A long vessel, green with yellow engines glowing, soared across the Amarosa Valley at an incredible pace. A pace so fast, they barely noticed the Protectorate Convoy that rolled across the old road towards Gersanto.
The three pilots sat silently in the cockpit, and watched a plethora of dials and screens. Glowing lights and displays marked key functions that slowly began to come online.
Beth watched a monitor, and talked from the corner of her mouth. "It's warm up is nearly done. At this rate, it should restore AT4 in an hour."
Martek silently nodded as he pushed the vessel at staggering speeds. The ship's engines were ready, and now he was confident enough to return to his city.
A single pillar of smoke rose softly in the distance, as Beth read out radar readings, and technical data that implied the Protectorate base was still in one piece. A fact that was equally terrifying, and revealing.
Elana sat silently in her seat. Watching the approaching horizon, and playing out scenarios in her head. What if Ren was dead? What if he survived? What if the protectorate were good? What if the protectorate were bad? What if the fleet came back? What if they were the last ones left? What if they were chased across the region, and hounded as Zealots...
Thankfully, she was able to shake it out of her as the image of Gersanto slowly became clear to her. A ruin, stretching across the end of the widening valley.
A... A purple spire extended from it's center. She was not sure what she was looking at, and motioned it to her parents, who simply went quiet.
"Martek...?"
"We need to get closer... wait until we're on the rim of the cultivation lands. We'll be more than close enough."
"...It is Martek. Sensors U-01 to 82 are returning a full point field reading."
Cold. The room went cold, and quiet except for the breathing of the three occupants.
He broke the silence. "That's not possible."
Beth responded, "This was the last place. You know that."
Elana sat silently, fingers gripping her seat once more as to drain her stress away.
"Take the wheel Beth, I need to get ready if that's what we're up against."
She didn't even flinch as the controls switched fully to her, and Martek unfastened himself. The creak of the seat confirming the speed of his rising.
Elana immediately unfastened her belts, and rose to meet him.
He locked eye with her, and stated in a simple firm manner.
"No. There are things you do not need to see."
"I want to find him."
He took her by the shoulder, and took a deep breath, that thrust his chest out, and slowly back in.
"Beth?"
She didn't even turn.
"I know your judgment my love. But this must be priority soon..."
He held his daughter, and in the jagged moving of his eyes, with the exhaustion only a parent can fathom, weighed the horrors and hopes of life to as fine a degree as he could.
"Then come with me, Elana but show me that you still remember how to handle a Galzion rifle."
She smiled faintly, just allowing the tips of her lips to curve upwards, as her father marched her out the doorway and into the tight interior corridor that ran the length of the vast vessel. The clanging of steel grated plates ringing slightly, and the distant movement of steel on steel reaffirming the fact that the vessel had not yet fully awoken.
YOU ARE READING
World In Turmoil
Science FictionAmongst the empires of the galaxy. Between the factions and the territories. On a rustic world left to itself. A young man had heros once... They were a force sworn to protect. They were a navy of saviours. In a time of need. ...
