The Kestrel

Original fiction based on EV:C and EVN

The Kestrel

As the Kestrel’s engines powered down, Dave looked out the porthole in the engineering room. He was in a system that hadn’t been seen by an entity from his galaxy since the ancient ones went beyond the veil. It was amazing, it was beautiful, and it was deadly. Alien cruisers were launching ships that were so technologically advanced that even one would be a hard fight for a normal ship, such as a Starbridge. Fortunately, the Kestrel was no ordinary ship, and it was back where it belonged. Somehow, the engineers onboard had managed to activate the hypergate at Kont safely, allowing the Kestrel safe passage back to it’s own, parallel universe. As the captain barked orders over the intercom, launching the Kestrel’s own bay of fighters, and powering up the shields, Dave went back to his engine with a sigh, it was going to be a long, bloody battle
“Sir! The enemy fighters are starting to close in!” cried First Mate Janusz, a veteran officer of the Kestrel, and one who knew his way around space battles.
“Are the viper and thunderhead bays ready for launch?” replied Captain Porter, noting the sense of urgency in his first mate’s voice. He was tired, but this was no time to be taking naps. The journey through the two universes had been hard, even if it was relatively safe. There was no guarantee of a safe return, but Porter was going to find out where his awesome ship came from, if it meant every member of his crew had to die trying. “I want those shields online! Bring the turrets to bear on the nearest fighters, and as soon as the fighters are ready to launch, I want them out there!” he roared to his operations officer, Tracy Junly, a rather new officer, yet one who was efficient, and normally worked well under stressful operations. Captain Porter continued his rant, yelling at the entire bridge staff until the ship was completely ready for battle.
“The fighters are launching, sir, the shields are fully up, and we are ready to face the first wave of fighters!” cried out Janusz, a minute later. This battle was not going according to any plan, and the attackers had the element of surprise. Janusz trusted the captain with his life in any circumstance, and knew that they would win this battle, even if it did cost some lives.
“Good, tell the fighters to set up a defensive grid around the Kestrel, and try to hail that capitol ship over there!” responded Captain Porter. Immediately, orders were given to the elite fighter squadrons, who moved into place with practiced ease, and various hails were sent in every known language on every channel of the sub space radio. The lights on the ship’s hull even blinked on and off in a universal code.
“Sir, they are responding on channel 2834d, in Basic, and they want to speak with you personally.” Calmly stated the comm officer, the only member of the bridge crew that didn’t get nervous while in battle.
“I’ll take it in my ready room, and keep the ship on full standby alert, change to code yellow.” Stated the captain in response as he moved toward his private chambers adjacent to the bridge. He pressed the control for his vid-screen, and was surprised to see a human face on the end, albeit one that looked slightly mutated from the norm.
“Ahh, you didn’t expect to see a fellow human in this universe, did you, Captain Porter?” asked the alien voice over the comm. “You have responded admirably to our threats against your noble ship, and it is time for you to follow me to our capitol.” Continued the slightly tinny voice.
“Why should I?” asked the captain suspiciously.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll have my fleet blast you to pieces, you have no chance of surviving with our superior weaponry and larger numbers!” snapped the voice, sounding slightly annoyed. “Which will it be, die a painful death after watching your beautiful ship take her first loss, or will your come with me to meet with our leader?”
“Alright, you win! Take me to wherever your capitol is!” conceded Captain Porter, with a slight twinge of pain, realizing that he really did have no chances against technology that was several millennia more advanced than even the Polaris! He closed the comm, and headed back to the main bridge. “Code blue, bring the fighters in!” he ordered, “We have reached an agreement with the other fleet, they are taking us to their capitol.” He said in response to the surprised looks of his bridge crew.
Several hours later, everyone was getting some much needed sleep as the nav computer of the Kestrel shared every bit of information with the nav computer (if the living entity could be called that) on the alien ship told it where to stop, and where to jump into hyperspace. The entire crew was bedding down for the night, except for a skeleton bridge crew, when the captain’s voice came over the intercom. “Greetings, my loyal and faithful crew! We have accomplished much together over the years, have we not?” This statement raised a heartwarming cheer from the entire crew. “From saving countless crew stranded on useless hulks of metal, to destroying every known pirate and criminal in Federation space. We spied for the Rebellion, and ultimately brought peace between the Aurourans and the Federation. We made successful contact with the Polaris, and even have their outfits on our ship as a reward. Yes, this ship has seen much over the years, but what we will soon see will astound you all. We reconstructed the hyper-gate at Kont, and used it to transport us to this parallel universe, the same that our beloved ship drifted out of years and years ago. We are now in the custody of a human species, however mutated and advanced they have become. This ship will continue to weather every obstacle placed before it, as it has in the past. So, if worse comes to worst, we will not go out without a fight! We will raise hell before we die, and if we must die, we’ll point this kestrel’s nose at the biggest, baddest, friggin frigate out there, and we’ll take thousands down with us! Are you with me?” cried the Captain Porter, slightly emotional at the memory of all he had done for the universe. The crew again responded with astounding cheers and whistles. “I said, ARE YOU WITH ME?” hollered the captain again. “Yes, SIR!” came the astounding reply. Captain Porter broke down into tears as his crew continued to hoot and holler at the uplifting speech. He loved his ship, and even more his crew, and didn’t want to loose a single one of them
Down in the Engineering bay, Dave sat staring out the porthole as he listened to the uplifting voice of his captain. That was when he realized that he sailed with the best man in the known galaxy, that was when he realized that he truly loved his captain, and would die for him if need be.

“Captain, it appears as if we have reached our destination.” Stated first mate Janusz, “The alien ship is slowing down, and according to the gravity sensors, we are nearing the center of this galaxy.”
“Prepare the crew for re-entry into real space, and prep the ship for landing.” Came back the crisp order. Captain Porter had given the order so many times, that at that single moment in time, if felt as if all was normal again. He shook his head clear of it, his crew could be in danger, and this was no time to be daydreaming.
“All crew report to your designated jump areas, we will be entering real space soon.” Called the voice of Janusz, slightly distorted and tinny over the ship’s aging PA system. He then proceeded to the forward bridge, where the landing controls were located. The ensign assigned to the controls was asleep, but a gentle smile, and pat on the shoulder from Janusz were enough to wake him. “Son, you need to prep her for landing.” He calmly ordered the sleep-craving ensign.
“Sir! Yes, sir!” replied the ensign, trying to make a humiliating situation a little bit better. Janusz simply chuckled again and walked away, towards the captain.
“The alien ship is hailing us, sir!” called out the comm officer to Captain Porter.
“On deck!” ordered the captain, and immediately a holographic image of the mutant human commander appeared on the bridge’s main deck.
“Captain, we will be leaving hyperspace in precisely 3 minutes, please inform your crew to strap in. Welcome to the Sol system.”
Captain Porter acknowledged the information with a polite thank you, and he ordered Janusz to begin the countdown. He then sat down in shock, as he wondered what the alien ship’s commander meant by the Sol System. This was a different universe, there isn’t supposed to be a system here named Sol, much less one that was the capitol! Then he realized, that if this really were a parallel universe, many of the system names would be the same, although their importance and location need not be.
“3 2 ” counted down Janusz, “1!”
The kestrel jumped out into real space with a stomach-revolting jar, the inertial dampners needed work again. Many ships of vastly different designs and sizes were visible through the main view port of the bridge. All of the ships were ahead of the Kestrel by at least three centuries worth of technological advances, and some of them dwarfed even the massive capitol ship that had met the Kestrel as it entered this universe through the hypergate at Kont. The alien escort directed the Kestrel to a landing pad, where Captain Porter and First Mate Janusz exited the ship, dressed in their full uniforms, both covered with medals from the expeditions they had done to save their own galaxy from destruction. Another mutated human met them at the bottom of the boarding ramp, and led them deep into the alien complex, that seemed to be alive, to a massive meeting room. Millions of the mutated humans were gathered here, and in the middle on a raised dais sat twelve elderly members that were not as mutated as those around them.
“Greetings! We are the council of the Ory’hara, as we have called ourselves, and we welcome you, our human brothers!” called out the leader of the group on the dais, which was obviously some kind of ruling council.
“Hello, my most prestigious Ory’haraan!” called out Captain Porter in response. “We came to your universe looking for the origins of my ship, the Kestrel!”
“Yes, we know the details of your quest, you forget, we have already passed beyond the veil, and are therefore the most powerful of telepaths. We also sense that you do not know who we are, so I will tell you.” The elderly council member then gave Captain Porter and First Mate Janusz a mental rundown of how the Ory’haraan had passed beyond the veil several millennia ago, of how they were actually the ancestors of the human race, and even told of the past of the Kestrel that Captain Porter claimed as his own. As it turned out, it was actually the first prototype of the ship to come off the assembly lines of the Antonida shipwrights. It had malfunctioned terribly, and was lost to space, it seemed to be doomed to eternal drifting. Somehow, it had eventually drifted back to it’s own universe, where it had been found by the successors of the people who had built it several millennia ago.
“Thank you, oh mighty council ruler!” cried out Captain Porter at the end of the long, and mentally tiresome story. “You have solved the mystery of my ship, the entire reason we came to your prestigious galaxy. Yet, I sense that there is something more, something you wish us to do?” queried the captain.
“Your senses are already beginning to tune into our great union of minds. Yes, there is something that you could do for us in return for the valuable information we just gave to you. There is a new force in our galaxy, one that feeds off of the mental projections of our peoples. We have no power to stop this mighty force, as we rely totally on mental power to do everything, most of us haven’t truly worked physical labor since we were young tots! We no longer have the skill or the necessary materials to build ships in the physical realm, all the ships we pilot are intense weaves, powerful, yet useless against this new force, that we call Old One. Are you willing to do this for us?
Captain Porter thought about the decision, weighing the rewards against the consequences. He may have saved his own galaxy countless times, but here he would be facing a more powerful foe than any imagined, and he would have to do it alone. Still, there was no way that he could possibly allow this monster to kill anymore of his ancestors. “Yes, my crew and I will do this, in return for the great services you have rendered upon us!”

Needs a bit of polish, a bit more break between story parts, but a good start. Good for a long-term series...Galactic wars are rarely short things.

Cheers,
Guapo

nice

It is decent, and please continue. It kind of had a 70's era sci-fi aspect to it.

Fits in nicely with EVN. Do continue.

Intriguing. I don't normally read the Chronicles, but this has piqued my interest.

So, anything new? Any revisions?

CHeers,
Guapo