Complete darkness, complete silence. Lee Jun looked around but it was just pitch black.
‘How long have I been here?’
‘Where am I?’
“Captain! Wake up!” A voice boomed throughout the darkness that shrouded Lee Jun.
“Captain!” The voice screamed conveying the urgency and underlying panic.
As Lee Jun struggled to open his eyes, he could distinctly see two blurred figures looking over him. The light shone brightly above, blinding Lee Jun. He squinted as his senses tuned to the setting around him. Red and yellow lights flashed around and an emergency alarm rang as the few people left clamored to safety.
“Captain, are you alright?” Asked a young man, dressed in tight white and blue clothing. The clothing material glimmered in the light revealing a hexagonal pattern over the suit that the man over. Though his suit was mostly white, it had light blue seams. On his chest was a badge of some sort. Lee Jun absorbed the details as he looked around.
“Where am I?” asked the bewildered Lee Jun. His comrades returned him a puzzled look.
The lights, the screens, the people... Everything looked so familiar as if it were from a distant dream. Lee Jun instinctively knew he had seen all this before. After all, it was the bridge of his galactic battleship. Coming to terms with where he was, Lee Jun realized that he was floating. Another nostalgic feeling.
“The Arc.” Whispered Lee Jun, as he touched a badge on the left side of his chest. He recalled that was the name of his battleship.
His comrades smiled; ‘at least he hasn’t lost his memories.’
“Captain, we have begun evacuation as you ordered. All non-combat personnel are the in the process of leaving via the escape pods. There is federation planet at coordinates C4 Beta-Sector 12 where they should be safe. ” Reported the young man who appeared to be unconcerned about his captains confused appearance unlike the two men beside Lee Jun who moments ago were weeping that their captain lost consciousness.
"Captain, I figured out where they were hiding. The IPD is detecting ships hiding behind the asteroid belt sir." Spoke a young lady at the bay while monitoring her screen. Her message took priority over the evacuation efforts.
"How many, Kyla?” Asked another crew member as he floated over to Kyla’s side.
"Lieutenant, I detect at least ten ships...”
“So that’s where they were hiding.” The lieutenant muttered. It was definitely an unconventional strategy to hide behind asteroids and attack, especially since it was easy to get crushed between two asteroids. Even the slightest disturbance could disturb the asteroids orbit thus jeopardizing the safety of the battleship and its crew. In short, unless the crew was top notch in skill, it would be impossible to hide between and behind asteroids and wage a war.
“The Hegemony Fleet." Muttered Lee Jun, as he recalled this vaguely familiar situation.
No one heard him.
A few moments later, Kyla confirmed his statement. “It’s the Hegemony Fleet, Sir! I have a captured their emblem on camera.”
The lieutenant clenched his fist tightly. “Captain, your orders?” he asked as he turned and looked at Lee Jun.
Lee Jun kept silent. He still could not recall how he ended up here. Was this a dream?
“Captain?” asked the lieutenant again.
Lee Jun already knew what was going to unfold. This incident was where it all began, his rise to fame. It was here that he first came to the notice of his superiors. He had been just the assistant tactical officer and captain of a small battleship “The Arc”. This small ship with a crew of only a 100 would go on to tilt the scales of the war in the Federation’s favor.
As Lee Jun recalled, at this point of the battle he had been able to identify a backdoor into the enemy's computer network. Just before the Arc’s missiles impacted the shields, simply through hacking in he would be able to cut the enemy’s primary shields. Thus destroying their ship and allowing the Arc to escape.
Almost, as if following a script, Lee Jun no longer questioned his environment and began the counter attack. He took his seat in the center of the bridge and began typing away on a laser keyboard that appeared in front of him.
“Lieutenant, prepare the missiles.” Lee Jun ordered.
“Sir, but won’t they be ineffective? The enemy has class 10 shields.” Retorted the lieutenant with a smug face. Missiles were the oldest technology on the in the universe. While they dealt heavy damage, they were completely neutralized by shield technology. What’s more, they move so slowly through space that all except the biggest of ships could dodge them. Hence, missiles were a completely ineffective technology against the battleships. So why were battleships still equipped with missiles? Most battleships would never carry missiles apart from being ineffective and obsolete they were also heavy and expensive. Most of the weapons crew didn’t even know how to operate missiles. However, Lee Jun had them loaded just in case they were ever required.
“How about the lasers?” Asked the lieutenant with a hint of sarcasm. Lasers were shields only weakness. Like light they simply travelled through the shield and hit the target. Though damage was low, in space even a small hole in the hull could be enough to destroy a battleship if not taken care of immediately. Most battleships therefore were coated with nano robotic paint which would close any small holes in the hull. What made the Arc special was it’s arc like laser, unlike the typical straight laser, arc laser would travel in the pattern of an arc. Making them difficult to dodge and hard to repair the resulting damage.
“Our lasers have been disabled from the last hit we took lieutenant. Proceed with missiles as planned.” Lee Jun ordered, while typing away on his keyboard. He didn’t have time to pay attention to the insubordination of his crew. Time was of the essence. They had taken a hit when their shields were off, costing them their lasers and shields (when a torn hull is being repaired, shields cannot be activated). Right now the Arc was like a big chicken waiting to be roasted. Focusing all his energies on the hacking, he left the steering of this ship to his crew.
The lieutenant, checked the Arc’s damage, the lasers had indeed been disabled. He quietly prepared the missiles.
"Sir enemy vessels are moving to surround us; we could be in a spot of trouble here Captain they appear to have a Cruiser flagship. It is on track towards us. It has a number of destroyers, corvettes, and gunships swinging wide around it."
‘Ah the cruiser flagship.” Lee Jun had been waiting for this moment. A flagship, is not the biggest battleship but the battleship that carries with it the commander of the fleet. It just so happened that the enemy’s fleet flagship was a cruiser…..a completely badass battleship. If the Arc was an ant then the cruiser is like a praying mantis. Equipped with enough weaponry to rival a small fleet of Arcs, the cruiser was the last ship one would want to see on the battlefield. The enemy bringing out the cruiser was like squashing an injured fly with a bazooka. Almost immediately, all crew onboard the Arc slipped into dismay.
Despite the cruisers sheer size and number of vessels protecting the ship, Lee Jun did not lose a thread of hope. If anything, he was happier than before. Cutting of the snake’s head was the fastest way to kill the snake.
The lieutenant could sense his captains plan. A cruiser could never dodge a missile but then again it never had to…it had ample shield and reinforcements to back it up.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Going by his memories, Lee Jun would now begin hacking into the cruisers defenses. However, things were going different now, he had begun his infiltration even before he knew of the ships existence. Just by knowing that the cruiser existed on the battlefield, Lee Jun was able to launch an unsuspecting sneak attack on it.
"We have no choice we must try and push through, we can't fight them and I assume helm that to run away we would have to decelerate too quickly." Lee Jun ordered. He could disable the shields last minute but the missiles could never dodge the other battleships. They would most likely interfere in its path and take the hit for the flagship.
"Yes sir, hate to suggest it but what about surrender?" suggested the Lieutenant.
"What surrender? NEVER, besides they'd just gain a ship and debunk us all in space." Lee Jun retorted. “Imagine your character floating through a never ending voyage in space.”
The lieutenant lowered his head, space pirates were known for being merciless.
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on losing this ship or the crew. Push straight towards the cruiser.”
“Aye Captain!” spoke a crew member.
As the ARC crept towards the cruiser dodging a barrage of lasers hurled at it, Lee Jun waited for this right moment. Slowly, but surely, the Arc and the cruiser were face to face. The crew were petrified, they had taken so much damage, it was a miracle that their battleship had not blown up yet.
“Disabling shields!” Screamed Lee Jun. “Launch the missiles.”
“Launching firefox missile, A1 A2 A6.” Stated an excited crew member as they caught on to Lee Jun’s plan. “Launching bluewaves A3, A4 and A5.”
“Launch everything we have got!” The Lieutenant spoke after finding his courage and voice.
“Aye Sir!”
Even though the bridge of the cruiser was not visible from the Arc, Lee Jun was sure that the cruiser’s crew must be in shock right now. They would have never expected to be hit with missiles at such close range.
“Pull the Arc back now!” Lee Jun ordered as the crew braced themselves from the fury of the missiles they had launched.
As Lee Jun watched the screen where camera’s were following the missile trajectory… “What the…”
A black void opened up in front of the missiles swallowing them up whole.
The hair on Lee Jun’s arms was standing up in fright. ‘What is this ominous feeling?’ There was no such weapon in the entire universe which could do that. This didn’t even fit in with his memories. The missiles were a hit as remembered and in the ensuing chaos he and his crews would escape from enemy clutches.
Before the crew had a chance to figure out what happened. The Arc battleship shook violently.
“Captain, we have been hooked! I repeated the cruiser’s cables have latched on to our ship!”
“What should we do captain?” the lieutenant looked at Lee Jun timidly as the Arc was being reeled into the cruiser’s harbor.
“Captain?”
Lee Jun was in a shock, this was a dream right? Lee Jun suddenly felt this wasn't right. Something was wrong this, none of it was right… it wasn't right. As he looked around wildly, his lieutenant was someone he no longer recognized; his familiar crews’ faces were going blur….The crew of the Arc stared back at Lee Jun awaiting his response….
"Captain, I've lost engines. We're being boarded!"
After that everything happened so quickly. Before the crew had a chance to fight back they were subdued by enemy forces.
“Wrong, wrong, wrong it didn't happen like this….” Was all Lee Jun could mutter as he watched he saw the bridge fall, his crew being killed as the Hegemony Marines pushed in threw the door . They were supposed to win; it was a great victory as he remembered. A crippled the cruiser, escape, recognition by the Federation….the first steps in his promotion.
Those who were alive were handcuffed and paraded across the hallways of the cruiser and slowly led to prison. Only Lee Jun who was still reeling in shock was taken to meet commander of the Hegemony Fleet.
As they slowly made their way through the hallway, the surroundings began changing. The spaceship like hallway was covered in fog and the metal walls which were dimly lit by neon bulbs faded into the mist. Black leafless shadowy trees sprouted from the earth all around them. Lee Jun remained oblivious to the changes.
They crossed a small space with what might have been a nice pond and a little babbling brook in it, but now it was a scene of desolation and devastation. The water was a brackish black and the group was covered with the wilted remains of wildflowers and dead grass. The trees were stunted; grotesque mockeries of the mighty oaks that once stood there, the limbs bare of life, their blackened trunks twisted like they had reached for the sky and been pulled back down. Even the air felt heavy and ominous, a sickly green emanating all around them as dark clouds covered the last light of the sun.
As Lee Jun looked up, there in the midst of that mockery stood a shrouded figure, Lee Jun couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, elf, human, or otherwise. It stood there, its’ very form blurring along the edges with the darkness around it. All he knew knew from deep inside where something was screaming; was that this was bad, that this was evil, and that this was far too powerful for him.
Lee Jun clutched his chest and screamed. “YOU!”
He took a few steps back and tumbled down. The guards who had brought him here dispersed into black thin air till they mixed in with the mist.
Lee Jun crawled backwards facing the shadowy enemy.
Before he could do anything else, the black shadowy figured pierced Lee Jun’s chest with this black long sword. It went through Lee Jun’s heart and out the other end. Lee Jun could feel the ice cold blade as his crimson blood ran on the edge of the blade dripping on to the moist soil. Lee Jun was covered in a pool of his own blood as his senses refused to dull. All the while he could hear the mocking laugh as the Shadow sat and watched it all with glee…..
The world began swirling and spinning around Lee Jun. Before he knew what happened, it was over. Lee Jun found himself sitting upright on his bed, sweating profusely. It was just another nightmare…but was it really over?
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Authors Note:
1. Thank you so much Tewlve for helping write this.
2. Ah....I have returned. Its good to be back.
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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