Mission Born: Space Twins - Chapter 7
The adventure continues today with Chapter 7 of Mission Born: Space Twins! If you are new to the story, or need to catch up, find the link you require here:
All caught up and ready to go? So are we. Continue on to Chapter 7.
As the
doors to the guest suite opened, Walter gasped as he saw his sister surrounded
by the four guards. “Jess! They got you too?!” He exclaimed.
“No, Wally, they’re lettin’ us go. Now pack up ‘n let’s get outta ‘ere.” She knew well enough he didn’t have anything
to pack, since he had been abducted.
“He picked a book up from the couch he had been sitting on
and tucked it under his arm. “I’m ready!
Let’s go!” A churlish grin
resided on his face, and his sister could do nothing but shake her head and
smile.
“You an’ your books….”
She slapped him on the back hard.
“We need ta get outta ‘ere now!”
They both moved quickly to the elevator and the guards made
room for them. The elevator felt like it
was moving at a snail’s pace, which just made things more intense. Walter thought his sister was actually
shaking with pent up energy as they got closer to the ground floor. When the elevator opened, Jess virtually
leapt out. “Which way is the easiest way
out?” Walter asked one of the guards. The large orc pointed out, the way Jess had
come in. “Go that way, it is the main
entrance….”
It took them several minutes to find their way out of the
citadel. Jess fiddled with some kind of
gadget as they hit the bright sunlight of the outside. “Hold on Brother! Our ride is almost ‘ere…. You’re gunna love
this!” About a minute later a
high-pitched whining and burst of wind hit them from above, as the prototype
shuttle flew in on remote. The shine of
the new metal almost blinded Walter. As
he turned his gaze away from the sunlit ship, something caught his attention in
the sky. Large streaks of red and white
seeming-smoke trails were painted across the sky. Suddenly, the shuttle’s landing engines
flared. He backed away, as the shuttle
touched down softly.
As the
shuttle doors dropped, they could hear the deep rumble in the sky. It seemed to reverberate around them. “GET IN!
IT’S GUNNA BE CLOSE!!” Jess
screamed at her brother as they both jumped into the ship’s interior. Jess scrambled into the pilot seat as Walter
jumped into the co-pilot’s seat. She
flipped several switches and pulled back on the steering handle. They shot into the sky; the ship vibrated
violently as it skimmed near the incoming projectiles. “Help me Wally, she’s gunna be pulled inta’
the gravity well of those bombs!” Walter
deftly grabbed the other steering mechanism and pulled hard to help Jess steer
the ship out of danger. He knew enough
of what she wanted by having watched her maneuver ships multiple times
before. All of a sudden, the ship felt
like it had pulled away from the danger.
Wally looked out the viewport and
could see they had also just escaped the planet’s gravity. They were in space, and it looked like they
had managed to bypass the fleet’s radius of destructive power. He could see the ships still aligned in
bombardment formation, but there were little flecks of white that blinked in
and out of existence, which were closer to them. His eyes widened as he came to the
realization that these were attack craft.
Fast attack craft! “Sis! We have company!”
“Aw,
really?! REALLY?! Not now! I gotta figure out some things before we can
use the translight engines!” She punched
the console near her, and it made a frantic beeping sound. “Um, Okay, okay, sorry…. This ship is a bit
more touchy than I’m used ta…. Wally,
you’re gunna hav’ ta hold ‘em off fer a few.
Hit the gunner’s seat in the upper deck, and fire away!”
“Okay, but I’m not sure if I can hold off that many
enemies….”
“Just do it! Worry
about doin’ it after you’ve done it!”
She pointed to the access stairwell to the upper deck. It was small.
The way was a bit tight for someone of Walter’s stature, but he made it
and strapped into the small gunner’s seat.
The seat itself swiveled and he recognized that he was in a ball turret,
which could move quickly in a 180-degree radius. The guns tied to the turret were advanced,
and they glowed with an unnatural teal light.
“Um, Jess, where did you pick up this ship?”
“I stole it, Brother.
Pretty good huh? The computer is
workin on the translight calculations, I’m aimin’ for unknown space, at least I
think I am.” He could hear the smirk in
her voice.
He closed his eyes hard and prayed for help. “We are going to need it…” He stated under his breath.
“What was that Wally?
I din’t quite hear ya.”
“Nothing, Sis, just fly, and make sure we don’t get hit by
whatever they send at us.”
“You got it, Kid!
Just hold on and enjoy the ride!”
As the
seconds ticked by, Walter became more aware of their situation, “Jessica! There are ten fighters!”
A grumbling could be heard over the comm. “Wally, what did I say about callin’ me
that!?”
“Sorry, Jess, it’s just….
I don’t think I can hold off that many….” Walter sighed audibly into the headset.
“Don’t worry Wally, we got this…. And if we don’t then at
least we are together!”
“True…. Carpe Diem, Jess!”
His mood had improved, he was speaking jibberish again.
“What in the world does that mean?”
“It is an old Earth language and term, it means ‘Seize the
Day’!” She could hear his smile.
“Okay, they are engaging.
Now FOCUS!”
Walter could see the dark brown and
gray splotch on the world they had just come from. The orcs had been decimated for sure. He could not think how they would have
survived, even the ones in the tunnels.
Suddenly, A red laser deflected off the ship’s shiny hull. He picked up the control rods for
firing. He soon learned that he had a
few weapons to choose from, as he continued firing and using different buttons
at different times. Lasers and rockets
were flung at the enemy, and three of the fighters were down already. But he must have shown a pattern, because now
they were being far more successful at evading his shots and landing their
own.
Jess could feel the hits landing on
the outer hull. It was not a good feeling,
and she was starting to get irritated.
“Wally! Get ‘em off o’ us!”
“I am trying, they keep weaving away from my shots!”
“Close one eye and fire, then change to the other. It’ll change the way you’re firin’, and it
might get some o’ them.”
“Uh, okay.” He did as
she said. He closed his left eye and
fired. He decided to auto-fire so there
was a spray, and it miraculously hit the wing of one of the enemies. The ship burst into a light blue flame and
exploded. “IT WORKED…. I mean, it
worked. Of course it worked!”
Jess didn’t bother telling him she had been kidding. There was no way closing your eye could
change your firing that much, but maybe it changed the way he was thinking at
the time. All in all, it worked, and
that’s all that mattered.
“Sis! We still have
six attackers on us! And the hull is not
looking too good!”
Looking over at the main console, Jess could see the readout
of the computer’s progress in a light yellow-green bar that was over
three-quarters full. “We still need a
coupla’ seconds brother!”
“Okay, I am going to fire all of our rockets in a spread
pattern, hopefully some of them will hit!”
He flipped a switch on the stick and then pushed both thumb
buttons. A flurry of rockets ripped out
of the back of the ship. The spiral
patterns of so many rockets looked beautiful against the backdrop of space and
the swamp planet behind them. The most
captivating scene, though, was several of the enemies bursting into
pieces. Their parts scattering amongst
the stars. As the debris and brightness
of the explosions cleared, two starships remained. They seemed to increase in speed, and
intensity of firepower. Some of the
laser hits ripping up the metal hull.
Walter continued to fire on them with the lasers. He focused on the most accurate of the two
enemies. He closed his right eye this
time and fired away, scoring several minor hits to the fighter’s engine. It turned off and headed back toward the
fleet. His final enemy kept rolling,
veering away from Walter’s shots. As the
last ship raced toward him in looping patterns, he could see the enemy was
aiming for the left wing. Walter noticed the ship looped left twice and then
right. He watched and saw that he
continued the pattern. He followed the
spiral pattern, and aimed for where the enemy would be, firing a continuous
beam at that area. The enemy hit the
beam as if it were its destiny. Walter
sighed, and fell back into his chair.
Then, he noticed the sparks coming from the left wing. “Uh, Sis…. We’re Hit!”
“Wait, WHAT?!” Jess
screamed. She looked over and could see
the beautiful full green bar, indicating that the translight coordinates were
set. “GRRRRRRR….AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!” She slammed her fist into the console above
her head, instantly regretting it.
Shaking the sting out of her hand, she replied to her brother in calm
tones. “Wally, you are gunn need ta go
out and fix the wing….”
She could almost hear his head hit his chest as he
acknowledged her, “Okayyyy. I hate this
part! You know that’s part of the reason
I was up for this ‘adventure’ of yours!
So I could get AWAY from the spacesuit!”
She could hear him stomping around and down the upper deck’s
entryway. As he rounded the corner, she
saw his agitated look, and just ran up to him and gave him a hug. “We’re together Brother! Just one bit o’ space and we’re outta here!”
He returned her hug and smiled. “Okay, Sis, help me get suited up, before
they send more fighters…”
“I’ll shut down all power systems ‘cept life support, so’s
ta make us not be as visible ta our enemies.”
“Good idea, and make sure those coordinates keep set. I don’t want to do this all for nothing.”
A
couple of minutes later, Walter found himself on the outer hull, in a tight-fitting
spacesuit. It was obviously made for
someone of far lesser stature. His
movements were tight as well, so he had to be careful with how he worked the
torch, and other tools required to fix the wing. He looked up from what he was doing, back at
the orc homeworld, and saw that the dirty splotch had grown and covered a much
larger section of the planet, there were other splotches as well, in three
different locations. If those areas
filled up as well as the first, then the orcs may have a planetwide catastrophe
on their hands. The dirt kicked up into
the skies could blot out the sun, cutting off the ability of the plants on the
surface to produce oxygen and food. The
Admiral was mad to think that this action was called for. He shook his head and got back to work.
About
fifteen minutes later, Walter stepped back into the ship. “We’re lucky, the Admiral is so focused on
the orc’s destruction, he isn’t even worried about us anymore. Unless….
You think that fighter lied and said he got us?”
“That could be true.
Let’s get outta ‘ere and talk about it later, eh?” Jess smirked, slapped Wally on the back and
made her way to the cockpit. She flipped
a bunch of switches, pulled on the steering mechanism and the ship started
forward once more. After a few seconds
of no alarms going off, Jess told Walter to buckle in next to her. As he strapped in, she hit the button next to
the bright green bar. Everything went
wonky, and the translight engines kicked in.
The ship shot through space at an alarming speed. Jess watched as Wally passed out in his
seat. “It’s okay Wally, rest. We’re through the roughest part now. I’ll take it from ‘ere.”
“I wonder where ‘ere is gunna be, though…” She chuckled.
(Click to "turn the page" to Chapter 8)
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