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Captain Bremminglar Swamps awoke to the cold. He found himself lying on a metal bed. This is a medbay facility, right? He wondered. Suddenly a Engi doctor entered the room. "Hello. System 6.11 detects "Bremminglar" is alive. Clone Bay: successful."
"Wait, wait what? What the hell is going on?" The Engi doctor seemed to be saddened.
"You are a clone. Galactic Federation Clone Bay 2 successful."
Swamps couldn't believe it. He was a..clone? "How long have I been here for?"
"You, the commander of destroyed ship 'Vengeance'. You were saved at the end of the Fifth Reich, when the Rebels entered. System 4.66 power low."
Swamps thought he was going crazy. The Mantis-Federation war was light-years ago! And the Engi said something about a Rebellion?
"So..I've been sleeping here for five light years?"
"Afformative. Correct. Rebellion taking over."
"Wait, what the hell is this Rebellion? Didn't we kill the Mantis?"
"This does not have anything to do with the Mantis. A rebellion made havoc. The rebellion is made of humans, former federation humans."
Swamps was getting annoyed with this stuff. He started to ask to leave but was pushed out by the Engi doctor. He found himself to be in the Federation Hangar, one of the bases of the Federation.
"Wow! Look at the size of...wait, the Kestrel?"
From what Swamps knew, Light years ago during the Federation-Slug war, the Kestrel was the main flagship at the time, but it was destroyed in a ion storm by a Mantis.
"Sir? Sir! Come over here, quick!"
Swamps turned around to see another human by the name of Valyeria.
"Follow me sir, Tully wants to talk with you!"
Swamps gasped. Admiral Tully was the captain of the Federation, no higher rank then him. He recieved a tablet and Tully spoke to him.
"Hello, Swamps. This is Tully, and I've been wanting to talk to you about quite a few...errors we've had in the past years while you were in the Clone Bay."
"Yes, but sir, what is a Clone Bay?"
"Just what it sounds like, kid. Your ship blew up when the Mantis Flagship destroyed it. Your body life signs was zero. But we put you into a Clone Bay, and revived your body. You're not actually a clone, you are yourself, revived from the dead."
"Yes, sir. So I've been hearing talk of a Rebellion, and, what is it?"
"Yeah, I wanted to say that. The rebellion was formed at the end of the Mantis war, when the surviving Mantis teamed up with angry Federation co-workers. They created weapons manufactured by the Rockmen, toughest in the universe."
"Yep, and what effect did it have on the Federation?"
"Bad. They destroyed the bulk of our fleet and destroyed our flagship with theirs. Since then they've recruited more Federation workers, Mantis, even Zoltan and Rockman. I've heard word that Slugs are joining too."
"Those slimy bastards are in this too?"
"Yeah. The Rebel Fleet are moving toward your base, the Hangar. Sooner or later they'll capture the base. We've got the bulk of the remaining fleet here, eight sectors away from where you are."
"Little something we got to worry about, eh?"
"The only way we'll destroy the Rebels is if we kill the damn Flagship, but god is that thing loaded. You are our last chance."
"Why is there a Kestrel in the Hangar?"
"Wait, before I say that, I want to say that General Rick Brown is alive, and also Commander Kaz Zachary are both alive."
Swamps was relieved. Rick Brown was a well-known figure back in the old times. He once killed 50 Slug Light-Cruisers during the Slug war, to save his colony in his ship Red-Tail. Zachary was a legendary man in the Mantis war. He defeated the Flagship with his legendary ship The Osprey.
"That Kestrel cruiser is your ship. You now better hurry, the rebels are almost here. A Mantis at the front will give you directions in the ship."
"Bye, Tully"
He shut off all communications as Swamps hurried to the Kestrel.
"Hello, Bremminglar."
"Call me Swamps."
"Sorry. You'll be teamed up with Weapons Operator Slugzorg and Engineer Hatath Envy."
"Thanks, Mantis."
Just as he closed the door, a huge crash could be heard. The Rebels were here! He ran to the cockpit as fast as possible, saying quick hellos to his crewmates as he bolted. He could hear the hull getting hit as they sped away Faster Than Light.
End of 1st Chapter.