The Story of the Peregrine.

[Seth Karlo]

//This will be for one of my characters if I can wangle it, but if I can't, it's a nice story anyway.

The sun peeked over the hills, the light from it shooting far and wide, blessing the objects it touched. At least, all objects except one.

The cruiser was almost destroyed, buried in the side of a hill, rockslides had ripped and cracked and damaged her, it's guts lying around her in a crater that was so large, noone recognized it as one. A falcon swayed in the wind, her feathers ruffled by the onslaught of air, and she shrieked in her joy. Falcons were born to fly, and living cooped up on a ship for weeks on end was a horrible sensation. Her sharp eyes picked out the large ship below, and she swooped down, approaching 200 mph as she dived, pulling up and skimming over the rocks and debris and metal below. Cocking her head to one side, she blinked once, and then banked and returned to her master.

Saker Kwah stood on a hill several miles away, the sight of the damaged vessel hidden to him. Behind him... a long way behind him, lay the remnants of the great vessel Wanderer, destroyed by Nomad Battleships in space and left to re-enter the atmosphere of this strange planet at a stupidly fast and uncontrolled speed. Saker sighed, remembering how the fire erupted around him, and he had bundled everything, and everybird, he could lay his hands on, shoving them into an escape pod, launching just seconds before the Wanderer impacted, exploding in a fireball of true horror.

The parachute had opened a few seconds later, letting them slowly drift down. Saker had stepped out onto the strange planet, not sure where he was, not sure what he would do. His escape pods transmitter only worked in space, so he was effectively stranded here...unless he could find another ship.

His dear falcon returned to him, her name was Terrana, and he loved her dearly. She flapped her wings a few times before coming to rest lightly on his arm, he brushing her neck softly, stroking her in his love. She made soft noises, and he listened, just smiling. That is, smiling until she took flight again, beckoning him, tempting him to follow. His eyes narrowed, his mouth set firm, and he picked up his large backpack in one hand, slinging it over his shoulder. With his other he woke up the other 3 birds he had with him, his Red Kite, Serena, his Gyrfalcon, Heshi, and his Saker hawk, the hawk he was named after, whose name was Tithe. Together, the four birds and he, they walked down the hill he had camped on the night before, and into the valley, following Terrana past rocks and boulders and trees, past small pools of pucid smelling gas, past large animals the size of gunboats, with vicious looking teeth, together the small band of birds and man walked towards the large ship buried in the side of the hill.

When Saker saw it, his eyes grew wide, the ship was HUGE. There was metal, and a huge beautiful black hull, and there was light from it. The thing was sleek, it was strong, it was hurt. It was...alive.

And Saker knew that at that point he should have turned and run, should have fled. But the sight of this huge ship, somehow...repairing itself, was so incredible, he just stood there watching as massive cranes seemed to grow from the ship, picking up the pieces of itself, reattaching them in the right places. The ship carried smaller ships it seemed, as they started to fly from a hidden hangar bay, moving debris, picking up pieces of the master ship, fixing, helping, correcting.

Saker slowly walked forwards, the cruiser seemed half buried in dirt, and there was a large hole near the front that he curiously and slowly walked through. Terran perched on his arm, and the other three sat quietly either on his shoulder or his backpack. Slowly he walked past cables and computers, whirring, working... each sound that invaded the space grew and multiplied thricefold before dying slowly. The ship was a hib of activity. Then, he found a hallway. It started where he found it, a place with walls, with a floor, that seemed to be designed for a human. Looking to his right, he almost dropped Terrana in shock as he watched small machines make the hallway in front of him, curving around a corner they dissapeared, but he could still hear them.

The ship was making hallways for him.

Saker carefully walked forwards, following the hallway, following the sounds of the machines. He knew that this ship was his only chance at recovery, his only chance for life again. The hallway started to brighten, and then there was a 90 degree turn ahead. The light poured around the bend with passion, a kind of blue light, illuminating him. He took a deep breath, and walked around it.

There in front of him was a massive room, a huge sphere shaped room, the radius of it must have been 100 metres across, and in the middle of it was a smaller blue sphere, this one covered in cables and other devices, this one radiating light. There was a walkway extending out towards it, stopping a few metres shy of the blue sphere, a pedestal with a monitor on it stood at the end. Saker walked up to it, curiosity like a huge inflating baloon within him. The monitor flashed, and he looked down at it, his face shocked as word s began to appear.

"Who are you?"

Saker looked for a keyboard, and not finding one, tentatively spoke.

"My name is Saker... I'm stranded here."

The keyboard flashed again, fog rearranging into letters.

"We too are stranded here. Our core is damaged... I am slowly dying. Please, help my children, save them from the large blue monsters."

Saker blinked stupidly for a second, before realising the blue monsters were the nomads... obviously this ship had been shot down by them aswell.

"Uhh, not to be rude or anything, but how can I help? My ship is destroyed..."

Again, the words formed instantly.

"I am using...the last... of my strength to...correct, to fix, to heal this vessel. My children, you must lead them. They cannot survive without someone to guide them."

Saker realised what the ship was saying... to take it, to protect the...children? What children?

"Sorry again Mr.... ship, but who are your children?"

"The small ships."

Saker's eyes widened. The smaller ships he had seen, THOSE were the children?!

"But how? I don't know how to work this ship, it's... for... well, it's built for you!"

The words returned.

"I shall make it hospitable for you. To control Us, I shall build you an interface."

The way it said Us, it seemed to be so protective of it's children...

"I am trusting you Saker. I am... trusting...you...."

The monitor gave a brief flash before turning black. The light around the room started to fade.

"NO!" Saker yelled, but it was too late. With a groan, the ship died, and Saker was left standing there, with his birds, as the commander of a strange new ship.

He slowly turned, and walked back out of the room. The hallway now had 3 directions. One back the way he had started from, one leading straight on, and one to the left, opposite to his original path. Behind him led back into the Core room, as he had named it in his mind. Saker looked right and left, and then, shrugging, walked straight on, climbing up the stairs that had formed. He walked into a dark room, blue light seemed to be created around the edges, and in the centre was a large chair. Made of metal, it didn't look particularly comfortable, and the place to put his hands on the arms pulsed blue. He looked at it, circling it, and then move out the other side of the room, continuing on. He blinked suddenly as he was out in the sun again. The room had several monitors in it, and the ceiling and walls seemed to not exist. Basing on his sense of direction, he knew he was still in the middle of the ship, but somehow the room projected the outside onto the walls. A perfect way to watch something while staying completely safe. He named this room the bridge, and returned to the chair room, as he thought of it.

Placing his backpack against the wall, and letting the birds sit quietly next to it, he walked over to the chair and sat in it. Instantly it leant backwards, his body lying almost horizontal, his legs lifted. A large map appeared above him, showing the solar system he was in. Next to it, a smaller window appeared... holograms both of them, floating around the ceiling. This one showed the status of the...children. All were asleep in the... the word said Nursery. Saker looked at where it was, and wondered what it looked like. Instantly, another window appeared, this one showing a camera image of the "nursery". Saker gasped in shock. The chair was reading his thoughts! He thought about "status of ship" and before he could blink another window appeared, showing shield status, engines, life support, everything. This ship was incredible!

He sat up, and collected his thoughts. Then he leant back again. Perhaps he could fly this thing.

He thought "Power up engines", and with a small rumble he felt the large engine come to life. A quick thought brought up a message informing him that the hull was 100% sealed, and the ship was spaceworthy. Incredibly, the...ship, he needed to think of a name for it, had managed to repair itself in less than an hour. It must have seen him coming, decided it was it's only chance at having it's children safe. The ship shuddered as it was torn from the rubble surrounding it, it slowly lifting into the air. The sensors came online, showing the height of the ship, and various other important readings, like the pressure, the temperature.

The massive vessel roared and moved forwards, pushing into the atmosphere. Saker felt all of it. His eyes seemed to see the outside, his ears seemed to feel the pressure and temperature, his nose seemed to sniff out the enemies in space, his arms felt like the engines... he quickly sniffed again, and thought up the sensors. There, in space were several nomad ships. Fighters and bombers.

The children in the hangar bay came alive as one as Saker thought "Fighters and bombers". His mind had already put together that the best way to counteract fighters was to use fighters.

The children prepped their weapons, and as the cruiser broke through the last of the atmosphere, emerging into space, they shot out of the hangar bay.



Orders? Instructions? They asked, Saker hearing it through his head. He picked out a target with his brain, seeing it on a viewscreen, and watched how it was blown to pieces by the children.

Their were 40 of them, children that is, they were small, cute even, but very powerful. Each time Saker thought about a new target, they would swoop down to attack it with a vengeance, the nomad ships exploding in myriads of colours.

Before long, they were all gone, and the children returned to the ship. The Wanderer he thought... but not. He thought of the name, and came up with Peregrine. The Wanderer hawk. The Peregrine now named, she shot through space, heading towards the nearest Zoner colony, heading back home.

---

Signature by Sleipnir.