by Luigi Robles
“That’s it,” Fain said enthusiastically. “We could one hundred percent do that. Well, kind of.”
“I’m not following,” Pycca said, eyebrows furrowed.
“I mean, it’s just an idea,” Fain said. “But we have drones, we have the Ochilenes’ gates in Earth’s orbit, and we have the device you are working on to track them. I mean, we’ll have to make a lot of adjustments, but we can make something work so that at least we won’t go in blind. If you know the enemy, you need not fear the results. Sun Tzu.”
“OK, that’s starting to sound like we aren’t just going to go and die,” August said. “I like the sound of that much better.”
Mikey came running back into the room and hit a chair on his way in. He was panting for air. Fain wondered why he seemed not to have enough air. The docks weren’t that far away, and Mikey didn’t look to be that out of shape.
“Damn, I need to work out,” Mikey managed. “But what did I miss? I hope we’re not going, right?”
“Maybe something will work out after all,” Fain said.
Fain now had a better idea of what to do in the situation at hand. A solid plan was forming in his head.
10
Paths
Saavan walked back towards the main view window of the Iveria after talking with Captain Fain Jegga. Something about being in front of the window of his ship brought him deep comfort. It was about knowing where he was heading, despite the danger. He liked to think he was in total control of his destiny.
“Well, that went outstandingly well,” Galeah said as she went to stand next to Saavan. “Humans are impressive beings. After all the Acram have done to them, they are willing to forgive.”
“They might be willing to forgive, but make no mistake, they will never forget. No, they’re just doing what in their eyes is right. It was apparent that the rest of the room was far from happy with our conversation. We owe a great deal of their cooperation to Captain Fain Jegga.”
“A true warrior’s path is always interlaced with another.”
“That old Acram saying seems to be true, doesn’t it?”
“It does, Noblest Saavan.”
They stood in silence, admiring the beauty of space.
“If they ask you to go with them, will you?” Galeah asked.
If it had been anyone else, absolutely anyone else, Saavan would probably have beheaded them for asking that question. But it was Galeah who dared ask. Saavan wondered if it was because she knew that no harm would come to her for asking, or because she was still naïve about what it meant to be a Noble.
“Galeah, Galeah,” Saavan said as he released anger through his breath. “Listen to me carefully. A Noble’s word is his life. A Noble must stand by what they say no matter what. If a Noble cannot live up to the expectations they have set themselves, they do not deserve the honor of being a Noble. Nobles aren’t cowards; they are the greatest amongst all Acram. Now, imagine what it means to be the highest Noble.”
Galeah immediately kneeled before Saavan and bowed her head. “Forgive me, highest of Nobles.”
“Stand up,” Saavan snapped, but at the same time, he offered her his hand for leverage.
Galeah took his hand and stood up.
“You bow before no one,” Saavan said in a soft voice. “Not me, not anyone in this galaxy. Do you hear me? It is you, and you alone, that will hold this honor.”
“Yes, highest of Nobles,” Galeah said in a low voice, looking down.
“Look at me,” Saavan said. “Hold your head up high.”
Galeah turned her head up to look at Saavan.
“If something happens to me,” Saavan said as he tenderly held the side of Galeah’s head, “you are to be my successor. There is no one else that I can think of in all Acrania with a life as pure as yours. You will be truly worthy of being the highest Noble.” Saavan saw the struggle in Galeah; she wanted to look down. “Hold your head up high. Not everything you hear will be what you want to hear. There will be overwhelming and purely evil things to come, but I trust that you will lead our people to their peaceful place in the galaxy.”
“It will be the honor of a lifetime,” Galeah said.
Saavan pulled away and returned to face the main window, arms crossed this time.
“We will wait for the humans’ answer,” Saavan said. “But we will be ready for anything if the Immortals show up. No matter what happens, they will not get through us. As long as we can fight, we will fight.”
Fain and the crew that had gone with him to the ISCO were getting ready to head back to Sodenia. Despite Mikey’s protests about wanting to know the new plan, Fain told him that he would know the details of it when the time was right.
Mikey groaned profusely, but he ended up agreeing with Fain. There were too many ears and eyes in the room. Not to mention the large alien device left behind. The node anchor seemed to be completely shut off—Fain had Kya and Ktwo run diagnostics just to make sure—but with alien technology, it was anyone’s guess if it was what it said it was.
“Mikey,” Fain said. “I need you to get this in a room and set up a video relay feed with Sodenia. We’ll have Ktwo monitor it twenty-four seven in case there’s any unwanted activity.”
“Got it,” Mikey said. “But you’ll tell me your plan once you guys decide, right? Because if the world is going to end, I’d much rather be on Earth than up here.”
“Don’t worry,” Fain said firmly. “That’s not going to happen. Besides, I need you up here until all of this is over. You’ll know.
Mikey nodded.
Fain and his group made their way to the docks with Mikey and two other ambassadors escorting them. On the way to the docks, the group was engaged in small talk about what had just happened—everyone except two. Eora and Mikey weren’t walking too far away from him, and without meaning to, he overheard Mikey’s attempt at a conversation with one of the toughest women Fain had ever met.
“Hey, I’m Mikey, by the way.”
“I know.”
“Eora, right? That’s a pretty name. It fits you well, quite unique.”
There was an audible sigh from Eora. “If you’d like to keep your face intact, I suggest we leave this conversation for another time.”
“You know, if I were anyone else, that might seem like a pretty easy decision. But the galaxy might end soon, and having a conversation with someone like you might be worth it. Well, it depends on how much time we have left. But yeah, I’m willing to take the risk. I’ve also never been punched by a woman before, at least not one as beautiful as you.”
“What?” Eora asked, sneering.
“Didn’t see that one coming, did you?”
“Aren’t you the director of this place?” Eora said. “Shouldn’t you be, umm, I don’t know…directing? Instead of trying to hit on me?”
“Woah, woah,” Mikey said. “There’s a big difference between striking up a conversation and getting to know someone and hitting on someone… And hitting someone.”
“Really? So, what do you call the parts about being pretty, unique and beautiful?”
“Those are just adjectives,” Mikey said with a hint of frustration. “They are usually used to describe a thing, in this case how I feel about your name and the way you look compared to those who’ve punched my face in the past. If I didn’t feel that way, then I wouldn’t have used those words. I was just being honest. But I’m sorry if I offended you or came across as sleazy, which is far from what I was trying to accomplish.” He sighed. “Fain can vouch for me; I’m far from being that type of guy, you know. But eh, forget it. I’ll just take a few steps back and do my job and pretend I didn’t screw up again, like I always do. But if one day you change your mind and would like to get to know the real me, let me know.”
Eora didn’t fire back or say anything; she just kept walking.
“This is one of the things the Acram got right,” Mikey muttered. “At least when they talk to each other, they know exactly what they mean and the intenti
ons they have.”
When they reached the dock, Fain stopped and turned towards Mikey and the ambassadors.
“Director Harmon, take care of the ISCO,” Fain said in as formal a voice as he could muster. “Send a full report to Commander Felix. I’ll be in contact with you soon. As for the rest of the ambassadors on board”—he turned to the two ambassadors that had accompanied them to the dock—“I hope you will do your absolute best. We’ll be sending a full report soon that you will forward to all our allies.”
“Yes, sir, we’ll do our best.”
Fain turned around and headed towards the shuttle. He was the first one to reach the door, but instead of going in, he stood beside the door, letting everyone else in first.
“Get your helmets on,” Fain said as Pycca got in the shuttle.
The group followed his instructions, all except for Eora. She was looking straight at Fain as if she was going to ask a question.
“Was he really being honest?” Eora asked, hesitating to enter the shuttle. “I mean, is he a good guy? No bullshit.”
“Mikey is one of those people that will never let you down. He means and does what he says.” Fain smiled slightly.
“Leave it to his friend to back him up,” Eora said as she rolled her eyes and entered the shuttle.
“You don’t have to believe me,” Fain said as he entered the shuttle and closed the door behind him. “You can always find out for yourself.”
Eora groaned and threw on her helmet.
Once they left the ISCO and went back to Sodenia, it was all a blur for Fain as they made their way to Earth. He began to think about the events that had just occurred, and how everything was pushing him to confront the Immortals head-on. His heart was racing as the scenarios that he concocted in his mind all ended in defeat. Along the way home, he was peppered with questions, and he did his best to answer them, but he wasn’t himself. His mind was engrossed in coming up with a plan to save all biological life in the galaxy, and that included Earth and everyone he loved.
Fain brought Sodenia to her usual resting spot next to the Ouranos space elevator. He glanced at his wristband; it was 1723 hours. They still had time, and Fain was planning to use it.
“Sodenia, this is your captain speaking,” Fain said as he pressed the intercom button for the ship. “We’re going to keep going for a little while longer.” Then he let go of the button for the second part. “Get Green and Truman on screen, and let Eora know to meet us at the bridge. As for everyone else here, bring anyone that you think should be here.”
It wasn’t long before Green and Truman appeared in medium-sized windows on the main view screen of the bridge.
“Fain, we are still trying to figure out what happened up there in the ISCO,” Green said as he took off his hat.
“So am I,” Fain said. “But I’m hoping we can figure this out and come up with a plan.”
“We’ll try our best,” Green said.
The bridge was full. The entire flight crew was there, along with some of their subordinates. Everyone had gathered around the command stations, leaving Fain and a few others in the center of the small crowd.
“So, we won’t lose any more time,” Fain said, turning towards Green and Truman. “I’ll start. If we don’t do something now, we might not get to do something at all.” He cleared his throat. “It may seem that since we’ve opened our doors to the galaxy, we’ve encountered problem after problem, threat after threat. But luckily, we’ve always come together and dealt with it, and this time I’m hoping we can do the same. However, I can safely say we aren’t on level ground this time. No, this time the enemy doesn’t play by the same mortal rules we do. In fact, the enemy likes to think of themselves as all-powerful immortals. Their goal is clear: they want to wipe all biological life from the galaxy. Their threat is not empty, according to Kya and the Acram leader, Noble Saavan.” There was a shift in the room when Fain mentioned Noble Saavan. “They’ve done this twice before. Now, we have two choices. We can wait for them to come and do whatever they do and hope we are able to withstand the attack. Keep in mind they’ve already defeated the Golden Armada.”
The room was quiet
“Or, what I’d much prefer,” Fain said. “We can go and give them everything we’ve got.” The room became animated. “The question is how.”
“Attacking the enemy in their territory,” Truman said, “will put us at a great disadvantage. And we don’t know where to find them. The enemy has gone silent. Going in blind makes the situation much worse.”
“I know,” Fain said.
“But we do know how to find them,” Pycca said. “That’s all I’ve been working on, and I think I’m already there. I just haven’t been able to test it.”
Fain looked at Pycca, feeling his eyebrows furrow, and she nodded. He wondered if she really had finished the device. But Pycca cleared it all up with a simple nod.
“Kya, if you don’t mind,” Fain said, “can you show the map Noble Saavan gave us?”
“Sure,” Kya said as she neared Fain and raised a pedestal from the floor. “Just give me a few seconds to modify it so that it looks like something we can all understand.”
Seconds later, a large map of the Milky Way galaxy appeared before them.
“This is where we are,” Kya said as she zoomed in on the map and focused on one of the galaxy’s arms that was relatively near the core. “And according to the Acram leader, he estimates them to be somewhere around here.” She zoomed out and then zoomed back in between two outer arms, where there was little to no star formation. “Around 12 thousand lightyears away.”
Fain made the calculation in his head. He knew that at the theoretical maximum, Sodenia could travel at .82 to .90 lightyears per hour. That put them at fourteen hours away.
“That’s quite some distance there,” Truman said. “And it’s also unknown territory. What is it that you propose?”
Unknown territory is an understatement, Fain thought. Here was a fairly new civilization, unique to themselves, trying to fly 12 thousand lightyears away from their home planet to fight a war in order to survive.
“I want to take half of the fleet with me, including both of the jump gates. We’ll set up one of the gates pointing back to Earth at its maximum coverage distance of eight thousand lightyears, and the other we’ll set up less than a lightyear away from the edge of the Immortals’ territory. Once there, and if we can find them”—Fain glanced at Pycca, and she nodded—“we’ll send programmed probes via the second gate with a one-way communication signal back to us. And if there’s a shot, anything at all, we’ll take it. If not, we’ll come back and get ready for the end.”
“Let’s not talk about the end just yet,” Green said. “But don’t you think that the probes will be detected right away and we won’t get a chance to study the enemy?”
“We can also make the probes look like space debris,” Kya said. “Like old Herrion space debris, they could be broadcasting back to us in the Herrion language. The Immortals would still find out what was happening, but I think it would give us enough time.”
“I like that idea,” August said. “The only thing I don’t get is, why take half the fleet with us? Can’t Sodenia do this by itself? I mean, it’s not like—”
Fain shot a stare at August, interrupting him.
Dammit, Fain thought. Leave it to August to expose a hole in the plan. A weak point that Fain was planning to exploit. Everything Fain was saying was indeed part of his plan, but it was just a facade for what Fain was really planning.
“That’s correct,” Truman said. “All the firepower in the entire ESAF fleet cannot rival that of Sodenia. I don’t think it comes close. This mission is extremely dangerous as it is.”
“The purpose of taking half of the fleet with us is logistical,” Kya said. “Aside from the careful placement of the jump gates, we also need a way to carry them within Sodenia’s FTL bubble. We’ll need to attach a minimum of three carrier frigate-class ships to each gate.�
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Without knowing the extent of Fain’s true plan, Kya had intervened, and she had a far better answer than anything he was planning to say.
“I see,” Truman said. “So, this is the best we’ve got?”
“There might also be a way to immobilize the enemy,” Kya said. “The small old-tech machine that was used on me in the restaurant can also be used on them. With a few minor adjustments. I’m fairly sure of this. We just need to mass-produce it.”
“OK, this is sounding better,” Green said. “Do we have all the materials on Earth? Can our building facility take care of it?”
“We do,” Kya said as she nodded. “And it can.”
“Send me the list of what you need,” Green said, “and I’ll start sourcing it. And, well, you…you make sure the computers down here do as you say.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Kya said.
“Well, let’s get moving on this,” Truman said. “The time we have to prepare ourselves is not guaranteed. We’ll determine when to launch the attack once we are ready. As Fain said earlier, if we don’t do something now, we might not get to do it at all. But I want everyone in this room to keep thinking, to keep imagining. There might be something better we can do. Let’s get to work.”
“We will, sir,” Fain said.
Truman and Green nodded, and they both turned off their video feed simultaneously.
As much as Fain wanted to be hopeful after Truman’s words, deep down he knew that there wouldn’t be any way around it. They’d have to face the Immortals.
“Sodenia, this is your captain,” Fain said as he pressed the coms button on the center console of the bridge. “Your new tasks will be assigned by your COs. Look for them tonight on your task managers. Let’s get ready for a change of shift.” He let go of the button, and the crowd on the bridge began to disperse.
When Fain turned around, the first person he saw in front of him was Larissa.
“Hey,” Larissa said softly.
“Hey,” Fain said back.