Return to Atlantis

Chapter 32 -The Welcome

The mother fortress looked like a massive, basalt rock in space - a clear-cut, uncomplicated structure, so marvelled Alec, Phil and Sanders. Like a nicely carved out piece of an asteroid that broke off.

They watched as the ship opened up to receive them, a huge mouth into what appears to be the hangar, beckoning them inside. Ava's ship had gone in first and the boys followed suit in their spacefighters, into this dark space tunnel. As the hangar gates begin to slid back to a close, effectively separating them from the vacuum of space as well as their pursuers which the Zhinra fighters had engaged on their behalf, the sound of machinery grinding and whirring invaded their senses, even in the comfort of their cockpits.

They all switched into their battlesuit mode and floated on, sans thrusters, towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Guys, I know this is pretty much an inappropriate feeling right now, but I am pretty much amazed to be inside an enemy ship right now - this is an unprecedented event!" Sanders was smirking as he was looking around the hangar bay they found themselves in.

The three men had gathered themselves outside of their suits, onto the gravitated floor of the hangar bay.

The interiors of the spaceship, the hangar at least, had a dark and gothic feel to it like an old medieval castle. The walls looked like they were made of black granite and the atmosphere cold, damp, and chilly. But they can breathe --- to their utter relief after testing the air before removing their oxygen helmets. It amazed them that these aliens could be or are breathing the same air as them humans.

"You are right - that is pretty inappropriate," was all Phil could say back. He wouldn't admit it, but he is also a bit thrilled. He is going down in history as one of the first to stepped on to enemy territory, well er, second to the professor, that is.

"You are a fool to come here," that was Ava, standing not far from them. It wasn't an admonishment.

Sanders leaned in towards the other guys, audibly whispering. "What does that make her then?"

Suddenly, the ground under their feet began to shake almost violently, throwing them down on the floor.

"What's happening?!" Alec yelled. His head felt like it would burst and all this other sensations he is unfamiliar with.

It must have been 3 minutes before the shaking stopped.

"What the hell was that?!" clamored Sanders. "Is this ship under siege?!"

"I don't know about you guys but I felt like I just had an out of body experience, I can't describe it," shared the their lieutenant.

"I think I felt the same, kind of," offered Alec.

"Yeah, really weird!" said Sanders.

Suddenly a large hatchway split open the expansive hangar wall infront of them, revealing a congregation led by the cloaked Commander Lynx and Vondra. An assembly of uniformed alien men with iron-masked faces and wearing plate vests and short kilts stood just behind them, looking sharp with their long trident sticks that they have stuck out with their arms vertically against the floor.

Lynx looked tall, handsome, and lean, wrapped in a dark blue cloak with silver motifs that matched his hair. Vondra wore a welcoming smile that's nothing but disconcerting. She wasn't wearing that red hood anymore but a halter top purple gown and she wore her hair in a high pony-tail.

"Apologies - we had to quickly execute a space jump to get away from the threat. We are no longer in proximity to the threat," Lynx had to explained after catching the humans still huddled on the floor after the quake. "That must have been disturbing for all of you."