by Joe Crouch
“Remulus,” she replied, picking the cranberry debris from between her teeth, “You?”
“Sean, Sean Maguire,” he answered, “I’ve got some friends down there who I’m sure would love to meet you.” Leaning over the railings she scoped out the crew, her eyes widening as she did.
“Huh,” she said, surprised, “I never imagined that race would make it outside of their own world let alone be standing here part of a team sent to wake us up.”
“Erm…” he looked around nervously, “We wasn’t actually sent to wake you, nor did we expect to find anyone other than Xuron aboard…”
“Xuron!” she interrupted, darting her head around in a panic, “Are they here?”
“They were,” he admitted, pointing a thumb over his shoulder, “Their bodies are piled up out there after we killed them, nothing too major,” he smiled, the smugness poured out from him.
“We cannot stay here,” she snapped, barging past him distressed, “They will be back and in force, we cannot allow that to happen.” Clasping a hand around her arm he pulled her back.
“Breathe,” he whispered, “There’s no one around but us, our long-range sensors cannot detect anyone even in the sector, your ship is drifting through the Outer Rim.”
“So… We’re not in Andromeda?” she asked dejectedly.
“No, we’re in the Outer Rim of the Milky Way… How can you speak English?” he asked, the question bugging him.
“English? I speak only Veterum,” she replied, confused.
“Veterum? I only speak English…” he said. She pointed towards a device attached to the inside of her ear.
“Not to me you’re not. But, anyway, if you didn’t come here to wake us, why are you here?”
“Why don’t we talk some more on our ship, you can get dressed, take a shower, eat some real, ish, food,” he smiled as he ushered her down the stairs to meet the crew. Astonished looks greeted her, stepping forward they helped her to stand as she moved over towards a terminal. Shaking her head, she clung onto Sean’s arm as he escorted her back towards the exit which the second team had vacuum sealed and placed a ladder for the others to climb back into the shuttles with.
***
A few hours had passed since the teams retreated to the Mar’Ell. Sean ensured Remulus was clothed and bathed before he showed her around the non-critical decks of the cruiser. Once her accommodation had been set they decided it would be best for the four of them to meet back in the conference room within the hour.
Sliding into his cushioned chair in the conference room he sat by himself, waiting for the others to arrive. Luckily he didn’t have to wait long. Fez strutted through the door with a nod and took a seat at the head of the oval table, a few moments later Taris escorted Remulus through to the room seating her beside Sean, who she felt comfortable with.
“So, Remulus,” Fez began, “I will not avoid the subject, who are you, what are you, why are you out here?” Slightly taken aback with the captain’s forwardness the alien shifted in her seat uncomfortably, cleared her throat, and spoke up.
“I am Remulus, I’m an engineer within the Veterum Imperium,” she said to which Taris and Fez both shared an intrigued look. “The ship you rescued me from was one of our last hopes of survival, a generation ship, it was to take us to the Andromeda system where we would colonise a planet and begin our race anew.” The glum look on her face told the story, “Obviously, we failed,” she sighed, “But now that I’m here I must get back to my own people, it is imperative I report the news of a failed mission.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down cowboy,” Sean said, gesturing with his hands, “Why were you trying to start over? Surely this galaxy has plenty of resources for your race to survive.”
“In a word, Xuron,” she sighed, “They were a plague to our species for thousands of years. We battled with them in every system, held against their unrelenting force for millennia before our forward lines were punctured, from there we collapsed in on ourselves.” The room was deathly silent as she went through her story, “We lost world after world as the creatures took hold, our colonies fell faster than we could reinforce and with those vital industrial lines cut off from out home world we struggled to keep pace with our losses.”
“So what happened to the Imperium to your last knowledge?” Taris asked sombrely.
“The last I knew we had shielded our home system of Caladrius, most waves and signals were disrupted before they left the system so to anyone on the outside it just seemed to be an uncolonised region of space. We also implemented a cloaking field out past our final colonised world to ensure any prying would – hopefully – turn back.” Looking at one another they couldn’t decide who should speak next, but breaking the silence Fez spoke up.
“You said you were surprised ‘that’ race made it off their planet, did you mean us, the Ioutions?” he asked.
“You called yourselves the Ioutions? Interesting. But yes, when we observed your planet thousands of years ago you were advanced but had not yet mastered space flight so we let you continue, ignorant,” she smiled.
“I’ve got to ask something,” Taris announced, “You’re the Veterum Imperium, right? The one whispered about as nothing more than a myth, your existence has been speculated about for centuries, maybe more, with all the alien debris we’ve found.”
“I do not think there are any other races of Veterum, so I imagine we are the ones,” she replied, almost confused at Taris’ line of questioning. With a smile, as broad as her face, Taris sat back in awe of the being which sat across from her.
“We’ve been searching for them for ages,” Taris beamed, “Most of the technology we salvaged was destroyed or inoperable, but at times it pointed us to another, albeit decimated, colony.”
“We had failsafe’s in our technology so no other race could use it,” Remulus admitted, “Although I do find it curious as to why Sean could operate it, especially a portable shield generator, they were usually reserved for a select few.” Twisting his arm, he inspected the device still attached, they hadn’t found a way to detach it, but that wasn’t something he was too unhappy about. The conversation carried on for a while longer before the subject of the Xuron came back up. Remulus acted evasive on their line of questioning, but chalking it up to fear he ignored her shifty demeanour.
“The Xuron on your ship were weak and feeble, is there any particular reason for that?” Fez asked.
“The spores,” she replied, “They were a biological weapon that would disseminate through the ventilation systems to weaken and eventually kill any Xuron intruders. Biological warfare played a huge part in our fight against them as it allowed us to destroy entire outposts and colonies of theirs in days with little effort.” With a look over to Fez, Sean leant forward.
“We had a geneticist, Xe’Olo, who we rescued. Later we found out she was working on a biological weapon to eradicate the Xuron. I hate them as much as the next guy but isn’t genocide a little far?”
“Honour and dignity are reserved for the brave,” she replied, agitated, “The Veterum Imperium has built itself from the ground up to be founded with those two as the cornerstones of society, to suggest saving civilians from the helpless onslaught of a remorseless foe by any means necessary as cowardly is just pathetic.” With a nod, he slid down in his chair, getting a wry smile from Taris as he tried to hide away from the world for a moment. “Our emperor must be informed of these… changes, would you be willing to lend me a shuttle or a jump capable ship to get home?”
“Jump capable?” Sean questioned, pushing himself back up, “What the hell is that?”
“It’s a form of travel that our scientists have been working on for as long as I can remember,” Taris interrupted excitedly, “Theoretically it allows the instantaneous travel from one point to another, depending on the power expended. Tests have always been a failure, have the Veterum perfected this technology?”
“Yes,” Remulus replied, “It aided us greatly in the wars and put us a
t an advantage over the Xuron, but our power generators were deemed insufficient to jump very far before having to recharge.”
“Well, the matter of the fact is we cannot just hand out ships to anyone who asks for one,” Fez admitted, getting back on track, “I understand you would have some security concerns about us escorting you there but I’m happy to fly in blind with only passive sensors and destroy any data we gather.”
“It will have to do,” Remulus sighed, rising from her seat, “I think that is all for now, I feel as if I need to rest, it has been a long day after all.” In agreement, they allowed her to leave while the three of them remained seated around the table. In silence, they glanced around the room absorbing what they had just learnt, the Veterum Imperium he thought, sounds very… imperial.
“So… what now?” Sean asked, piercing through the thoughtful silence which had descended on the room, “Do we just head to Caladrius, drop her off and call it a day? I don’t know about everyone else but I’m curious to see what her world and civilisation are like; we could learn a lot.”
“While I do agree,” Fez began, “Her wishes, as well as her people's wishes, must be respected, if they want us to leave as a way of remaining isolationist then so be it. But I must admit, some of their technology sounds very promising.”
“On that note, shouldn’t we destroy that generation ship? If the Xuron got their disgusting, grubby hands on that the power balance in the galaxy would shift dramatically,” Taris said. They knew she was right, but destroying one of the most important finds in the last few centuries would be a travesty, not just for history but for their own advancement. As long as power shifted their way the Ioutions didn’t seem to mind a back-handed deal.
As the conversation died down they eventually called it a day. Returning to their quarters Sean and Taris discussed the Veterum in more detail while preparing for bed, they knew there had been information the alien danced around and avoided, but they couldn’t pin it down to fear or deception. For now, there was little they could do other than wait and see how the whole situation turned out, what he did know is that they were in an exciting time, one way or another.
***
Sean awoke the next morning to the unmistakable hum of power being diverted to the engines. Jumping out from the bed, waking up the now angry Ioution that slept beside him, he slipped into yesterday’s clothes and rushed out from his residence. Running through the cramped hallways he bounced off walls as he tried to maintain his speed around the sharp intersections. With a crash, he barged onto the bridge to see Fez leaning over a console with Remulus gesturing to a star map that was plastered across its screen. “What’s going on?” he huffed, gasping for any morsel of breath.
“I’m instructing your captain on the general location of Caladrius, is something wrong?” Remulus inquired, standing tall beside him.
“I heard the engines charging,” he squirmed, “I thought we were leaving without me being on bridge… I wanted to see it, sorry.” Shaking his head, Fez returned to the star chart flicking through the vast area she had given as their ‘general’ location. Leaning on his captain’s shoulders, Sean leant in to get a better look at the sector they scouted. To his untrained eyes there was nothing, a mere smattering of stars with unimportant or uninhabitable planets orbiting them. But that seemed to be the point. The Veterum was adamant her homeworld was located there, but she still had doubts, the Ioution star charts were unfamiliar in certain areas.
Walking onto the bridge with his usual cheery demeanour Cestos strolled towards them with a skip in his step as he brought them a tray of coffee. To Sean it tasted like any other coffee he had drank, it was good, not great, but the moment the hot drink touched Remulus’ thin lips her deep green eyes lit up. Before they knew it, she had downed the entire cup of steaming hot liquid and placed the metal cup back on the tray with a clink.
“What?” she asked, wiping away the remnants from around her mouth uncharacteristically. Shaking their heads in amusement Fez watched as the Theran snaked off from the bridge, he was unsure who to trust with this privileged information so treated all but his close circle as a potential leak.
“So this doesn’t seem to be too far from Earth,” Sean said as he zoomed the interactive map out to get a feel for the distance, “Not far at all, actually.” Remulus remained silent while he spoke with pride about his world, time away from there was a good break but part of him did miss the attention. After a couple minutes of discussion, Fez stood tall, lording over them both.
“I think a direct route to this region of space is dangerous,” he declared, “We could make it on current supplies and fuel, but the assumption that the Imperium could restock us is one risk I’m not willing to indulge.” With a long finger, he pushed the map up to display a region of space between them and Caladrius. “The Fre have a small presence here, I say we go there, refuel and restock then head to our target, I’m sure Zarid would enjoy the company of his own race,” he chuckled ironically. Unsure what Fez meant, but not wanting to seem out of the loop, Sean laughed and nodded, agreeing to the new course.
“I’ll go tell Zarid then,” Sean said, turning to walk out the room, “I haven’t had the time to say this to you, Remulus, but welcome aboard, it really is good to meet new species.” With a clenched fist placed under her chiselled chin, she closed her eyes, gently bowing her head.
The trip to Zarid’s quarters didn’t take him long, as he got accustomed to the ship once more its vast space soon shrunk as he traversed it in a rapid pace. As he strolled through to the VIP guest area, something he was still somewhat bitter about them having, the smell of freshly baked something hit his senses. With his nose high in the air he darted about searching for Cestos, the Theran wasn’t in his chambers but couldn’t be far.
The smell drew him to Zarid’s room, what wafted out was decadent and sweet. As he approached the door it hissed open to reveal the Theran and Fre sat together enjoying hot drinks and freshly baked pastries. Stunned at the scene he was unsure how to proceed, it all seemed so calm, so innocent, it was only when Cestos held out a tray of goods that he waltzed in and grabbed one of the sweets. Without a word he bit into its flaky exterior, the warm, gooey centre oozed out down his cheek with every bite, the taste was reminiscent of apples, slightly sweet but with a crisp, sharp twang.
“Wow, this is good,” he admitted, pushing the last piece into his mouth, wiping the crumbs from his jacket onto Zarid’s carpeted floor.
“Thanks for that,” the Fre sighed.
“No worries,” Sean replied, leaning back in his chair, “I’ve actually got some news for you, we’re going to visit some place called Sarimunio, apparently, it’s close by so we can refuel there for further… travel,” he said, minding what he revealed.
“Sarimunio,” Zarid said with venom, almost spitting the words out, “It was nice knowing you all, ‘cause once we dock there I’ll be executed on sight by the twenty-strong firing squad waiting for me.”
“What? Why?” Sean replied, taken aback by the hatred in the alien’s voice, Fez had hinted towards something, but what he wasn’t sure.
“Sarimunio’s government is… odd, let’s put it that way, shall we? I’m not sure about now, but they used to be vehemently against that little collective I was a part of when I found you on Emeio.” Cestos stood in the corner pretending to be not interested in their conversation, but the small twitches his ears made as anything juicy came up betrayed his ignorance.
“Well, you’ll have everyone else there with you, hell, you don’t even have to come to the surface, stay aboard the ship by yourself,” Sean remarked. He wanted Zarid to accompany them to the surface, there was something about the Fre that he liked, a certain honesty that he didn’t feel from many people.
“How wonderful it would be to see your own kind once more,” Cestos sang, twirling on the spot, presenting them with freshly made hot drinks, “They will not attack anyone in Ioution fleet uniform in the open,” the Theran declared.
&nb
sp; “I attacked them while they were in fleet uniform…” Zarid trailed off, chucking to himself.
“Fair point,” Cestos laughed, sitting awkwardly in the chair quite obviously not designed for his species, “So what will you do? You will have the full might of these muscular men to protect you, don’t be so worried.”
“I’m not worried, I’m just cautious is all, I’ll be on full alert with every step I take on that planet.”
“Well alright then,” Sean said, standing while slurping down the god awful mieno, “I’ll relay your worries to our high and mighty lord himself, Fez the Great, and we can be on our merry way.” Placing the cup down on the table, the Human stepped out from the chambers and away from the residences, Cestos gave Zarid a confused look, unable to decipher the unusual behaviour.
Back on the bridge, Sean found himself in the middle of a heated discussion between the captain and Remulus, the topic of discussion being what to now do with the generation ship off their port side. Fez was adamant that the ship could be salvaged, its parts recycled and studied for ‘the greater good’ but Remulus was unyielding in its destruction.
“They’re dead and that technology will not be handed over to any species, even one aligned with our war efforts,” Remulus spoke, reprimanding Fez over his desire for the technology to be given to the Ioutions. “We may be allies for now, but once I’m returned to my home world I’m not sure how our two races will progress, I may even be jailed for revealing Caladrius.” Fez slipped back into his command chair contemplating the situation, on one hand, a sign of good faith may produce advanced technological assistance from the Veterum, but that same wealth of information was right in front of him. Struggling with his decision he turned to Sean who was hesitant to interrupt.
“What should we do, Sean?” he asked.
“Well, if Remulus thinks the best decision is for her ship to be destroyed then it probably is,” he admitted, receiving a veiled ‘thank you’ from the Veterum. “But Remulus, the sheer fact that we will be entering your system may reveal your presence to the wider galactic community, why not re-join?”