Chapter 1: Interdictor Death
The visual implant swung out from the skin next to John's right eye with a chime. It didn't hurt, and he was used to it. It had been there for years, anyway. The metal split in half at a pivot, creating a holoscreen which filled half of his vision as it covered his eye. The image was blurred slightly before it came into focus. It was Alex. His voice was heard through a similar implant in his ear.
"John, can you meet me in the Captain's Room? Nothing wrong, just some information you might like."
"Will do" Replied John shortly. The device swung back into its holder, disappearing from view.
John turned in the white corridors of the Interdictor Death and began to head for the turbolifts. The ship had got its name from its first battle, against an Interdictor-class starship. It was the very first of the Angler-class Corvettes that had been commissioned not long ago.
John's black cape flowed behind him, not quite touching the floor. A no-sleeved black padded shirt covered his torso, crossed by two reinforced leather sashes. These held his Guard Shoto-style lightsabers by his hip; he didn't go anywhere without them. The material on his legs was equally padded.
This was his battle gear. John wore it constantly, as not only was it comfortable but he never knew when he might suddenly need it. It bore no rank or insignia, but it wasn't needed. Everyone knew who he was.
He was one of Redemption Flight.
He stopped at the turbolift doors, and pressed a button at the side. The panel gave a brief chirp, and a moment later the doors slid open sideways. A Kurahk, a bipedal species with a hard white exoskeleton, stepped out of the lift and headed down the corridor John has just come up. The Kurahk made up the majority of the Redemption Army, which was an ever-changing number of beings and craft. John had given up listening to the latest figures long ago.
The doors slid closed. "Bridge" he said simply, and the turbolift whirred as it set off along the route it had been programmed to do. John spent the time with his eyes closed, feeling the familiar sensation of the Force around him.
The doors slid open again without a sound, and John stepped onto the Bridge.
It was a spacious area, with two horseshoes, one inside the other. John stood at the right-hand side of the open edge of the horseshoes, between the two. The larger horseshoe had holoscreens placed around the edges, where more Kurahk worked. The smaller horseshoe consisted of a barrier running most of the way round, with a single console at the centre. This gave a basic overview of the ship's status. In front of it was a high-backed chair.
A pair of blood-red wings signified who sat there.
The doors closed behind John, who was stepping onto the raised area of the inner horseshoe when the chair spun round. The fourth member of Redemption Flight faced him.
"There you are" said Alex, getting up. Alex was a bipedal dragon, with red scales covering his entire body except for his front, which was a pale creamy colour. Alex folded in his wings as he stood, and his tail stretched out behind him. Two sashes, similar to the ones John was wearing, crossed his chest. Two lightsabers were attached to it.
"Well, you wanted me" replied John.
"True." Alex turned, and stared out though the largest of the three windows at the head of the bridge. The darkness of space was littered with pinpricks of the light of distant stars. The port window showed the slight curve of the planet Earth, bathed in the light of the nearby sun.
John waited for him to respond, then realised he would not. "Well...what's the news?" he asked. John wasn't sure, but he was sure he saw a smirk flicker across the edge of Alex's mouth.
"Oh, nothing really. Just some space transmission that was sent to us. Unimportant, really."
John knew that whatever the information was, he would like it. Alex was playing with him.
"Come on, what is it?" John asked again, a hint of exasperation in his voice. Alex turned around and began to saunter casually back to the back of the bridge. At the centre of the back wall was a pair of double doors. Alex pressed a button in the centre, and the doors slid open. Inside was a desk in the centre of the room with three holoscreens on it, displays on either side of the room and a bed at the far end.
Alex went in and sat down behind the desk, and put his muzzle in one taloned hand. He began to scroll through the data on the displays. The doors swung shut as John entered.
"Just tell me"
Alex replied without even looking up from the changing numbers. "As I said, it's nothing important. Just that someone's due to return later this cycle, that's all."
John's eyes widened. Only one person would warrant this game that Alex was so expertly playing. "Dracina...?"
Alex turned to him, wearing a mischievous smile. He winked.
John broke into a full grin. "When did she say she was arriving?" He asked excitedly. John was practically bursting with energy now.
"Oh, sometime in the next..." He glanced at a chronometer on one wall. "...half a standard hour."
John leaned back against one wall, running a hand though his long hair. He closed his eyes. "Half an hour..."
"It's been a while" said Alex. John opened one eye and saw him glance back at the holoscreens. "Two weeks, I make it."
"Fifteen days, seven hours" John said. "On a mission in the Takarni System. Sent there to..."
His voice trailed off. He frowned, and his eyes widened. He looked at Alex.
"What?" Alex enquired with a slight urgency.
John didn't reply. He reached out with the Force, and the doors to the Captain's Room opened at his command. He walked out onto the bridge a few metres, and stopped, staring out of the main window.
Alex jogged slightly to catch him up, his talons making clicking sounds against the floor. "John, what is it?" He repeated. John didn't move.
Alex turned his head towards the main window as a flash lit up the bridge.
An enemy fleet had just exited hyperspace.