Space Station X51

All the other soldiers followed Captain David and got inside the Battle Craft. The Planet of Origin of the Battle Craft that the rescue team was using was Earth. Its name was Peregrine Falcon - 3Z, named after the fastest flying predator bird on Earth. The hull of the Peregrine Falcon had the maximum capacity of a total of 30 people.

It had a separate compartment in the front for pilot and co-pilot also called pilot's cabin. And below the pilot's cabin there were two rotatable fighter pods which would allow attacking the enemies as well as defending the shuttle from the incoming attacks.

There were three major weapon options available in this shuttle and they were air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, and laser beams. Air-to-air missiles were useful to attack other incoming shuttles. Air-to-surface missiles were useful to attack the enemy on surface. And laser beams were useful to attack single moving and living target.

Laser beams were formed by single frequency quantum photons, meaning the beams are able to travel at the speed of light even in space, making it perfect weapon for fights that happened in space. The photons have massive amount of kinetic energy and thus, when it hits any living beings, it can cause serious injury or even death.

Likewise, the laser guns that the soldiers were carrying were also made with similar technology. It was the only weapon that would work in space.

The main characteristic of Peregrine Falcon - 3Z was that it was capable of travelling at hyperspeed. Its normal speed was 320 kilometers per second while its hyperspeed was 834 light-second (ls).

As soon as everyone got inside the Battle Crafts and were strapped in, the hatch of Voyager S-11 opened to let them out. Both of the shuttles hovered outside the mother vessel to set their course.

The pilot turned on the shuttle wide communication and made an announcement, "Setting course for the Space Station X51. The distance between Peregrine Falcon and Space Station X51 is 3169 ls. We will arrive at our destination in the next 3.8 seconds. Everyone please brace yourselves. We will enter into hyperspeed in 3… 2… 1…"

As soon as the pilot made the countdown, the Battle Craft took off at hyperspeed. Everyone that were inside the craft leaned to their side with a jerk because of the speed and in another moment all of their bodies returned to their normal position. The Peregrine Falcon had reached near to the Space Station X51.

David unstrapped himself and passed orders to pilots and shooters of both the Battle Crafts through his comms device, "This is your Captain speaking. To pilots and shooters of both Battle Crafts, I want you to be on high alert and in a battle mode. Pilots, if you see any suspicious objects flying in to our radar, alert me immediately."

"Yes sir." Four pilots and co-pilots immediately replied through their own comms device.

David continued in his confident and commanding voice, "And shooters, if any hostile crafts flies into our direction and starts to attack us, I give you full authority to take down the enemy. But do not engage if they do not seem hostile. You are allowed to defend, not offend."

Four shooters immediately accepted their Captain's command, "Yes sir."

David placed his hands on his waist and made eye contact with all the Fighters that were with him inside the hull. "Now for the rest of Fighter Squads 1 as well as 2, I want all of you out in the field. Remember, we search for any living crews and head back immediately. We do not want to start a war with an unknown species. Am I clear?"

The soldiers straightened their back and then stomped their right feet to salute their captain. And they said in a loud and clear voice, "Yes sir."

David ordered again, "Everyone put on your face shield." All of the soldiers inside the hull pressed the button on the side of their neck and now their head was covered with transparent helmet.

The Captain walked to the front of the door of the Craft and screamed, "Okay, let's go!" After David shouted this, the pilots of both Battle Crafts opened the hatch to let the soldiers go.

David activated his thrusters that were on his palms and feet and after he hovered for a fraction of seconds, he jumped out of the Battle Craft. Other soldiers followed him and jumped out one after another.

After flying further for a few minutes towards the direction of the Space Station, they could finally see the devastating scene. The Space Station was already torn down to pieces when they had arrived there. Pieces of metals were scattered and floating around the space.

The squads along with David maneuvered through the floating scraps and approached the larger piece of the Station that was standing in space.

As David was about to enter the Space Station, he stopped all of a sudden and gestured at others behind him to stop as well. He could finally see some heart wrenching details.

It was not just the metal scraps that were floating; there were several bodies of dead crew members as well. The bodies had several injuries as if they were brutally tortured and killed. Some bodies were even dismembered.

David's blood boiled when he saw how brutally the crews were killed. For a fraction of second he felt like going out there to hunt those who had done that to the crews. But he took a deep breath and gained his composure.

David turned to face the soldiers behind him and tried to speak as calmly as possible, "Captain to Fighter Squads 1 and 2. I can see the dead bodies of the crews. Quickly search for the survivor, if any. And be cautious. The attackers might still be inside."

Then the Captain gestured his hand in forward motion and the soldiers immediately zoomed towards the large intact piece of the Space Station.

David remained behind to update Lieutenant Bowen about the situation. "Captain to Voyager S-11. Do you copy?"

Glee immediately replied to him, "Yes Captain. What is the current status of the rescue mission?"

David spoke loudly through his comms, "We reached in front of the Space Station. But it is bad news. The Station has already been blasted down to pieces. And I can see several dead bodies of the crew members floating around. We are currently checking for any survivors. Update the acting Captain about the situation. Over."

Then David headed towards where others were. After reaching the Station, he deactivated his thrusters and took out his laser gun. He slowly walked around and asked to the Sergeant of Squad 1, "Sergeant Patricia, has anyone in your squad found anything yet?"

Patricia replied in a stern voice, "No Captain, not yet."

David asked to another Sergeant of Squad 2, "Sergeant Nero, what about your squad?"

Nero's reply was also the same, "Nothing yet Captain."

In another compartment of the Station, a soldier was slowly walking forward, checking each and every corner. After some time, he came across a small door which looked like ventilation. He tried to pry it open but the door didn't budge.

Then that soldier pointed his laser gun towards the lock and shot at it. It worked. He pushed the door and it made a creaking noise. But before he could check what was inside that door, something came shouting and charging at him. The soldier immediately backed off and pointed the gun towards that creature.

The creature was as tall as an average human and its body structure was also like that of a human. But its skin looked very rough like that of a rhino. Its skull was elongated and had no hair on its head. And its eyes were really big.

The creature stopped when its eyes fell on the IGT Fed's logo that was embedded on the suit of the soldier. The creature didn't look like a human but it was wearing IGT Fed's uniform and was wearing an oxygen mask.

The humanoid creature threw the cylinder that it holding high above its head to attack the soldier and asked in a female's voice, "Are you here to rescue me?"

The soldier also put away his laser gun and calmly replied, "Yes, we are here to rescue you. Are there any other survivors?"

The woman's eyes were watery and she replied in a weak voice, "I have no idea." She must have been shocked because of what happened earlier in that Station. When she finally knew that she would be safe, tears started to fall off her large eyes.

The soldier supported her and tried to calm her down, "Please don't worry. You are safe now. Come with me." Then as he started to walk along with the survivor, he contacted his sergeant, "Sergeant Patricia, I just found a survivor."

"Good job Sean. Bring the survivor to our Craft. Ask one of the soldiers nearby to assist you." Patricia immediately notified the Captain, "Captain, one of our soldiers has found a survivor. He is taking the survivor to craft 1. Over."

"Copy that." David let out a small sigh of relief when he heard that. At least the Federation would now get to know what exactly happened there, and would be able to devise further strategies.

But that small sense of relief was interrupted immediately by a pilot's voice, "Captain, Red alert. A swarm of, what seems like one-manned fighter crafts are headed in our direction. We do not know any specifications about those crafts. I suggest we return back ASAP."

[NOTE: The distance 834 ls is equivalent to 250 million kilometers per second and 3169 ls is equivalent to 949.9 million kilometers per second.]