Read Remember the Starfighter for Free Online Page A
Authors: Michael Kan
grown by using organic cells, and augmented to thrive in space.
One benefit of this was that the hallways could congeal and loosen, opening up doors where solid structures once were. Julian had seen such vessels during his career as a military pilot, but this was his first time he had set foot in one. He heard no churn of machinery, only the still calmness of open air blowing through the ship.
Just as peculiar was the woman officer walking in front of him. Her stride was elegant, almost regal-like, her golden hair falling down behind her back like a waterfall. She seemed far too glamorous to be serving as a military officer, moving with a beauty he was unaccustomed to. The cybernetic implants across her hands and face shined, fluctuating in a white shimmer. He wondered if she was trying to sense his mind now. Or if perhaps she didn’t care at all. How someone as young as her had risen to become an Alliance specialist was another curiosity. Julian had no idea.
Eventually, the woman stopped, turning toward the side of the hallway. An opening in the wall quickly expanded into an entrance. Julian could see the wall morph, the hard solid surface slackening, becoming a liquid-like texture. A wave then rippled across the surface, opening the structure apart as the exotic material peeled itself back.
They both stepped inside to what would be Julian’s quarters for the rest of his stay on board. The room was small, a simple white bed, with a table and chair. But what caught Julian’s eye was the view. A large window showed a small planet hanging in the backdrop of space.
“Is that Haven?” he asked.
The woman nodded as Julian timidly approached the window. He could see the blue world, serene in its ocean glow. Clouds rolled across its skies, the locks of white blooming in its atmosphere. Water, oxygen and land had combined to form this, a place where life had thrived on, under the light of the neighboring sun. It was the only picture of peace Julian had ever known. He pressed his hands on the glass, a vast planet becoming no larger than his fingertips.
The voice spoke, interrupting his thoughts. He turned to the specialist, noticing a miasma of light forming in front of him. Projected from within the ship, the beams solidified forming a holographic image that filled most of the room. It was of Haven, once again, the planet drawn in magnified detail. Yet all Julian could see was a world reduced to neon yellow light. The oceans and clouds had been deemed graphically irrelevant. Instead esoteric symbols and data points circled the world, the strategic minutia crowding the image. He understood what this was: a battlefield map of Haven built from the pixels.
< The bulk of the Endervar fleet has positioned itself at the planet, with a small remainder moving on to other worlds.>
The specialist pointed to the enemy ships. They nested across his homeworld, forming two rings in their orbit around it. He guessed that there were more than 200 ships, each one but a white dot, a simple statistic belying their destructive power. Already they had decimated Haven’s defenses, a strategy that the military had spent centuries devising. Now there was nothing to stand in their way.
“Was the populace able to escape?” Julian asked as he closed his eyes in frustration. “What happened?”
The specialist paused as she moved past the hologram. Julian could only see a sadness hang on her face. She crossed her shoulders, and gazed at the view outside.
< Some, but most were unable to flee. The Alliance estimates that over 60 million citizens still remain trapped. Your Chancellor and her staff were killed en route to a hyperspace point. Any other ships that have tried to flee Haven have been destroyed by the orbiting fleet.>
“But I mean… what of the Alliance? Will there be a counterattack?”
One benefit of this was that the hallways could congeal and loosen, opening up doors where solid structures once were. Julian had seen such vessels during his career as a military pilot, but this was his first time he had set foot in one. He heard no churn of machinery, only the still calmness of open air blowing through the ship.
Just as peculiar was the woman officer walking in front of him. Her stride was elegant, almost regal-like, her golden hair falling down behind her back like a waterfall. She seemed far too glamorous to be serving as a military officer, moving with a beauty he was unaccustomed to. The cybernetic implants across her hands and face shined, fluctuating in a white shimmer. He wondered if she was trying to sense his mind now. Or if perhaps she didn’t care at all. How someone as young as her had risen to become an Alliance specialist was another curiosity. Julian had no idea.
Eventually, the woman stopped, turning toward the side of the hallway. An opening in the wall quickly expanded into an entrance. Julian could see the wall morph, the hard solid surface slackening, becoming a liquid-like texture. A wave then rippled across the surface, opening the structure apart as the exotic material peeled itself back.
They both stepped inside to what would be Julian’s quarters for the rest of his stay on board. The room was small, a simple white bed, with a table and chair. But what caught Julian’s eye was the view. A large window showed a small planet hanging in the backdrop of space.
“Is that Haven?” he asked.
The woman nodded as Julian timidly approached the window. He could see the blue world, serene in its ocean glow. Clouds rolled across its skies, the locks of white blooming in its atmosphere. Water, oxygen and land had combined to form this, a place where life had thrived on, under the light of the neighboring sun. It was the only picture of peace Julian had ever known. He pressed his hands on the glass, a vast planet becoming no larger than his fingertips.
The voice spoke, interrupting his thoughts. He turned to the specialist, noticing a miasma of light forming in front of him. Projected from within the ship, the beams solidified forming a holographic image that filled most of the room. It was of Haven, once again, the planet drawn in magnified detail. Yet all Julian could see was a world reduced to neon yellow light. The oceans and clouds had been deemed graphically irrelevant. Instead esoteric symbols and data points circled the world, the strategic minutia crowding the image. He understood what this was: a battlefield map of Haven built from the pixels.
< The bulk of the Endervar fleet has positioned itself at the planet, with a small remainder moving on to other worlds.>
The specialist pointed to the enemy ships. They nested across his homeworld, forming two rings in their orbit around it. He guessed that there were more than 200 ships, each one but a white dot, a simple statistic belying their destructive power. Already they had decimated Haven’s defenses, a strategy that the military had spent centuries devising. Now there was nothing to stand in their way.
“Was the populace able to escape?” Julian asked as he closed his eyes in frustration. “What happened?”
The specialist paused as she moved past the hologram. Julian could only see a sadness hang on her face. She crossed her shoulders, and gazed at the view outside.
< Some, but most were unable to flee. The Alliance estimates that over 60 million citizens still remain trapped. Your Chancellor and her staff were killed en route to a hyperspace point. Any other ships that have tried to flee Haven have been destroyed by the orbiting fleet.>
“But I mean… what of the Alliance? Will there be a counterattack?”
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