by Luigi Robles
It was 0400 hours by the time Fain and Kya had gotten Sodenia ready to go. With the threat of the Immortals looming, Fain made the decision to leave the rest of the ESAF fleet behind to protect Earth. In the event that anything were to happen while Sodenia was away, Earth would at least have a slim chance versus not having one at all. As Fain walked towards the bridge, he saw a familiar figure standing next to the main entrance. It was Pycca.
“Aww, crap,” Fain muttered as he approached. “So, this is happening now?”
“Captain Jegga,” Pycca said as she walked towards Fain. “May I have a word with you before you enter the bridge? I promise it’ll be brief.” She opened a nearby meeting room. “I know that we’re pressed for time, but since there’s no immediate danger, this is also important.”
“Looks like I don’t have much choice in the matter,” Fain said as he walked into the small meeting room.
Pycca walked in after him and closed the door. She stood in front of Fain, arms crossed, impatiently tapping her foot on the floor.
“Well?” Pycca asked.
Fain detested this sort of broad question, where the answer could be literally anything. And no matter what the answer was, it would be wrong. So he decided to play it safe. He shrugged.
“I guess I should start, since you don’t know where to,” Pycca said, eyebrows furrowed. “So, how was the pizza?”
“We didn’t get a chance to taste it,” Fain said with a sigh, knowing that things could have started off much worse.
“I heard you and Kya were dressed for the occasion. So, was it a date or something?”
“We went out to eat. She deserves to see the world just as much as any one of us. This time it just happened to be with me. Before we could try the pizza, we were attacked, I was nearly stabbed, and she was nearly killed.”
Pycca let out a long sigh, and her foot stopped stomping.
“Are you OK? Is she OK?” Pycca asked, changing her tone of voice to one of concern.
“Nothing happened to me, but maybe that’s because they weren’t after me. Their target was Kya, and that girl Joan managed to take Kya down with this contraption.” Fain formed a small ball with his hands. “It was so small but so powerful.”
“I know, I heard it was a persistent form of EMP. Did you bring it with you?”
“Yes, Kya believes that with some alterations we can possibly turn it on the Immortals. Would you help us take a look at that?”
“You know I would. You don’t have to ask.”
“Good, at this point we need everything we can get. Maybe something will eventually work.”
“Maybe… Fain, there’s something else I’ve been wanting to talk to you about. Something that to me is more important because it will define my life, our life.”
Fain felt his heart flutter and his stomach tighten.
“I’m here.” Fain took in a deep breath, knowing that this would be one of the toughest conversations he would ever have. “I’m listening.”
“What were you thinking? Is it really that easy to surrender your own life when some dumb alien asks for it? Like, screw everyone else that depends on you, and royally screw me, right?”
“It wasn’t that easy; it wasn’t easy at all. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. How did you think I felt? Knowing that before us was an alien that the combined firepower of four spaceships didn’t even make a mark on. Knowing that that same alien had disabled the ships and Doka’s anti-aircraft heavy artillery. I’ll answer that for you. I felt insignificant. And when that same alien offered to spare you guys, to spare you, it felt like it was an easy bargain. I didn’t want to hesitate when I had a chance to save your lives.”
“Fain, you’re smarter than that! You know that you can count on us, and Kya was there. We weren’t leaving you alone. You would’ve died for nothing, and then what? Earth would be so screwed. You think you are easily replaced?”
“I would have died in order to give you a chance, to give Earth a chance. August would do just fine as captain, and you would’ve learned what we know now about them, versus all of us dying just because I wanted to live. That doesn’t seem fair to me.”
Fain’s eyes began to water, and so did Pycca’s.
“Just fine isn’t good enough, Fain, and you know that. And what about me? I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to replace you, and what about you? You have your whole life ahead of you. Our life is ahead of us. You can’t be jumping into the edge of the knife just because you feel defeated. You have to learn to push beyond that. Especially with the odds we face now. When you think it’s over, it’s not over. I promise you that even if it takes everything, even if it takes all of us, we’ll find a way.”
Fain had a lump in his throat. He knew that Pycca was right. She was right in every sense of the matter.
“Now I need you to promise me something,” Pycca continued as she rubbed her eyes.
Seeing Pycca go through this broke Fain’s heart. He hated himself for having hurt her this way. He didn’t want to see her suffer or go through heartache. If only there was a way he could just take everything she was feeling and feel it for her so she wouldn’t have to.
“What is it?” Fain asked softly.
“I need you to promise me that you won’t do that again, no matter what. I can’t live with myself if it’s going to be that easy for me to lose you.”
“I can’t do that; it will always be you before me.”
“Dammit, Fain,” Pycca said as she sobbed. “Why does it have to be like that?” She tossed her hands up. “Then I’m going to fucking do the same thing, and you have no right to tell me what to do.”
The realization that Pycca might very well end up sacrificing her life in order to save Fain made him realize that above all else he didn’t want that. Fain took a step towards Pycca and fully embraced her. She wrapped her arms around him as well.
“I promise,” Fain whispered.
“You promise what?” Pycca asked, looking up and meeting Fain’s gaze. “I’m not stupid. Be specific.”
“I promise that I won’t sacrifice myself in order to save us, or anyone,” Fain said in a low voice.
“It’s us, it’s always us,” Pycca said, her voice normalizing. “We’ll do whatever we can to the extent that we can. Together. And if we fail, we fail together. No one jumps into the blade. Do you understand that?”
“I do,” Fain said as he held Pycca’s face in his hands and wiped the tears with his thumbs.
Fain thought about kissing Pycca, as he was caught in a romantic moment. But then he remembered where he was and his position, and then he remembered Mikey.
“You better, Fain Jegga, you better.”
“Let’s put this on hold for now,” Fain said as he let go of Pycca’s face slowly. “We’ll pick this up back on Earth. We have to go help Mikey.”
Pycca nodded with her eyes closed and a slight smile on her face.
Fain reached back with one hand to open the door.
“Come on, let’s go. Our friend needs us.”
“If you don’t mind, Captain, I’ll join you in a few minutes. I just need to gather myself.”
“Yeah, take your time. But we have to leave for the ISCO in five minutes. See you on the bridge.”
Fain didn’t expect to see a large alien fleet positioned near the ISCO. He expected maybe a dozen ships, but hundreds was pushing it. When he saw the large fleet on the main screen of the bridge, marked as squares, he slowed Sodenia’s approach. According to the main screen counter, there were a total of 175 ships.
For a second he thought they might be heading into a trap, but then he thought better. It would be a pretty crappy trap if it turned out to be one. The fleet of alien ships was not in defense or attack formation; they were just lined up in rows, one behind the other.
“Shields up,” Fain said from the center console of the bridge. “Weapons hot. Eora, I want you to identify any possible threat. If you find any, let me know.”
&
nbsp; “Yes, Captain,” Eora said through the coms.
A few minutes later Fain stationed Sodenia within fifty miles of the ISCO, as close as he could without causing some serious disruption to the station’s communication and gravity instruments.
“Eora, did you find anything?” Fain asked, pressing the button that allowed him to communicate with the weapons bay from the center console.
“No, not at all,” Eora said. “Their weapons are not even hot, and their shields are down. If you wanted to take out an alien fleet with little effort, now is your chance.”
“Alright, suit up,” Fain said. “Bring two of your best with you. Give instructions to keep our weapons pointed at them and inform us if the situation changes. Meet us at the docks in five.”
Fain walked away from the center console and looked around the room, deciding who to choose for an away team.
“August, she’s all yours,” Fain said. “Larissa, keep an eye on August, will you?”
“Hey,” August complained.
“Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem,” Larissa said as she nodded, looking at August with a smirk.
“I’ll have Mikey establish a direct feed to the bridge,” Fain said. “I might need everyone’s help on this one. Pycca, Kya, let’s suit up; you’re coming with me.”
Pycca stood from her station and walked towards Fain. Kya did the same, and the group began walking towards one of the bridge’s doors.
“August,” Fain said as he opened the door without looking back at the bridge. “Don’t let them shoot us down.”
They called a pod, and the group of three headed straight for the docks, where Eora and her team of two were already waiting for them. An Anvelin with a large but still mobile closet attached to it was there, with fitted spacesuits waiting for them. The mobile closet was complete with small changing rooms and an area to hang their own clothes.
“Let’s get these on,” Fain said. “We need to hurry up and help Mikey. I’m starting to get a weird feeling about this.”
“Me too,” Pycca said as she went into one of the changing rooms.
“Captain,” Eora asked from outside the changing room. “I wasn’t sure if this was a weapons kind of mission or not, but I brought them anyway.”
“According to Mikey,” Fain said as he threw on the undersuit, “there are around a dozen or so Acram subspecies on board the ISCO. To be clear, we won’t be looking for or pushing any kind of trouble. There should be no show of force on our side. But be ready, in case things go south.”
“Got it, compact weapons and shields it is.”
Fain hurried to get the spacesuit on and left the small closet, where he saw Kya already waiting for him with her own suit on. A few moments later, Pycca exited the mobile closet carrying her helmet by her side.
The group of six hurried into the shuttle, with Fain and Kya sitting upfront, Pycca sitting right behind Fain, and Eora and her group in the back of the shuttle, arming their weapons and checking their shields.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll be taking the stick,” Fain said as he adjusted the controls to him. “I need you to concentrate on scanning the area as far as our sensors can read. If this is a trap, I’d like to know before walking into it. And has Ktwo scanned the device they brought on board the ISCO?”
“The lack of movement in the Acram subspecies’ ships,” Kya said as she put away her side of the controls, “suggests that this is in fact not a trap, though an entire fleet just to deliver a message doesn’t seem right either. I’ll try to see if there’s something else I can find out. Ktwo scanned the device before she cleared it to be hauled on board the ISCO; she couldn’t find any chemical or harmful composition on it. The device appears to be solely a communications device.”
“Helmets on,” Fain said.
An audible groan was heard from the back of the shuttle as they all put their helmets on. Fain wanted them to at least have a fighting chance in the vacuum of space in case something were to happen.
He took the shuttle out of Sodenia’s dock with ease and began navigating towards the ISCO.
“ISCO,” Fain said as he pressed the coms button on the shuttle’s console, “this is Captain Fain Jegga, shuttle sierra zero two. Requesting a clear dock for landing in t-minus five minutes.”
“Fain? It’s me, Mikey.” His voice was heard throughout the shuttle. “About time you got here; the Kaneans are starting to get impatient. They have been asking when you will get here repeatedly. Go ahead and use dock two.”
“Kaneans?” Fain asked. “Is that the Acram subspecies’ name?”
“Oh yeah, that’s them, I forgot to mention it. Or at least that’s what we think they called themselves. We’ve made little progress with communication; they aren’t really cooperating.”
“OK, see you when I get there, over.”
Fain docked the small space shuttle in dock two, where Mikey and a few ambassadors were already waiting for them behind the airlock. As the shuttle locked on to the dock, the door behind it closed.
Without wasting any time, the group of six deboarded and went through the space station’s airlock system. As soon as the airlock’s lights turned green, Eora and her group were the first to remove their helmets, then Pycca and Kya and lastly Fain.
There was a group of people already waiting for them at the edge of the dock; amongst them was Mikey.
“Captain Fain Jegga,” one of the ambassadors said. “And Sodenia’s crew. Welcome to the ISCO, and thank you for coming at such short notice.”
Fain hadn’t forgotten how the ambassadors on board the ISCO had treated his friend. It wasn’t until Fain slightly intervened that the prejudiced environment had eased for Mikey.
“Director Harmon,” Fain said, referring to Mikey, though the greeting seemed to fly over Mikey’s head, as he didn’t react to his formal title. He cleared his throat as he watched Mikey narrow his eyes. “Director Harmon.”
“Oh right,” Mikey finally said, stepping forward. “Captain Jegga, Pycca, Kya, Eora and crew, thanks for coming. But I think we should hurry to the Kaneans; they are growing more impatient by the minute. I’ll take you there.”
Fain nodded.
They began to move through the station, and it wasn’t long before they saw a group of aliens Fain had never seen before. The Kaneans were just a bit taller than the average human, but nothing impressive. Their bodies were skinny, and their skin was several shades of green. They were covered in armor from head to toe; Fain wasn’t sure if they had feet. But what set them apart from any other alien species Fain had seen was the number of limbs that acted like their hands: five in total. There were three on one side of their body and two on the other, and it varied which side had the dominant amount.
The Anean with the most elaborate armor approached Fain a little faster than a friendly alien would, but it stopped just a few feet away from him. Fain didn’t flinch, despite the not-so-pleasant odor of putrid grass coming from the alien. Weapons began to hum behind Fain; he didn’t have to turn around and look to know that it was Eora and her team. Fain made a gesture with his right hand to put the weapons down or to stop what they were doing.
“Asherala manfasha sa chereoca Fain Jeeggaa,” the Anean said.
Fain looked towards Mikey and Kya, who were standing on either side of him. Mikey opened a screen on his task manager and began reading, mumbling the words. Kya shrugged slightly.
“I mean, they haven’t given us their language codex,” Mikey said hurriedly, looking at his note. “Communication with them has been slow.”
“Do you mind if I look at that?” Kya asked, turning towards Mikey.
“Yeah, here, sure,” Mikey said as he offered the task manager to Kya.
“No, you can keep it,” Kya said as she waved her hand in a dismissive way. “I can pull it up from the server; it will only take a second.”
“Oh right,” Mikey said. “I sort of knew that.”
“From what I can gather from Ktwo’s observations and Mikey�
��s notes,” Kya said, half-turning to Fain, “he is asking if you’re the eminent Fain Jegga.”
Fain didn’t know how to take the adjective given to him, but he knew that this wasn’t the time to figure it out either.
“Echelafala sheo barachala sa sha ma,” the Anean said as he gestured back towards his group. “Feshana.” Then his voice got louder as he banged on his chest with both his left hands. “Anean Fesheron Chapal.”
Even though Fain didn’t understand a word other than “Anean,” it was clear what the alien was doing: he was introducing himself to Fain. Though Fain didn’t know what his name was, because it could easily be either Fesheron or Chapal or both.
“Fain Jegga,” Fain said, moving his hand towards his chest.
Fesheron Chapal bowed and stood silent for a moment. Fain didn’t know what to do then, but it wasn’t long before Fesheron Chapal stood up straight and began walking towards the group of Kaneans, gesturing at Fain to follow.
“Well, that went remarkably well,” Pycca said as they began to follow. “Considering what could have happened.”
“I agree,” Fain said. “But it only means that we’re on the same page.”
When Fesheron Chapal got within a few feet of the Kaneans, the group made way, revealing a rather large floating alien artifact. The artifact was an oval cylinder with an array of attached antenna-like rods sticking out from its top and bottom.
“Nocher fancor,” Fesheron Chapal said, gesturing towards the artifact.
“Oh, I know that one,” Mikey said enthusiastically. “That translates to ‘node anchor.’ They drew out what it means.” Mikey turned his task manager towards Fain. It showed small circles connected by straight lines.
“Noble Saavan,” Fesheron said as he began to activate the artifact. “Aheado sea sha he.”
Saavan’s name reverberated through Fain’s head; the name carried real weight in his mind. Fain nodded, starting directly at the artifact.