Chapter 3

Earth bound history has ended. Universal history has begun.

- Earl Hubbard

The Stars were just a mere speck of light, shining in the distance mapping the skies, guiding the travelers of the old sailors and the new, and current space venturing people. Right now, however, Henderson is seeing a much different picture. What normally would map a journey, is blurred. The Stars were flying past him in multiple streams of spectacular light, leaving behind trails bringing the stars to life!

It has been three days out of four, since the Vox entered Faster than Light travel. The ship hummed and sang a song of travel. If it was not for the stars screaming by past the viewports, Henderson would not have known the ship was traveling at Seven times the speed of Light. In a normal military vessel, traveling at near the speed of light, the vibrations of spatial turbulence shook a ship ever so slightly, but was clearly noticeable. The Vox, however, glided through the stars so smoothly, it was like she was standing still.

Just as Henderson was enjoying the peaceful bliss of a smooth ride, the door to his office made a buzz, signaling someone was on the other side waiting to enter.

Henderson paused, taking in one last moment of peace when suddenly “buzz - beep”

“Come in” Henderson said Reluctantly turning toward the door, putting the beautiful rainbow of bent, spectral light behind him.

The Door hissed open and Ensign Carr came in.

“Well look at what we have here” Carr said

Since Henderson and Carr are childhood friends, they have a close relationship, which allows them to talk to each other in a closer way than Commanding Officer and Subordinate normally would.

“And what’s that?” Henderson asked as Carr walked in and sat on the couch under the window.

“A Dream that has come true!” she replied

Henderson walked to the medium sized Cold Storage unit attached to the wall, opened it and grabbed a few drinks from the shelves.

“Yea, this is a bit different than I imagined, but much better!” he said as he handed a glass to Carr.

“Me too, I always knew both of us would get a command one day, you getting one first.” She paused as she drank a sip of the liquid she got from Henderson.  “Scotch?”

“Yup. Vintage Nineteen Twenty-Three!” Henderson replied as he sat down on the other side of the couch.

“This must of been expensive! Where did you get it? ITs good!” she said as she enjoyed the old liquor.

“I found it.” just as Henderson was replying he was interrupted by a violent jolt that sent them both forward a bit, followed by several violent shakes. Henderson stood up to see the colorful display out the window slow down and return to the normal specs of white light painting the sky of normal space. Henderson struggled to get to the comm panel on his desk as the ship continued to violently shake, unable to reach the panel He followed Ensign Carr’s lead and headed right to the Bridge

As Carr and Henderson entered the bridge they noticed loud warning sounds, and the emergency lights were on.

“Report!” Henderson shouted as he made his way to the captain’s chair, and Ensign Carr fought her way to the helm.

“Sir, Slip-Stream is down” Commander O’Connel said as the computer continued to buzz warning sounds and started to chime in, in a male’s voice “Warning! External Emergency Dampers Off-Line, Re-Routing power to Compensate”

“Sir, reading multiple Hull breaches off Engine 3, and off the port wing!” Lt. Jackson shouted over all the commotion.  His in-experience is showing its fear.

“Sir, there is heavy drag off the port side, the other engines are over-working trying to compensate, we are about to lose them!” Carr said fighting the controls of the ship, while punching commands into her station

“Shut down Engine Three, and Two, reroute power to the other engines to Compensate!” Henderson shouted out.

Engine three is the Inside engine on the Port Wing, but shutting down Engine Two, which is the Inside engine on the Starboard wing he is attempting to reduce the extra drag and power the two starboard engines were giving of, versus the one on the port side.

“Warning, Hull breach Detected. Deck Twenty-Three, Section Five. Re-routing power to emergency Force fields” the Computer read aloud again.

“Sir, I can’t gain lateral control, we came out of Slip-Stream uncontrolled and too fast. With the external Dampeners off-line, the hull could start to buckle and tare the ship apart!” Carr said still fighting the flight controls.

“Options!” Henderson said

“Sir, we have to make repairs to the engine, but we need to come to a stop first” Jackson said “Repairs can only be made on the outside, unfortunately we do not have the resources to successfully repair the damage, especially at these speeds!” Jackson replied

“Can we jump to Earth?” O’Connel Asked

“Negative, Hyper drive system is off-line, besides if we exited Hyperspace at these speeds we would have absolutely no control, we could hit a ship, or worse head right into the atmosphere of Earth itself!” Carr replied

“Warning! Coolant levels Dropping, Nitrogen Pressure below recommended Safeties” the computer Chimed in

“Sir, we are venting Coolant off Engine Three!” Jackson said

            The Vox drive is a form of Cold Fusion, however the ion based fusion drives that provide propulsion in sub light speeds still needs to be regularly cooled. Liquid based Nitrogen is what provides the engines with the coolant they need. Without this, the engines would eventually overheat, resulting in a chain reaction that would detonate the Vox Drive, and everything within a 3 million Kilometer Distance.

            “We Land the ship!” a voice chimed in on the other side of the bridge

            “What?” replied Henderson

            “Sir, I am picking up a Type 3 Planet, bearing 215 mark 3” Lt. Heidi Jackson said

            “Type 3? That’s hazardous!” O’Connel shouted out

            A type 3 planet is a planet that is labeled as hazardous to human life, where as a Type 0 is Prime for life. Earth is classified as a type 0 planet.

            “Sir, without proper control, I cannot guarantee a safe landing” Ensign Carr stated

            “But, I have an idea” Carr added still fighting the controls of the out of control ship

            “I thought you might!” Henderson said as he shot up and made his way to the Conn while fighting the shaking from the ship

“WARNING! Main Vertical Stabilizers Down, Horizontal Stabilizers at Twenty-Five Percent. Attempting to Compensate” the computer blurted out

            “Shit! That just made life a Hell of a lot harder!” Carr cursed at the new status Update that the system said

            “What do you got Ensign?” Henderson asked

            “It may be possible to create a Magnetic Resonance Field around the ship, tune it to the very specific frequency from the planets natural Magnetic field, that will enable me to completely control our decent” Carr gave her improv idea

            “Create a make-shift Repulserlift!”

            “Exactly!” Carr said as the wheel shot hard to the right.

            “Damnit! I’m getting off course, Jackson I need more power to the Starboard engines!” Carr shouted out, and a few seconds later the steering handle shot back under Carr’s best efforts

“Jackson, thoughts?” O’Connel got up and headed to the Operations station and asked what was on everyone’s mind.

“Uh” Jackson Hesitated

“Rob! Come-on” Henderson shouted out as he made his way back to the Captain’s Chair

“Uh, Yes. Well. Maybe” Jackson muttered out

“Maybe? You want us to go on Maybe?” O’Connel said with fear in his voice

“It is possible, I will have to make adjustments on the fly, and.” There was a pause in Jackson’s response which Henderson caught quickly

“And?”

“Someone will have to take a shuttle ahead of us, send us a live stream of data on the planets Ionosphere so I can make the proper calculations. The Ships sensors won’t be able to adjust fast enough” Jackson hesitantly replied

“That’s one hell of a catch, that’s a suicide run for whoever ....” O’Connel was saying when Henderson interrupted him

“I will”

“Sir, with all due Respect, your place is here on the bridge”

“WARNING!” Horizontal Stabilizers Down, Vertical Stabilizers Down. Unable to Compensate. External Inertia Dampeners Off-Line Enabling Secondary Systems” The Computer blurted out again with Carr responding with several profanities right after.

“We don’t have time to debate this Commander, the best damn pilot in the fleet won’t be able to land this pretty soon, I have to act now” Henderson said as he headed to the main Elevator door

“Gee, Thanks Boss!” Carr shouted jokingly.

Henderson hit the Comm switch right beside the Elevator door as he continued to hold his balance “Bridge to Fighter Bay One. Get Betsy ready to launch”

“You have the Bridge commander!” Henderson said as the doors closed.

Commander O’Connel sat down in the Captain’s chair a bit hesitantly. This would be his first time taking command of a ship, even if it is just temporary

Henderson exited the Elevator on Deck Twelve, center of the ship. Main Fighter Bay. The Elevator system took him right to the main room. Thor door opened to a vast space, very large and filled with Fighters, all of them the New X-401 that was also designed by Henderson.

The X-401 Is a highly advanced Fighter, it was designed by Henderson along with a few people from the Naval Corp of Engineers, and it was thought up, and brought to paper after the Vox was. Yet it was developed and mass produced a good two years before the Vox was finished.

The X-401, or “Metamorph” as its pilots have begun to call it, brings the best of Space Combat, and Inter-Planetary Aerial Combat in one package. Before the X-401 the Federation had their fighters split in two groups. The F-101 and the F-201 were the main fighting force for the Earth Air Defense Task Group. They were excellent fighters for Planetary defense, but were unable to venture into space. The X-301 was the answer and was easily adopted as the first fighter for the newly formed Federation Navy. It performed above all expectations in space maneuverability, and combat support. It was also able to enter an atmosphere of a planet, however it could not maneuver within an atmosphere, which made its performance as an aerial fighter nearly nonexistent.

New Recruit John Henderson solved this problem with the X-401. This fighter is the first of its kind. It houses more firepower than any fighter previous built under any military, and had the capabilities for space and aerial maneuverability. The X-401 even Out Maneuvered the 201 in standard air maneuvers. It is able to do this with its groundbreaking Flight modes.

The 401 in Stand-by, and Planetary Entry mode is its basic form. It uses a long, skinny fuselage that is more of a rectangle in shape, with it getting skinner up front housing a pointy nose section just after the cockpit. Under the Fuselage on both sides houses the two engines the fighter uses. The Fuselage also houses 2 Torpedo / Missile launchers for space combat only. The 401 has 2 Wings. In Stand-by the wings are folded, underneath the Fuselage. While folded the wings completely cover the fuselage, they get really wide in the rear, angling and pointing out the front. This fold enables the Fighter to enter a planet’s atmosphere with ease, as the outer layer is coated with a heat and friction resistant material. This mode is also used for standard flight while in space.

Space Combat mode is a tad different. When Space Combat is initiated, the wings separate, come out to the side of the ship, and are now horizontal to the fuselage. The wide end stays in the back and the pointy sections stay up front. On the top and bottom where the curve of the wing goes to the end, they fold about 45 degrees inward. Then the two wings become Four, both wings split right down the center, and each separate wing of this quad fighter separates. Two up top, Two on the bottom. Each wing houses one laser cannon each and one torpedo launcher per side.

Aerial Combat mode is where the ship shows its true potential. After the fighter enters the atmosphere it is in the Standby mode. The Pilot must angle the nose downward toward the surface before engaging Aerial Flight. Once done, the Wings separate just like in Space Combat, however they do not separate a second time. Instead the go from Horizontal, to Vertical and the Pointy side of the wings points to the side of the fighter. Then the wings tilt Backward roughly 45 Degrees giving maximum Aerodynamics. Essentially it transforms into an Ancient Earth Plane.

Henderson hoped into the ready to go X-401, closed the cockpit and started entering the controls to take off. As the Fighter Bay doors opened up a female voice came over the speaker. It was the Artificial Intelligence that was being tested in some of the small, one or two-man craft.

“Good Morning Captain”

“Not now Betsy we got work to do!” Henderson said as he lifted off.

The Engines started to whine up while he pointed the nose of the fighter toward the open doors, Henderson pushed slowly on the throttle lever and exited the ship faster than he should have.

“Betsy, establish a continuous data link to the Vox Computer, and patch it through the Operations Station” Henderson said

“As you wish. Is there something I should be Looking for?” the AI was certainly very human like in how it was able to talk.

“When we enter the planets Ionosphere, you need to transmit the Magnetic Frequencies to Vox”

“That I can do, however you should know I am starting to pick up some very large energy readings ahead, Not consistent with a Type 3 planetoid”

The two ships were getting closer, and closer to the planet and it was getting larger by the second in both viewports.

“Henderson to Vox, Data link should be set up, we will momentarily lose connection once I .........” Henderson was speaking to the crew on the bridge of the Vox, when all of a sudden he cut out to Static. At the same time the small two-man fighter vanished from sight. O’Connel saw this and stood up very quickly, almost tripping over the shaking ship.

“What the Hell, HARD TO PORT!” O’Connel shouted!

“Henderson to Vox, Data Link should be set up, we will momentarily lose connection once I enter the Atmosphere.... WHAT THE HELL!” Henderson was sending a status report when all of a sudden, Large Massive chunks of Debris came out of thin air! He had unknowingly entered a very massive Debris Field. Henderson pulled up on the Yolk, turning it to avoid chunk after chunk, pieces of Hull everywhere. It is clear he had entered a long lost Battlefield, as the Debris was not caused by nature. some of the Debris were whole ships, Massive Space Ships floating, Derelict in space. Henderson tried everything, Pushing, pulling, tugging on the Yolk making quick changes in his path almost instantly trying to avoid the Debris. When he finally got clear of the field the first thing he saw was the planet, and he saw a completely different sight. Instead of a massive, Yellow-Red toxic wasteland, he saw a Medium sized Blue-Green beautiful bright planet.

“What the Hell, HARD TO PORT!” O’Connel shouted!

Carr reacted faster than the commander gave the order, she pulled her yolk back, and turned it left trying to make a quick turn to avoid whatever it was that caused Henderson to Disappear. The planet Tilted and began to leave the forward viewports on the right when all of a sudden, Massive Chunks of Debris came out of Nowhere! Carr’s eyes widened as she quickly re-adjusted her controls to avoid the super massive ship that they were about to Collide with!

“What the fuck! EVASIVE MANEUVERS!” O’Connel shouted

“WARNING!!! COLLISION ALERT, ADJUST HEADING! TOO CLOSE! TOO CLOSE” The Computer screamed all at the same time.

The Vox moved very fluidly despite having two engines down, and venting drive coolant.

Carr was moving almost too quickly. The Average person would think she was not human the way she was going from controls, to Yolk, back to controls. Switching and pushing butts with emotion and force, not taking her eyes off her HUD readouts.

“Give me more Power in the Thrusters, Her Fat Ass is not keeping up!” Carr shouted

“Re-Routing power to the aft thrusters!” Jacksons voice was trembling. If Anyone were to guess, He probably has some wet pants at this point

“Sir! I am picking up Several Billion pieces of Debris in our immediate vicinity! Ranging from the size of a piece of sand, all the way to... Three times the size of the Independence!” Lt. Johnson son shouted

“PROXIMITY ALERT! OBJECT AHEAD, TOO CLOSE. ADJUST HEADING!” The Computer continued to scream.

The Vox moved Up, then a sharp Dive to avoid a large chunk of Hull that was about to smack right into Vox’s nose. As the Vox took a sharp dive, Ensign Carr realized she had made a critical error. The Dive she took to avoid a chunk of debris, took the Vox into an area with no escape.

Ensign Carr had frozen up, she had terribly miscalculated her trajectory, and missed the sensor readouts on her HUD. Rooky mistake, she knew this. All she could do is stare in horror as she knew what she had done, just sentenced Three hundred and fifty people to their deaths.

Ensign Carr was not the only one who noticed the sudden doom, everyone on the bridge was watching in horror as their lives flashed before their eyes.

Henderson had maneuvered his fighter to the point where the computer reported the Vox was maneuvering her way through the massive Debris field, he sat and watched as she twisted, shifted, slid through the pieces, and cracks of the dead ships. Then, she took a sharp dive, and went out of sight, he saw nothing but debris and had feared the worst.

“Lieutenant! Fire at Will!” Commander O’Connel shouted at the top of his lungs as he lurched out of his seat.

The quick Tactical officer started mashing all her buttons, activating as many weapons as she could, and put them on a continuous fire mode.

As the commander gave the order to fire weapons, something in Carr ignited a fire inside her. She knew, instinctively that the commanders plan would not work. Well, it would not work without a twist. Literally. Without orders, acting on pure intuition, Carr routed power to the maneuvering thrusters, then set the port thrusters to a 45-degree dorsal angle, and the starboard thrusters for a similar angle, however facing toward the ventral angle. She had then jerked her flight yolk as hard to port as she could, also putting the main engines in the same pattern, just not as a sharp of an angle. This combo put the Vox in a fast spin to the port side, and she held it there as long as she could while giving the throttle full power.

            The Vox came charging the piece of debris ahead, spinning wildly firing multiple bursts of energy, and several plasma torpedo charges while at the last minute, the main duel plasma-based beam weapons. When firing in the current spin maneuver, the beam weapons helped cut a circle through the debris while the other weapons cleared, and destroyed anything in its current path.

            “All hands, Brace for Impact!!!” O’Connel shouted into the comm as he strapped himself into the captain’s chair. Everyone except Ensign Carr did the same thing in their stations. Carr knew, if she let go of the yolk, the maneuver would stop and hope of saving the ship would drop dramatically.
            The view screen showed the explosions from the impact of the weapons getting closer and closer, everyone but Carr closed their eyes.

            From a considerable distance, Henderson watched in horror as he saw a massive explosion coming from where the Vox made her fatal error.

            NO! Henderson thought to himself as he was stunned in horror.

Just as quick as he thought his friends, and his legacy was gone, he noticed energy discharges, and two red beams in a circular pattern emerge from the bottom of the explosion, followed quickly by, the Vox!

            Henderson let out a cry of excitement “YEAA!”

            Right as the big ball of fire came to the front of the ship, she shook and lurched forward everyone feared the worst. Then Day turned to Night, the explosions disappeared and was replaced by the pitch black background with small white twinkling balls of light.

Carr let out an immediate sigh of relief as the bridge crew realized they had come out alive, and all jumped up and cheered at the top of their lungs. They all hugged, kissed, and released their emotions of joy. Ensign Carr stopped her maneuver, and brought the ship back to galactic level, and attempted to slow down, which she knew was impossible from the damage they had sustained. They were out of the Debris field.

            “Henderson to Vox, please respond!” Captain Henderson attempted contact with his ship.

            “Sir! O’Connel here” the Commander replied as he accepted the hail on the captain’s console “hot DAMN sir! Your girl here is amazing!!! I have never seen such brilliant flying in my life! She just saved four hundred souls today! I am sorry I had ever doubted her!” O’Connel praised the Vox’s young pilot

            Instead of being excited to get such high praise from her superior officer, Ensign Carr was frightened. ‘Saved the crew?’ she thought to herself. ‘I almost go them killed!’

            “I told you she was the best! I’m glad you’re alright, Ensign set course -” Henderson began to reply when he was interrupted by a large energy blast striking the Vox.

            On the bridge of the Vox excitement was not over. As she suddenly got hit from a massive energy blast, massive explosions erupted all over the bridge. Several support beams fell on the crew, and three fires had started. Main lighting was down; secondary view screens were just showing static. And suddenly, before anyone knew what had happened - BOOM! Another massive explosion rocked the ship throwing anyone who was standing up right on the floor.

            Sitting in the fighter away from the ship Henderson noticed something he didn’t see before, a platform several klicks away from the Vox firing a massive blue shot at her. It was a Defense turret!

            “Captain, I am reading a massive energy turret firing on the Vox at Point Three-Three-Seven.” Betsy said while being very observant.

            “Great job stating the obvious! Switch to Space Combat mode!” Henderson yelled out as he started to pilot his fighter toward the turret. The X-401 Deployed its wings in the classic 4 wing design, exposing all space weapons and charging up Shields, and Weapon systems.

            “Vox, can you adjust your heading? We need to take that turret out” Henderson shouted into the Com

            “Negative sir” Johnson shouted out “Our Sensors are down; we have no idea where we are being shot from!”

            “I am transmitting its location, adjust heading and give it everything you got!”

            “Aye sir” O’Connel replied.

            Henderson sent the location to his ship, and Carr received it promptly. Using previous Navigation charts she was able to guess her vector, and adjust her heading as needed.

It didn’t take much to destroy the small satellite that was continually firing on the Vox. Once Henderson’s fighter transformed itself into Combat mode, all four wings started blazing bolts of energy toward the turret. While continually firing on it, the turret simply ignored the fighter and continued its barrage on the small Frigate. The Cylinder shaped satellite seemed to be large enough to house everything it needed to be self-sustaining, it normally even had a shield generator to protect it from enemies that wish to invade the area it is protecting.

Just less than a few seconds of unleashing everything the small fighter has on the satellite, the unknown Turret explodes, leaving everyone very confused. The Vox herself never even completed her turn to open fire before the defense structure was obliterated.

“Woah!” Henderson remarked as he was still expecting to give it all he had. “What the hell happened?”

“I cannot be certain, as there are still numerous variables to account, however initial scans reveal the defense satellite was only utilizing a small fraction of a percent of its total power. Each blast that was fired at the Vox decreased in power, and intensity by Seventy-Two percent each shot. Based on its power requirements I estimate the satellite was capable of firing shots that were several thousand times stronger than what hit the Vox” The A.I Known as ‘Betsy’ responded to Henderson’s remark in her usual robotic female voice

“Is it just me, or does no one notice our Toxic planet looks like Earth?” Lt. Jackson pointed out as the bridge crew looked back to the view screen up front.

Despite the damage the ship has sustained, the forward view screen is still a window. The Forward View screen is capable of displaying full images just like any display panel or like the other view screens around the ship, however when the sensors are damaged, and the ship is unable to show an image or HUD, the forward view screen basically shuts off and the crew is able to look out it like a normal window seeing part of the ships nose right in front of them.

“I’m not sure Lieutenant. “Commander O’Connel said, giving a very sarcastic tone and emphasizing the ‘Lieutenant’ as he slowly turned to face him. “You are the ops officer, what does your console say?”

Realizing that the commander was right, he looked down at his console to check the sensor readouts “Uh-y-yes sir. Sir sensors are reading a typical class 0 planet. Atmosphere consists of Seventy-Seven Percent Nitrogen and Twenty-One Percent Oxygen. Average planetary temperature, Eighty-Five degrees Fahrenheit. Its nice down there!” Jackson promptly replied

“Sir, I have regained control of the Stabilizers. I can now control our Decent and land safely.” Ensign Carr said

“Good” Captain Henderson voice came over the comm system. “Land the ship as planed so we can get a start of these repairs”

“Sir I can get the Fighter Bay ready for you” O’Connel chimed in

“Negative, I’m going to ride this all the way down”

“Sir, I must object” O’Connel seemed really adamant

“Objection noted, now guide her down” Henderson snapped at his first officer. “Ensign, take her down nice and easy”

“Yes sir” Ensign Carr replied as if she was talking to her superior officer. Which she was, however she would normally have replied with a smart-ass answer that normally complemented their friendship.

“Albright I’ll go down first, set your vector to follow, I should be able to scout for a landing zone” Henderson gave out his orders

“Aye sir, Vox out” O’Connel said as he sat back down on the captain’s chair

“Alright let’s do this” Henderson said as he piloted his fighter toward the big blue marble that had cleverly concealed itself until they got closer. “Betsy engage planetary entry mode”

“Acknowledged” the female A.I replied “Setting power distribution accordingly. Disabling weapons, setting shields to full ventral, setting wings for standard flight mode.”

As they prepared and got into position, the fighter folded its wings twice, returning it to its previous mode. The Wings were now directly under the fuselage covering the ship in its entirety, cockpit and engine area, with the heat-resistant surface that covers the wings facing down. the prism shape gives it a unique ability to slip through the atmosphere without very much resistance.

“Alright let’s do this, nice and easy” Henderson said “Vox, my vector is locked, entering upper Ionosphere now, will be in blackout zone shortly, re-establish contact once clear of atmosphere”

“Roger that, Good luck on your decent. Vox out” O’Connel said as the Vox moved into position herself for a very rough landing.

Just shortly after that Henderson put the planet directly under him, flames, heat, and intense radiation started bombarding the under belly of the fighters as the turbulence shook the cockpit of the small fighter.

On the view screen of the Vox the bridge crew could see a small fireball flying through the atmosphere of the planet just below them.

“Sir, our vector is green, holding steady at point oh oh five. Atmosphere entry in Fourth Five Seconds” Ensign Carr said as she read her interments.

“Alright Ensign, take her down nice and easy” O’Connel said “All hands, prepare for planetary entry!”

The planet was still directly in front of them when the timer counted down to Fifteen seconds, then Ensign Carr adjusted her flight yolk and the planet came directly under them, she pulled back on the throttle lever that was on her right side, and the ship started falling down. Just as quick as this all started, the Vox was being bombarded with the same heat, friction, and radiation as Brigg’s fighter was.

“Sir” Betsy ross chimed in with her computerized voice “estimating save zone in T minus 10 seconds”

“Yup your readings are correct” Henderson said “get ready for atmo flight”

“Preparing subsystems” Bets said as a few bottoms chimed and flickered.

Just as quickly as they started the flames outside the ship died down, instead of a bright red-orange inferno outside of the window, now was a bright blue and green hue as the nose of the fighter was facing up. This, however was not a good thing. Brigg’s fighter came in at a wrong angle, his nose is facing up when it should be down, this causes full engine failure as the engines need intake for them to work in the atmosphere.

“Sir, our vector is not optimal, Engines are nonoperational. I am unable to compensate.” Betsy said

“I see that!” Henderson said as he was fighting his flight yoke to try to correct his problem.

“Fire the dorsal thrusters” Henderson shouted out

“Firing dorsal thrusters” Betsy replied as the front top thrusters started firing, bringing the nose of the fighter down but burning up valuable fuel needed for the Atmosphere engines to operate.

As the fighter came at a decent angle facing down Henderson was able to regain control. “Alright that’s enough, cut thrusters, fire engines” Henderson commanded out as he continued to struggle to stabilize his fighter. Without the engines running, the fighter cannot deploy its wings to create aerodynamic flight, so maintaining a safe vector is extremely hard without his engines.

“Engines fired up” Betsy the A.I Said as Henderson could hear a loud whine as the engines fired up and provided thrust. “I have been programed to safely maneuver in Atmosphere, if you like I can set a course and land the ship safely”

“Negative, I too was ‘programed’ for optimal atmosphere flight!” Henderson replied as the fighter switched to Atmosphere mode, the wings unfolded into a proper Aircraft. When the transformation was complete, Henderson put the throttle at full power and yanked his flight yoke into a spin “Sir, this is not ‘optimal’ Flight” the Female A.I. said

“It sure is not, but it is FUN! Yeee Hawww!!” Henderson replied.

“Coming in at Point Four Three Nine, Mark Sevan” Ensign Carr reported as she lined the Vox up for Atmosphere Entry. “Set friction shield on full”

“ETA?” Commander O’Connel asked Ensign Carr

“Atmo entry in T Minus Fifteen Seconds”

“Attention All Hands” O’Connel said after he pushed a small button on the Captain’s panel that controls internal communications “We will be hitting Atmosphere in 10 seconds. Brace for impact!”

And just a few seconds later, a very large jolt shook the crew of the Vox as the viewport turned from a blue marble, on a black background, to a violent aurora of bright Yellow-Red-Orange destructive force all around the ship

“T Minus One Minute until out of Blackout” Carr yelled over the sounds of the Violent action that the Vox is going through.

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            Henderson was having too much fun waiting for the Vox to join him. He was completing Barrel Rolls, Loops and various other tight maneuvers, he didn’t even notice what was awaiting him.

            “Sir, I believe you should look at this, your fun time can wait” Betsy said

This caught Johns attention, he had calmed down a bit and put the fighter on autopilot to check into what his A.I was talking about

            “Alright Betsy what is this that you spotted”

Popped up on the display panel of his fighter was an aerial view taken from his fighter, of an ancient abandoned City. The city was massive, larger than any single city that Earth had.

            “Woah” Henderson said “I guess this truly answered the question, are we alone out there”

            “That would seem Logical, my database indicates that no human has ever been to this planet, yet the structures that are here have very strong similarities to the Architectural design of buildings on Earth”

            “What is this?” Henderson was asking referring to a small spectrograph display on his other display

            “That is a very faint power signature I am picking up from within the City, I am unable to localize it.”

            As Henderson was analyzing his findings he looks up, to see a massive Fireball coming down headed right toward him.

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