“Ember?” Astrid’s voice came back, and the sound of shock was clear to hear, “But how?”
“Now isn’t the time to discuss it, but you can't have Elyek. They’re a good person and a valuable member of our crew. Their only crime is that someone wanted them as a slave.”
“That doesn't matter, really. It was just a job to make ends meet. I'd far rather have you and Shaun back safe.”
“We are safe-ish,” I shouted into the comm, “but these guys surrounding us are not our friends. Fancy helping your old race mates out?”
“Sure, we’ll help Shaun. We aren’t exactly making friends out here. We’ve already run into our fair share of trouble with the Empire, too. How do you want to do this?” Astrid’s cool voice came back. I felt like jumping around like an excited kid. I was so happy we had a chance to get out of this. But I couldn't really do that at the moment.
“I’m no Sun Tzu,” I responded, “but I would like to not be surrounded when shit kicks off. How about you and theSeshat each take one of the two ships between us. We’ll fly over next to you, while firing on a third, then we can all concentrate on the last ship together.”
“Sounds as good a plan as any,” Astrid said, “I will communicate with Rufus and let you know when to pick up the pace.”
“Okay, great. Thanks, Astrid. And it’s nice to hear you again,” I said.
Ember shouted, “Hi Astrid. See you soon, hopefully.”
“It’s amazing to speak to you both again, we have much to talk about I imagine.” Then her comm went dead.
“Okay, everyone!” I said, far too energetically, totally pumped from the arrival of a lifeline. “Koparr! Call up the best crew for the weapon stations, and let everyone else know we’re under attack. I imagine some crazy shit will probably start happening. Elyek and Ember, you can man the other two weapon stations. Calegg, when you get the word from the Thoth, don’t hesitate. I need you to get over there, yesterday.”
I received strange looks from everyone, other than Koparr who was busy. I didn’t know why, until a little Havok in my head implied a reason, “Go, Shaun. You’re bossing this situation. I think I even got a little chill, and that’s not possible.”
“Thanks, Havok,” I replied.
Ember quickly spoke to me, “Nice work. Just what we all needed,” she patted me on the shoulder and moved over to her weapons terminal. At that moment, several Torax poured into the room, and without hesitation went to an empty weapons terminal.
“Last thing before this starts,” I said firmly, “you all need to pick the same ship to fire on.”
“The green Destroyer with 856 on the side. It’s the weaker of the two ships,” Elyek explained. I looked at the screen and could see some markings on the hull, but they didn’t translate as numbers, or anything remotely understandable.
“You got it, Ember?” I asked quickly.
“Yes, you fucking idiot. I know what color green is,” she snapped, and I couldn’t help but smile at her.
The comm flashed a notification. I answered it immediately, like the idiot I am, assuming it was Astrid. It wasn’t. It was the Empire Commander Gerdu.
“Your five minutes are up. I will say once more, stop or we'll fire.”
I cut the comm with Gerdu. “Elyek, get me Astrid quickly.”
As second later Astrid's voice came through, “Shaun?”
“We’ve got to come now, Astrid. They’re going to start firing,” I left the line open, and without awaiting a response from Astrid, looked over to Calegg. “Hit it, dude!”
He didn’t hesitate, and we shot off like a bullet. Thankfully without a command from me – because my mind was frazzled – everyone began firing on the target of choice. The Galactic ships started firing only a second after, along with the Thoth and the Seshat. We got hit by a barrage as Calegg didn’t even try to weave, just putting all the ship’s power into our speed.
It took less than a minute to reach the Fystr ships. Calegg pulled a stomach-wrenching maneuver around the back of the Seshat that helped draw some of the fire off the battered Uprising. It was a bit shit for the Seshat, but I approved of it all the same. We needed that brief respite; we had taken far and away the most damage.
When we came out from behind the Seshat, we continued our attack on ship 856. To my awe, the two Fystr ships had already destroyed the first two ships and were proceeding to attack the last two. With the Thoth helping us attack the 856, it took seconds to finish them off. We both switched targets for the last time, and that was my first real space battle over and done with.
We were victorious… somehow… by the biggest stroke of luck ever. I was actually beginning to wonder whether there was a hidden Luck stat. Had the universe taken pity on me for my shit luck as a young lad? I realized everyone was cheering and looking at me, expectantly. I’d totally phased out. My Mental Clarity was great now, so why the fuck was I still phasing out? I wasn’t sure. Habit, perhaps? Whatever it was, I needed to start getting my shit together. Ember was hugging me now, which I returned, happily. Elyek joined in, followed by Calegg, then there was just a big crush of Torax bodies, seemingly wanting some victory-hugging action too. I felt like the hole in a donut.
Astrid was still on an open line, and shook everyone out of… whatever the fuck that just was. They all began to move back to their weapon stations, apart from Ember.
“Are you guys okay? That was pretty intense, and you took a fair old walloping.”
“Thanks, Astrid. And yeah. We're all good. Thank all the galactic gods –
