Both Noah and I reacted immediately. We started dashing away from the commotion and in the direction of Yori’s shop. If we ran, it’d be about 20 minutes away.
“The Haivu are here already!?” Noah shouted. “Fuck. They got here way too fast!”
“No kidding! Maralu is a low priority target, and they’re already hitting us? The Galactic Union warship isn’t even here yet!”
Noah and I darted between lumps of people who were milling around, dumbfounded by the attack. Haivu fighters soared overhead. In my peripheral view, I saw five or six of them. The fighters started to hover in place and take aim.
“Fuck! Noah, we have to go find Yori and leave, fast. The Haivu are targeting the docked ships!” I shouted.
“We’re running? Can you find a vehicle?” Noah responded.
“Running will be faster. People will rush to evacuate, it’ll cause a traffic jam! We’ll have less trouble on foot!”
I turned my attention overhead. The Haivu ships were mercilessly beating down on docked ships, destroying them. They were all sitting ducks. A few ships tried to launch and escape, but they stood no chance against Haivu weaponry. The struggling ships barely managed to get off the ground before they came crashing down again.
“They better not have hit the Leviathan! We need that to get out of here!”
Noah nodded. “Let’s find Yori, first. If we try to take off in a ship, they’ll focus on us!”
We kept running. My muscles were starting to scream and my lungs started to strain. But adrenaline kept my momentum going. Yori was still at their shop. If the Haivu were smart, they would go after the reactors that powered Maralu Station after they crippeled our harbor. Once that happened, everyone still on Maralu would be done for. I fumbled for my tablet and called Yori. They picked up after the first ring.
“Saka, what’s going on? I hear some loud noises, like something’s exploding. But I can’t see it from here, and all of the sirens are going off.” They said rapidly, and all in one breath.
“Yori, stay calm. It’s the Haivu. They attacked earlier than we thought. We’re coming to pick you up now, and then we’ll head to my ship. Get ready.” I said, wheezing heavily between sentences.
“Is Noah with you? Are you two okay?” Yori asked. I heard them fumbling with something in the background.
“We’re fine, coming over from the dock. See you soon.” I closed the call. Couldn’t afford to waste any more breaths on words.
Smoke of various colors rose into the air behind us. The sounds of the Haivu hammering down on ships was constant and deafening. I peered backwards. Some of the ships that were already in the air had escaped through other exits in the station. Namely, the unarmed ships like cargo ships and passenger ships. I hoped there weren't other Haivu ships stationed outside. An independent fighter ship screamed above our heads. It wasn’t a Haivu ship, it was owned by a resident of Maralu. The brave soul piloting that ship started hitting the hovering Haivu fighters with everything they had. Missiles and beams poured out of the little ship’s racks and cannons. But it wasn’t enough. The independent fighter simply wasn’t enough for the military grade ships that the Haivu invaded with. I watched in horror as a Haivu fighter quickly chased down the brave pilot’s ship, and it blew up in a red and orange explosion. It careened into the dock below. My heart dropped into my stomach.
Why were the Haivu attacking Maralu? Maralu Station had no military importance. It was strictly a civilian outpost with a small focus on trading. It had no strategic importance. The Haivu were attacking for seemingly no reason, killing innocent people who had nothing to do with the conflict. It didn’t make sense.
But I didn’t have time to worry about that. Right now, I had to escape Maralu with Noah and Yori. The questions could come later. Noah and I continued to dash down the streets of Maralu. We were surrounded by chaos. Cars honked at each other, trying to make their way to evacuation sites. People rushed around us, heading in any and all directions. A nearby high-rise building was on fire, smoke billowing from the windows and rising into the air. Because of the station’s rotation, the smoke stayed in the center of the station, creating a sort of smoke screen. The Haivu ships were still firing indiscriminately. I prayed they didn’t turn their attention towards buildings or civilian populated areas. The station started to descend into madness as more and more ships came down on buildings and people. The Haivu were shooting down any ship that moved, and the destroyed ships spun away into the ground, walls, and ceiling. A lot of these ships were larger than high rise buildings, which meant that the damage was catastrophic. I briefly imagined a ship crashing against Yori’s shop, then shook that thought away. We needed to get out of here as fast as possible.
We continued to run. We were finally getting close to Yori’s shop. Noah and I were getting bogged down by people, though. They flooded the streets, hallways, and paths, slowing our movements and forcing us to adjust to a jog. The smart ones were taking stairs and elevators underground. That’s where most of the evac was, and underground was also temporarily safe. The fighters couldn’t destroy anything that wasn’t on the surface. For now.
Eventually, the flood of people slowed to a stream, then a trickle. The area near Yori’s shop wasn’t heavily populated, and most people should’ve gotten out of the streets by now. My feet pounded across the ground as I ran. My breaths were rhythmic, and my arms sliced through the air. Noah had to slow down to match my pace, but we were making good time. Almost twenty minutes had passed since the first Haivu fighter entered the station. The ships were still visible from where we were. We may have run for twenty minutes, but the station was huge. Relative to the station, we were still barely out of the docks. I looked up once more. More ships were beginning to escape from the station. The main harbor wasn’t the only docking area, it was just the biggest. Ships from other, smaller docks managed to slip past the Haivu fighters, passing through alternate exits. Using those alternate exits would be our best shot. However, my ship was still back at the main dock, and I had no clue if it was safe or not.
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Soon, Noah and I came across a familiar little shop. The tattered sign still read “Yori’s Self Defense.” The shop was unharmed. I bent over, resting my hands on my knees. Noah grabbed my shoulders and straightened me up.
“Don’t do that. You’re restricting your breathing. Put your hands on your head like this.” He put his hands behind his head and laced his fingers together, and took several deep breaths.
I nodded and mirrored his movements. I flung open the door to Yori’s shop, and stepped in.
“Are you guys alright? Are you hurt anywhere?” Yori immediately said. They must’ve been waiting for us to step through that door. Yori was wearing a spacesuit, which was something I’ve never seen before. It was all black, no armor plates, with a shield pack on the back. The helmet visor was small, and only revealed Yori’s worried eyes.
“We’re fine. It’s chaos out there. Let’s get our things fast, and go.” Noah spoke for me. I was still gasping for air.
“Here, Saka. Your armor.” Yori said, and passed my suit to me.
I thanked them, and quickly stripped down to my underwear to put it on. There was no embarrassment during an emergency. I put my suit on in record time. Yori tossed my energy shotgun to me, and I holstered my handgun to my hip. A knife went into a sheath on my chest. It had been a while since I was suited up.
“So, what’s the plan?” Noah asked. “It’s pretty crazy out there, and we can’t go back to the docks. That’s the most dangerous place to be right now.”
I nodded. “You’re right. We can’t go back to the Leviathan. It’s probably already destroyed, and if it wasn’t, we’d get fucked when we try to take off.”
“So what are we going to do? Take one of the evac ships?” Yori asked.
“That’s right.” I replied. “We gotta get to an evac ship and sneak out of here. Let’s catch one before they all leave without us.”
I really didn’t want to abandon the Leviathan, but we had no choice. Heading back to the harbor was a death sentence. I loved my ship, but I valued my life more.
Yori tapped away at their tablet. “I found the nearest evac ship. It hasn’t left yet. We gotta go, now.”
“Right. Let’s get moving.” I grabbed my shotgun from the top, and pushed the front door open. Noah went out first, then Yori, and then me.
We checked the skies for any activity. The sounds of explosions had temporarily stopped, so I assumed that the Haivu fighters were done, at least with the main harbor. No signs of other ships above us, currently. The only things I heard were the evacuation sirens and car alarms. The street outside Yori’s shop was empty, too. It looked like most people got to safety underground. I hoped.
“This way.” Yori said.
We moved together. Yori took the lead since they knew the neighborhood the best. Noah was close behind, and I took the rear. We jogged urgently to the nearest elevator, and took it down to the underground hallways.
The underground was not safe. It was safe from the Haivu, sure. But it wasn’t safe from the residents of Maralu. The aftermath of a stampede awaited us. People were bludgeoned, stabbed, and slashed to death underneath boots and claws. Several corpses bleeding different colors were left to fester in the damp, dimly lit hallways. Maralu residents had rushed down to the underground hallways, and in their efforts to preserve their own life, they had stomped out others. It was sickening. It wasn’t Maralu’s fault. The residents, at least. It was the Haivu, and the Maralu higher-ups who assured a fake safety.
I grit my teeth. The Haivu deserved to pay. But I had to focus on living, first. I’ve probably never been more screwed in my life. But the evac ships were still here. If we got lucky, we could get out of here. Yori, Noah, and I started to jog once more. We had to dodge and run around several flattened bodies, discarded luggage, and other people. Yes, we had finally caught up to other people. They came down from the elevators, stairs, other hallways, The trickle turned into a stream, into a flood, then a lake. The hallway was stuffed with people trying to make their way to the evac ships. The evac ships had a high enough capacity to support all of us, but the traffic jam was disheartening. The Haivu could be destroying the station’s reactors at this very moment. If they managed that, then we’d all be fucked. The best case scenario was a very large explosion. I didn’t want to think about the worst case.
Of course, with people, came chatter. A nervous Sabi woman voiced her concerns about the capacity of the evac ships. A Maneri clad in a spacesuit cursed the news outlets for downplaying the Haivu. A child screamed for her mother.
These terrible moments were quickly muffled by good ones. A burly Xilashi man picked up the lost child and comforted her. An Anri helped apply first aid to an injured Aeon. A charismatic Sabi reassured everyone around him with kind words and positive predictions. The people of Maralu were still strong. But we weren’t out of it yet.
The hallway started to branch into separate paths. All of them lead to different evac ships. The crowd of people steadily kept moving down the hallway, calmly making their way to the evac ships. Each ship would not leave until they were full, so there was no stampede of panicked people. However, the crowd was dense, and everyone was pushing against each other. I grabbed Yori’s hand with one of my back arms, and Noah’s hand with my other back arm. Getting separated here would be a nightmare.
“How does evac work?” Noah asked. “Are they just ships that get us off the station? What are we going to do about the Haivu ships?”
“Yeah, they’re repurposed cargo ships.” Yori replied. “They’re huge, and there’s a lot of them, so there’s theoretically enough for the entire population of Maralu. But they’re slow, and clunky, and not good for anything else.”
“How are we supposed to escape, then? We’ll be sitting ducks!” Noah said.
“The ships launch to the outside of the station instead of in.” I informed him. “So as long as there isn’t a Haivu warship waiting outside, we’re fine.”
“And there isn’t a Haivu warship outside, because we’d be dead already.” Yori added. “My guess is that the Haivu sent those fighter ships to scout out and execute a quick ambush. That’s why they arrived a lot faster than we expected. A warship would take much longer to get here, and would’ve been detected on the way.”
“Makes sense. So the fighter ships are the only threat to us, right now.” Noah confirmed.
I shook my head. “The Haivu finished destroying the space harbor. I bet they’re going after the station’s reactors, or are currently doing so, right now. If the reactors go supercritical, it can cause an explosion big enough to blow Maralu apart. We need to evacuate before that happens.” I whispered.
“So all we can do right now is hope we reach the ships before they finish with the reactors.” Yori said. “It’s out of our control now.”
Ten minutes later, we were finally boarding the evac ship. I couldn’t see what it looked like. The hallway was simply connected to its gigantic hatch, so it just felt like walking into another room. It was a typical cargo hold, except it was tens of times bigger. It was completely clear of cargo except for several containers in the back. People were simply sitting on the floor and creating space for more people to enter. The evacuation ship was incredibly barebones. It was obvious it had never been used before, as people milled about and found spots to sit in. Yori, Noah and I did the same, finding a corner to sit in. We leaned up against one of the containers. All that was left was to play the waiting game.
Twenty more minutes later, the boarding stopped. The cargo hold was completely full of people. Everyone was shoulder to shoulder, and the entire room buzzed with nervous conversation and chatter. Soon, the ship wrenched into movement. The chatter stopped for a moment, then returned twice as strong. Then an alarm blared for a second, and speakers started broadcasting a message.
“This is the captain of this evac ship. We have just launched and are now creating distance from Maralu. We have gotten intel that the Haivu scum are just about to finish destroying the last reactor. This means that Maralu will go supercritical. We are making our escape now. There is no coming back.”
The ship was shocked silent for a second, and then chaos reemerged. Some people cried. Some people screamed and shouted. Some people remained silent. Noah and I put a hand on Yori’s rounded back. They were curled up in shock, with tears in their eyes. Yori had lived in Maralu for nearly their whole life. And now it was about to be gone.
There weren't any windows in the cargo hold of this evac ship. We couldn’t see what was going on outside. Soon, we heard a small series of explosions. Or felt them, rather. The ship rattled slightly. We couldn’t hear out in the black, but we could feel. A few minutes later, a larger boom shook the evac ship. The speakers blared once more.
“Folks, that was it. Maralu is no more. Our home is gone. But yet we remain. Stay strong, Maralu.”
The speakers went silent once more. Yori continued to weep. I thought about the Leviathan. That was gone, too. The ship I saved up for after years of working under another mercenary. The first time I truly had something for myself. The results of my hard and dangerous work. That was gone, too.