by Boris Mosso
With a mixture of sadness Tronius recalled, proud and worried, that even the ex-crewmen over eighty years old came to the desperate call to arms, which became into the Twelfth fleet’s improvised crewmen.
Suddenly, images from other times troubling the Astral came to his mind. Times filled with never-ending and devastating battles. He figured that now they lived the worse one of them all; one that could define the galaxy’s own existence, extinguishing the Astral’s life forever.
In ancient times the war encompassed a huge portion of the great spiral, although never in the current invasion’s scale.
By imposing common sense, all the solar systems, the alliances and the empires, began to adhere to a general peace agreement, and things changed radically.
He yearned the long historic spiritual growth and harmony period preceded after the Scardian’s invasions. With limited cooperation and sometimes not too enthusiastic, but peaceful after all, between the different galactic cultures from this side of the great spiral. Occasionally interrupted by some casual battle or a regional skirmish between primitive planets from the same space area.
They only suffered three wars substantially extended at that time. The biggest which involved Espacia upon defending an old and weak ally. The galactic reform’s bloody war prior to five hundred years ago, and where the empires and their small allies got embroiled for the last time in a conflict of galactic scale trying to implement a supremacy, that ultimately nobody obtained.
The last flare-up in the Astral occurred thirty-five years before, and Espacia was about to get involved in it. Tronius sadly remembered that at that time he was in a fleet’s spaceship with the current First Counselor, who, at his not apparent eighty-five years, was at that time an intermediate Council’s Diplomatic Service Officer; trying to prevent the tragedy of war reaching the Solarian System. At that time, Tronius was a reserved and efficient Captain in a Black Star destroyer. As an Espacian secret hero, he was assigned to transport and protect the Diplomatic Committee sent by Isban de Miediaret, the First Counsellor at that time, to the Nopra Binary System.
After all, the adventure turned out to be a dangerous voyage of an only Espacian spaceship to the very core of the powerful potential enemy which intended to invade the Solarian System in a near future.
It was then that the unwavering friendship between the two pro-men from Espacia was formed.
Suddenly, his unrest focused on the immediate fate from his crewmen in the following hours. They trusted him blindly; that idea always provoked him stressful disagreements. On the one hand, it caused him to set any personal consideration aside. Which he did during a big part of his life in pursuit of protecting his people. And on the other, the burden of the lives depending from his decisions overwhelmed him. One of his mistakes could cost the life of millions of crewmen in a matter of minutes.
But today, a third force burst forth inside of him and it demanded an amount of his soul. Lena’s sudden appearance disrupted everything, throwing him off into another direction, and now, at few minutes before leaping into Vintar’s Constellation, his spirit filled with doubts dividing him bitterly.
He saw himself reflected on the screen and upon looking at his eyes, he found out that he loved Lena. He felt like dropping everything and flying in his Vector to join his daughter’s expedition and protect her while he had breath in his body. A deep and familiar voice snapped him out of his painful wild imagination in the observation ramp.
—Sir… are you okay?
—Yes, Tribar. I need authorization for the leap, now. If we’re going to confront these scumbags… it should be right now. I don’t want to do something folly.
—We’re forced to wait, Admiral.
—Very well, coordinates Tribar. We need leap coordinates.
He turned to the transparent screens again with his hands behind his back. They desperately need me at the Vintar Constellation, as every minute that goes by, tens of thousands of beings belonging to a melting pot of more than a hundred different breeds, die horribly in the Atirov System.
Tribar glanced at him, guessing exactly the admiral’s tortuous thoughts. He has known him all his life and had been with him in secret expeditions more than forty years ago. That solitary man was his friend also. Few people knew him as he did or had the remotest idea of what today’s Supreme Admiral, had done for Espacia in the past, being just a novice Officer.
Tronius scanned towards the middle of the Astral, tracking the Vintar Constellation, as if he could see the combats’ lights at a distance. Something impossible to do since he was at one thousand three hundred and eighty light years away.
Another friend’s name came into mind for a moment, missing General Commander, Orben Drak, who had deserted and taking the Twenty Fifth battle group with him, joining a handful of Espacian renegades in the Scardian Constellation. He immediately felt guilty upon remembering that Drak had followed his secret commands when leaving.
He hoped not to miss those forces which, if they represented one percent of the fleet, they were one of the best battle groups.
At a distance and on the right side of his panorama, he began to see many flashes, hundreds of them.
—Sir, we have real-time communication with the First Counselor, Lusten De Kraun. He requests to speak to you privately.
—Connect me.
Those flashes were produced fifteen seconds before in Cratias’ close orbit under the first rings. At the same time, the war fleet had also approached Cratias in the past hours.
The natural colors clear hologram formed a short distance away from him in the transparent platform. A distinguished and tall man, gray-haired and slipped into a dark blue tunic dimly sparkling and posing a youthful face, despite his one hundred twenty years old, watched him with a tired look. His voice was low and clear.
—Admiral…
—My respects, First Counselor De Kraun.
—Admiral, as you can already see from your location, the first evacuation spaceships are now crossing by the escape leap spot. You know we’ll be back to hyperspace several times, to unknown coordinates for you all, even for us right now.
—First Counselor, I very well know it. We are ready on our part to cross to Atirov’s System and show resistance to the invader. We’re waiting for the decoy sensors to authorize us.
—Upon De Kraun speaking, he seemed not to answer to Tronius’ statement. His tone of voice was extremely sad and the experienced Admiral, who knew the First Counselor almost all his life, felt that the old man’s spirit and dedicated Espacian Officer was very close to fall apart. He’d never heard him speak that way, not even in the most peak points in recent Espacian history.
—My dear Tronius… today is the most bitter day of my life and maybe in all our long history also. However, I hear you speaking and it appears to me I’m hearing the determined voice of our fireproof heroes from yesteryear. Admiral Ebanion’s voice or the legendary STF General Estratias, who defended Espacia in the Scardian invasions times and from many others, after the galactic reform war. In those ancestral and terrible times but remaining still etched in our collective memory. I appear to hear their firm and determined voices in yours. If there’s any hope to defeat this pervasive invader, it’s because of you men; it’s because you exist, Tronius.
We don’t have any other way out, we must go into combat.
—Tronius, we still don’t know the future of our civilization from now on. We don’t know if we’ll ever go back to our beloved Solarian System, or if other more fortunate generations and blessed by our wise benevolent Ancestrals’ founders, will do it. That’s why I need to express my appreciation to all the people, in this sad moment at this bitter hour. To you and to the millions of our fleet’s crewmembers and warriors, who will lean on your tactical wisdom and on the technological means accumulated during hundreds of years, whose purpose might have been at the end of this evolutionary journey, to give us an option to prevail as a species and help our brothers in the Astral galaxy.
> —Sir, we have been called to go to combat and that’s what we’ll do. You will take our people to some faraway place in the galaxy. We’ll have peace of mind with your deliverance. You must protect yourselves at all costs from this curse fallen upon us.
—It will only be for a while; we must discover the way to stop this abysmal threat. Maybe the unthinkable happens, Admiral. The search for the object will begin in less than an hour.
—With all due respect, you know my position about that incursion and everything related to that mysterious object; despite that, I am and will always be eternally thankful for allowing Lena into the mission.
—I owed it to you and our planetary system also. The venture is important, and the new captain complies with all the requirements to take it forward; her record is exemplary… alike yours, Tronius.
—She should not know anything about me, much less in the middle of this critical moment. Even so, I must confess that I would give anything to be with her right now… to hug her and protect her. I would follow her to the end of the universe if I could.
—I know, it was a matter of days for your generous but restrained and tortured spirit to recover the memory of the lost love from the corners of your past. Lena is your daughter, but she’s also Inia’s… That’s how it should be.
—True.
—If fate and the Ancestors allow it, you’ll meet again. I’m sure that it was Inia, who from the parallel universe, drove them to the re-encounter… It will reunite you the same way again.
—Lena shouldn’t know anything, there will be no way for her to understand… I don’t even understand how she reappeared after forty years not knowing about her existence. Although some nights I dreamt with a little girl… some years ago, it might have been her.
—I remember you telling me more than once…
—Lusten, Lena is my daughter and I’ve lived without her all my life, its unbearably painful.
De Kraun had a hard time hiding his sadness and shame which his old friend’s confession caused him, as he always had known it.
—I understand.
—It’s late for her to find out, this would only lead her towards confusion and suffering.
—She won’t know anything. For now, she’ll be informed of her new command, leading an important mission for Espacia and its allies, which is a fact. Have faith Admiral, she might bring us our deliverance.
—I solely have faith in my warriors, my robotic spaceships and my antimatter torpedoes; but she’s better off as far as possible. Although I also understand how dangerous that incursion to the deep cosmos is. On the other hand, I don’t deny the selfishness of this action, understanding that under my command, there are sons of billions of evacuees. They’re watching and waiting fearfully that at any time thousands of light years, might separate them forever. I’ve never done anything for her, since I didn’t know about her existence until a few days ago. This is the only thing I’ll be able to do for Lena in this life. It’s very likely that I will never see her again.
—Tronius, they really don’t know for sure that you were the one that saved our Solar System forty years ago, and that you helped prevent a horrible battle in Espacia a couple of years afterwards. You’ve had a wonderful life, distinguished and exemplary, although always burdened by a secret pain which was far from being understood or healed by your fellow humans; you gave us full life and peace. We never gave you anything, that’s the least we can do for you… They’re debts never settled by our civilization, Tronius.
—You don’t owe me anything. Besides, you were there as well as Professor Trivian also. Both of you helped in preventing that war.
—Because I was there, I know who you’ve been, who you are and what we owe you my great friend.
—Tronius perceived a slight break in the First Counselor’s voice. After a brief silence, the old man continued speaking:
—No, Tronius, we owe you everything and today, Espacia and the Solarian System is sending you once more to the worst place in the galaxy, to defend our values and prevent our extermination.
Both images, a real one and the other holographic shook against each other for a few seconds.
—There’s no more time anymore to remember our old adventures, a long day awaits both of us, especially for you. Tronius it’s time to leave.
The hologram moved. It seemed that De Kraun wanted to hug Tronius for an instant, but it stopped. The Admiral understood him.
—Tronius… my friend.
—Good bye, Lusten.
The First Counselor stood up with his impressing height, displaying greater assurance and solemnity to his words. He made the final effort to end the farewell with the greatest dignity possible.
—Admiral Tronius, the magnificent prime fleet’s Solarian System’s Supreme Commander. May you be victorious!
—So be it, noble First Counselor! Go in peace!
After a few seconds the hologram disappeared, Tronius was barely able to take his eyes off the infinite and far away light points, which showed his civilization’s massive departure.
He still couldn’t believe that his old and endearing friend, Espacia’s First Counselor and the System’s highest authority, would keep believing in archaic legends filtered from an unknown source in those extremely serious moments.
He never knew how the subject about the search for the magic and mysterious object got into the wise Systemic Council’s agenda. Much less, the way which the tight and pragmatic Intelligence Office revealed likewise of such naïve, absurd and fanciful ideas. However, now he proved that Lena would be safe, and that was better than nothing. If she left searching for something lost to the ends of the universe, better for her, since the attack fleet as well as the evacuation fleet, would be chased furiously if the coalition was defeated in the Atirov System.
Suddenly he refocused his attention in the command’s bridge crewmen. Hundreds of people working and alert at his movements, surrounded by infinite colored holographic monitors, range of data and images floating intertwined in a systematized chaos. He perceived the anxiety in them; their hidden fear. He noticed Tribar was right, the crewmen did fear the invader, but he didn’t worry beyond that since he also felt fear and trusted that at the beginning of the confrontation, all its crewmen and soldiers would perform the best way; he knew them very well.
His gaze crossed with Admiral’s Tribars’ and he instantly heard his deep voice in the intercom.
—Admiral, another decoy has just returned. We’re authorized. They’ve given us the dynamic adjusted coordinates for the leap into the hyperspace. We’ll be able to cross to Atirov in eight minutes.
—At last! Transmit them to the fleet along the current combat traffic holographs. I want to speak to all my commanders and crewmen now.
—Very well, Sir.
He went back across the command’s embankment. The monumental, black and imposing spaceships remained motionless outside. They looked like crouched predators, ready to jump on their enemy. He could watch them formed in a row across the floor, merging at a distance with the outer space.
—Admiral. They’re listening.
He stroked his right hand on his face and then placed it on his head, crushing his hair. Then he spoke calmly, conscious of the effect his words would have on his crewmen. His words were also reproduced in real time in every evacuation fleet’s spaceships, commanded explicitly by the First Counselor.
This is how the Supreme admiral spoke to the fleet:
—Espacian brothers! My faithful and dear soldiers! The Astral will finally know about our courage and determination! It’s our destiny and duty to confront the merciless enemy in this decisive time, whom intend to exterminate all our galaxy’s breed. Now is the time to pay the debt obtained a thousand years ago with our Atirov’s brothers.
Only silence prevailed in his brief pause, but after half closing his eyes, he sensed millions of souls’ vibrations along his.
He breathed deeply and continued:
—Just as
a thousand years ago our Ancestors rose up to fight in unequal conditions against terrible enemies who intended to submit us to their laws and their dominion, now we’re doing it also. Today we recall proudful and hopeful, their appalling words. Sacred unified voices in an eternal life pact and thankfulness to our ancestral leaders. Words with which we have grown, lived and died throughout generations. Sentences spoken before the last battle which finally freed us from the oppressor, in planet Cratias’ vicinity. Pure and solemn loyalty and determination oaths, that never again have been repeated or heard in a battle space.
Tronius paused briefly to hold his excitement. Two million crewmen waited for him impatiently and anxiously silent. All of them felt excited and skeptical at the same time, about what was coming ahead.
The robotics’ pilots and spaceships’ crewmen, the terrestrial armored forces soldiers and the special STF forces also. The spaceship bombers’ pilots in their cabins, the quantum and antimatter engineers in the machine rooms, and the navigators in the spaceships’ command bridges.
They all heard inside of their machines in absolute silence; they understood that the historic and heartrending Ancestral’s words from the Admiral, Visir Ebanion, Tronious’ past Ancestor, would be heard again in minutes. Those words had been said by the fleets’ Supreme Admiral upon beginning the great final battle of the Scardian second invasion war, twenty minutes before his tragic death.
Then, Tronius spoke in a deep and emotional tone. The crewmen shook in their positions; even some of the toughest and experienced soldiers cried silently, out of breath inside of their armors or hunting spaceships. They didn’t completely understand the moment.