by Luigi Robles
Saavan looked around the room at each one of the armed guards.
“So, you are better than us?” Saavan asked.
“In every possible way,” Thromos said.
Saavan had got exactly what he wanted—Thromos had doomed the elders. Amongst the Acram, the elders had the image of being benevolent and kind. They dedicated their long lives in complete servitude to the Acram cause, but the facade was now falling.
“We still need to hear his side before making a decision,” Wendea said.
The other three elders looked at her as if they did not agree with her decision.
“Before we fought, before we conquered,” Saavan said, “the Acram set out to try to unify the galaxy by making them aware of the possible threat. Civilizations did not listen, therefore we conquered in an effort to try to unify them. Half a conquered galaxy and many generations of Acram later, we had only managed to instill fear upon the galaxy instead of salvation. But I’ve witnessed unification happen on its own. I’ve witnessed the cause we have sacrificed so many Acram lives for finally come to fruition. I’ve witnessed an array of yet-to-be-conquered civilizations unify under a single cause to defeat an enemy. I’ve witnessed this.”
“But it’s unification against you,” Wendea said. “Unification against us.”
“Unification, nonetheless,” Saavan said. “I’m not sure if it justifies what we’ve done to half of the galaxy. But what I am sure is that we don’t have to fight anymore. We can return to a normal, demilitarized Acram lifestyle. We no longer have to force our offspring to fight, to live out their lives thinking only of the bogus cause. And if the machines do come, we will unite—”
“Saavan, you will nothing,” Thromos yelled. “Guards, execute this blasphemous creature.”
The guards did nothing; they just looked at each other.
“Scatter,” Saavan said in the ancient language, aiming his words directly at Thromos.
Thromos yelled in pain before his body collapsed to the floor.
“Anyone else?” Saavan asked. “Now, where were we?”
Sodenia arrived near Earth’s orbit at nearly the same time as the Vieron Vasteos and Radio One. But unlike the other two ships, Fain had to decelerate Sodenia from FTL to normal speed near the moon’s orbit.
Before Fain made his way down to the bridge, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, easing up for the first time since they had set out into the asteroid belt. It felt good to take so much weight off his shoulders. He moved his neck from one side to the other, hearing it crack in such a satisfying way that it melted him into his seat.
As the command station lowered back into the bridge, he was met with everyone’s gazes. But they were not cheerful gazes; they were the kind of gazes that were about to deliver bad news. As Fain took his seatbelts off, he looked around the bridge, looking for the source of the incoming bad news. And out of everyone in the room, Pycca seemed to be it. Spots of grease covered her from head to toe, and her suit was torn and wet in several places.
“What happened?” Fain asked.
“I tried the best I could,” Pycca said as she began tearing up. “I did the best I could. Even Kya was there, trying to help. But one of the blasts from the enemy ship damaged the already overloaded cooling system. And then…” Pycca sniffled. “And then it happened. The whole lower room where we keep the valve controls was engulfed in an explosion.”
Fain’s heart sank as he braced for the worst.
“Six engineers died,” Pycca continued as a single tear escaped her eye. “The medics tried everything, but the trauma was extensive.”
Fain wanted to break, he wanted to let out a scream and yell out the anger he felt. But he knew that he had to be strong, he had to be the prevailing mind. Everyone on board the ship was counting on him.
“They will be known as heroes of Earth. I’ll make sure of it,” Fain said as he lowered his head. “Let us have a moment of silence for those who did not make it home in one piece.”
After a long moment, Fain broke the silence by clearing his throat.
“We will continue to make our way home,” Fain said. “We did our best, and that’s all we could do. Begin preparations to land on Earth.”
After Pycca and Larissa had finished giving a full report to Fain, he couldn’t help but think that they had beaten the odds once again. Sodenia was severely damaged, so much so that Pycca assured Fain that without extensive repairs, the ship wouldn’t be able to go into FTL or get close to its max speed. Even re-entering the atmosphere seemed dangerous at this point.
We have been pushing our luck too much, Fain thought as he made his way to a nearby meeting room, where Green’s video call was waiting for him. There’s going to come a time when our luck runs out. We need to be ready.
“Fain,” Green greeted him from the floating orb in the room. “Captain Fain Jegga. I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been trying to read the report Kya sent me, but it just boggles my mind.”
“I feel the same way too, Colonel Green,” Fain said as he sat down on a nearby couch. “But that’s what happened, and that’s why we’re back home now.”
“I guess the only thing we can do is assimilate the information and move forward,” Green said as he flipped through the pages of the report.
“That would be nice,” Fain said as he sighed. “Moving forward seems like it’s the right thing to do.”
“Any ideas on how to deal with all our new allies?” Green said. “All seventy-seven of them?” Green shook his head incredulously.
“I gave it some thought on the way here,” Fain said. “Maybe the Ochilenes can helps us build an intergalactic space station of some sort. But somewhere far away from Earth, near Pluto or something. I just hope that humanity is ready for some extreme cultural exchange.”
“That’s one of the problems, for sure,” Green said. “We need to keep the communication going. For all we know, that’s the only thing that’s keeping us alive and keeping the Acram away.”
“I don’t think that’s the case,” Fain said. “Even though the fleet that showed up was in the tens of thousands, the Acram Armada could have easily taken us on. Sodenia was already badly damaged at that point.”
“I see,” Green said as he scratched his five o’clock shadow. “We’ll surely try to figure it out. But for now, go ahead and come home. I’m sure all of you need some rest. Truman and I will be personally waiting for you on Soden Island.”
“Colonel Green, if you don’t mind,” Fain said, “I have two things that I’d like to ask of you.”
“Sure thing, go ahead.”
“If such a thing as an international space station does come to fruition, I’d like to put in a recommendation.”
“That won’t be a problem at all. Who do you have in mind?”
“An old friend of mine, from before the first Acram attack on Earth. I haven’t seen him since then. But I’m hoping he’s doing good, alive somewhere.”
“You haven’t seen him since the first Acram attack?”
“Yeah, since then. The very first thing I did after the Acram attack was enroll in the ESAF program when it was announced. I mean, I had nothing else better to do. My city had just been leveled, and my parents…”
“When you get here, find your friend. Take some time off if you need to. We need all the people we can get. ESAF will surely appreciate it.”
“And lastly, I’ve been wanting to ask you… This has been really bothering me for some time now. Did you know my father? He died in the first Acram attack. He worked at Clearer Waters facility, where you found me the day of the attack.”
“Professor Ignace Jegga. Yes, I did know your father,” Green said. “He was a great and bright man. He helped us further the human UI, pilot’s stations, control stations, and that pilot seat you use to control Sodenia on a one-to-one; that was his life’s work.”
Fain had always suspected that Green knew his father, but he never had the courage to ask, to reopen the wound that h
ad never fully healed. Green must’ve sensed that much from Fain, as he never brought it up either.
“Thanks for letting me know,” Fain said, holding back the emotions he felt. “Maybe someday you can tell me more about him.”
“Anytime, Fain,” Green said as he nodded slowly.
“And how are things between ESAF and the world?” Fain asked. “I’m assuming it’s still safe to land.”
“Things won’t be like last time around. General Truman has been taking a lot of heat lately,” Green said as he snickered. “And so have I. But it’s nothing we can’t handle. We believe that things are under control for the time being. There’re some rumors that world leaders won’t dare to act against ESAF because of Kya. Word got out about the little incident we had with Cross, but we’ve buried it since then. As long as she is on our side, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“That’s comforting, in a way,” Fain said as he half-smiled. “We’ll be heading back to Earth as soon as we finish transporting the pilots from Radio One to Sodenia. The Ochilenes will stay in orbit for a few more days until they find out what is happening in their homeworld and we come up with a plan. I’ll see you in around six hours, Colonel.”
“See you then,” Green said as the orb turned off.
Fain sat on the couch for a few moments longer, just trying to relax, to empty his mind, and to be glad to be alive. As he got up and headed to the door, he cracked his neck once again and stretched out. The motion felt so good to his tired body. As he walked out, he saw Kya standing next to the door with her head down. He instantly felt anxiety beginning to rise; there was no way this was a good sign.
“Kya?” Fain asked. “What’s wrong?”
No response.
“Kya? Are you OK?”
No response.
“You know, whatever it is…” Fain said as he grabbed her left arm. He was surprised at just how human her synthetic flesh felt; it was soft and warm.
No response.
“Whatever it is,” Fain said, “we’ll get through it.”
“Fain… I’m scared. I don’t want to die,” Kya said with a sad voice as she raised her head to reveal watery eyes. “And what’s more important, I don’t want any of you to die. Especially you.”
“Kya,” Fain said softly. “No one is going to die, not me, not you. As long as we have each other, we can get through this. I promise. Just tell me, what is it?”
“There have been multiple attempts by an unknown source to contact me directly. Their message is one of pure destruction to organic life. It terrifies me. The message is so hard to stop.”
“This message, do you know who’s sending it?”
“The only thing I know is that it’s machine, like me,” Kya said as she began to sniffle.
Fain embraced Kya and let her cry on his shoulder.
Fain knew that it was too early to really know what was going on. He had too little information to go on. But the one thing he knew for sure was that he would be ready for a fight. He, the crew of Sodenia, and the ship itself had emerged victorious. As long as there was a fight to be brought, he would bring it, and he didn’t mind not resting until Earth was at peace once again.
Also by Luigi Robles
One devastating event changed the course of humanity.
A prequel novelette to Sodenia
Get for FREE, on Amazon
Doomsday approaches rapidly through space.
Book 1 of Sodenia’s War
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