Chariot 3: Conception
Chapter 25 – Restless

“V-Nus, it is your turn now.” The Captain assertively passed the orders to his pilot, expecting from him nothing less than the utmost skills on disengaging Chariot 3 from a fully armored Grey scouter, despite the vagueness of his words.

Captain Shoffer was undoubtedly the most skillful pilot on that ship and he knew that, but he also knew that V-Nus was, without question, the most creative pilot he had ever met or heard of before.

V-Nus wet his lips with his tongue, squint his eyes, and focused on what his was about to do.

On the other side, the enemy craft faced them in the air with an imposing, at the same time threatening feature. They felt as if the face of the pilot was personified onto the craft. “So unpleasant” were the words that Flumen used to define what his eyes witnessed.

With an overwhelming thirst for vengeance, the unnamed Grey being could barely contain his anger. His fingers, still shaking against the panel, tried to decide which weapon he would use to eliminate the Nibirians and their ship once for all.

Facing the spot on the craft where he imagined his enemy would be seated, Captain Shoffer did not dare to blink, to breathe or to even speak. He cleaned the sweat out of his face with the back of his hand while V-Nus sighed and cracked his back, in preparation for what was about to take place.

Cai Yiu cracked his neck to the right and then to the left, and remained steady in his post with the always seriously focused expression while Flumen`s hands finally released his seat, cracked his fingers, and then grabbed his seat once again, holding it as tight as he could possibly do. “And I thought this mission was just about beaming some readings from a black hole to Nibiru.” Flumen reflected, pondering how far they had already gone.

The crew started to feel not only physically, but also mentally drained. None of them had the chance of sticking any nutri-hydro patches on their skin, and their ears could now hear the unpleasant symphony of their rumbling stomachs resounding around the Bridge.

“Faith” was the only thing Ezekiel, son of a man had in his mind. “Faith is what brought us all here today…”he pronounced out loud...“and it is what will lead us through this battle.”

V-Nus looked back at Cai Yiu and gave him a signal with his head, seeking for the confirmation that the armory and weapons specialist was ready for what he was best at.

And he was…

Cai Yiu rose his closed fists just above his laps and then, with a creepy smile on his face, opened his hands with the palms facing down.

As he finished the hand gesture that Ezekiel paid close attention to, holographic controls containing three big spheres above his waist were projected through his E-Lenses. His heartbeat increased and so did the adrenaline that started to take over him and his friends.

Despite any dangerous, Cai Yiu simply loved that feeling.

Followed by his command, the three spherical probes turned bright red, disconnected from the bottom of the space disc, and produced a metallic and almost frightening sound, echoing as they moved.

The revengeful being who initially thought his newest opponents would not stand a chance, leaned his body forward and stared at the three luminous spheres ahead of his craft.

At that moment, the leader finally comprehended what his crew had already noticed. The Nibirians appeared unarmed but they were far from defenseless. It was now too late.

“V-Nus, now! Sissy...smoke them!” Somehow Shoffer knew – or perhaps just hoped – they would not face much of a resistance from the Greys, at least not at that moment.

“Yes Captain.” She did not hesitate for a second and neither did V-Nus or Cai Yiu.

With an unpretentious move of hands, Cai Yiu Hun launched the spheres towards the adversaries, followed by Chariot 3 proficiently piloted by V-Nus, bringing her directly behind the spherical probes.

Even though they hated running away from a battle, losing one would have been even worse for the so called ascending race as the Greys liked to call themselves.

The occupants of the scouter craft watched the balls of flaming light coming into what would be their first and last encounter.

Taking on the challenge, the audacious and so far undefeated Grey leader, launched his ship ahead, in the hope for a lethal impact.

At the pace the shock became imminent, the reflection of the obfuscating red lights forced the Greys to shut their eyes and hope that they could ever see anything again, should they live beyond.

Cai Yiu would have shot them down if he had the means to do so, but instead, he preferred to simply follow the captain`s plan and let them live “for now”.

Inches before the impact, the Grey pilot, who still had some good sense left in his mind, finally ventured himself to brake his superior`s orders and prevent the suicidal strike.

His force of will was sufficiently strong to perform a slight change of course on the craft`s navigational system. The pilot harshly threw the scouter just over a foot underneath Chariot 3, enough to spare them all.

As the craft ducked, its crew finally re-opened their eyes, and as they looked up, they saw the three dazzling spheres flying close above their heads, weightless.

Motionless, vainly forcing their eyes to face the lights, the Greys heard the deafening noise caused by the first probe scratching the fuselage above their cockpit.

Although the spacecraft and the lives of its four occupants had been spared, thanks to the fast reasoning of its second in command, all he received was the coldest and most contemptuous of the looks from his leader.

At that moment, nothing would satisfy the Grey alien other than the lives of his opponents. “Kill or die.”

Without stopping, Chariot 3 performed a sudden turn and gained altitude, strategically leaving a cloud of smoke for those flying behind.

Their eyes were open but they could not see a thing out in the sky. The dense white smoke was heavy to the point that they could almost feel it hitting the fuselage of their craft as the Greys flew through it.

The Grey leader looked around, replaceing hard to believe how difficult had become to complete what he assumed would be an easy task to pursue. His advanced intellect simply could not understand how could an unarmed ship have destroyed three of his scouters and killed twenty of his crew.

The infuriated leader closed his eyes and for a second pondered what his options were.

The undermost possibility of returning to the colony ship empty handed sounded the most disgraceful thing that could ever happen to his miserable life, if they ever accepted his return. Summoning another squadron was an option that would only proof his negligence, and continuing the pursuit did not sound as much promising as it did in the beginning.

The leader started to appear tired. He detached his right hand from the panel and cleaned the slimy fluid from his face. He then looked back over his shoulder and produced an awkward nasal sound while he returned his hand to the panel, making a squishy noise as it touched the metal.

Ready to continue the pursuit, the Grey leader featured an even more aggressive face and pronounced a few frightening words, if those could be considered words by any race in space.

The pilot next to him acknowledged the orders and so did the two others behind them. The craft moved a few meters ahead, producing a red flash on its back, and followed a sharp turn towards the direction it had just come from.

The Grey craft then jumped further ahead and in a fraction of a second, disappeared with a much stronger and almost explosive spark. They were gone, fervent after vengeance.