The Beginning and The End of The War

By Pyrite

Chogan strained as the starmen’s ships moved behind his own. The rebellion had been quenched, and he was one of the only survivors. Right now he was running for his life from the three ships, which were bouncing laser beams off of his shields, shields which were rapidly failing. Chogan was no amateur at piloting a ship, however, and soon spotted a nebula which he could use to his advantage.

He ducked inside of the cloud of glowing space-dust and flew in a U shape, coming out the other side. He quickly released the piloting controls and grabbed the targeting stick, aimed, and fired five rapid bursts into the heart of one of the Starmen’s ships. The first three shots met shield, but the last two blew open the circular ship’s cockpit. He punched in at maximum speed, but his dilapidated ship, stolen years ago from Giygas’s forces, wasn’t as fast as it needed to be. He took three direct hits, and his shields failed on the second. He swore as he realized that his engines were hit. In moments his ship was dead in space.

He channeled all power to life support and internal defenses. He felt a thump as one of the starmen’s ships latched onto his own. He took cover behind his command chair and waited as they welded through his hull. As the metal plate fell to the ground, he saw two legs from under the seat. The legs were formed of what seemed to be liquid metal, and the feet ended in little metallic piles. Chogan rose from behind the chair, bringing up his laser pistol, and fired three shots at the starman, one to the weapon, one to the leg, and one to the visor, and then dived to the ground as the starman raised his other gun and fired blindly. The visor was destroyed, and naked circuitry showed beneath. The leg had taken the hit without effect, but his weapon was a smoking slag pile on the floor. A section of that floor rose up 6 inches, revealing a turret. The starman did not see it, and was inundated with laser shots from behind. As it fell to the ground, the turret sank back into the floor.

Giving thanks to God, Chogan ran through the tunnel that the starman had made to reach his ship. he sat down in the enemy’s ship, amazed at the improvements they had made to the interior of these things. He closed the hatch and disengaged from his old ship. As he was getting used to the controls (they had been modified since last time he had piloted one of these.) the screen flickered on, showing the face of a starman. “have you completed your mission, unit 5276? has Buzz Buzz been destroyed?” flinching slightly at the annoying nickname that Giygas had given him, Chogan proudly walked in front of the screen. surprise registered on the starman’s face as he saw Chogans instantly recognisable black hair, with one swathcoming nearly down to his chin, covering some of his left eye. “you should know that it would take more than that to take me out. your little friend might as well be a scrap heap now. give my regards to Giygas!”

Chogan turned the screen off, the mask of confidence falling from his face. What am I going to do? He wondered. Earth had been enslaved, and the space within miles of here was occupied with hundreds of Giygas’s ships. Giygas surely knew what ship was his, now, so he couldn’t hope to pass off as one of them. As he was thinking, he began to remember the legend of the four. While Chogan disregarded it, it had been all that kept many of his men going... his men. They were all dead now. Chogan spent a good, long time in thought, and eventually decided that he would try and fulfill the prophecy of the four. Chogan searched the ships Controlls for the new phase distorter hat had been installed in these later ships.

He found it, and activated the strange time traveling machine. “Input place and time of arrival” read a disembodied, electronic, voice. “the year 199X, five miles above the surface of what used to be Eagleland, Earth.” multicolored beams lanced out from his ship, seeming to carve in the fabric of reality. These beams built a large, flowing, portal of light and colors, 200 feet in front of him. Chogan rushed into the portal, praying fervently that it would take him ten years back. He did not see the starman ship fly into the portal after him, a second before it closed behind them, leaving nothing but blank space next to his old ship, which layed there like a beached wale.

The portal was like nothing Chogan had ever experienced. It was like flying through water that looked like air, but flowed over his ship in waves and eddies. To either side he saw bright lines floating in mid space, intertwining and parting. A sharp, sudden blow shook him from his pleasant observations. He looked at the screen and set it to rear view. Surely enough, a starman ship was behind him, firing beam after beam into his shields. He rotated his ship and began firing back, while still flying forward through the portal. The laser beams made no noise as they lanced from ship to ship. Just as Chogan’s shields began to falter, their ships found the other end of the portal. They were blown in separate directions, and Chogan’s shields failed. He realized with a shock that earth was within sight! He led his ship to the planet and settled into orbit. He knew that this ship would never survive planet-fall without its shields, so he looked to the teleporter. He despaired as he saw that they were broken--no, not quite broken. He would be able to teleport something small, and only once.

Once was all he would need. He started it up, and watched the exposed circuitry flicker. A bee materialized in the room, quite perturbed at having its molecules broken into a data-stream, transported some three miles, and reconstructed. Chogan could have laughed at the irony. Then he enveloped himself in the calm that Jorvin had taught him. He began seeking the place of peace and concentration within him. In a single movement he snatched up the bee, holding it securely without injuring it. He flinched as the bee stung his hand. Then he began concentrating on that pain, bringing his consciousness from his head through his body to the wound, and then into the bee. Both bodies froze completely.

Chogan fell to the floor, dead. From his had rose the bee. He floated there for a minute, having last doubts. The bee flew over to the control panel and used all of its strength to push down the acceleration button. The ship began to fall, slowly at first, but then fast as the planet’s gravity caught it. The bee flew into a hole in one wall and waited. The air pressure began to leak, and there was a sudden, overwhelming scraping sound. The ship was being crushed! And parts of it were bursting into flame. As the internal lights failed, the bee’s world was plunged into darkness. Then there was a startling impact, and the heat of the flames began to reach the bee. It flew up, and into the day. Buzz Buzz, as Giygas called him, couldn't possibly hurt Giygas like this, but he would find someone who could...