The Black

Lyrian tried not to stare. This “Mackenzie” was a strange being indeed. She had noticed her father nursing the hand that he used to “shake”, and her own “handshake” was almost a velvet vice. He was gentle; yet she had no doubt he could have crushed her hand effortlessly. He was short by Delmar standards, barely shorter than her. Of what she could see, he was almost completely hairless outside of the short cut fur on top of his head, and some light fuzz on his arms and legs. His skin was pale, a bit pink, but warm, very warm. He must be from an extremely cold climate compared to her home world. The Delmar race originated from a cradle world of 90 percent jungle on its land masses and. 40 percent ocean by surface area. While her race was considered endothermic, they had never developed the capacity for cold weather.

Then there was his gait. It unnerved her, his legs had the same joint structure and mechanics as hers; but A Delmar’s walk tended to focus on the balls of their feet. This came from their development, ready to bound through treetops and after small prey in their ancient times. This being…. Stalked his way through the halls. Heel to toe, almost silently. In fact, his footfalls would have had a totally silent gait, had the bulkhead floors not groaned under his weight. ‘By The Void? What kind of world would create a being so dense, so dangerous.’ Then there were his eyes. They mostly followed her and her father, but were constantly searching, aware, calm, but ready. She was starting to understand Siccuro’s fear. The Delmar race was one of several minor predators of their world, learning tools and language before their World’s Apex species. This Mackenzie walked like an APEX. And it was all she could do not to flinch with every almost silent footfall behind her.

——————————————————————

‘This ship is insane!’ Mac could barely contain himself as he walked behind the doc and his daughter. He was torn between following where they were going and trying not to stare. The ship was massive!! How long, he had no clue; but the corridors and bulkheads were sized to his benefactors. It made them all just a touch tall, adding to the impression of the Vessels massive bulk. The slight creaking under foot told him that he was apparently on the heavier side for this ship. At 5:10 and 184, Mac was on the heavier side for a pilot but by no means a monster specimen of a human.

Then there was what he was trying not to stare at. This male he had met was tall and stately. He walked with a long smooth gate that oozed composure. The younger female, possibly the male’s daughter was a painfully exotic beauty… High delicate cheek bones and round eyes dominated her face, with nose and mouth to match. Her silver hair turned into a racing stripe down her back at least until it disappeared into her Exo Suit. she had a sleek “long hourglass shape” that the Exo-suit left little to the imagination, thankfully she had her top half stayed covered in a patterned Shaw/pancho that helped a little with the distraction. They moved with a bounding step despite having feet that appeared to at least be similarly shaped. Maybe a life in zero g? Maybe a tree-based origin?

Speaking of, they were here. A door the translator read to him as “conference c” but the two heavily armed and armored guards waiting at the door would have tipped him off. Mac put his game face on. No Human in existence had trained for anything remotely like what was about to happen, but Mac drew on his lifetime of experience in tight terrifying situations. Mac forced down the lingering trepidation. Calm, collected, confident Lt Mackenzie stepped into the room.

—————————————————————-

Cpt Silu stood as the trio walked in, closely followed by Siccuro and his second of security. Icario had turned to his daughter and said something that had shoe’d her away from the meeting. ‘Good, at 20 cycles, she need not be involved in this part of the life, not yet anyway.’

“Welcome, I am Captain Miccurious Silu Drilumerum master under the Void of the freighter Lucid Traveler, please sit.” Silu opened before waving to a seat. The strange being standing before him nodded and sat down with the doctor, and security flanking him. Only the doctor sat down with him.

“Lieutenant James Mackenzie joint Terran/Mars LEAP program, nice to meet you.” ‘Same pattern as the dog auburn hair with more orange in the skin. Gender pattern maybe’ Mac thought, regarding the alien across from him. The captain of this ship was the same height as the doctor, he wore an almost cutlass style blade on his hip, and bulky vaguely handgun shaped holster that did not immediately ring a bell. He was missing a bit of his main on the left side of his head with burn marks most likely explaining it. His left eye was also cloudy, most likely from the same incident that scarred him. This was not a man to trifle with. Mac took a deep breath ‘Here we go’.

“Captain, first off let me thank you for saving myself and my ship, you did not have to, but I would not be here if you had not.” Mackenzie tried to put as much professionalism and gratitude into his manner as possible at that statement.

“The void born take care of their own, you are of the Void, or you would not be crazy enough to pull whatever you did to arrive here. It is the code, but I accept your thanks”. The captain nodded and leaned back in his seat, “that being said, I have a ship I cannot scan in my hold, and I have a being I have never seen before in my ship. We are headed into a system in crisis zone. I need to take the measure of my new charge. So first off, without being insulting… WHAT are you, and from where do you hail from.”

Mackenzie leaned forward in his seat as the crushing weight of confirmation flooded over him. He waited several moments to think before responding. “The first, I can answer easy enough. We call ourselves HUMAN. Sadly, the second becomes… difficult...”

“Please make the attempt Lieutenant.” Silo asked, edging his words in a warning tone.

Mac took a deep breath forcing into words his new reality for the first time, “Captain, until earlier today, I was under the impression that the Human race was alone in the universe. I am our first and only faster than light attempt in my species history so far,” He paused as the demeanor of the Alien Captain infront of him changed completely upon the impact of those words, “I have no clue where I am. How to get home, or how to contact my home system” The alien captain sat very still for what felt like an eternity.

Captain Silu leaned forward slowly, planting his elbows on the table between them, “You mean to say that you’re the first of your kind to meet anyone outside your species?”.

“Yes” was Mackenzie’s reply, “I was not even supposed to leave my home solar system. My mission was a quick hop to our outer planets and possibly back. The last thing I remember before arriving next to your ship was pulling the lever to activate our slipstream drive.. then, *grunt* pain. Doc here states I almost didn’t make it.”

“Indeed, Doctor Icario’s report is quite intere…” Silu never finished the sentence.

*CAPTAIN TO THE BRIGDE, CAPTAIN TO THE BRIDGE! ALL HANDS TO STATIONS!!*

The captain leaped out of his chair and Mac stood carefully, not sure where to go but deciding to follow the captain. He felt his escorts behind him.

“REPORT” Silu barked as he entered the main con.

“We have dropped out of subspace at the beacon’s Initial way point. we are being tracked. It looks like one of the pirate fleets caught wind of the relief supplies. We have inbound. Three garbage barges and a wing of snub fighters”

“Shields and weapons, begin Decel burn for Bricus, eta on contact?” Ordered the captain, concern bleeding through his orders, this wasn’t the usual rabble fare to be run off with flak cannon and laser. They were in trouble if…

Mac’s blood boiled, He had watched the screens. The language was different, but the Icons told him all he needed to know. This freighter was to be murdered. Old feelings, thought lost, raged through his being as he took a single step forward.

“Captain, I need someone to get me to my ship” - everyone in the room stiffened as if ice water was poured down their spine. His tone frosted cold… hard… dangerous…

The captain slowly turned to look at Mackenzie. No, he didn’t see the profession test pilot.. he saw the eyes of a Killer. Barely bridled lethality burned from behind eyes of ice-cold blue hatred.

Those eyes pierced him again- “Captain, I doubt you have enough firepower to get out of this. Get. Me. To. My. Ship.”

“There are three capital ships out there, and 6 fighters. What is one test plane going to do but be a snack!” Silo shot back, still struggling to comprehend the rapid change in the being before him.

“Captain, my test plane, was also testing how well ordinance could withstand slipstream jumps. She still retains her full capabilities. Concord… is a Warship; my warship.” the voice behind those piercing eyes continued “You do not survive this, otherwise.” the man who had been Mackenzie bared his teeth “Let me return the favor.”

Silu stood frozen, locked in Mackenzies arctic gaze for a moment before nodding quickly. “we will transmit updates to your translator, including our Coms frequencies/protocols. Chief! Get this man to his ship.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________

BIGMAC hoped he had made the right choice, the look of terror on the captain’s face was one thing. The petrified expression on Lyrians face was worse. He followed the big Delmar officer through the corridors at a mild jog until they reached the hanger, the alien was barely able to breathe. “There… call, when inside… will … depressurize…” Big Mac didn’t wait. He unleashed his one trump card... gravity on this ship was weak. He bounded the 100m distance in two strides, and the third had him up the 25 ft from the deck into Concord’s cockpit.

“Emergency code gamma three one one five niner!” barked BigMac into his reserve headset. He would be going into this one without a G/pressure suit 'This'll be fun'. No one had bothered to show him how his void suit worked yet.

“Emergency activation Jarvis, solo combat Lt James Mackenzie authorization code three two niner niner, execute!”

*Jarvis artificial WSO online, running systems check*

BigMac ran through his flow, the slipstream drive was gone, but its ejection had not caused more than an emergency shutdown. Soon he had the twin Fusion Cores online. Concords pulse returned to her, and with it, her eagerness.

“Jarvis. Interlink with the device in my ears. Sync with new comms update embedded in it. Security override: charlie two one.”

*sync complete*

——————————————————————

*Lucid Traveler this is ESS-Concord, ready for pushback and departure*- came that same steel cold voice over the coms.

“*meep*, I mean, captain, Mackenzie appears ready to launch” Bryton’s voice could not hide his terror. He knew how bad the situation was.

“Patch me in… Mackenzie, you are cleared, sequence will be gravity, pressure, door... Void guide you…. Launch him” Silu ordered. Praying he hadn’t just sent a man to his death.

——————————————————————

BigMac launched. Using his maneuvering thrusters to slip out of the hanger before feeding in the main drives-

“Jarvis target analysis” he ordered as Concords final drives howled to life; she was practically Baying for the hunt.

*Commander, fighters appear to be armed with energy weapons, possibly plasma, and they are unshielded… current time to intercept the freighter, 30seconds*

“Plot me a targeting solution, both Mac guns 2second burst.”

*Plotted. Cone on your hud*

BigMac slammed the throttles closed and snapped a 15g pitch reorientation. Luckily the ID’s made that a more sedately 4.

*bust in 3…2…1…fire*

BRRRRRRRRRRRT- the tell tell vibrations of the venerable GAU cannons reverberated through Concord’s bones as she spoke in anger for the first time in 5 years.

“Burst complete. full sensors sweep on these capital ships, show me what they are workin' with”-BigMac pushed the throttled up to a 12g profile. Concords twin final drives Howled and Bellowed into the void as she leapt at her new bigger prey.

*Commander, three ships that appear to be a mix of several designs. Shielded, but weakly. Strategic unnecessary.*

“Put em in the hud, arm fox3s”- Big Mac noted the three big ugly bastards. But they were two far away. Mac pushed the final drives harder 20g acceleration, he began to grunt as the cockpit dampeners kept it down to sedately 5g.

*Mac impact in 3….2….1…*

—————————————————————-

“Captain, where did he go!!!! He’s not sensors!! Optics can’t pick him up!!! Fighter intercepting in .15 uni…. “- the sensor officer was cut off by a flare on his scope and the explosions outside the windscreen. All but 2 of the fighters were…. Gone, just gone…

“Weapons. Focus the remaining two.. I think we have our answer.” Ordered Silu from the chair. ‘But how, we saw nothing on sensor… no weapon outside of a lucky shot from capital ship plasma does that two a hole wing..’ A bright flair lit the bridge viewports..

“Captain!! One garbage barge is destroyed. Second and third are running… Dear Void… the second one is..“

a second core detonation flared in the viewport.

——————————————————————

BRRRRRRTT- the GAU’s sang for a second and third times, ripping through the cores of the second and third cobbled together capital ship. The Phoenix 9s had done their job. Overloading the shields of the capital ships with a combination EM/HE resonance charge designed to feedback loop most shield systems whilst feeding extra heat into the system to force a shutdown. It’s why both Terra and Mars still built ships with heavy ablative plating. Concord had her own plating, but her true armor was stealth.

*Second capital ship eliminated commander, third out of range and has gone into an FTL state. one fighter left near the Traveler. she is taking damage.*

‘Shit, Death-star effect’ During the fight with the pirate’s capital ships, BigMac and Concord had slowed to a sedately 300kpm, Mac grunted once more as he pushed past 30g profile on the final drives. His seat auto tilted to keep him from passing out as the internal G peaked past 7, and he held the wide-open burn till he reached 900kpm before throttling down. ‘I’m gonna feel that one in the morning.’

*ETA 40 seconds commander*

—————————————————

The first remaining fighter had made an easy target, it tried to keep its distance, the second knew better. Silu cursed as another flak cannon went down. He couldn’t believe his situation. Two pirate frigates sunk in as many minutes. He suspected Mackenzie, but how were the Voids own secrets. So was the location of the ‘Human’. It had been two min since this fighter had attacked. The snub pilot knew he was a dead-man, so his attack was one of desperation born success. Fly away and get picked off. Be annoying enough and you might get lucky and kill your killer. Traveler shuddered as another hit landed home. The snub fighter screamed past the bridge window, coming about to…… its left wing disappeared onto splinters.

From the larboard side came a visionary of death. The voids own predator swinging in from the left, dispatching the last attacker left on the field with nothing but a slight shimmer from her bow, not plasma, not laser, nothing.. A second sparkle, and the rest of the fighters turned into party confetti.

*Sorry I took so long, I needed a safe angle* Mackenzie’s voice rang out through the bridge speakers.

“Sir, we still can’t see him on any of our sensors even though he is right there!!!” Squawked the sensor officer.

*Oh, um, ADS-B set to transmit… do you read me on your scope?* responded Mackenzie.

“I have something off our starboard bow 1000GSU. I can’t understand any of this data, but I guess it’s him”-a still somewhat frantic crewman reported.

“Mackenzie, return to a hanger 3, the one you left from. We have much to discuss after our delivery.” Cpt Silu walked off to the captain’s room to coordinate with the local relief effort. ‘By the Void, what have we found..’