Orchestra of Shadows

by Charles Nall

  Skyrift started slowly turning the globe with her hand, her eyes still closed. “The spirit of the Earth, Terra, was released during the Cataclysm. She is with us. She will return.”

  “You know me, I am spiritual, but I cannot believe that our home planet was some sort of god,” Cinderflake said. “But I respect your beliefs.”

  “The darkness destroyed the Earth. I imagine it was hoping to kill our Mother. The rocky shell was destroyed, but the spirit of the Earth, Terra, lives on. She is still with us as we go among the stars. One day she will find a new perfect body to inhabit. We will live on our Mother yet again. She still sustains us. She loves us.”

  “She doesn't sustain you... I'm sorry–that was uncalled for. Ember, I thought it was under control but with closer inspection, I discovered that your cancer is still spreading.”

  Skyrift looked over to Cinderflake next to her. “She does sustain me. I should have died long ago, Ash. She keeps me alive. But if I do die, there is a plan. Terra has a plan. I will go meet her in the ether.”

  “I don't want you to die. We need to begin more rigorous treatments.”

  Skyrift released her hand from the globe. She picked up the wig. “I will let Terra decide. Your treatments are worse than the disease.”

  “I know. I do have another idea.”

  “Oh?”

  “It's...” Cinderflake stood up and started pacing around the still-sitting Skyrift. “It's not something you may enjoy.”

  The lieutenant commander placed her wig on her head. “I do not enjoy the cancer, so I'm willing to listen to your idea.”

  Cinderflake sighed. “Go to the Blood Dynasty. We're peaceful with them now. Become a vampire.”

  “You are joking.”

  “I am not. Vampires have extremely strong immune systems. It is possible the vampirism would kill your cancer. I'm sure the Dynasty could use someone with your tenacity and skills.”

  Skyrift laughed and stood up. “Ash, it could kill me. You never know what the disease would do. Would I become a vampire? Or would it just ravage and kill me?”

  “You are already getting ravaged by cancer.”

  “I will not become one of... them.”

  “I understand. It could save your life, though. You have a high chance of dying either way. Becoming a vampire is the best chance of living. I don't think we can stop the cancer on this side of the border. Vampirism might be your cure.”

  “Or my death.”

  “You may die anyways.”

  “Terra will decide. I will not go to the Blood Dynasty. I know you think it may be for the best, but I will not abandon my post on Freedom. I feel like it would be a betrayal. I am Galactic Union. Cancer will not change that.”

  Cinderflake nodded. “I understand. We will begin harsher treatments. It's possible you will not be able to attend to your normal duties. As your doctor, I just want to give you all of your options.”

  Skyrift turned and then walked over to Cinderflake and hugged her. “I know. Thank you. Terra bless you.”

  “And you as well. Are you prepared for the festivities later today?”

  Skyrift released the hug. “I have a bad feeling about the launch.”

  “Terra will protect Exodus, right?”

  “I hope,” Skyrift said.

  “And if she doesn't?” Cinderflake asked.

  “Terra has a plan.”

  February 8, 0270 AC - 12:55

  The Launching of Exodus

  “Exodus will launch in thirty-five minutes,” reported Captain Devereaux to Admiral Akeldamas, “the last shuttle just arrived. Everything is ready.”

  Admiral Akeldamas and Captain Devereaux were standing with each other in the middle of the bridge of Freedom. The crew were reading consoles, communicating over their light-weight headsets, and tapping their screens. The viewscreen showed Exodus preparing for its voyage.

  Akeldamas pat Devereaux's back. “This ship is in quite good working order. You have really whipped these men and women into shape. They will need to be ready in case there is a war.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  A crew member called out, “Sirs, final headcount totals put the population of Exodus, including the command staff, at forty-four hundred people.”

  “There was more before,” Akeldamas said. “Did we have some cancellations at the last minute?”

  “Yes, sir, apparently some people had cold feet about Andromeda. We did lose quite a bit of people from the estimates. Shall we abort the launch?”

  “No, it's fine. Tell them to go ahead with the launch. That's plenty to start a new civilization on another world. We're not going to cancel it now after all of our preparations. Tell them to begin the launching process. Get people to their cryogenic chambers and prepare the hyper-drive,” Akeldamas said.

  Captain John Devereaux called out to his crew, “We cannot let anything happen. Assume Con-2. Be prepared for anything.”

  Lieutenant Riko Maeda was in her quarters onboard Iriguchi. A panel behind her was displaying a live report from Artemis. The walls of her quarters were covered with paintings of flowers. She was a bit of an artist, but hadn’t actually painted anything in a while.

  She hastily typed on computer at her desk. The display in front of her showed a picture of the Kitsune she flew in with technical data about the fighter's sensors.

  She was barely paying attention to the live report. “We're less than thirty minutes until the launch,” a reporter said. “The next step in mankind's journey through the cosmos. The entire galaxy's eyes are on this event and we will continue to bring you up to date coverage of the launch through our hyperNEP relays.”

  Riko mused to herself, “Hmm. I swear I saw something on the sensors. What was it that the captain mentioned? Something about gravitons? Hmm. Maybe I can filter everything out and just search for any major graviton displacements. Let's see. Ugh, I can't find anything too out of the ordinary. It has to be somewhere, I'm just not looking at the right place. This is just way too much data to sift through. What time did that fluctuation happen? From which galactic direction? Coreward? Was it coreward? I don't remember. This is hopeless.”

  The report continued, “The command staff on Exodus will also go into stasis in a year when automated systems take over. The command staff will be led by Jerry Turner. A questionable choice, but a well-known, well-liked man with a lot of real world experience.”

  “That they're gonna throw to the wolves pretty soon, assuming Jacob is right. It makes me sick,” Trevor said in the hangar at Turner's Salvage.

  Trevor and Jacob were listening to the report over a computer lying on the table. Rapture loomed behind them. The roof access doors were open. Jacob stared up into the sky.

  “Where's Exodus?” Jacob asked.

  Trevor pointed into the air. “Eh, somewhere over there. Can't really see it during daytime. If it explodes though...”

  “I hope it doesn't.”

  “It's going to be alright, man. She made her choice.”

  “I really wanted to go with her. I just couldn't.”

  “You went with a gut call. That's nothing to be worried about. And quite frankly, you used your brain too. This whole thing smells,” Trevor said.

  “But I should have followed my heart.” Jacob sighed.

  “Oh, come on, man. Either way you'll never see Sharon again. There's other comets in the galaxy,” assured Trevor.

  Jacob sadly stared into the blue sky. He listened to the report streaming on the computer.

  “We understand that the USS Freedom, Apollo, Callisto, and several support craft are all preparing for any assault. The Artemis Defense Grid is active and ready. Exodus is safe and the launch should go without a hitch.”

  Captain Devereaux glanced at Akeldamas with a sullen look. “Without a hitch, sir.”

  The news report was playing through the communications link aboard Freedom. The entire crew was listening to the report, while performing any duties they needed to do.

  Ak
eldamas took a deep breath. “Without a hitch. Send a command to the Artemis Defense Grid, make sure there is absolutely no traffic through any of Diana's jumpgates.”

  The reporter continued, “We have received word that final preparations are under way. Everyone is being led to cryogenic chambers. They'll take a deep sleep and be awakened when they reach Andromeda. Exodus will jump to hyperspace, go to the edge of our galaxy, and then launch itself toward Andromeda in standard space.”

  Riko Maeda slammed her fist into the console. “What am I missing?! Huh, Exodus is flying through standard space to Andromeda? Oh, it's because of the lack of hyperspace flux outside of galaxies. You kind of need that soup of particles to be able to fly through hyperspace. The flight through the soup is what we detect on sensors! How could the stealth hyper-drive get around that? Unless... it moves the soup with it. Like a mobile gravity storm? It would just look like a part of the soup with a gravitational storm ripping through it. They hide in plain sight. How would I detect a storm being generated? Wait, a gravity storm impacting a gravity well of a planet or sun causes a spike of gravitons...”

  The news report droned on, “We now go to a statement from Drake Mabus which was provided for us earlier today.”

  Regent Drake Mabus spoke, “I wish the Galactic Union would have honored our request to send our own people to Andromeda with Exodus. I understand they didn't want to for many reasons, and I can respect that. Traveling across the universe has been a dream of mankind for a very long time. Technology has blessed us. We have made it this far, but we cannot colonize other galaxies without the bravery of these colonists. Our galaxy was a small step for man, another galaxy is a giant leap for mankind.”

  “Oh come on, he's just butchering Armstrong's quote from Earth’s moon,” Trevor groaned.

  “You don't like Mabus, do you?” Jacob asked.

  “I get very bad vibes, man, very bad,” Trevor said.

  Arnold walked over to the table. “Hey guys. She's ready. Rapture is ready to fly. I wish Sharon could see her.”

  A voice called out behind the men, “I will.”

  “Sharon?” Jacob ran over to Sharon and hugged her. “Sharon! What are you doing here?!”

  She slowly backed away from Jacob. “I'm not in a mood for hugging yet, Jacob. Sorry.”

  Trevor had a huge grin on his face. “Thank god. Let's get the gang out of here. If something really goes down we can't be left on this moon.”

  Arnold smiled. “What made you come back?”

  “I talked to Vis. I know. I'm crazy. She didn't say much. She just asked if I loved my dad. And if I did, to do what he said. He told me to stay. So I will stay here with you guys. If something happens to my father though, I will dedicate my life to stopping whoever did this to him.”

  “I'm glad to see you,” Arnold said. “So glad. Let me do some final preparations for launch. I don't want to have her reactor blow out again when we really need to go. It shouldn't be long. You guys should get anything you want to bring.”

  “What's on the news?” asked Sharon, “Wait, is that dad?”

  “Oh no, they've linked with Exodus. If something bad happens the entire galaxy will hear their final moments. This will be horrifying,” Trevor said.

  The sounds of ship preparation were being transmitted over the news report.

  “The crew has been successfully led to their chambers. Chamber systems nominal.”

  Captain Jerry Turner replied to the last call, “Good. Begin the stasis process. Engineering, how's the reactor cores? We had some reports of some magnetic anomalies from the inspection team.”

  “Captain, all reactors are magnetizing fine. The energy channel manifolds are stable. We're good to go here.”

  “Launch in T-minus five minutes.”

  “This is it, Captain,” Akeldamas said. “The start of a new journey of mankind.”

  Devereaux grimaced. “Let's pray that it's a success.”

  “It will be a smashing success.”

  “We'll go back to the live coverage of the communications inside Exodus as we get closer to the launch in less than five minutes. We have a bit of time, while we wait, here's what President Eridanys had to say about this event in human history.”

  Riko stared at her display. “Alright. Yes, that's it. If the stealth hyper-drive gets near an object with a gravity well, some gravitons are displaced. It's very particular and hard to pick up. But if I just check for all graviton displacement around gravity wells... I have a detector for the stealth hyper-drive.”

  The report continued for a few minutes. Riko was busy calibrating her new system for detecting the stealth hyper-drive wake. Devereaux and Akeldamas braced for the inevitable. Arnold finished checking up on Rapture.

  “You know,” Akeldamas said in a quiet voice so no one would overhear him. “I have an acquaintance named Tanari Oshiro. A captain of the Confederation. A similar thing that happened to Captain Turner and you happened to him. He was a friend of mine a long, long time ago. It's a long story. Do not think I do not have any compassion. The price is high. The best men must die for the rest of us to live.”

  Devereaux nervously replied, “Maybe we shouldn't live.”

  A crew member called out, “T-minus one minute!”

  Arnold called out to the group, “Alright, Rapture is all ready. Let's go. Run! Let's get out of here.”

  The group quickly made their way to the bridge of Rapture.

  “So where exactly are we going?” asked Sharon to Jacob.

  “A place Teresa told me about,” answered Jacob.

  Sharon groaned, “Teresa. Obviously.”

  Trevor looked around the bridge, “Where should we sit? Anywhere in particular?”

  Sharon motioned to the seats. “Anywhere you would like.”

  They sat down in their chosen seats.

  Arnold laughed. “Looks like no one is prepared to sit in the captain's seat.”

  “Do you think they'd let me do a quick link to Exodus? So I could say my final goodbye to Jerry?” Sharon asked.

  “We can't risk them having more reasons to go after us. He loves you, Sharon,” Jacob said.

  “I know. I, I just really don't know what's going on.”

  Arnold called out, “Alright, let's get this girl launched. Congratulations, Sharon.”

  “I wish the circumstances were quite different.”

  Trevor nodded. “We all do.”

  Arnold flipped some switches. “Reactor is stable. Alright, activating main ion engines. Thrusters firing. We're up, we're up. Retracting the undercarriage. All systems go. Let's punch it.”

  Rapture rose from the hangar. The landing apparatus folded into the ship. The ship maneuvered to an angled position then launched into the sky with a burst of speed.

  Sharon finally seemed to be happy. “She's flying! Yes!”

  Arnold called out to the crew of Rapture, “Okay, I don't need much help flying this ship, but I do need some assistance. Trevor, I know you know how to work communications, so bring that up on your console, please. Sharon, you are going to be watching the engine status, and I'll cover piloting this ship.”

  “What do I do?” Jacob asked.

  “Just don't touch anything.” Arnold laughed. “And fasten your seat belts! This is going to get rough!”

  Rapture broke the atmosphere of Artemis. The crew looked out the holographic viewscreen onto the moon they had just left below them. The galaxy before them beckoned.

  Two fighters approached the corvette. “ADG Peregrine-8 requesting link status with unknown craft exiting atmosphere of Artemis. Please respond. During the launch no traffic can be in this area.”

  “What do you want me to tell him?” Trevor asked.

  “Don't tell them anything.”

  “Jacob, those fighters are part of the Artemis Defense Grid, they won't hesitate in blowing us out of the sky!”

  “That's true, that's why we’re leaving,” Arnold said. “Request access from the nearest jumpgate. And
could you turn the news report on Exodus back on. It will be launching any second. Let's hope they survive.”

  Trevor turned the news report on. “I don't want to listen but maybe something important will be said.” The video streamed on every spare panel in Rapture.

  The crew ignored the fighters on their tail.

  “This is Captain Jerry Turner. Before we launch, I just want to say I checked the logs earlier and noticed my adopted daughter—No, no, my daughter–will not be coming along with me to Andromeda. I'm fine with that honestly. I hope she knows I love her. I hope she knows I would never do anything to hurt her or anyone else. I do hope this exodus ends up doing some good in the long run for the human race. I love you, Sharon Rose.”

  A tear streamed down Sharon's face. “I love you, too.”

  “I... can't–ugh. Uh, Lieutenant. Lieutenant, begin jump preparations. Get the drive spinning. Plot a course.”

  “Launch in T-minus fifteen seconds. Hyper-drive stable, ready. Preparing conduit path. Uploading plotted course to the edge of the Milky Way.”

  “Open it up.”

  “Space warping. Firing hyper-beam. Saturation levels nominal.”

  Riko paused typing on her console. She checked some values on her screen then turned to the video on the panel behind her.

  “Arnold, I'm not getting a response from the jumpgate, I don't think they're accepting traffic,” Trevor said.

  “Oh, I suppose that makes sense. Wait, look, there she is. There's Exodus and her escort ships. Right off our starboard bow,” Arnold said. “Let's zoom in on the overlay, here.”

  Jacob looked over to Sharon. Sharon locked her eyes onto Exodus, thousands of kilometers away.

  Akeldamas nodded his head. “Godspeed.”

  Devereaux closed his eyes.

  “Sir? Sir. We're detecting–uh, the hyper-beam saturation, it's... that's odd.”

  Jerry Turner commanded, “Launch to Hyperspace.”

  “Captain, we may need to abort. Captain?”

  “Do not abort the beam, open the portal.”

  “Sir—”

  “Launch.”