Orillion Union Space, Tralis

Vos couldn’t believe the Damas had left them.

His Y shaped Nestor spun through the debris of Junkars and strafing laser fire of other starfighter battles. With its blue surface streaked with scorch marks and only 1 missile left, his Nestor was the worse for wear.

As he was distracted a Junkar spun in front of the nose of his fighter. He shook his head, losing his battle awareness in space was a death sentence, he chided himself.

Angry with himself, and a little afraid at being abandoned by the Damas on a battlefield, he jerked his controls in his cold scaled hands with more force than usual.

The Nestor he piloted dived down following the Junkar.

It was easy to get within firing range. Before the Erasian knew he was targeted, Vos poured laser fire into the glowing orange engines of the large and slow fighter.

The Junkar was torn apart, metal and compressed air filled the space Vos would have been if he hadn’t pulled away his fighter, cruising back to his wing man and darting between the cover of debris.

He swore under his breath.

We need to get out of here now, he thought. The mother-ship had left them and they couldn’t win this battle alone with 50 Nestors.

‘Commander,’ he hailed the leader of the Damas’s starfighters, ‘the Damas is gone, what are your orders?’

Vos was normally calm, and level headed. But in this situation, he turned to the more experienced commander for help, looking for reassurance and a plan of action. With that he could focus and regain control of the situation.

The commander of the Nestors was an old and experienced battle veteran, and he didn’t disappoint Vos’s hopes.

‘We do our duty, Vos,’ came the confident voice. ‘The Damas had the chance to escape because of us, and now it’s our turn.’

‘Vos, take your squadron and settle into the Come Again, the Orillion Fleet is commandeering a Tanker.’

‘And you, sir?’

‘Don’t worry about us, Skirmisher, we’ll screen the Come Again as you take her to the gap. We’ll dock at the last moment. Your job is to get her on course to make a jump.’

‘Destination?’

An explosion rocked the battle field as two Junkars collided, the victorious Nestor swirled through the debris in its wake.

‘Anywhere.’ Came the commander’s reply.

Vos knew what he had to do. He didn't know what would come of it but as long as he had a task to focus on in the present he could ignore the future uncertainty.

He contacted his squadron, there were 23 Nestors left, he’d lost 2 good pilots but the Erasians had lost many more.

As the Nestors peeled away from the battle field they headed back toward the Come Again, it was still on its rendezvous course with the now disappeared Damas.

In the relative calm of the journey Vos could finally think ahead.

Chaos travel was possible through artificial or naturally occurring passageways. Those made intentionally were known as Gates, certain spots in space that could be activated and led to a number of known locations.

The naturally occurring passageways were dangerous and mysterious. They were accessed through tears or gaps that revealed the Chaos beyond.

Sometimes these gaps appeared and closed in a moment and other times they have remained open for millennia. Exploring them and discovering safe paths to different systems could provide rich rewards.

Often new galaxies and systems were discovered, expanding the known universe. This could lead to peaceful negotiations with various races or else new wars between the systems connected by the chaos tears.

The gate that the Damas had passed through had been opened artificially by a Pathfinder ship that had lead the evacuation.

Vos knew that with the Gate now closed if they wanted to escape from Tralis they would have to risk travelling through the naturally occurring tear behind the ringed moon.

Prepared with this knowledge, he hailed the Come Again.

‘Captain Fiargo, this is Skirmisher Vos. Open one of your storage bays, my Nestors will be docking with you shortly.’

‘Vos, what is this about, the Damas has abandoned us!’

‘Open the bay, Captain, this is an emergency. We’ll be taking the Come Again through the tear.’

‘You have got to be kidding Vos, there’s no way I’m going to risk all of these lives through an unknown tear.’

Vos breathed out loudly, this woman…

‘You’d rather captured, then?’

‘As far as I can see the Erasians want you. If we surrender, we could stand a chance of fair treatment. The Terrans need someone to rule now half the planet is gone.’

‘So that’s it huh, become a servant of the Terrans? Well, that’s not going to happen to us Fiargo. And we need your ship. The Orillion Fleet is requisitioning the Come Again.’

Harsh laughter grated into vos’s ears from the other end of the communicator.

‘That’s not going to happen Vos, we’re going to wait right here.’

Vos squeezed his controls, cursing to himself. In an emergency he wasn’t going to take this nonsense. With a firm resolve he contacted 2 of his Nestor pilots and ordered the to strafe along the hull of the tanker.

The tanker was 3.5 kilometres long. Along its rust red hull large hemispheres bulged like bubbles. These were the storage bays. They could be opened entirely or only a little, the area within was kept protected from space by an energy barrier.

At the moment they still remained closed. Captain Fiargo Yeets meant what she had said, ann wouldn't shift from her position without some persuasion.

The large bays possibly contained the refugees, Vos thought, that’s if the ship’s halls and rooms were filled to the brim.

Vos needed 1 of them opened, and if he had to fire on the ship to show he was serious, then that’s what he would do.

The Nestors he commanded acted without hesitation, their lives depended on getting aboard the Come Again. They buzzed down the Tanker’s defenceless hull, it’s energy shielding was weak but could absorb the Nestors laser fire.

‘Vos, what the Reeve are you doing?’

'Persuading you.' He said.

‘You bastard. This is a civilian vessel, you have no righ—’

‘You need to choose Captain. Do you want us to board peacefully or board violently? Either way we are taking the ship. Now, pilots are out there dying this very moment, so if you don’t choose this instan—’

‘Sir,’ A Nestor pilot interrupted him, ‘One of the bays has opened, starboard side, halfway down. Do we board?’

Vos was about to order an immediate boarding but paused. ‘5 Nestors will stay out and keep close to the Come Again, the rest will dock with me.’

There was no point landing into a trap, keeping a few Nestors outside would be enough to threaten the Captain if she refused to hand over authority and head towards the tear.

After Vos had docked it didn’t take long for the course of the large red vessel to change. It began heading toward the moon. On the far side lay the purple tear, their escape. The new crew of the Come Again faced an uncertain future.