Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Homeworld - Tales of the Vjel-Amaj: Aira's Quest - Part I ❯ Chapter 9 – The Duchess of Hazards ( Chapter 9 )

-Who is it who is calling me?-
Surrounded by the surreal world within her mind, Aira sensed the presence summoning the distant call, the same voice that frequently howled amidst the cold darkness surrounding the kadeshi girl. Turning around several times, she spotted nothing but the threat-looking holographic objects of ice within her mind. Several times had this unusual voice caught her attention but never replied. Although her heart feared the unusual... The voice somewhat provoked her curiosity...

Still virtually engulfed by the cold surroundings of the ship, Aira remained where she was. Thoughts filled her mind. This voice was originating far beyond her reaches... yet it still was somehow persistently howling exactly for her attention.

But who could it be?
Was it a ship among her vicinity?

With her mind being in symbiosis with the ship's sensorial potential, her mind was able to pierce through the engulfing freeze that tried to blind her eyes. Sensing the distant hulk, far away from their position, Aira cowered away, fearing as if the Vaygr Battlecruiser were able to see her. Looking away, her mind once again sensed several objects through the dense fields of frozen water that surrounded her.

No. It was the lost miners very far beyond, hiding from the Vaygr in a very dense patch field of ice rocks. She lowered her head. Although she felt glad to have found these people, they were not the cause of this voice. The voice was too unnatural for a simple space-faring being. Neither was it some type of automated buoy hidden somewhere, nor even the slightest conventional communication signal tapping her sensitive skin.

No. This was something beyond, far beyond her expectations. The voice was too isolated, outlying and hollow...not an echo of reflected comm-signals at all. This voice found her and was calling her from afar through both time and space. Was it an entity alike her? Or even as of what the enigmatic Bentusi would call... "unbound"?

<...Who...are...you...?> The voice suddenly asked... and for a very faint moment, a being appeared before Aira - too fast for her mind to even recognize the appearance...

Frightened by the sudden appearance, Aira shockingly raised her hands from the entity orbs, instantly aborting the mental connectivity between her and the system and the symbiosis with it. It took a brief moment until she recognized that she still was at the bridge, in safety and surrounded by the noise of busy operatives in action. As one of the operatives noticed her connection being interrupted, he immediately looked up to Aira's station, discovering her being disconnected.

“Aira, ma'am, please maintain focus upon the probe while we align its core array to your entity”, the operative explained to her, “And please avoid any abrupt disconnections later on as well. With us altering the A.I.'s guidance core to your hand, it will not be able to switch fast enough to its own guidance, which might cause it to uncontrollably crash against a hazard. It should be able to dodge hazards during connectivity, but we better avoid any possible trouble.”
“Y-Yes, I apologize.”
“We're almost ready. The probe will also be able to maintain a focused commline between you, our strike units and possibly establish a line to the miners once you have found them.”

Curling her fingers into her trembling palms, she tried to gather the courage to lay them upon the orbs again... Whatever frightened her, she could not refuse her duty. The people around her needed her help.


Chapter 9 - The Duchess of Hazards


Almost camouflaged by its sinister surroundings, the battered cruiser was partially dug up by the endless and violent stream of snow that uncontrollably blew or drifted upon it during the last half an hour, still being hunted as a prey, hiding for its life. Despite the erratic currents of countless ice rock, a consuming stream of water particles from the comet's atmospheric tail filled the surroundings of the ship, flowing away from the comet's nucleus.

With the hangar gateways slowly opening at the same time with one of the upper cargo bay's reinforced airlock, a group of smaller crafts are revealed among the wild wind of snow and ice whipping among them. Hail, snowflakes and frozen water particles of all sizes bounced and gently shattered upon them, not affected by the slightest force of gravity.

“”*ffffssshhhksk* Awww-right, recap!””, Kaydaana's accented voice fuzzed among a designated communication frequency, “”This is a search'n'rescue operation! Our job's to retrieve the miners who are lost out here and hiding somewhere beyond our communication capabilities. We'll be in for some trouble, too! We got vaygr strike units lurkin' their way through - and they do seem to be on ah lookout for those miners - so we won't have much time either! Keep yah eyes peeled - And for the sake of kushanity, maintain a wide'n'loose formation! Scratch mah hull and you're as good as dead!””
“”Strike units?””, another female pilot asked, obviously surprised and ignoring Kaydaana's last remark.

“”Correct. While we do have major concerns of sending our units out, we do not have much of a choice if we are to retrieve the mining extraction group. The Vaygr Battlecruiser is obviously too large to penetrate this dense region without sustaining heavy damage - so instead, they have dispatched strike units, as it seems””, Orelis voice announced as well, “”It is already far too dangerous for the `Vjel-Amaj' to make its way through this mess so we are counting on all of you. Operative Aira will support you on the search with one of our sophisticated survey drones. The drone is a `Vario Mk.III Scoutling' and thus one of our advanced A.I. probes... So Aira, please be careful, those things are damn expensive. Our vaygr ally is marked by our friend-or-foe coding as `Ray' - but nonetheless, watch your aim - He is on our side. We will be counting on all of you, men and women.””

“”*Veep* Remember - Under no circumstance are you to use standard or advanced guidance systems!””, Operative Kenta Amaj added, “”Navigate only with the suggested inferior passive surveillance systems as previously advised. Additionally, set visual aid visors to intervallic pulse to allow a steady view of the surroundings. Red and yellow view setting should allow a decent sensitivity for any radiation. Due to the hazardous region, do not - I repeat - do not fly beyond the velocity limit of 100 kilometers per hour. The risk of collision is too high!*skritch*””

""*Veep* This is observatory operative Quan Amaj. The ice asteroid we are situated on is slowly rotating away from the comet's nucleus. Hazard environment levels among the bays are minimal so no need to worry now for any large incoming objects. The ship itself is not totally safe from incoming hazards actually, but we will be fine for now. However, remember: Time is our worst enemy. With this asteroid rotating, it will not take long until this region of the surface is exposed to the comet's nucleus again thus raising hazard levels - or worse: being compromised by the Vaygr Battlecruiser *sshk*.""

""Also"", Quan noted, ""Aira's probe, the `Scoutling', will offer additional sensorial aid. So, take good care of her, too. She will be your eyes and ears. As for you, Aira, maintain your focus on the probe. You know how it works. And stay away from danger. Alright?""

""I understand."", a soft voice remarked.

“”Copy.”” - “”Roger””, several other adult voices confirmed.

”Hundred klicks per hour, `s she crazy?! We'll be sitting ducks!”, the manaani pilot said to herself.

Enveloped by a plethora of screens, harnessers, targeting aids with several cables and cords connected to her sealed flight suit, Kaydaana tightened her grips among the delicate controls as the fusion core hummed, coming slowly to life. Minor images reflected upon her eyes.

Unlike the common “Acolyte” interceptor of the Kiith Somtaaw, this version belonged to a row of requested custom fighters, manufactured by the Somtaaw Naval Defense and traded with the Kiith Amaj by resources and other expensive license deals as a special space superiority fighter for their expert pilots. Only a few exist among the rather small Amaji Navy, but it is said that those who can control these wild yet sophisticated fighters possess a furious soul.

Kaydaana Manaani. Being a wild gunner and wild at heart, absolutely nothing could describe her better. With her being the only high-ranking manaani strikecraft pilot of the `Vjel-Amaj' never was a simple task. It did take much time for her to even feel integrated to this Kiith. Though her squad mates now see her as a leader, she was avoided at first. Albeit those of the Kiith Manaan known as brave and furious pilots, Kaydaana's reputation was nonetheless tainted and only rumors seemed to be the only thing that could come close to her past. Alike many among the Kiith Amaj - and despite her actual kiithid heritage being a mystery actually - the Kiith Amaj willingly welcomed her - without the force of digging into her past... and this was good, for she did have a lot to hide.

It was the welcoming embrace for which she was thankful for, for which the Amaji symbol stood for: The major star as the Kiith Amaj, circled by smaller stars representing other Kiiths and embraced by angelic wings, comparable to the common hiigaran one of the Angel Moon. This flight was going to be another way for her to thank the Amaji, to pay the favor back for their support.

Looking to her sides, the manaani colonel spotted three fighters on both of her sides. Four of them being standard interceptors developed by the Hiigaran Navy, the remaining two being special issue interceptors armed with independent turret pods, allowing it to be flexible versus multiple targets. Not that she would complain of this being all the Kiith Amaj had to offer, the `Vjel-Amaj' simply was not a military ship despite its military agenda onboard. Her wingmen knew their hardware, but those fighters were nothing compared to her Acolyte.

Not letting herself being distracted by the minor noise of randomly packed bolts of snow knocking against the hull, she felt that beating again. It was time. By pushing the side of her helmet, she simultaneously caused the sophisticated visor to cover the upper half of her face. The unusual helmet was in fact alike a hood, sealed by both the exterior visor and an oxygen mask. Her fingers tickled and twitched as they tightened themselves among the controls one more time.

Feeling the systems responding to her eyes, the surroundings were displayed with the selected few passive systems to support navigation including light amplification, along with hazard collision detection, guidance and targeting indicators. Indeed, the area was `illuminated' by the surrounding units of flares and minor objects spraying for the kushan eye invisible fields that reflected upon surfaces.

""This is Obs'"", Quan's voice suddenly called out, ""Tech has completed the alignment to sensory. Aira, you may now control the probe on your own.""

Feeling response to his words, the kadeshi girl felt the probe's A.I. core. Surprised but not scared, she looked upon the object before her mind forged itself with it. The core sung a strange song of electronic sounds, awaiting her next intention.

“”Ray. Yah there?!””
"”I hear you, Manaani.””, the bass voice replied.
“”Rrrr- It's - mmmrhhh bah - Nevermind - but get this straight, Ray: Onboard, Hailey may be your `commander' - but out here, yer all mine! Got that?!””
“”Very well. *fffshk*””
““An' I'm sure we're up for ah fight! Yah may be a cunnin' loner, but with mah boys'n'girls around, yah won't be alone this time.””
“”Leave to us, Colonel””, the female voice from before said.

“”- Excuse my interruption, Colonel -””, Orelis said among their commline, “”Commander Delixa, wishes to speak with you. She's about to be here at the bridge but she insists a direct commlink to you right now.””
“”Better not be an abortion! Get her through - now!””
*sigh*
With a short change of ambience, Hailynn's voice is heard as soon as she was patched through, “”We do not have much time, men and women - and manaani.””

Hailynn's voice fell slightly... somewhat denoting worry and concern.

“”Vaygr.””, Hailynn called out.
“”Responding, Delixa.””
“”I wish I would not have to demand this, but the pursuers must be stopped. I am demanding you to oppose all of your `brethren' who will be threatening the lives of the miners.””
“”They are no longer my `brethren'. My true brethren remain safely protected within your ship.””
“”I understand. As for the rest of you - and Kaydy...””
“”What you want?!””
“”Just come back in one piece. Ok?””

There was a moment of silence, for this was the first time Hailynn actually denoted concerns.
“”Aw, how sweeeeet...””, Kaydaana remarked with an ironic touch, “”- C'mooon, Hailey, don't get nostalgic now -””
“”- No Kaydy, really! I wan-””
“”Let's move! All units, dispatch! Kaydaana, out!””

Practically cutting Hailynn off from the commline, Kaydaana's Acolyte fighter detached and rose itself from the bay, hovering away and soon to be followed by six other interceptors, a long vaygr fighter and a sophisticated probe unfolding maneuvering arms and smaller wings.

At first wanting to demand Orelis to reconnect, Hailynn's hand slid away from the radio unit that rested upon her shoulder. She only stood steps away from the entrance to the bridge, but she hesitated. She feared the presence of her captain.

Following Aira's thoughts, the probe responded to every command her mind evoked along with its A.I. supporting the guidance that perfectly aligned itself to the side of Kaydaana's fighter. With each thought, the A.I. responded with several melodic pulse sounds aside to the harmonic interval sounds of its concealed surveillance array. Albeit her efforts in concentrating, her eyes still moved back and forth, anxiously trying to see beyond the blinding fields of particles. Her mind was able to penetrate the enveloping field, but that was not what she feared. It was her soul that shivered, not knowing where the being that called for her was. But for the first time, she felt something else within her. A warm feeling within her stomach as she looked upon those fighters and its people that surrounded her.


- We've got company -

= Several kilometers away from `Vjel-Amaj'=

Several streams of small ice particles tore their way through space as the probe dashed ahead, followed by an Acolyte and several interceptor crafts. Dodging and strafing past every hazardous object, all pilots and the probe were at full awareness of their surroundings. Despite the kadeshi girl not physically endangering her own life, the burdens of responsibility upon the lives others were in her hands, ironically. Yet, it was the strange feeling of being at two places at the same time that affected her. It was merely tearing her mentally apart. None have noticed her unease as the distance became greater. She was able to abort anytime but she fought against her fear and this urge.

Oh no...
Among the conventional reach of their sensors, something stung her mind. A disturbing feeling as if something dangerous was out there. Focusing more on the distant probe, she began to sense the source of this alerting reaction. Far ahead, she rediscovered the group of miners - but this was not what caused the problem.

At the same moment within the `Vjel-Amaj', Hailynn was still standing in front of the bridge. She did not know how long she stood there, but she was hesitant and anxious. Though feeling lucky that she was alone, the stressed commander with the stained uniform wiped sweat from her forehead again and again. Suddenly, she was surprised by the sound of her radio unit sounding an internal call. At first making an annoyed face, she shook her head and calmed down a bit before pressing the key for response.

“Delixa.”
““Commander? Orelis here.””

Obviously, Hailynn already expected somebody to be calling for her, since she did sound as if she were to come immediately to the bridge but still had not appeared.

““Ma'am, the Captain is still awaiting you to report to the bridge.””
“Yes, I know... I know, but -”

Taking a few steps away from the station where he just stood, Orelis made sure that he was far away enough from others in order to whisper just as he interrupted Hailynn's speech.

““Hailey, I think you better get in here now””, his voice whispered over the comm, “”The Captain already knows you're standing in front of the bridge section...””

Her eyes widened.
How did he know tha-?
She slapped her forehead.
Way-to-go.

“”Got no friggin' idea what happened to you, it's none of my business, but the next time you insist to `hide', make sure you have your comm-signal on passive or offline, ma'am. Look, you shouldn't be having the Captain waiting... y'know.””

Hailynn shook her head for making a stupid mistake in that case. But anyways, this was selfish, she thought. Just for that moment, she was like a little girl wanting to hide from responsibility and punishment and just now, she was `caught' again. But now there was no way in going back either as Hailynn spotted Ensign Fenna coming along the corridor, heading to the bridge as well. Before Hailynn entered, she felt a cold shiver down her spine along with goose-bumps spreading among her skin...

Gaining entry to the bridge, Hailynn entered the bridge as Aira's unstable voice suddenly spoke, “I-I sense... danger. Small ships... fighters!”
“”'bout time, eh! Show time!””

Looking upwards as Hailynn swayed her way into the bridge and trying to hide her imbalance the best as possible, she listened to the slightly garbled transmissions of the dispatched pilots.
“Finally, you have appeared”, the Captain said with his usual firm tone of voice as he sat upon his seat, “What took you so long, Commander?” The Captain still looked ahead, having Hailynn behind his shoulder.

With Orelis coming closer, she looked at him and said, “I was... compromised, sir.”
“Much has happened. However, Officer Orelis has already given me a short sit-rep.”

“...”
“There are some things we need to talk about, but for now, it is best to focus on the current situation.”
"Yes, sir."
”Feeling the soft motion of wind bypassing her neck, the hiigaran woman noticed a person who stopped aside of her. Taking a short glimpse, she discovered Fenna. Hailynn, for sure, was not really happy to see her. Again, Hailynn began to feel slightly cold gush.

“Is it me... or is it getting cold in here?”
“I am not sure”, one of the engineers replied, “We are not sure, but it seems our environment control systems are damaged. Due to our current situation, we are not able to take care of it for now. Nothing serious right now.”
“Guess we will have to live with it...”

With Aira's probe at the lead, Kaydaana flipped two large caps of her controls but did not press any of the buttons.
““Aw-right, honey””, the manaani colonel snarled to Aira's probe, “”Tell us exactly what yah can see.””
““I can see... three groups of Vaygr, each c-consisting of ten units. All units are spread among the vicinity of those we seek...””

At the same time with Aira's speech, she caused all of the surrounding units to be updated with her discovery, causing the sensor displays of all to reveal location points of the hostile units far ahead.

“”Alpha 3 here. This region is huge - How were they able to get so close to them, over?“”, one of the male voices asked.
“”Dunno, Ace -””
“”Aira””, Hailynn's slightly interfered voice suddenly announced among the comm-line, “”Are you able to link our comm-signal to the miners?””

“”I am trying, but they are either too far away or are not able to respond. But I do sense a signature radiating from their position. I feel that this signature is not condemned by the comet's surroundings...””

“That damn fool, Asad!”, Hailynn announced loudly, “I can't believe it!”
“What do you mean, Commander?”, Orelis curiously asked.
“- He is not sticking to our escape plan. Frell, he is not even sticking to any plan at all! Guess those pilots are being forced by him - They are MINING and extracting some useless crap right now!”, her voice thundered.

“”Colonel Manaan*shhfshh*!””, one of the pilots said, “”I can see what the sensor operative is saying. They are flaring the region with highly charged flares, ma'am - exactly the wrong thing to do when maintaining stealth <Frell, are they even trying to keep it low?!>. With the miners flaring the whole place up, they are only moments away from being detected!””

“”Damn it!””
Staring at the three groups of vaygrs far apart from each other and seeking their way through the dense fields of frozen rocks and shards of ice, the kadeshi girl and the others anxiously watched the groups suddenly moving away from group of mining vessels. The oppressors were pulling away, perhaps wanting to seek within a different vector. Everybody could not believe that the vaygr had not found them.

But this was only a short moment of relief...
Spotting one of the long fighters turning itself to a certain direction and seeing another powerful flare, it sprayed a large field of energy that practically any sensitive sensor could detect as it was being shot towards the direction of the vaygr group situated closest to the group of miners.

“No... No no no!”, the girl cried in despair, “What are they... doing?!”, and shook her head”. Feeling something mentally tapping the sensitive skin of Aira, she felt something originating from the miner's main ship, the `Hive'.

“Everybody, I am sensing a signal... an open communication broadcast coming from the largest ship of the miners...”
“Oh.my.gods.”, Hailynn cursed and bit her teeth together, “Don't tell me they -”

Walking closer to the main screen that displayed the slightly distorted sensor readings of the situation, Hailynn's mouth dropped open as they all heard the voice of Dr.Asad's announcement with many interferences and garbled sounds:
“”Hive to `Vjel' units... Haaah-ive to `Vjel' uuuu-nits! This is Dr.Asad! Hey! Where are you fools flying?!””

“”Manaani””, Ray's deep voice said over the comm-line, “”Our objective is endangered.””
“”Hive to `Vjel' units. We are over here, you fools! <Fire another one with more power, will ya!>””

Aira pinched her eyes together shortly as she saw another small star illuminating. For the normal eye, the flare would only resemble a hardly noticeable dot from their current position, but for sensors of all kind in range, it was like a small supernova flashing its presence.

“”'Vjel' units. We are practically ready for returning! We are glad your Captain was so concerned of our well-being and to send so many units on the look out for us. We are surprised you did not find us even though you have a thirty-some units on the lookout! But enough, just get over here now and bring us back to the `Amaj! We are able to refine and get rid of junk, but we can do this faster onboard the cruiser!””

Hailynn shook her head many times as this dreaded miner spoke further, “”- We have discovered several clusters to mine here. We have refined most of our previously gained claim and are soon to fill the storages to their maximum. However, we have extracted many interesting new components. This comet is full of riches! ””

“The vaygr... They... They are turning around!”, Aira cried again as she saw the nearest group to the miners at first shutting down their main thrusters, altering their heading to the miners' position, then powering their fusion thrusters to full thrust.

“Confirmed!”, Quan shouted as well, “The other two Vaygr groups have engaged a direct intercept route to Dr.Asad's position!”

“”Damn. They're compromised!””, Alpha four shouted.

“”Kaydaana!””, Hailynn yelled, “”Cut stealth approach and get to them, ASAP!””

Not even needing to hear that twice, Kaydaana already pressed both upper buttons of her flight controls, causing the Acolyte to fold out both drives and reveal both of its dual mass-driver cannons. Additional gauges, crosshairs and symbols appeared upon her visor, showing that the Acolyte had engaged combat mode. Along with its drives expanding, several other vernier systems became available, giving her maximum control over this sophisticated fighter.

“”Aira - Stay back!””, Kaydaana demanded at Aira's probe, “”-and keep us updated with yer scans! This 's a job for us grown-ups, girl! Everybody else: Intercept speed, now! All units, duo wing! Ray, yah comin' with me. All others: One fighter, one gunship each! Over!””

“”Roger! Here we go again!””, one snarled.
“”Confirmed, Alpha three - You take the lead!””
“”Ray - Clear mah six!””
“”By your command, Manaani.””

“”Frell with speed limit!””, Kaydaana shouted as last and shoved the thrust control to its maximum. With the adrenaline pumping through her body and the power of the Gs pressing her into the harnessed seat, the wild manaani already launched ahead of the group. Lowering her head slightly and stretching her arms at the same time, she was furiously challenging fate like a devil as the Acolyte blasted ahead.


“Wha- What is she -?!”, the surprised pilot of the interceptor gunship asked as he stared at the Acolyte darting ahead, “Is she insane?!”

The vaygr fighter and another fighter dashed ahead, following the trail of the manaani pilot.

“Ace, you better stick on their tail!”, Ace's female gunner co-pilot suggested, “She's a manaani alright!”
“Friggin' manaanis...!”


Meanwhile, onboard the `Hive', Dr.Asad is standing at the cockpit canopy, overwatching the screens as he discovered something coming closer to their position. With another operative noticing the activity, the man rubbed his chin and squeezed his eyebrows together as a sign of noticing something confusing as well. Sounds of the refinery unit onboard were heard in the background, but they did not let themselves be distracted by it.

“Umm...”
“Mr. Cimm, what are these signals - no no, those over here?”, Dr.Asad asked.
“I'm - I'm not really sure, Dr.Asad. Hmm... This is strange. Our sensors indicate another group of eight and a single unit further away, coming from 7 o'clock low. And the other three groups coming from 3 and 4 o'clock high.”
“What do you mean with another group?”, Asad snapped, “Maybe those are just another seeking group from the `Amaj - or hey, even those stupid vaygr. Nothing to worry about when we have at least thirty hiigaran fighters coming to support us.”

“Uh-oh”, the man replied.
“Uh-oh? No, Mr. Cimm, I don't care about that uh-oh. Just have the fighters escort us back the `Vjel-Amaj' so we can unload and continue mining. We will for sure be able to -”

Ignoring Asad's speech, Operative Cimm turned his head over to the pilots, “Hey, did you guys hear any transmission call coming from those three group?!”

“Negative. To be honest, we avoided broadcasting any comm-signals until Dr. Asad insisted to launch `sparks' and broadcast - but now that you mention it, there is a signal trying to contact us...”

“Ignore it!”, Dr.Asad said, “Either those vaygr want to show off before being blasted to bits... or... or that it's Hailynn Delixa Missy demanding us to get back!”

Slamming both hands on the side of the sensor terminal, Operative Cimm's head moved closer to the sensor screen, not believing his eyes.

“F-Frakking frell... Something is not right here...”
“Explain”, one of the `Hive' pilots asked.
“The sensors... They are indicating a FoF signal being emitted from the smaller group coming in from 7 o'clock...”, operative Cimm explained slowly.

“FoF signal?”, Asad asked.
“The FoF signals are confirmed as `friendly'...”, Cimm said and looked at the others gradually.
“Whoa-Whoa, hold on here. If those signals are coded friendly, then... what are the other ones, Cimm - and stop it if this is some joke. That last time you pulled that joke scared the crap out of me...”

“Th-The other frakking signals are elusive! No FoF recall! Nothing at all but their directly focused scans upon us.”
“Ha-ha, yeah ri-”, the pilot said, but as he took a look on his screen, his eyes stared upon it.

With a sudden surprise, several explosions and other rays of projectiles rained upon one of the `Bee' mining collectors, busting the rear of its cargo segment. Overwhelmed by the sudden event, Dr.Asad and other ran to the side of the cockpit, only to see the explosions being suffocated by the vacuum of space. With its hull ruptured by heavy shots, several parts of debris and indefinable objects were blown and sprayed into space and thus exposed to the comet's area of effect... soon with one of the objects to knock somewhere against the hull of “Hive”. Needless to say, those were the bodies of unlucky crewmen of the attacked collector, unfortunately caught by surprise. Voices suddenly shouted wildly, both over the comm-line and within the cockpit between the operatives.

Confused by what was happening, everybody onboard hasted to do something, other than Dr.Asad, whose eyes focused on something different. Observing the ruptured hull of the collector that uncontrollably began to rotate backwards, a precious mass was sprayed into space as the vacuum tore away another shock-decompressed cargo segment. Dr.Asad slammed his fist against the thick window as he saw its valuable cargo blown away into their vicinity.


“”Th-this is Aira””, the kadeshi girl called out to the fighters, “”The vaygr have bestowed d-deathstrikes upon one of the smaller ship...!””
Aira was stunned by the view as she saw void of death consuming the souls. She felt it... and with it, her mind was at the dreaded edge of being tormented by her past again. Nonetheless, she was lucky that the A.I. still managed to dodge incoming hazards by its own after all during her distraction.

“”Th-That was a long-range barrage!””, one pilot explained, “”Actually ineffective in this dense frakk but for sure easy to score a frakking hit on stationary targets like those idiots ahead!””
“”Those vaygr are at least five klicks away - No way!””, a co-pilot shouted.
“”Vaygr artillery gunners. They know what they're doin'!””
“”Indeed, hiigarans.””, Ray added, “”Artillery railguns.””

Dr.Asad turned around and shouted, “You there! We cannot allow that cargo to be lost! Have the refined sediment and junk to be ejected immediately and flood the available vacant space with that claim that is being lost into space!”

“W-What?!”, the other `Hive' pilot said, not believing his ears.

“Did you not understand?! Do as I said or -!”


With another rain of projectiles striking upon the already crippled `Bee' collector, another subdivision of its hull was ruthlessly torn and busted by minor explosions and impacts. Another breed of cries were heard, just before one major but silent explosion occurred aside of the `Hive' and the other two collectors. Large parts of debris bounced against the hull of the `Hive', dreaded sounds that frequently bounced among the right side of the large harvester.

“”Crap!””, one of the fighter pilots shouted, “”We won't make it on time!””
“”The colonel and the vaygr are almost there!””


At the bridge of the `Vjel-Amaj', Hailynn frantically prayed for the first time for Kaydaana... Hard to believe that she was even praying for a vaygr...
C'mon, Kaydy, c'mon!

“”Hostile units have crossed the two kilometer barrier! They'll be in close firing range any moment!””
“Aira!”, Hailynn shouted and turned herself around. Scaring the girl with her unusually intimidating voice, the girl responded to her shout.
“Aira, can you extend our communication capabilities to the miners?!”
“Y-Yes, I am able to focus our signal to them now that we are a lot closer to them...”, Aira accented voice stuttered.
“Alright, do it!”, Hailynn demanded and turned her head over to one of the communication operatives, “And you - patch us through!”



With another explosion occurring dangerously close to the large mining ship, Asad came to the conclusion that they were long enough here. Not even feeling the guilt of having to lead the vaygrs straight to their position, he moved away from the side of the window and ran ahead to the helm of the cockpit, bumping and pushing other frantic people aside.

“Get us out of here!”, Asad shouted just as he reached the helm.
“We don't even know where to fly!”, one of the pilots screamed back at him.
Arguing with Asad, the pilot verbally fought with this mad but cowered miner.
“'Ey - HEY!”, the other pilot announced loudly, “I'm picking up a signal here!”

“What?! From where - who?!”
“Can't really tell! It's being emitted from a distant region. Barely can detect a small object far behind our units that is trying to contact us...”
“Well - what the frell are you waiting for?! Get them through”, the superior pilot demanded.

“Hey, I'm the boss here -!“, Asad shouted, noticing that his authority was actually being undermined. A sixth sense told him that it had to be Hailynn Delixa...
“Shut-up, man!”, the pilot yelled.
“Signal locked! They are responding to our signal and are awaiting your transmission, Commander!”, the communication operative of the bridge announced, “It's pretty garbled but should be enough for our carrier wave!”

Hailynn immediately grabbed her communication unit, locking her signal upon the specific frequency.

“”'Vjel-Amaj' to `Hive'!””, Hailynn's voice angrily shouted, “”For frakking sake, which part of stealth you idiots did not understand?!””
“”I-I'm sorry, ma'am but-””, but just as the superior pilot recalled, Asad's voice linked itself to the commline.


“”Ey, Missy! We have absolutely no time for you and your pointless talkin'!””
“”Frakk you, Asad! Get off this line! Damn it! You're responsible for all of this mess-up! Pilot - Arrest that idiot and get him out of the cockpit now - That's a frakking order!””

Without warning, the superior pilot looked at Dr.Asad and immediately pulled his sidearm with its muzzle aiming straight at him. Surprised of this sudden action, Asad instantly moved back and away from the helm of the large cockpit room.

“Enough is enough”, the pilot said to him, “One of you, have this guy -”, he was about to end his sentence, when an alerting sound suddenly occurred; A dreadful sound that caught the attention of almost everybody. Turning away from Dr.Asad, both of the pilots looked upon the panels and discovered the incoming threat.

Exactly three minor but intense explosions struck upon the `Hive's' right and rear side. Knocked by the intense impact, everybody was thrown to the side as the shock field transmitted throughout the ship's body. Unfortunately, the superior pilot and many others within the cockpit were knocked away. Having no chance at all in catching his fall, the side of his head painfully struck upon the side of a nearby console, knocking him out nearly instantly. With the ship slowly turning away, caused by the explosion, the subordinate pilot immediately grabbed the controls and began stabilizing the ship.

“What the frell happened?!”, Hailynn furiously asked.
“'Hive' has received a few hits from missiles, ma'am!”
“Have them receive a guideline back the `Vjel-Amaj' - hurry!”

Several sparks and other power grids busted from certain consoles. Obviously, those fusion missiles caused a short circuit through emp discharge within the ship's powered systems. Alarms and screams were heard throughout the mining ship. Just as the subordinate pilot suddenly discovered two vaygr fighters coming straight at them, he hesitated to make a move with his hands. The angels of death have arrived...

But within the same second as he discovered them, a lightning fast and dark green object dashed ahead while leaving a thick blue trail fusion exhaust and ice fragments, crossing the view before him, soon to be followed by another breath-taking object.


With blazing mass-driver cannons, the Acolyte fired a stream of projectiles straight at the oppressing duo of vaygr fighters. Unaware and seemingly surprised by the sudden appearance of this daring dark green fighter, the projectiles violently ruptured the cockpit and fuselage of one of the vaygr units.

Barely able to react to the sudden attack, the second vaygr unit immediately pulled up and away, extracting itself away from its next attempt of attacking the larger ship.

““Ha- YA' not gettin' AWAY, FOOL!””, Kaydaana's ferocious voice shouted among the commline and began pursuing the escaping vaygr fighter. With her eyes wide open, her heart bewildered and her soul burning for battle, this furious manaani pilot followed the vaygr with blind obsession.


With her body thrown back and forth by her efforts in dodging the frozen hazards within the region, she blindly kept her eyes practically nailed on the emission trail of the enemy vaygr fighter that somewhat skillfully made a hasted retreat. A kaleidoscope of blurry colors, focused lines and circles filled her visor and yet her eyes were able to distinguish every single dot. Both hands and feet and the way she moved her body controlled the Acolyte with pinpoint accuracy. Just by the frequent back and forth, side to side movements of her body and shoulders, the Acolyte strafed and dodged elegantly despite her rather wild manor.


Several circles settled upon her target as it dashed away. By spotting the vaygr target doing a slight mistake in flight, Kaydaana instantly took this small advantage and armed the missile launchers of her fighter.

“BIG MISTAKE, IDIOT!”, she shouted, just before she attempted a triple barrel-roll and pulling the trigger at the same time, causing the Acolyte to launch a pack of two small but swift missiles. As she pulled away, the missiles impacted upon the rear as the hostile vaygr fighter was not able to dodge this attack, soon to uncontrollably bash into one of the various hazards ahead.

“”HAHAAA- Gotcha... huh?!””
““Mananni!””, Ray's deep voice shouted, “”Break away - Break away!””

Not even thinking twice, she pulled her right arm as hard as she could and adjusted her foot pedals likewise. Thanks to the its maneuvering capabilities, the Acolyte fighter possessed a gravity field generator able to cause it to halt, slowdown or cause an erratically wild dodge. Coupled with the fusion thrusters, the Acolyte spun and turned irregularly. Kaydaana, though surprised, understood why Ray shouted at her to break away: laser beams and a short burst of shots were fired upon her region.

Cunning little bastards...! Nearly pulled me into a deathtrap, eh?!, her mind shouted.

Ironically, with her hands and feet performing the Acolyte to dodge all attacks as it wildly flew ahead, Kaydaana's eyes shortly looked to the back, spotting Ray's long fighter still tagged on her six.

Damn... he's good...
Unbelieved but impressed - she once again witnessed how skillful this vaygr man was, who was still able to stick on her side - and it took a lot to impress a manaani woman...

“”Manaani! Watch your `twelve'!””, Ray angrily shouted at her.
Distracted by her notion, Kaydaana's visor flashed a collision warning. Throwing her face back ahead, the pupils of her eyes went small as she discovered a frozen hazard coming straight for her. Loosing her focus on all vaygrs, she instinctively kicked her left foot, causing the Acolyte just barely tipping the very edge of that hazard...

“”Manaani! Are you trying to kill yourself?!””
“”Hey - Damn it!””, she tried to say something, but instead, she needed to dodge another streak of dark blue cutting beams trying to slice her fighter into pieces as they already did upon larger ice hazards...


At the same time, the `Hive' and its remaining two `Bee' resource collectors already began their flight heading for the hidden `Vjel-Amaj'. Still not able to align the course correctly, the confused pilot announced:

“”'Hive' to `Vjel-Amaj' - We have difficulties in plotting a decent rally point to your position! It seems that we have some sort of guidance failure!””

With a short delay, Hailynn's garbled voice was heard among their speakers, “”'Hive'! No need to worry - Follow our probe, it will lead you by following the guideline!””
“”P-Probe?! What probe, I see nothing but -””, the subordinate pilot frantically shouted, but then discovered an object ahead in the `dark wind', flashing guidance signals and lights. Hearing several melodic and electronic sounds, he soon heard the voice of Aira, “”Pl-Please follow me!””

The pilot shook his head, not believing that he was not able to see this nimble probe lurking right in front of him before it began to emit signal lights. Looking back shortly, he discovered his superior being carried ahead, who suffered a bleeding wound on the side of his forehead, obviously a minor concussion like many others. Demanding everybody to brace themselves, he turned back and focused the ship's flight upon the designated course of the probe. Quietly lifting up the lost handgun, Asad secretly shoved it into one of the pockets of his suit...

A batch of destructed debris busted among the side of a lance fighter as Ray's fighter fired upon it. A strange unknown voice shouted among the commline before its destruction, “”You... TRAITOR! You are shame to Vaygr Pride- y'arrrghghhhshsh...*ffffszzt-*!””

Unknown to the others, Ray seemed to be affected by the words of his former brethren. Several times had a few of the eliminated vaygr cursed upon him.

“”Frakk you, fool!””, Kaydaana shouted behind as the hostile fighter exploded. Her heart pounded loudly, but she was enjoying every second of this action. Despite the region being full of dreadful hazards, her mind knew when something was incoming. She had already gotten used to the surroundings, surely not to be comprised or surprised just several moments before. Spotting a small group of hiigaran fighters and gunships taking on the group of hostile vaygrs, she added, “”Ah-bout time y'all showed up!””

With the gunships side-slipping and able to take the last few targets of vaygr foes, both interceptors provided covering fire, giving well protection for Kaydaana and Ray.

““Colonel!””, one of the pilots announced, “”The `hive' and its small group making their way back to the 'Amaj' - but they are soon to be compromised by the second wave of vaygr fighters! It looks like they're hot on their tails!””
“”Y'all disengage and let us all get back to tha `Hive'! This ain't over yet...!””


Meanwhile at the bridge of `Vjel-Amaj'...
As the battle to place, the crew focused on their tasks the best they could as Hailynn and a few others observed the ongoing rescue operation. Wanting to speak to Hailynn, the Captain suddenly called her attention, “Commander Delixa.”
“Y-Yes, Captain?”
“It seems as if our units are able to extract the M.I.A.s, however I am concerned of our own attempt of escape thereafter...”, he said with a firm voice.
“Sir?”, she asked, a bit startled of his words.
“Captain? I do not understand either”, Orelis also included.

“Ehh”, Ensign Fenna added, “Me neither...”

The three looked at Fenna shortly, a bit surprised why this rather “unnecessary” Ensign was speaking up.
“According to the situation”, the Captain continued, ”we must be aware that the Vaygr Battlecruiser is still seeking us. With its units dispatched and following ours, the `Vjel-Amaj' is endangered of being compromised by this dreadnought, which will for sure detect our ship by the mining ships revealing our true position.”

They understood what he was trying to explain. Hailynn was not aware of this at all. Yet another factor she greatly underestimated.

“What are we... to... do?”, Fenna asked, again unusually interrupting the group.
“We have no choice, Ensign. All of our units would need to board our vessel as fast as possible and Aira would need to enforce the hyperspace jump...”


Several minutes later...
The `Hive' was moderately damaged by frequent attacks. With the other two `Bee' collectors able to hide behind it, the main ship bravely withstood the attacks. Though the hull still was able to withstand another group of attacks, many did feel worried if they were going to survive this flight. The `Hive' was already leaving trails and streams from damaged segments and minor outer sections.
Thanks to the ongoing efforts of Kaydaana and her wing of courageous fighter pilots and their skillful vaygr ally, they slowly began to gain the upper hand in this fierce combat, despite them already being stressed and only having suffered minor damage. With Aira's probe at the lead, the pilot focused the course the best he could, even with the additional malfunctions caused by the attacks.


In the meantime, the third vaygr group was about to enter their vicinity. This was not good at all, for all hiigaran fighters and its ally were still trying to suppress the attacks of the remaining vaygr foes. Though there were only a few of these opponents left, it slowly became clear that these fighters were obviously more skilled and dangerous than the usual ones. They were capable of dodging the barrage of shots emitted from the gunships and the frequent attacks of Kaydaana's interceptors.

But what actually caused worry were the words of the vaygr devoted to Ray... After every attempt of attack, they called out short remarks to him, calling him traitor and insulting his goal in bringing the hiigarans and his brethren to safety. They all called that the hiigarans and his people would die in agony just like those who had fallen before to the vaygr crusade.

Slowly entering a more denser and turbulent region than before, it seemed as if the group was not far away from the `Vjel-Amaj' and the giant ice rock it was situated on. However, Kaydaana and the others were not aware of the concerns of the Captain...

““The third group is coming in fast on our position, colonel!””, one of the gunship gunner's called out, “”We're in deep trouble!””
“”This is the wrong time for more company!””, Ace shouted as he fought trying to keep focused upon one of the skillful opponents.

Kaydaana needed to come up with something... something fast! She did not know if bombers were in that last group, but for sure they would have lance fighters. While those laser beams are evadable - barely- they do can cause severe damage to the `Hive' and the `Bee' collectors. A serious threat to be reckoned with!

Adjusting her commline to a safe and secure frequency, she called out to her units, “”Everybody, disengage and regroup at the `Hive'!””
“”But-””
“̶ 1;Do as ah said! Hurry!””, Kaydaana shouted back at them.

Soon to notice the hiigarans and the traitor retreating from their vaygr foes, the foes also disbanded from the close combat and attempted long range attacks as one of them said among the commline, ““Well - well... The hiigarans on retreat...””. Reinforced by the third group, the vaygr attackers reformed into a dreadful formation and began their approach to the hiigaran group, “”Say your last prayers, hiigarans! It will be the only thing you will be able to do before the death of space will crush you!””, the same threatening voice shouted.

“”Don't listen to that idiot!””, Kaydaana said to her people, the miners and Ray, “”Alright everybody! Listen up! I want all of you to move as close to the `Hive' as possible and have all of your visual aids only limited to blue!””

“”W-What?! How are we supposed to aim without the other guidance systems?!””, one of the pilots shouted at her, obviously protesting, “”Colonel, you've got to be out of your mind! <As if she ever were normal...!>””

“”We won't stand a friggin' chance if y'all won't do as ah command!””
“”This is going to kill us...””, he said and shook his head.

Though under protest, they did as she said, deactivating a group of guidance systems, causing their visual guidance to fade away and only reveal a dangerously weak feed of information on their surroundings. But what was Kaydaana's intention? With all fighters and collectors bundled so close to the `Hive', they would be easy-to-hit targets...

“”'Hive!'””, Kaydaana now shouted out, “”'Sparks'! How many?!””
“”We have... plentiful””, the subordinate pilot slowly replied, but also he was confused of her question at first, “”Ma'am, those flares won't help a bit against their upcoming attack! With that grouping they got, they will attack us all at once... and with this area so filled of hazards, I don' think we'll - ...””, but then he paused..., “”- wait... no... Now I get it...””

Kaydaana nodded several times, she knew that he was understanding her somewhat hideous plan.
“”Well - hey””, another one of the hiigaran pilots announced, “”I don't know what this wacky plan of yours is, colonel, but if it's to wait until they're close enough for both of us to attack - we might as well go for a suicidal attack - here and now!””

“”No. Just watch 'n' listen, Ace. `Hive' - Yah know what ah want, don't yah?!””

“”I understand, colonel. Maximum intensity... Full spread. <Load all `sparks', maximum intensity and full spread... Yes... you heard right!>””, the pilot of the 'Hive' recalled.

“”Now... just for those idiots to come closer. Keep yer setting on blue - and ah still advice all of yah to keep yer eyes... protected...””, Kaydaana lastly said with a devilish tone in her voice.

Indeed, the vaygr enemies were closing in on their position - and they were closing in at blinding speed. With all weapon systems hot, their close range attack was going to be the so-called deathstrike... They were sure of their success...

“”Fire!””, Kaydaana's voice suddenly shouted over all commlines.
All the sudden, the `Hive' ship fired a multitude of heavily charged flares upon all possible arcs. Shooting at all possible angles, the area was instantly covered with small and rather... moderate glowing flares that for sure were normal and weak for the bare kushan eye... However, what seemed weak for the kushan eye was dangerously high, bright and intense for any other sensor to detect, excluding the current setting of the visual aid of the fleeing hiigaran group. Only noticing a weak change in their field of view, the region of Kaydaana's visual aid and those of the others among her group were not affected by this visual blast. The blue and dark blue fuzz of their visors continued to reveal the surrounding hazards as usual, however it still was needed to pinch the eyes a bit...

The vaygr, however, were suddenly blinded by the intensity that almost instantly burned the retina of their eyes. Being surprised, blinded and overwhelmed by the sudden outburst of flashes, their ongoing intimidating speech was interrupted by their shouting. Loosing control and not able to see anything, many of the incoming vaygr uncontrollably crashed into several rocks of ice. Kaydaana had no remorse, not even the slightest regret for their enemies, as they one-by-one blindly collided with each other and other objects. Some fired, others tried to dodge, but all in all, it was a hopeless attempt...

Burn in the hell of Kharak...




With the flares' intensity levels slowly fading away, Aira slowly opened her eyes. What at first enveloped her mentally burned her skin, was now a weak radiation of `heat' on her back. But just as she opened her eyes, she was staggered by her view. That howling being, lurking in the wake of this wild icy world that surrounded her, was in front of her. An unexpected appearance, for this kadeshi girl forgot the past confrontation of this enigmatic female being. Timelessly floating in front of each other, Aira was far from trying to physically raise her hands and thus disconnect her focus. With the responsibility of leading these beloved people back, she became desperate, unease and began to panic, easily heard by rushing breaths and poundings. Aira's mind was not able to make a move. She was paralyzed.

<Who...are...you...?>

That voice once again hollowed in her mind. The lips of this female being did not move. Aira still remained startled.

<A...Young...Mind. A... young... unbound... mind... Here?>

What did she mean? Aira did not understand. She was a young adolescent kadeshi girl somehow blessed by the Bentusi, she really did not know why. Nonetheless, she was not an `unbound', but a so-called entity. An entity of such who for sure never could do as much as what an `unbound' were capable of to percept, express and conceive. The girl felt that she was only an imitator, in other words, an imposter, of what the `unbound' truly were. Ever the girl wished to become `unbound' but never was this to happen. But why was this being mistakenly calling her `unbound'? Aira's soul somehow thirsted for more, but she still remained silent.

<Is... it... that... you... seek? Rahji's... tear... within... his...sacred...sanctuary? The... lost...love...of...Kadesha?>

Aira moved back slightly as she was shocked of the beings words. Her hands mentally embraced her necklace. How was she to know of her innermost seeking? This being somewhat spoke in a different language as well, and yet, Aira's mind comprehended every single exotic word. The voice of the being however spoke slowly, as if it were weakened and exhausted.

<Your soul beseeches... answers. My soul will... answer. Our souls are... connected... We are... unbound. Our thoughts and minds are one... The song of space... The stream of time... all connects us to one...>

Aira slowly began to calm down, but there still was a rest of excitement in her.

<Aira... your name is...>

The girl looked up upon the female being. Soon, a bit more of her face and body was revealed, however only slightly. Aira was unable to properly determine the being's true identity, for it was partially concealed. The pose of the female being's body resembled a very weakened posture, as if it were floating lifelessly within something. But there was much more, groups of long cords... perhaps cables... were connected among the beings body and read arc of her head, partially covered by her floating hair. The being did not seem well at all. The sight of this being did frighten Aira again, soon to be heard by the distant sounds again.

<Shodanii... my name is...>

Aira kept quiet.

<You seek... for more... I sense this...>

Somehow, Aira could not hide her innermost thoughts and deepest desires.

<The... Vaygr. They bestow to end your song. This may not occur... I plead you...>

What was this being trying to say to Aira?

The being disappeared in an instant as Aira found herself still hearing the sounds of the probe, guiding the others back to the `Vjel-Amaj'. Though slightly lost in mind, Aira feared that something was bound to happen.


- Blind Covenant -

(voice of the narrator)
Fate guides us all. Every now and then, fate gives us the chance to decide. The chance to choose the path to follow. We are blind. Decisions of our fate is always bond to the following effect. With our bilnd decision causing an effect to our fate, which way are we to choose?
(end of narrative speech)



With the `Hive' and its group surviving the attacks of the vaygr strikers, the group slowly made its way to the `Vjel-Amaj' and its resting position. However, the situation was about to become more critical than it already was...

The dangerous and constantly flowing gush of ice particles was increasing. The small pellets that hailed upon the hull were slowly becoming larger, some getting thicker and thicker. Although these chunks crumbled upon the hull of every ship, it was clear that time was running out.

Hearing another large chunk crushing upon the hull of the `Vjel-Amaj', a female operative was scared by the sudden disturbing noise, “Wh-what's going on out there?”
“I'm afraid that this icy asteroid is slowly rotating to the nucleus of the comet”, Kenta explained, “This will lead to higher hazard level any moment. Captain, I advise to leave this area as soon as possible.”

“The `Hive' and its units are soon to dock upon our ship. We will maintain this position until they are safely aboard. Nevertheless, preparations for the longjump should be completed by then. Have all preparations to be done.”

Responding to the Captain's order, Orelis replied to his command, “Captain, engineering has already completed preparations for our jump. Due to the circumstances of our preceding situation, operative Aira is the only one who is capable of conducting and executing our jump to safety, sir. If I understood right, she was able to memorize a patch of stars, allowing us to find our way back to our territory.”

“Very well.”
“Sir...”, Kenta's voice called.
“What is it, Ms. Kenta?”
“With our position slowly being exposed to the comet's core, I am detecting a shadow figure situated several kilometers high above our position. Needless to say that this is the Vaygr Battlership...”

A few of the crewmen became unease.

Kenta continued, “Captain... I... This is not good. There are several waves of active scans sweeping our vector. I fear that whatever attempt our units caused recently to mislead and obliterate the vaygr attackers has also caused the battleship to focus their seekers to this vector.”

Taking over the word, Quan added, “If I am understanding things correctly, the `Hive' launched an over-charged barrage of their own flares, causing their surroundings to be flooded with a `sensor flash' that somehow blinded the vaygr attackers totally by surprise. I assume it was a tactic that worked out, but it also has endangered us even more...”

“In other words”, Hailynn lastly said, “We're about to be... detected!”
“Word, Commander. We must leave this area, ASAP.”

“Aira”, Hailynn called up to the girl, “Have that jump ready, okay?”

The girl nodded shortly, but she was actually distracted.

As the `Bee' collectors began their approach for docking finally, they both had difficulties in maintain the proper approach as the turbulences and resistances gained on speed and power. During this procedure, Kenta soon discovered what she feared:

“Alert! A distant sensor sweep originating from a different position has focused upon this area! Captain, I am not taking any risks here - I fear we have been compromised!”

“We expected this to happen.”

“Yes sir - I know - but these sweeps are not coming from the Vaygr Battlecruiser!”
“Explain.”
“We were able to follow the systematic sweeps of the enemy vessel - they were scanning a totally different vector just recently!”
“Captain - They are sensory probes!”, Quan added, as he discovered another small object closing in on their position.

“-We're already beyond being detected”, Orelis included his discovery as he stared upon the screen, “We're being marked just now! I guess Aira was unable to detect these since she is still controlling the probe for landing!”

“There are still enough obstacles to protect us!”, Hailynn shouted, but was interrupted by Quan's remark.

“Warning! A group probes have appeared from nowhere! They are dangerously close and- ”

Within a short moment, the few of those probes landed upon giant frozen asteroid - and not all too soon, one probe thudded upon the hull of the `Vjel-Amaj'. The crew of the `Vjel-Amaj' took the success for granted... but now discovered that they were about to be punished for being foolish.

“The frell with being 'marked' - we've been tagged!”, Orelis shouted loudly, only revealing the slightest of their problems. With excitement filling the bridge's atmosphere, they all knew was about to happen. With the Vaygr Battlecruiser having practically most of its fighters destroyed or missing in action, they expected the worse, the use of the Trinity Cannon and the destructive heavy fusion missiles.

“Oh no - The enemy vessel is altering its heading directly to ours!”, Kenta cried.
“Captain - I can only say that they don't care anymore about the damage they might sustain while diving on us! They're going to give us all they got!”

“We have wasted enough time”, the Captain said, showing that he came to a conclusion, “Have all of our units to dock simultaneously! We do not have to the time for secure docking!”
“Yes sir, orders underway!”, an operative situated further away confirmed, “Both `Bee' collectors have completed docking, awaiting the `Hive', `Scoutling' and the other units to dock!”


"Only two 'Bees'?", Hailynn asked, denoting that she did not know what was with the third one.


“No more time to waste - Prepare code:black!”

Hearing the command, Hailynn took over and announced code:black, calling all onboard to brace themselves for another intensive nonstop hyperspace jump. But as she looked upon the helm of the bridge, she noticed again that it was unmanned and she felt incapable of taking over the control. Her orientation sense was actually still knocked out and the pills she took were actually doing more worse than good. She was not calm at all.


Looking at Ensign Fenna, Fenna read in Hailynn's eyes that she was not in the right condition for the task. Fenna only shook her head, showing to Hailynn that the drugs she took were not doing any good at all - but instead of beginning a silent argument, Fenna made her way to the helm. She had the urge to protest, since she was a rather inexperienced pilot but she could not escape this now...


With several pairs of knocks and rumbles transmitted throughout the ship, the operative from before confirmed, “All units have safely docked, Captain!”

As the probe landed safely onboard the `Vjel-Amaj', Aira's mind was slightly relieved from disconnecting. But there was no time for feeling safe, she already heard the speech of the other among her. Soon to have all units to be sealed aboard, all she would have to do is lock the emerge-destination-point of the `Vjel-Amaj' to Amaji territory.


Stretching her arm and opening her hand to a certain direction, Aira developed the image she perfectly memorized that revealed the patch of stars. Acting as a small aid of navigation and stellar cartography, she was soon able to see the desired destination... but as she continued with the plotting of the hyperjump, thoughts began to fill her mind.

This was it... This was going to be the last time she would be able to see Rahji's grave. Aira wished to stay longer to seek for his relic tear, but her naji, Hailynn, and the beloved souls of this ship were in danger. Hailynn plead her to leave this system and with it Rahji's sanctuary. She looked down - but then suddenly felt a rumble along with a flash occurring very close to their position.

"Missile barrage! They firing upon us! Damn it!”, Orelis shouted, “That was only a bit of their arsenal! They will soon have a high chance of landing a direct hit with their heavy weapons!”

“Navigator Fenna”, the Captain called out to the nervous woman at the helm, “Engage thrust profile. We must leave this region.”

Gulping as she heard his command, Fenna feared if she was even able to control this ship correctly - needless to say that she felt Hailynn staring on her back. Grabbing the controls, Fenna activated all systems for liftoff. With power gauges charging and having the checkup diagnosis to be skipped, the ship was ready to raise itself. As she pushed her pedals and other certain controls, the ship began to rumble and tremble like in an earthquake. Trying to compensate with other possible thrust sequences, the ship did not raise it self at all. Something was not right.

“W-w-w-why are we not lifting?!”, Orelis asked with an unintentional shaky voice.
“D-Damn!”, Hailynn shouted, “We've been laying h-h-here for far too long! We're frozen stuck!”

“Disengage all drives, we shall perform the hyperjump from here!”

“You heard the Captain, Aira! Do it!”


Although the girl heard the words of her naji, she was mentally distracted by the reappearance of the female being again that floated in front of her.

<I plea to you... Do not leave... Young one...>

Aira wished to stay, but she knew she could not. All the other lives onboard wanted to escape.

<I plea to you... You are in danger... do not leave... by the path you wish to choose...>

The girl raised her head. What was she meaning now?

<The void... The black maelstrom... The blackhole...>

The being turned herself around, showing the image of the patch field of stars. As it rotated a bit, Aira shockingly discovered that the image was corrupted... corrupted by the event horizon of the blackhole. The images of these stars were not true! Aira's eyes widened. A direct flight would have caused immediate death... Though thankful, Aira stretched her hand to the same image, causing the destination point to be altered further away from the event horizon to a safer point. However, Aira had difficulties in actually doing so. Each time she tried to lock the destination point, she discovered that she did not have enough stellar information - thus it would only result in a blind jump. Suddenly, the female being turned itself in front of Aira, covering her view. Shodanii, as this being called herself, seemed to stop Aira from her task, despite her innermost desire not to leave this system. The girl cowered back slightly.

<Fear not... Young mind. I plea to you. Come... to... me.>

Seeing this `unbound' being reaching out for her, Shodanii's hand smoothly slid upon Aira's cheek. Stunned by the touch, the paralyzed girl did not intend to resist. She heard the shout of a familiar voice calling her to perform the hyperjump, but due to the dangerous discovery, Aira was in despair.

<I know what your soul seeks... Serenity, it is what I seek... I plea to you... Follow my song... join me... Help my seeking for serenity... Rahji is what you seek, Haven is what your people seek... My soul possesses the guidance you and your people seek... Young mind...>

Death was coming from above. With Vaygr Battlecruiser finally reaching the best attack position as it dived down upon the frozen-stuck `Vjel-Amaj', the vessel was about to fire from its high position situated several kilometers above.

“Gods of Kharak... H-Heavy fusion torpedoes inbound!”, Kenta cried, knowing how devastating this attack was going to be.
“Alert, Trinity Cannon has fired upon us along with another missile barrage - It's an alpha strike aimed for our head!”, Orelis shouted, “They want us dead - really DEAD!”.

“Aira!”, Hailynn shouted.

<Child...>, the voice of Shodanii said as her hand reached ahead and opened its palm, <... I am enslaved... I seek serenity... It is I who can lead you to your soul's desire... and to the safe haven of your people... It is your choice... young mind... Is it my song you wish to hear?>

Aira needed to decide. Aira frequently heard her name being shouted in reality... Time was running out. Shodanii spoke in a mysterious manor, but somehow, Aira understood exactly what this being wanted. It was Aira who was to decide what to do... Leave this system for good? But how? The escape rout she planned to take was corrupted? Aira was able to sense Shodanii's mind... Neither did she mean harm, nor was she lying. The image of Shodanii only was a spirit of herself, originating somewhere else, within one of the densest regions of system. Tormented by the decision, Aira's self began to become unease. The grand deathstrike was almost here... Her heart already pounded so loud and hard that she shuddered. Aira looked up upon Shodanii with a tear in her eye. If she were to trust Shodanii, were the others to understand her decision?

<We seek answers... and serenity... Young one...>

Slowly raising her hand, Aira's hand approached Shodanii's open palm.



“Attack about to hit us in 30 seconds!”
“For the frell of Kharak - Aira! Get us out of here!”, Hailynn shouted, herself already out of control.

Suddenly, the ship began to rumble - but a lot different than usual. Soon, the whole bridge and the ship was flooded by the bass vibration of the intensified hyperdrive expanding a hyperspace wavefront upon the ship.
“Finally! Everybody - hold on and hang TIGHT!”

Everybody, including Hailynn and Orelis, buckled themselves. However, Hailynn, was anxious like never before. Though her body was out of control, she felt euphoric - finally they were going to leave this dreaded M'randara Star System for good...!



<We unbound listen to the song... follow my song...>


Aira trembled...
...Forgive me... My Naji...
Aira had no other choice...


Enveloped by the violent wavefront field slipping among the hull of the `Vjel-Amaj', the ship vanished as the field collapsed, ripping the chunk of ice with it into hyperspace. Only a single moment did it take until several cruel explosions occurred exactly upon that spot... missing its target by three seconds. The explosions were so intense that it left a gigantic crater upon the frozen rock of ice, tearing most of its exterior away.

With the failure in destroying the hiigaran vessel, a gloved fist is slammed upon the side of a console... Smashing the screens beneath with anger.