----------------------------------------------------------- - The Ta’ainvel - – By Khan – ----------------------------------------------------------- 7. The chair thudded into place in the command bridge and Ayshala soon sat to his right. He turned his head around, looking back at where Nainee b’Link sat twenty yards behind him and to his right. The auxiliary pilot station seldom extended out of the floor and Jante was surprised that she had found it necessary now. ”First, Second, prepare the ship for Alpha Class Departure and order yellow alert,” the commander said in Jante’s ear, looking at both of them in turn. ”Depart, commander? The attack is over, why would we need to depart?” asked Ayshala. Jante caught Ayshala’s eyes, and pointed towards the radar readouts. He saw her gasp and at the same time she did, he began closing the ship up. ”Ship is now at yellow alert. Engine, how soon can we have full capacity?” he said into his communication device. Yellow lights started softly oscillating in the juncture between wall and floor. ”Well sir, the machine hasn’t been run since last summer, when we did the last service. I doubt it will be less than half an hour,” the officer answered. ”You have ten minutes, then we are dead anyway. We are at Alpha Class alert.” ”Yes sir.” ”Security, see to it that all the off board personnel are immediately brought on board and that all non essential personnel are moved into the safest sectors, and then seal all sector doors.” ”Yes sir.” Jante knew Ayshala was making sure that all minor crafts were in their bays, locked down, and that the particle shields were warming up and that Warriors were posted everywhere in the sealed off sectors. ”Ten minutes until we have full capacity, commander,” Jante reported. ”Very good. As soon as we are at one hundred percent, engage hover mode and stand by for orbit escape.” ”Yes commander. Forward battery, charge your guns to full and then redirect all energy to the main shaft energyarray. All other batteries, redirect your energy to the main shaft energyarray but be prepared to take it back quickly. Ship is now at red alert.” The yellow lights in the floor turned red. Nine minutes later they had visual contact with what was forcing a starship of this class to get ready to depart. Far away on the horizon, two large black dots could be seen against the sun. The computer enhanced the image, and they could all see the massive battleships heading towards them. They were both together smaller than the Handrillian but had enough manoeuvrability and firepower to take out the larger starship. The battleships were of Ta’ainvel design, so Jante knew exactly what they could do, and not do. As soon as Engine reported all machines go he engaged the hover units and began retracting the landing stands. One minute later the computer didn’t have to enhance the image for the people on the bridge to see the battleships clearly. ”Fire at will,” the commander said and Jante made the ship come about, directing it straight at one of the battleships. The large starship turned slowly but fast enough for him to have at least one mile left until he was in firing-range of the battleships. ”Main shaft energyarray, ready fire,” Jante said into his communication device. The indicator on one of his monitor showed that the forward bay doors of the centre main hallway were opening. ”As soon as you have those bay doors open, you may fire. Full power.” The indicator turned green, showing that the doors were now clear of the hallway. The power gauge of the sector marked ’Main Shaft Energyarray’ dropped from full to empty in less than a second, and a blue shaft of light as wide as the entire command bridge window shot out from beneath the small docking bay doors towards the right of the two battleships. It ran through the attacking ship and exited in the engine block, and a second later the entire ship exploded in a gigantic ball of fire. The other ship veered off to avoid the blast, and that gave Jante enough time to slowly push the vertical thrusters into full letting the ship slowly rise. Ayshala reported that artificial gravity and inertial dampers were engaged and the ship was ready to leave. ”Forward batteries, fire. All other batteries fire as soon as you have enough power.” Ten small shafts of blue light, perhaps as wide as a man’s fist, shot towards the veering battleship leaving a trail of explosions along the side of its hull. As the starship slowly rose into the sky, Jante brought it about letting the front face directly up, and the engine block aimed at the protective shield that had been erected over the lower city of Han. ”When you are ready, First pilot.” Ten more small shafts of light blasted into the side of the battleship. ”Yes commander. Engine, bring the orbit escape engines online, full power and give me control of the astrogation computer.” ”Yes sir.” ”Communications, send a message to all other starships not already attacked on earth that the Mars colony has made an alliance with the Human Ta’ainvel hostile factions and are sending battleships their way. Also tell them that the Handrillian has initiated Alpha Class Departure.” ”Yes sir, immediately.” The two batteries aimed at the battleship that was slowly coming about to fire at the starship, fired again. ”Computer, engage special program Exodus.” The computer responded by lowering a visor display to the eyes of the two pilots and the commander, and opening a small hatch beside all three seats. ”Say the word commander. All batteries, fire a last time, then hold fire.” Four batteries fired towards the battleship, and one third of the beams hit it. The battleship had almost come about and would soon be able to fire at them. It was, however, sinking towards the ground. It leaned heavily to the left, and Jante knew that their engines had been severely damaged. ”On my mark, then. Ready orbit escape engines, two, one, mark,” said the commander as she pulled out the handle inside the hatch. As Ayshala and Jante did the same, Engine reported a successful start-up of the engines. ”May the Gods be with us. Three, two, one, now!” At the same time, the three twisted the handle around, and punched it back into the panel. The ship went completely quiet, and dropped back downwards a small bit, and then the roar of the engines shattered all silence. The ship groaned, and slowly started to rise again. Soon the Handrillian was racing for the outer atmosphere at an incredible speed. ”I have a course ready that will take us out of the Sol system within one hour,” Jante said to the commander. ”Very good. Take us away from this planet.” ”Yes commander.” He turned over control of the ship to the astrogation computer, which made the necessary course changes and as soon as the ship was out of the atmosphere, it made the Shift into Hyperspace. ”Ayshala, you have the ship.” He slipped out of his chair, and hurried towards the doors of the command bridge. ”Communications,” he said as he passed that command station, ”I want to be notified as soon as any answers come from the other ships.” ”Yes sir,” answered the man sitting there. Then he left the room at a run towards the secure sectors of the ship. He made a quick stop in his own quarters right beside the command bridge and put on a new dark blue tight overall. He put on his belt and fastened his sidearm in its holster to it. Putting the short green jacket on him, he exited the room still refastening the bracers to his arms, and started running again. He exited the command sector of the ship, and ran along a corridor facing out into the Sanctum. At the end of the hallway stood two black-jacketed Warriors before a redlined airlock door. ”Break the seal on this door but be ready to close it again.” ”Yes sir,” said one of the Warriors, and leaned over to a control. The red outline disappeared and the hermetic seal hissed open. The door slid aside and Jante entered the corridor beyond. Warriors lined the walls but they smiled reassuringly at every civilian walking the hallway. They saluted as Jante walked past and he also smiled at the frightened Ta’ainvel. He reached the door he wanted and pressed the caller. The door soon slipped open, admitting him into a spacious room where eight frightened Humans sat. The child Susanna was asleep in Elisabeth’s arms. ”I am sorry that you were onboard at this time. We will be able to let you off and return you to earth in a small shuttle when we exit the solar system.” ”And return to what? A world taken over by fanatic people hating the Ta’ainvel,” Michael said. ”Not really. The world will be taken over by the Mars Colony, who used those fanatic Humans,” Jante replied. Thomas laughed bitterly. ”Then there is even less reason for us to return. We didn’t have any family left there anyway, any of us.” Jante only nodded, and said, ”You have until eleven p.m., a little less than one hour, to reach a final decision.” He made to leave but Marie put a hand on his arm. ”How is Charlotte? We heard what happened.” ”I don’t know, Marie. I don’t know.” He left the room saying he would talk to them again before the hour was up and walked calmly through the crowded hallways towards the hospital. The hospital was huge; ten levels, and could house nearly two thousand patients. It was quite sufficient enough to take care of the needs of the twenty thousand Ta’ainvel onboard at the moment. The nurse at the front desk told him where the Human woman was and he ran towards the Intensive Care Unit. She had just been operated and was in a critical condition and the doctors would know for sure within the hour if she lived or not. He was let in to see her, but only for five minutes. ”Charlie, I am so sorry this happened to you,” he said after a while holding her hand. ”Please don’t die.” He didn’t say anything more, and after five minutes he left her.