Chapter 112: Fire Everything!

Travelling through whatever dimensional rift the Zietriss was capable of opening was an experience even worse than teleportation. As opposed to the soothing golds and yellows I got to see while my body was being atomized and rebuilt, this mode of travel was all the more terrifying. As soon as we slipped through the fissure that the ship had ripped open it felt like I was in a freefall, and not the nice kind you get where you pay a guy to fly really high up into the air and then chuck you out of a plane. Storms leapt into life outside the cockpit, whirling maelstroms of purple and orange, twisting and rippling against two planes of infinite black. Deep at the bottom of it all I could see the creature, the one which had sent me here. The Reaper. I shadow amongst the shadows, swiftly moving throughout the gaps between worlds, shepherding the souls of the dead to the feast of the Maw. I shuddered. One day I would be there too, sheparded once more when my life had been fulfilled. It was an unpleasant mental image, one that the ship didn't agree with either. Before I could get too caught up in worrying about the future it was all gone, and I was back in normal space once more. 

Before I could take stock of what was going on around me I was once more struck by the enormity of it all. It seemed there were stages of realising how big the wonder of creation truly was. While you were on a planet you could fool yourself into thinking that planet was all there was, a huge world ripe for exploring. When you are on a space station you realise that little ball you were on was just a tiny puzzle piece in a much wider web of worlds and space. But then, when you were in a little ship of your own, you could really see it. The expanse of space closing in on you like a fist, desperately trying to crush the life out of anything. Then here we were, floating about in our little tin cans, just one layer away from eternity. I felt a buzz of annoyance from the Zietriss, she didn't appreciate being called a tin can it seemed. 

The battle seemed to be relatively equal from my vantage point. The large, spiralling structure of the space station was painted in the same red and white as most of the ships out in the battle, and thus I could only assume that they were on the same side. The station was bristling with weapons, firing off torpedos and white hot shots of plasma. But even then the enemy ships, with their harsh angles and deep purple outer hulls, were dipping and diving between both the anti space weapons and the shots of the Protectors tailing them. 

"Okay then," I muttered to myself and the ship, "Time to patch myself back into the comms."

With a couple of button pushes I was once more patched into the network that the Federation used. 

"So what you're telling me is that the Zietriss just up and teleported itself into the dojo, scooped that lying scum up, and then teleported out again?" Andi seethed over the comm system, clearly believing I had deceived her in some way. 

"Lying scum?" I retorted over the comms, "Andi, I'm hurt, I thought we were becoming friends!" 

I kicked the engines into gear and let the ship skim narrowly over the top of the space station, following the curve of the elegant hull until I was floating precariously in front of the Bridge's front window. Andi was stood there with a violent scowl on her face, so I gave her a small friendly wave. 

"What are you doing Craig, dangerous game you're playing here," she said tactfully, she sounded like a cop in a movie trying to defuse a hostage situation. "Are you part of the Indak Separatist Movement? Is that why you came here, to make sure our defenses were down?"

"Andi I'm hurt, wounded even," I gasped, mock sadness on my face. "Look, it's complicated to explain. The Zietriss and I, we have this sort of bond, she came to me and brought me out here. I'm a protector right? Well it's about time you let me do my job and start protecting! Besides, you guys look like you could probably do with the extra help." 

I wasn't wrong either, because at that moment a huge blast of energy rocked the side of the space station, physically causing it to lilt to one side. If I hadn't been so class to the burst of energy I would have been impressed at the show of sheer strength. 

"Fine," she gritted her teeth and choked out the word as if it physically hurt her to admit she and her Protectors needed the assistance. "Try to draw fire away from the Protector squads while they do a fly-by of that giant bloody Indak battle cruiser that just warped into the system, bloody separatists."

I gave her a nod, a mock salute, and then turned the Zietriss back to the battle. The battle cruiser that had warped into the system was big, around half the size of the space station that I had pledged myself to protect. To think it was so large yet had so easily snuck under whatever sensor grid the Federation had in place was pretty impressive. I felt the ship give an angry buzz of chastisement, she was right, should not be praising the enemy so much on the destructive sneaky powers of their weaponry. 

"Alright, who needs an assist out here," I called out, ready to dart out to the first sign of trouble. 

"Squadron Leader Malek here," It was the voice from before, the one that Andi had been bantering with in the training room before the battle. "Ignore what the wife says, she's a bit of a stickler for Federation rules and all that, get on my tail and join in the assault run. I am sensing some serious fire power underneath that hull of yours."

The Zietriss buzzed happily about the praise it had received, and I gave her an affectionate pat on the steering rig. If Malek was sensing anything from the ship it would have been the Essence the ship was made of, and if Essence was power in this world, then together we were power incarnate. I locked on to the ship that had sent Malek's signal, and was immediately surprised to find out that it didn't have the same readings as the Protector ships at all. According to the data it was faster, but less armoured and less tooled up in terms of fire power, than the rest of the ships in her formation. 

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"That is not a Federation sanctioned fighter," I remarked over the comms. 

"You're one to talk, that thing you're flying feels like it has the Essence of an entire planet shoved down into a ship," She retorted. 

"Oi, that's the Zietriss to you, she does not appreciate being called a thing."

"Yeah okay, whatever you say Mr. I Came Out Of Nowhere," she laughed, "Assault crew, call in for first attack run."

"Fredan callin' in."

"Copy, Delarak here."

"Sidor ready for assault mission."

"Mishol here, I got your back cap."

"Careful there Mishol, don't wanna let Andi hear you call me that, she'll get jealous," Malek said, "Alright, we got a freshie here with us today, he'll be on my tail, apparently came outta nowhere so if he tries anything spicy give him a photon blast up the arse." Much to my chagrin that got a chorus of affirmatives and chuckles. "We're running a simple assault run today on this battle cruiser, standard attack pattern, full wide spread on all weak points. Freshie, you just keep up and fire where we do if you can." 

"I do have a name you know," I said, "Craig, you can use it." 

"Eh, Andi may have taken a liking to you, but you still gotta prove yourself to me Freshie. Keep in line, or my boys will keep you in line, ain't that right boys!" 

The so called boys yelled their affirmatives again. I couldn't help but feel like these Federation lot didn't exactly trust me. I suppose I had to give them a reason to, and in that case it would probably have been best for me to lay low and keep to the plan. Unfortunately the Zietriss didn't want to do that at all. Just like me she was new to this universe, and new to sentience as a whole, she wanted to let loose and test out her capabilities. As my hands worked across the controls to gun the engines and pump up the weapons systems I realised that was exactly what I wanted too. So much for gaining the trust of the Federation. 

I ducked out of the formation that the federation ships had built around me and dived straight into the fray of the battle. As I ducked the blasts of ion cannons and laser beams, from both the federation and the Indak attackers, the difference between myself and the ship slowly bled away until it felt like it was an extension of me. I could feel every panel of the hull, every jet of energy from the engines, and it was absolutely fantastic. I ducked and weaved with reckless abandon, and it was the most freeing sensation I had ever felt. 

I let the weapons on the front of the ship power up to their maximum and then released a devastating blast of white hot energy that cut straight across the battlefield, cleaving several Indak fighters and, eventually, the Indak Battle Cruiser itself into two floating pieces. The jagged, angular ship of the enemy was no more as the two halves erupted into a glorious explosion, bigger than anything I had seen in the movies back on Earth. I was entranced by the spectacle, and so was every other pilot out there. The battle had stopped, and all eyes were on me. 

I patched myself into the Indak communication grid, and with a smirk on my face began to speak. 

"This is the Federation Fighter Zietriss, and I am her pilot. As you can see I just destroyed several of your fighters and your battle cruiser in a single blast of my main weapons array. If I wanted to, I could destroy all of you in the same way. But I'm not going to do that. Instead, me and my jolly band of comrades over here are going to let you go, and you're going to go with a message. You have heard of the Protectors, well guess what, I've just joined them. Think back to every day you've tried to assault this base, every day you've failed, and then multiply the terror you've felt by a billion. My name is Craig Lyre, and this base… This station… Is PROTECTED!" I yelled the last word, and as I did the Indak fighters scattered, warping away as fast as they could, while the Federation pilots cheered at our victory.

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