The Evergreen Files: Banshee; Book One
Chapter Fifteen

Decius moved up behind Solomon’s rigid form at the threshold of the barricade, staring down the corridor that had accumulated some Banshee bodies. They had tried to force Solomon’s men back several times, and failed. “Sir?” asked Decius with a dry, breaking voice. Solomon remained as a statue, eyes fixed upon the Banshee graveyard when he heard the heavy footsteps of humans in armour quickly approaching from one of the many entrances in the corridor. “Solomon!” Came the ever familiar growl echoing from one of the blackened entrance-ways. “Where the bloody hell are you!” Lucius had been lost within the maze of corridors and blood with a broken radio. Banshee and Human bodies alike littered the corridors of the ship. Decius cried out in anguish as he propelled himself over the makeshift barricade “Captain Deeph!” he cried as he dashed down the Banshee corpse littered corridor. Solomon called after him but could not abandon his position as he heard gunfire and screams from the landing bay behind and a muffled voice broke through the radio in his helmet. “They’ve broken through! They’re everywhere!” Solomon swore and called back for Decius and retreated back into the landing bay to find a swarm of Banshee’s pouring through a large hole in the ventilation shaft running through the centre of the bay. There were dozens of them hissing and butchering.

Decius ran towards the booming voices of the Second company and their gunfire. Only stopping when a large slimy wet hulk slammed into him, knocking him from his armoured feet. The teeth glistened in the dim light of the corridor and his chest flash light, the hissing was unmistakable. The Banshee smiled widely and maliciously at its helpless pray that lay pinned beneath its powerful limbs, but then it was gone with a flash of blue, and a growl.

Lucius stood tall, and proud above Decius. His eyes fixed upon the tanned creature vexing him and drooling on the floor. Only the one was in view. Blinded by his rage, he did not see or hear the three others skulking around in the vents above him. He had long spent the bullets within his rifle and had resorted to his pistol and much loved combat knife. The knife was his most adored possession, Lucius had so many memories with her. Survived and killed many things, gone through everything together, he had received her at boot camp and she had been with him ever since. He launched himself at the creature, swinging the blade at its face, but the thing was quick enough to swoop away at the final second. Lucius swung his arm backwards to counter any attack with a swift elbow to the head of the beast, as he fell forward from his attack, he span and turned his pistol to the beast and fired three rounds. Two hit home. The tanned Banshee squealed and died, and as if called, the three hidden Banshee’s clawed their way out of the vents and into the corridor. The dead Banshees blood flowed upon the metal floor and glistened in the light, Lucius smiled maliciously. Wanting more to kill. “Come on, then.” he growled deeply and charged them when they looked at him dumbly, he fired another round of his pistol and the magazine was spent, the projectile missed its target as it dodged the bullet. The creatures hissed and charged Lucius, their hulking masses collided with a bang and clatter of armour against the hull. Lucius was on his back, the two creatures had overpowered his momentum and weight, he stuck his free hand around one of the creatures neck and stabbed it repeatedly in the gut with his sharpened knife before snapping its neck with his brute strength. The second Banshee managed to slice into Lucius’ side and arm that was busy with snapping its fellow ambushers head from its spine. Lucius let out a roar greater than anything the creature had heard, it backed off In fear, cowering low and the remaining Banshee that had been holding back, waiting for its turn, had started backing away towards the hull plating. Both hanging low, with hungry eyes, drooling, needle teeth and ready to pounce. Lucius checked his side, the claw had torn clean through his armour plate and created a deep gash, nothing fatal. He smiled. He swore and spat some blood out that had accumulated in his mouth and then laughed softly to himself. “Finally. Something worthy of my skill.” And blew a mocking kiss to the creatures and then charged them, growling magnificently as he picked up speed. His knife cut into their flesh, and their claws cut into his. Blood mixed upon the walls and floor as he killed the two Banshees. He breathed heavy with a slight rattle. Gasping for breath, he checked himself. Somehow during the fight he had dismembered a Banshee’s hand as it attacked him, it was still stuck upon his chest. Directly piercing his left lung. The corridor started to blur and he felt light headed as his lung failed to supply his brain with much required oxygen. He blinked and wiped his eyes, trying to clear them to no avail and then he remembered. Decius. Still in a cowering pile upon the floor. The young soldier was practically useless in a fight. Lucius smiled at him warmly, but his lips failed as the hissing of seven more Banshee’s entered the corridor from the broken door that Lucius had entered through. “Go, Decius.” said Lucius softly. “Go and tell of my glory.” and with that, Lucius primed a grenade in each hand, and let them loose down the corridor and let them explode before he began clumsily running towards the smoke and banshee’s now hunting through the corridor, roaring at his demise. And then he gave in to the lack of oxygen from his pierced lung, and fell short of his prey.

“Solomon! Fall back to The Evergreen!” spat Kyril over the radio static and bickering voices of the other soldiers, screams and gunfire. The transports had already fired up their engines again the moment the creatures fell through the vents, their gunners had began firing into them with their heavy mounted weapons. Solomon ordered the retreat very willingly. He hated this place. The closet soldiers to the transports provided the perimeter, the encircled the craft , adding to the carnage of the heavy weapons, allowing the other soldiers further out a good chance to escape the clutches of the Banshee’s. One shuttle took to the void, its belly full of soldiers. The gunfight increased with ferocity as more ground now opened up in to a clear view. Another shuttle escaped with it’s full precious cargo. When the last Banshee had ceased to move, no longer twitching and its blood oozed onto the corrugated floor, Solomon glanced around the craft. “Is this it?” he asked sadly, seeing it wasn’t even half full. All the other craft had gone amidst the fighting, Solomon sighed with grief as he saw the vacant faces of Lyra and Sandra sat bloodied in the corner of the trooper hold, breathing heavily. This conflict had clearly taken its toll on them both. Decius was missing. “OK. Let’s make way...” said Solomon slowly, but stopped sealing the hatch as he heard a plea from the end of the corridor. “Wait!” called the blue and bloodied running figure of Decius as he ran as fast as he could to the ship, dragging the large beaten mass of Lucius behind him.

“Where the hell is the rest of Second company?” barked Solomon as the shaken soldier reached the hatch. Decius told Solomon of Lucius’ men, he had found the remains of his squad a little further down the corridor. Torn to pieces, much like most of the Banshee’s victims. Soon to re-awake. “All crew aboard The Infinity, This is Lieutenant Commander Solomon Gordon. If any survive within the holds of The Infinity, make way to the bridge and power the external lights, we will come for you!” he called into his radio, and his comms specialist set it to work on a loop to play forever within the confines of the butchers vessel.

And so, The men and women of the Human race retreated, tails between their legs, their faces bloodied, their bullets spent and their knives blunt. Kyril had witnessed much of the carnage from their armour cams. Confirming the dead.

“First Company has forty two, Second Company has six, Third Company was entirely gone. Seventh Company has twenty four.” sighed Kyril has he slumped himself against the corner of his briefing room. Solomon had been the only Captain other than the wounded Lucius to survive the shit storm of the Infinity. The newly appointed Captain of the Seventh Company still held the blood upon her face and hands from the fighting, and only commanding the single platoon left out of the company.

Solomon didn’t care to learn her name. He just grumbled a little and left with his casualty report. Nearly sixty percent casualties. Back on Merriden IV there was going to be many proxy funerals. The crew of The Evergreen had no idea of the slaughter of their fleet. They only knew of the slaughter of their own.

Solomon sat grieving at his command chair. No coffee. No smile. As Kyril walked limply into the room, thinner than ever. His eyes had sunken further into his skull, giving him a ghoulish gaunt feature, his cheek bones had become more pronounced and his skin sagged from his jowls. He whispered something to the tactical officer that caused the officer to stare with hesitation, moving his mouth soundlessly and then Kyril walked up to his command chair, placing his hand upon the smooth warm leather arm, he breathed heavily. “Nuke it.” and nothing happened. Kyril turned slowly to the tactical officer who was still blinking stupidly at Kyril, still trying to process the order he had given him. “I said, Nuke that thing Ensign!” and just like that, he pressed some buttons and fired the nuclear warhead at The Infinity. A glorious chain reaction that tore the ship apart was viewed throughout the ship, no cheers and no drinks clinked edges and nobody celebrated, for The Evergreen had turned tail. Retreating, battered, bruised and bloodied. “Brilliant. First you start to look like that snake Winslow, and now, you’re acting like him!” spat Solomon, Kyril slowly turned to meet his second in command’s glare. Kyril will not underestimate the Banshee threat again. “Ok. What would you like to have done?” he rattled weakly, Solomon continued to stare at the withering man before him. He knew the infection rate was too severe to contain, everything on that vessel needed to be purged with nuclear fire. “Let’s get back to doing our jobs. I will be in my room, doing bloody paper work.” continued Kyril and scuttled off, his feet softened by the carpet.

During the transit back to Merriden IV, Solomon broke from his small depressive state and went to find Kyril, something was playing on his mind. Finding him in his personal quarters, Solomon entered unannounced which gave Kyril a fright and Solomon caught him hiding something behind his back. Kyrils room was very similar to Solomon’s only slightly bigger with more screens build into the walls showing the many ship calibrations and measurements, and a map of the destination and locations, along with company orders and status. Solomon saw that the Seventh Company screen was red and names crossed out. Solomon placed himself in his commanders string chair, easing himself down slowly with an exaggerated sigh. “What’s that Boss?” he asked tonelessly filled with disappointment still scratching his pride from the recent defeat, Kyril looked more tired than ever, slumping his shoulders with defeat, he brought his arms around slowly, finding one arm with a rubber tourniquet above his elbow, and a long needle filled with a blue liquid in the other hand. Solomon raised his eyebrows. “Addiction?” he asked like a disappointed father. “No, Sol... Cancer.” wheezed Kyril softly. Solomon felt greater loss now than from the Luna Wars and even from the battle of the Infinity. That explains the decline of Kyril’s physical appearance, Solomon had just suspected it was narcotic abuse or just old aged stress after everything they had been through over the years catching up with the old man. All the death they had seen, and dealt, all the gore they had been covered in. “How long?” asked Solomon and Kyril shrugged, “Diagnosed nine weeks ago, not a clue how long left... this stuff doesn’t seem to work!” Kyril spat as his eyes filled with tears. The old man looked so helpless, all skin and bone, and snot, and tears. He straightened up after a few minutes of crying, and continued to ready his arm for his medicine, composing himself as an officer of the Navy once more, “Hope you don’t mind...” he said gesturing to his needle and injected himself with a hiss. Solomon told Kyril he was always available to help the old man, smiled and asked if he would prefer to be alone, Kyril smiled but gave Solomon a job to do on the bridge. He could see that Kyril wanted the privacy at this moment. The Evergreen’s plotted course brought it perfectly on spot at the Merriden space station, that was now a floating, orbiting junk pile. “Erm. Navigations, please check the co-ordinates, are we in the right spot?” asked Solomon sheepishly, seeing a planet in the distance, looking very similar to that of Merriden IV, “confirmed co-ordinates, we are where we should be. Checking surroundings now.” came back the voice over the terminal on the side. Around The Evergreen floating about was massive melted hunks of junk, and in them sat the destroyed carcasses of the Human ships. Solomon began to slowly connect the dots, noticing the shape of one of the heaps of bent and melted metal “Kyril, get up here now!” ordered Solomon over the radio. But then two Gryph ships came into view, weapons primed. Solomon swore and the Bridge glowed red, “Ready weapons!” he commanded. The two Gryph ships suddenly exploded, scattering debris into the void, Solomon looked at the tactical officer with a questioning gaze, “Not us, Sir.” he responded. And as Solomon cast his eyes back towards the emerald wrecks, multiple large ships, all different colours soared through the void, towards Merriden IV. Zhou danced from side to side gleefully as his vessel sailed through the wrecked Gryph ships and past The Evergreen, he wished their commander could see him, he cast them a joyful wave as he passed, he would come back for this prize.

Theo lay in a curled ball in the corner of his damp cell, the walls darker than ever, his eyes cried themselves dry, shivering with cold and the starting of an illness. He was almost glad for the drip drop of the water and its little puddle it created, for without it, there would only be silence for him. The silence would drive him insane. Suddenly there was a booming knock on the metal door, Theo hadn’t even heard footsteps over his shivering. The metal door opened and complained with the work, casting a bright light upon Theo, blinding him. He cried out in anguish as two figures ran in and grabbed him roughly, and dragged him into the brilliant light.

“Do we wish to talk?” asked the deep smug voice of Arden as Theo was strapped into a hard stone chair. The torture would soon begin, he knew. “Why? Why are you doing this?” asked Theo fearfully, Arden simply shrugged, “I’m in charge of the safety of this system, and no Gryph has ever attacked another Gryph. You humans however, seem to attract my enemies, and if you know where we are, they will know where we are. So, you must go.” he said cheerfully “D-do you want to know the first... first thing they told us, at t-training?” stammered Theo as Arden toyed with various tools, sharp, blunt and odd looking things. “hmm?” he said absently without looking up, his smile spreading as he selected his tool. “If you’re ever captured...” started Theo as Arden brandished a spiralled sharp tool that resembled an over exaggerated drill with small spikes starting at the bottom needle, slowly getting larger until the reached the T shaped handle. “Surprise them with a laugh, and shock them with a smile!” spat Theo and began hysterically laughing with a madman grin upon his lips. And Arden began the torture. Starting with Theo’s left thigh, he impaled the drill end slowly and began to turn, enjoying each and every spike that slowly made its way through Theo’s leaking flesh.

The pain was unbearable, but still, Theo laughed until the point he passed out. This displeased Arden greatly that he injected Theo with a yellow liquid that brought him back instantly. “We cannot have you sleeping Human!” smiled Arden, “I am enjoying this too much to allow you to sleep!” Theo resumed his forced laughter after a couple of breaths to mask his cries of pain from the drill inside his leg. But his mind started to go, he could hear explosions in the distance, from his past maybe? From the fights he had taken part in? They sounded closer now. But Arden stopped and looked around, could he hear them too? He looked around curiously at the Gryph guards who simply shrugged off their weapons and held them to their chests. And then the gunfire started above them, this caused the guards to move closer to Arden to protect him. Arden sighed, “Always with interruptions!” he spat. Theo tried to focus on something, anything, but everything was blurry and red, “Hey, guys, if this is a bad time, I can come back later...” he said softly, trying his very best to allow his bravado to remain dominant, but then the door came flying through the air and hit the back of Theo’s chair with such force, it shattered the stone chair and sent him flying. One of the guards was killed in the breaching explosion. And the other was killed almost straight after when seven figures came charging in, guns firing. Theo lay half dazed on the floor in the corner, his leg bleeding a rather large pool beneath him, he could make out the quaking figure of Arden as he knelt down almost crying. “Ah, Governor Arden, what a pleasure...” snarled the leading figure “Zhou sends his sympathies that he cannot attend . Nice to meet you, finally. It has been a fun chase.” he said bluntly, placing the barrel of his gun on Arden’s forehead and pulled the trigger, spraying his brain matter over the wall, and a little on Theo’s face. One of the intruders called over to the pirate, gesturing at Theo’s bleeding body on the floor. “Ah, shame...” he whispered and pointed his gun at Theo, pulling the trigger.

Two ships had remained in orbit above Merriden IV as the rest of the pirate fleet descended to cause chaos. Zhou was a coward at heart. Gladly dishing out death and horrors of war as his mood wanted, but never putting himself in the front of the fighting. His ship would sit in orbit with a bodyguard, waiting until his objectives had been completed before going down himself to collect his prize. The bridge of the pirate lead ship was ecstatic. Giddy bodies moved with high spirits around their stations, the steel floor vibrated with the engines fighting the gravitation pull of the planet below, keeping the murderous ship in orbit, Zhou stood at the large reinforced screen window that stretched the width of the bridge, eyeing The Evergreen maliciously, smiling to himself. The blue ship hadn’t moved since Zhou had arrived, The Evergreen simply sat out of range of any weapons and watched.

Lucius roared like a wild beast, complete with the drool flying from his clenched teeth, it took a whole team of medical staff to hold the hulking mass of muscle that was Captain Lucius Deeph. They cried out as their struggle felt futile. His spasms threw nurses from their feet, the tubes they had inserted into his body to stabilize him had quickly come loose, as if fleeing from the man, knowing their doom approached. The Nurses white tunics soon supported freckles of crimson as the tubes acted like snakes and freely slivered in the air, spitting the blood from their open mouths from the transfusion pack. The Captain has suffered greatly from the Banshee encounter, but better than his company. “Captain Lucius Deeph has four broken ribs, a ruptured kidney, a collapsed lung, broken jaw, broken femur, seven slipped spinal disks, nineteen stab wounds that are non fatal and a sprained ankle.” said the nurse who’d come away to talk with Solomon, who blinked in turn. “Jesus.” he breathed, “How long until he’s all sorted out?” The nurse, checking her watch began to turn and walk back to her patient, “If he keeps this up, days. If he behaves himself, maybe three hours, but will have a bit of a limp and a lot of bruises, a full recovery, perhaps eight days.” Solomon knew that untreated, this would bring the fierce captain to look upon as a victim to the dark empty eye sockets of the reaper that usually followed Lucius into battle collecting souls streaming within his wake, but with the technology of the ship and a medical crew, he could make a full recovery in less time than it takes to get a drop ship ready for combat. Solomon let the medical struggle for a minute longer before walking up to the struggling captain snarled and swore at the very people trying to help him, they couldn’t hold him still long enough to get a clear needle strike into his veins to sedate him. Solomon got to his friends side, smiled, and punched the beast in the centre of his face, as hard as he could. The hulking man fell silent and still. “You’re welcome.” said Solomon politely as he walked away shaking his hand and flexing away the pain of a bruised knuckle. The captain lay still and unconscious as the medical staff began placing the tubes in correctly and reinforcing the incision with the tough bonding medical tape so it wouldn’t come away as easy next time. Soon, Lucius began snoring softly. Solomon brooded as he walked through the corridors of his beautiful Evergreen, the recently lost haunting his mind. So many friends gone. He knew many of the fallen, and he had to leave his friends behind. They had waiting long enough, more than two days for anyone to get to the bridge of the Infinity and signal them, they confirmed power was still active there before they launched the destruction upon their ship. Sometimes though, that’s just how war is. Unfair. A Bitch. Solomon had suffered a loss like this only once before, during the Luna Rebellion, but at least they had been able to recover their fallen comrades from the battle grounds and bury them with honours, now, it would be just an empty coffin, and a shot of booze poured into the soil. Entering his cabin, and sitting in his string chair, his thoughts turned to Kyril, who still commanded, still stood on the bridge, giving orders, with a count down timer ticking away his life. “we all have that” he mused to himself, “never know when our times up, I suppose.” he sat and stared in to the wall. “Is there something trouble your mind, Lieutenant?” came a silky and familiar voice from the speaker in the ceiling, usually where Eve’s voice comes from. “If so, come to the observation deck and come and see.” the voice was of Lyra. Solomon knew what he would see from the observation deck. A planet under siege and two enemy ships in low orbit, just out of range, perhaps she had something to cheer him up. His mood still remained darkened by the losses as he made his way to the observation deck, the crew he met on the way, made room for him, not speaking a word, they knew the telltales of an officer in a foul mood and they had the experience to know not to interact unless ordered to. Their coveralls mostly stained with oil and filth from crawling through small maintenance vents and hatches, repairing and servicing various systems that allowed the ship to function as a whole. The door to the observation deck soon came into view, just another door, metal plating and grey. It opened sideways with a hiss and there stood Lyra, looking out into the void, towards the planet. The view was beautiful, Solomon had to admit that and allow it to break through of his dark thinking slightly. There she stood, with the planet just to the right of her, The Island that Red Sector Zero-One was located could be seen from here, even from this distance, the conflict was obvious. Black smoke flowed into the atmosphere and clouded the area, almost taking on the form of a black flower, blooming its petals across the continent.

Distant stars clouded the black void and a far away nebula could be just seen off to the left of Lyra, the colours spiralled and mixed together, dusted with stars. Solomon placed himself to Lyra’s side, her beauty as striking as ever. Her auburn hair plaited into place and twisting to her shoulder. “The Evergreen can take those two, right?” she asked bluntly. The void darkened her features as she spoke. Solomon looked pointedly towards the two enemy vessels that sat just out of weapons range. “hmm” acknowledged the Lieutenant Commander as he recollected the past battle with the pirates over The Pride Of Lions, as the Evergreen smashed her glorious way through their lines and destroyed a number of the fast fighters and some of Zhou’s cruisers burst apart. The seemingly distant memory of victory made his heart swell with pride and inspiration for the call of battle. “Yeah, we could take them.” said Solomon with a smile, trying not to entirely brag about the might of his Evergreen. The void between the two pirate ships remained empty for a while, nothing stirred on either ship. Then a score of fast movers slid out from the larger ships belly, and began moving through the void towards the second ship and back again, as if moving things unknown from one body to another. The smaller ship, unknown to the crew of The Evergreen, was in fact a fighter and bomber carrier, primarily for void vessels but held a small contingent of atmosphere capable aircraft, of which was currently deployed on the planet to harass the human and Gryph forces. “Suit up.” said Solomon bluntly before walking away and giving his orders to his company to arm themselves through the radio. Lyra called out to him, asking where he was going, “To the Bridge.” he called back without turning. Kyril slouched with his head supported by his hands, only lifting his head fully when a member of his crew approached to give a report of some kind. He felt weak. Too weak to command with true authority, he kept catching glances from the bridge members who looked up him with worry, pity and some with uncertainty. The data that had been handed to him was readouts of the two enemy ships sitting in high orbit, unconfirmed number of life, unconfirmed anything really except that they are indeed there and made of hardened material and shielded from their scanners somehow. Kyril looked up at the ensign with annoyance. “we have spent nearly three hours scanning those ships, just for out scanners to basically confirm what my eyes confirmed three hours ago? That they are bloody there!” he rose his body to its feet as his voice increased in volume towards the end of his sentence. “get me something that I can work wi-” he was cut off with a splutter and cough that forced him to double over, the ensign, young in years tried to catch his commander and very nearly missed. He helped Kyril back into his chair and Kyril repaid him with a swift dismissing wave of his hand as he worked his way to the end of the cough. Working up the flem from his lungs and spitting it into a cloth, he then put it in the cloth filled bin next to his chair, folding it neatly to conceal the small amount of blood that had now stained it.

A hissing sound announced the entrance of another body to the bridge, the familiar sound of Solomon lowering himself in to the chair next to Kyril and his heavy head made the old man sigh and rub his eyes in frustration. “We need to attack, sir.” said Solomon plainly. Kyril lifted his aged head, his stubble had grown and become more unkept and gazed over at Solomon in disbelief. More exhaustion flowed over his form before the answer left his mouth and his vision failed him, his thin and frail form smashed into the floor with a fleshy thud. “Medical!” cried Solomon as he rushed, kneeling to his prone and motionless father figure, checking for his pulse, only to be firmly pushed aside by the medical officer on duty. Solomon looked up, all the staff were staring back at the prone commander, he looked past the helmsmen and into the void, that like Kyrils disposed cloths supported speckles of red. A gasp came from a tactical officer as she noticed them too and peered desperately into her scope monitor. “Sir! We have incoming contacts! Multiple small fast movers!” she called out “Contact, one of the smaller vessel is breaking away from high orbit and heading for us!” shouted another tactical officer. As if perfectly timed, the carrier had taken its fancy to the Evergreen as the pirates inside grew restless, bored and bloodthirsty. Zhou cursed as the captain of the other ship raced to take his prize. The fighters poured from the bowels of the surging ship and charged towards the stationary Evergreen, every single pilot grinning maliciously as the adrenaline flowed through their hateful veins.

Solomon ordered The Evergreen to bring itself about and present its full broadside of guns that ran the full length of the beautiful blue vessel. Small explosive vacuum shells roared through the void to plaster crimson red fast movers with pressure pockets and flak to pierce and warp their protective skin and bodies. Within seconds multiple blips on the monitor scope had gone out as they exploded with a hit and the ball of fire winked out as quick as the flash of light it created as the vacuum void of space sucked out the life of even the destructive forceful fire. The fighters began their strafing runs along the skin of the Evergreen, pattering it with a mixture of ammunition fired from their stolen and modified weapons. The fast movers had only one job. Distract The Evergreen until the carrier could get into optimum weapons range and open fire upon the human ship, and they did their job extremely well. They lived for the projectile chase. The chance of death exhilarated them as they soared through the void, dodging the void pressure pockets and shrapnel spat out by the exploding shells. A little more of the pitter pattering of the smaller munitions striking the skin of The Evergreen sounded dully through the arteries of the vessel where the internal antibodies of The Evergreen flowed with almost perfect harmony as the crew went between consoles, checking systems and power routing, the soldiers could be seen briskly walking the halls strapping on the last bits of their armour, slapping clips into place. Solomon’s remaining forty two company members sealed their still beaten and bruised bodies into their fitted midnight blue armour as they readied themselves for the combat to follow. They each made their way to their assembly area, nodding with respect to each passing member, a bond crafted through countless conflicts, a bond that could never be broken, not even by the Reaper itself. The deck plating shuddered beneath their feet as a larger shell smashed into the hull of The Evergreen. Most of The Evergreens guns had been distracted by the pirate fighters, chasing their crimson forms through the blackness, some had tried to launch an explosive round in to the hull of the approaching Carrier but mid-flight the shell would become intercepted by an adrenaline crazed drunk pirate, a determined pilot, or just an unlucky killer as they placed themselves into the path of the missile. The Carrier presented very little to shoot at, it was a thin but tall ship, posing with the nose facing The Evergreen, the main weapon had been mounted upon its fore hull and with a blinding flash, a lighting rod fired from the long extension of the nose and glanced off the port side of The Evergreen, shaving paint and scarring into the metal but not penetrating. The First Company awaited their Lieutenant Commander, but he never came, he was busy on the Bridge, taking control for Kyril as his Captain Commander was carted promptly to the medical bay to be taken care of. Whilst the void battle waged outside, The Evergreen fired forward at full thrust to come along side the Carrier that was now seemingly recharging the primary weapon. They had one chance to strike the Evergreen and they had blown it, merely scraping the paint with the destructive lightning weapon. Solomon smiled as he saw the Carrier pass through the side monitors, he held up a hand, as steady as the vibrations in the hull would allow. “Steady. Hold fire... hold... Fire now!” he called as The Evergreen was not at full length along side the starboard of the Carrier and every single gun and launcher dotting the port side of the Evergreen erupted simultaneously, ripping through the Carriers inners and spilling them out the other side as more shells tore through the ship. Small explosions flared out and the lights flickered on the ship before turning dark for the final time.

The engines of the Carrier had ceased and the ship drifted almost limply as debris left its body and ventured off into the void as if flying the nest. Slowly spiralling away from the barely charred Evergreen, the Carrier loss had meant the fast movers had nothing to land on. The larger ship, that contained the screaming and cursing Zhou could only carry a small contingency of craft. The rest would have to make way to the planet and hope their fuel could take them that far. Solomon followed the fleeing jets with his eyes and saw Zhou driving headlong towards his position. “Jesus bloody Christ, man!” he called out, “They just never bloody quit!” he continued as he strapped himself in once again to his chair, “Maintain red alert, bring us into firing range, aim at their engines. I want to get aboard this one and see who the big balls belong to, that thing is ruining my day!” said Solomon almost as if goading himself towards a victory.

The thrusters of the beautiful and slender blue ship fired in patterns that moved the ship with true elegance and deliberate movements. The crew had the experience that they had long ago thrown away any form of manual and committed everything to memory. The Evergreen was an extension of each and every one of their bodies, they all loved her as much as a mother, carrying them through the void like children.

Zhou ordered his rusted and ugly ship to reverse thrust and begin a retreat and try out run the Evergreen as it had before when he saw it coming for him, but his momentum had been too strong, trying to catch up to the eager Captain of the carrier. The old pirate ship carried on heading forward, only slowing slightly as its engines fought fruitlessly against the momentum. The Evergreen’s newer more advanced engines easily out manoeuvred the charging vessel, dodging to port, she ran along the flanks of the old ship, firing her cannons wildly, Zhou and his bridge crew were thrown from their stations as the tremors of the ionized weapons impacted the skin and now exposed interiors of his ship. The Evergreen erupted with cheers as the engines of the old ship exploded and forced the rear thrusters to float away, caught in the planets gravity well.

On the bridge of the Evergreen, Solomon paced with his jaw clenched, watched as the hunk of bent and broken metal vessel fell away from the body of the engines, “Attach to it. Keep it up here, we’re going in.” he said as a matter of fact. Nobody argued. They knew his blood had risen, and that no objection would reach his reasoning. “Eve, assemble what’s left of the first company and the entire ninth and tenth companies. We’re going over.”

The Evergreen manoeuvred to the starboard side of the damaged engine-less ship. The damage brought forth from the Evergreen’s guns seemed to have disabled the weapons on the vessel. The Engine had now made planet fall and could be seen as a spurt of flame making a b-line for the planet below. As the slender ship brought itself parallel with the other, Boarding bridges extended from her flank and attached themselves with spiked clamps into the bent metal flesh of the pirate craft. Teams of engineers in yellow armour rushed out along the walkways to the skin of the other ship and welded the boarding bridges into place, once complete, a smooth skin was created outside and soon became airtight and gravity was created with breathable air. The skin, a self sealing gel that could withstand most punishment and simply heal the impact hole unless it was too catastrophic to be repaired. The engineers made their way back, slinging their heat guns over their shoulders and dragging their fuel cannisters with them. Solomon stood at the door leading into the boarding bridge, waiting for the door to open, his weapon shouldered. “Eve, the engineers were done ages ago. What’s taking so long?” he growled, his anger rising by the second. Eve answered him via his personal radio channel. “With the Captain Commander not fit to command at this current time, and you have not named a second, you are the commander of this vessel, sir. I cannot allow you to put yourself in unjust danger off this ship.” Solomon shook his head and spat out some colourful names at Eve. “Tantrum all you like, sir. That door is not opening for you. Or your company for that matter.” Lyra came to Solomon’s side, “Sir, breathe.” was all she whispered and Solomon complied. Finally seeing his irresponsible actions of wanting to go over himself. “Tenth and Ninth Companies. Engage with boarding procedure. Report everything back. Everything. First Company is standing down. I’m going to get a coffee. Eve’s orders.” sighed Solomon and a prompt acknowledgement came through. Solomon gave the remaining companies aboard ordered to standby for any attacks, half heartedly, he slunk back to his leather chair in the luxury of the bridge.

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