As the space outside the battlecruiser was rattled by weapons fire from both sides, a small ship emerged out of the battlecruiser’s front hangar bay.
“The Zandrax fighters are quite good,” Tara noticed.
So far there had been minimal casualties in the latest spark. Celeste wondered how Commander Anetho was reacting to the unexpected attack.
“Two Grekk fighters have managed to get ahead of the unarmed vessel,” Tara shouted triumphantly.
Commander Shail’s plan had been bold. He wasn’t going to sit back and let another unarmed vessel with Grekk prisoners be publicly executed. Instead, one part of his plan was to protect the unarmed vessel by conducting a pre-emptive strike on the enemy. Despite the Zandrax fighters avoiding the missiles, they were clearly in disarray.
“The Zandrax are firing on the unarmed vessel,” Phog said.
It had been expected that those Zandrax fighters would try their best to destroy the unarmed vessel. Two missiles approached the unarmed vessel, but the Grekk fighters shot them down. The risk was high. If the Grekk fighters failed to hit the incoming missiles, the unarmed vessel might explode taking along with it the Grekk ships. However, by defending the unarmed vessel, Commander Shail had countered the psychological warfare that the Zandrax were trying to perpetuate amongst those on-board the battlecruiser. The Grekk crew morale would certainly be uplifted.
Tara lifted her fists in victory. “What are you going to do now?”
Meanwhile, the small ship that had left hangar bay was now on route away from the area. The ship began to gain speed.
“Sensors show two Zandrax fighters approaching,” Tara reported.
Commander Shail’s voice came over Celeste’s private comms link. “Envoy, hope you have a safe journey.”
“Thank you, Commander,” Celeste replied and switched off the comms link. That could probably be the last time she spoke to him. She didn’t know what would happen after they left this area of space. Would the Zandrax resume an all-out battle with the Grekk ships? Or would they stand down and wait? It all depended on whether they believed that she and Phog had left or been killed. If they believed either of those scenarios, their ability to make demands would become futile.
During the time on-board Celeste had gained a lot of respect for Commander Shail. She had initially judged him based on her experience with Teval. She had mistakenly assumed all Commanders shared similar traits. To some extent this was true, but Commander Shail had been the exception. He was quite different from Teval. Although Shail was older than Teval, Shail had a calmness that she had not observed during their first meeting on the bridge. While the way he spoke to those around him could use a lot of improvement, Commander Shail was far more experienced than Teval. And, he was willing to listen and make adjustments.
She then turned to Tara. “Okay to proceed.”
The engines of their new vessel had been humming while they waited in the rear hangar bay of the battlecruiser. Now, it was time to move.
The distraction part of Commander Shail’s plan had worked effectively. The Zandrax were not only preoccupied by the unexpected attack on their fighters, but also by the Grekk decision to protect the unarmed vessel. She doubted Commander Anetho could have anticipated that move by Grekk. He would probably be furious at his fighters for not being alert.
Tara brought the scout fighter ship out into space. Celeste kept an eye on the display from Commander Shail.
The Zandrax fighters had begun to close in on the small ship, which was actually Phog’s stolen Zandrax ship. Using Phog’s ship as a decoy had been a good idea. The ship would be easy for the Zandrax to identify on their sensors. The Zandrax would think the Grekk were creating a distraction by attacking so as to allow Phog’s ship to escape. They wouldn’t have been able to discern that another layer had been added to the plan. In reality, Phog’s ship was a decoy. The Grekk had planted some of their DNA on-board to ensure Zandrax sensors would pick up Grekk bodies inside the ship. The Grekk had also rigged the ship to be remotely piloted from the battlecruiser. The Grekk engineers had stated that the remote piloting would only work for a certain distance, after which the ship would just float on its own. Commander Shail had declared it should be sufficient time for them to jump into hyperspace.
“Phog, they are firing on your ship,” Tara shouted.
Celeste couldn’t tell if Tara was enjoying it a bit too much as their scout vessel accelerated.
Phog wasn’t amused. “The shields are holding up.”
With that, Celeste turned to the both of them. “This is it. No turning back.”
She wanted to give everyone one more chance to acknowledge what they were leaving behind. For Phog, he was leaving a life of serving his adopted family as a trader in a society where traders formed the bottom levels. Celeste knew he would never be able to rise up in that society. For Tara, she was leaving behind her species. Celeste didn’t know if she had carefully thought about the implications of what she was setting out to do. This was beyond dropping out of the Grekk Pilot Academy to journey with her on the starship. Eventually, the Grekk Empire would discover their disappearance and assume that Tara had turned her back on her own kind. She would then be branded as a traitor, a title that entailed a horrific punishment back on the Grekk home world. Celeste had tried to talk to her about it, but Tara had pushed it away telling her that it was too early to worry about such things. For herself, she was leaving her career as the top Envoy of the empire. Once the Grekk Empire discovered her real identity as a human, the empire would use all means at their disposal to discredit and disown her. They would also send out ships to kill her. The human race didn’t hold a special place amongst the Grekk. They despised them as equally as they would the Zandrax. Thinking about it, Celeste realised maybe it was time to take back her identity.
Both of them nodded.
Celeste pressed the holoskin on her hand and her human skin appeared. “It is time for me to stop hiding behind my holoskin and bring an end to this game of pretending who I am. I am a human.”
Phog remained silent as Tara smiled proudly at her before pressing the controls. Their scout vessel jumped into hyperspace.