章 28: Captain Xu
In an ancient temple, a man sat on a large black throne adorned with diamond-like jewels, supporting his jaw with his hands. His silhouette was the only thing visible, as the temple was dark. The temple stretched about 200 meters from the throne to the entrance and had bizarrely shaped lamp stands across its walls but remained unlit.
As he sat, a black wisp entered the temple and shot right into the middle of his head. His lips slowly curled up into a smirk as his eyes opened. A faint glow appeared in the dark as his black eyes peered towards the door. His eyes were the only source of light in that darkness. His smirk faded, and he closed his eyes like nothing had happened.
The body of a red-haired man floated in space, spiralling away within a light space storm. The flesh on his back was left dangling from his spine and bones from different spots. His right hand was nothing but pitch-black bones covered in red runes. There was no sign of breathing from him, but his vitals were functioning but barely perceived. Blood floated around him as he drifted motionlessly away with the storm.
A bright light shone somewhere in space, followed by a massive explosion as a spacecraft, Zygoptera, flew out of a massive cloud of smoke. Behind her were several other spacecraft shooting at her without reprieve. She weaved through the hordes of energy beams flying several kilometres per second at her. Her enormous size and blue colour made the other craft resemble sparrows before an eagle. She had a sectioned tail with three thrusters at her back, making her look like a headless damselfly.
Her main hull, which was 50 meters across, was large enough to accommodate a large number. She had wings which stretched across her back, and her sectioned tail looked like spacecraft. In the last section of the tail, a man sat firing at their pursuers with his entire attire soaked in sweat. He was heavily built and had pointed ears like those of an elf. His name was Tim. Tim had an axe tattoo on the back of his hand.
A beeping sound drew his attention to a radar screen. Red dots were approaching their location, indicating more crafts were joining the fray that was already on their tail. "Captain Xu, we have ten more unidentified crafts coming in from the left", he screamed into a communication device.
On Zygoptera's deck, three men and two women sat looking out into space, panting heavily. They wore blue and white armours with white capes and red bands on their arms. In front of them was a man clad in blue armour with a red cape and a gold band on his arm. They all had tensed looks on their faces, and their armours were damaged, with blood stains on some. The man with the red drape, called Captain Xu, spoke into a communication device, "I can see that you damn mut. Just shut up and shoot", he barked. "This was supposed to be a stealth mission, yet see where we are now and whose fault was it?". No one dared say a single word. Knowing the captain's temperament, they would only end up angering him further than he already is.
They were tasked to retrieve delicate documents from a rogue territory called Red Ore stealthily but botched it after Tim got caught flirting with a woman, who turned out to be the leader's daughter.
"Uh, captain, there's a storm a few kilometres ahead of us. We would have to take a detour", one of the women drew their attention. She was the one piloting Zygoptera. Her name was Xelen. "What a streak of bad luck. Or is this good luck?" contemplated and asked, "How far till the storm?"
"10 minutes", Xelen replied almost immediately. She piloted Zygoptera to avoid a beam from the rear.
"Do you think she would make it through that storm?" Captain Xu seriously asked.
Her face turned ashen. She had already guessed what the captain was thinking. "Captain, we are talking about a several miles-an-hour cosmic dust storm. It could shred us in an instant", Xelen replied. Captain Xu keenly looked ahead with a smile, "Stay on course then. If I can shred us, then it can them. You don't think I will let anything happen to my baby, do you?"
"Captain, that…" Xelen tried to speak but could not find the right words. "Don't sweat it Xelen; this baby has survived worse than you think. She would pull through", he assured, then spoke into a communication device. "Tim, get in here".
At the entrance to the deck, space distorted as Tim appeared dripping with sweat. Everyone giggled at the sight of him, but the captain's cold glare silenced them at once. Tim knew it was not the end and that once the captain was out of the picture, they won't let it go.
"I am relinquishing control of Zygoptera to you. If anything happens to her, you are dead." They did not mistake the captain's cold tone. Tim knew he would be in trouble if something happened to Zygoptera. One man with long blue hair and jade-like skin raised his hands and said, "Captain, might I suggest Tim buys us Tempura and Hot Pot when this mission is over?" Tim felt his heart pierced by the sharpest of swords; he almost coughed up blood.
The captain's cold face relaxed a bit as he smiled at the idea. He walked over to Tim and patted him on the shoulder, "You would do it for us, won't you?" Tim felt his body almost slip out of his skin. He quickly nodded and said, "Yes captain". The deck exploded with laughter after seeing how miserable Tim looked, accepting to buy them food. Tim glared at the blue-haired man, but there was nothing else he could do, "You just wait Kai, I would get you back for this" he promised in his heart.
The captain no longer looked as cold as before. "Everyone, if we want to outrun these guys, we must make it past that storm, no matter what. I know we are all exhausted after that battle back on Red Ore, but let's give it our best."
"Yes sir!" they all responded.
"Tim, how long till the storm?".
"5 minutes".
"Kai, over to you," Xu said as he stepped back. Kai stood and walked to the captain. "Xelen, once we get into proximity of the storm, create a flower field to shield us from the impact of the cosmic dust. Bruce, there might be larger particles within the storm. Reduce their sizes with your lava. We don't want to be quashed by giant rocks." He said, turning to a yellow-haired man with a tonfa tattoo on his cheek. He wasn't particularly outstanding, nevertheless, he was handsome.
"Wu Kang, I know it's exhausting for you, but you must support us with healing." He turned to a black-haired man with a mace tattoo on the back of his head. "Lina, Captain and I would protect our rear. Who knows what those guys behind us are capable of? Everyone, take your positions" They all took a position as Tim began to count down, "ETA in 5,4,3…"
In front of Zygoptera, large space debris about five times the size of Zygoptera instantly turned to dust after coming into contact with a large cloud of cosmic dust moving and spinning at several kilometres an hour. Everyone's expression on board suddenly went glum. They realised that even though they had overestimated the storm, they had greatly underestimated it. But it was too late to turn back now. They were between the storm and their pursuers and had to stick to the plan. Unfortunately for them, things went sour quickly as all spacecraft in the vicinity got sucked towards the storm.
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