Untold Stories of a Galaxy - Kysaek: The Beginning
A station of madness - Trident Three - 3

“We’ve been hit hard!” echoed through the fleet radio as a medium Consulate frigate broke away to the side and exploded.

“Engines are failing! Repeat engines down!” another ship reported.

The space battle was a massacre in which the Consulate was fighting for survival. There were already several wrecks floating around everywhere and small pieces of scrap turned the combat zones into an obstacle course, especially for the attack and heavy fighters. Still, PGI and the Junta had the same problems and had lost 24 of their 90 or so state-of-the-art ships, not counting the ten damaged ones, but that wasn’t enough to break their ranks and the combined fleets kept up the pressure.

“Give me the latest status!” demanded Admiral Jonathan on his bridge.

The Talin officer in charge frantically lined up. “Our losses are rising: 63 ships destroyed, 32 report critical damage! Number 15 is currently retreating via IPF!”

“This is getting tight! Are the charges ready?”

“Yes sir! The last Bolt Dropper is returning now!”

“Then it’s now or never,” the admiral said tensely and pressed his hands on the holo project in front of him, his eyes fixed on the image of the battle. “Send the encrypted signal to all ships! Retreat to the command group immediately, by all means! Cruisers have priority!”

“Sending signal!” the Talin replied, relaying said order to every consulate ship and every flyer.

No matter where each consular ship was in the active combat zone, they all immediately attempted to make a radical U-turn and flee towards the asteroid belt section behind which Admiral Jonathan’s command group lurked. Many ships managed to break away from the fighting, but casualties were inevitable and the enemy forces gave chase.

“Sir!” the officer on the PGI commandship raised his voice. “The enemy is making a full retreat!”

“Not quite,” said the Palanian admiral, zooming in on the asteroid area where there was minimal movement of the ships there. To his eye, however, that was more than enough and he was extremely confident. “They’re trying to lure us into a trap. When we get close enough, the fleeing part will start another U-turn and the core fleet will come out of cover and open fire at full spread. It’s their last chance.”

“So what are your orders, sir?”

“Issue a warning to all ships!” the commander instructed, detaching himself from his railing. He took a firm stance, with one arm in front of his stomach and one behind his back. “Tell the fleet to prepare for evasive manoeuvres and increase the flight vector so that they don’t get in each other’s way! Notify our allies too! We’ll head for the centre and destroy the command core with a quick storm! That will be the end of them!”

That was it, the moment of truth! All the Consulate units that had previously been in the combat zones fled from their enemies, though they did not chase after them at full thrust. This at least saved the PGI ships from falling back Consulate drones, which stopped abruptly and became flying mines, taking more than a few PGI and Junta attack fighters out of the game. As predicted by the PGI commander, the ships around and with Admiral Jonathan’s heavy cruiser began to climb out from behind the thick boulders. The fleeing frontline of the Consulate split in front of the asteroids and rose or sank at a straight 45 degree angle. Their enemies, in turn, held course for the asteroids and evaded the predicted fire.

“That’s it!” the Palanian PGI admiral clenched his right fist.

On his cruiser, Jonathan spoke the same words, only he was more relieved. “That’s it - set off the bombs!”

Now the admiral’s true plan, which Selok had pointed out to Galaen earlier, unfolded. The Consulate had distributed highly explosive bombs on several of the larger asteroids, as well as some of the smaller ones, with fragile structures and in the direction of the approaching attack wave, and was now activating them. It was not the commando fleet that had been the trap, but the unpredictable hail of rock that was now shooting through space and covering a wide area.

“Break off! Abort!” echoed repeatedly through the radio waves of the PGI and Junta fleet, but it was too late! The ships may have created enough space to evade the attacks of the commando fleet, but this close to the asteroid belt and with this amount of stone hurtling in all directions, the result was pure chaos and a level of destruction not seen every day. No enemy ship was a match for this constant hail, this primitive attack that tore apart one ship after another or forced evasive manoeuvres in which a few ships collided with each other. Only the most far behind ships in the PGI and Junta formation managed to escape the trap, but the damage was done and well over 30 ships had been destroyed in one fell swoop, along with countless drones, interceptors and heavy fighters. In addition, the Consulate had long since initiated the next turnaround and flew an arc from two angles directly towards the remaining enemy. Only the heavily damaged Consulate ships actually began to retreat.

Admiral Jonathan’s group now fired on the enemy from a safe distance and took out another four ships. “All units, full power to the bow shields! Don’t give them another chance to regroup!”

“Break through!” a man’s voice replied and red lasers cut through the confused enemy forces.

Panic had gripped the bridge of the PGI commandship “Sir, your orders?!”

The admiral stood there rigidly, sinking inwardly into shame as he only now recognised the tactics of the pirate Ghalaj, which he and every half-decent Palanian commander was aware of and had not seen it coming.

“Sir, your orders?!”

“Look!” shouted a female officer on the same bridge. “The Junta is retreating!”

Yes, that’s what the Palanian PGI admiral saw on the screen, how the remaining allies were retreating and the Consulate Fleet was still shooting down one or two Junta ships. The admiral took a deep breath before grabbing his pistol and shooting himself in the head.

“Admiral?!” his officer was startled and immediately took command. “Damn it! Regroup! Regroup! We have to get to the station!”

Those were just desperate words. There was no organisation left, nor the will to fight on, even if PGI had to. What was left of their fleet and those of the junta who had not yet been able to flee were in the final stages of this battle, in which Admiral Jonathan’s command group caught up with the rest and provided all the remaining cruisers with the long-awaited supporting fire. Above all, the shields of the now vulnerable enemy battleship took a heavy hit, although the barriers still held up, but for Jonathan this was only a matter of time. “The enemy fleet is completely disorientated! Secure all vectors and prepare the escape routes for our boarding troops! Time to get everyone home!”

“What’s your status, Doctor?” Kysaek contacted via comm as she walked with Thais and Tavis through a deserted corridor with only the silent alarm lights to indicate any other movement.

“That really did it out there!” Wolfgang reported back and the sounds of gunfire around him had become relatively few. “Until just now they were giving us a lot of steam at the reactor, but now I can work in peace! Almost everyone is leaving and I’ll soon have bypassed the system and can initiate the overload. Then we’ll have an estimated ten minutes to get out of this hole!”

“That’s excellent news!” Admiral Jonathan chimed in. “Team Glass Eye, what’s your status?”

“Mission accomplished, Admiral!” Galaen reported dutifully. “Dorvan has already collected enough data! Every second longer is just a little more weight on the overwhelming burden of proof!”

“So we’ve achieved all our primary objectives!” announced Jonathan, seeing no reason to continue the attack. “All enter teams will withdraw as soon as the reactor is overloaded!”

“Understood, sir!” confirmed Galaen.

Wolfgang was less snappy. “Of course we’re leaving, I don’t want to stay here.”

“Retreat?” Kysae questioned, endeavouring to adopt a respectful tone. “But we haven’t reached objective three yet and my team is close Admiral! Skarg Peeks must be here in the highest area of the station! We can get him!”

“Negative Kysaek,” Jonathan politely denied. For him, the battle was decided and everything else was a waste of life. “Capturing Peeks no longer matters. We’ve paid a high price for our victories and PGI is finished. It doesn’t matter where Peeks is or if he’s still alive. He’s finished.”

“Admiral, I-”

“I can understand you,” Jonathan cut her off. He had seen enough battles to know how the woman felt. “But we’re out of contact with 44 per cent of the boarding teams and many of them are wounded. There’s no point in fighting on and we’re losing people unnecessarily. You’ve done your job brilliantly and now it’s time to go.”

“But we can make this victory perfect!” argued Kysaek. No, everything was going according to plan and she felt she was entitled to that. She had suffered more than many and now wanted her reward. “Please Admiral, just a little longer!”

“No, and that’s my last word! I’m giving the order to withdraw, and that includes you. Besides, you don’t have time! You still have to make it back to your Bolt Droppers and many have been destroyed!”

“Yes, that’s right. Nobody should die unnecessarily. Pull everyone back, that’s fine,” Kysaek agreed, ready to sever communications. “However, I’m ending my mission and that’s my decision!”

“Kysaek ple-!”

Thais and Tavis didn’t seem sure it was worth it themselves. Even the Talin, charged with rage and bent on revenge, wasn’t entirely on board with the plan. “I’m not sure we’ll get Skarg and make it off the station in time.”

“He’s the root of all evil,” Kysaek said, lifting her shoulders. “All the dead in our path followed his orders and the source of our suffering is supposed to get away with it?”

“That’s doubtful,” Tavis said, keeping his eyes on his surroundings with his fingers close to his double-barrelled shotgun. “You’ve heard and just seen it. Paid loyalty has its limits and everyone flees. Skarg is unlikely to get a ship if he’s left alone.”

“Exactly, alone! He’s unprotected, but we can’t be sure! Come on! We can make this victory perfect!”

“I’ve never been to war, but in the end it’s all the same anyway, just with a different name,” Tavis retorted. “And in business, perfection is nothing more than greed for too much. You want to achieve too much and can a battle with so many dead really be a perfect victory?”

“Wise words,” Thais admitted, taking the Palanians side, but you could still hear her resentment, as well as her memories of the war against the First. “I want to kill him, make him suffer, but ... many have lost their lives for our victory and we have taken enough revenge. Let us return to the Nebula.”

Kysaek wasn’t angry or offended with the two of them, but she didn’t want to give up and was overcome by all the feelings that had built up. Everyone had achieved their goal on this mission and she was supposed to be the one to fail? No, she couldn’t accept that. “It’s true what you say, but I just can’t stop! Not now!” she said vehemently and sobbed weakly. “You go back to the others. I’ll do it on my own and then I’ll join you! It worked on Cipi too and this time I won’t catch a hologram!”

“After everything we’ve been through, I’m definitely not leaving you behind and it’s not like on Cipi!” Thais made it clear. “If necessary, I’ll knock you out and carry you to safety!”

“Stay behind!” warned Kysaek and took a few steps backwards. “That’s my decision! You’re not taking that away from me! Everyone was useful! Now it’s my turn!”

“We don’t want to take anything away from you,” Tavis tried to intervene in the conversation reassuringly. “We’re on your side and we’re just worried. You’re getting involved in something that’s completely unnecessary.”

No sooner had the Palanian said this than a clear warning signal sounded in the station, with an automatic announcement. “Warning, warning! Reactor unstable! Systems are overloaded! Shutdown impossible! Initiate immediate evacuation! 12 minutes and 34 seconds until overload. Repeat...!”

“And now we have a time limit,” Tavis added, imploring his leader. “And sometimes ... Allies, knock out their allies. Please, it’s for your own good. Let us go.”

“Don’t you understand?” Thais stepped forward and murmured softly. “You are important to us and have led us all through difficult times until this victory. Now please allow us to guide you. Away from the suffering and back to a life, your life. Skarg will die here or become the hunted and let’s be honest, can he survive on the run like we did back then?”

“... unlikely,” Kysaek pressed through her lips in agony. Head and heart wavered, there were yeses and noes, and she tussled over her helmet. “Dammit, fuck!” That simple curse was definitely a release and yet carried a weight like Kysaek’s best speeches and she realised: she had to finally let go and punched the air. “Okay, okay! I give up! But don’t hit me! Let’s get out of here!”

“Absolutely, let´s get out of here!” Thais nodded, but the time limit had changed the situation and she made contact via comm. “Dorvan, can you hear me?”

“At your service,” the hacker replied.

“We’ll never make it back to the landing ships in time! Are there anything like escape pods or hangars near our position?”

“Comparable - the flight tunnels inside the station lead to emergency exits that are now open. A bolt dropper can pass through them without any problems.”

“Finally a job for me!” Dios chimed in. “You make sure you’re there and I’ll get you out!”

“If anyone can do it, it’s you,” Thais said sincerely. “We’ll head for the nearest exit and wait for you there!”

“A taxi would also come in handy for us,” added Wolfgang. “The way is clear, but it’ll be a pretty tight journey back from the reactor!”

Dios dismissed this lightly. “Then I’ll start with you. There’s an emergency exit below the reactor. I’ll come in there and collect you at the nearby flight tunnel! Then I can fly through to the top!”

“Like you build houses,” agreed the scientist. “First the foundations, then the roof. Wolfgang the end.”

“Wonderful, so we’re back in business!” Tavis clicked his claws together at the end of the radio exchange. “And shine in our parade discipline - escape!”

“And once again from a dark hole!” added Kysaek, quipping macabrely, taking command again. “I also promise we’ll do it without manholes and sewage - move!” This line was exactly what Tavis and Thais wanted to hear and motivated them to follow their leader.

Thanks to the captured schematics, it was much easier for the three of them to find the quickest way to the escape route and the resistance was zero. Similarly, all doors and barriers were apparently completely open due to the emergency. Everything was deserted, full of dropped weapons and data pads, and the distant trampling of feet and shouts of someone could be heard. “Hurry up! Time is running out!”

“Has anyone seen the boss?”

“Fuck him!”

Only stray battlebots, without any guidance, were the remaining obstacle for Kysaek’s group, hardly worth mentioning, and they proceeded briskly for a few minutes. At least until a series of lifts, where they ran into a squad of five PGI Elite soldiers, their equipment characterised by the style of the First Ones

Instead of an instant fight, however, everyone just pulled out their weapons and silently aimed at each other. There was no shouting, no rush, but the tension was there and only millimetres were missing on each finger to pull the trigger and the highest ranking PGIE officer, a Davoc, spoke up. “You’re in our way! Get out or we’ll tear you apart and you’ll go down with this miserable pile of junk!”

“We all will!” Kysaek countered, her body shimmering slightly with prismatic energy. “Or do you think we won’t take you to the grave with us?”

“Or we’ll just pass each other by ...”

“Or we do that, yes...” the officer agreed and his and each weapon lowered.

“Agree-”

“It’s her!” a voice, audible only to the Davoc, entered his ear. “Kill her!”

“That’s pointless!” the PGIE officer refused and turned away from his enemies. “Do it yourself! We quit!”

Kysaek looked at her companions and didn’t need a word. Each of them suspected that Skarg was talking to this soldier. “The resignation comes rather late, but it’s reasonable,” she merely remarked, walking past the troop with lowered weapons and fading prismatics.

“Tell me about it, but just in time.”

“Kill them and come get me!” demanded Skarg angrily in the enemy comm. “You’ll never have to worry again! I’ll make you rich!”

“If we don’t go, we won’t have any more worries!” the Davoc huffed, raising his voice. “Your foreign currency is worth nothing! Let your bark rot and may the all-seeing tear out your eyes, because you’ve been blind for a long time!” The Davoc growled animalistically and turned away with his soldiers.

“I still decide who gets something ripped out here!” Skarg murmured ominously.

All at once, a sharp, painful signal went through each of the soldiers, accompanied by green flashes of energy streaming across their armour. The unit doubled over and some fell to their knees, which did not go unnoticed.

“What’s this now?” asked Tavis, immediately extending his double-barrelled rifle towards the soldiers, whose bodies slowly relaxed again and green energy bolts flashed across their surface.

“I don’t know, but,” Kysaek said uneasily, about to gather her prismatic energies and lurking for any sign of danger. Again there were no words from the PGIE soldiers, but they grabbed their weapons and turned to her hastily, causing Kysaek to immediately launch a shockwave of prismatics at the group, knocking them all over. “We’re going, NOW!”

The enemies hit were not dead, but by the time they picked themselves up, Kysaek’s group had built up a good lead. However, they could not run away before the time limit expired. “3 minutes and 25 seconds to reactor overload!” warned the announcement, but it wasn’t the only one to speak.

Skarg used the loudspeakers to accompany the fleeing Nebula troops. “Now I know where you are!” the Calanian threatened angrily and desperately. “I’m sending everyone on the hunt! All of them obey my orders!”

“Sick bastard!” Kysaek puffed heavily, drawing steady, hurried draughts of air into her lungs without stopping. “What have you done to the soldiers?”

“They are my property and I have taken control! Everything here is mine!” Skarg proclaimed, no longer bothering to mime the serene businessman. At the same time, rumbling noises rumbled through some of the corridors, announcing runners, rampages and worse. But above all, there had to be a lot of enemies.

“You can keep it all!” replied Kysaek, who could now see the first runners rounding the corners behind her, like soldiers firing rapid volleys at her. She fired back with her pistol without aiming, as she wasn’t allowed to stop for a second, and even hit them a few times, but against the constantly advancing enemies, it was only a moderate success.

Thais once again served as the front line and was the furthest ahead in the race. “Watch my back!” said the Talin, forming a powerful prismatic shield in the barrel as shots came from the front.

“Left and right! Leave that to me!” replied Tavis, as the centre of the fugitives. Whatever emerged from the side corridors and behind the protective shield, the Palanian took away with his shotgun or dropped sticky bombs or stun grenades. “We’ve almost made it!”

“I’ll never let that happen!” Skarg spoke incessantly from above. He was far removed from reality. “Do you think this is over? First I kill you and then I take back MY station! All that work! You’re destroying everything!”

Kysaek had truly had enough of this, which is why she didn’t say anything back. The Calanian had started it and she had come this far. Every moment more brought Kysaek to her end, just like the station. There was a heavy rumble around her and the floor vibrated. Electrical cables were overloaded and uncontrolled pressure caused pipes to burst and the first small explosions to occur. Still, Kysaek wasn’t going to die here, not now, and the marked flight tunnel opened up in front of her, where Cluto and Soul Rippers were already circling and rushing straight in her direction when they saw her.

A hover platform also joined them, full of PGIE soldiers also wearing the strange armour and opening a hail of plasma fire from afar. The fact that the tunnel was not spared from the vibrations and the first explosions was of no concern to the PGIE soldiers and the creatures of the First.

They were all following just one target and that was indeed Kysaek, because the shots were flying almost exclusively in her direction and the monsters had their red eyes fixed on her. In addition, there was hardly any footpath left on this forecourt and all the docking blocks for hover platforms were empty, so there was no way out for Kysaek except a fatal jump into the flight tunnel. She was all the more relieved when the rescuing reinforcements arrived at that moment.

With the loud roar of engines, a Bolt Dropper without insignia burst through the lower curve of the tunnel and quickly ascended to the forecourt. In doing so, it effortlessly rammed Cluto and Reißer away, like a car that now had squishy insects on its steel front, while the side door facing the forecourt slid open to reveal several weapons: Vorrn, Douglas, Galaen and Stemford stood in a line, covering the retreat of their allies.

Thais reached the transporter, still hovering just above her, first and turned round with a flourish so that she could now build a protective prismatic dome around the machine.

Tavis slipped through the white shimmer next and threw another smoke bomb to the right.

Only Kysaek was left, a bit battered, but she ran as fast as she could. She also stopped firing, instead using fixed hand movements and following her instincts to repeatedly create short energy barriers against the shots. Her supporters took care of the rest, but they couldn’t stop everything.

On a new, approaching hover platform stood a Palanian soldier with a portable rocket launcher and fired an incendiary rocket before he was struck down by a ricochet.

Kysaek was completely focussed on her saving target and there were simply too many attacks around her, so the rocket hit her unchecked and extremely close. The enormous force and hissing flame knocked her off her feet and her helmet off her head as she fell. Her impact was hard, her left face smouldered and she lay motionless. Only milliseconds separated her from fatal hits.

Thais extended her protective dome to her leader just in time, while the approaching Runners were taken out by Tavis. However, the Palanian could do nothing against the Rampage that erupted from the crowd

“Kysaek!” Galaen shouted and was about to jump off the Bolt Dropper, but she was pushed away.

Vorrn rushed out of the transporter like a bolt of lightning and formed a straight back with his head down. It was incredible how fast the heavy lizard suddenly became, making a small arc to get to Kysaek. Vorrn opened his sharp-toothed mouth wide and scooped up the unconscious woman as he ran, clenching his powerful jaws around her pelvis without harming her. Thanks to his arc, the lizard was also able to charge straight back towards Bolt Dropper and after a big leap, knocking over half the team inside, he was in the machine with Kysaek.

“What are you waiting for?” Dios asked over the comm, “Our stay here is coming to an end!”

With everyone in the transporter, Thais and Tavis finally followed. The Talin barrier disappeared and the shots flew around her and the Palanian’s ears, but they only needed a few steps and as soon as they had climbed into the Bolt Dropper, its door closed.

The protective shields fizzled out the attacks and the machine took off from the hover with a crashing, 180-degree turn. “You have 33 seconds left!” Kuren’s voice penetrated the radio channels.

“Enough for me!” Dios replied, and although these tunnels weren’t exactly designed for space speed, the Sororan gave a lot of thrust and dodged falling pieces of the station with nerves of steel. Even sudden lightning strikes, as a result of the overload in the larger conduits, could not harm the resourceful pilot and her daring manoeuvres. A total inferno coming towards the Bolt Dropper and about to cut off the path to the emergency exit was the ultimate challenge for Dios in the end and she didn’t even blink. She gave full thrust and her manoeuvre was so hair-trigger that she had to dive through the tips of the lambent flames to make it out of the station while still being chased by the erupting fire for a few seconds - but the Bolt Dropper made it to a safe distance, for the moment.

In the background, fireballs shot up from all the open emergency exits and explosions began to blast away parts of Triden Three’s outer hull, while unrestrained streams of hissing green energy raged around the station’s reactor area in particular.

“17 seconds!” announced Dios, knowing full well that the Bolt Dropper would never be able to escape the radius of the shockwave, but they had made provisions for that.

The Dormant appeared above the fleeing transporter, with the hangar open on its belly. “Adjust speed!” demanded Kuren, for there was too little time for a regular pick-up of the transporter and the sisters had to perform an almost impossible action. The Dormant was now trying to collect the Bolt Dropper at this extreme speed. This meant that Dios had to stop at exactly the right moment so that Kuren could engage it without disaster ensuing. At the same time, the IPF necessary for a safe escape had to be launched.

On Trident Three, the final aspects of everything that happened in this battle were completely different. In fact, Skarg Peeks had not left his control centre and was repeatedly trying to contact someone. “Hello?! Answer me at last!” he demanded desperately, sitting down. Everything was shaking around him and the number of alarms and warning projections was like a sensory overload. “Reactor maintenance! RESPOND!”

Much safer from the end of the station, the unknown Palanian was projected with a Talin and another Calanian in front of the Corporate Director’s table via a port link. “This is most disappointing, Mr Peeks,” the Palanian admitted, the advanced years audible in his voice. “You’re setting us back.”

“It’s not over!” said Skarg, slapping his hands on the table. He braced himself and stared at the switched-on ones with his big black eyeballs.

“Not for us - for you, yes, but we’ll do it without you,” the Palanian replied. The images of Talin and Calan beside him disappeared, just as he did in his dissatisfaction. “And your failure, will not be forgotten.”

Nothing was left and Skarg was alone. All his power, all the foreign currency, his galaxy-spanning corporation, nothing could save him from the inevitable now. Paralysed, the Calanian stood there and only realised in his final seconds that he had been crushed and sank back into his seat, humiliated, while the PGI logo shone in the back of his magnificent chair, above a rising staircase. However, the sign began to flutter and a swirling fire raced down the steps, unchecked against the Calanian’s seat of power.

From Trident Three, as a harbinger of destruction, a vision-robbing, now white light erupted from inside the station as a blinding shockwave of pure, unbridled energy, sweeping away all structure. Interspersed with it were streaks of a dusky orange colour, born of fire, a primal force of the universe that spread faster than any ship: asteroids, shipwrecks, even the drifting PGI battleship. Whatever existed and happened here was wiped out.

There was not much separating the Dormant from sharing this fate, as the rest of the fleet had long since retreated. Dio’s Bolt Dropper was already flying along in the open hangar and the scout ship’s shields were struggling to contain the power of the engines running at full speed inside it. As the IPF rang in, the Dormant’s systems were pushed to their limits and everything was now decided. Separated from each other, the Sororans were still one and achieved the near impossible - the hangar’s brackets snapped shut and the Bolt Dropper was safe. The Dormant glowed red and made the IPF before it could be caught by the shockwave.

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