IMPALA (Farside Saga: Book One)
Chapter Eighteen: Impala (Dragon Part Two)

Jason's knees almost buckled when he recognized the creature from his dream.

"Umm, any info on this one?" He mentally asked Bianca as everyone starred at the creature quickly making its way to them.

"This one is new to me. There are no records of any species of this nature in any of my archives." Bianca responded after a short while.

"Ookaay, any one of you four wanna tell me what this thing is?" Jason asked the four visitors.

Kurie turned to the rest of his group as they all shrugged their shoulders.

"Don't know,..." Udar said. "...it just popped up out of nowhere in the middle of a battle at one of our outposts. Destroyed a whole Armada and chased us here." He finished, mumbling something untranslated under his breath.

"It looks like a cyborg dragon" Jess said, studying it as it got closer.

"Shields up, keep us distant." Jason said into the air.

The stars began streaking forward again and the wormhole got slightly darker as the nanite shielding covered the external cameras. Jason sent Jess and the four visitors to sickbay as he and Vanessa made their way to the bridge. They took their stations once they reached the bridge. Jason tapped a few keys on the holoconsole and brought up the rearview cameras. The creature had shortened a little distance between them since then.

"I wanna keep at least 10 kilometers between us if possible." He told the helmsman.

"Danny..." He yelled into the air.

No response.

"Danny, now is not the time for jokes." He said.

Still no response.

"Why is my A.I. not online." Jason asked as he swiveled in his chair to face the engineer.

The engineer busied himself over the control panel quickly pushing buttons, then looked at the monitor for a brief second before turning to the captain.

"Sir, navigation is online and functional but the central core has some kind of interference. It's almost as if it's being scanned." He said.

Suddenly the stars started streaking by for a brief moment before they entered into the stardrive's slipstream. Just as quickly as they entered, they exited just as fast. Earth sat prestine against the star filled background as it rotated on it's tilted axis. There was a brief bumping of metal followed by a short hiss, then the sounds of rockets igniting. Small white streaks of light shot from the top of the viewscreen and angled towards Earth. The planet suddenly veered off to the right of the screen as the Impala angled it's way back towards open space and once again entered the swirling blue and green clouded lights of the slipstream tunnel. The ship's interior lighting went from ghost white to a crimson red, as more bumping and grinding of metal sounded throughout the ship. Jason was just about to ask what the hell was going on when suddenly there was a two second loud screech over the intercom. After a couple of seconds of everyone popping their ears back in, Danny spoke.

"Sorry captain, ill explain in a second but right now, EVERYONE needs to be ready for battle." He said.

The bridge crew looked at the captain as Jason nodded his head and gave the ship wide order. Everyone switched their consoles to battle mode. The captain pushed a few buttons on his console. The viewscreen showed the entire bridge section lowering into the ship as the canopy doors slid closed, connecting in the middle, encasing them in the crimson glow of the bridge's lights. A verticle blueprint diagram of the Impala, now in complete battle mode, showed up on the left of the screen. On the right, statistics and conditions on different sections of the ship and shielding started scrolling up the screen. A small section under scanner remained blank, awaiting to scan anything the ship perceives as a threat.

Just then, the holographic image of Star Trek's Captain Picard appeared on the bridge almost making everyone jump out their seats and grab their weapons. His tattered uniform and bruised face looked exhausted as he stopped in his tracks looking at the crew's reaction. Seeing this, Danny quickly threw his hands up mockingly like he was being robbed.

"Calm down calm down, it's just me!" He said in exaggerated fright.

Jason, already having seen a better version of Danny's holographic persona, was the only one who didn't budge, only raised an eyebrow at the fact that he didn't install holographic emitters on the bridge. A question to ask at a later time. The crew relaxed and returned to their seats, some still watching Danny as he dropped his arms down and made his way to the center of the bridge.

"Ok," he started. "First, we got probed...anally. That thing, according to it's data base, is a ship built on top of a life form. I couldn't decipher everything but whoever they are, they're just as old as the universe itself. To the point they almost have this whole universe mapped out. I got sucked into the feedback loop when they first started but i managed to scan them while they scanned us and Yes, I've downloaded as much as I could and it's waiting for you in the archives." Danny said as he looked at the analysis officer with a 'you know what to do' look before continuing.

Almost wanting to say something, the officer slowly turned to his console and brought up the archives, but one look into the files crushed any and all ill will he was thinking as he excitedly poured over the information scrolling across his screen.

"But captain, whoever they are, its almost as if they're trying to learn the universe. They take information and resources whether we like it or not. And right now, it's fascinated by our technology. Namely the stardrive and its power source. It's what drew it to us. Somehow we crossed it's path and it followed us here. Im also afraid to report that it scanned everything about our species. The only thing it didn't get was Earth's location. I did manage to block that. I finally managed to cut the connection before it got into the ship's schematics but it did get the stardrive systems. I think that's all it was after, as far as the ship anyway because it quit fighting me after it got it. That's how i managed to get away and break the scan. I had to get all civilians and the delegates to safety so i dropped them off back on earth. I gave the delegates a data chip with everything that went on here and instructions on what to do. It didn't get Earth's exact location but it has a general area of the sol system. Plus its one of the small sections that hasn't been mapped out yet so it won't take it long to replace it, which is why we have to go back and stop this thing." Danny said.

"Found it!" The analysis officer bellowed out excitedly. "A lot of it's not translated but from what i can tell, the ship can be separated from whatever that thing is. The two domes are kind of the equivalent of a nut and bolt. If we separated the two, the ship would have no power." He finished.

Danny flickered for a brief second as the ship suddenly dropped out of slipstream and was met head on with the dark purple beam of the dragon like ship causing it to stop dead in its tracks. The inertial dampeners is what saved everything from flying to the front of the ship but they felt the impact of the beam as soon as it hit the shielding. The Impala's nanite shielding compensated for the beams intense power as it tried to cut through. The beam wasn't strong enough to cut through the shielding but it was strong enough to hold the ship in it's place as the helmsman tried to use the subspace thrusters to force the ship ahead. Finally giving up, he veered the ship to the left and engaged the main thrusters. The ship's massive size shook heavily as the beam slid across the ship's right side before disengaging.

"3.2% energy gain, shields and hull integrity holding at full capacity." The helmsman said.

Jason was slightly amazed to hear about the amount of absorbed energy so quickly but glad it didn't blow out any circuits. The nanites serve a multitude of exterior functions along the ship. When used as a shield, it not only deflects projectile weapons but also absorbs different energy types for analysis and energy consumption, charging the ship's arc generators. They're also used to repair or replace any damaged or missing part of the hull.

The dragon like ship angled around and a set of six red pinpoint lights appeared around it then streaked towards the Impala.

"Incoming!" The tactical officer said as he typed a few keys on his console, then sent it to weapons control.

The computer analyzed the information, made some adjustments, then sent it to Command before the tactical officer's hand made it back to him. Danny took over. Grabbing the center railing above the ops platform facing the viewscreen but not really using it, as he was seeing through all the external cameras, Danny went into action.

The NSA IMPALA is truely unique in its design. When in peace time the ship looks like an elongated early 2000s F/A 22 Raptor with two sets of delta wings, one at the front just behind the nose and the other at the rear just behind the tailfins along side the twin turbine arc thrusters. Between the two sets was a larger set of delta wings that exposed the barrels of three 200k julz pulse blasters at the front edge of each one. A slightly raised control bridge sat just in front of the slanted tailfins. It's smooth charcoal gray surface is outlined in white with intervals of small black colored ports along the edges of the ship's sides where the nanites are ejected from. In wartime, the wings detach from the body as two double barrel ion cannons are lowered from each of the two small sets of wings. Gravitonically controled, the wings give the ship a more free form maneuverability. The bridge is lowered into the body of the ship and enclosed. If need be the whole section can detach from the ship and be used as a long range life pod. The nanites are ejected and cover the ship's surface, giving it a reflective jet black look almost blending it in to the background. The nose of the ship is retracted into the fuselage, exposing the double pointed electronodes and the large spinning turbine of the main cannon.

Danny angled the ship so that the pulse blasters could do their job. Sending off six shots, the dark blue beams of the blasters hit their marks right on target, causing six mini explosions in dead space. The dragon like ship sent six more missiles then lunged towards them. Once again the blasters did their job eliminating the six projectiles with ease. Jason starred at the viewscreen as the creature got closer and closer, tapping his finger on the edge of his chair, looking at his crew, wondering if someone was going to be smart enough to move the ship out the way before he gave the order himself. Danny suddenly burst out laughing as he turned to the captain.

"Do you remember the show 'Green Lantern'?" Danny asked.

Jason knew of the superhero from his childhood but never really got into it so he didn't see where Danny was going with this at first. Danny switched the viewscreen to the recon drone's camera as he launched it behind the ship. Jason admired his ship's design as it sat in battle mode, almost invisible against the starry background. He knew the dynamics of the wings and aside from its slow bob up and down, was still fascinated by how they stayed with the ship as if they were still attached but moved as if they had a life of their own. He looked past his ship towards the creature still on its approach and quickly. He saw the rear starboard thrusters ignite, pushing the rear of the ship to a slight angle to the creature's path.

"Winding up for the pitch..." Danny said, swinging his arms as if he was holding a baseball bat.

Externally, the nanite shielding started streaming out to the starboard nose of the ship.

"He lines his sight up." Danny said as he stopped swinging his arms and raised them above his right shoulder, readying to swing the imaginary bat.

The nanites began pooling at the end of the stream until it was just as big as the nose of the ship.

"Wait for it...wait for it," Danny said as he rocked back and forth.

The pool of nanites formed into a large solid black fist. Seeing this, Jason finally caught on to what Danny was doing and chuckled to himself as he made a mental note to add this to tactical maneuvering if it works. The bridge crew watched in anticipation as the creature got dangerously close.

"Annnnddd now!" Danny said as he swung the imaginary bat.

The black fist shot forward, striking the creature on the side of the smooth surface right where the jaw would be if it had one. A big chunk of the surface broke off into sparking pieces of debris, exposing a small spiky faced piece of the creature's true form as it drastically slowed down and angled itself upward with the force of the impact. That placed the bottom dome directly in the main cannon's cross hairs as the nanite fist dispersed and returned to the ship, once again covering it.

The main cannon fired it's electrically charged blue plasma beam hitting the dome. It didn't seem to have any affect until the creature's momentum carried its dome past the beam, allowing it to hit the body instead. The creature screamed. The scream was so loud that no auditory systems were needed to hear it through the reinforced teflon-cobalt infused hull. Orangish plasma particles started flowing out of the long gash the cannon made along the bottom from the dome almost to it's tail. The Impala angled downward under and around the creature and quickly shot past.

Danny turned the ship around for another shot with the cannon just as the creature did the same. Its remaining smooth surface started glowing purple as it's beam came to a focal point in the center then fired. Danny spread the wings apart and flipped the fuselage to the right, allowing the beam to pass between the left wings and the bottom of the ship, it's expended energy discharge being absorbed by the shielding. Danny took off, leaving the wings behind as he leveled off the ship. Two long barrel fusion blasters extended out from both sides, aiming at the creature. He was just about to fire all weapons when the creature screamed again as it shook and rotated violently. Danny barrel rolled the ship downward into a 180 degree turn, bringing the ship back and settling between the wings as the fusion blasters retracted back into the sides. Cracks began forming along the smooth surface as the rest of the attached ship began breaking apart and exploding. The two domes floated off before exploding in the distance behind it. The smooth surface covering the creature's head split up in three pieces and drifted off into space. The creature seemed to stretch as it extended its body and wings to its full length, which seemed almost doubled in size compared to the Impala. The orangish flow of particles started slowing as the gash began closing. The spiky faced creature then made a few wide circles around the Impala, studying it, before flying off into open space. All but the captain and Danny erupted in cheers as the ship converted back into peace time mode. Though he was happy with the victory of his ship and crew's first battle, he knew this wasn't the last. Danny sensed it too as he looked at the captain eye to eye.

"Jess," the captain said into the air.

"Yes captain." Came the response over the ship's intercom.

"Have our four friends meet me in my private quarters as soon as you're done." Jason said as he got up and headed towards the bridge lift.