To the End

by Manxboz

The Rebellion is in full swing but not in the Federations favour. The Rebel fleet has unveiled its new flagship and it is pure devastation. One guilt ridden officer is put in command of an obsolete vessel with a newly graduated crew. Their mission to deliver information about the flagship to the last remaining Federation fleet. Can they make it? Will the get to the end?

1. Prologue: First Command

The ship shuddered under the impact of the missile; sparks flew from the command console. How much more damage could she take he thought.

"Captain, we have to retreat, we can't take much more" came the engineer over the intercom

"We leave now Mr Briggs and this whole system is pillage by slavers" the captain responsed

He knew it was fruitless, the pirates were to well equipped and he was outnumbered three to one but he had to do something, this whole sector had been under siege by these villains for too long and the federation had sent him to sort it out.

"Reece, take all the power you need and lock onto the lead ship, aim for its heart"

"Aye, aye" buzz the reply.

The captain look out of the cockpit and saw three red strips travel across space and slam into the lead pirate ship. Its shields buzz and held for a fraction of a second before overloading.

"Get a missile in there now if you would be so kind" the captain barked at the weapons officer. The missile accelerated from its launcher and hit the enemy with a satisfying explosion, ripping the ship in two. The captain wanted to let out a shout of triumph but was stopped by the missile warning light on his console.

"Brace for…" The whole world around him seemed to twist and turn, everything was loud and quiet at the same time. He managed to regain control of himself, the console flashed angry red buttons at him, klaxons wailed their sorrow song in his ears.

"Structural integrity at 18%, imminent systems failure" the computer repeated in a strangely calming monotonous voice. The captain knew he wouldn't be able to take out the two other ships but he could at least do something before going out, "All crew, slave your systems to the command console and make for the lifeboat".

"Captain, no, we go out all together" came the reply from his second officer. He knew this would happen, the Federation Navy was brilliant at indoctrination. "No, my orders will not be countermanded, everyone make for the planet, help the defense forces there, do some good". No one objected this time and he saw his panel light up green as the various stations gave full control to his console. It would slow things down but not like he had much time left anyway. He tried the weapons systems but they wouldn't response.

"Lifeboat away cap'n" Reece came over the coms "now let's do some damage". The captain felt a mixture of rage, annoyance and relief. Reece was his oldest friend, they joined up together and when he got his first command, he made sure Reece came along too but now they would die together and that stabbed at his soul. "Take all power from shields and charge up the heavy laser, target everything at the big one, maybe we can do something about it before we go".

It would take 9 seconds for the heavy laser to charge and without shields a lot could happen; now it would be time for his academy topping flying skills to shine. He wrenched the joystick and pulled the throttle back, the ship banking hard towards the bigger pirate, presenting the smallest target to its weapons. Red lasers burnt lines into his vision as they danced across his screen. Only 6 seconds left, the board lit up red, sensors were down, hull breach in medical bay. Steady he told himself, gently rocking the stick as to avoid the incoming fire. 2 seconds, the ship jumped and a tremendous bang was heard, the ship was responding slower than it should. 0 seconds, 2 missiles and 5 lasers beams shot from the federation cruiser and darted for the pirate flagship. The lighter lasers hit its shields and brought them down in a spark of lightening, followed by the 2 heavy lasers a fraction of a second later, piercing the hull, while the missiles smack into the ship a little later, and their nuclear warheads creating a fantastic scene as they tore through the ship.

"Woooohhhhhooooo, you see that, top?" Reece excitingly shouted, his voice echoed through the corridors and didn't really need the com system.

Before the captain could response klaxons screeched their most deadly scream, a reactor failure. There was nothing to be done now, the reactor would go critical and with no engineer, it would tear the ship apart. He tried to get out of his seat, he wanted to see his friend one last time but before he could do anything explosions rocked the ship, power went out, everything went dark, he felt a sudden wave of pressure and then….nothing.

So this is what it is like to die.