The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3)

by Katherine Bogle

  Bodies, forever frozen in their shock, floated through space, their limbs twisted and gnarled from what she had to assume were explosions.

  Silence fell over the control room as every eye in the room fell on the horror outside the Hydrac. Metal blackened by explosions, drifted calmly through the void, pulling her gaze to the remains of a Dominion’s battle cruiser.

  Wherever she looked there were ghosts of ships and more dead bodies than she could count.

  Her breath lodged in her throat and her knees shook. She held onto the railing to keep herself standing. Shock coursed through her, numbing her from the inside out. This is what had happened when they had left.

  The rest of the Dominion was torn to pieces. Human ships had been maimed, and their occupants killed. She could see their bodies floating in the cockpits of some ships that hadn’t been totally ripped apart. All it took was one breach in the cabin, and they’d have suffocated.

  “By Zahkx,” Captain Shard whispered.

  Selene’s gaze wandered through the void. Her heartbeat sped up and her palms were slicked with sweat. She looked around desperately for signs of life—for anyone that might have survived the massacre.

  As they moved through the minefield, Earth came fully into view. The surface of the planet was even worse up close: like fire and brimstone. Nothing could have survived that.

  Selene clenched the railing hard, her whole body trembling. No, someone had to be alive. There were bunkers and underground stations throughout the planet. Someone could have lived.

  “Can you scan the planet and surrounding area for survivors?” Selene choked out. She could hardly get the words past the sob that her throat wanted to unleash.

  The woman in the navigation cubby turned around slowly. “Nothing could have survived this.”

  Selene’s fingers dug into the metal, but before she could get out a reply, Captain Shard interrupted her. “Do it,” he said. “Scan Earth, and the surrounding area.”

  She gave him a grateful look, but the captain only shook his head and returned his brooding gaze to the world outside the ship.

  “Yes, Captain,” the woman said. She turned back around and began typing furiously on her keyboard.

  When she finally slowed, a low beeping rang through the control room, sending her heart racing once again.

  The woman sat silently as information flew across her screen. All Selene could do was stand there, hoping and praying that there were people alive on Earth.

  No one said a word for so long that she was forced to look around at the crew. Some held their hands over their mouths, while others wiped tears from the corners of their eyes, and some darted a glance at her every few seconds.

  “Lieutenant?” Captain Shard prompted.

  The woman cleared her throat as the beeping slowed. “Signs of life on Earth: zero.” Her voice broke. “Signs of life in the atmosphere: zero.” Selene fought back tears as she awaited the final result she knew was coming. “Signs of life in the surrounding system… zero.”

  Selene squeezed her eyes shut. That was it then. Earth, and the human race were gone for good.

  Everything went numb. Her body, and her mind just shut down. Ringing filled her ears and cut off the rest of the world.

  Her only home was gone. She’d never fly out over the sand, or slip through the streets of New Manhattan. She’d never visit Bakura, or Aida’s Zoo ever again. This was it. In just a day’s time it had all been ripped away.

  “Selene, maybe you should sit down,” Captain Shard said softly.

  She barely felt his hand on her elbow, or the chair beneath her when she collapsed into it. She bent over, her elbows on her knees, and her fingers pushing through her hair until she clutched her head.

  Selene had lost so much in the last few months: her best friend, her home, her ship, and her comrades. Ever since the day she hurt her head in the cockpit of their cruiser, things had changed. Back then, it seemed so insignificant—just a stupid, careless injury. But that injury had returned her memories and set her on a quest to find out who she really was.

  She never thought that quest would end with Earth dead. Even if the world ending wasn’t exactly her fault, it just felt like another bit of bad luck in a long string of shit. What were they supposed to do now? Where were they supposed to go? She didn’t know shit about space except that it was all fucked. They had laws no one listened to. They didn’t protect her or her people from getting fucked over for the last few hundred years. What were the point of laws if they weren’t enforced?

  She squeezed her head, pulling on her hair. The tiny pinpricks of pain felt like nothing among the void that had opened up inside of her. She wanted to fall into it, where everything was numb and nothing mattered. There was too much to figure out—too much to decide. Every decision she made just led to more and more shit. She couldn’t do it anymore. She couldn’t get anyone else killed.

  The door to the control room whooshed open and she covered her ears with her palms. She just wanted everything to stop. It was all too much.

  “Selene?” Rikkard kneeled on the floor in front of her. Though she didn’t look up, she knew it was him. She would know his voice anywhere.

  When she didn’t respond, he slipped his hands up her arms and gently clasped her hands. He twined his fingers with hers and pulled her hands down until they rested in her lap.

  “Selene, it’s going to be okay,” Rikkard said.

  A humorless laugh bubbled out of her. Her voice sounded strangled and crazy, even to her. “You were right,” she said.

  Rikkard paused and squeezed her hand, then he released her fingers and cupped her chin. He tilted her head up until she was forced to look at him. “Right about what?”

  “If we hadn’t left when we did, we probably would have died just like the other millions of people left on Earth,” she said.

  His eyebrows furrowed as sadness swelled in the depths of his eyes. “I didn’t want to be right, Selene.”

  Selene shook her head. Tears burned the back of her eyes, pricking painfully in her head. The numbness she’d settled into lifted far too soon, and tears spilled down her cheeks.

  Rikkard leaned up and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her flush against him and crushed her in his embrace.

  She clung to him as she fell apart, every bit of her escaping in trails down her face. Rikkard was the only thing holding her together as she crumbled.

  Her planet was gone. The human race was almost extinct. Was it her fault? Was she the one that caused this when she had the not-so-brilliant idea to use Saegon’s beacon to call for help?

  If they had just told the citizens of Earth what was happening, would they still be alive? Would they have lived and thrived and found a way to beat the Darri in two hundred years when they were supposed to show up?

  Her breath caught on a sob. She buried her face against Rikkard’s shoulder. Her entire body shook as she melted into his embrace. “It’s all my fault,” she whispered between hiccups. “It’s all my fault.”

  Rikkard held her tighter until she couldn’t breathe. “It’s not your fault, Selene. None of this is your fault.”

  Selene couldn’t form the words to respond. She knew deep down that he was right, but it didn’t stop her thoughts from raging out of control.

  What if I hadn’t tried to save the world?

  It took several days for Selene to come out of mourning. She wasn’t sure how long it had actually been, but for a long time she stayed curled up in bed, clinging to Rikkard.

  On the second day, she realized she’d forgiven him. Whatever they’d been fighting about, it didn’t matter anymore. At least they were alive. At least they’d escaped the destruction of their home.

  It wasn’t until the fourth day, or maybe the fifth—she had really lost track—that she realized she hadn’t lost her home, only her planet. Her home wasn’t a pile of rocks, and trees, and oceans. Her home was wherever her friends were. Her home was their cargo ship. Her home was Rikkard.<
br />
  But on the sixth day, or whenever the hell it was, she finally pulled out of Rikkard’s arms and took a much-needed shower. After the hot water was done scalding her skin, she finally pulled on some clothes and sat next to her partner on the bed. She took his hand, entwined their fingers and squeezed.

  He didn’t ask her if she was okay anymore, only stayed close and did what he could. She appreciated that, and the way he silently let her think. It was exactly what she needed when her life had been falling apart, but it was also what she needed to try and move forward.

  Selene closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder. He planted a kiss on the crown of her head, and her lips twitched in a tiny smile.

  One question had burned in her mind since she woke up that morning: what’s next? But how did she answer that when she knew nothing about the universe she was being thrown into? She knew all about Earth, and spaceships, and her guns, but she knew nothing about the aliens out there. She needed to know how their government worked, where she’d fit in all of this, and how they were supposed to form a life now. As her mind worked, more questions followed the first, but everything always circled back to the same thing—what’s next?

  “You think very loudly,” Rikkard said.

  “Was that a joke?” Selene asked. She leaned back a little so she could peek up at him through her lashes.

  His lips twitched. “Maybe.”

  Selene smiled.

  They sat in silence for another long minute before curiosity must have gotten the best of him. “What are you thinking about?”

  “What’s next?” she said.

  Rikkard hummed softly. “That’s a loaded question.”

  “Isn’t it, though?”

  “What can I do?”

  Selene bit her lip. She squeezed his hand hard before softening her grip. “Assemble the troops. I think we need to have a meeting.”

  Rikkard nodded and kissed her hair once again before he stood. “You coming?”

  Selene took his offered hand and pulled herself up off the bed. “Let’s go.”

  Selene assembled with Rikkard and the rest of their crew almost an hour later. On the way, Rikkard filled her in on what the others had been up to in her absence. It seemed most of them had been mourning in their own rooms for most of the time, but they’d started to come out of hiding in the last couple days.

  Rem and Navi were becoming quick friends as they taught each other more and more about their inventions and technologies, while Flik and Sav were mostly playing motherhen with the rest of the crew. Apparently they’d checked on her multiple times, but Rikkard had assured them that she was all right.

  By the time they had reached the cafeteria, the entire crew sat around a few of the tables on the far side of the room, getting a lot of strange looks from the Zahkx crew.

  Selene and Rikkard took a seat side by side between Rem and Darius—the last of the smugglers. She smiled sadly as she realized it. They’d lost Sarah and Kayl throughout their adventures over the last few months, and even when they welcomed the former Alliance members into their fold, they’d lost Lanny.

  She took a deep breath to calm herself and push back the burning behind her eyes. She’d cried enough in the last few days. Now, she had to be strong.

  “Thank you all for coming,” she said.

  Rem and Darius scoffed in unison.

  “You don’t have to thank us,” Rem said.

  Selene’s cheeks heated, but she pushed on. “I know this has been hard on all of us, but I think it’s time.”

  “What’s next?” Darius asked, echoing her thoughts.

  Her lips twisted in a small smile. “That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to figure out.”

  “There’s a whole universe out there,” Rem said, his face lighting up with awe. “I’m so excited to explore it.”

  “I’m just looking forward to finding out what’s been going on for the last three hundred years,” Flik said. “That’s a long time to be out of the loop.”

  “I bet,” Selene said.

  “What about us?” Ivy asked. She shifted uncomfortably and exchanged a worried look with Steven.

  “What do you mean?” Selene’s eyebrows furrowed.

  “You’re not planning on… leaving us behind, are you?” Ivy stared at the table sheepishly.

  Selene’s eyes widened in surprise. “What? Of course not! How could you even think that? You’re one of us now.”

  Ivy looked up, relief plain in her wide green eyes. “Thank you, Selene.”

  Selene scoffed, mimicking Rem and Darius’ earlier reactions. “You don’t need to thank me.”

  Ivy smiled, and her eyes danced with amusement.

  “That being said,” Selene continued. “I think we all need to take some time to think and figure out what we want to do.” She met each of their gazes. “We have options. We could continue on with the Zahkx, visit their planet, and learn more about the universe we live in, or we could go out on our own, take our ship, and explore the galaxy.”

  Rem’s eyes brightened at the second option, but he worried his lip. She understood his doubts. As much fun as it sounded, exploring space wouldn’t be a piece of cake. Only Flik knew much about space travel, and he’d already clearly stated that he wanted to return to Zahkx.

  “Exploring sounds fun,” Sav said slowly. “But dangerous.”

  “Agreed,” Rikkard said. “We can’t jump into exploration without the proper tools.”

  “We don’t even know what the other alien species are like,” Steven added. “There were how many? Eight?”

  “Nine, if you count us,” Rem said.

  “Have you learned much about them?” Selene asked.

  “Oh yeah!” Rem grinned from ear to ear. “For instance, aboard the ship are three species besides us. You have the Zahkx, of course, but then there are the Rifter, those golden ones, and the shapeshifters are the Wyrn.”

  “Real interesting,” Darius deadpanned. “I, for one, want to know more about the booze situation. I only have so much left on our ship.”

  Flik held up a hand. “I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We haven’t even spoken to Captain Shard yet.”

  Selene shrugged. He had a point.

  “Do you think he’d kick us off the ship if we asked to stay all the way to Zahkx?” Rikkard asked in a deep monotone. She hid her smile behind her hand.

  Flik’s eyes widened. “Well, no.”

  “Then we shouldn’t waste his time by asking. We should go to him with a decision,” Rikkard said.

  “He makes a good point,” Sav said.

  Flik sighed. “All right. Well, if we’re voting, I think we should continue to Zahkx. You all have a lot to learn, and I have a lot to catch up on. Before we can do any exploring, the Universal Accord will most likely want to use us as witnesses against the crimes of the Aldar and the Darri.”

  Anger burned through Selene so fast that she had to clamp her teeth shut on a gasp. She squeezed her fists in her lap, earning a concerned look from Rikkard. “Do you think your court system will punish them?”

  Flik looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’d like to think so.” He sighed. “But after all we’ve learned, I think it’s safe to say that the corruption goes far deeper than we ever expected.”

  Selene ground her teeth. “Then I say we go to Zahkx. I want to see for myself that whatever monsters were responsible for Earth’s annihilation are properly punished.”

  A round of grim nods followed her statement.

  “Then it’s settled. We go to Zahkx,” Flik surmised.

  “We go to Zahkx,” Selene agreed.

  Selene walked with Rikkard, Flik, and Rem to the control room, while the others stayed behind. They didn’t want to overwhelm the captain and his crew with their presence, so they decided to divide and conquer.

  While Selene had been mourning, Rem had been getting up to date with information from Navi. While Selene and her little band went to tell the captain of their plans
, the rest of them were going to seek out Navi to get the same information. Apparently, Rem and Navi had been storing info in a cloud-like system so that he could brief everyone later. Well, now was a great a time as any. They’d collect some information on holopads and disperse it amongst them.

  The doors to the control room whooshed open as they approached, and Captain Shard stepped out with Navi at his shoulder.

  “Oh, Selene. Good to see you,” Captain Shard said, a genuine smile on his face. “I hope you’re doing all right.”

  Selene steeled herself and nodded. “I’m fine, thank you. We wanted to inform you that we’ve made a decision.”

  Both aliens stiffened, probably expecting the worst.

  “We’d like to accompany you and your crew to Zahkx,” she said. Might as well just come right out with it. There was no use being coy.

  Captain Shard blinked at her in surprise. “Oh. That’s great news!”

  What had he been expecting?

  As if sensing her question, the captain grinned. “I was afraid you were going to leave. Navi told us about the warp core aboard your ship. It’s an extremely out-dated model. I was afraid it would have exploded the moment you tried to install it.”

  Selene’s eyebrows shot up. Bubbles swelled inside her chest and a laugh burst from inside her. It was the first time she’d laughed in days, and the warm feeling it gave her made her want to cry again.

  “Well, I guess we made the right decision then,” she said.

  Rikkard gave her a look like she was crazy. Maybe she was.

  “Indeed.” Captain Shard gave her a strange look too, but said nothing of her outburst. “You’re all welcome to stay in the rooms we’ve provided, or return to your ship. We had the power returned this morning.”

  Rem’s eyes lit up. “I can have my workshop back!”

  Navi’s eyes widened similarly. “You have a workshop too?”

  “Obviously!”

  Navi looked to the captain, a question in his eyes.