The Color of Stars

The Color of Stars
A story by Raymond Carson

Prologue: Blood of the Past
“Why do we bleed? It is to atone for our kin.. to beg for forgiveness.”
                                                           -Kiitk

         The war had started long ago. Without notice, colonies began disappearing, nobody knew the cause. Nobody was ever heard from again in the settlements that were attacked. We had thought ourselves to be the only ones in the universe, and expanded without limits. To the stars we went, settling on every world we found habitable. We did not know that we were encroaching on someone else’s space. We had not known that we were frolicking in another’s lawn.

         If we had known, this would never have happened. Millions would still be alive, billions would never have had to suffer for our mistakes. We were foolish, and we were punished for our transgressions. Like a purple storm they came, raining fire down upon us. No mercy.. for we had desecrated their land. We had defiled their home. The Viperians would not even speak to us, the only sounds from them were the relentless hammer of cannon fire.

         Women, children, it mattered not to them. We were all the same. We were all guilty. Entire worlds fell to their might. Even the finest of our battle cruisers was crushed by a simple frigate of theirs. For every one we killed, thousands of us died.

         Did we give up? No. Did we cry for mercy? Yes. Did it ever come to us? No. We had no other choice. We had to survive, for hundreds of years we fought. For hundreds of years we died. The blood of our brothers strengthened our resolve. The tears of our families gave us power. Using the sheer power of will, we held the line. We used our bodies as shields, no longer worried for ourselves, we would sacrifice without hesitation. The war dragged on, for decades, until one day.. everything changed.

         They thought peace was impossible, we had suffered so much for no reason. They had slaughtered us for as long as we could remember. They had shown no mercy for an act we never knew we committed. Yet, something changed. This is the story of that change, of two beings that united two sides, Two heroes that stopped an endless war. Some may say it is fiction, but their words are forever etched into the souls of all mankind.. and originated from our very aggressors.

Chapter One: Bad Day
“You can never extinguish the human spirit, it burns with the blood of our fallen!”
                                       -Arron

         The day started off good. Hell, maybe perfect. I woke up, washed my face and felt refreshed. I was ready to greet the day. My name is Arron, and today I was going to test our last hope for survival. I was a Vanguard pilot for the Coopertive Earth Coalition, or C.E.C. for short. I had spent the better half of my life training for combat, I had gotten an early start piloting de-militarized Vanguards for my father in transportation at a young age. Back then, I had a family. I had an older brother, a younger sister and two parents. Not many kids in that time could say that, most were either orphans or lost both of their parents in the Great War.

         I guess I considered myself lucky. I had an entire family, one that I loved very much. I can say I had a good childhood, up to the point where everything changed for the worst. See, I used to live on an outerlying planet. One of the fringe worlds, Eonus. It was popular for its rich ecosystem, and many families flocked to it to escape the ravages of the war torn planets. For some reason the Viperians.. curse their name.. chose to ignore it. My family worked for one of the richest construction companies planetside. We lived in a big house that overlooked the orange seas. Now, you may be wondering why they were orange, but lets stay on subject shall we?
         
         Everything changed for me on a day that began like this one. I woke up, washed my face and felt as if i could take on the world! I was sadly mistaken though.. that day turned out to be the worst day of my life. I remember at about noon, the skies darkened with Viperian ships. For a few hours, they simply stayed in place. My older brother was next to me, trying to calm my younger sister. I can still remember her saddened cries. All I could do was stare at the sky, wishing it wasn’t true.. that what I was seeing was an illusion.

         “Please don’t cry Kayla, everything will be okay. I wont let them hurt you..” I remembered my brother saying. That was the last thing I remembered before a thousand flashes of purple light lit up the sky. When I awoke, my brother and sister were both laying on top of me. I tried to wake them, but they never woke. No matter how hard I shook them, no matter how hard I cried for them to wake.. they never did.

         I remember the horrible stench.. being drenched in blood and seeing nothing but flames for as far as I could see. Mother and Father never came for me. Nobody was left. Nothing but fire. All I could do is sit there and cry. Now, it wasn’t all bad. At least I was rescued. The C.E.C. dispatched a  fleet of relief and rescue ships to our world after a few weeks. I had been living in the burnt out wreckage of my home, eating whatever food I could find. They found me wandering around aimlessly, a broken expression over my face. One of the rescue workers thought I was a ghost a first, because when I looked at him it sent a shiver up his spine nearly instantly.

         
         A lot of things during that time in my life are very fuzzy. One thing I do remember though, was Mishka. She was the one who originally found me. He had such a nice smile.. she reminded me of mother more than anything. For a moment upon seeing her, I really thought she was my mother. She had held me as I cried for hours, and from there she adopted me. Everything returned to normal, well.. for the most part. She was the only one who could make me smile, and for quite a while she was the only one who could make me speak.

         I lived aboard the rescue and relief ship, C.E.C. Ariadne. It was my home for the longest of time. I helped the crew rescue many people for years until I heard the call of duty. As we were passing through a military outpost, I saw a flight of Vanguard fighters flying beside our ship in escort. As I looked at the cockpit of the closest one, the pilot gave me a smile and wave. From that point on I knew what I wanted to become. I wanted to be a Vanguard pilot. I wanted to serve and protect.. I wanted to be the one to save others from my fate. So here I am, standing in front of my mirror, drying my face off with a towel. Will today be one of those days? I’ll let you find out soon enough I guess.

         There’s something I always keep with me, a picture of my family I found back at my house after the attack. I keep it so I never forget why I’m fighting. I keep it so I’ll never forget my brother, sister... mother and father. Without a family, all I am is a soldier with no purpose. This way... I still have a family.

         “All Pilots please report to your stations, we are starting test runs of the new Type-02 Vanguards.” Said a feminine voice over the ship’s intercoms. Glancing at my watch, I suddenly realized how late I was.

         “You’ve got to stop reminiscing, Arron.” I said to the blue eyed, tan skinned, raggy brown haired teenaged reflection staring back at me in the mirror. Quickly, I nabbed the picture of my family and stowed it safely in one of my pants pockets. Turning on a dime and dashing out of the washroom, I stepped into my flight boots beside the door. Hastily grabbing my flight jacket, I slapped the door button to open it. Before long, I was dashing down the long hallway leading to the Vanguard Hangar.

         “Hey Arron, wait for us!” called a feminine voice from behind him. I looked over my shoulder to see one of my fellow pilots. Sharah was her name, and if she didn’t look nearly identical to my little sister I thought I may have had a crush on her. She did have nice, long hair with a lovely scarlet color, just like Kayla. Though of course, being a older teenager and a pilot, she had quite the nice body. Her eyes disturbed me a little though, being bright yellow in color. Running right next to her was the best friend a guy like me could ask for. I met Derrek in the recruitment office of the United Space Force, or USF for short. He was an orphan who never knew his family, we stuck together in basic training. We’ve been through thick and thin, him and I.

         “Damnit Arron, some of us dont have freakishly long legs. Would you slow down?” I heard him say. I laughed and slowed my pace.

         “You should run the track more often Derrek, maybe then you could keep up!” I teased. He frowned at me as they caught up, falling in pace with me.

         “Hey, be nice guys.” Said Sharah. “That’s no way to start the day off.” I nodded my head in agreement.

         “Yeah, don’t be such a prude.” I said accusingly, looking directly at Derek. Sharah giggled and whacked me rather hard on the arm. “Ow! Okay okay, I’ll stop.” I said, laughing a bit.

         Before long we had reached the hangar entrance. Standing on both sides of the door were security guards. Clad in heavy armor you’d think they were ready for war. “Morning Arron, Sharah, Derrek.” Said one of them. “Late again? You three are going to be the death of us, I swear.”

         “Don’t worry Gael, I’ll protect you.” Sharah said, quickly giving the guard a peck on the cheek. I swear his helmet was going to melt because of how red his face was. The other guard burst into laughter, obviously amused by Sharah’s tease.

         “A-allright, get going already!” Gael stammered, cheeks redder than beets. Sharah giggled and walked into the hangar. I walked in with her, Derrek following close behind.

         “Well that was kinda mean.” I said with an amused tone. Derek put his arm across my shoulders.

         “Oh don’t be such a spoil-sport. You of all people should know she likes to tease guys who have obvious crushes on her.” I couldn’t disagree there, she used to do that to me despite the fact I never had one.

         “All Pilots please report to your stations, we are starting test runs for the new Type-02 Vanguards” came the voice once again over the intercom.

         “I guess we should get to our stations, eh?” I said, the two nodded and we went our separate ways. The new type-02 Vangaurds were special. I don’t remember exactly what our commanding officers said, but I think he said they have to do with new tech based on the Viperian tech. Reguardless, my friends and I were chosen to pilot them.

         Reaching my own fighter, I began to climb the ladder to the pilot’s cockpit. Sliding into the seat, I took the pilot helmet from the dashboard and put it on. Flipping a small switch on the side, view screens began popping up across the visor. I pulled down a microphone on the opposite side of the helmet level with my mouth. Closing the cockpit by pulling the door down, I reached out and began powering the sleek fighter up.

         A dull hum of power coursed through the ship, displays and gauges blinking on. I took hold of the steering mechanism, each hand wrapped around a joystick on either side of me. This was the feeling I longed for. To fly through space.. to protect.

         “FP 101 ready for take off.” I announced. Sharah and Derreck both announced their ready, using 202 and 303. The hangar’s caution strobes began blinking as the lights dimmed and each plane was dragged into position by a carriage.

         “Roger FP 101, 202, and 303. Starting launch procedure.” Said the same feminine voice. “Opening bay doors.”  There was a mechanical grind, and the hiss of escaping air as the large, thick hangar doors in front of them began opening. I moved my hand to the throttle, pushing it forwards a bit. A mechanical whine filled my ears as the engines spun up, a soft white glow reflecting off of the walls as a supersonic jet of flame began spouting from the two engine nozzles. The carriage held my plane in place against the force of the jets.

         “FP 101 launching!” I exclaimed, pushing the carriage release button. I was forced back in my seat as the fighter burst forward along the track. A loud mechanical snap indicated that I had separated from the carriage as I flew past the open hangar doors and into open space. A thousand thousand glittering stars splashed with an orange color greeted me.

         “FP 202 launching!” I heard Sharah say, and soon she was flying right next to me. Falling into formation next to the C.E.C. Thanatos, it was several minutes before we heard Derek’s voice.

         “Sorry guys, I’m going to have to sit this one out.” He said. “The launch carriage didn’t separate from my plane..” I could hear electrical buzzes and zaps in the transmission.

         “You okay, mate?” I asked, a bit worried.

         “Yeah, I’m fine.. I can’t say the same about the 303 though.” He replied. As soon as we circled the ship and came around to the hangar bay I understood what he meant. He was sitting on top of the cockpit window, waving at us. It looked like the entire back half of the 303 tore away, leaving the front end of the plane buried in the hangar floor. “Don’t worry about me, you guys go have fun.” He said before hopping down.

         “101 and 202, please proceed to the training area. You will be practicing evasive manuvers under live fire. The location is a small asteroid field nearby. The thanatos will be firing live rounds at you from outside the field, try to avoid our shots.” Explained the feminine voice over the comm. Live rounds, things were starting to get serious. I pitched to the side and began moving off to the asteroid field, Sharah in formation right beside me.

         “This sounds a little dangerous Arron..” she said to me in a hushed tone. I chuckled to myself. The great ace Sharah was afraid of a little battery fire. They never tell us anything about our exercises to test our reactions in unforeseen conditions.

         “Afraid of a little cannon battery fire?” I said to her in a teasing tone.

         “O-of course not!” she retorts frustratingly. She huffs and I heard  her turn her comm system off.

         “Oh come on, I was kidding! Don’t be such a prude!” I exclaim vainly over the comm system. I look at her through the cockpit window. She sticks her tongue out at me and breaks formation, flying into a separate area of the asteroid field. I sigh and mentally slap myself.

         “101 and 202, we will start the exercise momentarily. We will be simulating enemy weapons fire, so you better come back alive. We will not stop firing if you are hit.” Said the voice to me.

         “Don’t worry Thanatos, we have no intention of being hit by your slow weaponry. I’d like to see you try and take one of us down!” I said, trying to get myself pumped. It was not long before the warship began firing in our general direction. Several asteroids exploded as tiny shells accelerated to near light speeds impacted them. “woah, they’re not kidding!” I exclaimed, shoving my throttle up to max.
With a  blast of speed, I began weaving and dodging the asteroids. I payed close attention to my mass sensors, watching for any spikes. One spike. Yanking back on my left joystick, I forced my plane to bank hard left and skim an asteroid. Huge blasts smashed the large asteroid apart just as I sped away from it. I saw several more spikes and glints of light to my left, and I instinctively swung my plane to face them.

         “You’ll have to do better than that!” I exclaimed as I pulled the tigger on both of my joysticks. Two deep purple beams of energy erupted from the cannons fitted to each wing, speeding towards the advancing shells and melting them entirely. “hah!” returning to skirting the asteroids, I once again waited for spikes on the mass sensors. Several minutes passed and I detected none. A faint crackle of static broke the silence of the comms. I swear I could have heard Sharah’s voice for a split second.

         “Sharah, was that you?” I asked. She liked to pull a lot of pranks over the comm in the middle of exercises. She thinks it makes things more interesting. “C’mon sharah, this is no time goof around. Live rounds, remember?” More static came through. I looked over at my mass sensors, no spikes. Did they stop firing?

         Suddenly, as if straight out of a horror movie I heard a loud, shrill scream come over the comm. The next words would chill me straight to my soul. “Arron, Run away!” Sarah screamed over the comm. Her voice sounded full of fear. This was too full of emotion to be a prank. “Get away from here!” she screamed again.

         I turned to look out of the side of my cockpit, and just in the distance I could see a soft orange glow. I knew that glow.. I knew that color. The color of flames. My heart began to race.

         “101 to the Thanatos, What the hell are you doing?” I screamed frantically. “Cease fire immediately!” There was no response, only the soft crackle of radio static. “Sharah, are you okay?”

         “crzzt.. Arro-bzzt.. kshhhh.. away!” the transmission was so full of static I could barely hear her.. “czzrt.. The-bzztshhhh” I listened closely, trying to hear what she was saying. “Viperians are-crrrzt” My heart felt like to stopped for a second. The Viperians. I clenched my teeth. There was no way, we were deep in uninhabited space. I looked back up, the orange glow burning brighter. “Hold on Sharah, I’m coming to get you!” I shouted over the comm, reaching up and shoving the throttle on my plane to max. My body was forced into the seat as I raced towards the glow. I soon saw what was causing it, the 202 was riddled with glowing holes, flame spouting out of the engines and aft section. Within a moment, I passed the burning plane, too shocked to slow down. As I looked out of the side of my cockpit while passing, time seemed to stop as I watched something I wish I never had to witness.

         Red. The windows were covered in red. Through the gaps, I saw her. Her face was twisted in agony, bloody holes dotting her lifeless body. She was dead. They killed her. I pulled the throttle back to minimum and swung the plane around to face the burning 202 a distance ahead of me. I closed my eyes for a split second and saw the image of my sister, covered in blood and lifeless. When I opened my eyes again, the plane exploded in a great orange fireball. I hated orange so much. I shielded my eyes from it, hating it with all my heart.
As the fire cleared, I could hear the tiny debris raining upon the hull of my plane. Flecks of blood splattered on the cockpit window. “Sharah… Sharaaaah!” I shouted over the comm, my eyes tearing up and blurring my vision. “Sharah, wake up!” I continued shouting. “Wake up damn it, wake up!” tears began to roll down my cheeks, splattering on the dashboard as I shook my head, shouting in despair.
I gasped and looked up at my mass sensors as I heard a beep. They were registering a large organic mass. With a shout of rage, I flipped on the full broadcast on the comms.

         “Where the hell are you, you goddamn Viperian coward!” I shouted into my mic, frantically looking left and right. “Get out here and face me you fucking bastard!” I shouted again, my anguish turning to rage. A glint of purple light caught my eye. With an angry roar I shoved my throttle up and yanked back on both joysticks, flipping the plane over to avoid the incoming fire. The bolt of purple energy crackled past, causing my viewscreen to flicker as it slammed into a nearby asteroid, cutting a neat glowing hole all the way through it. I quickly turned the plane to face the direction the bolt came from and blasted ahead at full speed. Eyebrows furrowed and teeth clenched, I furiously manipulated my plane’s controls. I dodged and waved, flipping the plane to and fro in order to avoid the incoming fire.
“I’ll get you, I’ll get you for everything you’ve done to me!” I shouted as a Viperian scout frigate came into view. “Eat hot plasma, purple freaks!” With a roar, I pulled both triggers, releasing two searing beams of plasma that forcefully struck the scaly hull of the ship. Pressing harder on the triggers and the throttle, I began to bore a hole into the ship as I approached. Alarms and alerts went off across my viewscreen. Weapons were overheating, engines were overheating and I was on a collision course. I didn’t care. I wanted every one of them to burn.


         The hole grew larger, melting and burning everything the beams touched. Within seconds, my plane slammed into the molten metal and tissue, smashing directly through the ship and out the other side. I began to laugh, yanking my joyskticks to turn my plane around and fire another volley of plasma. Thick purple fluids splashed against my cockpit’s window, washing away the specks of blood there previously as I skimmed the hull of the ship, slicing it apart with my powerful weapons. I could hear the screams of the dying over my comm system, if it had been under any other circumstances I might have felt something other than joy.. but as I was then nothing made me happier than to hear the anguished screams of those who had taken everything from me.

         My plane suddenly shook with the force of a weapon strike, causing it to pitch it’s nose up. I roared in anger and yanked my joysticks to turn the plane around and blast at full speed toward whoever hit me. A fighter about the same size as mine came into view, the hull matching that of the frigate’s.

         “Die.. Die!” I shouted as I pulled the triggers again. To my surprise, the fighter deftly dodged my volley and began firing one of it’s own. In my rage, I have overlooked a simple rule of engagement. Never charge in head first. Before I could react, bright purple bolts of energy smashed into the left wing of my plane, cutting numerous holes into the fuselage. A right red warning flashed across my viewscreen, my weapon pod was hit and had become unstable. I reached over to my left quickly and pulled a lever marked ‘detach’ on the dashboard. Coming partially to my senses, I pushed my right joystick forward, causing my plane to spin counter-clockwise. As soon as the pod detached, it flew off at the enemy plane and exploded in a ball of deep purple plasma midway between the two. I shouted and covered my face with my arms as the plasma engulfed both my plane and the Viperians’. Everything on my dashboard went blank, and my viewscreen flickered off. I must have hit my head or something, because it went completely dark.

         When I came to, I could hear the soft rattling of my plane’s fuselage. When I opened my eyes, something unexpected filled my vision. My plane was caught in the gravity of a nearby planet. I shook my head and wondered how long I had been unconscious, because the closest planet to the asteroid field was nearly 320 Astronomical units away. The cockpit window was still tinted soft purple from the fluids of the ship, but I could clearly see a verdant jungle world as the nose started to pitch down. I reached up to the dashboard and pushed a few of the buttons. It was completely dead, the onboard generator must have been fried by the electrical charge of the exploding weapon pod.

         I looked out each side of the cockpits windows, trying to get a bearing of my surroundings. As soon as I saw that ship, I began to get angry. This was all their fault. Everything. It looked like the ship was in the same predicament I was in. In that moment, I wished it would crash and burn everyone inside. I didn’t care what happened to me, as long as I got to see them die.

         The purple tint on the cockpit window began to burn away as my plane entered the atmosphere. The nose began to glow red and flames lapped up at the window. I looked at the fighter not far beside me, it’s reptilian-skin like hull was boiling at the nose, flakes of scales burning off to expose a metallic fuselage. As the skin began peeling away further up the plane, a transparent pod became visable. My eyes became glued to the spectacle unfolding before me.

         Nobody has ever seen an actual Viperian, nobody even knows what they actually look like. It had been theorized that they are actually their ships, but it never explained why their ships always had cockpit like parts on them.

         More of the purple skin burned and flaked away, revealing the entire upper half of the smooth domed glass like pod. For a moment I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It looked like a person was suspended by organic cables and tubes connecting to their body. I couldn’t get a good look at the person, but it was definitely humanoid. A jolt of force caused me to be jarred from my staring, a bright flash of orange and violent shake of my plane told me something important broke loose. I looked behind my shoulder at the small viewports behind my seat. The ariel rudders were still intact, but the damaged wing had been torn off entirely. If I kept on like this, my plane would go into an uncontrollable spin. I looked around for the manual release levers on my right side. As soon as I found them, I yanked them both.

         A smaller jolt shook the plane as it’s right wing detached and fell behind, glowing bright red against the friction of the atmosphere. Now that I was stabilized to a degree, I glanced back at the enemy fighter. I could see the humanoid form again, it looked like it was still unconscious. Observing the condition of the ship, It looked like it would crash and burn. I smiled, chuckling to myself.

         “That’s the last time you kill one of us, you sonofabitch” I said to myself. I was feeling content, I avenged Sharah… yet something bothered me. I looked over at the enemy plane once more. The humanoid form still looked unconscious. It bugged me. I clenched my teeth and cursed under my breath. Why was I feeling shame? The Viperians had taken everything from me. It was only right that they suffer as I have.
“Damnit!” I shouted, slamming my fist into the dashboard. A few of the gauges broke as I did so, making an audible crackle. “I’ll kill it myself when we land!” I roared with anger. Grabbing the left manual rudder control, I pulled it slowly to turn my plane slightly. I started to drift closer to the enemy’s plane. Several moments after I decided to save the miserable alien, the dashboard of my plane flickered to life.

         Grabbing my joysticks I maneuvered myself directly behind the Viperian’s ship. Flakes of dead organic hull struck  my fuselage and bounced off, burning a bright purple. I reached up and flipped the grappling mechanism on and extend the launcher. A sharp lurch nearly throws me from my seat as I hear the launcher tear away and bounce along the underside of my plane. “Shit!” I curse loudly. Reaching up again I flip the secondary grappling mechanism on, this time making it lower very slowly.

         The planet’s surface was becoming more visible, and quite more detailed than I would have liked. Looking at the aiming reticle on my viewscreen, I took hold of my left joystick and slowly aimed the crosshairs at the midsection of the ship. With a click of my trigger, a grappling harpoon fired from below my ship and impaled the purple scaled plane all the way through, deploying hooks to keep it in place on the other side. My plane lurched forward as the Viperian’s ship pulled against the chord.

         “Oh no you don’t, you’re not going anywhere!” I shouted, reaching up to flip on my engines. I grabbed my left joystick and yanked back on it, turning my ship around and using my other hand to push the throttle to the maximum. A loud blast from the engines shakes my plane and I heard the stressed creaks and moans of the weight taxed fuselage. “Only I get to kill you, you damned Viperian!”

         Looking at several of the meters on my dashboard told me that our velocity and rate of descent was slowing. The engine overheat warning popped up across my viewscreen, and seconds later the larger portion of the back half of my plane blew apart. The cable snapped free and I was sent into an uncontrollable spin. Covering my face with both arms, all I could do was shout as I careened and spun around inside my cockpit. Within moments everything went black after I heard an earsplitting crashing sound. For the longest of time I was telling myself I was dead. I couldn’t feel anything, it felt as if I was numb all over. Then everything ached. Oh how I ached. My head was throbbing, sharp pangs of pain raced across my body. Opening my eyes and groaning in pain, I hear a sound I thought I would never hear again.

          Birds. Chirping, warbling and singing of birds. I remembered that my little sister brought home a bird with an injured wing one day. I told her to kill it to put it out of its misery. She didn’t listen to me, instead she nursed it back to health all by herself. When she set it free, it landed on a nearby tree and began to sing. It was the most beautiful thing I had heard. I groaned again as the pain got to me, and I realized something felt off.

         I looked around, and then realized I was upside down. I clutched my head and groaned, the throbbing making things unbearable. Looking out of the cockpit window, I could tell I was in a foresty area. I had landed in a tree, of all things. Luckly, it wasn’t that tall from the ground. Grabbing for my emergency kit next to my seat, I accidently opened it. The contents clatter against the cockpit window as they fell. The last one, a pistol, managed to break the weakened window and shatter it. The contents were sent flying into the ground below.

         “Great.. just great. I knew today was going to be a bad day..” I grumbled to myself. Pushing open the cockpit window frame, I reached for the seat harness release and pulled it. An audible hiss made my heart jump. I pulled the wrong release, I had pulled the eject lever! In a split second, I was launched out of the cockpit seat and all.

         “AAAGH!” I shouted as the ground came up to me much faster than I would have liked. In a tremendous thud I hit the ground, luckly the seat was taller than I was, so it took the brunt of the fall. Falling face first with the seat on top of me, I struggled to get my harness off. When I finally did, I scrambled out from underneath the seat and gave it a forceful kick, knocking it over. Groaning in pain I clutched my foot and hopped about a bit. Today really wasn’t my day. I rub my foot for a bit and look around for the contents of my survival kit. After a bit of searching, I found most of it. I took a mental inventory of all that was there.

         One pistol, and a few clips of ammo.
         One Everlite flashlight with self-recharging batteries.
         Four small packs of emergency rations.
         One super insulated canteen with a water purifier.

         There seemed to be a few missing items, but I was sure they were lost to the copious amounts of foliage on the ground floor. Taking a look around, I could see the massive swath my plane cut when it crash landed. A somewhat neat hole was cut in the canopy overhead, with a path of decimated trees leading up to my ship. The few fires that had been started by the useless hunk of metal had become smoldering cinders by now. I guessed I was in some sort of jungle, and by the amount of light shining through the canopy it was somewhere around mid-day. I noticed that to the left of the hole created by my ship, was a second hole and swath cut by the Viperian ship. A pale purple fluid coated the decimated trees, several of them burning a bright purple. I clenched my gun’s grip. I had hoped the pilot survived, I wanted to put a bullet right through its skull.. if it even had one.

         I started walking towards the purple stained path, the crunch of foliage beneath my flight boots. As I approached I came across a section of the ship that had broken off during the crash. It was.. bleeding. The large hunk of what looked like flesh shaped into an engine cone was oozing a pale purple fluid and pulsing slightly. I continued down the path until I came across the bleeding ship. It looked horrible, and the stench was even worse. I had to cover my nose and mouth it was so foul. I looked over the aft section of the Viperian ship. Purple flesh was draped across shining metal. The closer I looked, the stranger it got. I knew the Viperians used organic technology and mechanical technology, but I never saw it up close before. Veins and what looked like nerves were bored into the metal, and coursed through it as if it were its own body. Shaking my head and shivering as a chill went up my spine, I proceeded to go to the front section of the ship.

         Looking up at the flesh stripped cockpit of the ship, I could see the humanoid silhouette against the semi-transparent glass dome. Grabbing strips of the remaining roasted flesh on the nose, I hoisted myself up and put my hands against the glass cockpit window. I looked closer, trying to see what was inside. I was probably too busy trying to see what was inside to hear the dome cracking, because sure enough it gave away and I started falling.

         Everything went dark and my face hit something soft and squishy. Unable to get ahold of anything to pull myself up, I flailed my arms and legs trying to grab something. When I did find something though, what I saw next was something I never expected. Pulling my head up, I looked at what I had just face planted into. I had expected some oozing hunk of damaged hull-flesh, but instead I saw two mounds of flesh, half-way covered in a leathery cloth meeting in a sort of V at the middle, adorned with a purple brooch. Dumbfounded, I looked further up and saw a face.

         Yelping in surprise, I jumped back, letting go of the fleshy cables and wires I had been holding for support and falling back on the metal floor. I scrambled away until I came against the wall of the inside cockpit. I looked up again, starting from the floor. At first I saw a pair of clawed feet, three toes on each foot, each tipped with a vicious looking black claw. As my eyes travelled further up, I could see rugged leather clad legs. They looked digitigrade, double jointed and like a dog’s hind leg more than a human leg. The legs met in a wide, feminine hip wrapped in what I could tell looked like some sort of armored belt. The same purple brooch adorned the belt, and as I looked higher I could see what I had landed on. A chest, with two rather large breasts modestly kept within the scaly leather of her flightsuit. I looked higher, looking at the face that had shocked me moments before. Where two eyes were supposed to be, there were four. One set slightly smaller and below the other.


          Instead of the almond like shape of human eyes, these were very sharp looking and slanted slightly. Her nose appeared to be covered by large scale-like plates until I realized she had a shout. It reminded me of what a dragon’s snout looked like from stories of old earth. Her ears looked almost catlike, but thick and covered in scales. In place of her hair, it seemed her flesh grew into long tendrils. They were splayed out and connected to the fleshy tubes and wires that went into the walls of the cockpit. Unlike what I had expected, her arms were very muscly. Well, at least more so than average humans. Her hands were rather large but not disproportionately, and were being held inside a large fleshy stalk that extended from each side of the cockpit. Around her neck and attached to her flight suit was a large, broad collar with a steep back and connected at the front with a third purple brooch. Her skin was pale purple, mottled with darker purple spots and a dark purple overtone. It reminded me of how a snake’s belly and back are colored differently.

         My first guess was that the Viperians organically interface with their ship’s control system, increasing their reaction time and combat effectiveness. I sat there, observing this creature with a feeling of wonder and curiosity. Then I shook my head, a feeling of rage washing over me once more. This creature took the life of my friends.. I gritted my teeth and squeezed the grip of the gun in my hand once again. I was certain I was going to kill her, right there. A bullet through the head. I stood up, glaring at the unconscious female and took a few steps towards her.
Raising my gun when I was at arm’s length, I pointed it directly at her head. One shot, one kill. My friends, my family.. they would all be avenged. I gritted my teeth. They had taken everything from me, everything I cared for. Why was it so hard to pull the trigger? Was it because she looked too much like a human? I began to squeeze the trigger, pulling it slowly. It felt like I was trying to pull a ton with my teeth. Did she have a family, was she fighting for a just cause? All these questions started flowing through my mind.  I could feel the mechanisms inside of the gun begin to click and turn. I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger as hard as I could.

         BANG!

         Firing a gun in such a closed space made the sound reflect back, and my ears were ringing. When I opened my eyes, my heart lurched. A clawed hand was wrapped around my gun, beyond that was the snarling image of a dragon, four eyes blazing purple with hatred. She had awoken just as I pulled the trigger, and apparently grabbed the gun and pushed it slightly to the side. I missed her head but it seems I had shot through one of her hair tentrils. Her grip tightened on the gun, claws scratching into the metal. Her snarl grew in volume, I just stood there. I was frozen, and couldn’t move. To be honest, I was scared out of my wits.
In a split second, she pulled the gun from my hand, sending it clattering to the opposite side of the cockpit. She freed her other hand from the fleshy stalk and swiped at me. Gaining my senses, I quickly lurched backwards, narrowly missing four claws that would have taken my face clean off. Instead, they only gouged my right cheek. Stumbling back I raise my hand to my face, howling in pain from the deep gashes in my cheek.

         “AaAagh, you bitch! You’ll pay for that!” I shouted. She roared back at me and quite frankly that made me want to run and hide in a hole somewhere, but she had to pay for what she did to me. I screamed back and charged at her, balling my fists and lunging at her with a left hook. My fist hit her squarely in the jaw, making her head lurch in the opposite direction. I paused for a second to see how much damage I had done. With a low guttural growl, she slowly turned her head back at me, the growl growing in volume. Feeling the adrenaline take over, I swung again with a right hook. Instead of hitting her this time, she grabbed my fist as it approaches and stopped it completely. She was definitely stronger than me.

         With another overly aggressive growl she squeezed my hand, popping all of my knuckles and then some. I howled in pain as she pushed me to the ground, lips curled in a vicious snarl that showed most of her razor sharp teeth. I fell to my knees, howling as it felt like she was crushing my hand. In a flash she raised her leg up, kicking me squarely in the chest with her clawed foot sending me flying across the cockpit floor. I hit the wall and got my breath knocked out of me. Gasping, I looked up at my aggressor. She was walking slowly over to me, her clawed feet clacking as they scratch the floor.

         I instinctively looked down at my chest, using my hand to pat my jacket and undershirt. Her claws had torn right through the stiff leather and sunk slightly into my skin. I was bleeding, but it didn’t look serious. Looking up at her again, she was snarling and getting closer. I scrambled across the wall, pushing against the floor with my feet and hands. She reached out with a long arm and grabbed me by the head, gripping my hair and using her curved claws to hold my skull on her palm.

         She lifted me up as I flailed my legs and clawed at her wrist, howling through clenched teeth. She brought me close to her snarling face, and did something unexpected.

         “Kzzak fek taklla!” She spat out angrily at me, Squeezing my head a little. I continued clawing at her hand, my eyes shut in anger and pain.

         “What the hell does that mean!” I shouted through clenched teeth. I roar in defiance as she twists my head to the side, trying vainly to kick her.

         “NE TAK, Kzzak fek taklla!” she shouts loudly in my ear, growling afterwards. I forcefully turned my head back to her, and spat directly in her face.

         “Your people took the life of my family, and you took my friend away from me!” I shout angrily. She uses her free hand to wipe the spit from her face, snarling and growling more than before.

         “Fakna LES!” she roars, throwing me forcefully across the room. I felt like a helpless ragdoll, being tossed around like an old sack of potatoes. I hit the wall harder than last time, pain shooting across my back. I curled my back, squirming in pain as she advanced on me again. Once again she picked me up, this time by the neck. Her clawed, four fingered hand wrapped around my neck and squeezed tightly, causing me to choke and sputter. I began kicking my feet again and clawing at her hand. I opened my eyes and locked gazes with her. I could see the hatred swirling in her eyes, and for a split moment it reminded me of my own fury.

         Why does she hate me so much? I tried and tried to find a reason, but couldn’t find one. I coughed and sputtered, trying to pry one of her fingers away from my neck when I saw the tendril I shot off her. In quick desperation, I lunged for the inured tendril, gripped it in my hand and squeezed as hard as I could.

         She roared in pain, dropping me suddenly  and kicking me away. I gasped for air as I rolled across the floor a few times, the taste of iron filling my mouth. With a hateful spit of blood against the floor and jumped up and charged at her. To my surprise she was still howling in pain, both her hands covering the tendril I crushed. I tackled her, slamming into her side and pinning her down against the floor. I balled both of my fists and began relentlessly bludgeoning her face over and over. Her head whipped back and forth as she made an effort to throw me off. I kept hitting her, using all the strength I could to keep her arms pinned under my knees.

         Out of breath and panting, I smacked her as hard as I could then wrapped my hands around her scaly neck. “Now you’ll pay for everything!” I shouted as I began to squeeze as hard as I could. She began choking and sputtering, trying as hard as she could to get free of my choke hold. She clawed at my legs, digging her claws into my flesh. I squeezed harder. This was the moment of truth, one I had been waiting for since they took my family away from me.

         “Fami—hggk, famikah—grrgk” She sputtered. If I had been more consumed with rage, I would have never noticed. Tears began to form in her eyes as she shut them, rolling off her scaly cheek. “Ne—hggk, ne familaggggh” Her voice was weaker, and her tears greater. I stared at her, my heart lurching. Why was she crying? What could this monster have to possibly cry about? Strange questions filled my head, and a strong sense of guilt washed over me. I felt my grip lessening. “Hrrgk—ghhk—Famikhgg” I hung my head, clenching my teeth.

         “You don’t deserve to live!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. “You’re a monster! You’ve taken everything from me! You deserve to die!” Desipite my rage, my grip lessened more and more, and with a final look at her tear stained face I released my grip. She had passed out from being choked for so long, her body relaxed. Tears dripped from her cheeks and fell onto the floor, forming tiny puddles. I felt so tired, my body was a mass of pain and ache. I couldn’t stand, my body refused to move. Blood soaked my pants, and I fell over onto the floor exhausted. “Kayla… Brandon… Sharah… forgive... me...” I rasped out before succumbing to the darkness of unconsciousness.