Chapter 14: Aurora's (F)light

Zaius called out to his friends, but no one answered. He wasn't even sure where he was or how he got there. The room he stood in was covered from top to bottom with vibrant pink walls and a pulsating white ceiling. Large navy particles buzzed about like bees. Ahead of him stood three large triangular pillars that connected into the floor. A light haze covered every portion of the room that he looked at. His lungs felt like they had been fully filled with thick sludge.

He grabbed at his chest, suddenly aware that his breathing had stopped. His heart sped up as he panicked. Every attempt to take a breath was met with a hard choking cough or a gasp. He collapsed to the floor, the pulsating ceiling flashing more intensely.

Zaius woke with a start and fell forward onto the hard metal floor of the Aurora Nova. His eyes slowly adjusted to the dimly lit space around him. It was quiet, almost eerily so. He pushed himself back up slowly and returned to the bench he had fallen from. His eyes flicked from side to side as they adjusted.

He didn't remember falling asleep at all. The last memory he had was listening to Kirrik mention something about a safety system. He was never one for intensive tech talk, though. He wiggled his fingers and flexed his arms against the rigid brace of the Kanutic gauntlets. It pressed into his skin.

'Where is Diah?' Zaius thought. 'Or Sky? Or anyone else?'

A pressure expanded inside his head. It was sharp and stabbing, like he was being skewered from different directions. It swelled in the top of his nose and up behind his eyes. He squeezed them closed in a vain attempt to relieve it.

Zaius stood and moved toward the open entry of the dining quarters and peeked his head out. The long shadowed hallway stretched into a network of similar halls further down. Zaius moved ahead and into the right hallway until he saw a faint yellow light. He approached it cautiously, listening for the familiar voices of his friends.

Zaius looked inside the yellow-lit room and discovered it was the Nova's cockpit. Wide screens spread out to each side with all types of diagnostics and plans, most of which didn't make sense to him. Its domed glass roof had star charts and numbers highlighted across it in a vibrant green display. Four chairs made up the middle space, two centered in the front and the others placed slightly off to the left and right ends behind them. The blonde of Kirrik's hair popped over the top of the front left chair.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up," Zaius heard Kirrik's voice drift from ahead. "Heard you coming down the hallway."

Zaius wondered if his steps had been loud enough to hear or if Kirrik's hearing was just that sensitive. He figured it was more likely the latter. Zaius took two steps into the cockpit.

"Where is everyone else?" He asked, voice still groggy from his rest.

Kirrik swiveled the seat around.

"I sent Imi to go grab some rest," Kirrik responded with a point to the left. "Figured she needed it. She's been piloting since we left Tovarro. As for the girls, they're tucked away together in a room on the other end."

Kirrik pointed to the right then swiveled around again. He kicked his feet up onto the Nova's dashboard. Zaius moved closer and leaned on the chair next to him.

"I, on the other hand, quite like an occasional moment of peace just staring out into that endless void," Kirrik continued. His tone softened. "You never really know what's out there. Imi and I have done a lot of exploring, lotta hunting, but still haven't even begun to see it all."

"Are you two, you know, together?" Zaius asked. He sat and clasped his hands between his knees.

"Like partners together or lovers together?" Kirrik clarified. "Former yes, latter no. You could say we've been close since we first met, though."

Zaius saw a smile begin to form before Kirrik caught himself and sniffled.

"People think we're good," Kirrik went on. "We're not, truth be told. That doesn't make us villains either. We don't do what we do for fun. We do it to right a few wrongs. That's an awfully lonely path, all things considered, so it helps to have a friend by your side."

Kirrik gave a glance toward Zaius.

"What about you? What's the story between you and the High Mark?"

Zaius blushed a bit and looked to the side. He wasn't sure where to begin, or even how much to tell Kirrik.

"Honestly, it's kind of a long one," Zaius deflected.

"Well, we have another eight hours until we reach Vensha," Kirrik told Zaius, tapping his finger against one of the Nova's screens. "We have to cut through the outer belt of Kantum and around the magnetic field of Prino-9. Straight shot from there. Sounds like we have plenty of time."

Zaius remained silent.

"Look, I'm just messing with you," Kirrik said. "After we drop you three off, it's back to business for us. I have something I need to find, so consider this a nice distraction for me."

Zaius looked out at the stars and took a moment to ponder what would happen once they arrived on Vensha. He figured Diah would want to get back to her family as quickly as possible, but would that leave an open door for him and Sky to find a new home of their own there? He thought about how much he would love to stay and spend more time with Diah, get to know her more and move their relationship forward. A small nagging thought in the back of his mind made him question what would happen if, for whatever reason, they couldn't. He knew that Sky couldn't go back to Millik and he refused to return to Trantokar. There was a whole galaxy left to find a home, but that idea also made the task more daunting.

The Nova shuddered and dipped with a resounding crack, yanking Zaius out of his thoughts. He looked around in anxious confusion. The lights flickered then shut off as the ship cracked and dipped again. Zaius looked toward the ship's captain.

Kirrik had already shifted into an alert position and was studying each screen intently. His left hand reached out and tapped a monitor while his right tightened around the yoke. He pulled his left hand down to a lever and rotated it sideways. A third crack sent the Nova spiraling downward as the lights inside changed to red.

"Hold onto something!" Kirrik yelled as he flipped two switches.

Zaius felt his stomach knotting as the Nova entered a rapid descent. He threw his foot up and pressed it against the dashboard to keep from falling forward. His hand reached back and grabbed the edge of the seat. The red lights around them started flashing rapidly and the screens beeped loudly.

"I'm taking full control," Kirrik explained. "We're being attacked!"

"Attacked by who?" Zaius hollered in return.

Kirrik yanked the yoke backward and forced the Nova into a sudden upward thrust. Zaius flew back into his seat with a thud. The sounds of clattering cargo echoed from elsewhere on the ship.

"I'm turning on the grav-lock," Kirrik said with a few more taps of the monitor.

A feeling of immense pressure hit Zaius and radiated up his legs, through his core and into his head. His stomach churned as acid made its way up his esophagus. Every muscle in his body tightened at once.

The pressure faded as quickly as it came on, his body adjusted to the new artificial gravity within the Nova. He stood on wobbly legs as Imi popped into the doorframe.

"What the hell is going on?" Imi shouted at Kirrik. He turned his head toward Zaius.

"Zaius, go check on the others," Kirrik ordered. "Imi, Kunar fighters. Four at ten, twelve, seven and nine."

Zaius avoided Imi as she barreled into her seat. He forced his shaking legs to push him toward the door. Diah needed him.

"Why would the Kunar be stupid enough to attack us?" Imi questioned.

Zaius knew.

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Kirrik swiped at a few more panels as Imi pulled her yoke out of the dashboard. He rerouted the power from the back engines into the shield generators to reset them. The Kunar fighters had nailed them three times and phased right through the small travel shields the Nova had up. Another shot while they were exposed would have been deadly.

Kirrik was angry with himself for being put in that situation to begin with. He transferred the power to the engines to get them to Vensha faster when he should have kept things the same. What good would a pile of ship parts and space dust be to the Alis?

"Stop beating yourself up," Imi remarked from his side. "You couldn't have known."

"That obvious?" Kirrik asked, half-joking.

"I saw you rerouting and pieced it together," She replied. "Are we back to full operation?"

Kirrik checked the diagnostics. All green. He rotated the conflux lever to its original position and the ship roared with new life. The lights changed back to yellow.

"She's good across the board," Kirrik said proudly.

"It," Imi corrected. "And great. Let's kick some ass."

Kirrik gave a single nod and pulled his focus forward. His hands moved on their own, the memory of many dogfights kicking in. He turned the yoke to the right and sent the Nova spinning forward.

The Aurora Nova flew between the four Kunar fighters, wings spinning through the gaps in their formation. The engines kicked and fizzled, letting the ship fall backward into another deep drop. Kirrik held his hand above the engine's throttle, ready to pull.

As the Nova neared the fighters, Imi swiped at her screen and activated the ion cannons. They clunked and revved up to full power. She took aim at one of the fighters, pulled the trigger and blasted it into a cloud of shrapnel.

The other three fighters scattered instantly. Kirrik pulled the throttle, kicked the engines back up and sent the Nova blazing forward into another fighter's rear. Imi clicked her trigger again and the Nova smashed through the remaining debris. Two down.

Kirrik knew the fewer the numbers, the harder they would be to fight. It was easy for them to whittle down large groups, but those last couple always proved the toughest for him. While the Nova was one of the best of its class, it was meant for large battle support. Even then, Kirrik knew his way around a scrap or two.

The burning multicolor streak of the Nova's exhaust created a beautiful ribbon as it chased down its third target. Kirrik followed it carefully as it disappeared into a small field of asteroids. He reached up and swiped another panel, switching their targeting display to track heat. The screen in front of them rippled into a dark blue, each rock highlighted black or cyan. A red dot weaved between them in the distance.

"I figure this one's baiting us," Kirrik said to Imi. "The other's probably above, waiting to get a little closer."

"Agreed," Imi responded. "Pilejack maneuver?"

Kirrik appreciated how much he could rely on Imi. When she wasn't annoying him with her mind reading, it was nice to be in sync. He took a deep breath and started weaving the Nova between the scattered asteroids.

The Nova whizzed and dipped past rocks big and small as it moved closer to the Kunar fighter ahead. The fighter braked and banked hard to the left, vanishing between two bigger asteroids.

Kirrik shifted the Nova down and turned it sideways before throwing it back up in a U-shaped movement. It flew smoothly under the asteroids and rotated around as it flew by the fighter. Imi lowered the cannons at a right angle to the ship, fired and took out the third target. One left.

Blaster fire knocked the back of the ship.

'Right on cue,' Kirrik thought.

He straightened the Nova out but couldn't find the fighter. Imi looked just as confused. Kirrik spun the ship, but nothing popped up on the display.

"They have to be directly behind us," Imi put forth. "Most likely trailing close enough to where we can't lose them, but far enough to where they can dodge a hard brake."

Kirrik smiled. The Kunar probably thought they were pretty smart for that one. He looked at Imi, who winked in return.

"Coin toss?" Kirrik requested.

"Coin toss."

Imi stood up and ran out of the cockpit. Kirrik glanced at the diagnostics again. The Nova had taken a heavy hit to one of the right engines. Blaster fire nailed the ship again. Two engines out now. Imi's voice crackled through his MenXhip and into his ear.

"We have a problem," She informed him. "This pilot is good. They're trailing back and taking out the engine to try and force us sideways. Maybe trying to make it look like an accident?"

"Then we have to give them what they want," Kirrik said.

"Um, what does that mean?"

"Just trust me."

Kirrik pulled the conflux lever to the side again and swiped the panel to reroute the shield power back to the engines. He guessed that was what originally drew the fighters in to begin with. If this one was really trying to take out their engines, a shield-free target was perfect bait.

"Kirrik, why are the shields off?" Imi's voice broke through again.

"I'm boosting forward," Kirrik told her. "You have twenty seconds."

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Imi braced herself as the ship lurched forward. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that Kirrik was trying to get them killed. She stepped forward to the door.

"I get what you're doing, but I don't like it," She grumbled to herself.

"Ten seconds," Kirrik's voice chirped.

Imi slammed her palm against the emergency release button and shot out of the airlock. The world went silent around her. Ice crystals began to encompass her body almost immediately as she smashed against the window of the fighter. The Reclaiment inside jumped back from the unexpected sight.

The Nova fell out of its boost ahead of them, but the Reclaiment was too stunned to finish its attack. Imi waved at the Kunar then punched the window of the fighter with all of her might. Her fist broke through and depressurized the fighter's cockpit. The Reclaiment yelled as it started to grab its throat, choking at the complete lack of oxygen in the air. It scrambled to do something to save itself before falling over onto the floor. Imi reached down and pulled the throttle up to slow the fighter's speed.

She moved her hand over and yanked the controls to the side. The fighter began to spin wildly as it neared the Nova. Imi knew she had to make one life-or-death calculation to make. She held tightly to the fighter's hood, cautiously making her way to the wing. She climbed up toward the tip. One last jump.

Time slowed as Imi braced herself and waited for the fighter's wing to spin back around. As it crested, she leapt off the edge with everything she could, using the spinning momentum for an extra boost. It flung her forward and back toward the Nova's open airlock. Imi balled herself up and slammed back into the airlock's wall.

"Hell yeah!" Kirrik's voice screeched in her ear. "Now that was a perfect coin toss!"

The door to the airlock shut and the room depressurized with a loud hiss. Imi could feel the ice that coated her throat and tongue. Crystallized bits fell off of her hair and body as she crawled toward the door. It creaked open and Kirrik dragged her into the Nova's dining quarters.

"You okay?" Kirrik asked, swiping ice off of her.

Zaius, Sky and Diah stood awestruck and concerned in the middle of the quarters. Sky moved first, her Kanushin forming as she reached toward Imi. She froze in place. Diah let out a small scream.

Imi could feel the ice had broken off the synthetic rubber of her skin. The metal of her arm felt exposed to the elements. As she rolled onto her back, she could feel the air brush against parts of the open framework of her cheek and neck as well.

"What are you?" She heard Diah stammer.

Kirrik's boots thumped as he stepped forward.

"She's a prototype android. Model X2-131, also called -"

"Imi," the android stated in a robotic tone as she stood and dusted herself off.