Chapter 2

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The Captain looked defeated, her face was filled with dark soot that had come from the exploding power relays that had appeared out of their carefully hidden emplacements. The ship was coming apart at the seams and there was nothing she could do about it. They had to get their prot?g? out of the ship. The Captain looked at the Executive Officer, and nodded, first the prot?g? then the rest of the crew. The Captain waited until the Executive Officer was out of the battle bridge, before she made a fateful decision.

?Make a note in the log, that on this hyper-date, I am evacuating this ship and activating the emergency beacon,? The Captain tapped her console.

A single probe launched out of the dying vessel as it rushed into vortex speeds, heading for the Rosebourg Monarchy. It would hopefully reach the Monarchy in time for them to send a rescue party. The vessel was no longer being seen as a danger by the Gohorns, who were probably well on their way out of the system. It was being left to die on its own. It was true ? the nearest Rosebourg facility was weeks away. And they had enough supplies to only last a week, no more no less.

?Attention all hands, this is the Captain, I hereby order the total evacuation of this vessel. We are five minutes from a Critical Event; I do not need to remind any of you how serious this is. Make this evacuation orderly, make the Royal Guard proud, and remember The Royal Guard never shy away from their duties, even when faced with death. Do us proud, that is all,? The Captain nodded to her bridge staff, ?You are dismissed, see you on the nearest planet.?

The Executive Officer reappeared, ?Prot?g? is cleared and out.?

?Excellent, let?s get going then, there isn?t a moment to lose.?

As the Captain departed from the Battle Bridge, she met sheer smoke. There were only a few seconds before the ship would explode? hopefully she and her Executive officer wouldn?t be part of the fireworks. The Captain prayed for the first time, to gods, which she had not known for months. She asked for an extra few minutes, hoping that for once, her chief engineer had been wrong in his estimates. But the chances of that were slim; it indeed was seven minutes, nothing longer, nothing shorter. She made a right turn, and then a left, and then another right turn as she finally found the escape pod hatch.

The Executive Officer took over the pilot?s seat as he brought the entire pod and its equipment to life, ?Ejecting!?

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page 2 : Part 2
page 3 - current : Part 3
page 4 : Part 4