that Hailynn would be needing help. Spotting only one person who seemed to be the only one having the harnesses of the seat finally off, he stared upon that person, hinting that person to get moving.

That person widened her eyes...
No way! - Her eyes said...

Get GOING! - His head denoted aside to his teeth biting before he made contact to the nearest medic.



Several moments later.
Resting and hidden upon a giant asteroid covered by ice, several exterior areas of the `Vjel-Amaj' slowly opened themselves. Along with the procedure, certain turrets appeared and began to fire several strange flares upon the area and other floating and stationary celestial rocks in this somewhat `safe' region. All flares at first burned bright and then extinguished by the cold grip of vacuum…

Meanwhile at the bridge, one of the operatives reported, “Sir, we have launched several flares and sprites upon the area and have `marked' our position.”
Taking a look upon the main screen, Orelis discovered the passive observatory systems detecting the weak nuclear radiation emitting from each flare throughout the area, hardly effected by the `blizzard' out there.

“Are you sure this will work, Quan?”, he asked.
“Yes, sir. I can assure that these radioactive flares will allow us and our units to find our position as well as `brightened' the visibility through selected functions of the surveillance systems we possess.”

As they spoke, they ignored the constant noise of `rocks' knocking against the ship's hull.
“So, we are using radioactivity as lighting”, Orelis questioned as he rose one of his eyebrows.

“Affirmative”, Kenta, the female colleague who sat next to him, continued, “Despite this region of the comet's tail being overshadowed and us being in total darkness, we are not completely blinded, sir. According to sensory and observatory data, both the ship's systems as well as our strikecrafts are able to passively detect fields of radiation, emitting from both the flares and sprites - and larger hazards. In other words, this region and practically all celestial objects throughout this cometary atmosphere are actually visible - not by natural light, but by weak fields of radiation.”
“Exactly”, Quan added, taking over the explanation, “The vaygr are for sure using active scanning methods to find us, but they won't be able to detect us with us that early being hidden upon this large celestial body. We don't need to worry about them detecting the flares either for now. ”
“I see. So in other words, we and other units are capable of seeing something out there after all.”
“Yes sir.”

With the combination of the certain surveillance systems, the main screen revealed many hidden objects among the vicinity, having asteroids shaded dark blue and another brighter color showing the unusual flow of ice winds and objects whipping through space. Visibility was not as limited as they at first thought.

“Thank you for your efforts”, Orelis thanked before turning himself away, “How far are our units? Are they ready for launch?”
“Almost, sir. We have seven units ready for launch and the Vaygr fighter being readied at cargo bay II. ”, an operator announced from the other side of the bridge, “Bay docks are slightly frozen on the outer side, but the gateway should still be able to open automatically.”
“Good. Have all units to be informed of how they can navigate throughout the region”, Orelis commanded.
“Affirmative”.

With the short glimpse looking up upon Aira, Orelis did not say another word. The kadeshi girl, who noticed his glance, nodded, showing that she understood that her objective was to guide their units to the lost miners…
Nonetheless, the adolescent girl lowered her view, wondering and worrying if her naji was okay. She wanted to follow her, but Orelis simply needed her now.

“Attention! Captain on deck!”, Orelis' voice suddenly announced…


At the same time at one of the restrooms not far away from the bridge, a sickened female officer kept her head over one of the sinks, just as Ensign Fenna entered the area as she guided a male medic. It was Hailynn, feeling nauseated for unknown reasons. Her stomach was tormenting her with pain aside to her unease. With all the stress that happened recently, she still did not have the slightest clue - since everybody actually knew Hailynn was a tough person at handling gravitational stress.

Her stained uniform jacket was on the floor, her own vest opened, revealing her black t-shirt beneath. Hearing voices, Hailynn's gloomy view turned over to the door of the restroom section…

This was not good… People were coming… and there was this sudden urge to…

“She's over here, Sir - *a voice speaks* No, nobody is here other than us, so you may enter - *again the voice speaks* Yes, Commander Delixa seems to be sick and - *astonishment*“, Fenna explained, but her speech ended with the disgusting observation as both spotted Hailynn vomiting a black fluid along with a splash.

Oh my gods, gross... Fenna thought - just before she wondered how she could have gotten into this `mess'. Standing where she stood, Fenna was gently pushed aside as the medic swiftly made his way over to the sickened officer.

“I'm fine… Doc, I'm…”, Hailynn ironically said, just before she spat a bit more…

A very disgusting view indeed, but the medic had already seen worse in his lifetime.

Whipping her mouth and washing it several times, Hailynn sunk aside to floor and sat down, still feeling cramps within her stomach.
“*ngh*”
Before the medic said a word, taking a short look at what she vomited, he discovered strangely busted capsules, a familiar fluid within this disgusting smelling liquid…Familiar pills, for sure.

“Commander…”, he said, leaning down and began taking out certain sophisticated bio-med tools, “Please don't tell me you -”
“Give me a break, will you *cough*?”, Hailynn remarked back to him. Her throat was burning.

Slowly approaching from behind, as the doctor began to examine Hailynn's body with his tools, shortly listening to her vital signs and measuring her blood values with a special device. Fenna's voice stuttered, “N-not that I want to bug, but is she… pregnant?”

“Yeah - with a chestburster… Of course, I'm not!”, the commander snarled, “Don't tell me you missed the damn rumor of me still being a virgin…”
“…Alright-Alright”
“- which unfortunately is true. I'm still single - and on duty, if you haven't noticed.”

Giving her a treatmean injection to treat the contractions in her stomach, Hailynn remained calm as she received the injection.

“Commander. You took two of those pills again, right?”

Puzzled, but urging herself to answer, Hailynn responded, “Y-eeees. *cough*”
“- Despite my concerns and medical demand of not taking these things any further, right?”
“Yes…”, she said, revealing her eyes towards his, but just before she could say an excuse, he continued, “- And you took it albeit the serious advise I mentioned?”

“W-What is this all about?”, Fenna curiously asked.
“Ensign, this is something you should know not about, considering my patient - I must suggest you to return to your station and - ”, he said but Hailynn refused.

“Nevermind. It is okay", Hailynn insisted.
“I'll keep it to myself. Not a single word of this will leave this room.”

The doctor hesitated, but he continued, “Fine. Well, this is the point”, the doctor explained, as he checked the results of his small tool showing her bio-lifesigns again, “I have - no idea - why you are doing this to yourself, but judging by the hell this ship went through, I'd say you have undergone severe stress that your body couldn't handle at all. And according to your blood values, you are heavily drugged. Your body is overwhelmed - thank goodness not overdosed - with a bad mixture of known stimulants. If I haven't given you this stimulant, you might have ended up with a serious shock - or worse. Nonetheless, Commander. I must declare your status and will soon relieve you from active duty. You are addicted to those pills.”

“Guilty. But this is not the right time for pulling me back.”

“Commander. Hailynn. What did I tell you in my advice considering inhibitor pills during the last health check-up?”
“Not to be used during pregnancy or during high times of the -`female cycle'.”
“Right.”
“Not to ingest too many within a short period of time.”
He nodded, “Aaaand…”

“Yeah. And -”, Hailynn was about to ironically answer in the same smart-aleck manor - but just as she remembered the last advice, her mind suddenly was shocked by the realization as her face showed astonishment.

He nodded a few times, knowing exactly what she thought.

“Huh, what he means, Hailynn?”, Fenna said, curious than ever.
The hiigaran woman sunk her head, “Never to take inhibitor pills with stimulants, alcohol… and caffeine”, and slapped her forehead gently. She could not believe that she had forgotten this… The stress, the urge and persuasion of the situation merely caused her to suppress her memory.

“Hailynn. Listen. You were very lucky that you received this treatment. It is slowly subduing the negative effects in your blood. Actually, if you had suffered further without treatment, you might have undergone a serious shock or worse - the danger of cardiac failure! Just recently before you came here, your blood pressure surely was sky-rocketing and your heart palpitating like hell!”, he explained with a seriousness not to be ignored, “What actually happened was that the inhibitor pills took effect upon your body, stopping your natural digestive system! I know that in tough times you officers need these pills to stay even longer on duty, but you have no idea how damaging this is! You people forget that you are kushans! Those pills have the dreaded side effects of causing mental problems - With these intensive value of caffeine and drug components of the other pill keeping you awake, your stomach seized its production of natural substances, leading to your nausea due to the coffee being affected by enzymes. So actually, you suffered a sort of `food poisoning' at the same time!”

Observing her bio-lifesigns calming down again, the medic laid his medical gear away and helped Hailynn up again. Though feeling weary, the pain in her stomach seemed to have vanished including her shortness of breath... despite her burning throat though. Washing away the remains in the sink along with her mouth, she wiped her face with cold water several times.

The stress still was present.

“As I said, Ensign Fenna”, the medic said as he turned around, “I still advise you to keep this to yourself.”
“Hey - don't see a superior officer throwing up every day”, she snarled - but then looked at Hailynn, “But I will keep my mouth shut. By the grave of Kharak.”

Fenna's words were promising enough.
Disturbed by a sudden voice speaking from their radio units, the Captain called out, “”Commander Delixa. Please respond or report to the bridge immediately.””

Moving his hand over to his shoulder unit, the doctor insisted to respond in place of Hailynn, “”Captain. This is Dr. Jonan. I must regret that Commander Hailynn is not in the condition of reporting to duty, sir. She -””

Hearing her motions, both Fenna and the doctor looked over to Hailynn, who put on her stained uniform. Keeping the jacket open, she fixed her hair shortly and locked her radio unit to the signal as well, “”Negative. I am alright, Captain.””
“”Captain, I must reconsider -””, Dr. Jonan added, trying to protest against her words, “”She is not in the condition to -””
“”I brought us into this mess””, Hailynn said with a firm voice, “”And I will bring us out of here...””

“No way, Hailynn.”, now Fenna was defending the doctor's concerns too, “Look at yourself...”

Both were actually right. She just received the treatment, but she was still suffering in a way. Needless to say, her uniform was full of wrinkles, stained and slightly misplaced. Still leaving her uniform-jacket upon, Hailynn once again fixed her hair, straightened her collar strap, adjusted both the skirt of her uniform and did several swift movements, adjusting the undergarments and the placement of her bra beneath.
“- Oh sure. Like as if you are capable of flying this ship now”, Fenna snarled.

Looking up upon the Ensign, Hailynn made a short devilish smirk, “-As if you were capable of flying us out of this comet?”

Damn, Fenna thought.

“As if you could stop me. You don't even know the slightest bit of me, Fenna. Don't mess with somebody who had to be around a manaane for a long time... ”

Suddenly, Hailynn pulled something out of her jacket, opened a small cartridge and threw two small objects into her mouth and presented them between her teeth, just before she crushed and swallowed them.

Shocked by her act, Fenna and the doctor could not believe what they just saw as Hailynn began trying to walk out in a cool manor - It rather the opposite of elegant walking - relatively swaying her way to the exit of the restroom.

“”Commander Hailynn here. Reporting to the bridge - A-S-A-P. ””

This was the proof that Hailynn was addicted to the pills. However, they did not know that she did not have much of a choice. Duty was calling her and this was not the right time to show weakness and failure. She could care about her innermost health for now. Though her head still ached, she needed to get moving, despite her emotions bewildering.

There was no chance in stopping this stubborn woman.

Fenna remained where she stood, starled as Hailynn disappeared from the restroom. With a plea from the doctor, Fenna was asked to keep a very sharp eye on Hailynn, for she was out of control. The treatmeat would suppress the effect, but she was a ticking bomb - and for sure, Hailynn would probably take even more from those pills without knowing it...

The doctor was forced to leave Fenna due to his presence still being needed elsewhere, yet he needed to find a way to get his order as a doctor through to stop Hailynn...