Chapter Two

The Station

MARK

"Mark! Hey get up!" before I had time to think about it, I was on the floor and water was splashed in my face.

"What the hell! I can get up on my own you know!" It was Isel, so I guessed she wanted to do that anyway.

"What's going on?"

"They want our squad ready to go. They've found the station."

"What's the unit count?"

"Lots." Great. Well hey at least I get to do something. I've felt pretty damn useless for a while. Some leader I am right?

We got to the hangar, and Arazis was already there in her swarmer. She's a part of my squad now. I had the request sent in. Cromell thought it was a great strategy for the Kadeshi to see they were being respected by having one of their own on the main fighter squadron of the fleet.

"You ready?" I asked Isel.

"Like always." We got in our ships and headed out the hangar when the clamps released us.

We then continued on heading through the upper dust vein and met up with Eric and his Taiidan girlfriend. I tried to get over it but I really couldn't. And a Gaalsien, already hated by the majority of the fleet, dating a Taiidan? It just seems stupid for his social status still in shambles. All he has going for him is being on this squad. But I tossed my negative feelings aside. He was still my friend. I had to respect his decisions. She became part of the squad too. It wasn't easy but she still made it. Mostly because Eric wanted her on it, again because we're the toughest one to kill, and everyone will be trying to kill us, and they'll be more merciful on a Taiidan. I just hope she won't be the same to them or this could go very badly.

"Oh we have a Kadeshi with us?" the Taiidan asked.

"Yeah what about it?" I said. Damn it. I'm supposed to be nice. Okay I'll try harder. "She's the one who killed Green Leader and was constantly after us. She's skilled. Just remember that.

"Hold on, you're saying it's the red demon?" Eric said.

"Oh you and your religious views. But yes."

"I guess I missed something. We should all move to the Ifriit 3 with John and Jay. I'm getting sick of the stench of the Rancor and we're always so far apart." Eric suggested.

"I was thinking about that too. Well we should be here for another three days after we defeat them. It gives me time to say goodbye to my family."

"I thought you didn't have any except for Rob. And he's already on the carrier."

"My foster family. They're farmers."

"Oh bring some of that hallucination root with you. I want to try some." Eric said. I had told him about the root. He was very fascinated by it.

"Agriisak? Well sure but it's not very safe to eat it raw. You could pass out for hours in a flashback that you think lasts weeks. It's not very fun."

"How detailed?"

"Well I was able to read the numbers on the control panel of my fighter in my Rank Seven incident."

"So it's kind of like a flashback?"

"Yeah except you are just trapped in your own body for weeks, it's like reliving a movie of your life. It only shows significant events that helped shape you, like being stuck on a desert island for a week with a broken ankle. You feel all the pain too."

"Well I'd love some raw. I have a good past." Arazis said.

"Well, Ara, sad to say, it might give you the events leading up to you and me being thrown in prison. You'd be reliving that painful spot where your life is about to get turned around and you'd be tortured inside your own body. You'll want to make yourself change the past, but no matter what you do, it'll still happen. It's been used as a mental weapon in ancient times and had been ordered eradicated by the Daiamid hundreds of year ago. My family in particular secretly kept it living."

"Well that would suck." Isel said.

"Almost there I think I can see the fleet ahead." I said. There was the carrier, that was captained by my good friend John Nabaal, that giant ship they found that I heard about while walking down the halls towards my room, and five destroyers that I could barely make out.

As we got closer, I saw the Kadeshi frigates and some of ours. There were a few Taiidan ships left, though most had been ordered to retire to be recycled into new ones. It was actually cheaper than painting it. The destroyers didn't even bother getting painted. They were too big. We just slapped on the national crest and sent it on its way.

"Red Squad reporting for duty. What are our orders?"

"Hey Mark, well we have a situation here. There's a lot of fighters and a few frigates and a carrier. We need more space, so we've planned out capturing the carrier and whatever frigates we can salvage for scraps. I've spoken with Cromell Soban and he said he'd attempt to get the Taiidan working in the engineering division with the Raiders since they're not really responsible for the genocide. You need to guard the salvage teams until they clear the dust. The Kadeshi will sneak around the back and start firing on the station along with the destroyers and the cruiser from the frontal assault. The missile destroyers will help with the small fighters. We're expecting the carrier to launch fighters. So be careful."

"Will there be any support?"

"Three repair corvettes are all we can offer. The support frigates are repairing the destroyers and the corvettes have their hands full escorting the Kadeshi."

"Won't the radiation still be too strong for us here?"

"Not really. There are small amounts of dust but you'll need a chemical shower when you're done."

"Very reassuring. I meant the ships."

"They should be fine. It's not like they'll blow up seconds after leaving the dust vein."

"I hope you're right about that. What about the swarmer? It's hull is very weak."

"That I'm not too sure about. I think the swarmer should just come and dock just to be safe." John said.

"Well, you heard him Ara." I've started calling her that. Like a nickname.

"First day on the job and I'm already being told to go home." She said.

"Alright, four of us."

"Actually I'm sending in Yellow Squad. You didn't think I'd leave it all to you did you?"

"Well yeah, since you managed to indirectly wake me up with a bucket of water for this." I said. Isel laughed over the intercom then apologized, probably for leaving the microphone on. Not for the bucket of water.

"Alright guys, set sphere formation around the salvettes." I said. The two squads did as I commanded and there were now seven interceptors and two heavy corvettes with three repair corvettes. We moved out after the Kadeshi were in position on the other side. We were sitting there for a few minutes.

"Alright, move out." I heard Rob say.

We did. Immediately, the carrier launched fighters. The missile destroyers took care of the small ones in wall formation around the station, but these ones were our fight. The sphere held, but it didn't do too well for maneuverability. "Better idea. Claw formation." I said after the third interceptor blew up. No one objected.

This was much better. The claw was up, and the fight was on. Enemy fighters exploded as the salvage teams were taking hold of the carrier. Jay was one of them. I heard a few hits on the hull, but no real damage happened. I saw three interceptors break away and dock with the repairers.

Then some heavy corvettes launched from the carrier and I swerved out of the way of the bullets. They were slow and I could stay clear. I opened fire on one, but it took a while to actually cause damage. Our heavy corvettes were taking the hits. I was starting to feel the effects of the radiation on top of that. The salvagers were now moving the carrier out of range. The fight was almost over. I glanced at the tactical screen and saw little red blips disappear around the station. I saw some ion frigates being captured. An assault frigate came to help us out too.

Eric headed to the repairers now. This battle wasn't that hard. Either they weren't trained too well or I was just getting too used to this.

ARAZIS

Her ship docked on the carrier, and she was immediately attended to by a group of Kadeshi. They got her out of the swarmer and welcomed her.

"I remember you." She said to some of them. Familiar faces came to her. Some were her friends from the Amun while others were strangers, probably from the other two ships. "How are you treated here?" she asked curiously.

"It's not home, but they don't seem to mind us. Except for the secretary. She doesn't like having us here. Apparently we're a nuisance."

"Oh. But is the crew friendly?"

"Yes, we've made some friends here, why?" one answered.

"Because I was thinking of relocating." She said. She looked at the large room that was the only fighter bay of the carrier. It was one huge open area with docking stations. Fighters in front corvettes in back. It was all compact. There were conveyors on the walls for when the ship was full. There were small platforms on five floors along all walls. She guessed when the ship was in hyperspace they kept it as clean as possible so people could move around. Ships docked through the bottom and launched out the front.

She left the Kadeshi to their work. She walked to the front where there was an escalator to a higher level. The ship was empty. It felt roomy and comfortable. She didn't even care where she was going. It gave her something to do. She walked passed some supply rooms and up the escalator to a level where she guessed pilots lived. There were rooms, meeting areas, and there was a mess hall at the end. She kept walking to another area. She guessed this was now the command section of the ship because there were more people.

She peeked into several rooms, and they were doing stuff with equipment she didn't recognize. The Amun had been automated as much as possible. It was made simple, so anyone could manage the ship. It didn't take an expert. The hull was a material that was transparent on the inside, giving constant light to the ship, with a beautiful red nebula background.

This ship was dull and plain with its white painted walls, but still managed to stay attractive. She eventually made it up to the bridge.

"Hey look who it is." John said.

"This area is off limits I'm sorry to say." said a woman with glasses and a clipboard. The word "secretary" associated itself with her.

"Oh ignore Fiira. We're not busy anyway." He said.

"Alright, you're the captain." said the secretary.

"Nice place you have here." She said taking a seat in one of the chairs. "Mark, Isel, Eric and I were thinking of relocating here. Eric says the Rancor smells bad and the Mothership is lacking in the awesome John and Jay Nabaal."

He laughed. "Well, be my guest. Karu already decided he was going to ask Isel if she would."

"The place seems so . . . empty. Is there some meeting going on?" she asked.

"Nah it's just always like this. The crew is pretty much people from the two support frigates I commanded."

"I see. So it's understaffed." She said.

"Well most of the people that need to be here are where they should be. Later on you'll see more faces, but it's still pretty casual. You've changed a lot yourself from the last time I saw you." He said.

"I guess I have. Mark tells me all the time."

"Uh captain, do you mean The Mark Soban?" asked one of the technicians.

"Yes Paul, for the last time, we're good friends. Get over it it's not like he's Sajuuk himself or anything."

"Right. Well I'll get to meet him at least." Paul said.

"Does everyone in the fleet look up to him or something? I thought it was just the fighter pilots." She asked.

"No, it's pretty much everyone."

"Well I know the Kadeshi respect him a lot for how he helped us all. I mean even just realizing that we didn't know how to sleep saved our lives."

"That's stupid how can no one know how to sleep? It's instinct."

"No, Fiira, actually if it's been thousands of years since your people stopped sleeping then they'd all have serious insomnia like symptoms."

"Sleeper tubes. You should try it. Just saying. You go in for five hours and you feel like you slept for ten. And you're clean. It's like a bed, bath, toothbrush, and toilet."

"Sounds disgusting to me." Fiira commented.

"Wow what else does it do? I've never actually asked about it before but you have me very interested."

"It does anything related to personal hygiene. It also replenishes your cells. The average Kadeshi life expectancy is ninety years. Our people have no disease because it cures any illness. It gives you what you call breakfast too. You wake up feeling amazing and you get in feeling exhausted. The Kadeshi people are happy. Even with martial law. You really should have joined. You might have had an influence in the government because of who your people are. Then we might have helped out with the quest you're on. The elders would definitely agree to the chance to finally hit back on the great evil the people fear so much. It's all propaganda to me now."

"I guess, but that's all in the past now. But ninety years. That's long."

"Well for captains like you it would be nearly two hundred give or take a decade."

"Why's that?"

"Cloning. Like the captain of the Amun. He was a clone. Jeremiah the second. If you deserve it, or are just a great leader, you can be cloned. It's very strict though. Only captains of needleships get one, the presidents of the seven colonies get two, and the elders get however many they please."

"By Elders, how old do you mean?" Fiira asked.

"Well, as old as our people. They're of religious significance, because they are the lone living members of the original exile thousands of years ago."

"That's incredible!" John exclaimed.

"But you can only clone from the original tissue. That is why the bodies of the Elders are kept in permanent sleeper chambers. Oh one more thing it's like the equivalent of your cryostasis but there's no freezing involved."

"I'm honestly beginning to regret leaving the nebula." John said.

"Well, so do we!" she said.

"I still have faith in Mark, however. We can still defeat the Taiidan."

"What's the situation with the battle?" she asked.

"Well, we've lost two ion frigates and a few fighters, no one we know, and they've lost quite a bit. The fighters are just finishing up now. The missile destroyers are almost done with the wall of fighters. I can't see this going on for very long."

ERIC

The last enemy was killed by none other than Mark Soban. The battle was over for them now.

"That went well, so are we still doing this moving?" Eric asked.

"I guess. I have nothing else to do, but we still need that chemical shower before we do anything." Mark said.

They docked with the carrier and a team was already set up. The radiation wasn't too serious for them to need to strip down, to which everyone was relieved, so the team just sprayed their uniforms and the skin that wasn't covered.

"You're all set." said one of them.

Their ships had been cleaned too. They got in, and started heading down the resource vein.

Eric and Triikor left the squad and headed into the Rancor's hangar now that it was repaired.

The clamps took hold, and thy got out. "Well, we should pack up. I'll tell Saiin." She said.

"Right. Hey look at that." he said pointing to a large explosion outside. It was the research station.

MARK

"Well, I guess we won now." I said. The others saw it too. No one could miss it. The explosion was so bright I couldn't even make out the silhouette of the Rancor that was not too far away.

"You know, this barely seems real." Isel said. "I mean here we are a bunch of kids, the best pilots around."

"Not really. I mean everyone else is older and used to jet fighters. And I was better than my flight instructor even then. We're used to this now. It seems weird, but it's true. I'm used to this. It's easy now. After the battle in the nebula nothing seems to compare to the speed and agility of those pilots and their ships. But don't get soft. I'm sure once they realize we're fighting back they'll bring in some professional pilots to attack us. And then the fight gets hard again. This is a pit stop, pretty much to show the crew that we can defeat them, to show ourselves that we're not pushovers. The next battle will be a real fight."