Nomad medical station.
Eve was hibernating in her regeneration chamber. It had been weeks. Mira came to visit her. She strolled by the glass. It reminded her of her childhood, when Eve had gone into the states for years, and she grew up watching her through the glass.
It felt the same.
Mira was talking to her officer about Nomad's affairs and the fifty other ships that were now part of the fleet.
Suddenly, the command center emergency lights lit up. An operator reported:
"Commander Mira, we have Vostok from Audrey, channeling to you right now."
Mira responded, "Let us speak." Then her comm buzzed.
"This is Audrey, requesting Nomad for immediate backup!!"
"Commander Vostok, this is Mira, report."
"Commander, Zanaris have infiltrated the ship. Our engine and power are gone. Insider job. We have taken care of the breach, but the situation here can get out of hand at any time."
"Copy that. Hold your position… Operator, connect me to the Space Commander."
Comm static noises, then connection established.
"Eve, urgent situation."
Eve was in the Hangar Bay, helping Anya with Soul Drifter's routine maintenance check. Anya wanted to inspect the new upgrades. Eve had originally designed the planetary scout vessel. She heard Mira when she was descending off the ramp, "Mira, what is it?"
"It's Audrey. Internal breach. The ship's been sabotaged. Security systems compromised. Infiltrators still aboard. Insiders digging the system dry."
Eve cued Anya. She strode towards Vayne. "Alright, I'm taking the Soul Drifter."
"There's another problem."
"What?"
"Audrey is still in Zanari jurisdiction; they haven't left the orbit yet."
"Understood."
"I advise you take Cesna's with you."
"I'm only taking Anya and Vayne." She could see Anya running back towards the ramp with Vayne.
"Alright, I'll instruct assisting destroyers."
"That's not an option. Zanari and the IC are already on the verge of war. Just have two backup fighters ready and one transport freighter for possible evac," Eve said and started walking up the ramp as Vayne and Anya had already reached the pilot cabin. The door started closing. The next minute, the Soul Drifter was out of Nomad's docking gates. Two fighters and a freighter followed.
She walked into the pilot cabin. "Anya, what exosuits do we have here?"
"Sorry, Commander, I sent all of them for maintenance. All except one."
"Which one..?"
The Soul Drifter reached the Nayar galaxy within two hours. Now it shot towards planet Tambokh—
a desert planet with Zanari outposts. A shadow organization, not as powerful as the Thalarians or Syndicate, but nonetheless, very successful adversaries. Predominantly human-like.
That was just one face of the problem. Zanari were not just an organization; they were a civilization as well. They had no treaties with the IC Alliance.
From the viewport, they could see Audrey. Zanari destroyers surrounded Audrey as mining bots drilled through its hull.
"Vayne, connect me to Audrey."
He tapped on the pilot's consoles. "Comms have been severed, but Audrey's command center is still hot. You are on, Commander," he said and pressed a button.
"Vostok, this is Eve, what's your position?"
"Oh thank God, Eve, you are here. We have lost the hangar. Engines are out. Audrey's adrift; we can't move. We have been pinned to the command center, but my soldiers won't be able to hold them for too long."
"Copy that. Stay sharp. I'll be there in no time."
Then Eve turned to Anya. "Get me that suit."
Just then Vayne screamed, "Multiple bogies heading our way!"
Eve scanned the viewport—Zanari fighters. At least sixteen of them. Eve ground her teeth. "Our fighters won't be able to hold them up for long. We have to protect the freighter."
"Commander, I can try to hold them up… but their weapons seem crazy," Vayne reported, reading radar scanners and weapon alert systems.
"Then take as many as you can," Eve said and grabbed Anya by the arms. "Please tell me you kept laser cannons."
"Errr….."
Eve turned and exited the cabin. Anya hastened and followed her around as they headed towards the engineering chamber. "But we still have that X-29 Plasma Blaster."
"You said it's just a prototype."
"Yes, we haven't tested it yet. But will there be a better time?"
Eve grinned.
Anya helped Eve suit up. Then she climbed the ladders to the upper deck as the ship barrel-rolled. Vayne commed, "Hold on tight, Commander. We are only 13 kilometers out. I'm engaging the bogies now."
"Vayne, the freighter must reach Audrey's hangar. Our fighters—tell them to never leave sight of the carrier," Eve responded as she kept climbing during the unstable Nomad maneuvering. Anya was already in the cabin, seatbelts tied.
"Roger that, Commander!" Vayne answered with a game face.
Eve observed the Audrey and the dogfight between IC fighters and enemies from Soul Drifter's launch vestibule. One fighter was already down. Vayne had taken down nine fighters, but Soul Drifter was taking damage. They were outgunned.
"Commander, two kilometers."
"Got it." The hatch hissed open. Eve shot out in a black exosuit, not suited for long-term space flight. She was equipped with a space helm, jetpack, and the X-29—the prototype blaster that looked like a rocket launcher.
Enemy fighters swarmed Eve; she fired back as Soul Drifter protected her. Vayne was on the edge of his seat.
Coupled with Vayne's supreme dogfighting skill, together they had already halved the number of spacecraft. The plasma blaster was powerful and accurate. Anya had done it again—one more successful weapon to the arsenal.
Eve and Vayne successfully escorted the freighter to Audrey's bay. Nomad elite fighters dropped with cables and jetpacks before the freighter had hit the hangar's floor.
The IC crafts at the hangar had already been destroyed. It swarmed with Zanari warriors. Eve and her elite soldiers fought through to the command center. Eve finally reached the blast door.
"Sir, Eve and her fighters," an officer reported to Commander Vostok.
"Open the door, dammit."
Eve ran inside as forty Nomad soldiers set up a perimeter around the gate, covering the corridors and stairs.
Eve clasped Vostok in quick embrace. "You shoulda been dead by now."
Vostok laughed. "I'm a tough bastard. But we still have mining bots digging the hull."
"Extraction is our only option, Commander."
Vostok looked around the command center, powerless. Then at the faces of his worried people on the ship. Eve gave an assuring tap on the shoulder. "It's just a ship." She smiled.
He nodded, then commanded his second: "Klasneck, prepare evac. Eve will extract the staff trapped on the upper deck; we take the lower."
"Copy that, Commander," Klasneck responded and commanded his soldiers to move out.
Eve left for the upper deck as Nomad elites followed her.
"What about the command center?" an officer asked Vostok.
"Burn the drives. Clean all the IC files."
Eve and her team ran towards the upper deck, neutralizing the hostiles along the corridors. She commed Vayne: "Freighters take the hostages—you gotta guard them. I jump out at the last minute, catch me then."
"Roger that," Vayne responded, hovering in the hangar.
Eve ran back with the rescued Audrey crew from the upper deck when Vayne's voice buzzed in her ears: "Something happening down here, Commander. You better come check it out."
"Report!"
"I... I don't get it, —they are pointing guns at Nomad soldiers?"
"What!?"
"Commander, they just shot one of ours. You gotta come down here."
"Cover fire now!"
"I can't. Friendlies in fire zone," Vayne said, looking at Audrey's unarmed crew, who stood there raising their hands.
"Oh no!" Eve said worriedly. "Vayne, can you locate Vostok? Protect him at all costs." She cued her warriors to escort Audrey's crew.
The team captain nodded. "We got it covered here, Commander. You gotta go."
Eve nodded, then raced through the corridor at Eve's speed. Corridor lights blurred past.
Vayne buzzed in again: "Commander, taking fire! Can't dodge them in a tight space."
Eve growled, "Move out! I'm about to get there."
From the hangar balcony, Eve spotted them—five stories below, Audrey's soldiers holding the crew hostage. The freighter's pilot and Nomad guards lay dead. Klasneck had a pistol aimed at Vostok.
"Stop!!" Eve screamed.
Klasneck looked up at her and grinned wickedly. Vostok, kneeling, turned his head to look back at her. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
Eve jumped. "Don't do it!!"
A bullet fired. Vostok dropped on the floor.
Eve landed with a thud, looking at his body—surprised, angry.
Some sixty soldiers, now ex-Audrey soldiers, pointed plasma rifles at her. Clearly, Klasneck was behind all of this. He was the insider. Vostok's own second-in-command had betrayed him.
"You see, Eve, I loved Vostok. I tried to steer him away from Tambokh. He was just too stubborn. What was I supposed to do—stick out my neck?"
Electricity crackled around Eve. "I don't need your backstory..."
Inside Soul Drifter, Vayne screamed on his comms. "Commander, the destroyers are moving. You need to get out now!"
"Come in, Eve, can you read me?" He continuously tapped on the screen when Anya held his hand.
"I don't think she can hear you, Vayne."
Vayne stared at her.
Anya said softly, "I think she's gone hyperxeno."
Vayne sighed powerlessly, looking at Audrey through the viewport—destroyers blasting laser cannons from all sides.
"We have to get back to Nomad," Anya told him. He nodded his head.