Fantasy Vs Reality | The Tear

14: Charge, Maneuver, Evade, Repeat

Marcus shook his head slightly, a small look of disbelief on his face. I noticed he was sweating terribly, the fur on his head was nearly completely soaked. The pirate did a mock salute and made a rude gesture before the screen went blank and the window appeared again. Marcus grabbed the mic from behind Elva and screamed into it. "MO! YOU'VE GOT TEN SECONDS TO GET THE ENGINE'S RUNNING AT TOP SPEED WE NEED TO GO NOW!"

Orion looked at Marcus. "Thirty seconds isn't very long, and we now only have twenty five seconds left on the clock."

Marcus started shaking, I did too. This was a race against the clock, and now it was something that involved our lives. The pirate wouldn't really risk blowing us up would he if we had something valuable on board? How would they know if Marcus was bluffing or not?

"I wasn't expecting them to-!" Marcus began, but was cut off when a voice came on in the intercom. "Captain, all four engines are up and running!"

By the time Mo said the words "all four", Orion was already pushing up all of the small levers on the control panel in front of him. The spaceship shook, and I felt like I was... stretching slightly, it felt so horrible and so strange at the same time. I leaned over and gripped the railing, Coal did the same. Orion buckled himself into his seat, Marcus did the same in his own seat, and Elva yelling into the intercoms to get ready for a 'leap'. 

"HOLD ON!" Marcus yelled, gripping his seat with the claws of his hands.

The spaceship lurched once again, and the ship outside began to move sideways. Wait... that couldn't be right, because everything else was moving outside. We are turning around... I thought, realizing that the spaceship could do that. Oh yeah, steering... that's a thing.

Orion clamped his jaw together and Marcus yelled to Elva and the intercoms. "Hang on to your butts everyone! We are high tailing it outta here! Fifi! Don't shoot until I say! On my mark... one... two... THREE!"

A single missile shot out of the spaceship, somewhere above the bridge. It echoed and shook the entire spaceship, adding to the uncomfortable stretching feeling. The missile flew through space faster than anything I'd ever seen, and it hit right in front of the big front window of the space pirates' ship, blocking them from view for a short while.

"They had their shields up but that should give us a few extra seconds!" Came Fifi's voice. 

I didn't know there were so many intercoms everywhere. 

Orion by now, had stopped turning and was almost still facing the ship. "What are you doing!?" I shouted, but Orion ignored me. Marcus watched silently, still shaking and the spaceship took off at an incredible speed, narrowly missing the giant space pirate ship.

"Charge, maneuver, evade, repeat." Orion growled.

That was when I realized what he was doing. The amount of time it took us to turn, I could only imagine how much slower it would take for the pirate ship to turn around. I held on for dear life as my paws slipped out from underneath me and I nearly let go of the railing to fall into the wall behind me. Coal lost his grip and I nearly laughed at how he flew clumsily to the back wall, under one of the communications panels. He just sat there, blinking in surprise.

Elva disapproved of my chuckle because she just glared at Coal and me, as if laughing was some sort of crime while we were in a life or death situation... which I guess it could be, but like... everyone has to stay sane right? Not to mention I couldn't shake the feeling of those people I killed...

Marcus leaned forward in his seat as much as he could. I stared in awe as stars shot past at an intense speed, and it didn't look like we were going to slow down anytime soon. Orion looked like he was wrestling the levers and buttons, but he obviously knew what he was doing. As the ship gained speed, I felt myself being pulled less. 

Elva turned on the speaker, "Mo! What's your status!" She called.

There was a pause. Then, a scratchy voice came in, through the mic she was holding. "All is good!" More scratching. "I wish I had another hand down here... getting too... with just me and Ember..." It was too scratchy after that. Marcus turned around in his chair to face me and Coal.

"Coal! I need you to go down there and help Mo! Storm, stay here and sit in one of the chairs by the desks." Marcus said, and I sat the closest chair to me. "I'll need you in a moment."

"The gravity pull is stabilizing Captain. Everyone should be safe now to walk around." Orion said. He briefly turned to look at Elva. "Just give them a warning when we are coming to a stop."

After a moment Marcus nodded to Coal, and he got out from under the panels and took off through the elevators.

"Storm," Marcus said unbuckling himself and standing up to walk over to me. "I'm going to need your help when we get to our way point, a space station close by. The pirates won't dare try and stop us once we are within the station's line of defense. 

"We'll have to radio in, but that's it. But as you can see, our crew is thin and crumbling..." He paused for a moment. "I'm not sure if you remember Greg, Tim, Dirk, Dawn... the others... we lost them since you've been in your coma, not to mention those lost during our last mission with you... Now our crew is barely making it by. We barely have enough of a crew to keep going. Our numbers are spread too thin, and I need you, Orion, and Coal to go and try to recruit some people once we get there."

"But why did you send Coal down to the engine if you needed him too?" I began.

Marcus waved me off. "He has already been notified of the situation and since you are basically a brand new recruit again, you've kind of fallen back down the ranks until you understand everything again."

I nodded, a little frustrated, but understanding.

"I have a list for you." Marcus handed me a small list with names. "It shouldn't be too hard to find them. Just ask around." He turned back to face the window as the ship continued racing through space. "At this speed we should be arriving at the space port within an hour or so. So be prepared.

"Oh, and two more things..." He added, turning to look out the window for a moment. The pause was almost excruciating and overly dramatic. "One, don't worry about trying to get them all. Me and two others will be going tomorrow to recruit some of them as well." He paused, thoughtful for a long moment.

"Do you remember what happened just before you fell into your coma? The real reason we were on that planet?"

I stared at him for a moment. "What do you mean the real reason?"

Marcus shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing, I was just curious at how much you remembered... Off you go now."

I nodded to him, feeling puzzled and perplexed. My mind was racing, and the adrenaline from the battle was diminishing, along with my remaining energy. It was like waking up here and finding out I wasn't human all over again, but this time it was much more... invigorating and exciting. Like throwing yourself into the unknown to see how much better you are than your opponent. It was something I'd never felt before, and now everything I was doing was like from a movie or a book someone would write about...

I tried to smile and looked out the window with Marcus for a moment. He reminded me so much of my friend Jessie, it was almost as if he were a reincarnation of her. Same posture, same pose, same personality... A thought struck me for a split second and I stared at him. "Marcus... there's something I need to ask you..."

"Throw it at me." He said. Orion now finished with the control panel and was looking back at Marcus and I.

"Did you ever know someone named Jessie?" I asked, narrowing my eyes slightly.

Marcus was silent for a minute, his eyes shifting colors ever so slightly. Then he flatly stated, "No."

I shrugged my shoulders, testing my balance with the spaceship. I then headed towards the elevator. Then I stopped when another though occurred, I turned around to face him. "Captain..."

"Yes?" He looked back at me.

"Is there something really of value on this ship?"

Marcus grinned. "Of course there is."

"What is it if I may ask?"

"I thought you of all people would know Storm." He said still smiling. Then he winked. "Just think about it for a while. It'll come to you."