Crashed
I knew I shouldn’t have made that blind jump at Almerac.
Alerron Yat curses his fool luck and asks X’Hal to watch over him. The Black Sun mercenaries are still on his tail, all four ships worth of them, and he isn’t sure how long he’s been he’s been running from them. After the first twenty-four hours, time no longer held meaning. He knew he was tired of running, tired of being attacked. He prefers an honest fight to all of this space combat.
When the freighter he’s barely holding together emerges in a system called Sol, Alerron’s body feels odd to him. The pains and aches of the last two weeks immediately fade from memory, but he’s certain that it is the Trenelvi Pain-Mediation technique that has taken hold in him. His ribs stop aching, his ankle is no longer twitching so badly, and his head clears enough that he can concentrate on the images on the screen ahead of him.
He sees a red planet not far from him, and further away, a luminous jewel of cobalt, white and other colors. This system is strange for its colorful planets, but mostly for its sun, which is a golden yellow the likes of which he’s never seen in his life. The sun on Okara is orange, and there are stories of why that is, but no one tells them for fear of angering the Agents.
"Computer, what are the names of the planets before me?”
"Mars, the red planet, was once home to a race of powerful shape-shifters that are now extinct."
“And this other?” he asks.
"This planet is called Earth, known for its diverse humanoid population and its appeal to beings from all galaxies."
“That…is Earth?” Alerron breathes, scarcely daring to believe that the planet from Mother’s stories was before him. Surely X’Hal has brought him here to seek help in his quest to aid her. Father said that many of his allies among the Green Lantern Corps are from this planet. Mother’s greatest friends, family more even that her sister Kommand’r, come from this world.
“Computer, lay in a course for—“
Alerron is cut off as the ship lurches and his world spins, throwing him from the pilot’s chair, to the floor. He recovers quickly enough, failing to note that he doesn’t register any pain from the impact, nor the indentation he leaves in the hull of the ship. He scrambles back into the chair and tries to regain control of the ship, barely managing to do so before the next blast rock the ship and the red alarm lights flare to life.
“COMPUTER! GET ME TO EARTH WITH ALL DUE SPEED, NOW!” Alerron yells, activating the thrusters.
Minutes later, a ship breaks Earth’s atmosphere over Coast City, with the four black ships in hot pursuit. Two more blasts rock the ship and Alerron finds himself unable to control the descent or velocity of the ship as it speeds toward the ground on the outskirts of the city.
Alerron says a prayer to X’Hal as he counts the final moment of his life, and asks for forgiveness for failing his mother. He also asks X’Hal to watch over someone else, and prays that she has found happiness in her life.
Residents and visitors of Coast City will easily see this spectacle play out before the lead ship, a copper and bronze patchwork affair, slams into the ground outside the city at full speed, then explodes. The sound can be heard and felt for miles in every direction.
The three black ships close in to confirm the kill of the Tamarenean Prince.
