Nova pushed the BADGE shuttle to its limit. The engines rattled, and the interior grew hotter under the strain of taxing the power systems. A buzzer beeped loudly for a moment, but was stopped when Nova slapped the button. This was the sixth time he has had to shut down that warning.
Krystal cleared her throat. “Sir, I know you want to get back, but blowing us up will not make this any faster.”
“We have to get back there now. If I had not asked you and Torrik to cut off teleportation to the station, this wouldn’t be necessary.”
The windows grew bright orange as they blazed through the atmosphere.
“Do you think this is really Legion?”
Nova said, “I don’t know. But, I have been worried about this for some time. The rise in Morphon’s in the atmosphere makes little sense, except that is exactly how Legion seeds a world before they attack.”
“But Legion fell years ago. We took it down. We killed the last of Legion’s most powerful during that war. There is no one left to resurrect it.”
“Legion is like a virus. Even the smallest part of it can grow quickly. How it returned so fast, I don’t know. But I’ll not have them invade again.” The warning beeped loudly again. “Damn!” Nova slapped the button, but this time, it didn’t shut off.
“Emergency shut-off activated.” The computer announced, and all the power systems went dark. The engines stopped pushing them. Inertial force in space kept them moving forward toward the station.
“Oh, crud.” Krystal said.
“This isn’t good. I’ve lost all control.”
“Don’t worry, I can still help with this.” Krystal put her hands together and then spread them apart. A purplish glow surrounded the shuttle, and she was now controlling its direction. “I’ll let the inertial force keep us going, but I’ll direct our path.”
They zoomed toward the station, the shuttle silent now. The heat inside the cabin softened as the power systems cooled off so they wouldn’t ignite. Suddenly, a great shadow crossed their path as something enormous blocked the sunlight.
The rusty hulk of the Legion battleship drifted by. Its decaying exterior shedding bits of debris as it slowly moved through space. Flashes of sparks buzzed here and there as systems failed to work properly.
“What on earth is that?” Krystal asked.
“That is a Class 1 Legion Battle cruiser.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that before. The cruisers they came in to attack earth looked nothing like that.”
Nova watched it with irritated terror in his eyes, saying, “They used that ship around a thousand earth years ago. I doubt they had any in service when they invaded Earth.”
“But that makes little sense. Why would Legion be using an ancient, outdated piece of junk?”
Nova said, “I don’t know. But it’s part of Legion and that is all I need to know. Keep your eyes forward. We’re getting close to the shuttle bay.” He pressed his comm on his wrist. “This is Nova. Krystal is guiding the shuttle into bay four. Have a tractor beam ready for an unpowered landing.”
Justin answered, “Understood.”
Nova and Krystal walked through the station toward the command level lift. A four-armed man with red skin interrupted their run toward the lifts.
“I don’t have time, Red.” Nova said.
Red Fury said, “Sorry, but there is a situation.”
“I know.”
“I mean,” Red Fury said, “We have a large group of recruits here right now. I don’t have room in the safe area for this number and getting them on a shuttle is not possible with that ship out there.”
“Krystal,” Nova turned to her, “Go with Red and help send as many back to Earth as you can. If they want to just go down and wait this out before returning, send them to the BADGE facility in London. I’ll alert Benjamin they will join him.”
“Yes, sir.” She left with Red Fury for the back of the station.
Nova got into the lift. Moments later, he was stepping out into the Operations center of the station. Before he could even ask for a report, something slammed into him, sobbing and holding him like a scared child.
“They’re back!!! Why! Why are they back?” EB bawled like a child.
Justin said, “I haven’t been able to calm him down.”
Nova let out a controlled sigh and calmly said, “This may not be a Legion invasion. That’s a really old ship. We don’t know enough yet to make any conclusions.”
“They... they... they’re gonna destroy my favorite planet.” A big, wet sniff later, he continued, “They destroyed my first favorite planet and now Earth. WHY!”
Nova peeled the bunny off of him and held him up by his ears. “Calm down!”
EB sobbed less loudly. “Thanks. I needed a good Nova scream.”
“Ugh!” He dropped EB and made his way down to Justin. “Report?”
“I have all of our investigative drones out there scanning every inch of the exterior of that ship. All the station’s sensors are trying to read the inside. We have sent out hailing messages asking them to respond. So far, we know only that this ship is ancient. Its weapon systems seem to be offline, the power systems are at bare minimum, and nothing on board is alive.”
Nova said, “They don’t have to be a living being to be a threat.”
“What?”
Nova walked around and looked up at the screen. Memories of ancient times, wars fought against these very ships, only in far better shape. “That is an early testing ship. A small fleet of them would arrive at a prepared world and do the initial test against the people. Battle drones would attack. If the drones could defeat the warriors of that world, then the ship would simply drop several tons of sub-nuclear bombs, destroy the world from space, and return to the Legion HQ. If the warriors defeated the robots, then Legion would show up to challenge them more officially.”
Justin said, “They didn’t do that to Earth? Legion showed up and attacked. No testing period.”
EB said, “That would be our fault.”
“What?” Justin turned and looked at EB.
“Well, we tried to hide among your people, to disguise ourselves so Legion would never find us again. We would train your people and help them be ready for Legion. And, I might add that we did a damn fine job since your people were ready. However, our presence didn’t go entirely unnoticed. They could sense our power. That encouraged them to bypass this phase and simply attack. It was kinda like when that one farmer discovered me hiding eggs. He just started picking them up instead of waiting for Easter Morning. I mean, serious... um... sorry.”
Justin asked, “Do you think they’re sending another force to test us? I thought we had finally defeated Legion once and for all.”
Nova said, “I don’t know. Something about this seems... off. Legion didn’t split its forces. It was an all-in situation. They would fight to the death, theirs or their enemies. This doesn’t seem like a precursor to invasion.”
EB said, “Then, what do you think this is?”
“I hope it is just an ancient ship that is lost. Robot 10445, send a communication signal to that ship. Use a focused trifector beam.”
“What is that?” Justin asked.
“It is a type of particle beam that the old Legion ships used. If that doesn’t get their attention, then there isn’t anything alive over there, organic or mechanical.”
“Signal sent.” 10445 announced.
There was a moment of complete silence in the room as all three waiting hoping nothing would answer.
“Signal incoming.” 10445 announced.
A fuzzy image of a robot stood before them. “Planet below, we are Legion. Prove your worth or face destruction. Send us your strongest. We... we... weweweeee....” Its voice buzzed and scratched. The screen went blank for a moment.
“See... I told you we are in deep crap.” EB was now hugging Nova’s leg. He said, “Come on, go all angle and kick their asses.”
“EB, not now.”
The image returned, and the robot said, “It appears you are unworthy. You will be destroyed.” The image flicked off.
Justin said, “This is bad. Our sensors are reading ten sub-nuclear energy signatures on that ship. That’s enough power to crack the crust of the Earth.”
EB whimpered, “How about now?”
0 Comments