by Luigi Robles
“Get your helmets on,” Fain said as Pycca got in the shuttle.
The group followed his instructions, all except for Eora. She was looking straight at Fain as if she was going to ask a question.
“Was he really being honest?” Eora asked, hesitating to enter the shuttle. “I mean, is he a good guy? No bullshit.”
“Mikey is one of those people that will never let you down. He means and does what he says.” Fain smiled slightly.
“Leave it to his friend to back him up,” Eora said as she rolled her eyes and entered the shuttle.
“You don’t have to believe me,” Fain said as he entered the shuttle and closed the door behind him. “You can always find out for yourself.”
Eora groaned and threw on her helmet.
Once they left the ISCO and went back to Sodenia, it was all a blur for Fain as they made their way to Earth. He began to think about the events that had just occurred, and how everything was pushing him to confront the Immortals head-on. His heart was racing as the scenarios that he concocted in his mind all ended in defeat. Along the way home, he was peppered with questions, and he did his best to answer them, but he wasn’t himself. His mind was engrossed in coming up with a plan to save all biological life in the galaxy, and that included Earth and everyone he loved.
Fain brought Sodenia to her usual resting spot next to the Ouranos space elevator. He glanced at his wristband; it was 1723 hours. They still had time, and Fain was planning to use it.
“Sodenia, this is your captain speaking,” Fain said as he pressed the intercom button for the ship. “We’re going to keep going for a little while longer.” Then he let go of the button for the second part. “Get Green and Truman on screen, and let Eora know to meet us at the bridge. As for everyone else here, bring anyone that you think should be here.”
It wasn’t long before Green and Truman appeared in medium-sized windows on the main view screen of the bridge.
“Fain, we are still trying to figure out what happened up there in the ISCO,” Green said as he took off his hat.
“So am I,” Fain said. “But I’m hoping we can figure this out and come up with a plan.”
“We’ll try our best,” Green said.
The bridge was full. The entire flight crew was there, along with some of their subordinates. Everyone had gathered around the command stations, leaving Fain and a few others in the center of the small crowd.
“So, we won’t lose any more time,” Fain said, turning towards Green and Truman. “I’ll start. If we don’t do something now, we might not get to do something at all.” He cleared his throat. “It may seem that since we’ve opened our doors to the galaxy, we’ve encountered problem after problem, threat after threat. But luckily, we’ve always come together and dealt with it, and this time I’m hoping we can do the same. However, I can safely say we aren’t on level ground this time. No, this time the enemy doesn’t play by the same mortal rules we do. In fact, the enemy likes to think of themselves as all-powerful immortals. Their goal is clear: they want to wipe all biological life from the galaxy. Their threat is not empty, according to Kya and the Acram leader, Noble Saavan.” There was a shift in the room when Fain mentioned Noble Saavan. “They’ve done this twice before. Now, we have two choices. We can wait for them to come and do whatever they do and hope we are able to withstand the attack. Keep in mind they’ve already defeated the Golden Armada.”
The room was quiet
“Or, what I’d much prefer,” Fain said. “We can go and give them everything we’ve got.” The room became animated. “The question is how.”
“Attacking the enemy in their territory,” Truman said, “will put us at a great disadvantage. And we don’t know where to find them. The enemy has gone silent. Going in blind makes the situation much worse.”
“I know,” Fain said.
“But we do know how to find them,” Pycca said. “That’s all I’ve been working on, and I think I’m already there. I just haven’t been able to test it.”
Fain looked at Pycca, feeling his eyebrows furrow, and she nodded. He wondered if she really had finished the device. But Pycca cleared it all up with a simple nod.
“Kya, if you don’t mind,” Fain said, “can you show the map Noble Saavan gave us?”
“Sure,” Kya said as she neared Fain and raised a pedestal from the floor. “Just give me a few seconds to modify it so that it looks like something we can all understand.”
Seconds later, a large map of the Milky Way galaxy appeared before them.
“This is where we are,” Kya said as she zoomed in on the map and focused on one of the galaxy’s arms that was relatively near the core. “And according to the Acram leader, he estimates them to be somewhere around here.” She zoomed out and then zoomed back in between two outer arms, where there was little to no star formation. “Around 12 thousand lightyears away.”
Fain made the calculation in his head. He knew that at the theoretical maximum, Sodenia could travel at .82 to .90 lightyears per hour. That put them at fourteen hours away.
“That’s quite some distance there,” Truman said. “And it’s also unknown territory. What is it that you propose?”
Unknown territory is an understatement, Fain thought. Here was a fairly new civilization, unique to themselves, trying to fly 12 thousand lightyears away from their home planet to fight a war in order to survive.
“I want to take half of the fleet with me, including both of the jump gates. We’ll set up one of the gates pointing back to Earth at its maximum coverage distance of eight thousand lightyears, and the other we’ll set up less than a lightyear away from the edge of the Immortals’ territory. Once there, and if we can find them”—Fain glanced at Pycca, and she nodded—“we’ll send programmed probes via the second gate with a one-way communication signal back to us. And if there’s a shot, anything at all, we’ll take it. If not, we’ll come back and get ready for the end.”
“Let’s not talk about the end just yet,” Green said. “But don’t you think that the probes will be detected right away and we won’t get a chance to study the enemy?”
“We can also make the probes look like space debris,” Kya said. “Like old Herrion space debris, they could be broadcasting back to us in the Herrion language. The Immortals would still find out what was happening, but I think it would give us enough time.”
“I like that idea,” August said. “The only thing I don’t get is, why take half the fleet with us? Can’t Sodenia do this by itself? I mean, it’s not like—”
Fain shot a stare at August, interrupting him.
Dammit, Fain thought. Leave it to August to expose a hole in the plan. A weak point that Fain was planning to exploit. Everything Fain was saying was indeed part of his plan, but it was just a facade for what Fain was really planning.
“That’s correct,” Truman said. “All the firepower in the entire ESAF fleet cannot rival that of Sodenia. I don’t think it comes close. This mission is extremely dangerous as it is.”
“The purpose of taking half of the fleet with us is logistical,” Kya said. “Aside from the careful placement of the jump gates, we also need a way to carry them within Sodenia’s FTL bubble. We’ll need to attach a minimum of three carrier frigate-class ships to each gate.”
Without knowing the extent of Fain’s true plan, Kya had intervened, and she had a far better answer than anything he was planning to say.
“I see,” Truman said. “So, this is the best we’ve got?”
“There might also be a way to immobilize the enemy,” Kya said. “The small old-tech machine that was used on me in the restaurant can also be used on them. With a few minor adjustments. I’m fairly sure of this. We just need to mass-produce it.”
“OK, this is sounding better,” Green said. “Do we have all the materials on Earth? Can our building facility take care of it?”
“We do,” Kya said as she nodded. “And it can.”
“Send me the list of what you need,” Gree
n said, “and I’ll start sourcing it. And, well, you…you make sure the computers down here do as you say.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Kya said.
“Well, let’s get moving on this,” Truman said. “The time we have to prepare ourselves is not guaranteed. We’ll determine when to launch the attack once we are ready. As Fain said earlier, if we don’t do something now, we might not get to do it at all. But I want everyone in this room to keep thinking, to keep imagining. There might be something better we can do. Let’s get to work.”
“We will, sir,” Fain said.
Truman and Green nodded, and they both turned off their video feed simultaneously.
As much as Fain wanted to be hopeful after Truman’s words, deep down he knew that there wouldn’t be any way around it. They’d have to face the Immortals.
“Sodenia, this is your captain,” Fain said as he pressed the coms button on the center console of the bridge. “Your new tasks will be assigned by your COs. Look for them tonight on your task managers. Let’s get ready for a change of shift.” He let go of the button, and the crowd on the bridge began to disperse.
When Fain turned around, the first person he saw in front of him was Larissa.
“Hey,” Larissa said softly.
“Hey,” Fain said back.
“Are you sure about this? I mean, is this really the plan? Those things, whatever they are, are powerful. And we are going straight to them—who knows how many of them. They defeated the Golden Armada; what chance do we really have?”
“We’ll give it our best, and we’ll put our hearts into it; that’s the only thing within our control. We took one down, remember? As far as I know, we are the only ones in the galaxy that have done it. It happened once and it will happen again. I need you and everyone else on this ship on my side for this to work. I need you at the best you’ve ever been.”
Fain knew that Larissa suspected something else in the works; that sudden silencing of August wasn’t so subtle after all. But he also meant every word he had just told her.
“I’ll do my best, Captain,” Larissa said, sounding like she had something stuck in her throat.
Fain nodded and stepped to one side and began walking towards the corridor. He knew that if he just stood around on the bridge, he would be questioned by everyone. Some of the brightest minds on Earth were on that bridge, and Fain knew that well.
“Pycca, get together with Kya and figure out that EMP device,” Fain said as he walked. “Also, let’s replicate your tracker. I want one on every ship in the fleet.”
“OK.” Pycca nodded. It was obvious that she wanted to say more, but she knew it wasn’t the time; Fain figured as much.
“Hey, one sec, Captain,” August said as he walked right after Fain. “It won’t take long.”
“I’ll talk to you later tonight,” Fain said without slowing down. “For now, that’s the plan, and we need to make it happen.”
August stopped cold and didn’t say anything else. Fain knew he was being harsher than necessary, but in order for his plan to work, there shouldn’t be any doubt from anyone. And talking to August out in the open would surely expose all the flaws in his plan. He made it to the corridor without any more hold-ups. From there, he took a pod straight to his quarters.
When he entered his quarters, he took a deep breath, and the human part in him began doubting everything he was doing. He didn’t want to fool anyone, he didn’t want to hurt anyone, and overall, he didn’t want to break his promise to Pycca.
“Dammit,” Fain yelled with frustration as he fell to his knees. “Dammit…” He pounded on the floor, trying to release his anger. But the human flesh was no match for the solid steel floor of his quarters. After a few more thrashes, he leaned back against the door and surrendered to his thoughts.
For nearly two hours, Fain thought about every possible scenario they would be up against. He had silenced his wristband, ignoring all the incoming calls and requests. The scenarios in his mind were widely different, but one common denominator had emerged. There was one common theme to each one of the paths he could choose: for each one, it was a one-way trip. He knew that it was a desperate attempt at best, but what else was there? He had to try—no, not try, he had to give it everything he had within him, every last ounce for this to have even a remote possibility of working.
“It has to work,” Fain murmured. “It’s going to work.” He raised his voice. “It’s going to work. I know it because I will make it work.”
Feeling as if the worst part of the decision he had made was behind him, he unsilenced his wristband. There were eighteen missed calls and twenty-two messages. Kya’s name was among the ones who’d tried to communicate with Fain.
“Hey, Kya,” Fain said without using his wristband to communicate.
“How are you feeling? My sensors detected some thumping coming from your floor. You had me worried for a bit.”
“It was nothing, don’t worry. Are things underway?”
“Everyone is getting their tasks ready to be sent out. I just finished talking to Pycca about our tasks as well. If everything works out, we’ll be ready to execute the plan within two weeks. Our biggest hold-up is the mass production of the EMP mechanism. I am assuming we will need to fill Sodenia up and the other ships that are coming with us.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Fain, is that really the plan?”
Fain paused before answering.
“For everyone else, it is. For me, it might not be the case. I’m going alone into Immortal territory, and I need your help.”
“I figured as much,” Kya said with a sigh. “What I hadn’t figured is that you were barring me from coming with you. I don’t like that, and I won’t allow it. You’re taking me with you, Fain Jegga.”
“Kya, it’s a one-way trip. I can’t do that to you. Your life is just as important as everyone else’s.”
“Yeah, it’s a one-way trip, if you don’t take me with you. But if I go, we might still have a chance. If you want me to help you pull this off, then I’m coming with you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. And if that’s our end, nothing would make me happier than to have reached that phase in my life with you, the person I started this journey with. Also, if you fail, the end will come for us all no matter what, and you’ll stand a much better chance with me by your side. The chances would increase even more if the flight crew was with us, but I know how you feel about that.”
“I guess you’re coming with me then. But I’m going to need one more person’s help on this, though convincing him not to come with me is going to be hard.”
“He has been waiting for your call for a while now. I believe he is worried. You should talk to him before the day ends.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Fain said as he scrolled up to August’s name on his wristband. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Fain?” Kya asked before she cut the communication.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
After thinking about what he would say to August for a moment or two, he decided to call.
“Hello?” August answered.
“Hey, can you meet me by the docks?”
“When?”
“Now.”
“I’m on my way.”
Fain got up right away and walked out the door. The difficulty was just about to start for Fain, and he knew it. But he would face it head on without a shadow of doubt if it meant saving the ones he loved.
11
The Plan
August made his way to the docks to meet with Fain. He was almost sure what this meeting would be about. Throughout his time serving on board Sodenia, he had gotten to know Fain and thought of him as one of his closest friends, if not the closest. One of the things that had always stood out about Fain was how sure he was of his plans and decisions; it was one of his gifts. Fain rarely said something without being
sure of it, and he was unwavering when it came to giving his word. At first, August had called Fain out on a few things here and there, but it was only to find out that Fain had already done the research or calculations, and he had always been right.
And yet this time around his friend was anything but unwavering, and that was of great concern to August. It meant that he wasn’t sure of what he was doing. But that was just August’s guess, and he didn’t dare to guess beyond that and be proven wrong yet again. So, on the way to the docks, August decided to occupy his mind with other things.
If we are really going to the Immortals’ point of origin, August thought, there’s a strong possibility that we won’t make it back. All 12,000 of us? That seems like a large number of people to go on a suicide mission. Then again, is that what it is? Maybe Fain is right about taking half of the ESAF fleet there. After all, the more of us there are, the better chance we have. If we lose, it would be a great loss of life, that’s true. But that would be the end of everything anyway.
August didn’t have enough time to finish his thoughts on the matter. He could see the large docks rapidly approaching, and Fain was already there waiting for him near the corridor.
Fain couldn’t have chosen a better time to meet at the docks, as they were usually pretty quiet at this time. At a distance, there were only two forklifts moving pallets of food, or more likely coffee and tea, to the feeders for the food printers.
August had recently learned, thanks to a conversation with Larissa, that more coffee and tea was consumed on board Sodenia than at four full coffee shops on Earth. August knew that had to be an unhealthy amount of caffeine.
“Fancy seeing you here,” Fain said as August approached, though he sensed unease in his tone of voice.
“Fancy seeing you at all,” August said as he exited the pod. “So, now can I ask you questions about the plan?”
“You can, but I feel that they will be highly unnecessary after you find out why I called you here.”
“OK, so we’ll start there. What’s really happening?”
