EV/EVO Chronicles: Mysteries of the Council - Chapter 1

  
Mysteries of the Council  
Chapter One - The Council's Appearance  

From the compact bridge of the Zidara Z.S.S Photon, Lieutenant Commander Mayen Zaphir hir sat, leaning back on his chair, and watched from the viewscreen the devastation.

The plan had been doomed from the start. When the Zidara officer Qarthen had suggested it to the High Council, Zaphir had been the first to argue that it was pointless and impossible. The plan had gone through, though, and Zaphir had been chosen to take part in it.

"The job," Zaphir thought. So simple to just say it was a mission, or a job. It was much more than that, and the possibilities if it had succeeded that thrilled even the calm, collective Zaphir.

"Sir, they're coming." Zaphir's second in command - one of his only loyal retainers - Haleo Dharis said from behind Zaphir's seat. "I suggest we get out of here. There are a couple of escape pods we could get into." Dharis walked forward, appearing as a mere shadow in the eery darkness of the bridge. Blue lights from control panels flashed menacingly, and electric sparks occasionally whizzed from panel to panel around the semi-circular bridge.

"It won't work. Those Azdaras out there will smash them instantly." Zaphir paused for thought. "How many other Zidaras are disabled?"

"All seven. Three have already been "cleansed"." Dharis muttered through grated teeth.

"Darn! I was hoping to try overloading this ship's engines. But with no other Zidaras available, we don't have anywhere to escape to." Zaphir began swearing. A normal Zidagar would have done anything for the chance to go out in combat - like this - but Zaphir was more sensible than that.

"Are there any other of our people on the Photon?" Zaphir asked after a pause.

"Larquon has gone to find the survivors." Dharis said. "He's taking the ventalation shafts to avoid Azdgari patrols."

"Good. How many Azdgari ships are in system?"

"Twenty three Azdaras, four Azdgari Aradas and four Azdgari warships." Dharis said after looking at the regional sensors, one of the few ship functions still up. Dharis was driven back by a powerful electric shock. "Ah!"

Zaphir was already deep in thought. "It was a stupid plan. Sure, if we'd got the heavy freighter to the planet Azdgari, it would have been enough. We could have launched the toxins from the planet to all three moons easily. But it's mad! Leaving behind squadron after squadron to delay the enemy as we move closer. We should have expected an ambush." Zaphir suddenly stood up, and looked Dharis in the eye. "How far away is the heavy freighter?"

"Four hundred kilometres or so." Dharis said. "We can't get within range to explode it."

"The explosion wouldn't be sufficent anyway, but.... How far away from the planet Azdgari?"

"Four thousand kilometres." came the reply from Dharis, who had turned his attention to a less violent sensor array. There came a banging on the bridge door, followed quickly by the sound of a laser burning through compressed metal.

"It's just about possible if we......... Dharis, how are ship engines?" Zaphir had fully commited to leaving his seat now, and was pacing around the room, occassionally tapping the bridge door to test how much the Azdgari had burnt through.

"Offline. Hyperdrive is still up, though, but only with enough fuel for a few seconds." Dharis said.

"Perfect! Direct the hyperspace towards the our freighter. Get it on standby. And inform Larquon that I have a job for him.........."

  
The Z.S.S Photon went into hyperspace just outside the system centre, which disrupted the systems on the Azdgari planets tremendously. It streaked forward, and a second before it hit the heavy freighter a small beam of light came out of the Photon.  
  
"Good luck, Larquon." Zaphir said as Larquon materialized on the freighter, which as of yet had no Azdgari raiders onboard.  
  
"I can't believe you're dragging me into this." Larquon replied in a voice not unlike a certain paranoid android. He wasn't heard, as Zaphir had already put down the comm. link.  
  
"Okay, he can sort out the Azdgari planet. Let's see what we can do to help him out..." Zaphir murmured.  
  
Zaphir fired out a repulsor beam at high impact, and combined with the heavy freighters thrust it blasted towards the Azdgari homeworld. "Now we have to decoy the Azdgari for a while."  
  
The Z.S.S Photon was almost completely overrun by Azdgari, but a small decoy was still possible. One phase turret was still under Zidagar control, as were the two phased beamers. A short, weak burst of energy came out of the turret, but the beamer was not in the right direction to fire. The burst hit an Azdara, which danced out of the way and apparently ignored the ship before coming back in a charge, with phase  
cannons blazing.  
  
"Now! Phased beamer!" A larger, more powerful burst of energy took the Azdara and exploded it the second it came within the right angle. The bright explosion of the Azdara faded, and from behind the explosion cloud came nearly two dozen Azdaras seeking revenge.  
  
Phase fire encased the already weakened Photon. Advanced armour provided some protection, but the weapons array exploded after a few seconds. The Azdaras appeared to move off, but by this time the breaking down of the door was almost complete.  
  
"Do we still have hyperspace engines?" Zaphir asked Dharis.  
  
"Enough fuel for about three seconds." Dharis replied.  
  
"The Azdaras have laid off for now. I have a plan. Launch all escape pods."  
  
"Without any occupants?" Dharis asked, incredously.  
  
"Yes. Do it - now."  
  
A string of five tiny escape pods ejected from the front of the Z.S.S Photon. Azdgari ships instantly moved to intercept them, but they met with an unexpected surprise. Zaphir used a repulsor beam to fire the escape pods out faster, so even the Azdaras would have to move a long way off to get within range.  
  
"How's the freighter doing?" Zaphir asked.  
  
"It's suffering attack, but the advanced armour is doing it's job. Launching toxins in four minutes." Dharis reported after performing a quick scan.  
  
A red dot began to appear on the bridge door, and it grew larger slowly.  
  
"Darn! They're nearly in! Okay, here's the idea. Set up a relay system at either side of the door. Send an electric current through the moment the Azdgari come in. I'll sit on my chair, and when you send it I'll throw a gas grenade over to them. We'll both need combat-specs, and a phase rifle. After the gas is set up we'll open fire." Zaphir said, running the one side of the bridge and opening up the armoury. He threw a phase rifle and combat-specs to Dharis.  
  
"And then?" Dharis asked, curious.  
  
"We make it to the fighter bay. They disabled us so fast we still have our two Zidagar fighters in the bay. With the main Azdgari force chasing the escape pods, we can make it to the freighter. After Larquon fires the toxins he can launch the five custom Zidagar fighters in his bay. With four on autopilot and him in the fifth, we can make it out of here."  
  
"As long as the Zidagar forces have held the path open." Dharis muttered.  
  
"They will have." Zaphir said, sitting down at his seat, holding the phase rifle in his left hand and gas grenade in his right, with a pair of large chrome combat-specs over his head. "Hopefully," he added.  
  

The red mark on the door was now nearly a foot across, and the door was beginning to bend out. Dharis had managed to set up the equipment, and he kneeled to the right of the door, his hands around a large device. A duplicate device stood at the other side of the door,

"Remember, Dharis, that they'll be other Azdgari. At corridors, you fire right and I fire left. We can get to the fighter bay in about a minute." Zaphir said calmly. "There won't be any problems."

"By that time the toxins will have been launched. The freighter will be under heavy under attack by the time we reach it." Dharis sighed.

"Stop being so pessimistic." Zaphir smiled, and was about to say something else when the door suddenly collapsed inward. Zaphir couldn't see the Azdgari, but he heard then walk out of the door slowly, and he could sense the menacing grin on their faces.

And then Dharis activated the electric current. The Azdgari screamed as a beam of energy connected the two devices, and two of them were knocked to the ground. Many more were effected by it as they had clustered together to get in quickly.

Zaphir then tossed the gas grenade over his shoulder, and a spray of gas quickly covered the entire bridge. Zaphir stood up, twirled round, and using his combat specs as a guide he fired into the Azdgari, quickly followed by Dharis.

"Move!" Zaphir shouted, leaping over his chair and running out of the bridge. It took a moment for the command to register in Dharis' dreamworld of a mind, and then he ran to follow.

The two of them ran down the corridors for half a minute, and soon reached the fighter bay in such a small ship. They boarded the Zidagar Fighters and blasted through the fighter bay doors with phased beamers.

  
The two Zidagar fighters weaved between slower Azdgari ships, with Azdaras on their tail but unable to catch up as both Zidagar fighters had speed upgrades and good pilots. The fighters quickly came within range of the freighter, which had just fired the toxins at the three  
moons.  
  
"Larquon! Get to the fighters, now! Send out four on autopilot, too!" Zaphir shouted over a comm.link.  
  
"I'm already at the fighter bay." Larquon replied with great pessimissim - something rarely seen in a Zidagar - and a few seconds after five more Zidagar fighters appeared from the freighters fighter bay.  
  
The seven fighters quickly performed a U-turn, sending several bursts from phased beamers into unsuspecting Azdaras, and then moved out  
into space.  
  
Before they entered hyperspace Zaphir noticed somthing strange. A Council Lazira was in the system, apparently doing nothing at all. Zaphir sent the standard greeting, but no reply came. He wanted to look into this, but was forced of enter hyperspace to escape the Azdgari.  
  

An entertaining start, SilverDragon. Nice pace to the story; very nice byplay between Zaphir and Dharis. Hope to see more.

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PlanetPhil
world keeps turning

i have dominated the concil,meaning i am now the overlord