The transition from the bright blue skies of this planet to the dark gloomy environment of space is unexplainable. The moon below is not much better. Its barren, the waters are muddied and dark and the skies were black and foggy. This station was not of beauty, but of purpose, and its purpose was unknown. Its shape is similar to that of a spear. A large circular structure sat at the top of the station, facing the stars. Large spikes poked out the sides, acting as docking ports for the station itself. At the bottom of the structure sat a capsule, though it is unknown what is inside.
As I look further into the station, one ship caught my eye. It was massive, at least twice the size of ours. It has enough firepower to whip us out in one barrage. The name also appears in the front. The MLK Halo Spark.
"Shit! We have a problem!" I yell.
"What is it?" Oniv asks.
"The Halo is back."
"What?" Clara says, running to the window for a better view.
"What do we do?" Dern asks
"We stick to the plan." Oniv says, grabbing his rifle.
The ship arrives at the station and docks. The pilot enters the passenger room as we exit our seats.
"So, they know you are a mercenary group, but it seems no pictures of you have gone out yet. Stay low, don't stand out, and you should be ok." He says
"Why do they know that?" Oniv asks
"There is some demonstration for the crystals going on. We were able to get you in under another name."
"What's that?" I ask.
"The Hunters."
"How original." Bern says in a mocking tone.
"Good luck! I'll be nearby for extraction."
The doors finally open again, allowing us to enter the station. Two guards stand before us as we exit. They take out a device and scan us from top to bottom, but they don't take our weapons. After scanning all of us, the guards let us through. We arrive at a long tram system, which takes us to the front of the station. When the tram arrives, we are let off. The central hub is enormous. An information center sits in the middle of the station and a food area sat to the left. The entire ceiling consists of a large glass panel facing the stars. Everyone is so lively but a little formal too. Something felt a little off though, I couldn't quite explain it.
We head for the information desk as the woman manning it is organizing papers. We ask for the location of the presentation in which she points to the back of the station toward a door that had "Expo Center" written above it. We thank her and head for the door. When we arrive in the room, people were already there waiting. I haven't seen any of them before, but some looked like military men and women. Others looked like us, bounty hunters and mercenaries sitting side by side. What exactly are they planning here? Clara looks visibly nervous, as we look for some seats. I have never seen her like this before. She keeps rubbing her fingers and hands together, as if she needs to have something removed or are irritated or something.
The entire expo center consists of a large stage up front and several rows of seats on a steep incline toward the top of the room. The main stage itself has a large item sitting in the middle, but it was covered by a black tarp. We find a row near the top. Dern spots an exit up top as we sit and points it out to the rest of the group. Oniv acknowledges and passes it to the rest of the team. Soon the lights start to dim, and a man walks on stage to greet everyone. He wears and bright white lab coat and white pants.
"Hello everyone. Welcome to Hellen's Moon. I am glad everyone made it here."
Everyone sits quiet, so he moves on.
"Today, we have a treat to show you today. May I introduce to you, General Harthun."
Everyone claps. It is methodical and calculated. No one really wants to be here for him, but they immediately calm down as he steps in front of the microphone.
"Hello everyone. For too long these...insurgents have been running rampant in our country. For each one we snuff out, four more take its place. This is unacceptable. We cannot allow these people to spread chaos throughout our streets. So, over the last few months, our people have been developing a new technology to help combat the issue."
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a crystal. Clear in color but shined so bright, it's like he grabbed a star and held it in his hands. Everyone oohs and aahs as they look at it.
"This is a Vorian Crystal. This crystal has special properties when interacting with a type of beam created by the Starfire engines. We all know what a Starfire engine is, we all use it in all our ships. When scaled to maximin capacity, it can move planets. Today I will show you a new use for it."
The tarp is dragged off, revealing an engine underneath and a large circular object in front. Large groups of wires ran all over the stage, to and from the Starfire engine and the circular object. Harthun takes the crystal and places it on a stand in the center of the engine, between the circular object and the engine.
One of the scientists runs to a console and begins typing.
"Running the engine at 0.01%" he says.
The engine starts to spool up, shaking the room a little, regardless of the power level it runs at. It grows hot, roaring for more, but the nozzle starts to focus, directing the beam of energy in one singular point. The crystal starts to light up. Brighter and brighter is goes until it finally ignites, blinding the room with light and redirecting the energy to the circular object, then starts spinning. It too lights the center, and like walking through light, something passes through from the other side. The bright light turns off with the engine as it shuts down. There standing in front of the object stood a woman. She waves her hands and smiles, whispering, "Ta-da!"
Everyone explodes into excitement, clapping tremendously at the performance before them. They yelled and cheered until we were so loud she had to quiet them herself. Clara clinches her seat. She is very angry now, she cannot even control herself. I hold her down with my arm to keep her from moving and drawing attention to us, till she eventually calms back down and takes a deep breath.
"Who is that?" Oniv asks
"That is Queen Adarla." Clara says.
"The Queen? Isn't she supposed to be back on Meklar?" Dern asks
"The planet Meklar is 482,000 light years from this planet. It would take approximately 46 hours minimum to get here." Angel says.
"So how the hell did she get here so fast?"
"Thats a great question." Clara says.