Sodenia- At the Edge of Chaos

by Luigi Robles

  “If, when you stop the Alcubierre drive, there is a smooth transition back into normal space, Sodenia should have the same momentum it had before we began traveling with the Alcubierre drive.”

  “So, we are really just going to go from 186,287 miles per second to zero at the push of a button?” Fain said as he shook his head. “Whoa.”

  “No, we will go from zero to zero. The space around us will stop expanding and contracting, thus returning the space around the ship back into linear or normal space.”

  “Genius…”

  “The possibilities of this technology are quite staggering.”

  Kya had added a safe point stop to the charted map 2,900 miles away from the asteroid belt and the Ochilenes ship. As Sodenia’s point on the map neared the safe stop, a countdown marker appeared next to it that read:

  Approaching Safe Stop in 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…

  “Getting ready to disengage Alcubierre drive,” Fain said as he placed his hand over the AD lever. “In three, two, one.” He pressed the button and put the lever back to zero. Within seconds, he was able to make out the shapes that were appearing all around the spherical view screen.

  Sodenia was surrounded by asteroids, although it didn’t look as dense as up ahead, where the asteroid belt truly started.

  “Report,” Fain said, breathing more heavily than usual but slowly returning to normal. He then noticed that the strange feeling he had experienced while traveling as fast as the speed of light was gone. “Are we still alive?”

  “It appears that Sodenia and all its crew have made it in one piece,” Kya said. “Aside from the earlier reported incidents that have now been treated, the only condition that has prevailed is motion sickness. However, the medical bay is already preparing relief capsules for that particular issue. There is also an Ochilenes message waiting for you.”

  “What does the message say?” Fain asked right away, hoping it wouldn’t be bad news.

  “It only says that they have arrived at the agreed location,” Kya said. “They will be looking forward to your arrival.”

  “And that, Kya,” Fain said, feeling a large smile spreading across his face, “that’s how we do star travel.”

  “Yes, it appears so,” Kya said, matching Fain’s optimistic tone.

  “Patch me through to the entirety of the ship,” Fain said, sounding relieved.

  “Whenever you’re ready,” Kya said.

  “Crew of Sodenia,” Fain said through the PA of the ship. “This is your captain speaking. We have successfully made it to our destination near the asteroid belt. Besides some reported motion sickness, everything seems to be alright. Make no mistake, this will mark a new era in the history of humanity. Now, the stars are within reach. Sodenia has now graduated to being the first Earth star ship.”

  From the command station, Fain couldn’t hear the reaction of the crew; he was surrounded by silence.

  “Some are cheering,” Kya said, as if she had read Fain’s mind. “But the cheers are mainly coming from Eora’s unit. The majority of the crew are just relieved.”

  “That’s about what I was expecting,” Fain said as he shrugged. “Patch me through one more time.”

  “Whenever you’re ready.”

  “But our work is just beginning,” Fain said. “For the next six months, and until there is no more threat, I want to see the best from you. We are the only thing standing between Earth and them. And I’ll be damned if we let a single one of them through. We’ll now be moving out to rendezvous with the Vieron Vasteos. Keep a close eye on your task managers. This is your captain out.”

  “I have charted a course to the Ochilenes ship,” Kya said as she made the new map appear on the main screen. “Would you like to place the ship on autopilot?”

  “Thank you, Kya,” Fain said as he got comfortable on his pilot’s seat once again. “But no, that won’t be necessary. I’ll do it myself.”

  “Very well.”

  “Kya, you know what I was thinking?”

  “Too many possibilities come to mind. Should I start naming them?”

  Fain chuckled. “No, that’s just an expression to start a conversation. Usually, people just say, ‘no, what?’”

  “Oh. No, what?”

  “See, there you go,” Fain said as he smiled and began moving Sodenia through the asteroid belt. “I was thinking that I really need to work on my speeches.”

  “Eh, it wasn’t that bad,” Kya said. “It was straight to the point. The crew knows you well, and there is no need to impress them with anything fancy.”

  “But still,” Fain said as he guided Sodenia through space. “I’d like to sound more captain-like.”

  “Yeah, it was captain-y enough.”

  “You really think so?” Fain said as he tittered.

  “I do.”

  It took Sodenia about five minutes to get near enough to see the Vieron Vasteos. As they neared, Fain saw that the Ochilenes ship was covered in asteroids, with only a few parts of the ship protruding from the sea of space rocks and debris.

  Fain decided not to move the ship much deeper into the belt, and with that, it was time to start.

  “Connect me with the Ochilenes,” Fain said as he took his hands off the controls.

  Only an instant passed before a cutout on the main screen appeared, with Elenon on the other side.

  “Ah, Captain Fain Jegga,” Elenon said in the smooth but robotic voice from the translator, with a clear delay. “I hope that your trip at the speed of light wasn’t that bad.”

  “Not bad at all,” Fain said. “But now it’s time to get to work. What do you have for us?”

  “I’m afraid that it won’t be the good news you’d hoped for,” Elenon said, shaking his head. “We have tried to analyze the files that Kya gave us regarding Sodenia and its drones as best we could. While the drones will be easy enough to produce and replicating a ship the size of Sodenia is possible, the problems we face are the main weapons of your ship and the power source. They cannot be replicated. We do have several thousand power sources on board our own ship, and there are several other methods we can use to create space engines, but I’m afraid that we don’t understand Herrion technology enough to replicate or tame that massive powerhouse core.”

  Fain’s world fell apart, and his spirit began to shatter after hearing those words. What were they supposed to do now? How could they ever stand a chance against the Golden Armada? The odds kept stacking against them, and Fain knew it. But was this all there was to Fain? Was he one to give up when things got tough, impossible perhaps? No.

  “What can you build?” Fain asked as he exhaled.

  “Within the given time,” Elenon said as he made a screen appear before him, “we can say with certainty that we can build tens of thousands of fully functioning drones and a few hundred large ships.”

  That will be like trying to extinguish a fire with a glass of water, Fain thought. It’s nowhere near what we need.

  “Perhaps once we get building,” Elenon continued, “the numbers will grow in our favor.”

  “And it could also be the other way around,” Fain said with his hands on the sides of his head.

  “That is always a possibility, unfortunately,” Elenon said as he put away the screen.

  “So, we’ll have to make a plan based on what we know for sure,” Fain said as he pressed the button to unbuckle from his seat. “Let’s start doing what we can. Let us know if we can help out in any way. I will be in contact with you.”

  “We will start with preparations for the build now.”

  Fain nodded and turned, and Elenon’s screen disappeared from the main view screen as the command station began lowering itself into the bridge of the ship. Nearly everyone on the bridge was looking over at Fain expectantly.

  “Kya, can you display the Battle Board on the main screen?” Fain asked as he exited his pilot seat.

  “On screen,” Kya said, and the Battle Board appeared on the main screen, large enough for everyon
e to read.

  Fain walked towards the center console, and most of the flight crew followed.

  “Remove every strategy that involves having a Sodenia duplicate,” Fain said. He watched more than half of the strategies on the board disappear, including his own and Kya’s. “Now, remove anything that requires more than a few hundred large ships.” The board had become nearly empty, with only a handful of ideas remaining. “Please notify everyone on the ship that our assets have changed.” At a glance, the ideas looked like they would not work.

  “Will do,” Kya said as she walked across the bridge.

  “Does this mean what I think it does?” Larissa asked. “The Ochilenes will not be able to build as much?”

  “They will be able to build,” Fain said as he half-turned to Larissa with his hands clasped. “Just not another Sodenia. They assure me that they can build tens of thousands of our drones and a few hundred ships the size of Sodenia, just not with its firepower.”

  “So, you can still use one of my plans?” August blurted out, looking towards Larissa with a large smile. “Maybe just improve or add to it.”

  The entire bridge looked towards August, including Kya, who was standing next to him.

  “I think it’s still on the Battle Board. Let’s see…” August said as he looked towards the main screen, trying to search for his idea. Everyone else looked towards the main screen. “Oh yeah. It’s still there. It’s the one with the title Balloon Army.”

  “August, what even is a Balloon Army?” Pycca said. “And it’s only a few paragraphs long.”

  “Yeah, well, about that,” August said as he adjusted his collar. “It was one of my first ideas. But I can expand upon it. I wasn’t sure of the rules of the Battle Board when I wrote it.”

  “That’s actually pretty impressive, August,” Fain said after he finished reading August’s short idea. “Did you get that from Earth’s own history?”

  “Yeah, World War II, actually,” August said, looking relieved. “Ghost Army, I think it was called. They used balloon tanks or dummy tanks to fool the enemy and to avoid being surrounded.”

  “Deception…” Fain said. “The only problem is that we aren’t dealing with the same kind of surveillance equipment. As soon as they appear on our instruments and we appear on theirs, they will know they are fake.”

  “True,” August said. “But we aren’t dealing with your average builders either. What if it were possible to trick their sensors?”

  The room turned towards Kya.

  “Can it be done?” Fain asked. “We don’t know what the enemy is capable of doing. If they are any good, we will never know. But we have to set a bar. Can a ship like Sodenia be tricked?”

  “It’s possible,” Kya said. “Although, we would have to devote a great deal of resources.”

  “I think we can manage,” Fain said. “I’ll get in contact with the Ochilenes and tell them about our plan. From here on out, all strategies that appear on the Battle Board will be based on August’s idea of the Ghost Army. Sorry, August; Balloon Army doesn’t have that nice of a ring to it.”

  August shrugged and agreed.

  Later that day, Fain and the Ochilenes settled on the final numbers of ships and drones. The Ochilenes promised Fain four hundred ghost ships the size of Sodenia and sixty-five thousand drones. Ten thousand of those drones would be full combat types with extended durability, while the rest would have a limited power supply. Basically, a battery. All of this rested on whether they could have Sodenia’s drones help in gathering materials to feed the hungry Ochilenes ship.

  That same night, the Vieron Vasteos came to life, swallowing all the nearby asteroids with one of its end openings and processing them in its belly. Just a few hours later, the Vieron Vasteos put on a spectacular light show as the super-heated lasers on the opposite end of the ship began to create machines.

  The drones the Vieron Vasteos created were a little different from Sodenia’s own; they were a bit larger and darker.

  From the bridge, Fain watched the first batch of drones being built. He stood there until he saw the first of Sodenia’s drones go out into the asteroid belt and begin gathering materials for the Vieron Vasteos. Although the supply of asteroids around the hungry Ochilenes ship looked never-ending, Fain wanted to get a head start on their side of the task at hand.

  Sodenia’s drones were manned by Eora’s graveyard shift drone pilots. Fain planned to have the entirety of the crew switch to a 24-hour work day with rotating crews.

  He went to bed tired that day, with a lot on his mind, so much so that he didn’t know if it was worth trying to unravel any of his worries before going to sleep. So, he just slept.

  The next day came too soon for his tired body and mind, but it came with good news. The Ochilenes had surpassed their first-day expectations. They called the asteroid belt “rich in resources.”

  For the next four and a half months, the crew of Sodenia worked hard, with everyone volunteering to work after hours and take on extra shifts as needed. Many temporary pilot bays were built, as well as numerous command stations for the operation of the ghost ships. Morale was high on board the ship, and it seemed that way for the Ochilenes too, who Fain and the other members of the flight crew often visited.

  Things had gone well for Sodenia and the Vieron Vasteos, and they managed to surpass their original drone estimate by thousands.

  But something wasn’t feeling right for Fain; he felt as if they were overlooking something. And it didn’t help that he was nervous about today’s activity, since this time Larissa would be joining him on his trip to the Ochilenes ship.

  Being around Larissa made Fain feel alive. His heart pounded just from the feel of her standing next to him. Sometimes, even his hand trembled when reaching for something. He thought that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. But then again, similar things happened when he was in the company of Pycca. He hated being confused about it, and he hated his inexperience when it came to love. He wasn’t a virgin, but he had also never been in love or even close to it. He didn’t have the slightest idea what to do.

  Because of the Acram, Fain’s normal life had been completely and utterly interrupted. Every chance that he otherwise would have had at experiencing love or getting his heart broken was taken from him. He had dedicated his entire life to ESAF and its training.

  “Are you alright there, Captain Fain?” Larissa asked jokingly.

  “I was just testing your piloting skills,” Fain said after he realized he was trying to take off while the engines were in no-fly mode.

  They both smiled as the space shuttle took off towards the Vieron Vasteos. Fain had done the run many times over the past four and a half months, and each time it was a completely different experience. The run ranged drastically from smooth, with almost no asteroids to avoid, to downright dangerous. The space shuttle had very little shielding, and Fain didn’t want to put it to the test if he didn’t have to. This time around, the run was more on the smooth side, with very little to avoid.

  They stood in the Ochilenes ship for close to an hour, talking with the builders as the group watched one of Sodenia’s clone ghost ships being forged using Vieron Vasteos technology. It was quite the spectacle. The lasers would change size and color depending on which part of the ship they were working on, and they moved fast; it was easy to lose track of it all.

  Fain had taken a liking to the Ochilenes and appreciated all their hard work. And for this trip, he had one subject in mind that he wanted to discuss in person before heading back to Sodenia.

  “Elenon, Fermens, Iremostal, my friends,” Fain said after the ghost ship was nearly completed. “We need to talk about something for when the Acram come.”

  There was a floating translator between them that activated once Fain finished talking. It worked the same way for the Ochilenes.

  “We are all ears,” Elenon said via the translator.

  “I know that the Vieron Vasteos is primarily a building ship,” Fain
said, changing his casual tone to a more solemn one. “Does that mean that you don’t really have any defensive or offensive weapons?”

  “That is correct,” Elenon said. “We have little offensive power. We can perhaps repel a group of mercenaries or space pirates. We have strong shields as well, but nothing on the level of the Acram. As you may recall, six ships like Vieron Vasteos attempted to make their way to Earth, and only we survived.”

  “How long do you think you can last against the Golden Armada?” Fain asked, trying not to sound too harsh.

  “Perhaps a few breaths,” Elenon said. “Or perhaps we can serve as bait.”

  “That’s not happening,” Fain said as he looked at each one of the Ochilenes. “When the Acram come, I need you to jump far away from wherever the battle is taking place. You don’t need to sacrifice yourselves in vain. I won’t require that of you. You have already done your part.” Fain looked towards the large fleet of ghost ships and drones lined up in multiple tiers behind Sodenia. “If we somehow survive what’s coming, we will be in your debt.”

  “Surely we can still help,” Elenon said. “We won’t run from our fate.”

  “Your fate, my friends,” Fain said, “is to continue living. You have done your part in this war. The decision is final. We’ll see each other again once this is all over.” He smiled slightly.

  Fain didn’t feel so good about his decision to remove the Ochilenes from the imminent battle. He knew he was robbing them of something special.

  “There must be another way,” Elenon said. “The Vieron Vasteos might not have weapons of war, but we are certainly creating. There is no reason why we should be allowed to leave while you and your crew stay and fight. Our lives are no more important than any one of those on board your ship.”

  “Maybe there is another way,” Larissa said. “What if we don’t need to have all our eggs in one basket?”

  Fain turned towards Larissa, tilting his head.

  “Yes,” Larissa said. “What if we had a different basket far away from the battle? One that could control what’s happening in the battle? I mean, think about it. Basically everyone on Sodenia will have something to do when the Acram come, and in their own way they can help or do something to sway the battle. Engineering, Eora’s gunners, drone pilots, and Kya—but what about the pilots we picked up from Earth?”