'Did I really deserve this?' He asked himself while looking at his Courageous Action Medal which he held just a few centimeters in front of his face. 'I was able to kill 5 of them in a row, saving everyone in our group. Even if I didn't follow Commander Nelsons orders... I rescued their lives, everything went well. I know that, they know that but instead of finally promoting me they send me to the worst place they had to offer, Dublin... 9 more months here, great punishment for doing what I was supposed to do. They won't be able to fight the Gallics back without me, I'm sure... and yet they send me here.'
Lieutenant Evan Lewis didn't want to think about this punishment any further, it would just have annoyed him even more. Being trapped in Dublin, doing senseless patrols while the real enemy was killing his people, maybe even his friends just a few systems further in exactly this moment. He put the medal away and went to bed, tomorrow would be just another day filled with rather uneventful patrols, bad food and boring talks with the other pilots on board of the Essex.
'Alert, everyone to the battle stations' It was 3 am, the Essex' Commanding Officer usually liked to do his trainings at this time. While even just thought about ignoring it the voice appeared again... 'I repeat, everyone to the battle stations, this is no training' Things were serious now, ignoring that would have brought him another 12 months on this ship. He got up, jumped into his pilot suit and ran out of his room. All corridors were empty already 'Oh great, I'm late already!' He ran as fast as he could towards the docking bay when the signal appeared another time, this time even stating that the Essex was under heavy attack by some unknown force, that's when he increased his speed even more, expecting to fight a new Gallic ship type very soon. His heart jumped in his chest due to the anticipation this thought caused, all his thoughts focused on the fight he was going to have out there, they were that focused that he did not realize that he was the only one running through the Essex' empty corridors. He did not encounter a single person on the way to the docking bay and upon his arrival the dock crew, just playing a poker to figure out who was going to pay their next round of drinks at New London, looked at him a tad bit irritated before they started to burst out in laughter. The alert Lieutenant Lewis heard did not exist..
The next two weeks at the medical bay did not seem to bring any explanation for what happened in that night, however the doctors claimed to have found a very rare form of somnambulism which they were able to cure just to send him back into active service with the advice to be careful while flying out.
Lewis next 5 days consisted of nothing but patrols close to the Essex, making sure that supply transports did not get lost on the way from the Essex to the jump gate to New London, checking the general traffic and generally being bored. To make things even worse there did not seem to be a chance to get a few more challenging tasks as long as nobody could explain the weird behavior in that one night, his superiors simply decided that it would be too dangerous for him and everyone flying at his wing.
Another uneventful day passed, but just when he was about to leave the debriefing room the Officer responsible for operations that day called him back in, the officer was a small, relatively thick man. Lewis never bothered to remember his name, it just wasn't necessary to know who this person was as he never participated in the operations himself. 'Lieutenant Lewis, there seems to be a special assignment for you, I just received a transmission from Commander Earhart, seems to be some boring escort mission. Have fun there! ' After he finished he gave a sheet of paper to Lewis, it contained all necessary information as well as the name of the person he was going to escort, a certain Miss Anna Foster even though she seemed to be a part of the Forces her rank or Division had been removed completely. 'Well finally something to do' He thought to himself and went to his room, he had to get up in the middle of the night for this new assignment, but the hope to finally see something new certainly helped him to sleep well.
It was 3.20 am when he left his room towards the hangar bay where he was supposed to meet Miss Foster, Lewis hurried up to be at the hangar bay in time to make a good impression and to get away from the Essex earlier.
The person standing in the hangar bay was wearing a uniform, just as he expected, however the rank insignias were the ones used by the Intelligence Service. 'Ah, Lieutenant Lewis, I'm Colonel Anna Foster, responsible for the research department and you are going to be my escort today. I hope you did read through the basic information you received, got any questions?' He shaked his head. 'Good, Commander Earhart was the one that thought you would do your job well, better then anyone else here could, I hope he was right.'
After he received some more information on the mission he jumped into his Templars cockpit and left the Essex. The Colonel was flew a Clydesdale, the ship most suited for this operation. While moving away from the Essex Foster explained him more details, details that were supposed to be Top secret. Previously he just knew that they were flying to the Chester system, but now he knew that the Intelligence Service spotted a structure of supposedly alien origin in this system, he and Foster had been chosen to explore it, to find out if it could be a potential danger for Bretonia and maybe to even find traces of weaponry that could change the war effort in Bretonias favor. Lewis felt honored to be assigned to an operation of such importance.
They didn't speak a word until they reached an anomaly that was supposed to bring them to the Chester system, Lewis jumped first and Foster followed him once he signaled that everything was clear. Within Chester they moved towards a large Cloud, Foster explained him that scanners did not work within this beauty that was also the reason why they could not spot the alien structure earlier. Upon entering the cloud the scanner range dropped close to zero and Foster took over the lead, the Clydesdales computer contained all the necessary navigation data.
Until they entered the cloud they did not speak too much, Foster explained that she would not like to risk that their enemies are able to spot the structure just because they could follow their signals. Her tactic seemed to work well, they did not encounter a single other ship on the way from the Essex to the place they just entered.
'Do you know why Commander Earhart picked you for this task?' Lewis gave a negative answer, he knew that his skills as a fighter pilot were pretty good, but he didn't want to brag about them. 'Well, you are one of our better pilots and even though you do have your problems when you have to follow orders he considered you to be a valuable individual with excellent career chances. This mission is going to be your ticket into the higher ranks of the Armed Forces. I think there had been empty Commander seats that need to be filled.' Lewis heart jumped in his chest, even though he expected a promotion soon, this was something he couldn't have dreamed of.
A few minutes later they reached the alien base, he had never seen something of this size, it was comparable to a planet in his eyes. 'This is the structure, we need to find a way inside Lewis.' He started to search, but most of the structure seemed to be solid, there was no way inside to be seen until he reached the top of it. There was a hole, a bit bigger then the Clydesdale, which was what they were looking for. 'I found something, this hole should get us inside.' While the Clydesdale moved closer something started to pull Lewis' ship towards the entrance, he tried to move the ship in order to escape, but it was useless, there was no way out now.
He tried to send an emergency call, but it didn't work, something was disrupting his signals. He could not even contact the Clydesdale next to him, however suddenly he could hear a voice inside his ship, or was it inside his head?
** You belong to us now **
Just when he was trying to reach for the emergency ejection his Templar offered he realized that he could not move anymore, he was alone, he was helpless, and he was trapped without a chance to survive this adventure.
Lewis opened his eyes after what felt like days later, even though just a few minutes had passed. He was inside the alien structure, lying on the floor next to his ship, someone must have carried him out. The only thing he could see were Bretonians, members of various Armed Forces Divisions, people dressed in white that he deemed to be scientists, and then Colonel Foster stepped right next to him. 'Finally awake? Good, we have plans for you.' She looked him directly in the eyes as hers started to glow in a purple color, the last thing he saw was that she kneeled down next to him, opening her mouth while something move inside it. Then he lost his consciousness once more.
Lieutenant Evan Lewis returned to the Essex roughly 13 hours after he left it, nobody had missed him and he finally was allowed to return to full patrol duty. Someone in a high ranking Military position had given the order to the Commanding Officers onboard the Essex. Lewis seemed to act a bit strange for the first week after his arrival, the doctors blamed that on the sudden stress increase caused by the full patrols he was now doing.