Iliad: The Stolen Wings

Prologue

The dimly lit calm of the starship hanger that housed the prototype ship was broken suddenly by the warm orangish-blue glow as the Dorfsin/Langester 67 – C sub-light/faster than light tachyonic engines cycles through the start-up procedures for the first time since their installation almost two months before. The uncomfortable silence that had settled over the hanger since the deck crew had left for the night almost two full earth standard hours before, was broken by the whine of the repulsion vertical takeoff and landing lift vents as they slowly lifted the two hundred foot azure colored ship off of the tarmac, making the scattered tools, trash, and catwalks vibrate slightly. Five meters, ten, twenty. The sounds of girders popping and wires snapping filled the empty chamber. The ship shed itself of all of the tethers that would hamper it's flight, then set itself back down lightly; barely a whisper heard as its landing gear touched down though that was more because the whine of the engine was growing in decibels.

Red warning lights began to strobe through the dim, dusty haze the ship had created as it took off for the first time; silent alarms that proved that the ships premature first flight was noticed. It didn't matter though. Even the fastest of the security crews wouldn't be able to make it in time to stop the ship. No one, least of all the men in the employ of the eccentric that had requested the ship retrofitted, had considered anyone would be brave or crazy enough to try and steal it.

The ship's hull itself had started its life as an Athena Mark 2 light class bulk transport from the famous Olympian Manufacturing Drive Yards, though it had undergone enough post construction modification as per the whims of Darian Mathias that very few of the parts remained the same. The general look of it was still that of most Athena Twos: a somewhat bird shaped craft with the bridge being set in the head, with the exception of collapsible wings that extended while in atmosphere from the hull about mid-ship, instead of the main stay wings, which were known to rip off during faster than light flight, and the two DL – 67 C engines that replaced the original 4 Aeronautical Navigations – 21 where the tail would be. The reason for the change in engines was that the output of the two newer DL's would theoretically give twice the power of the older AN's which would give the craft twice the power with half again the original fuel consumption at two/thirds the weight.

The hull was reinforced titanium and palladium, with a mixture of a few other non-terrestrial alloys that would help with the cold of space and the heat of reentry into atmosphere while keeping an air tight seal so that it didn't accidentally vent atmosphere and kill everyone on board, and painted a light blue which had brought about its name; the Azure Albatross. The arrow head bridge was about twenty feet in width, with the triple thick paned reinforced clear metal alloy that humanity had discovered in the wreckage of a crashed alien ship found millennia ago for the view port, when they had first perfected faster than light travel, set about five feet from the tip. Its scientific name was Arithian glass, after the scientist who had broken down its molecular components and figured out how to mass produce it, but it had an actual elemental letter and molecular number. Through the pane, a command console and a pilot's seat could be seen as the inner lights of the Athena Two blinked into existence, with two other seats behind it as the bridge triangled out. At its height, with the landing gear down, the ship stood at just over sixty feet at its highest point, fifty-five without the landing gear, with a width of forty-five feet behind the bridge.

The gang plank slid from the underbelly of the ship with a hiss of hydraulics; the edge where it separated from the ship right behind the head, and hit the reinforced floor with a muffled thump. Two figures entered the hanger from the door leading deeper into the complex; one tall and somewhat athletic of frame, though more on the skinny side than muscular, the other only a quarter head shorter and slightly round. The slightly flabby, rounder of the two was wearing what could only be the rags of coveralls; dirty and blood stained. He leaned upon the athletic one, who was wearing faded brown coveralls with a blue padded jacket that had the emblem of the private security force sewn into the left shoulder sleeve. He helped the ragged one limp over to a pile of crates set right in front of the prototype ship, letting his companion lean against them for support as he pulled a small, common looking rail pistol from a shoulder holster. He peered cautiously around, making sure that they wouldn't get any nasty surprises. When he was sure they were alone, he turned to the bloodied, hurt figure and leaned down next to him. They had a short conversation; the skinny one nodded, hefted the other onto his feet, and then dragged him towards the ramp.