Okay, so confession time I guess...
This chapter has been done for over a month now, so it's just been sitting on my PC doing nothing while I've been playing Skyrim (which I've been addicted to for the last 2 weeks for some reason). But on the upside me and my girlfriend had a great Valentines day, so I guess it wasn't a complete waste? Oh, and if the quality of this chapter seems off it's because I wrote it during Biology, it's hard playing FTL and writing about it at the same time with a teacher (however lax he may be) walking around... I'll shut up now.
"Wouldn't the nebula be a good place to jump to?" Tai chimed from the engine room, "Surely the rebels wouldn't be able to see us in there? We'd get a break at least." She said the last part with a slightly happier tone to it than the rest of the sentence.
"Sounds like a good plan, let's do that." Jorlan replied, punching in the coordinates for the beacon that was located in the heart of the nebula. The ship rocked slightly as it turned to face the beacon and Tai heard the FTL Drive power up before the Nisos vanished from the system in a bright flash.
Tai had never really appreciated the view you get from being in hyperspace; beautiful could describe it, but then again it could also be described as quite bland. But as she admired the swirling blue lines interlinking with the white light created by the speed at which they were going, she couldn't help but admire the beauty of hyperspace travel, it really was a wonder, both scientifically and visually.
Blue slowly changed to purple as the crew entered the nebula, the sensors giving a warning that the electromagnetic interference would disrupt the waves that were sent out by it, rendering it useless. As they materialised at the beacon, the swirl of the lightspeed tunnel seeming to just end the universe coming back into focus, they saw one lone ship half hidden by the clouds. Jorlan couldn't make out any kind of weaponry but he knew that pirates always had a way of concealing their weapons, so best to be on his toes, he decided. He was hailed by the ship that turned out to be a merchant ship that was looking to trade drone parts for missiles. Having no drone system but a fully functioning missile launcher Jorlan respectfully declined the offer and looked around the nebula, there was nothing but the beacon and the merchant ship in sight and as the sensors weren't functioning he decided to move on to the next jump in the nebula without consulting his crewmates.
Big mistake.
The Nisos materialised in the middle of an ion storm, the reactor of the ship taking damage and being reduced to half power until they were out of the storm. Lying in wait was an automated rebel scout, seemingly unaffected by the ion storm, it moved in to attack.
"We have a hostile! Mort! Power up the weapons!" Jorlan commanded, forcing the engines, which at the moment were only powered by Tai's innate ability to power systems, to circle around the scout, weapons trained on it as they charged. Moments of silence passed. Target locked. Then suddenly a missile burst forth from the Nisos before the scout could react and impacted into the hull of the weapons system, damaging but not disabling the single laser that protruded from the plates of the robot. Its laser only managing to overload the shields but not do any actual damage to the ship or its crew. The silence once again dominated the battlefield as the weapons charged on both sides. Then the battle lit up again as both sides discharged, the scout's weapons still not managing to break through to the hull of the Nisos, while it pounded the scout with its barrage. Then a missile was fired from the crew and when it hit the scout small explosions racked the ship, tearing it apart. The lights from the cockpit fading and the machine becoming dormant in its pieces.
"That seemed too easy" Mort muttered, his voice layered with distrust.
"I know, stay on your guard" Jorlan replied, keeping the weapons charged in case another rebel came from the clouds, but none came. By the time the group came to leave the beacon and the nebula the remains of the scout had been obscured by the clouds, being lost into the void of purple.
Trappinch: with the last chapter I met a derelict vessel and nothing else happened, so i just took some creative license with it, since nothing else was going to happen
Jacabo136: Thank you! I spent about two weeks trying to set the scene for the story, the characters weren't really hard as they're stock names, but the President has a secret in his name, try and find it! ;) Until next time!