Space is unforgiving. It stares you in the face and watches as your Empires crumble, your peoples die. Space could not care less for who rules its stars, for at some point in time, all rulers must perish. In the unforgiving void of space, fleets battle for domination. For the soldiers who die in its vast expanses, space has no regrets.
"Launch Dahkifini!" a voice yelled in Kertan Serkanai's helmet. He reached for his fighter's controls, powered up his ship. Kertan watched as the heavy blast doors of the CDK Rekani's fighter bay opened. Space slowly appeared before his ship, filled with flashes of multi-colored light as ships exchanged shots across the cold, black void. A squadron of Imperial fighters shot past the hangar doors.
As the hangar doors completed opening, Kertan lifted his ship up off the hangar's deck plates. He slowly pushed the throttle forward on his Dahkifini, gaining speed as he approached the hangar doors. His fighter shot out of the hangar, and Kertan pushed the throttle full forward.
"Activate heads-up-display," Kertan said into his helmet. The built-in HUD appeared on his helmet visor, showing the statistics of his body, his flight suit, and his fighter. "Locate nearest target," he said.
On the helmet's HUD appeared a small radar screen, showing his location and that of the nearest Imperial fighter. He turned right sharply, swinging around behind the boxy Imperial ship. Lining up the enemy fighter in his sights, he switched his Dahkifini's weapons over to his Ferakai, located on the front of his ship's wings, and pulled the trigger.
Red plasma beams shot out from the Dahkifini's forward wings, intersected the Imperial ship. The enemy fighter burst into flames, exploding seconds later as the engine overloaded. The fighter's inertia carried the flaming wreckage on forward through space, smashing it against an Imperial capital ship's shields. Blue energy flared as the pieces of the fighter slammed into the shields.
Kertan pulled his fighter around to locate another enemy ship. "Locate next target," he said into his helmet. Again the radar indicated a nearby red dot.Kertan executed a tight immelman maneuver to place his fighter going toward his target. This ship was a slightly larger, boxier ship. It was heading toward a Callaran capital ship, a Sahkani by its shape and size. Kertan guessed that this ship was an Imperial bomber, lining up for a targeting lock on the Sahkani. Kertan targeted the Imperial ship, then switched his ship's weapons to the heavier Treganai, located on each side of the ship's aft. He pulled the trigger on his fighter's joystick, sending large red balls of plasma firing from either side of the cockpit, converging on the lone enemy bomber's location. The enemy ship exploded in a massive fireball, indicating that its weapons and torpedoes had already been armed.
Kertan's comm beeped with an incoming message. He flipped it on. "This is the CSK Kaitansin. Kordominai Caisan sends his thanks to you, Korsai."
"This is Korsai Kertan Serkanai," Kertan replied. "It is my honour to save your beautiful ship."
"Thank you for your compliment, Korsai Serkanai. You honour us with your praise." With that last comment, the comm exchange ended. Kertan switched his comm off.
Kertan turned his attention back to the battle. "Locate next Imperial target," he said into his helmet. The radar located yet another Imperial ship. Kertan pulled his ship into a short turn to follow the enemy ship.
This ship was of a different configuration than the others. The ship was boxy, with short wings in the rear section attached to large cylindrical engines. A large cannon of some type was fitted to the top of the ship on a turret. The ship also had a large circular shape attached to its aft, with another pair of engines attached to it and massive wires connecting it to the rest of the ship. The ship was moving hastily away from the battle.
"This is Dahkifini Korsai Serkanai," Kertan said into his comm. "CDK Stikaintan, I am in pursuit of a fleeing Imperial ship. Instructions?"
"Dahkifini Korsai Serkanai," a voice said into his ears, "pursue and destroy Imperial ship. We are deploying Senteram mines now. We will finish the battle with these ships."
"Understood," Kertan answered. Inwardly, he almost felt pity for the Imperial fleet. The Senteram mines were specially created to make a shadow in Warp space, forcing ships in Warp space out of the Warp and preventing the entrance of any ship into the Warp. The Imperial fleet was now stuck in normal space, left to fight the Callaran fleet rather than flee.
Unfortunately, the ship Kertan was currently following was too far away from the battle to be affected by the Senteram mines. That meant that it would probably escape into Warp space any time now.The ship did, in fact, pick that moment to escape into Warp space. Kertan sighed, then flipped switched on his Dahkifini's cockpit console. His ship was equipped to enter the Nexus, and so he entered the alternate dimension.
Space around his shimmered, and then he was in the Nexus. He was surrounded by pure energy, his ship feeding on the raw energy to recharge its weapons and shields. His fighter shot through the Nexus at full speed.
Kertan spoke into his helmet as he ship travelled through the Nexus. "Plot Imperial ship course," he said. "Locate possible worlds for it to escape to. Negate any non-Imperial worlds." His helmet gave a slight hum as its computers followed Kertan's orders. A few seconds later, one planet name appeared on his helmet HUD. The planet's name was Filvian VIII.
"Plot course for Filvian VIII," he said. The helmet relayed Kertan's orders to the ship. The fighter made a slight change in direction, taking the shortest course to Filvian VIII.
After a few minutes of traveling, Kertan's Dahkifini exited the Nexus close to Filvian VIII. There he waited for the Imperial ship. He stared at Filvian VIII. It was a mostly green sphere, with occasional patches of blue. An asteroid belt circled the system just a few hundred thousand kilometers from the planet.
Approximately two hours after Kertan's arrival in the system, the Imperial ship appeared. Kertan immediately set to the task of pursuing and destroying it. He soon got the ship targeted, and he began firing as soon as he set his weapons to the Ferakai.
Red plasma beams slammed into the Imperial ship, blasting its right wing and engine off. More red beams lanced through space, destroying the ship's turret and cannon. The Imperial ship began spinning; obviously, its stabilizers were damaged. The ship began to twist and turn like an injured bird, its flight carrying it across the system in a mad, twisting path.
Kertan watched as the Imperial ship neared the asteroid belt. As he came closer, the ship struck an asteroid, bounced off sparking. The ship's hull peeled off in places, revealing cargo bays and thick wires. The enemy ship slammed into another asteroid, its Warp drives sheering off in slow motion. The ship twisted and turned, and then its engines ignited. The ship plunged forward towards Kertan's Dahkifini. Hurriedly Kertan found the weapons controls of his ship.
Red beams lanced out from the Ferakai again, striking the Imperial ship repeatedly. The ship was wracked with explosions, but still it came on towards the Dahkifini fighter. Switching to Treganai and Ferakai both, Kertan fired again. Red beams and spheres of plasma intersected the Imperial ship, tearing into it with eager ferocity. The ship exploded, sending out a shower of fire, sparks, and debris.
Kertan turned his fighter, too late. The cloud of debris slammed into Kertan's Dahkifini. The fighter's shields overloaded, and pieces of twisted metal and wreckage smashed external systems on Kertan's fighter. The long-range sensors array was torn off, making the fighter blind except at short range. A second wave of debris sliced through the engine housing, slicing through wires and wrecking the engine.
Engineless, Kertan's ship hurtled through space, its momentum carrying it toward Filvian VIII. As it approached, Kertan saw the green planet grow in his cockpit viewscreen. The planet soon filled Kertan's full view, and his fighter continued on toward the planet. The ship entered Filvian VIII's atmosphere, its wings screaming as it tore through the air.
And then gravity took over, and the Dahkifini was destined for impact....
Continued in "Impact".....