Chapter Three
January 9th, 2164
The Dragonfly class starship, Dice, floated through the vastness of space on standby mode completely deprived from any electric use, to avoid showing up on electricity-based radar that was primarily used by the fleets of Karma Titan class warships that dotted the airspace above Earth's atmosphere.
The Dragonfly, unfortunately did not have cloaking capabilities to match. Ted was sunken into the leather passenger seat, looking up to a start as a giant white planetary object covered in craters loomed in front of him, "April! April!" he nudged and shook April violently, who in response only drooled and groaned.
"Damn..." he said leaning over April's sleeping body, beginning to panic, and seizing the tug control, because the control of the Dragonfly was solely elevation based much like a helicopter, he tugged the control wheel toward him. But the electrical system was off!
Ted began to panic, he didn't know how to turn the electrical switch, he diverted his attention back to the now massive planetary object, but worst yet the starship was caught in the gravitational pull.
An alarm began to sound and red flashing lights lit up the cabin, "Warning, Warning collision immanent." the message was accompanied by a loud alarm, "Activating reserve electrical supply." Ted breathed a sigh of relief, but quickly took back the feeling of relief, because he woke up April.
April woke up with a jolt and a sense of immediate panic in her turquoise eyes. "What the heck are you doing?! We're gonna get caught." she looked away from Ted out the windshield to see that flames began to engulf the front, and the planetary object now encompassed all of the visible view, they were reaching incredible speeds, bound to collide with the object. Stop.
They completely halted, and began ascending with the sound of a low hum, a giant T-shaped Titan battleship gripped the starship with a tractor beam and pulled it up into it's hangar bay.
* * * * *
As Dice ascended, April and Ted desperately turned on the thruster out of desperation, the tractor beam's strength only allowed slight rocking and additional turbulence. The blackness of space and the specs of distant stars disappeared and smooth grey metallic walls of the entry tube descended like a curtain closing on a starry backdrop.
A spiral hatch opened above them opened and Dice ascended through the hatch, beyond the hatch was the giant hangar, Bright white lights blinded the two as they crashed their ship into a white wall.
April, still dazed, stood up slowly and with her hands in the air, as if she felt like she was being watched, perhaps she was, April reached underneath her pilots seat very slowly and pulled out a green metal box with a key lock.
Ted leaned over towards April who was now on the floor, fumbling around with the beaten forest green box, she pressed her thumb up to the keyhole, and unexpectedly it opened with a quick click. Inside the black velvet lined box lay a Ruger MK III and a box of .22 bullets.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8MTFG3hyr
"What are you doing?" said Ted panicking, he stumbled over the dashboard trying to start the engine, the engine gave out an exasperating hiss and then died out completely. "Jesus Chri-" he spat in anger dragging his hand across the dashboard in anger, he hit a button and suddenly the walls of the starship disappeared, but the interior remained opaque.
Ted sat frozen, staring like a deer in headlights, in front of him were Men clad in maroon chest plates and plates spread across the body over black Kevlar, they wore a helmet of the same color thin frame that encased a black visor that was tall and curved halfway over their heads, you could see the faint glow of the red HUD behind the hexagonal pattern of the visor. The front line of troopers stood in a stance as if they were ready to tackle, with an electrical two forked goads, holding them in the reverse knife grip. A second line behind them held lever-action rifles, presumably used with rubber bullets because of the use of the extremely old gun.
The troopers stood frozen, "Get out of the vehicle or we will not hesitate to come and get you." said a trooper who bore a cape held by a golden clasp on his shoulder, one of the goad-wielding troopers ran up to the clear walls of the ship, turning on UV lights on the side of his hemlet, spotting finger prints and then unhooked a piece of smooth white plastic from a slim retractable line attached to a black utility belt, the bottom of the Smooth white device scanned the invisible surface an UV light and then attached itself to the door like a magnet, the trooper then ran back to the line and resumed his stance.
"I think we should walk out, god knows what that white thing is?" said Ted stuttering and panicky. April looked back up towards Ted, disappointed and appearing defeated. "That's a five pound trigger explosive," She said gesturing gingerly towards the retractable line which ended in a circle like a grenade pin. "All he has to do is pull that cord out and kablam!" she paused as if awaited a response, but Ted stood silent, after a moment she smacked her lips and said "So... yeah, we should get out." she put down her Ruger and pressed a button on the center console, hearing the airlock hiss open.
* * * * *
April and Ted walked out off the ramp leading out of the starship with their hands behind their heads, they stopped at the end of ramp as the cape bearing soldier pushed through the first line and stood in front of the pair. The two stood frozen, the soldier silently reached his hand out to April's face, like a cobra striking, his hand grabbed April by the jaw. "Sweet Cheeks." said the soldier in a raspy and echoed voice, ending the comment with a high pitched, robotic chuckle.
The black visor turned transparent, revealing an older man, fifties, he did his hair up in a spike in front, his sideburns were light grey along with the far ends of his hairline. He had very sharp features, and ovular eyes with stunningly bright blue. "Hi April, babe, lovely to see you, welcome aboard Nasa's Capital Titan class starship Coeus. Beautiful isn't she?" spreading his arms above him gesturing to the whole ship. " But you unfortunately, are infringing on restricted air space, and foolishly nearly collided with the Earth's moon, you're welcome."
"Thank you hon." said April batting her eyes and smiled seductively and almost deceivingly, the two embraced for an uncomfortably long time.
"Um, April who's this guy." said Ted quietly and uncomfortably.
"Oh," she exclaimed snapping out of the bout of staring into each others eyes, only to remember that she had a customer and was being absurdly unprofessional "This is Richie, my boyfriend."
Ted felt heated and competitive, towards the handsome and charming Richie who he felt extreme contempt for April's man friend.
Richie signaled the guards dispersed and jugged in formation down the main corridor. Richie put his arm around April's waist, who scooted away uncomfortably, leaving Ted in the dust behind the couple. They walked down the corridor, the sliding metal blast doors slid to a close behind them.
* * * * *
April and Ted stood the bridge of the ship looking down at planet Earth, entranced by the beauty of the blue oceans and continents.
April leaned over toward him, "I saw the way you looked, at me. Jealous, ha." said April bringing color to her cheeks.
"What are you talking about?" asked Ted, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
"You're such a liar." she said grabbing his hand, and holding it tightly, enjoying the beautiful view together, warmth filled his cheeks, and for the first time in a long time he was happy.
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