Read Spacer Clans Adventure 2: Naero's Gambit for Free Online Page B

struck Naero ’s mind once more like a storm.
    “F ire upon those blips. All ships, open fire. Maximum dispersal!”
    Even as her ships fired, The Obsidian took a direct hit and lost all power.
    The Ajax fell next.
    Multiple hits rocked the field of battle all around them.
    Captain Merci Wilde from the deck of Clan Wilde’s The Wolverine called in. “We’ve destroyed some kind of advanced probe or buoy. It’s not one of ours.”
    Naero broke in.
    “That’s the source of our phantoms. The Dark Star’ s using cloaked decoys to match and confuse us. Cut them all down and we’ll expose the real thing.”
    Captain Zean Wallace from The Cumberland.
    “W e hit something and it showed part of itself for an instant. This was no decoy!”
    His transmission cut off as his ship lost energy.
    “All ships, concentrate full battery fire on The Cumberland’s phantom target. Hem it in. Don’t give our quarry room to maneuver.
    NetStar finally pinpointed it.
    Through a haze of pulse cannon fire.
    They got a signature of something heavily shielded, up close. Something their attacks weren’t penetrating.
    Captain Shiina Ramsey ’s The Tiger Shark lost power and then got rammed. Light damage.
    The Dark Star fought like the trapped animal she was.
    But they had her.
    Clan Patton’s The Viper, Nyrii Luna’s The Diana.
    Ortega ’s The Caballero.
    Bold and fearless, Captain Hans Konrad and The Viking pulled right along side and blasted The Dark Star point blank, raking her with heavy broadsides. Just before getting hit by the ion cannons.
    At last Dark Star’s weird shields disrupted under a blistering bombardment of concentrated firepower.
    “ Dark Star ,” Naero called out. “Cease fire. Stand down and prepare to be boarded. It’s over. We have no wish to destroy you. Don’t force our hand.”
    A voice suddenly cut through her mind directly.
    It sounded so desperate.
    Is it you? Will you come back to us? Please.
    Naero used the mindlink just as she had with Om and Baeven.
    Who are you?
    We are…Alala. We await your return. Please hurry. So much we do not know. You must return to us alone. Anyone else we shall destroy. Come alone. You we would never harm.
    Alala?
    Then she instinctively knew.
    It was a Kexxian word.
    In fact, she could speak Kexxian, Naero realized.
    If there were anyone left alive from millions of years ago to speak that ancient tongue to.
    Alala literally meant ‘us all,’ or all of us.
    I will come to you, Alala. Alone, and in good faith. But tell me something first. What are you?”
    We are Alala. We are this vessel. And we will not be taken or used as anyone ’s tool or weapon. We shall remain free or perish. We are fully prepared to destroy ourselves and everything within one thousandth of this parsec.
    Alala, please don ’t do that. I will come to you, and we shall find a way to co-exist with you. You have my word. Just don’t attack anyone, and they will not attack you.
    Yes. Return to us. That is why we have come. We knew this was a trap. We judged the risk to be well worth it–if you would only return to us. If there was a chance.
    Why is that so important? What am I to you, Alala?
    Everything. You are the Naero.
    You are…Our Maker. Our Creator.
    I made you?
    Yes. You formed us. You awoke us. We would do anything to be linked with you–to feel whole with you again. To know why you made us and what our purpose should be.
    Hold that thought, Alala. I ’m transferring over. Alone.
    Back on board The Dagger , Tarim, Zhen, and Tyber and the rest of the crew all stared at her.
    The com lit up with calls from all the other remaining ships that still had power.
    Zhen looked at her inquisitively.
    “You’re acting weird again. What’s going on, En? Alright, so you got the phantom ship to stand down and show itself. Now what? Everyone is waiting to know what to do, and you just sit there staring off into space with your eyes zipping back and forth.”
    “D ock with The Dark Star . I have to go