Written by Tara Cross.
With tweaks by Laura
Dale.
Starring…
Ace Hardlight
Kurt
Swiftblade
Aster
Aftershock
Bettilena Flightfire
Jake Jetspeed
Jenna
Joltstride
Leera Lashclaw
Gleeman Vox
Ratchet and
Clank
Juanita and
Dallas
And many more…
Phase
one : Fall of a Hero
Chapter 1 : Mission before the Fall
There was a time long before the duo known as Ratchet & Clank were there to protect the galaxy from evil. A time when lombaxes were all but thought to be extinct. The citizens of the Solana galaxy did not come to notice the existence of Ratchet on planet Veldin. He was much too young. As a child, he would often be watching shows on an outdated holovision set at a local Veldin orphanage. The young lombax envied the superheroes he saw on HV. Even the one who will end up being known as a falling star later down the line…
A hero in his youth roamed across the galaxy long before the lombax; a teenage intergalactic superhero. Somebody who had already succeeded vastly in his seventeen years of life; saving the galaxy one step at a time, taking down supervillians and many other wrong-doers. Nothing could stop him and his team. The galaxies all around were rather safe in their presence.
It all seemed as if nobody could stop the streak of victories and heroism. No villain could take him and his band of heroes down. Nothing could - at least until a mission on planet Oltanis changed everything. Forever.
The planet’s surface was cold, dark and dreary; tensions filled the atmosphere all-round the place. Gunfire echoed from all directions. Flashes of lightning flickered from the skies throughout the streets as the civilians of Oltanis fled in panic, running towards any kind of shelter or safely as the ruthless raids went on against them. This was an unprovoked attack, and it came as a surprise to the peaceful people of the planet. What did they do to deserve this injustice? Was it fuelled my greed, desperation, or just pure evil?
A race, only known as the balatroids, raided the large city of Oltanis, wreaking havoc as they made their way through, firing their weapons and throwing ground-shaking grenades towards any victims of the city. Cries of help echoed throughout the city, with a few unfortunate victims already fallen, or simply perished by the burning explosions. It seemed as if hope was nowhere to be found for the people of Oltanis…
That is until balatroids were seen dropping dead, outnumbering the civilian victims rapidly, taken out one by one in the shadows of the city…
Blasts of static energy struck the evil aliens nearby, from at least five different directions. Confusion shrouded the balatrioids, and they all began to switch their attention to the newcomer of the battlefield. Many of them let out growls of either rage or pain as more of them fell down swiftly, and the few who survived were lucky enough to finally get a glimpse of their new opponent…
“Surprise”
He said with a grin; suddenly hurling himself down from the tall building, crushing one of the aliens as he landed on its back. Reacting quickly, he leapt from the now-dead balatroid to attack nearby foes as they prepared to aim their blasters, ready to fire.
But this newcomer was quick and agile. He performed a strong kick, sending a balatroid soldier flying from the scene and crashing into the crowd and he quickly punched two others that tried to attack him from behind. The fighter looked over his shoulder and could see many others coming in from the distant shadows… some already firing their guns as they finally saw the hero in their warzone.
Thinking quickly, the young hero avoided the shots from the blasters of the surviving balatroids by strafing and leaping away. The hero avoided their fire-power with relative ease as he flipped through the air to land on the concrete ground some distance away from them.
Then he dodged and leapt side to side rapidly, irritating the foreign race as they shouted out in anger, only causing the new guy in the field to grin.
He grabbed out his own weapon as he eventually stood still for a moment; a custom made launcher with sharp pointed blades on each of its three points. Blue lights illuminated on each side, indicating the power supply of the weapon.
He fired rapidly all over the crowd of monsters, destroying more and more of them and it seemed as if the invasion would be brought to an end rather early.
But he was wrong.
More came in from behind the skyscrapers and flew down to the battlefield, which was now littered in armour and fallen balatroids. He watched from behind his tinted visor as they came in on him, and he knew he was too outnumbered this time. It seemed as if there were only two options for him - either to flee immediately to find more support, or die fighting.
He chose neither.
Staring back at the crowd he smiled again and quickly used his left hand to press a trigger on his armour. The balatroid warriors were confused as he disappeared in thin air for a moment, only to reappear even closer to them. He was not alone though; he was accompanied by several other ‘clones’ of himself at his sides. There were now five copies of this superhero, all bracing themselves; ready for combat.
The balatroids shouted out with their fists in the air and came in on the daredevil. Guns were fired and the newcomer; along with his copies, dashed from side to side, each attacking with their own launchers. However, the hero’s true self was struck a few times from the opposition’s fire-power but when his hard-light clones were shot; he felt no physical pain or noticeable damage to his armour.
That is until one of his clones disappeared, having taken far too much hits from the opposition’s fire-power. The hero came in closer, with his remaining three copies following his side to take down the rest of the balatroids. He was satisfied to see that he was gaining victory. The remaining alien invaders took note of this, and realized they have no chance against this warrior. And so the surviving villains made the decision to flee the scene…
”Heh, cowards…”
The hero scoffed, whilst frowning at the same time. He had only one hard-light clone left and he decided to ‘disconnect’ from it for better focus, whilst he began to chase down the remaining balatroids. He was a lot faster than them and he shot them down, one by one, as they ran through the streets.
Not long after he was brought into a well-lit part of the city. Grand skylights surrounded the vast amount of skyscrapers, bringing the hero out into view. The surviving civilians from the windows above could see him clearly,
”Hey look down there! It’s Ace Hardlight!”
“What, really? Are you sure?”
”Yes that… that is him! No wonder those monsters are dropping dead like flies!”
Civilians shouted out from the high buildings and the young hero could hear them from where he stood. He stopped running for a brief moment to rest, seeing as there were no more threats in this part of the city. He glared up and smiled as he could hear the people cheering for him, shouting out his name.
Ace was his name. Hardlight his superhero surname.
He was an intergalactic superhero, famous in the Solana galaxy and the most successful hero known at the time. Part of the Sonic 7, a well-known and well respected team; Ace was arguably the most beloved and talented of the team, always leading the way with many victories in recent years, having avoided being defeated by any supervillain as of yet.
The thing that surprises most people is that he is actually the youngest in the team, at 17 years old. He was adopted twelve years ago when he was around five years old, by the Sonic 7. They were previously known as ‘The Sonic 6’.
Ace has an immense respect for his team, who were more like family. He enjoyed fighting alongside them ever since he was old enough to join in on their missions.
Ace is of the verpardi race. He was rather tall and muscular for his age; his hair fair blond and his eyes striking blue. Like all verpardi, he looked quite a lot more humanoid compared with other sentient races. But being a male verpardi, he had large pointy canine teeth, a long jaw and a small feline-like nose. His tanned skin is patched with partial brown fur, with a few spots surrounding the furred areas.
His outfit was also similar in contrast with the rest of his team, with hues and shades of red, blue and grey. He didn’t wear as much armour as most superheroes, because he liked the freedom with his melee attacks and acrobatic moves during combat. He also wore a visor, with receivers at each side. This was his most important gadget; it not only helped him with seeing in low light and aiming weaponry, but it was also the device that helped him control his hard-light clones.
He can control each of these clones individually with his sharp mind. The remainder of the hard-light clone device was built into the chest-plate of his armour, to help create an image of himself for his clones. They were like holograms, but appeared solid and were capable of inflicting damage on foes.
At this age, he was able to maintain and control up to 4 of these hard-light clones, only losing focus of them if they were ‘damaged’ often by enemies, or if he got hurt himself. The hard-light clones were also only able to stay within close range of Ace. If they wandered off too far, they’d simply vanish into thin air.
Ace was a proud hero; very cunning, smart and somewhat cocky with his enemies. Yet he was generally kind to the people he fought for, and other heroes around him.
He strolled through the city until he saw a few familiar faces come out from behind the upcoming streets.
A large cat-like creature with a familiar female figure rode on its back, while it leapt from behind the building. Along with them came a speedy skyboarder, who flew ahead of the beast. They came in close to Ace and he eagerly ran over towards them.
The skyboarder rushed in the quickest and landed on the ground, grasping his skyboard with his left hand. He exchanged a grin back at Ace and was about to speak until the large furred beast - that was quite a distance away from him - landed behind him from a long leap. This startled the skyboarder and almost caused him to drop his board.
”I thought you’d be used to that by now”
”Easy for you to say!”
He replied to Ace. The skyboarder’s name was Jake, last name Jetspeed. He was another member of the Sonic 7. He is also a verpardi like Ace, but shorter and less muscular. His hair was brown and short, and his eyes were green in colour. He wore a suit different to Hardlight’s, as it was light in weight and more designed for skyboarding.
Jake may have been smaller than Ace but he was at least 7 years older, and an expert when it came to aiming weaponry and shooting accuracy, as well as his skyboarding records and trophies - which he often boasts about.
The creature from behind of Jake was a maulkat named Leera. Another member of the team, she started off with the life of a common household pet. But as she grew, she became very large and willing to fight alongside the team. She was a feline-like creature with two short horns growing from her skull, powerful hoof-like claws, sharp teeth and a very long and thick tail used for balance and manoeuvring over obstacles. She also wore some battle armour that was specially designed for her. She wasn’t fully grown yet, having still a few more years before reaching full maturity.
The woman who rode on Leera was a verpardess named Jenna Joltstride. She is Jake’s younger sister, another member of the Sonic 7. She looked similar to Jake but had long brown hair and longer pointer ears. Her canine teeth were smaller and she had almost no fur on her skin. Similar to Ace, she was also into martial arts and loved to fight enemies up close, being incredibly athletic and agile with her moves. Jenna wasn’t very talented when it came to using weapons, apart from when she uses a pair of plasma whips - her all time weapon of choice.
The maulkat walked over towards Ace to greet him, as did Jenna when she hopped off the Maulkat.
”I see you didn’t really need our help after all, ehh?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips as she looked at Ace.
”Heh, like I ever need the help! What about you guys? Did you encounter a mass of balatroids?”
”Uh huh. We cleared them off easily. But we still don’t know why they’re attacking this peaceful city, neither do we know where in the galaxy they originated from”
Jenna replied. The atmosphere was a lot more tranquil now; only the sounds of the wind blowing and distant thunder were heard in their surroundings. Ace looked around and noticed the silence. Then he spoke,
”Seems this part of the city is clear though. We’d better get a move on. I’m dying for some real action”
”I say, it’s a bit too quiet now! Where are Kurt and the others anyway? They’re probably stealin’ all the action and attention!” Jake asked out of the blue.
”Hey now, this isn’t all fun and games! Anyway, I just received a message from Kurt right now…”
Jenna told the boys. They all moved in closer together to look at the holovision device Jenna held out from her wrist and a display popped up, showing another team members face on the screen; Kurt Swiftblade.
Kurt was like the captain of the team, but he preferred to be referred to as a usual member of the team rather than a leader or captain.
He was the man who founded the Sonic 7 team years ago while he was still a young adult. As a markazian, he looked very human-like, with dark brown hair and dark blue eyes. His ears were long and pointed and he also sported a long but furless tail; an anatomical feature which aided him in balance and combat. He was the eldest and wisest member of the Sonic 7, and is very skilled with weaponry design and martial arts. He frequently used his dual-bladed swords but was also great with rifles and other types of handheld weapons. He was like a mentor to the younger members of the team, especially to Ace after he adopted him into their group of heroes.
Kurt looked on from the screen while seeing Jake, Leera, Jenna and Ace staring back at him.
”Greetings heroes and heroines, is this thing working?”
”Yep, loud and clear Swiftblade. What’s the situation?”
”I was about to ask you all the same thing…” He replied to Jake, whilst smirking. Right before Ace moved in to speak to him,
”I think this city is clear of trouble now - are there anymore villains to take down around here?”
”No, you did a fine job clearing the area down there so good work with that. We saw most of the action from up here, and it seems the balatroids have begun to retreat. But we have even more trouble… above the planet’s surface”
”What do you mean?” Ace asked
”The remaining balatroids have headed back into the Oltanis orbit to retreat inside their mothership. Flightfire, Aftershock and I are trying our best to hold back their forces and stop a mass invasion. However it is likely we’ll need your help; they’re sending out reinforcements as we speak but our main target is their mothership”
”No problem. We will be up there as soon as possible”
Ace responded, and Kurt nodded; leaving the holovision screen blank.
Jenna quickly hopped onto the back of Leera while Jake got his skyboard out before turning around to ask Ace-
”You need a ride?”
”No thanks. My ship’s not far from here. I’ll be waiting for you guys in orbit, but I won’t be saving any enemy ships for you!”
“What makes YOU think you’ll be there before me? I’m the one with Jetspeed in my name, bro!”
”We’ll see about that, Jetspeed!”
Ace said with a smug look. Jenna and Leera had already taken off after hearing Kurt’s message. Jake looked in their direction and hopped onto his skyboard, flying towards them as they disappeared into the dark streets. Ace in turn ran in the opposite direction, back to the location of his own spaceship.
***
Ace hurried to his ship, which was parked in a deserted area where no balatroids could have meddled with it while he was off fighting them. Hopping in, the ship was started up quickly and it took off from the ground. It then blasted off into the sky, heading right towards the Balatroid mothership… which could already be seen from a fair distance ahead.
Now that he was in the starry sky of space, Ace could see it all from his ship as he piloted it towards the ranging battle. His radar displayed the signals of the other three remaining members of the Sonic 7, who were busy fighting the enemy ships as they kept attacking from a distance, protecting their mothership. He knew it wouldn’t be long until one of them would speak with him; his display was quick to turn on and display the face of another female member; Bettilena Flightfire.
Being a Valkyrie robot, she is one of the most experienced with piloting in the team. She was one of the first members to join the Sonic 7, after deciding to join Kurt on his quest for salvation.
“Oh there you are Ace! I was worried about you!”
She spoke in a soft and kind tone of voice. Ace looked at his holoscreen and smirked before replying.
”Heh, there is no need to worry about me. Didn’t Swiftblade inform you about our success down there?”
”Oh no. We are much too busy taking down these filthy monsters! I’m glad to see you have made on time, but where is Jake and Jenna?”
”Right here!”
Said Jake as he butted into their conversation suddenly, surprising Ace. He wasn’t far behind Ace in his own shuttle and had moved in closer as his signal appeared on Ace’s radar…
“Oh, there you are. I thought you got lost” Ace said, scoffing at Jake’s mug on the screen.
”Don’t get too cocky now, kid! I’m only late because I had to drop Leera and Jenna off at the Sonic Starfighter!”
”Hey now boys, we need to take down these horrible creatures! Jake, you can go aid Kurt out to the left. And Ace, you can follow me as we attempt to deactivate their shields!”
”Sure. This should be a piece of cake...”
Ace said. His holoscreen switched off and he noticed from his left that Jake had already taken off from his right, out of sight. Ace took off, speeding closer to combat and it wasn’t long until the balatroid crafts attempted to attack him. Shots from them blasted in his direction and he swerved, avoiding the majority of them. Unfortunately, a few did hit his ship, but they didn’t cause any real damage.
Grinning to himself, he dared to move in closer on the enemy ships and shoot his own set of blasters, blue shots of energy fired rapidly at them. With the focus of his blasters locked onto the crafts, he swerved from side to side to avoid their incoming shots, and he was satisfied to see the first wave of enemies decreasing steadily. Bettilena was also doing well and she had cleared the wave of shuttles that were blocking her path.
”This way Ace!”
She flew in closer to their main target and took time to examine the mothership’s defences, before they sent out another wave. Ace also looked around, trying to detect any ‘weak spots’ with his scanners, but couldn’t find anything promising yet.
There was some good news though. No more reinforcements were coming out of their fleet. Ace and Bettilena circled their ship, until Ace’s monitor switched on; he had another incoming call from a member. The screen lit up as Ace was still piloting, but was able to take a glance at the screen to listen to who it was…
An intimidating looking man appeared on his screen, though to Ace he was more comical than scary. His name was Aster Aftershock. He was a blarg and he naturally looked more fearsome than friendly, but on the inside he was very kind at heart and will do anything to help his team. He was the weapons specialist in the team and is also experienced with designing armour.
“Hardlight. I see you’re having trouble finding the weak area of their mothership” Aster asked
”You could say that…”
”No need to worry kid, I’m coming in with the Sonic Starfighter right now… we’ll just have to do this the hard way. Release a full on assault against their shield!”
Aster shouted from the speakers of the monitor. Ace liked the sound of his plan and it wasn’t long until a large signal appeared on his radar below the holoscreen. Aster’s mug disappeared from the screen and Ace looked on ahead, as he was still circling the enemy’s fleet. He and Bettilena cleared way for the Sonic Starfighter as it moved in closer to the target.
It was a large star cruiser; about one third the size of the balatroids mothership but was just as powerful. It was dark in colour with metallic blues and reds and armed with powerful cannons and turrets at each wing. Their most powerful cannon residing in the centre of the ship. The cruiser was not only for travel and space-combat, but it was also their home... as they were always on the move. Travelling from one planet or galaxy to another to aid anyone in need.
The Sonic Starfighter was now face to face with the balatroids fleet but as Ace cleared way and had a better view of the opposition, he noticed something change on their ship; two large cannons were emerging from each side of their fleet and he realized they were in for an intense space battle.
Ace didn’t need to say anything. Everyone in the team was alerted and they all started their full on assault. Bettilena shouted and sped through past their fleet, firing her rapid blasters at one side of the enemy’s cannons as it was ready to power up for its first shot but that wasn’t all. A pair of smaller turrets on each side of the fleet was emerging from the mothership, presumably to try taking down Bettilena and Ace and protect their larger cannons as they begun to power up for a shot.
Ace attacked from the right of the ship as he flew in past it, firing his blasters as he went, aiming at two of the smaller turrets below. He was successful at striking them, but they were still operating and turning in each direction he flew, shooting out red energy blasts as he darted past ready to go in for another attack.
From within the Sonic Starfighter, Jake and Kurt had returned to help with controlling their own cannons. Aster was already in control of one and prepared a powerful blast from their ship. Only a matter of seconds later, it blasted. The cannon sent a powerful beam of light at the balatroids, striking their ship with incredible force. Though as incredible as it was, it didn’t leave any noticeable damage. The enemies retaliated and were finally able to blast their own canons from each side of the fleet, hitting the Sonic Starfighter in return and causing their entire ship to shake, luckily they were protected with their own shielding systems.
Ace saw what was happening and took his focus off the enemy turrets for a moment, right before he heard Bettilena scream from the speaker…
”Don’t let them distract you!”
She came in, speeding past him to fire at the turrets that had their target on Ace. His ship was struck from a few of the shots though, from not focusing on his own battle. He frowned angrily and gained control of his spaceship before turning around and flying out of range of the next wave of firepower from the turrets.
“I didn’t think I’d need to baby-sit you while in a spaceship!”
Betty shouted, starting Ace slightly but catching his attention well.
”Sorry. It is just so distracting watching our ship take damage like that…”
”Just don’t look back, they’ll be alright!”
”But we still haven’t even inflicted any real damage on their ship! We need something more powerful…”
Ace told her. He flew in again towards their ship, firing rapidly at their turrets. With a determined look on his face, he got in closer and strafed side to side, avoiding their shots as they came towards him and, surprisingly, the enemy turrets blew to pieces. Ace sighed in relief and swerved around to the left of the mothership to check for any more firepower coming towards him, but it looked as if he and Betty were clear of any retaliation for now. He flew around to get a better view of the raging war between their enemies and his Starfighter home.
He could still see that Aster was firing the main cannon at the centre of the enemy’s ship. He then assumed Jake was controlling the left wing turret and Kurt controlled the right wing turret. Beams of energy fired all over, with lasers smashing into both the balatroid mothership and the Sonic Starfighter. It was a raging battle and it didn’t look like either side was taking a turn down.
Ace couldn’t just sit back and watch. Thoroughly frustrated to see that there was still no actual damage to the enemy; he rushed in quickly and fired his blasters towards the mothership, trying to aid the rest of his team’s firepower. Bettilena did the same from another angle. Ace could now see up close that the balatroid shield system was simply too strong. He noticed that each beam which stuck the enemy ship wasn’t getting through, and he found to be very irritating.
He flew out a distance to switch on his holoscreen once again, and begun to speak…
”Swiftblade, Aftershock, Jetspeed. Our firepower isn’t enough to get through their shields! We need to use something more powerful, is this really all we’ve got?”
Ace spoke to all available Sonic 7 members. He awaited a response from the team, becoming concerned with their current situation.
”Swiftblade here. It is unfortunate to hear that too Hardlight, but…”
”But what?” Ace rushed to ask him.
”We are using some of the strongest firepower we have, and if we keep trying… we should be able to penetrate their shields soon enough”
”But what if they get through our shields first? I just can’t stand sitting back and watching! Is there anything I can do? Surely there is something”
Ace replied, taking another glance out his front window he saw the beams firing towards one another continuously. He could also see Bettilena flying back and forward, still firing all she had towards the enemy. Growing concerned, he looked back at his screen to speak with Kurt again,
“There is another weapon, isn’t there?” Ace asked.
”Yes, there is. But… it is far too powerful to be used here - and much too dangerous. It contains high levels of quantum energy and it is only something to be used as a last resort”
”Why can’t we use it now? It will defeat those freaks with ease!”
”Ace… have you forgotten about what it has done in the past?”
”Well uhh… I remember when it was used to destroy the robotic ninja fleet 4 years back, thus saving Metropolis and that giant tanker ship, infested with explosive amoeboids”
”Yes but it was also the same weapon which accidentally destroyed a planet. Not long before we adopted you…”
”Oh… yeah, I remember hearing about that…” Ace said, looking down slightly.
”Anyhow, if we keep blasting at them then surely-“
Kurt was cut short. The whole entire fleet of the Sonic Starfighter suddenly jolted from the impact of a powerful blast. It was bad news and Ace watched in shock after seeing Kurt almost fall from his seat. Ace was staring out through his window and saw that the Sonic 7’s ship had taken a strong hit from the balatroids.
Utterly frustrated, he flew in a bit closer to fire all he had towards the enemies. Tension built up from within and then he shouted-
”Kurt… we HAVE to use it, NOW!”
Kurt was too gobsmacked to reply. Instead, he was receiving distress calls from other Sonic 7 members within the Starfighter. Jake was panicking as his side of the fleet was damaged and he had to retreat from his position of the leftwing turret.
The alarms inside the cruiser were going off and everyone was now concerned. Aster shouted at Kurt and he nodded, agreeing with him before he, himself, turned back to focus on Ace Hardlight’s screen.
”Okay. Hardlight… Flightfire. Make way. We are going to use our top weapon…”
Ace got the message. He nodded and turned his ship around, flying in the opposite direction, Bettilena copying him. An enormous cannon emerged from the top of the Starfighter. The balatroids continued attacking the Sonic 7’s ship, trying to break through more of their shielding but as the cannon on top of the Starfighter began to charge, there was an eerie silence throughout the whole entire battlefield. Quantum energy built up very quickly and Ace watched on from a distance. A stunning ray of blue and violet appeared and blasted from the cannon, towards the enemy mothership. It only took a matter for seconds for the laser beam to reach its full power and simply shred through the opposition.
The explosion was spectacular; blowing the enemy ship to pieces. The entire sky lit up brightly, almost blinding anyone who watched from nearby. Even the citizens of Oltanis could see the light from the explosion in the skies. Ace couldn’t watch from his ship, the light was simply too bright and he flew on backwards, trying to avoid being hit by any debris from the explosion.
Minutes had passed.
By now, the light had diminished and everyone could see the aftermath of the beam’s power. The balatroids mothership was completely wiped out. Only a few scraps of metal were visible but other than that, it was gone.
Ace opened his eyes and glared out through his ships window. He smiled, having finally defeated them and the Sonic Starfighter was still there in good condition; besides the damage it took earlier on. He could see that Bettilena had already made her way back to the Starfighter so he in turn did the same, flying in through the entrance of the ship.
Ace hopped out of his ship and was in good spirits. Grinning cheerfully, he made his way through into the lounge area of the starcruiser; walking down the hallways and he could already hear everybody else talking from a distance, behind the main entrance. He walked through and saw everyone gossiping in a circle.
”Man, I was freaking out big time when we were hit by their laser cannon but after we let our super weapon loose… Bam! They were gone, just like that!” Jake said, clearly enthusiastic about their victory.
”Ha ha yeah, we totally owned them!”
Aster replied, while Ace made his way over to where his team members were. He was greeted and patted on the shoulder with gratitude. Kurt walked up to Ace and gave a nod of approval; before speaking,
”Excellent work out there Ace. You did very well on the ground and in space”
”Don’t mention it. Even though I thought Betty was more impressive than me while we were in space… but next time I will do better!”
While Ace was talking with Kurt and the other team members, Jenna had moved over to grab the remote for their main holovision screen in the room. She switched it on to check for any news updates for the Solana galaxy. She then came across Channel 64, the main channel for the latest in galactic rescues and disasters. As everyone was focused with talking to one another, Jenna couldn’t help but look confused with a hint of disbelief.
“No… this can’t be right…”
Ace looked over and saw her staring at the screen. He saw that Leera was sitting at her side; as if the maulkat could sense her tense emotions.
”What’s up Jenna?” He asked her.
”The… the news… I don’t believe it…”
Kurt and Bettilena noticed Jenna and walked over to see what she was watching on the large holoscreen, and soon their expressions changed from curiosity to disbelief. Jake and Aster were still talking, until Ace elbowed them.
”Guys, can you keep it down? Seems there is something big on the news, we better take a look”
Jake and Aster became quiet for a moment and walked over to the holoscreen with Ace, where the others stood around watching the news. Everybody could hear the broadcaster, Darla Gratch, read out the latest news. Ace looked up and listened to what was being said and saw what was shown on the holovision channel. He couldn’t take his eyes of the screen… no matter how disturbing the news had seemed.
And that was when his heart sank.