“Luckily T-814 was able to track down the two of you before you became dinner for those mutants. And you also got lucky that Alleviation was able to kill whatever poison those things put in your body. Proving once again that modern medicine has never been better. Feels good to be a doctor these days.” She continues and as usual getting off track. “How’s Duron?” I ask. “He wasn’t as lucky as you, he was given Alleviation but it was sometime after you so the poison is taking longer to dissolve from his bloodstream. But don’t worry he should pull through, it’ll just take a little longer.”
I sit here for a short moment, unable to find the words to express how worried I am about Duron. Not that he won’t pull through, I just somehow feel that it’s my fault we were in that position in the first place. “You alright Stella?” Aura asks me with a worried tone. “Yeah. I’m fine. Is the rest of the crew here?” I ask. “Yeah. The council asked to meet with the entire Endeavor crew in order to discuss our next move.” Aura says to me.
“Let’s go.” I respond almost instantly. My legs are wobbly upon standing, I’m still a little weak due to the poison. They strengthen up as Aura and myself make our way to the elevator at the end of the medical facility. I’d prefer to meet face to face at an actual table but this is going to have to do. Aura and I make our way toward the council headquarters. The door opens the moment we walk the final step leading to the entrance of the building. “No greeter hologram? I feel so unwelcome.” Aura says jokingly. I give her a smile and she returns it. “It’s never a dull moment with you is it?” I ask. “Of course not.”
It’s just as I remember it, of course it is, it wasn’t so long ago since I was last here. Tion and Amelia stand before the council at the end of the bridge. No Duron or Admiral Richards. It just doesn’t feel right without them being here, everything just feels incomplete. T is here, which comes as a surprise seeing how Duron isn’t. We don’t get a moment to talk with one another before Senator Reyes begins to speak. “Stella. I understand you were Admiral Richard’s first officer?” She asks me. “Yes ma’am.” I respond, my crew stands behind me. They don’t mind letting me do the talking. “Tell us everything that happened after the distress call from Naveen was answered.” She commands with a serious, demanding tone. I can tell she isn’t very nice.
“Well. We went to Naveen thinking the Essari fleet was attacking, but upon our arrival everything was fine. After we entered the planet’s atmosphere everything was calm. A few moments later the planet went dark and a massive ship appeared from behind the clouds.” I tell them, my eyes are locked on to Reyes, who does not look happy right now for some reason. “And you’re sure that this ship was an Essari vessel?” The Nim council member asks with interest. “I’d stake my life on it.” I respond. “And how did this vessel look? Was it the same design as the fleet that attacked Alpha?” Reyes asks me. “Yes. Only this one was much, much bigger.”
The council is looking at me with great interest, they’re not even remotely concerned about Admiral Richards I don’t think. “I see. And what happened once this Essari ship appeared?” Reyes asks. I’m shocked she’s the only one really speaking right now. “We fled. But the Essari ship was able to catch us while we were in warp…” “Impossible, there’s no way…” “Exactly what Admiral Richards said.” I tell the Harca council member who rudely interrupted me. “The enemy hailed us after nearly destroying the Endeavor in a single blow. The Essari wanted Admiral Richards for reasons they wouldn’t specify. And they took him by using some kind of teleportation device that was able to take him right from the bridge of the endeavor.” I explain the best way I can, hopefully I’m not missing anything.
“So you’re meaning to tell me that the Essari have some kind of working teleportation technology that can take someone from another ship, and bring him or her to their location?” The Xerox council member asks. “That’s what I said, yes.” I say with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. “This is huge. That kind of technology is unheard of; we’ve only been…” “Enough. Our technology will not be discussed during this meeting.” Senator Reyes tells the Xerox councilman. “After that they shot us down and the rest is history.” I finish my story with a vague statement, I doubt they have an interest in what happened after that anyways.
“Our next mission is to find the admiral right?” I ask anxiously, not even allowing the council members to process what was just said. “Finding Admiral Richards is our top priority.” Says Senator Reyes. “We’re going to need a new ship then.” I say, overzealous at the fact they are going to put forth the effort to find the Admiral. “A small fleet with be sent out to search for Admiral Richards. As of right now the endeavor crew is off this mission…” “Are you kidding me? The Admiral was a part of our crew and you’re just going to take us off the mission? We have a right to be on it.” I interrupt Reyes, and she is not thrilled about it.
“You have no say in this. Your ship is gone; we do not have time to issue you a new one. And without Admiral Richards your crew is far too inexperienced to continue this mission. I’m sorry but that’s just the way it is, we have to look after your safety first, we’ve lost enough good Transcendence officers already.” Reyes tells me. “We went into this mission inexperienced, but after what we went through to get here, that should be enough.” I plea with the council but they won’t budge. “The answer is no. This meeting is adjourned.”
Chapter 9
I stare at the ground as I sit in a chair across from Duron. He’s still unconscious, T is beside me, we haven’t said much to one another. It’s been a few hours since the endeavor crew was taken off the mission. No matter how hard I tried to convince the council otherwise, their decision has already been made. I hear a door open, Aura enters the room. She’s carrying two cups of coffee and hands me one. “Thanks.” I tell her as she situates herself against the wall next to me.
“We really fucked up didn’t we?” I ask Aura, she doesn’t respond right away. “You could say that.” She responds in a completely serious tone. “What do you think’s going to happen now?” Aura asks me. “I guess we just sit here and wait, and hope the council finds Admiral Richards.” I answer. “We went from fighting the good fight to doing nothing, we should be out there searching for the admiral, not sitting around hoping the council can find him.” Aura says with frustration.
T speaks up; his response pleases Aura. “I agree. He’s part of our crew, therefore we should be the ones who have to save him.” She answers. “I remember a time when you wanted nothing to do with fighting.” I say to Aura; she takes a long sip of her coffee. “Yeah well. If the fate of the universe wasn’t on the line, it’d be a different story.” She responds. She seems to have taken a liking to being involved in the effort to stop the Essari.
I feel a slight tremor, like a very weak earthquake that lasts only a minute or so. I look down at my coffee, the liquid ripples each time the ground shakes. “What was that?” I ask worriedly. “I don’t know.” Aura responds as I stand up and toss the remainder of my coffee into the trash can nearby. The shaking calms for a short moment, but then without warning returns even stronger. The quake is strong enough to nearly knock me off my feet. “We’re being attacked!” Aura says, she sounds completely sure she’s right. “What are you talking about? How do you know?” I ask right before an even stronger tremor shakes the entire room.
An ear piercingly loud alarm begins to sound. I can hear the panic in the halls outside of this room. “I want you to get out there and help protect the people who need it.” Aura tells me, almost demanding it. “What about you?” I ask, please don’t say what I think you’re going to say. “T and I will stay here and make sure Duron stays safe.” She responds, her words are exactly what I didn’t want to hear. “I’m not leaving you behind Aura, there’s gotta be another way.” Aura disregards my words as if she won’t take no for an answer.
“I’m a doctor, and Duron is my patient, and as a medical professional I’ve sworn to protect my patient no matter what. And bes
ides, this hospital is technically underground, it’s designed to resist an enemy attack. We’ll be fine Stella.” I’m still hesitant even though Aura has assured me they’ll be safe. “I’ll see you soon, okay?” I say to her. “Looking forward to it.” She tells me. T says something, I assume he’s wishing me the best of luck. “Thanks T.”
I push my way through doctors that are filing through the halls. It’s hectic, there is barely any room to move. I finally reach the elevator and hail it. The doors open after only a few seconds of waiting. I look upwards as I take the elevator to Haven’s surface. I’m let off inside of a large lobby with a Carmel colored floor and walls that surround about a dozen elevators, all leading to different hallways full of rooms for patients. The lobby is even more hectic than the hallways. I’m practically shoved out of the way by one of the doctors after exiting the elevator.
It’s suffocating trying to get out of here, people are quickly making their way toward the elevators. Medics and doctors tending to patients, they pay no mind to me as I finally manage to make my way out of the hospital. Chaos fills the skies; the Transcendence fleet battles the Essari. Part of haven’s roof has been shattered. Mass panic has erupted on the surface of Haven, civilians are running toward safety, wherever that is. I work through the large crowd; I can see two transcendence officers in the distance. They are surrounded by a squadron of Essari, seeing them in person is a lot different than seeing one over a hollo.
They are all muscle, enormous by human standards. Their bones are sticking out of their already rough, gravely skin. They sure are ugly that’s for sure. The Essari are in cover behind the buildings, I have the element of surprise on my side right now. I reach for my weapon but it’s not on me. I forgot those mutants removed it from my person when they captured me. I stop in my tracks when one of the Essari notices me. I’m wearing a Transcendence uniform and they instantly notice. “Oh great.”
I dive for cover behind one of the buildings as the Essari soldier fires in my direction. I’m trapped, what am I going to do now? I peek around the corner, the Essari soldier fires a shot which hits the side of the building. The firefight continues between the Essari and Transcendence soldiers. I noticed a machine rifle nearby the Essari soldiers, a dead transcendence officer lies next to it. If I run for it I’ll be leaving myself open to getting shot, but if I want to make any kind of progress here, I have no choice. I can’t just stay here forever.
I take a deep breath and wait for a break in gunfire… GO! I make a run for it, not hesitating at all. I make it to the gun, shots are being fired in my direction and barely missing me. Oh man this was a bad idea. I grab the gun and slide behind a building that is partly destroyed, it must have taken the bulk of gunfire since it’s one of the only buildings that are horribly damaged. I fire upon the Essari; I manage to land a shot but it looks like it hasn’t done any damage. Geez these things are tough.
I look beyond my cover, Amelia and Tion are in cover behind one of the buildings. They are aiding two other officers. I’m glad to see they’re alright. I fire about six shots; I think I finally managed to do some damage to one of the Essari. But I think I pissed the thing off, it lets out a scream as it unloads what feels like fifty shots in my direction. One of the laser shots graze my shoulder, tearing through my jacket and shirt like it’s nothing. I put my hand on the wound, it’s bleeding badly. In the distance the Essari mothership appears from behind the fleet. It readies a laser blast, this isn’t good, one hit from that will destroy a huge amount of Transcendence vessels, they might not be able to recover.
The laser lights up the sky, it slices through a line of Transcendence starships. The blast is powerful enough to cause a large blast wave, ship debris is sent flying toward the surface of Haven. I’m able to dodge a large piece of debris heading in my direction. That was a close one, it barely missed me. Debris rains down upon Haven, I take advantage of the distraction and fire my weapon, the shot manages to take one of them out. Amelia and Tion each take down an Essari as well. “Amelia!” I scream out to get her attention, she’s standing off with the last Essari from the enemy squadron. A large piece of debris is heading in her direction.
I run up and grab her, taking her with me as I fly forward about three feet. The debris decapitates the Essari soldier. That was disgusting, the moment plays over and over again in my mind. I’ve never seen that happen before, it makes me nauseous but I’m holding it all in. “Boy am I happy to see you guys.” I say, not even allowing myself the take a few breaths. Tion approaches us. “Thanks for the assist.” Amelia says in regards to me saving her life. “Just doing my job.” I respond.
“Glad to see you’re still breathing. Where’s Aura?” Tion asks me worriedly. “She stayed at the hospital with Duron, he’s still unconscious.” I tell him. “You were hit.” Amelia says to me, her attention turned to my wound. “I’ll be fine, it’s just surface wound.” I follow Tion and Amelia back to where they originally took cover. The other officers in their squadron haven’t said a word so I’m expecting the worse. “Oh no.” Tion says with sincerity. Two Transcendence officers lie against a building with ship debris lodged into their bodies, one has a piece in his abdomen, the other in his chest. Tion and Amelia kneel down before the two officers. The men are crying, sweat pours down their foreheads. “It’s going to be okay, just stay with me.” Amelia says to one of the officers.
Poor guys, they look so young. I can see the pain in their eyes. Amelia and Tion are both requesting medical aid over one of the men’s radios. “They’re coming okay? It won’t be long now.” Tion reassures one of the officers. I can’t help but notice a cloaked man heading toward the elevator. He was staring at me for a moment but looked away the second I turned in his direction. The streets have calmed down but there’s still a significant amount of civilians out here. The cloaked man looks over the elevator for a moment, it’s obviously broken, why is he bothering?
He opens the doors manually with just complete brute strength. I watch as he leaps through the elevator cab, leaving an enormous hole through the top of it. He jumped up the elevator shaft and high enough to just disappear from sight. I didn’t get a good look at his face due to his hood he has on. I can’t just let him go, I need to follow him. “Where are you going?” Tion asks as I begin to hustle toward the elevator. I turn to him and say, “Just make sure those men are taken care of, I’ll be back.” I turn around and take off running.
The elevator doesn’t work but there has to be an alternative way of getting to the council. My guard is up and I’m on the lookout for more Essari who might have made their way to Haven’s surface. A sign above a doorway catches my eye, it reads: Levels 1-4. In big bold font. I instantly run toward the doors, which fail to open automatically so I’m forced to do it manually. An Essari spots me right as I manage to open the doors, it fires at me. Not good, not good. I grab my rifle off the ground and quickly step through the doorway as it begins to close on its own. The Essari runs toward me, I quickly pull the trigger and fire a large amount of shots, hitting the Essari multiple times. He falls to the ground right as he reaches the closing doors.
I climb the stairs; they’re clear of any enemies which doesn’t stop me from having my weapon ready just in case. My wound feels like it’s getting worse, the sleeve of my jacket is soaked in blood. There’s no time to stop, I have to keep going, I’m nearly to the top level. The blood loss is starting to take its toll on me, I can tell I’ve lost strength but I’m able to function. The problem is I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to.
I’m approaching the fourth level of Haven; I’m forced to manually open these doors just like I did with the ones on the first level. It’s proving to be more difficult, I’m struggling to open the doors. It felt like I wasn’t going to be able to do it, but I eventually pry them open. The Essari mothership is situated over the area, but it’s left unscathed. The roof is still intact but the Essari mothership remains on the outside of it for some reason. Why would they just leave this ar
ea untouched, when it’s the most pivotal part of Haven?
I make my way to the front of the council headquarters. The elevator doors have been pried open. “I was right.” I say aloud, I knew he was coming for the council. I just hope I’m not too late. My rifle is readied but I don’t think it’ll be necessary, there’s no one out here but me. I still keep my gun steadied just in case as I walk up the stairs to the building’s entrance. The doorway has been smashed in, I’ll proceed with caution.
Senator Reyes stands on the balcony across from the bridge. She’s alone. “Stella?” She’s surprised to see me. “Where are the other council members?” I ask her. After a brief pause the Senator answers my question. “He killed them. I was able to take cover but the others weren’t so lucky.” She tells me with tears welling in her eyes. A part of me doesn’t believe her. “Where is he now?” I ask. “He’s still in the control room.” Says the Senator. “Where is it?” I demand. “It’s here in this building, right below us.” She responds. “Get me down there, now.” I demand. “You’re bleeding, are you sure…” “Just do it!” I demand the Senator; time is of the essence there’s no time to debate this. She moves her hand across the VI terminal in front of her, the platform I’m standing on begins to lower.
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