Episode 6
Yami-Auqushinaqu
 

                 If space were free, then perhaps Sam wouldn’t be looking out this window now. He glanced out into the blackness, the swirling gas of the various nebulas were lit up by the bright sun. Sam didn’t recognize the stars, there were none of the usual patterns here. Leo, Pegasus, Sagittarius, all gone. They were lost in the mists of time, space was truly trapped in her own right. 
                 Sam watched the now dead centuries passed, he saw the buoy’s glowing beacons, now they were dead, they past at such a slow speed, yet were moving incredibly fast. Then they passed beyond their barriers, and the mighty Vasudan ship spun into subspace. The glittering blue light bathed Sam with the incandescent glow of a blue night. He backed away from the window. 
                 This was the closest any Vasudan ship had ever gotten to Sol, and that gave Sam a chill. Whatever Wolfe had planned, this one was gonna be close. It was time to go back home.

                  Sam and Vo’tion walked down the familiar hallway. They turned into the same room, and they sat down in the familiar chairs. The room hadn’t changed, and neither had Sa’toon, who was giving the briefing. The visions were slowing down. But they were always the same three. The dying ship, the man walking across the deck, and his own death. What did they mean, what was going on with him. Vo’tion said that prophecy had a strange way of letting the prophesied know what they are supposed to do.
                   All this talk of prophecy was beginning to give Sam a headache. The briefing droned into the back of Sam’s scull. He was too busy thinking about what was going on, all the questions, and all the answers that he might find on Mars. He was only half way to the truth, but he had a feeling that there was more going on than the people around him were leading him to believe. Sam shook off the notions and tried to listen. Or at least act as if he was listening, he knew that halfway through the mission the Sparrows would rush in, in a whole lot of Hurcs and save the day, and perhaps his hide. 
                     There was nothing unexpected about the mission. Rush in, clear out the Mars defences, then drop to the planet and remove the security around the base, and then rush in and take the tablets. Sa’toon was going to personally lead this one, he would be dead before the end of the day. Sam knew that Sa’toon was thinking the same thing about Sam. Perhaps they would both die. Perhaps neither would. And so they walked down to their fighters, Sa’toon prepared to hunt down the leader for the Shivans, and end his fear. 
                       The Cheops opened up as the ships rushed out, they plowed out into the space surrounding the red planet. They rushed in, waiting for the centuries to attack, and then it happened. 

                        “Alright pilots get ready.” Sa’toon said. The stern Vasudan was ready for anything, even death. “Move into formation.” All the ships began to move around, as if perfectly aligned rag dolls. The twelve fighter moved through space, the Ulysses could easily be distinguished from the others, Vo’tion Horus flew next to Sam. Sa’toon flew in a Horus as well, but his was brightly painted with the red Hammer, the symbol of the Hammer of Light. The others were various other ships, Seth’s and the like. Mars was getting close now, and the first century appeared on Sam’s screen. “Time for a loyalty test Terran, destroy those Centuries.” Sam nodded.
                             “Yes sir.” Sam and Vo’tion moved forward, Vo’tion stopped next to Sa’toon. Sam flew in towards the centuries. Mars’ two large moons shone down at Sam, their rock like surfaces, resounded the bleakness of space. Sam smiled up into the craters of the two moons.... wait a second! Mars has no Moons! Sam smiled to himself. He opened fire on the first century and it exploded before it could pump out even one shot. “First century gone.” The fleet moved closer to the moons. The other century started to fire, Sam let a missile destroy that one. In just a few more clicks all hell would break loose. The third century exploded. 
                             “Excellent Captain, perhaps we won’t kill you.” The missile lock warning light disappeared from Sam’s dash, he let go a sigh of relief. The ships passed between the moons. They watched the eleven ships pass. Vo’tion turned to Sa’toon. 
                              “Get out of here.” Vo’tion checked his lights. “Leave this place immediately.” Sa’toon furrowed his brow. 
                              “What?” he asked. 
                              “Leave this system and never return, something bad will happen.” Sa’toon almost laughed. 
                               “I didn’t know you believed in prophecy.” Vo’tion closed his eyes. 
                               “This is not prophecy, get out now while you still can.” Sa’toon’s face went grey. The moons passed behind them, the colours changed. Sa’toon saw the image around Vo’tion turn from bright green to blood red. He glanced forward and saw that the prototype had changed as well. A message came across his panel. Sa’toon was going into shock.
                                “You know you were right Sa’toon, I am the leader for the Shivans.” That was the first time Sam truly had admitted to being what they said he was. He didn’t truly believe it, but if it rattled Sa’toon, it was good enough for him. Sa’toon became furious.
                                “All ships, destroy that craft! Get me the leader for the Shivans!” The ships began to move forward, Vo’tion stayed with Sa’toon, he wouldn’t leave his old friend At that moment the two moons exploded, like glass they shed their skins revealing the craft inside. Twelve Herculease ships spun out of the moons. They were armed with Flail cannons, and they shot their never ending stream of fire. Stonefox came across the com unit.
                                  “Black Sparrows!” once Stonefox had said it the rest of the ships echoed the words. They all fired at once, and the ships scattered. Sa’toon watched his fleet break up. He called the Cheops for reinforcements, but they had their own problems. 
                                   Also in the two moons were two Orion class destroyers, the Vengeance, and the Arcadius. These two ships had large engines strapped to the outside. They could propel a destroyer as fast as a Valcury at full power. 

                                     Admiral Darien Reef stood on the bridge of the Vengeance. The bridge was shaking with the immense power of the engines. He watched the Cheops grow closer and closer. “Faster, Faster” he said. The helmsman gritted his teeth.
                                      “She’ll break apart Sir.” The officer said. 
                                    “Don’t worry, she’ll hold together.” The Vengeance pulled ahead of the Arcadius. They were almost on top of the Cheops. “Now, release engines.” The ship strained as it fell back to its normal speed. The engines couldn’t take the stress, they fell backwards and exploded. The crew of the ship were tossed about, the metal creaked as it bended with the speed. When the ship had almost stopped, Reef stood. “All batteries, lock on target, fire at will.” All the guns turned and aimed at the Cheops, fire exploded from each. 
                                   There was an explosion behind the Vengeance as the Arcadius slowed to normal speed. Athenas poured from the two ships. The Cheops released her fighter for a counter attack, the battle had begun. 

                                    Stonefox smiled as he chased down the Seth. The Hurc may have been slow but boy was it powerful. He armed his four Flail cannons. “Darn, all my systems just went dead.” he shut off his engines and the Hurc came to a slow stop, the forward thrusters saw to that. He waited, the Seth seemed to smile as it came around behind him. He watched it come in on his radar. “Wait for it...” he said “wait for it....” he smiled as the Seth lined him up. “Now.” He flipped on his systems and spun his ship around, he fired into the Seth. 
                                    His forward guns bit into the Seth’s shields, the Seth was no match for the speed of the Flail. The forward shields failed, and the cockpit window exploded. The next blast bit into the pilot. Blood splattered everywhere, the ship went dead as the pilot slumped over in his chair. The blood floated out into space as the ship began to turn, end over end. Stonefox shot his engines and flew towards his next target. He found it, Jackson was having problems with a Horus. It wasn’t Vo’tion or Sa’toon, so Stonefox thought that it would be OK to frage this Vasudan. 
                                    “Hold on Jackson.” Jackson’s back shields failed as he sent the message. Jackson was calling for help now. His rear shields were gone, and those shots were coming close. The bulky Hurc couldn’t manoeuvre in such tight quarters. “Hold on.” Stonefox moved his power to his thrusters, and pushed his ship to the limit. 
                                    “Damn, I’ve lost directional indicators.” Another shot hit him square in the engines. “I’m losing the engines. The core is going critical, trying to vent.” another shot hit him directly. 
                                     “Keep it together Jackson, I’m on my way.” Jackson turned his ship around and faced the Vasudan. 
                                     “No way Commander, If I’m going down I’m taking this bastard with me!” One of Jackson’s engines exploded with the new speed. Red fire leapt from it. He continued to accelerate. “Die, you son of a......” The two ships exploded. A shot hit Stonefox from the top, there would be time to weep for Jackson later. War had frozen Stonefox’s heart, he arced upwards and attacked the Seth that had locked onto him. The battle continued. 

                                      Sam and Sa’toon were trapped in a dogfight. “Die, leader for the Shivans. May your blood set us free.” The Vasudan fired at Sam. He rolled his Ulysses over to the side and cut his engines. Sa’toon passed in front of him, Sam turned on his engines again and followed Sa’toon, Sam fired into Sa’toon’s rear shields. The Horus arced upwards and came in behind Sam. Sam had no choice but to accelerate to the right. His ship moved out of the way just as a missile exploded in the spot where his ship had been. “Come back here.” Sa’toon accelerated and chased after Sam. 

 
                                       A wing of Athena bombers flew down the long hull of the Cheops, they armed their stilettoes and continued on. The enemy fighters behind them were too far away to catch the speeding bombers. They aimed at the docking bay as three ships emerged. They all fired at once, and the bay door exploded. Shratinal rained down on the three ships as fire from the Athena’s guns destroyed them. The Cheops was taking serious damage, it was down to forty per cent hull integrity, and most of her fighter had been destroyed. 

                                       Sam looked over, he searched the sky for Vo’tion. He never saw him. A stray missile locked on his ship, but the fuse was so far gone, that Sam angled up as the missile exploded as Sa’toon passed through its smoke, firing his guns all the way. That was hatred, pure and simple. Sa’toon wanted to kill Sam, and he would stop at nothing to do it! Where the hell was Vo’tion? “Shit!” Sam said as a shot came close to his cockpit. Sam pulled the stick hard over, he watched the locator move across his HUD. He told his computer to scan for Vo’tion. 
                                        Sam was worried that his friend had too many sentimental feelings about this.....

                                      The man was walking down the hallway again..... the lights were just as synchronised..... he continued his steps. The door opened... his face was almost visible....

                                         Sam came back to reality to find that his rear shields were about to fall. The scanner had found Vo’tion, he was flying in towards him. Sam immediately pulled up and out of the way of the fire from Sa’toon’s cannons. Sam looked out into the depths of space. A Scorpion came out of nowhere, it opened fire on Sam, his forward shields fell, then he heard a voice. 
                                          “.....Yami-Auqushinaqu......” It was his voice, but it soon faded away, the Scorpion fired again and.....

                                         Sam returned to the world of the living. Was this another dream? Or the real thing. His rear shields fell, this was real. “Stop running, leader for the Shivans. Let us see if you really are prophecy.” Sam dodged another shot. Sa’toon compensated. Sam arced upwards, but Sa’toon saw that coming and turned upwards with him. Sa’toon shot into Sam’s exposed belly, and then they found each other face to face. Sam shot forward and the two ships passed over each other, cockpit to cockpit. Sam looked up into the face of Sa’toon. A mixture of fear and anger was plastered all over his face. 
                                          Somewhere in the background a large explosion rocked space. The blue shockwave passed over the two Orion destroyers. Escape pods flew outwards, and Terran support ships, as well as recovery craft flew out to meet them. Vo’tion watched the explosion. He bowed his head in silent remembrance of his old ship. He knew that he had condemned his ship to death. He punched up Sa’toon. 
                                           “Sa’toon, listen to me, your ship...” he paused for a moment. “Our ship, is gone. Give this up, leave here.” Sa’toon replied this time. 
                                           “Don’t you see Vo’tion? It’s not about the ship, it is about them, the Terrans. They killed your wife, have you no feelings about that?” Vo’tion thought about that for a second, and then replied. 
                                           “No,” he started. “The Terrans didn’t kill my wife, this did. This stupid hatred between us and the Terrans. That is the cause of all our pain.” he drew back from his controls. “You are only prolonging the pain.” Sa’toon hadn’t softened any.
                                           “If I kill the leader for the Shivans then perhaps all this will end!” Shots from cannons could be heard across the unit.
                                            “Killing him won’t solve anything, it won’t bring any of them back. Look at what you have done.” Sa’toon turned his ship to where the Cheops had been. He saw the large pieces of debri slowly floating about. The Terran craft were attacking it so that they would not pose a problem from their system later. He saw the two Orion cruisers standing watch over the Cheops. “The Shivans are attempting to destroy us both, they are making no choice, if you follow them then you will only end up dying at a later time.” 

                                            Vasudans filed off the ships, hands on their heads, they all could hear the words of Vo’tion. Terran, and Vasudan alike listened, they made no attempts to fight each other. Out in space the ships stopped fighting for a single moment. The battle ceased, the Hammer of light vessels started to power down their weapons. Vo’tion was getting through to them. “If you continue this then the Shivans will only get stronger, we weaken our people. Who do you care more for? A legend? Or your own kind?” Sa’toon’s face didn’t change. He still had the hatred. It had bitten him down to the very core of his being. “We must unite against the Shivans, this is no way to end our race.” The ships began to move into formation. 
                                           Sa’toon continued to follow Sam. Sam dodged the small ship, rolling this way and that, trying to avoid the lock. 
                                           “We may lose our home-world, but they can never take away who we are, Vasudan, and I would rather be a dead Vasudan then a Scho’ka’rah to a Shivan!” Vo’tion spat the words. They had a bitter taste in his mouth. He had to put aside his hatred for Terrans to do this, and he could save a lot more lives if he could just make them understand. “So what will it be? Are you Vasudan? Or a Shivan lapdog?” Sa’toon yelled. 
                                            “If we kill the leader for the Shivans then the Shivans will spare us.” 
                                            “Us or our souls?” Vo’tion asked quietly, the Seths that were left were allowing the transports to pull them away, they made no attempt to fight the Herculean escort. It was over, the battle had barely begun, and now it was over. But the battle that Sa’toon was fighting inside of him had hardly even begun.
                                            “He must die!” Sa’toon yelled. 
                                            “No he must not.” Vo’tion fired up his engines and moved in towards the two roaring craft. Sam knew that this was a battle that Vo’tion had to fight himself. “If you kill him you condemn us all.” Vo’tion rushed in, his small ship was struggling with the speed. 
                                            “If he survives then we are already dead, you will have killed us all by allowing him to survive. How can you call yourself Vasudan Hunter? How can you claim to be one of us?” Vo’tion pushed the speed. Then he remembered what Sam had told him. 
                                             “We are more alike then you may realize” Sam mouthed the words as Vo’tion spoke them. Perhaps he was right, maybe there was hope for their two races. Sam had let himself go. 
                                              “The leader for the Shivans must die.” Vo’tion hurried in, The lock slowly moved across the screen, it locked itself in on Sam’s craft. “Time to die.” Sam noticed the lock too late, he gasped, he checked his countermeasures. They were empty! He hadn’t dropped any, and he was empty. His afterburner was empty, he couldn’t run away, trapped like a rat in a cage. Sa’toon fired two missiles, they arced up. Vo’tion forced his craft between Sam and the missiles. The missiles changed lock, Sam flew up and out of Danger. “Noooooo!” Sa’toon yelled as the missiles flew in towards Vo’tion. Vo’tion closed his eyes, the missiles flew in. Sam gasped. In a few seconds it would be all over, they flew in and......
 

                                                  To be Continued........