Star Conqueror: An Epic Space Adventure Read online

  Sitting in the engineer’s station beside that bin, large fingers working the holographic controls, was Turner. Not the game Turner, of course, but the real deal.

  Turner was humanoid like all Bolderians, but he would stand out in a crowd with his larger-than-possible head and even bigger body. Oh, and the man had no neck to speak of, just a solid plug of muscle and too-large skull. Add to that a double-row of teeth in his larger-than-life mouth, currently pulled back into a big grin, and he was a safe bet to win any corn on the cob eating contest in the United States. No taller than me but probably twice as wide, Turner mostly wore the standard camouflage uniform of a Resistance fighter, though his pants were smudged with grease and dirt, and his bulging arms and no-neck strained at the edges of a very non-regulation Han Shot First T-shirt, like a literal bit of Star Wars merch.

  I can only assume he bought it wherever he got the Twinkies.

  The forward viewscreens showed off a stunning view of the upper atmosphere and the starfield of open space beyond. As I stared at them, maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise when Turner spun in his chair and said in a boisterous voice that matched his in-game counterpart but with a thousand times more character, “Hey there, David Briggs! You don’t happen to have any Twinkies on you? Sort of ate the last box we had in the galley.”

  I almost let out a laugh as Tulip patted the back of my hand softly, the feel of her fingers on my flesh sending little tingles of pleasure racing through me, her eyes narrowing at Turner. “Seriously? We have more important things to worry about than Twinkies, no matter how much you love them, such as getting out of the system.” She glanced between the two of us men. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk once we’re safe.”

  I nodded slowly, unable to help myself as I smirked. “Wow, you give good hand.”

  As Turner looked sufficiently chastised, spinning back to his controls with that same big, good old boy grin, Tulip smiled softly as she drifted to the navigator’s station. “It’s a cat thing.” As she sat down in the plush-looking, if well-worn, crew chair, she gestured to the captain’s station between her and Turner. “You’d better strap in. Even with the inertial dampers, things can get a bit rocky until we hit hyperspace.”

  I didn’t need to be told twice. I didn’t even think about why I was given the captain’s station other than it was a convenient place for them to keep an eye on me. As I sat down, I quickly did up the four-point harness. It was just like in the game and pretty much the same as similar rigs on Earth. Some designs were just universal, I supposed.

  Also, just like in the game, each crew station had a swiveling workstation that pulled in like a lap desk, the hologram display currently set to show an overall ship and crew status. While I could see plenty of similar functions and controls from Star Conqueror’s ship piloting missions, there were plenty more I wasn’t familiar with. Still, if push came to shove, I figured I could fly the Orion in a pinch.

  “So, as much as I want to ask about this prophecy thing, I have to start my questions with why exactly we aren’t safe,” I said as we broke out into the void of space, but that term didn’t do the view I had justice. I almost lost my train of thought as I took in the majesty of the stars, the planets, the whirling cosmic dance now plain through the front viewscreens. “Is it the Matriarchy?”

  Turner laughed loudly. “Isn’t it always the Matriarchy?” He leaned over towards Tulip like a gossiping high school football player. “I like this guy, Tulip. He already knows what’s up!”

  She flushed, which was weird to see on a cat girl, rolling her eyes at Turner before glancing back at me. “We, well, the Resistance I mean, seeded a vast array of the more primitive planets in this out of the way corner of the Milky Way with, well, Star Conqueror. It isn’t always called that on every planet of course, but they were all sent with the same purpose. To find the hero of prophecy, integrate them with the spirit of the dragon, prepare them for the greater galaxy, and signal us to come collect them.”

  A fervor was building in her voice, the sound of a true believer in something. “The Resistance didn’t think they’d ever hear from one of you, so they sort of gave up. Turner and I, well, we never lost our faith. As for the Matriarchy, even they can’t watch the entire galaxy at once, and only we have the encryption keys to decipher the game’s transmissions. Still, when you beat the game and transmitted, it’s possible that the signal was detected by other parties. They won’t know exactly what happened, but a signal of this strength coming from your primitive planet will catch their attention.”

  Tulip shrugged. “Maybe the Matriarchy wasn’t listening and I’m just being paranoid, but I’ll feel a whole lot better with a few systems between us and Earth.”

  I nodded slowly. “Okay.” It was all sinking in and now the excitement was tinged with the very real danger I was in, but I didn’t let it perturb me. “I can handle this. I was a Marine. I’ve fought for the freedom of others in the past. I was proud to serve then, and I’ll serve now, but I still want to hear more about this prophecy thing—”

  Tulip reached out and stroked my arm again, in soft, petting motions, and the tingling warmth that set off in my body made my mouth forget what it was saying. “You can’t imagine how often I’ve prayed that we would find someone like you, with your power, and have them be as courageous as you are being now.” She turned toward me and gave me a once over. “We’ve spent a lot of resources to find you, David. We didn’t do that lightly. You really are our last hope.”

  I mulled her words over in my head for a second. “I’m glad to hear that. The question is how, exactly, am I supposed to do that? To help you fight the Matriarchy?” I took a deep breath. “Because in the game, they were nigh unstoppable and had both crazy magic and technology.” I gestured at myself. “I beat the game, sure, but I had a lot more tools there. Right now, I don’t even have a power suit.”

  “You will soon enough.” She winked at me. “And as for the rest, we’ll teach you, though the game was a critical first step, not only to synchronize you with the dragon, but teach you about the greater galaxy.” Splitting her attention between the screen and me, she put her hand on mine again.

  “Say, what’s with all the touching?” I gestured at our hands. “Not that I mind, but, well, what’s up?”

  “Don’t mind her,” Turner said from his station, his voice holding the edge of a smile. “It’s a Fertish thing. They’re constantly touching people, especially those they like.” I turned to find those massive double rows of teeth grinning at me. “You’ll get used to it.”

  “Um … is that true?” I asked, turning back to Tulip to find her still absently stroking my hand, her face twisted in concentration as she stared at the navigation controls. It was weird, sure, but it honestly did feel good and her touch was surprisingly soothing. “And what is this prophecy thing?”

  “Huh, what?” Tulip said, shaking herself back to reality. “Sorry, um, yeah, anyway, as I was saying, you are a dragon, well, the dragon.” Her tone sounded like someone reciting a passage from the Bible in Sunday school. “As for the prophecy, it tells us: And lo, did the dragons fade into the shroud of the Draconis Nebula, rumbling a mighty promise. When the High Priestess and the Mother of Chains spread their wings across the galaxy, the dragons would return, investing their might into a champion of humble origin. With the Flames of Freedom, their champion will right the wrongs of old and throw off the chains of tyranny!”

  She squeezed my hand warmly. “You, David, are that champion, a uniquely powerful being that hasn’t existed in this galaxy in thousands of years.”

  I let that sink in, finding comfort in the warmth of her grip. Yes, in that final mission, I had learned just how important it was to use the strangely out-of-place Dragon Form ability to defeat the High Priestess. I always wondered why it was in Star Conqueror and got so much emphasis in the lore, but then again, the game had winged evil angels with magic powers. Either way, I had indeed managed to transform myself into a dragon-man in the g
ame, but there was a huge difference between learning an ability in a game and being able to transform into a dragon in real life.

  On top of that, the idea of being the chosen one in a prophecy … that brought on a wave of mixed feelings. Sure, the idea of being someone special, someone destined to change everything appealed to my ego, like it would to anyone, but I didn’t want to lose my head. I wasn’t even sure I believed in fate or destiny. Though I might have doubted the prophecy thing, what I didn’t doubt was that I hated the idea of tyranny. That was why I had served my country after all.

  So, prophecy or not, if the Matriarchy was as horrible as the game had painted them as, I’d be more than happy to do what I could for the Resistance. If this whole destiny thing could help boost morale with the good guys, it was a weapon to win a war and I could play along.

  Turner reached over and clapped me on the shoulder, breaking me out of my thoughts and drawing my gaze to the side viewscreen, the Moon passing by large and luminous on our starboard side. “Check it out. You’re making history. You’ve now gone further from your planet than any person in history.”

  My worries were blown away by the amazing sight passing alongside us. It blew every NASA picture I had ever seen out of the water. “Wow.” It was all I could manage to say. It was so mind-blowing, I was surprised I remembered to breathe the whole time.

  “No matter how often I see a moon, I’m always amazed at how pretty they are,” Tulip said softly, taking my hand in hers and moving to point at one of the craters. “Each one has its own unique personality, its own unique beauty marks.”

  “Have you seen a lot of them?” I asked, unable to take my gaze off of the Moon.

  “Oh, quite a few, and if you trust me, you’ll see many moons yourself.” She smiled at me.

  “Well, I’m onboard, even more so than I was before, if that’s possible.” I nodded to the vast vista of space stretched out before the Orion. “This is pretty much what I’ve always wanted.”

  Turner laughed with joy. “I’m with you, David.” He thumped his chest. “I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture ... and kill them.” When I didn’t immediately respond, he added, “I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill!”

  My attention was now totally focused on the Bolderian. “Are you quoting Full Metal Jacket?” I asked, practically unable to comprehend it. “Because it sure sounds like you are.”

  “Yes!” His hand fell on my shoulder and shook me, that meaty mitt easily encompassing my entire shoulder. “I knew you and I could be friends. Eighties movies are my jam!”

  “You like eighties movies?” I laughed a little. “Well, I guess I can’t be too surprised, based on your shirt there.”

  “Yeah, he loves them. By Felinus’ whiskers, he eats up about anything your Earthers put out.” Tulip rolled her eyes. “But it’s time to get out of here.” She gestured at Turner to hurry up.

  I guessed that not only was he a demolitions expert, but a ship’s engineer as well. How many other hidden wrinkles would I discover about these very real people? I was hyped to find out, as I was growing already to love these two even more than I had loved their NPC counterparts.

  “In a minute,” Turner chuckled as his big fingers tapped away at his controls. “Just hold on to your whiskers. We have to prime the hyper-drive first, so we don’t blow up Earth.”

  “Wait, it could blow up the Earth?” I looked back at him, shocked.

  He saw my expression and grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect your planet with my life. I’ve seen Die Hard a hundred times. If I blew up a planet that had produced such an amazing cinematic masterpiece, I’d never forgive myself.”

  “Don’t forget the Rambo movies,” Tulip added before smirking at me. “He makes me watch those on a regular basis. It’s like a ritual for him before a big mission.”

  “Hey now, Ms. Kitty, don’t dog on my boy John Rambo. He’s an honorable fighter that kicks ass.” Turner cracked a huge smile, not missing a beat on his controls the whole time. “Much like me!”

  “I’m still in shock that you know our movies,” I said, pausing for a second to mull something over. “Because this whole thing has me thinking: Greetings, Starfighter. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.”

  Turner laughed. “The Last Starfighter. Classic.”

  It was indeed a classic, a movie I had watched dozens of times as a child and more than a few times as an adult. I had always dreamed of being the one picked to be a Starfighter, to fly out into the greater universe, and save the day from some great threat. Now, it wasn’t a dream.

  It was reality.

  I smiled. “Great, well, let’s just Death Blossom the High Priestess’s flagship and get this over with.”

  “I knew I was going to like you.” Turner slapped his leg with delight. “Okay, we’re a safe distance from Earth. Priming drives.” The hyper-drive status display on my captain’s controls showed the steadily building power in our engines. It wouldn’t be long now.

  Shaking my head with a chuckle, I tapped at the controls myself, bringing up a view of the space behind us, Earth hanging like a shining jewel among the stars. “Do you think we just freaked out my entire planet?”

  Tulip grinned and shook her head. “As if. I’m a thousand times better hacker than my in-game counterpart. My jamming protocol can easily scramble the sensor net of your primitive world. Uh, no offense intended.”

  Turner added, “And I dropped a little EMP present on that box of a building you worked in right before we landed. That should sufficiently fuck their shit up … electronically speaking. Hope you’re okay with that. Couldn’t risk cameras recording us.”

  I nodded my head slowly, understanding the basics of what they were saying. A million questions flooded my mind as the stars streaked by.

  “Entering hyper-space,” Tulip said and pressed an icon on her screen.

  The ship vibrated, and the windows shimmered as if water was being poured over them. It was the familiar look of the first layers of hyper-space from the game as well. It took a few moments for starships to fully phase through the vibrational barrier, and it was in those few moments a ship was most vulnerable. Still, as we began shifting to the non-Einsteinian physics of hyper-space, we were picking up terrific speed.

  I sat in my seat, frozen as I stared out at the vistas of space before us. We moved past Mars and when I spotted Jupiter, I got chills. I rubbed the prickles on my arm as we zipped by the planet. All my life, I had looked to the stars and wondered what was there. To some extent, that was the appeal of Star Conqueror to me. It gave me a world to play in outside of my own, but I always knew it wasn’t real. This, though, was all too real, and my senses were overwhelmed with euphoria.

  In a few minutes, we were passing the Ort cloud and exiting the solar system.

  “Almost ready,” Turner announced.

  Tulip sighed. “Good, I can’t wait to get out of here.”

  As she spoke, a red tab flashed on all of our screens as alarm sirens blared across the bridge.

  WARNING! Vibrational grapples attached! Leaving hyper-space!

  My heart sank as I pointed at the alert and said what was on everyone’s mind.

  “Well, shit.”

  4

  “Shit, shit, shit, shit, where they hell did they come from?” Panic flashed across Tulip’s face as she leaned forward, her hands a flurry of movement across the controls. “Those vibrational grapples are already locked in! Hyper-spatial field is totally messed up.”

  It was exactly as she said, I could tell that much by a cursory examination of the read-outs. As hyper-space movement relied on a vibrational field of a super-precise frequency produced by the ship’s drives, vibrational grapples (technically a type of energy weapon rather than actual cables) disrupted that field. No field, no faster than light travel.

  Basically, whoever ‘they’ were had blindsided us and un
til someone could get the drives recalibrated, we were screwed. Still, I wasn’t worried, not yet, because Turner and Tulip had been my favorite NPC squadmates in the game for reasons beyond Tulip’s devastating beauty. Tulip was supposed to be the best hacker and computer programmer in the galaxy, going under the hacker codename of Null-K, while Turner’s expertise with anything that went boom was legendary, but it extended to engineering all kinds of weapons and armor. From what I was seeing, that included ships as well.

  “They cloaked right in on us,” Turner called over to Tulip. “Can you keep us alive while I get the drives recalibrated?”

  “Can John McClane shoot glass?” Tulip grinned as she pulled up the tactical navigation controls. A few taps and the Orion was already diving into evasive maneuvers. Our attackers must have been closing in our rear, as the front and side viewscreens showed nothing.

  “You were paying attention to the movie,” Turner acknowledged before muttering, “Technically Hans Gruber ordered Karl to shoot but … I get your meaning.”

  With the controls and engineering in able hands, the least I could do was assess the threat. The viewscreen controls were as easy to use as I remembered from the game and a few taps later, I brought up a window in the front viewscreen, filtering imagery from the rear sensor array of our ship. What we all saw in that moment was a bit jaw-dropping.

  Arrayed behind us was a Tierra-class Matriarchy battleship, escorted by a couple of Corbyn-class frigates. These were top of the line warships, the Tierra being one of the finest capital ships produced by the Matriarchy shipyards, and the Corbyns were no slouches either. The Tierra alone was the size of a city, a long, brilliantly white needle, with the curving design of a unicorn horn, if that horn was bristling with enough plasma launchers, rail guns, and particle beam emplacements to ravage New York City. That was a lot of firepower for just us.