Story [Issue 35] Forward - Part 1

[Kevred 1,586]

List of Previous Chapters

 

Section I- Lock n' Loaded

 

Chapter I, The Crimson Blades

-Part I

-Part II

-Part III

 

Chapter II, The Titancore

-Part I

-Part II

 

Chapter III, Dawn of War

-Part I

 

---

 

*NOTE*

 

Due to several reports of incomprehension of the storyline due to several factors (1-month time between chapters, complexity, etc), a summary of ALL previous chapters has been made. This resumes all the important factors of the plot. In addition, if you were to read the summary then read the next chapter, you'll be able to understand nearly everything, even if you've never heard of this series before.

 

Time: Far Future

Genre: Sci-Fi

Setting: A universe divided between several factions (alien and human)

 

Arshton and Andros, two orphan brothers, have attended the military academy of the Galactic Terran Empire. They're separated when Andros joins the a rebel force named The Fallen, and Arshton starts his duty of border patrol on Sector C.

 

Their paths unexpectedly rejoin each other when Arshton is assigned on a task force to capture a pirate-controlled AI super-intelligence the size of a starbase, called the Titancore. Admiral McCollins, the Terran fleet admiral, wanted a certain information on "the most powerful force in the galaxy", which was supposedly contained in said Titancore.

 

However, after the Terran forces are nearly wiped out by the heavy pirate fleet, Arshton directs the ship he was commanding on a crash course with the Titancore. This provokes an explosion which wipes out the entire sector.

 

Arshton survived, though he was seriously injured physically and mentally. He wakes up in a Fallen secret base, where he meets his brother. Unfortunately, something interfered with Arshton's mind, causing him to go berserk and escape from the base on a vessel.

 

At around the same moment, Terran shock troops assault the base. Fallen forces are forced to retreat aboard their hidden space fleet. A heavy firefight is then engaged between the two camps.

 

---

 

 

 

 

Far Across

 

 

“Remember, keep pressure on their flanks. Erexa, meet me in the cargo bay.”

 

I difficultly make my way to said cargo bays, hanging on to anything I can to counter the incessant shaking of the ship caused by the enemy weapons. Narrowly evading a shroud of deadly gas, I’m forced to advance like a cat before finally making it to the huge bay, finding Erexa waiting for me there, leisurely leaning on a box full of antique Google Glasses. Her relaxed posture taunts my own struggle to not fall flat on my face.

 

“So, I guess you want to know what happened with Arshton?” She says, fumbling with a pair of dusty glasses.

 

The directness of her question takes me by surprise. I indeed did have questions relating to my –deceased?- brother, as such my reply is positive.

 

“This thing is horrid…how did Americans live with this fossil?” She claims, referring to the glasses barely hanging on to her head, “Anyways, first of all, don’t worry, your brother is alive and well. Now if you can still call him your brother is another question.”

 

I raise an eyebrow.

 

She continues. “I’ll explain later. He’s currently on his way to the Solar system, onboard one of our vessels, which he hijacked and stole. Come with me, let’s catch him.”

 

This causes me to speak. “What? We’re fighting a war here, in case you didn’t remember…we can't just leave our fleet without commandment, and besides, going out there in space is suicide! Our rocket ship won’t stand a chance!”

 

“I've already assigned two temporary fleet captains. And who said we were going to use our rocket ship?”

 

***

 

The long disappeared quietude of space was replaced with the flashes and explosions of war. Our somewhat small state-of-the-art T-class intergalactic freighter had shields strong enough to withstand months of relentless attacks, as such I and Erexa discussed in the midst of the spatial battle unworried.

 

“You do have a plan, right?” I ask.

 

“Nah, I thought I’d give improvisation a go,” she replies.

 

I sigh just as the console beeps red, indication of a potential danger.

 

“Seven Terran gunships are in chase!” I say right before the latter's missiles hit our shields, causing my head to become the ball of a Ping-Pong game between the console and the chair’s back.

 

“Seven? Then the odds are even,” Erexa swerved the freighter right, narrowly avoiding a second swarm of missiles. She then punches a few buttons, making the ship shake so violently that I once again bang my nose on the console. I release a curse.

 

“What are you doing, besides destroying my face?” I manage to utter through my heavily bleeding mouth.

 

The answer comes to me from the outside. Our weapons fire in a pre-set scheme, using the laws of physics to create a temporary miniature blackhole. Its gigantic vortex swallows us, before closing just as the fastest of the Terrans tried to follow, cutting the unfortunate fighter in half.

 

The entire trip through the blackhole typhoon lasted for less than a second. We’re greeted at destination by blazing light so bright they scorch the skin off my face. The alarms unforgivingly rings, accompanied by the computer’s voice, relentlessly repeating that ship systems are shutting down one after the other. Pure particles of heat, unstoppable by matter, burns off the skin all over my body and carves itself a way through me. Strangely no pain is felt, but the idea of what is happening is enough to send me into panic mode.

 

“Time for plan B!” I yell, before mindlessly punching some random buttons. The light and heat suddenly disappears, and we’re pulled through yet another teleportation vortex. This trip lasts even shorter, and before I notice it I find myself staring at an asteroid once called “Pluto”.

 

"That's plan B?" Erexa mumbles as she rests her head on my shoulder.

 

"Oh, I thought I'd give improvisation a go. Now what happened back there?"

 

“Must’ve made a mistake in my data or something. We ended up at less than a kilometer away from the Solar Star. Or ‘Sun’, as you pure-blood humans prefer to call it.” She replies. She turns to look at me, but suddenly stops and lets out a squeak.

 

“What? I don't have a spider in my hair, do I?” I ask.

 

She turns around, “You weren’t wearing your pilot helmet, we’re you?”

 

“No, why?” By the mixture of disgust and sadness I see in her expression, I seriously start to think there's maybe a spider crawling around on my head.

 

"So?"

 

I await her response, but instead she holds up a mirror in front of my face.

 

The monster staring back at me lets out a cry of terror.

 

 

***

 

 

I lie in wait on the medical bed, as Erexa fumbles with a datapad.

 

“So? How long will it take for the skin to grow back?” The sound of my voice is abnormally amplified by the damage in my ears.

 

“Not-not long.”

 

“Erexa, you were never good at lying.”

 

“Andros…it’s permanent. The skin won’t grow back. I can’t fix it. The best I can do is give you alcoiloids so it doesn’t hurt.”

 

"That's impossible. There must be a way."

 

"The DNA themselves in the cells were destroyed by the radioactivity. It can't, can't grow back," She lays her instruments back down on the metal tray as she, without notice, turns around and scuttles out of the room, as if not wishing to stay with a half monster-half human.

 

Alone, my gears turn around in an interminable circle, like blades on ice. Getting nowhere but deeper and deeper. I lost my arm. I lost my leg. I lost my visage. I lost what makes me human. And slowly, I understand that the wounds are not only physical, but emotional. And both will never heal again.

 

***

 

Alone in my quarters, the clock’s tick resonate through my mind. I don the pilot helmet which caused all this, knowing that this moment was the last time I’ll see the world with my own eyes instead of a visor. I take in the colors, the beauty of things, the feeling and the reality. With one last breath, my shaking hands put on the helmet.

 

“Andros?” I hear Erexa’s hesitant voice through the helmet’s integrated transmitter.

 

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” I say, even though I know I’m lying as badly as she did.

 

Unexpectly the doors of my quarters slide open, revealing the silhouette of a feminine form. She cautiously steps in, and I realize she's looking at everything, but me.

 

“Look,” Erexa says simply as she points a finger to the window.

 

Baffled, I follow her line of vision, and my eyes are greeted with the most incomprehensible sight man has ever seen. It was a huge, gigantic construction the size of a planet, with arks spreading out and around one central core. The purplish glow around it seemed to indicate the composition of the core to be some kind of crystal. It was situated fairly far from us, however its size was still huge.

 

“It’s heading for Terra.” The realization sends dread throughout my body.

 

 

“Looks like Arshton didn’t escape using a vessel after all. Nope, he seems to have preferred something bigger,” Erexa replies.

 

 

 

 

 

                                           

Edited July 30, 2017 by Hexed

[Darren4Turbo 4,913]

Nice Story!  :D

 

Good Job.

Edited May 31, 2015 by Darren4Turbo

[liverpoolaum 811]

nice

[Darren4Turbo 4,913]

@Kevred, do a poem next  ;).

Edited June 1, 2015 by Darren4Turbo

[aperaiderpistol 459]

Interesting story :).

[TriNitroToIuene 4,765]

This is one of the best sci-fi short stories I've ever read! You should consider combining all the chapters and publishing them in a book, Kev ;).

Btw I like your title picture theme. It's pretty simplistic.

[Kevred 1,586]

This is one of the best sci-fi short stories I've ever read! You should consider combining all the chapters and publishing them in a book, Kev ;).

Btw I like your title picture theme. It's pretty simplistic.

Praty! How have you been doing? Finished creating that space-ship yet? :D

[TriNitroToIuene 4,765]

Praty! How have you been doing? Finished creating that space-ship yet? :D

Heheheh :P

I've just been drawing sketches of it and deciding where to put in the architect's name...... :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

I've been on holiday, was kinda inactive, so...... I'm fine.

How are you, buddy? I've been catching up on your articles for the past two months..... how's that plan for becoming the dictator chief journalist of that high end magazine? :D