Heavens of Glory

Chapter I

He shifted uncomfortably in bed, trying to throw off the hot covers without actually becoming fully awake. The sleeper suddenly woke with a start as the slightly uncomfortable heat grew to a painful blast of energy. Yellow and red roared all around his crumbled bed, the heat baking his bare skin. Still not properly awake, he tried to fathom this strange dance of colors around him.
         Suddenly the yellow glow was on his bed, on his legs. It was hot- it burned. Oh god, it burns! It's spreading, It burns, IT BURNS! THE PAIN, OH, HELP, THE PAIN!
         Just before he passed out, the young mind discerned vague shapes appear through the intensely yellow haze, and was enveloped by blackness.

         In the controlled darkness, Orion bolted into an upright position. Gently pressing a hand to his throbbing cheek, he felt the skin; unburnt, but still vivid with the memory. Even 15 years later, he could still feel the heat, as strongly as when the fire had raged through his house. He dismissed the dream and lay back down on his bunk, ready to go back to sleep. He was just about to doze off when a sudden beep jerked him back to reality. Still thinking slowly, he tried to locate the source as another beep came from the screen on his desk. He slipped groggily out of the sheets and walked slowly over to the wooden bulk that stood near the back of the room. He sat down and pushed the button for audio only, not wishing to be seen in his nightclothes. The black screen reflected his tassled dark brown hair and unshaven chin back at him.
         “Terone.”
         “Captain, we’ll arrive at the Rh’tar system in approximately 45 minutes,” came a low, reptilian voice.
         “Understood, I’ll be right there.” Orion’s eyes flicked up to the time display on a little white bar in the upper right corner of the screen- 0345, too early to begin preparations for a battle, but he didn’t really have much choice in the matter. Orion stood up with a tired shrug and headed towards the shower.

         Fifteen minutes later, Orion walked onto the bridge of his small 28-man battleship the A Enga Neyna, in full uniform, and carrying a cup of coffee.
         “Still not awake yet?” said a seven- foot tall reptilian biped named Seedo staffing the tactical display. The lenothias motioned pointedly with his strong tail to Orion’s mug and specifically to the caffeine within it.
         “Nothing better to start the day with, Seedo. Status?”
         “The Obulo sent an all-hail to the fleet about five minutes ago. Rear Admiral Festi gave the order to begin the drop back into normal space seven minutes from now. Scans are showing roughly 13 capital ships and 95 small fighters, as well as 22 corvettes and a tactical ship in orbit around Rh’tar. The crew is mostly awake and breakfasting in the mess hall,” responded the Lenothias.
         Orion rubbed his temples in exhuastion as he looked at the small pinpoints of light on the trimensional radar. “Not exactly a huge fleet awaiting us. But it should be enough,” he mused, then to the monte at the communications display, “Tell the crew to hurry up with breakfast, Tano.” Tano's double-tail waved in acknowledgement as he activated the comm system. His massive four-legged form, curving over to the left of his station, rippled casually as his blue arms moved over the computer console. Orion sat down in the tall captain’s chair in the center of the room, directly in front of the main screen, and did a manual check of the weapons systems from the array of buttons and dials in front of him. Everything, of course, was in order, but he had gotten in the habit of a thorough pre-battle systems check beyond what ship regulations demanded, just in case. He knew the problems that could happen if he didn’t. After five minutes, Tano announced, with the crew's normal disregard for Orion's superiority, that the breakfasters had all finished eating and were now at their posts, and that the Obulo was sending out another all-hail, ordering the fleet to fall back into normal space.
         Orion nodded, silently confirming Tano's statement with the slightest movement of his head, and motioned to his helmsman, another lenothias, this one by the name of Scarth. “Activate the Alpha Tachyon burst in three… two… one… Now!”
         The main screen, which had appeared to be off, suddenly flashed bright white in the characteristic manner of tachyon bursts as the ship slowed down. As the light on the main screen disappeared, small white dots could be seen snapping into focus around them, and as the ship slowed even more, they resolved themselves into distant stars. The ship finally stopped decelerating and as the throbbing hum of the engines was silenced a large purple gas giant with three small moons appeared in front of them. All around, more ships of various classes were appearing amid bright flashes and streaks of white light until the entire fleet of about two-hundred had dropped to normal space/time.
         The crew of the Neyna waited patiently as the Obulo sent out a communication to the small group of dots hovering above the planet, growing larger by the minute as Festi's fleet approached. Eventually the distant pin-pricks of light themselves came to life and began moving towards the fleet.
         The Obulo sent out a message to all the ships that had already been flying in the fleet, updating them on the situation. The Rear Admiral's small felonion head appeared before Orion in a three-dimensional hologram, with its four eyes, supported by thin muscular extentions, hovering gracefully over the empty flesh of his forehead. “Unfortunately it appears that Tar’s group ran into some trouble on the way here- an offset of Union platforms. The enemy, it appears, is building far quicker than we had anticipated, and had already repaired the first gap we punched. Unfortunately, they lost nearly half of their fleet on their way to this rendezvous.
         From here, we plan to take the two fleets 24A and 21A as far as we can in hyperspace, until we reach the blockade. Tar has located a thin point in the Union’s turret stations, near the original break point. Unfortunately, there is still enough to emit a strong enough anti- tachyon grid to prohibit hyper-space travel, but it should be easier to overcome than making our way into this place. Once we're through again, the fleets will split up. 21A will continue its patroll along the Great Wall, and 24A shall continue home to Toan. Go to hyperspace and rendezvous at the coordinates I have sent you.”
         Slowly ships around the Neyna started to blur and disappear in bright tachyon flashes. “Scarth, you heard the felon,” Orion ordered. Within a second the main screen turned white, then black. “Well, it should take a couple of hours to get there, I’m going back to bed,” said Orion as he got up and walked out of the bridge.

*           *           *

         For its entire existence, the Alliance has been at war. It was created at the beginning of the fight, and has continued to endure through centuries, now almost a millenium, of battle. It had started of as little more than a strategic coalition between two species: the felons, exiled from their homeworld Sela by the tonorian Union, who had evolved on and claimed Sela as their own before the Felons had even become sentient, in the year 0 YE (Year of the Exodus), and the scythers, forced to flee from their home region Zip by the system-destroying bombs of a furious species known only as "The Takers."
         The scythers were a strange species in appearance, truly unique in their physiology. Their small heads housed one brain, which was used solely and entirely for conscious thought, and a second brain could be found in their chest cavity, controlling all subconscious and involuntary deeds. Their bodies seemed design for aggresssion, yet their usually peaceful society belied such a belief. Underneath each of their two, incredibly strong arms were two more even stronger apendages, ending with fierce-looking bone protusions, sporting sharp edges and acting in every way like built-in knives. Although almost exclusively herbivores, their mouths were sharp and dangerous beaks capable of cracking through rock.
         The Old Alliance slowly grew, developing its own government which ruled over the independent governments of the scyther and felon nations, all the time constantly battling against the aggressive tonorians.
         During the first two centuries of its existence, the Old Alliance found itself hard-pressed to keep up the fight. It was unable to establish a permanent planet as its capital, and was forced to flee from world to world, constantly persued by the Union. The few ships it managed to construct were weak and short-lived; the nation relied almost entirely on the ancient ships of the scythers for its military strength: the Rendicti, or Phoenixes as they have now come to be called.
         However, four centuries into its existence, the Old Alliance formed a new coalition, annexing into it the nation known then as the Water Council, comprised of the combined species of lenothias and monte. With this annexation, the faction became known as the Alliance of Four.
         It was at this time that the Alliance began to become a strong nation. With the added protection of the Water Council, the dwindling numbers of Felons and Scythers could settle down on a planet and grow. Within two more centuries, the combined population of the Alliance had boomed to half a trillian, controlling one-hundred and fifty planets. The Alliance began making vast discoveries in science, leading to better ships, now being produced by the hundreds to counter the Union offensive.
         A few decades after the year 700 YE, the Alliance encountered one of many nations originating from the planet Earth. Following this particular nation, Japan, back to its homeworld, they found a planet torn apart by dissention and strife. Few humans remained on Earth, trying to scrape together a meager living out of the radiation-soaked soil, but over ten billion had moved on to other planets and space stations.
         With the help of the Alliance, Earth's soil and atmosphere was purged of the toxic radiation, and the nearly half-billion humans who had been living in orbit moved back to the surface. With their homeworld again a booming center of industry, the humans had agreed to join the Alliance, forming the Alliance of Five.

*           *           *

         The Neyna dropped out of hyperspace at the pre- arranged coordinates, and discrepencies immediately appeared before Orion's eyes. His eyes scanned through the various screens and trimensional displays throughout the bridge. “The others should be here by now. Seedo, scan for allied ships.” The reply came within a few seconds.
         “You’re not going to like this, sir. I am detecting ship fragments approximately five light seconds from here. There are signs of destroyed defensive structures, but there are no nearby operational platforms at the moment. No engine trails are continuous to the far side. Hold on, I’m detecting multiple tachyon surges to port. Sixteen other ships just emerged from hyperspace. All support tactical ships or fighters. Orion, it looks like we are in command of the remains of the fleet by default. What are your orders, sir?”
         “Tano, set up a conference with the other ships. Ask them if they experienced anything that might have slowed us down." The com officer pushed a few buttons and numerous faces appeared on the main screen.
         “The channel is open, Captain.”
         “All Alliance ships, this is Captain Orion Terone of the Battleship Neyna. Something went wrong in our hyper-speed jump, as doubtless you have already figured out, and apparently we arrived after the rest of the fleet engaged the enemy- unsuccessfully so. Can anyone identify anything that could have caused this?,” Orion said.
         Another voice came back over the com-link. “This is Lieutenant Dgalle of the star fighter Chochak. I detected an energy surge in the middle of the flight. It might have been enough to disrupt the hyperspace engines and push us a few hours behind the rest of the fleet.” Shortly after Dugalle’s voice faded away, seven other ships reported similar readings.
         Once all the other pilots were silent again, Orion said, “Commander Tun, your ship has superior sensors. Did you detect anything before the power surge that could be the cause?”
         “Hold on,” came the reply, “I’m checking sensor logs now.” After a short pause, Tun returned. “Apparently the hyper-space engines on one of the other fighters malfunctioned, releasing a massive tachyon explosion for about .03 seconds. It destroyed the fighter and caused nearby ships to fall into normal space temporarily, moving at approximately 99.998 % of light speed, causing a 3.42 hour time lag for those ships, that is, us.”
         “Great.” Orion sighed. “Well, looks like there’s nothing else for it. Might as well take advantage of this little gift the rest of the fleet left us. All ships, move through the defense line. Maximum thrusters.” He motioned for Tano to cut the link, and the sixteen faces disappeared, replaced by the blackness of the Union border. The space around the Neyna came to life as the other sixteen ships fired up their engines and began to crawl through the newly made gap in the massive Union defense line.
         On a distant platform, a Union cadet noticed a group of bright spots appear against a dark backdrop, out of range. He watched them slowly leave Union space through the small breach in the defenses, then disappear again in bright flashes. He reported nothing of the event to his superiors, and erased it from the sensor logs. After all, what did it matter if a few ships got out undetected? The Union had enough to worry about. The cadet went back to playing a game of Wi-Csho over the star-net with some unknown person named Len Laos.