This story is fiction. This story will also involve sexual and intimate relationships between two (or more) males, and if this offends you or it is illegal for you to be reading, then please leave. If you are under the age of consent for your community, please leave. And if it does offend you, I honestly don't know why you're even here in the first place. To the story... away!
STARLIGHT 7
A swarm of red wings and eyes, buzzing in a furious storm of lights, dispersed from Private Tremel's gunfire. With a terrible noise the Phantoms finally disappeared into the walls.
Zack ran past Private Tremel into the Drive Core Room, kneeling to Shora's side; she was whimpering in pain, her black goggles dislodged, her eyes shut from the light. "Shora! Shora, come on!" he whispered. Zack wrapped her arm around his neck, trying to help her stand; it seemed that her right leg, injured by the Phantom, was no more operative than a dead log.
Private Tremel's ears perked up, and he quickly straightened his helmet, his eyes strafing back and forth between the crimson hall they had just left and the dead Drive Core. "We gotta go," he mumbled.
By the time they were both standing, Zack could feel his body shaking. He cursed under his breath: he wasn't exactly muscular, and Shora wasn't exactly light. Suddenly, the aft door of room opened behind them; Zack nearly dropped Shora, and Private Tremel had to keep himself from opening fire completely.
It was Flower, harried, with Christoph, Ahn and Pahn in tow. "Fuck!" she screamed, Private Tremel's assault rifle in her face. "Watch where you're pointing that crap!"
"H-hey guys..." Zack said through a trembling sigh. "Where's everyone else?"
They were all silent. Seeing Zack's trouble, Ahn swooped in and effortlessly picked up Shora in his arms. Flower bit her lip, the door closing behind her, Christoph, and Pahn. "Um... Jo..."
"What about Jo?"
After a long period of silence, through which Flower of Morning Light simply could not express her words and Christoph averted his eyes, Pahn broke in with effortless coldness. "Zack. Jo is dead."
No one had anything to say, from Flower and Christoph's regretful frowns, Private Tremel's rather innocent eyes, Zack's stunned face. The intercom beeped instead, filling the mourning with its persistent rhythm. "Zack. Cantata Shuttle Two has just departed."
Flower gasped, running to the window. Christoph yelled "shit!" as he joined her side, and Zack, Ahn, and Private Tremel trailed behind them.
There, in outer space, was the Cantata Shuttle, brown and dull and floating away, its thrusters glowing bright orange. Flower whispered something in Tintalan, then raised her voice, saying "we're doomed" like it were a testament.
Zack furrowed his brow. He reached around Private Tremel and pointed to the glass. "Wait," he said. "What's that?"
He was referring to ribbons of rainbow light that flew from the Astra 7, reached out like shimmering fingers. The Phantoms, coagulated into vessels of light, were leaving the Astra 7 to home in on the shuttle; a strange mix of relief and dread washed over the group, the sparkling monstrosity homing in on the Cantata Shuttle. Flower whispered "no," over and over again, and soon Christoph was joining in, and then Private Tremel in a rather ridiculous chorus.
Pahn, long broken away from the window, walked across the room to the milquetoast and grey Core. "The survivors on the shuttle are without hope now. We need to take advantage of our ceasefire and get the Auric Drive running again."
"Impossible," Ahn remarked with similar detachment. "Shora is gravely injured. Unless our pooled knowledge of Essential Aureolics can pull through, I doubt we could-"
"Oh, shut up," Flower shrieked. She flipped her hair and ran to Pahn's side. With a graceful twirl of her hand she brought up a holographic control panel embedded in the Core's force field. "The weapons manifold is basically just a siphon from the Drive Core. How different could they be, right?"
"Way different, Flower," Christoph remarked. He made his way to Pahn's side as well. "Look, maybe it's just a phase wavelength problem..."
Private Tremel continued to look out the window, perhaps in morbid curiosity. "Th-they're tearing it apart," he said, shaking.
Choosing to ignore his comment, Pahn, Christoph and Flower continued their work on the control panels. Flower grunted in frustration. "Lights above... this is useless. The diagnostic doesn't even say there's anything wrong with it!"
Zack, who had remained quiet and nearly catatonic, suddenly perked up at the mention of Flower's words. He stood up and spoke to the ceiling. "Remote Access, come in, Dawn."
Dawn's voice rang in over the loudspeakers. "Yes, Zack?"
"Prepare a Drive Core overload."
A computerized crashing noise sounded. "I can't do that without confirmation. Drive Core overload will cause fatal damage to all biological tissues within a 3,000 mile radius. Recommend"
"Confirmation code vespertine omega."
An affirmative beep. "Confirmation Code accepted. Please input secondary confirmation."
Flower and Christoph turned around. "Zack, are you out of your fucking mind?!" Flower shrieked.
"If the computer system says that aureole flow is at normal levels, then it must be the gauge that's completely screwed up. It must've tared or something, I dunno. So if we just increase the aureole intake, we'll have enough power to the drive core to escape."
"So how do we do that? By blowing ourselves up?"
"No! Giving the core overload command increases aureole intake by three hundred percent. At this level, it should be enough to get us out of here."
"Please input secondary confirmation," Dawn repeated.
Flower shook her head. Christoph cut in as well. "We can't risk that, Zack," he said, trying a reasonable tone of voice. "What if you're wrong? What if it's the diagnostic software that's flawed? We'd die."
Private Tremel, visibly jumpy, turned from the window. "They're coming back!" he yelped.
Clearly ignoring Flower, Pahn, and Christoph, Zack addressed Private Tremel directly. "You. You're the only Solan military presence left on this ship."
"No, I'm not."
Zack sighed. "Dawn, name all Third Solan Army personnel on this ship besides Private Tremel."
A small pause. "I can't. Private First Class Mathias Tremel is the only TSA officer on the Astra 7."
"Yes, you are," Zack retorted to him. Tremel frowned, somewhere between sadness and eembarrassment Zack continued. "Okay, now I need you to address the computer and say your name, and then 'Confirmation code verspertine alpha.' Can you do that?"
Private Tremel opened his mouth to respond, but Pahn interrupted. "Don't. The outcome could kill us all."
Ahn interrupted on his side as well. "Doing nothing will kill us all anyway."
It seemed Private Tremel agreed with this. Swallowing, he looked up at the ceiling. "Computer? Uhh, Mathias Tremel here... Confirmation code verspertine alpha?"
The same beep as before. Then, the room and halls flashing red again, a klaxon sounding. Dawn's voice was now urgent, dotted with haste. "Warning. Drive core overload in five minutes."
Ahn furrowed his brow, looking at Zack. "You can't speed it up?" he asked.
Zack shook his head. Suddenly, the sound of deep banging, pressure on the bulkheads. Private Tremel peeked out the window just briefly, quickly turning back. "They're here," he stated.
He needed not say anything. There, in the middle of the floor itself, rose a worm-like column of sandy blue light, roaring with monstrous terror. It wriggled in the air, attempting to smash Flower, although she was too quick for it.
Private Tremel shot several sparkling rounds; they did damage, made the Phantom wail, but to his dismay he had emptied out his clip. While he fumbled into his side bag for another, Flower, Pahn, and Ahn, with Shora in his arms, quickly ran to Zack's side, edging towards the door.
Christoph was not so lucky. The blue abomination, writhing in pain, slammed itself onto him as he ran, knocking him to the ground and engulfing him in azure light. Zack screamed his name, instinctively running towards him until Private Tremel pushed him back, emptying volleys of bullets into the Phantom. It finally retreated, its almost simian noises echoing away.
Zack tore himself away from Private Tremel, crouching down next to Christoph. He gasped in horror. Christoph's skin was pure white, his features emaciated, sickly. His eyes, pried open in terror, discolored and petrified; no, Christoph was dead- Advanced Progression Aureole Poisoning, in a matter of seconds. Zack put a hand to his mouth, choking back vomit.
He heard Ahn and Flower's voices from the hall, he felt Private Tremel dragging him by the arm. The crimson warning lights, the klaxon, the ominous shadows of hidden Phantoms, faded into each other, became some thick haze Zack wasn't sure of anymore. "2 minutes," Dawn's voice rang out. And then they were in the Bridge, Pahn locking the door as though it would help, Ahn still holding Shora, Private Tremel waving his rifle back and forth.
Ahn placed Shora down on the floor, where Pahn kept watch over her. He ran over to Zack, who was kneeling on the ground, eyes pasted to the ground. "Zack. Zack!" he said with increasing firmness. "Zackary Alton, listen to me."
Zack looked up at Ahn. "W-what's happening, Ahn?" he whispered.
A swarm of yellow tentacles briefly sprung through the door, though they were quickly subdued by Private Tremel's gunfire. "Zack, snap out of it. Everything's going to be ok-"
"Core overload in progress."
The platinum blue lights of the bridge grew brighter; the control panels, the screens and buttons, all lit up, came alive, danced with the brilliance of salvation. But Dawn's voice rang in again. "Drive core aureole intake; 210%."
Flower, positioned in front of a screen, jumped in surprise. "Shit. Shit! The aureole intake is too great! We're getting power, but if we don't cut it off we'll create an actual overload!"
Everywhere in the ship, roars and funeral screams, Phantoms frightful from the light building up. Private Tremel nervously put his hands together, in what seemed like prayer; Ahn took Zack by the shoulders and shook him hard. "Zack!"
"Drive core aureole intake; 250%."
Zack met Ahn's eyes, his pleasant brown right one and the sparkling black and red metallic patch that covered his left one. He snapped out of it. "D-dawn! Get Aurora!"
Two voices now rang over the loudspeaker. "Yes, Zack?"
"Open an AFG immediately, confirmation code vesper... vespertine sigma!"
"To what destination?"
"270%, Zack!" Flower yelled over the noises.
"Anywhere! Generate a gate that will use 200% of all current Aureole reserves!"
"Understood."
A silent starlight sphere, ripped in outer space, formed from sheets of silver and bright blue, the transcendental brilliance in its purest form. Beauty, luminescence, all filled with shining and cosmic sparkles, engulfing the Astra 7 as it floated in place, then burst, gliding through endless rivers of light...
Hi, folks!
Well, school's almost startin' again, and here i am with only small parts of this story uploaded :P. This is almost a prelude of sorts, by the way, so there's not much to say yet... I think the story will start err, starting, next part ^^. Thanks for your patience!
As per usual, thanks for reading!
Questions? Comments? Recommendations? Fan Mail? Hate Mail, maybe? Wanna just chat? Email me at ThePleiadesCall@gmail.com . Love to hear from you!
If you like Starlight 7, maybe there's the very vague possibility you'll like other stories I've submitted:
Charmed Reborn (celebrity), Final Fantasy Rosa (celebrity), Pokemon: Amethyst (celebrity), Teth (fantasy), Diana Celes (High School), Hallow (sci-fi/fantasy), Crystal (Encounters).