Her first gunboat command, the "Heretkau", had been dispatched to seek and destroy across Omicron Delta's sectors C-4 through E-1.

It was not the first of such missions.

She knew that more Order ships had been lost in these sectors than she had seen her lifetime. There were rumors ranging from a jumphole, to an infected human station, to a Daam K'vosh station, to a nomad Hive, to a Hypergate in this location. But none of the reports had ever be confirmed by a second ship, and most reports were deemed dubious at best, due to the psychological trauma of the crews and cyberviral attacks on their ships' systems.

Two days into the mission, the "Heretkau" had encountered the first squad of nomad fighters.

The nomads seemed to ignore them, continuing on their displacement vector without any indication that they had noticed or cared about the "Hathor" gunboat that was moving to intercept.

It was not the first time that Miguela had encountered nomads, but it was the first time that her ship was on its own, and she was responsible for every human life within twelve light-hours of her position.

As the "Heretkau" closed in on the nomads, she whispered:

"They must have seen us by now!"

Helmsman Simon Goethe gave a short nervous glance in her direction. As she looked back at him, she could see that he was bathed in sweat.

[color=#000000]**Could they be waiting for us to drop out of cruise speed, so they can land a surprise hit?**, Miguela thought.

She noticed a drop of sweat running down her own temple.



Miguela inhaled, turned her head aggressively to gunner Tex Teckleberry and barked with a firm voice:

"PREPARE WEAPONS!"

"Check.", Tex Teckleberry croaked through his chewing gum, as he flipped the gun control's safety off with his thumb and inserted his index finger into the triggering slot.

"CUT CRUISE!"

"Ch... check ", Goethe's voice quivered.

The crew of the"Heretkau" could feel their ship slide into a zero-acceleration freefall.

"FIRE DISRUPTOR!" Miguela barked back at Teckleberry, who had already fired the cruise disruptor before she finished speaking.

"Away.", Tex mumbled, while continuing to chew his gum.

Miguela eyed the cruise disruptor missile anxiously, as it closed its distance to the nomad ships.

She inhaled and held her breath to shout the all-deciding order, which would pass the point of no return from a fight to the death with the aliens.


"BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!" Miguela screamed, ordering Goethe to drop to combat speed, and allow for weapons charge and target aqcuisition.

As the deceleration made her lean forward, Miguella's eyes shifted back and forth nervously as the weapon's power indicator rose slowly.

"Come on... come ohnnn", she whispered and thought:

**screw this cruise power drain**

As she looked back onto the forward screen, she froze as a cold shiver ran through her. All four nomad ships were now turned directly at her, with muzzle-fire dimming away from their primaries.

"FFFF...."

An explosion rocked the "Heretkau", making Miguela stumble forward, knocking Goethe out of his chair.

Miguela fell flat on her face.

She felt the rough metal floorboard scratch the right side of her forehead and cheek.

Sparks fell from the ceiling, and the lights went out.

Miguela felt like she was drifting in space, at zero gravity and in total darkness, for an amount of time that she could not fathom.


A cool breeze passed through the grass, caressing her cheeck.

The stars were clearer and brighter than she had ever seen before.

She was lying on her back, on the clearing a few hundred meters from her grandparent's farm house, years before the nomad war.

"Do you think we're all alone out there?"

Miguela turned her head to look at who had spoken.

It was her younger brother, Fernando.

He was lying beside her gazing up at the stars, like her.

"What do you mean?", she asked.

"I mean... do you think there is someone else... apart from us... up there?"

Miguela looked back at the stars, at the limitless depth, complexity, and beauty.

After a short pause, she said:

"Yes."



Miguela jerked up her head in alarm, and as the consoles started to light up around her, she felt acrid smoke in her nose.

"Yes Ma'am, firin' at will.", she heard Tex say, as the "Heretkau"s windows lit up with the blaze of solaris fire in all directions.

Throught the starboard window she could see a bright light flare up, and a fountain of purple translucent liquid splashed through space and onto the "Heretkaus"s window.

"One.", Tex said calmly.

Miguela struggled to get up, realizing that their renewed offensive actions would undoubtedly get a new wave of enemy fire in their direction within the next seconds.

She could hear Goethe wimpering "Oh my god I'm gonna die!"

"MOVE!!!" she shouted at him. He reached up to his console, and pressed the first button he could reach.

The "HeretKau" bolted forward, flying cork-screws like an oversized new-years firecracker.

Looking through the rear window, Miguella saw a volley of nomad torpedos miss them by what must have been a few meters.

"Hold 'er steady, ah cant see nun!" Tex grunted into his visor.

"STEADY! THRUST! CUT! TURN! FIRE!" Miguela shouted a sequence of commands, acting instinctively on what she had been trained to say in countless simulation missions.

The stars turned around them. As the axis aligned with the front window, solaris fire blazed up to fill their view, and a supernova of purple gore spread from the center outwards.

"Thats TWO dowwwnnnnnn! One and two and three! woot woot!" Tex proclaimed, as if announcing the score during the superboal.

Miguela squinted her eyes to see where the remaining nomad had gone. She felt completely disoriented by the alternating light and darkness. She could barely even make out the console lights.

"It's too dark here", Goethe said.

**Yes it IS too dark in here, but that shouldnt keep us from seeing what is outside, dork.** Miguela thought.

"To damn dark in here, cant see squat. Turn awn the gawd dang light", Tex cursed.

"Goethe! More light already!"

"Its on maximum. I dont understand!"

***Darkness will swallow the Heretkau***

"I'll have you court-martialled, pipsqueek! Now turn on the damn light!"

***Those who dwell in dark shells will exit life***

Goethe looked around as if he had just heard something and couldnt locate the source. Then he stard at Miguela and his expression became one of absolute horror.

"For the love of god, turn on the light before we all die in here, puto!", Miguela was starting to get hysterical.

"I did! I tried! It tried but I cant!", Goethe stammered.

***Those who bring darkness will receive eternal darkness, only those who bring light deserve life***

"Then **** you, ***hole!"



Miguela pulled out her handgun, set it onto Goethe's forehead, and pulled the trigger.




Miguela and Tex realized they must have been staring at Goethe's dead body for some time, before they both started to move again, as if waking up.


Miguela lifted her head, and walked to the scanner console. The last nomad was gone.

It was already out of radar range, so Tex and her must have been staring at Goethe's body for at least a minute.

She went back to her console, trying to decide what to do next.

Only then did Miguela realize that she had killed Goethe.



She stared down at her console, avoiding to look at Tex.

Tex just stared in her direction, without expression, without saying a word. He had stopped chewing on his gum.

"Uhm..."

She paused, then pressed a button on the console hesitantly.

"This is... uhm... Captain Vasquez. After coming under heavy nomad attack, and losing one crew member, we are returning to base."