Heaven Saga 1: The Lost Hero (2 page)

“Captain, we’re picking up a small craft on the outer
edge of the system, the third gas giant to be exact,” said Zae. She had long,
forest green hair and blue eyes and sat at the front left console of the
bridge. Baed sat to her right, with long, silver blonde hair and purple eyes.
The front wall of the bridge was a massive viewing screen.

“Zae, bring us closer,” said the captain, a beautiful
Kalaidian named Valis Kein. She had long, violet hair and blue eyes. Valis
smiled. “Maybe this time we’ll get some money out of it.”

“Arm weapons systems and go to moderate alert. I think
you would agree captain?” asked Kivi, the first officer. She stood much taller
than others, a little less than five feet. She had dark tan skin, short black
hair and crimson eyes like fire.

“Of course,” Valis said.

“The alien vessel is now in scanning range captain,”
Zae reported.

“Check for life forms, power systems, and armaments,”
Valis said. “Let’s make sure no one’s home this time.”

The image appeared on the front monitor on the bridge.
A saucer shaped ship came up and looked to be working.

“Captain…that’s a Grey vessel,” Kivi said.

Valis turned, seeing the concern in her bridge crews’
eyes. “Daes, check for life signs. This could prove more profitable than I
could have hoped for.”

Daes nodded at the command. She had long crimson hair
and brown eyes.  Daes checked, seeing no life signs onboard the Grey ship,
except one minor blip. “Strange, there seems to be something alive on the Grey
ship captain.”

“Is it one of the Greys, or something else?” Valis
asked.

Daes carefully studied the readings. “It’s definitely
not Grey, but something very different. Its shape is four limbed, bipedal,
nearly identical to our physique. Whatever this being is, it’s not in our
database.”

“Perhaps it’s a new species to space?” Kivi asked.

“A more detailed scan shows this being is over two
vetres tall, almost three. It seems to have a mass twice ours. Also, this
creature seems to be high warm blooded.”

“Captain, this being could be a danger to us,” Kivi
said.

Valis looked at Kivi. “I understand your concern Kivi,
but we really need to turn a profit for once. We have a working Grey ship,
which should fetch us a fortune from the Confederation, and a new species to
study. This is a haul if I ever saw one.”  She turned to Daes. “Prepare a boarding
party to recover the alien. Once you return, we’ll use the anchors to tow the
ship back to Confederation territory.”

* * *

Seles lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling,
wondering what was happening. She had purple eyes and long silver blue hair. Her
skin was pearly white, glowing in the darkness. Looking to her side, she
noticed a yellow light blinking, moderate alert. She sat up and put on her
clothes, hearing a beep come from the room’s monitor. She walked over to the
monitor and pressed the receive button, see Zae’s face.

 “Seles please head to shuttle bay three and join the
boarding party,” Zae said.

“What’s going on?” Seles asked.

“We’ve come across a Grey ship. All of the Greys are
dead, but there seems to be an unusual life form left alive. Bring your pulse
rifle. Good luck Seles,” Zae said. The monitor went black again.

Seles turned towards her foot locker. Pressing in the
number combination, she opened it and grabbed her pulse rifle. She threw the
rifle over her shoulder using the strap and went out the door.

The Avoni was a large ship. The halls were well lit
and wide to give those onboard a sense of space. Seles resided on the lower
crew deck, where the ensigns quartered. The rooms on the level above were
officer’s quarters. She entered an elevator and pressed the button for shuttle
bay three. The first thing she saw when she reached the shuttle bay was grey
plastic boxes holding the ship’s supplies. A large shuttle sat in the middle of
the room. Next to the shuttle stood Daes, seven other security officers, and
Celi, chief medical officer of the Avoni. She had long dark blue hair and green
eyes, wearing a white sash signifying her role as a medical officer. Seles ran
over and saluted. After a nod of acknowledgement, Daes ordered everyone onto
the shuttle. Daes took the front seat and fired up the shuttle’s systems. Once
everyone was seated, the back of the door closed. The bay doors opened. Daes
flew the shuttle into space.

The shuttle came to a stop on the bottom of the Grey
ship. The shuttle shot four anchors and latched on. Daes pressed a couple
buttons, causing the shuttle’s entry drill to slice into the ship. The
perfectly round entry hole was finished in less than a minute. Before
descending into the other ship, Celi addressed everyone.

“The Greys prefer a cooler temperature than us, so
we’ll have to rely on our nanomachines to keep warm. The energy used to power
our nanomachines will only last about an hour, so we’ll have to hurry and see
what’s become of the ship, check for any damage, and recover the unknown life
form onboard.”

“Yes commander,” the others said in unison.

“I would also like each of you to wear one of these,”
Celi said, pulling out a white thermal cloak from under her seat. “These will
provide protection from the cooler temperature, as well as against energy
blasts should any of them still be alive.”

Seles and the other seven security ensigns put on the
thermal cloaks and readied their pulse rifles before climbing into the Grey
ship. It was cold and clammy with fog in the air. Daes and Celi climbed in last
as everyone split up to search the ship. What they saw was terrifying, the
battered and bludgeoned bodies of the entire Grey crew. They had all been
killed by one of their stun poles, which lay covered in blood. Searching each
room, they found all the ships systems were functioning.

Seles walked into the observatory where the Grey’s
kept their stellar map. There, she saw the unknown life form, lying unconscious
and covered in Grey blood. She stepped closer, noting that the creature was
similar to her species. It was much larger, about one and a half times her
height. It wore unusual looking clothes and a black cloak, seemingly alright at
this temperature. Seles knelt, lightly touched its body and noticed its skin
radiated heat.

“Have you found the alien?” Daes asked over the com.

Seles pressed a button on her wristband. “It looks a
lot like our species, but much larger, with round ears. It isn’t suffering
hypothermia at this temperature. I’m going to need some help getting the alien
out of here.”

“Tell me Seles, does the alien have any blood on it?”
Daes asked.

“Yes, a lot of Grey blood.” Seles checked, finding red
blood on his forehead. “It looks like the alien has red blood. It’s suffered a
few minor wounds.”

“Keep your rifle ready, I’ll send Celi and the others
to help you haul the alien survivor to the brig.”

The others came and placed the alien on a stretcher,
clasping the restraints down tightly. Seles and her companions returned to the
shuttle. Each of them stared at the alien, noting its size and apparent
strength.

* * *

Was it all a dream? I remember their eyes, eyes of
pure darkness that fill me with despair.
Brian lay on the white floor of the Avoni‘s brig, half awake and confused. He
heard voices, feminine and different speaking a language he’d never heard
before. Opening his eyes, he saw white floor and walls, as well as a bed
attached to the wall.
Where am I?
He turned his head and saw two short
women talking. As he sat up and looked at them closely he noticed one had long
blue hair and green eyes, while the other had long silver blue hair and purple
eyes. The blue haired woman jumped when she saw Brian sit up, yelling something
incomprehensible to him. The other pointed what looked like a gun at him and
asked him a question he couldn’t understand.

Brian smiled dumbly, not understanding a word they
spoke, and then asked, “Excuse me, but I can’t understand anything you just
said. I don’t suppose either of you speak English?”

The woman with long blue hair giggled before ordering
a command into the computer. A few seconds later a small mechanical arm came
out of the wall next to Brian. When came close, a small needle came out of its
front and stabbed him in the leg. After he screamed in pain the mechanical arm
went back into the wall.

“What the hell was that for?” Brian asked.

“So that you could understand our language,” the blue
haired woman said. “My name is Celi, chief medical officer of this ship.” Celi
looked to the girl. “I have to go see the captain now that our alien friend is
awake. Keep an eye on him.” She looked at him again, smiled and then left.

This is a lot better than the Grey ship.
Brian stood up and looked around the tiny room he was
in, noting there was only one entrance. He went to the opening, putting his
hand up to find a solid field blocking him. Seles pointed her pulse rifle at
him.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m trying to figure out where I am and what I’m
doing here. The last thing I remember was being on a Grey ship. Then I fell
unconscious. I don’t suppose you could tell me anything?”

Seles lowered her rifle. “I can’t tell you anything
unless I receive orders to.”

He poked at the force field. “Can I ask you for your
name then? My name’s Brian.”

“Seles,” she said.

“That’s a beautiful name. It’s obvious that your
species is different from the Greys. So what are you Seles?”

“I told you before Brian, I am unable to speak of
anything further with you until I get orders to.” She paused, feeling curiosity
swell within her. “What you were doing on the Grey ship?”

Brian looked at the small alien girl. He looked down,
sighing. “I was taken by them. I’ve been taken by them for experiments since I
was a child. Somehow, I overcame their paralyzing technology.”

“Did you kill them?” Seles asked.

Brian shook his head, looking up with hollow eyes.
“Yes. Despite the strange joy I felt when killing them at the time, I feel
remorse now.” He smiled. “Thankfully, I’ve been taken prisoner by a much more
beautiful race.” He turned and sat down on the bed.

“Where you were taken from?” Seles stepped closer to
the cell.

“I don’t think you know it. My people don’t have the
ability to travel between stars yet.”

“Even so, you seem to be familiar with our technology.
Your species must be fairly advanced for you to not be surprised at force
fields and such. Please, tell where you come from Brian?”

“Earth,” he answered.

She looked shocked and surprised. Brian stood up.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

Seles calmed herself. “Did you say Earth?”

“Yeah,” Brian said. “How do you know about Earth?”

Seles looked up as the ship began shaking. The lights
began flickering. A shockwave passed through the room as the sound of
explosions came from all around.

Valis stood on the elevator when the first shockwave
hit. The lights flickered as the door opened to the bridge. She saw half the
bridge crew on their backs. She ran to seat, seeing Zae and Kivi return to
their positions. Baed sat up, shook her head and took her seat a moment later.

“Kivi, what’s the situation?” Valis started running
battle scenarios in her chair’s computer.

Kivi shook her head. “Something came out of nowhere
and attacked the ship we were towing.”

Valis looked up. “Put it on the monitor.”

“Yes captain,” Zae said. A different Grey ship
appeared on the screen.

I was hoping this wouldn’t happen.
Valis thought to herself. “Zae, ready the weapons and
shielding systems. Use attack pattern C-13. Baed, switch to manual control.
Daes, give me a damage report.”

“Yes captain,” Baed and Zae said in unison.

Daes look up from her console. “The captured ship is
their target. With the first blast they’ve destroyed 50% of the vessel. The
Avoni has taken heavy damage, near the rear brig and secondary engineering. No
casualties to report.”

“Should we scramble the Novas?” Kivi asked.

Valis looked at the attacking ship. “Our Novas
couldn’t scratch a Grey ship Kivi. It looks like I’m going to have to
improvise.”

* * *

Seles lost her balance and fell forward. At the same
time the force field holding Brian disappeared and allowed him to catch her.
She jumped away and aimed the pulse rifle at him.

“Stay right there Terran,” Seles said as she went over
to the console near the door.

Brian stood with his hands up. “What’s going on?” The
lights shut off, filling the room with darkness.

“The ship’s under attack,” Seles said. She found Brian
in the dark and grabbed his arm. “There’s a hull breach near this sector. If we
don’t get out soon we’ll be thrown into space.”