Jay looked out into a brightly colored tunnel that swirled purples, blues, and white as they zipped by toward their destination. His ship reverberated with the hum of overworked engines and maxed energy output that dangerously erred on the side of disaster. However, he felt in good hands with his passenger.

With a half-eaten burrito in hand and his legs propped up on his dash, he called for his one other crew member, “How much longer to Dema, Kam?”

An audible sigh could be heard from a station behind his pilot's seat. “If you just look at your displays, you would know.”

“I know,” He paused, taking another bite of his station-made burrito, “But I'm eating,” Jay said with a smirk.

“Just under an hour,” Kam said with an audible sigh, returning to his station. He manipulated a series of functions on his display, and the audible sounds of redirecting power could be heard.

“What’cha doing?” Jay asked.

“Just rerouting power to generate the shields before we exit our jump.”

“I swore we were maxed,” he replied, “What's our signature output at? I wouldn’t be surprised if there were pirates this far out.”

Kam scanned his monitor and gave a short reply, “IR is dancing around one to one-point-five thousand, EM is around two-point-six thousand. I'll lower power output once we exit slip-space.”

“Good to know, Kam! I knew I could always count on you!” Jay said before returning to his unfinished food.

Several minutes passed, and the crew was reaching the end of their Jump. Like a fish out of water, the crew was met with the silent void and only the drum of their engine to keep them company.

“Shields are full. Lowering power output to a minimum…hey.” Kam said with a hint of worry in his voice. “Are you reading this?” he said, directing Jay to a monitor on his dash which lit up with an indicator of an audio file.

“Yeah… I got it,” Jay maneuvered his fingers and brought the signal online, “Check the status of Dema Four and Five. I'm not picking up their way-points on my HUD.”

As he said, the signal that came through was an urgent plea for help. It was filtered through a wall of static, but with some fine-tuning, Kam was able to make the audio as clear as it could get.

“If anyone can hear this, please, send the Fleet, the Guard, even the Raiders! I don't care who, just….come! Hurry!” It played before the signal cut off and began to loop.

“What the hell…” Jay muttered before his attention was brought back by Kam who was deep into focus isolating all incoming signals that he could work and decipher.

“Got a signal from a lone commercial satellite. Long-range capabilities are shot, so it's only transmitting in the system. Delta band.”

'Delta?' He thought. “Kam, check the commercial bands.”

He shook his head, “Just noise…” Then a sudden realization came upon Kam and suddenly began furiously tapping away at his station. After a few moments and calls from Jay that went ignored, Kam, spoke.

“It ain't pirates,” and motioned for his findings onto a free monitor in front of Jay, who began cycling through them as fast as they were received.

A series of still images from the lone satellite. Several large ships were followed by a series of smaller ones. Jay noted three large ships he thought to be a carrier of sorts due to the amount of much smaller ones, the size of a typical fighter, who were entering and leaving. Surrounding them looked to be a series of cruisers, frigates, and corvettes, with the smaller version boasting a large presence.

“It's an entire invasion force…but from what?” Kam said, scanning the material once more and adding notes.

“Switching to optical lenses, increase power output,” Jay ordered.

“I doubt that's a good idea.” Kam rebuked, “We’ll light up like a star going super.”

Jay sighed, “Just…do it, Kam. We need all the evidence we can get for the Navy.”

With a motion of his finger, he slid the indicator for power output beyond the minimum, and with that came brighter lights, electronics, and their signature.

“Just a…moment…” Jay said in a focused trance, “Aaaand… Got it! Sending you the data now!”

It was another series of videos and images from the satellite that detailed images on the surface, as well as high-definition shots of the invading forces.

“Jesus… They're taking slaves!” Kam voiced anxiously, “We have to notify the Fleet!”

“The ship can't send that amount of data, it’ll only get corrupted, and the station here is dust, anyway.”

Jay paused, “We're gonna have to head back to the Draxis system and at least issue a read-only transmission.”

“Fine, I’ll prep a statement,” Kam replied, right before alarms began blaring in the compartment.

“What the hell!? We got contacts! Three!” Jay reported urgently as shots of red plasma flew by his ship, and the shields flickered from the impact before settling. Jay swung the ship in an erratic U-turn and ordered max output and thrust.

“What about shields?!” Kam hollered, fastening his seat’s harness.

“We're fine! Focus shields to the rear until we jump!”

The alarms still blared, and a red light flashed intermittently in the singular cabin while Jay did his best to outmaneuver his enemy's shots. He cycled the targeting system through each enemy, but did so intending to gather as much information as possible. His ship was defenseless. No missiles, no guns. Only thrust. Nearing the edge of the system, the ship rocked and Kam reported that their shield was depleted, and long-range communications were shot.

“I was able to send a message to Stellar Command, but I don't know if it’ll reach them in time. Not without a slip-space laser array.”

“How long before it reaches, then?” Jay probed.

“Fourteen days,” replied the now solemn Kam. Despair engulfed the cabin at the rate of how long it would take for a Read-Only transmission to make it to the military, or anyone who can receive, for that matter. Who knows how much damage the attackers can cause on unsuspecting systems. He wondered if a System Militia would be able to hold off their enemies until the Stellar Fleet could arrive.

The rattling of the ship and red light were the only constant in their escape until Jay revealed a level of comfort for their getaway, “Well, good news. We got some distance. Preparing to jump into Slip-Space,” he said with a sly smirk, trying to ease his now rampant nerves. Kam checked his harness and began transferring all data onto a single data drive, out of the many they already possessed.

“Just so you know, I scrubbed all the data from the ship and put it on a drive. Everything they would get from a black box is in here,” Kam reported, motioning to the data storage.

“Good. Get ready, I'm making the Jump.” Kam nodded, even though Jay couldn't see him, and executed the Slip-Space sequence.

A dark purple and blue circle, with accented sparks of energized plasma, appeared in front of them, the entrance swirling by forces still unknown, with bursts of lightning protruding from the tear in real space. It was just large enough for his ship to enter. Jay looked at his radar and every other sensor he had and found the interceptors too far to engage with normal fire, but an alarm indicating a missile lock appeared onto his helmet’s Heads-Up Display.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Jay yelled in response.

A symbol of a triangle with a flame icon appeared on his screen with a countdown that descended rapidly. His electronic warning system indicated that the missile launched was locked onto his ship’s infrared signature. He waited until the countdown reached three before he launched countermeasures.

“Popping flares!!”

A series of rapid pops were felt from the rear of the ship and when the countdown hit zero, an explosion rocked the starboard side of the ship. Seeing that they weren't dead, and the flares worked, he accelerated into the sphere. As soon as they passed the threshold, their opening closed behind them. They had survived.

“Haaaaaaagh!” A large, frustrated sigh erupted from Jay, “What the hell, man!” Another sigh was heard from Kam, just not as loud.

“Were you able to analyze their ships?” Jay asked as he removed his helmet, revealing his forehead and hair were heavy with sweat.

“Almost. They're heavy on the fighter front, and I don't even want to know what kind of weapons those ships have.” Kam replied, sliding into his chair. Silence regained hold of the cabin once more, and the light of Slip-Space filtered through the cockpit.

“How long until we reach Draxis?” asked the now exhausted Jay as he rubbed his eyes from the sweat that dripped from his forehead.

Silently tapping on the monitor, Kam responded, “About eight hours.”

“Alright, I’ll take my nap first, wake me up in four,” Jay pressed a button and his seat moved back on a rail before swiveling 180 degrees from the cockpit. He was quick to sleep as soon as his head rested on his pillow. The next thing he knew, he was already being woken up by Kam who shared a tired look.

Jay reluctantly got up from his bed, and made his way to the rear portion of the ship as Kam prepared to rest. He looked around the central compartment for containers that could possibly house surplus equipment, but found none.

“We don't happen to have an extra size one comms package, do we?” Jay asked as he fiddled around Kam’s computer station.

“Nope. Just rations,” replied his friend, turning his back towards him as his consciousness fled.

Kam's station faced the bulkhead to his right, and their bunks were just the opposite of that. The rack that held their data drives was placed next to his station. The restroom was situated opposite next to the bunks and was sealed. Beyond that were maintenance doors that had access to easily replaceable components.

Jay sighed and yanked the smokey communications module from its slot and set it down among other components that met the same fate. He figured that damage from the plasma shot fried the circuits as they sent out their final message to Sol. Kam confirmed earlier that a message was sent, but the aftermath of their escape resulted in more than one component meeting its end.

Most of his onboard components were decades old, his latest being a hand-me-down from a friend who shared an employer. Components that connected to external hull-side components took a direct hit to their wiring, with only some faring better than others. Their communication’s had the largest array fixed on the exterior. It was bound to be a target for a stray round.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He scoured the logs from Kam’s terminal to identify which components received a lethal dose of electromagnetic over-stimulation. Which happened to be his out-of-date comms package along with some smaller components responsible for ship sensors. In any case, long-range communication was out of the question until they could get a replacement.

The hum of the ship filtered through the hull as it neared the end of their jump. Jay settled into his seat as it swiveled him to face the cockpit and secured itself. He then brought to life a holographic display and selected some buttons on a related display, and the image changed to that of their destination; The Draxis System.

It's a single-star system with four planets. The closest to the sun, Veru, is inhospitable but had a large following of miners that scoured its numerous cave systems. Then Galla, a gas giant with three moons that each house separate research facilities. Draxis, the main colony with its small moon, and finally, Drona. Another planet similar to Veru is used primarily as a mining colony.

He scanned the holo-display and set a course for Mantis Station as his immediate destination once he was out of clip-space. It was the largest station that orbited Draxis and was the center of trade in the system. That was his only way to get word to the Republic about an impending attack from an enemy they knew virtually nothing about.

His travel time was just a little under an hour, but his anxiety ate at him. It was a wonder was able to sleep at all. He did pre-operational checks on all his systems and occasionally rerouted power to regenerate his lost shields. When everything was fine for the moment, he just stared off into the walls of the slip-space tunnel.

Just a few minutes before they exited the jump, Jay woke Kam and both entered their seats and prepared to exit. With a flash, they were met with the same familiar void, but this time both sighed in relief.

“Oh, thank god,” Kam voiced, tapping away on his monitor, “Normal comms traffic.”

That brought reassurance to Jay as he maneuvered himself for a Slip-Stream Jump. Slip-Stream was different from normal Slip-Space in it that Slip-Space was used for inter-system travel, while stream was only ever utilized for intra-system travel. With ships as small as his, that's all it could allow. Newer models of ships allowed Slip-Space jumps in the system, but that needed heavier computational power, so such a function was only available to ships larger than Medium-class Frigates.

He didn't mind it. From where he entered from, a Stream Jump would only take about ten minutes. As such, he oriented his ship to align with Mantis Station's nav beacon. When his engine was spooled, he jumped, the sounds of Kam Organizing a meeting with on-site security faintly filtering through his helmet.

Upon approach to the station, Jay finally made contact with the station, although it was only automated,

“//Please proceed to your Designated Landing Pad//” The voice said in a feminine sway, and the beacon popped up on his HUD for his landing zone.

The landing pad was an exposed deck with a nearby airlock and blinking lights to indicate the area where he could land. When he made his way above it, he issued an auto-land command with a press of a button. The ship oriented itself and landed without issue.

Jay readied his helmet and motioned for Kam to do the same, to which Kam nodded.

“I'm gonna stay with the ship,” he said, “Just in case.”

Kam handed the drive in question to Jay, “I’ve organized with the station’s security to meet with us. I couldn’t risk a panic with what we know.”

Jay nodded and opened the hatch. He had in place a second-generation air shield, so there wasn't a need for Kam to don his helmet. However, just to be cautious, he was quick in his egress and promptly sealed the door. He tapped his wrist-mounted device and spoke, “Keep the ship warm and call for a refuel and repair order. I'll see if I can see the liaison.”

“Got it,” Kam replied, and Jay made his way into the airlock.

When the airlock cycled and opened into the main foray, he was met with a bustling station. He entered the station and made his way to Security. On his way, he was met by several vendors that had tried to sell him goods, impeding his traffic. Clumsily, he was able to break through, as he continued on his way to the station security offices.

The central station’s hub was vibrant with all kinds of characters; Miners, business workers, and the like. They did plenty to crowd the wide pathway, making it seem smaller than it actually was.

The pathway he traversed was connected to a dock and extended along the outer edge of the station. Thick, tempered, vacuum sealed glass was placed along the pathway, providing light from the sun and planet, simultaneously. It provided a gracious view, but that was all that stood between the residents from the extreme environment that was space.

As he made his way through the large station’s main pathway, he would hear inklings of conversation that made his heart sink.

“Have you been able to contact your cousin on Dema yet?”

“No, they might be doing repairs on a relay. You’d think they'd issue some kind of maintenance notice before cutting contact. Look, nothing on the Dema homepage.”

Jay's heart began to ache. He could very well reveal to them the state of the Dema colony, but what would that accomplish? It would either incite panic or they would just label him a madman. He couldn't do that to them, but he also couldn't let whatever happened to Dema happen to Draxis. Draxis has a larger population than Dema did since it was new, so it's possible that they might have a chance. Or so he wished.

He hastened his pace to beyond a jog when traffic lightened, causing many to look at him with curiosity, not knowing the danger they were in, rushing to the security offices opposite of his airlock and entered the door. Two guards flanked his sides, eying him for his sudden and haggard appearance. He approached the well-dressed female clerk, her expression one of boredom.

“How may I be of assistance?” The female clerk beckoned, her tone matching her expression.

“I need to speak with a Republic Stellar Command Liaison, now, please,” he said, “We called earlier. It’s Urgent!”

She began tapping away on her computer before she spoke again, “First, I need a name and reason for your appointment.”

“Jay Kurt,” he said as she typed away on her fixed monitor, “And the reason is confidential. Liaison's eye's only.” He responded sternly, trying to impose some semblance of urgency.

She looked at him and simply stated, ignoring his cause for concern, “Sir, If it is urgent, then I need to know. I'm sure the Draxis Militia can handle a few Pirate-”

“It's not pirates! Okay?!” the moment he raised his voice, the guards that stood by the doors slowly made their way toward him.

“Look, sir, I can't help if you do not tell me exactly what you need,” she ordered, calmly.

Jay collected his composure and replied, “Alright! Fine.”

He readied the drive from a pouch that it was placed in and continued, “Dema Colony was attacked. Not by pirates, not by rogues, I don't know, but they weren't human. It couldn’t be! I don’t know what you’d call ‘em.”

She raised an eyebrow at his request, “Very well, let me call for him.”

She tried to call using a handheld device that she pulled from her pocket. At first, the call failed, causing her to attempt a redial. When multiple attempts were made with no progress, she returned her attention to Jay.

“Huh, that's odd. The call's not going through,” she commented, turning her body toward the rear offices, “Let me fetch him. He might be on his break. He doesn’t like taking calls when he eats.”

Before departing, Jay called out to her. “By the way, where's the nearest Fleet?”

She paused a moment, “Alameda,” and she left. The guards that began their encroachment retreated to their posts by the door, giving him some form of relief, but as each second went by, his anxiety rose, quickly. It was then that his fear became reality. The station rocked violently, and the luminescent lights turned from white to red and alarms began ringing out.

//Alert, alert. Damage to Station Relay. Enemy Combatants Inbound. Alert, Alert//

Another explosion rocked the station and Jay ran out from the Security office, data drive in tow. Panic was set and the residents of the station ran in all directions. Some tripped over themselves and over others to try to get to safety. Jay tried to hail Kam, but the call didn't go through. As he ran he looked out the station's innumerable planes of multilayered glass and saw what unfolded outside.

He noticed a small cluster of ships between him and the moon as their backdrop. The cluster was large enough to view the silhouettes of the enemy ship from the station. Immediately by the station, however, a battle raged on with Station Forces and Militia against the unknown aggressor. Tracers from the station defenses trailed the alien looking ships followed by missiles and familiar human designed aircraft.

Initially, the battle was disorganized while the enemy maintained a sharp state of orderliness. Station sentry guns assisted in the fray and promptly weakened the few that got close. Those unlucky enough, were bathed in flames and rested as a metal coffins for the occupants. He was glad to see the bastards get vaporized, but his joy was short-lived. As the enemy withdrew, several bursts of plasma could be seen from the ships in the direction of the moon, and peppered another section of the station. Not knowing if the next volley could be his last, he ran.

He fastened his helmet and continued running towards the platform of where his ship had docked. Shots periodically missed their mark but the ones that did deliver a jaw-shattering shock to the station. Each moment, he tried contacting Kam and each attempt failed as he was bombarded by fleeing station residents that ran in all manner of directions, ultimately slowing his departure.

While nearing his dock, he peeked out the window and noticed his ship still in one piece and a frantic Kam in the pilot seat. They saw each other, and he ran even faster, not knowing when the next volley would land. He entered the airlock that led from the station to the platform and waited for the airlock to cycle.

The cycling felt like ages but when the indicator at the top of the door changed from ‘Cycling’ to ‘Complete’ and the doors opened, he made a clumsy dash to his ship. He remained grounded to the platform as long as at least one foot was on the deck, since all platforms required a form of magnetic locking for boots and and ship landing gear. As he got closer, Kam exited the pilot seat and opened the door wearing his helmet.

“What the hell happened?! Didn’t you warn the Fleet?!” he said frantically as Jay made his way into his cockpit, with Kam following suit.

“No! They took their sweet ass time before I could speak with the liaison and give them the drive. Then these assholes arrived and blasted half the station to dust!” He yelled as he fastened his harness and placed his hands on his ship's throttle and stick.

“Where are we headed now?” Kam said, urgently putting on his harness at his station.

“Alameda.” he said, lifting off the platform and providing max thrust as soon as he was clear of the station, “It’s the system with the nearest Fleet, but who knows if they're still there!”

The sun obscured his view and interfered with a slip-stream-jump — a sublight form of travel utilized within a star system. It would force him to maneuver to Veru and then correct to a proper slip-space jump. As soon as he was clear and past the influence of the Sun, he could make his jump.

As he flew from the now destroyed and decrepit station, he cycled through the comms channels, he was met with static when a thought struck him from their first encounter. His anxiety rose the longer they were out of contact with authority forces.

“Kam, switch all bands to Delta and notify all friendly ships.”

“On it,” he replied, and furiously sent his hands into a frenzy upon his station, manually organizing a connection of their ship’s only form of communication to those of the friendly ships. All of those who survived the initial attack began to rally as one when communication was established, one after the other. After a moment, the sounds of battle came alive.

“What the hell?! The comms work!” One pilot shouted and was followed by several more individuals.

“Get the word out, boys, Delta band only! See if we can encrypt it!” Another ordered, reporting to all, what frequency was used. Through the change in communication, their forces organized, and they were at a standstill with the enemy.

“Alright, who was it?” The same pilot from earlier questioned, an air of authority carried through to the speakers of his helmet.

“Me sir. Star Runner 4311. Jay Kurt,” he replied.

“You've done some good work. So, what do you know about the enemy? Anything that can help in a fight?”

Jay briefly summarized the events in the Dema system, of the enslavement, to the total annihilation of the rest of the colony. The air became still, but it was broken by the senior pilot.

“I understand,” he said solemnly, “Then you boys have no time to lose. Leave this to us.”

“Yes sir,” Jay replied.

“If they attack like how you say, then there's no point in running, not for us.” He said with a calmness. “Normally, I would have signals from this system’s relays, but they've all gone dark.”

Jay and Kam both understood that implication.

“You two go now. Send word to Vice Admiral Wolf, in Alameda. Tell him, Captain Roy sent ya’,” and gave a final farewell.

As they departed, the howls of combat from pilots rang out through the intercoms. Fates were sealed in a sudden cut of static during mid-sentence or battle cry. An encrypted message was sent in all directions that notified their ship, but wasn't directed to them.

It was a last-ditch plea for reinforcements system-wide for all who could hear it, but was instead met with silence. Nevertheless, Jay set his course for Veru and activated his slip-stream jump. As he and Kam left, so did the cries and howls of his brethren, leaving nothing dust and echoes in their wake.

As Jay approached Veru, a heavy silence remained their constant. All radio bands were silent, including Delta. No relays, satellites, or stations reached out to their pleas. His hope of sending another message ended hopelessly.

“Kam,” he said softly. “Do you think we'll make it?”

Silence engulfed him, but he spoke out, his words now choking him. “W-we have to. We're the only ones who can.”

Without looking back, Jay nodded, tears forming at the corners of his eyes, but convicted for the mission thrust upon them.

He set the course for the outer edge of the system, but from his holo-display, he had a few more systems to go before reaching Alameda. Jay spooled the Slip-Space Drive Core once he was on the edge of the system, and when it was ready, entered the ever-entrancing portal to their next destination.