The Lion King: 3305
(A/N: Hello fellow readers and writers, and welcome to the start of my new story. I know I know. I've been gone for two years and now you decide to show up with a new story. "Are you going to even finish your old story" you might be asking? Don't worry, I already have a plan of action in place for handling that and this new story. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this new story and you have a safe and great day/night.
Two last things before I get started here in sharing this new idea with you guys.
I want to give you guys a bit of background on Elite: Dangerous so you can know what's going on. Elite: Dangerous is a space combat/trading/exploration simulation game set in a 1:1 scale Milky Way galaxy. This means that Earth is the exact distance from the sun that it is in the real world. Sagittarius A* (aka the super massive black hole at the center of our galaxy) is the exact distance from SOL that it should be in the real world, etc. The game is an open ended MMO Space sim where players set out in a massive galaxy of over 800 Billion star systems to amass fortune, fame, and new ships. Careers in the game range from piracy, smuggling, bounty hunting, exploring, mining, and a few others, with the player never locked into one profession. The goal of the game is to reach Elite ranking in Combat, Trading, or Exploring, and unlock the Founder's World, the heart of the Pilots Federation which every player is a member of. I highly recommend the game if you have a love of space, Sci-Fi, or MMO titles.
Both the Lion King franchise and the Elite franchise will play a pivotal part of this first story. To start off how these two "worlds" meet, this story is set before the first Lion King, when Mufasa and Sarabi are just cubs. This is also set in the old style of The Lion King, the 1994 movie. So, when you envision these lions, they aren't the CGI lions from The Lion King 2019.)
I promise only this chapter will have a long length to it. I'm not sure if the length (it being over 10,000 words in a single chapter) is off putting to some of you or not. This one chapter is longer than some stories on this site. Let me know if you like the length.)
Chapter 1: Another Day, Another Bounty
Space…
The boundless Black…
Since the dawn of mankind, our ancestors have always been fascinated with the night sky and the strange celestial lights that dwelled within it. Over the millennia, man's interest in space has grown and changed as space became less of a magical mystery and more of a tangible actuality. However, space was always truly out of our reach due to the sheer vastness of its size.
That is until the invention of the Frame Shift Drive and the discovery of Witch Space. This remarkable piece of technology finally put the stars…all of them…within our reach. By moving space around the spacecraft while in SuperCruise to travel at multitudes of the speed of light, exploration within our home system, or any system for that matter, became a trivial action. The inclusion of the Hyperspace Conduit into early frame shift drives allowed for the ability to travel light years in mere seconds, all achieved by using the alternate dimension of Witch Space, a dimension where distance between stars is incredibly shorter.
Mankind spread out into the stars, colonizing new worlds, discovering the unknown and to boldly go where no man has ever dreamed possible. Hundreds of years passed, and our kind has colonized thousands of star systems around SOL, a region commonly referred to now as "The Bubble", a term for the collective of civilized human space.
Still, mankind is, and always will be, mankind. As explorers, traders, and miners set out to discover and work the unknown, the scum of mankind followed its way out into the Black as well.
Pirates, Slavers, Smugglers, Terrorists, Cults, you name it.
That's where people like me…like my crew come in. As bounty hunters, our duty is to bring justice to the galaxy, going where and when law enforcement and militaries can't go. Our Anaconda-Class Heavy ship, Shadow of Repent, was built from the ground up on bringing the wanted to justice, alive or dead. However, despite all the usual shocks and surprises that one sees as a bounty hunter, there are still things that you never see coming. For me and my crew, that started when we raided the smuggling vessel of the notorious Tyl Nacht, and discovered a familiar, and new, surprise in her hold.
The space around the main sequence star of TZ Araetis was its usual self-right now. Ships traveling in SuperCruise on their way to various destinations, craft Hyperspacing in and out of the system. It was a normal time for this corporate governed star system. One of the craft that hyperspaced in was a large ship, a ship class famed throughout the galaxy as a big answer to a big problem, regardless of what it was…the Anaconda. The ship exited Witch Space near the star, leaving the exit point of the portal the hyperspace conduit had created. The ship was an elongated design, one that it started narrow towards the bow and swept back about 2/3rds of the way from the front of the ship before curving in slightly and then ending with a stubby set of wings in the rear. The sleek topside of the ship was countered by the bulky and utilitarian design of her hold and bottom half together. The ship was coated in a matte orange paint job and gracing the top side of the port and starboard sides was the ships designation and name.
"SR-10A"
"Shadow of Repent"
Inside the ship's bridge was her crew. The crew of Commander Jameson was at their stations on the bridge.
Commander David Jameson sat in the pilot's seat, suited up in his orange and white RemLock pilot's suit. Jameson was a man of many years of experience as a pilot. The Pilot's Federation rated his combat skills at "Dangerous", two steps shy of Elite. He was a Caucasian man with lighter white skin and blonde hair, which he usually kept slicked back. He had dichromatic eyes due to the fact that one of his eyes was a cybernetic implant. His natural eye was blue, but his cybernetic eye was a crimson red color. Jameson had that cybernetic eye as a result of shrapnel flying through the bridge following a canopy breech during combat in the upper atmosphere of an Earth-like world. Glass had skewered the Commander in his eye and had blinded him. A problem if it wasn't for his gunner and two fighter pilots handling the pirate who shot out the canopy following shield failure.
Sitting to the right of the Commander in his own command seat was his second in command and "Elite" rated fighter pilot, Ellis Gentry. The crew found it funny that an Elite rated pilot was second in command to a Dangerous pilot, but the truth was that Shadow of Repent was the property of the Commander. David had bought the ship stock and spent over 700 million credits kitting her out to be a flying beast of death. He knew he couldn't operate a ship this size efficiently on his own. While it was a possibility, it was far easier to have reliable people helping to make his personal beauty of a ship as deadly as possible for what these four do in their careers: bounty hunting. Ellis was an older man nearly twice the senior of David's 28 years old. Despite Ellis being 48, he still had a lot of bite in him, as well as bark to boot. Ellis had brown hair which he kept down to just a buzz cut. He had blue eyes like the Commander, but his were both natural. He was Caucasian like the Commander, but a slightly darker shade of white than the Commander. His RemLock flight suit was red and white.
Sitting to the Commander's left was his other fighter pilot, Jason Marko, a Dangerous rated fighter pilot. He was nearly as deadly as Ellis behind the controls of the F63 Condor as Ellis was behind the controls of the GU-97 Imperial Fighter. Jason preferred the Condor's versatility over the Imperial Fighters incredible maneuverability and as such piloted that fighter over the other option. Jason was a man of African ethnicity, with a fairly dark-skinned tone to him. He had black hair which he preferred to keep in a short Mohawk. He had brown eyes and a solid blue toned RemLock Flight suit. Jason was 33, but his smoking habits should have made him look older than his age if not for the miracles of 34th century medicine.
The last crew member was seated at the gunners' seat behind the Commander, controlling the Class-3 Burst lasers and the Seeker Missile racks that the Anaconda carried, a mere portion of the many weapon systems that this craft had installed into its weapon hardpoints. This crew member was the only woman in the crew, Cassandra Meer. She was of Hispanic ethnicity and she had shoulder length black hair. She was rated as Deadly. She had green eyes as a product of cosmetic gene therapy, an evolution over the concept of plastic surgery from ancient Earth. She was 29 and her RemLock flight suit was a dark forest green color.
In addition to the Anaconda's two class-3 (large) burst lasers on the top of the hull halfway towards the bow from the bridge, and its two class-1 (small) seeker missile racks towards the stern on the bottom of the ship. This football stadium length and width, 500 ton vessel also had one class-4 (huge) multi-cannon mounted on the underside of the ship beneath the burst lasers,, two class-2 (medium) multi-cannons mounted on the port and starboard sides of the ship towards the nose, and one class-3 beam laser mounted on the underside of the ship slightly behind the bow observation deck.
"Alright team, the target should be here in this system somewhere according to our contact" stated the Commander over the rapid electronic beeping noise of the frame shift drive spooling down.
"I'll scan the Contacts feed" replied Cassandra in her Spanish accent. She then added, "Commander, if you could transfer the…"
David interrupted her with the statement of, "Working on it right now, Cassandra." David began to tap a few buttons on the keyboard situated to his left hear his lower left arm. A deep electronic bleep confirmed the action and Cassandra had the Contacts list now visible at her gunner's station. She turned her head to the panel and said, "Much appreciated, Commander."
She then touched the panel to her left and scrolled sideways to the contacts list. She was to observe for any Type-9 Heavy class freighters that appeared and alert the commander so he could scan the vessel for the registered name that they were looking for.
David meanwhile steered the ship out of the original flight path with TZ Araetis' main sequence star as he looked over at the navigation panel that was on his left now. He scrolled through the list of planets, moons, and points of interest that the system had. He noticed that the Nav Beacon for the system was near his position. He locked in the coordinates and brought the ship about to face the location in space of the nav beacon. He then said, "I'm bringing us in for a dropout at the Nav Beacon. Hopefully Tyl will be scanning that beacon to figure out where Snyder Enterprise is."
David was referring to the local star port that had an active black market on it. He was hoping that this was Tyl's first time in the system and he would need to scan the Beacon to log the system's navigational data onto his ship's computer.
David slowed the ship to safe disengage speed and was about to drop out of SuperCruise. Suddenly, Cassandra then spoke up loudly, "Hold on Commander. I got a contact that just popped up. Type 9, .13 light seconds out and approaching the beacon."
Cassandra logged the Type 9 as the active contact for the ship and suddenly an augmented reality circle representing the ships location, and ship name of Type 9 appeared on the canopy glass in front of the Commanders eyes. The Anaconda ship began a detailed scan of the Type 9 in SuperCruise and it soon popped up with the registered pilot's name and ship name.
"Tyl Nacht"
"Interloper"
"Crew we have confirmation on the mission target. I'm going to get behind him and try to interdict him out of SuperCruise" said David as he accelerated the ships SuperCruise speed, the frame shift drive whirring loudly in the background of his voice. He tried to get behind the target ship. David switched the pilot's active fire group to the Frame Shift Interdictor to pull Tyl right out of SuperCruise and into real space to start the engagement.
David got the ship in proper alignment to the Type 9 and activated the Interdictor. Suddenly, blue SuperCruise energy from the Frame Shift Drive appeared around the canopy and the rest of the ship as now the Interloper and the Shadow of Repent were locked in a high-speed game of tug of war to pull the target out of SuperCruise.
The Ship's A.I. then said, "Frame shift Interdictor active."
Almost immediately, the Type 9 began to do evasive maneuvers in an effort to lose the Frame Shift Interdiction tether that now had Tyl's craft in its grip. Whether it was tyl at the helm of the vessel or another of his crew, the team aboard the Shadow of Repent could not say for certain, but David knew that this would be an easy job as the Type-9, even in supercruise, had poor maneuverability.
David followed the maneuvers needed to keep the tether locked on Tyl's ship. David could tell that the pilot had experience with breaking Frame Shift Interdictor tethers before. They were almost too good, but David's experience coupled with the Type-9's maneuverability had this act of a preemptive maneuver in the bag, compliments of the nearly 6 years of experience that he had as a bounty hunter. Finally, a notification came up that the target ship's frame shift drive had been shut down and both of the vessels were brought out of Super Cruise into real space.
David then shouted to the crew, "Showtime people, Let's show our teeth and make this beast roar."
The team got into combat stations as David deployed then ship's hardpoints (weapons). As the weapons emerged from inside the hull, Ellis got his telepresence interface online, as did Jason. Cassandra transferred control of the turrets and missiles from the Commander's station to her own. The four weapons appeared as holographic read outs next to her. The screen in front of her faded in an external augmented reality view of the ship with a targeting reticle.
Ellis replied, "I'm on the GU. I got an itchy trigger finger, and I know how to scratch."
Jason then replied, "Booting up the Condor, Commander. Let's do this."
The crew felt the vibrations throughout the ship as the fighter hanger for the Anaconda opened up with the GU ready to launch first. The white painted fighter stood out sharply from the matte grey metal of the fighter hanger. The hanger extended downwards at a 45-degree angle and released the magnetic clamps as the fighter blazed off into space, engines humming loudly in a high-pitched noise. The Hanger than readied the Condor, which lowered it onto the launch platform. Core Dynamics own model of fighter was less elegant looking than the GU, but boy was it ever as deadly. The fighter's engines started up with a deep throaty roar, the magnetic clamps temporarily engaged before they released as the Condor shot off into space. After the launch of the Condor, the ships fighter hanger retracted back into the hull of the ship, sending more vibrations throughout the vessel.
The fighters that were both deployed currently had Ellis and Jason in them, or at least, a hologram of them. This was due to the technology known as telepresence, which enabled remote control by a human operator in real time up to 30 kilometers away from the mothership, in this case, the Shadow of Repent. Meanwhile, the remote operator was able to experience the same feelings they would if they were in the craft: the vibration of the engines, the roar of her thrusters, the sound of her weapons, even the feeling of G-Force pulled in atmospheric combat.
All of the craft locked their weapons on the Interloper, waiting for the Commanders signal.
"Team remember that the contact wants Tyl alive. Only disable the ship. If it blows up, we are out of our bounty" said David to his team. David then added in a quick statement of, "Target his thrusters, and fire at will."
The two fighters blazed off at nearly 350 meters per second towards the target as they opened fire with their weapons. The GU fired its dual plasma repeaters, while the Condor fired its pulse lasers. David opened up with the gimbaled Class-3 beam laser as Cassandra opened fire with the two Class-3 burst lasers. The goal of the energy weapon fire was to tear through the ship's shields to get at the vulnerable thrusters, which, unlike the Anacondas that were armored, the Type-9 was lacking such armor strength that the large warship had. The weapons fire slammed into the Type 9's shields. In mere seconds, another contact popped up on screen and in the contacts list…a Condor. The ship had launched a fighter of its own. The Type 9 then turned around slowly due to its sheer size, having more weight in the seemingly smaller frame of the ship than the Shadow of Repent.
The Type 9 and the Condor then opened up on the Shadow of Repent and its supporting craft, laser and ballistic fire from the Type-9 and laser fire from the condor targeting the vessels. David felt that firing ballistic rounds while the Anacondas shields were still up was but a desperate attempt at defending against a superior foe as bullets did next to nothing to shields. The enemy Condor quickly broke off to target the GU-97. It opened fire with beam lasers, tearing into the Imperial Fighters weak shields. Ellis almost lost the shields if it wasn't for the extreme maneuverability that Gutamaya put into their line of Imperial Fighters. Ellis gazed at his screen to see that the GU was down to 17 percent shield strength when he ignited the craft's boost function to send it flying out of harm's way at nearly 553 meters per second. The Condor gave chase to Ellis, who tried maneuvers to break the bursts of beam laser fire that were pecking at his shields. Ellis cried out, "I need some assistance here."
Jason then spoke in his Nigerian accent, "I'm on the way Ellis."
Jason broke the Condor off its attack on the enemy mothership and targeted the enemy Condor. He opened fire at the enemy fighter hitting it with concentrated bursts of pulse laser fire.
Meanwhile, both Motherships were engaged in a turning battle dogfight in space. The Anaconda had better maneuverability than the Type 9 heavy freighter, and was winning the turning battle, able to keep more of her weapons trained on the Type-9. The limited armament that the Type-9 had was firing at the Anaconda, but the superior shields of the anaconda were holding most of the damage off. The Anaconda nearly had the Type 9's shields down, which surprised David that it took the battle kitted Anaconda nearly two minutes to chew through the Type 9's shields. David dismissed it as Tyl having extensive modifications done to the Type 9's shields.
Weapon fire exchanged back and forth between both sides: bullets, lasers, and missiles being sent into the void of space towards their intended target. The enemy Condor pilot had a hard time trying to outmaneuver and survive against the two fighters launched from the Shadow of Repent. The enemy Condor was still flying, despite its shields having collapsed once already and taking thirty percent hull damage. Ellis took advantage of an opening that the enemy pilot provided by flying straight at Ellis. Ellis whipped the fighter around in flight assist off mode, the onboard computer no longer trying to correct rotational input to prevent endless spinning in space. This enabled a quicker turn speed due to no counter impulse from the maneuvering thrusters.
Ellis reengaged flight assist as he put the super maneuverable fighter in full reverse during the maneuver. The bow thrusters were firing, keeping the ship traveling backwards at 330 meters per second. Ellis opened fire with the plasma repeaters into the enemy fighter, crippling the enemy craft's shields in seconds. Ellis fired off another burst of fifteen shots, most hitting the enemy fighter. He then ignited the boost and flew forwards at 550 meters a second, out of sight of the fighter, which now had 20 percent hull strength.
Ellis then yelled, "Jason, take the shot. Now!"
Jason came in behind the enemy fighter and fired off his entire power distributer worth of weapons energy he could. The craft reached zero percent hull integrity as the fighter's fusion reactor was breached. A few explosions peppered the fighter before it detonated in a low yield nuclear blast. The onboard systems of the fighters registering the explosion audibly as little more than a dull popping explosion noise in space from the detonation.
Ellis then shouted, "Yah! Great shot, Jason." Ellis threw his fist in the air in celebration.
Jason meanwhile was bringing the Condor around to target the Type 9 again, now that its first round of fighter escort was killed. He then said, "Not a problem, but we still got the mothership to handle, Ellis."
Ellis whipped his fighter around and aimed his plasma repeaters at the Type 9. He then shouted to Cassandra and David, "Shadows One and Two, moving in to support."
Both Ellis and Jason ignited their boosts and blazed towards the Type 9, engines whirring and roaring respectively as the fighters had different engine models built into them. The Type 9's shields had just come back online at half strength and no sooner did this happen than the Type 9 boosting forwards out of combat.
David's eyes widened at the realization of what was going on, his heart racing from the adrenaline of the fight. His grip tightening on the controls of his station.
"Team, Tyl is moving to activate his Frame Shift Drive. We need to take out his thrusters. Now" yelled David to his crew!
The crew of the Anaconda opened fire full force on the Type-9 to get the shields to drop so they could get a shot at the escaping ship's engines.
Explosions, plasma and laser, and kinetic weapons were wrecking the shields, the blue aura of the shields suffering impacting hits visible to the crew. After what felt like hours, but only less than a minute due to the gripping and high stakes chase the crew were experiencing, the enemy vessel's shields were down.
David whipped the Anaconda in flight assist off mode and boosted after the retreating Type 9. With the enemy shields still down, Ellis and Jason opened fire on the thrusters of the enemy ship with their weapons. Laser and Plasma scorched and melted through the lightly armored metal of the thrusters, taking out one thruster. Meanwhile the enemy turreted weapons fired at the Shadow of Repent in a desperate attempt to take out the attacking craft. David targeted the attacking turreted pulse laser and Cassandra targeted one of the attacking turreted multi-cannons. Both crew members let their weapons fire their deadly rounds into space. The lasers under control of Cassandra and the multi-cannons controlled by David impacted their respective targets, and in only a few seconds of concentrated fire, two her turrets were down. That left one last turret. For a boarding mission to work, all turrets had to be destroyed.
Suddenly, blue balls of plasma tore into the still firing turret. The turret malfunctioned and sparked before exploding as the ammo store went off.
Ellis' GU-97 roared past the enemy vessel as Jason shouted, "Thought you could use a hand, now let's put her down for the count."
David then aimed his multi-cannons at the remaining thruster for the Type-9 and fired off a steady stream of high caliber bullets into space. The bullets carved into the Type-9 engine. In a few moments, the engine exploded from a malfunction, ripping itself apart and stranding the craft in space now.
David then punched in a few buttons on his left holographic panel and a bleep noise confirmed the command for the ship to auto dock with the rear airlock of the Type 9. The Anaconda slung around in space so the right airlock would park next to it. There would still be open space surrounding the two airlock chambers, which meant that the team needed to suit up.
David got out of his pilot's seat after relinquishing control of the ship's turrets to the onboard A.I. and said, "Alright guys, gear up for a boarding party."
"Hell yeah, sir" yelled Ellis in enthusiasm, a grin on his face. The two fighter pilot operators gave command of the fighter craft over to the mothership's A.I. While the A.I. was not nearly as aggressive as an experienced pilot in combat, the purpose was to have the two fighters stand guard while the crew boarded the enemy freighter. Cassandra also gave control of the ship's turreted weapons to the A.I. for the same reason.
A few minutes later, all four crew members were wearing their body armor and transparent, bullet resistant pilot helmets with her hermetically sealed glass visors and had their weapons ready for the boarding party.
David brought his XM-98 ballistic assault rifle, a military grade rifle used by the Federation army. He had his holographic sight on the weapon as well, and an under-barrel plasma thrower, a device that launches short-range high-energy plasma blasts designed to disintegrate organic targets. A very expensive piece of military hardware gifted to him by his father who serves in the Federal Army's CRUSADER program, an experimental future tech weapons division.
Ellis had the GV-01 ballistic assault rifle, a military rifle standard issue for planetary forces within Alliance space. He had an under-barrel laser scatter gun, the GS-42, attached to his weapon. This laser scatter gun was powered by swappable fusion cells, rather than a self-charging battery like modern Empire laser weapons. He had the red dot sight equipped for his weapons sight.
Cassandra had the GR-111, an Empire designed scatter laser shotgun. It operated off of a self-recharging internal battery, but it was prone to overheating if fired for too long. This newer model of the Empire scatter laser had a design flaw that hadn't been rectified in this current design…it was prone to the battery shorting out if it suffered too many burnouts. The GR-111a had fixed this critical design flaw. For medium range engagements, Cassandra brought her GG-1 Empire ballistic handgun.
Jason had double duty this time. He had a XI-77 Federation made burst laser rifle that operated off of fusion cells, but he also had the XO-10 Stun Launcher, a non-lethal pistol sized weapon that fires an energy blast that disrupts with the electromagnetic patterns of the brain, causing temporary unconsciousness equivalent to that of falling asleep in a short term medical coma. He had the honor of using that on Tyl when they encounter him.
The crew gathered in their ship's airlock, the interior door to the rest of the ship sliding close with a hiss. The team were double checking their weapons, ammo, and equipment. David then said, "Be careful and keep your shots accurate. We have no idea how many hostiles are aboard this ship." David nodded to Ellis for him to begin the override hack on the enemy airlock. The remaining crew crouched down and trained their sights on the door, ready for the enemy to open fire once the door slid open. Their hearts racing in anticipation of the thrill and rush of combat. One couldn't blame them for this mindset, as Commander Jameson has run with this crew of his for the last six years. Their world has been bounty hunting, apart from the occasional shore leave and stop at a station to rearm.
Ellis hit the confirm command for the override and he got ready for the breach into the enemy ship, crouching down and training his assault rifle on the door. "Get ready team, once more into the breach dear brothers" said Ellis quoting the ancient playwright Shakespeare.
The airlock chamber vented its atmosphere into space through three grates in the ceiling above the Shadow of Repent's team. The groups life support that was built into their suits came online as the oxygen drained away. Finally, the exterior door into space opened, the infinite black void gazing at the team. The team stepped outside the door, walking slowly across the platform, artificial gravity keeping them from flying off. They walked to the Type-9's airlock. Ellis raised his gun up in one hand as he began to run a bypass on the console outside of the Type-9's airlock. A very faint hiss was heard as the enemy's airlock vented its atmosphere into space. The exterior door opened and the team stepped in. Once the door closed behind them with a soft hiss, the ship began to pump air back into the chamber. Sound returned to its normal volume and air support deactivated. The ship's A.I. then spoke saying "equalizing Airlock pressure with interior atmosphere." The interior airlock to the ship then opened, revealing the ships interior.
The inside of the Type-9 was very utilitarian, the walls a gun metal grey color with dark blue accents, there were a couple of bulkhead doors going down the hallway the team currently was in.
The inside of the Type-9 was visually clear of hostiles for the time being. There was no way to hear if somebody was scurrying around the corridors of the freighter as the Type 9's emergency alarm was blaring as red lights flashed on the walls. However, the crew of the Shadow of Repent were mistaken that it was clear when they faintly heard a voice shout, "Kill those boarders!"
The crew of the Anaconda fell back to the airlock and took cover behind the door frame as laser and bullet fire shot off their direction. Cassandra was hit in the initiating weapons fire, but her body armor stopped the two incoming .45 caliber bullets.
David shouted, "Team you are free to return fire" as he braced himself behind the door frame as bullets ricocheted off the solid metal wall.
(Earlier in the Type 9's cargo bay)
The cargo bay of the Type 9 was quiet right now. The only sounds came from a crew member of the smuggling ship, a black male, walking through the bay, as well as snoring coming from an open-air cargo pod. These open-air cargo pods had repulsion fields instead of a solid metal casing. The purpose of this was to provide air for live cargo within the container, such as slaves or animals. The blue repulsion fields hummed softly as the cargo within it was currently asleep, for the most part. Inside the container were three lions: two lionesses and a young female cub. The cub was asleep in the embrace of her mother, a tan lioness with blue eyes. She was currently asleep as well. Although they were currently asleep, that did not mean that they were sleeping peacefully. Their fur was matted and covered in dirt, with the mother's covered in patches of blood as well. They were nestled in a corner of the cargo pod. They were stiff in their posture while they were sleeping, as if they were on edge and scared of something. The only other lioness was currently awake. She had red eyes and dark tan fur. She was pacing back and forth, the literal metaphor of a caged animal, trying to wrap her head around how she got here.
Her name was Harnia.
She had no clue not only where she was, but also where her fellow Pridelanders who were hunting are. The lioness and the cub were not from Ahadi's pride, and for that, she was scared of what the fate of her fellow Pride members could be. These creatures...have they killed them? Eaten them? The only thing she knew for certain was that she had somehow gotten here, and these creatures were to blame.
(One week ago, in the Pridelands; Harnia's perspective)
The birds of the lands were chirping as the sun was rising over the land of King Ahadi and Queen Uru. Harnia had just woken up with the sun. She stood up and stretched out her body, her back cracking with the stretching. Already some of the pride was getting up, those being the ones that were chosen for the hunting party yesterday. Queen Uru and King Ahadi were still sleeping with their cubs, Mufasa and Taka (Scar). They usually didn't get up until later in the morning. The King started his duties about 3 hours after sunrise. Harnia stepped out of the den of Pride Rock and gazed at the bright red, orange, and yellow sunrise. It was something she had grown accustomed to living here, and she loved it every day.
The beautiful sunrise.
A lioness walked up to her named Garona and sat down next to her, she had light tan fur and creme underbelly fur, orange eyes and a tuft of fur sticking out from the top of her head. She then said to Harnia, "Well, it looks like today is going to be another sunny day in the Pride Lands. How did you sleep, Harnia?"
Harnia turned her head slightly towards Garona and spoke with a slight smile, "Oh I slept good, aside from some strange dream I think I had in the night. I think I woke up from it. I dreamt of some strange noises almost like something was distantly roaring in the sky."
Garona's muzzle turned to a frown as she said, "Really? Well I didn't hear anything all night apart from bats and insects chirping. It must have been a dream or maybe you were hearing another animal."
By now, the rest of the hunting party, five of the lionesses in the pride, were coming out of the den to stretch their bodies and prepare for their morning task.
The hunting party leader for today was one of the senior lionesses, Fambre. She had golden fur and tan underbelly fur. She had jade green eyes. She walked towards the gathering that the other lionesses had formed. She sat down in front of the group with a smile on her muzzle.
"Okay, ladies. Today is a special hunt for reasons that I think you are aware of" She said gazing at the group. "We have two new huntresses joining us for the first time today. They already proved themselves on their solo hunts, but now will be the test of teamwork and coordination." She then turned her head to look at the two new lionesses to her right. She grinned at them, "Ebere, Zebere. You two ready for this? After this hunt, you will become proven huntresses and true lions of the pride."
Ebere then looked at the other lionesses, then to her sister Zebere. She then said with confidence, "I think I can speak for both myself and my sister that…" she then gazed at Garona and resumed speaking, "we were born ready."
Fambre then turned to look at the Pride Lands. She then said, "We shall see if you are. Let's move out ladies."
The group set off down the rock ramp like path that led from the den's entrance towards ground level. They ventured out into the Pride Lands.
Along the way, Harnia had been talking to another one of her pride mates, Xolania. They had started talking about the beautiful weather until they got onto another subject.
"Yeah Harnia, last night was surprisingly cool for it being the dry season. I had a hard time sleeping because I was a little cold. I think eventually I managed to sleep; I had a dream about some strange noises last night" said Xolania recounting her experience last night with a hint of tiredness in her voice.
Harnia stopped where she was walking for a few seconds. She stood frozen.
I thought that was myself dreaming she thought a little uncomfortable at what was said. She then sprinted to catch up with Xolania. She then spoke slightly alarmed, "By chance did these strange sounds sound like something roaring from the sky?"
Xolania gazed at Harnia as she now also became alarmed. They kept walking as then said, "That...can't be. How could we manage to share the same dream?!"
Harnia hung her lead low as if in thought. Her eyes then widened as she then said, "Unless it wasn't a dream."
Xolania then stated, "Okay, now I'm a little uneasy."
"Me too" said Harnia flatly.
About a minute later, they heard a snap of a tree branch off to the group's right. All five lionesses froze as Fambre then said, "Stop!" She then paused and gazed at her surroundings, only to find no cause for this phenomenon. "Something is stalking us."
Upon saying this, the group formed a defensive group. They went back to back in a circle as they got down low and growled, ready for something to attack them.
They then heard a soft male voice say, "Oh way to go you fool" almost as if it was being said under its breath.
They then realized that the voice was coming from behind a boulder a short way away from them.
Ebere then said, "Zebere, watch my back" in a hushed tone.
The two sisters then began slowly creeping up on the boulder, making sure to avoid any rocks or branches that they could step on. They reached the rock and crouched down on their side of it. They gazed at each other and Zebere nodded at Ebere. They then leapt around the boulder and turned to face the hunk of rock.
They breathed a heavy sigh of relief as it was a familiar face to them.
Ebere then said, "Mufasa, what are you doing out here" in a curious and strict tone?
The little cub got defensive and looked back and forth between the two lionesses. He then said, "I...I just wanted to see a hunt. I've never seen our pride take down prey before."
Zebere then said annoyed, "Are your parents even aware that you're out here?"
Mufasa looked towards the ground and shifted his head slightly to the side. "No" he then said with a guilty tone."
Suddenly, the whole group heard a voice softly say, "Roger commencing asset retrievement."
The whole group gazed around for the strange voice using strange words. All they could see were distant trees and very tall grass in the savanna.
Harnia then saw something shiny and green fly towards Ebere, Zebere, and the voice that sounded familiar to them. They couldn't quite hear what was being said as the two groups were 30 something feet away from each other. It landed near them and exploded, releasing a thick green cloud.
Harnia shouted with panic, "Ebere, Zebere!" Suddenly two more objects of the same type were thrown their way as well. They landed in the midst of her group and exploded as well. Harnia heard her pride mates coughing as she felt the strange gas start to choke her. Her vision became blurry as she felt very heavy suddenly, like she had no energy. She watched both groups collapse to the ground as she was the last to fall. She hit the ground and coughed once more before losing consciousness.
(Back in the Type-9 cargo hold)
When she awoke, she was in this container with Tamaria and Liani. They weren't from her pride. They were from a neighboring pride outside of the Pride Lands, in a valley known as Komeo Valley. Harnia was terrified and confused as to where the rest of her hunting party was. She was stuck in a shiny blue lit "cave" with no way out. Outside of the "cave", she had no clue what anything was. There were plenty of other shiny caves, but none looked like they were like the one she was in. She noticed these strange two-legged creatures that had been walking around the area visible in front of her from time to time. Every time one would pass her, she'd keep her eyes locked on them and growl slightly. She had no clue what or who they were, but she believed that they were responsible for her ending up stuck in this cave. The only things she knew about these beings was that they could talk in a language that she could understand, and that they had names. She knew this from listening in on them when two would meet up near her and talk to each other. She couldn't recognize any of their names as familiar, nor could she understand much of what they were talking to each other about. Words like "Car…go" and Frame Ship…Shift Drive" or something like that were common words she heard several times. All Harnia knew is that she was scared and confused, and she wished she could go home.
Harnia tried pawing at the strange blue field in front of her again, only for her paw to press up against the field like it was a solid wall. She felt absolutely trapped and hopeless, a weight of darkness seemingly hanging on her heart as she felt like she would never see the PrideLands again.
She sighed and laid down where she stopped pacing and was about to try to sleep, when suddenly, a massive rumble woke the two sleeping lionesses up, and made Harnia's ears perk up. Very soon after, a force jarred them all into a wall of the container they were in, slamming them into the repulsion field. All three of them felt like they had been tackled by a rhino they hurt from the sharp impact. Soon, a deafening noise assaulted their ears, followed by red light pulsing in the area around her. Liani was shaking in panic and Tamaria was darting her head around as she growled when she hit the side of the container.
A voice then seemed to boom all around them as it then said in an accent unfamiliar to them, "Crew, this is Tyl Nacht. An Anaconda has interdicted us out of SuperCruise and has launched fighter craft. Report to your stations. I say again, report to your stations.
The three lionesses noticed a group of these strange creatures running past them, carrying weird objects in their hands. They seemed to be in a rush to the lionesses, as it was unclear to them what was going on and what that loud booming voice had said.
Tamaria counted at least 7 of those creatures carrying these weird objects of different sizes and colors. Unbeknownst to the three of them, the crew of the Type-9, all 10 of them, were running to their assigned combat positions of the ship. The 7 figures they saw run past them were the personal bodyguards of Tyl Nacht, armed to the teeth.
Suddenly, the area around them vibrated for a few seconds before it went completely still. Then, new sounds assaulted their ears as the loud blaring noise coming from all around them was joined by periodic bursts of muffled noise as the Type-9's weapons opened fire. The three lionesses huddled together as they were terrified by the noise and lights around them. Liani was shaking uncontrollably underneath her mother's legs.
The whole ordeal around them went on for a few minutes as distance voices were shouting, alarms blared, lights flashed with warning, and soon the Type-9 was being shaken with enemy weapons fire. Booms and crashing sounds were heard until they eventually too subsided, ending in a loud explosion that echoed throughout the whole ship, even into the cargo hold.
The loud booming voice belonging to Tyl Nacht came back from earlier and said, "Crew, our engines have been disabled and the Anaconda is attempting docking with us. Defense team, prepare to repel enemy boarders."
(Meanwhile, back with Commander Jameson's team)
"Shadows 2 and 4 cover my advance. Suppressing fire on my mark" shouted the Commander. He was referring to Ellis and Cassandra by their operation codenames, not wanting to expose their identities to their attackers.
Bullets and laser fire slammed into the walls and the support posts that lined the hallways of the Lakon Spaceways vessel. The crew of the Shadow of Repent had managed to push out of their own airlock, with Jason sealing it behind them to prevent the enemy from accessing their own ship. However, the team was still stuck in the hallway near the Type-9's airlock. The barrage of enemy weapons fire was slowing their push to a crawl. A few bullets and lasers found their mark on the crew of the Anaconda, but the military grade body armor stopped most of the shots. David was hit with a laser blast in his right arm. The pain the man felt was searing as the laser blast managed to burn through the pilot's suit material and burn his flesh beneath it. The benefit of being shot with a laser is that you don't need to worry about bleeding since the heat of the energy cauterizes the flesh shut. It still can cause damage to underlying tissue, including burning bone and organs if the full power of the laser were to hit its target without being diluted by armor or even a flight suit. David knew that he would have a nasty scar until he could get medical attention to have the wound fixed and scar tissue removed.
The commander loaded a fresh magazine into his XM-98 and cocked back the charging mechanism on the left side of the rifle. He then shouted over the weapons fire, "Mark!"
Cassandra and Ellis moved out of cover slightly and sprayed weapons fire down the hallway towards their attackers. Lasers and bullets returned fire, forcing a few of the remaining attackers to take cover and wait out the onslaught.
David sprinted from the support post he was at to the next one in front of him. The plan David had was to force the remaining 5 attackers to back down the hallway a bit and give David and his crew enough space to retreat back if the need came to be. The last thing he needed was to have his crew with their backs pinned to a wall and nowhere to fallback to.
Cassandra's shotgun had overheated for the first time in this engagement, a product of her putting the shotgun on its non-recommended setting of full auto and firing for a few solid seconds nonstop. She went back into her cover point and shouted, "Weapons burnt up, venting." She took hold of a pump on the right side of the scatter laser and pulled it back. This caused the thermal core of the shotgun to eject out of the top of the weapon for a few moments to vent its built up energy. Steam hissed as hot air blasted to the left of Cassandra's face. She kept the core exposed for a few seconds before it cooled down enough to support the weapon firing again. She brought the pump forwards and the core went back into her weapon with a mechanical click. She then peeked down the hallway to see four attackers left; the fifth one was on the ground bleeding from the side of his neck from a bullet. He was crying in agony for help. The remaining enemy attackers were trying to get to their fallen comrade, but weapons fire was too concentrated from Davidson's crew to give them the opening they needed.
David then loaded a fresh magazine into his XM-98 and shouted, "Shadows 3 and 4, advance on my mark. Shadow 2, ready to suppress the enemy on my mark."
David peeked out around the corner, only to press himself back against the support post from enemy weapon fire. He then breathed a deep breath and said, "Shadow 2, mark."
David and Cassandra stepped out of cover and fired their weapons, suppressing the remaining enemy combatants. They moved into cover. David immediately shouted, "3 and 4 move up. Go, go, go!"
Ellis and Jason sprinted to the next set of support posts to take position. David's rifle clicked dry after firing its 40 round magazine. He moved back into cover and reloaded his rifle.
The four of them kept attacking and pushing the enemy back. The Shadow of Repent crew suffered a few impacts with enemy weapons fire, but their body armor absorbed most of it, while the flight suits absorbed most of the energy of the rounds that connected outside of the body armor. David was hit with another laser blast, this time in his right leg. The man resisted the urge to scream as he felt the heat of the laser round burn his skin. The fact that he was standing was proof enough that the blast failed to penetrate his body beyond the skin and upper layers of muscles.
Cassandra was hit in her right leg with a bullet. She screamed as she nearly fell from the pain. Her flight suit constricted around her right calf in an effort to stop the bleeding, but for good measure, Cassandra pulled out a combat stim from a pouch on her body armor and injected herself with it. Within moments, she felt the pain cease as heavy duty, non-drowsy pain killers kicked in to dull the pain. She also felt the other benefits of the stim in it increasing her reflexes and giving her a dose of energy to keep her fighting. Her wound would still require medical attention later, however.
The defensive group of Tyl Nacht was down to 2 now, who began to fall back. It was clear to the Shadow of Repent crew that despite them being Tyl Nacht's personal bodyguards, they were still just hired guns. Like all mercenaries, when the odds are stacked against them, they want to live another day for another pay than die. The Shadow of Repent crew was still opening fire on them as they slowly fell back. This continued until they disappeared out of sight around a corner.
David had a chance to look around now that his life wasn't in danger at the moment. He stepped out from behind cover and gazed at the 5 dead bodies of Tyl's bodyguards. They were either dead or dying, with the latter being the last one to go down. He was on the ground, two bullet wounds in his stomach. He was wheezing when he breathed, but David could tell he wasn't long for this world. He stepped over towards the fallen mercenary. David's crew were following close behind, and as they noticed the dying man on the ground, they aimed their weapons at him. They acted like they suspected he'd attack at any moment, but David was the only one who remained neutral in his actions at the moment.
The dying man struggled to see David as he heard footsteps approach. When he managed to lift his head, he tried grabbing his pistol from his holster, but dropped it as his body convulsed. He cried in agony.
As strange as it was to him, David felt sorry for the dying man. He was trying to earn his living in this brutal galaxy, just like him and his crew. It was a shame to David that this man fell on the opposite side from him. David stopped by the man's body and gazed down at him. The dying man rasped, "If your…going to…kill…me. Then do it." Blood came out of his mouth as he spoke. David wished there was something he could do, maybe take him in alive to stand for his crime of protecting a smuggler wanted in over 110 systems. At least he wouldn't be dead then. However, he knew that this guy had tried to kill his crew just minutes ago. His crew was like his family, and he was not willing to gamble with the only family he had left in his life. He ultimately decided to do the man a favor, in a cruel twist of irony.
David aimed his rifle at the man's head and said, "It'll be over soon." He pulled the trigger slowly and put a bullet in the man's head. A gunshot rang out as blood splattered on the floor.
David gazed back at his crew, rifle in hand as he then said, "Come on team, we still got a job to do."
The other three crew members nodded at David as they left to find the smuggler they were here for.
(Back in the Type-9's Cargo Bay)
Liani, Tamaria, and Harnia were trapped in their cargo container, too afraid to run if they even could. The loud blaring alarm was still sounding around them, emergency lights flashing. They had listened to a constant barrage of sharp, muffled sounds that they were unfamiliar with, screams and shouting mixed into the audible chaos. The sequence of sounds had lasted nearly 15 minutes before they stopped. The lionesses had no idea where those noises were coming from or what they were.
They heard the sound of footsteps approaching them as presumably some of these strange two-legged creatures were approaching their location. They heard panting faintly as well. The two bodyguards of Tyl Nacht from earlier stopped running in the middle of the cargo bay. Harnia could just barely see them through the repulsion field in front of her. They were panting like crazy as one of them was hunched over, gun dropped on the ground.
"The hell were those guys, ex-military? There's no way those are your typical pirates" said one of the humans, an Asian woman in her mid-30's.
The other human, a white man in his late 20's, then replied, "I don't think those are pirates Lilian. They're way too well trained and equipped."
Lilian finally caught her breath when she then said, "I don't really care what they are. Tyl ain't going to be happy. We got to extract him from this ship if we want our paycheck at the end of this. Can't get payed by the dead."
The man then said, "You seriously think that Tyl'll will abandon his cargo, especially those mutated lions? Those would be worth a fortune to the right party. Collectors or scientists or whatever."
Lilian than said, "Well, he can't stay here. He'll be killed or captured, especially once they find out who he is with the latter. You go find Tyl, I'll go g…"
Lilian then stopped speaking as a gunshot rang out in the area. She collapsed where she was standing, dead, blood pooling around her head. The gun shot made the lions cringe and cower low where they were, ears hurting from the sound with their sensitive hearing. The man darted his head around, trying to find the attackers. He finally saw then, but this was unbeknownst to the lions as they were out of sight from them.
The man then cried out as he dropped his gun, "Don't shoot me, I surrender." He clearly thought that this was his best bet of not dying.
"Smart man" said Jason. He then lifted his stun launcher and fired it at the man. The weapon fired with a crackling noise as energy hit the man, making him stumble backwards. He then said, "The hell...wez…"
He then fell to the ground and mumbled before he was rendered unconscious.
Liani then spoke to her mother in a whimper, "What's happening? I'm scared, mommy."
Tamaria pulled her daughter closer to her, her head darting around, trying to figure out that same question for herself. She was scared herself, but she would be damned if she was going to let whatever did this hurt her daughter too.
They then heard new voices and footsteps approach their location.
"Good marksmanship, Ellis" congratulated a voice unknown to them, despite all their time stuck in this "cave."
David then said, "maybe this one might be worth some extra credits" as he nudged the unconscious man with his right foot.
Another voice responded, which they associated with the name Ellis, then said, "Product of two years in the Imperial Army."
Four new figures gradually walked past them and stopped at the bodies of the dead and unconscious humans.
Ellis then said, "I hope he'll be worth something, we only got one shot left."
Tamaria was scared and defensive of her life and the life of her daughter at that moment. She let instinct kick in and got in front of her daughter and growled at the 4 figures.
The humans whipped around and aimed their guns at their cargo crate. Jason lowered his rifle after realizing what he was staring at.
"What the hell are those things" stated Jason with shock at what he was looking at?
David stuttered slightly and said, "I…I have no idea. They look like Earth jungle cats, but I can't tell what species."
Cassandra then scoffed and said, "I don't care what they are Commander. We didn't come here to see what Tyl was carrying, we came for him."
Jason and Cassandra walked away from Ellis and David, focused on their mission. Their footsteps gradually grew fainter. In the meanwhile, the Commander gazed at the three jungle cats and was trying to wrap his head around why a smuggler known for trafficking weapons and slaves be interested in with three animals.
David then got down on a knee as he crouched down to look at them near eye level. He placed his hand up against the field, the field stopping his hand from phasing through. He then said, "You guys must be so scared right now. Light years away from home."
David locked eyes with the animals in the container, he thought they looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place their species. When suddenly…
Liani then said, "I want to go home, mommy."
David jumped backwards and fell on his butt. He stared shocked at the little cub that had just spoke perfect English to him. He was breathing sharply in a state of surprise.
Tamaria then said, "Don't speak, Liani."
Tamaria's posture was in the defensive, worried what these creatures would do to her daughter and Harnia.
"The fucking shit stain! Tha…that animal just talked" cried out David as he aimed his rifle at the creature who just spoke.
Tamaria roared at David, the noise hurting his ears. Ellis trained his rifle in an instant on the lionesses' head. She then said growling, "That animal is my daughter, and you'd be wise to back away from me unless you want to die."
Cassandra and Jason ran back over to make sure their ears weren't playing tricks on them.
David then said, "We aren't going to hurt any of you. We aren't even here for any of Tyl's cargo." David paused as he was panting, still recovering from the shock moments ago.
Cassandra then asked what David was about to ask, "What…are you guys?"
Harmia then asked inquisitively, "You creatures never seen a lion before?"
Cassandra shook her head as she then said, "It seems like you guys have never seen humans before this either."
"Hum-man" asked Liani in confusion.
David then said in disbelief, "This can't be possible. The last species of lion became extinct in the year 2134. How the fuck can you guys be alive…how can lions exist after more than 1000 years of being extinct."
The lionesses gave the humans just as confused of stares as the humans gave the lionesses.
Jason then asked, "How did you guys even get here on this ship?"
Harnia was about to answer as best as she could when a voice familiar to the lionesses then spoke up.
"You know, that's my cargo you're talking to there. I'd appreciate if you leave it be" said a male voice. The crew turned around and parted slightly to see that three new humans had entered the cargo bay. All three humans wore dark green flight suits and body armor. The right human was a white male and had red hair and a red mustache. The left human was an Asian man, with a black mohawk and a scar running across his right cheek to his ear. The team could certainly tell that these two other humans were Tyl Nacht's actual crew.
"Especially since none of you were invited onto my ship" continued the human in the middle, looking at his left hand, rubbing his thumb and fingers together as if examining a grain of sand.
David narrowed his eyes as he remembered the dossier picture of this particular human.
"Tyl Nacht" spoke David with anger in his voice.
Tyl Nacht and the other two humans were armed with assault rifles, all Alliance make, and wore an unusual looking set of body armor. Tyl laughed and said, "Oh the countless times I have heard my name said like that." Tyl paused and looked at his crew. He then looked back at David's team and said, "Politicians angry at the arms I smuggle, systems authority officers furious at the drugs and weapons I steal and smuggle, and my enemies when they realize that falling on the wrong side of me can be…unhealthy."
The there of them aimed their weapons at David and his crew.
David and his crew aimed their weapons at their rivals. Jason trained the stun launcher's sights on the V.I.P target. The bulky pistol like weapon charged up with a loud whir.
The lionesses looked between the two groups and started to back away into the corner further from them in their containment unit. They could tell the animosity that hang in the air between the two groups of humans.
David then gazed at Tyl and said, "You sure you want to do this, Nacht? We know it will only end one way."
David and Cassandra tightened their hold on their weapons grips. Ellis and Jason each had their sights trained on one of the heads of Tyl's crew.
Tyl then smirked at them, which befounded the crew of the Shadow of Repent. He then said, "Oh, I'm sure I know how this will end. I get four bodies to blow out the airlock."
David knew that if he didn't figure out a way to handicap Tyl's team, at least one of them may not walk out of here. He looked out of the corner of his eye at Jason, who was to his right. He then proceeded to scratch the side of his gun, just above the trigger. A code for one of the emergency protocols that the team had for high stakes situations such as this. Jason saw this clearly, and he then proceeded to rub two fingers together from his free hand not holding the stun launcher.
The tension was broken when David then shouted, "Now!"
David simultaneously ducked and reached his hand for the short-range plasma thrower. He flung himself to his left as he fired a pulse from the device towards one of Tyl Nacht's guards. The guard aimed his rifle at David, only for the high energy plasma to crackle as it hit the enemy crew members crotch. His flight suit disintegrated, as did his crotch, upper thighs and lower abdomen. All this happened with a loud crackling and sizzling noise. The human shrieked in agony as his upper torso fell to the ground amidst his lower legs. His rifle fired up in the air 4 times and then the weapon flung out of his hand.
At the same time, Jason dove for his right as he trained the stun launcher on Nacht. He fired the stun launcher, the weapons higher pitched energy frequency heard over the plasma throwers lower frequency. The full force of the stun blast hit Tyl in the head.
"You dirt…thy mo…" he shouted as he became disoriented as his cognitive functions were shutting down.
He then stumbled forwards and fell to the ground, unconscious.
That left one more crew member. He aimed his rifle at David and fired once. A single bullet hit David in his lower abdomen. David screamed as the bullet ripped through the Remlock suit and went into his body.
At the same time, Cassandra fired her scatter laser at the only remaining enemy soldier's head. Against his unprotected skull, the laser tor into his face, killing him.
David laid on the ground, hand against the bullet wound in his abdomen. It took only a second before Cassandra then shouted, "Commander!"
She then shouted, "Jason, Ellis. Watch my back."
She dropped next to the Commander as he then said, "Fucking shit, this hurts."
She pulled out a stim shot as she then said to him, "I got you Commander. This will take away the pain. You'll be good."
David then said, "No, it won't. I got hit in the gut. I need medical attention…now" he said through gritted teeth.
She looked down and saw that the wound was bleeding profusely.
"Oh fuck" she said wide eyed in concern.
"Guys, The Commander needs immediate medical attention. We got to get him to Alex" she said as she grabbed the Commanders weapon in hand.
She was referring one of the support personal that they had on the Shadow of Repent. Alex was the ship's medic.
Cassandra handed his weapon to Jason.
She pulled the Commander up with difficulty as he was crying out in pain.
"Ellis, grab Nacht and the other asset. We need to get them in the Brig and the Commander to the Med Lab" she said.
The team was about to fall back, when David then said, "Wait, we ain't leaving…them" he said in pain.
"Who" said Ellis confused?
David then said, "Who do you bloody think?"
"What, the lions" asked Ellis?
He then continued and said, "Commander, they are just animals. Your bleeding to death and you want to save those animals?!"
"You know we are right here. We can hear everything your saying" said Harnia annoyed and angry that these humans were treating them as if they were disposable. She was glaring daggers at Ellis.
David then responded, "We're going to scuttle this ship after we leave. I refuse to leave these innocent creatures behind to die."
He then looked at his team and said, "Ellis, find a way to load their containment unit onto our ship. Search the cargo hold for any more of these lions."
He then looked at Jason and said, "Jason, gain access to the ship's navigation database. I want to find where these poor guys came from. I got a feeling it isn't from Earth."
He then turned his head to look at Cassandra and said, "Cass, take me to the med lab."
"Aye Aye, sir" responded Jason and Ellis, saluting the Commander.
Cassandra then said, "Its okay, I got you Commander."
The two of them turned around and the Commander hobbled towards the exit of the cargo hold.
(A/N: And that's it for the first chapter. I hope you all enjoy this start to this story. Before I sign out, I just wanted to let you all know somethings.
First, I apologize for the two years of inactivity. I lost interest in writing Fanfiction and devoted much of my time to school and other hobbies. About a week ago, I was reading one of my old stories and I concluded that I should at least try to finish the stories that I have out there before I leave Fanfiction. Then I realized that this new idea of mine was for a story that I was super excited to want to write, and depending on how it goes, this could be my last new story.
Second, after I finish posting this chapter, my next update will be for Project Paradox. I will rotate between writing for both of those stories until they are finished. This current story could potentially turn into a trilogy, which means that I am putting my own original novels I have been writing on hold to finish my fanfiction. Like I said, I feel bad now that I have been inactive for 2 years, and I want to make it up by finishing these two stories first, then maybe working on another.
Finally, I hope you all will want to see this story to the end. Like I said, I'm proud of this new story and I think it will be something truly unique.
Until next time, I wish you all a safe and happy day. I will be back with an update to Project Paradox later.)