Previous Post Quote: Galactic Crash Part 3     The Heart of Light had dozens of tiny fighters, each just large enough to hold one pilot.  Most of the time, however, they flew automated defense patterns, since their parent ship didn’t carry nearly enough crew to fly them all.     It was one of those automated patterns that, from the ground on Caph, looked like flocks several very large birds flying at high altitude, making passes over the black painted spacecraft dropping non-lethal flash bombs over the capital city.  The bombs made noise and bright flashes only, intended to scare the population.       Shen Rae’s fighters hadn’t engaged them yet.  She meant only to intimidate them, and hopefully drive them off.  A battle at that altitude would likely cause massive damage and casualties below as weapons missed, and space craft broke up, and large chunks fell to the ground at terminal velocity.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“We missed the news.”  Shen Rae’s First Officer announced as the Captain walked onto the bridge.  “While we attended that dinner, negotiations broke down.  I think the black ships are mercenaries hired by the Valia Trader’s Guild, trying to force Caph to abandon our agreement and sign with them instead.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“That will prove difficult.”  Shen Rae noted.  Standing beside her as she took the Captain’s seat on the bridge was Kiivan, Emir of all Caph.  She invited him along to discover alongside her what was going on.  “Since Kiivan is right here, observing this first hand.”     Then she looked up at Kiivan and asked, “Are you now ready to learn what I wished to tell you before dinner?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Shouldn’t you worry about the situation at hand first?”  Kiivan asked.     Shen Rae glanced at her First Officer.  “Jai is more than capable.  If there is something critical she will notify me.”  She stood then, and waved Kiivan to follow her to the conference room.     Once inside that room, the door shut, and the chatter and activity from the bridge became silence.     Kiivan turned to face Shen Rae, only now she had firey red eyes and silver hair with red streaks.  She looked a little worried, like she was afraid he’d be frightened by it.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh.”  he said calmly.  “Don’t look so worried, Shen Rae.  Caph has dealt with metamorphs before.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“It’s not all of my kind.”  she explained quietly.  “Just a very small minority.  We’re powerful, long lived, and generally try to stay out of the  limelight, to avoid spreading the kind of fear that could lead to us being hunted and exterminated.”     Kiivan considered that for a moment.  “Does your people have a name?”     The Captain shook her head.  “We dare not give ourselves one, so we will remain little more than legend.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Clever.”  he noted.     There was a gentle chime, and Shen Rae was transformed back to her jet black hair and brown eyes again in an instant.  She reached over to the conference room table and tapped a non-visible button that appeared as she reached for it.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes?”  she asked.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Most of the ships have left the atmosphere of Caph.”  Jai Yoon, her first officer, announced.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“That’s good.”  Shen Rae replied.     Jai continued with, “They’re heading straight for us.  One is headed for the palace.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Whoever they are,”  Kiivan noted, “They’re fairly good strategists.  I would have done the same thing.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Your palace can’t hold out against even one of those ships.”  Shen Rae pointed out.     Kiivan shook his head slowly and frowned.  “I don’t think they want to destroy it.”     Shen Rae nodded.  She knew what he meant - that they would try to take control of it instead, and hold it hostage.  “Jai, I’m taking Kiivan to the palace.  Give me a fighter escort, and have the rest of them attack the ships to keep them off of me.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Another good strategy.”  Kiivan didn’t sound entirely convincing.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hold that.”  Shen Rae quickly followed her order with.  She looked at Kiivan, and could tell from his eyes that he’d seen far more battle than a simple company trader.  “What would you do, Kiivan?” ---     It started out with Shen Rae sitting wide-eyed but patient as Kiivan had her quickly run down her ships’ and crews’ capabilities.  He was fast but thorough in his assessment, like a seasoned battle commander.  Then just as quickly, he formed a very unorthodox solution.  She was secretly a little amused by it, he was like a man who had just been handed new toys, and was eager to see what they could do.     There were about a dozen Fighter Wings running formations outside the Heart of Light, playing shadow games with the black spacecraft.  At some point, two of them snuck back to their mother ship, and loaded up two passengers - Kiivan, and Shen Rae.       The fighter Kiivan was in flew on auto-pilot, since he didn’t know the controls.  It was programmed to follow Shen Rae’s fighter - she was an expert pilot.  Along with Kiivan’s fighter, four others would follow in formation, so the black ships couldn’t tell which ones had passengers and which ones didn’t.     As Kiivan pointed out earlier, flying one of the Energy Gliders would likely attract the attention of the enemy, especially with an escort.  They would focus everything on destroying it, and the Heart of Light would be playing catch up.     Kiivan’s strategy, however, reversed that paradigm.  The enemy would be playing catch-up while the Heart of Light threatened them with destruction.  Shen Rae would have the advantage, right up until the fighter group entered the atmosphere and headed toward the palace.  By then, it would be too late to stop them.     The strategy worked brilliantly, right up until the fighter group descended toward the palace.  The single black spacecraft was waiting for them, and fired a warning shot into the middle of the formation.  The automated Fighter Wings automatically went into attack mode and returned fire, but Shen Rae’s and Kiivan’s cover was blown.  Fortunately it didn’t matter then.     The two fighters were small enough to land side by side just at the base of the steps to the palace in a quick puff of dust as they touched down.  The canopies opened in sync, and the two occupants got out.     Shen Rae and Kiivan turned to look up and watch the small fighters pelt the larger black ship with small plasma weapons.      “I set them to deter, not to destroy.”  Shen Rae noted.  “They won’t do any collateral damage that way.”     Kiivan nodded.  “I’ll prepare my forces, in case they plan a land assault.”  he said.  “And we may have surface to air weapons, but I can’t officially confirm that.”  He winked at her, and then disappeared through the doors of the palace.     Shen Rae boarded her fighter again and took off, with the now empty secondary fighter behind her for cover.  She climbed steeply, and headed straight for the Heart of Light.  Speed, rather than stealth, was most important.     The wave of fighters still swooping around in orbit provided cover, launching another deterrent attack on the black space craft as Shen Rae flew through them at high speed, aiming herself at the launch bay of the Heart of Light.  She pushed her piloting skills to the limit to slow just enough to enter the bay without crashing into the doors.     Fortunately, the bay was well equipped for such emergency maneuvers.  An energy field caught her fighter and slowed it abruptly, while the restraint system in the fighter held her tight against the seat.  The fighter then switched to auto pilot, and floated into its bay to be recharged.     Jai Yoon met her Captain as the canopy opened and she exited the fighter.  “How do you want to drive them off?”  the First Officer asked.     Shen Rae straightened her uniform and gave the order she wasn’t at all looking forward to.  After all, this started out as the most peaceful of missions, and escalating a battle was the last thing she wanted.       Ã¢â‚¬Å“Did the fighters chase those ships out of the atmosphere?”  she asked.     Her first officer nodded.     Shen Rae sighed one last time.  “It’s time to show them what we can do.  Destroy one of them, and see if they’re wise enough to flee.” ---     Kiivan was naturally curious about Shen Rae’s ship.  Even as he entered the palace, he headed straight for the largest telescope on Caph within.  He sat down in the ornate chair at its base and peered through, thankful that the powerful sun was behind him at the moment.     He watched as Shen Rae’s ship lit up suddenly, began to fluoresce with waves of blue energy.  Then bolts of light began firing from the Heart of Light, and incoming pulses of plasma started colliding with the blue energy waves.     As he backed off the focus to get a wider view, the Emir was shocked at how quick and vicious space battles were.  They were not like Earth television, with dramatic single shots punctuated by careful maneuvering.  It was vicious, nonstop, just like a land battle.  There was no rest, no break, no escape.     He looked at the bracelet given to him by Shen Rae, and wondered if she was okay.  Her ship appeared to be undamaged, but appearances could be deceiving.     The Emir’s battle liaison cleared his throat as he was standing behind Kiivan.  His entire cabinet had been called in for a conference in the observatory.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“You wish to say something?”  Kiivan asked.  The advisors weren’t allowed to speak out of turn.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“We’ve recently acquired crude missile technology.”  he said.     Kiivan gave him an amused look.  “Do you really think it would harm ships like that?”  he asked as he returned his attention to the telescope.  “We don’t have transnukes.  Even as we salvaged Parody Master technology, our law forbade them.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“And I said then that it was a grave mistake.”     The Emir turned around and gave him a cold look.  “Do not take that tone.”  he warned.  “Having weapons of that magnitude makes us a target.”  With his voice softer, “Caph is a world in healing.  Our limited resources must all be used in that capacity.  I’ve said that before, and I still stand by it.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“What of this battle, then?”  the advisor asked.     Kiivan looked through the telescope again.  “It will be determined by fate.”  he said.  “And whatever the outcome, we will survive and triumph.  You are all dismissed.”     The advisors likely had further thoughts on the subject, but protocol dictated they leave as they were asked by the Emir.     This time, however, Kiivan couldn’t locate Shen Rae’s ship.  He started to worry, until he heard the roar of low-flying high speed aircraft outside the palace.       He raced through the halls of the palace to the front doors.  When he arrived outside, he saw two vapor trails above, and there was a crowd outside the palace gates.  Two flickering blue Fighter Wings flew just above the palace, side by side, very quickly in the other direction, nearly over their former vapor trails.       Kiivan raised his right fist and held it up to the sky as the two craft soared above.  The crowd followed his example by cheering.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Good work, Shen Rae.”  he whispered to himself.  With extensive war experience, however, he knew the battle she just won wasn’t the end, and this victory show would be short lived.  “I hope you know this is only the beginning.” TO BE CONTINUED -- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2009 by Jason Froikin, and may not be  --    reprinted without permission.   -- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow --  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin --  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin

By the way, due to an editing accident this story was really short (and the next one is really long). So if I get a few replies early I might post the next one mid-week.