Chapter 2

"Captain, I am picking up multiple Trans-space openings three thousand miles away. What are your orders?" Trans-space? What the fuck was that? From a memory came a scene of multiple colors and transparency. It was one of the quickest ways to travel. Being the quickest way it was also very dangerous. It needed constant calculations and a steady hand on the controls. As it was so dangerous AI units were the only thing trusted to make the transfer. Even then ships still disappeared in Trans-space.

"What!?" Nichsa's face turned to one of horror. This was a no-fly zone. Nothing should be entering this system. Unless... "Computer please send an inquiry as to who these intruders are." She turned to Aocles. He was an obstacle here. He had to leave. But where? His fighter? Yes, he must return to Hemsut. "Aocles you must get back to Hemsut. If they are hostile you will be better off in her."

Aocles nodded. He didn't like this. Something felt wrong. Terribly wrong. If they were hostile he would rather be here with Nichsa, but instead he would be in his fighter. Wait. That was it. Fighter. "Nichsa once I'm in my fighter open the bay doors. Hemsut and I will leave and provide support. If my feeling is right then this is not going to go good." Nichsa nodded.

Aocles ran back to bay two. Hemsut was already powered up and ready to fly. He jumped in and the cockpit closed over him. Damn this intrusion. He was getting along with her when these ass holes decided to break up the party. What the fuck am I doing now? Flying is one thing. Actually fighting is another.

Almost as if she had read his thoughts Hemsut spoke to him, "Hell you've done it on Earth. It is almost the same thing. You just have to remember this is in three dimensions instead of your two." Of course. But the first fight he had been in he had been shot down. Now what would happen. Would he get blown up? This was crazy. Of course there was Nichsa then. He had to help her.

The ship around him rumbled. He didn't know what was going on. Minutes passed before the bay doors opened. He nudged Hemsut out into open space. Wait a second. Were they not just on the Moon? He looked down and saw that the Arabius was in flight. That was why the ship had rumbled. They had taken off.

Nichsa's voice broke in, "Aocles I have confirmed reports that there are three Gr'Ivicus cruisers headed this way. They are weapons hot and targeting the Arabius. Please get out there and find a way to stop them." Her voice cut off and Aocles started to worry. To steady himself he spoke his fears out loud.

"Nichsa I hope you live through this. I might not though. Not when it's fucking three cruisers you want me to face. Well, you asked me to so I shall." Unbeknownst to him Hemsut had turned on the communications incase he had wanted to reply to her. Nichsa heard it all. She kept silent though.

Aocles activated the cloak and shot forward towards the emerging cruisers. They weren't small and they definitely weren't pretty. The bulky ships started shooting almost as soon as the Trans-space holes were closed. Interesting. He stored that bit of information away. From their distance their shots weren't accurate but they didn't care. They just wanted to get rid of the Tol presence. The Arabius evaded any shots that came close and returned fire. As her shots closed on the cruisers they seemed to hit an invisible wall. That meant only one thing. Force fields. Damn. Just when I am in a fighter.

He shot past the trio of ships and turned around on them. This was his best bet. They would be putting all their shields forward for the one ship. Hopefully. He carefully aimed at an engine and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Then he remembered. The fins. Another button and the four fins rose up and made an X on the fighter. He re-aimed at the engine and pulled the trigger. Still nothing. Damn! Forgot the guns. Yet another button. and four long thin guns appeared out of the holes the fins had made on the hull of the ship. By this time the first cruiser was turning for some reason.

Switching to the second cruiser he aimed at the engines and fired. The explosion was beautiful. The engines literally split in half as explosion after explosion lit up the back of the cruiser. Suddenly, the entire cruiser went up in a ball of fire. A shockwave rippled out from near where the engines were and quickly charged Aocles. He knew this was bad. A few wrist movements and Hemsut was instantly going straight upwards. Well what was up to him. In space anything was whatever you wanted it to be.

The Gr'Ivicus knew something was up now that it had lost one of its own. The shockwave spread further losing its power until it hit harmlessly on the hulls of the other cruisers. The first cruiser completed its turn and headed behind the third cruiser. Aocles passed with a few feet of its hull. What he saw made him think.

All over the hull thousands of little critters were continuously making repairs. Others a little larger than those making the repairs held something up into the air. Yet larger ones walked over the littler ones and seemed to keep to a well ordered patrol of the hull. Drones or droids the critters were effective. The first cruiser stopped as had the second. They had their engines together and were keeping an eye out for each other. Aocles smiled.

He hovered over to the engines. Dangerous shots, he thought. Hit these and they go boom, then the reactors go boom. It got rid of them though. He aimed at the third cruiser. It was the biggest threat to Nichsa right now. He fired. They hit an invisible wall. They had spread out their force field. Thousands of little shots started to appears around his ship. The little critters were firing.

He pulled a half loop with a 180 twist and then a 180 twirl. He was now facing where he was just seconds ago. A foot thick beam raced through the space he had just emptied. Those really big critters were dangerous!

A new memory overcame Aocles.

Nopath grinned as he twisted the last nut. This would get anything. It would go through anything. Shields couldn't stop it. To bad he couldn't test field that part. Had to keep his experiments quiet. Don't want the battleship to come down and give him a new hole.

Nopath stood up and dusted his hands together. Now Hemsut was really formidable. Too bad Hemsut had to be put into a sleep cycle for now. He touched a button and the gun retracted into the belly of the ship. Now if only it would work.

His grin grew wider at the thought of what this meant to him. It meant everything. Hemsut was his life.

Aocles came back to consciousness and noticed the critters had stopped firing. He pushed an odd purple button.

"What was that Aocles?" The gun extended from the belly of the ship.

"Just something Nopath thought you might like. I sure do. If it works of course." He grinned. To Hemsut his grin reminded her of Nopath. He was definitely his descendent.

The trigger was pulled and a dazzling purple light shot forward. The light went through the force field and connected with the engines. Scared of another chain reaction Aocles threw the afterburners on and fled back towards Earth. Before entering the atmosphere he pulled on the brake. Behind him both cruisers exploded in a beautiful array of colors. Purple, pink, red, blue, and even a variation of green showered the sky.

Everyone on the hemisphere that could see the explosion turned to watch it. News stations caught it on film, the government trained satellites on it, and the five exiles watch it in fear. They know what a reactor going up looks like. They also know that nothing on the planet could make that explosion. They started for their own ships.

"Hemsut, could you please find the Arabius." Fear filled his voice. Was she alive? Did she make it through the fight? What if he caused her to die? What if the ship went down in the explosions? His fears were groundless though.

"Oh, thank the Stars that you are alive Aocles. I thought you were dead," she whispers through the mike. Her voice is an echo of his feelings. Joy that they are both alive.

"No, we just decided to do some touring of the atmosphere. Where are you?" Concern flooded his voice and Nichsa heard it. Does he really care for me? Why would he? No that is definitely concern. Is it for me? Why? Does he like me? Mm, that would be delicious.

"Back behind the moon. I used it to shelter behind from the first shockwave. Come and land in the fighter bay."

Thirty minutes later they are both sitting in the Captain's ready room. It had a small bed, a desk, a large table, and eight chairs. The walls were empty except for a large indenture where Nichsa stood. She returned to the table carrying two plates of food. Aocles looked at his and shuddered. It was ... gruesome. It looked almost as if there were insects lining the noodles. And the rice looked like maggots. One of the rice moved and he had to look away. Nichsa laughed.

"Good. I don't much like this plate either." She continued to laugh as she returned to the replicator. The plates disappeared. "I don't know what you would like to eat so why don't you come order it?" Aocles stood up and walked over to join her. His appetite was large but that fool plate had reduced it to near nothing. "Go ahead and tell it what you want."

Thinking, Aocles decided on one of the most favored dishes the world of Earth had ever gave birth to. Pizza. He described it and let the replicator try and make it. It took three tries until it at least looked right. He took a slice and bit into it. It was heaven. He could taste the bread, sauce, cheese, and pepperoni as it went over his tongue. He grabbed it and returned to the table.

Nichsa followed curious at this strange food that he gobbled down so readily. As she sat down he offered her a triangular slice of the food. She took it and followed his example of eating the point part first. Flavor flooder her mouth. Indescribable tastes coated her tongue. She had never tasted anything so good. Together they ate the rest of the pizza. When they were done Aocles was thirsty. He tried getting coke but the replicator didn't know the product. He settled on water.

The alarm sounded again and the lights turned red. They raced out onto the bridge.

"What the fuck is happening now?" Aocles asked.

"Report computer!" He couldn't help admiring her seemingly cool stance at danger.

"More exile activity. Five ships seem to be inbound to our position. They know we are here." Anger covered her face.

"What the fuck! How do they know we are here!? No one should know." She turned on Aocles. Screw their enjoyable experiences. "What the fuck did you do? Did you advertise our position? Did you tight-beam it to the exiles? Just what the fuck are you doing?" Anger seemed to drive all rational thought from her. A dangerous reaction.

"Tr'Nichsa, listen to me..."

"Fuck you! You betrayed me! Now I am compromised. What am I suppose to tell the exiles? Fuck that! You tell them everything if you haven't already. I never should have trusted your Hybrid ass. Get the fuck out of my sight!" He couldn't argue with her. Every time he opened his mouth she yelled at him to leave.

Aocles left the bridge and headed for fighter bay three. He was depressed. Why would she do this? How could she think I have done this? I thought we had something going. Now there really is no reason to exist. The one person I have feelings for and she turns on me. Thinking I would betray her. I don't even know any of the other exiles. What the fuck is going on!?

He jumped into Hemsut and closed the cockpit. He had her send the request to open the doors. The computer accepted the request. It thought he was actually apart of the fighter retinue and would meet the incoming fighters. He tore out of the bay without care for damage. He didn't activate the shields or the cloak. He threw everything into speed. His course was plotted. Only twenty minutes until he met his destination. The Sun.

The five exiles saw the leaving fighter but didn't give it a second thought. Why should they. All sensors reported there was still life on the bridge. One by one they landed in the vacated fighter bay. Once all five were down the bay doors closed. Atmosphere was established and the exiles jumped out of their fighters. Two females and three males. They looked at each other, but they kept silent. They knew each other. They had governed the world and put to death the other three exiles. There was small stability in their partnership though.

They followed a corridor until they came to the bridge. There they found Tr'Nichsa. Once just a simple pilot in the Flager Corps. Now she captained a battleship. Surprise showed on all their faces. They had all been in the Corps. Now here they were once again.

"Greetings, I am Captain Tr'Nichsa of the Arabius. I am surprised to find you five as exiles on this planet."

"Exiles?" Asked a red headed female. Something else about her seemed familiar. Her green eyes locked with hers and she knew. This must be Aocles' mother.

"Oh yes. At least that is what I was told. Now Atlanta, you haven't been with any human males within the last say seventeen years, have you?" Atlanta blushed. She had. And had kids with two of them. Her first child would be sixteen by now if he hadn't have died in that stupid war. The other two were too young to go anywhere on their own though.

"Yes, I have." The others looked at her. They knew what happened when humans and Tol made babies. Hybrids. They had vowed with each other never to parent such an abomination. Atlanta had broken that vow.

"One of your kids wouldn't happen to be sixteen this year would he?" Atlanta flushed an even darker red. This woman knew a lot of her intimate dealings it seemed.

"He would have been. But he went over to that stupid war with Iraq and got himself killed." Tears flowed down her face. His funeral had been earlier that day and that was actually where she was when she saw the explosion in space.

"Good riddance," Rushin said. Lomath and Noshin nodded their heads in agreement. Ikilla on the other hand was furious.

"How can you say that! Imagine what it is like to see a son of your very own leave you and get himself killed in a war that has nothing to do with what everyone seems to think it does. It is stupid and horribly wrong. It should never have happened. I am sorry Atlanta," Ikilla said turning to her. "I wonder how Nichsa here knew this though? She doesn't question the rest of us on our intimate dealings."