by Alex Guerra
“Thank you,” said Seya, “for your kind words.”
“I’m going through this right next to you, don’t forget that,” I said.
She smiled. “Try to get some rest,” she said with a smile, heading back into her room and shutting the doors.
I looked out at the ocean for a few more minutes. “You too,” I said to myself.
SIX
When morning came, I was in a daze. While I managed to get some sleep, it was nowhere near what I needed. Getting on with it, I peeled myself out of bed and got ready for whatever the day held. I met with the team in the lounge, their nervousness visible from twenty yards away. Yesterday’s optimism had disappeared, and the team hadn’t drunk enough to have a hangover. Nobody wanted to address the elephant in the room. The team muttered to themselves, and the only real question heard was about any updates from Vira. The early morning consisted of a lot of moping around and nervous waiting. I imagined a father waiting outside a delivery room while his wife was in labor.
Seya received a message, causing everyone to jump. It was from Lena, asking us to meet her in the Outer Circle’s chamber located in the large domed building near the center of the castle fortress. It looked as if the conversation we recorded with her, struck a chord with her colleagues. Happy they were not dismissing this as something trivial, I tried not to let my perception of human politics obscure the Circle’s efforts.
We left for the large dome together in a transport that flew us over the city and landed on one of the many pads fanning out from the dome. We strode past hulking cannons pointed skyward. The massive weapons peppered the building. Sitting in the center of the castle like a bullseye, it offered itself up as a juicy target to an enemy.
Some aides ushered us down into the chamber where we met with Lena. I readjusted my custom top, thankful for the foresight to wear the attire. A murmur of overlapping conversations changed its cadence once the chamber saw us. This was most likely due to Seya’s appearance, as we were practically traveling around with a rock star.
When Vira arrived, the room went silent. She walked to the center of the chamber and connected her dataslate.
“Good mornin’ everyone, I’m Vira Olmos,” she said over the speaker system. “Thank you for allowin’ me ta’ present my findin’s today. A few minutes ago, I received the surveillance footage from a modified skip drone I sent ta’ Vallus yesterday, usin’ a wormhole. I have not looked at the video myself yet. What we’re about to see are the first images of Vallus since the team sittin’ there left for Fengar.” She pointed a long, skinny finger to our group. All eyes turned towards us momentarily while Vira continued tapping away at her dataslate.
The video started playing. The skip drone exited the wormhole tear and arrived in the Vallus system. The drone scanned its surroundings, reorienting itself towards its destination. As it moved towards Vallus, entering from the planet’s dark side, its sensors and telescopic cameras zoomed in on the surface and revealed massive fires throughout. They raged through the continents, setting its entirety ablaze in an orange silhouette.
A few chamber members uttered shocked gasps of disbelief, breaking the silence instantly. Scans showed there were no longer any Darkkon ships in the system. Vira sped the video up until the drone got closer and made its way around the light side of Vallus. The damage was catastrophic. The video switched to that of a warship graveyard, where the husks of both conglomerate and Darkkon ships lay ravaged by battle. It was clear that the conglomerate suffered a crushing defeat in the planet’s orbit.
When the drone showed footage of destroyed life pods and small transports, the chamber’s composure broke. Strangled cries and heartbroken sobs filled the room. A lump formed in my throat as I squeezed the railing before me, slowly crushing it in my grip. Vira commanded the video to move forward with an unsteady hand over her mouth and her eyes wide with surprise and horror.
It was difficult to understand what we were looking at in those first moments. The planet was unrecognizable in comparison to the last time Seya and I was there. It was no longer covered in dense, green jungles, nor were there any of its sparkling, blue oceans present. The entire planet was an angry ball of fire. A bright orange appeared in the center of where the hidden conglomerate base should have been, like a fiery beacon of what once was, giving the planet the appearance of a flaming eye.
The Darkkon Empire didn’t just invade Vallus, they obliterated the whole damn thing!
I turned to my team who stared at the screen. Seya had a quivering hand over her mouth while Kayton had tears flowing down her cheeks. Some were crying while others were seething to the point of trembling.
The chamber erupted into shouts of outrage, as they screamed and repeated, “death to the empire!”. Kayton started bawling and buried her face in my chest. Hugging her tight while her body wracked with sobs, I turned to face the screen again.
This was worse than anything I could have ever imagined. The scene was horrific. At the center of the chamber, Vira hid her face with her hands, her dataslate dropping to the floor with a clang.
It wasn’t until some of the members of the Circle started turning their anger towards our group, focusing on Seya, that the dynamic suddenly shifted.
“She had something to do with this!” one of the members shouted, jabbing a short, pudgy finger at Seya. The crowd was beginning to turn its attention towards us, blind rage clouding their judgment. Some of the more imposing members were aggressively inching towards us. Immediately, I pushed Seya behind me, putting myself between the Darkkon woman and the hostile group.
“She had nothing to do with this, you idiot!” I shouted at the stout man throwing the accusations.
“I knew it, she was a spy all along!” someone else shouted.
“We should have never trusted someone like her,” cried another, joining in on the rising pandemonium.
“Silence! Silence!” said Lena overriding the speakers.
My face was inches away from one of the threatening members—his hot breath coming out in big, angry huffs.
“How dare you accuse Seya of something as heinous as this!” demanded Lena. “I understand you are all angry but turning on each other is only helping the empire. Use some sense!”
I shot a glance at Seya behind me, who didn’t budge. She stood still, narrowing her eyes defiantly at those around her.
“Once a traitor, always a traitor,” another voice bellowed, bringing a momentary roar from the crowd.
“Silence!” Lena shouted again. “You forget yourself! Seya has done nothing to harm the conglomerate during her time with us.” The woman curled her fists tightly, struggling to maintain her composure against the growing tide of hostility. “Save your loathing for the real enemy. The Darkkon Empire is most likely beginning its movements to other systems at this very moment. We need to warn them of the incoming threat.”
I thought about the other conglomerate worlds. What sort of weapon did the Darkkon have that could destroy a planet like that? My stomach twisted at the thought of the Empire possessing such a powerful weapon.
“Have you forgotten how Seya led the charge against the empire on Carthos when she was only seventeen? Or a few years later, when she helped liberate the Sarlan region? If you remember correctly, she recruited the population, starting an insurrection against the corrupt government,” said Lena. “I doubt you of all people could forget that Kartat, since that was where you grew up.” She leveled her eyes at the large man before me.
The man backed away from me slightly, shifting his stance to that of a less aggressive one, then lowered his head and cast his eyes down.
“I’m very disappointed in all of you,” chastised Lena. “You’re angry…so am I. The empire’s actions will not go unpunished, but there are more immediate concerns to address now.” She looked around the chamber towards the others.
Seya stood next to Lena and spoke. “They destroyed Vallus. There’s nothing we can do to change that now. What we can do is warn the othe
r systems of the empire’s open declaration of war and mobilize our forces,” she said, turning to Vira standing on the chamber floor. “With Vira’s help, we will send this video to the rest of the conglomerate using the same modified skip drones. A large-scale recruiting effort is the only chance we have to gain a force large enough to fight this new threat.
“It’s clear that the Darkkon Empire is using weapons we have never seen before. We understand the looming threat. We hope to give our fleet an edge by outfitting our ships with similar wormhole manipulators. This will allow faster movement between regions, although the empire may already be using similar technology. We have an entire region of the galaxy untouched by the enemy. Worlds who have yet to join the conglomerate will ultimately face a situation like Vallus. The best way to ensure our survival and the survival of our civilizations…is to stand together,” said Seya.
The chamber fell silent once more.
“I move to allow Fengar’s factories to mass produce the skip drones and upgrade the fleet immediately. Also, to reinforce our assets as soon as possible,” motioned Lena.
The group murmured; the burning image of Vallus had a transparent poll over it. Members were casting their votes. After a few minutes, the screen tallied up the votes with overwhelming support. Perched on the highest balcony overlooking the chamber below, the five members of the Inner Circle loomed over the voting process before casting their own votes, unanimously supporting the motion.
“You have our permission to use the auto-factories. Please let us know how else we might support you to complete the task ahead,” said the centermost Inner Circle representative with a nod.
“Thank you, Lena, for everything,” said Seya, giving the woman a hug.
“I’m so sorry, Kayton,” said Lena to the Codari woman, putting an arm around her in a motherly fashion and rubbing the side of Kayton’s arm.
Kayton wiped her eyes and nodded to the woman, unable to say anything in return.
“Come on…let’s go,” I said to the team, nodding towards the exit. I placed a comforting hand on Katon’s shoulder. She turned to face me, her eyes puffy with a deep orange from crying.
“I’m going to kill them…” she muttered through gritted teeth.
“I know…you’ll get your revenge. I promise,” I said and looked over to Seya who walked alongside the other troopers.
I was surprised at how quickly true emotions surfaced when faced with something so horrific. So many of the Circle had turned on Seya in an instant, yet she seemed unfazed by it—as if she expected it. My ears grew hot and my face flushed as I watched her exit into the bright sunlight of the landing pad outside.
The inside of the transport felt like a funeral home. No one said anything. Bon slammed an angry fist onto the empty seat next to him when he sat down. Baring his teeth, he glanced at us quickly before turning his face and crossing his arms. I wanted to say something to the team, but nothing that would help came to mind. Kayton and I sat next to each other. She leaned her head onto my shoulder while I wrapped an arm around her back. I gazed at the serene beach outside the castle walls as we took off back to our quarters.
I thought about Vira’s words from yesterday. It was hard to believe we were at war when looking at such a peaceful view. An entire planet…destroyed in the past week.
*****
I gave the team the opportunity to grieve in whatever way they liked. There was nothing I could do to ease their concerns, besides giving them the option use Dotty’s counseling program on their dataslates. Some locked themselves away in their room, wanting privacy. Bon and a few of the others took a bottle out to the beach to drink themselves into oblivion, while others moped around the city. I gave them their space while I reunited with Seya.
Despite our personal feelings, we didn’t have time to grieve as every second was vital. We went back to Vira’s place, and stepping inside her shop, the Tychon woman gave a weary smile to Seya.
“Seya, I’m sorry they treated ya’ like that back there,” said Vira, placing a hand on the Darkkon woman’s arm.
“Thank you. As soon as I saw the planet, I knew what to expect. I’m not blind to the hidden hatred they have for me,” said Seya.
“Lena was right though, they should have known better than ta’ say those horrible things about ya’,” said the Tychon.
“They were angry. They’ll turn their hatred towards the next easiest target soon enough,” she said, brushing over the subject with ease. “I knew my path was not going to be easy the moment I left the Empire.”
I pursed my lips at the thought of Seya’s journey.
Realizing Seya’s discomfort with the subject, Vira quickly changed it, informing us that she had given the factory’s chief foreman the blueprints to begin fabricating hundreds, if not thousands of the new drones. She showed us her progress on creating the manipulator’s base modification device for use on conglomerate ships. There were about a dozen different variations of ships in the fleet, ranging from small patrol vessels to hulking dreadnaughts—including their escape pods. Depending on the ship, the installation would only need some configurations to the larger base model.
It would take Vira several more days to complete the task. In the interim, the conglomerate would continue churning out messenger drones to alert the rest of the galaxy of the unfolding situation.
The conglomerate was about the embark on the greatest information campaign the galaxy had ever seen. Going off the poll result at the end of today’s session, it wouldn’t be long before Fengar received word back from the other systems pledging loyalty to the cause—or so I hoped. If we didn’t have the numbers to face the empire, then we were already dead.
Throughout the city, word of Vallus spread like wildfire. By the end of the day, it was the top news story in the region. Drones would take care of sending the important message and the news stories even further and faster than ever before.
Back in my quarters, I changed out of my uniform, folding it neatly and placing it on the edge of the bed. Taking advantage of the locale, I opened the doors out to the balcony. I didn’t want to be in a cramped room with artificial lighting. My head was pounding with this morning’s revelation—the first of many headaches to surely come.
I searched the sky for movement—for alien warships to pop into existence and fire their death rays upon Fengar. It never came. Only white clouds painted across a bluish-green sky, with alien creatures flying overhead. I wanted something human again, even if for only a moment.
My team took an emotional blow today—a wound that only time would mend. I searched within myself to ask the calm, combat mind for what my best move should be at this point but found nothing. Outside of a firefight, that part of me was useless. Why didn’t Dotty give me an extra mind from someone who had experience dealing with crises? I understood why Dotty uploaded this information into me; It was to keep me alive. Now that there was no immediate threat to my life—and collectively, Dotty’s—there was no applicable use for this.
“What should I do, Dotty?” I asked, feeling the need to speak aloud to convey the message.
There is nothing more you can do that you haven’t already done.
The answer didn’t bring me any comfort.
You could try talking to the team in the evening, once everyone is more accustomed to the fate of Vallus.
“So, that’s it then?” I asked.
Yes. The team has access to my counseling subroutine.
“Have any of them used it so far?” I asked.
A few.
“Who?”
Doctor-patient privileges.
Was that Dotty’s attempt at humor or was it actually barring me from the information? I guess it didn’t really matter. Someone was using the program, which meant one less person trying to self-destruct.
To my left, the balcony doors creaked open—Kayton’s room. As she walked out, her eyes met mine, and she suddenly paused.
“Art…I didn’t know you were out here,” she sai
d, hurriedly, starting to retreat into her room.
“Wait, it’s okay. Stay,” I said, walking closer to her side of my balcony.
She paused, seemingly unsure for a moment before exiting her room completely. She leaned onto the railing near me, the outside of her eyes slightly orange and still puffy.
“How are you?” I asked.
“I can’t cry anymore. Not that it’ll do anything now,” she said, closing her eyes and sighing. “It’s not very fitting for a commander.”
“I’m not going to say anything,” I said.
“Nah, I know you won’t, even if you did want to. You’re a nice guy, Art. I’m not sure I’d be able to do what you did,” she said with a tired smile.
“What’s that?”
“Leave home to fight a war that’s not even your own,” she said.
“I could argue I’ve already done that back home before Dotty abducted me” I shrugged.
“Maybe, but you have nothing really at stake here,” she said, crossing her arms.
“What do you mean?”
“This place has no humans on it. The results of this war will have no bearing on your planet.”
“Maybe not immediately, but who can say what will happen several years from now? What if the Empire goes wild and starts taking over everything. My people wouldn’t stand a chance against…well, any of this,” I said, waving a hand. “And who’s to say I don’t have a stake in this? My team does, that gives me even more reason to keep moving forward.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry I said that. I’m not thinking straight right now,” she said.
“The team still needs you, and you’ll need to lead by example in the coming weeks—show them that we can bounce back,” I said.
“Yeah, all this crying is not very commander-like,” she said, resigning with a sigh.
“It’s a natural response to what happened. Hell, you could’ve gone crazy or be down there totally trashed with the rest of the team,” I said, pointing my chin out at the beach.