Commander Zalrin entered the bridge, “What is our status?” He asked. “Sir we are at full power and shield have restored to full strength.” Answered the tactical officer. “Commander, Our weapons are at fifty percent, after destroying the enemy fleet.” Zalrin sat in the Captain’s chair and looked out into the wreckage. “Ensign, announce to the Engineers and the crewmen, to board a drop-ship.” The Ensign turned and looked at the Commander. “Sir?” He asked, “I want us to repair those two ships that retained most of their shape, we need those to make a fleet.” “Aye Sir.” Answered the communication officer.

     If we can restore those ships we’ll be able to hold this position as long as we need to. He thought about how they needed not only more firepower but more room, for the families they brought along. “Sir, the chief wants to know where they’re supposed to get the parts to repair two destroyers.” The commander grinned and turned to the communication officer. “Tell her to use the two destroyed ships, there should be enough material.” Zalrin turned back and looked to the two ships that had the least amount of damage. One of those will be mine and ill finally be a Captain. He thought to himself.

***

     The Captain walked over to her personal terminal and hit the comm. “What’s our situation?” Commander Zalrin answered. “Ma’am we are gathering supplies and I’ve ordered our engineers to repair the two enemy ships.” The Captain was impressed. “Very good Zalrin, if we can restore those two ships, we’ll have a decent hold of this planet.” “Yes, ma’am that was my thoughts as well.” Valyrian paused for a moment to look at the prisoner and pushed the comm again. “Commander while the engineers are over there I want their database gone through, ill be taking my guest back to the holding cell, Valyrian out.”

     She walked to the entrance and opened the doors. The guards turned to her and saluted. “Please help me escort our guest to his cell.” The guards nodded and entered the room. The knights that entered the room gasped as the Captain laid on the floor. They turned in time to see the Captain morph into a massive creature and the scream.

* Five hours later *

    Zalrin stared at the Captain’s terminal on the bridge trying to sort out the data they recovered from the wrecked ships. Holograms of the ship layout, folders of something called project Starfall, and a location beacon. He hesitated, what could thus beacon be tracking? He wondered. He tapped on the terminal. A hologram of Solaris three appeared. The planet rotated and stopped and zoomed in on a mountain settlement. A file icon floated next to the beacon. Zalrin tapped it and the sheet of information opened.

    The Commander gasped, the beacon was tracking His Royal Highness Valryk. He ran over to the Captain’s chair and pushed the comm. “Captain, this is the bridge, we have an update on the Prince.” A moment passed with no answer. The Commander pressed the comm key and again repeated his message, in response. He looked up and turned to the Knights standing guard for the bridge. “Get some men down to the Captain’s Quarters, now.” He commanded.

    BOOM! The ship shook. Alarms sounded and the bridge officers rushed to their stations. “Sir, one of our reactors blew, destroying thirty percent of our reserves.” Announced the Tactical Officer. “I want Knights and the Magi there now.” Ordered Zalrin. The Communication Officer repeated the orders into his mic. “I want their activities on the screen.” Said the Commander. A hologram appeared of Knights running down a passageway with a middle-aged man dressed in a cloak, close behind. They turned and stopped in front of a door. One of the Knights opened the door and the rest of the group rushed in.

    The inside of the reactor room was on fire, and bodies floating. The Reactor room is a massive room that houses two of the ship's reactors, at one hundred meters long and forty meters across the room is the biggest empty space on the ship. “Sergeant, the Gravity in this room is off-line.” Reported a private in yellow armor. The Knight in Red armor turned on her helmet lights and ordered the rest to do the same. The Sergeant looked at the Magi. “Do you detect anything, sir?” The Magi closed his eyes and his body covered in a purple aura. The Magi suddenly broke his concentration and took off, the Sergeant rushed after him. The rest of her Squad followed suit but made sure to stay in formation. The Squad jumped over crates, rails and then landed next to rows of storage boxes.

    The Magi held up his hand and motioned for them to surround the area, He’ll go in along. The Magi walked in cautiously and disappeared into the black. The Sergeant moved into a defensive stand and activated her shield and pulled out her sword. She looked around and tried to concentrate on the situation, but the fire was making her sweat. She looked at her wrist, it was shaking. She cursed and tighten her hand into a fist. She couldn’t afford to lose control and look weak. BANG! The Magi flew into the air, hitting the hall and creating a hole.

    The Sergeant ordered her squad to rush in and take down their target. Knights rushed in swinging at the creature. They were too slow for the massive target. The Sergeant threw down her weapon and shield and launched herself into the air, pulling back her fist as it started to glow. She aimed herself to descended towards the creature. She was falling fast but controlled. Just before landing, she threw her fist forward. The creature turned just in time to guard itself but the power of her magic still caused the ground to crumble around them. Cracks and sheets of metal shot up towards them as she landed a hit on her opponent. The creature screamed as its arm hangs down, severely damaged.

    The knight takes the opportunity to rush the monster and thrust their swords into its side having no effect. The monster laughed and threw the Knights in different directions with blinding speed. It turned towards the Sergeant, she just barely managed to jump away. However, she was as fast as she thought. She looked down and saw that the creature dented her armor, which made her mad. “This was my Favorite set, you animal.” She said.

    Pulling back both arms back, powering up and launched back at her target. She landed a hit in its face but was grabbed by the creature’s hands. It stumbled but still had a tight grip on the sergeant. She threw her other fist at the monster, but instead of taking another hit, the creature slammed her into the deck bouncing away. The sergeant’s body hurt, and then doubled over and spit up blood. She floated up and examined the situation. Her Knights her badly hurt or dead, including herself. The creature was bleeding from where she punched it but didn’t slow down.

   Laughing, the thing is laughing. The sergeant thought. The monster turned towards her and slowly started to move through space. She tried to straighten herself but a sharp pain shot up her back and lost her strength. The creature stopped just before her and grabbed her by the throat, still laughing. It squeezed tight, choking the sergeant. Her eyes began watering and her vision started to fade.

    She tried to move but her body wouldn’t respond. The room was getting darker and darker, the creature was still laughing. Her vision went black and her body felt numb. This cant is it, not like this. Her life flashed before her eyes, her time at the element academy and her training under one of the nobles went through her mind. Then her memories were interrupted by a blinding white light. Her body floated away from the creature as she coughed, regain her sight and air.

    She held up her hand, to block the light. The magi was floating towards them, his hands opened. He moved towards her and put his hand on her head. “Try not to move,” he said. Her body felt warm and relax. She could feel her strength returning and her thoughts clear. “I’m sorry I took so long to recover, rest now.” He turned to the creature. “It is time that someone put you in your place.” He took off his cloak and let it hang in the air. The magi touched a nearby crate and disintegrated it into molecules. His hands started to glow yellow again but this time it was faint. A metal shaft slowly began to take shape.

    The glowing stopped and the Magi launched himself forward holding a fully made scythe. The sergeant gasped, how was he able to make a weapon out of a metal crate? She thought. “Ma’am. Are you alright?” The sergeant looked to her right as the private in yellow armor floated over to her. He held up his hand to her forehead and signed with relief. “Ma’am I apologize, I was tending to the wounded.” The sergeant stared intently at his armor. “Private what power does he have, I know it has something the creation branch you belong to.” She continued. “ I understand you use your magic as a medic, but what is his specialty.”

    The private looked at the Magi. “He used to teach at the element academy when I was a student.” He could take his eyes off his old teacher. “The students were taught the general of their elemental branch, then take a specialty, his is molecule manipulation.” The Magi swung his weapon down, the creature dodged and moved to the left throwing a fist at the Magi. Grinning the man grabbed the monster’s fist and disintegrated it to its elbow. The creature screeched and pushed itself against a floating piece of debris, moving away from its attacker. “No, you don’t.”

    The Magi’s hand began to glow again as the scythe became a metal gauntlet. After putting the gauntlet on, it started to glow red. A blast of energy shot out from the gauntlet towards the monster. The sergeant and private could only watch as the Magi took on the creature by himself. The enemy dodged the attacks by jumping out of the way just in time. The Sergeant brace herself against one of the landing’s rails. “Private, I’m fully healed, so I’m joining the fight.” She jumped into the air towards where she predicted the creature would land next.

    She looked at her target, it just jumped out of the way from a blast by the Magi and was headed towards her. She grinned and pulled her fist back. The creature slowly turned to see her fist an inch from its face. The creature flew through the air bleeding from the sergeant’s attack. The Magi didn’t hesitate and fired an energy blast right at the monster. Everyone covered their ears as the creature screeched. A hole was blasted into its chest and blood poured into the air. The monster scratched at its chest, then went limp. The fire suppression systems came online and filled the room with foam. Everything floating in the air fell to the deck as the gravity generator came back online. The Magi ran over to the sergeant and helped her to her feet. She thanked him and looked over at the dead creature. She gasped as the creature turned back into a small man, the hole still in his chest.

***

    Commander Zalrin walked into the infirmary, walking down the passageway. He stood outside a room the knocked. “Come in.” Said a woman. He entered, the Captain sat up in her bed with a bandage on her half her head. “Don’t worry, it looks worse than it is.” She said. The Commander walked over to a chair next to her and sat down, taking out a pad. He pressed a few keys and holograms appeared, hovering over the bed.  

    Zalrin cleared his throat and began his report. “Ma’am, we killed the man that transformed into a creature, unfortunately, it was able to destroy one of our reactors.” She moved through the files, zooming in and looking at some of the footage from the encounter. “What kind of magic did he have?” He signed and looked down. “We still do not know, we were able to put him down, but lost five of our Knights, not including the one he killed on his way to the Reactor room.” The captain kept quiet as she watched the Magi blast a hole into the invader’s chest. She leaned over to the commander and turned off the holograms.

    Commander Zalrin sat quietly, waiting for new orders. A moment went by without so much as a word between the two. He looked out the window, construction was already underway on the destroyers. Smaller ships surrounded the destroyers removing the hull and repairing the plating. Suddenly he remembered why he came into the Captain’s recovery room. “Ma’am, with your permission.” She nodded and the Commander turned the hologram on again and moved the files away. A hologram of the planet appeared with an Icon blinking.

    The captain sat up straighter and studied the planet. “What is it tracking Commander?” Asked Valyrian. The Commander smiled and tapped the folder icon. A portrait of a child appeared with a name. Prince Valryk Orion. A single tear dropped out of the Captain’s eye and landed on her blanket. We found him, after years of searching we finally found him. She thought. “Commander I want two dropships to send to the planet to find His Highness.” She ordered. “Already ordered our pilots and Remaining Knight to the planet, they should be leaving momentarily.” She signed with relief.

    Zalrin stood and walked to the doorway. “I’m leaving the pad right there for you to review the reports, when the doctor clears you for duty I’ll make a full report.” They opened the door and turned towards Valyrian. “I can look after the operations until you resume command, please ma’am get some rest.” She nodded and Commander Zalrin saluted. The commander left the infirmary and made his way down the passageway.