by Luigi Robles
The flight crew on the bridge, as well as Fain, all turned towards Kya. He was standing near the map projection area at the center of the bridge.
“What is it?”
“I have Mikey waiting to connect you to Noble Saavan.”
Fain’s heart sank into his stomach. He knew it could only mean one thing.
“Transfer to the main view screen.”
Seconds later, Noble Saavan appeared before them. His image looked much clearer than it had looked on the projection the node anchor was emitting. Saavan had his arms crossed in front of him, and there was nothing visible behind him; it was just him.
“Noble Saavan,” Fain said as he neared the main view screen.
“Captain Fain Jegga,” Saavan said as subtitles appeared at the base of the screen.
“To what do we owe this occasion?” Fain asked.
Saavan twisted his head ever so slightly and did not answer. Perhaps it was that he didn’t understand Fain clearly as the language was translated on his side.
“Why have you contacted me?” Fain asked in a simpler way.
“The machines known as Immortals are here,” Saavan said. “We are currently engaged with an army of them.”
“An army of them?” Fain asked incredulously.
“Look for yourself,” Saavan said as his image disappeared from the main screen and was replaced with an outside view of one of his ships. Based on the white tint of the ship, Fain presumed it was Saavan’s ship, the Iveria.
The battle outside Saavan’s ship was raging on; a sea of ships was attempting to strike the Immortals. The image of Saavan reappeared on the main screen, but as fierce as the battle imagery had been, Fain saw that the great leader of the Acram was losing.
“How long do you have?” Fain asked.
“It’s tough to say; it depends on the resilience of my kin. We haven’t given up just yet. But our fate is not the reason I’ve reached out to you; the fate of the galaxy is. Have you decided?”
“I have,” Fain said.
“Very well. It’s your move now. I’ve made my move, and now I will see it through to the end.”
“Wait,” Fain said, guessing that Saavan would turn off the node anchor any second. “Can you last for twelve hours? I am leaving now.”
“I seem to be unfamiliar with your measurement of time.”
“Just hold them off for as long as you can. Things will change.”
“Of that I’m sure. Make no mistake, the enemy will not pass beyond this point, no matter what. Even if it costs us everything.”
Saavan was already losing the fight; what else could he do? Fain wondered. Was he planning on blowing himself up and taking the enemy with him or something of that sort?
“I’m leaving now,” Fain said with conviction.
“Farewell, Captain Fain Jegga. It was a great honor knowing of your existence.”
“Noble Saavan, you as well.”
Saavan nodded, and the main view screen turned off. Fain wasted no time and ran towards Sodenia’s pilot seat.
“We’re leaving now,” Fain yelled as he ran.
“Wait,” Pycca said.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Fain said as he hopped into the pilot’s seat and began to strap in. He didn’t want to think about what all this really meant for the crew of Sodenia and especially Pycca. Heck, he didn’t even dare look her way, but he did it anyway. He knew that if he didn’t look at her one last time, it would be the one thing he would really regret. “I’ll see you after all this is over.” Fain tried to smile.
Pycca’s face looked grave, and there were signs of her eyes beginning to tear up, but nevertheless she looked beautiful. Fain tried hard to memorize her face, every aspect of it. He closed his eyes for a second, letting her image burn into his memory.
The pilot’s seat rose up into Sodenia’s command center, and the spherical view began to light up all around him. A small window appeared near the command module’s controls; it was an incoming call from Green.
“Kya, secure this call,” Fain said as he tapped on the small window to answer.
“So, this is it?” Green asked.
“This is it; we’re leaving now.”
“We granted all your requests. Part of the ESAF fleet is now in your hands.”
“Thank you. Colonel Green, would it be too much if I asked something of you?”
“Absolutely not. Go ahead, ask anything. If it’s within my power, it’s yours.
“If something were to happen to me, could you keep an eye on Pycca? Just every now and then, you know, to make sure she’s alright.”
Even though the communications window on the pilot’s seat console was small, Fain was clearly able to distinguish that Green looked shocked.
“Fain—”
“Before you say anything...”
Green nodded.
“I just want to say thank you,” Fain said, attempting not to choke. “For rescuing me at the Clearer Waters facility, for everything that you’ve done for me and the crew. Without you, I don’t think I’d be where I am right now, saving the world and all.”
The pain was visible in Green’s face.
“You’re welcome,” Green said as he cleared his throat. “In all these years, my number one priority has been to protect you all. I feel within my heart that you guys are the best hope Earth has, bar none. But there is one thing that bothers me.”
“What is that?”
“Whatever you decide to do, I do expect you to come back. Earth cannot have it otherwise, and from what I think you’ve just told me, neither can Pycca.”
“You know that I only do my best.”
“So, goodbye for now.”
Fain nodded.
“Goodbye, Colonel Green. Give my regards to General Truman. Express to him my thanks for what he’s done as well.” Fain tapped on the window to disconnect the call.
Fain felt pressure in his chest as he ran through all the years he’d known Green in his mind.
“Snap out of it,” Fain murmured to himself. “You have to concentrate.” He took in a deep breath. “It’s possible. It’s possible it can happen. You can win.”
Fain deeply believed in his own words, and in doing so, he began to find the strength within himself.
“Kya, status?”
“We are waiting for the last jump gate and ships to get into formation,” Kya said as she showed an image of the three ships attached to one of the jump gates to the portside of Sodenia. The ships and gate were slowly turning around to face Sodenia’s stern. “Though I must say, the captains of the frigates and destroyer ship seem reluctant to travel through space facing backwards.”
“But they are doing it, right?”
“They are, but only after August intervened and told them they would lose their positions in ESAF if they kept hesitating.”
“Can August do that?”
“There are many things August can’t do, but he still does.”
Fain felt himself smiling the slightest bit.
“Kya, patch me through to Sodenia and the ships that are coming with us.”
“Whenever you’re ready.”
“Sodenia and members of the ESAF fleet, this is your captain speaking. In a few moments, we’ll embark on a mission that will define our very existence in the galaxy. The outcome will be simple. Either we will continue to exist in this galaxy along with all biological life or we won’t. It’s that simple. But I say, these machines don’t know who they are messing with. Let’s give it our best. Your captain out.”
Fain set a course to the place on Saavan’s map he had been eying for the last two-and-a-half weeks. As he did so, a message appeared on one of the small screens next to him.
READY TO DEPART
Without giving it a second thought, Fain slid the FTL lever all the way up to the theoretical maximum mark. The space around Sodenia and the nine ESAF ships, along with the two jump gates, disappeared. There was only darkness, apart from a small haze of light com
ing from the direction they were traveling in.
As they traveled through space many hundreds of times faster than the speed of light, the map of the Milky Way galaxy appeared in front of Fain in the spherical view screen. In mere seconds, Sodenia had left the solar system far behind.
They traveled through space with minimal interruption, just the occasional systems check. Eleven-and-a-half hours passed this way, and it wasn’t until they were minutes away from their destination that communications began to fly back and forth.
As they reached the eight thousand lightyear mark, Fain began to decelerate Sodenia. Here was where they would place one of the jump gates, so the fleet could return home in case something were to happen to Sodenia.
“Get ready to place the first gate,” Fain announced as the fleet came to a complete stop.
Within a few minutes, one of the jump gates had been put in place, and with it two of the three backwards-facing ships that were traveling with it.
“Kya, patch me through to Captain Daniels,” Fain said.
Captain Daniels was in charge of one of the two ships that were going to stay behind with the jump gate.
“Captain Jegga, sir,” Daniels said on the other side of the coms.
“I need you to establish an ongoing communication with Earth. Use the jump gate to send and receive data. There should be something coming and going at all times.”
“We’ll do as you say. So, this is it?”
“Yes, there’s no time to waste. We’ve scanned the area as far as our instruments can reach, and there’s nothing in sight. I don’t expect there will be anything; there’s no nearby civilization as far as we can tell. But even so, stay alert.”
“Thank you, Captain, and good luck on your mission. We will hope for a safe return.”
“Thanks. Keep the jump gate running. We’ll try to communicate with you once we’ve reached our destination.”
“I understand.”
“Kya, are the rest of the fleet and the gate still lined up?”
“That’s correct.”
Without saying another word, Fain moved the FTL drive back to its theoretical maximum, causing the space around them to disappear back into the darkness. Fain guessed that many would be surprised by the lack of warning, but he had no time to waste.
They kept traveling through space at speeds that were unquantifiable to the human mind. Even if Fain tried to understand the numbers that were being projected on the main view screen, attaching them to something was where the real problems started. The only real sense of travel came from the map that appeared on the screen and how their position moved across the map.
They traveled for another four hours after setting up the first jump gate.
“T-minus five minutes,” Kya said as they rapidly approached their destination.
“Announce it to the fleet,” Fain said as he slid his hand over to the FTL drive lever.
Fain knew that there was no way the rest of the fleet didn’t know how far away they were from their destination, but announcing it would help to show that everyone was on the same page.
“Eora,” Fain said, knowing that Kya would patch him through to her.
“Yes, Captain?” Eora responded through Fain’s coms in the command center.
“Shields at full power, ready the drones, all weapons hot. Be ready to cut all incoming communication. The same goes for the rest of the fleet.”
“Right away.”
Fain had two plans in mind for when they emerged from FTL travel. The first one was that if the enemy was within sight, or anywhere near the reach of the ship’s radar, Sodenia would engage, and the rest of the fleet would be sent back using the remaining jump gate. Then Sodenia would find a way to escape the enemy and regroup back on Earth. However, if this first plan took place, he was positive that Saavan and all the subspecies that had gone to his aid would not survive a second attempt. The second plan was that if there were no machines in sight, he would set things up as carefully as possible to empty Sodenia before really going into Immortal territory. The latter plan was the one that had to happen.
“T-minus one minute,” Kya said.
“Announce it and enlarge the counter.”
The countdown timer enlarged to where it almost took up half of the spherical screen. He watched the numbers closely, and at the three-second mark, he returned the FTL lever back to its original position. The space around them solidified at once, but it looked entirely different than what he was used to seeing: it was darker, a lot darker. The space that Sodenia had arrived in was almost completely bare of stars. The scanners also showed nothing around them, to Fain’s relief. He saw nothing on the scanners, nothing on the main screen highlighting the enemy; it looked like they were alone.
“Is that right?” Fain asked.
“It appears so,” Kya said. “As far as our radar can detect, we seem to be completely alone out here.”
“This is odd, though I’m not complaining. I was half-expecting to find a little more going on in this area. Patch me through to Pycca.”
“Hey, Cap,” Pycca said.
“We made it. Are you ready to find out if your device works?”
“I know it works,” Pycca said with a smug tone.
“Alright, turn it on. Let’s find out where those things are coming from.”
“OK, I’m on it.”
“While Pycca turns on her device, I’ll let you know what the damage is this time with motion sickness amongst the crew. There have been only three incidents.”
“Compared to last time, I’m amazed. Well, there were also a lot more people with us last time. Let’s get the gates in place and the scrap drone ready.”
Ever since the idea of sending a low-powered drone into the Immortals’ territory as a means to observe and report was proposed, Sodenia’s and Earth’s finest minds began working on it, and they had completed the scrap drone with three days to spare. The scrap drone was designed to look like space debris that emitted seemingly sporadic bursts of energy, but those same bursts would have a clear meaning once they were put through a decoding machine or Kya turned them into video.
“Right away,” Kya said.
“Eora, I need you and your crew to keep a watchful eye on everything. If something moves that is not supposed to move, be ready to take the first shot.”
“You got it, Captain,” Eora said.
Fain’s second plan was well underway, and everyone on board Sodenia and the ESAF fleet was performing admirably. Though Fain was far from relaxed. He was well aware that at any second, everything could go wrong. As the fleet maneuvered the remaining gate into place and the drone got ready to be sent out, Fain kept his hands firmly placed on the side stick controls and his feet on the foot controls.
“Fain?” Pycca’s voice came in through the coms.
“Yeah?”
“A few devices detected a faint signal some two lightyears away.”
Although it was a lot further than Fain had hoped for and he knew that the signal had been traveling for two straight years in order to reach them, it was still well worth sending in the scrap drone.
“If we send the scrap drone that far,” Fain said, “it will be able to communicate with us via the jump gate, correct? Even with the low-powered signals?”
“I’ll take a look,” Pycca said. “But I don’t see why not. With Kya’s help I can make sure of it.”
“OK. See that it happens, and if it does, we’ll get the drone ready to set out.”
After a few minutes, Fain had the answer he had been waited for. According to Kya, it was, in fact, possible to get the gate operational at minimal power in order to send and receive data. Fain then gave the go-ahead to have the scrap drone prepped and ready for launch.
“Launching drone in four, three, two, one,” Kya said.
The small dot that was the drone was highlighted in a blue square on the spherical view screen. If it wasn’t for the ship’s radar, Fain wasn’t sure he’d be able to track the
small object next to Sodenia.
Someone in Eora’s group would fly the drone to the gate, but once the drone passed the jump gate, it would operate autonomously.
“Power up the jump gate,” Fain said. “Be ready to change the gate’s end point at a moment’s notice. Eora, keep the weapons hot.”
Kya and Eora both acknowledged Fain’s orders.
The gate powered on, illuminating the space right in front of it. The white light coming from the gate was so strong and so one-sided that the small drone created a rather large shadow as it went towards it. Before the drone fully reached the gate, it disappeared as it was engulfed in the bright light.
“How long until it jumps to the other side?” Fain asked as he saw the light from the gate power down. Now it was only emitting a faint glow.
“Based on the drone’s mass, it should reach the other side of the gate within three minutes,” Kya said. “In the same amount of time, we should start hearing back from it.”
Fain tensed up, because he knew that in just a few minutes he would be making the single greatest decision he had made in his life. A decision that would have massive repercussions any way that he decided to go.
His stress level was so high that he began doing breathing exercises to try and calm himself down. The inaction was killing him, almost literally.
Fourteen minutes had passed.
“Is there anything?” Fain couldn’t help but ask.
“No, there’s nothing yet,” Kya said as she paused. “Wait, the first signals are coming in. Stand by for decoding.”
“On screen as soon as you have it.”
A few more minutes passed in silence, but it wasn’t too long before Fain saw the first images of the scrap drone inside Immortal territory.
The images the scrap drone was sending over to Sodenia were dark, and it was hard to distinguish true detail. But one thing was certain: they had found the Immortal machines’ homeworld. At the center of the imagery was a massive planet-like machine structure, with what had to be thousands of satellites orbiting it. Scattered across space between the drone and the machine planet were Immortals exactly like the one Fain had faced back on Doka.
“Are you getting this?” Pycca asked through the command center’s coms.
“That’s it, that’s the origin of the Immortals,” Fain said in a low voice.
