From Beyond

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. I know I never heard any. Especially on that God forsaken day. It was an average day. Everyone was bustling around doing whatever their job was. I was as you already know, one of those people. Major Bosen “Acrobat” Damian of the Primordial Republic. I was a fighter pilot currently stationed on the PRIMORDIAL REPUBLIC SPACE SHIP TEMPEST (P.R.S.S TEMPEST). Everyone mostly just called me “Acrobat” because of my flight skills. I could fly anything and do almost any maneuver once I got the hang of the controls. My preferred space craft was currently the 240Z Swordfighter.

Just like its name; the ship was based on a sword design. The front was roughly five meters long and housed 2 – one-hundred-barrel mini guns on top that could be either stowed or un-stowed, and on the bottom was a 155mm railgun which was normally used during planetary combat since most ships had shielding that could withstand the cannon. It could also be stowed or unstowed. The back was where the cockpit and wings were. The wings expanded out about three meters and curved slightly inward. Both wings could support up to 4 – one-hundred-kilogram seeker missiles. This bad girl was designed for power and speed. It was by far the most maneuverable ship in the Republic. However due to its high mobility not many pilots chose to fly it and preferred the more stable 891B or 240D’s which were both designed to be powerful versus fast, so that made their maneuverability horrendous.

I was going through my daily routine of service checking my ship which I named “Fragarach”. I always ensured all my guns were as clean and lubricated as possible and then I would do my diagnostics check. I was halfway through my diagnostics check when red lights began filling the hangar.

[All personnel report to your designated sectors. We are under attack. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill.]

I cancel my diagnostic and start up my ship. Luckily all of my vital gears and parts had warmed up during my diagnostics check so I radio in to the Bay Keeper. “Acrobat to Bay Keeper requesting immediate deployment.”

“Bay Keeper to Acrobat, that was quick as expected. However, your request is denied. The Fragarach can hold two, correct?” Bay Keeper responds to my surprise.

“Correct Bay Keeper.” I answer while flipping more switches and ensuring my ship is warming up properly since my request was denied.

“Stand by.”

I can only look at the tower with my jaw dropped in surprise at this response. A few minutes later I hear the knocking of something on my canopy and I look to my right and see the Fleet Commander holding the hand of a young woman maybe a year or two younger than me.

“Sir?” I ask slightly confused looking from him to her.

“Major. I know you were probably expecting to go out and get some with your brothers and sisters but something more important has come up.” The Commander tells me all while not breaking eye contact. “This young lady has been watching all 15,156 pilots from our fleet for quite some time and she has chosen you as her escort.”

“Pleased to meet you. I am Alphine Exobot. The last princess of the Exoton. My people were pushed to the brink of extinction by some unknown force that suddenly appeared one day. Most of them are onboard other ships or like my parents on your home planet.” She explains and I just barely notice that the pit crew was switching my missiles out with fuel.

“Your mission is this Major. Escort Miss Alphine back to our home world Primeval and reunite her with her parents in the Primordial Republic. Failure is absolutely non-optional. The peace between both our races are at stake here.”

“But...” I start to protest but he immediately cuts me off as the ship rumbles and shakes.

“Major. You have the best aerial skills and training skills across the entire Fleet. It’s been eons since our last known conflict but if your training is to be believed, then you are the only eligible candidate.” He says flatly before helping her into my ship. He puts his index and middle finger up to his ear and nods. “Understood. Bring to the hanger bay 117 immediately. You have three minutes.”

“Sir, hypothetically speaking what if I am not able to return to our home world.” I ask setting in the coordinates for home. This was going to be a close shave. Our home world was 751 lightyears away from this location. Including the 7 random jumps to break followers that made it 1,338 lightyears. I didn’t know if I had the fuel or the drives for it. Fragarach could only jump 75 lightyears at a time maybe 100 hundred if I pushed the propulsion drive to overclock but that ran the risk of the propulsion system blowing midjump then I would be stranded in whatever system I was in at the time of the crash.

“Then the Exoton’s race is done for.” He says dryly as the ship rumbles once again and fire and paramedic crews begin racing all across the hangar.

“Huff, huff, huff.” A young woman bends over in an attempt to catch her breath and then quickly straightens up.

“Sir, all of the ships logs, flight plans, flight paths, docking ports, refueling stations, personnel data, absolutely everything that could remotely be used to track our home world has been uploaded. The P.R.S.S TEMPEST is ready for scuttle.” She says offering a salute with her right hand and presenting the chip with her left.

The Fleet Commander retrieves it with his left as well and places his right hand back on his ear. “Bay Keeper, prepare to deploy bay 1-1-7 in T-minus 60 seconds.”

“Roger Commander. Deployment in T-minus 60, 59...” Bay Keeper responds. His countdown filling my headset. I look in the mirror designed to show me my co-pilot and see that Alphine had masked up and buckled in and was now sitting contently. Our eyes met for a second and then I look back at the Fleet Commander.

He hands me the chip and I take it.

“This must be a pressing time sir. It’s been forever since a ship has been scuttled.” I state sticking the chip into the slot in the back of the neck of my suit. I mentally swipe everything out of my masks HUD and look back at the Commander.

“You owe me at least a 12-pack, sir.” I joke and he smiles back this once.

“12, 11, 10...”

“Gladly. I’ll see you back home trooper. First pack on me.” He responds and begins to walk away as my canopy closes and I begin to buckle up. The ship gently raises and the shutter to my bay raises. The bright blue barrier that is used to allow fighter ships to go in and out was now the only thing that separated us from the dark vacuum known as space.

“...5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”

[WWWWWOOOOOOOOSH]

Due to the extremely high speed of the deployment of the ship, the initial inertia pushes both of us against the seat during the short 5-second trip from the hanger to space. As soon as the ship enters space, and the inertia wears off we lurch forward. I take the ship out of autopilot and punch in the coordinates of a random location somewhere close to the vectors of my home world.

“Fleet Commander to Acrobat. You have 27 seconds to jump. The 12FL Hydrogen Bomb is set to launch. You don’t want to be caught in it.”

[“27 seconds... Fuck.”] I think to myself. It took at least 45 to set, warm the propulsion system, gain speed, and jump. He wanted me to do it from a cold start in 27? “Miss Alphine bite this and hang on.” I command her while reaching over my shoulder handing her a mouthpiece, so she doesn’t bite her tongue.

I watch her through the mirror surprised she actually obeyed. It made me wonder if she was actually some princess or was the Commander just saying that to save one of his people. Either way, I punch in new coordinates and look into my HUD. The screen switches to rearview mode and I watch as the TEMPEST’s nose crackles with electricity. “Shit.” I mumble punching in the codes as fast as possible.

Everything next happened in the blink of an eye. The TEMPEST fires its bomb, and it denotes on target, the Fragarach’s engines scream in protest as the propulsion system accelerates and ignites before the engine does. The stars turn into white streaks. The entire ship shakes violently from the incoming turbulence as the shockwaves start to catch up. Something hits the ship’s left wing, and all of the sensors go off. The alarms blaring grows louder as the waves get closer. I almost bite off my tongue from all of the rattling having given my mouthpiece away. However, I do everything I can to ensure I keep my eyes glued to the dashboard. The alarms by now have become deafening as the waves approach the engine.

[“NOW!”]

[LIGHTYEAR JUMP ACTIVE]

I press the popup button, but it was a fraction too late as the waves bump the flames of my engine and pushes it downwards. The small ship offers no resistance to the greater force and the nose shoots upward exactly as the Lightyear Jump executes. Between the sudden G-forces of the ship making a hard upward turn and Lightyear Jump; the pressure proves to be too much and before we get a chance to do anything, both Alphine and I blank out just as everything turns into the white background that everyone knows of as the background Lightyear Jump.

The entire time up until that point I was watching the rear HUD and listening to the public channel. It wasn’t until the second before I blacked out that I realized that no one was on anyone of the radio channels. Not the TEMPEST, the public, private, team, or even the emergency band was silent. There wasn’t a single soul out there aside from Alphine and me. There was absolutely nothing we could do as the Fragarach spun nose over engine throughout the duration of Lightyear Jump. Just us and the silence of space.