Return

-Beep-

-Beep-

Just when the huge battleship entered the range of the Extraterrestrial Defensive System on the low-Earth orbit, inside the I-CA High Command on the moon in the control room warning alarms sounded instantly.

Space was the domain of the I-CA High Command and they had various probes and sensors placed and located especially around the area of the satellites belonging to the I-CA and the EDS.

The doors of the command room opened and Rear Admiral Amelia Valerie entered.

“Status.” She commanded.

“Reporting! The sensors have detected that a huge battleship just entered low-Earth orbit. It has stationed itself near the EDS.” The officer in charge reported the current situation.

“Do we have footage?” R-Ad. Valerie asked.

“The probes are being set into position. We shall have real-time imagery soon.” The officer said.

All the other officers in the room were fiddling with their consoles. Multiple reports were being transmitted to the various officers incharge, which included the parameters like energy readings, expected trajectory, origin and so on.

“We have the footage. Beginning projection.” The officer incharge reported.

A huge black battleship could be seen on the screen. It was stationed quietly on the periphery of the EDS.

“Threat analysis.” R-Ad. Valerie commanded.

The quantum computers on board, zoomed in on the footage and red squares locked on the rail-guns and the weaponry located on the battleship. A thorough analysis of them could be seen on the side of the screen.

“Reporting. The battleship has eight weapons emitting radiation similar to that of the railguns along with sixteen mini-cannons presumed to be energy weapons. There seems to be heavy nuclear radiation being emitted from the ship’s engine although there appears to be no reactor radiation detected from the vessel. The hull composition and the shield integrity structure are unknown. Threat level is unknown.” The officer explained the analysis briefly, but then suddenly paused as he looked at the R-Ad. Valerie, his voice trembling.

“Simulating battle in order to determine threat level.” He said and took a seat.

Almost everyone stopped their work with their eyes glued to the screen. Various parameters and numbers could be seen running up and down. After what seemed like an eternity a message highlighted in red color which almost reeked of blood appeared on the screen.

“Total annihilation.” The officer read, eyes filled with despair and hopelessness.

But as expected of a battle hardened Rear Admiral, there was no change in her expression as she quietly commanded.

“Trace the origin of the battleship. Since they have stationed themselves near the EDS, it is highly probable that they do not have any malicious intention. Try attempting communication.” The calmness in her voice and the unfazed attitude brought back the officers in the room back from their despair.

“Roger that, beginning transmission.” The officer said, as he nodded towards the one incharge of communications.

The person in return, tapped on his console and began.

[Unidentified battleship. You have entered into a restricted area under the authority of the Inter-Continental Alliance. This is I-CA High Command. Identify yourself.]

In general this transmitted message was to include a threat too, but considering the abyssal gap in power between both the parties, it was omitted.

“Status on the origin?” R-Ad. Valerie asked.

“This!” The officer was stunned as he read the report.

“Officer. Report!” R-Ad. Valerie raised her voice a little and commanded.

“Roger. The data from the probes predict the origin of the battleship from the planet.” The officer said.

“Hmm, recheck the data.” R-Ad. Valerie said.

“Affirmative.” The officer said and got busy.

“Rear Admiral! Abnormal activity detected from the EDS. The energy spike has surpassed the threshold and is increasing. Footage is on the screen.” Another officer from the opposite side reported.

On the screen, the EDS could be seen along with the wave of energy being gathered in the bottom of the structure and concentrating. After some time, the energy wave started pulsating and this made everyone stunned.

“Analysis.” R-Ad. Valerie’s heart was in a huge turmoil. As a Rear-Admiral she was aware of the threat of the EDS but she did not let it show on her face depicting a quality of a good leader.

“Unknown. A totally unknown energy not available on the known energy spectrum.” The officer reported.

Just when everyone thought the situation would get worse, the commotion vanished.

“It disappeared.” Another officer reported.

“EDS is back to normal.” The officer reported.

The commotion earlier had almost driven everyone in the room to the extreme.

“Reporting! The battleship has started moving. Predicting destination. Destination: I-CA High Command.” The officer reported, this time he was sure they were all about to be annihilated.

“What about the communication request?” R-Ad. Valerie asked.

“We are transmitting on every known frequency yet we have no response.” The officer reported.

Just then, the screen blurred.

“Rear Admiral. Our transmission has been picked up. They are requesting for communication.” The officer reported, now a little hope in his heart.

“Connect.” R-Ad. Valerie commanded.

The officer connected and nodded towards the Rear Admiral.

[This is Rear Admiral Amelia Valerie. Unidentified battleship you have encroached upon a restricted area under the control of I-CA High Command. Under the constitution of the I-CA you are to shut down your engines and wait to be boarded or else we will open fire]

R-Ad. Valerie nodded to the officer who fiddled with his console.

Outside, several defensive ports opened on the surface of the moon and railgun turrets lifted their muzzle, pointing it towards the approaching battleship as energy gathered. Getting ready to fire.

After hearing the message being transmitted, many of the officers in the room gulped their saliva.

After an eternity like a few seconds a voice could be heard from the other side.

[Since when did the so-called I-CA possess enough guts and bravado to point their railguns on the ‘Sins’.]

With a tone full of dominance and arrogance, the voice replied.

R-Ad. Valerie, when heard the name being mentioned as ‘Sins’ her expression turned somber and she hurriedly turned towards the officer and made a cross sign then sent a transmission saluting deeply.

[Rear Admiral Amelia Valerie, I-CA High Command, salutes Captain.]

The railguns on the surface of the moon deflated like a balloon and went back as the ports sealed themselves. Although the I-CA High Command base on the moon was in possession of around a dozen railguns, firing them required immense energy. Just a single battery charge for a railgun would deplete their energy source by ten percent, a dozen would probably render their base inoperable. The previous display was only to threaten the other party.

[At ease, Rear Admiral. We shall be boarding the I-CA High Command, as we need detailed information.]

The voice sounded again, but this time it was cold as ice and filled with a strange threatening tone, as if it was a command.

[Understood, Captain. We shall await your presence. I-CA High Command is honored to have you here.]

Before she could finish with her flattery, the communication channel was cut.

A few minutes later.

Rear Admiral Amelia Valerie was standing inside the docking tube of the landing bay. Due to the sheer size of the battleship it could not be fit into the landing bay, thus it was parked above the I-CA High Command base. Lucifer was left inside the ship along with James. Only Percy, Jason and Cap. Brad boarded a small landing ship to enter the base.

The doors opened as the airlock was complete and R-Ad. Valerie locked her gaze towards the door in excitement.

Percy and Jason, equipped in the black combat suit, entered followed by Cap. Brad.

Cap. Brad saluted R-Ad. Valerie, who ignored him and for some reason he felt like being discarded. Well that was to be expected considering the reputation of the ‘Sins’.

“Captain, it is a pleasure to meet you.” She said, extending her hand for a handshake just like a person who was meeting their idol for the first time.

Percy calmly extended his hand and completed the handshake.

“Let’s get to business, Rear Admiral. The more we waste time, the more the danger will be increasing.” Percy said, his eyes locked on the Rear Admiral.

“Yes, right away. Please, this way.” R-Ad Valerie said as she guided them towards their office.

Once seated inside the office, she cleared her throat and said.

“Captain, Vice-Captain Jason must have given you the gist of the situation. So I will not go over it again. These are the coordinates of the location and all the data we have on the black zone.” She said, handing Percy a small data-card.

Percy nodded and took the data-card.

Very soon Percy and the group boarded the battleship. Due to the insistence of the Rear Admiral, Cap. Brad was allowed to tag along with his battleship in order to provide support.

On the command deck of the battleship, Percy handed Lucifer the data-card.

Lucifer inserted the card and retrieved the data from it.

“Hmm, these coordinates?” He mumbled.

“Any problem?” Percy asked.

“This zone lies on the border of the current habitable zone, almost at a distance of ten Astronomical Units, it is expected to be somewhere in the triangular zone between Saturn, Uranus and Pluto. If we use conventional travel methods, even with our advanced energy systems and propulsions it would take us at least more than a week to reach the zone, not to mention factors like deceleration, space anomaly, etc.” Lucifer explained.

“Can’t help it, we have no other way.” Percy said.

Lucifer furrowed his brows but nodded at last.

The battleship made its way out as the reactors were pumping energy to the propulsion systems which spewed purple flames from its tail.

“Aria, chart a direct course to the coordinates.” Lucifer instructed.

[Affirmative. Accessing I-CA transport beacon array.]

Aria replied.

A transport beacon array consisted of all the locations the I-CA had placed their beacons. It acted as a marker for traveling in the solar system, apart from that it had no use. The beacons were usually placed in locations with stable spatial passage.

[Course charted.]

“Captain, the course is set.” Lucifer reported to Percy who was standing on the command deck. Jason and James were seated on the seats beside him.

“I can hear that, we are waiting for Cap. Brad and his ship.” Percy replied nonchalantly, dousing the mood of Lucifer.

“Che, at least you could play along? I wanted to have a feel of those science fiction movies from before the Reboot.” Lucifer mumbled annoyed.

Then, remembering something important, Lucifer asked.

“By the way, Captain, I forgot to remind you, if we let an I-CA battleship tag along it will drastically reduce our time to reach the destination.”

Hearing this Percy frowned. He hadn’t considered this point, after all there was a huge difference in the specs of their and I-CA battleships, ranging from the reactor type and propulsion systems to energy field generators and weapons systems not to mention their communication systems and other auxiliary systems.

“Hmm, right. I forgot about that.” Percy replied, trying to sound as cool as possible.

Jason’s face twitched hearing his response.

“Don’t try to act cool while accepting your mistake.” He mumbled in frustration.

Everyone on board was very excited. It was going to be their first deep-space journey, even though it was a rescue mission.

[Receiving communication request from an I-CA battleship.]

“Finally they are here.” Lucifer sighed in relief.

“Accept it.” Percy instructed.

[This is Cap. Brad, transmitting from battleship CL-01.]

Outside at a close proximity from their battleship another huge battleship, which was approximately the same in size, could be seen approaching.

This battleship had a design which was similar to a submarine, coated in a black paint which seemed to hide it in the dark environment of space.

Even though the battleship was similar in size, there was a huge difference between them. An I-CA battleship was equipped with a conventional Fusion reactor and an Ion drive propulsion system, making it weaker to enhanced gravity regions. It was capable of achieving maximum constant acceleration of about 1g with an integrity limit of about 300km/s. The reactor power was only sufficient to power a single main mini-railgun which was equipped at the front. The secondary weapons included a series of energy cannons for self defense and close range combat. The only difference lay in the fact that there existed torpedo tubes which used conventional thermal missiles to provide terrain support and in severe cases a nuclear payload for emergency situations. But due to the reactor’s sheer size almost the majority of the volume was occupied by it. The major difference lay in the domain of the auxiliary systems. I-CA could not yet produce technology to create an energy field to protect the ship from interstellar travel threats. There was also a factor of strain to be considered on the humans on-board who could not handle sufficient strong g-force produced by the acceleration.

“Cap. Brad, the course is set. Shall we set-off?” Lucifer asked, excitement visible on his face.

[Affirmative. Our reactor is warming up. We shall be ready in a few seconds.]

“Alright.” Lucifer conveyed.

“Aria, activate the gravity control systems and the energy field generators.” Lucifer said, punching in various commands on his console.

[Affirmative.]

Various patterns flashed with a purple hue on the surface of the command deck. Outside the ship on the hull, the ship was glowing with a purple hue. If one looked closely they would find that the hull was covered in small interconnected patterns which emanated purple light and later solidified covering the battleship in small purple spots. This was the result of an unknown technology under the control of the seven-person team.

[Captain, we are ready.]

Cap. Brad’s voice echoed from the radio.

“Understood.” Lucifer replied, turning his seat towards Percy.

Percy sat on his chair and nodded towards Lucifer.

“Cap. Brad, follow our battleship closely this would reduce the hassle of maneuvering through the safe zones.” Lucifer instructed.

[Acknowledged.]

“Alright here we go.” Lucifer said, sliding his fingers on the console.

A trail of purple fumes ejected from the thrusters accelerating the battleship deeper into the darkness of the space.

Following them, the black I-CA battleship spewed out blue fumes from its ion thrusters propelling the battleship with a similar acceleration in the same direction.

Thus began their journey, deep into the abyssal darkness of space.