August 27, 2342 – Luxuria; Bridge

(7:47 PM) {Six Hours Ago}

            As the Luxuria dropped out of hyperspace, all eyes went wide at that image that was displayed before them on the main screen. That which used to be known as Mors Mortis was now nothing but a massive gaping crater on the planet’s surface. Even as their eyes were glued to the planet, the ships sensors were actively searching the surrounding area until they detected and locked onto what was left of the space station inside the ring of asteroids around the planet. An image of the debris; what was left of the station, was shown floating lifelessly on the sub screen to the left of the main screen. When they finally realized there was another image, everyone looked at the sub screen.

            “Oh god… what happened here?” Kathy asked in a shaky voice. “W-Where’s the Ira, w-where’s Rrahkarr?!” She asked as she frantically used the sensors to try and locate the Ira.

            “This looks like it happened a short while ago…” Nate said as he observed the planets surroundings and the wreckage of the station. “If the Ira was heading to Rrahkarr and you can’t locate the Ira; or any part of it… it must mean he got away before this happened.”

            “Hey Albert, see if you can locate any other craft in the system.” Sylvia said.

            “Don’t have to; we’re detecting weapons fire from further in the system.” Albert informed them.

            “How far?!” Kathy asked as she prepared the ship to jump into hyperspace.

            “Forty AU’s towards the systems star.”

            “Oh God… that’s gonna take us over three hours to get to.” She complained as she activated the hyperdrive and jumped back into hyperspace.

**********

Luxuria; Bridge

(11:40 PM)

            Three hours and forty minutes later the Luxuria dropped out of hyperspace where the sensors had detected weapons fire. Using the sensors, Albert quickly scanned the area and detected what was left a ship.

            “Damn, that ship is toast.” James said when the main screen lit up.

            “Oh thank god…” Kathy said upon seeing the image of the ships wreckage. “It’s not the Ira.” She said with a little relief.

            Albert was examining the wreckage from the sensors and said “It’s a pirate.”

            “Is it the one we saw earlier?” James asked.

            “No… it’s another.”

            “Good… um switch the sensors to active mode. Let’s see if we can detect any ships that are in range.” Kathy instructed him.

            Doing as he was told, Albert quickly switched the sensors from passive mode to active as Kathy had taught him previously when he became the unofficial sensors tech. As luck would have it, they detected two ships heading in different directions. After some quick calculations, they were able to deduce that one ship was at full speed in hyperspace while the other was going much faster.

            “That one’s definitely the Ira!” Kathy said with joy in her voice.

            “Even if it is, there’s no way we can catch them.” Nate pointed out.

            “I don’t care, we’re following now!” Kathy said and again jumped the ship.

            Once back in hyperspace, Sylvia suggested an idea “Even if we can’t catch them, why not send out a message to them.” At the looks she was getting she added “I know it won’t reach them unless they slow down or stop but at least when they do… they’ll know we’re behind them.”

            “It’s not a bad idea. Our only hope on that is that they slow down soon.” Nate stated.

            “Alright then I’ll get a message lined up and send it ASAP and keep the Luxuria heading after the Ira. Oh and Albert could you keep the sensors on active, we may be flashing our lights and alerting anyone that were here but we’ll see anyone coming long before they have a chance to do something. We’ll also know if the Ira slows down.” Kathy said and went to work preparing the message.

            The others decided to head to their rooms to take off their armor; now that they didn’t need it, and get some sleep. Everyone left except for Kathy who was working on the message and Lliam who had remained silent after seeing Mors Mortis.

            He was sitting down at one of the stations mulling things over about what happened to Mors Mortis and wondering why there was a second vessel on the sensors. He also had a dreadful feeling with him since seeing Mors Mortis but he kept it to himself. He had been sitting there thinking for a long time while he watched distorted stars pass by in the distance on one of the Luxuria’s screens. He hadn’t even realized someone had said something to him when a young paw gently shook his shoulder.

            He blinked at couple times before looking at who shook his shoulder and saw MaiGhan. She was looking at him with a little concern as she repeated what she had said “You’ve been sitting there with a frown for an hour. What’s wrong?”

            “Sorry, I was just lost in thought… hoping none of my family was back at the prison when whatever happened… happened.” Lliam said as he pushed those uneasy feeling aside before turning the tides on her and asking with a smile “Isn’t it past your bed time though?”

            She smiled before saying “Normally, but with so much excitement in the air I can’t sleep. Kathy usually makes me go back to bed but she said I could stay up if I wanted. But if Timmy wakes up she’d tell me to go to bed too.”

            “Ah” Lliam said and nodded. “Don’t want it to look like she’s letting you stay up huh?” Lliam added with a chuckle.

            “Pretty much.” She said with a grin when Lliam noticed Kathy walking back onto the bridge.

            She sat down at the helm before Lliam asked “Anything new on the sensors?”

            “No… the Ira is still pulling away and the other ship we saw dropped of the sensors ten minutes ago.” She answered as she checked them again.

            “What time is it?” Lliam asked when a yawn snuck up on him.

            “About twelve forty, why don’t you go to your room and get some sleep.” She said to him and noticed MaiGhan yawn a few seconds later. “Getting tired too huh?”

            “Yeah, think I’ll turn in. Things are getting a little dull now. Goodnight.” She said to both of them as she left. Bidding her a goodnight Lliam then turned to Kathy and said he was going to head to his room as well.

            A few minutes later the door slid closed behind him as he entered his room. It was sparse, and void of any real personal touches save for a few personal belongings of his. A picture frame on the nightstand near the twin sized bed held a picture of Maya, Rrahkarr and himself. It was from before he or Rrahkarr had joined the military. Another picture frame over on the table held a picture of Sara, Aurora and Maya from a couple years before the attack on Falora.

            He smiled after looking at them as he started to take the power armor off; Maya had David; their adoptive father, give both to him before he and the others left Falora on the Luxuria. Being able to talk to both David and Ada before he had to leave had made him both happy and relieved that they managed to escape getting any injuries.

            Setting the chest piece down next to the wall, Lliam reached back and undid the tie that held his hair back; letting it fall free. After taking the lower section of the power armor off, he unbuttoned his pants before sitting down on the edge of his bed. He leaned forward and undid the armored boots before kicking them off and lying back across the bed.

            Looking up at the ceiling Lliam couldn’t help but think “Why do I have this uneasy feeling?” He sighed as he closed his eyes and relaxed. Within a few minutes he was out.

********

Dream

            “But… sir!” He could hear someone protest.

            It looked as if he was in a control room, or possibly the bridge of some ship. He could see people but their details were obscured to him. Looking down at his hands Lliam realized he could see right through them. It was as if he was a spirit or illusion.

             “I don’t care… fire the weapon!” He heard another command and turned to look at who was speaking.

            Unlike the others, Lliam could see the details of this man; although it was as if he was looking through a fog. He could tell the man was wearing a white suit, he could see blue eyes behind square framed glasses. His jaw was slightly squared; his face was smooth, clean shaven and slightly hidden by his platinum blond hair. The man held a kind of commanding feel about him; he was defiantly a man of great authority, of this Lliam was sure.

            Lliam heard the man who had spoken earlier speak again. He was disobeying a direct order and was shot for his disobedience. Lliam watched as the man walked over to the consol the disobedient man had been sitting at and pressed a switch.

            A moment later Lliam was somewhere more familiar. He looked around and noticed he was on the bridge of the Excalibur and Rear Admiral Julia Vasquez; Freelancer Wraith, was sitting in front of him. He could see from the ships screens the ship was orbiting Earth and he could see multiple war ships, fighters and even mechs.

            They were engaging with what appeared to be the forces of the I.F.H.W. mixed with Outcast forces. He could see several ships; both ally and foe, falling towards Earth’s surface. As vessels were destroyed or disabled, the fighting only intensified till the battle reached a climax.

            At this point he noticed the Rear Admiral was staring at something. When he turned to look at what she was staring he was surprised to see a massive ship on the main screen. What surprised him more so was that the ship had just fired something towards them.

            What now was racing towards the ship looked as if it was a massive blast of charged energy particles. The particles gave off a distinct purple glow as they flew towards them.

            The next moment he was nowhere. An empty void of white endless space. He couldn’t see anything but he could hear screams of fear, agony and death. He could feel massive amounts of pain, anguish and terror. Then nothing, it was as if everything was gone…

*******

Luxuria; Lliams Quarters

(1:13 AM)

            Lliam was sleeping fitfully; thrashing around on the bed in his sleep. Kathy had just entered the room after chiming the door announcer several times and not getting an answer. Seeing him thrash around on the bed, she placed her paws on him and started to shake him.

            “Lliam, come on wake up! Something’s happened!” She said as she shook him.

            The way he woke up not only startled her but caused her to jump back and fall over when he surged forth into a sitting position. He was panting as if he was out a breath and his eyes were wide and burning red. It only took a few moments for his breathing to become normal as Kathy picked herself up off the floor.

            “Damn Lliam… give me a heart attack why don’t you.” She said a little harshly as she stood up. “You okay?” She asked as she sat down on the edge of his bed.

            Sighing as he finally caught his breath Lliam looked at her and said “I had another dream… kinda like that time on Falora.”

            Worried, she asked him “Is something going to happen to us?”

            “It wasn’t us I saw…” He said; which calmed her down a bit. “It was Admiral Vasquez and the Excalibur. Something happens during an operation over Earth but I couldn’t tell exactly what. I… I think the Excalibur is going to be destroyed.”

            “Did you see what fired on them?” Kathy asked to which he gave her the description of the massive ship.

            “The Galactic Terra” Kathy said with hate “It’s the Electus’ flagship, are you saying they’re going to be at Earth?” She asked to which he only nodded.

            “Great… more bad news!” She said.

            “What do you mean more bad news?”

            Another worried look came across her face as she said “The Ira dropped out of FTL rather fast. We don’t know what happened but it looks like something may have happened to the FTL Drive.”

            “Do we know if they’re okay?” Lliam asked.

            “We don’t, all we know is that the Ira must have lost power and engines because it was drawn in by the gravity well of a planet and crashed about five and half AU’s from here. It’s going to take us a little under an hour to get there but I figured you should be up and ready… just in case.” She added a little sadly.

            “So the situation is unknown?” Lliam asked as he got up and buttoned his pants.

            “Yeah”

            “Then if James isn’t already down in the cargo hold with his mech, you better tell him too… just to be safe.” Lliam told her as she got up.

            “Do you always think ahead like this?” Kathy asked as he put his shirt back on.

            “I’ll admit, not all the time… but this is a serious situation.” Lliam answered as he pressed the button for the door to open.

            “I swear the longer I spend time with you, the more and more you seem like Rrahkarr.” She said as she followed him out of the room.

            When the door slid shut behind her he turned around “Is that so… is it a bad thing?” He asked with a smile before turning and heading towards the cargo hold.

            As he walked down the hall away from her she couldn’t help but smile. “No it’s not a bad thing, not at all.”

*******

Luxuria; Bridge

(1:53 AM)

            About forty five minutes later the Luxuria dropped out of hyperspace. The sensors had picked up something strange orbiting the planet a few minutes prior to arrival. Scanning the local space now, provided them with no answers; whatever they had picked up was long gone.

            “There’s nothing on the sensors.” Albert said as he continued to scan the area.

            “Keep scanning, we don’t want anyone sneaking up on us.” Kathy said as before she activated a switch on her consol.

            One of the screens on the consol in front of her lit up with a view of the planet’s surface. She was able to pan over areas using the ships camera as she zoomed in on certain areas looking for the Ira. A few moments later the image showed a large scar on the surface of the planet. Panning further along the scar Kathy started seeing smoke and fire along the path.

            She quickly panned the camera further until her eyes went wide. She was looking at the crash site of the Ira. The Ira was smoking and heavily damaged; the damage looked mostly like it came from the crash rather than anything else. As she zoomed in on it, she could see areas that looked like some sort of weapons fire had hit and breached the hull.

            With James and Lliam at their mechs, Sylvia gathering weapons and Albert monitoring the sensors, no one noticed the tear that fell from Kathy’s eye. However someone did feel the sorrow that surrounded her as Nate rushed onto the bridge. He could feel Kathy’s emotions and walked over to her.

            He put his paw on her shoulder and asked “What’s wrong Kathy?”

            He looked at the screen she was staring at and barely whispered “Oh no…”

            “It’s… it’s the Ira.” Kathy managed to say; her voice cracking a bit.

            “Albert” Nate said; causing him to look back at him. “Contact Sylvia and the others and tell them they’re going down. We’ve found the Ira…” He told him before adding in a sullen voice “It may be too late.”

********

Unknown Planet; Ira Crash Site

(1:57 AM) {Present Day}

            Both Sylvia and Nate were beamed down to the planet’s surface wearing their power armor. Unfortunately James and Lliam had to pilot their mechs from the Luxuria through reentry because the transporter couldn’t beam them down to the planet’s surface; thankfully the mechs were rated to withstand reentry and could breach an atmosphere if needed.

            While the two of them were waiting for Lliam and James, Albert contacted them and warned them that he was picking up life signs around the crash site but couldn’t identify if they were animals, enemies or survivors. Deciding to get a better handle on the situation, both of them rushed up the side of a hill that was between them and the Ira to get a better view of the crash site.     

            They both dropped to a prone position just before reaching the top and crawled further to peak over. Using a scope, Nate zoomed in on the crash site and looked for anything out of the ordinary. He didn’t see any movement nor did he spot anyone. As they scanned the area, both Lliam and James arrived behind them. Nate gave them a quick rundown before telling them to move ahead.

            Using their thrusters allowed them to clear the hill relatively fast. Instead of heading straight to the Ira, James and Lliam positioned themselves behind some cover to provide cover fire if any was needed by Nate and Sylvia who charged down the hill to an outcropping of rocks.

            They repeated this once more and with them being closer Albert was able to use the sensors built into Lliam and James’ mechs to identify the life signs. He contacted them and informed them that the life signs he was picking up were that of animals. Even if the life signs were animals, no one let their guard down as they approached the Ira.

            “Do any of you see a way inside?” Sylvia asked as she scanned the wreck.

            “Yeah, center of the ship; one o’clock high.” James informed them through the comm channels in their helmets.

            “Copy that. I see it.” Nate said and started walking towards it but stopped short. A red stain on the ground caught his eye.

            Kneeling down he checked the stain. “Guys… we have blood stains here.” Nate informed them and noticed a few smaller blood stains on the ground heading towards the ship.

            Everyone grouped around the stain and looked as Nate started following the blood trail. “Hmm, either someone was injured out here and entered the ship or…” Nate started saying as he reached the breach in the ship and climbed up. Examining the amount of blood at the breach and what he could see further into the ship he added “…From the looks of this I’d say someone was injured on the ship and came out.”

            “We have paw prints here.” Lliam told them and started examining the area around the blood stain. “I count over… thirteen tracks.” He said and used the camera on the mech to zoom in on an area and added “Looks like something was lying over there.”

            Offering his hand, Nate helped Sylvia inside before saying “Animal tracks I’m guessing?”

            “They may be but I got some strange marks over here… they look like… plasma damage.” James said as he examined an area filled with similar marks on the ground.

“What do you think caused it?” Nate asked.

“From the looks of it… I’d say someone fired plasma type rounds here.” James answered.

            “That’s impossible, no one has plasma weapons; not even the Electus.” Nate stated.

            “That may be but it doesn’t change the fact that these marks were caused by someone shooting.” James said back as Lliam headed towards the ship.

            As Lliam neared the breach Nate and Sylvia activated the lights built into their helmets and started walking into the ship. Stopping his mech at the entrance, Lliam opened the mech and used it to easily access the ship.

             He turned to face James’ mech and activated his comm “You coming?” He asked.

            “I’ll stay out here and investigate this some more, just keep in contact.” James replied.

            “Alright, we’ll be back soon.” Lliam said and pulled out a flashlight as he turned around to catch up with Nate and Sylvia who were following the blood trail.

            They stopped and examined the blood trail again along the way. Nate was able to confirm that the blood trail started inside the ship; the stains becoming larger the further in they went. They started heading towards the crew quarters when Lliam stopped as a scent caught his attention.

            “This scent…” He said as he closed his eyes and thought for a moment. “It’s… Aurora and someone else.” He added as he opened his eyes “It has to be Rrahkarr’s scent, but I can smell two others as well.”

            “Take it as a good sign that Aurora made it out of Mors Mortis with Rrahkarr and a few others. Can you detect Sara’s scent?” Nate asked.

            Lliam gave a sad look and replied in a similar voice “No… the only familiar scents are Rrahkarr’s and Aurora’s.”

            In a sullen voice Nate said “Understood, we’re going to check all these rooms but how ‘bout you check the room that blood trail came from first.”

            “Hey guys, Kathy just beamed down. She’s heading your way.” James said over the comms.

            “Alright, thanks for the heads up James.” Nate replied as Lliam followed the blood trail its starting point and looked in.

            The room was pitch black so he shined the light in. His eyes followed the trail of blood droplets to a large puddle of coagulated blood. The blood looked like it had pooled from under a large replicator that was on its side. Looking around the room his light fell on a classical guitar, pointing the light in another direction he saw a mattress that was on the other side of the room and then he noticed the clothing that was far too small for an adult.

            Stepping into the room he aimed the light on the clothing and instantly recognized them. They were the clothes that Aurora was wearing the day she and Sara were taken from Falora but there were also a pair of PJ’s a little further away from them. He figured whatever had happened started when Aurora was being put to bed. He sighed with a sad look on his face before pointing the light back at the replicator. That’s when he noticed there was something underneath it.

            “Hey Nate, come in here would ya?” Lliam called out.

            “What is… it?” Nate asked entering the room, only to stop after seeing the large puddle of dried blood.

            “There’s something under this, help me turn it over.” Lliam said.

            “What’s the matter? Can’t you do it yourself?” Nate said and chuckled.

            “It’s heavier than it should be and I can’t get a good grip on it.” Lliam said as he kneeled down and lifted one end as Nate pushed further up till Lliam could get a better grip on it and tossed it over.

            Just as they flipped the replicator, Kathy stepped into the room and instantly stopped; frozen to the spot at what she saw. Sylvia was following her so she was the first to see what Kathy was looking at and brought her hand up towards her mouth.

            Lliam and Nate had noticed Kathy come in and stop after they had flipped the replicator. With the look on her face and how her tail fell limp they both looked down at what was crushed under the equipment. The black furred arm that greeted them was unmistakable as Kathy dropped to her knees and started to cry.