Prysus Zier

Part Five: The Chase

Prysus runs onto the flight deck of the Cyclops, the G.D.F. space fortress which he is stationed on. He immediately heads for the XF-17: Interceptor (Experimental Fighter; Model Design: 17; Ship Classification: Interceptor). The space fighter is scheduled for testing tomorrow. Yara was the one designated as the pilot, but she is now in an unexplainable coma with no signs of coming out of it anytime soon. Prysus wonders if what the man said could be true, if is it really possible that he stole her soul.

Before anyone can try and take him out, he seals the hatch. As he starts to power up the systems, a visual comes on one of the monitors. The man standing there is in charge of the Cyclops. "Special Operative (the name given to non-G.D.F. officers who still worked closely with them) Zier, I suggest you power down your systems. If you continue with this course of action, you'll not only be expelled from the station you'll have to be arrested on the charge of mutiny. All I have to do is seal off the hangar doors and you'll never get out."

"Sir," Prysus responds, "you raised me like your own after I lost my family. I don't work for the G.D.F. just because they helped save my life; I did it because I wanted to make you proud. But none of that matters right now." He pauses for a moment and looks at the man on the screen. "Sir, I have a lead on what happened to Yara, but this is the only ship fast enough to reach the coordinates on time."

The commander lowers his head and sighs. "All right, I'm officially putting you on special assignment. The XF17 is assigned to you for aid in your assignment and for field testing. Your assignment is to track down her attacker and bring him in by any means necessary, is this understood?"

Prysus smiles, "Thank you, sir."

On the flight deck, a voice over a speaker sounds. "All hands clear the flight deck. All hands clear the flight deck." Several crewmen run around hurrying to get off the flight deck before the hangar doors open.

His commander adds, "And be careful. I want Officer Ferinn back as well, but I don't want it at the price of your life as well."

"Understood," Prysus replies as he makes final preparations on the Interceptor. "Special Operative Zier ready for take off."

The monitor goes dead. On the command deck of the Cyclops, the commander says to himself, "Good luck Prysus. After I lost my son in the war, I never thought I'd be able to care for anyone else like that again. But I was wrong. I love you as much as I ever loved him. So don't go getting yourself killed, I don't think I could handle the pain of losing another son."

*****

The coordinates are at a space wreck yard. As the Interceptor nears it, the sensors indicate another ship moving away. He quickly alters course to pursue it. Once the course is laid in he receives a communication. A visual display of the prisoner comes up on the monitor. It suffers the same disturbance as his earlier message causing the image to be jumpy. "I had to pick something up for the party. But you're late, so now you'll have to play catch up." The visual goes dead.

Prysus shouts aloud, "Wait!" However, it is too late. Communications have already been broken off and the ship continues on its course away from the wreck yard. It looks big enough to carry several people and there is no way Prysus can tell how many crew members it may have. He already knows that it is most likely a trap, but he needs to learn the truth about what happened to Yara, no matter what.

Prysus is already going the top safe speed for the Interceptor. However, the enemy's ship is able to maintain its lead on him. The ship the prisoner is piloting is fast, faster than any other ship Prysus has ever seen before. Even though the Interceptor is using a new propulsion system, he can't seem to gain on it. He pushes the Interceptor beyond its recommended limits to its maximum speed.

The entire ship starts to shake from the stress being put on it. For the moment though, it is still able to hold together. With the ship being pushed as fast as it possibly can, he is finally gaining on the other. He charges power to the Low Impact Phase Shift weapons. The weapons use a lot of power and he'll probably only have a few shots, but it will cut directly through any shields and basic armor of the enemy ship. At the same time, it does little damage so as not to risk destroying the ship and everyone on board before he could get any answers.

While the weapons charge, the enemy ship emits an energy disruption. It creates a tear in the space in front of the ship. Before the weapons can charge, the enemy ship enters to tear. Determined to catch the ship at any cost, he enters the tear right after them even though he is unsure if the Interceptor can handle it or where it will take him. As his ship enters, the tear in space closes behind him. In the distance, still in the wreck yard, a piece of debris floats by with the word 'Siren' written on it.