Trust.

As the cargo station exploded beneath him, the crippled Rifter accelerated into warp drive. I, Paintchk, was being pressed against my chair which made my wounds ache all over my body. As I struggled to stay conscious, my mind tried to put the pieces together but all I could hear in my head was,

"Thukker agents....why the hell were they out here? We haven't done anything to them!"

Darkness consumed my vision as the warp drive deactivated. The ship stopped with so much force it lunged me forward and slammed  me against the controls. With the G forces leaving my body, I crashed back into the chair.  The pain was so intense I screamed at the top of my lungs  and nearly blacked out in the process. After a few minutes I started to recover from the pain and  reached over and pressed the emergency beacon. I started to patch my wounds as best as I could and hoped that someone would be able to recover me.

Eventually,  I started to pass out all I could hope for was that I would wake up.

4 Hours Later.

System: Ubetes 

Region: Derelik

Sov: Ammater Mandate

Xzile Corporations Infrastructure Hub

Medical Bay

As I slowly awaked, a bright light blurred my vision.

"Where am I?" I said

"Safe" A unseen voice said to me.

"Am I dead?"

"Well , your not dead, but your certainly not in heaven either."

My vision finally cleared and I looked over  in relief to find a fellow comrade and Minmater, Blood of Gods, sitting in the chair across from me. We never saw eye to eye but Blood of Gods was the best man to call when your back was against the wall. He had left the Corp  and gone a-wol a number of times but now worked for them as a veiled spy as long as the price was right. Although he might have been out of his mind he was a great field commander.

"Blood," I said as I slowly got up "Good to see you. Did you hear what happened?"

“Yes, I was there. Thukkers everywhere, brutes in fighting but masterminds of stealth. Your lucky as hell, you weren't killed! Somehow you managed to survive a barrage of bullets and  live. Its not normal for Thukker agents to miss their target like that. Its also unusual they would attack us at all considering no recent attacks have been forged by our Corp."

"Whats that supposed to mean?" I asked.

“What it may mean is we might have a spy among us and since their Thukker’s its not going to be easy to deal with them , even for us."

"I don't even know were to begin.  Everyone is going to suspect either you or me."

"Thukkers tend to get outside help, but since their Mater it puts the bulls eye on us. Clever."

His knowledge of the Thukkers made me question him a bit but I kept that to myself.

After a small talk he decided to leave but on his way out he told me, "Protector X and Xz have returned. If I were you I would keep my eye on them."  As he left my thought were racing  about our conversation. I couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling I had about him because of his extensive knowledge of the Thukkers and their spy tactics.

One Hour Later.

After recovering and some sleep, I decided to listen in on our CEO speech. As I got dressed I observed dozen's of ships of all factions, shapes and sizes coming in to regroup for the counter-attack. . Blood often referred to our fleet as the "Iron fist of the Xziles."  I then flipped on the TV in the top corner of room just as Axeltjeuh, CEO of the Xziles was about to give a speech. He stood behind a podium and said,

"My fellow Xziles..," in a barely distinct German accent,"....in the last few hours we suffered a deadly blow from the Thukker tribe's Armada. Many of our comrades who fought so bravely are now floating in the cool dead space  MURDERED by them!!!" A long pause ensued, " They may think we'll run but will we? No!!! After this senseless attack we are more united then ever!! In a matter of hours we will launch one of the greatest invasions of our history. We will not retreat!! We will not surrender and we will no mercy for the Thukkers! They will feel the same sting we felt. This is our time to show the Universe who we really are. The Xzile!!!" 

Cheers erupted through out the Hub.

"Impressive speech" A voice said to my left. I turned and saw Protector X and his wife Xz standing near the door.

"X, welcome back."

Even though his history was hazy, he had lead the Corp through, what seemed like,  impossible odds time and time again. 

"Whats brings you back?"   I asked.

"I've seen the Xziles go through hell and back many times but this attack is the worst yet and I think I could give you guys some much needed help. I also would like to help since I have a score to settle with the Thukkers but I’d rather not get into that right now."

He shuffled a bit, I could tell that he was trying to hide his fear.

"X, this is a bad time for you to be back. There is possibly a spy among us and it could be anyone. From what Blood told me it could be a Mater or any other race who knew our location and sold us out to them. I fear some Corp guy might come for any of us at anytime."

“I’ll take my chances,” said X. “Any ideas who it might be?” 

"I don't know what to think. All I know is that who ever is it is targeted me when I went to the cargo station."

"Then he must have a system where he knows everyone's location at every minute,” said X as he started to pace the room trying to think of who it could be. He appeared to be struggling to accept the idea one of our own could turn on us and he wasn't the only one.

"Paint, the best thing to do now is don't trust anyone. We need strong leaders in order to take on the Thukkers. If theres anyone I could trust it’s you Paint. You may be mortal but you got the guts and mind of a true Capsular."

An explosion rang out that shook the room and killed the lights in the entire Hub.

Then something metal hit me on the back of the head and I collapsed.

"Paint!?" Someone called, but then nothing.

When I finally woke, the lights were on and the room was trashed. Small explosions continued to shake the Hub and made the lights flicker on and off. I stood up and felt the back of my head. No blood but it stung like hell. I stumbled against the window, dazed and with a insane headache. I looked out of the window and was stunned to see my greatest fear, two large Thukker tribe fleets had warped in and had engaged our fleets. Some Frigs and Cruisers had flown off and were fighting around the Hub firing off small volleys of rockets and gun fire. I was stunned by the attack but from what I could tell we weren’t taking many losses. 

I looked around the room for a com to see what needed to be done. I saw one on the ground next to a pool of blood. I walked over and found one of our doctors on the ground dead from a gun shot wound to the head. A grim site but with all the chaos going on I couldn’t be bothered by it. I put the com on and soon my right ear was filled with people yelling for help or Corp giving directions. I switched to Admiral com’s just as Axel was  broadcasting a message.

"If there are any high ranking officers still in the Hub, your orders are to activate the emergency beacon. Alarm the Rear Guard that we are under Thukker attack."

The message ended so I ran towards the communications deck as fast as I could.

Communications Deck.

As I wondered through the halls, Xz contacted me on the com’s.

'Paint....the communications deck is fried...if you can hear me...go to the back up room but do not......."

Gun shots erupted and the com went dead.

"Xz...? Xz come in! Shit!!"

I ran  full speed towards the back up room but as I did I couldn’t help but ask why Xz is involved with communications she supposed to be just visiting with X. I tried to push the thought out of my  head. I figured with all the chaos around us she was doing what she could to help us since X was assisting in our defense. Explosions continued to shake the station but I somehow managed to keep myself from falling. Soon, I came up on the hallway to the back up room. I looked around the corner slowly and saw at least four people dead on the floor. With my Miat ready  I entered the room and carefully stepped over the body's. A few scorch marks were still smoking from the pulse rounds that had been fired. A large window showed a small battle between at least a dozen Xzile and Thukker Battle cruisers outside in the distance

Someone screamed out, "GET DOWN!!"

I turned towards the voice and Xz appeared running towards me with her pistol drawn. She grabbed my back, threw me to the ground, and then proceeded to open fire at someone on the other side of the room. It was Blood. He dodged her fire and fired return shots at her. Both of them took cover and kept battling it out. Then Xz landed five shots to Blood’s chest and he collapsed to the ground as blood splattered the wall. Xz then threw me violently against the controls and kept her weapon aimed at Blood.

“Here," She said as she handed me a disk, “its the code to get the communications working again."

I put in the disk  and soon a dish appeared outside. I punched in the last of the password and the computer read, "Sending transmit"

A beam shot from the dish and stopped in the middle of space. As I tried to figure out what was going on something hit my foot. It was a piece of paper all balled up.

I looked at Blood and he looked at me for a few seconds and then exhaled and was gone.

The beam continued to grow as I read the note. The words were written in blood, "Paint, you killed us all."

I turned slowly just as the beam grew into a massive Cyno-Field. The lights were so bright I had to turn away. Then Thukker’s, Dreads, Carriers, and hundreds of ships poured through.

I turned to Xz while reaching for my gun but X appeared and grabbed my arm then shot me in my chest.

I collapsed to the ground, the air started to leave my lungs, and my body went numb. X stood over me and lowered his gun.

"Paint, its a shame it had to come to this. You were one of the best people I knew but there was no other way. The Thukker’s don't want anyone from this Corp to take over. Your loyalty and leadership would keep the Corp together and that would have posed a lot of problems for us. So I did what needed to be done. Paint...I am sorry but its all part of my job." He pulled out a syringe and injected me with painkillers. "There, at least I will grant you a painless death."

"Come on, we got to go." Xz said.

X turned to me, "goodbye my friend.”

X and Xz left and the doors shut behind them. The station continued to shake and my vision began to fade.  I tried to muster the strength to stay awake but it seemed hopeless.  My last thoughts were "Trust.....Trust." Then darkness. 

To be continued....?