From the Stars

by Minitheif

Prologue

Prologue

Thousands of miles above the planet a ship was flying, leaving trails of exhaust behind it's engines. It was a small ship, perhaps thirty meters to a side, tapering to a blunt point on one end. The silvery metal exterior was illuminated by the glow of the engines, soaring through the stars faster than light itself. But that was quickly changing. The ship was not so much flying as it was falling. Its engines burned as it hurtled toward the point of space ahead that was soon become a green and blue sphere below.

Far behind another ship chased it. This one much larger, with massive cannons covering much of the forward half of the hull. Each of the guns was focused on one point, the small ship in front of it, and was spraying a stream of metal chunks the size of small houses towards that point.

Aboard the first ship, there was panic. “Extinguishing port fires.” “Diverting weapons' power to aft engines.” “Jump capacitors at 70% charge and falling.” “Pulsing port shields. Pulse success, enemy fire diverted.” “Short jump on vector 6 Alpha Alpha 4. 45% charge remaining.” “We're not going to make it!”

Aboard the second ship there was only a sense of determination and urgency. “We've got them this time.” “All systems fully operational, no damage sustained.” “Long range jumps still being jammed, sir.” “Target shields projected to fail in 50 relative seconds, we're going to lose them!” “Captain, requesting permission to use accelerated light weapons.”

This last statement was met with a glance from the only person in the main control room of the large ship who was not in constant motion. The stout man pulled his antique true-wood pipe from his mouth, placing it in a pocket on his dark blue uniform. For weeks the captain had been chasing this ship down, trying for the bounty that every citizen of the United Terran Nations knew of, but few believed. Nobody would actually thought a Class F personal puddle jumper without any more weaponry than a few asteroid blasters would be able to do half of what it's pilot was claimed to have done.

“Permission granted, lieutenant. This gnat is proving even tougher to squash than anticipated.”

“Affirmative, sir. Charging via antimatter drives. Estimated 10 relative seconds to full charge.” As the crew member spoke, the largest gun yet began descending from the underside of the larger ship, a dark orange glow beginning to emanate from deep inside the barrel.

This latest development had caused quite a stir aboard the small ship. An accelerated light cannon was know to blow uncomfortably large craters in very large planets. It hadn't been used on anything much smaller since its invention, but that was because those using it usually liked something left of their target.

“Sara, they're charging their AL cannon. What do we do?” The man's voice had a definite note of worry to it.

“I don't know. Maybe if we-” *BOOM* Sara cut off as the ship gave a sudden lurch sideways and back. “What was that? Did they fire?”

“No... It looks like we passed through some kind of barrier. But I thought nothing was out here but the two of us. What could have made a field that strong. Our velocity's dropped to under 1% C and we're still decelerating. At least the Hunter doesn't look too good behind us either.”

And it was true. The massive frigate behind them had lost most of its guns, and the few that remained were bent and twisted almost beyond recognition. The massive AL cannon on the underside had vanished as well, leaving a large slot in the great ship's hull where it would have retracted.

More importantly than the state of the weapons was that of the engines. Most of the glowing vents had been stripped away from the sides of the ship and were venting a luminescent green fuel. What few remained were fighting to regain control of the ship as it slowly began to spin, its aft suddenly deciding it wanted to be the prow.

As the Hunter continued its spin the greatengines on its rear that could propel the beast to hyperspeed were revealed as well. Or rather, the part of the ship that was supposed to house the greatengines was revealed. Instead of the city sized, antimatter thrusters there was a network of honeycombed steel and trailing wires.

“At least they won't be getting out of here any time soon.” The woman remarked, trying to make light of the situation. “Church, can you tell us what the damage was to Sheila?”

A mechanical but distinctly male voice sounded from a device on the man's wrist. “Affirmative. Forward port weapons, forward starboard weapons, forward ground weapons, midship port weapons, midship starboard weapons, midship sky weapons, midship ground weapons, aft port weapons, and aft starboard weapons have all taken 100% damage and are estimated unsalvageable. Life support is heavily damaged and will need extensive repairs. Shields are heavily damaged and will need extensive repairs. Jump drives are depleted and will need approximately 236.34 hours of full engine power to recharge, as well as moderate repairs. Primary engines are moderately damaged and temporarily offline. Auxiliary engines are lightly damaged, though they will not be able to sustain orbit for more than 10 hours in a best case scenario.”

“Planet?” Both man and woman turned their gazes to the forward viewport, for the first time noticing the green and blue planet beneath them.

The man turned to the woman and said, “I thought there were no planets in this region of space. Could there be something down there that put up that shield?”

“It was when I could still get to the updated maps. As for the shield it's certainly possible someone down there has that kind of technology, but they must be underground, because the entire surface looks like forests.”

“Well, we'll find out soon enough. We're going to have to stop for fuel, and according to Church the auxiliaries won't put us in orbit. Church, find a landing site. The Hunter won't be much problem for a while. I just hope we can refuel before they get their repairs done.”

Comments

[Soundwave G1]

A Red vs. Blue crossover? This will be interesting.

[Minitheif]

177038 It's not meant to be a crossover, though those are references. The man is a fan of the show, though at this point it's centuries old.

[ketcham9001]

RvB and Stargate refrences. ~yay~

[Minitheif]

181904 Well this is awkward. I've never seen Stargate... Could you tell me what the reference was?

[ketcham9001]

181971
A puddle jumper is a type of ship from the stargate series. it is a small transport ship that is small enough to fly through a stargate. it is caled a puddle jumper because the event horizon of a stargate looks like a puddle of water.

[Minitheif]

183696 Actually that sounds familiar. I did get the name Puddle Jumper from some show, so maybe I just didn't know it was Stargate.

[ketcham9001]

184615
lol