By David C. Daoust
Mari Haul, the Hero of the Royal Alliance, found herself within a Red Faction Starfighter, being dogged by a group of Consortium Fighters as they dropped orbit around the desert moon Twin Crown. She had no idea where they came from, or what they planned to do. She did know that she was in the wrong color ship.
The plasma bolt came in fast, Mari pulled up on the controls just in time to evade any damage. It had been several years since she found herself in such a predicament. Her old training came back to her, her reflexes, which probably weren’t what they used to be, had proven to be enough so far.
“What was that?” the small voice of Nora asked from the back seat.
The mechanical droid, which really hadn’t had much to say prior, was suddenly incredibly interested in what was going on around them.
“Looks like a Wing of Consortium fighters,” Mari answered, as she barrel rolled through a barrage of blaster fire, then suddenly rolled in the opposite direction, leaving the next barrage comically off target.
“Ah.” Nora said simply, “That’d be Otomo Corps finest.”
“How’d they get here?” Mari asked puzzled, “I mean, Red Faction controls Twin Crown…”
“That ‘Confederation’ never proved to be quite what was promised,” Nora replied dryly. “Last I knew, these fighters were engaged with a Wing of Red Faction ‘fighters… though that was some ways off. How they got here? is beyond me.”
Mari absorbed the information as she launched into a series of evasive maneuvers, maneuvers which she’d perfected long ago. These tactics bought her enough time to call up the computer systems, all to try and click her way through the foreign systems of the stolen ship, while still avoiding the incoming fire. The idea was, if she could hack into the Consortium starfighters, she could end it all before anyone got killed. This stupid Red Faction gibberish was working against her though. The system was unlike any she had seen before.
In all honesty, hacking enemy systems was near impossible back in the final years of the ‘Factions War’, but it was all she had to deal with the situation, all that she would allow herself to have, anyway. She had no interest in blasting these pilots into oblivion. She had given up the ways of battle. She was now an old kook that dropped out of society to live peacefully in the desert. Possibly a strange way to see one’s self, but it was an idea that amused her most days, delighted her in others, and strengthened her in her darkest. She wasn’t about to let it go now.
The fighters seemed to fall away, they blossomed out, drifting powerlessly through the abyss before Mari took action.
“I shut them down,” the voice of Noreen suddenly explained in her ear, speaking through the small implant embedded in Mari’s noggin, “Don’t worry I won’t leave them adrift for long.”
“Looks like Mother took care of it,” the small voice of Nora, which sounded eerily similar, said behind her, “Is she talking to you?”
“Yeah,” Mari answered, “it is kind of weird listening to both of you.”
“I’m sure she has her reasons,” Nora fell silent.
“Indeed,” Noreen spoke, which only Mari could hear, though the affirmation was in answer to Nora, “It seems Twin Crown has declared independence.”
“What? From the Red Faction?” Mari was surprised.
“From the Confederacy as a whole- they have refused the Judges’ Call.”
“Grady did this?” Mari was blown away.
“A small group, comprised of both Gradians and First Wave, has seized control of the moon,” Noreen explained, “With support from the United Moons… I believe your brother-in-law, Raymond Haul, is among them.”
“Raymond?” Mari had never heard of the United Moons.
“Yes. It seems he has joined with the UM, a growing movement throughout the colonies,” Noreen filled in what she knew, “It all happened during the blackout, so I am out of the loop for once. There is talk of a republic.”
Mari smiled at that. She could not help but smile, she wanted to know more about this republic. She found herself flirting with ideas she had given up on, long ago.
“They have blocked all communication with anyone outside, especially that of the Red Faction.”
“So they won’t be letting me land ‘cause the color of my ship?” Mari asked, knowingly.
“It should not be a problem. They are still reeling from the blackout,” Noreen continued, “Divert to the North, there are landing docks at the Temple Reactors that can hold this fighter with none the wiser.”
“And the Consortium fighters…?” Mari asked, glancing back in the distance, at her previous pursuers as they drifted at odd angles through the nothing.
“I’m still trying to figure out what happened to their Cruiser. They seem to be marooned.” Noreen sounded confused, “There are stations in orbit for such situations. It will probably turn into a bureaucratic nightmare for the pilots, but they’ll survive.”
Mari had already made her adjustments when the voice fell silent.
The small red fighter was skimming over the atmosphere of Twin Crown, headed north to the polar cap, where the Temple Reactor actively fed energy into the moons core. A reactor which brought the once dead moon, to life.
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