Chapter Fourteen
Salvation reached Kier-en nearly six months later. During the duration of that leg of the journey, Kamael and Drellic had begun a bitter rivalry, spawned from their brief encounter with the Architects.
Kamael was convinced that Drellic was holding back information about the aliens that was putting man’s future at risk. But Drellic’s quickly developing ego had little time for his executive officer’s accusations.
He was determined to be the first to set foot on Kier-en soil, but had no interest in staying their long enough to break ground for the first settlement. Drellic would only stay until he was satisfied that those being left behind would be safe and that the first major city was under construction.
One night, about a week before Salvation arrived at Kier-en, Kamael overheard Drellic talking in his sleep, as he had walked by Drellic’s quarters and found that the door was wide open; a rare find, as Drellic had come across to the crew as being a very private man, when not giving orders.
As Kamael took a few quiet steps into the dark chamber in order to discern Drellic’s words, he distinctly heard the phrases, “The monsters await me,” and “You were right all along.”
This particular session of eavesdropping, had come after a six month stretch of Kamael’s repeated attempts, to get Drellic to disclose information about the Architect ship; which they had yet to see the likes of again. After finding Drellic tossing and turning beneath his sheets; his fearful expressions and words becoming more and more violent, Kamael had seen and heard enough.
He quietly left the room, leaving the door open, as he had found it, and reached a decision. Throughout their voyage, Kamael’s attempts to understand Drellic’s relationship with the aliens had only been met with short, uncaring answers, as well as complete disregard. But Kamael always detected a hint of fear and hesitation each time the creatures were discussed; traits uncommonly seen in Drellic.
It was these subtle flaws in Drellic’s otherwise impervious proverbial armor, which convinced Kamael that his suspicions had merit. So, for the duration of the trip to Kier-en’s orbit, Kamael silently weighed his options and felt it was in his best interest to remain on Kier-en; a decision which Drellic was more than happy to accept.
A small fleet of ferry-shaped scout ships were launched from Salvation and performed reconnaissance sweeps, across the planet. It was thought that many of the trees in Kier-en’s great forests would have to be destroyed, but a large clearing in between one of the forest continents and a snow capped mountain range, suggested otherwise.
The clearing was big enough to accommodate the specifications for the first human settlement; a preplanned city of factories, schools, hospitals, living complexes with studio apartment sized dwellings and a complex irrigation system, which would eventually be networked throughout the entire planet.
On the other side of the snowy mountains, a lonely shuttle craft landed on a beach overlooking a body of water dubbed, the Siren Sea.
Kier-en’s climate zones were very unpredictable, day to day. While snow fell atop the mountains overlooking the clearing, it was eighty degrees Fahrenheit on the beach just a few miles behind them.
Drellic and Kamael were the only two souls on board the shuttle. Drellic was naturally the first to set foot on the warm sand at the foot of the massive mountains, where he turned to see Kamael, slowly descending the ramp way behind him. It was to be the last time they would speak to one another; or so Drellic thought.
They stood side by side, overlooking the calm waters that reminded them of home; all the while listening to the rumbling of supply ships landing on the other side of the snowy peaks.
“I’ve asked you here as a favor to me,” Kamael began. “You’ve been hiding something all this time. You put your crew at risk; not to mention the future of all our people. I feel that I at least deserve to know the truth; especially if I am to be the shepherd for this new society.”
“That was a charge you elected for yourself,” Drellic calmly replied.
“Don’t change the subject,” Kamael snapped. “You’re not the man you used to be. And you haven’t been ever since you saw that ship, six months ago. You’ve changed. That’s why I took this job; because you’re a liar and a threat. I’m not spending one second longer, sharing a command with you.”
Drellic’s heart then grew cold, as he took a few steps closer to Kamael; looking him in the eye, as the wind picked up, blowing sand at Kamael’s chest.
“The only reason you are still breathing at this very moment, is because I know you are the best choice to lead these people into their new lives,” Drellic sternly began.
“But make no mistake. You can believe what you want, but the fact of the matter is that you would not be standing here right now, if it wasn’t for me.”
Kamael smiled and replied, “Be thankful that you’re only taking a skeleton crew, back home with you. There will be less blood on your hands that way.”
“Goodbye, Kamael,” Drellic said, as he turned his back and slowly ascended the ramp way, back into the ship.
“I will be sure to inform the Prime Minister of your heroic actions, upon my return,” Drellic added, sarcastically, just before the ramp way retracted and he was sealed inside the cabin.
Kamael then watched Drellic’s shuttle rocket away towards Salvation; still in orbit around the planet. There was a hint of sadness in his eyes. For as much as he had grown to despise Drellic, he couldn’t help but pray for his safe return home.
“No man deserves a cold grave amongst the stars,” Kamael thought to himself, just before calling for transportation back to the new settlement.
The thousands of people left behind on the surface of Kier-en, watched Salvation leave for Siren that night, from the warm glows of their campfires. One Siren year later, Drellic returned home; but only to discover a world he barely recognized.
Around the halfway point of the return trip, Drellic received word from his mother that the insurgency had murdered the majority of government officials on both Siren and Tyrran, in a coordinated strike, whose names were not specified before the transmission was lost.
After receiving that disheartening message, Drellic found that all communication with his home system had been completely cut off. It wasn’t until he came within visual range of Bouldon, Tyrran and Siren, that he learned why that was.
While on a course to pass near Bouldon, at an angle where all three domains of man were visible to him at once, Drellic’s crew saw what they could only describe as the sight that ended all hope.
Hundreds of Architect Planet Farmers, identical to the one encountered by Drellic on his way to Kier-en, had appeared in orbit around the three domains of man. And while he listened to the screaming and panicking of the officers around him, Drellic himself, had no reaction.
He calmly sat in the commander’s chair, while chaos ensued around him, staring complacently at the close range projection of the alien ships. A moment later, he closed his eyes while letting out a long exhale, before using a keypad on the arm of his chair to turn off the projector.
The crew then instantly became silent. They watched Drellic lean forward in his chair and stare lifelessly at the floor, not saying a word.
“What are our orders, sir?” a young female officer asked him.
To which Drellic simply replied, “Survive.”
The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three Page 69