Lisa's Secret
March 15th, 2001, 11:03 PM
A short excerpt from te book I'm writing. I just want to see if I'm still capable of keeping people interested.
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Captain Nemara was tired. Very tired. He pushed himself upright in his chair once more and stared out on to the panoramic view from the bridge of his ship, the HMSS Vanguard. He couldn't remember the reason why he was working a double shift, but he knew it had to be a good one or else he'd be in bed, sleeping.
Life aboard an Imperial capital ship was hardly austere, but it wasn't the most interesting thing in the Empire. He remembered when he was still a junior cadet, fresh out of the Officer Training Corps in Miishana and eager to begin his first assignment. That had been almost ten years ago now, and if he'd known how boring life in the Imperial navy would have been, he'd have quit and returned to the much more interesting job of farming.
Still, he was here now, and he had a job to do. His eyes traced the movement of some small shuttle far away near the limb of the planet below. Aragon. Home. Another two days and he would be back don there on his farm for a well-earned break.
He looked over his shoulder as his First Officer, Commander Eli Jiiani approached.
"Two more hours Eli," he said to her. "Two more hours and I can sleep for a whole day."
"Yes sir," she responded quietly.
He stood up and straightened his uniform.
"Might as well make another inspection," he said. "It beat staring at stars all night."
They both began a slwo walk around the bridge, noting the status of the various consoles, and the state of the operators in front of them. They all seemed to be alert and ready, unlike Nemara. The only thing he was ready for was to fall on the deck.
"Cap." One of the radar operators called him over. "I'm getting a strange reading just here- oh wait, it's gone. I could've sworn there was something there."
"Maybe it was a meteor."
"Yes sir." The operator sounded unsure, but didn't voice it.
"You keep an eye out though," Nemara encouraged. "I don't want anything to keep me up a minute longer than I have to, alright?"
The operator nodded and replaced his headphones. Nemara was about to say something to Eli when the engineering monitor called from the other side of the bridge.
"Sir, I'm getting a strange reading from number two."
"What kind of reading?"
Nemara and his XO walked over and looked at the engineering console.
"I'm not really sure sire. There seems to be some kind of power drain, but I can't figure the source."
"Keep on... what in hells name is that!"
Nemara pointed at the screen, which was displaying a graphic representation of the engine's power output. A red bloom appeared in the centre of the graph, rising rapidly towards the top and spreading its influence sideways.
"Engine spike." The monitor flipped a few switches. "Engineering isn't responding sir. I think..."
"I know." Nemara pressed a button on the wall. "All hands, this is the captain."
The rumble of a loud explosion interrupted Nemara before he could continue. He stared out of the aft windows on the bridge as an orange flare erupted from the rear of his ship. Similar explosions began to tear along the beam, and then towards his now vulnerable vantage point, growing in speed and intensity. With a sudden sharp crash, the windows of the bridge imploded, only to be blasted out of the ship again by the cold, hard vacuum of space.
Nemara saw the life literally sucked out of his first officer as she plunged towards the gapping hole. He managed to hold on to the engineers console long enough for the atmosphere to vent, long enough to feel his blood beginning to boil in the biting cold of space. He closed his eyes, and could see his family beckoning to him.
Largo Nemara, Captain of the HMSS Vanguard, twice decorated for bravery, surrendered to the darkness.
The Vanguard, or what remained of it, was blasted out of its orbit by the explosion and began a slow, arcing descent towards Aragon. Whatever crew might have survived the blast perished, as the ship entered the atmosphere and began its fiery death-dive towards the surface.
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Toodles!