Sam Sedlacek
Josh Rooks
Michael Brantley
The First Apocalypse
Chapter One
Captain Bail Singer marched rapidly and efficiently down the corridor of his ship, Valkyrie. Sweat ran from his closed cropped black hair, his eyes focused on the bridge. The last 5 yards of his march were a dash to the Captain's plat. He sat down and closed the back gate. Flicking the switch, the plat began to rise into the center of the Bridge.
"Lieutenant Tau, I want an assessment of the situation," said Bail.
"Not looking good, sir." Tau said in frustration. "Our thrusters are slightly crippled and out right-flank shield has been shut down."
"Lieutenant Ershov, are your Marines ready to lead the boarding assault?" Bail asked.
"If I am not ready now, sir, then I shall never be," Ershov relied in a thick Russian accent.
"Excellent." Bail answered crisply. "I'm going to lead you into the enemy bridge."
The entire crew stopped and stared in awe. The Captain's Marine assaults were the stuff of legend.
"What? Did I hire a crew of idiots? BACK TO YOUR WORK!" Bail roared angrily. "ERSHOV! Prepare my fighter!"
"Yes, sir!" Ershov and his steel-grey suited marines marched to the Hangar, preparing all fighters for launch. They quickly boarded the Gravity Chaser Fighters and roared out of the Hangar.
Bail sighed. This war was endless, and the Felinas relentless. With an angry grunt, he pushed a few more order keys, and shut down his plat, dashing to the Hangar. His steel-grey eyes flashed as he readied to fight, he pulled on a helmet-
And the Hangar was rocked by a massive explosion. Checking his portable ship stats, he realized the main engines were completely totaled and would self-destruct soon. He called over the PA- "All hands abandon ship, immediately."
He slid into his own fighter and blasted off. The crew followed as the Valkyrie exploded. Bail flew on angrily. His ship was gone, and so was his patience.
Lieutenant Argo Ershov flew through space. Argo's maneuvers were extraordinary. Piloting came naturally to him. Argo thought of his family. They had died when the Felinas first attacked. Argo had been very distracted lately and he questioned this entire war. His fighter suddenly exploded, and he was blasted into the atmosphere. He was so unconscious; he didn't even feel a rescue fighter pick him up.
Chapter Two
Argo lay in the cold, dark, blue, and big ChryoDome. It would take about 2 days for him to fully recover. After his little spill in space, Argo got some nasty burns. He was unconscious in his current cryogenic state but his body trembled as the cool liquid nitrogen washed against his skin. Argo's face seemed to possess a hidden frown. He face seemed like any unconscious person's face but when you were up close on the dome, there appeared to be a frown.
Bail stepped away from the ChryoDome. He couldn't stand to see his men hurt and injured this way. With a signal of his hand, he left and the observation period was over. Other soldiers in the medical wing left with Bail. Much of his crew was pulling for Argo and his fellow space pilots. If it weren't for Argo switching targets, Bail's crew wouldn't be alive.
Bail returned to his office.
"Tau, give me an update of the Felinian movement." ordered Bail. "Nothing sir," came Tau's reply. "There has been movement near NovaCanada." There was no tone of informality in Tau's voice. Tau and Bail had been childhood friends. However, Tau took his job very seriously. Tau left the room at the Captain's orders.
Bail had a bad feeling about the Felinas. It wasn't his natural hate for them but rather a deeper emotion. Bail felt there was someone else behind the Felinas. The Felinas were only puppets. Then again, it was just a notion. Bail dismissed it and continued to work. He began to strategize a decent defense against Felinas attacks. It was a complicated matter.
The Felinian fighter movement was so unpredictable. Maybe they were smarter than humans. Maybe that's just their fighting style, randomness. Bail thanked God for the targeting systems. They were easy to use and they made the Gravity Chasers easy to use. Bail remembered his childhood days when his dad worked for AeoTech. AeoTech were the people who made Gravity Chasers, and just about every other vehicle in space. Bail loved the way the Gravity Chasers looked as a child. Then, he grew up. The Felines showed up and completely screwed everyone's life. After that, Bail joined the military and piloted Gravity Chasers. Bail's thoughts were interrupted as the intercom onboard said a message that was to change the way the war was going.
"Attention, New recruits boarding now."
Chapter Three
As Arthur Crowe was marching down the corridor of the unfamiliar ship, he couldn't help but remember what the last three months of his life were like. Grueling training, nonstop tactics being drilled into his memory, and being far more advanced mentally then everyone else in his training group was all that happened to Arthur in those months. And again, being farther ahead than the people in his original training group, Arthur was promoted to be a recruit with the other people who were four years ahead of him.
So as the recruits stopped marching, their new captain spoke to them for the first time, it occurred to Arthur, though not to his fellow recruits, that his voice was very harsh, yet had something in it that said that he had just experienced some sort of hardship.
"Alright recruits! You are now under my command. First things first, you have already passed your training off very well; otherwise you would be in this group standing before me. But now you can't go crying back to mommy if you decide that you don't want to be in the military anymore. We are waging a war right now against an alien enemy called the Felinas." Singer said. Singer was obviously very stressed, Arthur thought. It seems to me that he is having more pressure put on him than a captain should have normally, Arthur thought again
"We have lost our best lieutenant and have had on of our greatest ships, The Valkyrie, in the most recent battle; the ship was blown up and Lieutenant Ershov was injured during that time. I do not, repeat, DO NOT want this to happen again," Singer concluded. Ok, Arthur thought, this really will be an eventful day. Captain Singer's last comments were ones that meant "get some rest, tomorrow will not be easy". So Arthur's recruit squad did just that.
When the morning came, or the equivalent of morning in space, Arthur got up tiredly and went down with his fellow recruits for breakfast. When they arrived at the ship's mess hall, it was 800 universal time. After about 30 minutes of eating, the lights in the dining hall went out. Breakfast was over. Arthur sighed and went out of the room. More drilling.
Chapter Four
Bail pulled out a Molly Gun and looked around the corner, making sure there were no enemy sentries posted there. As usual, there was. He readied his gun, setting it on widespread fling. Felinas were big creatures. He rolled around the corner dodging an unexpected barrage of fire from the enemy- so it had seen him. He quickly aimed and fired his pistol. The beam hit the ugly creature right in the chest. Dead on hit. It yowled and writhed in midair, then simply melted and vanished. Bail grinned savagely. He threw a compression bomb at the locked door. It attached to the door with expert precision and detonated, turning the door into a solid titanium ball about the size of a golf ball. He picked it up, and was shocked by its density. Technology today amazed him, but this ball was heavy, even for a Compression Object. This could be handy later.
But he needed to get back to work. Bail suddenly realized how quiet it was. It wasn't natural… there was something wrong. A tiny scratch behind him… he whipped around, and was shot by the six Felinas behind him.
He roared in frustration, ripping his simulation helmet off. Ever since that stupid Arthur kid had come aboard, he had been annoyed. He was a hotshot rookie, who thought he could handle the entire fleet if it came down to him. And he couldn't, there was no way. He tossed the helmet to the floor and threw the sim gun right next to it. He had been practicing all day, always ending in his own death, usually due to amateur mistakes.
He angrily marched to his quarters and flopped to the bed, counting backwards from 1,000,000. He got to 997, 346 before falling asleep.
He could barely hear the warning Klaxon alerting the crew to the small fleet of attacking Felinas.
Chapter Five
Argo sat on the bed of the medical room. Argo still felt the chill from the ChryoDome. It seemed like forever to Argo. The ChryoDome made people feel strange. The actual healing only took two full days. Argo moved his arms around to get a feel for them. His body felt like a wet sack of dead weight. He hadn't used it two days. It was like he almost forgot how to use them.
"How are you doing, Lieutenant Ershov?" asked the nurse.
"I'm fine, but my arms are a little numb. How long was I in there?" inquired Argo.
"Two
days. You're pretty lucky to be alive," replied the nurse.
The
warning alarm went off and scared Argo. He was still not used to
being conscious. Being in the ChryoDome was like living in a dream.
The alarm still rang. Argo left the medical room to suit up for what
was happening. When he reached the loading dock, he saw a familiar
face.
Capt. Singer was giving orders on a minor Felinas attack they were about to receive.
"This mission should be easy. Go in, attack, and get out! Oh, and don't die." commanded Bail. He shot a nod toward Argo acknowledging his presence. After the briefing, Argo and Bail caught up and discussed what had happened in Argo's absence. Then, it was time to depart.
Argo ran to a Gravity Chaser GC-213, the best fighter in the fleet. He jumped in and started the craft up, feeling the comforting hum of its engines. He grinned. He may have disliked the war, but the fighters were home. He sighed in content, knowing it was time to do his job. His family would want him to do the same.
The GC's zipped out the hangar. They zigged and zagged and turned and twirled through the dimensionless space, the pilots whooping and hollering with glee. There was a sort of confidence boost now that Argo was back. The celebration ended when one pilot saw something fly past him. A gunshot. The mood quickly became serious.
Bail led the attack. He advanced forward. Argo and his men cut off to the side. Arthur decided to his own thing. He thought his plan would just as good (if not better) than Bail's or Argo's. Arthur weaved through the Felinas. The firing from both sides almost began simultaneously. Bail dived under the Felinas with a couple of his men to try and cut them from the bottom. Argo tried a swipe from the side. Both attacks were successful. Arthur flew his fighter straight threw the attacking force. He placed a few good shots here and there.
The way Arthur maneuvered was brilliant. Bail eyed him out the corner of his cockpit. Maybe this kid did know what he was talking about. Being distracted, Bail almost got hit. Argo came in and took off some from Felinas from Bail. What happened next was tragic and amazing. Two Felinas swiped Bail from the side. Bail was taking massive hits to his engine and wings. Bail continued to fly, trying to get out of the situation. Arthur swooped in, took out both Felinas, then he provided cover fire to Bail.
Argo had been in a little spill himself. Arthur applied his utility cord to Argo and dragged him to safety. Arthur was all over the field. He was here and he was there. All he was doing was helping people who needed help. Arthur was slowly gaining the respect of his comrades. This was a different side of Arthur. This Arthur was ready for anything in the battle. The rest of Bail's men finished the remaining Felinas. The battle was over and the GC's returned back to the Valkyrie II.
And now for two months, Admirals Crowe and Ershov have been following through with Fleet Admiral Bail Singer's, plans. They have recently come upon the Felinas major fleet. Only time can tell if their attempts to win this war have been in vain or not…..
Chapter Six
As Arthur Crowe was walking down the corridor to meet up with his fellow Admiral, he could not help but think that this war may soon be over. For the last week, He had been going over every strategy that he had ever made, and made them even more and more effective against the oncoming Felinas Fleet. So far, he thought, this war has been devastating to our fleets. The was no stopping them; everything we have tried so far has just been enough to save our skins from death, and that was barely even possible for us to skirt, Arthur thought.
But soon enough, Arthur reached the Bridge, the place were he was to meet Admiral Ershov. When they had first met two months ago, they did not quite see eye to eye. But now, after being in battle together many times, they had come to know each other very well.
"Status report Admiral Ershov?" Arthur asked.
"I have nothing to report. Nothing more than the usual impending doom," Argo replied.
Arthur laughed; this was how he always fought off the irony of it all. "So Admiral, have you any ideas on how we can destroy this last fleet? It seems to be the biggest one yet, and not many other fleets have been spotted." Admiral Ershov knew how to take the irony, and even knew how to counter back the banter.
"Oh yes, indeed, Admiral, it seems that if we destroy this last fleet, we will have won this war," Argo said.
Over, the war would be over. Even this was an amazing result of the last two months of fighting against the enemy Felinas. Ever fight had been devastating to the fleet, and there were more casualties than they had realized; but now it seemed to have paid off.
'Admiral Ershov," Arthur said, "Is there any way of this being confirmed as the last battle? You know that we have had many horrifying accounts of our last few attempts at the Felinas home fleet."
"Yes, I do realize this, but even you looked at the plans we have made; they are fool proof," Argo replied, with more of his Russian accent than usual; maybe anxiety did that to him, Arthur thought.
At that moment, their leader, the Fleet Admiral himself stepped into the room. Bail Singer has finally accepted his role as the Fleet Admiral it seems, Arthur thought. When Bail was merely a captain, he still seemed to have the influence of a Fleet Admiral.
"Status reports Admirals?" Bail asked.
'The same, though we have our new plans drawn up, Fl. Admiral, sir," Arthur replied. So it had come down to this meeting, the last meeting before the last battle of this horrid war.
For the next several hours, Admirals Ershov, Crowe, and Fleet Admiral Singer discussed their next attack on the Felinas fleet. They would not be stopped this time.
Chapter Seven
Fleet Admiral Bail Singer. Commander of the entire war against the Felinas invasion. Millions of lives were in his hands.
Sometimes it made him shiver.
As Bail walked with that same quick and efficient pace, he reflected on the last two months. He had finally accepted that promotion the government had been hounding him about for years.
And it had finally paid off.
The enemy fleet had been identified and located. The last battle and now was the time to win the war. And the worst part was that Bail wanted to kill the enemy. He didn't want to win. He wanted to destroy. He wanted them to feel the pain his family had felt in the first bombing.
He had gotten lucky. He had been somewhere else. Somewhere in China, while back in good old Boston, his family had been blown to nothing more than a pile of smoking bones.
And now he wanted revenge.
Bail marched into the command room, one of the most secret locations in the world. Only two people were ever allowed in: the Fleet Admiral and the Order Tap (the one who sent orders to the fleet). Bail fired up the holoprojection and nodded to the Order Tap, John Doe. All the Order Taps were named John Doe, to protect their identities. The Tap machines were complicated to work, and only a handful of men had ever learned it.
The current John Doe fired up the Tap and said, "At your command, sir."
Bail nodded. "Activate."
Suddenly the room became a blaze of light, blue and green code streaming everywhere- the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Bail could hear the voices of his men, Admirals Ershov and Crowe, in the speaker.
"Admirals, are you ready to engage the Felinas fleet?"
"If I am not ready now, sir, I shall never be," came Argo's familiar reply. Bail grinned. They were as nervous as he.
"Whatever… just follow the plan, and we'll win in five minutes," Crowe said. He was nervous as well.
"Very well," replied Bail, "let's save the human race."
A gunshot fired from the cannon of Argo's flagship. The battle had begun.
Epilogue
Admirals Argo Lenin Ershov, Bail Alexander Singer and Arthur Christopher Crowe proudly walked down the aisle and bowed before every world leader on the planet. They each stepped forward in turn and received a medal for "Greatest Service to the World".
Which basically meant the end of the Felinas invasion. All three turned and saluted the massive crowd, and everywhere, people cheered.