Hornet's Nest

Large Scale Standoff

Truly feeling like a scumbag, Daigo turned and ran, forcing Kyle to think it through on their way to the ship. It took an uncomfortable amount of time for them to reach the ship, despite the short distance. Hannes and Daigo had to kill two more Centauri soldiers that were guarding the ramp into it. Daigo couldn’t fight like Hannes but his draw and aim was second to none, so he shot each faster than they could shoot back, debilitating them, and then Hannes tore into them with his hand cannon.

“Why is it lowered like that?” It was Kyle who asked, but it was a good question. Daigo had expected to see the ship broken into, not simply boarded. Like they were welcomed.

Daigo, Hannes and Kyle boarded the Hornet’s Nest with guns raised and worried hearts. Kyle pulled up the ramp behind them to close the way into the ship. They soon came upon Sára and Kiyin, finding them pulling a Centauri soldier towards the garbage disposal room.

“Kiyin?”

“Sis!”

“Kyle!”

Sára released the man – his head unceremoniously slammed on the floor -- and embraced her brother who in turn hugged her.

“Good grief, are you okay, Kyle?”   

“Of course, sis,” Kyle said happily, “I’m so glad you’re safe too!”

“Oh, if you had gotten hurt, I… I wouldn’t know what I--”

“What’s going on, Daigo?” Kiyin thankfully interrupted. “What’s with all these Centauri?”

“Explanations later, we need to take off. Is Spinz alright?” Daigo asked.

“He’s cleaning the engine room,” Kiyin informed, “one of them bled out in there.”

Daigo winced. The worst mistake they could have done was to go fight Spinz in the most claustrophobic of all the rooms. Other than a Muena lizard, there wasn’t much worse he could have found in there than a Rodentis who didn’t mind getting blood on himself.

And Hannes. But still, despite the size, Spinz was as deadly as a living creature could be.

In any regard, Daigo marched on toward the cockpit. “Sára, I’ll need some cyber-magic done. First off, though, check on our weapons systems. Targeting, most of all. Hannes, get to a g*n. C’mon, Kiyin.”

“But how are we lifting off without a transport shuttle?”

That was Kyle, of course. Sára had also never seen it in action, but she knew about it, so she hadn’t bothered telling him.

“The ship has something that can do it. One time use,” Daigo told him, running off.

“Daigo!” Kiyin called, but he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t delay.

Running into the cockpit, the first thing Daigo did was to call the engine room. “Spinz!”

“Welcome, Captain!” he greeted, way too casually.

“We’re in danger, we need to lift-off asap. Get it rolling.”

“Kay kay,” he replied, and switched off his end of the connection.

That right there was why Spinz was Daigo’s favorite crew member.

Kiyin sat next to Daigo and turned on the overlays. She sounded worried. “What happened in that place? I’ve never seen you like this.”

Daigo glanced at her with a heavy grimace made of concern, and then switched on the ship’s communications. General channel.

“Alright people. We’re about to lift off on our own. As if that wasn’t a bumpy ride by itself, I doubt the Centauri came in needing a transport shuttle. The plan is to get to space. Sára cleans our tracks using the satellite’s connection, and then we run for a gate. We’re shooting down anyone who tries to stop us. Anyone that follows us. Anything that approaches our trajectory.” He paused for effect. “This is about as deep in trouble as we’ve ever been, guy, but they think we have something they want. That they really want! So we have that advantage, and that’s how we’re going to survive. So focus on your jobs.”

Daigo wanted to say something else, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Instead, he switched it off.

“Something they really want?” Kiyin asked, her hands and tentacles at work on the panels, same as Daigo. They were rushing through all the pre-lefit-off checks. “And we really don’t have it?”

“It was a weapon that could make stars go supernova.” Daigo pulled on the belt of his chair, but paused for a second because he had never touched it. Swallowing gear, he strapped himself tight. “I destroyed it.”

Kiyin opened her eyes in awe. She slowly blew out a nervous amount of air, and strapped in as well.

“I guess the Centauri really want that thing,” Kiyin said.

“Can you imagine anyone who wouldn’t?” Daigo asked.

Kiyin sighed as if out of breath and shook her head.

Daigo nodded, trying not to apologize. It wouldn’t help. He would do it once they were safe.

“Let’s get out of here,” Daigo said instead.

It wasn’t as much of an explosion as it was a meltdown.

Brightly glowing white plasma expanded like a bubble of chewing gum, consuming the fortress in its entirety. It would look beautiful if Daigo didn’t know what it was, and also if he hadn’t been too worried trying to survive.

Independent liftoff was a veritable hell of shaking and trembling. The heat and force being produced by their ancient propulsion system, which was hogtied to the ship’s real bottom -- they covered it with a fake bottom, which they had since ejected -- and the friction from the heavy fighting with gravity. Daigo could hardly believe it was just a moon they were leaving.

And they had to endure it while shooting back at Centauri space fighters. Fortunately, they dispatched them quickly enough.

Once they reached the safety of the void of space, however, they were met with an amalgamation of military vessels. Each was there representing a different government.

The transport satellite had been utterly destroyed. Debris was flying out, with cadavers among them, gently sailing on the inertia caused by depressurization. Since they had destroyed the chasing Centauri, and everything else on the moon was dead and burning, that left just only one thing for all those ships to look at.

The Hornet’s Nest.

Daigo felt all eyes on their ship. Eyes representing powers that he never had the patience, or mind, to comprehend… Were staring at him with a hunger he could not quench.

“Daigo…” Kiyin called, with a tone he had never heard before. It was shaking.

Another minute of ignoring the hails they were receiving, and they were dead. They did not have the weapon, and pretending they did would not help them at that point.

How don’t we die? Daigo asked himself. Figure it out, figure it out. I need time to figure it out.

“Send message to all ships, text only,” Daigo ordered. Kiyin nodded and got to it while he sighed in preparation. She motioned to go ahead and so he dictated. “We have your weapon ready for a one-way trip to the sun. Unless you have a way to stop a V12 missile, I suggest you don’t even think of targeting us.”

Kiyin hesitated on sending it, so Daigo reached out and slapped the holographic button. Breathing hard.

“Hey!”

“It’ll buy us time, it’s just to buy us time, I need--”

“I see a ship from Muena,” Kiyin pointed out, interrupting him, “this won’t hold those maniacs for long.”

“I know I know,” Daigo sat down and brought his hands up to his head. “I’m thinking.”

“What’re you thinking?” Kiyin asked, audibly stressed.

Daigo didn’t reply. His mind wasn’t in a state he could use to reason. Thankfully, whatever Kiyin saw in him convinced her to wait.

A thousand ideas were crossing his head. An immeasurable amount of actions and reactions, but every angle was a dead one. All lines of thought just crashed into an impenetrable wall.

They couldn’t hack any of the ships, they couldn’t cloak, they couldn’t send the ship one way and hide on the satellite. The planet was close enough that they might run for it, but not if they were being chased by so many ships. He had to make the ships fight each other, but no amount of bluff could make it happen well enough. He couldn’t get them all to ignore the Hornet’s Nest.

Daigo could send out an escape pod and pretend the weapon’s on it and then run the other way, but a quick scan would return no heat signatures. No nothing.

They wouldn’t fall for it.

Daigo could board it. Sacrifice himself. Yet, he had serious doubts that Kiyin would be willing to abandon the ship, she never would. Kyle was expendable, however, and that thought made him noxious -- he couldn’t do something like that. Might there be a way to fool the heat sensors? Maybe if he asked Spinz, he’d have an idea?

No time, though.

“More hails,” Kiyin said in a low voice. “They’re trying to communicate again.”

Daigo could run with the money thing. Try and bluff them into letting them leave, but he couldn’t make a deal with all of them. No, there was no other way that was going to end other than with a battle. Everyone was just biding time, lying to themselves that it didn’t. That maybe there’s a way everyone doesn’t die for a bomb Daigo already destroyed.

“Target lock…” Kiyin reported, and Daigo looked up, cursing the lizards under his breath. They were probably looking forward to the fight. They were very likely chanting and dancing, working up a battle frenzy, since the very first foreign spaceship showed up. “And what’s this? We’ve got a life-pod being activated.”

Daigo’s eyes whirred in shock. “What?”

“It’s out, it’s going to our left,” Kiyin said, still sounding beside herself.

Daigo looked at their right and landed eyes on planet Trifecta.

“Transmission coming in from the pod,” she said, reflexively turning it on.

“D,” Hannes’s voice came out. It sounded far and full of static, but it was the soldier alright. He paused for a couple of seconds. “Yer a better man than I, D. Good luck.”

“What? What is he doing?” Kiyin asked, not understanding what was happening.

Daigo’s implants almost popped out of his eye sockets from how his whole face opened up. Gaping didn’t make it justice. Everything lined up, now. He saw his angle. Daigo could see how his crew could survive.

Immediately, Daigo jumped and pushed the lever that controlled the engine all the way ahead.

“Go towards the planet!” Daigo demanded.

“Daigo?!”

“Just go!!!” Daigo said, frantically looking at the switches to try and find the one he needed to talk with Sára.

He almost broke it when he found it. “Sára!”

“I’m here,” she said, not really worried, but definitely not at ease either. For once. “Are we going to die?”

“The satellite!” Daigo yelled, standing up. “They attacked it but didn’t blow it apart, maybe we still have a connection!?”

“Uhhh, yes?” she confirmed. “We do, but we’re moving away.”

“I need you to hack your way into -- Sára, we reported our ship stolen back on Karis! Make it so!”

“What? What are you talki--”

“Sis, you can do this, I kno--”

Daigo cut off the communication, looking for the switch to talk to Spinz.

“Oh, I see what you’re doing, that’s clever,” Kiyin said. She was still out of sorts, and breathing harshly, but she sounded a bit more relieved now. Which hurt him.

Because she was seeing it wrong.

“How are the ships reacting?!” Daigo asked.

“They’re targeting and un-targeting us. They’re not moving, they seem to be confused,” Kiyin explained.

“Great. Spinz!”

“Captain,” the scrawny voice replied.

“We’re about to burst through Trifecta’s atmosphere,” Daigo told him.

“Wat?” Spinz yelled. Daigo had never heard him flustered, let alone wholly nervous. “Ship no hold!! No, no way, Captain! No way!”

“I… I know, Spinz.” Daigo sounded a lot more dramatic than he intended to, and what came next, he kind of expected.

Having full view of what Daigo was doing, Kiyin screamed. “WHAT?!”

“Do your best,” Daigo told Spinz, before switching off the coms.

Daigo looked up at the ships to see what was happening. He had to look left a bit because theirs had already turned. It was heading towards the planet.

“Tell me what’s happening right now, Daigo!” Kiyin demanded, still not willing to believe what she knew to be true. Bless her heart, though, she was still flying towards the planet.

“Look! Look!” Daigo pointed out, leaning in for a better angle of the other ships. “They’re fighting!”