Chapter 7: 7. Everything Has Beginning
The days on-board began to blur as time passed. Moments did stand out however.
The first was when the group saw Earth from space, it was also the last time they would see it with their own eyes for a long time. Perhaps forever. It seemed to 'hang' in space before them as they looked out through the bay door. They'd been guided back to the bay after several days as a kind of farewell ceremony. It seemed small, far too small to be the world they'd called home.
All of the group took some time to call the people they knew, parents, family and friends. Crying and sad faces filled the group. One of the youngest boys, barely a few months past eight had to be taken away as he broke down. The finality of seeing the Earth from space settled in, that this was it. They lingered, watching the Earth begin to shrink and move out of view. Soon after the ship shuddered and the view outside the bay began to bend and stretch, the dots of stars became rapidly shifting lines of light. The massive bay doors began to close.
The Earth and their old home faded behind them.
Another time was when everyone in the group was able to guess the item behind the mirror, the same test had continued on the ship. Next was a dizzying arrangement of alternate tests and challenges. The group had broken up depending on their challenge and how far they were. The Alati didn't believe in limiting the young gifted to the slowest member. Classes would be more structured in the future but learning of the Gift was a very personal experience and needed freedom to express and grow.
They did celebrate the end of the first test though, it marked to moment they had all moved from being just ordinary to something else.
Now, it was three weeks into the journey when the ship shuddered once more, this time a little more than when they'd first departed. This wasn't any surprise as the stop had been long scheduled for resupply. For the young gifted the stop would represent their first time in a completely alien solar system. Moments passed before a message was relayed over the intercom.
[All hands. We have arrived at the Selan system for resupply. We will arrive at the local station in three hours. We expect-]
All of sudden the message abruptly ended. The group had been in the training room at the time, each focused on their own tasks. The officers in the room immediately began to check their coms, Jaswin called the group together and asked them to be patient. The other crew sharing the training room began to move at pace but without panic, exiting the room.
[Matthew]: "I wonder whats happening..."
[Danny]: "Pirates... it has to be pirates..."
[Penny]: "Maybe something is wrong with the ship?"
[Alice]: "There's no point in guessing. I'm sure-"
[All hands. Set Alert three throughout the ship. The station has been attacked, until we know more all crew to their posts. Alert three throughout the ship.]
A pause broke before the group exploded with questions, swarming Jaswin in their mist. This didn't last long however.
[LT Jaswin]: "Listen up! We will remain here in the training room. Everyone to the mats in the center, you will not leave this room without express orders. Move it!"
Her voice was loud and strict, any trace of the off times fun and comforting LT Jaswin was gone, replaced by the Navy officer in charge of them. They found themselves swept to the mats, no questions were allowed and several of the other Gifted trainers moved to surround them, eyes vigilant. What no one had told the group was that aboard their ship the most valuable commodity was the group themselves...
---
[Officer]: "Captain. The station has taken considerable damage, its defences are scrap. Not that it had much in the way of them for a border station, but the damage was targeted, precise."
The bridge was a buzz with a sense of noise, despite being very quiet. The officer speaking was the main sensor operator who was relaying the findings on his terminal. The bridge itself didn't really fit the human 'ideal' for such things. It was buried deep in the vessel, the Captain sat in the middle with sweeping desks around him like an odd segmented sphere. The surrounding walls appeared to be windows into the space around the ship, information augmented the images with symbols and highlights.
Only one wall contained a stout metal door, two officers in blue fully equipped stood on the inside of bridge. On the other side of the door a full platoon lay in carefully prepared cut offs. Standard procedure was to secure all critical ships functions at even a hint of threat.
The Captain rotated his chair to focus on the sensor stations to his left. He commanded the ability to face any direction he needed but preferred to focus his attention on his crew than trying to scan the images on the walls.
[Captain]: "Any sign of aggressors, whats that timescale of the attack and anything from the station yet?"
[Sensor Officer]: "Nothing from the station, I'm reading a only faint heat. Most of it's probably in vacuum. Scaring and a lack of heat on the impacts suggests anything from a few hours ago to days. I'll have a better estimate once the CIC team is able to pull better images and sweep the EF. No sign of hostiles so far."
The Captain nodded, the officer had back-tracked his questions which his crew knew he preferred as often the most important one came to him last. He focused back on the screens, quickly scanning them before rotating his chair towards another set of desks to his right. Before he had a chance to speak the office sat their spoke first.
[Security Officer]: "Ship is combat ready sir. All crew to station, if not in record time. Armed personal have locked down secure sections and platoons have deployed to secure the Gifted training area."
Nodding, the Captain's chair rotated again until it focused on a set of desk originally directly behind him. Again the officer there spoke immediately.
[Com Officer]: "Nothing on coms sir, the mining facility on planet is as dead as the station. No pods or transmissions. Net is still up and no jamming detected. No reports of the attack before now, it- Net is jammed! Communications restricted!"
[Sensor Officer]: "Detecting signal behind the station! It was hiding beneath it sir, large displacement. Reading heat signatures! She's moving out and heading directly away sir, its making a run for it!"
[Captain]: "Class of ship, identify immediately!"
[Sensor Officer]: "Destroyer class displacement, weaponry appears consistent. Its a scrapped Siren class destroyer sir! She's not our match, even if she wasn't nearly a hundred years old."
[Captain]: "Don't get complacent! Ships like this are often tinkered with to give them some very nasty surprises. She might be old but anything with teeth can bite. Tactical, assessment."
Another officer responded immediately, unlike the others he wasn't behind a desk but instead sat in a section of his own slightly off to the side of the section of the bridge which surrounded the Captain. As second officer distance was mandated between them to help reduce accidents on the chain of command. The ships third officer was in a separate room entirely, supervising teams of specialists and combat crew that remote controlled the vessels complex weaponry.
[Tactical Officer]: "She's faster than we are, lighter ship made to charge ahead and catch smaller prey, even if we could catch it, it would take some time to get into weapon's range. As it stands I don't think we can catch her, or should bother trying. We have her profile, we should set other hounds on her trail. One's with less valuable cargo."
In contrast to the slight excitement the other officers had hidden in their tone of voice, the tactical officer had no outward signs of change. Cold and moderate he was almost unreadable, only his eyes betrayed his disappointment at his own words.
[Captain]: "Mark the ship then and once coms are back report it to the local Navy. There's a chance it was here to raid the station and base but if you can do one thing, why not two? It might be a spotter for a group targeting this ship. Its no secret when a dispatch for a group of Gifted is on the way. Best we get underway ourselves, we can't help here."
The sad reality was cold. The Gifted aboard outweighed the value of the station, the base and even the ship itself. No only were they from a new world, one which would hopefully contribute many more in the future, but the fact was they were just too valuable to the empire at large. The ship itself normally only carried two Gifted, the excess Gifted staff currently aboard were only for this mission.
[Captain]: "Set course for the nearest Navy shipyard, the Nie'los system if memory serves. I want to make sure we shake anything off our tail and ensure this is an isolated event. We can also pick up some parasite ships to carry on with, just in case. Better safe than sorry given the current situation..."
---
[All hands, set alert condition to WAS, watch shifts on three rotas. We will be transitioning the system for the Navy yards at Nie'los. All hands, brace for transition.]
The ship shook, and visible relief appeared on the faces of the officers around the group of young gifted.
[Danny]: "Sounds like whatever attacked the station must have already left. Damn.."
[Matthew]: "I'm glad. It would be bad enough if a fight broke out, especially when we can't do anything yet."
[Alice]: "I think I felt something actually, like there was another ship? Maybe..."
She was interrupted by hand patting her head.
[LT Jaswin]: "Very good Alice, spot on. The rest of you should take note, the most important thing a Gifted can have is a good understanding of their surroundings at all times. I expect the rest of you to work harder. Knowing what the danger is will keep you alive. Knowing there is danger before it starts can help keep others alive."
Alice naturally beamed with pride while the rest of group eyed her with envy. In most the desire to get stronger was flamed and deciding to strike while the iron was hot LT Jaswin began ordering groups back to the challenges they'd just left. If nothing else the encounter had served as a good bit of motivation.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Eastiling
Eastiling A bit longer of a chapter. I'm not very consistent but I don't really feel like locking myself down to a specific number. Expect something like a 1000 - 2000 words per chapter for the time being.
Once I get more comfortable with writing, the characters and the setting I'll see what happens.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone