Chapter 249: The Saboteur

Kothar looked around the bridge, each of the walls depicted the view outside the ship from their respective perspective, and as Kothar looked more closet at the floor and roof, he could see that beneath a thick layer of clear material, they also were made up of the countless spinning cubes that created an image on each side of the room.

As Kothar examined them closer, he could see that the cubes were colored in a variety of shades, ranging from black to white, and two different shades of gray.

This created what were effectively black and white images of the outside. Kothar looked around, the ship was so high up that he could see the isle stretching out below him, tiny in comparison to the ocean stretching out on three sides, and the Fidour mountains to the north.

Kothar looked beyond the Fidour mountains, and, perhaps, for the first time in years, a resident of the Isle got a view of the continent beyond. Kothar's jaw dropped open in surprise.

From up here, the Isle was like an afterthought, the tiniest sliver of land sticking out of the bottom of the continent.

[No wonder Father wants to traverse the Fidour mountains, it's like going from a tiniest backwater village to a nation.] Kothar said to Silane, still gazing around in amazement at the scale of the land beyond.

[Sure, but tear your eyes away from the floor from a moment, it seems we aren't alone in attacking the ship.] Silane said, and Kothar raised his eyes, looking at the walls. 

Focused toward the north side of the ship, were countless Advanced Rank individuals, appearing as tiny winged silhouettes on the walls, dancing around endless streams of Aemos ships, their attacks bright white against the gray that the sky had been painted.

[It seems that Eclat is not in such dire straits as I thought. I hope that the Ascendant can fight off the invader, though.] Kothar said, turning to the focal point of the room, the rectangular table in the center. 

Out of everything that Kothar had seen on the ship, from top to bottom, the table was perhaps the most dense with inscriptions.

Kothart's eye's swam with the countless circles, lines and right angles, all of them converging at the center of the table, where there were two enormous spheres.

Other than the two enormous spheres, there were smaller knobs, dials and buttons scattered around the table, but from their size, it was clear the spheres were most important. 

[What do you think, Silane? Thrust and steering?] Kothar asked, applying his years of experience with Alliance spaceships to the controls of the vessel.

[From my understanding of the circuitry surrounding them, that's most likely to be the case.] Silane responded, her voice a little distant as she took in all the new patterns she was seeing amongst the inscriptions. [I guess there's only one way to find out.] Kothar said with a grim smile, and reached forward, having to lean his entire body to reach the spheres, obviously, the controls had been designed for someone far larger than him.

Kotahr placed a hand on each of the spheres, they were warm under his hands, and while they appeared polished smooth, their surfaces were slightly rough under his palms, allowing him to grip them easily.

Kothar started with the right hand sphere, gently spinning it to the right. 

There was an immediate response, and while Kothar felt no movement within the control center, it was clear that the ship was moving, as the scenery on the walls all spun to the left.

[That'll be to steer, then. Seems like this room is stabilized.] Kothar said softly, as he gently spun the other sphere forward, and the ship instantly responded, as it slowly moved forward, the images on the walls shifting in response.

[Let's see if our friends have noticed anything] Kothar channeled a stream of mana ot his eye, and looked to see if the many guards has stirred, but they stood still, staring forward, lining the corridor.

{Looks like the stabilization extends beyond this room. Lucky for us, or one of those guards might've arrived to investigate.] Kothar observed, spinning the steering sphere to turn the ship further to the right.

Far below, the few citizens of Eclat who weren't in hiding, caught up in battle with the Aemos, or being dragged away by the Aemos stared up in amazement.

The enormous craft was spinning in a smooth circle, as if turning about an invisible axis that travelled along its center.

High above, Kothar continued to turn the ship, so its nose now pointed south, from what he could make out from the cubes in the floor, there was nothing but water visible south of the Empire.

[Most of the southern coast of the Isle is cliffs, so the worst of any waves caused by the crash shouldn't affect things too much.] Kothar said to Silane, as he spun the left hand sphere forward, sending the ship forward.

[Try to keep things as slow as possible, the slower you move, the less momentum there'll be once the ship crashes, and the less alarmed those inside will be.] Silane instructed Kothar, who nodded, his face twisted in concentration as he maneuvered the ship out over the open ocean.

[I just hope father and the others will be able to escape safely. They're almost definitely still fighting below, and when this thing comes down into the ocean, the entire bottom of the ship is probably going to fill with sea water.] Kothar said with a worried frown, as the ship glided smoothly to the south. He wished he could warn Tam and Anteris, but as much as it hurt Kothar, the decision he should make was obvious: gently setting the ship down would probably save all those on the Isle, and possibly beyond. Who knew what kind of catastrophe such an enormous object slamming into the surface of eclat could trigger.