Nirvana in the Cosmos:

Prologue

Headlines STS: 167/162

Payton Wins Reelection Despite Rumors of Corruption:

Amid accusations of political corruption President Payton was still declared the winner of the election. Accusations first surfaced several months ago from a senator, and reporter. President Payton denied any accusations of wrong doing early on. He called the reports “A scam, perpetuated by political opponents.”

Murder Investigation of Ranking Captain:

It has been almost a year since Captain Waterlo of the USC ION was murdered. She was allegedly killed by the second in command, Celly Conway. Immediately following Waterlo’s death Conway defected from his service going on the run. Conway had been part of the redemption program offered to citizens of annexed worlds. The Program allows a path to citizenship in exchange for four years of service in the Coalition Aeronautics Navy . Authorities are still searching for Conway.

On This Day in History:

Carol Wilson was born. She would later create the Space Time System. After leaving Earth scientists found that going by the original time model (twenty-four hour days, seven days a week, three-hundred sixty-five days a year) didn’t make as much sense in the modern space age. The ancient ways were based on the amount of time it took the Earth to orbit its star. Using that model, a year on every planet would be different. Therefor a unified system was needed if humans were going to venture to many planets.
Carol Wilson proposed the STS. The new system did away with archaic names replacing the formatting with a year and day. (YEAR/DAY) With Four-hundred days in a year, ten days a week, and twenty-five hours a day. The system was quickly adopted widely. Present day it is used by every major government.

Chapter 1

Annex Omega

“So, you’re telling me everyone in the whole galaxy used to live on one planet?” The boys voice cracked with excitement.
Celly smiled at the spark of life and wonder in his eye.

“Yes. All humans used to be packed on one little planet. Long before we knew how to travel the stars.”

“But how could so many people come from one little planet?”

The child’s skepticism gave Celly hope for the future, however faint it might be. It was good to see a youth who could think for himself. Not taking everything for face value, but rather thinking if it actually made sense.

“There used to be a lot less people. We all started out on one planet. There were many different governments, sort of like there are now, except they each occupied a country instead of a planet. Eventually there were so many people, they just couldn’t sustain it anymore. The struggle for necessities of life, started the End War. It came down to two massive powers. One was called the Freedom Coalition, and the other, was called the Red Axis.

“The war became so violent, they used nuclear weapons against each other. In doing so they made the planet unsustainable. Both governments launched ships to find new planets humans could survive on. The Freedom Coalition headed towards Euroearthia. An entire generation was born, and died in space, before they finally arrived there.” Celly stopped to see if the youth was following, he was.

“I went to Euroearthia once! How come it took them so long?” The youth questioned.

“Well, when humans first left Earth they could only travel at a fraction of the speed of light. It wasn’t until many years after reaching Euroearthia that we achieved faster-than-light travel. How did your trip go?” Celly asked kindly.

Most of the time, Celly’s ship the Lucy, was empty. Except for himself, and his first mate Jasper. On rare occasion they took on passengers. Celly jumped at the opportunity for new conversations.

“It was really big. I’ve never seen buildings so tall. The people there were all mean though.” The youth lowered his head.

Citizens of the Coalition found people born of the free worlds to be backwards, and undeserving of respect. Celly felt a ping of pain for the boy at the rejection he himself had felt many times.

“Some people are just mean. It’s important not to let those people make you a mean person though. Always remember that okay? Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Celly placed his hand on the eight-year old’s shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“You keep your head up kid.”

The youth smiled widely, as his mother walked up the aisle of small seats on the port side of the ship. She stopped when she came to the two seats where they were sitting. Celly looked up at her forcing a smile.

“What’s your name kid?” Celly asked happily.
“Raven.” Came his reply a little shyly now that his mother was watching. “Well it was great talking to you Raven.” Celly said as he stood up.

“Thank you for letting me talk to your son ma’am. He’s a good kid.” The woman couldn’t help her grin.
“Thank you. We really can’t thank you enough.”
“It’s no problem. I’ve been trying to get back to Brink for a while now.” Celly made his way down the aisle taking his leave. The rows of seats were sparsely filled. Which made him worry. Worried he wasn’t going to have enough CC’s (Coalition Currency) to refuel once they arrived at Brink. It had been almost five years since he had been forced from his home. Part of him didn’t think he would ever leave Brink again, but he didn’t know how realistic that was with the Coalition looking for him.

Celly moved passed the seats to the small corridor that led to the wheelhouse of the cargo ship he had come to call home for the last year. He stopped halfway through to peer out the window. The stars glimmered passed, fluttering in the blue radiation emitted from FTL. He smiled to himself. Soon he would be home. Excitement bustled in his gut. It seemed unreal. He never thought the day would come.

He continued on to the rusted door, pressing the button on the door pad, there was a hum, followed by a loud creek, before the door finally gave-way, opening. He stepped through seeing Jasper at the helm.

***

“Welcome back Captain, how was the ship?” Jasper asked cheerily. “Peachy. I talked with a few passengers. That kid Raven is curious

about everything— makes me smile. How are things up here?”
“Green across the board. Smooth sailing to Brink.”
“How much longer?” Celly was getting anxious.
“Let’s see” Jasper hit a few buttons on his console “about two and a half weeks, if we keep burning the Qutain at 59%.”
Qutain was a mysterious element, not discovered until Humans had set foot on a new world. It was vital in creating the type of cold fusion required for faster-than-light travel. Ignited at fifty percent, it would provide power, almost forever. Once you powered it up past sixty percent, you would blow through your whole supply alarmingly fast. However, just that extra eleven percent could cut your trip time in half.

“Perfect. That should give us enough time to reset the landing computer. Maybe we can get the turbulence down.” Celly was mostly talking to himself as he made his way to the console on the far side of the control room.
The wheelhouse of the Lucy was small. The helm was a console located dead center of the room. There were only two other stations, to the right was the weapons station, which Celly had installed himself. To the left of the room there was a telemetry station. They were all a tattered, rust color around the edges of the frame, which held glass displays.

Jasper put the ship on auto pilot, coming over to start helping with the reset. Celly had butterflies. They got worse, and worse, the closer they got to Brink.

“How long has it been since you’ve been to Brink?”

“Not since the United Space Coalition annexed the planet.” Celly entered his genetic password, beginning the reset. Jasper crouched down, removing the side panel from the console.

“Celly, can I ask you a question?”
“Depends on the question Jasper.”
Jasper thought for a moment, he wanted to ask about what happened

at Brink. He knew that Celly had been born there, but also that it was a touchy subject. Maybe it was best to leave it alone for now.

“Never mind. It’s probably not important.” Jasper reached into the console and began the manual reset.

***

Celly woke to a sharp pain in his head. He reached up feeling his face, it was warm with fresh blood. Celly’s brain began to race. What had happened? He got to his feet taking a mental survey of himself. Besides a bump, and small cut on his head, he seemed fine. Jasper was still unconscious. The helm was beeping loudly. Celly could tell by the lack of hum buzzing through the bulkheads, the ship was at a dead stop. Celly struggled to the helm, his heart sank.

“Jasper! Jasper wake up!” Celly ran to him. Shaking him lightly, until Jasper came-to.

“Celly... What... What happened?” Jasper’s eyes were foggy. Celly could tell he was dazed pretty good.
“Jasper the Coalition set up an ambush. They have us surrounded. I need you right now. Are you okay to work?”
Celly’s words echoed through Jasper’s head. Finally, Jasper came to terms with what was happening, and his mind sharpened. “Yes sir, what do we do?”

“On your feet. Man, the helm, I’ll take the telemetry station.”
They both got up, going to their stations.
“Jasper, ship wide report?”
“Running it now, one moment.” Jasper hammered away at the touchscreen. “The ship is green across the board. It looks like the engines fell out of sync for some reason. The FTL field collapsed.”

Celly also was running scans and checks of the surrounding space. “Damn, this is bad.” Celly breathed noisily. “Okay, reading three ships.One Champion-Class Destroyer, with two support ships.”
Celly knew the seriousness of the situation, it was terrifying, but he couldn’t show it. He wouldn’t let Jasper see him like this. Jasper stared out the front window, his mouth fell slightly open. Celly noticed and looked out too. His heart sank to a new low.
The Champion-Class ship was looming closer to them. It was a dull dark green. The hull was peppered with what seemed like a million gleaming portholes, almost appearing like a flying city. The bow of the ship came to a sharp point. Sitting atop that point Celly could barely make out the windows of the command center. Then he saw the name printed along the approaching ship’s hull.

“Shit.” He croaked hoarsely.
“What is it...? I’ve never seen you scared before.”
Celly felt disappointed he wasn’t hiding his fear very well.
“That’s the ship I served on. It’s the U.S.C. Ion.” Celly explained. “What does that mean?” Jasper’s voice was shaky.
“It means we’re in trouble.”
How could he possibly explain everything now?
Jasper’s station began beeping. “They’re broadcasting a general message.”
Celly sighed. “Let’s hear it.”
The speakers crackled for a moment as Jasper matched the frequency of the broadcast. Celly knew the voice immediately.
“Unidentifiable vessel, this is Captain Ottis. You are suspected of carrying fugitives of the United Space Coalition. We are transferring warrants to seize your ship and search it. Any attempts to resist will be met with extreme force.”

Celly slowly started to walk towards Jasper’s station.

“The message is just repeating now. We just received a data burst with the warrants...” Jasper trailed off.

No doubt Celly’s name was one on the list of fugitives, wanted for treason. Celly paced for a moment as Jasper started again.

“What should we do? They’re closing fast.” Jasper paused for a moment, but Celly was still thinking. “Should we fight? I’ll arm the cannon.” Jasper walked across the tiny wheelhouse to the console opposite the telemetry station that would give him access to their comparably minuscule cannon.

“No. I have a plan.”
Celly walked back to the helm, he immediately started typing. “What’s the plan?”
“You’ll know when you need to.” Celly looked up from his work to stress the importance of what he was about to tell Jasper. “They’re going to board the ship. They’ll secure it, and arrest everyone on board. Then they’ll fly the ship into one of their hanger bays. We will all be separated, and interrogated. Don’t tell them anything. I’ll come to get you. Just hang tight okay?” Celly stopped to let Jasper take it in. He could see the fear in Jasper’s eyes but needed to know that he understood what he was being told.

“That’s all you’re going to tell me?” Jasper’s voice quaked.

Celly knew he would have to be careful with Jasper. He had come to trust Jasper with his life over the last year, but Jasper was a soft soul. “I know that ship, I served on it for three years. The current captain used to be the third officer when I was the second. He has a personal vendetta with me. I’m going to use that. I’m going to get everyone to Brink don’t worry. I’ve always kept us safe, haven’t I?”

Jasper looked down at the floor as if he was ashamed. “You do Celly. I’m sorry for doubting you. I trust you.”

Celly smiled. “Don’t worry about it. These assholes don’t stand a chance against us. Now signal our surrender.”

***

It had gone the way he had said it would. Small support ships were launched from the Ion. They swarmed the Lucy offering no chance of escape. Brutish Coalition marines forced their way onto the ship. They were demanding and violent towards the passengers, even though they offered no resistance. Celly was taken to the brig of the Ion. Jasper was taken away to be kept further down the cell block. Hours passed. Celly couldn’t do anything, but pace. His thoughts ran wild in his mind with possible scenarios. At last a figure appeared outside his cell.

“Chand! You’re a sergeant now?” Celly belated.

Chand wasn’t sure how to respond, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Yes. The captain would like to see you now.”

Chand’s voice was deep. He was a large man. Much taller than Celly. His arms were bulky, his uniform struggled to keep all of his muscles covered. Celly smiled at the thought of the scrawny Chand he had first met, all those years ago. He was glad it was a familiar face that had come for him.

“I’ve been waiting for someone to take me to him.” Celly said as he stepped out into the corridor of the brig. Chand led him out into the hallways of the Ion.

Celly knew this ship well. He had served here for a little over three years. It looked the same as it had then. Celly wasn’t surprised. The Coalition rarely changed its ships once they were launched. The walls were always a matte gray. The floors were hard alloy, with crisscross patterns for better traction.
“I should be a Major by now.” Chand told him once they were well down the hall. “Ottis won’t approve my promotion. He won’t promote anyone who was your friend.”

“I’m sorry Chand. You know why I left right?” Celly really hoped Chand would understand. He had to.

“I think so... Ottis covered the whole thing up. Blamed everything on you. Even Waterlo. He told everyone you killed her.”

Celly grabbed Chand’s arm bringing them both to a stop.” I would have never done that. Never.”

“I know Celly. I believe you, but it looked really bad the way you just up and left like that.”

“I know, but I saw my way out, and I took it. I had to. I couldn’t have brought myself to come back here without her. Plus, there was a lot of other shit going on too.”

Chand nodded. “I understand sir. If I could go back, I would have left with you. This isn’t what I signed up for. Things have only been getting worse since you have left, and Ottis was promoted.”

They were in the elevator now, hurling towards the command center of the Coalition ship. The door dinged, sliding open. Chand guiding Celly forward stepped off the elevator. The dozed or so officers in the command center stopped to look at them. Some officers stood looking over consoles that lined the walls. Some were crowded by the windows overlooking the point of the ship. All eyes came to rest on Celly as they stood at the mouth of the elevator.

Celly only looked for Julie. At first, he didn’t see her, then she stepped out from behind the weapons station. Their eyes locked. Her brow was pressed with worry. Celly knew her eyes. He knew when she was in pain, and she was.

Chand tucked his hand under Celly’s arm, guiding him towards the captain’s office. Ottis smiled as they entered.

“I’ve been looking for you Celly.” Ottis gloated. “And finally, here you are.”

Ottis sat smugly behind the large desk. Celly had spent a lot of time in this room with the previous captain of the Ion. Captain Waterlo, was a great woman in Celly’s eyes. In a lot of ways at least. Ottis on the other hand was exactly the opposite of Waterlo. He was a snake.

“Oh, I know you have Ottis. I knew one day you would catch up.” Celly jerked his arm away from Chand. “I’ll give you credit though; I didn’t think it would be this soon. I guess you aren’t as dumb as I always thought you were... Actually, no. I think you are that stupid.”

Celly paced casually to the chairs across from the desk and sat down. Ottis smiled like he knew something Celly didn’t. With a smirk he slowly stood up from his spot behind the desk. Holding out a hand to the large display on the wall, he moved to activate it.

“So Celly, how have you been? Taking good care of yourself?”

Celly chuckled a little. “Absolutely, healthy body, healthy mind. That’s what my mother always used to say. I’ve really just been fantastic. How about yourself?”

Ottis smiled against Celly’s sarcasm.

“Oh, I’m better than you could ever know. Much has happened since you’ve been gone.”

“I’m sure a lot has happened, and none of it good. Especially with you commanding your own ship now.”

Ottis’s face betrayed the slightest hint of annoyance.
“You always did lack vision, didn’t you?”
“I guess if vision is slaughtering innocent people because they don’t

want to be a part of your Coalition, or have been falsely accused of harboring terrorists, then yes, I lack vision.”

Celly’s home planet Brink was once part of a free sector of planets known as 5021. When faster than light travel began becoming commer- cially available to everyone, some groups wanted to leave the Coalition to set up life on new planets. Diverging from the Coalitions commercially driven economy. The Coalition designated a sector that they wouldn’t bother, where people could colonize, governing themselves how they saw fit. It had become unofficially known as the Freedom Sector.

About five years ago, when President Payton assumed the presidency. The Coalition changed their policy toward the Freedom Sector. There was an attack on Euroearthia, the capital planet of the United Space Coalition. Payton pinned the blame on terrorist groups from the Freedom Sector. From that moment on, the Coalition assumed a roll of annexing planets they found unfit to govern themselves. Often times the annexes were ordered by President Payton himself.

Ottis took a deep breath as he looked over the display on the wall.

“I feel sorry for you Celly, I really do. The Coalition is expanding faster than it ever has before. In the last year we’ve annexed three new planets. All together we control 36 worlds. Let that sink in. The next largest government has what? Six? You’re on the wrong side of history. Especially with our new advances. Our military might, is unmatched.”

“Just because you are the biggest, and well-armed, doesn’t mean you are right. It just means you’re a bully.” Celly raged in his mind but managed to keep his face straight. “This is bigger than you think it is Ottis. Waterlo knew about it, that’s what got her killed. Not me.”

“The winners write the history books. In a hundred years, you think anyone will remember a few people dying on Brink? No. They will remember the commanders that brought down these low lives. Finally, for once in humanities history we will live in peace.”

Ottis placed his hand on the display bringing a vibrant map of space to life. It displayed all the worlds, and systems, humans had explored, and settled. It was still only a tiny fraction of the galaxy. Ottis clicked again, zooming the map into sector 5021.

“Living in peace is not done through government suppression. People are starving. You need to address the problem not the symptom.” Celly got to his feet as he finished to get a better look at the display. It was the sector they were in now. The majority of which was held by the Jiaper Alliance.

Ottis waved his hand through the air dismissing what Celly had just told him. “As you can see, we have it pretty much in the bag. The defensive grid of FTL disruption pods is up, and fully functional. No ships can travel faster-than-light through the grid. Rendering any attacks against the Coalition essentially impossible.”

“That’s how you stopped my ship...”

Celly knew about the grid. When he had served, it was just a theory. The idea was that small pods would be placed periodically through space, emitting pulsars. If your ships engines weren’t calibrated to the correct frequency, it would disrupt your engines, forcing you to sub-light speeds, while Coalition ships sped by no problem.

“Correct. No ship can outrun us now. The galaxy is ours for the taking. We will unite all people, and there will be no more war.”

Celly felt his hope slipping away. Ottis was justified in his confidence. The only reason anyone was ever able to resist the Coalition was because they could run away. Space was a big place, there were a lot of places to fall back to. What hope did anyone have now?

“What do you want from me Ottis?” Celly said glancing back at Chand who was standing by the door with his arms clasped in front of him.

“Just to have one last chat.” Ottis pointed to a corner of the display. “This planet is called Omega. It’s isolated because of the nebula around it. The Coalition has ordered that we annex it next. It will become the galaxy’s prison. It’s your new home. You are going to spend the rest of your life there.” A large grin spread across Ottis’ face.
“Oh, am I?”
“Yes.” Ottis pressed his comm strapped to his belt. A voice answered. “Yes sir?” It was female.
“Have the helmsman set a course to link up with the invasion fleet near Luxor. We’re annexing Omega.”
“Understood sir!”
Ottis looked up at Celly. “You look worried, I guess I probably would be too” then with a smirk he waved Chand forward. “Chand take Celly back to the brig.”

Chand walked with Celly back towards the brig. Celly was in his own head processing everything that had happened, trying desperately to articulate a plan.

“Chand this isn’t right. I didn’t kill Waterlo.”

Chand exhaled loudly. “What could I possibly do? They are too strong. They have too many ships. The system is set. What can two people do to change it? Waterlo is dead, and the Coalition wants someone to answer for it.”

“What do you know about Omega?” Celly asked eagerly, already on to the next part of his plan.

“Everything I tell you is treason.”

“Chand listen to me. You’ve seen firsthand what the Coalition does. Inaction is action. Do you think I deserve to spend the rest of my life in prison?”

“I respect you, but what would you have me do? I wish every day that you wouldn’t have left. You would be in command right now. Maybe then we could have changed something, but now it’s too late. I can’t risk my entire lively hood.”

Celly felt the words Chand was speaking. In that moment Celly questioned everything he had done in the last year since leaving the Ion. It was a terrible weight, that got heavier every day.

“I understand Chand. I won’t ask you to risk yourself.”
Chand stopped walking abruptly, Celly turned to see why.
“It’s not just about me, I have a family now. A little girl, and my wife.

She’s not even three yet. I have to do what’s best for them too.”
Celly nodded “Congrats Chand, I had no idea. I’m really happy for you. Honestly, I am. You have to protect your family. I can understand that. You, and I served together a long time Chand, we’ve been through a lot.

Just do one thing for me?”
“What would that be?” Celly could tell Chand wasn’t happy about it. “Just access my personal file. Load program 8535. It was a project

Waterlo and I were working on before she was killed.”
Chand still looked uncomfortable, Celly almost felt bad for asking at all.
“I’m not promising anything.” Chand grunted.
“I wouldn’t ask you to. Just look at the project. If after that I never hear from you again, I’ll understand.”
Chand nodded; they walked the rest of the way to the brig in silence.

Chand opened the brig cell door, motioning Celly inside. He turned back, so he was facing Chand.

“I have a lot of work to see to, it will be awhile before I’ll be able to look at your file.”

And with that Chand was gone, and Celly was left alone with his thoughts.

***

The command center of the Ion was usually buzzing with activity and light chatter, but not today. There was a deep sense of seriousness for what was about to happen. Captain Ottis was about to lead them into battle to annex Omega.

They had met up with the fleet, which consisted of four Planetary Blasters, (massive ships with special cannons to fire on cities from orbit) eight Support Ships, (medium sized ships, that are quick and agile.) and all led by the Ion— a Champion-Class ship.

The Champion-Class was built to be the biggest and most heavily armed ship in the galaxy. Consisting of, twenty rail guns, a massive missile array, two hanger bays, carrying one hundred fighters, and fifty transports. The Ion at any time would carry twelve-hundred officers, and about two-thousand marines.

“Sir we are approaching the Omega nebula; shall I drop us down to sub-light?” The helmsman called to Ottis.

“Yes, inform the fleet to drop out in sync. I want to keep it a surprise.”

The fleet dropped to sub-light speed in sync, creating elongated streaks of light across open space, before snapping to a sudden stop as Ottis had instructed. The ships began to head towards the opening in the nebula. It appeared like a dark bruise in space. Reds, and purples swirled together in a stunning cloud-like shape that seemed to go on forever in every direction.

In the command center of the Ion an alert popped up on the helmsman’s console.

“Captain, there are several ships closing fast.” The helmsman spoke hurriedly.

Ottis was confused for a moment. From the reports the Coalition had gathered on Omega, they had concluded that Omega had no military, and certainly not a fleet. “Julie scan those ships. Identify them.” They must have been tipped off he thought to himself.

“Already working on it, sir.” Julie typed for a moment repositioning the Ions sensors. “Six ships sir. They don’t exactly match any known schematics. They appear to be modified Pacific-Class cargo ships sir.”

“Modified in what way?” Ottis barked.

“Unclear sir. I’ve never seen energy readings quite like this before. If I had to guess I would say they’ve modified the power cores to give them more weapon power.”

Ottis stood up from his chair, walking towards the front window of the command center. Far in the distance he could barely see the outline of the six small ships. Slowly a smirk stole onto his face. He liked when people fought back in an annex. It allowed him to justify any action he took.

“They’re no match for us, even if they have modified their weapons. Have the fleet take battle positions. Don’t fire until I give the order. Julie broadcast my message informing them of the annex on Omega, tell them to surrender.”

Ottis didn’t want to be the first one to fire a shot. President Payton had fallen under scrutiny recently over the brutal measures the Coalition was taking to annex planets. They had received new orders to allow the enemy to fire first. If attacked they were given free reign over the annex. Ottis would be able to order any kind of attack he wanted, without fear of being reprimanded.

Julie confirmed the order, doing as she was told. “Sir we are getting a message back.”

Ottis wasn’t surprised. No doubt Omega trying to threaten him or plead. “Let’s hear it.” He mused.
Julie matched the frequency playing the message.
“Coalition ships, this is the O.U.F. Tone. I am Captain Braden representing Omegan interests. You have invaded Omegan space. Fall back now.”

Ottis smiled meandering towards Julie’s station. Open a two-way channel Julie.”

“You’re on sir.”

“Captain Braden, this is Ottis. I am in command of this fleet. I don’t want this to be violent. Stand down your ships, and escort us to Omega. I’m sure if you scan our ships you can see you are not only outnumbered, but seriously out gunned. There’s no need for your fleet to die here.”

There was a moment of silence between the two captains, finally Braden made an offer. “We will stand down, and take you to Omega, on the condition all of my men are given full citizenship in the Coalition. We want a guarantee at a better life.”

Ottis smiled, it was going to be even easier than he thought. This annex was going to look great on his service record. “Of course, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He lied

“You can take the lead Captain Ottis, we will follow you in.”

The Ion raged forward ahead of the fleet while the support ships, and Omega ships fell inline. The nebula around Omega glistened in dark lavenders, and crimson. There was one narrow corridor that would allow you to pass through the nebula without intense interference to ship systems.

At times the Nebula would disrupt the navigation sensors on the Ion, the helmsman would have to make a harsh correction causing the entire ship to shake. The artificial gravity couldn’t adjust fast enough.

Ottis paced. He would come to the front window of the command center to peer out at the beautiful nebula. Out of the corner of his eye, a flash appeared. It looked like lightening from inside the nebula. Before he had a chance to register what was happening the ship shook violently, sending Ottis stumbling across the command center. He smacked a console losing his footing, falling to the floor.
The emergency alarm sound. The buzzing echoed loud in Ottis’ ringing head. He slowly got to his feel.
“What was that?” He muttered, trying to catch his breath.
Everyone was standing in a haze. They didn’t understand what was happening. Ottis began to panic, knowing he needed to get everyone focused. In a sharp tone this time, he barked orders. “Julie, I want a full scan of the nebula. Use the widest sensor sweep, I want to know what hit the ship. Get a team down there and run an analysis of the impact. What kind of damage do we have?”

The crewman began typing on his station to see the damage. The ship shook again. There was a loud explosion added to the tremor. Everyone was more prepared this time.

Julie began yelling to Ottis.

“Sir I’ve detected three ships so far in the nebula. The scans are not completely clear, but they look identical to the Omegan ships.”

The Omegan ships that were in line behind the Ion snapped into life, firing their cannons on the support ships. Unprepared, three were destroyed immediately. Bits of debris flew off with the blinding light from the explosion.

Ottis walked quickly to his command chair throwing himself into its safe embrace.

Julie began again. “Sir, the Omegan ships have fired on the support fleet. Three ships destroyed.”

Rage filled Ottis. They would pay dearly for this. “Fleet wide order, open fire on all Omegan ships. Leave none, alive.”

The support fleet beamed to life. They broke formation, flying off in all directions. From the chaos two ships would come together closing in on the slower Omegan ships, unleashing a hellish rain of rail gun fire.

Explosions again rocked the Ion command center. Ottis was beginning to feel a panic rising in his chest. “Julie, what is going on?”

She typed at her station for a moment trying to make sense of everything. “Three Omegan ships joined the fight sir; they’ve emerged from the nebula. They are firing some sort of particle weapon. It explodes on impact causing the plasma to eat away at the hull. They are doing on average ten times more damage than a standard rail gun.”

Ottis’ mind was racing. He needed to get ahold of the battle and fast. The support fleet was getting ripped to pieces.

“Helmsman come about hard. I want you to set a near collision course for one of the Omegan plasma ships. Master of arms, I want you to power up every single cannon we have. When we fly by, destroy them all.”

The Ion lunged forward away from the battle. Its elegance gliding through space seemed serial. Its bow rose quickly up, almost completing a barrel roll. Now the ship was hurdling towards the Omegan ships. In a panic the Omegan ships tried to correct their course to avoid the Ion, but it was too late.

As the Ion passed two of the Omegan ships, twenty rail guns exploded into life. The rounds smashed into the Omegan hull’s with deadly accuracy. They exploded moments later from secondary explosions.

Ottis smiled, his plan had worked. The battle was shifted. The Omegan ships were on the defense. The support ships again began landing missile blows to them.

Ottis walked towards Julie’s console to see how the battle was going. There was a whine from the power surges behind the bulkhead just before everything went black. Ottis found himself drifting weightlessly in the command center as the artificial gravity began failing.

***

Celly laughed as he floated in the brig. His plan had worked. When he had been stationed on this ship all those years ago, he created a special command file. Opening the file caused a virus to run through all of the ships systems and force them to shut down. It would be a hard restart, meaning it would take almost half a day to restart all of the systems on the ship. Although he had developed a special affection for the crew the way you always did when you go to know someone, he never fully trusted them. There was always a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that one day they would turn against him. He had made sure he had a way out always, just in case.

Celly pushed off the back of his cell. He floated to the big sealed door. It usually would be sealed airtight, but with all the systems down he just had to kick the door to release the seal. The door hissed and slid open with a push. Celly was in the corridor of the brig now. His priority was to find Jasper, and then the civilians he was taking to Brink.

Half-way floating up the corridor the bulk heads began to hum. The artificial gravity kicked back on, Celly fell to the floor. Landing on his back, the air was knocked from his lungs. Pain knotted in his chest as he struggled to draw breath.

Wheezing slightly, he got to his feet. The emergency systems were already kicking back on. Which didn’t mean much. That just accounts for life support and artificial gravity. He would still have a couple hours before internal sensors would be restored. Judging by all the shaking the ship was doing, Celly guessed they were in a pretty major battle. Maybe Omega wasn’t willing to just stand by and let the Coalition walk all over them. The Coalition took what it wanted always. Celly had seen what happened to planets that resisted. The only difference would be that more civilians would likely die in the annex. In the end the Coalition would have Omega just the same.

He made his way to the back of the brig checking every cell as he went along. There was Jasper pacing hopelessly in his cell. His eyes met Celly’s, Jasper looked like he had never been happier to see him. Celly pressed on the pad control, the door clicked unlocking.

Jasper burst out of the cell.
“I was so worried you weren’t going to come back for me.”
“Have I ever let you down Jasper?”
“No. You haven’t... it had just been so long. Did you make the ship lose power?”
Celly beamed a little at his handy work. “I hid a file on the computer

that forced all the ships systems to restart one by one, after a ship wide shut down. All I had to do was get my buddy to run the program.” Jasper sat for a moment taking it in. “We’re still in a lot of danger. What are we going to do?” The relief of at last being out of the cramped cell had faded, replaced by a newfound worry.
“First thing is first. We need to find the civilians we were carrying and free them. Then we need to get to the hanger bay to steal our ship back.” Jasper looked scared, but then in a moment Celly could see him push the fear to a far back place in his mind.
“Alright, I’ll follow you.” Jasper teased.
“Yeah, I guess if any one of us is going to get shot it should be me, right?” “My thoughts exactly.” Jasper responded with a little push.
Celly nodded taking the lead down the corridor. They came to a workstation at the end near the big door that would grant them access to the rest of the ship. This console was a level green terminal. From green stations you could access all kinds of generic information. With a simple passcode you were able to see ship schedules, maps, and access the ships communications. Celly had made it his business to learn his commanding officers’ passwords. He still remembered Captain Waterlo’s. Passwords were saved on the master computer. Someone with as high of a clearance as Captain Waterlo’s password would have to be removed by the new commanding officer manually. Ottis was lazy, and obviously hadn’t bothered. Celly was able to access the report on where the civilians were. In a cargo bay just two decks up. Then the Lucy was six decks down on the starboard side of the ship.

Celly moved to the door of the brig. He pushed the button, the door clicked but didn’t give way. Celly went to pull the manual release, but someone did from the other side first. The door slid open with force. Chand stood breathing heavy. The look on his face was blank. Celly didn’t know if he was angry or confused, maybe a little of both.

Celly took a cautious step back.
“Chand, are you okay?” Celly asked in concern.
“You tricked me. There was no plan. You sabotaged the ship.” Celly felt a slight ting of regret for having to have lied to his friend.

“You know I had to. I had to protect my ship and crew. That’s what officers do. You know that Chand.”

Chand nodded. Frustration ripped through his mind, gripping his chest with anxiety. The Coalition was his livelihood. Celly had become his closest friend, and both were at odds with each other. “I can’t stay here. Ottis will trace the program back to my quarters. He will have me imprisoned.” Chand had a look of agony in his eyes.

“You can come with us Chand. We will stick by your side. We will help you however we can.”

Chand nodded, what choice did he have now?

“Looks like you’re my commanding officer again Celly. What’s the plan?”

***

A fire raged in the wheelhouse of the Tone. Braden tried to keep the helm straight. His helmsman laid lifeless on the floor next to him. The Omegan fleet was decimated. The Tone, barely hanging on.

A ballistic missile exploded against their hull. The explosion wasn’t as bad as Braden had been expecting, but it destroyed the last of the engine connection. The Tone was a sitting duck. He left the helm in a dead haze, walking towards the window.

His voice was low and horse. “What’s our status?”

The tactical officer was sweating. “It doesn’t look good sir. Two ships still in the fight. The support ships are just too quick.”

Braden reached a window that looked out the starboard side of the wheelhouse. The Ion was floating away from the battle. Braden noticed that many of the windows on the Ion were black, almost as if they didn’t have power. He had seen the Ion up close on the approach to the nebula. Under normal conditions that ship looked like a flying city with all those gleaming little yellow portholes.

“What about the Ion? Scan it. Why is she just sitting there?”
“Let me see.” The officer typed for a moment. “Sir it looks like they shut down their systems. They are running on minimal power. It appears to have been done internally. I can’t find battle damage to account for it.” Braden thought for a moment. “If we could destroy the Ion, it might make these support ships retreat. Tell the two remaining ships to break off and attack the Ion. Destroy it at all costs.”
The two remaining Omegan ships joined formation flying together towards the Ion.

***

Jasper and Chand walked into the hanger bay. Celly’s old freighter sat halfway down the flight deck. The hull of the ship was worn and rugged. In faint yellow letters you could barely make out the name Celly had painted on himself, S.S. Lucy.

“Come on, we need to start the engines so they’re ready when Celly gets here with the civilians. You’re sure we can start them up without Ottis knowing?”

Chand began walking towards the ship casually. “Yes, I am sure. We are in a battle situation. Ottis’ main priority is going to be getting the weapons and engines back online first.”

***

The Omega ships began launching ballistic missiles at the Ion. Powerless, the Ion hull floated there to take the beating. Braden watched from the wheelhouse window. The support ships were trying to draw their fire away from the Ion with little success. “Tell the ships to stay on target. Ignore the support ships, keep firing on the Ion.”

***

Ottis screamed in frustration. “Julie! tell the support ships to draw their fire away from us!”
“I did sir! Three times. The attackers aren’t letting up!”
“Well then tell engineering I want power now! I don’t care what they have to do!” He screamed.

***

Celly ran into the hanger bay. Behind him were twenty-three civilians. They were crowded in close together.

“Alright everyone, stay close to me. We need to run to the ship and get on as quickly as possible.”

They all broke into a run as fast as they could. The Ion shook with an impact explosion from a ballistic missile. Everyone fell to the floor. Celly jumped to his feet pulling people up off the floor pointing them toward the Lucy with a little shove.

Jasper, and Chand started the engines, going to work on the pre-launch check list. Celly crowded the people up into the ship.

“Keep moving. Everyone, get into a seat and strap in!”

Celly pushed his way passed the passengers. He made his way up into the wheelhouse of his little freight ship.

***

In the command center of the Ion, Julie got a message from engineering. “Ottis, the weapons and engines are ready to be brought back online!” Ottis filled with excitement.
“Finally! Helmsmen bring the engines online and prepare for an attack

run. Tactical, get ready to fire everything we have at the Omegan ships!” The Ion’s engines slowly began to glow. At first the Ion listed lazily forward, before gaining momentum. The cannons began to glow in

preparation for the attack they were about to unleash.

***

Braden still watched from the window of the Tone. His heart sank as he saw the Ion gain speed. From this distance, it looked like the side of the Ion caught fire as all of the rail guns fired at once. He saw two distinct explosions as the last two Omegan ships flashed into a million pieces.

Braden dropped his head walking away from the window. The crew remaining in the wheelhouse all walked to the forward-facing window leaving their stations unmanned. The Ion was coming about, headed right for them. Braden knew this was it. Now that it was all about to be over, he felt stupid for thinking they could ever stand up to the Coalition. Now his entire fleet had been killed, and he was about to be too. All of their efforts over the past year had been for nothing. He thought about never coming home to Nack, and he was crushed.

The Ion was quickly bearing down on the Tone. As the distance between the two ships receded there was a faint flash as the hanger bay of the Ion exploded. A small ship zipped out darting quickly upward over the top of Ion.

***

“Nice shooting Chand!” Celly yelled. “Now Jasper bring us around to the Ion’s power grid. I want to help these people out and put an end to Ottis’ command. Chand, you know where to hit them. Reload the cannon and let them have it!”

The Lucy pivoted up. The bulk heads creaked loudly, almost as if grunting at the maneuver. Chand targeted very carefully, he realigned the cannon three times before finally firing. This targeting array was nowhere near as accurate as what he was used to. The missile launched from the cannon soaring through open space like an unsteady arrow. It ripped apart the Ion’s power grid perfectly. Creating a power surge that worked through the entire ship, causing explosions on every deck.

Celly’s ship the S.S. Lucy flew close to the Tone avoiding fire from the support ships while also drawing it away from the Tone itself.
“Bad news Celly, that was our last missile.” Chand worried.

“I know. That’s why we had to make it count.”

***

Braden’s crew cheered as the Ion again lost power slowing to a stop. Braden stood up from his chair to join his people at the window observing the scene before them in real time.

“Who was that sir?” someone asked. “I don’t know.”

***

The support ships stopped their pursuit of Celly’s ship. Instead they turned to the Ion to tow her out of the nebula to safety.

Jasper ran scans of the Tone. Celly walked over and leaned on Jasper’s Console.

“So, what do you make of that ship?”

“It looks like a regular cargo ship to me, Pacific class I think, but it’s been heavily modified. Reinforced hull, and upgraded, military grade particle cannons.”

Celly was surprised. Most people didn’t bother with particle weapons because they were so expensive. Even the Coalition only outfitted their ships with rail guns. Particle weapons were more powerful, but most considered it over kill.

“Well the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Let’s see if they will talk to us. Open a channel of communication.”

Jasper clicked away at his console. “Alright.”

***

On the Tone, an unattended console beeped signaling an incoming request for communication. Braden walked over mashing the button to accept.

“Hello, this is Captain Braden of the O.U.F. Tone. We would like to thank you for your help. We don’t intend you any harm.”

“I was going to thank you for your help Braden. Even if you did intend me harm your ship looks pretty grave at this point. My name is Celly. I am the captain of this freighter. We were on our way to Brink when we were taken into custody by the Ion.” Celly explained. “Our ship is low on fuel, and we are low on all supplies. We would like to request permission to land on the Omega home world. We can offer you a tow back as well?”

Celly was right about the situation being grave.

“Thank you Celly that would be nice. Put us in tow. I’ll send you the coordinates where to land. I’m sure we could help you out with a few supplies for your ship and crew. What is that saying? The enemy of my enemy, is my friend?”

“My thoughts exactly Captain Braden. Prepare for a tow.”

The Lucy drifted in close to the Tone deploying the tow. Slowly they headed towards the Omega home world.