(Callie)
Her head swam as the ship climbed, its speed increasing by the second. Such a launch would definitely get noticed by the Zrixian armed forces. Callie wondered how Villus was planning to sneak them past the warships waiting in orbit? Her stomach tightened as the front end of the ship shed fire as friction with the wind caused the ship to appear like it was on fire. She could see Warren's mouth moving, but other than the rumbling of the ship, she couldn't hear him.
Callie clenched her fists, holding to her chair with a white knuckled grip as the ship hit the upper levels of the atmosphere. The altimeter display on her visor read forty miles in the air, forty-one miles, forty-two. The bumpy ride went from horribly noisy and bumpy one minute to smooth and quiet.
" Hey Callie, can you hear me now?" Asked Warren in a strained but normal voice.
" Yea, I'm still in my seat, if that's what you're asking. It's not exactly the time to go to the restroom." Said Callie, grinning. She watched her helmet's display as their height increased rapidly 47, 48, 49 miles .
" Hey! That was one time. It's not my fault the cooks fed us something so vile. That spicy eel taco didn't agree with me." said Warren defensively.
"Thirty seconds until zero g. Once we reach orbit, I need several minutes to upload our new identification into the ship's system." Said Villus, still gripping the controls.
The sky darkened all the while, like the sunset on fast forward. Callie gaped as, for the first time, she experienced a live view of the stars undistorted by Etria's atmosphere. Her heart raced in her chest as on the proximity sensor a long range communication pinged them. Almost immediately, Villus slipped a small hard drive from his pocket and placed it on the scanner. A bar filled the screen, and in only a second, it downloaded the information within.
" Instructor, I have three Zrixian ships ten thousand miles out. Two cruisers and one bigger battle ship. They are pinging us. What do I tell them?" Asked Callie, anxiety filling her. At that moment, her arms rose, and she floated against the straps in her chair.
" Buy me five minutes, I need to delete all the other files but our three." Said Villus as he began typing in the air from a keyboard projected from the small hard drive that only he could see. The holographic keyboard would only be visible to the person who was connected to the chip.
Another more insistent beam scanned the ship. Callie swallowed as the ship's sensors flashed ominously. Now they were lit up by sensors and no doubt the Zrixians were preparing to fire ship to ship missiles.
She toggled her helmet onto the channel just before Warren could.
" Good evening. How may I help you fine gentlemen?" Asked Callie, her throat tingling as native level Zrixian rolled off her tongue.
" This is captain Lictor of the Zns Tallis. Why don't you tell us why you are approaching three war ships without trans ponding your identification?" Said Lictor, his rolling Zrixian sounding anything but friendly.
" Sorry about that caption Lictor, we will have our identification back online shortly. It appears our departure from planet side caused some issues." Said Callie, watching nervously as Villus typed on a keyboard only he could see.
" Very well, maintain your heading and angle." Said captain Lictor. All the while, the proximity sensors of the falcon blared, telling Callie the Zrixians had a solid missile lock and were one push of a button away from turning her into slag.
" Very well, captain. We are maintaining course and speed." Said Callie. The channel went silent for several long seconds before the man's voice came back on.
" We are receiving news of a downed aircraft on the surface. Judging by our computer's calculations, your exit burn started from approximately their location." Said Lictor, his voice accusing.
" Affirmative captain." Said Callie, muting her mic.
Callie hissed. " Warren, what was that pilot's name? The one you shot down?"
"Private Hersan. He tried to scare me into landing before he attacked." Said Warren, grimacing.. Callie reactivated her mic. She hoped her fabricated story wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass.
" I received a distress call from private Hersan while on special assignment. We engaged and helped shoot down the Etrian dog. I would also like to report they shot private Hersan down, near our launch coordinate." Said Callie, a beat of sweat tickling down her face. She met Warren's bright, excited eyes. He winked at her and gave her a thumbs up.
" What was you mission planet side?" Asked Lictor, still sounding unconvinced.
" I'm sorry, captain, I cannot just share such information. I would need to speak to someone of higher rank. This is extremely confidential. It's about the Sacari and their art." Said Callie, her mind frantic to come up with a suitable lie. Her arm floated in front of her face, startling Callie in the following silence.
" Oh, you are one of those?" Said Lictor in a hushed voice.
" Yes captain, our repairs are nearly complete, we will beam you our identification shortly." Said Callie, noticing Villus had stopped typing. Villus nodded to her approvingly before punching in several more commands. There was a brief pause. Callie wiped sweat as it beaded on her forehead, noticing the small droplets of sweat drift upwards.
" I have received your identification. Your File is coming up as blacklisted? I can only read your names. And even then only your first names." Said the Captain, his voice coming across as angry.
" Sorry captain, it appears you do not have the clearance to see our files." Said Callie calmly.
" It appears so. Damned Devali, and their damned undercover bullshit." Said captain Lictor, mumbling loud enough for Callie to hear.
" So captain, may we approach the jump sight? Our precious cargo needs to be delivered as soon as possible. The Ra will not be pleased by too much of a delay in this particular bit of information."said Callie.
" Very well, Callie, was it? Your ship may pass by, proceed directly to the jump site. We have an incoming warship on route, so if you don't want to wait, you will need to be fast about it." said captain Lictor.
" Thank you, captain. We are proceeding to the jump site." said Callie before hitting mute on her mic. Callie disconnected the communications beam. Only then did she let out a sigh of relief.
" I can't believe you kept calm under that kind of pressure?" asked Warren, his eyes wide, clearly impressed.
Callie breathed deeply and watched through the windows as they passed within a mile of the orbiting battle ships. Drifting next to the jump gate were two cruisers and a standard battle ship. Warren whistled softly.
"What I would do to get my hands on one of those cruisers. Or even to fly that battleship." said Warren excitedly.
Villus steered the ship deeper into space, the proximity sensors lighting up a large beacon on the map. Next to Villus, a three d display formed, showing the nearby ships and the jump gate as a small ring on the map. The instructor stayed oddly silent, ignoring their conversation as he rapidly checking the ship's sensors and angle of approach.
It didn't take long for their small falcon class ship to burn past the three Zrixian war ships. Ahead, the jump gate came into view. Drifting in space was a giant beacon. The ship approached the drifting piece of metal. As they approached, the proximity sensors fussed and went static. Villus reached one hand from the joystick and toggled the sensors off.
" Callie, Warren, place your hands on the scanning pad of your seats." said Villus, placing his hand on the arm of his chair. Callie's hands felt sweaty, and her heart raced as she placed her palm on the cool metal scanning pad of her chair.
Her reservoir emptied, and the ship hummed. Callie bit her lip as all of her stored power drained away, taking only ten seconds to empty. She slumped over, gasping for breath. Callie gaged as it forcefully sucked the positive energy from her into the machine. The jump gate was vast. It was the size of a football stadium, without the seating. Her head swimming, she glanced up, watching the colossal structure draw near. Like rippling water, the center of the ring glowed and spanned out, filling the entire jump gate with dark purple energy reminiscent of Callie's negative Art.
She clutched her seat hard, as the ship's prow plowed straight into the shimmering purple energy. Callie closed her eyes as the energy washed over her. She felt nothing, no bumping, no shaking other than the ship's humming.
Ahead of her, through the front window, Callie caught sight of a planet. The surface roiled blue, purple, and green, swirling in a kaleidoscope of colour. The gas giant hung in space ahead of her. She had only seen pictures before, but the sight still took her breath away. This was Proxima, the home planet of the Zrixians. The Jump gates' interference faded after several seconds and the proximity sensors went haywire. Signaling nearby ships by the dozen.
Speckling the map were hundreds if not thousands of white dots, and several massive dots that could only be nearby cities. Orbiting the gas giant Proxima were three cities, each holding more people than were on all of Etria. Callie had known this in advance, but seeing the ever shifting mass of dots on her sensors was another story entirely.
Nearby, only thirty thousand miles or so, was a dot rapidly approaching. At first, Callie thought they were coming to investigate, but after Villus steered the falcon out of their path and pointed the ship towards Proxima, Callie realized the ship was heading for the jump gate.
" Chart a path towards the city of Berdant. We need to dock before that captain realizes we lied."said Villus.
Callie zoomed out on her sensors, searching for the city in question. Drifting closest was the Capitol city of Valia. On her proximity sensor, each city was helpfully highlighted. She marveled at the ships flying nearby. If she zoomed in on a specific white dot, that too would show a tag revealing the ship's name.
Callie shook herself from her excitement and zoomed out. Next, she found the city of Galan. And finally, when she had encompassed the entire planet in a passive sensor sweep, she got a hit. Drifting on the other side of Proxima was the City of Berdant.
Callie flagged the City and in the cockpit it pinged the location on the three D holographic display, now floating next to warren.
From what Callie knew about navigating space, a two definition map would no long adequately guide them. In space, things like up and down were no longer present and so the halo generated map was necessary.
They approached the planet rapidly. The bustle of nearby space craft made Callie's head spin. How they kept track of all of this was beyond her. Villus didn't approach the capitol but instead moved into orbit and drifted on an intercept course with the city Berdant.
" Instructor, why aren't we going to the capital Valia? That is where we can hurt the empire the most, right? And that is where they are most likely to send our friends," asked warren slipping into the familiar rolling Zrixian tongue. Villus let go of the controls, but the ship still continued to drift over the roiling dark purple clouds with flashing white lightning below.
" We are going to first destabilize the emperor's support. We in infiltrate their organizations and then we will slowly but surely get rid of the allies of the emperor." Said Villus.
Warren cracked a wide grin,
"Once we dock, we will disperse. I want one of you to infiltrate the city investigators and the other to come with me. We will scope out our target, but we need an inside agent." Said Villus, scratching his chin in an uncharacteristic sign of anxiety.
" I think that should be Callie. She just lied us out of a quick way to an airlock. I am not confident I can lie that well. Especially when it's Valeri." Said Warren, his face stony in the presence of Villus.
" Let me do it, instructor. I want to find out where they are taking our comrades. Maybe then we can save them." Said Callie, a heaviness settling in her chest. Villus nodded, but his cold gaze spoke louder than any words.
Villus was already counting their friends as dead. Judging by Warren's sour expression, he noticed as well.
" Very well, Callie. But you know the risks. Infiltrating the Velari is no simple task. You will need to become one of them. To play your role perfectly or they will catch you out and you will die horribly. Not on camera in front of billions, but quietly," said Villus ominously. Callie nodded, an image of Peyton's bruised and battered face coming to her mind. She would not let her friend die, not without doing whatever she could to save him.
It took several hours of maneuvering in orbit to line up an intercept with Berdant. They built the city in a cone shaped circle. A shimmering green dome of energy swirled around the city, hiding the buildings within.
" How do they live in that? Can they grow food in there? " Asked Callie, gaping.
" That is why the Zrixians have conquered three planets. They combine their tech with the art and create things like a city amongst the stars." said Villus, steering the ship to the underside of the city. Callie swallowed. With such advanced technology, why did the Zrixians need Etria? She knew why. They were a bunch of power seeking murderers. Callie smiled. When she reached a high enough rank in the Valeri, then maybe she could even kill the Ra? After all, if the Zrixians feared her people, then they wouldn't dare attack again.