by A. K. DuBoff
“That was… wow,” he said.
Next to him, his father stood with a distant gaze, like he was still looking beyond his physical self. “It was incredible.”
‘Terrifying’ was more the word Jason would use to characterize the interaction.
“What happened?” Saera asked, eyes wide with anticipation.
“We made contact,” Wil reported. “It said they would send a representative.”
“Whatever in the stars that means.” Jason focused on his breathing in a vain attempt to calm his racing heart.
“What did it look like?” Ryan asked.
Raena shook her head. “Words can’t… it’s a leviathan. No, that doesn’t do it justice—it’s encircling the planet.”
He gaped at her. “What?”
“Things could get strange,” Wil said. “Whatever happens, don’t take offensive action until I give an order. Pass it on to the fleet.”
“Aye,” Rianne acknowledged.
“Did they say when they would—”
Saera cut off as a shimmer of light sparked in front of them.
A figure began to materialize behind the two forward consoles. Rianne almost jumped out of her seat but managed to maintain her composure.
The being looked vaguely Taran but had a bluish glow and slight transparency, like it might be a projection rather than a living creature. Its agelessness reminded Jason of the Aesir, though the proportions of this being’s features were distorted enough to give it an alien appearance—too small a nose and ears, extra-large eyes with no lashes, and thin lips. Its long, slender limbs were draped in a shimmering tunic.
“Hello,” Wil greeted.
Jason was impressed he had been able to find his voice. His own heart was in his throat.
“You represent Tarans?” the Erebus representative asked.
“We do, yes.”
An intense telepathic screech filled Jason’s mind. Everyone in the Command Center winced and started to double over. The screech faded into the background as Jason’s vision was replaced with darkness. He wasn’t sure if he’d lost consciousness or if his senses had been blocked out.
There was a presence surrounding him in the dark—not unlike what he’d felt two weeks before during the flight lesson with his students. It walled him in, making him unable to move. The sheer power of it terrified him. He’d sensed this before, when he was reading Darin’s memories. In those memories, though, the entity had been curious. Now, it was vengeful. The TSS’ attempts to communicate had made the ancient beings angry. No, that wasn’t quite the emotion radiating from the dark… it was pity. The being pitied the pathetic weakness of the Taran race and how foolish it was to think its people could wield the cosmic powers.
Then, as quickly as the darkness had come over him, Jason’s vision returned. He was still standing in the middle of the Command Center facing the Erebus’ avatar.
“This one has borne witness before.” The representative focused on Jason. “Do you not yet understand what you have done?”
“No, I don’t. But I do know that you killed someone I loved, and she’d done nothing to harm you. Did they suffer?”
“It was over quickly. We would offer you the same kindness.”
Jason scoffed. “A merciful death? Great. Maybe rather than jumping to the stance that we all deserve to die because a handful of people out of trillions messed up, we can open a productive dialogue.” When the Erebus representative didn’t say anything, Jason continued. “We know we have broken the treaty, and that was wrong of us—regardless of the fact that we, personally, were unaware such an accord existed. We are very sorry for that. But we don’t understand what happened in the past to necessitate the agreement. Why is the Gatekeeper’s technology forbidden?”
The avatar stared at him, dumbfounded, as one regarded a dog failing to maneuver a long stick between fence posts. “You truly don’t know?”
“You’ve seen inside my mind,” Jason replied. “I am hiding nothing. We want to understand.”
“Before two weeks ago, we didn’t even know your kind existed. Please, educate us,” Wil implored.
“The Gates harm us. They pull energy from our essence.”
Jason reflected on what he had seen while astral projecting—how the being had seemed injured, with pits and holes across its form. So, they were wounds from the Gate tech, some ancient and others new. Even the old injuries hadn’t healed completely after all those millennia since the previous war.
They can be hurt. The realization made the beings seem a little less godlike, but it didn’t change the fact that harming the entities wasn’t the same as killing them. They didn’t even have Gates in their possession to mount an attack against the Erebus, nor would he want to. The Tarans hadn’t meant harm.
His father seemed to be coming to the same realization next to him. “The aesen. The Gates must draw on aesen itself as their power source, ripping holes through these beings in the process. It’s barbaric.”
“None of us knew,” Saera murmured in their minds, her anguish coming through the telepathic connection.
Jason’s stomach turned over with the thought. Those people casually used the Gates and didn’t have a clue they were hurting these incredible beings. No wonder the Erebus think we’re awful.
“We are so sorry,” Wil said aloud. “It was a mistake for our people to activate the Gate. An isolated incident, done without knowledge of the pain it would cause you.”
“You repeatedly used the Gates.”
Wil turned to Saera for confirmation.
She shook her head. “According to our intel, a Taran traversed a Gate just one time,” she said telepathically to everyone in the Command Center.
“Maybe they mean every time a Gate activated?” Jason suggested.
Wil returned his attention to the Erebus representative. “I think there has been a misunderstanding about our role in all of this. Yes, we must admit that a rogue group within the Taran Empire used a Gate, but only successfully once. Any other activations were not by our hand.”
“Multiple Gates were open for days, at great cost to us. That is why we have come.”
Realization dawned on Jason. “The Gatekeepers set us up,” he said to the group. “They opened those Gates not to destroy our planets, but because they knew it would anger these guys. They wanted them to come deal with us so they didn’t have to.”
Saera paled. “So, that whole standoff with the Gatekeepers before was just a ploy?”
“It’s sounding that way,” Raena replied.
“Devious alien fokers,” Wil grumbled.
Jason tuned out his mental curses as he desperately tried to think of what to suggest for how they could proceed. Diplomacy was Raena’s wheelhouse, not his. Even she looked at a loss for what to say.
“We know the others as the ‘Gatekeepers’,” he said. “They were the ones to open those other Gates.”
The representative stared at him with unblinking eyes, like looking into the depths of the cosmos itself. “We will deal with them. But it was the actions of Tarans that prompted their involvement.”
“Yes, one group of Tarans used a Gate, and we’ll own up to that,” Jason continued. “But the punishment you intend to deal doesn’t fit that singular crime. We aren’t like you—we aren’t eternal. It is unjust to condemn us for perpetrating the war tens of thousands of years ago. We had no part in it. Our race isn’t the same as it was then.”
Raena took a step forward. “Jason is right. To destroy us now is to close off any possibility of us becoming better. You gave our ancestors the chance to evolve by setting the treaty. Please, give us that same chance.”
“Your ancestors evolved into you. And you broke their vows to uphold the treaty. Why should it be any different in another hundred thousand years?”
That’s a fair question. Jason didn’t have an answer. He looked at his parents and Raena.
“We can’t offer any guarantees,” Wil stated. “I wish we could, but you�
��re right. Information is lost. People change. All that we can control is the here and now. The decision you have to make is if you can live for eternity knowing you wiped out trillions of people across a galaxy because a handful of individuals acted selfishly.”
The representative stared at him, intense and unwavering. “Your race is in trouble, regardless of the sentence we levy.”
“Perhaps. But we adapt and overcome. It is our way.”
“That is to say, you would not go quietly.”
Wil shook his head. “Not a chance. The question would become, how much hardship could we inflict on you before you destroyed all of us?”
“You no longer have the Gates.”
“No, but we have a record of their energy field. You are aware of this ship and its capabilities. There are others like it, and now we know how to use them against you, if needed. The fact that we are still having this conversation suggests you might be open to taking an alternative approach.”
“You are bold to threaten us.”
“A proportional response to your threat to us. However, we don’t seek violence. We stand at a crossroads, and there is a path of peace open to us.”
“With all of you? You said it was a rogue faction that used the Gates.”
“I can speak for the Taran leaders on that matter,” Raena said. “We are striving to improve relations across the Taran worlds. Give us the opportunity to unite.”
“Do you share things across these worlds?” the Erebus asked with a curious tilt of its head.
“Of course,” Wil replied. “We are one Empire. We offer the tools for prosperity and protection to all.”
The Erebus representative evaluated him. “We have considered your words and agree to a stay of your sentence, for now.”
Jason breathed a sigh of relief but didn’t relax. They still stood on a knife’s edge. That was too easy…
“We now offer you this… gift,” the representative stated.
A device materialized on the deck in front of them. It was no larger than his head and had smooth metal finishes around its cylindrical frame. At first glance, it reminded Jason of a power distribution cell.
Why in the stars are they giving us a gift? Jason also sensed confusion and wariness from the others in the Command Center.
“Thank you. But… what is it?” Raena asked.
“A power core, constructed using materials easy and plentiful to harvest.”
Jason’s jaw went slack. “Do they know about MPS’ issues?” he questioned Raena and his parents.
“They may have surmised the need based on the experience with the Andvari,” Saera suggested. “Rather convenient. Suspiciously so.”
“I know. Something isn’t right,” Wil agreed. “But we have to play along.”
“This is quite the gift,” Raena said to the Erebus. “You honor us.”
“Your previous power source was reaching the end of its supply, correct? This is what you need most across your civilization?”
“How do you know?” She glanced at Jason and their parents. “This turnaround doesn’t make any sense.”
“We have studied you and determined this need,” the representative stated.
“I believe you were right about the Andvari being an experiment, Jason,” his father said. “I don’t know how they drew that conclusion from the events, but they did.”
“Maybe they studied the salvage contract?” Jason suggested.
“If that’s the case, then they might have access to all of the classified information on this ship.”
Jason tensed at the thought, but he wasn’t about to back down now. “Is this item even what they claim it is?”
“If I may conduct an analysis?” Wil asked out loud.
“Of course,” the Erebus consented.
Jason looked over the results of the scan in real-time on the viewscreen as the Conquest’s onboard AI evaluated the mysterious device. It was, in fact, everything that they needed to replace the current MPS power cores. Too perfectly, in fact.
“Why are you helping us?” Wil asked.
“As you stated, Tarans are widespread, and a war now would come at great cost to us. We look toward an alternative future.”
Raena smiled sweetly, but Jason could tell it wasn’t genuine. “That’s very kind.”
“To a truce, then?” the representative asked.
Wil and Raena exchanged glances.
“Yes. On behalf of the Taran Empire, we accept your offer of peace,” Wil stated.
“Please, enjoy your gift. We look forward to continued positive relations.” The avatar vanished.
Jason blinked several times, staring at the place on the deck where the alien representative had stood. “What just happened?”
“We didn’t die,” his father replied flippantly. “I’m confused.”
“That makes all of us.” Saera walked over to the alleged power core and took a closer look. “Is it a bomb?”
“CACI would have picked up on a potential threat,” Wil said. “I don’t get it. They were ready to kill us all a few minutes ago.”
Jason crossed his arms. “It doesn’t track.”
His father shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. No one turns around opinion that quickly. They’re playing us… I just don’t know how yet.”
“This is everything we need, though,” Raena said. “Think about the kind of planetary defense upgrades we could make with a power generator this robust.”
Saera nodded. “That’s true. And it’s not like we’re in a position to reject this ‘gift’—though I don’t actually see it as one.”
“I don’t trust them one bit. But we don’t have a better option at present,” Wil stated.
Raena scowled. “I feel like we just sold our souls to alien overlords.”
Wil picked up the device. “Not our souls. But maybe our freedom. That remains to be seen.”
“Temporary peace is better than getting wiped out on the spot,” Saera said. “This at least buys us time.”
“I’ll smooth over things with the High Council and public relationships.” Ryan sighed. “They’re going to be angry.”
Wil scoffed. “They should be thankful—and scared. It always amazes me how you can save people’s lives and they’re upset you didn’t do it ‘their way’.”
Jason crossed his arms. “I’m curious to find out what the Aesir think of all this.”
“Yes, I’m sure Dahl will have something unhelpfully abstract but wise-sounding to say about the ‘gift’. In any case, it’s time we reevaluate the technology in the Archive.” His father looked very tired.
Raena looked between her parents. “All right, so what do we do now?”
“We graciously accept the Erebus’ offer of peace and move forward with our lives.”
“They’re probably setting us up!” Jason protested. There’s no way this ‘gift’ doesn’t have strings attached.
His father shrugged. “Right now, that doesn’t matter. They can obliterate us with a flick of their wrist we can’t even see. This is the smartest decision for our current circumstances.”
Raena crossed her arms. “If we acquiesce now, that puts us at a disadvantage.”
“It keeps us alive. We don’t have much chance if our entire race is wiped out.”
Jason shook his head. “They don’t have that power. If they did, they would have done it already.”
“Perhaps,” Wil yielded. “Regardless, this is how we find out what they can do and what we can do to coexist—or resist them. Right now, fighting back is beyond even my power.”
“You’re not alone,” Saera said.
“No, but we, the Taran race, are so insignificant.” His father shook his head. “This entire universe is part of something so much bigger than any of us can comprehend. The actions we take are simply pulling threads that barely register on the greater cosmic web. Even so, that doesn’t mean we should give up. The individual lives are no less important to the people living them just becau
se they’re a tiny speck in existence. If we can make even one person’s life better through our work, then it’s our duty to carry on, no matter the odds against us.”
“This isn’t over. Not even close,” Raena said.
Jason let out a long breath. “What is it they say… we live to fight another day?”
Saera smiled. “And then the next.”
CHAPTER 22
Having new alien overlords would take time to get used to. Upon returning to TSS Headquarters, Jason was met by expressions of shock and relief. He tried to assure his students that everything would be okay. Truthfully, he had no idea what the future would bring. Like Dad said, we’re alive. That’s what matters.
Classes were put on hold for two days while the TSS figured out how to monitor the situation with the Erebus in conjunction with the Guard. The landscape of the Taran Empire was changing. Time would tell if it was for the better.
After another long strategy session, Jason was taking a break in his office to catch up on some administrative tasks. His desk lit up with an incoming communication, marked as being from an unidentified caller on Duronis. I only know one person out that way.
Sure enough, when he answered, Kira greeted him with a smile.
He smiled back. “Hey! I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon.”
“Well, I saw the news and wanted to check in. Congrats on preventing our horrible demise.”
“Yeah, it’s been a little crazy around here.”
“I can imagine. Aliens, man! Why do they always get up in our business?”
He laughed. “I know, right? Stars, I’m still in a surreal haze about the whole thing!”
“One day at a time.”
“So it goes. How are things on your end?”
Her expression turned solemn. “I’ll jump to it: you were right to be worried about what’s happening out here.”
Jason’s stomach knotted. “What have you learned?”
“Well, Lexi has offered some interesting insights when I’ve been able to get her alone to chat. The ‘Alliance’ she mentioned in her message to the TSS is part of a larger network known as ‘the Coalition’. Very cryptic and unhelpful names, I know.”
