Paths to a Legacy Ch.02 -En-

Chapter 02 : Battle for da’ Box ?

As I’m following Captain Furaynir to reach the hangar, I tried to gather in my mind everything worth remembering: First of all, me. Top-Secret Class Project Leader? I know that I have gained experience and that I’ve proven that I’m no betrayer, but still… Unless it would be to test me… And this weapon. I’m not a Cornerus specialist concerning their weaponry. I suddenly though of Dakei telling me that if their previous attempts had turned into failures, that wasn’t because the stuff was out of service, but rather because it’s unusable ! So, a “dead-end” mission then? No, I know Captain Furaynir a little, and if I remember correctly, he likes me somehow. He wouldn’t have accepted to let this happen ! And… But what am I thinking like that? And what the…
“Watch out, Lieutenant!”
I barely had the time to leave my thoughts that this deck technician transporting stuff on his ACGT was already at several meters only. We were bound to collide! With a nearly instantaneous reaction, my right arm moved to disengage me and limit the accident to a hit on this latter. Unbalanced, I felt on the other side.
The specialist stopped and came to see whether I was alright. It seemed that I had nothing broken, just a little stunned.
“ – You’ve got luck today, Lt. One usually don’t deal that few harm after being stricken like that…
- Well “luck”… I wouldn’t say this!
- You should be more careful when moving in a hangar deck.
- I shall, sorry.
- The early hour, for sure… No harm anyway, Lt.” And he jumped back on his ACGT to keep on doing his task. After him, it was Furaynir who came to check.
“- Are you alright, Max?
- Yes, just a little stunned.
- And your right arm?
- Oh, that…” I rubbed it with my other hand to be sure. “Yep, it’s still working Captain.” A dozen meters later, we finally arrived near the transport ship. Actually, that was rather an old hull of a light fighter on which a cargo module had been awfully fitted. I hoped that her pilot wouldn’t have to perform any tricks because that propelled box was far from being known as comfortable…
“- Your car is ready, Lieutenant. A great LHC-2, geared for you only!
- Income reductions really have bad spinouts, don’t they? It’s just too much honors for me anyway.” Did I say while foreseeing the state of my back after a trip in that thing. “Am I really bound to go there… In that thing?
- Orders Max, just orders.” Suddenly, the pilot of the cargo jumped out of his cockpit to greet the Captain, then he turned toward me.
“- So, seems you’ve forgotten something under the Kreezmace tree.
- Yep, and the Neïels folks from the HQ of Corneria sent their favorite elves to get it back!”
As we laughed, he turned back again to go in the cockpit to finish the takeoff preps. While doing this, he literally whipped my legs with his greyhound tail. Another thing I’ll never catch: Which did I never had one? I know, a bear tail is usually short, but still. It would need a quite genetic thing or so to suppress a character of this type! My parents ever told me that it was within the family and that it occurred by times. Anyway, Captain Furaynir beckoned at me to board in, with his hand because of the surrounding noise of the starting engines. So I went in the cargo where I had the appreciable surprise to find a sofa screwed at the wall and the stuff needed to connect to the Lylanet. The mural P-Com was far from being a brand new one, but well, one do with things available to kill time…
Before the closure of the back door, I saw a massive silhouette boarding.

“- Lieutenant Leisereïev, I’m Private Ekyga, in charge of your security during the voyage.
- Is this really needed?” Did I ask surprised to the specie of pit-bull standing behind me.
“- Orders, Sir. And we never know.
- Well… If you say so.” They were all bugging me with their “orders” today. A speaker hung at the ceiling began to sizzle.
“- Misters, get ready for takeoff.
- Thanks, huh…
- Lens, Lt. Sergeant Lens.”
The floor shook before stabilizing thanks to the inertial cancellers of the ship. Since the moment when she would pass the main gate of the station, it would become hard for me to sense her trajectory, so that I felt away of time. To make it pass faster and escape from the loud silence imposed by my “guard”, I picked a micro holographic projector in the pocket of my lab coat, plugged it to a mural link port and took my virtual pen in my hand. Let’s see whether the CPU has got something to do. After some moments spent to navigate within the folders tree, I finally found a Picross game. It was quite hard and I had more and more difficulties to select the right squares in the enigma grids. It lasted until the voice of Lens tells us that we would soon enter the atmosphere of Katina. The inertial cancellers were so roughly driven there that we got shaken more and more while the ship passed through aerial disturbances. At last, we felt the cargo decelerate, stabilize her trajectory and land.
“- Katina, Katina, two minutes of stop! Thanks for having chosen Positron Airlines.”
The back door opened to let a strong light in, harmfully increased by its reflection on the heavy polished-metal piece. I switched my proj’ off and put a foot on the soil while hiding my eyes under the reverse of my hand. Slowly, my sight got used to the flashy surrounding of this katinian spring sunrise. I looked around me and recognized the gigantic silver communication tower of the Third Military Academy of Irkuden, north of the region of the capital town. I already knew this place, since I attended to some of my courses here, at the Scientific Researches Department. I looked down and I noticed three silhouettes coming, blurred by the heat of the tarmac. They got nearer and I finally could distinguish a squirrel wearing a uniform of the Katinian Fleet and two civilians, canine ones, with one in a lab outfit. The officer stopped in front of me and we shook our hands.
“- Lieutenant Leisereïev, I suppose?
- Indeed.
- I’m Commander Stemp. I’ve been charged to give you the container.” He smiled at me and added “It only arrived several hours ago. Beware, it may still be hot!” As I smiled back, he turned and asked me to follow him. We had to cross the entire landing area, and then pass through a half-dozen of security control spread on the twenty minutes which lasted our walk. Finally, Stemp slide his pass-card in a card-reader to let us enter the storage room where my precious parcel was waiting for me. The box was littler than Furaynir’s hologram let me think, but also thinner and longer. There was no handle on it; that would be fun to carry… But at the moment when I put my hand on it, one of the longitudinal sealing lines moved itself and formed a carry handle which seemed to be made for me since it was so smooth to press.
“- What have you done? We turned it upside down and nothing happened!
- How could I know? I barely touched it!”
I was surprised, but he was right. It was weird that this case did react, like that, without doing anything except touching it…
Before leaving the base, we had to fill in tons of administrative paperwork to confirm the trade. As I reached my ship back, I saw her pilot chatting with another, littler than Lens and with a grey dog head.
“- Ah, the chief of the guarding angels crew!
- Captain Grey, at your service.
- I bet, Bill.”
Bill Grey was an old acquaintance. We met at our elementary school, even separated by some years of grade, fact which never prevented us from being good friends. Bill was one of the few persons which believed me at once when I told that I hadn’t been involved in Andross’s betrayal and the explosion of his nano-bomb over Corneria City.
“- So… Captain. What’s up since all that time?
- The usual way, you know. Firstly affected to a security patrol, then squad leader and finally, commander of the whole group.
- How’s your “bunch” going?
- Better since the main combat theatre went back to Aquas. It’s now quite quiet here so they rest now. But the two previous months surely were a damn hell, especially for our kind of security groups, we were endlessly sent to fire.
- I hope you haven’t dealt too many losses within your ranks.
- Not as many as foreseen. We had the feeling that we were encountering their end-series. Drones were pouring again and again, but without any precise assault strategy nor objectives.
- Yep, strange…
- Well, each one with his own job. And you, alright?
- Ballistics, even hybrid definitely has no future with the cornerians. They only have those rays weapons in their mind. Seems that the explosion of that crappy prototype of canon using phase’s transition laser wasn’t enough!
- You curse at it because it’s not your domain, but I can assure you that our neutron canons already saved our lives, and not only once.
- Well, particles weapons, that’s different…
- I definitely missed you, Max!
- We should meet more often, Bill.
- Time lacks, unfortunately.
- No need to tell. I’ve been assigned to another dead-end project again!
- So you came here for this?
- I would have to kill you if you knew more. See that big black Omega printed on my forehead? It’s because there is no further letter in our alphabetic.”
After having discussed some minutes, Caporal Ekyga interrupted us, saying that we had not to spoil time. I also guessed that he was longing for the end of the mission, when he would be allowed to wear off his soldier outfit, something perfectly understandable considering the high temperature. So we splat, both heading to our own ships. He just had the time to whisper “Channel 13-1” before having his voice suppressed by the noise of the starting engines of my ship. As I boarded on her, I switched the video output of the P.Comp back on the detachable screen instead of my Holo-proj’. The instant messaging interface didn’t catch any chat rooms in the surroundings. I just might have not well understood what Bill said. I put the program in the background and focused again on my Picross grids. As one was strongly resisting to my solving attempts, I saw the icon of the messenger blink. I opened again its window to see that a private chat called “Channel” had been created. A password was required to join it. “Channel 13-1” huh? I tipped “13-1” as a password but I got stopped by the password mismatch error message! After several attempts, using different orthographies, I decided to think about a more efficient way to find the right one. “13-1”… By default, I began to count the letters in the alphabetic order and arrived at its thirteenth: “M”. And for the first, “A” of course. But no combination of “M” and “A” worked. “M” and “A” are the two first letters of “Max”, that should have worked. Well, “M L” would have sounded better, standing for “Max Leisereïev”. And suddenly, it appeared as obvious! “13” for “M”, “13-1” for “L”. I entered “ML” and the communication frame finally drew. My interlocutor, “2-21” welcomed my entry:
“- If you knew how fun it has been to see you trying to find it!
- Funny yeah… But why all that crap of pass-thingy?
- I’ve got things to tell you, approximately the same security letter than the one on your forehead.
- What then?
- Your project, it seems to fetch interest.
- You know what it deals with?
- My squadron was hired for the picking-up operation of your suitcase. So when I see where they took it from, I’ve got my opinion. However… You don’t only have the “warm eye” of your superiors behind your shoulder. I’ve got contacts within the Spec. Ops. And they worry about that. I know you won’t appreciate, but you’d rather not trust anyone who’s not labeled “Spec. Ops.”, understood?
- You’re not one of them if I remember correctly, are you?
- You would be surprised…
- So what should I be mentally prepared for?
- “V”.
- That?
- I’m not sure of anything, just take care of yourself!
- By the way, do you have information about a certain Hannigan of the Spec. Ops.?
- Who do you think I am? I’m not any kind of double agent you know…
- So why scaring me like that all of a sudden?
- Wait!”

The voice of Sgt. Lens followed the messages of Bill. “- Radar contacts. According to their approach vector, no need to wait to know that the IFF will beep red!
- Are we under attack?
- Eureka Einstein! I’m contacting the Positron to get instructions. We are a quarter away from the landing whereas at tree minutes of the interception!” He shut down the speakers to call the linking officer of the station. I did the same with the screen and plugged back the holo-proj’. Then I looked for Battle Status applications in the browser to allow Ekyga and I to follow the advancement of the battle. This latter was quite nervous on his seat. He was holding his rifle tight in his hands.  I wondered whether he could imagine that his weapon would be useless in a spatial fight, but well, each one has its own method to relax… Ah finally, a 3D Radar and some other flight devices materialized. A dozen of red points were rushing to the center of the sphere representing the surroundings of the cargo. As said Lens, they would reach it far before we arrive next to the blue square labeled “LS3-Positron”! But we weren’t alone. The green points of the Husky Squadron also moved  to form a defensive barrier. Some broke the formation to engage the enemy, leaded by t thicker dot, surely Bill’s. It’s not the moment to fancy me, you! The red points were disappearing at the contact of the green ones, the stress decreased. The interception team destroyed the last hostile ship at the respectable distance of 4.2 from our position. In the intercom, Lieutenant Lens reassured us by telling that the threat had been wiped out. But I suddenly heard a shock on the hull. Not like a shot impact, more like a collision. Ekyga stood and handled his rifle. “- Lens, have you hit something?
- Nothing on the radar, nor wrecks nor asteroids…
- What could that have been then?
- No idea!”
Then a strident noise harmfully began. Intense vibrations also appeared.
“- I know that sound, it’s an ultra wave cutting ray!
- What? Something tries to breach the hull?
- If I didn’t catch it on the radar, you’d better wait for someone!” An increasingly glowing red point grew on the ceiling of the cargo. Ekyga wasn’t moving anymore. He was aiming the point where the metal was melting, ready to fight. He wasn’t realizing that he wouldn’t have the time to fire a single ammo since we would be wiped out in an instant in case of a hole in that hull! I hurried to enable the intercom and shouted:
“- Lens, ask a fighter to shoot on that thing!” But Ekyga didn’t agree…
“- Are you mad, Leisereïev? If the shot pierces the hull, we’ll be flushed out!
- Something possible, but unsure, whereas I can tell you that we will be if nothing is done! Link me with Captain Grey.
- What’s going on, Max?
- Bill, a drone tries to cut off the hull of the ship to pick up my suitcase. Shoot that thing up!
- I… I’ll try.
- I trust you, you can do it.” Ekyga was still not agreeing and tried stop me by rushing on me. I just had the time to demand Bill to do it while it was still possible.
“- What’s wrong with you?
- He’s gonna kill us if he shoots at that ship!
- Hold out and go watching the breach.  Try to protect the hull with what’s available.
- I can’t let you do that!
- What again? “Orders” huh? Your mission is to protect me if I’m not mistaken so just do your job!
- But, I… I’ve got…
- Are you soundly challenged in the bargain? Move out!” This peak of authority even impressed me, but it seemed to be enough to turn Ekyga on my side. He glanced around, took away a metallic panel from a cupboard and pressed it against the reddish glowing ceiling. After a moment, it could stay there, stuck by the melted material. Meanwhile, Bill had contacted us back, trying to reassure us, saying that we would align the intruder soon, but the space disturbances caused by a recent solar eruption were making the task to be harder to perform. “- I’m nearly done, hold on!
- Bill, can you see what it is?
- Not really, its shape is twisted, like under an optical stealth field.” Suddenly, a shot of neutron canon hit the hull, deforming it, but it remained unpierced. Concerning the noise of the cutting thing, it immediately stopped. After a moment of silence, Ekyga and I looked at each other and finally let our relievement explode.
“- Bill?
- Yep Max?
- Please make me remind not to challenge you at Star Shooter DX ever again!”
A big laughing followed between us, increased by Lens through the intercom. Ekyga, which had sat down wouldn’t be able to express anything else that nervous spasms. Several minutes later, we finally reached the inner space of the Positron. I felt the inertial cancellers work before we land. The door flipped and I hurried out. Ekyga followed my while he was wearing off his helmet. His doggy eyes were completely nerved by red capillaries. He was still halting, I felt pity for him. But well, as I tried to sum up what just happened, I realized too that we could have ended frozen in space. I glanced again at him and then sat back on a small container of the hangar. Lens passed next to me and tapped on my shoulders “Good Self-Control, Lt.!” I smiled back at him. Then, I saw Furaynir coming and sitting by me.
“- I just thought that a dozen of fighters would be enough to protect a light cargo…
- I think that they could have been hundreds that it would have happened the same. The “thing” which attacked us must have been put there on a potential approach vector with a back-pack. The assault of the drones kept him unseen by our guardians so it could anchor on our hull. This is the only way possible to me.”
He looked tired when he pressed his hand on his panda face. His mussel needed a certain time to get his initial form, so betraying his state of tense and worry. I firstly thought that he worried for me when he had been told about the attack, but as I looked down on my precious parcel, I corrected myself, estimating that the failure of a mission of that importance would be worse than the loss of a simple engineer.
“- You came bake safe, that’s the essential.
- Thanks, Sir.
- So, what do you think of that suitcase, Lieutenant?
- Smoother to hold than to be picked up…
- And concretely?
- I don’t know. I didn’t really have the time to examine it since I got it.
- I don’t remind of a handle on it.
- Oh yes, it appeared when I touched it, I don’t know how.” His glance on the suitcase intensified.
“- Have you tried to open it, Max?
- Well… No. I guess that I’ll try in my lab in Corneria.
- I’ve got to admit that I’m badly curious about that.” I was relieved to hear this. For the first time today, something wasn’t ordered by the mission plan or anything of that kind. I would also have to admit that his curiosity had dwelled in me.
I put my hands on the nerved markings and made the tour of the suitcase, looking for a hypothetical opening device. But I didn’t found a single one. I searched on its flanks too and had the disagreeable surprise not to find anything.
“- Huh… Seems that it will be more difficult than planned to open it. I’ll pass it through the scanner tomorrow so I’ll probably find a way to make it split.
- I already have cornerus stuff under my charge so let me tell you something: If that suitcase doesn’t want to open, then don’t break into it too much roughly or you’ll lost what you were to find within!
- A Self-destruction system?
- Kind of, yes.
- By the way, when is planned my departure on Corneria?
- The Positron is leaving the orbit of Katina as we’re talking of this now.
- So we really came there only the pick up that suitcase?
- Not exactly, I used this travel for something else too. We’ll meet the bluish halo of our good old planet during the evening, ship time. Be ready to leave tomorrow.
- At your command, Sir!”
My curiosity was quite down. I returned at my quarters, suitcase handled to have some rest. Through the “window”, I looked at my native planet, getting smaller and smaller. I felt an ache in my heart by having stayed there only a few moments. I gladly would have spent some hours to go at my childhood’s house, and maybe meet my parents again. But after all, since I was officially dead, that might not have been a smart idea. However, I laid on my bed without even undressing myself and a moment later, I was under my reddish sky again, surrounded by the dance of those purple glowing fibers which had been haunting my dreams for a whole week…


Chapter 02: Battle for da’ Box END
In progress, Paths to a Legacy, Chapter 03: « First Steps to a Legacy »