ONLINE.
ATTEMPTING TO ESTABLISH LOCATION...
LOCATION ESTABLISHED.
ESTABLISHING SECTOR...
SCANNING...
...
...
...
SCAN COMPLETE.
CV BALTIMORE FOUND.
DEPLOYING ALL SHIPS...
'Mira! Mira, wake up.' Buzz said, shaking her shoulder. 'There's a problem.'
'What?' She said, trying to force her brain up to speed. She didn't even know she'd fallen asleep. Looking behind her, she saw the familiar walls of the flight deck. 'Not real.' She said slowly in pure relief. 'It wasn't real.'
'Mira?' Buzz asked. 'What's not real?'
'Hm? Oh, nothing.' She said, shaking her head as she touched the side of her face. It felt oddly numb. 'What's the problem?'
'We're approaching Betelgeuse.' Buzz said, sitting down as his safety belt slid into place. 'Prepare to slow the ship.'
'Sir.' She responded to Buzz's command, bringing the ship down to cruise speed.
Betelgeuse (Pronounced 'Beetle juice') was a star in the Orion constellation, the largest star ever discovered. It was so large that it's gravitational field extended for light-years . The ship had to slow down so that the course deviation caused by the gravity pull would be minimized. Once they were far away enough, it was all systems go.
The ship passed Betelgeuse quite regularly. Her hands made movements, routine, repeated. Buzz also began programming flight vectors as the red glow of Betelgeuse's light shone into the viewscreen. Mira stared at it for a moment, taking in its spectacle. The Baltimore tragedy still haunted her, though, like some small monster chewing pieces of her soul.
XR wheeled down the corridor of the ship, heading towards the med bay. He had an idea, and wanted to check his theory.
The door to the med bay hissed open and mixed with the sound of his motivators turning the treads on his feet.
'Hello Major.' XR said to the figure in the cryogenics tanks. 'Let's see exactly what you are...' He pressed a button, and small needles protruded from the side of the tank, going inward. 'I swear, this won't hurt a bit.'
It pierced the green skin, and withdrew a tiny sample of his DNA. XR removed the sample and put the needle and the storage tank in the biopsy analyzer.
It took thirty seconds to analyze the sample. And another minute and a half before XR got his jaw back up.
'Buzz.' XR said over the commlink. 'There's something very important I think you should see.'
'What's the problem?' Buzz asked. Mira glanced at him for a second, then returned to course setting.
'Major Eliot Pryce.' XR said, holding a data pad. 'Human male. Age, approximately thirty to-'
'What?' Buzz said in complete incredulity. Did he hear that right?
'Thirty to thirty-three standard years.' XR repeated. 'What's so odd about-'
'You said he was human.' Mira said. 'That's not possible!'
'Tell that to the biopsy machine. According to this.' XR held the data pad up to the screen. The familiar dual helix of a DNA strand appeared. 'Our friend is ninety-seven percent human.'
'Ninety-seven?' Buzz said in surprise.
'Okay, ninety-seven point oh three four nine two one six.' XR said. 'What am I supposed to say? Ever heard of dramatic effect?'
'What's the other three percent?' Mira asked.
'Don't ask.' XR said. 'Cause I don't know.'
'You don't know?' Mira said. 'You have an entire lab down there and you don't know?'
'Well, I'm sorry, okay?' XR said a little harshly. 'This runs completely against the species charts. Nothing, bar nothing, is this close to human!'
'So why is he green?' Buzz asked.
'Three percent unknown. Go figure. Could be that flyboy here is a genetic experiment.'
'So he's the only one?'
'Maybe. I didn't look for genetic material back at the Baltimore. Granted, it would be difficult to find any...'
'If he's human, then Star Command should have records on him.' Buzz said.
'I thought communications were out.' Mira said.
'They are.' Buzz replied.
'Then why are we even considering that option?' XR asked huffily.
'Fine.' Buzz said. 'XR, get to the flight deck. Run the data through the main computer and see if you can get anything. Mira, back to flying.' He closed the link.
'There seems to be another ship coming in on sensors.' Mira said, her course plotted. The computer would take care of the rest.
'Another ship.' Buzz said, pressing a button on the communications panel. 'Unknown ship in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, please identify yourself.' There was silence. 'Unknown ship, please respond.' Still no answer.
'I don't understand.' Mira said, shaking her head. 'That ship is well within communications range.'
'Maybe they're not responding on purpose.' Buzz said. 'I'll try again.'
'Well, if it hasn't heard us, its certainly seen us.' Mira said, running her preliminary scans. 'It just changed direction, heading on an intercept course.
'What else can you get from the scans?' Buzz asked.
'Well, it's a little far away, but...' Mira pressed a few keys. 'It's of an unknown configuration.' She said. 'Doesn't match anything on the database.'
'Assume hostile. Code Red.' He said, as the flashing red light indicating a red alert began to pulsate on the ship. XR wheeled in, closely followed by Booster.
'Whoa. Hope I didn't miss anything.' XR took his station.
'Booster, run advanced scans on that ship.' Buzz said, as Booster quickly figured out which ship needed scanning. 'XR, power weapons. We're assuming hostility.'
'Buzz...' Booster said quietly.
'Mira, keep on course for a while longer. Prepare to go to maximum speed on my signal.
'Buzz!' Booster said, louder.
'What?' Buzz said, annoyed slightly. 'Results are in?'
'It's gigantic!' Booster said in shock as he ran his scans again. 'At least two, two and a half kilometers-'
Mira stopped moving. Her entire body seemed frozen.
'Holy Kittens.' XR said as he looked at Buzz. 'That's the, er, what's it called, the-'
'Armerant.' Buzz said.
'Yeah, that's it.' XR said, snapping his fingers. Then reality sunk in. 'Oh boy.' He said in quiet tones.
'Can't we outrun it?' Booster asked. 'It's closing on us and quick!'
'Mira, get us away from it.'
'Trying.' She said, as the ship turned. 'We can't go any faster than this.' Mira said urgently. 'Betelgeuse is still holding us back.'
'XR, ready all weapons.' Buzz said. 'We're going to put up.'
'Buzz, oh great leader of ours, no offense, but we can't fight this thing!' XR shouted. 'You saw what it did to the Baltimore. We're going to need help!'
'Something's happened to Star Command.' Buzz said firmly. 'I can't get through to them on any relays. No incoming signals either. No transmissions whatsoever.' He said. 'Not just Star Command, the entire Alliance has just disappeared.'
'That means we're jammed.' XR said matter-of-factly.
'What?' Buzz said.
'Jammed. What you just described is indicative of a communications jam.' XR said. 'Ranger manual, page ninety-four, communications breakdown? Remember?' He folded his arms.
'Oh boy.' Booster said.
FINAL COORDINATES DETERMINED.
COURSE SET FOR BETELGEUSE.
ETA 0:04:03...
ETA 0:04:02...
ETA 0:04:01...
ETA 0:04:00...
ETA 0:03:59...
'Mira, prepare to go to light speed the moment we clear Betelgeuse.' Buzz said.
'What if they shoot at us?' XR said.
'They can't possibly fire on us from this range.' Buzz assured. 'We'll be safe.'
A laser cut through the emptiness, closing the immense distance in a heartbeat and seared over their ship, missing by almost twenty meters.
It wasn't like regular lasers, in which a short burst was fired, and then recharged for the next shot. This one sustained, and began slicing through space, headed straight for their ship.
'Holy shit!' Mira banked hard right and moved up, the laser barely missing them. Then it stopped. 'That.' She breathed. 'Was too damn close!'
'You were saying?' XR said, folding his arms.
'Evasive maneuvers, Mira.' Buzz said. 'Let's get out of this alive.'
'I'm trying.' Mira said, throwing the ship in erratic, random movements. Another laser scythed through the space below them and missed horribly.'
'How long until we're clear?' Booster asked.
'Another minute and a half.' Buzz replied. 'They'll never catch us.'
'Once we get out of range of them, we can contact Star Command.' XR said. 'And then- Backup! Oh, sweet backup!'
ETA 0:03:23...
ETA 0:03:22...
ETA 0:03:21...
ETA 0:03:20...
The ship continued to fire upon them, none of their shots anywhere as close as the first one. They had given up on firing long sustained shots, and were trying for short, staccato bursts. Mira managed to constantly outmaneuver their clumsy shots and continued onwards beyond the reaches of the star.
'Sixty seconds to clearance.' Buzz said. 'XR, are the light speed engines charged?'
'Done in ten.' XR said. 'Plenty of time.'
'How are we going to stop this thing?' Booster asked. 'I don't think even Zurg could destroy a ship that size.'
'That I doubt.' Mira said sarcastically.
'Worry about that later.' Buzz said. 'Forty-five seconds.'
'Probably Star Command will come up with some new shield penetrating weapon.' XR said. 'No biggie. Once we get out of-'
He was interrupted by the sudden appearance of several new ships just in front of Cruiser 42. He almost fired, but recognized the configuration.
'Star Command!' Everyone said in unison as the familiar white rockets flew past them and headed towards the Armerant in a Delta Wing formation. They were soon joined by another wave of ships, also assuming the same position.
'No!' Buzz said as he realized that they were heading for their doom. 'All Cruisers, break off your attack!' He slammed the commlink button with his palm. 'Repeat, break off your-'
A brief but powerful laser sent pieces of Cruisers 18 and 73 hurtling to infinity and beyond. The ships immediately broke off the formations and scattered like rats who just spotted the resident housecat.
And continued onward.
A second shot blew Cruiser 85 to oblivion as a wide-eyed Team Lightyear saw members of the most elite force in the galaxy dropping like proverbial flies.
ETA 0:02:01...
ETA 0:02:00...
ETA 0:01:59...
ETA 0:01:58...
'Whatdowedo? Whatdowedo?' A flustered XR asked rather frantically, waving his arms.
'We have clearance.' Buzz said, his eyes staring at something in the far-off distance. He turned his gaze to his navigation officer. 'Mira, go to light speed.'
'WHAT?'' XR shouted.
'Buzz!' Mira said. 'We can't leave them at the mercy of that thing!' She spat the last word. 'We have to help them!'
'It's pure suicide if we go back that way.' Buzz said. 'We can't communicate, so maybe if we leave the field of engagement, then they'll follow suit.'
'He's got a point.' Booster said.
'I don't like this.' Mira said with a sharp edge to her tone.
'I'm not asking you to like it.' Buzz replied. 'Take us to ten thousand kilometers out of Betelgeuse. We'll see from there.'
'Sir.' She said, reaching for the button.
ETA 0:01:30...
ETA 0:01:29...
ETA 0:01:28...
ETA 0:01:27...
The entire ship began to vibrate violently the moment Mira sent the ship to light speed. The powerful crystallic fusion engines revved to life.
But nothing happened.
'Wha-?' Mira said.
'The hell?' Buzz said as the engines powered up even more to compensate for the apparent lack of velocity.
The Cruiser began to move. Slowly, but steadily accelerating.
Backwards.
'Tractor beam!' Booster said in shock. 'The ship's got us in a tractor beam!'
Mira looked to the left, and saw that the other cruisers were apparently in the same situation. They had stopped moving at their usual speeds and were instead being slowly drawn towards the ship, just like them.
'More power.' Buzz said. The engines began to rev even harder, pushing themselves to the limit. This continued for a few more seconds before Buzz sighed. 'XR, shut those engines down. Save the power.'
The robot complied and the power drained from their engines. The sound of their only salvation powering down was depressing to say the least.
In desperate situations, Buzz usually responded to pressure by raising his voice or, thumping his fist, or any other similar actions of aggression. His tone of voice since the beginning of this predicament did not reflect that at all. It was, rather, a sort of quiet desperation. The truth sunk into Mira like barbs as she felt something twist inside of her.
'We're going to die, aren't we?' She asked quietly.
Buzz exhaled slowly as he responded to her question. 'Yes.' He said. 'We probably are.'
'Oh phooey.' XR said in a mockingly sarcastic tone. 'And there was this big barbecue thing I had planned for next week.'
'We're going to die?' Booster asked. 'But I don't want to die!'
'Neither do I.' Buzz said. Suddenly the communications panel crackled to life.
'All Cruisers, brace for impact! Fire weapons when within range!'
'My God, look at the size of that thing!'
'Communications!' Buzz said in muted relief as he pressed the button. 'This is Ranger Lightyear to all Star Command vessels, do you read?'
'Lightyear!' A voice said. 'What's going on here? Why-'
The panel died. Buzz drew back his hand as if stung.
Nothing but silence.
Then
'Crew of the human ships. This is the Armerant. We have come to destroy your pathetic species and conquer your Earth. Your technological inferiority is evident. We are superior. Soon our largest warships will come and destroy your precious' The voice struggled with the strange words. 'Stah Commanda and you will finally become extinct! Do not think that you can stop us. Witness our true power.'
A green spheroid issued forth from the fore of the ship and began a slow approach towards the wave of cruisers. The entire crew watched in deadly fascination as it came towards their friends' ships, helpless to evade, helpless to stop their imminent destruction.
There was a beep from Booster's panel.
'We're being scanned-' He began, then stopped.
There was the loud crack of what sounded like thunder. The whole world went pure shocking white as the sound repeated itself a few times. When their vision returned to normal, there was another ship, gargantuan in scope and dimension between the Armerant and the Star Command ships. The torpedo smashed harmlessly upon the shields of the ship as 42 stopped vibrating. The new ship began to unleash all hell upon the Armerant with barrage upon barrage of never-ending lasers.
'Whoa, Nellie!' XR shouted as a giant ship flew past them, the sheer size of which made everyone lean backwards, as if to avoid it. The nameplate scrolled into view, and the crew read the large painted words letter by God sent letter.
CV Rescue.
A quick glance around showed five ships surrounding the Armerant, firing powerful shots into her shields. The outclassed ship began to turn away, firing back, as the new ships converged on their prey,
A veritable sea of fighters emerged from the docking bays of the ships, and flew towards the Armerant, each black shape exactly like the one Eliot Pryce was flying. Missiles and pencil thin bursts of pure energy flew from every single one of the two hundred plus fighters in space, reinforcements for which were being readily sent. Their weapons pummeled the already battered Armerant, which ignored them as it tried to escape the deadly trap which had been set for it.
'Burn baby! BURN!' XR rolled back and forth in glee as the greenish brown ship began to take hull damage, her shields unable to withstand the hammering it was receiving left right and center. As the huge capital ships began to launch their heavy weaponry, the Armerant's hull gave in several places, spewing fire into the space. Laser fire was concentrated on the weak points, and in one final, resounding, climatic, and most all, silent, explosion, the Armerant slowly, but surely, blew up.
The shockwave rocked their tiny Cruser as the fighters turned away from the blast. The ship crumbled from the outside in, in a series of small deaths before roaring its way to hell in a glory train like never before.
When the shockwave died down, the ships, their saviors, halted their movement. An undeniably female voice came over the commlink.
Incoming message from Captain Veronica Kaylar of the CV CONGO. Please standby...
'Members of the human race.' A voice that sounded for all the world like a card-carrying member of the species spoke. 'We are in your debt. You helped us find the Armerant, and without your help we could not have stopped his menace to both your universe, and ours.
'According to our inter-dimensional scans, you have already met the ill-fated Baltimore. The ones you haven't met are the COMVESS Congo.' One of the ships immediately fired off one short laser burst at Betelgeuse, to avoid harm. 'Flagship of the Oid Space Fleet. COMVESS Lambda. COMVESS Rescue. COMVESS Geneva, and COMVESS Britannica.' Each of the ships named indicated themselves in the same way.
'No doubt you are curious as to our nature, and our origin. We leave you with this: A disc containing all the information we can provide about our universe. Hopefully, one day, we can visit each other once again, this time, with us as the home team. Thank you once again, and farewell.' The thunder rolled once more, and time stood still.
When Mira stopped blinking, the ships were gone. All the evidence that they had ever existed was a small white pod where the Armerant once was, bearing the words:
Contents Fragile.