(Genesis) Chapter 13

Pride: Genesis

Chapter 13

Avengers Assemble

Lance couldn’t stay away.

He tried to stop thinking about it. He pushed it to the back of his mind. But it was always there. Warmth. Fire. Comfort.

And it was freaking him out.

It made no sense and so he found himself in the cargo bay, in front of the crate where they were keeping the metal. That crazy metal. The weird fucking metal. He reached in and touched the black piece first, just a stroke of it, and nothing. Nothing but metal, normal, boring metal. But it couldn’t be? It wasn’t. They all knew it, Keith especially. Lance thought about the boss, wondering if his head was as full of these thoughts as his was? Could he get the feelings the metal gave him out of his head, or was he distracted too?

Inhaling slowly, his eyes fell to the red piece. It didn’t even look like a normal red to him. It was too bright, and he almost thought—maybe—it seemed to be pulsing. But that was probably in his head, just him trying to make sense out of what he felt when touched it.  

He reached out, he couldn’t put it off any longer, he’d never been patient. His hand wrapped around the metal and he nearly dropped it again—it was even hotter than his mind had let him remember. Hot enough he was sure it should burn. His hand should be red and blistered.

But it wasn’t.

He was fine. He was more than fine. His eyes closed as the heat became warmth again, it flickered and made him fall back into memories of his life before Earth. It was Beau Terre on a chilly night and a fire in the fireplace, his mom and dad in their chairs and him on the floor with one of his model planes.

How?

He blinked and realized he was tearing up. This was bizarre, it was insane, it should terrify him. It did terrify him. It really did. But he couldn’t shake it… the feeling of comfort, of safety. Like it belonged to him. Like that memory belonged with him. He wiped at his eyes for a moment, then jumped as his alert sounded. Time for his shift…

Lance let the metal clatter down and made his way to bridge, pushing it all away again.

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Sven took deep breath, trying to really take in the moment. He was on the bridge, at his station, mapping out the best way to Earth from the outpost they were currently heading to.

It was completely silent.

Such moments had been practically nonexistent on this mission, not that he minded that much. The expectation of excitement and noise had been one of the main reasons he was excited to join an Explorer Team, and this group had definitely exceeded his expectations in that area.

Chuckling quietly, he focused back on the work in front of him. He was working out the math by hand. He had already put the equations into the computer, but there was no harm in double checking its answers. Really he preferred working them out on his own, without a computer, but there usually wasn’t time. There was something therapeutic about it, seeing all the steps laid out.

He'd also thought that it would be a great distraction from the bittersweet emotions he was experiencing at the thought of going home. It hadn’t exactly worked. It actually made it harder to not think about going home, when he was mapping them out a way to get home.

He was definitely excited to see his parents and friends on Earth, he’d never been away from them this long, but Earth wasn’t where he wanted to be. This mission had confirmed that for him. He wanted the excitement and adventure of traveling to other worlds. He’d traveled away from Earth this once and now he was hooked, and it wasn’t really the other planets, it was the travel itself. The other planets and cultures were amazing, but Sven had never been more at peace than when he was in space. He was meant to be in space.

It wasn’t that he hated, or even disliked Earth. It was his home planet, of course it was special to him, but being in space was what the navigator truly craved. He wasn't ready to go back so soon. That, and Jace was threatening to teach him about 'actual human recreational activities', and he was feeling quite uneasy about that situation.

Though even that might be better than having his parents breathing down his neck, as they no doubt would… Sven shook his head. Math. Focus on the math.

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

The trip from Sorthal to Echo Fox Waystation was very short. They wouldn't even have to navigate a proper system; the Cache-class space station was in free orbit around a star with no exoplanets and some charming name like 3837.20-EF. Lance was in the cargo bay again when the shift warning beeped on his datapad. They would be exiting hyperspace soon. Immediately he rushed for the bridge—weird metal was weird metal, but this was flying.

As he entered the boss was drumming his fingers on his armrest. "Where is McClain…"

"I'm right here, didn't you hear the door?" He dropped into his seat, shaking his head. It wasn't that late.

"Latrine duty taking that much of your time?"

Oh yes. So much of his time. "Making it all shiny, boss." He grinned and glanced over at Sven, who had more or less pointedly ignored the exchange. The navigation data appeared on his screen a moment later, a soft series of pings accompanying the countdown to exit breach.

Keith nodded. "Bring us out of hyperspace, McClain."

"You got it." With a slight lurch, the Firecrown slipped back into real space.

And into… what the hell?

"Whoa!" Lance wrenched them around as sirens started blaring in the bridge, though it wasn't really the sirens that had prompted it. It was more the fighters. And the plasma bolts. The station itself wasn't quite within visual range, but the magenta flares of its defense turrets were hard to miss.

Alarms were going off in the engine bay, too; the bridge comms picked up an exasperated yell that probably hadn't been transmitted on purpose. "What now?"

Keith blinked, taking in the scene for a split second, then his eyes narrowed. "Engineering, what's our fuel status?"

Flynn calmed, more or less. "We have enough to maneuver in real space for a little while yet, but unless Holgersson's got something within three light years we can't make another jump."

The odds of that were pretty low, which wasn't to say Sven hadn't already been checking it out. Dropping into the middle of a full-on siege was the kind of thing that called for contingencies. "There's nowhere we can reach on that level of fuel."

"Then we'll do the best we can here." Keith switched over to the gunnery station and strapped in. "I need Garrett's missiles online and ready and this gunnery station unlocked, now."

"It's not…" Flynn trailed off. This wasn't really the time to admit he'd never actually bothered to re-lock the gunnery console after the first incident. "…Missiles online."

Lance looked over at Keith and his hands tightened on the controls. "What's the plan?"

"We're going to fight our way to the station. It's the only option."

"Maybe they won't notice us?" Hunk suggested halfheartedly. He was on the point defense console, and at least for the moment they weren't getting any incoming missile locks. He didn't really expect that to continue when they started approaching, though.

Neither did Keith; he hit the comms. Best to let the station know they were coming before braving whatever was going on. "Echo Fox Waystation, this is the CES Firecrown, inbound for resupply. Do you need assistance?"

The other two on the bridge side-eyed him for that, but he ignored them. What was he going to do, not offer assistance?

Not that the station controller was any more convinced. "CES Firecrown, radar contact. Not sure what you think you're going to do, exactly."

"We're never sure what we're going to do," Sven muttered under his breath.

Lance grinned slightly, his eyes on the screens and the scans. He was starting to make some sense of the enemy fighter pattern. There were about ten of them running a screen, only occasionally darting in to test the station's defenses. "It's always worked in our favor so far, Viking."

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing. We're still alive."

"You'd be amazed, Echo Fox," Keith said grimly. "We're inbound and about to run the blockade."

"You're cleared for docking bay 5A if you can make it here," the controller answered after a moment. "We can't give you any cover until you're in range of our guns."

Obviously. But then, he was clearly under some stress right now. "Roger that. McClain, just get us to the station. If anything gets too close I'll take it out."

Back in the bay, Flynn had been cycling through the radar contacts. It was nice to have enough time to at least figure out what they were up against. The fighters were Sparrows, a century-old design that usually meant pirates… but much more worrisome was a larger contact that flashed the identifier Leyte.

Well hell. "Kogane, there's another fucking carrier out there."

"We've been spotted," Lance reported at almost the same moment, watching the fighters start to turn.

Keith closed his eyes for a moment. "Just great, Kleid. McClain, engage. Just don't get us killed."

"We'll get there. Engaging." The Firecrown's engines roared and it shot forward at full speed, leaving the first warning shots from the fighters to burn through empty space.

"Kleid, keep your eye on that carrier. If it so much as twitches I want to know. We've got to focus on these fighters otherwise, they're the main threat."

"It seems pretty content not to get in the station's turret range. …Don't blame it, particularly."

"Inbound missiles," Hunk reported as they streaked past an overshooting fighter. "I've got 'em. Speaking of, uh, boss? Those missiles I built are dumbfire. Just so ya know."

"…Great." Keith supposed that made sense, but it did make his job a little trickier. "I don't need guidance systems anyway." It might have come off as a bit sarcastic.

"You can do it, boss!" The point defense turrets flared briefly. "I believe in ya!"

One of the fighters was moving on an intercept course, and Lance pushed straight for it as it placed itself between them and the station. "Bet you can get this dude, I'm gonna go under him."

Good to know. Narrowing his eyes, Keith dropped his crosshairs over the fighter, fighting down the reflex to wait for a missile lock. At the last second the Firecrown pitched below the Sparrow in its path, and he let one missile fly.

There really wasn't time for any evasive maneuvers at this range, and the explosion rocked the ship.

"Holy…"

"Faex."

"Yeah, Garrett made the missiles."

"Firecrown! You still out there?" The cry from the controller sounded slightly panicked.

"We're still here, Echo Fox! Working our way towards you." They weren't quite in the station's weapons range yet, but the revelation that their quarry was armed seemed to have given the fighters second thoughts. "Push it, McClain." Lance just nodded his acknowledgement; he was in the zone now. Not even the explosion had fazed him.

"I think that explosion scared the fighters a bit," Flynn reported, seconding what Keith himself had suspected. Then he shot his fellow engineer a wary look. "Along with the rest of us."

Hunk just grinned.

"Good. Maybe they'll back up and rethink what they're doing here."

Maybe. Or maybe it would just make them that much more determined to take them down… Flynn grimaced as the monitors beeped, answering that question as soon as he'd thought it. "The carrier is moving."

"Docking bay 5A in my sights." Smirking, Lance pushed the throttles, taking the Firecrown right back to the edge of its capabilities. Right where he liked it.

"Get us in. Now."

Two fighters were swooping in behind them now, and they were much faster. But then a burst of energy erupted from the station, forcing one to break off pursuit and flee back out of range.

The other stayed with them, using the ship itself as cover. "One on our tail. Carrier has a lock."

Well if the carrier wanted to play that way, Keith would oblige. He dropped the crosshairs over the carrier and fired again. Nothing that big was going to dodge, though he didn't have the time to watch its results. The other Sparrow was still behind them, and close. "Echo Fox, got one on our six trying to follow us in."

"We've got it." As the Firecrown swooped into the bay, the doors slammed shut behind it—and a matter of seconds later, a deafening crash shook the bay as the fighter failed to pull back in time.

That's one way to do it… Keith relaxed slightly. Only slightly. "Kleid, damage report."

"Nothing our shields couldn't handle. Not so sure about their door, though."

"As long as we can get back out…"

He was cut off by the scanners flashing with a distant explosion, and Hunk whooped with glee. Their parting shot had struck true. "Yeah, think about that, Jolly Roger!"

"Jolly Roger?" Sven repeated blankly.

Hunk's grin faded. "…Ain't anyone here ever watched any movies at all?"

"And he calls himself a Viking," Lance snorted, earning a mild glower from the navigator next to him.

"Seriously. Shameful."

"Television rots your brain," Sven muttered sullenly.

Jace had spent the whole skirmish in his 'battle station', and had mostly kept his mouth shut. But now—lying on the floor after being thrown off his bed, glaring at the ceiling, and listening to the comms—he couldn't take it anymore. "Look who you're talking to, Viking."

That was enough of that. Keith returned to his command chair and overrode the internal comms before they could really get started. "Okay, people. McClain, shut her down. Let's go see what we can do to help."

Back in the bay, with the internal link safely off, Flynn listened to that phrasing and exchanged looks with Hunk. "…Kogane's going to decide we have to somehow save this place from pirates before we refuel, isn't he?"

"Does kinda seem to be his gig." Grin. "Oughta be fun."

Flynn rolled his eyes and started one last diagnostic. At the least, it ought to be interesting.

When wasn't it?

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

By the time they started disembarking, there was a woman in the docking bay waiting for them. She was a half-human of some variety—the long black feathers running down her back instead of hair made that clear enough—but Keith had no idea what the other half might be and didn't really care right now. He was more worried about the uniform she was wearing. Or more specifically, the infantry captain bars. "Take me to your commander. We need to refuel, but hopefully we can help with your problem out there first."

She studied him carefully. "I am the commander here."

"…Oh! Sorry." Keith blushed. This station wasn't near as large as the ones he'd been accustomed to on the Vesuvius; it hadn't quite occurred to him that a captain might be all they needed in charge. "Wasn't thinking… a little shaken up, you know how it can be. I'm Commander Keith Kogane, Explorer Team 686."

"Captain Taltaria Syndar, Echo Fox Security. You've picked a hell of time to show up, Commander."

"Yeah, we kind of noticed that. We can help do something, if you have a plan."

Sven trailed just behind his commander, shaking his head and forcing himself not to smile. Lance came up behind him and whispered, "So, he telling them we're here to rescue them?"

"Essentially."

"Thinks he's Captain America."

"So which of us is Iron Man?" Hunk asked, joining them.

"Lance," Sven answered immediately, rolling his eyes as soon as it slipped out. Why am I participating in this?

Lance smirked at the same time. "Me."

Hunk considered that, then nodded. Seemed legit.

"Plan?" Syndar either didn't notice or just ignored the peanut gallery behind him, looking up at their battered Endeavor instead. "Nothing we're going to enlist a civilian ship in. We've been under siege for a week."

That got Lance's attention. "A week?"

"Who're you calling a civilian ship?" Jace demanded from the top of the boarding ramp; he'd come out because really what else was there to do? Jumping off the ramp he nearly hit Flynn, who'd stopped for a moment to look at the extremely large dent in the bay door. He couldn't really blame the captain when she answered by giving them all a very doubtful look.

He also wouldn't have blamed her if she'd decided to punch Lance for winking at her in response, but sadly she did not.

"It may look civilian, Captain, but we aren't." Keith crossed his arms. "We still have four missiles and our point defenses. If you can get us a few more missiles we could make a good dent in their forces."

"I'd gladly give you more missiles, if we hadn't used them all." She shook her head. "Our plasma turrets are holding them off, but all we have left are those and a company of marines. Which is very helpful, as you can see." Scowl. "They're jamming our subspace communications, and pirate hunters rarely ever come through here. Apparently intel says there isn't a piracy problem in this sector."

"That sounds familiar," Flynn muttered under his breath, and Keith snorted.

"Yeah, we've been discovering intel… isn't always exactly at the forefront of the information services."

"What he means," Jace translated helpfully, "is military intelligence isn't." That drew a round of snickers that even Syndar joined in on.

"Well, we're here." Keith looked back at the ship, then around at his team. "And we're willing to help."

"That's us, the Avengers." Lance grinned.

Sven had drifted away a little as things progressed. "I'm sure this conversation is inspiring their confidence in us," he muttered as Jace dropped back next to him.

"Dude, if you can't trust an Explorer Team in a civvie ship making superhero jokes to save your ass, who can you trust?"

"Exactly, Doc!"

He sighed, expression wavering somewhere between venom and resignation. "I was being sarcastic, dumbass." Lance snickered, Hunk shrugged, and Keith shot them all a look suggesting it might be a good time to shut up.

It didn't actually appear the conversation was discouraging Syndar at all. In fact, she was looking over them with a glint of thoughtful calculation in her eyes. "We have to neutralize that carrier somehow. Are you Explorer Teams really as crazy as they say you are?"

"Yes," half the team answered at once.

"Hell yeah we are."

"Nope. Crazier "

Grimacing, Keith nodded, not that she needed his confirmation by this point. "I'm afraid so, Captain. We've… well, we won't go there right now." The escape from Sorthal was jumping right back into his thoughts, but they had bigger problems. "What do you have in mind?"

"We had a cargo ship here resupplying us when the pirates showed up. They captured it when it left. Herded it right into one of their bays." She paused for a moment, looking pointedly at the Firecrown. "If we could get our marines aboard that carrier…"

A slow grin crept over Keith's face, and he saw it mirrored on the others. Oh yes. This they could handle easily. "Get them ready then, Captain. We'll get it done."

⭒⭒⭒⭒⭒

Arus wasn't known as a military power, but it had never been a soft target, either. Not before. They knew the universe was dangerous. They knew they couldn't solely rely on the forbearance of their neighbors… especially when those neighbors included the Ninth Kingdom of the Drule Supremacy. But peaceful diplomacy had kept them safe so far. Had they been fools to believe it would last? Perhaps, but it was too late to worry about that now.

It was still unclear how exactly the attack could have come so quickly, with so little warning. Radar stations had gone silent, and many of the automated defenses simply hadn't activated. Which… shouldn't have been possible. Genetic authorization was used for those systems. Those in charge of the facilities were trying to keep the systems failure quiet; better for the people to think the onslaught had just been that overwhelming than for them to know the truth.

It was enough of a morale blow to the troops themselves…

The forces of the Crown were only now gathering into some semblance of order, falling back to one of the few staging points still intact. Satara Mountain was heavily reinforced, all but undetectable by sensors, and had two full wings of front-line fighters on standby.

Two wings wasn't much to work with.

Rexala Kai Metair, First General of the Bright Angels, paced the hangar as she watched the technicians work. She was watching, but not really seeing. Her mind was on the enemy force estimates she'd been given, the latest report from her own spotters and information being fed back from the Golden Knights—the ground troops were watching the skies while evacuating civilians. There wasn't much else they could do until the enemy was deprived of air superiority. But how were they going to do that? The Drules had a whole fleet of capital ships. Arus had one, and she wasn't even sure if it was intact.

"Has anyone been able to make contact with the Spirit of Harmony yet?"

"No, General. We're still trying."

Of course they were. She didn't even look at the aide who'd responded. "Try harder." The warship had been away on a diplomatic mission to a neighboring system. Had it rushed back to help and run into the teeth of the Drule fleet? Had it even heard they'd been attacked?

We don't have time. It would be nice to have, but we can't count on it and we can't wait much longer.

She finally stopped pacing, looking up at the fighter in front of her. What they had right now was enough for a surgical strike, so that was what they'd do.

"We will strike at their command ship." Her aides startled; she supposed, them not being privy to her thoughts, it had been a bit abrupt. No matter. "Hit and run attacks. Their warships lack our speed and their fighters lack our skill. If we can get them chasing us rather than firing on the civilians, so much the better."

Answering nods greeted her. It was a dangerous plan, but it was a plan after so much scrambling and retreat. They would do their duty to Arus. They would bloody the invader, and with luck, their deeds would turn the tide of the war.

"We launch at dawn."