Another Excerpt from "The Book" :)

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Markus brought his fighter into a slow arc around Liberty. It was
still unmanned, as far as he could tell. His only comfort now was
the sight of perhaps four squadrons of fighters floating silently in
just beyond the station. Some were still assembling, and he could
hear them calling out ranks and positions. The highest rank he heard
called so far was Squadron Leader, which meant he was probably in
charge. Markus considered himself to be something of a follower
rather than a leader and, while he enjoyed the privileges of his
rank, he wasn't too keen on the responsibilities.
He thumbed his the radio switch and cleared his throat.
"Alright, this is Group Captain Markus Baveer. Is there anyone
here above the rank of Squadie?" He shifted uncomfortably in the
silence that followed. Evidently not, he thought.
"Right, I see three wings with four squadrons each," he continued.
"Tell me there is at least one wing commander among you."
"I don't think there are any Markus," Jessica responded.
"She's right sir," another airman responded. "Most of us are from
several different wings. Our commander bought it when we fought our
way out of Shartua."
"Ours was shot down over Malis point," a third replied. "I think
there was another commander on the way up from Miishana but I'm not
sure."
"No, he caught out as well."
"Dammit," Markus whispered. "Alright, you two who were just
talking, you're my new commanders along with the lovely Darkwing
here."
"What?"
"Cheer up Jessica, you get your own Teles and everything." Markus
grinned at the... was it irony? He wasn't sure, but it was a brief
moment of levity to cherish in the bitter gloom. "Now, what are your
callsigns?"
"Bulldog sir."
"Archer."
"Bulldog gets the wing off Liberty's starboard, Archer gets port,
Darkwing, you're with me on centre. We are now officially Knights,
Rogues and Angels."
Markus paused for breath, and wondered how he was managing to stay
so calm. He watched with growing confidence as the wings reorganised
themselves around their new commanders. Jessica's voice broke his
concentration for a moment.
"What's the plan Captain?"
"I think..." Neither was Markus a good tactician, under normal
circumstances at least. He stayed silent for a while as he thought.
"Knight wing can sit between the burrow and Aragon for the initial
wave. Rogues stay behind the station, out of sight, until I send you
in, Angels behind the burrow for a flanking assault. I doubt we'll
win, but maybe we can take enough of them with us to make them
reconsider in the future."
"That's... a good plan," Jessica responded. The other commanders
affirmed her reply.
"Alright, lets get to it!"
An innumerable hail of 'Yes sirs' assaulted Markus' ears as he led
Angel wing away from Aragon, and to the point marked as the burrow
beacon on his tactical display. He instructed his wing to skirt
around the burrow and not fly through it so as to make sure they
didn't activate it by accident.
"Hey MK, do you know what a good range might be on this thing?"
Jessica asked. "I mean no one has ever tried this before. What if
it hits us somehow?"
"I don't think that'll happen." Markus brought his fighter around
to face Aragon. For some reason that science had never been able to
fathom, and conveniently for the defenders now, ships coming through
the burrow always came out facing the planet, and at a very high
speed as well. It was doubtful they would notice Markus' wing.
A small light flashed in the corner of his eye, telling him that
the burrow was about to activate.
"All wings report your status."
"Rogue wing in position."
"Knight wing ready."
Markus breathed deeply. "Knight Wing, stand by to engage."
"Affirmative."
They waited for what seemed like an eternity as the first light of
the burrow entrance flickered in front of them. Slowly, a faint
glowing string extended before them, branching once or twice until it
formed a rough star-shaped gap in space. Then, quite suddenly, the
whole erupted and burst in to a multifaceted, many-coloured flower of
energy that washed over their ships and pushed them backwards in
space. Through the coloured mist, Markus could see the first huge
ships emerging.
"Now sir?"
"Wait until a good number of them are out."
They waited. Markus counted the ships as they poured out of the
hole in space. Eight... nine... all the way up to fifteen. There
was no chance they could survive an attack against so many ships, but
they had to do it anyway.
"Knight wing go!" he yelled. The coloured fire that had obscured
his view dropped away and he saw the tiny point of light that was
knight wing moving forward to the first huge capital ship. They
stood little chance, and yet they seemed to prevail, swarming over
the ship and appearing to set it on fire in a hundred places.
"Markus, their sensors must still be offline!"
"Thank the gods for small favours..." Markus sighed quietly once
again. Knight wing had begun to retreat now, heading toward Liberty
and the waiting Rogues. The fleet remained on course, dispatching
only two destroyers to chase down the fighters.
"Rogues, on my mark... Go!"
Another arrowhead of light suddenly swerved around the station and
aimed at the lead pursuer. With a lucky shot, they took out the
ships bridge and sent it careening in to the station. Both squads
retreated rabidly as the ship began to tear apart. The second
destroyer was caught in the blast and severely damaged.
Markus listened to their distress calls, and was cheered to see
that a third ship was sent to watch over the first two.
"Markus..."
"I know I know. Follow my lead."
Markus thrust forward, slowly at first, then he accelerated, and
was followed by the rest of the wing toward the rear of the huge
fleet.
"Knights and Rogues, focus on their lead. Angels, break and
attack."
To demonstrate, yanked back on the control column and fired at the
first thing he saw, which happened to be the engines of one of the
support vessels. Dozens of voices responded with their own war
cries, as missiles and bullets pounded in to the surprised attacking
fleet. Unrecognised sections of ships flickered past his canopy as
he twisted and turned between the huge monoliths, firing his cannon
here, launching a missile there. At one point he fired straight in
to the bridge of a cruiser and blew out the windows. He didn't look
back to see, but he knew what fate faced the crew of the ship, and
would probably face him too.
In seconds that seemed like years, they were through the fleet and
racing away again. Now they were at their most vulnerable, with
their backs to the main guns of the fleet...
But the revenge attack never came. Markus brought his wing around
in a wide arc.
"What's going on," Jessica chimed.
"I don't know. It looks like the fleet is breaking up."
And indeed they were, although whether it was an attack formation
or something else, Markus didn't know. He watched, fascinated, as
the fleet started breaking in to two groups as it drew near to them.
"Captain, turn to channel six quickly!" Archer screamed over the
radio.
Markus flicked his radio to the new frequency, as he knew most of
the other pilots would be doing, and listened to the conversation
there.
"-et back in formation now, that is an order!"
"Negative sir, I cannot obey these orders."
"Dammit man, I'm the commander of this fleet and when I say get
back in formation, I mean get back in formation!"
"No sir! I can't do that!"
"Mutiny!"
"Aragonian fighters, this is Captain Bradarg of the Shariia's
Light. We're coming over to your side. Our orders are to attack
your world without mercy and I can't live with that on my
conscience."
"Captain, you are out of order!" the Admiral screamed.
The channel suddenly hissed and fell silent. Markus watched in
horror as the Fleet Command ship turned its guns on the Shariia's
Light and opened fire. Huge shells ripped and splintered their way
through the ship and its surrounding vessels, leaving it with gaping
holes and venting atmosphere. Markus knew they had to act.
"All craft, give those ships cover!" he shouted in to his radio as
he raced toward the stricken vessel. Already there were more ships
changing sides, as the full horror of what had just happened sank in.
Desperate radio calls for help and cover sounded across the whole
fleet as ships began to turn their guns on each other. Markus guided
his wing in to a covering formation around the few destroyers that
had turned to their side and began escorting them away from the rest
of the fleet.
"Shariia's Light, what's your status?"
"The captains dead! We're evacuating the ship right now but I
don't know how far we'll make it."
"Head for Aragon, it should be safe."
"Not with what's heading your way it won't."
"What do you mean? Hey!" Markus listened, but all he could hear
was a loud roaring noise that faded suddenly to silence. He glanced
up toward the bridge and saw his fears realised, as a slowly
dissipating grey-white mist obscured the bridge tower.
Markus set his jaw and span his fighter around to face the fleet
again.
"Rogues, escort any defecting ships to the Archon burrow."
"But we need-" Bulldog began.
"We're dead anyway, we can't keep them here!" Markus switched
channels "Jessica, you still with me."
"Right on your tail MK."
"Good. We need to take out that command ship, even if we do
nothing else."
"Go for the engines then. It'll take... oh GODS! NO!"
"Jessica?" Markus looked left towards Jessica's plane and saw his
worst fears realised. The ship plunged spinning out of a huge
fireball, trailing a line of white flame as it tumbled through space.

"Jessica!"
Jessica looked around her shattered control panel.
"I'm alright, I think," she responded. What was left of her
computer told a different story. One engine out, jammed controls and
her thrusters stuck at maximum. She tore frantically at the eject
lever but nothing happened.
"Markus, I don't think I'm going to make it home," she finally
admitted.
"But... there was to be something we can do!"
"I'm sorry Markus. I'm really sorry. I have to go."
"No wait!"
She shut off her radio and pulled hard on the controls, managing
to bring her little ship around to face the command ship. With a lot
of effort, she lined up on the bridge and set the engine boosts to
full. Then she turned her radio on again.
"Markus, remember me."
"Jessi-"
Her radio failed. With nothing to do but wait, Jessica looked
toward the home she would never see again. They were just passing
through noon, and the planet glowed a bright blue-green, bright
enough to illuminate everything in front of her. She smiled
slightly, at peace, knowing that she still had-

The fighter tore in to the Command Ship's main bridge, instantly
killing everyone inside and saving them from the fate they had
inflicted on the Shariia's Light. Without a command crew, the ship
floated along on its last orders for a while, unaware of the
electrical surge passing through its main control computer. Then,
without warning, systems began to fail across the ship. First
weapons, then lights... then steering. The ship, ironically named
True Path, began to list and veer to port. The remaining support
vessels that accompanied it were flying in close formation and unable
to move out of the monolith's way as it turned and ploughed in to
them. Three destroyers were dragged along by the vessel before it
began to tear itself apart. An explosion in the rear spread forward
in a terrifying repeat of the fate of the Vanguard, taking another
support ship along with the cruiser.
Markus screamed and shouted for Jessica, at the gods, at anyone
who would listen, but he knew that she wouldn't be coming back.
Eventually, with the battle still raging around him, he was reduced
to muffles sobs, unable to even control his ship.
"Warning, Incoming- Missile. Warning." Markus almost ignored the
computer in his grief.
"Jessica..." he whispered.
"Warning. Impact in- five seconds."
The computer beeped a warning countdown in Markus' ear, but he
didn't care. Even as he felt the first thudding impact of the
missile against his hull, he didn't care. He was going to be with
Jessica again, he knew.
The missile slammed in to his port engine, knocking the tiny craft
in to a flat spin. The impact and the explosive shockwave that
followed knocked Markus unconscious. The last thing he saw before
the darkness overwhelmed him was his home, Aragon, spinning in and
out of view. A flash of fire. Everything disappeared.

He found himself standing in the clearing again, only this time he
was facing a huge temple. Jessica stood in the gateway.
"The die is cast," she said quietly. "Elo has been broken."
Then she turned and walked through the gates. Markus chased after
her with his arms outstretched.
"Jessica wait!" he cried.
He stopped inside the temple. Only now it wasn't the temple. It
was a throne-room, with seven thrones in it. Jessica was standing by
one of the thrones with a blood-stained robe in her hands.
"Elo has been broken. Levet will fall."
"Jessica what-"
"Remember me Markus," she said. And then the world was drowned
out by a bright white light.

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[This message has been edited by Proximo (edited 02 May 2001).]