Chapter 1 - Storm

Murc jolted awake with a snort as the small red light above his head flashed and bleeped loudly.
''What is it?'' He grunted.
''Sir, we've got a problem.'' Said a shakey female voice.
''I'll be right up Lieutenant.'' He sighed, rubbing at his eyes and clicked the com off before pulling himself out of bed.


He stepped onto the bridge and surveyed the scene. Some members of the bridge crew were working feverishly at their consoles, their paws and hands quickly skittering across the touch screens and controls, the sound of their voices a near pleading as they attempted to contact the crew members who were outside, patrolling the Shadow Stalker's space territory and the planetside base. The rest of the bridge crew were staring out of the surrounding windows and the main viewer in terror, watching the large lumps of space rock drifting towards them.

''What the hell happened?'' The grey Husky demanded.
No one listened or even noticed him. He cursed himself for leaving a group of rookies in charge while he took a few hours rest. He should've seen this comming. Something always went wrong when he tried getting any amount of rest.

''Lieutenant Carrock!'' He barked sharply. ''What is going on?'' He demanded, his temper rising.
A small, blue feathered Phoenix with icy blue eyes scuttled towards him and saluted sharply.
''Sir, the T'raykes have attacked us. They sent a remote controlled ship full of explosives into the asteroid belt surrounding us.'' She said quickly. ''And we can't contact anyone outside the station. We keep losing signal.''

Murc looked at her and she shrank back.
''Telepathy?''
She shook her head. ''We lost three of our finest, sir. Something's stopping all our means of communication.''
Murc tried hard not to gape. ''What? How?''
''Doctor Lane says they suffered some kind of mental shock that shut down their brains, but even she's not a hundred percent sure.''

Murc turned his watchful eyes to the bridge crew.
''Everyone back to your posts and listen!'' He shouted angrily.
Everyone looked at him, eyes wide with fear.
''Bring the weapons online and put as much power into the shields as possible.''
There was a briefe chorus of ''Yessir'' and Murc sat down in the command chair.
''Tech department.'' Said a gruff, male voice over the com.

''Get me contact with General Newark in whatever way you can.'' He growled and closed the link before the head technician could reply.
''Should I dispatch the remaining warships, sir?'' Carrock asked.
Murc nodded. ''Send half the remaining fleet out. See if they can knock out or destroy some of the asteroids.''
Carrock nodded, saluted and quick marched off the bridge.


''I still say he needs to get laid.''
A chuckle of agreement rippled around the Eclipse's bridge.
''Now you know as well as the rest of us do, that Murc's married to his work.'' Captain Blacktip said to Sergeant Ferrihnoh.

''I reckon he's sweet on that Lieutenant Carrock.'' The black Ferret said slyly.
''I would never have thought that the word Sweet would ever be associated with Murc.'' The pilot said, turning around in his seat as the auto pilot light came on.

''The day he gets laid, is the day Hell freezes over. And no, I'm pretty sure Captain D'Armeus isn't willing to give out the current temperature in Hell.'' Blacktip said when the Pheasant opened his mouth, willing images of Murc and Carrock out of his mind.
''What's our ETA, Lossnah?'' He asked the Pheasant, hoping to change the subject.
''Ten minutes, sir.'' He replied, turning back in his seat.

Blacktip sighed and rubbed his eyes. The past couple of weeks had been long and boring due to the amount of traffic passing through the outskirts of Shadow space had reduced dramatically, lessening the chances of pirate activity in the area.
Which is a good thing. Blacktip thought. But it's fracking boring without the damn rogues to stir up trouble.

There hadn't been a distress signal or a mayday for days. It used to be at least once a day, when a pirate would try his luck with a slow moving freighter.
''Captain?'' Ferrihnoh said.
''Problem?'' He replied automatically.
''Yessir. A bloody big one too. We can't get through to the station or Nuam. The signal's been blocked by an outside source.''
''Bring us out of hyperspace and keep trying to contact them.''
The hazy blur of the slipstream evaporated around the warship as The Eclipse came into far orbit of the Station.

''Raise the shields and heat the weapons!'' Blacktip snapped, his husky voice edged with panic.
He saw five more warships and several fighters moving about the mass of debris, trying to knock them off course and away from the Station and the planet/ The Station's defenses flared violently as it too tried to fend off the rogue lumps of rock with it's own weapons, but failing.
''Take us in Lossnah.'' He said and opened up a com link. ''Chief Evick?''
''Sir?'' Said a low, femmenine voice.

''I want as much power as you can spare put into the weapons and shields.''
''Sir.'' She said and signed off without question.
The ship shuddered as a powerful shot was released from one of it's plasma cannons, hitting one of the larger asteroids away from the Station and the planet below.

One of the other warships turned hard and fired on a wandering asteroid, missing it by a scant few yards. Blacktip watched in horror as it collided with the Station head. The lump of rock wasn't very big, but it was enough to do seriouse damage to parts of the lower decks.
Oh, shoot. He thought. Rochalle's on the Station.

''Bring us in closer to the station.'' He ordered as the asteroids were beaten back and destroyed.
The Eclipse edged in closer, it's shields flaring as debris hit it.

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment