1300 hours, August 30th, 2160
Control room, MWR Free, en route to the Decade System
I hated being out in the middle of space. The government cut off all Light Travel, until the Incolma was no longer an issue, they had figured out that they could follow us through Jump Slots, so it has a hazard to everyone. It gave me this feeling of emptiness, like no matter what I did out here, there was no consequence for it. Of course, Milky Way Republic had still jurisdiction out here, but who was here to observe any piracy? Which hasn't even become a problem yet, in the past hundred years?
Bailey loved it out here. She loved the possibility of being unseen, of being able to do what ever she wanted to, of being free. All our lives we were run by military families, strict rules, and picky parents. She liked not having rules. I didn't.
"Sir!" He threw me out of my daze. It was Cory. Cory Phillips, He had become my permanent First Mate since Bret left, plus he tried to follow me into the unknown hell of an Incolma ship, that's just an added bonus.
"Yes, Phillips, what is it?" He looked scared.
"I think you should have a look at this, sir." I got out of my chair, walked down the stairs on the left side of the pedestal, and approached the view screen in his parameters. It was a scanning device, similar to the ones in our DAWN suits. The Ship makers started putting them in the ships because the Denizen ships were so well cloaked, it would sometimes be too late before you had one on your front door step.
The image showed the blue of the device, but with a big blob of red outlines.
"Can you enhance that image?"
"Yessir." He hit a button on the keypad and it showed a top down image of everything, first up close, showing five or six ships, then dozens.
"Oh my god."
"Sir? What do we do?" I paused and looked at him. He was only twenty-two years old. the youngest of all the people working on this ship. It wouldn't be fair for him to have to suffer through the inevitable death that was coming towards us.
"abandon ship. Get everyone out of here," he looked at me in protest, like he was planning on staying here, "Including you." I looked at everyone manning each of the ten or eleven stations. "All of you, get out of here, fall back to the nearest colony, and tell them that the I have been captured. And by no circumstance use any sort of Light travel, whether it requires a Jump or not, do you understand these orders and the way they have been presented to you?" Nods all around the room.
"Now go, there is over one hundred and fifty souls aboard this vessel and I want not a one, but me, left."
"Sir, you're not coming with us?"
"I gave you an order, Captain, now go."
"Sir, I'm a Lieutenant."
"Not anymore you're not, you are now Captain of the MWR Free, and your Admiral is telling you to abandon ship. Get your men, out of here, NOW." I shouted the word now a little, I thought he wouldn't go if I wasn't forceful. He stood up, saluted me and I saluted back. He's a good kid. Stuborn like me, but a good kid.
I watched as the last of the escape pods left there bays. Each pod can carry ten people, so there was fifteen pods that launched. I wonder which one Phillips in on. The next thing I saw was the Incolma ships coming towards me, growing larger and larger with every second. I saw one of the monitors light up, so I walked over to it. "In coming message. Receive? Yes. No." I touched the yes, and it went up on the view screen. It's bigger down here than over there. The screen went from Blue and yellow to black to an Incolma. The Wise One.
"You have quite an amount of courage to stay here while the rest of your scum flees from our wrath. Tell me, human. Why do you stay?"
"I stay because I have questions for you. And because I have to uphold appearances. You understand, I'm sure." He gave a nod of his head.
"Look, I want no trouble at all. I took your ship and I'm here to propose a trade."
"Oh? And what sort of trade is that, Human?" He started calling me human, not dirt or scum. He respects me, to some level.
"I say we trade information. You can't Light Jump, we can, in fact there is a perfectly working Light Drive here on this ship, the only thing I ask in return is answers." He fiddled with something off camera, I couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"Tell me why I shouldn't just take your technology? I have the numbers, and as far as we know, you are the only one on that entire ship."
"Because ypu don't actually know if I am the last one on the ship. We could afford launching a cuple of decoy pods out into space."
"So I see." He looked around the deck, his, then mine.
"Alright, Human. We'll do things your way. But we must keep up appearances. You understand." What does he mean? Then I heard it. I turned around and saw an army of Incolma. Oh shit. The nearest one came over to me and hit me in the temple with the butt of his gun and I fell to the ground.
I hate being out in the middle of space.
Who's around to observe you?
Piracy just became an Issue.
YOU ARE READING
The Milky Way Saga: Cities to Embers (Book 1 of 3)
Science Fiction"In the year 2160, Humans are at war with an alien race who call themselves Incolma, or Denizens. They have destoryed much of what humanity has accomplished in the last 100 years. Now, it is up to Vice Admiral Isaac Free to save humanity, and all t...
