by Michael Kan
It was a nightmare, one that left Julian shaking from the bed. He rose from the thin mattress, his heart rate racing, like his body was trying to stay alive. He told himself it was just a dream. A figment of the imagination. Out of his control. But the lie would never take hold. This was an actual memory. A broken shard of one, the images a flashback — so graphic and real. The past incident perhaps altering his mind for the worse.
Julian felt sick. He wanted to run away. Hide like a scared child. But as his senses came to, he realized that he already had. He had been discharged from the military over three years ago. Exiled into a different kind of work, disgraced. A washed-up pilot running freighters, in a floating warehouse, he had no attachment to.
He left the bed, and ran his hands into a nearby sink inside the personal quarters.
As the cold water hit his face, Julian couldn’t help but remember. The call to evacuate, the emergency alarms, and the erratic rumbling across Meridian station. A muted scream of an unlucky engineer sucked out into space. The empty void wanting to claim him too. Images of the dead ships all flooded into his mind. And suddenly, those distant memories, filled with violence, appeared as well. He now saw himself again, dying on the floor, the back of his head punctured, the guts bleeding out.
Why? Why did I do it?
Julian’s hands jerked, clasping together to stop the shaking. The physical pain in his body had largely disappeared, but Julian shrank as the trauma came knocking into his mind. He could only hold on to the sides of the sink, clutching them tight, when the reality of the nightmare reared its ugly head. Julian sucked in the air, as the long sigh then came from his breath. Already, he could feel it. The nose bleed aggravating once more.
“Shit,” he said, the red rivering down to his lips. Julian then thought back to the lieutenant and what she had said earlier. Indeed, this war had ruined everything, especially him.
***
Hyperspace, the means in which interstellar travel was possible, throbbed in the distance. The violet hues in the background, beating like a living heart.
Cosmic light waxed and waned across the Crusader as it navigated through the milky medium. Peering at it was like being submerged in an ocean of exotic space, waves of stars glistening across the expanse. Scientists from across the galaxy had yet to fully understand the phenomenon. But without it, space-faring races would be forced to spend decades, if not centuries or millennia traveling by means bound more closely to the physical laws of the universe. Hyperspace provided that alternative: where gravitational fields were weak, a ship in any star system could open a gateway into a realm that folded space and time. And through it, the almost infinite distances between stars could be reached within weeks, to days, and even hours.
Although Nalia had told him to rest, Julian could not sleep. He stood on the bridge of the Crusader, looking out from a window into the strange emptiness that stared back at him. In a few moments, the veil of hyperspace would recede, and in its place would be the Haven star system, his true home.
What would he say to them? Julian kept circling the question, trying to find the courage to answer. His sister, his brother, his parents, they were all there on Haven, having heard nothing of him for more than a year. Things had moved so fast, the pressure making it difficult to think. But he knew it full well: this might be his last chance to see them. If not now, then perhaps never.
“Julian, are you okay?”
She approached to his side, wondering what he was looking at. “You seemed to have spaced out,” Nalia said.
“It’s just been a while since I’ve last seen Haven.”
“Me too. I’ve been out in the dark for the last four years. I’m sure you’ll get some time to visit.”
“I bet I’m going to have to report to duty soon,” he replied. “Not much time.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much,” she said. “Any free time you get, try to enjoy it while you can.”
Nalia’s voice was calm as she tried to lift Julian’s spirits. He realized he had nothing to complain about. He was alive, thanks to this woman.
“What will happen to you?” he asked
“I imagine I’ll be stationed at SpaceCore Command, planning our counterattacks. A lot of strategy sessions and meetings with the higher-ups will ensue, leaving me with piles of reports to go through.”
“Well I hope you tell command to cut down on those Lucifer orders,” he joked.
She laughed, giving him a lighthearted salute. “Will do.”
“You’re a good pilot Julian. You work quick. Kick some ass for me when you’re out there.”
He saluted back.
Julian then dropped into the pilot seat. The ship’s computer showed that they had closed in on their destination. Using the navigation controls, he calculated a trajectory back into normal space. Re-entry would bring the vessel close to Worthy Station, SpaceCore’s largest orbital facility. Located on the edge of the star system, it was the major staging ground for his people’s military operations.
“Re-entry point calculated,” he said to Nalia. “Commencing synch with normal space.”
As Julian inputted the orders, the Crusader’s hyperspace drive energized, emitting a gravitational field around the ship that lasted over a span of minutes. The pull generated by the vessel immediately counteracted with the cosmic energies that made up hyperspace. A tremor vibrated through the ship, as the stability of the area around it fractured. The Crusader’s connection to hyperspace began to sever, pulling the ship back into the normal physical laws.
On the bridge, Julian could see the transformation. The Crusader’s surroundings flickered in a white glow. Seconds later, the shroud lifted, revealing what lie in wait.
Julian still recollected the sight of Worthy Station. Along with ranking as the military’s largest orbital facility, it was also the oldest and comprised of an expanding patchwork of space modules. Decade after decade, it had grown, making it resemble a giant interlocking chain of parts. Worthy Station was hardly appealing to the eye. But within the confines housed some of the SpaceCore’s top military commanders, in addition to the most advanced technology mankind had in its possession. It would likely be there, where Julian would receive his first orders. Just like he had, years before.
However, as the Crusader emerged into normal space, Julian could see what Worthy Station had become.
He saw no patchwork of modules, or any military monument on display. There was only the debris field in front of them, the fortress of humanity cut to pieces.
Chapter 4
Instinct was guiding his every move as he piloted the Crusader through the chaos, the weapons ripping across space. Explosions left over from the destruction of Worthy Station filled the view screen, with Julian making every effort to dodge them.
He had no idea what was going on, only that they were in danger. Upon arriving in the Haven system, they had found SpaceCore Command to be no more. As they traveled, the carcasses of other starships appeared, all leading to a trail of where a battle was raging on. Julian powered up the shields, bracing for the inevitable combat.
“What do you read on the scanners?” he asked, trying to make sense of what was happening. Before he finished his question, Nalia sent over the image to his console screen.
Julian had seen war before. He had known the slaughter. But still he was in shock. According to the navigational map, the star system was in the midst of an invasion. The Crusader’s computer counted waves of enemy vessels, numbering over a hundred and entering from all sides of the system. They were a swarm, striking deep within human territory, and breaking through Haven’s fortified defense perimeters. With each second, their forces seemed to grow one by one as more came, warping into the system. SpaceCore, having already lost their command center, could do nothing to fend off the attack. Their vessels, from capital ships to automated defense drones, were all falling off the grid, succumbing to the barrage of weapons fire. Closer and closer the enemy came to Julian’s homeworld as Haven
’s military continued to fall back.
“How did this happen? I don’t understand. We should have been ready for this,” Nalia exclaimed.
Julian wanted to reassure her, but he could think of nothing to say. Whatever salvation they had hoped to find was crumbling right before them. Switching to the navigational map, he tried to focus.
The other vessels were in view. The row of battleships trying to hold the line.
It was SpaceCore, or what was left of it — the weapon discharges lighting the darkness, and launching a stream of shells into space. Each ship was cloaked in metal, and pummeled at their targets with a power that could decimate entire cities.
“Talk to me Nalia. What are the remaining ships saying?”
Through her console, Nalia synched the Crusader’s systems in with the military orders coming through the communication link.
“All ships are to rendezvous at grid zero-point-one-eight. That’s right near Haven’s orbit.”
“Sounds like a last stand.”
“Alliance reinforcements are inbound,” she said. “Hopefully it’ll even up the odds.”
While the battleships continued to fire off their arsenals, Julian looked at the Crusader’s own weapons. Missiles stocks were depleted. But rail canons were still functioning. Julian had never thought he’d get the chance to helm a warship again, let alone in actual combat.
This battle would count the most. “Activating weapons,” he said.
As soon as he did, the enemy fire came striking.
“Endervars spotted!” Nalia shouted, shaking in her seat.
Julian felt the jolt hit the Crusader and checked the view screens. There, within the space, he spied the dreaded sight.
He was familiar with this. Too familiar. The rays of light, seemingly simple, but deadly enough to slice open unprotected ship.
It was how the enemy had destroyed Worthy Station, along with anything else in its path. The particle beams raining down upon them.
Julian went to dodge the enemy fire, and pulled the Crusader away from the area. As he did so, the energy beams stabbed into one of the battleships, drilling at the vessel’s shields. Layer after layer came off, the protective barriers beginning to collapse. Then there was nothing, leaving only naked armor to face the wrath.
The battleship slowly turned, trying to escape the beams. But it was futile — the vessel was simply built to endure the damage, not to outmaneuver it. The black metal fortifying the ship began to glow white, the energy beams striking against its hull. They carved into the structure, digging into its interior decks. Soon the vessel was set ablaze.
Julian could already imagine the human screams. The death toll rising.
He glanced at the other battleships, and found nothing different. The particle beams closing in, the destruction repeating itself.
More people killed off. More debris left to scatter.
Julian glanced down at his ship’s command console, and saw the words “weapon systems activated” lighting up on the controls. It did not matter. Reason and logic made it totally clear: this was not a battle he could win.
He moved to retreat, and send the Crusader away from the collapsing line of battle ships. They needed to regroup, and rejoin the remaining fleet at Haven, as fast as possible.
But even as Julian wanted to escape, it was too late.
Another lone energy beam, constant in its focus, crashed into the side of the Crusader. Julian could feel the whole vessel stagger, as it was nearly knocked off course. “Shields down to 65 percent,” Nalia yelled.
The weapon came lunging again, the next blast even harder. Once it hit, the beam sunk its teeth into the shields.
Julian felt the weapon gnaw away. Ordering the evasive maneuvers, he frantically looked to find a way out of the incoming fire. But again the weapon came. The third time, even worse. The unrelenting beam found its target. It came finally cracking the shields of the ship.
Emergency sirens flared across the bridge. Shields were down. The ship’s hull was now the only thing left protecting the vessel. Julian was speechless as he sat at his controls. He could feel his death approach.
Julian knew he had to fly, but he had no idea how he would dodge the next volley. Even in the blackness of space, the enemy was finding it, striking away at the vessel with weapons that came without mercy.
“Endervar vessel incoming, Omni class!” Nalia shouted.
The fear was taking over, his breaths growing strained. He didn’t want to look. But Julian knew he had to. It arrived to him on the view screen, an old nightmare come to life again.
The giant disk emerged. The single enemy vessel seeking the Crusader out.
To Julian, it was a barrier wall steamrolling from behind, so large that not even humanity’s largest ships could contend with its sheer mass.
This was no mere spacecraft, but a force of nature, one that moved effortlessly across the area. In a bright white light the enemy vessel shined, the aura summoning more weaponry to the fore. With such power, the ship could send charged particles warping into beams of destruction. And now it was doing so again.
Move, Julian ordered his ship. Move!
The Crusader descended, striving to make the dive. But even as the distance widened, the enemy craft had locked on.
The maelstrom of power fired off, sending a new wave of ammunition bursting from the enemy’s saucer-like body. No matter where the Crusader might go, the particle beams would follow and saturate the desired path out.
If Julian were piloting a small fighter craft, then maybe they would have a chance. However, the Crusader was too large, too slow, and impotent to outmaneuver the barrage of enemy fire.
There was no time. No time to plot a jump back into hyperspace, or do much else. There would be no escape, for at least one beam would hit the ship. Outmatched and outgunned, Julian felt for certain that he was dead. After all, he had seen this happen so many times before. Entire fleets extinguished. Old friends swept away.
He knew it would be painless. In less than a second, Julian would be snuffed out. He was but one individual in the way of almost god-like forces that could brush aside all resistance. What was there to say or think when one knew that his time was finished?
It had only lasted a short moment. But in the midst of it all, Julian looked to his side and saw Nalia.
She stared back at him, silent, perhaps feeling the same, and saying nothing. There was little they could communicate, not within the few seconds they had left. All he could think was to reassure her somehow, or at least try to. It was his own form of apology, even as he needn’t be sorry.
Indeed, Julian was a burned out old pilot, and in truth, he didn’t care about himself. But as for her. This woman — a stranger. She must live, he thought. Nalia, he said in his mind.
He saw her face, a tragic smile starting to appear across her lips. She was beautiful, he realized. He must save her.
So Julian acted.
“Get to the escape pod now!” he shouted.
The words left his voice as the final beam collided with the Crusader. The blast tore the vessel apart. Power was lost, sending the ship into darkness. A crash was heard across the bridge, followed by an explosion.
Then there was a scream. The blood hitting the floor.
In a blink of the eye, the end came swiftly.
Chapter 5
She stood over the body. Its mind was still unconscious; she could feel it.
He’s having a dream, she thought, a smirk on the ridge of her pink lips.
As she looked over him, he lay on the medical bed, his back against the cool silver surface. A clear plastic-like mask hugged his face, pumping him with purified oxygen.
The woman pulled it off.
It was not simply a thought, but a thought directed into his mind.
A few moments later, he came to, but still fatigued.
Julian opened his sleepy eyes and gave
out a groan.
“Where am I?”
The room, presumably some sort of medical facility, illuminated with a light reflecting off its cyan walls. It smelled clean, with an open air unlike the synthesized version on a starship. Julian felt his chest. No pain as he breathed. No tightening of the lungs.
Someone was speaking to him. It was a soothing, unflinching voice, one from a woman. He could feel the calm, and care in its softness. But it wasn’t at all audible or coming from any certain direction.
“Nalia,” he said, blinking. “Nalia, is that you?”
On him was a shadow. The woman projecting a silhouette. He looked to his left and saw her, finding the color of gold. The dark veil still there, but along with the yellow hair.
Clearing his sight, Julian realized that the blonde woman was dressed in a jacket of black. She seemed tall, perhaps taller than him. But standing out was her face and the strange features — the eyes possessing a neon glint, the gold extending to her brow and cheeks.
She smiled down at him, the dimple appearing next to her lips. Again, the strange voice came, trying to calm him. It carried with it no sounds, only a presence that sat in his mind. He had felt this before, and he did not like it. Julian knew what she was.
“Shit,” he said. “You’re a New Terran, aren’t you?”
The woman tilted her head, surprised by the response.
“I’ve just never been a fan of telepathy.”
She pressed a control panel behind her. Julian’s body began to rise, the medical bed now folding into a chair.
Clothed in a black suit, the woman seemed especially fit and toned. Her skin was a deep bronze, but on her naked hands and face, Julian could see the techno-organic implants. Like golden tattoos, they veined across her body, from her cheeks down to her neck.
