Starchives

(Note to reader - Ch. 1 sets up the plot. Ch. 2 will contain graphic details. Thanks for reading!)

"So we are going to attack the Cenetaurians from battle site X," the new Director was saying as he explained the holograph. "We are going to fly in through here -" he looked at me with a smile. "-as Elara comes in here, guns blazing."

Ha. I liked how he put that. I moved my boots off of the corner of the programming console and sat up with interest.

"They have heat and motion sensors. What makes you think they won't be surprised?" I asked candidly.

"Ah. I'm glad you asked." His blue eyes sparked. Despite my general distaste for the human population, I had to admit - he was hot. "We've developed a cloaking device. It's revolutionary in that it will completely absorb the signals they send - and send back the appropriate signals, and we can fly undetected."

I pondered his words. "How is that even possible?"

I could see his mistress, Karena, off to one side of the briefing room, getting pissed that I was interacting with him. Well, fuck her.

He beamed. "It's a new technology we've developed. We've created cells that respond and mimic specific surroundings. If we inject these reactive cells into the stationary cells they are supposed to mimic - they will respond to the energy waves and send back those signals as if nothing was there. We've created a thin gel that fits like a wrap that can be molded against the hull of the ship. All of our ships have been equipped with this thin plastic wrap and can fly completely undetected from their radar."

Now that was interesting. I sat back. "Well, I'll try anything once."

It was the evening before the mission was to begin. I couldn't sleep, so I went down to the bridge and looked out at what the instruments were picking up. Most of them were studying Cenetaur.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" a voice said behind me.

It was him. I shouldn't have been so surprised as I gazed at the planet on the screen. Oceans of blue and green, swathed in a dim light, glowed pleasantly on the screen.

"Sometimes I don't even understand why we are at war," I said quietly. "Look at the planet. It's so peaceful. Where does the hatred come from?"

"Don't you protect what you love?" he asked me, still behind me.

I thought for a minute. What did I love? I had been orphaned at 15. I had almost no worldly possessions, save for my ship, which I did love.

"I protect Lacey, and she protects me," I said softly.

"Ah. Your ship," he said, coming up close behind me. I turned and he was so close to me. His blue eyes looked at me deeply. I suddenly felt mesmerized by his gaze. "Is there anything else in your life?" he asked.

I faltered. I didn't know him that well. Besides, he was The Man. He was running the show. What did some random commander have in common with him?

I looked down. "No."

He brushed my hair back, away from my face, and his touch made me shiver involuntarily. He said nothing, but was looking at me carefully. I sensed a lot in his gaze. It was then I realized that I piqued his interest. He liked me.

"You have so many gifts," he said softly.

I looked down again, unable to meet his challenging gaze. An inexplicable chill went down my spine. I bid him goodnight and went to bed.

I woke up early, before my alarm. I thought about Cenetaur, and my conversation with the Director last night. For some reason I felt a sense of foreboding that I couldn't quite shake.

I rolled out of bed and started preparing for the mission. I did my usual biking program, showered, and ate a quick meal. I tied up my long, dark red hair and secured it into a bun. I stopped to stare at myself in the mirror.

I had smooth, pale skin, and dark eyes framed by black lashes. My nose was fairly petite, and I had generous lips that I loved to call attention to with a nice lavendar colored lipstick. I reached for my tactical gear, which consisted of tight-fitting black pants, and an equally tight-fitting bright orange shirt. Lastly of course was my golden spacesuit, made of a thin, flexible material that was unbelievably durable. I grabbed my survival bag, and started walking down the hall towards the vehicular bay as the chimes started. Others started congregating, walking in the same direction. We were assembling.

Suddenly I saw Karena walking from the opposite direction of the hallway. She gave me a smirk as she walked past me. I found it unsettling, but quickly forgot about her as I got caught up in the crowd and we made our way to our fleet.

My girl Lacey was bright and shiny as ever. She was a DX-300 model and I loved her, despite the fact that she was an older model. She was dependable, maneuverable, and we had been though many a battle and she held up every time.

As we started assembling, I got up on the ramp and yelled as everyone quieted down. "All right! We have three leaders. My group, wait for my signal as I intercept the atmosphere first. Let's fan out in a diamond pattern and take these guys out!"

My quick speech was met with rousing cheers, and I tried to push my worries aside as I prepped my cargo load.

Soon, we were cleared to go, and I engaged automatic shifting as I lifted off, and hundreds of starships lifted off behind me. Soon, we were off.

Cenetaur was actually not that far from where we were currently stationed. As we headed towards their planet, myself in the forefront, I suddenly saw their own starships forming in a defensive pattern.

Being that I was a commander, I had direct contact with our Director. I radioed him immediately. "Hey, can they see us? I see defenses forming!" I shouted. Suddenly loud beeping began in my cabin. They had a lock on me.

"Elara, they can see you. Prepare to attack!" he yelled back.

I smacked my control panel. "Are you kidding! Is this a suicide mission?!!"

I closed the transmission before he could respond. "Shit," I muttered. I turned on my mic and addressed my team. "Okay guys, listen, they are onto us hot and heavy. Let's get some some missiles loaded left and right. Everyone ready on my mark."

I tried to lock my own, but for some reason my computer showed an error message. Offline? My missiles were never offline! I tried moving a few switches to try to get around the error message, but the word wouldn't leave my screen.

"God damn it!" I yelled in frustration. I put my ship into auto, unbuckled, and ran to the back cargo area. I yanked open the cargo door and to my absolute shock, I realized I was offline because I had no missiles.

"What the fuck!" I shouted, my words reverberating in the empty chamber.

I got on the radio. "Zenthos, this is Elara. Where are my missiles?"

There was static. "Hey!" I shouted into the mic. I could see the Cenetaureans closing in on us. And I had absolutely nothing to defend myself.

"Zenthos!" I yelled again. Where was that asshole? I wanted an explanation.

All of the sudden, I saw a burst of white light leave one of their ships. "Shit!" I yelled, steering my ship starboard-side at the last second. The beam of light flew to port, and I felt a hard shake go through my craft. Sensors started going off noisily in the cabin alerting me that I'd been hit. Sparks flew out from my dashboard and lights flickered on and off as my situation worsened.

"I need backup. Repeat. Someone back me up!" I yelled into my mic. For some reason, no one answered me.

What the hell was going on? It was as if my Lacey had suddenly given up on me, and left me hanging, right in mid-battle. I saw flashes of light move from behind me, forward, attacking the Cenetaureans. At least my team was defending our position. As the fireworks started, I made another realization.

I was going down. My controls were no longer responding to me. The planet was slowly getting closer on my screen. New, louder chimes began, as my craft sensed the orbit track I was on. The computer extrapolation simulation clearly predicted us crashing on the enemy planet.

"Come on!!!" I yelled, tugging on various switches and toggles with no effect.

Suddenly I head the commander's voice above the chimes. "Elara! You are in a deteriorating orbit. Get out of there!"

I grabbed my mic. "I can't!" I shouted at him. Judging from the static that ensued, I assumed he hadn't caught my outburst.

"Shit," I swore softly as the planet gradually got bigger on my screen.

I was going to land right on the enemy's planet.

None of my controls worked, as Lacey and I slowly lost altitude. I started to hear the wind roar against my starcraft as we made contact with the thick air of the atmosphere. The lights went offline as most non-essential power was diverted to cooling the outer surface of the craft as we steadily heated up from the air friction. As we moved closer, I realized how fast we were going. I could see trees and water spinning around rapidly. Shit. Would I even survive the landing? I secured my harness tight as the trees got bigger and bigger on my screen.

At once, I felt drag and heard horrible whipping sounds as we began hitting the vegetation. I started to get jostled around as we tore through dense brush. I screamed as the shaking got more violent, and was shoved around like a mannequin. Lights flashed in the darkness of my cabin, and sparks flew in all directions. Then something hit the side of my head, and everything went dark.

I moved slightly, and felt a sharp pain on the side of my head. "Ohhh," I said softly. It was dark in the craft. The power was off. And I was almost completely upside-down.

Slowly, everything came back to me. I crashed. I was on Cenetaur.

I tried to move my right arm, but winced as pain radiated from my elbow. It felt like my arm was broken. I took my left hand, and clumsily undid my harness and fell out of the seat and on the floor on my left side. I have a high tolerance for pain, but at once I started sobbing as I tried to clutch my arm to my side as waves of pain shot through my appendage.

I was injured. I was on an enemy planet. And I had no way of leaving.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!" I screamed from my soul, my voice echoing throughout my small craft. My sobs reverberated in the dark, cold chamber. I sat like that for awhile, waiting for my head to clear so I could figure out how I was going to get out of this situation.

Cenetaur's air was breathable, but it was thinner than what was ideal for a human. I tried to think of the last images on the screen. The calculations predicted I would land in the southern region, which was not as heavily populated. However, the enemy fleet obviously had a lock on me. They must have known that I crash-landed on their planet. I debated on if I should send a frequency signal to our starship. It would let my crew know I was alive. Or at least they would have an idea of where my craft was. But it would obviously give away my exact position to the Cenetaureans, too.

But first I had to see if I even had power. I stood up and felt around in the dark. After a minute I was able to locate the main auxiliary power. I flipped the main switch to reset mode, then flipped it back.

Small blue lights flicked on in the cabin. The craft knew it was damaged and was in power-save mode.

"Okay," I breathed softly as I undid some latches behind my main screen above me. At once the monitor fell away from the hardware, and was suspended in midair, hanging from the power cord. I pulled it close and sat down with it.

The system was rebooting slowly, assessing damage. Finally the main screen appeared.

First, I scanned the area where I had landed. It looked to be a small valley. I had actually landed right on a strip of sandy beach, very close to a waterfall. I did a life-forms scan next. There were various trees and plants around. There was bacteria in the water that I did not recognize. I zoomed out.

There was a Cenetaurian hub about 500km north. I figured soon they would send a fleet out to look for me.

I ran a diagnostic systems check next. I sustained heavy front-end damage, of course. The trees must have ripped off one of my power thrusters. The port-side didn't register a reading, and the starboard side was offline. I had a mini welding kit packed, but if the port side was gone, there was no way Lacey would generate enough thrust to exit the atmosphere.

I sighed. The side of my head was sore from being knocked out, probably from the bag I had packed earlier. I looked around, and spotted my travel pack along the far side of my vessel. I leaned over and grabbed it with my good arm. I unzipped it and pulled out my medi-gun.

The medi-gun was not a gun at all. It was actually a long cylinder, with specialized chambers that housed cells. If injuries occurred during battle, the medi-gun offered a quick repair. It was able to re-grow and repair cells with lightning speed, healing most injuries within a few minutes.

I calmly adjusted the cylinder to fit the circumference of my arm, and, despite the pain, pushed my arm into the cylinder until it reached my elbow.

I turned it on, and, to my dismay, the monitor on the side flashed an error message.

With growing horror, I turned the tube on its side to look at the chambers. One had cracked, and as I held it up in the blue lighting, I could see the tube was nearly empty.

I sat back, dumbfounded, taking in my situation. I was in trouble. I was stranded on an enemy planet, injured, and I had no idea who knew of my whereabouts, be it my crew, or the enemy. I felt tears silently slide down my cheeks. Of all the ways I had imagined I would die, this was certainly not one of them. I was a tough girl. I could fight. I could drive my ship like nobody's business. And here I was, a sitting duck waiting for either my body to succumb to injury, or the enemy to take me as hostage or kill me outright.

I tried to wipe my tears away, then pulled my bag closer. I opened the zipper wider and pulled out my water maker. I turned it on, pressed a button, and made a cup of water. At least I didnt have to boil the water outside in order to try to kill the bacteria just so I could have a drink. Next I grabbed my food maker. I had pre-loaded it with a few basic options. I pressed the first option, and a power bar materialized. So that was working too. I noticed the side of the food maker was wet and slightly sticky. My medi-gun must have hit it during the crash-landing.

Just then, I noticed an alert at the bottom of my monitor. I expanded it.

Three crafts just left the hub and were headed in my direction. Shit. I had to hide.

I set the screen down, leaned over and pressed the "door unlock" button. With a small hiss, the door paused, then opened.

I closed my eyes as blinding light filled the cabin. The air was damp and humid.

I grabbed a small knife I kept secured under my seat and threw it into my bag, as well as the other items I had previously removed. Since my craft was upside down, the hatch door had opened above my head. The ground was a good 7 or 8 feet below. I threw my bag on the ground, away from the ship, then launched myself out.

I landed on my left side and rolled a bit. I cried out and winced as pain shot up my injured arm as my weight shifted on it. Then I stood.

The waterfall wasn't big, but it was noisy since my ship couldn't have been more than 30 meters away from the fall. Lacey was on a fairly level area, but towards the water, the angle of the beach increased.

I suddenly had an idea. I needed to hide. Even more importantly though, I needed to hide my ship. If the Cenetaureans spotted Lacey, they would know I was in the area. But if I could make her disappear, it would potentially buy me time.

Without giving it another thought, I ran to the other side of my ship and began pushing. She wasn't a big ship, but she was full of electronics which certainly added to the weight.

I pushed as hard as I could, gritting my teeth as I tried to use both hands. Then I turned around and used my back to push, my feet digging into the hard sand.

I could feel myself tiring. With tears in my eyes, I turned and tried pushing with my hands again, in desperation - but to no avail. I smacked the side of my ship.

"No," I whispered, tears blurring my vision.

I stopped suddenly as I felt the ship carefully. I realized there were two different textures under my fingertips. I looked closely as I saw a faint horizontal line running across the hull. I used my fingernail to push at the coating. A small bump formed, and I was able to pick it up and peel off a thin clear strip of coating.

It was the "miracle" cloaking device that had been installed on our fleet. Puzzled, I followed the strip across the hull and saw that a large section of my ship did not have it.

So that's why they had locked onto me. Part of my ship had been completely visible to their sensors. But I had seen the installation paperwork from the sign-off team before we launched. It had been installed correctly.

Another thought occurred to me. That morning, I walked past Karena, coming from the garage bay. I realized with cold certainty in my heart that she sabotaged me by pulling part of my shield off.

I began to feel fury. It took me a long way from the desolated state I was in. With one hard push and a groan, I dug my heels into the sand and pushed with every ounce in my body. Injured or not, I was going to get out of this. I would find a way to the enemy base and steal a craft. Somehow, I would get back to our ship just so I could kick her ass.

Lacey hesitated for a moment before giving way finally, and with surprise, I watched her roll right out of my hands, down the sandy bank, and into the water with a large splash. The cargo door had closed as it rolled down, and I watched her float towards the edge, the hull barely breaking the surface as the waves grew more choppy at the edge. I ran to the side of the cliff as she broke from the water and fell into the lake below, the rounded figure making a huge spash when she hit the water. I could see bubbles as she sank lower and lower into the water. I watched until I could no longer see her.

"Goodbye, my friend," I said to myself.

My ship was gone. Next I had to worry about hiding myself. I grabbed my bag and started looking for some kind of shelter. I needed something dense, to remove my heat signature so I wouldnt be detected by their sensors. I noticed I was at the base of a small nearby mountain. I checked my watch to see how much progress the enemy fleet had made. They were closing in fast. I didn't have much time.

I hoisted my bag onto my left shoulder, grabbed my right arm close with my left hand, and quickly headed into the dense brush that lined the beach. I tried to push past the lianas and vines that hung down from the trees. It was slow going, and at one point a vine snagged my injured arm and I had to stifle a scream as it tugged on me. I started having trouble breathing in the humid air as I exerted myself. I heard strange animal calls nearby but was more concerned with the crafts that were about to fly overhead.

The dense foliage lessened as I got closer to the base of the mountain. Rocky outcroppings became visible. I checked the radar on my watch. They would be flying over any minute.

I scurried over rocks and small boulders, looking for a place to hide. I had no time.

Suddenly I heard a dull roar. I threw my bag down and dove behind a large boulder. I curled up and listened as they got closer.

Three starships flew directly overhead, the sun glinting off of their silver wings. They were at close range. I hoped my heat signature was hidden by the rock.

The rush of their fleet got quieter after they flew past me, then, with a chill in my heart, I heard the sound get louder suddenly. They must have turned around.

"Shit!" I yelled, running from the boulder. There was a thin space between two small crags nearby. I ran to the space and turned my body inwards so that my back was facing out as I heard rock explode behind me from their downward pointing lasers. Rocks and debris flew at me, and for the second time that day, something - presumably a rock - hit me in the head - this time on the other side.