• Chapter 1 : Evasive Action, First half.

    "Sir, enemies approaching." A man turned from the radar screen, "I recommend evasive action, they are three kilometers away and closing fast." The captain shook his head, "show me," he said turning to to the view port in front of him. A picture popped up, all he could see was stars and void.
    Suddenly the view magnified and a starship appeared. It was a massive one kilometer long compared to the Semper's mere nine hundred feet. The enemy warship bristled with hundreds of laser turrets and missile tubes.
    "sir" the man at the radar station, First Lieutenant Avery, turned again, "collision in twenty-eight seconds captain!" Captain Vigilans nodded and turned to the weapons control port, "Johnson, get our G.O.D. charged immediately."
    Johnson shook his head, "sir, we can't get our G.O.D. charged in time." "Yes we can," Vigilans turned to the computer screen, "Computer, divert all power to the Gravitational Oscillating Deconstruction now." The ship groaned and shuddered as the lights went out. "collision in ten seconds sir," Avery turned around, "sir, they have fired their missiles."
    Vigilans griped the arms of his chair, "fire port side emergency thrusters on my mark." Avery slowly counted down, "missile impact in four...three...two..." Now" Vigilans braced himself, the ship boomed and shuddered as the captain was thrown to the floor. Johnson turned, "G.O.D. is hot sir." "Fire," the ship rattled and shook, "Johnson, activate laser point defense, Avery let me see the enemy."
    The view port popped on and Vigilans saw the ship. slowly it began to shake until, suddenly, it collapsed into a ball the size of of a football field in diameter. "Linda, activate shields now." The air crackled and popped as the electric magnetic shield kicked in. The captain turned back to the screen. The ball had continued to shrink and get hotter and hotter until, at nearly three times the temperature of a non-supernova sun, it exploded. White hot metal flew everywhere.

    Vigilans heard the ping of metal hitting the hull all around him, it wasn't a good sound, he could hear it from behind three feet of Cinc Steel. “Linda, what happened to the shield?” “Sir, there wasn't enough power to deflect the metal.” A few seconds later the ship groaned and shuddered violently as alarms went off. “Computer, damage report!” a blueprint of the ship appeared on Vigilans view screen. The ship was a Class One Frigate, it had fifteen levels and four AM Engines. Levels 3 through 7 were flashing red. “Close blast doors now.” Slowly, one by one, the red changed into a dull gray as bulkheads closed. “Eject” The levels disappeared from the blueprints. They were tumbling in space, completely sealed. Now the Semper had a huge gaping hole were the levels had been.
    Avery looked up, “Sir I am picking up additional enemy contacts.” Vigilans turned from his screen. “How many?” Avery shook his head, “About fifty sir. It looks like a rebel fleet.” Vigilans sighed, he wasn't going to get planet leave very soon. “Linda, turn us around and give me seventy-five percent on the engines, Harry, charge our light-speed generators, and Avery, get me Admiral Whitwell's private line.”
    Vigilans took out a cigar as the crew rushed around the cockpit. Strictly speaking he wasn't supposed to smoke while on duty, but it calmed him down. Vigilans sighed once more, one Class One frigate against about fifty Battleships, Carriers, Cruisers, and their frigate escorts. Not exactly ideal odds. Of course, he was still the only captain left with a functional G.O.D.
    “Sir,” said Avery, “Whitwell's on Com one, I'll patch it through to you. Vigilans personal screen popped on. In it stood an aged man with shoulder length gray hair. The man had a hooked nose and his face was crisscrossed with lines.
    “Vigilans! How good to see you again!” Whitwell smiled, but his eyes didn't. Vigilans didn't understand why Whitwell disliked him, but he didn't really care at that particular moment. “Sir, I have some bad news, We have stumbled across a rebel fleet, it has an estimated fifteen destroyers, twenty carriers, five Cruisers, and ten Frigates. We have no missiles, our offensive laser system is off line, and we had to eject five damaged levels. We need the cavalry.”
    One thing you had to give to Whitwell, he was professional. He listened to every report intensly, no matter who delivered it. Whitwell stroked his chin, “i can't very well authorize a full battalion to charge in on the word of a single captain.” Vigilans scowled, “Avery, send Whitwell a video feed of the rebel fleet. Vigilans waited patiently for the vid to travel cyberspace. Whitwell tapped his personal pad and frowned. “Have you checked this info yet?” Vigilans smiled, “of course sir, we sent three probes and ran a diagnostics on our equipment, nothing is wrong.” Whitwell nodded, “alright, well, you just hang in tight over there son, we'll be there in about twenty minutes” with that Whitwell ended the call.
    “What are we going to do until the sir?” Vigilans smiled, “well, our G.O.D. Is still intact, lets go hunt down some rebel frigates and show them who owns space.”