Galactic Destiny

by Alex Guerra

  Alex Guerra

  Copyrighted Material

  Galactic Destiny © 2018 by A.G. Publications

  Book design and layout copyright © 2018 by Alex Guerra

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Alex Guerra.

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  Galactic Destiny

  Alex Guerra

  Dedicated to my grandmother, Ana Guerra.

  1936–2018

  Thank you for everything you’ve done for this family and all the lives you’ve touch during your time here. We miss you terribly but take solace in your memory.

  I love you, Abuelita. Until we meet again.

  ONE

  The starlane’s electrical storm closed a few hundred feet after our ship’s stern cleared. The Pillar exited the third starlane in almost eleven days. Our destination—the planet Fengar in the heart of the Galactic Conglomerate. The trip would take three weeks to complete—or twenty-three days to be exact. Upon reaching our destination, we would inform the two Circles about what occurred in the Vallus system. The ship carrying Princess Ellia—her body still broken from our encounter on the planet—was also on its way to Fengar ahead of the Darkkon invasion. Our two ships set randomized routes that would arrive at the capital world within a day or two of each other, ensuring no one would be able to pursue us easily.

  Seya and the two other injured Codari troopers, left their medical pods four days ago, marking the beginning of their rehabilitation. The Pillar’s advanced healing tanks revitalized the wounded faster than anything else, but the Yau technology was not a miracle machine, and the three needed to work hard to get back to their original shape.

  The Darkkon woman was resilient, walking about The Pillar as if nothing happened—the Codari troopers were less so, taking a few more days to get back to full strength. We used the initial day to bring them all up to speed, starting from the time they were in the wrecked rover in the forest of Vallus to when they woke up.

  Seya was at a loss for words over the events I described to her, but she understood that things were getting more complicated. She was relieved to hear that Princess Ellia made it out alive. Although after hearing about the rescue mission we conducted, she didn’t seem too thrilled about the operation, despite its success.

  While grateful, the woman almost seemed upset that we considered putting ourselves in such danger over a few people. The “never leave a man behind” ideology I brought with me from the human military, didn’t exactly click with her. The notion was more risky than beneficial, but she warmed up to the idea now that it was over and in the past.

  Would she have chosen to leave me behind if the roles were switched? If I was more of an integral part of the negotiations or the conglomerate’s operations, would she consider coming back for me, or chalk it up as too risky? I wondered. I liked to think that she would think about it for a while before coming after me—I hoped anyway. At least I knew Kayton would vouch for me if that situation ever occurred.

  The first few days were downright depressing. We left the Vallus system as the imperials were getting ready to invade. The planet’s fate was unknown, and many of our team called Vallus home. Kayton and the team would often go on missions outside of Vallus but only under orders. When they weren’t on a mission, they were in that hidden base for who knows how long. While that setup would have driven me mad, it was what they knew, and they left that all behind because of a decision I made at Councilor Kol’s request.

  I hadn’t asked if any of them had family members on the planet. Kayton’s grandmother, Councilor Jan Kol, was the only family member I was sure of. The old, pale, yellow woman’s stern face was clear in my mind. Her eyes held a gentleness to them—the same gentleness I saw underneath Kayton’s exterior. I hadn’t tried to speak to anyone about their family and friends who were currently in danger. They left their comrades behind to fight while they got a pass because they were on a special mission. I wondered if any of them resented me for taking them away from something so important to them, or maybe they resented the council for enforcing it. I tiptoed around our conversations over the past few days, providing more of a distraction rather than comfort. I did what I thought would help them the most in the short-term. Dotty offered to counsel those who wanted it, under the request of our medic Ellar. He kept everything together, which was what I needed right now.

  With the rescue of Seya from imperial hands, it set the Darkkon Empire on the warpath, throwing all possible negotiations out the window—even with Princess Ellia still on the planet, no less! You want to talk about risk? That’s risk. It just didn’t make sense. Perhaps the Darkkon Empire knew we would evacuate Princess Ellia should they invade the planet with a full-on force. The council didn’t want to call their bluff and chose for all of us to leave while we still could.

  “You can scare a child with that face you’re making right now,” teased Seya, looking at me over the rim of her cup.

  “I didn’t mean to scare you,” I jabbed back as Bon nearly spit out his food.

  “It’s like that, is it?” she said, setting down her cup.

  “Just thinking of something is all,” I replied.

  “Hurting yourself is not an excuse to skip training,” she said with a grin.

  This got a few more laughs out of the group, sitting around the table. Waving the remark off, it was good to see the morning starting off on a positive note. Dotty updated our itinerary as we made our way to the other side of the system. It would take approximately half a day to traverse before entering the new starlane, then another twelve days to go with the added jumps. Normally, conglomerate ships would send a skip drone through the fastest route, transmitting messages and positions to the command structure for plotting movements. I asked Dotty to remind me to obtain a few skip drones after we reached Fengar. If we were going to be integral to conglomerate operations, we would need to let them know where we were.

  “Twelve more days until we reach our destination,” I announced.

  There were a few grumbles around the table. I felt their pain as long car rides, flights, or anything cabin-fever inducing, grated on my nerves. They were a bunch of troopers, and while they were often inside their hidden base, they still had more freedom to move around than The Pillar could ever offer, despite its size. It turns out, Seya and I did alright when we furnished the ship with a few comforting items. The entertainment system proved to be the best investment since the eleven of us used it consistently.

  Dotty often linked up with the local system’s communication network, downloading and storing multiple news sources which kept us relatively up to date on anything big enough to reach the galactic news. The news was current on anything in the local system, but the further you moved out, the longer it took to get updates. There was still no word of Vallus, nor did we think we would ever see it on the galactic news network as we were traveling ahead of the story. Then again, no one would ever see the report, not with an invasion in the works. As far as we knew, Ellia’s ship and ours were the furthest ships away from Vallus that knew
what was going on. It was up to us to bring information of Vallus to the conglomerate now.

  All these distractions worked well, even for me. It took away from the anxiety and danger that would continue following us until we had to face it once again. In the past week, guilt continued to mount as I pushed thoughts of returning to Earth aside with more frequency. Before now, not a single day went by without my thinking about home. After the events of Vallus though...things changed. As my journey progressed into its fourth month, it was almost an afterthought.

  My mind often wandered back to Earth—to my family and friends specifically. It’s been missing several weeks since I went missing, and the sad part was, no matter how long anyone looked, they would never find me, not in a million years. The hardest part was envisioning my parents worrying about me. My mom would be pacing around the house, running off fumes from sleepless nights. My father would spend his days, reaching out to any of his connections in the government for the smallest detail that would inevitably come up short, while at night, putting his arms around my mother in comfort.

  On the other hand, my sister, Josie, was a bit more proactive. She would be searching all my local hangouts, tracking down the remotest of my friends and maybe trying to find a way to get into my house, despite us not having the best relationship. We hadn’t spoken to each other in almost three months before Dotty abducted me. With the amount of noise Caulder’s ship made that first night as it crashed on my planet, I’m sure police and government agents cordoned off the property after discovering what the crash really was. Josie would never be able to sneak onto my property. If only I could call her, and tell her everything was okay...

  Being away from family was not what was bothering me, it was the way I left that did. It was normal for me to be alone. Hell, at least I didn’t have a family of my own to be worrying about right now. When I first spoke to Dotty, it mentioned that luck chose me for this journey. Seya and Kayton were certain that destiny was the reason. The more I thought about it, the easier it was to see that I was a decent candidate for all of this. There were plenty of humans better than me to do this job—and there were many that were a worse choice. I was glad to be making a difference and looked forward to our next mission to Fengar to bring news of Vallus to the inner conglomerate territories.

  Fengar was the jewel of the Galactic Conglomerate according to many aboard the ship. Home to the Inner and Outer Circles, it was the birthplace of the conglomerate—where the oppressed officially stood up for themselves and denied further injustices from the two empires who entitled themselves to infinite territories. It was here that the combined efforts of the conglomerate and its people, would meet the empires with force should they further encroach and poach independent systems.

  Despite the Darkkon and Vael Empires dwarfing the Galactic Conglomerate, it was still enormous. Where would we start once we reached the planet?

  “Tell me again what the plan is when we reach Fengar,” I urged Seya, sitting quietly across the table.

  “Once we enter the system,” explained Seya, “we will seek an audience with the Outer Circle. They will want to hear about the imperial offensive. While the conglomerate has been in many battles, none have been so large or so blatant, as what we saw on Vallus,” said Seya, a tinge of worry staining her otherwise confident words.

  “Is there anyone specific we should report to?” asked Kayton, jumping in.

  “Just about any member would do,” replied Seya. “But personally, I would try to speak with a woman named Lena Marscos. She was the first conglomerate member to truly accept me as I was since leaving the Darkkon Empire.

  “You two are close?” I asked.

  “As close as friends can get,” she replied. “Kindness goes a long way, and my journey through the conglomerate territories was lonely and dangerous. It took several months of traversing the systems in secret before I reached Fengar. They did not meet me with open arms. You can imagine the adversity a runaway Darkkon princess faced upon entering the enemy territory. They never harmed me but took me to a holding cell of sorts while the councilors debated on what they should do with me. The trip could have been a failure, my life forfeit or used as a bargaining chip with the possibility of returning to the very home I sought to escape.”

  Seya risked everything for something, without a shred of guarantee. Her attitude and drive already solidified at such an early age. I folded my hands in front of me, leaning forward, urging her to continue.

  “I stewed over the possible outcomes that awaited me. I was in the holding cell for a week—only seeing the guard who brought me meals or basic necessities—when I saw her for the first time. Lena came to the cell alone, the other councilors only crowded around the door as it closed to get a glimpse of me in the flesh and not through a monitor,” she explained. “Her presence was warm and her smile welcoming. An air of motherhood wafted about her. It was the first time I felt something so strong radiate from a person, far beyond what I felt from even my own mother. The door to my cell opened, and she walked in, urging the guard nearby to stand outside in the hallway. She wasn’t afraid of me—of who I was or what my position meant. She saw me as a person, not just a teenager with a birthright. It was at that moment, I knew I could open myself up to her as she did with me. If there is anyone that could help us, she would be my first choice,” said Seya, getting up from the table.

  Kayton and I looked at each other briefly, before giving a shrug. There was nearly another two weeks ahead of us without pause, and there would be plenty of time to figure out the details once we got closer.

  “Meditation in ten minutes, followed by drills,” said Seya, bluntly, setting the used kitchenware in the cleaner.

  “I’ll join the weapon drills after… I’m not too keen on meditation,” said Bon, finishing off his breakfast.

  Nearly the rest of the group agreed with the marksman minus Kayton, who had joined in on the meditation sessions these last few days.

  “Suit yourself, but if you have trouble concentrating or get tired of Dotty’s counsel, you know where to find me,” replied Seya, as she took off down the hall.

  “She scares me, Commander,” muttered Bon, when the Darkkon woman was out of earshot.

  It was apparent that Kayton thought otherwise as she was practically starstruck when around her.

  “She’s actually very nice, she's just…adamant about her schedule and training,” I admitted. “It was this way when it was just the two of us.”

  “Ahem,” the A.I. spoke up.

  “Three of us,” I added.

  After cleaning up, we followed Sensei Seya to our morning routine. Bon gave us a relaxed wave, taking the last bite out of his food.

  The observation room greeted us with its cool, dark atmosphere. Seya sat cross-legged on the soft floor in her usual spot on the left. I took my normal position at the center while Kayton sat to my right. We all gazed into the blackness of space and the starfield beyond. The system’s sun was a bright, white dwarf star, hosting two gas giants and some asteroid fields as its neighbors. There would be no one here besides a few miners perhaps or an automated maintenance ship working on the communication relays. Overall, a lot of the systems were barren. The only signs of life would be near orbiting outposts for refueling and trade or a small base of operations, either from the Galactic Conglomerate or smaller allied factions.

  Faint, white light crept into the tinted observation room viewport, bleaching everything within. Sitting comfortably three abreast, the session started. Seya guided us through the steps of what she called Bena or “the empty vessel” technique. It was meant to clear the mind of worry, allowing us to accept changes both good and bad.

  The Darkkon people were much more spiritual behind their looming, overbearing presence, given to them based on their military background. So focused on their political and military ideology, it was rare to see the people behind the helmets and banners. While there were many species within the Darkkon Empire now, it was never something for tr
ue Darkkon warriors to use as a crutch. The empire would send its pureblood military personnel to the front lines, even pressing them to undertake more difficult assignments. Seya’s people always had something to prove to the other species—that those who strive for greatness should aspire to the likeness of the Darkkon Empire and its pureblood people. Even in their culture, those who were born of low status could find redemption and worth in their loyalty to the empire.

  We continued with the technique, eyes glazed in the pale glow, focusing forward into the distant stars and within the mind. After Dotty gave me the combat upgrades, it felt easier to relax and meditate. It was still debatable whether the change was a direct result of the advancement I received, or if it was a more organic development from repetition in the exercises.

  “Anomaly detected nearby,” said the A.I., snapping me out of my reflection.

  I looked at the two beside me, who gave similar looks of confusion.

  “What is it Dotty?” I asked, standing up and looking out the viewport.

  No explanation was necessary. It was a tear in space itself.

  “Something’s coming through the starlane?” I asked.

  “No, it’s impossible for a starlane to open this close to the star,” said Seya.

  “Correct. This is a wormhole,” confirmed Dotty.

  My eyes bulged wide as a jagged object protruded from the tear. Its long profile exited the wormhole which promptly closed behind it. It was a vessel…

  It slowly changed its bearing to intercept us.

  “A Darkkon ship…” said Seya.

  Kayton stood silently dazed, her mouth gaped open in awe.

  I keyed the all comms on my dataslate. “Everyone, this is Art. An enemy ship has entered the system and is on a direct course for us. Prepare for engagement,” I announced, rapidly. Seya was already at the door as I shook Kayton out of her stupor. “Come on, we have to go!”