• Chapter one: Leonis


    Captain Leonis had been watching the destruction for some time. Every part of the ship on it's moniter was a flashing red, all erupting in flames. The Captain bowed her head, sadly regarding the loss. Their ship had been a transporter of the Garulian Ore, found deep into the lava chamber of their planet, Pandora. Leonis knew the ore was heavily fire proof, but that wasn't all she worried about.
    "How are the mechanics crews that were keeping attendance in the holding bays?" She huskily sighed at her assisstant, Meole.
    "Captain, none are sending back any readings. I think all have been lost. Wait!" Meole shouted as a small beacon apeared on the screen, giving them slight hope it was a living crew member. "I've gotten a signal, but it doesn't sound like the other distress signals sent by them earlier." Meole looked up at his Captain. "I don't think you should check this one." Leonis coughed at the obviously adoring underling.
    "They're my crew, Meole. I must save them, if only one." She began disrobing and putting on heavy fire resistant suits as Meole replied to the distress signal. The operations room was buzzing as people moved around.
    "Captain, There seems to be a breach in the mechanics lab. Several unidentified bodies have forced entry and are destroying all the back-up reactors." Said one of the motor specialists, Harvend.
    "Dammit." Cursed their Captain and everybody freezed. Leonis wasn't one to curse, so it took everyone by surprise. WHen she looked up, everyone went back to working. "The mechanics lab is along the way to the holding bays, so I need three back up members to help me evacuate all remaining mechanics and soldiers." Meole stood, and so did Harvend. Both began to get ready for battle, when Leonis' rival, Meircol, stood and removed her emergency gear.
    "Well, Leonis, it seems I am to be your savior, today." Meircol smirked at Leonis' dumbfounded expression. She had only invited Meircol on this mission because she was a top-notch pilot and soldier.
    Meircol barked at her back up, "Shaelinth, steer the ship towards the south-eastern gateway. We need to get away from all pursuing ships. Once there, teleport us to the Galinth universe." Leonis was glad she had invited her, for that was the exact thing she would have done, if not been nicer to her crewmates, but she threw a battle suit at Meircol anyways as they exited for the labs, which were just down the hall from them. They arrived as a blast of hot air erupted from it. Leonis, with her heat resistant suit, rounded the corner and began to shoot the invaders. It was hideous. The invaders on her ship were giant wasps, but instead walked on land. Leonis gagged under her helmet. Insects weren't her favorite. She let loose on the horde of wasps, until all were lying motionless on the ground.
    "See if any of you can find a reactor they didn't destroy." she said as she rushed in and looked around at the mess. Meole grunted as he emerged victorious with a only slightly scratched reactor. Harvend and Meircol also emerged with reactors.
    "Okay, so we have three out of seventeen reactors. That should get us somewhere for now, but we have to save the mechanics in the holding bays. Meole, you come with me to Bay Alpha. Harvend, go with Meircol to Bay Beta." They all nodded and rushed off in the direction required. When Leonis and Meole reached their holding bay, they were astonished. Every one of the shipping bins filled with the Garulian ore was in tact. The only thing out of normal was that the bodies of the mechanics and soldiers told a different story. Leonis motioned for Meole to back her up as she turned on her heat seeking device. Hidden behind every on of the bins were more of the wasp-like creatures, in wait to ambush the unknowing soldiers whom they expected to react to the distress call. Meircol radio'd Leonis, luckily using the connections through their helmets for once.
    "Our Bay is clear. Thirteen of those wasp mutants were in here. It seems they left things untouched." Spoke Meircol, her heavy accent apparent. Meole looked up at Leonis, and she nodded. He let out an inaudible sigh of relief.
    "Get down here to help us clear ours." Leonis urgently whispered, making sure none of the wasp-things noticed. There was a little huffing over the radio, but a few moments later, Meircol and Harvend were next to the other two.
    Meircol smiled. "Six for each of us! Piece of so-called-cake." Leonis glared at her counterpart.
    "I hope you realize Meole is not a trained soldier. He is trained in mechanics, piloting , and emergency situations. Not fighting uninvited aliens on our own ship." Meole stared up at her sadly.
    "So, let me guess, Meole has to sit out another battle?" He sighed at her, and was rewarded with a brisk nod. Meircol was obviously thinking of what to do next. "So eight for Me, Harvend, and our beloved Captain." She finally said with a sneer, but Leonis gave a silent chuckle. "No, Eight for Harvend, seven for you, and nine for me!" She returned to Meircol with an also returned sneer. "Wait! I see a mechanic that is alive. They've seemed to be playing dead so the wasps wouldn't kill zem!" Harvend replied to the two fighting women and talking in his shared accent with Meole, for both were from Germany on the Mainland, before the mainland was overtaken.
    Sure enough, Leonis found three more like this one,laying amoung the dead, but still holding on.
    "Ready to kick some wasp a**?" Meircol smirked at herself as she said this. Harvend and Leonis nodded and they began walking toward the bins, seeing the wasps-in-wait shiver with anticipation. Leonis and Miercol sided up against the closest bin, and slowly peeked around the corner. Harvend, on the other hand, walked straight out and shot the wasps residing behind said bin. Leonis and Meircol glared at him, but he just shrugged. After they followed his example by killing the rest, they walked around and checked every soldier and mechanic lying on the ground. After helping up many more than they expected, twelve, they led them back to the commanding room.
    "Assessment of shields?" She barked at the people who were busy operating the screens. Two of the closest ones turned to her. "Seems the invasion ceased. Shields still at 47% capacity and quickly regenerating." said te first. The second quickly pulled the screen down and increased the size by twirling her fingers and adjusting her radio. "It also seems that the reactor cores took major damage, but with the remaining reactors, we should be able to create a chemical explosion big enough to send us closer to a refill station posted nearer the gate than we have drifted. We are running low on energy, so we have been drifting this entire time, trying to save enough remaining energy to use the gateway." Leonis nodded at this news. It seemed much better than she had expected.
    "All of the ore survived, and twelve of the believed dead are still alive." She smiled as the twelve were ushered in, as worried friends recognized their friends and ran to hug them, and others weeped at the loss of their friends and family when they didn't walk into the room. It was a mixture of relief and pain in the command room as someone just barely checked the moniter in time and yelled over the ruckus, "The gateway is in sight, Ma'am." The crewman saluted and she waved it off. "Everyone to your stations. Get ready to teleport. Tie down things that are loose, and everyone, buckle in." Leonis smiled off everyone's sighs of relief as they were finally getting to the end of their day. "Engage reactor one." Leonis grimaced as the ship lurched forward in response. "Two." Everyone snapped forward with the sheer force of the reactors starting up. "Three." Leonis braced herself, but was nearly flung from her chair, but others weren't as lucky. Many flew out of their hastily done buckles and landed on the hard metal floor several feet from where they were sitting. Groans came from all the crew members as each felt a wave of acute nausia, followed up by the building of pressure in their ear canals. Leonis whimpered slightly, as the pressure in her left ear was overwhelming. When they finally reached cruising speed, everyone yelped s their pressure filled ers popped painfully. "Damn, girl. You need to upgrade your ship's reactor useage..." Meircol rubbed at her ears, her alien make-up obviously making it much worse than any of the terran crew had been through.
    "Sorry about that, everyone. Yeah, and guess what we're going to upgrade when we are paid for the ore?" She smiled as everyone unbuckled themselves and cheered, still not used to the pressure. She nodded off a couple of crew members who asked her if they could help on upgrading the ship's systems. Leonis's crew was like her family, so she watched lovingly as everyone got ready to pull out of their hyperspeed mode of transportation.
    "Slowing in thirty." Said one of the pilots as they neared a station where they would be able to refuel and, more importantly, get more reactors, and then they would be able to rest for the remainder of their day.
    "Twenty." The pilot warned as everyone buckled in for their sudden stop. The pilot pressed a button as she counted down from ten, "Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, ahh!" Everyone gasped as the pressure was suddenly released, their ears poppong less painfully this time. They had made it to the first checkpoint in their journey. "Everyone, welcome to the Station, enjoy the rest of your day and be back by 24:00, or we WILL leave you behind, and unless you want to refuel ships the rest of your life, I would recommend rejoining us." Leonis smirked at her giggling crew as they dispersed. It was only 17:00, so she had plenty of time to recooperate after her stressful day, dealing with alien species always wore her out. Meircol, Harvend, and Meole stayed behind to sit with Leonis, remembering what had happened.
    "So." Meircol started. "So..." Harvend and Meole spoke at the same time, their accents blending well together. Leonis sat down next to her ship. "Thank you three." she quietly gave her gratitude. Meole smiled at her.
    "I wouldn't leave you to go fight baddies alone, even if you are badass." Everyone laughed at this. "Me? Bad-a**?" Leonis joked, "Oh, no. I'm just a Captain. No bad-assery going on here!" She held up both hands innocently. Meircol stood up. "Leonis, now I understand why you are Captain." then, Meircol smiled at Leonis, who stared at her rival wide eyed. They had never smiled directly at each other before, since they had both gone to Captain school together, and Leonis had graduated as a Captain rank. They had hated each other every since. Meircol stood awkwardly for a moment, then stalked off.
    "Vell, that vas veird." Harvend spoke in his heavily Russian accent again. Leonis nodded, "You can say that again."
    Meole stood pulling both up with him.
    "No need to sit here and sulk, we must relax while here!" He smiled at the two and pulled them towards the center of attention, the only restaurant/cafe in miles. Leonis sighed, the only time she had gone in there, she ended up getting drunk and passing out when she was supposed to be re-routing the ship homeward. "Keep the booze away from me." She warned Meole, not wanting to relive that humiliating experiance. He nodded, also remembering it, and led Harvend and Leonis inside.
    "Well, well. If it isn't Missy Leon." The barmaid, Brumia, shouted over the noise as she threw something to Leonis. She caught it with ease and looked down at it, but then threw it back. "No alcohol for me, Brumi." She said, having to yell over her own crew. Brumia looked sad for a moment, then she lit up as she remembered her last experiance with Leonis. "You sure? I can make a mean cocktail." She prompted, remembering Leonis' favorite drink. Leonis just scowled and sat with Meole and Harvend as they yelled over the noise.
    "I remember this place being much quieter." Meole grimaced as a drunken crew member bumped into him.
    Leonis just grinned at him. "I'm sure it's because our crew grew much bigger this year. So many promising students from the academy. I just couldn't choose." She joked with her friends, for they had been in her crew as long as she had been a captain. Harvend spoke up, absentmindedly, he picked at him cup. "I vonder how bad the next mission will be. They've been sending us on missions even a suicidal man vouldn't choose...." He sighed as he stood and bid his farewell, going back to their ship already to get some sleep. "Poor Harvend. I hear his wife and kid don't want him to stay on our team because of the difficulty." Meole sighed. Leonis watched after him out the window. He had been sighing a bunch lately. Leonis decided to go out and have a word with him. "Meole, keep things in control here." Leonis tried to leave, but was buffeted around by her drunken comrades until she finally reached the door. When she exited the crowded bar, she set off to her ship, ready to comfort her friend in his divided decision. Should he stay on the crew with his friends? Or, should he give up being a motor specialist to be with his family?