Prologue – Helios

Starfall

By: King Julius I

Prologue – Helios

Its been three weeks. Three weeks since “The Cutthroat” was ambushed. The Federation had set a trap, a stranded arms transport in the middle of nowhere. The captain thought it was an easy target but soon after arriving the ship was caught off guard by “The Paladin”, the federations pride and joy. It didn't take long for it to overpower The Cutthroat and get a boarding party inside. Despite the crews tenacity, the Federations troops were just to many, and to well armed. The crew lasted about an hour before Captain Scarlet surrendered. Three days later she was executed and the remainder of the crew was imprisoned. But unlike the rest, Jay, the youngest of the crew was chose to be send to a “reeducation center” instead of life imprisonment. Given that he is only 21 while the rest were 35 or older, they believed allowing him a second chance would lead him to become a more “productive” citizen. But it was all a stunt, they were afraid of how the population will react to the imprisonment of someone who they believe never had the chance to become a law abiding citizen, but with his technical skills and knowledge of A.I. programing they cant just let him run free, so they decided to dump him on a frozen world on the fringe of known space.

Luckily the transport he was on had “technical issues” and was forced to make an emergency stop at the Helios shipyard. As “luck” would have it The Paladin was also there for resupply and repair. And after a very awkward run in with its Captain, Edmond Voss, who made it very clear that the young pirate should be in a hole with the rest or his crew. He was escorted to the stations brig to await departure. After the guards left him in a cell he was able to pry loose a wall panel and rewire the force field controls. He's managed to make it to a security station without raising any alarms which is where he now finds himself.

Jay removes the storage unit of his A.I. and friend, Seven, from a concealed pocket in the leg of his pants and plugs her into the main security terminal.

After a few moments her voice comes from the terminal. “Beginning interface...Bypassing security.....Bypass complete. Jay, why are we on a Federation station?”

“Its a long story seven. I need a layout of the station and a way off.”
“One moment,” Seven pulls up a number of blueprints and docking manifests along the screen. “According to the manifests there are only three ships docked at the moment. A short range federation transport.”

“Its not going anywhere anytime soon.”

“The Paladin.”

“Like Hell!”

“And a ship I cant identify. It appears to be under construction but it may be spaceworthy.”

“Can you tell me its progress?”

“One moment.....The propulsion, Core and shields seem to be completed. The weapons and supplies are still in progress.”

“Where's the ship?”

“You'll have to go up one level and get to the outer ring to board the ship. Just plug me in when you get to the bridge.”

“Is there an armory close by?”

“Got it, straight to the ship then. Wish me luck,” Jay disconnects Seven and starts for the ship.
Taking an elevator to the next floor and avoiding several guard patrols, He finds himself on the stations docking ring. He rounds a corner to find the bulkhead leading to the ships umbilical. Unfortunately two guards stand at the entrance. “Damn.” Backtracking to a terminal he had found moments ago, He plugs Seven in, “Seven, guards are blocking entry to the ship. Can you create a distraction?”

After a minute Seven replies, “Distraction successful. The guards have been sent to investigate a disturbance. You only have a few minutes before they realize its.... Oh no, They've discovered you've escaped, hurry.”

Disconnecting Seven he runs to the now unguarded hatch and boards the ship. Making his way through the umbilical he can see the hull of the ship through viewing ports, Across it in large white letters is written “STARFALL”.

Once he boards the ship he sneaks past a handful of engineers and finds the bridge. He finds an engineering terminal and connects Seven . “We've made it aboard.”

“Understood, Bypassing ships A.I.....Thats it, the ship is ours.”

“We need to do something about the engineers on-board.”

“Understood,” Seconds later a warning alarms begin to sound and a voice comes over the intercom, “WARNING! WARNING! CORE BREACH DETECTED, EVACUATE! EVACUATE!”

“Nice.”

“Evacuation in progress.”

“Good job Seven. Warm up the engines. As soon as we leave, The Paladin will be on top of us.”

As the last engineer leaves, the docking clamps and umbilical detach and the ship pulls away from the station, making its way into space. As the ship moves further The Paladin disembarks and begins pursuit.

“Jay, It appears The Paladin is giving chase. Shields are on-line but we wont survive long without weapons.”

Jay finds one of the helm terminals, “Put as much power into the engines as you can, can you get the hyper-drive working?”

“I'm working to get them functioning, but though this ship seems to be faster than The Paladin, we are out-gunned. They could destroy this ship before I can get them working, I need time.”

Running over the helm data, there appears to be a meteor belt between the station and a nearby planet, “Seven take us in there, The Paladin will be to big the maneuver.”

“Understood. Setting course.”

For nearly twenty minutes they dodge and weave, trying to avoid The Paladins continuous rail-gun fire. The shields take most of the damage but by the time the ship arrives at the meteor belt they were almost depleted.

“We've arrived at the belt, slowing to maneuver,” Sevens voice calls out over warning alarms.

“What about The Paladin?”

“They have broken of pursuit, It appears you were right.”

“Good. Now we just have to make it to the other side, activate the hyper-drive, and were home free,” suddenly the ship is thrown about by an explosion. “Seven, what was that?”

“A large electro magnetic surge from The Paladin, The ship seems to have a large mass driver. A round must have detonated close by.”

“They cant get through the meteors so their just going to keep firing blindly until they hit us.”

The ship dodges one shot after another until they finally approach the meteor belts outer edge. “Where almost out, Hows the hyper-drive?”

“Its ready, once we get clear...BRACE FOR IMPACT!

Before he can react, Jay is thrown over the terminal as another explosion sends the ship trough a group of large asteroids at the belts edge.

“Jay, Were out of the meteor belt, But we've lost shields and the hyper-drive, Impulse is still working but we cant take any more damage.

Pulling himself off the floor, Jay returns to the helm, blood pouring from a large cut on his head. “Is there.....Is there any way to get the hyper-drive working, we can't get away on impulse alone.”

“I'm sorry Jay...Theres nothing I can do.”

For minutes the only sounds were of warning alarms and popping wires. “There had to be some way, something,” Jay thought to himself, Just then something catches his eye out the bridges front view port. “Seven, what is that?”

“Whats what?”

“Off the starboard side.” Looking out he can see what appears as though some of the stars are shifting and distorted, “Looks kinda like rippling water.”

“Scanning.... It appears to be some kind of anomaly. I'm not sure to where it leads but...Warning hyperspace window opening off the port bow, it's The Paladin.”

There is a small flash as The Paladin emerges from hyperspace. Its guns coming to bear.

“Damn, Make for the singularity.”

“Not advisable, Without knowing where it leads...”

“Its better than being blown into dust.”

“....Understood, Course set.”

Pushing the engines, they reach the singularity just as The Paladin begins to bare down on them. All that can be seen before entering is a rippling of stars, Then a cascade of color, As space warps around the ship and throws it across the abyss.