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Chapter Two

**Uncharted Space

Alpha Fornacis System

ODV Valiant**

May 20, 2550 CE

"Europa Federalis is celebrating a military victory over the United Islamic State with its capture of the former city of Istanbul." The radio Azuk set next to his cockpit said. He figured that if he was going to be on a human ship, he may as well pay attention to the human news. "Since the fighting started four years ago, the war between the two states has been raging throughout the Balkan region. For now a ceasefire has been called in the east as European forces marched into Istanbul. Pope Urban has already confirmed that the city's name will be reverted to Constantinople. It's believed that the Iberian frontline will be reinforced to begin pushing the Muslims from Western Europe."

Azuk had been awake for the arrival in the Alpha Fornacis system. He was on the first shift, so he had to be awake at the completion of the jump. Alpha Fornacis, like all of the outgoing systems, had names, but this is one of the last of the charted systems. The system in surveys had shown to be unremarkable, but a larger number of gas giants were noted in orbit around the star. For smaller ships, such as the Valiant, that would facilitate refueling of hydrogen cells by skimming the surface of a gas giant. This system was apparently only put into the search because of that fact. If a ship had to flee, this would be an ideal system if they were at all similar to Terran designs.

Even then, the main goal of the scouting are the various small, rocky worlds scattered around. The surveys from years ago said there were about five of them. Only one had an atmosphere but it wasn't breathable. The rest were without an atmosphere and pitted by constant asteroid impacts. If a ship were small enough, hiding in the smaller craters would almost be doable. If the signals were actual bases, then the craters would be good places to put them as well.

While the jump was ending, Azuk had been running the pre-flight checks on his interceptor getting it ready to fly on arrival. The first shift would put them over the outermost rocky planet in a few hours, so Azuk would be protecting the ship while it did the scans of the planet in a fast orbit. Afterward they'd slingshot around the planet toward one of the gas giants for refueling. The shift may be over before arrival at the gas giant, but that was for the best. Azuk didn't really want to fly through the upper layers of a gas giant. It's a rather simple flight plan for a shift. After the first system, the techs painted a '2' on the nose of the interceptor. Azuk was now Valiant-2. The squadron's commander had the 1, and he assumed he got the 2 because he actually got the only kill so far.

Above the exit into space, the red lights turned to green shortly after the jump ended and the hangar blast door retracted. That signaled it is safe to launch now. Without a word, Azuk hit the button to disable the magnetic clamps and maneuvered the interceptor out of the hangar. He had a new wingman this shift, but he wasn't going to talk to them if it could be helped. Azuk got stuck with Rahimi for this shift.

Having done it twice before, once Azuk cleared the cockpit he activated the autopilot. It would place him into the holding position above and to the port side of the cruiser. He let go of the controls as the computer took over all calculations from there. He saw Rahimi leaving the flight bay on his sensors after activating the autopilot. Given she wasn't saying anything, Azuk figured she got the hint that he wasn't going to talk to her.

With the non-verbal agreement established, Azuk settled in once the interceptor took its position and he saw Rahimi's take hers. For the next hour, there was only silence between the two pilots as the cruiser entered its first orbit around the first planet. That silence was broken when they entered orbit.

"Flight control here. We are detecting heat bursts on the surface." The controller said. "Multiple. Investigate the bursts. I am putting the waypoint up now."

"Understood. Heading there now." Azuk said as he deactivated the autopilot and made the hard left toward the waypoint. The surface of the small planet is only about 5,000 kilometers away, and the waypoint still read at about that same distance. "Rahimi, take formation to my starboard."

Without waiting for her, Azuk pushed the throttle of the interceptor to the maximum, quickly moving up toward 10 kilometers per second, then beyond that to 20 before it reached the maximum safe acceleration for this distance and the throttle held the velocity. It meant he'd be almost at the waypoint within four minutes. Azuk watched his sensors as the waypoint got closer. His sensors were finally reading actual enemy ships now near the waypoint. He expected as much from a heat burst. It meant people were lying in wait for a target.

Azuk fired his retrograde thrusters at the 600-kilometer mark, quickly slowing the ship down to a normal flight speed of about 500 meters per second. At this range, the sensor contacts still read at about 200 kilometers away and closing. From what the sensors said, there are three contacts approaching, all appearing to be rather small vessels. His best guess is that they're corvette grade, but most corvettes couldn't operate alone for extended periods. Why they'd be alone made Azuk think there is a larger ship in the system to support them.

"Valiant-2 here. Three contacts. Corvette grade I think." He said. "Are we clear to engage? Their designs don't look friendly."

"You are clear to engage 2." The controller said. "Shouldn't be anything out here. Presume hostile and take them out."

"Understood. Engaging. Be aware that I suspect there's a bigger ship in the system to support these three." Azuk said. "Corvettes can't be independent like this."

"Letting the Captain know." The controller said. "Good call. Get rid of the corvettes and come back."

Azuk pushed the throttle up to close the 200-kilometer gap just a bit faster, dropping back to the 500 meter per second speed within a minute and at about 10 kilometers away. At a closer range, he could again see the white and green coloration of the ships, similar to the destroyer just the other day. Like the corvettes that the Terrans and Tesgno used, it is barely larger than a few interceptors, and likely only had a crew of three or four. It could take on a cruiser in numbers, but was only useful against pirates and other non-government small ships. If these were the alien ships though, he had no idea what the actual capabilities are.

"Valiant-7, I trust you're close." Azuk said, addressing Rahimi. He smiled to himself a bit at the number she got. Her performance, apparently, dropped her to 7 while he got the 2.

"Closing now Valiant-2." Rahimi said. "I'll be there in about ten seconds."

"Understood. Making my first run. Give them a run with the cannon, not the grasers once you get in. Grasers took down a destroyer. The cannon should handle these ones." Azuk said while he lined up for a run against the corvette he designated as number three.

Azuk hit the button to activate the computer's system to keep the craft on course while Azuk would adjust the pitch and direction of the interceptor to score the most hits against one of the corvettes in passing it. It was usually unsafe to do when dealing with multiple targets, but he was sure he could handle it. At about one kilometer, Azuk opened up with the cannon. Unlike the grasers, he could see the velocity of the interceptor fluctuating from the force of the gun. With a long holding of the trigger, he fired about 50 rounds at the corvette.

As the interceptor passed over, Azuk watched as the first rounds hit with large bursts of sparks and flame. Most importantly though he saw most had also penetrated the corvette's armor. Facing backward now, Azuk fired into the rear of the corvette toward the engines hoping for a core strike to confirm the kill. He got that moments after firing several more rounds as the corvette exploded in a great burst of blue light.

"One down." Azuk said over comms with some excitement. That was two kills already for this assignment. He saw Rahimi arrive, finally, on the sensors, and she was quick to dive in on the first corvette. Quicker than his own kill, corvette one's power core exploded.

Now a race for the last corvette, Azuk removed the computer control as he fired the thrusters toward the corvette again. At the three-kilometer range, wanting to beat Rahimi, he opened fire with another series of cannon rounds. He pushed the throttle a bit faster as he did so, closing the gap to fire another group of five rounds at the corvette. He pulled up right after, then flipped over so he could see the effect. As he expected, soon after the rounds hit, the power core exploded. That was a third kill now.

"All targets destroyed." Azuk said as he turned himself back over and set a course for the Valiant. "Valiant-7 got one. I got two of them." He added on. "We're on the way back."

"Understood flight. Good work." The controller said.

"This seems too easy." Rahimi as she took up position to Azuk's starboard. "What if we're starting a war against another country without knowing?"

"Come on now. We saw the dreadnought. It had the same coloration." Azuk said. "That thing tore the 1st Fleet apart even when it was crippled."

After his interceptor was destroyed years ago, Azuk watched the combat for some time. The 1st Imperial Fleet was beaten into retreat by the dreadnought. Even the damage that Azuk had done, which was probably crippling, it seemed that their ships were primarily for ship-to-ship combat, not for handling small craft such as the interceptors. Azuk almost wanted to bet, given how easily they've overwhelmed even a destroyer, that they never used small craft like this. That would explain the lack of defenses against them.

"Still. Doesn't this seem too easy?" Rahimi said. "I mean, do we even know if these ships are manned? What if they're drones and they're throwing them at whoever shows up to try to slow anyone following them."

"They're pretty large drones, but maybe." Azuk admitted. He didn't want to give Rahimi any credit, but she is maybe onto something. "Alternatively they just never encountered interceptors and don't have any defenses against them. Still, not our concern. The threat is eliminated. Let's get back."

"Alright. I'm on you then." Rahimi said.

In about ten minutes, having gone slower without any threat to respond to, Azuk and Rahimi had returned to their positions alongside the Valiant. The cruiser had already begun its scans of the surface properly, and they would be complete within the hour as it orbited the planet. Azuk had no idea what they were actually scanning for, but given the corvettes were there he assumed that they were trying to trace where they had come from. If they were really going to do that though, they could also put together a team and search the corvettes for anything notable. He had to admit Omniwatch appeared to be sacrificing a lot of possible intelligence by just outright ignoring the remains of destroyed ships.

Azuk didn't let that bother him as he watched the sensors while the computer kept the formation for the next hour. He still believed there had to be a bigger ship out there that was monitoring those corvettes, and the fact that it hadn't appeared had him on edge. The corvettes were destroyed, and if the ship was there it should have responded long ago. That it hadn't had him afraid it was waiting until the interceptors were back in the Valiant to make its strike. It'd be a good idea, but he didn't look forward to that prospect.

"Flight, be aware that we'll be departing the system shortly." The flight controller said. "The science team found something and it looks like the system it directs to is the same as the one we had planned. It's a longer jump and we'll be going into uncharted territory. Return to ship immediately."

"Understood control. Returning now." Azuk said as he took manual control again and began the course that would take him into the front of the cruiser.

Even though he had manual control, the return to the cruiser was still guided. The controller sent him a path that would lead him on an unobstructed landing in the ship. His would take him in on the right side, and he presumed Rahimi's would come in through the left. Azuk lowered the throttle as he approached, letting the ship's velocity guide him in slowly and safely. He pulled a lever that lowered the interceptor's wheels as it entered the shield. With another button press he activated the vertical thrusters and landed the interceptor softly on the solid metal pad.

Landed, Azuk moved the interceptor forward off the pad and turned around on the large space he had available to back the interceptor into its pad. As soon as hit a certain point, magnetic clamps came down to secure the interceptor in place. In place, he watched as Rahimi landed on the pad as well, and behind her the blast door of the flight deck was sliding down to prepare for the upcoming jump.

Azuk opened the canopy of his interceptor once the post-flight checks were complete and the technicians moved the ladder into place for him to climb out. As always, he returned to the locker room to remove the suit and then put his jumpsuit back on. If they were jumping, he knew it would be long past his shift before they arrived. They would be heading out of charted space probably, which meant a slower warp speed and a more careful charting of a path to the system. It would probably be days before they actually arrived.

As he left the locker room, Azuk finished zipping up the jumpsuit up to the neck. He would sit and wait in the pilot's recreation room, which doubled as a ready room. Its location near the flight deck made it useful to keep the pilots close in the events of an emergency launch. He had a feeling that the Valiant would still be moving to the nearest gas giant for refueling, and they may yet need to take off again. As he approached the door, the ship rumbled with the engines being powered up. For a moment he had to grab onto a bar along the side of the wall as the ship made a turn, the inertial dampeners were slow to notice it, moving everything toward the starboard side of the ship and toward the aft for several seconds before the dampeners caught up again. It was the first time this happened on the Valiant, but the captain of the Valorous did it often.

Once the ship was back to normal, Azuk swiped his ID to step into the recreation room. Inside he saw a few of the other pilots moving some of the things back into place from the turn. He learned over the last day that he had actual command over a flight of four pilots - himself, Alisha, Jack, and Rahimi. Even though the employee listing named him as a Lieutenant, it was only for the sake of payment. Since he's still technically a prisoner, Omniwatch is saving money by keeping him at a lower grade than what he should be at, and may be at if he keeps the job.

The other four pilots all were another of flight and Azuk hadn't bothered to meet them beyond a few names... all of which he forgot. What he did know is Valiant-1 would be his direct superior if both flights were out for some reason. Above both flights though is the Air Chief, who does little direct command of the squadron's pilots, but does primarily work with the maintenance crew to make sure everything is done properly. Azuk hadn't seen him yet.

"Any idea what was found that's making us leave?" Azuk asked as he approached the wood table with the green felt top that Alisha and Jack were around.

"From what we were told the scans picked up some engine trails." Alisha said as she leaned over with a wood stick and pointed it at a white ball. Azuk had seen some of the pilots hitting the balls before, and he presumed it was just a human game. Alisha paused while she hit the white ball, which then hit a white and blue ball to fall into one of corner pockets. "We were supposed to be going to Gamma Leporis after this system, but it looks like we're bypassing for HR 3259."

"What's the difference?" Azuk asked. He turned his head when he heard the airlock open and saw Rahimi enter.

"Gamma Leporis is only a few lightyears from here. HR is 40 lightyears from Sol. We'll be the first ship to go out that far." Alisha said.

"How did you get that information?" Azuk asked as Alisha started leaning down to take aim.

She stood and removed her datapad from a pouch on her belt, holding it up and wiggling it then putting it back. "You should carry it around more. It does relay a lot of information and its on a secure network so it'll have current orders. Since you apparently don't have yours, flight operations are on hold for the next 12 hours. Unless we jump, in which they're suspended until we're in the new system."

"I'll keep note of that." Azuk looked around at the rest of the recreation room and then turned around for the door. "I am grabbing my pad I guess. If anything happens, I'll be up in a minute."

No one responded to that, so Azuk left the recreation room and made a quick turn to the right to head back toward the lifts. The flight deck is deck three, while the quarters are down on deck four. Unlike several ships Azuk had been on, the Valiant is unique in that it uses staircases between the different decks, with the ability to seal off levels should that level be depressurized. As Azuk approached the staircase down, right next to the small corridor that led to the multiple lifts, he noticed the lights flicker. Before he could take a few more steps, the lights went out entirely, and he noticed the rumbling of the engine had ceased as well.

A power failure was one of those things that were usually trained for, and Azuk had an idea how to handle it. He recalled, in the total darkness, that there was an emergency cabinet close to him. He backtracked carefully feeling behind him and around him for the wall. He took a few steps to the right and quickly put a hand on the wall. From there he started walking backward while running his hand along the wall until he felt the extrusion that was the emergency cabinet. From there he felt around for the handle, turning it and opening the cabinet. As soon as it opened, a red emergency light came on, only bright enough to illuminate the cabinet.

Inside Azuk quickly located an airlock crowbar. There are three inside, but he knew that the heavy, large airlock bar would be able to force open unpowered airlocks and then force them closed. He grabbed one of them and stuck the curved end though a loop on his belt. Even though it was a one-piece jumpsuit, he still had to wear a belt with it. Now that the power was out and he threw the bar on it, he had to assume it was probably for this reason. Next to the bars were several high power flashlights and extra power cells for them. Azuk grabbed one of the flashlights and dropped an extra cell into a pocket. At the top Azuk grabbed one of the local radios. If the commanders would try to communicate, they'd probably use the radio.

With the basic emergency equipment, Azuk turned the flashlight on and then headed back toward the recreation room. At this point, it was better to be around everyone else instead of alone. With the light illuminating the corridor all the way to the flight deck airlocks, Azuk moved quickly up the corridor stopping at the rec room door and using the crowbar to open it. With the straight flat end, he stuck it in the slot at the center of the airlock only just large enough to fit the bar, then pushed against it to force the left side first, opening it a few inches with most of his strength put into it. From there, the airlock's seals let go and the airlock opened with little more effort.

Inside, with the flashlight, Azuk could see Alisha and Jack were still at their game as evidenced by the sound of the balls clacking against each other from a hit. One of them had set up a flashlight pointing up toward the ceiling, creating a glow that illuminated the table fairly well in the darkness. Others had chosen to sit around and wait, but Azuk noticed an overall lack of action, and found it somewhat strange. Normally a power outage was grounds for a crew wide emergency to actually get it running or otherwise prepare for anything that would follow.

"You got the radio right?" Jack asked as Azuk stepped in. Not waiting for Azuk to respond he said, "Turn it on and let's see what's going on."

Azuk looked over the radio, shining his flashlight at it so he could better understand what each button was and what they did. After about ten seconds of flipping the radio around and reading everything, he saw the power button. He knew he should have seen the obvious red colored one, and pressed that. Immediately the radio came to life with the sound of static. After some time it did activate again though and someone began speaking. Azuk's best guess is that it's the first officer, as it's a female voice and the captain is male, but he didn't know for sure either.

"To repeat, all crew, be aware that we have shut down all power on the ship to conserve fuel." The voice said. "We're currently on extremely low fuel levels. Our course was adjusted to put us on a maneuver for the nearest gas giant. The course should allow us to scoop enough fuel to slow down and then proceed to refuel normally. We'll arrive at the planet within 18 hours at our current velocity. Be aware that life support is offline and temperatures will be dropping over this period. Estimates place our oxygen supply at 24 hours. Should it get critically low before refueling, we'll open up our emergency tanks manually. Until then, please settle in and await the return of power."

"I guess that's the answer." Azuk said as he set the radio on the pool table next to Jack. "Right then. I guess we better get comfortable." He took a step from the pool table, only to find himself pushing off the floor slightly and beginning to float. "Right. Gravity plating." Azuk said as he hit the ceiling lightly and bounced off slowly. Azuk pushed himself off the ceiling down to one of the chairs, turning himself around as he landed in it and pushed it back to the floor into doing so.

From there, the next eighteen hours passed extremely slowly. As told, the temperature began to drop noticeably at about the six-hour mark. Azuk still felt somewhat fine, but he had decided to pull his legs closer to stay a bit warmer for now. While he did that, the other pilots went and grabbed emergency blankets from other lockers on the deck and from theirs quarters as well in preparation for the ever-lower temperatures that they'd be dealing with until they got refueled. He just hoped that it wouldn't get much worse.

By eight hours, they turned off the flashlights and other electronics to preserve the batteries. If they missed the gas giant, they'd be floating in space until someone responded to the distress signal. That could still be weeks to months, and he doubted they'd survive past a few days. Azuk was feeling cold enough now, and the temperature had dropped to barely above freezing, that he grabbed one of the emergency blankets from the stack that had been brought in by the rest of the pilots. Enough so everyone would have access to two of them.

At the twelve-hour mark, everyone had gathered into a group at the center of the room to preserve body heat by staying close. It had dropped far below freezing and even the manual oxygen alarms were starting to illuminate in a yellow coloration from their emergency batteries. It meant that the oxygen level was still safe, but draining. If the whole ship was like this, Azuk knew it wouldn't be long before the critical level was reached. He assumed the bridge knew this and they were preparing to open the tanks to allow more air into the ship.

By the sixteen-hour mark, Azuk had found himself under two emergency blankets he rigged up into a tent supported by chairs, with one blanket used as a door to trap the body heat inside. For the most part it was working, and to that end Alisha had found a spot inside as well. Despite the lack of gravity, the two were able to find a decent spot inside that was still rather warm compared to the rest of the room. It was far from ideal, but Azuk knew it wouldn't be much longer before the ship made its fueling pass.

As the eighteen-hour mark approached, Azuk had the radios turned on again to listen for anything. A few minutes after the timer beeped from counting down the eighteen hours, the radio static came first before the same voice as earlier spoke. "We're approaching the gas giant now and will be making atmospheric entry within three minutes. We're going to hit it hard and fast, so all hands brace for impact."

Azuk reached for the bar that extended around the edge of the room and pushed himself against the floor while gripping the bar. It was the best thing he could think of, and it seemed Alisha agreed as she did the same thing next to him. He couldn't see her at this point, but he could still kind of feel her presence there. In the silence and total darkness, Azuk simply kept his mind focused on the countdown from three minutes.

The first signs of any trouble was the fact that the ship began to vibrate violently. Had the gravity been active, he was sure that it would have been an extremely rough ride. Azuk wasn't sure how fast they were going either, but to clear a probably several AU distance in 18 hours meant it had to be a decent fraction of light speed. He only hoped that they were going through a very thin upper layer instead of straight into the gas giant.

As Azuk hit the three-minute count, the ship was definitely vibrating very strongly. He held on stronger as the vibration threatened to knock him out of place, though Azuk admitted he'd probably have been fine if he was just in the middle of the room as opposed to against the wall. While holding on, everything on the ship shifted to the starboard side suddenly, making Azuk hold on tighter to not be thrown to the side. As soon as the ship shifted, the vibration began to die down and, within a minute, the ship ceased vibration.

"That it?" Jack said. "Well, that wasn't too bad. Maybe it's done now."

Shortly after Jack said that, the lights turned back on, followed shortly after by the gravity plating. Everything that was floating fell to the floor with a loud smash, including a few of the pilots. Azuk stood up to look at any of the damage, and found that most of the furniture was still intact if scattered and turned over in many cases. The air remained frigid, but that would change as soon as the life support came online.

The loudspeakers in the corners crackled with power as they were reactivated. "All hands, this is the Captain. The run through the gas giant has retrieved just enough fuel to allow us to do a proper refueling with all systems active. Life support is online so temperature will be restored within the hour. All hands are to standby for further orders."

With that, the loudspeakers went silent once again, leaving the pilots looking around. Azuk was the first to break the silence. "Well, let's clean up. We're probably not going to launch into a gas giant."

It took a few hours to clean up the entire recreation room, during which the Valiant began and finished its refueling process, orbiting the gas giant in an upper orbit. All Omniwatch and Terran ships of cruiser grade and smaller are equipped with a ramscoop at the bottom of the ship that can be extended for refueling. It's built to harvest hydrogen using both the physical scoop and an electromagnetic field to direct hydrogen into the scoop and then into the fuel tanks. Only hydrogen is pulled in with all other gasses filtered out. In the two hours it took the ship to do the refueling run, the tanks were filled and the ship slingshot out of orbit toward the system's edge. From there, the warp drive would be activated to get them to the next system.

HR 3259

May 24

Taking four days to arrive at HR 3259 was unexpected by Azuk. It was, indeed, an exceptionally long jump, and they are now very far outside charted space with just this jump. Neither the Alliance nor the Corporations had ever arrived out this far. In the hours leading up to arrival, there was a sense of anticipation that they'd arrive in a system inhabited by another alien race. From what was released, there was some reason to expect that. Instead, on arrival, they found a system with one habitable planet that the scientists said was remarkably similar to Earth, several gas giants, a handful of rocky worlds, and several anomalous signatures. In all, it was rather underwhelming. Aside from the anomalies, the initial system scan showed nothing of interest beyond the habitable planet.

The Valiant's course was set for the habitable planet, bypassing all of the outer planets. Given that the system is uncharted, the small onboard science team wanted to get a look at the planet and possibly mark it for any future colonization if it meets the Alliance's criteria for a stable planet. Until then, like every system, the escort interceptors would be deployed. Unlike the other systems it would be at a very high speed. The interceptors only had a safe limit at 20 kilometers per second when in combat operations, but that can overridden when in open space. For this mission they'd be moving at 40 percent light speed. At the 30 AU distance to the habitable world, it'd be about ten hours before arrival once they got up to speed.

"We've had a fight in every system." Alisha said after she got into her interceptor. "And you have three kills now. Two more and we'll go ahead and call you an ace. What's your bet on what we're going to fight today?"

Azuk strapped himself in and hit the button to link the helmet communications to his interceptor's internal relay. "With our luck so far a battleship." Azuk said as he powered the engines up. "With my luck, a dreadnought."

"Yeah but if you get that kill I'll owe you more than one drink." Alisha said. "Let's get out there before Control complains." Alisha's interceptor, painted with the 4 at the nose, rolled forward from the landing port onto the metal pad at the center of the bay. Azuk did the same after undoing his magnetic clamps and taking up the position on the left side of the bay.

"Valiant-2 to Control, we're ready to lift off. Awaiting the blast door." Azuk said.

"Understood Valiant-2. We're opening it now. Good luck out there." The controller said.

The segmented blast door, shortly after the controller finished, began to retract up the guide paths. While the atmospheric shield is a straight vertical face, the blast door itself sloped at an angle backward toward the top of the ship. Azuk assumed it was done like that to ensure that a hit to the blast shield wouldn't immediately damage the atmospheric shield unless it hit near the top corners of the door. Despite being heavy pieces of metal, the doors still reached their full open position in under a minute.

Azuk, being the flight leader, activated the vertical thrusters and launched from the pad first. As soon as he gained a few meters, he activated the rear thrusters to launch the interceptor out into the void. As many times before, Azuk activated the autopilot to position his interceptor to the port side of the ship where he has flown on every shift so far. Alisha was right behind him and almost in position as quickly as he reached his own.

"Flight, be aware that we have detected an unknown contact approximately 2 AU away at heading 035. It is closing slowly." The controller said. "We're not going to respond yet due to the range. Valiant-6 and Valiant-7 are being launched now though for reinforcement. It'll be on top of us within an hour though."

"Understood. I'll mark formation points for them then." Azuk said as he adjusted the formation around the cruiser to accommodate four interceptors.

He moved his and Alisha's points to the front of the ship, but keeping the same side, which left the spots the two just had for Rahimi and Jack to take. As soon as he locked the positions, the interceptor's engines fired to move them into the new positions. The ship and the interceptors were already on the acceleration course so the acceleration just to get to the new point continued to hold the position while matching speed. Jack and Rahimi launched only a few moments later, reaching their points within minutes.

"Update." The controller said. "We're detecting five contacts. Our position changed just enough to see the other contacts. You have been authorized to engage and then warp to our position. We're spinning the warp drive now. If you are unable to fight them, you are clear to evacuate back to us. Don't risk yourselves unnecessarily. Control out."

Azuk shut off his autopilot and noted that the other three did the same. He set up the waypoints for a diamond formation with him at the point. "Alright, all callsigns on me. We'll do a long burn to move to intercept. Keep the warp drives spun up and ready. We're going to see what these are, do a firing run, and then jump back to the Valiant."

With that said, Azuk realigned himself toward the contacts and fired his engines in a short burst to allow the change in direction for the other pilots to take the formation with him. The whole formation came together over the next several minutes as the autopilot for the other three had to compensate for Azuk's movement. Behind by about 200 meters to the left Azuk put Alisha. At the same distance behind on the right, he had Jack. Directly behind him he had Rahimi flying. The 200-meter separation was apparently the Omniwatch safe minimum.

It took just under an hour for the flight to get within 10,000 kilometers from the group of contacts. At this distance, Azuk had a better read on the ships and their sizes. The largest of the contacts he deduced to be a dreadnought hull, with one battleship hull, and three accompanying cruisers. Having fought the last dreadnought, he knew all too well what to expect.

"Be aware that we are about to engage a dreadnought grade vessel." Azuk said. "These ones do have point defense weapons and will use them against us. Begin acceleration to ten kilometers per second. We're going to make this a very quick strike. Valiant-4 send a pulse to the Valiant when it returns on sensors. Let them know this this is a considerable battlegroup."

"Will do, 2." Alisha said.

"ETA at current velocity is... approximately 10 minutes. They are approaching us at a similar speed." Azuk said. "One torpedo for the smaller contacts should work, two for the larger one, and I'll say three on the dreadnought. That should be eight torpedoes. We have more than enough." Azuk looked at their heading compared to the direction of the ships. It'd be easier to get hits on the broadside of the vessels. "Standby, I am adjusting course. We're going to take them from the broadside. Add about five minutes to the maneuver."

As Azuk retained the manual control and the autopilot of the other interceptors kept formation and speed with him, he made a left turn to a 315-degree heading and fired the thrusters to head away from the ships. In about ten minutes, he'd turn back toward the ship and hit them from the side. He only hoped that they wouldn't adjust their course. He supposed that the larger ships should have trouble making a turn such as that to face them again. He considered that, then moved the velocity up to 20 kilometers per second to carry out the adjustment more quickly. It would give them less time to adjust ideally.

It took about seven minutes for Azuk to reach the point where he wanted to make the turn, and did so at the high speed. He fired the retro thrusters in other directions while changing the course to turn the velocity down to 15 kilometers per second, and then back to 20 when he straightened out the course to head for the group of ships from the broadside. To his surprise on closing the small, 1,000 kilometer gap, he found the ships hadn't changed their course at all.

"Valiant-7, you have the dreadnought. Valiant-6, take the battleship. Valiant-4, you're with me. We're going to clear the cruisers. Formation, break." Azuk said. "One run then jump to the Valiant." He looked down at the sensors and confirmed that Valiant is on the sensors again.

As soon as he said that, Rahimi and Jack were quick to accelerate on their courses toward their targets. Alisha stayed with Azuk while he kept his course. At the 50-kilometer mark, Azuk throttled back to a 2 kilometer per second speed. Even at ten kilometers, Azuk was down to about 300 meters per second. Given that he and Alisha had more targets between them, he wanted to slow to make sure he could actually get the torpedoes out. He wasn't sure if it was a failure in the formation but the cruisers were in a straight line behind each other as they moved perpendicular to the interceptor's axis of attack.

Just before Azuk fired his first torpedoes, he saw the bright flashes of the antimatter impacts on the dreadnought and battleship. When the light faded on the latter, the power on the ship appeared to be out already. With the former though, like the one in Procyon years ago, it still seemed to function with large parts of it blasted away. Azuk turned his attention back to the cruisers, activating his first torpedo as he targeted the middle cruiser. As soon as the computer confirmed the trajectory, he fired the torpedo and fired his thrusters to change direction toward the right cruiser, letting another torpedo go a few seconds later.

With it as simple as that, he saw Alisha's interceptor change direction on the sensors after firing and then the radiation burst from a warp jump. Rahimi and Jack were gone already, which meant he was the last one. Azuk spun the interceptor around to face toward the location of the Valiant and fired his main thrusters. In doing so he ended up coming almost to a stop before the thrusters began to move him toward the Valiant. That moment made him an easy target.

The point defense weapons of the cruisers, shortly before the impacts, opened fire on Azuk when he slowed. Even though he sped away, multiple rounds impacted the right side of the interceptor. Alarms immediately began to blare in the cockpit of the interceptor as he reached several kilometers per second away. He looked around at the wing only to see several of the armor plates tearing off and multiple holes straight through the right side. He lost one rocket pod, and he immediately gave a quick prayer in thanks for the rockets inside not exploding from being detached.

Azuk activated his warp drive, setting the destination as the Valiant at a 20-kilometer distance. He'd be able to work with that distance in case something went wrong. As had happened many times, the warp core activated and Azuk began the long transit to the destination. In that time he looked over the damage report on the computer. The shots he took had gone through the right side, detaching a pod, but also hitting the right side engine and thruster with some shrapnel damaging the fusion core. The interceptor was going to need extensive repairs before it could safely fly again.

The jump over the almost 30 AU distance took, on Azuk's end, about 1 hour. In that time he was able to prepare for the exit and the calls he'd have to make. He didn't know for sure if his torpedoes hit, but presumed they did. That was essentially an entire battlegroup down with extremely limited damage. He just hoped that everyone else made it out without a problem. He assumed he was the only one damaged since Alisha made a left turn away from the cruisers, which meant she kept some momentum heading toward the Valiant. Azuk, meanwhile, made the right turn away from the direction of the Valiant.

When the warp jump ended, Azuk found himself about 35 kilometers from the Valiant and in a medium orbit over the habitable planet of the system. "Valiant-2 here. I've suffered minor damage. Multiple kinetic rounds hit my right side. I should be able to return to the hangar." Azuk said as he set in his course... only to have the interceptor not respond. "Correction. Thrusters have failed. I think the warp exit shut down all systems."

"Understood Valiant-2. Try to recover. We'll work on a recovery team to get you out." The controller said.

"Will do. Be aware that I am still moving toward the planet at... 400 meters per second. I may not survive a re-entry." Azuk said as he hid the growing panic.

"We'll get the team put together faster. Just standby Vali-" With that the computer systems and the communications relay of the interceptor shut down leaving Azuk stranded in the cockpit. The electronic opening of the interceptor canopy meant that the only way to break it open is using the ejection seat and activating the explosive bolts.

Until a team got out to him, all Azuk could do is sit there and wait. He was sure the corporation wouldn't be happy if he lost an interceptor from ejecting. The last thing he wanted to do was guarantee going back to prison because of that. The total silence and lack of control as the planet grew ever closer and seemingly faster allowed Azuk time to think. He saw no indications of a rescue team being launched. As he look around outside the cockpit, hoping to see anything, he couldn't even see one of the other pilots moving to try to assist him. It wouldn't take much to at least tether the interceptor to another to pull him to safety.

Time continued to pass with no sign of an imminent rescue, and it wasn't long before the interceptor began to shake as it entered the upper levels of the atmosphere. He knew that the current angle he was descending at - nearly vertical - would be a very quick death once the friction started to heat the interceptor. It wasn't really built for atmospheric operations and could reenter the atmosphere under certain conditions. This wasn't one of those conditions.

Azuk knew that the ejection seat, in the event of an atmospheric eject, had a parachute built into it. It would be a long shot, but he figured he'd be able to pull the eject and escape safely. Assuming it actually deployed, he should be able to use the parachute to get safely to the ground. What he didn't know, however, was the heat limits of his own suit. Being a soft suit he knew it couldn't be very high and probably not high enough to survive reentry.

Until he reached a point where he had to escape, Azuk had to do something. Not caring about the startup procedures, Azuk began going through the short version of starting the interceptor manually. Usually there was some power, but it seemed entirely dead now. Most of the switches he had to hit though were still analog for emergencies. First was hitting the temperature control switch to bring the fusion core to a starting temperature. With the breach, he wasn't sure it'd work. Right after the temperature control came the switch that injected hydrogen into the core to start. If the core was still even somewhat working, the third switch he hit would have started the fusion reaction to create the first bursts of power.

Between that button and the next one Azuk allowed about twenty seconds. He could already start to see the hull of the interceptor getting hotter. From there he hit the button that would allow power to flow generated from the core into the capacitors. He wouldn't have to hit anything from there to get the electricity online. As soon as he hit the button, the control panels all came back to life. Immediately Azuk cursed himself for not doing this sooner since it actually started without a real problem.

That made the rest of the procedure easier and Azuk hit a switch to open the valves to the oxygen fuel tanks and then the hydrogen fuel tanks. While not necessary under normal space flight, the chemical engines would allow some degree of atmospheric flight with a loss of most of the power he enjoyed in space on the fusion engines. Using the oxygen and hydrogen tanks were dangerous under extended use due to it cutting into the actual core fuel and the oxygen supply for the cockpit. Azuk knew this all too well, but he had little choice and he probably wouldn't be able to recover the interceptor in time because he made the mistake of not trying to restart until too late.

Azuk hit the ignition switch several times before the whole interceptor shook and began to move. With the engine ignited, Azuk threw the throttle to the safe limit of the chemical engine to redirect the heat to other parts of the interceptor. With the computer guidance active again, he adjusted the angle to something safer than he was doing and began a shallow and somewhat controlled re-entry. His status still showed the right engine as disabled due to the damage, and the fusion core was already reaching critically high temperatures.

Even with the one engine, Azuk continually adjusted his course through re-entry to prevent the plating from melting away and attempting to prevent the loss of the fusion core from explosion. If that detonated, he would be gone with it. His instruments changed over to the atmospheric model and watched as his altitude dropped to about 25 kilometers above the surface. He let out a sigh of relief as the sensors read dropping temperatures as well as a dropping airspeed. Of course, with the interceptor not really built for atmospheric operations other than turning into an expensive glider, Azuk could only keep a shallow angle to ensure he remained above the surface for as long as possible.

"Valiant-2, report." The controller said, breaking the silence in the cockpit.

"Valiant-2 here. I have regained control. I will not be able to get to orbit. I will attempt to set the interceptor down safely on the surface and await recovery." Azuk said as he scanned the horizon for any clearing that might hold the interceptor. All he could see below him is a seemingly endless sea of trees.

"Understood. Be aware that we have evacuated orbit. Unknown vessel engaged us. One dreadnought hull. It had considerable damage, so we were able to flee." The controller said. "It hasn't left orbit yet. Rescue will be delayed until it departs."

"Is the air mix safe?" Azuk asked. "I won't have much reserve air in the suit."

"Initial scans show it should be breathable for a time. You will be undergoing a bio check when we get you back." The controller said. "We have no idea what's down there or what's safe. Use your instincts I guess. Not great advice, but it's all I have."

"Understood. I'll do what I can. Is there a beacon I can activate and keep on me?" Azuk asked. He knew he had to run through all possibilities before the interceptor crashed and he likely lost communications.

"There should be a survival kit located behind the cockpit. First aid supplies, weapon, ammunition, an emergency pack, and emergency rations. There might be a beacon in there. If possible, stay near the interceptor when you land. We would be able to track that."

"I will do what I can." Azuk checked his instruments and saw it was down to about five kilometers. Ahead he could see a wide area of open plains between a stretch of jungle and some mountains. It was large enough for him to land in. "I'm almost down. Valiant-2 out."

"Good luck down there."

With that, Azuk cut the communications as he took some control of the interceptor. He used the thrusters to push the nose down and begin a faster descent toward the ground. Once at about 2 kilometers above the surface, he fired the thrusters again to level out and glide in on the ground. He saw very quickly that the clearing sloped upward rather steeply. He still had a plan for that though.

The interceptor dropped faster as it approached the clearing, and he could hear the snapping of branches below him as it skimmed the tops of the trees. As soon as he cleared the trees and entered the clearing, he fired the retrograde thrusters. The quick drop in speed threw him forward against his restraints. With no forward velocity, he immediately began to drop, but he allowed this. At 100 meters, he fired the vertical thrusters to slow the descent into something somewhat manageable. He didn't bother with the wheels, as it could cause the interceptor to roll backward down the hill once he landed.

With a hard shock through the whole interceptor, Azuk hit the ground at a few meters per second, but far below what would have destroyed the interceptor. He had a feeling that it was probably still recoverable and he knew it could still kind of fly. If he really had to he knew he could do a launch using the hill as a ramp of sorts. That, however, was bound to fail and he knew it. It would be a last ditch attempt to escape if all else had failed.

Azuk went through the standard procedures to shut down the interceptor before opening the canopy and shutting down all systems. As he pulled himself from the cockpit, Azuk looked around at where he found himself. His suit was already giving readouts of the environment. The temperature read 35 degrees, the air mix registered as hazardous. The hazardous designation didn't mean it was unbreathable, just that it wasn't optimal and potentially dangerous. In this case the helmet readout showed a higher than standard oxygen level, as well as a reading of multiple other unusual gasses in small quantities.

More importantly though the world was hot and the trees appeared to be that of a jungle world, if an alien one. Even though it's an alien world, the jungle is still his ideal environment. Azuk laughed a bit as he jumped down from the cockpit to the ground. He laughed at the luck of being on a jungle world as opposed to anything else. It meant if anything came for him he would still be able to handle it by making use of the environment.

On the ground, Azuk looked over the outside of the interceptor, looking over the hull before seeing the panel that he assumed was the emergency storage. With no obvious way to open it, Azuk was forced to kick the panel. The force of the kick was just enough to dent it slightly. With the new edge formed, Azuk was able to stick his fingers on and then pull the panel off. As soon as it came off, he saw the emergency supplies inside. It appeared to run across the interceptor, likely with another panel on the opposite side for it.

The first thing Azuk grabbed was the backpack since he saw little else. After unzipping it he found most of the things that the controller mentioned were already in the bag. The gun was laying on the bottom of the storage in a case. Azuk set the bag down next to his foot while he pulled the case out. The long case told him it's a rifle. After undoing the locks, Azuk opened the case to find one of the Alliance models of infantry beam rifles as well as several spare batteries inside. He fired one once in a display of Alliance tech years ago. It would be better than nothing though.

Azuk finally noticed that with the basic soft suit on it was getting extremely hot already. With no choice if he wanted to survive here, Azuk got the helmet off and then peeled the suit off. He tossed both up into the cockpit. He felt exposed with just underwear on, but at the same time he is the only person on the planet right now. He'd survive. Azuk took the batteries from the case and dropped them into the backpack. He put the backpack on, then picked the rifle up. He'd have time to get used to it soon enough. What he didn't find, however, was the beacon that the controller said might have been there. He didn't dig through the backpack entirely. He'd do that once he found relative safety somewhere.

He took a deep breath. He had been trained for things like this, but he savored the opportunity to finally do something other than fly. As he stood there, he could hear the sounds of the nearby forest, mostly what are probably insects. Other than that, he caught the distinct sound of engines. Azuk ducked under the wing of the interceptor and looked toward the sky as the sound of the engines drew closer. In moments he watched as a craft, seemingly similar in function to an Alliance shuttlecraft, fly low overhead then turn and begin to circle the site. What he saw on the side, however, were not Alliance or Omniwatch markings, but some sort of coat of arms.

While it disappeared over the far hill, Azuk took this chance to leave from under the wing and dash backward toward the nearby forest with his pack and rifle. It was safe to bet that the aliens were going to try to locate either the interceptor or him. More than likely he expected both, and he'd be damned if he let them capture him with how much of a nuisance he's been over the years.

Azuk jumped into the underbrush for some cover as the shuttle set down near the interceptor as it came back. From the shuttle he saw multiple humanoid figures in what looked like heavy armor climb out and begin to spread out. The weapons looked to be energy based and in the look at the armor, Azuk had to guess it was powered. He'd definitely be having a hell of a time trying to escape. Before they'd see him, Azuk crawled quietly through the underbrush, hoping the brown fur would match the soil somewhat, and the stripes would break up his movements somewhat.

He continued like this for several minutes before turning around and looking back at the interceptor. No one had chased him into the jungle, but he could see the soldiers were focusing primarily on the interceptor. Azuk took his chance to stand up and break into a run deeper into the jungle. When he heard nothing else behind him he slowed down. If this was going to be how he was on the planet, it definitely made things more interesting.

He was going to have fun throwing them off.