Chapter 3

With its shields down and weapons powerless, Espian Cruiser 2 was a sitting duck. Despite its sheer size and ten meter thick armour, a well placed bolt of coherent energy could still find a way between the armour plates and into critical regions of the ship, thus setting off a chain reaction of internal explosions which could cause the cruiser to blow completely apart. Lieutenant Tyrell and his crew were reminded of such a fate as the phantom ship bore down on them.

'Attention! Approaching craft class identified!'

Ratts Tyrell glanced at his monitor. 'Huh?'

'Classification: Nebulean Ambassador-Class Battleship within proximity.'

The Lieutenant went for the comlink. 'EC-1 this is EC-2, the phantom ship has been classified! It's one of those legendary Nebulean Ambassadors Sir!'

'Is it slowing down?' the Commander asked.

Tyrell consulted his graphs. 'Affirmative Sir, I don't think it's hostile. It's probably here to help us out.'

'Good. If anything starts going wrong before I get there, be sure to contact me. I should be with you any moment now. Just hold on'

'Aye, Sir!'

The remaining crew of EC-2 looked on in awe as the most impressive starship to have ever been constructed in all of Andromeda came into view. The Ambassador Battleship was the Nebulean's pride and joy, a masterpiece in ever aspect. It was only because of its creation that the Nebulean's were so up themselves and gloated about it whenever they got the chance. Its existence made them feel superior to all the other Solar Systems, especially to the Vatican SS who had the runners up entry in the competition — the Espian Star Cruisers. The Ambassadors could outrun and outgun any ship in the galaxy.

With a massive blast from the gigantic reverse thrusters, the Ambassador halted a good ten kilometers from EC-2. It loomed over the Espian cruiser, its sheer size completely overwhelming Tyrell and his crew who were gazing at it in awe.

'Attention! Incoming transmission. Proceeding to establish connection.'

The Lieutenant took a deep breath. 'Let's see what our neighbors have got to say.'

Tyrell sat silently as an image was projected onto the main window of the bridge for all to see. The picture was a little fuzzy at first but then it became much clearer, giving EC-2 a view of the command crew occupying the deck of the Ambassador. Lieutenant Tyrell almost fell off his chair in surprise.

The Nebulean Solar System had only five planets orbiting around its sun, and each of them were occupied by their own unique race of aliens. Unfortunately, the creatures that Tyrell saw on board the Ambassador did not fit the description of any of those that lived on the five planets. Instead they were pink, fleshy and muscular in appearance, much like the Palemalites but without two of the eyes, arms and the green skin. These could possibly be the humans that Rykal had discovered.

The Captain on board the Ambassador was grinning maliciously at Tyrell, bearing a set of brilliantly white teeth. 'Well, well, well. What have we here?' He turned to one of his co-pilots and asked him to examine the contents of EC-2.

Tyrell and his crew shuddered involuntarily as they felt themselves being scanned by the almighty battleship before them.

'Ah, ' said the Captain as he surveyed the results, 'Espians from the Vatican Solar System! I do believe that we have not come across your kind yet. I can't wait to make an acquaintance with your home planets.'

'W... who are you?' demanded a stuttering Tyrell. 'Where are the Nebuleans?'

The Captain sneered at the Espian, 'Nebuleans? Ah, you must mean the previous species that were on board this craft. We sapped them for every ounce of knowledge that they had of this galaxy. That included the whereabouts of all occupied solar systems within 100 light years. No one can hide from us now alien.' He smiled nastily at Tyrell, his dominating eyes focused squarely upon the Lieutenants. 'Not even the Vatican.'

Tyrell was quaking in his seat, an obvious sign of fear. 'What do you want?'

Something pinged on EC-2's radar.

'Enough talk alien. It's time that we were going. Corporal Hudson, ready the weapons.'

The radar pinged again. Judging by the reactions of the Ambassador's crew, the Nebulean craft hadn't noticed it yet. Perhaps their sensors had failed to pick it up.

Tyrell heard the Captain mutter two malicious words to his co-pilot, 'Obliterate them.'

The Ambassador was about to open fire upon the immobilized ship when the alarms suddenly started wailing. 'What the devil is that?' cursed the Captain as he swiveled on his chair, 'Corporal, report!'

'There's another ship within our region Captain! I don't know why we didn't see it before.'

The Human leader leapt to his feet. 'Another ship? Where?'

'Uh, Captain... '

'What is it you fool?'

'It's right in front of us! Approximately 50 meters from the bridge!'

'Impossible!' roared the Captain. 'I can't see anything!'

The Captain's statement was absolutely correct. He couldn't see anything... yet. As if by magic, something materialized in the vacuum before the Ambassador like the apparition of a ghost.

'What the hell is that Hudson?' bellowed the Captain in perplexity, 'And what is it doing?'

'It's a Scepter-LVX, a Palemalite stealth ship!' replied the Corporal.

The Captain watched in confusion as the two cannons on either side of the Scepter's wings opened up like four clawed pincers.

'Hah! It reckons that it can blast through our bridge defenses and destroy us all, ' said the Captain defiantly. 'It seems that our alien adversary here believes that he can punch through our shields. He'll do no more than a scratch!'

Lieutenant Tyrell smiled as he heard the Captain's remark. 'Oh, it'll do much, much more.'

Gasgango from planet Palemalon laughed as he squeezed the trigger. The Scepter's solarbeam cannons fired directly into the front view screen of the Ambassador's bridge with a flash of blinding light, causing the demented echoes of a dozen screams to be blasted across the intercom as twelve pairs of human eyeballs melted from their sockets. Lieutenant Tyrell watched on victoriously as the Ambassador's command crew rolled about on the deck, screaming hysterically from the excruciating pain.

The Ambassador shook violently as a hailstorm of red plasma bolts challenged the strength of its shields. EC-1 soared into battle with its guns blazing, circling around the enemy battleship relentlessly and hitting it from all sides.

'Nice of you to join us Commander Navoir, ' Tyrell said merrily over the intercom.

'Don't thank me!' replied the Commander, 'you should be thanking Gasgango for his timely assault!'