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Chapter 11 – Unknown Territory
It had been a long time since Trent had gone out on his own on a mission. All the time he had been spending with Juni had limited what he had loved most about space. Exploration. He cared for Juni, but this atmosphere, alone, in space, is where Trent felt real excitement.
His neural net log became his new best friend.
“Personal entry. It has been 8 hours since Juni and King left me. Where am I going? Where does this lead? What will I find when I get there? Do these strange goings on have anything to do with the alien ship?”
Trent took a closer look as to his location. His Nav Map read Omicron Gamma. The second to last waypoint was only 20k way. He waited anxiously for his deep space scanner to go off alerting him to something. When it went, the findings were unsurprising to Trent. It was a jump hole leading to what he believed to be uncharted space.
As he neared the jump hole, it sprung to life, a swirling vortex ready to suck Trent and his ship into unknown territory.
As his ship entered he tried to prepare himself mentally for what he would encounter on the other side. No amount of mental preparation could have enabled him to expect what he could see as his ship came to stop outside of the jump hole.
“My god…” he whispered to himself.
The system was unlike anything he had ever seen. A system filled with colours only the imagination could create. Blackholes, stars and even a planet inhabited the far reaches of this space. However not everything in the system was unknown to Trent. His scanner had alerted him to five Daggers on an intercept course and closing fast. Trent readied his weapons.
“Mr Trent, please stand down. We have no intention of harming you. We have been expecting you” came a voice from the lead ship.
“Who are you?” Trent replied.
“All will be explained. Please follow us.”
Trent followed the Daggers deep into their space. He couldn’t help but notice construction work on what looked like a station.
“We are almost there Mr Trent” came the voice once more.
As the six ships neared the planet, Trent noticed the docking ring.
“We are here. Please dock. You will be escorted to our Commander”
“Er, thanks” replied Trent.
Trent engaged docking procedure as his craft came slowly to halt on the landing pad on the planets surface. Sure enough, an armed escort was waiting for him.
“Thank you for coming Mr Trent. Our commander will be pleased to see you have made it here”
The two guards led Trent in to a small building. It was much like the bar on Kyoto.
Sitting in the corner of the bar was a man dressed in informal attire. His face was unclear which the poor light in the room caused. The guard signalled for Trent to take a seat with the man.
As Trent walked over, he got a clear view of the mans face. A rugged, old man was at the table.
“Please sit” said the old man.
Trent took a seat. He couldn’t help but notice the old mans accent.
“Thank you for coming Mr Trent”
“Yeah, great to be here if I knew where “here” was” replied Trent sarcastically.
“This is our adopted home Mr Trent. A home where we can prepare our forces without being troubled.”
“Ok. Three things. What forces? Prepare for what? Who the hell are you?”
The old man laughed.
“So many questions, so little time. I will answer your questions as best I can. The ships that intercepted you, and the ships you saw on the way to this planet are my ships.”
“Your ships?”
“Yes Mr Trent. We are what is left of the Zoners”
There was a look of surprise on Trent’s face.
The old man continued.
“We are preparing for an invasion. An invasion that makes the Nomad incursion look tiny in comparison.”
“You’ve lost me. Sirius is not at war. An invasion from whom?”
The old man ignored Trent’s newest question and continued explaining.
“We set up base here as our forces were being hunted down. We received word recently that the last Freeport was destroyed. The one which you escaped from”
The old man stopped as if he were finished.
“That’s great, really great. You can continue now” said Trent somewhat annoyed.
“There is nothing more to tell you right now” said the old man. “Get some rest. Tomorrow I will open your eyes to the world that has been hidden from us for so long. Tomorrow, you will get the answers you seek”
"Bravo 3 your cleared to dock