The Death Throws

"But enough of that, the show is about to begin." The Scholar was more composed than his earlier conversations with Diana. "Captain, the star is about exit the Verdant stage. I suspect it will begin its final struggle shortly."

"The final struggle?" Diana was curious at the use of phrase, evidently there was something special about it.

"When a star's power drops below a certain level in relation to where it was when it first became hostile, it enters a state similar to the death throws of an animal. The power of each individual attack at this stage is not really more powerful than any other, but it expends a large deal of energy to unleash a wave of them."

"Are we in danger?"

"If we were in any other ship, maybe." The Captain reassured Donovan they could handle the situation. "The Oberlux is purpose built for this sort of thing, and it is being crewed by the most capable people available. I will still need to issue orders, so we will have to postpone our conversation, but I encourage you to stay and watch."

"It is a beautiful sight isn't it?" The Scholar turned to the golden green globe, noticeably larger than when they had arrived on the bridge. "This will be a once in a lifetime experience for you two, and it will symbolize the end of your era. You would do well to make a memory out of it."

"Alright Scholar, that will do. Return to your post." The Scholar nodded his head and returned to his spot. "Helmsman, give us a slight spin and begin to move away from the star, slowly."

"Yes sir!"

"Are all of you ready for a light show?"

""Yes sir!""

"Then all hands to battle stations."

There was an immediate burst of activity. Clearly they had not been working at their full capacity earlier. The Captain took note of where Donovan's attention was drifting...

"As much as you might want to take note of how we do things Donovan, I think you will find that the Oberlux does not fight like a traditional warship. The tactics we use will be of no assistance in a fight against actual people. Keep your focus on the star."

"Okay." He was still going to sneak glances though.

To make sure that he would definitely not miss anything, he pulled out a tablet. This wasn't to record the event, this small device was not equipped with a camera, but to inform ARC to focus on the star.

Perhaps some useful information could be gleaned.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Five minutes.

Nothing was happening.

At least nothing that hadn't been happening for the past few days.

"Is it something we just can't see?" Diana asked the Captain, worried that they might be lacking some sensory organ.

"No, stay focused. It should start right about now..."

There was a sudden burst of light, a flood of rainbow colors stemming directly from the now dark yellow star.

They were beams, much like the ones that came before, but they were in a massive wave.

No, a wave was not an apt description.

They were like a wall of color, dots turning to lines the further they were from the center.

Diana and a few of the younger crew members had a moment of panic. This wasn't anything like their experienced seniors had described.

With the exception of Diana, this panic faded after the first impact. The force these voluminous yet small beams might be great if they were to all be focused, but spread over the massive surface area the Oberlux had they were not that impressive.

The motion that came as a result was less of a crash and more like the gentle rocking of a boat on waves.

Don recognized fairly quickly the reason for the spinning as well. The Oberlux did not have a rotationally symmetrical front profile, so if they were still the helmsman would have to constantly contest with the Oberlux wanting to be turned in some way.

A gentle spin, maybe only a full rotation every two minutes, was enough to make it so that force pretty much evened itself out.

The second wave was a similar story, as was the third and fourth.

On the fifth wave, however, something the pair could only describe as magical started to happen.

The tiny branches blocking the beams at the limits started to sparkle and glow.

It wasn't a red hot glow that Don would have expected.

These branches were outlining themselves, glowing two colors. A pure white surrounded by a perfect black.

When this shade scheme was applied to the most of the time all but invisible branches, they seemed to pop out of the background. An encapsulating net of black and white lines, with breaks in places revealing the colorful chaos that lay beyond.

These were the death throws of a star?

How could such a destructive force create such beauty?

Donovan did not fancy himself a connoisseur of such things as art and beauty, but even he believed that this image should belong in a museum.

How could he have ever thought of missing this?

Even as he thought to chastise himself for his over eagerness, the scene evolved again.

Flashes, sparks, sparkles, spirals of color sprang from the branches. A discharge of stored energy, creating little circular pulses, each of a unique color between red and purple.

Now, on top of the dot and dash pattern existing outside and the irregular web of light and dark, there was another random assortment of colored circles constantly expanding and fading away.

Diana was certain that if she was ever going to have a seizure, now would be the time. She found herself thankful for not having such a weakness.

Was this what it was like on drugs?

Eventually, as all good things do, the light show came to an end, revealing a greatly expanded star of a blood red hue.

"...a red giant..." Donovan was the one to mutter the thought aloud, though both had the same idea.

"Red Giant? Does that mean something important to you?" The Captain was the only one close enough to hear them over the assortment of cheers. There was still the occasional beam headed their way, but nowhere near as frequent as before. The hard jobs were over.