The Primitive King ~ ON HOLD ~

ONE

ALVARA

My light eyes scanned the vicinity around my ship methodically, and I felt a bead of sweat trickle down my brow. My space ship's sensors were blaring their warning, anticipating the deadly horde that approached. Judy Blue was a hardy, reliable beast and I took pleasure in flying her through the cosmos. Especially when there was a rebel fleet trying to strike back at the League.

The general's voice echoed in my mind, and a new sense of determination washed over me. We were low on water, and at this rate, the entire League would be out within a year. Not to mention precious metals for machinery, and nutrient-dense soil for the crop. I had to defeat these terrorists so that I could get back to my supply mission.

"Remember, Alvara Foreman. You are our biggest hope at getting those resources. Nobody has been trained from childhood the way you have been. We'll be counting on you."

This was probably my best chance to show the General that I could be on the frontlines.

No pressure...

As my ship approached, I pressed a series of controls to activate the camouflage feature. When I was finally incognito, I cautiously crept towards the bottom of the horde and inspected their layout. They appeared to surround a larger ship, and each vehicle was almost robotic in its movements and paths. They were obviously designed to be a hive formation, and with this knowledge, I knew that really I only had to take out the mothership to decimate these criminals.

I pressed the control to direct the ship's power towards the weapons and defense, temporarily only able to hover in place.  My stomach was in knots, but I knew my training prepared me for this. This wasn't the first or last time I would take a life. 

With a scan on my cornea, for safety purposes, I was able to release a blast of electromagnetic ions at the mothership. I aimed for their defense and energy systems, knowing this would slowly kill them through asphyxiation and disable them from leaving this exact spot. 

With a pinch of remorse, I watched as the flames decimated the largest ship. It was quite poetic actually, resembling a supernova. The end of the life of a star. However, my eyes widened and I gasped once I watched all of the smaller ships stop and point towards me. My camouflage may still be in effect but they certainly saw the blast. What was even more worrying, I could see about 20 of the crafts begin to fly towards one another, and assemble another mothership before my very eyes.

I had made a fatal mistake in assuming it was a typical Hive formation fleet, and now I had to fly away to get out of this with my life. 

Kicking my butt into gear, I quickly flipped a series of about thirty controls. I redirected the power to my thrusters and put all of the remaining power into my camouflage. I'd have to forego the defenses, but if It weren't invisible the ship wouldn't have the capacity to take that many blasts anyways.

I tried to move slowly, as the camouflage didn't extend to my thrusters, to maneuver my way out of this labyrinth of danger. My heart was racing, and my mind had trouble staying focused as I thought about my life. I could die today. Every second was like a millennium, and I almost wasn't surprised when my ship finally got hit, jostling everything inside. 

The lights flickered and I held on tighter to the controls. I sped up a bit, hoping to avoid another blast when a huge boom sent me flying through space, no thrusters needed. I was hyperventilating and nearly having a heart attack as I watched the stars spin, the dizzy white stripes hypnotized my fragile mind. The lights had shut off completely, and I was terrified that I'd spin like this forever until I died of suffocation or hunger.