Sodenia's War Box Set

by Luigi Robles

  After walking for half an hour in the corridors, August finally got on board a pod and hurried to the bridge. Once there, he found the same flight crew waiting for him, just minus Fain and the professor. August had never really liked Professor Jonathan; there’s was something dark about him, something he was hiding. But he also knew that they needed the professor. There was no one more qualified than him to deal with the Acram language, and maybe that was a bad thing. One of the hundreds of errors committed by the ESAF.

  But who can blame them? August thought. This is our first everything: our first contact with an alien lifeform; our first time being attacked by things other than our own greed; the first time we have thought that the world might actually end.

  “So, tell us what happened,” Larissa demanded as August walked in and made his way to the center console.

  “The council removed Fain as captain and made me the substitute captain instead,” August said, defeated. “I am to follow their directions to the letter, without question, or I too will be removed from the position and replaced with someone who will follow orders. According to the council, Fain was too much of a maverick when he decided to ignore their orders.”

  “What? They can’t do that,” Eora said. “It’s because of Fain that we are even alive. I’m going to give the council a piece of my mind.”

  “Settle down, Eora,” August said, with a low voice and furrowed brows. “That won’t help us. I could not agree with you more, but you know that the council thinks of us as numbers, as expendable. We cannot afford another one of us being removed from our positions. I know I can’t.”

  “We have to do something, August. We can’t just leave things like this,” Eora said. “Fain is our captain.”

  “I knew they were bad news from the beginning,” Pycca said, visibly irritated. “And where is Fain now?”

  “Pycca, I think we should watch what we say and do,” Larissa said.

  “I agree with Larissa,” August said. “Fain was sent to the detention bay, in the lower part of the ship. He is the only one there, so he shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

  “So, what’s the plan now?” Pycca asked stiffly.

  “We’ll wait, and in the meantime, we will follow Fain’s plan to linger near the moon and hope that there aren’t any other hostiles coming,” August said. “Until I receive further orders from the council, if any. As of now, they are too busy trying to negotiate with Earth to let us go back.”

  “To let us go back?” Pycca asked. “And why in hell aren’t we allowed to go back to Earth now?”

  “Because the governing bodies on Earth put two and two together and figured that Sodenia itself is what the aliens are after,” August said. “Or at least that’s the way it looks. That’s one of the reasons they took such drastic actions against Fain. They didn’t want us to leave Earth at all, even if we had to face the enemy there.”

  “Leaving Earth so that we wouldn’t endanger others was the only logical thing to do,” Eora said. “We all saw the destruction the Acram left behind the first time around. And they wanted us to just stay there? What the f—”

  “Eora,” Larissa interrupted.

  “And what if Sodenia isn’t what they ultimately want? We don’t know for sure,” Pycca argued. “What if next time around they attack Earth directly since we are not there. Are they then going to want us back? What a piece of sh—”

  “Pycca,” Larissa interrupted. “I can’t stress this enough: We have to watch what we are saying.”

  Then August and the others fell silent.

  The moon was displayed on the main view screen, but its majestic beauty was overshadowed by the mood on the bridge. Everyone was visibly irate, some pacing back and forth, some with their hands crossed, and others with their hands clenched. August leaned against the center console, quietly trying to think. It was clear that none of them on the bridge were big fans of the council. But there was nothing they could do for now.

  “Look, I don’t like the situation either, but for now, this is all we can do,” August said. “Let’s use this clear radar time to our advantage and freshen up. The hour is late; we will need some shut-eye. Especially you, Larissa; you were hit the hardest today. There’s nothing showing on the radars as far as we can detect, so we can assume that we are safe for the time being. Just remember what Colonel Green told each and every one of us before we came on board Sodenia.”

  The crew nodded, and he noticed a difference within them, as if each one of them had come up with a plan in their mind.

  “Kya, you have the bridge,” August said. “Please notify us if there are any changes on the radars. As for the other personnel on the bridge, take some rest. Your relievers will be here shortly. And I want everyone to be ready to get to the bridge at a moment’s notice. Dismissed.”

  August’s words had a positive effect on the flight crew, and he knew exactly which words were responsible for that. Before Colonel Green had led them on board Sodenia, he had said to each of them, The time will come when you will have to make your own decisions for the sake of humanity, and when that time comes, I hope you make the right decision.

  Instead of going to freshen up and take some much-needed rest, August went straight to the detainment bay. Thanks to Sodenia’s pod system, it didn’t take him long to get there. The detainment bay wasn’t large at all, at least compared to the rest of Sodenia. It had sixty cells that could hold up to ten persons each. All the lights in the detainment bay were dimmed except for one.

  “Well, you are not hard to find,” August said as he got near the cell Fain was in.

  “Kya, can you…?” Fain said.

  “I already have,” Kya said. “I took the liberty of looping their surveillance and audio of the detention bay and recreating a copy of Captain August asleep in his quarters.”

  August wasn’t particularly stunned to learn that his theory about the council spying on them was correct. He had always known that he would find out one way or another. But what did stun him was finding out that Kya was in on it. He had always thought it was through her that the council spied on them.

  “Hey, are you alright? You look like you’ve been hit by a car,” August said as he looked at Fain for the first time. “Want me to call a doctor? I’ll have one here in no time.”

  Fain had blood on half of his uniform, and it was less than pristine, with a tear near his stomach and blood seeping through the side of his biceps.

  “You should see the other guy,” Fain said with a slight smile. “But no, that won’t be necessary. It looks worse than it feels. In a few hours, the pain will go away. I have always healed pretty quickly.”

  “So, Kya is on our side?”

  “Forgive me for not revealing that detail earlier,” Kya said. “But it was necessary for me to remain neutral, as it might reveal the true situation. The council is highly paranoid; any change will make them suspicious.”

  Fain nodded and smiled as he rested the back of his head on the wall.

  “So, I’m substitute captain now,” August said.

  “It’s good that they made you captain,” Fain said. “I can’t think of anyone else to take my place up there. It’s especially good that they didn’t make one of their goons captain, because if that was the case, we could just kiss this world goodbye.”

  “But it’s not so good,” August said, “because everyone else’s life depends on me. I don’t think I can do half of what you can do. You are a far better pilot than I am.”

  “Nonsense. Don’t think that way or else you will really put us in danger,” Fain said. “Just do what you think you can do. If you engage in combat with the enemy, my combat skills should be the last thing on your mind. Plus, I don’t foresee the enemy attacking us anytime soon. They are still analyzing any information that they were able to gather. And besides, you are far from being alone, and I’m not dead.”

  “I guess you are right,” August said. “If they attack, what should I do?”

  “Do what you
think is right; follow your gut; don’t think twice. Unless your plan is to ram the aliens, or something that will get us killed, then yeah, think again,” Fain said, tapping the back of his head against the wall. “But in all seriousness, rely on the flight crew, Larissa, Pycca, and especially Eora. She knows what she is doing when it comes to the weapons on Sodenia. And you have Kya. But I’m guessing that fighting the enemy will be the least of your worries when the stupid council’s orders start coming in. I have a feeling that they will attempt to interfere, and that is dangerous.”

  “But what can we do?” August asked. “If I veer from what they are ordering me to do, I will end up here with you.”

  “Yeah, if we don’t get blown up first,” Fain said. “The truth is that there’s nothing we can do, at least not now, when they have power over so many officers. We don’t know who is on our side and who isn’t.”

  “Shouldn’t we try to get you out of here?” August asked.

  “No, we don’t have leverage right now,” Fain said. “You’ll know when the time is right to come get me. One of their loyal guards has the codes to this place. They’re analog, so Kya and I can’t crack them.”

  “Are you sure?” August asked.

  “Yeah,” Fain said. “Don’t worry.”

  “Alright, I will do what I can,” August said as he got ready to leave. But he was hesitant to leave Fain alone.

  “Go on and get some rest,” Fain said. “You are going to need it.”

  August left the detention bay without saying another word. He felt bad for Fain and what had happened. To think that doing something good for humanity got you rewarded with a big pile of shit. He wanted to go find the guard that held Fain’s cell codes and force him to open the door. But he knew that wouldn’t lead to anything good, no matter how much Sodenia needed Fain as a captain. Resignation and reasoning quickly took over, prompting August to return to his quarters.

  “The loop in the detention bay will be returned to normal in three seconds,” Kya said. “Once you enter your quarters, I will return the feed there back to normal.”

  “Thank you, Kya,” August said.

  August lay in his bed, exhausted, with the world around him fading away with each minute that passed by. But despite his weariness, his mind didn’t let him fall asleep. He knew that his ultimate test would soon come, and when it did, it would take everything he had to survive it.

  At first, he tried to think about war strategy, about all the things he had learned in the ESAF program. But soon he found that instead of putting him to sleep, it was waking him up. Evoking maps and tactics was a sure way to keep anyone awake.

  Then he began remembering simpler times in his life, when he hadn’t heard yet of the ESAF or any aliens. He remembered the sweet, sweet smell of his mom’s pancakes in the morning. He found himself wishing he could just go back to that time and tell his parents how much he loved them. How much he appreciated what they did for him, and everything they went through for him.

  August was one of the thousands of children that became orphans mere days after the Acram’s first attack. It was discovered that wherever the Acram made battle, a powerful virus that affected the immune system of adults spread. Sometimes it spread even ten or twenty miles away from the battle zone. If left untreated, the virus was lethal, killing within days. By the second week after the Acram’s first attack, the virus had infected almost thirty thousand people, but only the first few thousand fell victim to the virus before the universal vaccine was developed. August’s parents were among the first infected.

  “Mom, Dad…” August murmured. “I miss you guys. I miss you so much. Not a day goes by without you in my mind.” August had found the strength he needed to carry on. He thought of the reasons he enlisted in the first place. “I will fight them and give it my all.”

  A single tear slid down August’s cheek before he fell asleep.

  9

  Strong

  After being dismissed from the bridge, Larissa couldn’t afford to go to her quarters and freshen up; that would have to wait. She had a lot on her plate, but she didn’t blame August for completely forgetting about the extra two thousand people on board. She knew that the boy had a lot on his mind. It was best if he concentrated on how to deal with the enemy and she on how to keep the people on board Sodenia alive.

  Before Sodenia had left on its first flight, Larissa found herself doing the impossible. Pushing and pulling pallets of supplies one after another. Coordinating with the workers and people of the facility, running around and making sure that everyone would make it on board. Now her body was in pain and tired; she was fairly certain that one of her knees was beginning to swell up. Regardless, she was grateful for her position.

  She took a pod towards Sodenia’s cargo area, where the majority of people from the facility were. The cargo area used to look huge, but now, with two thousand people standing about, it looked sort of small compared to the rest of Sodenia. As she neared, she was able to feel the change in temperature due to the large amount of bodies.

  “Kya, can you overrule the thermostat and make it a bit cooler in here,” Larissa said as she walked towards the crowd. “We don’t want to make things worse for these people.”

  She knew that the decisions she was about to make would be unpopular with most of the working-class officers of the ship. But they would have to suck it up, at least for the time being, until they could return to Earth safely.

  The facility people are going to be the most vulnerable throughout all of this, she thought as she walked around the huge crowd of people. They are the ones that don’t know their way around the ship, or anything about it.

  “Kya, can you patch me through to Officer Rick O.?” Larissa asked.

  Within seconds, there was a response on Larissa’s wristband. “Yes, ma’am, how can I help you?” Rick said.

  “Were you able to get an exact head count?” Larissa asked.

  “Yes, ma’am; there’s a total of 2,860 people on board the ship from the facility, and as far as Sodenia personnel, they all show as present on the computer.”

  “Come meet me by the entrance to the cargo area of Sodenia,” Larissa said. “Bring your best officers with you; we have a lot of work to do.”

  It didn’t take long for Rick and the other officers to get to where Larissa was. Rick had brought twelve officers with him.

  This is good, she thought.

  “OK, listen up,” Larissa said. “We have to give these people a place to stay, a place they can eat, and a place they can call theirs, at least until we get back to Earth. Sodenia can only hold 5,500 people in the four apartment complexes, buildings A, B, C, and D. We assigned 4,200 people to apartments prior to departure. However, that was assuming that things would go as planned. But they didn’t, and now we have 7,060 people on board.”

  Larissa extended a small screen on her wristband and did some quick calculations. She hummed, trying to stay in a positive mood, while her fingers danced around the tiny screen.

  “So, if my calculations are correct,” Larissa said, “which they are, make no mistake… To accommodate everyone in the best way we can… Wait, I better say this in a way that everyone can hear me.

  “Kya, intercom, please, for the cargo area and all the officers with assigned apartments.”

  “Whenever you are ready,” Kya replied.

  “Attention, officers previously assigned apartments and ESAF facility members. In order to best accommodate the current situation, we will dedicate building A to the people that came from the facility, two people per room. The remaining one hundred and ten will float over to building B. Officers that were assigned to building A and the first fifty-five apartments in building B will float back, sharing a room with the person in the nearest apartment. As long as there are two officers per apartment, we should be OK. I hope you understand that this is only temporary.”

  Some of the officers that Rick had brought over took it in stride, and it was clearly visible that they were
happy, no doubt already making plans to bunk with their buddies. But others weren’t as happy. Larissa decided to call them out and cut any potential problem at the source.

  “Are there any objections?” Larissa asked. “If so, I’d like to hear them.”

  Two of the officers in the group stepped forward, their hands clenched. They didn’t look happy. Rick stepped in front of Larissa to remind the officers of their position, but Larissa gestured for Rick to stop and said, “That won’t be necessary, Rick. Let them voice their concerns.”

  “How are you going to take away our apartments just like that?” one of the officers said. “You take our apartments away while you and the higher-ranking officers will remain on the upper decks in the luxurious suites? I don’t think so! Why don’t you give up your suite or quarters or whatever you want to call it? I’m sure you can fit ten or twenty people in there.”

  “You fools,” Rick shouted. “I knew that you two were ignorant, but this goes beyond that. Don’t you know that?”

  “It’s OK, Rick, I’ll take it from here. Both of you, identify yourselves before you address me,” Larissa said with a calm voice. She was used to being obeyed and never having to repeat herself.

  Her words were like a whip to the officers, and they quickly straightened up and snapped to attention.

  “Verrol P. Ribbons, deck officer,” the one who had spoken said.

  “Christof Reels, deck officer,” the other one said.

  Larissa knew that if she allowed any sort of flexibility, she would lose any and all power she had over them.

  “I’ll take the time to answer this in case it comes up again, even when time is of the essence,” Larissa said, stepping up to the two. “In case you have forgotten, I am Lieutenant Commander Larissa Drewner, the general manager on board Sodenia. I am responsible for all of you and everyone on board this ship. The food you’ll eat, the water you’ll drink, and even the air you breathe all have to be approved by me, among hundreds of other things. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me explain this. The original plan the council on board Sodenia had was to put four officers in one apartment, since the apartments themselves aren’t exactly small. I was the one that got the council to agree to use all four apartment complexes.”