Model Of The Stars

Episode 23: Beta's Vantage

*Starting Scene*

The pale man in charge of Earth 03's armada angrily inquires into his microphone because of the Lt. Colonel having grown silent following Suta's head exploding from contact with the silver sphere, "Hey, are you listening to me?! What was that noise I heard?! Did a shot land?!" He hurriedly glances at the floor, annoyance added, while reducing his volume a bit. "The hell am I asking?! With what the Taurians' ships are capable of, a single hit spells death!" The adult navigates his vision to his subordinates and sternly shouts, "Somebody here answer me instead! Is the Lt. Colonel done for?!"

One of the workers urgently rebuttals from the left region of the control room. "The signal of his jet remains detectable, so we at least know it isn't completely destroyed, sir!"

A furious scowl etches itself onto the muscular male as he snaps his attention to the primary display of the present combat transpiring in front of their group. "He's ignoring me again then!" The character steers his hazel eyes eastward while collecting a little of his composure. "Fine! If that's the way he wants it, we'll leave him without assistance! Let him prove how great he is when he doesn't have us to fall back on!"

A femme member of the crew quickly directs her gaze to the commanding officer while quite disturbed. "That would be cruel!"

The fellow callously glares at the woman. "That's the point! He has an awful habit of putting his opinion ahead of those with higher ranking!" He soon lifts his left hand to remove his microphone as a sinister grin forms, relaxing his tone in the process. "It's better that he winds up dead anyway. Just as the Board of Directors desire." The guy chuckles. "There's a reason more of the Taurians are in this area than we were told, actually. They need specific pawns to perish since they always have a tendency of contradicting them, like the Lt. Colonel and his troublesome brother-in-law. What best way to cover those ill intentions but to make it that his demise came from fighting for his people?"

Tension envelopes the nearby personnel, moderately baffled too thanks to the recent revelation.

Seeing the assortment of people's behavior, the leader eventually continues his speech while brimming fierceness. "Now, time to go!"

Another man injects himself into the conversation, poised next to the chick who expressed her discontent earlier, with minor hesitation exhibited. "Uh... How are we to do that though?"

The pale gentleman blandly looks at the individual until comprehending why he asked that and exclaims in a distraught manner, "Shit! I forgot we're stuck from our system getting attacked!" The commanding officer shifts his sight to the rest of his crew as seriousness surfaces. "We must rid ourselves of whoever is behind it, fast! Fix this issue before the Taurians decide to launch an assault!"

A second dame suddenly remarks from the upper left corner of the Bridge based on the male's perspective as she watches her monitor, "It appears that won't occur, sir! The Taurians' vessels have stopped their movements!"

The medal-wearing person deviates his concentration forth to verify if that is true, compliments of several of the Taurians' Standards being located there. Once he does that, the adult depicts that the enemy are simply floating in place with none of their artillery firing at any of Earth 03's forces as he mutters while plagued by astonishment, "Wait... Are they dealing with the same situation? That'd mean the source of this isn't aligned with them." He draws his focus to his comrades again and loudly speaks. "Communicate with the others! Considering that the Taurians are also affected, the range of the attackers has to be huge!"

Multiple members try complying with the leader's order, however, are surprised to discern that they can't reach their companions while blurting in unison, "Contact is blocked!"