The Flight Home... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ by Fleet Commander Samhain, midnite@iastate.edu Samhain and the Empress approached her personal shuttle for the flight back to the mothership, and the guards reverently stepped aside, allowing the two friends to pass. They were still chatting and giggling a little, and all the guards could do was look at eachother and exchange puzzled glances as they boarded the craft. They walked on board and were greeted by the shuttle commander, whose eyes met those of the empress, and made only a very short reply in her own language. Regardless of the language barrier, the meaning was clear to Samhain--"It will be done," was clear enough in any language. "Soon, Samhain, the time will come for you to return to Earth for the final test. You know that already. I suggest you rest a little bit while we return to the mothership." "Good advice, your Highness. I'll gladly take it." He did--Samhain went to sleep on the floor of the shuttle, uncaring how hard and cold it was. He'd slept in less comfortable places than this, that was for sure. ************************************************************** Samhain awoke as the shuttle's landing gear hissed silently towards the floor of the hangar where it had landed. It was so quiet he could barely distinguish it from the other sounds of the shuttle, yet the sound of landing gear and the sensation of no longer being moving was enough for him to know that they had arrived, and it was time to get up. He sat up, stretched his back a little, and rose before the Empress had spoken a word. "Used to traveling, Samhain?" grinned the Empress. "Somewhat... more used to just knowing when it's time to get up by changes around me. Like a combat nap of sorts." The light of understanding sparkled in the Empress' dark reptilian eyes. "Ah yes... like when the prey comes along after a long wait. Anyway, come with me. I have something to show you." Samhain followed the Empress out the shuttle doors and out into the hangar, then down a long, narrow corridor lit only with a very few torches. Interestingly enough, this corridor was completely empty of any other X'hirjq. They approached a narrow, curved door, and it opened without a sound as the Empress approached. They stepped out into a room constructed entirely of some transparent material, and shaped like a perfect sphere. The only unusual aspect of the sphere was the door, and the fact that a level floor had been added for standing on. The view was astounding--they could see along the whole side of the mothership, and look out upon the battle raging high above the earth. Samhain marvelled at the ingenuity of the design--it allowed a view in all directions equally, and without the distortion one would expect in a room of such curves. No walls, pillars, or support struts of any kind blocked their view--only the door back to the ship was opaque. The Empress stood silent a moment, and allowed her guest to admire the view, then gestured down and back towards the ship with a large, clawed finger. "Look there," she said simply. Samhain looked down where she was pointing, and she continued. "Tomorrow, you shall take that fighter that is just now coming into the hangar, and you shall fly back to Earth. For now, enjoy the view. In about an hour, we shall feast. You have honored me by sharing your food with me, so now I shall share some of our food with you. I shall return soon, and then we shall go. For now, I must retire to my chambers for a while." The Empress left Samhain alone in the chamber, the door sliding shut behind her once again without a sound. He was alone, amazed and confused, but also quite impressed by the room and the view it afforded. And he LOVED the way this room felt, extended out into the blackness of space, the silence, the grandeur, the POWER. He sat, folded his legs, set his katana across his lap, and meditated, resting and gathering his strength and energies while he waited for the Empress to return. ************************************************************** The Empress entered the chamber once again, and made not a single sound, seeing her guest sitting in the center of the room meditating. "Your Highness, please, you need not be silent. I know you are there, and you are not disturbing me." He stood slowly, coming first into a kneel, the flat of his katana blade pressed tightly between his palms, then rose the rest of the way, and as he turned to face her, the blade gracefully flipped around so it was tip down, then slid between his palms until he caught it in his right hand by the leather-wrapped grip. He flipped it around in a backwards circle past his shoulder, stopped it when it was vertical and upright again, then tucked it up behind him in a single fluid motion. He then bowed deeply from the waist. "Good to see you again, Highness." She turned back towards the door, and indicated for him to follow. "It is time to feast!" she proclaimed as she stepped back out of the room. ************************************************************** The two wandered back down the long hallway, past where they had entered, and came to a junction with a much wider hallway, then right and approached a broad pair of doors. They swung open as they approached and then stepped through into a room filled with brilliant green foliage. Various others of the immortal X'hirjq were there as well, including the three clad in bright blue, yellow, and red. The had been waiting for them, and speaking softly amongst themselves, but their voices and minds immediately went silent when the Empress entered. "Samhain, you fought honorably and well against those who were sent to hunt you. You did well by them, and in return you were slain wrongfully, dishonorably, by a member of the clan G'l'zakk. I bid you approach me, and present your blade." Samhain did as instructed, and held out his blade for the Empress to take from his hands, as she had previously presented it to him. She took it into her ancient, clawed hands, and held it with her palms cradling the blade's edge. "Your life was wrongfully taken, your blood dishonorably spilled, and I, of the clan X'hirq'a'al, the same clan from which the great huntress originated, apologize for that wrong. And now, before all X'hirjq clans and before all those assembled, I declare you deserving of the highest honor in combat. Should any X'hirjq attack you with less than the very highest of honor is to impinge *my* honor." The Empress' clawed fingers wrapped tightly around the blade, sending blue-green phosphorescent blood flowing around her fingers and dripping onto the ground. She released the blade gently, and stepped back and held up her hand, showing no sign of the wound inflicted upon herself moments ago, and again addressed the immortals assembled. "By my action, the one known as Samhain is hereby worthy of only our most honorable actions." She turned, and handed the blade back to Samhain. "And now, the Feast!" With but a single nod from the Empress, they all charged off into the woods in the middle of the ship, leaving their robes behind them. The Empress was no exception, her dazzlingly white robes seeming to hang in mid air for some seconds behind her before finally falling to the ground as she bolted into the depths of the forest. Samhain was briefly confused and astounded by the sudden activity and motion, and then charged after them to join the hunt and the feast to follow, shedding his own robes in the process in observance of the customs of his host. They chased and hunted. Samhain didn't mind in the least running through the woods in such a state despite the difficult passage, and ran as fast as he could, losing no ground to the running lizards other than that caused by the lag time between their departure and his own. But even the minimal time between the Empress' sprint into the woods and Samhain's had been too long a delay, and by the time he caught up with them the prey, some tremendous creature now lying flat on the ground, was no longer recognizable. They each ate their fill, including Samhain who, though a bit apprehensive at first, found the beast to be a delicacy. They chatted and feasted, and soon there was little left but bones. They stayed, and continued to talk and tell tales until it was time for Samhain to head back to Earth. ************************************************************** The Empress and all those who had been at the feast escorted Samhain down to the hanger, where a fighter--HIS fighter--was waiting. He was presented with a fresh uniform identical to the one he was wearing when he was killed--a generic Doberman Uniform bearing only the logos of the Empire and of WEDJEE. He smartly dressed in the uniform, then donned his robes once again over the top of it, then strode up to his fighter to examine her. He peered into the cockpit, and saw a masterfully laid out console configured for him and only him, as well as a helmet lying in the seat. A quick run-through of the controls from a techie later, He bowed one last time to the Empress, who returned the gesture in kind, and climbed in. He strapped on the helmet and all restraints, closed the hatch, and preflighted the controls. He noticed that the dampeners and maneuver-restrictors that kept the fighter out of maneuvers too extreme for the pilot were set much too low--they were set for a normal human, not him. He quickly readjusted them, thus correcting the only mistake in the configuration, and started the engines, which came to life as a low humming in his ears. He saluted the Empress and lifted off, then gracefully guided the fighter out the hangar doors. Once in space, he decided to put the fighter through the loops--literally. He did rolls, loops, arcs--even an astounding cartwheel maneuver, tipping it nose-over-tail, and then dove down nearer to the planet. He buzzed a few tight circles around the Earth, skimming the atmosphere, accelerating and breaking high supersonic speeds, then dove down towards the planet's surface. "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he cried as the ground came rushing up at him. He homed in on Cyberpyro's distinct biologic signature, which was just outside of Des Moines, and slowed to barely-subsonic speeds, buzzing overhead him and several others with him in a mock-strafe maneuver, the weapons locked out anyway. He circled back, slowed, and rolled it upside down. He stopped the fighter near them, hovered it there upside down a few yards above the ground, and popped open the hatch. He hit the release button on the restraints, and felt himself slide out of the seat under the familiar influence of the Earth's gravitational pull. His back slid down along and against the canopy, which he used to flip himself around right-side-up and back to his feet, then ran towards the group as fast as he could. ************************************************************** "What the..." said Cyberpyro as he watched a humanoid figure drop out of the fighter and come charging at them wildly, purple robes flying in the breeze, arms waving, and a helmet obscuring his face. The group readied for a fight, but instead the figure came charging by, screaming, "RUN! RUN! IT'S GONNA BLOW!" then grabbing Cyberpyro by his uniform shirt and practically dragging him to safety behind a nearby parked car. They all ran. ************************************************************** Seconds later, there was a brilliant flash of light, and a tremendous explosion. The car rocked under the fiery blast, and almost rolled over, but stayed where it was. Aside from some curling of the hair on one of FoxGlov's tails (which had not been quite completely behind the cover of the car) they were all ok. Cyberpyro was the first one up, and he wasn't happy. "Let's see who this ass thinks he is!" he said as he shoved the stranger to the ground, pinned his arms with his knees, and yanked the helmet off his head. Cyberpyro's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he looked at the face staring up at him. Samhain laid there on the ground, tried to wiggle his fingers in a half wave, and grinned from ear to ear. "Hi CP. I love you too!" "But you... what... how... where..." Cyberpyro stammered. "Short version: dead, with Windigo, the mothership, McDonald's with the Empress, flying back home. It's a long story, but I'll tell you later. Promise. For now, we have a stand to make!" ************************************************************** To Be Continued! "The Flight Home" Copyright 1996 David R. Hibbs