Endo-Stellarz:War on the Horizon

Chapter 23: Family

(Ileen Von Derk - GT 0932 192)

To be honest I was nervous. I wasn't sure how they would react, with relief that I was fine, or in disgust at the thought of me having been wrong or failed. But as the ship flew across the Terrinian sky I knew something was to come of this visit.

"So it's that house over there?" Rolund said pointing to a familiar house in the distance.

"Yes that's the one."

"I think it's kind of exciting to see the place you grew up in, after I showed you mine and all two summers ago." Rolund went on.

"Well it's not much." I said shrugging.

"Well it's way more space than my siblings and I had."

As the ship settled down I saw as my mother opened up the door shielding her eyes from the bright ship lights on this early morning.

"Oh, sorry." Deji said as the ships lights turned off and the ship dropped.

I practically burst out from the ship as I sprinted towards my mother.

"Sweety! I thought the worst happened to you, either you died, fought in some useless war, or both!"

She hugged me tightly as I hugged her back. "If it wasn't for the commotion of the war you would've seen me getting my diploma on that day instead of the feed being cut short. I was nearly the top of the whole class!"

"Look, I love you, but your grades don't matter as much as your family and staying safe. And with this war, I am afraid your grades won't count for much anyhow."

"But mom the knowledge will! I have learned many important things since I left Terrina!"

"Maybe so but you did not need to go to college to learn those things."

The door soon swung open again, this time with my father holding a rifle in his hand. "What did I tell you! I knew the rest of the galaxy was best to be left alone!"

"Now dear I don't think this is-"

"That's not the point dear! We had a deal! I'd let you go to that alien school and learn the things to show the world is a better place, but if it turned out I was correct you were to never step foot on this property again!"

"Andrik! I am sure she had no way to predict that such a thing would happen!"

"What's worse is that she came here in the very same ship that corrupted her in the first place!"

"The one from over thirty years ago?! I don't think that should matter anyways!"

"Dad, I-" I started.

"I don't want to hear a word from you." He said pointing the rifle at my head. "I don't want you corrupting my son! So get off this damned planet and never come here again! Else I might not be as merciful!"

I was almost driven to tears as I stepped back slowly before running back into the ship. As I ran past the other two I quickly spout, "We need to leave." before I ran and shut myself in my room.

After about a minute the ship started to lift off as I sat with my head in my arms on my bed. "Well, I guess I was right... There goes of what's left of my family."

In the corner of my eye I saw as we left the ground behind us and exited the atmosphere. But suddenly the ship froze with a shake. "What's happening?!" I yelled looking around.

"We appear to have been caught in a tractor beam!" Deji said across the ship. "I am trying my best to get out of it, but nothing is budging! Judging by the sensors we are being pulled in by the station!"

Then a moment of silence before he continued. "Look I didn't think they would have a tractor beam that worked this far out AND would be ready to use it the instant we got into range!"

More silence before he continued. "Yeah, yeah, humm hum. I'll take that next time we get struck with perhaps one of the galaxies strongest tractor beams."

More silence, "Yeah good luck with that, this ship isn't moving anywhere besides up."

Quietness, "Well hopefully you all had fun, luckily for y'all I am an AI so I won't die a painful death or rot in a jail cell."

Void, "Unlike you if I really wanted to I could delete myself no matter what, you could be forced into a position you cannot delete yourself!"

Silence, "Shut up!? No I wo-" and back to silence again. Not long after that the ship started to enter the beast of a space station again. A few seconds later the door opened with Jiyoda standing there with her gun.

"COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!" she blurted out.

As I exited my room Jiyoda gestured for me to stand just outside of the view of the main door. "Stay just out of sight, just in case they get a few lucky shots in. Human, you go to the other side."

The ship soon dropped a little as the ships power was drained to the point where flight was impossible. "Quiet now." she whispered readying her gun. "Stay here until further notice."

The door cracked open slightly as the sounds of thuds came from the other side. Jiyoda putting the gun up to her head to aim down the sights.

A moment later the door slammed the rest of the way open as a cloud of dust obscured our vision. The blinding lights of the other side danced through the dust into the dark ship as Jiyoda started firing crazily at the door, the muzzle flares lighting up the room. Moments later a blinding blue lightning bolt came flying out of the door and struck Jiyoda as she flinched and dropped her gun to the floor, then soon to her knees.

As she was about to pick the gun up and resume a continuous stream of electricity came through the door illuminating the hall with it's blue and yellow light. The lightning only stopped after Jiyoda was left partially burnt, occasionally twitching. A few moments later two koopews in large mechanized suits squeezed their way into the ship and pulled Jiyoda out of the ship, replacing them was a robed koopew, their ears poking out the back of the hood. As they walked down the hall they said, "Come out with your hands up." in a feminine voice. "If you make this hard for me, I will shock you to the limits of near-death."

I stepped out slowly with my hands up not wanting to end up like Jiyoda. "You too human." she said seemingly knowing about Rolund.

He also followed suit as he surrendered. "Now I don't want to hear from you, we are taking you to Valko by his order for further evaluation."