Lee headed down to the hangar. The maintenance crews were pulling something that might have once been a human torso from one of the burned-out ships. He approached one of the men and tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me, sir? What happened to these guys?" The man looked disgusted. "Angels got 'em. Just like they'll get you." With that, the man grabbed a carbon saw and approached one of the ships. Lee frowned. He'd been hoping for some concrete answers, but the maintenance crews weren't the ones to give them. He decided to return to his quarters for the time being.
McLain headed to the mess hall, which was empty save for a couple cooks. He sat down at a long table and took out the holodeck, a thin rectangle of metal with a single button, a small speaker and an Omniport on it. He lay it down on the table and pressed the button. The holodeck chimed, and a screen appeared, floating a few inches off the table. A pleasant female voice greeted him.
<"Hello, [Airman First Class McLain]. How may I help you today?">
McLain responded. "Find me information about extraterrestrial life in this sector."
<"I'm sorry. Information on [Extraterrestrial Life] in [Sector Alpha-17] is restricted.">
"Great," he muttered, as he tapped the button again to shut the holodeck off, and turned towards the exit.
* * * * *
Aboard the USSF Delaware
(Crew Quarters)
Alpha-17 Star Sector
Friday, May 30th, 2358
22:00 Hours
Senior Airman Dalton walked into the room and sat down on a bunk.
"Alright, people, here's the situation. I know they told you back on Earth that the galaxy was at peace. That statement is patently false. For the past five years, we've been fighting an enemy unlike anything we've faced before. Most people call them the Seraphs. They're highly adaptable organic lifeforms that seem to feed off of some sort of dark energy. They're extremely hostile towards human life. We don't know much more than that, I'm afraid. Our ship's just here to patrol the sector, but we've been having more and more engagements lately. I'd get some sleep, all of you. Your aircraft should be in the hangar by the time you wake up tomorrow. Your zoombags and helmets are in drawers beneath the bottom bunks." At that point, Dalton left with very little ceremony.
* * * * *
Aboard the USSF Delaware
(Crew Quarters)
Alpha-17 Star Sector
Saturday, May 31, 2358
06:52 Hours
The squadron was rudely awakened by a blaring alarm.
"Can someone shut that off?" McLain muttered, as he rolled over in his bunk.
<"RED ALERT. ALL PERSONNEL TO BATTLE STATIONS. REPEAT, ALL PERSONNEL TO BATTLE STATIONS. PILOTS, REPORT TO THE MAIN HANGAR. REPEAT, PILOTS TO THE MAIN HANGAR. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.">
"Shit!"
The pilots quickly changed into their flight suits and helmets, and took off towards the hangar. Three fighters with twin engines, stubby wings, and a short tail, as well as a snub-nosed single-engined fighter were waiting in the hangar. Each pilot clambered into their respective aircraft (their names had been halfway painted onto the aircraft. One maintenance crewman shouted to Candace over the roar of the engines. "She's loaded up and ready to go! We were just painting on the names when the contact report came in. Good luck!" The canopy shut, and the noise from outside grew muffled. A female voice (McLain recognized it as the one from the holodeck) spoke to each pilot.
<"Automatic Start-Up initialized. All weapons armed. Orbital combat mode activated. Catapult unit ready. Launching now.">
Each pilot's aircraft was pulled along a short track, and launched, one at a time, from the ship's catapult. As the pilots formed up, their radar showed two red blips directly ahead of them.
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Topic: Star Force: A Sci-Fi Action RPG (IC) - Part 2: Delaware (Read 2371 times)