Origin: Eternity's End

by Uneeb Qureshi

  “But we’ve never heard of this city, or Sheppard. Have we?”

  “You have, but you may not have guessed that the names and places have changed,” Lib stood up and walked up to his personal study with Monica in suit, “Not many keep physical literature any more, it reminds us how old we really are.” He pulled out a book, it was written in ancient Latin. The sources of the script were taken from pictures that were displayed on the next page, it was then translated to the immortal tongue. “I doubt you speak the modern immortal script just yet so I will translate these for you.”

  “Then the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”

  He turned a few pages and quoted another, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw them, and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

  Monica knew the source of that quote, “Genesis…”

  He nodded, he picked up another book written in what looked like Latin and read it, “One Roman, Ammianus Marcellinus, wrote of the mortal progenies of those that dwelled in the ancient city of Atlantis fleeing to Western Europe. In his writing written in his local mortal dialect Res Gestae he writes of beings called druids partially indigenous and partially migrated from islands and lands beyond the Rhine."

  “Atlantis...” She pieced it together. Mortal myths alluded to immortal kind!

  “You’ve heard of the city then? My, my. You are well versed.” He chuckled, “No wonder Sheppard chose you to carry out his mission.”

  “What mission?”

  “Ah, he said he would brief you on it on the way to Earth but it seemed he excused you from more travels.”

  Monica felt empty for a moment, things were piecing together quickly. She wished Mekias were here to see it…

  I miss you Mekias…

  “He mentioned, however, that he wanted you to be appointed a Legion emissary to the Historian’s Guild. A position that would allow you the resources to recover certain relics from a distant planet. A planet that Sheppard had ordained forbidden. What you may find there I cannot say… but Monica,” He said casually with a smile, “It would benefit more people than you know if you would share your findings with the Federation.”

  She glared at him for a moment, “You want me to spy for you?”

  “Come Monica, we can learn much from one another. Sheppard has become a religious zealot, for a mortal religion nonetheless. He cannot be trusted to lead the Legions much less recover relics of unknown value from a derelict planet.” He handed her another half-full glass, “You are closer to him now than anyone has in some time.”

  She refused, “He is your friend, why would you not ask him for such information personally?”

  “He’s deluded, he has begun to place his faith in some God that has yet to touch us, and he thinks that our salvation is in mortal-kind… But now that you are one of us, surely you would understand that we immortals will prevail in the end. You seem bright, free of such inane quandaries as religion and destiny.”

  “No Magistrate, I believe that we as human beings will prevail in the end. Don’t you understand what Sheppard fought for his whole life? You told me this grand story about how you were there when he wanted to save mortals from your own peoples’ selfless delusions, and now you think that your Federation is greater than all others?”

  “It is selfish I admit, but rational. We have far surpassed your primitive democracies.” His tone grew stingy, “Our republics have existed for longer than the longest mortal empires. Your once former people.”

  “Our people.” She began, “And you should realize that we as human beings if we are ever going to survive the future must to band together for the common good.”

  He grunted, “Like your foolish Commander you have become deluded as well. Very well, I will not try to force our beliefs upon you, that is for you to decide…and one day you will see the truth as I have…”

  He paused to call in his servants in the immortal tongue before speaking English again to Monica, “Go now, I will keep you no longer if you do not wish it. But I would keep your eyes on the news should you wish to see your Commander’s foolishly under-staffed effort to save the Earth.”

  Chapter 16

  Into the Darkness…

  Aboard the Eternity,

  Between the Earth and Moon

  Sheppard barked orders to his men. It was as if he had a strength renewed in him that no one else could muster. Fate was calling, beckoning him to return home.

  “Soul.” He called to his Artificially Intelligent Navigational Computer. A wispy ball of matter appeared on the screen far behind him. “E.T.A. on the Eri fleets? And have my personal guard arrived yet?”

  The AI’s voice was that of a calm, collected young man with a resonant tone. It was a smart AI, programmed by Sheppard himself to accompany him on long journeys.

  “Uh, let me check.” The AI recovered all the data requested and read it back to him, “The enemy fleets will be arriving within three hours, though that was based on aged reports from the inner sectors. So I will recalculate our E.T.A. reliability to within one to six hours from now.” The AI continued, “And of your men, there is one Ghost team, of the battalion Apollyon, that can be reached on such short notice. They constitute less than ten individuals, would you like me to summon them?”

  “Send them the order, and relay them these coordinates. And while you’re at it send probes to the border worlds immediately calling any other Ghost units back to the Earth. I will need them if I am going to lead the ground forces. Otherwise we will maintain orbital supremacy.”

  “Sir, with all due respect I really think our chances of leading both a ground and orbital war with just one fully equipped battle ship is very short-lived. My calculations show that we will not lose this battle, however we must anticipate heavy casualties.”

  They had enough soldiers to lead both fronts, Sheppard knew that, but his AI was right. Splitting the legions would only lengthen the course of the battle. If he were to deploy all his men to aerial and inter-stellar combat they would quickly invade and commandeer all of their capital ships before they would even pass the moon. But he knew the real war would be on the Earth.

  He wrote a list of zones to be swept by all of his available Legions. “Soul, forward this to all Commanders. Jo and all of her available lieutenants will cover any and all confrontations in the African content and South-American. Solb while he’s still here will command the orbital war alongside Arnael. Daria will center on the Middle-Eastern and Asian countries with all of her available assets on ground, if my Legions or Jo’s have spare capacity we will supply other zones. We want total ground coverage.”

  “With only a million soldiers?” Soul asked.

  “A million of the most well trained soldiers in the known galaxy.”

  Sheppard sat on a bench listening to the animals sing through the night. The ship’s biodome was the pinnacle of bioengineering technology in space. It was a marvel that would soon be available in every space colony, a piece of Earth away from home. The ship’s artificial lightning began to dim as the sphere’s light filter mimicked nightfall.

  The animals were unusually frightened the past few days. They instinctively flew across the enormous biosphere toward Earth, as if they knew what was coming the other way.

  “You asked us to meet you here Shep?” Jo walked up to him with Daria in suit.

  He nodded and patted the bench beside him. They sat on opposite sides of him.

  “I asked you two to come because I have told both Solb and Arnael this and sworn them to secrecy. And of course I could not leave you two out of it forever.
” He handed them a digital tablet with several figures pre-loaded on the screen. Daria stood and sat on Jo’s side so they could both investigate the device.

  They both recognized the face of the person on the tablet. “The mortal girl you brought with the man earlier?” He nodded and flipped the digital pages of the report for them to the page he wanted to show them. It was a side-by-side comparison of genetic material of Monica and another individual.

  “She has a direct mtDNA match to someone related to me.”

  “Oh, you’ve had kids while you were away Shep?” Jo elbowed Daria’s side, this was serious.

  “Who is the other-” shock registered on both of their faces.

  “Impossible.” They said in unison.

  “The reason why she survived the immortalization procedure is because she has a partial mutation on her chromosomal DNA. And she inherited it of all people…” he paused and shook his head as if surprised, “From my daughter.”

  “So…” Daria asked. “She’s your…grand-daughter? Great grand-daughter?”

  Sheppard shrugged, “I’m not even sure if the results were true.”

  “Sheppard,” Jo said sternly, “The doctors would not have told you this had they not checked it thousands of times over already.”

  “But there’s always that doubt, Jo…”

  “So you think your daughter is dead then? Because one of her children shows up?”

  “No, not dead. I know she lives.”

  “So what’s wrong with you, you should be happy!”

  “Because Jo, I…” he choked on the words yet again, “It’s not her time to know.”

  “What?” They both said. “What is wrong with you Sheppard?”

  Daria continued. “This is the greatest news you’ve had since you’ve decided to disappear every twenty years back to Earth. And now you tell us that you want to hide it from her?”

  “Or what!” Sheppard yelled, “If I told her I was her matrilineal father then she would shun me, the child hates me already!” He told them of her outbursts against him, “She would run away from me again like my daughter to God knows where. At least this way I can keep her close to me. Under my watch until I know she is ready…”

  Jo and Daria looked at each other and agreed hesitantly. The times did not call for such drastic measures. Jo asked, “Then why did you ask us to come alone here if you already told Arnael and Solb.”

  He bit his lips as he said the next words. “I need you to watch over her, teach her everything like I taught you two. She trusts you two… I will watch from the shadows, waiting until I know she is ready.”

  They both stood up, near ready to cry, and saluted Sheppard with utmost respect. It was as if he gave them an order from his death-bed they vowed on their honor to uphold her tutelage as he did theirs.

  “It’s my fault you know…I was never great with kids…I was never a good one myself.” He said. “That’s why I want you two to help her on her tasks ahead.” He handed them a small data slip the size of a credit card. “When this battle is over you two must meet her and give her this, only she must see it. And when all is said and done, I want you two to tell her to tell my story.”

  “Your story?”

  They looked at one another confused. “Tell her, to tell my true story. The one they never choose to put in the history books.” They realized what he was talking about. Of all the things immortals knew about their greatest hero, his sins overshadowed his good. He was a man seeking redemption. “I think after such a daunting task, she will be ready.”

  “And what will you do in the meanwhile?” Daria asked.

  “What I always do, I’m a soldier. I will fight until blood stops flowing through my veins.”

  Those present that day knew this was the war to end all wars. The wisest and most hardened individuals from the galaxy had gathered for the approaching storm. And like the Spartan armies at Thermopylae, their legacy would be secured by the hearts and minds of generations to come.

  With every single orifice and joint of his body protected by high-impact polymer plates, Sheppard would be a force to reckon with. On his helmet’s heads-up display the AI projected itself wirelessly.

  “Would you like me to upload a backup copy of myself onto your suit’s memory module?” Soul asked.

  Sheppard nodded, “I would be honored.” The data rushed into his suit, causing a total system restart. He felt quicker now, more lithe and reactive than before.

  “I’ve taken the liberty of enhancing a few functions on your armor model. It may not be state of the art but with your physiology the tweaks should help.”

  With the combination of adrenaline, ampakines and a number of electro-magnetically plated resistors amplifying his movements he was ready for anything.

  “Commander I’ve received reports that a few Ghosts have arrived aboard this station just moments ago.” Soul continued, “Some are undocking as we speak.”

  After the sleek stealth ship docked with the Eternity’s inner hull, the hatch hissed open. Cold icy vapors seethed out of the cracks and collected on the floor like fog. The inside of the vessel was flash-frozen to keep both the payloads, and its operators, safe during the long journey. They had travelled at nearly sub-light speeds to reach the battle-front in time for the invasion. As the warriors inside moved their limbs, their exoskeletons’ exhaust vents slid open, venting mechanical and body heat.

  They stood tall, shaking off the icy formations on their armor joints. The payloads were beginning to thaw. They dashed across the ship to deliver the cargo, eventually handing them to the core technicians.

  After securing the payload they removed their helmets. They breathed in the warm air slowly allowing their lungs to adjust to ambient humidity. Many of the faces were familiar. Krontos had returned, ready to take on anything. He jumped on the tips of his toes to wake his calves from the icy trip.

  Beside him were the two medical officers that were with Sheppard at Denosc Dene, Lispara and Mairwyn. They rubbed the dry skin on their faces hoping to rush blood back in. Their skin flushed a rosy color.

  The other three present were new, the most decorated among them removed his helmet with his left hand and brushed his helmet hair with his other hand. He trailed his fingers toward the back of his head. A few grunts told others he was very irritated, as if everything was going wrong that day.

  “It’s been a while since we’ve been on the same op, Prox.” Lispara began.

  “Yes it has.” He looked around for another but did not see what he was looking for. “Az, you ready?”

  The bulky man beside him removed his helmet revealing a messy mop of hair that fell out of his helmet. “What am I tanking this time Prox? Another assault rifle clip to my chest?”

  “Yeah nukka!” Krontos replied.

  “Oh my God, Krontos shut up. I can’t believe they called us all together for this. I’m going to shoot myself.”

  “Where’s the love Prox…”

  They each received pages from their private communications channel, it was from their Commander.

  Report to Forward Deck 2, post-haste.

  “Where in the hell is Violet?” Prox said.

  “Proxy!” A woman yelled from the distance. She began to nag at him like she usually did.

  She jumped into his arms and he grabbed her, spinning her around to a halt just behind him. “Agh, these trips half-way across the galaxy are killing me. I’m off real soon… for a few years... We’ll go on vacation as soon as this is over, you and me okay?”

  “Uh oh,” Mairwyn replied, “Prox’s wifey hasn’t seen much of her man.”

  “Shush,” Prox replied, “besides, we need to report to the Commander. Come on.”

  Sheppard finished checking his greaves. He would savor the preparation for this war. The AI began to pump the slender pistons located at his armor joints full force, aiding his body in lifting objects nearly hundreds of times his weight. A several hundred ton armored personnel carrier before him was nearly ef
fortless to push even against the force of its brakes.

  “Commander on deck,” the five soldiers who had arrived just minutes before stood resolute before Sheppard.

  “Only five of you?”

  “Commander Ali has requested most of our support on the front lines. We have led a very successful campaign there. And unfortunately over ninety-percent of our unit is still stationed there.” Prox said.

  “Well I know there’s at least forty more of you aboard this vessel. I would have as many of you as I could by my side for this. I am glad you all could make it.” He turned to his colleagues and introduced his soldiers. “Jo, Daria, Arnael, Solb. Meet my personal guard, the Ghosts. Orphan children I found in my travels, trained every day since enlistment. They are the best of the best, and they will be here with us to lead the ground war…should it resort to that.”

  All the Commanders nodded, they had heard rumors of such ‘Ghosts’. They had built a reputation of such secrecy and legend that it was hard for many to believe they existed.

  Through the endless expanse of the cosmos they were found. In every single art of war and deceit they were trained and against the most innumerable foes they had fought. They were the nameless, faceless orphans of mankind. By their Legion law the first encounter belonged to them, and the last battle was all that they would see.

  But for all that was said and done, they were known by little than pet names they had given one another. “So what should we call each of you,” Daria began.

  “They call themselves Apollyon.” Sheppard smirked.

  “Grim.” She said.

  Sheppard could not agree more, “This is Prox, the unit’s second-in-command.” Prox saluted and nodded to everyone present. Rumors began to surface about his rather unorthodox field tactics.