Chapter 1
"Keep near the ship!" Zahra called out to her crew, who were scattered throughout the burning wreckage of their ship. Smoke drifted around them, causing her to cough now and then.
A Sri’thaen ship had surprised them hours ago when it dropped out of hyperdrive and suddenly began firing plasma shots at their ship. After a fierce fire fight in space, both ships now laid strewn out on the surface of this dwarf planet. Thankfully, the planet had breathable air. Otherwise, they'd have perished the moment their ship had crashed, causing the hull to split wide open. They’d lost many men, but they didn’t have time to think about or mourn their loses. There was a Sri’thaen threat in the form of the other crashed ship.
Small fires burned all around them in the dusky night. It'd been dusk for several hours now, and Zahra wondered if dusk was the only light this side of the tiny planet received. Unlike other planets, it might move a lot slower resulting in longer days or nights, or didn’t move at all. The smoke nearly choked them all whenever the wind blew toward them.
Plasma shots zipped past them. The heat of the plasma sizzling through the air.
“We've been pinned down, Commander."
Zahra grimaced at the new title. She'd been third in line to take command, but both her superior officers had been killed after the attack and in the resulting crash. Commander Zahra would sound better under normal circumstances, but under these... well, it sucked. Her mind still struggled with the realization she'd never pass those men again in the corridors. Never enjoy speaking with them in the mess hall. Never shareanother joke with them. And she’d probably never get their bodies back to their families.
"We have no choice but to stay here and protect our position." Zahra answered the man. "The inside of the ship, or what's left of it has filled with toxic fumes from the multiple fires inside. We will have to find the best cover and hunker down until rescue comes for us.” Assuming it did, but she wasn’t about to say her worries out loud. One problem at a time.
"We have no rations." Another man mentioned, sounding a bit frantic at the realization they might starve if the Sri’thaens didn’t kill them first.
Zahra frowned. "I doubt many of us will live long enough to care about rations, if we don’t get rid of the Sri’thaen threat." Like she’d said, one problem at a time. Right now, the pressing issue facing them were the Sri’thaens who wanted them dead.
"True." Another man, she thought it might have been Finn sighed, sounding exhausted from the constant state of stress they found themselves spinning around in. "I'd just messaged my wife we were on our way back for some well-earned leave. When I don't message her again with an ETA, she's going to know something happened. I can't bear to think how that'll affect her."
Zahra clapped him on the back, her eyes never wavering from his own. "We've got the distress beacon signaling for backup. Don't lose hope quite yet. Hold in there, Lieutenant."
Logan skidded across the barren ground like he was trying to steal home base in a baseball match, sending up a plume of dust.
Coughing, Zahra waved a hand in front of her face trying to clear the dirt from the air.
"Sorry, Commander." Logan apologized as he sat up and noticed all the dust on everyone's suites. “Sorry.” He apologized to them all as they patted down their clothing.
"What's it looking like out there?" She asked.
"Not good." Logan shrugged. "The Sri’thaens pretty much got us surrounded. We might be able to sneak away by going behind the ship, but it looks to be just open space. They'd have clear shots of us running away. We’d just be target practice."
"We will stay put then.” Zahra decided with a firm nod of her head. “At least here we have cover. It may even buy us enough time for a rescue."'
"Assuming Earth has a ship to spare." Someone muttered, ever the optimist.
"There'll be no negativity.” Zahra growled at her men. “The moment you give up, you've handed the enemy the victory." Zahra tried her best at a pep talk that even she didn't believe. The Sri’thaens may have crashed alongside them, but they held the advantage. At least for now. Tables could always turn.
"What the fuck are those?" Logan raised a trembling hand as his tone turned both horrified and awed.
Following where he pointed, Zahra's mouth dropped to the dry, cracked ground at their feet. Try as she might to keep her composure, the aliens or creatures or whatever they were... they were beyond anything her mind could process. The massive beings were pure black and their colored eyes seemed to glow. They had to be pushing around seven to eight feet tall. Humanoid... almost. Two arms and two legs, but their heads. It was like a crown of black horns that curved back up from behind their heads. There were black protrusions sprouting from the backs of their elbows. A natural weapon?
"You all see what I see, right?" Zahra asked her men, just to make sure it wasn't the toxic fumes making her delusional. Unless of course they all were exposed and delusional, but it'd be weird for all their delusions to be the same.
"Some giant black alien species?" Finn asked when he found his voice.
"Yeah." Zahra confirmed in awe.
"See it." The men around her echoed.
"Are they... are they firing at the Sri’thaens?" Logan asked, hope filling his voice.
"Looks like it." Zahra responded, as her heart soared. Perhaps they had an ally.
"Friendlies?” A woman asked from nearby.
Zahra shrugged. Despite a few of her men being posted within eyesight, the black aliens ignored them.
