Remember the Starfighter Read Online Free PDF Page B

fire.
    There was no time. No time to plot a jump back into hyperspace, or do much else. There would be no escape, for at least one beam would hit the ship. Outmatched and outgunned, Julian felt for certain that he was dead. After all, he had seen this happen so many times before. Entire fleets extinguished. Old friends swept away.
    He knew it would be painless. In less than a second, Julian would be snuffed out. He was but one individual in the way of almost god-like forces that could brush aside all resistance. What was there to say or think when one knew that his time was finished?
    It had only lasted a short moment. But in the midst of it all, Julian looked to his side and saw Nalia.
    She stared back at him, silent, perhaps feeling the same, and saying nothing. There was little they could communicate, not within the few seconds they had left. All he could think was to reassure her somehow, or at least try to. It was his own form of apology, even as he needn’t be sorry.
    Indeed, Julian was a burned out old pilot, and in truth, he didn’t care about himself. But as for her. This woman — a stranger. She must live, he thought. Nalia , he said in his mind.
    He saw her face, a tragic smile starting to appear across her lips. She was beautiful, he realized. He must save her.
    So Julian acted.
    “Get to the escape pod now!” he shouted.
    The words left his voice as the final beam collided with the Crusader. The blast tore the vessel apart. Power was lost, sending the ship into darkness. A crash was heard across the bridge, followed by an explosion.
    Then there was a scream. The blood hitting the floor.
    In a blink of the eye, the end came swiftly.
     

Chapter 5
     
    She stood over the body. Its mind was still unconscious; she could feel it.
    He’s having a dream, she thought, a smirk on the ridge of her pink lips.             
    As she looked over him, he lay on the medical bed, his back against the cool silver surface. A clear plastic-like mask hugged his face, pumping him with purified oxygen.
    The woman pulled it off.
    < Hello Julian Nverson.>
    It was not simply a thought, but a thought directed into his mind.
    < Julian wake up.>
    A few moments later, he came to, but still fatigued.
    Julian opened his sleepy eyes and gave out a groan. 
    “Where am I?”
    The room, presumably some sort of medical facility, illuminated with a light reflecting off its cyan walls. It smelled clean, with an open air unlike the synthesized version on a starship. Julian felt his chest. No pain as he breathed. No tightening of the lungs.
    
    Someone was speaking to him. It was a soothing, unflinching voice, one from a woman. He could feel the calm, and care in its softness. But it wasn’t at all audible or coming from any certain direction.
    “Nalia,” he said, blinking. “Nalia, is that you?”
    
    On him was a shadow. The woman projecting a silhouette. He looked to his left and saw her, finding the color of gold. The dark veil still there, but along with the yellow hair.
    Clearing his sight, Julian realized that the blonde woman was dressed in a jacket of black. She seemed tall, perhaps taller than him. But standing out was her face and the strange features — the eyes possessing a neon glint, the gold extending to her brow and cheeks.
    She smiled down at him, the dimple appearing next to her lips. Again, the strange voice came, trying to calm him. It carried with it no sounds, only a presence that sat in his mind. He had felt this before, and he did not like it. Julian knew what she was.
    “Shit,” he said. “You’re a New Terran, aren’t you?”
    The woman tilted her head, surprised by the response.
    
    “I’ve just never been a fan of telepathy.”
    She pressed a control panel behind her. Julian’s body began to rise, the medical bed now folding into a chair.
    < I apologize. But it’s not meant to be