This story is obviously fiction. This story will also involve sexual and intimate relationships between two (or more) males, and if this offends you or it is illegal for you to be reading, then please leave. If you are under the age of consent for your community, please leave. And if it does offend you, I honestly don't know why you're even here in the first place. To the story... away!
STARLIGHT 7
"Some say space is empty.
Do they not realize that it is flooded with starlight?"
~Chair Wind of Tranquility;
In the Halls of Transcendence
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UNRECOGNIZED MATRIX CODE
ACCESS TO GALAXIA HISTORY DATABASES DENIED
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access to glaxia history databases granted.
DEFINE: AUREOLE
The aureole is a subatomic particle recently discovered, catalogued, and touted as an alternative energy source.
Aureole mechanics were first researched by medical anthropologists and physiologists immersed in Tintalan society. Tintalan anatomy includes unique organelles called Lumindra, which convert light and oxygen into energy. Originally thought to be an alternate form of photosynthesis, research attributed the abnormally high energy efficiency of Tintalan physiology to the fact that, as opposed to being released in heat, excess energy in Tintalans is released in the form it was originally absorbed: further experiments into the matter revealed the presence of ribbon-like particles that combined the pre-conceived particle and wave characteristics of light, to be dubbed Aureoles in the future (For full article, see Tintalan Physiology). Passing through cellular structures called AurATPase, Aurasynthesis results in not only the generation of energy, but the radiation of light characteristic in Tintalans.
Aureoles are generated by all sources of light, but of varying intensity. Stars commonly have the most intense aureole radiation in nature, although some plants have
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SKIP TO: AUREOLE TECHNOLOGY
Reyn and Tintalan engineers are often credited for pioneering the field of Auric Physics, most notably Pahn 5,230,980 and his landmark work, Aureolics. Reyn and Tintalan armies saw the first boom of Aureole-based technology, but not long after the Arjidin Conflict desisted, Aureole technology proliferated within all the Prime Races, and throughout the galaxy.
Perhaps the most important technology arrived after the Daw-Radiance Company funded Aureole research, for before then focus was primarilly on weapons and energy generation. The first Aureole-based Warp Gate was built FC 270, 16 years after the Arjidin Conflict, connecting Sol to Tintala. Faster and more efficient than the Magnetoaccelerators built by Early Reyn and Oolian companies, the new Warp Gates created large dividends for the Daw-Radiance Company, and was generally responsible for their
Zahn rubbed his face with the back of his hand, yawning. The squeaky metal door to his room opened, and in stepped the nimble figure of Snow of Effulgence, his black hair briefly shimmering white before fading in the dark of Zahn's room. "What are you doing?" he asked Zahn, spotting his face illuminated by the holographic computer screen.
"Uh... well I hacked into the Galaxia Database."
"Really?" Snow circled around the scraps of metal scattered on the floor to join Zahn on his bed, looking over his shoulder to read the computer. "...This looks kind of sparce."
"It's intended for Solan soldiers, I think," Zahn replied. "Whaddya expect, right? Definitely not something an engineer of MY calibur could use," Zahn said with an arrogant smirk.
Snow was not convinced. He playfully knocked on the right side of Zahn's head, implanted with glowing metal and circuits under his scruffy hair. "You really are a genius... I'll bet you even remembered to override the 5 minute Matrix Code confirmation check all Solan computer systems enstate."
Zahn's eyes widened in realization before he quickly tried to type a line of code in.
UNRECOGNIZED MATRIX CODE
SESSION TIMED OUT
With an annoyed grunt Zahn switched off his computer screen. "...I meant for that to happen."
"Sure." Snow slipped off Zahn's bed as he stepped out the door. "Dea-Lin wants to see us, by the way. Meet you on the bridge."
"Yeah, I'll be right there." Snow disappeared down the cooridor, and Zahn slipped his computer into his pocket. Sidestepping out the door he ran after Snow; at the crossroad in the hall he accidentally bumped into a warm, bouncy cushion in his face. Zahn recognized the titties, and he awkwardly jumped back to look up at the tall, busty woman he had bumped into. "Martine! S-sorry!" Zahn yelled, his voice cracking.
Martine smiled, continuing to tie her hair in a bun as she walked with Zahn towards the bridge. "Don't worry bout it. Not like it's the first time it's happened, right hun?" she said with a wink that made Zahn blush. Her smell always made Zahn woozy in a good way, catatonic and malleable. Martine noticed, and she replied with a small tick. "Sorry. You know, pheremones... I'd control them but you're so cute you make em go off!"
The smell began to wear off, but Zahn was still quite flushed. "I-I, I think you're pretty too."
"Ha! You are too adorable." Martine tied her hair off then put a hand on Zahn's head. "But I'd eat you alive."
Martine got to the end of the hall first, climbing up the ladder with surprising swiftness, considering her heels. Zahn went up after her, not discrete in peeking up her skirt as he followed.
Snow was already at his station, sitting in a swiveling chair with a headset wrapped around his ear. He waved at Martine and smiled at Zahn as they climbed onto the bridge. At the helm was Pete, his visor nearly blocking his eyes, although he didn't seem to be involved in any particularly intricate flight patterns anyway.
Dea-Lin, her deep caramel skin and luxurious waist-length black hair, stood with arms crossed, eyes glued to the display window. Floating just outside was a fancy starcraft, at least four times bigger than their ship, possibly disabled but very sleek and in good condition. She turned around. "Martine, Snow, Zahn... okay, we're all here."
"Darrin and Yali won't be joining us?" Martine mused.
"They're by the docking doors already." Dea-Lin motioned out the bridge viewing window. "See that ship? Tell me all you know about it," she said, particularly eyeing Zahn.
But it was Martine that replied. "It says ÔAstra 7' on the side, sweetie."
Dea-Lin rolled her eyes. "Thank you, doll, I know that. I meant specifications, model."
Now Zahn spoke up. "I was just reading about it on the GBN. You know how Daw-Radiance made those 12 Auric Drive ships, right? That's one of them. But... they said that it was destroyed by Phantoms," Zahn stated with obvious curiosity.
"Phantoms? Shit. Could be risky." Dea-Lin bit her lip, tapped her foot before addressing Snow. "Could you pull up a channel?" she requested.
Snow nodded. He flicked a red switch and spoke into his head set. "Hello Astra 7, this is the merchant vessel Blizzard, do you copy, over?" No reply. Snow tried again, to still no response. He flipped another switch and typed in a rather elaborate code, scanning the screen in front of him. "...I'm reading a fully functional Communicatons Array. Either no one's there or everyone's dead."
"Hey, that ship's one of the rarest around," Zahn said. "I'd raid it."
Dea-Lin shrugged. "Alright..." she mumbled. "Pete? Set us up for docking. We'll have to use manual docking clamps. Snow, tell Darrin and Yali to get ready to search the ship, and Martine, you go and join them." Dea-Lin looked out the window again, talking over her shoulder. "Be armed and ready for anything."
"Destination reached."
Zack opened his eyes, sitting up on the metal floor as he rubbed his eyes. He grunted gently, still fatigued. "...Aurora?"
"Good morning, Zack."
"Morning..." Zack looked around. Ahn, Pahn, Shora and Private Tremel were scattered on the floor of the bridge, all incapcitated. Zack realized that the Aureole Field Gate must have flung them across the galaxy; the trip likely knocked them all unconscious. "Aurora, current destination."
"Outermost rim of Shambhala Quadrant, coordinates 189 by 6830. Nearest system, Senna System, coordinates 180 by-"
"Shit... how long since last active command?"
"Approximately eighteen hours and 12 minutes ago."
Zack heard rustling as Ahn regained consciousness, slowly shambling to his feet. "I feel...woozy," he said, puzzled.
"Yeah, the AFG knocked us silly. Guess where we are."
Ahn gazed out the viewscreen. "Shambhala Quadrant," Ahn discerned from the constellations. "We've jumped at least halfway across the galaxy, Zack."
"Yes, I know that. But we should at least be grateful we got out alive, right?" Zack mustered the energy to stand up and then shuffled to an appropriate control panel glowing a healthy platinum blue. "It looks like the Aureole Intake is back to normal. We can probably get back to Cantata Station in three or four seperate jumps-"
A loud crash, like metal on metal of epic proportions. The ship briefly quaked, upstarting Flower and Pahn, both of whom seemed just as confused as Ahn was.
"Zack, where are we? What's going on?" Pahn demanded.
Before he could reply, screams filled the Bridge. It was Shora, painfully awake, her goggleless eyed twisted shut, her body contorting in agony. Zack and Flower ran to her side. Flower put a hand on Shora's leg, then drew back when it caused Shora's wails to grow louder. "She needs medical help," Flower stated.
Zack was very tempted to reply "no shit," but withheld for conflict sake. The metal noise reverberated again, and they turned their heads to the door; it was coming from outside the bridge.
"Guys? Your headsets working?" Snow inquired into his microphone, Dea-Lin and Zahn looming over him.
Darrin stepped onto the ship first, his catlike ears perked as he pointed his rifle in both directions. He spoke into his headset when he found the coast clear. "Mine's good, Snow."
Martine followed Darrin with her sleek Meresyn-grade pistol. "Ditto." She sheathed her gun when she saw the empty cooridor, and then spoke over her shoulder. "Come on. No one's here."
Assured of safety, Yali, his black eyes still fearful behind his mouse-like snout, followed Martine's advice, gripping a medical kit to his chest. "Hey, Yali," Snow said firmly from his end, causing Yali to squeal in astonishment. "...Does your headset work?" Snow repeated.
"Y-yes." Yali finally managed to say. Darrin laughed then put a firm hand on Yali's furry shoulder, and the gesture made him slightly more more assured. "Where are we going?" Yali asked.
Zahn whispered in Snow's ear. Snow nodded as he listened. "Zahn says that there should be glowing lines in the walls and floor. Follow those retrograde to the bridge." But before Snow could cut off, Dea-Lin whispered in his other ear. "...Oh, and Dea-Lin senses life at the bow of the ship."
"What, she couldn't sense Ôem before?" Darrin asked, putting his rifle at the ready again.
Darrin's comment had blared loudly on the control panel's speaker, and Dea-Lin sighed in exasperation before whispering her response to Snow. "Dea-Lin says that they must have been unconscious. And that you are brainless and a major asshole."
"Oh yeah? You can tell her that she shouldn't talk and that she's full of shit. And also thanks for the heads up." Darrin led the group while Martine trailed, both vigilant and testy, protecting Yali with sharp eyes.
Martine had drawn her gun again. "Look, I think the life signs are in the bridge anyway. We're following the lights and they're going towards the bow."
The loud crashing of the Blizzard's docking clamps reverberated through the ship. And suddenly, screams. All three of them heard it; Yali whimpered in terror, alerting Snow. "Yali? What is it?" Snow asked.
"Screams. Female. Painful," Martine replied in so many words.
Dea-Lin and Zahn exchanged glances. Dea-Lin looked over at the helm. "Pete, how's sensor space looking?"
"Clear," Pete replied.
"Nothing incoming yet, guys. Just be careful."
They took Snow's advice, and by the time they were outside the reinforced door of the Bridge, the screams were full force. Darrin's sensitive ears rotated just slightly, picking up faint sound waves. "...I hear voices," he whispered to Martine, who was pressed to the other side of the door. "Four guys, one girl, and the screaming chick." Darrin pushed Yali behind him, and Martine joined him. Darrin planted a shiny disk on the door, then pressed several buttons on it. It blinked red. "We might wanna back up..."
"We could amputate it," Ahn suggested. Zack looked up at him in disgust.
Private Tremel, finally awake from all the screaming, spoke up from his corner. "Hey, uh... what's that banging noise, anyway?"
"It sounds like docking clamps," Pahn said, matter-of-factly. They realized, with quite a bit of annoyance, what that meant far too late.
An explosion and a column of smoke blasted the metal door of the bridge, and it would have crushed Pahn if he hadn't dodged in time. Zack, who was closest to the door, pulled Shora away from the smoke and ducked for cover himself.
He saw, in the clearing smoke, shadows. First came a Meresyn, her vaguely scaly skin characteristic to her species, as well as her large bust and stunning beauty. But she was dressed in almost mundane clothes, comfortable and fit for perhaps long bouts of interstellar travel. She held a pistol, the kind that could backfire in unskilled hands, but hers seemed anything but.
Then, behind her, a young man, athletic and bursting with energy. He broke through the smoke with cat-like dexterity, and his features were themselvevs cat-like: sharp brown eyes, a wicked grin, ruffled dirty blonde hair. And under his headband- cat ears? He must have been Arjidin then, and the vague markings on his face seemed to indicate that too, but he had no tail, and his skin was nearly hairless.
Trailing was a young Chez, a species whose resemblance was nothing more complicated than that of a four-foot-tall bipedal mouse with clothing. This one gripped a first aid kit in his arms, and unlike his compatiots wasn't armed at all.
"Who do you think you are?!" Zack screamed in protest. The Meresyn gave him only a brief look before unslinging a second pistol and pointing the guns between Pahn, Ahn, and Private Tremel.
The Arjidin (?) pointed his rifle at Zack, who simply stared him down. He smiled at Zack's courage. "Who do you think YOU are, kid? We're claiming this ship."
"Oh, spare me. You!" Zack seemed oblivious to the fact that a rather large gun was shoved in his face, as he pointed to the Chez with no hesitation. "Yeah, you with the first aid. Get over here and help me."
He looked to his friends in anticipation. The Meresyn shrugged, saying, "That's what you're here for, Yali."
Yali whimpered a bit, joining Zack at Shora's side and opening the kit. "What's the problem," he asked Zack, timid.
"Phantoms. Aureole Poisoning, so far still localized to her right leg." He pulled out several hypodermal patches from Yali's kit, them slapped them onto Shora's leg himself.
"So you were attacked by Phantoms," the Arjidin confirmed.
Zack raised an eyebrow, looking up at him and the end of his gun. "Look, are you gonna keep that thing trained on me the whole day? I've got things to do."
On the bridge end of the Blizzard's commlink, Snow tapped the microphone. "Darrin, Martine, what's going on?"
"Yeah, we found 'em," Darrin replied, reluctantly lowering his weapon to let Yali and Zack do their work. He spotted Flower across the way, winked at her, making her blush. "We got two Solans, two Reyn, one Tintalan, and one injured Tik'qa." Darrin took a peek at Zack's white and blue jumpsuit. "Hey, you're Daw-Radiance, huh?"
"Smart one..." mumbled Zack, not bothering to look up from Shora's leg.
"What do you want from us?" Flower yelled from across the bridge, her hands behind her head.
Darrin ignored her, speaking directly into his mic. "Hey, uh... put Dea-Lin on the line, will ya?"
Snow took off his headset and turned around, handing it to Dea-Lin and saying, "It's for you." Dea-Lin wrapped it around her head. "Yeah?"
"These guys are Daw-Radiance. And it looks like one of them is a TSA soldier."
"...Ah, crap."
Martine made her way to the front of the bridge, by the helm control. She punched several buttons, and smiled as the viewscreen flickered into that of the Blizzard's bridge. She was face-to-face with Pete, and could see Snow, Dea-Lin, and Zahn in the far corner. "Hey! Guys!" she yelled, removing her headset.
They looked up from Snow's communication panel, and Dea-Lin peeled off her headset as well. She made her way to Pete's side. "So, this is the Astra 7," she commented.
"Hey, we'll give you whatever you want, just leave us alone!" squealed Flower.
"Yeah... thing is, you're Daw-Radiance, so if we killed you and took your ship, they'd track the mortality transmitter in your Reyn friends' brains, hunt us down, kill us all... even if we didn't take your ship and spared you, they'd still track your ship's video records, hunt us down, kill us all... thanks, but no thanks. We're taking the ship and leaving you on the nearest planet."
"Oh, fuck," they heard Private Tremel say.
Zahn, in the meanttime, also examined the viewscreen. It was to everyone's surprise when he suddenly shoved himself in front of Dea-Lin. "...Hey, Ahn? Ahn 1,000,000,001?"
Everyone on the Astra's bridge turned to Ahn. He cocked his head as he probed Zahn. "Zahn 301,092,811. Pleasure to see you again."
"Hey, you remember me!"
Ahn shrugged. "I have three hundred terabytes of memory dedicated to facial recognition. But even if I didn't I would have a particularly hard time forgetting you."
"Wait, how do you two know each other?" Dea-Lin asked Zahn with tantamount skepticism.
"We were in the same Soma installation pod back on Reys. It's been way too long! Hey, what did you invent, anyway?"
"My first term invention? Etherium crystal-weave armor. You?"
"Err..." Zahn averted his eyes. "I don't like talking about it." Quickly changing the subject, Zahn turned to Dea-Lin. "These guys are cool."
Dea-Lin rolled her eyes. "'The're Cool?' You're such a dicktease. Fine. Scramble their video records with a magnetofield, maybe that'll save our skins. Darrin, Martine, you can lower your weapons and come on back. As for the rest of you-" she scanned the Astra's crew. "-you got lucky. We'll see you later. Blizzard out." The viewscreen cut to that of space again.
Martine reholstered her guns, and Darrin slung his rifle over his back. They turned around to leave, as though nothing had happened, and Yali got up to join them.
Zack, however, was not so pleased. "Wait! Where are you going?!" he screamed in desperation.
Martine went ahead out the door, but Darrin turned around. He shrugged. "We're leaving. You're free to go. Sorry for the disturbance, I guess."
"Sorry for the- what? She's dying, you can't just leave us here!"
Yali and Darrin exchanged glances. "Well- why do you need our help?" Darrin posed. "You're the scientists."
"We're engineers, you dipshit! We don't know anything about this shit, we didn't think we would even be attacked! We need a doctor!"
Something seemed to be making Darrin uncomfortable. "We'd like to help you, but, I-I mean-"
"Please!" Zack's voice was cracking. "She's gonna die!" Tears were in his eyes, and he cradled Shora in his arms. She was limp, no longer screaming. The bridge was silent.
Yali looked up at Darrin. Darrin sighed. He tapped his headset. "Snow? You still there?"
"Why aren't you back yet?"
"Yali and I are staying longer. We might be a while." Zack's eyes widened in surprise when he heard him. Darrin, still reluctant, walked over to Zack, bent down, and picked Shora up in his arms. "Well, come on, twerp. Take us to the med bay."
"I, uh-" Zack turned around, motioned Private Tremel to follow him. He cleared his throat, regaining his composure. "-it's this way." He led them out, stepping over the blasted door down the cooridors of the ship.
Pahn and Flower exchanged glances. "Now what?" Flower asked.
Ahn cut in, as though the answer were obvious. "We talk to their crew."
Zack was relieved to see that power to the medical bay was perfectly operational. He turned on the lights, and the entire bay, silver tables, tech beds and all, was illuminated in the white glow. Darrin lay Shora down on one of the beds. Private Tremel gazed at him very nervously, and when Darrin caught the look in the Solan's eye he laughed to himself.
Yali scurried to a control panel in the tech bed to input several commands. A blue light shot from the panel, then scanned Shora head to toe in less than five seconds. "Her retinas are in bad condition... But the Aureole Poisoning is only in midlevel progression, so we still have time to save tissue," Yali announced. "See if there are any regenerators," he told Zack.
He complied with haste, rushing to the tables. Some medical equipment was already out, and among a series of med kits Zack found a familiar metal hypodermal patch with buttons and a screen on it. "Found one," he said, throwing it to Yali. Yali caught it and put it on Shora's upper thigh, apparently resetting cell regeneration rate with the push of several buttons.
However, Zack had trouble finding another one. He cleared the table, but found none. Frustrated, he finally flung open the cabinet below one of the tables bolted to the wall. But when he saw what was in it, he fell flat on his behind and screamed.
Darrin and Yali turned their heads in shock; Private Tremel, instinctively, reached out to Zack and pulled him away, unaware that hiding in the cabinet was none other than Dr. Bolero. Both he and Zack stared at her, awestruck, as she crawled out of the large man-sized storage space like a corpse from the grave, evidently unharmed much less phased. "Why, hello there," was all she said, with a gentle smile.
"Wh-what were you doing in there?!" Zack managed to muster the sense to ask.
"Hm? Oh, these tables are mostly made of Sidium. Phantoms avoid the metal like the plague, so I figured I'd be safe if I surrounded myself with it, right?"
"Sidium is weapons grade," Yali cut in from across the room. "Those tables are Aluminum."
That wiped the smile off of Dr. Bolero's face, and Zack swore he heard her mumble something along the lines of "dirty thing" before shuffling to Shora's tech bed. "What happened to her?" Yali opened his mouth to say, but the doctor cut him off. "Never mind. You're doing it wrong."
"What? Th-this is standard procedure."
"Absolutely, for narrow-minded dolts."
Yali was obviously hurt from the uncalled for shot. Darrin, noticing, suddenly took out his rifle again, aiming at Dr. Bolero. "Lady, don't sass us, this is still our operation!"
"Watch where you aim that thing, kitty..." she replied. Darrin paused, puzzled at the second time in one day that a person brushed off his gunpoint. The doctor continued. "Tik'qa physiology is miraculously self-regulatory, and in the case of Aureole poisoning simply restoring environmental circumstances should be enough. Computer?"
"I'm sorry. I'm not programmed to respond to you," Aurora replied over the loudspeakers, making Darrin and Yali jump.
"Drat. I just don't know how to work these- would you be a dear and tell that thing to lower the lights to about... say .1 lux," she commanded Zack in the guise of a request.
Zack shrugged. "Alright. Aurora, implement Dr. Bolero's suggestion."
"Sure, Zack." The med bay lights dimmed to almost pitch black; the gentle glow of starlight. Dr. Bolero reached into her lab coat and pulled out a rather large device that looked like a spatula. After carelessly flicking the regenerator off of Shora's leg, she adjusted several buttons on her implement, then waited as it shone a very soft blue light.
Methodically she swept the light over the span of Shora's leg. "Local treatment should do most of the job, but I reccommend a full immersion in .5 lux light from the tech bed for the rest of the day." Strangely enough, she seemed to address Zack more than Yali.
"So she'll be fine?"
"She'll be fine. Well, to a degree. Her eyes are most likely beyond repair, and her leg muscle will never fully recover... Didn't anybody tell you to dim the lights for her?"
Yet another backhand to Yali, who at this point was already packing up his medkit, demoralized. Darrin glared at Dr. Bolero, then at Zack, who was a bit blank. "Whatever," he mumbled. "We're going."
Dr. Bolero smiled to herself. However, Zack called out before Darrin and Yali went out the door. "Wait."
Darrin turned around, quite frustrated.
"Thanks. For staying."
Much to Zack's annoyance, Darrin did nothing more than turn away to leave again. Zack, now seriously irked, left Private Tremel and the Doctor in the dust as he trailed Darrin. "Hey! Don't act pissy with me!" he yelled at his back. "I give out gratitude like I give out blowjobs! You think I actually give a fuck if you stay or not?"
Yali turned, timid, and Darrin did as well, obviously burning with rage. Zack saw a glint in his feline eyes, although it did not phase him. "I was doing you a favor, you little dick, so you'd best well shut the fuck up yourself."
"Ooooh, yeah, you were doing us a favor. Thank you for threatening us at gunpoint and trying to pirate our ship for scrap metal. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you!"
"I should shoot you in the fucking mouth," Darrin said with some seriousness.
"I would let you," Zack replied with equal seriousness. He shoved Darrin, although his comparitively tiny physique did nothing to even make him remotely budge. Still, it was enough to prove his point. "Come on! I probably fucking deserve it anyway! I barely deserve to be alive right now, so just, fucking, shoot me-"
Intrigued by the last bit of Zack's monologue, Darrin furrowed his brow. "You're derranged, kid," he finally proclaimed.
"Sh-shut up!" Zack yelled, although the wetness accumulating in his eyes did not help his case. This had been a long day, and it was evidently showing.
"Alright, listen. It seems like you've been through a lot, and I respect that. But honestly, not my problem anymore." Zack opened his mouth again but Darrin cut him off. "And that doesn't give your friends don't any right to disrespect my friends-" Yali blinked. "-got it?"
Zack, somewhere inbetween fuming and boiling, mumbled, "Alright."
Darrin still was not completely satisfied. He frowned, spying tears in the corner of Zack's eyes. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "...Look, why don't you come on the Blizzard for a little. You look like you could use a drink."
"I don't drink."
"I don't care, just, whatever. Sit around or something." Darrin turned and left, Yali followed. It was to both of their surprise when they heard Zack follow them as well.
Zack recognized the Blizzard as a Pia-class trade vessel: smaller than the Astra 7 for sure, and lacking in space compared to other trading ships, but certainly faster and more powerful. When Darrin and Yali led him onto the gridiron floor, the tacky white lights, he knew it was an older vessel as well; maybe the five-year-old model that was by now out of commission. He wished Ahn was there--Ahn would know.
"I figure your crew won't miss you for a couple hours, right?" Darrin asked.
"They're not my crew." Darrin raised an eyebrow. "They're my coworkers. We're engineers hired by the Daw-Radiance Company. We designed five of the ships last year, but we were called back for repairs."
"Then Phantoms attacked. Tough luck, man. You lost some people, didn't you."
Zack nodded, although he didn't say anything else.
"Well, this probably doesn't help, but I know how you feel."
"..."
Darrin furrowed his brow, looked back at Zack. "Hey, you still there?"
Rather suddenly, loudspeakers from in the walls fizzled and cracked. Snow of Effulgence's voice flickered to life. "Darrin? Yali?"
"What?" Darrin replied into his headset.
"Get on the bridge. And bring that Solan kid with you."
Darrin stopped for a second, as if to say, "Huh." to himself. He then spun around on his feet and went in the opposite direction, taking Yali with him. Zack, still reeling from being called "that Solan Kid," went along without a word, and when Darrin and Yali climbed up the ladder to the bridge, he non-chalantly brushed Yali's long tail away and followed.
The bridge, semicircular, was crowded to the brim. Bundled by the control panels on the right side were Snow and Martine, who were both caught up with an important GBN message on the screen. In the center of the bridge was the helm, where Pete still emotionlessly handled the controls, and Flower leaned on his seat. On the left were Ahn and Pahn, consumed in their own conversation with Zahn and Dea-Lin. Dea-Lin uncrossed her arms and approached Darrin, pulling him aside. Zack spied them in a rather heated argument. He exchanged an awkward glance with Yali before Dea-Lin stepped forward and addressed everyone as a whole, and Pahn joined her. "Now that everyone's here, let's talk business."
"Let's," Darrin said decisively.
Dea-Lin gave him a castrating stare. "Some of you may be upset about what Mr. Pahn and I have decided, so bear with us. Guys," Dea-Lin said, eyeing Yali, Martine, and Snow. "We're going with the Astra 7 into Solan space."
"Huh?" Yali squealed.
"Yeah, I'm a little confused too," commented Flower as she uncrossed her arms.
Dea-Lin addressed her men. "If we ditch Ôem, we're doomed. Between the TSA and Daw-Radiance looking at their ship's video logs, we'd be hunted down for attempts of raiding no matter what we did."
"So we just feed ourselves to them?" Darrin posed.
"...No... if we come escorting the Astra 7 with their crew alive and intact, we'll be rewarded, not reprimanded. Given that they explain our assistance to them."
"Yeah, so, what exactly do we get out of it?" Zack asked Pahn.
"Protection." Pahn motioned to Ahn. "We've been going over the Astra's systems. The Core overload and the immense AFG you generated may have saved our lives, but the Drive Core has been decimated. Sublight flight is still possible, but creating another AFG is unthinkable."
"Then the weapons manifold is linked to the Drive Core. So I guess that does screw us over." Flower concluded.
"Basically, it'll be a longer journey than we thought," Ahn explained. "And the Shambhala Quadrant isn't what we'd call safe."
"And, you-" Flower pointed at Pahn. "-think we can trust them?" She then pointed at Pete, behind her, still listlessly navigating.
Although both Pahn and Dea-Lin opened their mouths to respond, they were cut off by Snow, at the Communications station. "You guys may have to trust us." He motioned to the screen he and Martine were watching. Everyone with the exception of Pete gathered around, awkwardly huddled to watch the broadcast: a pretty Reyn woman with pristine voice implants speaking into the camera, pictures of none other than the Astra 7 whizzing behind her.
"...one of twelve ships to have installed Daw-Radiance Company's famed Auric Drive Cores. The search for the Astra 7 continues, although investigators at the Astra's last known location have found evidence of a Phantom attack; the second Cantata Station shuttle discovered at the scene held over 30 TSA soldiers and DR Mechana technicians, all of whom were pronounced dead from Aureole Poisoning. It is unknown at this time whether the Astra 7 is still intact, but if so we urge viewers and listeners to inform the Galaxia Broadcast Network to send in any sightings they may pick up. This is Cahn 2,832,020 reporting, GBN News."
Flower spoke up first. "Well, that means bad for you. Daw Radiance is gonna be here in no time to pick us up."
"'Well,' this may not occur to you, little girl..." Martine replied, "...but DR isn't the only one who'll be looking for you if your wanted sign is posted on the GBN. I can count twenty guys off the top of my head who just saw this broadcast, and probably got the same idea Zahn did when we saw your ship."
"Then... then where do we go from here?" asked Zack.
Ahn pointed to the starcharts now projected on the viewscreen. "We're floating in deep space right now. There's a rail station in the Senna system about 45 hours away, and we can ride that to the Magnetoaccelerator in the Taenelt system."
"At that point we could fling ourselves to the Hyperborea Quadrant and call it a day," completed Dea-Lin.
"Uh- just a second. Rail stations and Magnetoaccelerators? Are we talking FC 200 here?" Zack began to pontificate. "There's gotta be a Warp Gate somewhere close!"
Darrin spoke with his arms crossed, still clearly unhappy. "Kid, we're in the Shambhala Quadrant. ÔNuff said."
"We can leave right away," Pahn ordered more than said. "The point is that if any of us want to get out of this, we have to-"
"-have to stick together," Dea-Lin said in synchronization.
There was a dead silence while Snow looked at Zahn, Zahn looked at Martine, Martine looked at Yali, Yali looked at Darrin, Darrin glared at Dea-Lin, Dea-Lin stared at Pahn, Pahn fixed on Flower, Flower mugged Zack expectantly, and Zack helplessly glanced at Ahn. "Well," Ahn said, "let's go."
Flower flipped her hair, mumbling something derogatory. Martine wrinkled her face, then let loose a rather loud, "What's her problem?" And then there was chaos, Flower and Martine at each other's throats, Pahn and Dea-Lin suddenly yelling for order, Darrin and Snow squaring off against Ahn, and Yali cowering in the corner. Zack bit his lip and went for the ladder, thinking to himself that maybe getting a drink wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.
Hey everybody,
Howzit? Now, we're getting somewhere! So, wha-wha-what's gonna happen? We got some wacky adventures ahead of ourselves, so it'll be fun to watch them unfold :).
As per usual, thanks for reading!
Questions? Comments? Recommendations? Fan Mail? Hate Mail, maybe? Wanna just chat? Email me at ThePleiadesCall@gmail.com . Love to hear from you!
If you like Starlight 7, maybe there's the very vague possibility you'll like other stories I've submitted:
Charmed Reborn (celebrity), Final Fantasy Rosa (celebrity), Pokemon: Amethyst (celebrity), Teth (fantasy), Diana Celes (High School), Hallow (sci-fi/fantasy), Crystal (Encounters).