Chapter 3

[Net Message #300452333 on 25420811@1120pm – Transmission Code: 14q3kk7464g02 ~ duo encryption enabled]

Priority One Message to Nelson Fekonson, Chairman of The Freedom Party:

The infiltrator has reported significant activities within ARC. Possibility of Descent Project continuation is imminent. Secondary base for the assembling of the ship has been located. Coordinates are attached to the current message with Level 9 encryption Calton Code.

Please advise further actions.

End Message.

OOOOOO

SEVERAL months had slowly gone by ever since the grand theft of six billion credits by some unknown hacker in the virtual world. Police and other agencies were working hard without any sleep, trying their hardest to bring the suspect into custody.

Unfortunately, even if the Freedom Party had assumed it was the work of the World Alliance, there was not enough evidence to prove their accusations. No one knew where the money had gone to either. No one knew except for one man – Nelson Fekonson.

Nelson had decided to play along with Jake Roman’s scheme. The plan, though it wasn’t foolproof, was a better choice than to alert the authorities. After all, the World Alliance was still a powerful organization and there was a possibility that federal agents might align themselves with WA instead of helping the Freedom Party.

Over the course of agonizing weeks with immense stress, the engineering team had successfully installed new sets of Light Engines upon the nuclear reactor cores of the exploration ship. Ammunition experts were finalizing the defensive beam cannons that were just invented not too long ago. With plasma tubes connecting from the central engine compartments, snaking through the hulls of the ship, and gathering together at the base of the turrets, the starship that was going to go through the wormhole was fully armed.

As Payton watched from the side with an electronic notebook in his hands, he was utterly astonished by how large their spacecraft was going to be. Even though only a handful of people were going on this mysterious and exhilarating journey through space sectors, the ship itself could take in over a hundred crewmembers with enough rooms to spare.

Upon the specially designed hulls that could withstand fifty times the Earth's gravity by using rare minerals dug up several hundred miles beneath the planet, multi-purpose shield generators were placed in secured spots along the hull plating. Using the particles in the environment a solid shield could be produced with correct frequency. Cloaking device was also implemented. Millions of tiny high-resolution cameras could take real-time images and broadcast them through the projectors out onto the surface of the metal armor rendering the entire ship invisible to human eye. Electromagnetic disruptors were also installed within the cameras, which were fed into the main system core to further decrease the chance of being spotted by other means of equipment, such as pulse radar.

All of the work was done at an enormous underground base several hundred miles away from the Metro Dome City. Its location was so concealed that only a hundred people knew about it. They consisted of the group that was going to be part of the expedition and scientists who were building the ship.

While the ship was being built, the Descent Team had gotten together numerous times to discuss about different parts of space sectors that were waiting to be explored. Everything ranging from nebulas to asteroid belts had been talked about. The main focus, which was the special spatial distortion of a wormhole, had been brought up many times by the team. Payton and the others had gone over every detail, regardless of how miniscule it may be, to ensure that the entire team was fully prepared for the unknown.

The team would also work with other scientists and engineers to make sure that the ship would be fully functional when it was time to depart. Everyone had a high sense of hope for this was an expedition unlike any in human history, one that far surpassed when Neil Armstrong first landed on the moon in 1969.

Over the course of several weeks, Jake Roman and Payton Lane had hung out for lunch and sports activities. Although Payton had noticed an increased amount of distaste that Jake had shown towards the ARC and the lifestyle that surrounded it, the leader of the Descent Team didn’t pay too much attention to the change of attitude. Jake, on the other hand, had tried hard to remain positive and as carefree as possible. After all, he was a spy among his colleagues, the same colleagues that had entrusted their lives with him.

Two months before the final launch date of the ship, Payton had decided to enroll his buddy, Jake, to become one of the official crewmembers. Rather than having just a support role, with Jake’s extensive knowledge of the ship’s life support system as well as the Light Engines, the engineer maintenance worker would serve as a backup for Roy Sen, the ship’s main pilot.

Little did Payton know that he had given Jake Roman the opportunity that the man was seeking for this entire time and Payton had given Jake literally the access to the ship’s entire critical infrastructure.

OOOOOO

[Year 2542 – November 23rd – 12:02pm]

Sitting in his black, glossy leather chair, Payton was drawing diagrams of the space distortion areas on the star chart. Soft, white light radiated from above was casting blurry shadows around the objects in the room. A mountain of documents had smothered his table with an even bigger pile on the floor taking up most of the office space.

Jake Roman knocked a few times and stumbled in. Wearing only a plain white shirt and a pair of old jeans with a faded color, the buffed-up maintenance worker leaned against the door. A serious expression was displayed as he chewed the newly imported tobacco. He had not shaven his face yet, which made him looking rather muddled in a way. A strong smell of alcohol could be smelled by Payton. The man was clearly drunk.

“Have you been drinking on your shift?” The young scientist grimaced with displeasure.

Ignoring the question, Jake asked: “I heard that you stole the money from FP's account?”

Payton looked up from his work and smiled. “Impressive, no? It was your idea that led to this. I stole the money from Fekonson’s accounts. It's a simple trick really. Once I got in, all I needed to do was changing some configurations on the numbers-”

Angrily, Jake slammed his large fist on the table. Stainless steel cup jumped up and landed back onto the crystal table with a thud. The tea within it was nearly spilled out. Hot, white vapor twisted and twirled in the air before disappearing into the air silently.

“The Freedom Party has finally found out that you are responsible for the theft of Nelson Fekonson’s money. We have a bounty on our heads right now according to a friend of mine working at the mines outside the city. If we show our faces out in the public any time between now and the launch date we'll be dead before we know it. People are out there looking for us, hoping to capture the entire team to get those millions of credits as a reward. This is a gamble that's too much for us to handle, Payton, and you should know that.”

“Jake.” the scientist rubbed his tired eyes as he groaned and stretched. Looking at his friend, Payton said: “I had no choice. I couldn’t simply let our hard work to go down the drain just because of some moron had protested against our plan.”

“You are an idiot for thinking that Fekonson wouldn’t do anything drastic.”

“I’m an idiot for not doing anything and relying on the World Alliance and our useless sponsors to fund our project, in the first place!” Payton Lane rebuked with minor annoyance.

“The World Alliance was our only support and without their help, we are defenseless,” Jake glowered. He walked closer to his friend while giving out a disgusting loud burp. “You expect us to be able to leave the planet without their help? We are a tiny group compared to the Freedom Party that’s comprised of thousands of powerful political figures and millions of supporters!”

“As long as we can keep our cool and maintain our judgement, everything will be fine. The wormhole isn’t too far away; once we’ve broken orbit, we’ll be gone in a blink of an eye. Fekonson won’t even have the time to preach his falsified mysticisms.”

“And how would we be able to stabilize the wormhole? What would happen inside of the space deformation where the laws of physic are bent in a way that no one can predict the end results? Let's assume if we can successfully, somehow, alleviate the dimensional quake of the wormhole. What would happen once we get to the other side? Can we even find anything? Will there be anything at all? We could be coming out to a sector of blankness where everything is pure black and nothing else is there. These are only some of the questions that you haven't answered yet, Payton!”

Payton shifted some documents around his desk then he looked up and glared. “What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me? You fucking stole the old man’s money and putting our lives at risk! When the bounty has been set on all of our heads by the FP, that’s when I realized what a shit show this is going to be! I ain’t going to become one of the preys that get hunted, Payton. I didn’t expect you’d be so foolhardy to pull such a stunt! And the sad thing is, I was the last to know!”

“Jesus, you’re really losing faith in me. And damn, are you slow at catching up with the news! Heck, everyone’s been talking about my little endeavor for months now, I’m surprised you’re talking about it right now!”

“Hey, screw you, Payton! I ain’t here to listen to you lecturing me!”

“And I’m not going to stand here, listening to you, bitching about this whole situation!”

Both of them stared at each other in silence for a few minutes. Then Payton breathed in deeply and heaved out slowly. “Look, regarding Fekonson and his bounty on us, who gives a damn? Sooner or later, he’ll probably find some ways to mess with us anyway! And yes, it is true that some of your concerns...I have yet been able to solve. But this is what exploration is about isn't it? The delving into the unknown, the excitement of not knowing what would happen; there's more than just surveying deep space for the sake of mankind, Jake. To us scientists, this is a type of enjoyment and pleasure, which no mere man can experience or understand.”

“You can’t be serious,” the bulky man gazed at his colleague coldly. “You are asking the team to venture into space without any real preparations.”

“Really? After all these years of project development, you’re now questioning about our preparations?” Payton regained his composure, smiled and unfolded one of his giant charts. Pointing at an area on the paper, he continued: “This is where we would go, the No Land Sector, LNS, a region that, for some peculiar reasons, our Stellar Probes could not reach. The magnetic storms are too severe to get any closer for the Probes and they cannot relay any clear photos back to us without having the static wiping out the pixels. The wormhole's waiting for us, right there.”

“Just how, may I ask you, are you going to conquer these storms with this new ship of ours?” Jake rolled his eyes and stood up straight. “Okay, so let's just supposed we got deflectors also installed. How are you going to stabilize the wormhole?”

Payton chuckled. Shaking his head, he said: “For a person that just recently got promoted to become an official member of this team, you sure ask a lot of questions.”

Jake heaved a deep breath. He walked up close to his friend and stared deeply into the set of dark navy eyes. “In case you are wondering, a years ago, I was part of the engineering team. More than half of my theories on propulsion were used and at least sixteen percent of my work was incorporated into the contraption of the Light Engine. The hull and the weapon system are also part of my design. In a nutshell, I know about this ship as well as you do.”

Payton held out his hands and nodded slightly. “Yes, you’re right. You aren’t just a maintenance worker in ARC. You were so much more, Jake, before you were caught taking illegal substance during your shift, within the complex, in front of others, six years ago and got demoted. I was the one that saved you, buddy, from getting fired right on the spot. I was the one pulling the strings and convinced the Space Committee that you are a man who deserves a second chance. And you know why I did it? Why I stood up for you and helped you? Because you’re my friend, Jake, so don’t judge me like that.”

The big man stayed silent and didn’t say a word.

Payton sighed and tried to change the subject. “Okay, you know what? You want to know how we can secure the wormhole?”

Payton took out a small remote controller and pressed a button. Behind them, the once-silvery wall had materialized into a liquid crystal screen with a wide variety of colors swirling inside. A second later an image of a schematic diagram appeared.

Gesturing the bulky man to come closer, Payton said: “Come here, let me show you something.”

On the wall there was a small sphere around six meters in size with a bluish core in the middle faintly showing through the indentation of the orb. The shell of it was jet black with light chrome visible near the bottom. Antennas extended from the round surface with reddish beacons flashing slowly.

“You see this?” Payton side-glanced his colleague briefly before continued on: “This is the prototype of the refined shield generator that I called: 'Asset Pod'. It's the same stuff that we are going to use on the ship. Instead of connecting to a large power cell and enveloping an entire area, this thing has its own generator and has a limited distance.

“What is so special about this is that it can be placed within the body of the wormhole and can extend a wall of force field from side to side. It also imparts signals to other shield probes to activate their own field as well. A small problem to this design is that the maximum time to be able to stabilize the space distortion is roughly around sixty seconds to two minutes.”

Jake lifted an eyebrow. “So that means we have a minute or two of open window, at best? You want to navigate the ship through a region where we have assumed it's a gateway to another sector of space in less than two minutes?”

Smiling, Payton answered: “That's right. But there's one more thing that you need to be aware of. When we go through the supposed space doorway, we will most likely be traveling in semi light speed. In theory, we are jumping space-time. Time for us will be vastly different than the time in real space. We'll age slower, as time will slow down for us but time on Earth, again in theory, will move much faster.”

“You are saying that we are going through time?”

Payton laughed. “More like riding the river of time during the period that we are in hyperspace. I want to tell you this now because I want you to reconsider the idea of going with us. The entire Descent Project Team has decided to sacrifice their lives here, in order to search for something vastly unknown and possibly greater than any of us could have imagined. Of course, no one really knows what will happen afterwards. Maybe the exploration will fail and we all die. Maybe we will get trapped somewhere along the plains of dimensional space. Who knows?”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

That was definitely not what Jake had imagined. Knowing that by joining Payton Lane and his team on a journey across deep space would sacrifice the life here on Earth, he might as well just tell Payton to pay him and let him leave ARC. What good was Nelson Fekonson’s money if he couldn’t even live to enjoy the luxurious lifestyle?

Jake stared at the monitor silently while he pondered the profound thoughts that were rampaging in his mind. After a few long minutes without saying anything further he turned around and left.

Payton looked quietly at the retreating figure, as a stern facial expression was plastered on his young face. Even though the office had air conditioning, the place felt like an oven with a pile of coal sitting not too far away, feeding the raging flames of unsettling mood. He watched the rotating images of the Asset Pods upon the wall and sighed a heavy breath.

OOOOOO

[Year 2543 – January 31st – 3:40am]

A loud buzzing noise had woken up the leader of the Descent Project as his silvery lab coat was covering his upper body as a bed sheet. He was in the hallway and was lying across a wooden bench. People around him dressed in white and silver were running everywhere. The atmosphere was intense and petrifying.

It was the day before the launch of the exploration ship - Solstice Seven - and there should not be this many activities except for the checkups of the ship. Payton yawned as he rubbed his eyes sleepily.

“What's going on?” He asked with a sleepy voice. “Has something happened?”

Kena Lee who stood beside Payton looked toward the hallway and said: “They found us. Soldiers from the Freedom Party are due to arrive in two hours.”

“Christ!” Upon hearing the ghastly news, Payton was immediately wide-awake. He jumped up from the bench and began to head toward his office. “What time is it?”

Kena was trying to match her boss' pace. “Three-forty in the morning. Payton. If you want to continue with the launch, we have to do it, now!”

“Yes, yes, I know.” He muttered under his breath as he stopped before the door. Wheeling around, he said: “Get all the members onto the ship right now. I'll do the briefings there. Tell the others to do final checkups as soon as humanly possible. We don't have the time to clarify the mission statements. And tell the guards to lock down this entire base and standby for the launch sequence.” He then reassured Kena with a hand on her shoulder. “Don't worry. We have ample time to get ready to leave.”

“There is one other issue, Payton,” Kena grabbed onto his sleeve and halted him in mid-stride. “I can’t contact Liam Ope nor can I get a reply from the Space Committee.”

Gazing at her in a brief moment of silence, Payton shook his head. “No time to worry about that right now. I have the launch code. We don’t need the approval from Liam.”

“But don't you think that something is wrong here?”

Payton looked deeply into her eyes. Frowning, he asked: “What do you mean?”

“Not many people know about this place,” the female physician extended both arms and waved them around. “This is a top-secret base that is not even on the World Alliance's record. How in the world can the Freedom Party's forces find out about this place?”

The Descent Team leader went silent as he pondered the inquiry. His bluish eyes scanned the translucent glass panels all around them. Aside from computers and test tubes there were not any people working inside the glass-enclosed labs. The hallway they were in was as quiet and desolate as it could be. Everyone was busy at the launch dock trying to get the ship ready for departure.

“That is indeed strange, Kena,” Payton heaved out a deep sigh after a brief moment of stillness.

“Do you think that someone may have ratted us out? Maybe one of the scientists here is a spy for the Freedom Party?”

Shaking his head, Payton replied: “I wouldn't know. There's no way of telling if any one of us has defected to the other side. Besides, Kena, I think it is too late to ask this question. We have to get to the launch pad, right now. Go!”

Nodding, the female scientist followed her team leader through the door that would lead them to Payton's office.

OOOOOO

Eight miles out in the barren desert with the conurbation acting as a spherical shadow in the background, the night sky was serene and beautiful. A small entry bunker was barely visible within the ductile ray of the moon hovering in the dusk. The heaven was a pale blue with a faint glow of the sun streaking across the dim sapphire atmosphere.

The night silently moved away while the sun forcefully appeared over the horizon. A gust of cold wind rolled the dry dirt with a howl, as several vehicles were bouncing across the ragged terrain with people wearing environmental suits along with military gears.

Soldiers in full body-armor and heavily-loaded with weapons were at the main entrance that could lead them down to the secretive structure of the Descent Project science team. Bright orange sunlight reflected off their black, gleaming protective gears, as morning was slowly creeping across the land.

Each man had a blaster rifle in their hands. Their thick helmets enveloping their heads had masked their faces. Small pebbles were cracking and crushing under the weight of the equipment, as the harsh movements of the assault teams had stirred up clouds of blinding sand.

The commander with a miniature microphone resting beside his mouth gave the signal. One person from the side flipped a switch and the double blast doors were blown apart in a deafening boom. Torrential bursts of air had flung pieces of heavy steel in all directions. Some scrap metals had bounced off the hand-held shield plating that was placed before the assaulting teams and the rest had slid across the barren desert land.

“Division Six, Ten and Fourteen take point!” The leader shouted as swarms of people had flooded through the parted doorway and into the tunnel. “Division Fifteen, Sixteen, and Seventeen go in as backup. Take the fugitives alive. Don't fire unless absolutely necessary!”

The small concrete hallways with yellowish lights flashing above was crammed with people as sounds of clicking magazines were echoing down the elongated pathways.

A siren was activated and automatic sentry turrets affixed in the ceiling had zoomed in on the intruders and started to fire red-hot bolts of energy bullets. Each of them was bouncing off the barriers activated by the solders' combat suits and blew holes all around the walls on both sides. Pieces of shattered bolsters, which supported the overhanging layers of rocks, had ricocheted away from the uneven ground. Screams could be heard when one of the foyers had collapsed, crushing the fragile bodies beneath heavy coarse cements.

Division Six's senior officer was about to give out an order to destroy the auto turrets when one of the shots coming from the end of the central hallway had slammed into his skull and spilled out the contents that were inside his head. The man's back was against the wall as he slid down to the ground without as much as a grunt. A sea of sticky crimson blood was oozing out from the hole in his head and spreading on the floor.

Another volley of thunderous shots had emerged from the bunker that was surrounded with inch-thick bricks. The snipers who were responsible for defending the base had aimed and fired with precision. Powerful projectiles with amazing velocities had penetrated the armors easily and killed off a trail of invading soldiers under a short amount of time.

A soldier from Division Fourteen had aimed a pulse bomb launcher from the other end of the corridor. The others had banked to either side, opening up a clear path for the destructive projectile to fly through. The solider pulled the trigger, driving an oval shaped energy discharge through the walls of the bunker and detonated from within.

The snipers were incinerated within seconds, as a massive fireball in bright yellow light had blasted outward with a deafening bang. The Freedom Party's soldiers had to use their shield plating to protect themselves from the monstrous fireball that threatened to devour everything.

More debris had fallen from the ceiling. Soldiers cried out in surprise when rocks had crashed against their combat suits in a series of loud banging noises. When they pushed forward and breached the lower levels, a military hacker had decoded the keypad lock not too far away from the launch pad. The lights went out and an ugly reddish illumination had filled the entire place, as the door slid open silently for the assaulting forces.

OOOOOO

[Year 2543 – March 7th – 8:56am]

Payton looked up when a potent earthquake had vibrated the labs, rocked the computers on the tables and smashed the glass tubes onto the marble floor. He raced toward the dock with all his essential tools in two large backpacks. Kena was behind him with her own luggage.

Nearly all the other scientists had escaped through the emergency exits, as they had decided right on the spot it wasn’t worth the risk to board a ship that was literally a giant target. The only ones that were still lingering around were boarding the Solstice Seven spacecraft and getting ready for the launch. Payton had nearly knocked down Jake Roman around the corner when the muscular man was rushing from the other side.

“Jake? What the hell are you doing? If you are coming with us then you should head toward the same direction as I am heading!” Payton scolded when another tremor had struck the building.

It looked as if the enemies had taken the upper levels successfully. Payton blamed himself for not preparing enough to deter invaders from breaching the base.

Jake rolled his eyes in slight annoyance and said: “I am coming with you guys. I just forgot something important and...and I need to get it. Listen, you go on ahead and I'll catch up to the rest of you guys in five minutes.” He started running away when he turned back and held up his right palm. “Five minutes! Don’t leave without me!”

Payton shook his head in disapproval but said nothing else when his pal had disappeared under a thick cluster of smoke. Payton had reached the launch port soon after and saw the light gray spaceship rumbling with enormous energy. Six sets of monstrous landing legs were on the ground. They were taller than a six stories building and thicker than ten houses lining side by side. The four Light Engine thrusters were even bigger as they were suspended in mid-air, mounted solidly onto the ship’s rear structure.

Workers below were doing the final confirmations on the status of the computers and the central core of the vessel; their body gestures had clearly displayed the desire to flee but they forced themselves to remain as calm as necessary. Miles of electrical lines had connected to the ship’s hull, as supplies were being transported onboard.

“God damn it!” Another explosion had roared through the base. Payton ran toward the hatch and climbed up the ladder that was extending all the way down onto the smooth ground. When he got inside, he was amazed at how much elbowroom he had in the corridors.

Large panels of reinforced windows were constructed along the curvature of the walls. The floor was well-carpeted. It was slightly fluffy and light jade in color. Lights at the top were long tubes with rich chemicals floating inside of them to produce a long-lasting life span of brightness. They had produced a clear, refreshing illumination throughout the ship.

Payton got to the command center. It was not large. It was just big enough for seven people sitting at the consoles with hundreds of buttons, switches, and monitors. Five people were waiting for him. They had all dressed in orange space suits. Black belts had strapped tightly across their waist and two of the men had an additional girdle across their broad chests from top left to bottom right.

There were three females and two males. All of them were born in the Metro Dome City. Aside from Doctor Kena Lee, the other two girls were a mixed-race between Caucasian and African-American. Tracy Huegard was the ship's counselor and Lina Huegard was the biologist. The two were twin sisters with a slight difference between their physical appearances and personalities. One was slightly fatter than the other. Tracy had a look that was gentle and caring while Lina had possessed a gaze of intensity.

The two men were both Caucasians. One was taller than the rest and the other was somewhat shorter than Payton. The taller one, Steve En, was a weapon specialist with long, messy golden hair draped across his broad shoulders. The other, Roy Sen, was the ship's main pilot. Of course, all seven people, including Payton and Jake, could drive the spacecraft. It was a necessary thing to know just in case the main pilot was incapacitated.

“I'm sure that we have all met each other before, so I'll cut to the chase,” Payton cleared his throat and nodded a greeting to all five people before him. “Time is short and my apology for that. The FP somehow has found out about this base and they are currently attacking us. We all know that this is a foolhardy action made by Nelson Fekonson. A maniac like him could never understand what we are trying to achieve.

“Unfortunately, there will be no reporters to witness the greatest deep space exploration in human history. What is more important right now is that we need to leave the planet immediately before the military forces of FP could put a blockade in space.”

“We understand and we are all ready, Payton.” Steve smiled as he gave a thumbs-up. “Give us the word and we are out of here in the greatest human venture ever conducted.”

Nodding in approval, Payton said: “Good. Let's start up the engines and say goodbye to Earth. We probably won't see it anytime soon after this departure.”

Everyone went to their stations as Payton sat on the side, turning on the surveillance cameras that were mounted outside the ship. From the monitors in front of his eyes, Payton could see everything that was happening in the launching dock. A beeping sound had appeared when the gate that sealed off the docking port was imploded from within. Group of armed men rushed in and started to shoot everyone in sight. They started firing at all the scientists that were scrambling to escape in every direction.

A loud voice was echoing: “Fugitives in the ship! Come out now with your hands up! We have the base surrounded and secured! There is no escape!”

“They're killing everyone!” Steve En grumbled with frustration. He tapped a few commands on the keyboard and rotated the ship's mounted cannons around. Solstice Seven rumbled as the massive weapons were gradually moving on their rotatory axis. “Roy! See if you can divert power from one of the engines to the cannons. I think I can take them out with one shot.”

“No! Stop! You'll kill us all!” A rough voice had boomed over the commotion as the hatch behind everyone opened and closed with a hiss. Jake had nearly crawled to his seat with sweat breaking out from his forehead. “These cannons are supposed to be used in space! Not indoor! One shot from these cannons will blow a depression six miles wide, us along with it!”

“And how would you know?” Steve rebuked with stubbornness. “I'm the weapon specialist here and I know how much damage that the cannons would do.”

Jake wiped away the perspiration on his face. Giving the man a cold look, he said slowly: “The system design is based on the schematics that I had created three years ago. I know more about the energy flux and core converter better than you do. You, as the weapon specialist, should read more about plasma injectors and phase-shift pulse laser theories before you would call yourself a 'specialist'.”

Steve's eyes were filled with anger when he heard the mockery. Before he could get up from his seat and bash his large fist into the face of Jake Roman, Lina Huegard shouted: “Will you two calm down and keep your male testosterone in check? We don't have time to argue like kids here!”

“Roy! Start the engines!” Payton yelled when an energy bolt from a rifle had crashed against the hull with a bang.

Lina wheeled around and turned on the environmental controls. “I'll equalize the pressure and the gravitational generators right now. It'll be painful since we are still in the Earth's gravitational pull but it's faster this way since the engines are firing up.”

The room had whirred in a deep noise, as Roy flipped the switches one by one while doing a list of pre-flight checks in his head. The bridge gradually became darker when the lights were tuned down to a comfortable level during the lift-off sequence.

Steve enabled the flank shields when another shot had reflected off the surface of the vessel. Jake was scanning the ship with his computer to look for possible fractures and other problems before the ship could fly into space.

“Let's go, Roy!” Payton shouted with urgency in his voice. “We don’t have all day!”

Shrugging and totally ignoring the massacre happening outside in the dock, the ship's main pilot said: “An insubstantial check is particularly dangerous especially when we are going to live in space for the first few weeks or until we get into the hyperspace. Be patient. This big girl can handle a few slaps from the outside.”

Another swarm of energy bullets had ricocheted off from the flank shields. “There won't be a ship left if you keep on delaying the flight!” Steve yelled back. “Hurry up and fire those damn engines!”

“What about the rest of the people outside?” Tracy asked when she realized that there were still survivors hiding behind large equipment crates as the soldiers had continued to battle with each other. “We can't just leave them there like that. They haven't done anything wrong.”

“We don't have a choice, Tracy,” Payton gritted his teeth as he walked back toward his command chair located in the center of the bridge. “Get us up in the air, now!”

She gaped at him with disbelief. “But...that's selfish!”

The Descent Team's leader had shot her a gaze of silent rage. Veins could be seen on the side of his temples as his fists were shaking with distress. The ship's counselor lowered her eyes and a second later she returned her focus to the monitors in defeat.

Payton knew what would happen to the people out there if the engines were turned on right now. He knew that it was wrong to sacrifice those people. Though he did not want to say it, in his mind it was a sea of frustration, confusion, and a feeling of despair. He just wished there was some way to save those people but with the FP's invading forces surrounding them, he knew it was futile.

Roy sighed and made the final surveying before he nodded in satisfaction. “All right. Turning on the first Light Engine and raising power to fifty percent...seventy...ninety-five....”

The entire ship had begun to roar and quiver with a frightening noise. The whining pitch of the nuclear cores had heightened to a point where teams of soldiers and the remaining scientists had dropped onto their knees and held their hands over their ears in intense agony. The first Light Engine was howling with utmost vividness as the pulse laser was activated and the excessive searing heat exited through the mega vents.

One of the officers screamed as he got dragged into the whirlwind produced by the engine and was burnt to nothing but blacken ashes in less than one-tenth of a second.

“Switching on the second Light Engine. Drawing power from the first power cell. Raising power to sixty percent...eighty....” Roy muttered as he closely view the meters displayed on his own screens. “Turning on the third and fourth Light Engine. Warm-up sequence completed.”

Outside in the launch port no one was moving. The temperature in the port was well over two hundred thousand degrees from the heat generated by the thick beams of lasers. The corpses were either burning with small fires on their clothes or the body armors was melting slowly into a puddle of liquid metal. Solstice Seven was roaring with full strength now. The ship was trembling every few seconds. The crews were nervous as the final firing sequence was initiated.

Roy glanced at everyone. Green eyes gleaming, he asked: “Ready, everyone?”

Aside from Payton Lane and Tracy Huegard, the rest of the crew all looked at each other. Payton closed his eyes with his fingers crossed in front of him. Tracy looked at him for a minute before she returned to the monitors without speaking a word.

Finally, Payton said softly: “Launch.”

End Chapter 3