Star League - The Last Zomban

SL-TLZ Chapter 8 The Cloud

Huge logs of steel eject from the four corners of the salvage bay, releasing the Scowl from the pocket her engine core is docked in. A series of metallic pops signals Jal to push the ship to full throttle; he doesn't hesitate. The salvage bay slowly recedes on the rear scanner but not fast enough for his liking.Thank you Donnos. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten.

He says goodbye to the dead he leaves behind. They were the best crew he's ever had the priviledge to work with and they will be missed. Their loss weighs heavy on his heart. One way or another he will make the Magorr pay for what they did to them, especially to his beloved wife.

"Is mommy up here?" asks a tiny voice.

Jal nearly jumps out of his skin. He turns. There stands his youngest son, peeking expectantly around every corner. He didn't hear him come in. The boy is a mess; he is sweat soaked and out of breath. His skin is flushed and his eyes are pooled from crying.

"Did you run all the way up here? Where is Krag?" He must have left you to go back down to the bay. I'll deal with him later.

"Did you see mommy?" He asks a little louder and bolder than before. He is getting worried that she's not here.

Jal raises his eyebrows and looks on him with sad eyes. "No bud but come ‘ere and strap yourself in."

"I can't find her." Large tears drop from his eyes. "I have to find her." He turns and runs back through the door.

"Johnny come back here! There's no time for this!" The boy is not listening! He unhooks his harness and runs after him. He grabs his younger boy by the arm and hauls him back to the seat next to James and straps him in.

The salvage bay detonates with a tremendous explosion. The bright flash invades the darkness of space. The Magorr must have used proton matter to power the ship.

The shockwave pushes the Scowl into a forward roll. Jal feels his feet slip on the deck and he is truly shocked. The gravity compensator must be burned out. They will feel every bump of the roll! He is desperate to get in his seat and strapped in or he will hit the ceiling. His feet slip again and he suddenly wishes for his combersome mag shoes. He feels a sudden moment of doubt. I'm not going to make it!

He quickly orders James to fire the lower forward breaking thrusters while breathing deep to calm his growing fear. Ten seconds should be enough to set the ship right. He starts to get dizzy and decides instead to drop to the deck. He quickly unbuckles his belt and wraps it around the chair legs with not a moment to spare as the Scowl turns upside down. His feet dangle below the seat back and he prays the heavy leather belt doesn't snap under his weight. Afraid he will fall, he holds the seat legs tightly. His muscles and tendons scream at him for adding the extra weight to his body.

The loose harness strap swings down and the plastic buckle hits him hard in the temple, the sharp corner draws blood on impact. He closes his eyes in pain and looses consciousness.

****

Calls from the fleet flood the Watcher's comm board wanting to know what exploded.  The young officer stays professional and tells them all to maintain radio silence. She continues to hail the Scowl. There is no response.

Jolan gets icy tingles down his spine. He hopes for the best but fears the worst. Is my youngest son is dead? And my grandsons? He starts to quiver with grief. Soon he starts hyperventilating.

Malak laughs, excited by the bright blast but proud of this moment where he brought the mighty human Empor to his knees. Jesta wheels on him. "If my brother is dead-"

"You'll what...go to war?" Malak tilts his head. "He should have kept his hands off my property."

Jesta feels his anger slowly ebb away. This is one of those critical turning points that the Psyen are always preaching about. One mistake here can spark another intersteller war. He will not have that on his head.

Malak smiles.

The silence that follows hangs in the air. The speaker picks up nothing but static.

****

The Scowl enters the second spin and begins to slow. James shuts down the thrust two seconds too late and they start to roll backward. With quick hands and knowledge of this particular control system, he switches between the top and bottom breaking thrusters, alternating thrusts in one second bursts to a kid’s song that plays in his head.

The ship finally levels out. James lets out a great big sigh of relief and then screams at the top of his lungs. They are almost right on top of an Akledian frigate. James swings the steering yoke to the left and leans his whole eighty pounds into it. He yells to Johnny for help. His little brother is emotionally upset.

“What can I do?” he sobs.

“I need a co-pilot!”

Johnny sniffles and perks up. “I can co-pilot?” He wipes his nose on his sleeve.

The ship is large in the star port when they collide. James clenches his teeth, sweat drips from his brow as metal scrapes on metal. "I'm only seven! I don't wanna die!" He says in a hoarse cry and repeats it to himself until the scraping stops five long seconds later. The Scowl pulls away. He wonders about the damage and how long he will be grounded for. He relaxes and breaths easy. He spies Johnny pushing buttons. Does he even know what he is doing? Oh well. It's better than crying. James looks forward and screams again. The uncontrolled swing put them directly into the path of a small asteroid. He forgot they were in the Wasteland!

****

The staticy radio waves gives way to a human voice. "Looker to command. The cargo pod exploded. I repeat, the cargo pod exploded. The Scowl got clear of the blast but the shockwave pushed them into us. We're gonna need a paint job."

Jolan and Jesta are relieved but the elder Oakraider wants closure. "Do you have a visual?"

"Negative. They flew into the wasteland."

His fear grows cold. His entire family is on that ship. "Does anyone see them?" The silence stretches on.

****

James quickly swings the ship to starboard and tries to straighten it out. He swings the ship to port and back again. They are in the open now. James forces a breath.

He hears Johnny frantically pushing buttons. Suddenly, they are pinned back in their seats for three seconds by incredible g-forces. When he could move again, he spots an asteroid below them. “What did you just do?” Johnny shrugs and shows him. The engine stalls.

James knows they are in real danger this time. He has to land the ship on the asteroid. “I’ve landed only once! What do I do?” He focuses on the controls and recalls what he knows, button from button.

“Beginning landing sequence,” his father says, groggy from unconsciousness. James smiles and repeats the order. He presses a series of buttons and levers and hopes he is doing it right. They are still moving too fast.

“Land sekence,” Johnny copies his brother.

James feels himself lift from his seat, his shoulders forced against the crash harness. Johnny lifts from his seat and giggles. “Unbelievable! You shut off the gravity again!” His father floats just above the seat back as he turns himself upright. "You always do that!"

Jal releases his belt and turns himself upright on the seat back. As he climbs in his seat, he looks at his sons, who just flew this ship in the worst possible area there could be and came out alright. He will never see them as just children again.

Suddenly, they hit solid ground.

****

Jolan paces the deck, unable to think about anything but the possible loss of his grandchildren. Their futures are still wide open to any possibility. To lose your life at such an early age is totally unthinkable. All because of…what?

There is a sharp burst of static and the vidscreen flares to life with a staticy picture of the Scowl's bridge. Jolan’s mood totally changes. Everyone present can see he is physically relieved to see the rest of his family alive; they smile with him. Jal gives them his location. Jolan physically eyes the coordinates. “You’re above and ahead of us.” He gives Jesta a questioning look. “How did you get way out there?”

Jal shrugs. “You’ll have to ask my boys.” The kids gloat about flying the ship by themselves. He gives a quick debriefing of events up to the present.

"I think this rock is magnetic. The instruments are going crazy.”

“Stay put for now.”

“Daddy, look at that,” James says, totally bewildered.

"What is it?" Johnny stretches his neck to see above the console. "What is it?"

Jolan is filled with the same awe as his grandsons. A red cloud appears in the exact center of the clearing. He moves silently to Aganon's side. He stares out the starport as if in a dteam. “Is it a quasar?”

"No. A quasar is an electronic nightmare. We would feel it at this distance. This…this is something else entirely.”

Jesta stands next to his father. “How about a space storm?”

Aganon shakes his head. “A storm would also have given some kind of warning as it built in strength, especially one of this size and magnitude. This just appeared.” He stares wide eyed into the strange red cloud ahead. His unblinking eyes pick up the movement of two asteroids, pulled from their orbits toward the center of the cloud. On the closest asteroid is the Scowl. It passes through the cloud and vanishes. He watches intensely for it to exit the other side but is does not. It is gone.

"I'm getting a very bad feeling," he says. "Get your ships out of there. Get them all out."

****

Hsst stares at the red cloud and wonders how it could be? He knows cosmic storms and this is not a storm. Oher than pulling in two asteroids, there is no destructive force. Is this a weapon or a natural phenomenon? If it's the former, it is definitely not the Magorr's doing. Malak would have already used it on them. Perhaps they used this and destroyed their own world. No. This is too much even for them.

His ship is rocked by laser fire. Everyone is so mesmerized by the sudden appearance of the red cloud that they let their guard down. He doesn't want to but he orders his ships into the safety of the rocks.

This phenomenon is what he lives for. The Felline are a naturally curious species. They are scientists and explorers.

He leaves his ship in the open to study it. Scans reveal the clouds have almost no mass. They seem to swirl in place around an undefinable nucleus. He wants to get closer but doesn’t dare at this point until he knows more about it.

****

Malak can't believe this is happening. The Felline are on the run. I can finish them off in one more direct strike and now this happens. What is this trickery? Is it the Felline's secret weapon? Is this how they desyroyed Ralrulk?

He stares at the red cloud in total disbelief. It is a beautiful sight but his senses tell him it is deadly. The demons in the back of his mind warn him the Felline set a trap to finish off him and his entire race. He wants to know what it is, how it's made so he can destroy it. Until he knows, he orders all of his ships to cloak and get out of its reach.