Surprise

Captain Korin mulled over her orders as the stars flashed across her monitors.

She, and the other four ships of her Central Guard battle detachment had rendezvoused with the battle cruiser Lorelei just less than an hour ago. They had expected to transfer a prisoner of unknown origin for questioning, only to discover that it had escaped in a stolen shuttle and had somehow sabotaged the Lorelei in order to prevent pursuit. She had ordered one ship of her group to remain behind and assist in restoring the ship to operation, while the rest of her group pursued the alien along the course it had taken when it had jumped to Lightspeed.

Do we have another enemy to deal with now? - she pondered silently – Just as plans are getting underway to eradicate the Paranoids from our midst, we have to deal with this new threat?

"Something odd..." her executive-on-duty muttered under her breath.

"Is there a problem?" Korin inquired.

"The transport shuttle we've been tracking – it emerged from Lightspeed a little while ago, and then it just... vanished."

"You mean it exploded, right?"

"No, Captain. There was no energy burst to suggest an explosion. It was on a heading of two-two-three when it disappeared from all sensor scans. I can't explain it."

"We'll find out what happened soon enough – we've reached the coordinates. All ships - deactivate G-Cancellers and drop out of Lightspeed."

The four ships emerged into normal space in a burst of residual energy. "Fan out and begin sensor sweeps," Korin ordered, "search for signs of the shuttle or debris."

"Scans indicate no debris, no trace of asteroids capable of destroying the shuttle, and no residual energy signatures to suggest that they made a second Lightspeed jump." The sensor operator responded. "Further – no gravitational anomalies consistent with a black hole, no radiation above background, nothing to say that a ship was ever here."

"This is damn peculiar," Korin muttered. She was unable to complete the thought, as alarm klaxons began to blare.

"Four ships inbound!" called the sensor operator, "Breakout imminent, two maar dead ahead!"

The screen before them flared as it muted the energy release that accompanied a ship transiting through the Lightspeed barrier. When their vision returned to normal, Korin immediately spotted the familiar spiked-U shapes that she had almost hoped would show up.

"Paranoid battleships!" she announced needlessly. "OPEN FIRE!"

The ship lurched as soon as the words left her lips, shoving her forward into the podium before her.

"Weapons do not respond!" her exec called out. "Engines are off-line!"

"It's a TRAP!" Korin screamed her frustration.

Commander Drel stood silently between his two adjutants as they sped through the non-space that was part of Lightspeed travel.

He had been extremely fortunate this day – having taken part in the battle that had resulted in the destruction of Marsus, homeworld of their ancient enemy, he had found his ships in position to intercept a message that described the existence of a being that the Solnoid were treating as a spy. Knowing that his race was physically incapable of employing such a tactic, he knew that the accusation was not reasonable – however, the idea that this unknown creature had been interacting with his peoples' sworn foe, learning their secrets and weaknesses, convinced him to risk apprehending it to aid in ending the war once and for all... in favour of the Paranoid race, of course.

And so, with the approval of Supreme Commander Born, he and his four-ship flotilla were enroute to the last known position of this enigmatic alien. He considered this to be a straightforward operation that would not present any difficulty.

"Maintaining course four-nine-three," his adjutant informed him, "thirty maar to warp-out point."

"Very good," he said, the tentacles he used in place of vocal cords giving his voice a slight bass rumble, "all ships will assume standard combat pattern upon warp-out. Charge weapons, but do not fire unless I give the order – we want to take this creature alive."

"Thirty seconds to warp-out. Weapons ready at your command. SIR! Enemy ships detected in the sector! It may be a trap!"

As the four ships returned to sub-light space, the enemy ships came into view. Drel could clearly see their weapons-bays swinging open and coming to bear on his group of ships.

"ALL GUNS! RETURN ENEMY FIRE!" he shouted, his two assistants hurrying to obey.

They didn't have a chance.

Before any orders could be relayed to the remaining ships, the lights dimmed and the ship itself shuddered as if struck.

"Weapons are inoperative!" his lieutenant called out. "Drives, shields, and drones not responding!"

"It's a Solnoid trap!" Drel cried in rage.

Suddenly, the monitor screens in front of him began projecting images and text at a rate too fast for any of them to follow.

"Our computers have been invaded! Everything is being read out!"

Do the Solnoids actually have the technology to do this? Drel fumed, "What is HAPPENING?"

"CAPTAIN! Our computer records are being copied! Every order, every operation, every last detail of ship functioning! They're taking all of our secrets!"

Once the displays went black, Korin stared out at the enemy ships.

"Why don't they attack...?"

"Energy fluctuation at three-one-two!" the sensor operator yelled out. "Something is happening that I've never seen before!" She adjusted the viewer to display what was taking place...

Drel watched helplessly as every bit of information was drained from his ships' computers. It did not take long for the screens to once again go dark, and an eerie quiet fell on the ship.

"Energy discharge at zero-four-eight relative!" his second announced. "Shifting scan to visual!"

As the image changed from the motionless Solnoid ships to the region where the odd phenomenon was taking place. Drel watched as the stars seemed to twist and shift before vanishing behind a gargantuan axe-shaped vessel that dwarfed even their large planet-destroyer ships.

"WHAT is THAT?" Korin yelped in confusion. "Even High Leader Journey doesn't have a ship that size!"

"The computer doesn't recognize it either," her exec added. "Whatever it is, it's neither Paranoid nor Solnoid."

"Could it be behind this trap?" Korin mused. "What does it want?"

As if on cue, the screen in front of them jumped to an image of something that bore a striking resemblance to a Solnoid, but was definitely NOT one. It had a rugged and angular face and seemed to have hair growing around its' mouth. It was clothed in a silver-grey outfit that was unlike any Solnoid garb. Flanking it were four Solnoids in light-duty uniforms – the tall one with long black hair standing to one side, behind a shorter soldier with mid-length purple hair. On the other side was a soldier with curly brown hair standing behind a child who sported glasses and a blond ponytail.

Its' eyes shifted from one side to the other, as if scanning the interior of the ship. Then its' eyes gazed straight ahead, seeming to bore right into the back of Korins' head.

Then it spoke...