Mission Born: Space Twins - Chapter Five
The fifth chapter of the Mr.'s NaNoWriMo challenge is now ready for your enjoyment. Due to the fact that NaNoWriMo ended, the project demanded a name. Behold Mission Born: Space Twins. If this is your first introduction to the Space Twins you might wish to start at the beginning. Links to all previous chapters magically appear here:
But you, you're ready to pick up where you left off? Scroll on down! We're happy to have you, and as always, welcome any feedback. Enjoy!
Walter woke up, realizing he had passed out from the
prolonged use of faster-than-translight travel.
The Orcs were sitting in ragtag crew chairs, which had been bolted into
the floors. They sat there looking very
somber. Jenkins saw that Walter had
awoken. “Child, you will come with
us. You will learn what your people have
done, and when they come, you will either fight with us or stand on our outer
walls as protection!” He turned away
from Walter and looked over a console that had a readout of ships, warships, on
its screen. The same warships, that had
fired on them, had been on that screen.
Seeing as he was secured, and they were far from his own known territory,
he decided to sleep. If he could regain
some strength, it might give him his chance to escape.
Jess
sat at the Captain’s Table and ate her dinner solemnly. The Admiral was very pleased with her
performance during the boarding of the Heavy Cruiser. She was not really interested in ceremony and
acclaim. Her brother was on another
ship, in another system most likely. She
could only hope that the Admiral’s fleet was here to find the orcs and the
traitors that helped them accomplish the boarding action.
“So, Lieutenant Weathers, it seems your surname serves you
well, for you certainly weathered the situation! Har Harr!” Admiral Valentin guffawed over his plate,
accidentally spitting some of it back onto the plate and around it.
Jess grimaced and carefully stated, “Yes…It does, huh? So, this was a setup all along eh? We were the bait and such?”
“Oh yes, YES! Such a
lovely plan. My lovely plan! The council
loved the idea from the moment it was uttered!
You know, this will get us all commendations. We will go back home Heroes!” Smiling broadly, he sipped his drink,
slurping sounds coming from behind the tipped cup.
“I have a question Admiral…
When do we go after these scallywags?
I want a piece o’ them. They took
my brother!” Her rage started to seep
into her voice.
“Ah, yes! We WILL go
after them. Your cruiser just needs a
bit of care, and then we can be off!
This will be a fine chase! A
fleet of ships chasing down the traitorous scum of the universe! Heroes, I tell you!”
As the evening wore on, the Admiral retired to the guest
quarters, usually held for guests of State.
Captain Argent looked worn out, as he had to endure all of the Admiral’s
boisterousness, while his crew was overseeing the repairs. He would have overseen them himself, if the
Admiral had not insisted on a ‘fine dinner’ to celebrate their ‘victory’. Jess kept pacing the corridors of the ship,
wandering from the command deck to the landing bay. She realized, after several hours, that this
was an unproductive use of time, since nothing was being repaired any faster
than it would have been, normally. Jess
decided to get some sleep, so she would be fresh for their pursuit of the
criminals that had taken her brother.
Walter
woke up to an amazing view. The
viewscreen of the shuttle held a planet of a myriad of hues of blues and
greens. One of the orcs nudged Jenkins,
as they noticed Walter had awoken.
Turning toward him, Jenkins glared, “This is our planet, human! Look upon its beauty and know that the beauty
is only matched by its danger! This is
why the orc tribes are so strong. We may
not have the technology of your people, but we have superior combat tactics and
strategies. We shall defeat you!”
“Jenkins… I am not your enemy, or at least I wasn’t until
you attacked our ship. I didn’t even
know your people existed, until that moment.”
Walter sighed.
Jenkins huffed at him, “Yet, you murdered two of my
members!”
“I didn’t want to….
It’s just…they kept firing at me, I had to do something.”
“Child, you will know what necessity is in the days to
come! You will learn the dangers of our
planet firsthand….” Jenkins turned, his
skin flaring to a deep bluish-gray.
Walter did not feel good about that last statement. He had very little skill on land, as most of
his training was either in a zero-g environment or in a starship. He hoped his own people would find him soon
and be able to save him. He knew his
sister would find a way, if there was one. Even if she had to steal a ship, which he
hoped she would not opt for that decision.
Settling back into his seat, he prepared himself for the ship’s reentry
to the planet’s atmosphere.
When
the ship hit the atmosphere of the planet, there was a severe lurch, and a loud
roar from the friction of the air on the hull of the ship. It took only a few seconds to clear the burn
of reentry, and then he could see the vast oceans, and the overgrown swamps
that seemed to overtake all land on this alien world. Earth was nowhere near as full of life as
this planet. After the moon had
shattered and created the chaotic ring of moon rock around the Earth, the
planet was irradiated in areas and devastated by the oceans on the coasts. The once thriving world had perished, and the
exodus of people from the planet had been enormous. This world was teeming with life, and the
people who lived here would have thrived.
He guessed that there could be at least hundreds of thousands of orcs
living in the swamps of this world.
As they
grew near to the largest continent, Walter could see they were coming in just
above the water’s surface. The coast was
lined with huge trees, with large vines twisting in and out of them. It made a veritable fortress wall, and when
they got closer, Walter realized it really was the wall of a fortified
spaceport. There were well-fashioned
nets made out of thinner vines, which were spread above the spaceport, making
it one of the most well-hidden bases Wyatt had ever seen. These were skilled people, and they were
ready for a fight with a much larger enemy than themselves. A hidden enemy would be impossible for the
council to hunt down efficiently. Wyatt
knew that his people would pay a severe price in lives in order to fight the
orcs on their own territory. His heart
dropped, realizing his predicament was even more troublesome than he had
thought.
The
orcs ushered him out of the ship, without shackles of any kind. They were confident he could not escape, Walter
kept note of this fact. He walked
solemnly along, just fast enough to keep them from wanting to push him, as that
would interfere with his perusal of his surroundings. He could tell that they were a low-tech
civilization, for nowhere could there be seen any kind of forcefield or
high-tech weaponry in defense of the spaceport.
The most that they had for defense, were large ballistae that held bolts
as large as tree trunks. These bolts had
some form of explosive bound to the tip.
Crude, but inventive and highly destructive. He acknowledged Jenkins’ statement about
having superior tactics.
As they
walked, he noticed that the pathways were made out of large boards, probably
cut from the trees surrounding them. The
pathways were sanded down and must have some kind of lacquer applied to keep
them maintained. There were motorized
water-borne ships all over the interior harbor, which took up the inner area of
the spaceport. Hundreds of warships
lined the edges of the water docks.
Beyond the water docks stood several shuttles, and a few troop transport
ships. Every ship, no matter if made for
water or space, was painted the mottled green and gray hues of this world. The orcs had modeled their own camouflage
onto their vehicles. They were bred for
war, it seemed. This did not bode well
for Walter.
The
outer edges of the spaceport were a ring of buildings, which were used for
maintenance, and these structures were built directly up against a range of
mesas. As they traveled past the
maintenance areas, the sick sweet smell of oil permeating the garages, he could
see that they had many people working.
He did not know if this was the usual amount of orcs operating
machinery, but he guessed not. Many of
the orcs were crowded into the work bays, which denoted more personnel than was
necessary for the stations. They were
gearing up, preparing for a fight.
Walter
could see a huge opening cut into the mesa itself, as they passed the
maintenance areas. These mesas had been
worked on for decades, it appeared. The
entrance itself was cut out of the rock, and it had been worked on to affect
the image of warriors fighting serpentine monsters. Inside the mesa, the base had been formed
into a multi-tiered structure. It looked
to be able to accommodate thousands of people.
Low-tech computers and databases could be seen on the top floor, from
below. Walter gawked a bit too much,
apparently, as he received a shove from one of his captors. He focused on where he was going and used
this time to figure out the floorplan of the first floor. There seemed to be small electric vehicles
for transporting crew throughout this base, designated in small outlines of
green paint on the floor. They entered
this area and commandeered a larger vehicle, used for up to eight people. Jenkins and his warriors climbed in and
forced Walter between a couple of them.
The high whine of the electric motor sped them along. The wind whipped over Walter’s face, and he
saw that this base possibly spanned a city’s worth of roadways and structures.
The
entire complex was lit by bioluminescence.
Some kind of algae or moss that glowed, grew on the walls and ceilings
of the base. These people had used the
natural environment to enhance their ability to overcome problems with having a
low level of technology. The stonework
throughout the fortress city had more and more artistic renditions of warriors
and reptilians, and as they got closer to the central part of the city he
noticed the images coming into a sort of harmony. Where warriors and reptilians once stood
fighting against each other, reptilian warriors now stood together. The orcs’ culture was fascinating in just
these few images. Walter wondered what
their music and food must be like. He
loved history, and these people intrigued him.
He
almost forgot the predicament he was in, until the vehicle came to a stop. They parked the transport in a similar green
outlined area, which laid next to a larger metal building. The building was immense and was in the form
of a hexagon, with the main doors in the forward facing wall of the two
parallel sides. The building was three
stories, and it stood in a steel canyon made of the other tiered floors that
ran the length and width of this citadel.
The building was attached to the outer tiered structures with
cylindrical bridges, on the third tier.
Walter knew this had to be a central hub, a command center. He was going to meet someone in charge, and
that did not give him a good feeling inside.
(Click to "turn the page" to Chapter 6)
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