Interloper-360°: Expanded Version

Angel Stardust 2: Vengeance Will Be Mine

We fly in silence. I stare at my console and see the diagnostics complaining about the damages it received. Nothing is in critical condition anymore thanks to the Armor Pack Cheq used, but this isn't a status I'd be comfortable fighting in.

The transmission screen displays a new signal that only appears because I've entered a close enough proximity. Planet Thucara is now in view, and I select the new frequency to see what it could be. It's only a faint ping that gets louder the more I approach the planet.

Me (Personal): "Titan, I've picked up a beacon. Maybe it's the emergency message Paxes was talking about."

Titan (Personal): "Yeah, I've got it too on my comms screen. We'll follow that on our descent, it'll make pinpointing the city much quicker."

He takes the lead and enters Thucara's atmosphere. I drift behind him as we enter a cruising speed in suborbital flight. The ping gets louder the more we approach the eastern section of the planet.

Titan hones in on some of the cities found in this area but continues to fly over them. I can feel my heart quicken as I notice his ship's nose start to take a dive for my hometown, Kroyoza.

Me (Personal): "Hey, where are you taking us?"

Titan (Perosonal): "Kroyoza. That's where the ping is coming from. Why, something the matter?"

Me (Personal): "I grew up in Kroyoza."

Titan slows his pace even more as his radio goes silent.

Titan (Personal): "Nev, I see smoke."

Me (Personal): "What? Is something on fire?"

Titan (Personal): "There's...there's hardly anything left standing. I'm landing my ship."

He lands by a clearing on the outskirts of the small town. He's out of the way and I can see the smoke he was talking about.

Kroyoza, the entire town, has been reduced to rubble and fire. I land my ship next to his and hop out of my cockpit. I burst into a full sprint, but I don't even know where I'm going.

I stop when I get close enough to one of the first house fires. If there are any bodies left they would be ash. I look on and don't count a single building, business, or residence still standing. The sky is covered in black smoke, and the only sound is the flames crackling.

"Nev," Titan says as he comes up behind me, "I found the beacon." He holds out a radio beacon marked to send a signal to any that can pick it up.

I lost contact with my family after I went to prison. The last thing they were talking about was moving away from this place. I have no idea whether or not they kept to their word and got out before this happened.

My tongue picks up the taste of ash. I bend down and grab some rubble that I imagine came from my childhood home. My head pounds as I think about how a force so apathetic could wipe away so many lives.

"Nev? We should get back to Motley. I'll call them to hover over Thucara."

"Get back to the Motley? We're doing nothing after finding out hundreds of lives have been vaporized?"

Titan only stands there and stares at the flames. I can see the bright glow in the reflection of his eyes when I get up to face him. "We'll report this back to Paxes and they'll take it from there."

"What about my family? I have to look for them."

"You haven't had contact with them for years. I had the impression you weren't close."