Extinct Doesn't Mean Forever by Phoenix Sullivan (easy readers txt) 📕

beneath the seas and on the land, ignorant to what was happening among the stars. Indigo had never heard of the Sing Xu or the Fringe until the first scout ship arrived. Soon after, more Fringe vessels appeared, offering promises of knowledge and prosperity in exchange for the naturally occurring mineral that the Fringe needed to construct their ships.

The two races worked together to excavate and process the mineral. Some of the Oshen, like Indigo, showed an aptitude for the alien technology and worked with the Fringe on their assembly lines. Life was good for the Oshen, until the land was stripped of its resources. That’s when their relationship with the Fringe ended, along with their hopes for the future.

Indigo leaned forward in his seat and scrutinized the results of the planetary scan. Sixty percent dry land but the seas contained a high concentration of sulfur — too high for Oshen physiology.

Another system, another disappointment. Thousands left to visit. The search continued.

The next potential system on the list would take three skips to reach. Once he programmed the destination into the navigation system, the ship settled into a stationary orbit and began the calculations for the first skip. The only thing to do now was wait.

An alarm blared inside the small cabin. Indigo sat up stiffly and tightened his grip on the chair. The countdown to skip was still running. All of the ship’s systems were normal. He cycled through the external cameras, looking for any sign of trouble. The dorsal aspect appeared on screen and Indigo caught his breath. Just within camera view was the last thing he ever wanted to see again: a Fringe warship.

The enemy vessel must have just skipped into the system. If not for the energy signature of the skip, he might not have known they were there until it was too late. As it was, it would take them a few moments to get their bearings and notice their stolen ship hanging prone below them. Ninety ticks left on the countdown and any course change or movement would reset the clock.

Indigo turned the comm to an open channel. He just had to stall them for a short time.

“Attention Fringe vessel,” he said in his native tongue. “I am Indigo of the Oshen. I escaped the destruction of my world by your warships, the last witness to your ruthless genocide. And I would like to negotiate my surrender.”

Thirty ticks and counting. The extra ticks it took to run his transmission through the translation filter could mean the difference between life and death.

“Oshen.” The slow, rough Fringe voice rolled the word over his tongue as if savoring it. “The last of your race. Your escape only delayed the inevitable. It is time you joined your people in oblivion.”

Fifteen ticks to go.

“Wait,” Indigo said. “I can still be of value to you. I worked in the factories, was trained to fly your cargo ships.”

“You are inferior, easily replaced. We have no use for you.”

Ten ticks. The jump drive started spooling up, something their sensors were sure to detect.

Silence from the comm. The stalling was over.

Five ticks. Their guns would be locking on, if they weren’t already. The order to fire would be given.

Three.Two.One.

The jump drive engaged as the Fringe ship opened fire. The Drifting Star lurched and disappeared.

~~~

The Drifting Star popped back into normal space. Indigo’s teeth chattered and his blue skin was already mottling with deep reds and purples where it had collided with the console. The discharge from the Fringe weapon had done more than knock him out of his seat. Red lights on the console flashed and the deafening blare of alarms filled the cabin.

Fire suppression systems had been activated all over the ship. The jump drive registered offline and the repair subsystem estimated over six hours to restoration. The ship was self-sufficient; Indigo begrudgingly gave the Fringe credit for that much. He wished he could speed up time, though. It wouldn’t take long for the Fringe warship to follow.

One by one he silenced the alerts, until the only ringing was in his ears. According to the logs, the blast from the Fringe hit at the exact moment the jump drive engaged, knocking the ship off-course. He was lucky he didn’t materialize inside a planet or star.

Astronomical charts overlaid with the visible star field flashed on the screen until one map finally matched the ship’s location. A relatively young system, its sun still yellow. He set a course for the center of the system and hoped his pursuer was far behind.

Every star system Indigo passed through was a unique wonder. Every time he thought he had seen it all, he found himself gaping in awe with the next skip. The sixth planet, a gas giant, proved no exception. A wide ring of ice and rock revolved around the planet and dozens of moons joined it in orbit.

 Every living planet had a natural rhythm, an inherent balance that it strived to maintain. It was beautiful to see a planet with a healthy biosphere. Some of the worlds he had seen during his journey were tortured places, damaged beyond hope by their inhabitants. All he could do was mourn their folly.

The third planet came into view. Much smaller than the gas giant, more likely to be hospitable to the Oshen’s delicate frame, and a moon in orbit around it. Its proximity to the sun, along with the slight rotation and its elliptical orbit, meant its climate would be uniformly distributed.

Alarms went off around Indigo again. The long range sensors detected a faint burst of energy from the direction of the ringed planet. The signature matched that of a jump drive arriving. The Fringe had found him with the Drifting Star still hours away from being able to make another skip.

Indigo scoured the scanner’s results, looking for anything that might mask the presence of his ship. He could make a run for the third planet, but it would take too long to breach the atmosphere without leaving