Episode 23: Eye of the Enemy

"Prepare for warp!" the captain's voice echoed through the bridge, picking up the crew's flagging spirits and pushing them ahead, sending them onward, across the threshold of their own galaxy and out into the unknown.

Humanity had just begun to make infrequent trips out beyond Pluto when the bombardments began years ago. If it weren't for the Gamilons' intervention, who knew where Earth's people would be right now? But they hadn't had that chance, and instead of venturing out, they'd been beaten down and forced into the most remote corners of their world.

The ship warped.

Everything morphed into blurred lines and colors. The walls melted and reappeared; the floor disappeared and then came back in a different color. Faces changed, and several crewmen thought that they saw the very same people they'd spoken with not half a day ago.

Then the world righted itself again and they were out – far from Pluto and their own solar system.

Nova squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, trying to shake off the strange feeling she always had after a warp. She looked down at the radar.

"Captain! Enemy ships at twelve o'clock!" Nova's voice woke up anyone who wasn't quite alert yet after their abrupt reappearance.

"How many?"

"Six; three destroyers, a flagship, and two small carriers." Nova replied. "Their signatures match the ones from the Gamilons who've been tailing us."

"But they disappeared after Saturn." Mark protested.

"Well, they came back." Derek interjected, annoyed.

"Incoming fire." Nova said.

"Evasive maneuvers." Avatar ordered.

Mark dodged the fire as best as he could, but he didn't escape every shot and one stray bolt slammed into the ship. Even the bridge crew felt the tremor shake through the Argo.

"Minor damage to one of the port gun turrets." Sandor reported. "But it's still functional."

"Prepare to fire." Avatar said.

Derek made some adjustments at his terminal, "Main guns ready to fire."

"Take aim at the nearest ship and open fire."

Derek relayed the instructions to his gunnery crew and they obeyed, peppering one of the destroyers with shot after shot until finally the enemy ship exploded.

Derek was glad their weapons were better than the ones the Pluto fleet had been equipped with, thanks to the mysterious Starsha of Iscandar.

"The rest of the ships are closing in, and they're sending out fighters." Nova looked back at the captain as she said it.

"Are there any nearby planets, planetoids, asteroids? Anything we could put between us and them?" Avatar asked Forrester.

She turned back to the radar and made adjustment after adjustment, looking for anything that might help them now.

"There's a small asteroid belt three hundred thousand mega-meters to starboard."

"Venture, take us in."

"Aye, Sir." Mark turned the ship towards the asteroids and sent her in their direction as fast as she would go.

The ship reached the asteroids and slipped in, weaving her way through them, hoping the enemy might not follow.

"Ah, so this is what you wanted me to see." Desslok stepped farther into the dark room, looking at the view screen mounted on the far wall. "These are not our stars, neither are they the stars of any world in our galaxy." he walked straight up to the viewscreen and looked carefully at the image before him, "How have you managed to show me the Eratite's galaxy, Celestella?" the Leader stepped back again, the picture quality to his satisfaction.

"A… friend… provided me with the technology to make it possible, Leader Desslok." Celestella replied, smirking to herself at the memory of the strange conversation she and Mirenel had just finished not an hour ago. "They have some experience in long-range communications."

"My congratulations to them for mastering such a science." The leader replied, "But I'm sure you haven't brought me here to simply stare at alien stars."

"True, Leader." Celestella held up a small device and tapped out a short sequence on it. Suddenly the view on the screen changed and an asteroid field came into view.

"Gantz' fleet." Desslok stated, beginning to pace back and forth in front of the screen.

"Yes, but not just them." Celestella said, seeing that the Leader was beginning to lose interest in her little presentation. She changed the view a bit and something else appeared on the screen.

"And what is that?" the Leader asked, "It looks like an ancient fishing boat flung out into the stars."

"That is the Eratite ship, Sire." Celestella provided.

"Oh, really." Desslok raised an eyebrow at the thing, "And why has Gantz had such trouble with her? She is no match for his fleet, diminished though it is."

"There is more to her than meets the eye, Sir. She has warp capability – which we already knew – and a prime weapon so powerful that it completely disintegrated the Zakkar." Celestella reminded him.

There was silence for a long moment and Celestella suddenly realized that she had misspoken. Standing in horror, she waited for the inevitable outburst of rage that such a revelation would bring. The Leader had had no previous knowledge of the fate of the Zakkar, and the council had thought to keep it from him for the foreseeable future.

"Ee Katan Zakkar… is gone?" the Leader finally said quietly, still staring at the image of the Eratite ship.

"It – it is." Celestella stuttered.

The Leader bowed his head and hissed, "So it ends," then bit back a wrath-filled howl of anguish at its passing. His head remained low for some time and Celestella began to fear that the Leader was missing what was transpiring before him. She was tempted to remind him, but the memory of his few bitter words stopped her instantly. She wanted to keep her head attached to her shoulders for now.

Finally he raised his face back towards the screen and Celestella's shoulders relaxed a bit, but just as soon as she had, the Leader's next words made them knot again.

"They weren't going to tell me." He growled.

Celestella didn't answer.

The Leader whirled around and with fiery eyes he laid into Miezella, "Weren't they?!"

"Yes… Leader Desslok… They thought to keep it from you… though…" she hesitated to say the rest, but saw the ire in her king's eyes and finished her words, "I do not know why." She looked down at the floor, cowed by the overwhelming presence of anger Desslok now carried with him.

She felt as though even the Malha couldn't rival this level of rage – though she had come close many times, and most likely would again – if Miezella ever saw her again.

"That is none of your concern, Jireli!" he spat the label as though it were a poison and though she told herself it didn't hurt to be spoken to this way, she couldn't help but feel the barb wedge deeply into her heart.

Despite the sting she, wisely, said nothing, hoping the moment would pass.

Suddenly it did and the Leader turned his angry eyes back towards the perpetrators of a crime Celestella didn't even understand.

He held out a tiny device and spoke several things to it, resulting in the display of a holographic map of stars Miezella couldn't see well enough to recognize.

Then the Leader said, "Send word to Gantz. I've instructions for him."

"They're not coming, Captain." Nova said in relief, watching as the enemy ships on the radar halted just outside the asteroid belt.

"Good, that'll give us some time." Avatar said.

"Captain, if I may?" Sandor spoke up.

"Yes?" Avatar looked at his XO with a raised eyebrow.

"I think now might be the time to test something I've been working on for a while – since before we left Earth."

"And what might that be?" the captain asked.

"I'll show you." He offered.

"Very well. I'll see you in my quarters in five minutes." With that the captain and his chair rose up into the ceiling, disappearing into the captain's cabin up above the bridge.

Sandor left quickly, leaving Wildstar in charge in his absence.

Twenty minutes stretched by. All eyes were glued to their instruments, waiting for some sign that the enemy was coming in after them.

Then the door to the bridge hissed open and in came Sandor, looking slightly less concerned than he had when he left.

Almost at the same time, the captain and his chair descended from his quarters and he announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a battle plan."

"Leader Desslok, I have Gantz." Celestella announced.

"Put me through to him." Desslok ordered.

A few seconds later an image of Colonel Gantz appeared on the screen in front of him..

"L – Leader Desslok – Sire –" he bowed before his king, "You have orders?"

"Pursue the Eratite ship immediately."

"Yes, Sire," Gantz nodded, "But the asteroids –"

"Do not question me, Gantz." Desslok growled, "You must not give them time. Herd them like cattle if you must, but do not give them a chance to use their prime weapon."

"Yes, Leader Desslok." Gantz bowed low before his king, then Desslok ended the call.

"Ah, I see." Celestella ventured. "If the ship doesn't have time to make their prime weapon ready… then Gantz has a chance."

"Indeed, Celestella." The Leader said, the condescension in his voice so thick Miezella almost winced, and would have if Desslok hadn't been mere feet away.

The image on the screen changed, and Gantz's small fleet melted into the asteroids.

For a long moment, nothing happened, then, almost imperceptibly, the asteroids began to move and Desslok raised an eyebrow at the strange sight and whispered, "He may already be too late."

"Colonel, they don't show up on our radar at all." The tactical officer said.

"Nothing at all?" Gantz asked.

"No, sir." Came the reply. "All these asteroids are inhibiting our radar – "

"Then look with your own eyes!" Gantz suddenly exclaimed, the agitation of the past days finally exploding into rage.

"Y- yes, Sir." The tactical officer replied.

"That goes for the rest of you too." Gantz pointed at the rest of the bridge crew and they all began frantically looking out the front and side viewports trying to catch a glimpse of something that might resemble the Eratite ship floating out in the dark of space.

"All hands, prepare for asteroid tethering." The captain announced over the ship's comm. Individual instructions were sent to each crewman's comm unit and all scrambled to obey even though they didn't know exactly what was going on.

The ship shuddered as it launched thousands of tethering units. Each one flew towards an asteroid, some large, some quite tiny, but all found their mark and were ready for any command.

"Bring them in, Sandor." Avatar ordered.

Sandor nodded and triggered something that none of the bridge crew expected.

Nova looked at the radar in shock as she watched the asteroids converging on their position as though they'd a will all their own.

Crewmen looking out the viewports nearly cried out in terror as asteroids sped towards them as though they would plough right through the hull, but to the surprise of the onlookers they did not so much as scratch the hull, instead, they nestled up against the ship like a comfortable old blanket, blocking out the stars and the rest of the asteroid belt.

The bridge crew looked on in astonishment at the goings on outside.

There was a moment of silence, then Wildstar said, "So… what now?"

"Now we wait." Avatar replied.

"There's nothing out there, Colonel." Gantz's aide, Bane said, exasperated after hours of searching the viewports fruitlessly, squinting out into the darkness. He'd been staring so long he had a headache and the rest of the men looked like they were suffering much the same. "We should just leave and wait for them to come out."

"Silence, Bane." Gantz snarled. "Just look carefully, and – There! There it is, the Eratite ship!" the colonel exclaimed, pointing at an unusually shaped asteroid.

"But, sir, that's just an ast –"

"Bane, shut up!" Gantz roared at the man. "Can't you see what's right in front of you? They've somehow used the asteroids as a shield to hide themselves from us."

Bane and all the other crewmen turned their eyes to the place Gantz was still pointing at and suddenly they saw what they had all missed for hours. There, only a few thousand mega meters ahead was giant hunk of asteroids congealed together into one unseemly mass and shaped much like the images they had seen of the Eratite ship.

"Gunnery crew, take aim at the asteroid and fire at will." Gantz ordered, eyes smoldering with determination.

"Aye, sir." The crewman replied and relayed the colonel's orders to his own crew.

A few seconds later, laser fire blazed towards the hidden Eratite ship.

"Captain, incoming fire." Nova looked up from the radar, concern in her eyes. "The Gamilon ships followed us into the belt."

"The asteroids will take a good deal of punishment before breaking apart. And when they do… there is another option we have yet to make use of." Sandor said from his station.

Nova looked at his strangely, wondering exactly what he meant by "another option."

No one said anything else for a while, but they all felt the rumble of the ship as the enemy fired upon their hiding place.

"Captain, I believe it's time." Sandor finally said.

"I agree." Avatar concurred. "Begin the separation."

"Separation?" Wildstar thought, "Separation from what?"

His question was soon answered when the asteroids rocketed away from the ship so fast Derek thought they would smash into the other rocks and send a chain reaction through the belt. But instead of collisions, the asteroids formed a giant ring about the ship.

Derek watched as the rocks slowly started to spin, their speed increasing until they whirled about the ship like a waterfall rushing in an unending river through the void.

"Wha…?" Wildstar's mouth dropped open. "What is that?" he pointed out the viewport at the asteroid ring.

"That is our defense, Wildstar." Sandor replied with a smile. "It will shield us from enemy fire."

"Really?" Derek looked at the science officer skeptically. "Those spinning rocks are going to protect us from Gamilon ship?"

"Yes, they will." Sandor replied again. "Just watch."

"Enemy fire at ten o'clock." Nova said just before the asteroids ring darted to intercept the bolts of energy not once, but four times, each bolt slamming into the rocks one right after the other. But none of them got anywhere near the ship.

Desslok watched, fascinated at the image before him. Gantz had done as he'd said and gone in after the Eratites, but he had lingered too long and now the enemy had found a way to defend themselves in such tight quarters. The Eratite's invention had cleared enough of the asteroids for the Leader to see everything going on.

He would have laughed at the invention, but though it looked odd, it was effective and he admired the Eratites' ingenuity. Gantz's inability to see what was right in front of him had led to a very difficult situation for him.

Desslok smirked. Would Gantz never learn to think on a higher level than his crewmen?

Celestella still stood far behind the Leader, looking on with indifference. Gantz's fleet had been whittled down to size over and over again by these strangers. It was clear to her that their hope for defeating the Eratites did not lie with Gantz, and she was sure the Leader knew that too. So why was he sending the man into a confrontation he knew Gantz could not win?

"They can't touch us!" Derek exclaimed in triumph, rising out of his seat, he was so excited at the prospect.

"Not entirely true." Sandor put in. "We will have to continually restore the amount of asteroids in the ring in order to maintain this level of protection."

"So once we run out of asteroids…" Wildstar sat back down with a sigh, "We're back to where we were."

"I wouldn't say that," Sandor replied, "This buys us time we otherwise wouldn't have."

"True." The captain said, "But as it is, we must break through the enemy lines and get as far from here as we can."

"But what about that fleet? They're not going away any time soon; all they'll do is chase us wherever we go." Wildstar protested.

"We are in no position to fight a war right now. We'll face them again at a later date – and on our terms, not theirs." The captain replied. "Even though we've found a haven of sorts here, should we be pressed to use the wave motion gun, it would be unsafe to do so. Using it here could do more damage to us than we are prepared to take. The Argo is a sturdy ship – as we've all seen – but there is only so much she can take, and we must not afflict her unnecessarily."

Derek thought about the captain's words for a moment, then he nodded, "I understand…" he looked out at the enemy before them, "So let's punch a hole through 'em and get outta here."

Avatar allowed a small smile for the young man's spirit. He would be a good captain someday.

"Prepare to make a path through the enemy ships, and release the asteroids back into the field." The captain ordered. "Send as many of them into the enemy ships as possible."

"Aye, Captain." Sandor replied, eyes on his instruments.

"Venture, all ahead full. We're getting out of here." Avatar stared intently out the front viewport towards the enemy.

"Yes, Captain."

"Leader Desslok , the Eratite ship, it's – it's moving!" Celestella exclaimed suddenly feeling very nervous, which made her even more jittery as her previous apathy melted away, replaced with the deep-seated terror that she'd been trying to keep at bay since before they had learned of the Eratite ship's existence.

"As to be expected." Was all he said in response.

Celestella' entire body tensed as she watched the ship with its strange asteroid ring fly towards Gantz's fleet with unknown intent.

She shuddered when she saw what they intended to do, but she held the tremor in, lest the Leader learn of her most secret fear – the coming of the ship bearing the presence of the great Enemy of the Malha. If that ship made it to Belarus, the entire fate of the universe would change irreparably, and that was something she wasn't prepared to face.