Stargazing - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Cat Smith
Last updated: 01/02/2007 02:01:11 AM

Chapter 10

The bridge of the Kythrida was thick with smoke. Coughing violently, Bishop dragged a fire extinguisher over to the helm console that was on fire. Clenching his teeth, and holding his breath against the acrid smoke, he pulled the lever and let the foam cover the panel, putting the blazing flames out. Walking away, and taking a deep breath, he glared at the legions of Shi'ar troopers out in the area before them. Some were staying, attacking the Kythrida, others were breaking formation, to attack the fleet behind the massive mothership.

He turned, as if to talk to Deathbird, but then he remembered she wasn't there. She had taken one of the attackers that lay in the Kythrida's massive underbelly. With a sigh, he also remembered that he was in charge now, of this mammoth ship, on a mission he did not even want to be a part of.

However... Bishop grunted as another round of fire from the lead ship slammed into the shields. "Status report!" Yelled Bishop, glancing back at the blue skinned alien behind him, of a race Bishop had previously been unaware of.

After a moments feverish listening on his earpiece, and glancing down at his terminal, he started to speak, quickly and urgently.

"Sir, whoever it is knows what they're doing! They don't have the strength to break through our shields, but they're putting such a strain on them that it's blowing some other related circuits!"

"Like the helm?" Asked Bishop, a sinking feeling in his belly.

A pause. "Yes, sir."

Biting his lip, Bishop thought rapidly, faster than it takes to tell, thru the options before him. "How are the other ships?"

A little more meddling with controls, then a bang and sizzle of ruined circuitry, and a yelp as the man jumped back holding his burned hand.

"Ensign?" Asked Bishop, concerned, as he walked up to the alien, who shook his head.

"Ow! The... the external sensors are out, sir."

Bishop's jaw set. "Then *ask* them how they are!"

The alien paused, and looked up at Bishop. "But... Lady Deathbird said that we are to remain at radio silence."

Bishop turned, baring his teeth in barley contained anger. "Ask. Them. How. They. Are." He spat each word out singularly, not as a sentence, for more of an impact. The alien was shaking now, and as he was freed, he turned, putting his earpiece, which had fallen to the floor, back in.

He spoke into it, in an alien language which Bishop couldn't understand, until he tapped his universal translator, then heard;

"Hello? Commander A'trec? Li'cent? Drat'tten?" he shook his head.

Eyes cold, Bishop stared at the man. "Don't tell me the communications are out."

"No... they're blocking it," he said, waving a hand vaguely at the ships in front of them.

Bishop paused a minute, then looked at the man at the side of him, then the screen. He looked at the warriors seated at the front of the bridge, doing their best to hit the ships of the fleet in front of them, but due to their agility, and the Kythrida's lumbering, were unable to hit enough.

"DAMN!!" Cursed Bishop. Then he grabbed the man's earpiece, spoke to the man. "They may have scrambled our external communications, but not our internal ones!!" Then, he spoke into the communicator. "Engineering! Come in!"

To his relief, he heard a voice over the static. He announced who he was, and ordered the man to get to the auxiliary bridge at the other end of the ship, as engineering was closest to this part of the ship. The auxiliary bridge had a set of massive windows similar to the ones on this bridge, and hopefully, the man would be able to see what was happening to the other ships.

The crackle filled voice came again as the engineering man reached the bridge. He sounded awe-shocked. "Sir!" It said. "It... I... There're hundred's of them! And they're slowly disabling us, one by *fzzz* one!!"

Cursing again, Bishop threw the earpiece to the floor, and turned angrily to the pilot at the front. "Get us out of here, now, before they can disable our navigation, too!"

"Yes, sir!" Started the young woman at the front. She didn't get further than the first word, however, as the lights flickered suddenly, and the Kythrida slowly ground to a halt. Bishop felt the first waves of panic overcome him, but soon stopped it before it could overcome him.

"What happened?" He asked. No one answered him, and he turned and look at the men and women on the bridge. They were all staring at him, their eyes asking the same question. "Do we have no power?" He asked.

"Well, only the back-up, and that only supplies power to life support and lighting. It doesn't provide propulsion." The blue-skinned alien offered, slowly.

Bishop paused for a moment, and the room was deadly quiet, only their breathing barely audible. In that silence, Bishop could hear a buzzing. Frowning, he couldn't see where the sound was coming from. Then, the man at his side bent down and picked up the ear-piece. "Sir?" He asked.

Grateful for the slim hope that this message might bring, Bishop eagerly spoke. "Yes? What is it?"

"Sir!" Cried the man on the other side, obviously in peril. "Sir! We've been boarded!"

With that, Bishop dropped the earpiece again.

The other officers on the bridge looked at one another. Silently, the blue skinned alien was elected to speak. Wincing, he did so. "Sir..." he began.

Bishop stopped him, interrupting his question. "We've been boarded."

The other officers stared at him. "Sir? What do we do?" Asked the alien, elected again.

Dark eyes glared at him. "What can we do? If we use the escape pods, and go out there, we're doomed. If we fight the troops on the ship, we're doomed. All we can do is hope Lilandra is merciful."

Everyone stared at him, then at the door as the first of the Shi'ar troops stormed in.