The Hall of the Betrayed Read online

the magnification, stating that it had reached its maximum size. Gulping, his eyes darted to the number displayed next to the ship, its estimated size.

  Over hundred and twenty miles long, the behemoth was larger than many small moons. Orange vents glowed as they released gasses and heat from the jump, casting the ship in sinister shadows. A low curse echoed through the coms link as someone gave voice to the shock they were all feeling.

  The attacking ship was easily three times as large as the capital ship Lestari had seen before. And a capital ship carried four squadrons, as well as armaments that could decimate continents. A ship that large could only have its armor penetrated by the heaviest of weapons. Everything else would just bounce off its hide, not even damaging the most sensitive of areas.

  The coms link broke into babble of confusion as everyone, including Lestari, began talking at once. The squad leader had to yell for silence, and then when no one listened, sent a punishing screech through the line, stunning everyone to be quiet.

  “Calm down!” The squad leader’s voice trembled, betraying his words. “It’s only one ship. No matter how large it is, the numbers are on our side. Besides, it is well outside missile range. HQ will have an attack plan for us long before it gets here.”

  Another lighting flash blinded Lestari for a moment, and another ridiculously large ship appeared besides the first. Then another flash forced him to look away. Too quickly to count, the space on his screen began to flash as ships larger than the largest galaxy class cruisers dropped into normal space.

  Smaller flashes began after the larger ships finished their jumps. Dozens of far more normal sized vessels appeared around the fourteen huge ones, showing once again just how large the ships were as they provided contrast.

  Instantly the defending battle line descended into chaos. Fighters swarmed in every direction as their pilots panicked. Several were destroyed or were severely damaged as the civilian frigates supporting them jumped out of the solar system without waiting for the fighters to get to a safe distance. Behind Lestari the Magni began to move forward, scattering his squadron in every direction as the cruiser slowly picked up speed. Across the screen a message flashed, letting everyone know that the Magni was opening its bay doors to any fighter that wanted to attempt a crash landing before they also jumped out of the solar system.

  Dismissing the message, Lestari set his display to only show official directions from the fleet commander. Green lines appeared, signaling his squadron to re-form and collapse down into a tighter line. Only seven of his wing mates obeyed.

  Of the three hundred defenders, only forty-three of the fighters and two frigates responded to the new battle line. A new set of instruction flashed in red. Command instructed them to delay the attackers as long as possible, to give as much time as possible for the civilian evacuation of the planet. There was a grim silence as the few defenders watched the advancing enemy. Lestari’s warning sensor beeped its warning continually as the civilian ships from the planet’s surface jumped behind them. The noise was annoying, but he couldn’t find the energy to turn it off.

  Everything felt like a bad dream to him. Surely he was going to wake up in his bunk at any moment! This could only be a bad dream. Why would anyone want to attack their planet? None of it made any sense.

  Slowly but surely the attacking ships approached. Two of the other fighters broke formation and fled towards the planet. Lestari watched them go. It was all he could do to keep himself from following. His hands were shaking so badly that he could barely hold onto the controls. Wiping his palms on his pants helped for a moment, but soon his hands were drenched in sweat again. He could not remember ever being so scared in his life.

  Still far outside his weapon’s range, the thin orange line of a laser slashed out from one of the enormous ships. One of the fleeing fighters had gotten too close and had been mercilessly destroyed.

  A grizzly voice spoke over the coms link. “May the gods be with us all. Thank you boys for doing your best, for trying to defend us. I’ll be staying here with you until the very end.” The message had come from the Planetary Defense Commander.

  A moment later the attacking ships launched their first attack. So many missiles firing at once that the glow from their engines obscured the attackers.

  Strangely enough, Lestari felt calm. Firing his own weapons, he watched several of the missiles in front of him explode. Not that it would make a difference, but it felt good to finally be doing something. A laser from the frigate behind him swept across the line of approaching missiles, causing even more of them to explode before the deadly projectiles could reach the fighters. But the remainder of the missiles flew through the debris as they locked onto the waiting fighters.

  Suddenly a patch of different color caught Lestari’s attention. Instantly his display zoomed in on what he had seen. Running in front of the missiles was what looked like an angel.

  Lestari sat there, in the first battle of his life and just stared. He had heard some of the pilots who served on exploratory missions talk about “The Angel of the Deep” before. Supposedly this incredibly beautiful woman would appear to pilots who were about to die and guide them to safety. Or so the rumor went.

  The angel certainly was the most beautiful woman that Lestari had ever seen. Far taller than the average person, her features were impossibly perfect. Blue eyes shown from her face and long golden hair flowed behind her as she ran. She was dressed in a pure white robe, much like the pictures he had seen of the angels the ancients used to believe in. Lestari noticed that she seemed to be crying. He didn’t know how it was possible for her to exist in the vacuum of space and he didn’t care. At that moment, all he knew was that miracle had appeared in front of him.

  The angel was trying to say something. Her lips were moving as she ran, but he couldn’t hear what she was trying to say. The display zoomed in on her lips as Lestari tried to make out what she wanted. Finally he understood.

  “Twist right and down!” He obeyed immediately. And not a moment too soon, as a laser flashed through the space his fighter had just occupied. The angel was running besides him now. A soft voice, almost impossible to hear breathed in his ear. “Now spiral.” A missile explosion that would have killed him instead just jostled his ship. “Turn…..”

  Everything fell silent. The quiet hum of his fighter, the noise and confusion that had come through his coms link with the attack, it all stopped. Even the violent thudding of his heart stopped.

  Lestari opened his eyes. He couldn’t remember shutting them in the first place. Around him everything had changed. He was standing in space next to a fighter. His fighter, he noticed. Everything seemed to be frozen in place. Looking around, he saw the battlefield. Almost every fighter had been destroyed, one of the frigates was burning and the other was frozen in the middle of exploding. The attackers had moved on and already begun firing on the planet.

  Besides his fighter Lestari saw the angel. She was frozen in place, just like everything else. He tried to walk towards her to get a better look. But after a few steps he bounced off a solid surface. The impact knocked him down. Shocked, he looked back at whatever he had hit. Yet there was nothing there.

  Getting to his feet, Lestari put one hand on the invisible wall in front of him and slowly began to explore. After a few steps he ran into another wall. A little bit of exploration proved that he was in a small cube, perhaps twenty feet by twenty feet. Lestari had to wonder what was happening. He had never even heard of anyone else experiencing anything like what he was at that moment. Perhaps the angel had something to do with it? He decided to take a closer look at her.

  She really was tall. Easily twice his height, the angel was nearly as tall as his fighter. Following the edge of the wall to get a better view, Lestari noticed something he hadn’t seen before. Only two or three feet behind his fighter was a missile.

  As he stared at the proj
ectile, for the first time Lestari wondered if he had died. Maybe the angel had been sent to guide him into the next life. But if so, why was she frozen with everything else?

  A soft rustling noise broke into his jumbled thoughts. Turning, Lestari found that he was no longer alone. Standing on the opposite side of the cube from him was a man.

  The new comer could have been one of a thousand different businessmen from the planet below. Shiny black shoes peaked out from underneath a black coat. Brown hair, a little bit longer than the current fashion, was combed back. Serious blue eyes studied Lestari from an average face.

  The man stood still as Lestari inspected him without saying anything. Just when Lestari was about to break the silence he noticed something distinctly odd about the stranger. The bottom of his coat was swaying gently in one direction. Almost as if a gentle breeze was playing with the hem. Yet the air was completely still.

  “Hello.” The stranger broke the silence, drawing Lestari’s attention away from the coat. All things considered, a non-existent breeze was the least of the strange things that had happened he decided.

  Focusing his attention on the man, Lestari replied. “Hi. Who are you? Where am I? What is happening?”

  A small smile pulled