Rogue ship

An hour later, Atlas stood with his fiancée as they exchanged the rings for all present at the party to see. They were surrounded by Dione's and Atlas's family members and the rest of the invitees stood beyond the raised platform, watching on. 

A live transmission sent the ceremony to transmission plates all over the Twelve Planet Galaxy.

The ceremony and address took a mercifully short period of time and soon the attendees were allowed to party the night.

Dione and Atlas went from greeting one special guest to another from when the engagement ceremony was over. Dione was perfect as usual, beautiful in a peach dress, charming every guest of Atlas's with her winsome smile. 

Atlas was just realizing how Azure was very good friends with his romantic interests. After showing off his fiancée around the hall, he met Azure and Cassius standing by a buffet table.

Azure gave Dione a bear hug and sang her congratulations to her. Atlas could rest assured that his sister totally approved of Dione. 

"I've already told Cassius I'll be leaving tomorrow," Atlas told Azure. "I'll want you to moderate the meeting with the Senate of Boo-10."

"Of course," Azure said. 

"You're leaving?" Dione asked Atlas. "We just got engaged."

Atlas gave her a small smile. "I'll be back before you know it," he said. "You can return to Trenox before the marriage.  But you're always welcome to stay on Boo-10 or the Imperial station."

Dione thought about that. "I'll like to do some sight-seeing," she said. "Since I'll be spending most of my time here, I need to get acclimatized with the new environment."

"I'll try to assist you whenever I'm chanced to do so," Azure said. "The planet has a lot of interesting sights you must see."

"Yes, thank you-" Dione was saying when a large crash interrupted her and the rest of them in the little group.

They turned to a side of the hall where attendees were screaming.

They were currently fixated on a ship that ran headfirst for the transparent glass part of the audience chamber.

The ship spiralled away from the audience chamber of the Imperial mothership of the space station; a mad dash away. There was a collective take of air...of relief….and then the ship spiralled forward towards the audience chamber again. 

A collective scream rose from the crowd as the ship pummeled into the glass. 

"Glass density reduced to fifty percent," a computerized voice echoed in the hall. "Exit audience chamber. Exit audience chamber."

Atlas turned to the group. "Out," he told them. "Cassius, get them to the inner part of the Imperial station."

Cassius nodded and led the girls to the exit. 

The offending ship spiralled another mad dash away, no doubt, to come back again. 

Atlas turned to the invitees. "Everyone out!" He thundered. 

They rushed for the exit door. They gathered at the door, but the metal doors refused to unclasp open despite several prompts. 

"Service doors lock jammed," the computerized voice of the expert system came. "Prompted by security breach."

"Atlas, the doors are stuck!" Azure yelled at her brother from where she stood in the mass that gathered at the door.

Atlas tapped his personal bracelex open and he opened a window over his wrist. "Override the breach," he yelled at the expert system. "Now!"

"Authenticating…"

The  glass hull took another hit. 

"Glass density reduced to twenty-five percent…"

Atlas wanted to curse loudly.

"Security override authenticated…"

The doors opened and the crowd from the audience chamber spilled into the passgeway. The hall was quickly emptying.

That was a relief. Almost everyone was out.

The next time the spiralling ship hit, it made a serious crack spread over the glass. The air in the ship began to reduce drastically.

"Glass density...ten percent…"

Atlas headed for the exit. Thankfully, most of the attendees were safely on the other side and a blue grid that kept the air pressure of the passageway from mixing with that of the quickly depleting air of the audience chamber  had risen over the doorway, prompted by the expert system.

Atlas was already at the doorway, helping an advanced elite woman past an upturned table of delectable dishes when he turned and caught sight of the malfunctioning ship heading for the glass of the hull again...and Elara, to a side of the ship, guiding a child who had hid under a table out and telling the little child to run quickly for the entrance.

Atlas wanted to yell something as the kid ran towards the exit and Elara made her way to the exit.

The audience chamber took a direct hit and it threw Atlas farther from the exit area as well Elara. A wide chasm-like zig-zag appeared on the glass and began to deplete the  air.

Gravity was shrinking with the widening of the gap.

"Atlas!" Someone yelled from the wide passage area. 

"Audience chamber depressurizing…Exit chamber...Air pressure depleting..."

Atlas got off the podium where he had been slammed into and made a dash for the part of the  malfunctioning ship that had burst through the audience chamber.

Elara lay just under, the mass hovering just above her. 

Atlas stumbled past some floating tables as he made his way to the ship. Gravity was reducing, but his gravity boots allowed him some level of movement.

 He reached for Elara and pulled her up. He pulled her towards the exit, all the while, the gravity in the audience chamber reducing with their approach to the exit. The malfunctioning ship left its perch where it struck the glass of the audience chamber.

A swoosh of air left the audience chamber as the ship exited the hole it had created. Atlas held on to a metal bar by the door, else they would have been catapulted toward the glass by the lack of pressure.

As the air pressure steadily reduced, the two of them threw themselves through the entrance as the malfunctioning ship came and gave a last fatal hit.

The glass in the audience chamber shattered completely and the contents of the audience chamber lifted and floated into the deep dark void of space. By this time, Atlas and Elara were in the passgeway, safely beyond the blue grid that separated the pressurized passage way from the air depleted audience chamber that had an asteroid model ship retreating from it. The malfunctioning ship.

The doors to the passgeway slid shut and the sound of the doors broke Elara and Atlas out of their trance. Atlas realized then that Elara rested in his arms, his own arms around her. 

Atlas knew this proximity beyond the chilling events of the evening was messing with his mind. He cleared his throat and stepped away from Elara. He stood up and pulled her roughly up.

Some footfalls made him turn behind him. He turned and Dione ran towards him and hugged him, pushing him to the metal wall behind him.

She left him a peck on his cheek. "I'm glad you're okay," she said. "I was scared."

"I'm fine," Atlas assured her. 

Azure and Cassius approached them. Atlas disengaged from Dione. 

"Everyone made it out fine?" Atlas asked.  

Cassius nodded. 

"And the ship," Atlas said, turning to his sister. "I hope we have unmanned ships after it? This was not an accident. We need to find out who's responsible."

Atlas tapped on his bracelex. A window to a transmission opened and it waited to receive. "Get ships after that rogue ship. Now. I-"

"-Atlas, we've done that," Azure said. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

Atlas closed the window. "Ensure anyone injured is well taken care of." He headed for the inner recesses of the ship. "Get bots to start fixing the breached area. I want to see you and Cassius after that."

Cassius nodded.

Dione and Elara watched him go.