Chapter 1
Blackthorne. The lone station orbiting the planet looked especially grim as three warships entered the system. The Frigate and Destroyer began battle as the third warship waited, silently, stealthily. One didn't have to wonder long why this ship was called a Kestrel, or why this particular ship was called the Screaming Eagle. The sleek design told all.
"Get me a readout on those ships' shields." The battle-trained captain knew exactly what to do in these situations.
A medium sized Confederation fighter jumped into the system.
"Send out the Lightnings, destroy that Gunboat!" ordered the captain. Two slightly smaller, and much sleeker fighters emerged from the bird-like warship. One fired a rocket. Direct hit. The damage was more than enough to disable the Confederation Gunboat and send it spiraling into an asteroid.
As the fighter exploded, the shield scan on the destroyer signified that it was disabled. The frigate was still firing its proton turrets.
"Fire a missile at the frigate." A single missile emerged from one of the many missile racks on the ship, colliding with the Frigate. It stopped shooting, and turned lazily, but determined, toward the Kestrel. "Forward shields up, wait for my signal to attack." He waited. "Now." Missiles, torpedoes, and bolts of proton fire emerged from the Screaming Eagle, and soon the Frigate, too, was down.
"Prepare to dock with the frigate. All boarding parties, arm yourselves and get to the starboard hatchway," the captain ordered, though he didn't really need to. This was all routine.
It was a matter of minutes, and soon the two warships were locked together. "Give me a scan of the frigate."
A secondary officer, Jenson Dawley, reported. "Engines disabled. Weapons systems failure. Bridge decimated. An estimated 75 of 217 left alive on the ship."
"Excellent," replied the captain. "Remember, kill the ones that refuse to be captured, and don't get sloppy. I don't want to see any of my crew dying due to a stupid mistake. We're professionals. Now let's move!"
The hatchways opened. Gun toting soldiers rushed aboard, ready for anything. But they weren't quite ready for nothing, which is what they found.
"They know we're here, right? There are battle trained Confederate soldiers on this ship, aren't there?" one soldier wondered aloud.
Suddenly, there was a violent tremor through the disabled ship.
"Well, that can't be good," one crew member remarked, after it had stopped. "Not good at all."
Truth be told, it was, although lurking in the ship were several beings waiting. They were silent, and making gestures to each other. A few ran to and fro, when one creature bumped into another, setting off its weapon, which was aimed at (wouldn't you know it) the power core. The massive explosion completely annihilated the engines, and wiped out the small party of aliens.
"So, what do you guys think that was?" asked one soldier.
"I don't know," answered the boarding commander. "I'm going to check back with the ship. See if they saw anything."
But before he could, a message came to his watch communicator. "Are you guys all right? What happened?!" The voice of the captain sounded terrified. He was.
"We're fine, thanks, but we didn't think the ship vibrating was so big a deal," the commander replied.
"Vibrate? The engines exploded!"
"What? Really? You're kidding. Wow. Did they really?"
"Yes! They're gone! Obliterated! A piece of it just flew past my window!"
"Wow," the commander reflected. "By the way, are you guys picking up any life forms besides us on the ship?"
"Well, actually," the captain had calmed down by this time, "we picked up some faint heat waves in the power core, then something really hot, presumably a laser blast, raced toward the core. The core heated up, exploded, and took the engines and the little heat waves, whatever they were, with it. We called to make sure those little waves weren't you guys."
"Wow. So that's what the shaking was. Here we are, on the bridge, safe and sound, when, nearly 80 meters away, the entire power core and engines were destroyed. So no one else is living on board?"
"Nope, just you guys."
"Okay, that's good. Now, what do we want from the ship? Fuel? Commodities? There probably won't be any money; this is a government ship. And, come to think of it, the fuel probably exploded with the engines. Anyway, maybe there are some torpedoes or rockets we could haul back."
"No," replied the captain, "forget it."
"But, sir, we could easily stow some of this stuff."
"Just get back on board. Everything in the ship is basically worthless. We'll just try and get that Destroyer up and running again. We can still get a cash reward for that."
"Fair enough, cap'n." The commander, still rather puzzled, turned off his watch communicator. "Everyone, back to the ship!"
"Finally!" shouted every single man and woman on board, in one, deafening roar.
Chapter 2
The day had been particularly boring at the New Dresden Spaceport on Palshife, hardly any ships coming or leaving at all. Only a single Confederate patrol unit had come through the system, and was quickly decimated. Thursdays were always like this here.
"Hullo, what's this?" Sam Stevens noticed a little blip on the Sub-Etha Screen. Actually, it was a big blip. Actually, it was 37 big blips. And each blip represented a war torn Rebel Destroyer or Cruiser. Sam was so overjoyed, he could barely speak. He knew, as anyone else would, what these ships were. Finally, he announced over the intercom, "Attention, Theta Fleet has arrived. Repeat, Theta Fleet has arrived."
After that message, anywhere you were in the spaceport, you could have heard the cheering. Three months earlier, 50 Rebel warships, code named Theta Fleet, left for New Britain in the Rigel System. The plan was to take it over, which failed miserably. The Fleet was ambushed by an insanely large Confederation Fleet and taken off guard. Everyone thought that the Fleet was decimated. The arrival of Theta Fleet brought joy and pride to the entire world of Palshife, and made headline news all across Rebel space. Soon, every repair bay in New Dresden and many others were filled with Theta Fleet ships.
Subsequently, the phrase "Theta Fleet has arrived" went down in history books and is currently usually used right after "Palshife to , Palshife to ! Come in, !"
Chapter 3
The emperor of Falliphia had not taken the news lightly. One could tell by the way he ordered the communications officer to be burned at the stake. The plan to take over the humans had failed miserably. First the humans had destroyed the Falliphian invasion fleet, then they killed the covert-ops team, stowed on a military ship. The aliens (as the humans called them) were not having a good decade (about half a century Earth time).
The emperor, Lufshu IV, paced in his chamber, thinking of what could stop the humans. Their technology was like nothing he had ever seen. Almost all of it was made of a hard, durable substance, not organic, and so much tougher. One thing the humans lacked, he realized, was proper shielding. If his scientists could find a way to improve shielding and armor piercing weapons, there might be another chance to win the war, the war the humans thought they won. And, now that they were at civil war, now would be a perfect time to attack...
Chapter 4
Yelts was pleased. The Rebels had rewarded him with 100,000 credits for rescuing the crew of the Destroyer. He could now afford to get the engines of the Screaming Eagle reworked for more turning speed. His Kestrel would be the fastest in the Galaxy.
"Take her to Palshife, commander, and hail me if there's trouble. Well, you know what to do, right?"
"Sure thing, captain."
"Thanks. I'll be in my quarters."
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 08-05-2002).)
