Black Planet

A bright flash appeared throughout the inky black depths of space. A Fighter G-2 series had just jumped from Algetron to Omeg, the Fleet just behind it. The Fleet was a total of thirteen elegant ships carrying a capacity of 427,367 people each. They were the last of the people from Earth.

Earth, having been desecrated with the pollution of humans, crumbled around them and they were forced to find another planet that was as unique as Earth. Of course, one was found, the only problem was that it was located near the Andromeda Galaxy, which was 4.6 billion light years away from Earth. During the year 2101, astrophysicists had learned interstellar travel. After the Great War of 2106, ships were built for this travel. It wasn't until the year 2113 that these ships would be needed. The Earth had become too polluted to allow stay on that planet, so travel to this new and unique planet was futile.

The G-2 Fighter flew around The Orchidia, into the hangar bay, and powered down. Thalia Corvinus stepped out, pulling off her helmet as she did so. Chief Nico Lynch walked up to the Fighter and checked it over. There was a massive dent in the left side and bits of the tail were missing. He gave her a disappointed look and shook his head. She smiled and walked away from him. Thalia began pulling off the orange flight suit, her tank top and pants just underneath.

"What have you done to the Fighter this time, Thalia?" Chief Lynch called out to her, a smile just barely touching his lips. He took his mechanics very seriously.

"What do you expect, Chief? I had Necrons on my ass. I'm sorry I couldn't stop your precious Fighter from getting a little banged up." Heads went up in the hangar bay. Thalia Corvinus was the only person on board The Orchidia who had the proverbial balls to stand up to Chief Lynch. Talking back to Chief was like talking back to the Admiral. It never happened.

Chief Lynch glared at Thalia, but she just turned around and headed to the bridge. The Admiral would be on the bridge and she desperately needed to speak to him about her psych evaluation. She had failed it and the on-board psychiatrist had claimed it was because of space dementia, but she knew otherwise.

Thalia swept her mouse brown hair behind her and walked to the doors of the hangar bay. All the doors on the ship required access codes to open them, without the access codes you were stuck where you were. She thrust her arm up under the scanner and waited for it to recognize her code. With a beep, the doors slid apart and she walked onto the bridge. The bridge consisted of the pilot's chair, the captain's chair, the Admiral's base of commands, and the Fleet advisor.

Allowing her eyes to sweep around the well portioned room, she fixed her gaze upon the Admiral. He was standing near the base of commands and was watching a screen that showed the Fighters that were still out practicing. She watched him for a moment, before waltzing over to him and saluting him; his rank out shining hers by far.

"What is it, Lieutenant Corvinus?" He asked her, his hand flying from his head to rest on the chair directly in front of him.

"Sir, we have a major problem. Necrons are crawling all over the sectors between Algetron and Omeg. It’s nearly impossible to get through and if anyone were to, I’m afraid they wouldn’t last long."

The Admiral visibly sagged and lowered his hand from his head. The Necrons were the worst problems they had faced since beginning this voyage into space. Everywhere they turned, the Necrons were there, no matter what they couldn’t escape from the horrible space creatures. But the space creatures were not the only problems that the Fleet had run into since the beginning of the voyage. They were low on supplies: food, water, medicinal supplies, including the fuel that kept the Fleet running, Dilian Dust. If they didn’t get the supplies they needed and quick, they would be floating in space in ships that would no longer jump sectors and the Necrons would get them.

"Algetron is our fueling station. If those Necrons aren’t gone soon, we’ll have to alert the president of our situation and that, Lieutenant is not a wise decision. Politics should not be meddling in military affairs." The Admiral swept his hand through his progressing gray hair and stared down at Thalia.

Thalia nodded her head in agreement, snapped a salute, and went about her business. She had pressing matters with her senior partner. He would more than likely be either in the mess hall or making his way to their shared compartment space that they called their barracks.
Thalia sighed and went about her way, knowing sooner or later her partner would find her and then she could have that discussion with him that was so pressing. She was heading to the Rec, where she would play a game or two of Arbitron--Arbitron was a version of poker that involved eighteen cards and where you have to bet more than you have to be able to win--when the lights in the walk space flickered and the ship itself rocked and Thalia lost her footing and fell. As the ship settled, Thalia could see multiple people running to the Bridge. Curious about what made her fall over, Thalia pushed herself off of the floor and made her way back to the Bridge.

“What the hell just happened, Private?” Thalia heard the Admiral bark out to the rookie over coms who was the Flight controller. Thalia ran into the room and waited with baited breath for her senior officer to inform her of the malfunction.

“I’m not sure, Sir. We’re working on it as we speak.” A voice stammered out over the coms unit.

The Admiral had visibly paled and seemed to be sweating as he yelled back a response to the young officer. He shook his head ever so slightly and Thalia could see the worry inch its way across his older face. It was then that she realized that they just might have to involve the president in the matter. The President would not be pleased in being shut out of something that could potentially be a threat to the entire fleet.