Chapter 2

The Black Knight

High above the earth the Band of Gypsies ship was flying in a polar orbit. Sometimes mistaken for the Black Knight Satellite, the ship was currently cloaked to look like a piece of space debris. Around 150ft (47.2m) long and with a wingspan of 120ft (36,5m), the ship weighed in excess of 550,000lbs (250m tons). The Gypsy would have been mistaken for an oversized Avro Arrow prototype interceptor of the Royal Canadian Air Force circa the late 1950's because of the delta wing design and the large vertical stabilizer along the back of the ship. Painted silver and white, the Gypsy currently had two 55ft Gunstones attached to the ship. The Gunstone was an aerospaced fighter that could change into a heavy combat ground mech and unlike the Gypsy they did not possess the Gravity Well jump engines. The Gravity well engines were only used outside of the Sol system because of the Sun and her eight planets were terribly effective at doing bad things to your ship if you jumped too close to anything with a large gravity well.

Currently inside the Gypsy, they were arguing about something trivial and stupid again. Over half the ship's crew wanted him gone because he scared them and there was no place safe on the ship if he finally lost it. Blackheart was sweating and exhausted trying to keep him sane and today was the worse of the 175+ years she was his handler. You could feel him throughout the ship as it would vibrate when he was angry. 

Blackheart could feel the heat of his rage, like a pulse of a heart throughout the ship. She was the Band of Gypsies Captain and an Ameyaa Aelf princess from the Cassiopeia star system. Standing just under 6ft (1.8m) tall and with a waif build, Blackheart was currently dressed in a blood red dress uniform with gold lace and pearly frills along the collar and hands. Her long alabaster hair was currently in a bun and her skin was a shiny beautiful obsidian hue with large green emerald eyes and burgundy pursed red lips. She was currently using telepathy on him, the Healing Voice it was called and it was usually like a sugary sweet savory sirens song to V.E.K BUT not today.

With the stride of a sprinter and the grace of an athlete, Blackheart entered the command deck from the Gypsies main central corridor. Everyone on the command deck got quiet when she entered but Joneses. The large ball of fur that was currently around the captain's chair lifted his head up and started to purr as he alway did in Blackheart's presence. An exact copy of the earth Pallas cat, Joneses, was HUGE! In excess of 500lbs (226kg) and over 10ft (3m) long, he had fur of light tan ochr, black stripes across his body and tail. With a white chin and whiskers, small black spots on his face and yellow/green eyes Joneses look angry all the time. Slowly the cat got up and gave Blackheart a gentle nudge as she moved to take her seat. There were currently three other people on the command deck. The two Gunstone pilots Olak and "Bob" and the third being the Band of Gypsies navigator/pilot Xethra. 

Olak the Dwarf was leaning against the wall with a look of amusement. Tall for a Scorpius Star Dwarf, he stood just over 3feet 6 inches (1m) and weighed over 300lbs (136kg). Muscles from head to toe, Olak had bright phosphorescent orange hair and a beard with charcoal skin and silver/gold runic tattoos that glowed. 

"Bob" who was in conversation with Olak when Blackheart entered was the Gypsies only asexual species currently on the ship. Dressed in the same orange and blue jumpsuit as Olak, "BOB" was a very feminine looking human male. Just over 5ft (1.5m) tall and a slim build with a bald head, "Bob" had bright lime green skin that would change color depending on his current mood.

The third crew member on the ship was Xethra the navigator/pilot. She looked like a cross between a Grey alien and a super tall Annunaki of myth and legend. Xethra golden translucent hands flashed across the flight controls of the ship with blinding speed. She was bald too with deep large black alien eyes and had no nose or ears other than the 2 holes that were placed in the position of her mouth which were used to breath, eat and communicate. Xethra was also the second tallest humanoid on the ship, standing over 7ft (2.13m) she was only dwarfed by Ned the Neanderthal which was currently occupied with V.E.K.

The ship suddenly vibrated and pulsed again reminding everyone on the ship that the two men were currently engaged in a very heated discussion if you could call it that. Blackheart glanced over at "Bob" who was changing colors like he always did stressed out. Soon the poor guy would be blue and yes he was one of the crew that didn't want to be on the ship or ANYWHERE near V.E.K and was terrified of him! Olak watched Blackheart take her seat and moved slowly towards her keeping an eye on her cat. 

Besides her now, Olak chuckled and in a deep gravelly voice "Having fun yet?" Blackheart turned her head slowly with emerald green eyes flashing in anger "Shut it, you're not helping!". One of two people currently on the ship that were friends with V.E.K, Olak chuckled again and moved back over to "Bob" to try to comfort the poor guy. Now turning to a bright blue, "Bob" asked Blackheart in a high metallic voice "Can I get back to my Gunstone?!? This sucks and I serve no purpose here but to be a speed bump not IF but when that PSYCHO loses his shit!" With a suppressed resignation she told him "No, I need you two here if we go to Defcon 1 and have to get the word to high command on Mars or Venus”. Captain Blackheart ordered Xethra "Go to defcon 2 and notify the other Gunstones in orbit to watch their scans. Something must have gotten past us for him to be like this". Usually silent, the Gunstones and Gypsy would keep the communication/sensors to a minimum. 

In over 200 years in this assignment above Earth, Blackheart had to order Defcon status 1 once and that was over 175+ years ago....she was losing control of the situation and him.