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Into the Whirlwind by Daft Shadow =PN=
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Into the Whirlwind (Part 1)
Date: 30 January 2000, 12:17 a.m.
The stars fly by as we start up our FTL drive. The deck shakes and the vibrations are much more powerful than usual. I fall back into the chair, its hard, cool feel swallow me. My senses are still working at peak efficiency, and I can hear the ship groan as the gravity well tries to hold onto us. You're not supposed to use the FTL drive when you're near a planet because it could rip you apart, but we had no choice. When you're evacuating a whole planet, you don't have time to follow rules and regulations.
A flash attracts my attention and I look out the view-port. Two ships have collided, each at near light speed. "Poor buggers," I think to myself. What else could I think? No, there is nothing else.
I turn my head as a chink sounds around the wall. Reaching towards my hip, I instinctively move to a crouch. One of the marines rounds the corner and takes a seat across from me. He doesn't ridicule my paranoia, just chuckles silently and looks blankly ahead. I look at him, staring in fact. I can see my reflection in the faceplate. I wonder if he is looking at me. His body seems to indicate it, though you never can be sure. He looks like one of them that I know, but they all look the same. So much the better I guess, that way they always stay the mysterious saviors. Though I had expected them to be a little more powerfully built.
He, I think it's a he, swivels his head to the right as a bright flash erupts through the view-port. The light cascades into the room, and the shadows are briefly eliminated. I watch him twitch, the .44 Magnum jumping into his hand faster than a startled jackrabbit. The armor plates come together as he tenses. As suddenly as he did all that though, he has relaxed. The gun holstered a tenth of a second after it was drawn. I know that eerie brightening to be what happens when you break the light barrier, but the marine took a moment longer to realize this. He turns back to face me and I nod. It dawns on me that his paranoia is far greater than mine, and I smile. It makes me feel good and I doze off with that thought lingering...
I finally leave the cabin after a day of sleep. Venturing out into the bowels of the ship, so familiar and yet so alien. The hum of the lights strikes me and I realize one again that I am safe. I walk forward, gaining confidence with every step. I am safe, and the covenant can't hurt me now.
About 7 days ago, after our ship had landed on Yelanius 3, hundreds of alien crafts entered the system. They wiped out all the ships that were in flight, and settled into a planetary orbit. Their weapons began opening fire upon the planet's surface. Ripping through buildings and utterly destroying whole colonies. Then the damn Cows landed. Thousands of ground troops descended upon the floating hunk of rock. They brought attacks to every standing human, and fought fiercely. If it weren't for the Marine contingent stationed on the planet, we'd have been toasted. They rounded up as many people as could be found, and for 48 hours we fought back. My crewmates and I followed around and fought with Sergeant Gibrowski and his men. Sticking everything from basic pistol fire to I-45 devastater rockets up the collective rears of the Alien threats. But soon enough, we had run out of ammo. A message came from earth just in time. The instructions were simple. Get the hell off the planet.
The evacuation, more like retreat, took place immediately. Having one of the only surviving ships on the planet, the most important marines jumped upon our girl. We concentrated all our firepower on making a hole, and began to leave the atmosphere. Our ship, being twice as fast as the others, made it out of the blockade before any alien ships could pursue us. We got out of the system without a hitch, but I know nothing about what happened to the others. All we can do is hope for the best.
Walking towards the bridge, my boots give their usual click. In a perfect rhythm, not missing a beat, I step forward. Click, click, click; like an old clock. Not a digital one mind you, but one with arms and a second hand. They don't make many of those anymore. Reaching into my jacket, I feel the gold pocket-watch. It is almost 150 years old, passed from generation to generation; father to son. Flipping it out, I check the time. 2:49 is what it reads. Even after 150 years the watch still works. It's much like this ship, or maybe SolCore would be a better comparison.
The metal bridge door opens with a swish, quickly and silently. I step into the room and can feel the atmosphere change. Not in a bad way, but it's just different. The feeling you get when you walk from the cold night air into a stuffy bar. That is, if we were anywhere near a planet that had a good bar.
All the marines turn to look at me, as does Khania. The marine from the other day nods, and I follow suit. He's actually sitting at my usual station, weapons. Khania has already turned back to her console, typing something; coding probably. She likes to do that, creating games and programs. I remember her telling me about someone back on earth who wanted her to make Vid games for him, John I think his name was. She enjoys telling me about the fashion in which she declined his offer and always speaks his name with a certain amount of scorn. She doesn't talk much about her days back on earth, but I'm pretty sure from what she has said that they include some pretty hard times. She left earth only a few months ago, how quickly we have come to the future.
I stroll silently behind Carly, and grab her shoulder softly. My arms snake down her 5'10" frame and rest on her stomach while my head does the same upon her shoulder. Her breathtaking smile fly's through the air and hits my heart dead on. Gliding the distance between the two faces, our lips meet for the briefest of moments.
"Hey sexy, what you up to?" I ask in my sarcastic, pleading voice. It's the game of lovers, something we've been told will pass.
She holds up her Vid reader so I can see it clearly. "Checking up on the latest stocks. Well, at least what they were before those damn aliens showed up and I couldn't hook into the nets." Stocks were something she loved. Actually, they were just about the only reason we stopped by earth anymore. Well, that and dancing. It's strange how of all SolCore's 20+ planets only one of them has any good dancing facilities. Earth is famous for em.
"How you feeling?" she asks quietly enough that only I can hear her.
"Better," was all I responded. She could tell I wasn't in a talkative mood. I stood there holding her for a while, not a word passing between us. It was at this moment that the proximity warning sounded.
It's not as bad as it sounds, the proximity warning. It just means that we will need to ready for the coming out of FTL. The deceleration is the hardest part, but you get used to it. I look around and my eyes settle upon the weapons console and my taken seat. The marine chuckles, gets up, and motions for me to take my usual spot on the bridge.
Giving Carly one last, quick, kiss, I stroll over to my station. I'm back at home again, the green hues drawing me in. My hands skim over the controls, putting all our guns at standby.
Swiveling my chair, I look at the marine now in charge of our ship. "Do you expect any problems when we enter the system?" I ask across the bridge. He looks at me, or at least his faceplate does, and nods his head. Slowly, as if to say he is not sure.
"Well, I would suggest you send any marines not needed to go man the turrets; preferably numbers 4 & 6. I can handle em all, but it's better to have each as human controlled at possible," I say across the room, my voice reverberating with the acoustics of this small bridge. He doesn't move, and a few seconds later two marines in the back swivel around on their heals and head out of the bridge. "Thanks," I say as I turn my chair. I can feel his gaze on the back up my head, the hairs on my neck beginning to arch up just a little.
"Disengaging FTL drive in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..." Noe, our main pilot, announced loudly to the bridge crew. Her real name is Noelani but we all call her Noe for short. I can still hear the echo from the loud speaker; it comes only for an instant from the hallways outside the bridge. Suddenly the bright light disappears and stars begin flying past us again. I am thrown against the back of my chair and my eyes watch the sensor readings as they begin to pour in. My heart stops when they show a huge fleet of ships, but pumps even harder when I realize they are humans.
The comm. unit beeps and Leonard turns on the Vid feed. We are getting a communication from Admiral Hiram Nelson on the Cruiser Allegiance. The face of a man, older, comes onto the screen. Our de-facto leading marine stands up and salutes smartly.
"Sergeant, report." The man says. If only those simple words were as simple as they sounded at first glance.
"Sir, an unknown alien force entered the Yelanius sector and obliterated the military and civilian forces there. I don't know how many others made it out alive, but I wouldn't bet on there being many, if any others at all." His words sliced through us like a Vibro-blade. The man on the screen was silent for a moment, and then he spoke once more.
"Sergeant, I'd like to offer my condolences and congratulations. I'm sorry for all you lost, and you were not the only ones to have faced this terrible tragedy, but I think it should be mentioned that you are the first group to have survived contact with the alien force." His words cut into us even more. He continued to tell us the stories of 13 other systems that were hit just like Yelanius 3.
After a bit, he logged off the screen and we moved our ship to join the fleet. Floating our way towards on of the larger ships where Noe's fiancee was actually stationed. The Pillar of Autumn was a beautiful ship, and I could see the look on our pilot's face as we neared it and she realized how close she was to her loved one. I wanted to order her to land on the ship, but that was against regulations. After a shuttle came and picked up our leading marine for a debriefing we turned on the auto-pilot, ordering our basic AI to keep us in the general vicinity of the PoA, and then headed off to bed. Both Carly and I were not in the mood for anything but sleep and we dozed off quickly.
It is two days after we came into the system and we've been sitting around just making sure our ship is in tip top shape. The head marine has come back from his debriefing and now we just wait. Waiting to live, waiting to die, no one can be sure. I'm sitting in turret three, absentmindedly drumming my fingers on the firing mechanism. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see a bright flash. The same flash of light that happens when a ship drops out of FTL. The flash continues on for another minute and as I look at the arriving ships a silhouette shows for the briefest of moments. My whole body tenses in fear when I realize who has just shown up: The Covenant....
Alarms begin on the ship, piercing the silence like a knife to a balloon. I run full sprint to the bridge, passing the three marines heading back to man our turrets. The bridge door opens and the swish is lost in the alarms, but I am too preoccupied to notice. Taking my seat at weapons I find the marines have brought turrets four, five, and six online. I bring my three to ready mode and sit in silence. I risk a glance at Carly and our eyes meet. She is scared worse than I am. Blowing a kiss across the room, it seems to bring her back from the doze. She may be scared, but she intends to fight hard.
Noe has our main systems online and is just sitting there, waiting for her skills to be needed. Calm, serene, her face shows no emotion, betrays no fear. Khania is the complete opposite. The only way calm can fit into her description is "Calm like a Bomb." Even the marines are nervous. The one in the back is down on one knee, praying.
Our forces mobilize, lining up in a cone to try and envelop them. The covenant force sees our setup and goes into a double vanguard formation so as to strike our forces near the same time. There appear to be hundreds of thousands of them, inching forward. Their ships like ants, small and harmless, but they grow with every kilometer.
Admiral Nelson is on the Vid screen, droning on with a morale speech. Only the marines seem to be listening, I know I'm not. He concludes his speech and logs off. The two fleets get closer and closer, the immense size of our enemy seems to worm its way into the heads of everyone. The tip of their formation passes ours; there is no turning back now. And before I knew it all hell break loose.
I'm not sure who fired first, but it sure doesn't matter. The PoA is a part of the second wave, and since we are one of her support ships we don't engage the enemy for a moment. I can see ships blowing up through the view-port, human and alien. Without warning, our ship banks and drops onto the 80th degree. We are in it.
Noe maneuvers our corvette like it was a fighter and I have all six turrets blazing full auto. I see a fighter start a strafing run on the Vendetta, a nearby, enhanced freighter. Swiveling turret two around I tap the buttons lightly. The gun opens fire and I watch as the tracer rounds fly forward and finally impact. Hundreds of small projectiles rip holes through the fighter and I see small explosions. The ship just floats there, lifeless.
Our ship rocks as Carly fires off one of the SAE modules, search and eliminate. It fly's forward and I follow it with my two port side turrets. Impacting a larger ships shield, it creates a bit of feedback. I press the button and my explosive fire, along with two Stinger 7 missiles, are sent on their way to the alien craft. The Missiles slide through the hole opened by our SAE and impact against the hull I had softened with my tracers. The first missile ripped a fair size hole on the surface, exposing the hallways to space. But the second missile, that's what did the real damage. I had it set to wait two seconds after contact before it detonates and I watch it hit the ship and continue on. The marine stands up, apparently thinking it was a dud, but a brilliant flash seats him again. The whole crew hollers as we watch the alien craft split down the middle.
Into the Whirlwind (Part 2)
Date: 30 January 2000, 12:20 a.m.
Noe pulls us around and we head back towards the PoA. On the way we take out 7 more fighters and 2 larger ships. I would give them classification, but that's not my job. Let the military do a little more of the work, that's what we pay them for. From the corner of the Vid feed I notice 4 ships coming our way, trying to sneak in on us no doubt. We are apparently attracting a lot of the Covenant's attention. Noe pulls up to put a derelict hull between the aliens and us, but two more have shown up dead ahead. A light goes on in my head and I set to work getting my plan in action.
Loading our single tactical nuke, the same one that doesn't seem to work on their shields, I take aim at the carcass of a ship we had passed. Two of them are closing in on us, getting ready to pass right by their dead comrade. With a smile I fire the nuke. The marine sees what I did and practically tears my head off.
"Those don't work on the alien's shields you idiot!" he yells at me across the bridge. I just smile and concentrate harder. The alien ships were just about to pass the utterly doomed ship when I hit the detonator.
"What are you doing?" he yelled louder. "You didn't ev..." the marine stopped his comment suddenly when it dawned on him what I had done. I could almost feel him smiling. When the explosion hit below the derelict ship, it still had basic shields. This kept it from being disintegrated but it didn't stop the force from throwing it. The two alien ships don't even realize what has happened. The now moving ship slides right through their shields and impacts hard enough to destroy any human ship. The smaller one blows up in a bright fireball moments after impact and the larger ship just shut down. I can see a gash that splits from bow to stern, but amazingly it does not blow up. It sure is out of the battle though.
An explosion in the rear of our ship brings us all back to our senses. My scan shows an alien beam had just impacted about 2/3 of the way back. Noe flips us over and the dorsal turrets blaze away at our closest assailant. She drives directly into the crossfire between the two ships. I am just about to ask why she has done that when we buck out of the way from an alien bolt. It continues on its course and connects with the second ship's hull. The shields didn't stop it and I chuckle lightly as the second ship's bridge is destroyed. The ship ceased all action and Noe dropped us underneath her. Using that ship as a shield, we get set to engage the two incoming. Another dead hulk idea pops into my head. Loading up some more Stinger 7's, I take aim at the alien ships. With its main power source acting as my target, I scoot my hands over the board.
Pressing the button sends the stingers arching towards the ships. The working alien ducks behind its floating friendly to escape the missiles. They impact the dead ship and drive themselves into its center before exploding. Realizing the missiles didn't hit them, the alien craft slips underneath. Since the explosion has caused movement of the hulk, the Covenant craft lowered that section of their shields so as not to get feedback. Those seconds were all that my idea needed.
Only a few moments after my missiles had exploded, the dead ship began to chain-react. The surviving Covenant ship, now with half its shields down, realized too late what was happening. They tried to bring the shields back online, but it was to no avail. The ship exploded in a brilliant flash of light, sending an enormous shock wave into its friend. The lights blinked out on the first Covenant ship and she just laid there without power, almost like they were sleeping.
The shipped lurched to the starboard side as our wonderful pilot dropped us under the beam emanating from the closer of the two ships. She drove at them, full speed, and intended to get between them so as to use their own crossfire against them. They seemed to plan for that, and I watched as they waltzed to make us the only thing being hit.
"Guys, hold on for this one," Noe exclaimed as she hit the throttle. We sped forward going full into their trap. I knew she had something planned, I just couldn't figure it out. And then the epiphany hit me. Like an arrow in flight that had just struck my brain, I realized what she was doing. Sweeping our ship to the port side, she angled up at the farther of the two. The beams being fired seemed to miss us by only inches. I realized that I had stopped firing my turrets, and then began pressing buttons furiously. Targeting all my shots on one spot, I tried to make as big a hole as possible. The marines were already doing the same and Carly let out our second SAE. I watched the hole get bigger and bigger, but it didn't look big enough. I was right.
The sides of our ship hit the shields. Just a small bit on each side, but enough to send a crap-load of energy flying through the ship. I watched turret 5 blink out, it had been destroyed when we passed the shields. The ship shook violently as we hit their outer hull. Since they had stopped firing because we were so close I was able to riddle them with bullets. I blew the hell out of the bridge and then opened fire on their engines. Their ship was dead in space. A huge explosion hit beside us on the alien ship and I tried to figure out what I had shot. When a second hit on our port bow I knew what had happened.
The second alien ship had commenced firing again, even though we were right on top of their buddy. Noe flipped us over and Carly let out the last of our SAE's. I pulled online the last of our Stinger 7's and waited. I watched in horror as a beam intersected the first SAE and it blew up in the sky. The problem with those is that they are quite slow. Firing off my last 2 stingers I gave myself manual control over the second one. I watched the beam turret on the alien craft swing around to target the second SAE and could see it fine tune the aim. I drove the missiles right toward the SAE as it flew toward the alien craft. In slow motion I saw the alien weapon begin to brighten. Moments later a dark blue beam left the cannon. I watched it slice forward, flying through space towards its intended target. Horror struck my face as the beam intersected the module and it detonated. We were done...
As I waited for the missiles to hit the alien crafts shields I began to cry; I was about to be killed. That's when the console beeped. I looked up in time to find that the missile had cleared the shields. A split second later it impacted the ship directly on its stern, just a little below the bridge. I grabbed the joystick for manual control and pulled up. It bumped over the surface, creating sparks I could see even from my view. Then it shattered the window. I watched the faces on the alien ship as they saw the missile fly into their bridge. A huge human explosive that was only meters from their face. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of them press a button, and then I hit the detonator. My view disappeared as the missile blew the alien bridge into a slag like I had never seen. Hollering, I jumped up and swung my hands. We were alive!
And suddenly I fell. An explosion came upon our ship from behind. The deck lurched forward and up, and my feet didn't plant when I came down. I landed hard on the food preparation console at the back of the bridge.
"Holy Sith! The engines have been hit with that damn beam! We need to get the smurf outta here!" Khania yelled as she jumped up and ran toward the door. The marine in the back pulled me up and dragged me towards the shuttle bay. The whole bridge had been cleared within 7 seconds after Khania's statement. Here I was, being pulled along by a marine who had more strength than I could possibly believe. Maybe what they say is true, maybe these men really are cyborgs.
We rounded the corner and I could see the shuttle's engines already starting up. The marine dumped me into the ship and hoisted himself into it while pulling the door closed. The moment it closed we were off the deck. I could hear our ship exploding behind us, a chain reaction starting in the engines. A bout of fire blew a hole in the wall behind us as we cleared the atmosphere field. Carly sent us flying forward, away from our dying ship. I looked back through the view port, staring at the craft I had spent the last year and a half of my life on. Holes dotted the ship and I saw small explosions working their way toward the reactor in the ship's center. A brilliant explosion ripped our old hull from bow to stern. It was so bright I had to close my eyes, and when I again opened them there was nothing left of my ship but scrap metal.
The shuttle we were in had pretty much nothing in the way of defenses. It was meant for going to and from the surface of a planet, not for flying through space and fighting. With only a single forward gun, not even a turret, we could only fly and hope for life. The ship was only made to hold 3 people comfortably, not the seven we had in it.
"Where are we going?" Carly asked the back of the ship. No one was sure, and finally someone said something.
"Back to the PoA. We can't fight, let's just get outta here," Noe said to her sister, the fear showing now.
The lead marine stood up. "We must fight. I will not leave the battle," he said to our crew in the shuttle. Everyone was quieted, and the shuttle just moved forward without control.
"No, we can't fight. We only have a single cannon and that isn't even enough to take out one of those fighters. Carly's a good pilot, but she's not a god." I said to the marine. The whole crew continued in their hushed tone, no one speaking. Everyone was too afraid to make a decision.
"If we leave the battle, we are just disgracing ourselves. The human fleet needs our help, and every last man counts." He exclaimed to the group, trying to make us go fight.
"But..." Noe began, the fear plainly evident in her voice.
"He's right," Leonard whispered to the group. He had barely spoken a word since the battle had begun, but we all knew he was right. We didn't want to admit it, but he sure was right.
"Carly, take us into the battle," I ordered. Smugly, she complied. Pressing the throttle and we plowed forward. So far, the battle was not going well. At least half the human fleet had been destroyed while the covenant still had about 9/10 of their larger fleet. We were outnumbered at least 5 to 1, probably more like 7 to 1.
Coming upon the fringe of the battle our whole group was scared. I could see Carly's reflection in the cockpit window and it plainly showed the fear in her features, now much more then when on the corvette. Probably the 1 cannon fact was what had her worried. We headed straight towards a firefight between two human corvettes and an alien destroyer. A wing of four alien fighters was picking on the closest corvette, the Aryzah, and so Carly sent our ship forward, blazing a path into the fray. If I couldn't see her face in the reflection I would surely believe from her piloting that there was no fear in her eyes.
Seeping in from underneath the Aryzah we let loose upon the fighters. Having no shields themselves, the fighters were extremely vulnerable to our shots. The first fighter flew right into our sights the moment we came up and Carly riddled it with bullets. The doomed ship didn't explode, it just died and careened off into the vastness of space.
Barreling us over, Carly dropped our agile little craft onto the tail of a second fighter. His speedy little ship dropped and swerved, but he couldn't shake us. The cannon sent tracers forward which impacted the hopeless fighter. They hit dead on into the engine compartment and the fighter blew up in a brilliant fireball.
The last two fighters began fighting back a moment later. They were trying and trying to get us to fall for their tricks, but Carly wouldn't allow it. Those of us not flying the ship were being thrown around like crazy. If it weren't for the harnesses though we would be in serious pain. Though at least we were staying alive.
Back and forth we danced with these two fighter craft. Carly took pot shots as often as possible, but her bullets did nothing more then put a few slight holes into the alien ships.
After a particularly close call with an alien beam Noe pointed at our starboard side. Three more alien fighters could be seen coming this way. I could almost see the fear on the face of our marine, even though a visor hid it. Carly guided our ship about and turned away from the incoming enemy. We danced a few moments more before the new group reached us. When they came into the fight Carly's face showed utter horror.
But they still couldn't hit us. Carly flew now like I had never seen anyone do before. Our ammo ran dry and we just continued dodging in full force. Our luck couldn't hold out forever, and the explosion I heard proved it. I watched the energy from the alien bolt disperse into space and could see our slagged starboard engine. Carly was quick to shut down the port engine so we couldn't spiral out of control, but it didn't matter anymore. A single alien fighter was facing our way and I saw his distance indicator drop down, getting closer and closer; coming into his firing range. The whole crew had quieted and I saw the same marine as before praying once again.
"Carly, I love..." I began to say when I realized we were going to die; here, in the coldness of space on a cramped shuttle, in a place soon to be forgotten in the realms of history. I watched the beam begin its journey, but lost it from view when a burst of force hit our ship. She had turned the second surviving engine on with full power and we spiraled forward. As the beam raked the atoms where we should have been an explosion reached our ship. "We've been hit!" I thought to myself.
But we were still flying, still alive. I looked out the view port and saw why. A wing of human fighters from the PoA had shown up and taken out the alien craft before it could fire a second shot. The nine other fighters of Red Squad, the PoA's elite attack squadron, obliterated the other alien fighters within seconds after coming to our aid.
"You were saying?" Carly said back to me, her voice filled with both relief and giddiness. Standing up, I walked over and kissed her passionately. With everything I had, all my life and all my future centered in those lips. Stepping away, I once again heard the sounds of joy coming from everyone else in our ship and I moved back to my seat as she turned off the second engine to run a diagnostic check.
"Wonderful flying shuttle. Haven't seen anyone fly like that since Mars. Though I don't think you can fight anymore. There's room in docking bay 3 on the PoA, pass code bri7n3y. I'll tell them to expect you. Just land at the back so my squadron has room for ourselves when we get out of this," the wing leader said over the comm connection.
"Copy Red leader, and thanks," Carly replied back. She brought us back on a course with the PoA and headed full throttle with our single remaining engine. The Pillar had just taken out another destroyer and was pulling about to move forward and engage a second, but she slowed just a little to let us into the bay. We cleared the shimmering atmosphere field and the PoA took off once again to battle for human justice. Keeping the request of Red leader to heart we landed as far back as possible. The moment we touched down, no one moved; we were again on solid ground. The praying marine opened the side door and jumped down. He landed and fell on his back, enjoying the feel of hard support. Khania was right behind him and landed beside the marine, bending down and kissing his faceplate followed by kissing the floor.
I walked forward and sat down at the now open seat beside Carly. We just sat there, staring into each other's eyes. The two of us were safe on this ship, beside each other. It didn't matter what happened anymore, we had all done as much as possible to stay alive and so far it had worked. Whether the PoA survived or not was all in the hands of God, and all we could do anymore was hold the other close. Carly moved over to my lap and the two of us sat in complete silence. Holding each other with every bit of life we had left. The two of us watched our lead marine head off out of the bay and toward the PoA's lift system; he would naturally be heading for the bridge. I noticed that the second marine was not with him, and craned my neck to look out the open door. The sight, unlike most, utterly surprised me.
The marine had de-masked himself and he was kissing Khania with the fever of a man that has never before. A man who has so devoted his life that he loses contact with the outer world and all the pleasures and pain it can cause. The close calls of this battle though apparently got to him and he succumbed to the male inside all that armor. Even though a marine, he was a human still. I laughed to out loud while me and Carly turned our eyes back to each other.
The PoA bucked under a large hit and our ship bounced up on the landing skids. Leonard and our two lovebirds jumped back into the ship so that if the bay vented atmosphere they would be safe. Closing the door locked the pressure and started up our air recycling system. From through the bay entrance I could see a huge alien battleship that was closing in on the PoA and it was then that I noticed a wing of human fighters coming towards the Pillar. I hooked into the ships radar and almost fell out of my chair. Of the whole human fleet only the Pillar and those fighters remained while 2/3 of the alien fleet was still alive, and all bearing down on the PoA.
The fighters came flying through the atmosphere field and made a harsh landing. The moment they had cleared the field the Pillar of Autumn came about and I could feel her setting up to go into FTL. Moments later I felt the press of acceleration and watched the stars fly past us through the bay entrance. A bright flash erupted outside the ship as we entered FTL and the field darkened, compensating for the increase in light. I looked out at the fighters and it took a moment to register that they were not all from the Pillar. The farthest ship was a member of the elite Red Squadron, but the other two were fighters from another ship; neither was from the same squadron. Of the human fleet's most elite fighter force, only one craft remained alive. A moment later I realized also realized something else.
Of the human fleet's largest defense fleet ever assembled only one ship had survived, the one I was on, the Pillar of Autumn. I pull Carly to my face again and kiss her once more. Pulling back our faces the space between becomes a third-meter in size. I can feel her breath against my face, caressing my cheek, and could die right here in her arms. Looking deeply into her eyes I make the last revelation of that day. Those eyes are my only reason for reason for breathing, the only reason for surviving; the only reason for living. I intend to keep those eyes bright for as long as I live, and I shall keep Carly beside me until the end.
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