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Second Chances - An Earth & Beyond Emulator Novel, Ch.III


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Second Chances - An Earth & Beyond Emulator Novel, Ch.III
by Pakkrat

III. Many gates later and crossing a great expanse of the galaxy into Jenquai space was a full spectrum of colors and vistas to Pakkrateus. The Maze Runner and Reacher's Defender entered at last the exotic sector named Xipe Totec in the Sirius system. Immediately noticeable across a vast expanse was the Inztlan Line, a shield that bisected this sector of space. It had been erected by Jenquai technology to protect Jenquai territory and assets. Though passable, the hazardous radiations from beyond towards the bright white Sirius sun was ruination and dangerous frontier.

On arriving through the sector gate, the Procurator and the Ken'shao, (he had asked finally), registered a state of alarm on the communications channels. The Shinwa space station, named Prasad Station, was on full alert and using coded battle-language. Reacher translated for Pakkrateus as they turned towards the Inztlan Line.

"They are on defensive from a Mordana forward raid group, Progen," said Reacher. "We will not be welcome at Prasad for some time until the excommunicated retreat from this sector."

Pakkrateus listened, but was more focused on the cryo-cartridge in his hand. Internecine conflicts of Jenquai were of no consequence to the Progen and only a mild interest to the Privateer. He gunned his vessel's warp drive as the two sped past navs and onward to the looming space shield. The pair of vessels penetrated at Inztlan Line One, a nav that monitored the state of the sector barrier. Passing through the seemingly infinite border, sensor alarms went noisy.

"Warning: Extreme Radiation detected," said the onboard computer of the Maze Runner. It immediately followed with "Warning: EMP drain occurring." The solar radiations of Sirius were slowly draining the shield and reactor power of the formation. It was a slow burn but given the two would only be across the Line long enough to banish Dahaka Khan's gene-map, neither said anything.

Reacher saw them first as his scan range far outreached the Progen's. Ahead was a squadron of Mordana. Their ships registered on his scopes. Sleek, arrow-like and almost alien were they. The excommunicated Jenquai Mordana had promised just after the Gate War that they would return and commit jihad up on their own people who had shunned their blood-fueled xenophobia and hatred of the Progen and Terrans. Now the Mordana had added the Jenquarum to their list of vendettas.

Once hailed as heroes of the Gate War, the Mordana had been on the verge of pulling the trigger to decimate Mars from behind Progen warship lines when the call for armistice came. With the unsuspecting Progen homeworld in their sights, the followers of Mordane were denied righteous retribution against the genetic aberrations known as the Progen and their rigid and warlike Republic.

Now the Mordana threatened to return with the modified and darkened fleets they had taken with them into excommunication to the depths of space. Ahead, a small squadron of advance ships was probing the Inztlan Line. Their position was before the coordinates of the Continuum Wrinkle, the destination of the duo.

"They will not merely let us pass, Progen," said Reacher who alerted Pakkrateus of their presence. "The Mordana will see us as opportunity for glory to their jihad."

Pakkrateus looked up from his scanner which he had linked to Reacher's detections. "Let them come at us if they wish," he said, "but we have work to do."

Weapons were charged and safeties came off. Reacher then performed another strange Jenquai miracle. Focused through the magnifiers of his Defender ship, his psionics came into play again as two barriers, called Psi Shields, erected themselves in geodesic shells about each ship. Added to the shielding compliment of the duo, the defenses were set as they raced for the Continuum Wrinkle ahead.

The Continuum Wrinkle looked like a cross between a black hole singularity and a created wormhole similar to the Ancient gates. There were no structures to mark where it began its event horizon. It swirled and ate all forms of energy, emitting only detected x-ray radiation in two cones shooting forth like a black hole. Sensors that swept the Wrinkle did not bounce back and could only be registered as bending to empty down the Wrinkle's infinite iris. Where anything entering the Continuum Wrinkle went was a given unknown.

Then the Mordana spotted the two racing ships. Battle cries over the communications channels erupted as the ex-Jenquai ships turned to intercept a hated Progen and a despised Shinwa vessel pair. There were no words. There was only action at this point.

A space battle occurred. It was full of miraculous maneuvers, space slicing beam weapons, cloud bursts of charged plasma, concussive explosions, and energy storms of shields deflecting and splattering ordinance over their fields. Maneuvers of every style were tried. Acrobatics were the purview of the Jenquai Defender and the Mordana as Pakkrateus' Maze Runner calmly made directly for the Continuum Wrinkle. His vessel returned fire with swarm after swarm of missiles, unorthodox to normal Progen armaments. Any Mordana that came too close felt the storm of his shields' inversion for the Progen had their own technology that turned a defensive shield inside-out and into a short-range weapon in its own right. The battle raged as the Wrinkle came closer. Pakkrat's Maze Runner took hit after hit upon its shields. But each time his computer warned him that they were buckling, he pulled another trick of the Collegia Privateers.

With a surge of power from his reactors barely touched by the autonomous volleys of missiles, Pakkrateus recharged his shields. It was a reverse-shunting action that his Privateer class had gleaned from Terran tactics long ago. With a loud *Re-Vamp!*, his shields were a strong bulwark again. Thus, in this way he powered through the squadron of Mordana, determined to make the Wrinkle ahead.

Reacher's Defender glided smoothly as he danced with the Mordana. Both the Defender's and the Mordana came from the same technologies of the Jenquai race. So it was a swirl of cloakings and de-cloakings with screaming beams. The acrobatics of the veteran master Reacher kept most beams from testing his Psi shield. To any other race, it might have looked like the Shinwa Defender was madly out of control of his careening and dodging vessel. Those beams that did connect were glancing blows at best. Whirling and twisting through space, the Defender laced the night before the Wrinkle with his own beams. It was a multi-colored light show and a dance to the death.

Soon, wounds began to show. It was inevitable as the pair fought the Mordana. Coupled with the harsh radiations from the Sirius primary and the space battle, ships' shields began to fail or were sorely tested. But soon the Mordana lost heart and either turned tail or were left as derelicts on the field of battle.

Pakkrateus was sweating as his ship's reactor and shields slowly regenerated. He had castled with Reacher once to give the Defender time to re-erect a new Psi shield in time to allow his normal shielding a respite. With Modana derelicts slowly falling to the pull of the Wrinkle, the two rallied before its event horizon.

The aging Privateer was about to load the cryo-cartridge into a missile to be fired into the Continuum Wrinkle when a masercom beam was received by his communications system. It was an interstellar call synced to his Information Friend or Foe transponder. Someone was calling him. Was it his older clone brother Pakkratius, he asked himself.

Pausing to load the missile, Pakkrateus answered the buzzing console. The transmission was voice-only and thus had no visual component. Only a static field on the monitor lent identity to the voice that spoke.

It was a Progen voice, male and Mars-inflected. It addressed Pakkrateus as a recording instead of a direct call. Rhetorically it gave terms:

"This message is hopefully being received by the one Progen in the galaxy who has our property. Know that the Sabine do not normally allow gene-maps to become bargaining chips, but the courier regrettably forced our hand. You, Collegiate have what is rightfully the jurisdiction of the Reclaimers. We offer a trade. Your stolen gene-map for the courier's. Yes, if she is restored, she can clear the air concerning her death and your besmirched name. Being hunted by the galaxy is no small thing, Privateer. There are worse fates. Bring us the stolen gene-map to Endriago planet or else hers goes into the fiery lava right outside Porevenir Mons. Rendezvous coordinates are embedded in this message. Do not fail to show alone or your life will become far more interesting, Privateer. End transmission."

There it was. The conundrum of justice versus humanity. When it hit Pakkrateus' heart, he could only think of her, the girl from the bar. It was akin to murder to destroy a gene-map and these Reclaimers were willing to forever destroy the girl for a gene-map.

"I feel your heart weight, Progen," offered Reacher. The Defender went silent again as Pakkrateus took the hard road. To elect for life over justice or revenge, tugged on Reacher. This was the only way to save the girl, clear Pakkrateus's name, and only then could justice be done upon the Tormentor. Seeing this in the dilemma of the Progen he was aiding, it renewed Reacher's faith in the Sev Tushnim over the racial anger of the Jenquai. Even he could step back from the abyss, having seen so much of war. It was a hard road the Privateer was taking. The Defender respected that. This Progen had honor.

Forming up once more the unlikely pair shot again into the azure painted night of Sirius system.
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