VC Chapter 1-Boxed In

Sector 1500

Planet 1516

January 14, 2052

A dark blue smokey planet with green tints is surrounded by a small blockade of VEGA corporation ships composed of two Rancor battleships and three Exodus cruisers. Far away in the distance, the space begins to warp into a light blue as ships emerged from the centre. Six Genesis cruisers armed with medium weapons formed into a line formation in front of the blockade and stopped their engines. The Genesis in the middle was slightly different than the rest of the fleet as it appeared to be painted with the words “NB Bandit” on its port and starboard.

“We are in position sir.” an officer aboard the NB Bandit announced to a tall Caucasian man with dark hair standing in the dead centre of the bridge.

The officer had the words “Preez” stencilled on his military uniform and had the ranking stripes of a Captain. He walked cooly to the windows and looked out at the VEGA blockade with a set of macrobinoculars seeing what weapons the VEGA fleets had from a distant.

“Railgun drivers and pulse rays on these ships...” Preez saw the weapons mounted on the Exoduses' hull.

“Orders sir?” the officer asked.

“Use our scatter missiles and keep our distance. I want ships angled at 15 degrees starboard and guns loaded.” Preez walked to his command seat and sat down.

“Sir, VEGA fleets are still holding in position.” another officer called out as the Genesis cruisers rotated their ships' headings.

“Strafe towards them so that we are in firing range and divert all shielding power to port.” Preez commanded with confidence.

As the fleet of NB cruisers began their strafing sequence to close the gap for the firing distance, the three Exodus charged towards them and opened fire with their railguns. A brilliant spark of projectile was launched from the Exodus cruisers and pelted the Genesises.

“Shields holding at 80% Captain.” the officer in charge of shielding announced.

“Launch all missiles!” Preez stood up from his seat and gave his order.

A barrage of missiles were launched from the Genesises and exploded viciously into the Exodus cruisers. The lead VEGA Exodus' shield was gone and had minor damages to its hull while the other Exoduses were unaffected.

“Concentrate fire on lead ship!” Preez shouted as he noticed that one of his cruisers had suffered severe damage from the railguns.

There was an amazing display of fireworks as the two parties fired at each other. The lead ship was up in flames and began to fall towards the blue planet from the gravitational pull.

“Rancors are now splitting up and attempting to flank us.” one officer observed from the ship deck.

“Strafe backwards and turn heading 10 more degrees starboard.” Preez thought critically as he addressed the situation.

Suddenly, a huge explosion shook the NB Bandit from its port. One of the cruisers had been split in half by a railgun projectile. Debris was flung everywhere as the ship's engines exploded sending shrapnel to nearby ships.

“Sir, ship 2 is down. Ship 1 is at critical condition and we're losing shields!” an officer ran up to Preez as the ship shook from another incoming projectile.

“Goddamn it! Retreat now.” Preez pounded his fist angrily at his chair.

As the VEGA fleets advanced with their flanking formation, another ship was shot down by pulse rays from the Rancor battleship. In a matter of minutes, Preez's fleet were boxed in with only NB Bandit left alive.

“Captain, we have an incoming transmission from the enemy.” the communications officer alerted his frustrated and defeated Captain.

“Send him through.” Preez bit his lip in anger.

The ship's battle screen turned on and an old white man with wrinkles dressed in a prestigious attire smiled as he rubbed his bearded chin.

“Captain Preez, it has been a great honour to capture you. Your tales of victories has now ended with my fleets. Surrender now and give us the location of where Northern Base is and I will spare your life.” the old man chuckled.

“Over my dead body whoever you are.” Preez scoffed.

“Commander. Commander Yale to you. Let's face it Captain Preez, you have lost a lot of good men and women today and you are in no position to negotiate. I, on the other hand, I am willing to stop this bloodshed and accept your surrender.” Yale smiled evilly.

Preez mulled over the offer as he glared at the battle screen. With a single ship remaining, victory was impossible. The only way for him to survive this encounter was to surrender. He weighed his options. Surrendering would mean giving up the location of Northern Base. Worse, they would be caught off guard when the VEGA Corporation undoubtedly attack. He shook his head and sighed. He could not sell out his allies and friends just to save himself.

“Give us a moment to consider your generous offer, Commander.” Preez looked at the battle screen and signalled his communications officer to end the feed.

“Are we really considering this offer, Captain?” the communications officer asked curiously.

 “Like hell we are! We aren't traitors or cowards. If we're going down, we're going to do some damage on the way! Fire all weapons!” Preez barked as he pointed at Commander Yale's ship.