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Episode 95: The Beacon
Hot tears spilled down Dara's cheeks as she gazed at her mother. "I wish you were still here…" She reached out to touch the phantom, but her hand phased right through it. "It's been so long since I've seen you… Amah… But I'm glad I didn't forget what you look like."
Dara pried her eyes from the ghost and studied the time spoor she held. On the other side of the device were two touch pads she hadn't noticed before. She tapped one. Out of the corner of her eye something moved.
Dara's eyes were instantly on the source of the movement. But all the phantoms remained motionless. She felt for the touchpad and slid her finger over it again. This time, she saw what happened. The touchpads controlled the time index. Each time she touched one pad or the other, time would fast-forward, or rewind accordingly.
Her eyes turned back to her mother and Dara sent the spoor a minute or two into the future.
Talonka stood up straight and removed her hood.
Dara's heart pounded. Her brothers looked so much like her mother. "If only I knew where they were…" she whispered.
Her gaze fell to the device. Its silver skin shone new. "Was this always meant for me?" she wondered aloud, "Or was this a place any of the three of us could access?"
No sooner had she asked the question than the room around Dara warped out of focus. It rematerialized a second later. Everyone Dara saw before was gone replaced by two people, a man and a woman standing on the far side of the room. Dara recognized her mother, but it took her a moment to realize who the second person was.
"Father!" she ran to the apparition, overjoyed to see his face after so many years. "Oh, father…" she sank to her knees beside the pair. "I would give anything to see you again." More tears dampened her clothes, but she paid them no mind.
She sat weeping for a long time, thinking about her parents and what they must have suffered during her disappearance. She wished she'd known who they were sooner – wished she'd come home before her mother died – before her father left, a fatal illness wracking his body… before her first brother's betrayal…
She sobbed into her hands, ignoring the spoor. She felt the cold metal against her eyebrow and was vaguely aware of touching one of the pads with her forefinger.
Insistent bleeps pulled her out of her misery.
"What?!" she demanded of the tiny device.
"Select content," the spoor droned.
"Content? What content? Can't you just leave me alone?" Dara sputtered through trembling lips.
"Select content," the device repeated.
This time, Dara looked up at her parents' images. Something in her mother's hand glowed. Dara tapped the glow with her finger.
Above the item – a data crystal, Dara realized – appeared a short message. It read:
My children,
Adonai forbid that you should have need of this place once day, but should it come to pass that one of you is lost, or you are in dire need of finding each other, this device should be of help to you. In the wrong hands, devices such as these can be weapons of destruction, but for you, my sons… my daughter… this time spoor carries with it our family's genetic markers. Should you need to use it, place it between your hands and wait for the device to read your DNA.
Once your print is registered, the device will allow you to select which member of your family you wish to find. However, I must warn you; this function can only be used once.
Choose well who you wish to find and whether or not you want to use this as your means of locating them.
I trust you will decide wisely.
You have my love forever,
Talonka
Dara blinked and reread the message.
She drew in a sharp breath. "Constance…" she whispered.
Dara held the disc between her hands and closed her eyes. She took one deep breath after another until she heard a faint twitter. Her eyes popped open.
A message shimmered in the air: "DNA identified. Extrapolation in progress."
Nothing happened for one long heart-pounding moment, then a list materialized where the message once was.
Dara bit her lip, holding back tears. They were all there. She read the short list: Deun – her father, Talonka, Deun – her brother, and Desslok. Below her youngest brother's name floated two more names, Aurelia, and Constance.
Dara fought a sob as she read her daughter's name. Her finger hovered over "Constance." Longing to know where her child was swept through her and she started to select the name. Every inch of her intended to touch it, to find her dear child, but she couldn't.
The face of the old woman who'd recognized her sprang into her mind, then the faces of the others came one by one – every single person here needed her – more than that, they needed their leader back. She couldn't fill that role. She knew that in her heart.
Her finger glided upward and fell over Desslok's name.
Tears stung her eyes, but she fought them back.
A tiny circle appeared just above and ahead of Dara. She stood. The circle moved with her. Below the icon was a number – a very large number. She took a step toward the door. The number decreased ever so slightly, then spiked.
"He isn't dead…" she whispered, then raised her voice in joy, "He isn't dead!"
Dara rushed back down the hall, tucking the spoor into a safe pocket. The circle disappeared. Dara slid to a halt and hastily withdrew the device. The circle reappeared. She sighed in relief and pocketed the spoor again.
Within minutes she was climbing up through the five levels she'd traversed earlier. Grey and green blurred around her as she focused on the exit above.
Finally, she poked her head up through the hole. "Dietz! Dietz! He's alive!"
The old Admiral jerked awake. "What? What's happened?"
Dara thrust her hand into Dietz's face. "I found it. She told me how to find him. We have to go now! He's moving quickly."
"Wait." The Admiral held up a hand to slow her down. "What did you find and who told you how to find whom?"
Dara sucked in a deep breath and dove into her story, recounting how she'd found the time-spoor in the depths below and how her mother had left a message with instructions on how to use the device to find another sibling were they ever to go missing.
"We must go after him," Dara insisted.
"I agree," Dietz said, "but who will watch over these people if we leave now?"
One name came to mind. "Masterson," Dara said, "Masterson was Desslok's most trusted friend. Surely he could watch over this group."
Dietz's eyes dropped to the dusty metal beam he sat on. "Masterson was sent away some time ago, I'm afraid. He and many others were banished to the outer perimeter by the Leader himself. The only other person here who might be suitable to lead this band is Masterson's father, Raymond, but he's unaccounted for. He was one of the many in the tower when it fell."
"What about you?" Dara laid a hand on the old man's shoulder. "You could lead them in the meantime."
Dietz's wide eyes shot to Dara's face. "No. I couldn't do such a thing. I'm a soldier – a revolutionary even, but not a leader."
Dara smiled. "I disagree, Gul Dietz. Why else would so many have followed you at the risk of their own lives? Even Elisa – the wife of one of the most influential Generals in the GRN followed you. If you can inspire so many to fight for what they know is right, surely you can help these people get back on their feet."
Dietz nodded slowly. "Alright… The first thing we must do is call back the fleets. We'll have to rig up a communications hub, but I've already seen a group of people digging one of the comm hubs out of the debris."
"That sounds like a good step." Dara backed away from the Admiral and held the spoor between her hands again. The luminescent circle reappeared above her. The number was much larger. "I haven't any more time. Please, take care of them. I will return as soon as I can." She started for her docked ship.
"Daratina."
She skidded to a halt at the sound of her full name. "Yes, Admiral?" She looked back over her shoulder at him.
"You would have been a great Leader if that lot had fallen to you."
Sadness welled up in her throat, but she pushed it back down. "Thank you."
"May the wings of the malakhim shl Adonai bear you to your destination quickly." The Admiral raised a hand in farewell.
"Good-bye, Admiral." She raised a parting hand to him in return, and then headed for her ship again.
Dara watched Gamilon dwindle down to a speck as her autopilot set up for leaving the atmosphere. In order to execute the series of warps she needed to go through to reach her brother, she would have to rendezvous with one of the nearby ships. The closest one was a small destroyer, Adiel.
The moment she left the atmosphere, she set her autopilot to take her to Adiel at best speed. They didn't know she was coming – at least not yet.
Her thoughts turned to her brother. Something about his disappearance didn't make sense. Why would he leave without giving the people some warning, or a contingency plan? What was he thinking?
She kept an eye on the glowing circle as she approached the destroyer.
Her comm system alerted her to an incoming hail.
She opened the channel.
"Rouge craft, this is Captain Haru of the GRN ship Adiel. State your business here." The middle-aged man stared hard at Dara.
"I am Daratina of Gamilon," she replied in the most dignified voice she could muster. "I am in need of your vessel."
Captain Haru stared back at her. For a moment she thought he would laugh at her, but then his eyes lit, "My Lady." He bowed. "How –? You've returned."
"I have," Dara bowed her head, "but I'm afraid my brother, Leader Desslok, is in grave danger, and I must find him."
"Please, dock your ship. We will take you wherever you need to go."
"Thank you, Captain," Dara selected the autopilot's docking program as the channel closed. She sat back in the pilot's seat. It felt strange to commandeer a ship, but it felt so much stranger to use her old name.
Her little ship dove into the destroyer's hangar. It was already cramped, but her craft made it look like someone tried to stuff just one more dirty shirt into an overflowing laundry bin.
The ship was old – at least as old as she was. The inside of the hangar needed a new paint job and a host of other minor repairs.
As soon as the area repressurized she popped open the cockpit and slipped out of the scout ship. Before she'd taken a single step she felt eyes staring at her from somewhere nearby. She spied the ATF tech watching her. The girl looked to be no older than seventeen or eighteen.
Dara headed for the hangar door. Before she got there, the door hissed open and in stepped Captain Haru.
"Please," he stepped aside and gestured for Dara to exit the hangar, "My humble ship is yours. We did not know of the Leader's disappearance. We only just heard of the attack on Gamilon by the Eratites."
Dara motioned for Haru to rise. "Please, you needn't bow to me. As for the Eratites… I believe they may have had no choice." Dara stepped out into the corridor.
"This way," Haru indicated the passage to the right.
Adiel's bridge was small. Dara scanned the faces of the officers on duty. Every one of them stared at her. She turned to Haru, "Navigation needs these coordinates." She tapped them into the control board by the captain's chair and sent them to the helm.
"Prepare for warp," Haru instructed. "Until further notice, you will be taking orders from Lady Daratina." The bridge crew acknowledged the order and set Adiel's course.
Haru motioned for Dara to take his chair. She shook her head, "No. I'll not unseat a man in his own house." She glanced around and found an empty seat near the science station. "I'll sit elsewhere."
Haru nodded, "As you wish."
Dara took the empty chair. "How long would you estimate it will take to reach our destination?"
"A week," Haru replied. "Our systems are old, but they'll hold out. There is a jump gate near the coordinates you've supplied. Will we be traversing that?"
"I do not know," Dara shuddered inside at the thought of going through another Aquarius Gate. "When we arrive we'll decide whether or not to enter. Will that be a problem for the ship if we have to go in?"
"It will be a stretch, but our engineer can hold Adiel together one more time if he has to," replied Haru.
Over the next few minutes Dara caught glance after glance from the crew. Some stared at her fiery hair, others at her face, but everyone raised an eyebrow at her violet flight suit. Melda's colors of office were nothing if not unique. Adiel warped, granting Dara a moment of peace.
Gul Dietz struggled with the last piece of the communications hub. He hissed as he scraped his hand on another component.
"Here." Elisa offered him a clean rag.
"Thank you." Dietz took the cloth and held it to his bleeding hand.
"Let one of the others finish this. You've been out here since Dara left last night." Elisa sat down on a nearby boulder.
"Everyone else is either working or asleep," Dietz replied as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. He scooted out from under the comm hub and raised his weary eyes to the darkening sky. "We need to get the fleets back as soon as possible. They have resources we need."
"Well, if you won't take a break, let me help you." Elisa tied her hair up and moved off the rock. She sat in the dirt next to Dietz. "Here." She held out her hand.
Gul sighed and handed her the part. The woman leaned back so she could get a good look at what she needed to do. It took her two minutes to fit the part into place.
"There." She slipped out from under the machine and gave the hub a fond pat. "That should do it." She stood and powered up the device. "Everything looks alright," she said as her eyes scanned over the main display. "I'm amazed this still works after taking such a beating."
"Thank Adonai," Gul commented under his breath. He stepped around the hub, coming to stand next to Elisa. He entered a short communique and sent it out to all Gamilon ships with instructions for them to pass on the message to others who might be too far out for the hub to transmit to.
Within minutes replies began flooding in.
"We have thirteen responses so far." Elisa scrolled through the messages. "They all say they'll return as soon as possible. The ones who've responded are quite close and they're routing the message to others farther out."
"Is there a response from the Hadar?" Gul asked.
Elisa went through the list several times before saying, "No, Masterson and David's ship hasn't responded yet. But they're so far away it could take hours for them to get a message sent this way. We do have a response from the Adiel. They say they're transporting Lady Daratina and cannot return for some time."
"Tell them we know of their journey and wish them well," Dietz said.
Elisa composed and sent the message.
"Send one more – just to Hadar." Dietz lowered his voice. "Tell them to follow Adiel – even catch up to them if they can. Daratina is too intelligent to jump into a battle ill armed, but her heart drives her, and that may send her into a situation she cannot get out of."
"I wonder if she knew who she was… back then, when we fought together." Elisa sent the last message to Hadar.
"I don't know," Dietz replied, "but I do know that she would never do anything to harm any of us. She knows who she is now, and what she's doing is for all of Gamilon."
Elisa nodded. "I hope Dommel comes back soon." She looked down at the barely-visible bump in the front of her dress. "I want to see his face when he finds out."
"Was his ship in the list of respondents?"
"No," Elisa replied. "None of his fleet has responded yet. They're probably too far away."
The sun sank lower in the sky and twilight seeped in through the jagged hole in the crust above them.
Dietz looked out over the devastated hollow. "At least they'll have room to land."
Elisa laid a hand on the Admiral's shoulder and directed him back to his humble tent. "Get some sleep. I'll find a few people to monitor the hub through the night."
"You need your rest too," Dietz replied. "Don't put yourself on watch."
"Alright…" Elisa said, "But the moment we hear from Dommel's ship, I want to know."
"That's allowable." Dietz patted Elisa's hand. "You're a good friend, Elisa. I'd hate to see anything else happen to you."
Elisa looked away. "We've both lost enough in this war… Right now I just want to see Dommel."
"I'm sure he'll reply to the message by morning," replied Dietz.
"And maybe by then the first of the fleet will be back. Then we can get everyone relocated to somewhere safer." Elisa stopped just in front of Dietz's shabby quarters. "Good night."
"Good night." Dietz bent down and slipped into his tent.
Episode 96: The Celestial Ark
"It has been decades since it was last used, Lorelai," the councilor chided. "We do not even know if it will work." The old man shook his head and kept pacing in front of Lorelai as she stared at the old controls intently.
"It has to work." Lorelai glanced at the mass of ships closing in all around them. The Earth ship and the Gamilons were hopelessly trapped. "We must be careful of the one wedged into our shield shell. Is the one onboard still alright?"
"He has minor injuries. He will survive," Jorah replied.
"Prepare everyone," Lorelai said, pointing toward the door.
Jorah bowed and left.
"Be well, brothers," she whispered to the images before her. "You have brought us out of our long slumber. Now, we will see you on your way." She sent Shambleau's systems a series of commands. The images of the Argo and the approaching enemy force faded, replaced by a warning message, "System activation in progress. Do not power down the system during this process. Startup could take several minutes."
Lorelai bowed her head and waited.
"Target the nearest Cometine ship and open fire," Derek ordered. "Do not stop firing unless I tell you to." He brought up the radar image from his own console. The enemy ships swarmed into the surrounding mist like vultures descending on a corpse. "We're not out of this fight," he whispered.
"Most of them are out of range," Nova said, looking back over her shoulder at Derek.
"I know, but the sooner we hit them, the less they'll have to throw at us," Derek replied.
"We're being hailed," said Homer.
"Put it on screen." Derek narrowed his eyes at the yellowed, crooked teeth and wild eyes of a man he didn't recognize. "You are going to take your fleet and turn around right now," Derek said with all the bravado he could muster. "This place has nothing to do with you."
The green-skinned man laughed, spittle flying everywhere.
Derek set his jaw.
The other man – he looked to be the captain of whatever ship hailed them – started speaking, but Derek didn't understand a word he said.
"Can we get a translation for this?" Derek asked both Homer and Sandor.
"He said, 'You're more of a fool than I thought, interloper. I am Dagarm, chief of this horde,'" Nova supplied.
Derek raised an eyebrow at her. "How do you –?
She pointed to a tiny device hidden behind her ear and typed a quick message. It appeared on Derek's console, "Bemeran translator."
The enemy captain raised a broadsword and pointed it straight at Derek.
"' Get out of here and I might let you live a little longer – either that or I'll take you as my slaves,'" Nova shuddered in disgust as the barbarian momentarily eyed her, then studied Derek a little too long while she repeated his words.
"We'll leave on our own terms," Derek growled back, standing up behind his console.
"'Your terms,'" the captain laughed. "'Your terms will soon be dead, along with almost all of you.'" He leered at the young captain. "'But I might keep you, little warrior, and your translator.'"
"None of us are going anywhere with any of you," Derek countered. "Homer, this conversation is over."
The screen went black.
Nova's mouth turned sour and her throat tightened. Even just repeating such foul speech was enough to turn her stomach. She concentrated on the radar and waited for the feeling to pass.
"We've hit two of their ships," Sandor said, "but there are dozens more."
"Where's Berger? And Rikke?"
"Berger's lodged in those metal bracings." Nova projected her radar screen onto Derek's terminal and showed him the structure around the planet. "Captain Rikke's ship is over here." She indicated a spot much closer to the incoming ships. "She's already taken down three ships."
The ship shook so hard it tossed Nova back into her seat.
"Damage report!" Derek barked.
"The engine's been hit," said Orion. "Fire suppression's bein' routed to the engine room, but we can't go ta warp with it in this condition."
"How fast can we go?" Derek asked.
"I can give ya a quarter sublight, Wildstar, but that's all." The old man wiped sweat off his forehead. "I'm headin' down ta lend a hand." Orion headed for the elevator.
"Give us as much speed as you can for now," Derek said.
"I'll do the best I can," Orion replied as the elevator door closed.
The instant the other ship's captain disappeared, Dagarm bellowed, "Who called them?! Who did this?" He pointed out the front viewport at the mass of ships closing in around them. "We will never be able to escape this shame." He glared at every man on the bridge in turn. When his eyes came to his second-in-command, the officer shrank back. "You!"
"I – I only wanted to ensure –"
The officer's eyes shot wide as Dagarm's blade tore through his chest.
"You ensured your own death," Dagarm growled. He jerked his sword free and the officer's body hit the floor with a loud clunk. Deep red blood seeped onto the deck, puddling around Dagarm's chair. He walked through it, his boots leaving a trail of crimson. "You." Dagarm pointed to the next man standing along the wall. "Take his place."
The officer gulped and looked from Dagarm to the dead man and back before slowly obeying.
"We fight our own battles – win or lose. We do not call in reinforcements! Is that clear?" Dagarm snarled at his new second.
The officer nodded, head bowed.
"But, since they're here, we might as well use them."
"Warn off the Eratites." Neredia shot up out of her chair. "I've heard tales from the devastation of Iscandar…" Fear gripped her as she watched the Cometine ships line up on the radar.
The comm officer sent a message to the Argo.
"The Eratites are hailing."
"On screen," Neredia said.
Derek Wildstar's face appeared above them.
"They're preparing for a large-scale assault." Neredia glanced out the front viewport, then back at Wildstar. "Once they've charged their weapons they'll blow everything away, maybe even that web behind us."
"What's going on?" asked Wildstar. "What do you mean?"
"Get as far away from here as you can. Go!"
"We're not leaving you behind – either of you," Wildstar replied.
"Then dig in, Captain. This will be ugly." Neredia sat back down. "You've seen what one Firestorm can do. Now you'll see that power one hundred fold."
"They're all going to fire on us at the same time?" asked Wildstar.
"They are," replied Neredia. "Every one of them."
"We have a shield – it uses wave motion energy. Can that stop it?"
"Perhaps for a few moments," Neredia allowed. "But not for the duration of the wave. The power of a Firestorm assault of this size will disintegrate your ship within a few seconds. With your shield, it will delay the inevitable for perhaps a minute. If you can use your prime weapon, I suggest you get it ready."
Wildstar nodded and closed the channel.
"He's more reckless than Fomto," Neredia muttered.
"But just as stubborn," added Berger.
Neredia smirked, "I cannot argue with that. Get ready to make a stand with the Eratite ship."
"Can you calculate the trajectory?" Derek asked Sandor.
"Based on the ships already in position," Sandor tapped his screen, "this is my best estimation."
Derek stared at the projection on his console. The ships weren't sitting in a straight line; instead, they formed a gigantic, dense circle. Even if the Argo were to put up her shield, she would never be able to get out of the line of fire quickly enough to escape, not with a damaged engine. And they would have to leave Berger to the mercy of the wave.
"Get the wave gun charged up as well as you can," Derek said to Dash. "Homer, send Captain Rikke a message. Tell her to go get Berger. We'll punch a hole through the Cometines and we can all make a run for it."
Neredia read the short message. "That's suicide," she said to Berger.
"It's better than nothing," the old man replied. "And he seems brazen enough to pull it off. Haven't you heard some of the stories about this ship?"
"A few," Neredia replied, "but none that involved something quite like this." She sent a quick reply to the Argo, and then to her helmsman she said, "Take us alongside Mirangal, and have an extraction team ready. We're going to pick up Captain Berger."
The Lambea headed for the damaged ship at best speed and pulled up beside it within minutes.
"Launch a boarding tether," Neredia ordered. She felt the ship shake a little when the chute cut through the trapped Mirangal's hull. "Send them in."
Neredia watched the video feed from one of the men's suit cameras as three officers broke through a wall of debris before making it to the Mirangal's bridge.
When she saw Fomto she let out a sigh of relief. He was battered, but alive. Two of the men supported the wounded captain while the third cleared the way back to the boarding chute. They quickly left the wreck.
Lambea pulled away from the damaged Mirangal.
"What's the status of the Eratite ship?" Neredia asked.
"It's lined up to take a shot at the enemy fleet," came the response.
"Get behind it. Once they shoot, follow them through the hole in the Cometine lines." Neredia glanced behind her as she heard footsteps. "Fomto!" She went to her old friend. "You shouldn't have done it. You could have been killed."
"I had to do something," Fomto replied. "I couldn't let you fight alongside the Eratites without another ship for support."
"Get to the medic." She pointed toward the bridge's entry hatch.
"I'll go when we get out of here," Fomto countered. He shook off the two officers who helped him back onto the ship and limped over beside the captain's chair. He leaned hard on the armrest.
"Sit." Neredia pointed to the chair.
Fomto sat.
Baren laid a hand on Fomto's shoulder. "It's good to see you back, Captain."
"What's the situation?" asked Fomto.
"The Eratites are going to use their prime weapon to get through the line. Once they do, we'll all make a run for it," Neredia replied.
"What about that structure around the planet? Will it survive a hit from a swarm that size?" asked Fomto.
"I don't know," Neredia admitted. "We don't even know what that structure is, much less what it can withstand."
Fomto nodded solemnly. "We have to get out of here. Lorelai has to know her people are in danger. Maybe what we're doing can buy her enough time to get everyone out."
"Lorelai?" Neredia raised an eyebrow.
Fomto shook his head. "I'll explain when we've made it out of here."
"The Wave Gun charge is at fifty percent, but it's leveling off," Dash said. "The power's not collecting properly."
Derek dialed up the engineer's comm. "Orion, what's going on down there?"
"I can't give ya any more than this, Wildstar," Orion replied. "She's strainin' as it is. We can't charge the wave gun completely."
"Alright. Keep working on it." Derek ended the call. He turned to Sandor. "What can we do to those ships with fifty percent of a charge?"
"Even a tenth of a charge is a heavy punch," Sandor replied, "But with their formation, anything less than a full charge won't give us enough of a window to get through, much less the Gamilons. They'll close the gap within a minute."
Derek ground his teeth and fought off a frustrated growl. "What can we do?"
"I don't know," replied Sandor. "Perhaps the planet's shell can offer us some protection."
"Find out," Derek instructed.
"Working on it now." Sandor tapped away at his consoles.
Two minutes later Eager said, "I'm picking up a massive energy surge. They're firing!"
"Get the shield up!" Derek ordered. "If we're going to die here, we're certainly not going to do it without putting up a fight."
Sandor activated the shield.
Outside, crackling blue energy encompassed the Argo and stretched around the following Lambea just enough to cover it as well.
Rolling towards them like a tsunami came the roaring blast of a Firestorm wave. Its heat blistered the paint on the front of the Argo before it ever touched the shield.
"Close all the viewports!" Derek ordered.
The metal shutters clanged down, locking out the brilliant flash of the enemy's fire.
"Contact in thirty seconds," Nova said.
"Sandor?! Any solutions yet?" Derek's voice shook as he asked the question. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he felt the approaching the wave. He was going to die. He could feel it. Earth would never see her cure and everyone back home would be dead within a few months. His throat constricted as he sucked in another breath. The world around him started to swim.
"Nothing, Wildstar…" Sandor bowed his head. "There's nothing we can do." The science officer leaned over his console and held his face in his hands as he said something Derek couldn't hear.
He glanced around the bridge and saw Feria, Homer, and Nova all doing the exact same thing. His pulse pounded in his ears. With his last ten seconds of life, he dashed down to Nova's station and knelt beside her. He was just about to tell her the one thing he most wanted her to know when he heard the last few words of what she was saying, "Even if I die, let Derek live."
He reached up and gripped her shoulder. "Nova, I –"
White light seared into his vision and he cried out in pain. His hands flew over his eyes. All around the bridge he heard more exclamations of pain.
He rubbed his offended eyes, trying to see what happened, knowing he should be feeling the mind-numbing pain of his body melting from the oncoming wave of death.
Instead, his spotty vision revealed that everything around him was intact. Everyone was still exactly where they were supposed to be. He stumbled back to the captain's console and managed to access the radar. He couldn't believe what he saw. The images didn't make any sense. Where there was once a knot of Cometine ships, there was now open space. The enemy lay strewn across the mist, their ships bent and broken. The Firestorm wave was nowhere to be seen.
"What…?" Derek whispered.
"There's a transmission coming from the planet. It's directed to the Cometines," said Homer.
"Put it on screen."
The face of Lorelai appeared above them, her eyes filled with righteous fire. "Be gone, spawn of Gatlantis!" she commanded. "This place is not for you, neither are these good people chattel to be trampled over or taken for your own purposes. Go! And tell your master they will not have this ship today, nor any other day. Shambleau is a refuge for pilgrim souls – an ark among the stars for the homeless children of Origin*, not a prize to be flaunted."
No reply came from the Cometine ships.
"Your communications systems will be operational again soon. I will not leave you without a means to call for help, but know this – should you face my ship again, your fate will be much worse." Lorelai cut the channel.
"We're being hailed," Homer said.
"Put it through."
Lorelai appeared again, but this time, her face held nothing but compassion. "My brothers," she looked at Nova and Feria, "and sisters. Shambleau was once a creator of worlds. Now… we roam the universe in search of those who need refuge – those whose homes are gone or forgotten. Today, because of you, we remembered who we are, and we know what we must do. I thank you, crew of the Argo."
"You… stopped them?" Derek asked, dumbfounded.
"This ship holds many secrets, Derek Wildstar. Even I do not know them all. The message you saw here was but one of them. If someday we can discover even a tenth of what it holds, I will consider us fortunate." Lorelai smiled. "We will go now. Do not fear the Gatlanteans. They are harmless now. Their communication capabilities will be restored once you and the Gamilon ship are safely away."
"We thank you." Derek bowed his head. "We would all be dead if it weren't for you."
"Thank me by going home in peace. Save Origin. Make her bloom again as she once did, and should anyone ever threaten her again, promise me you will protect her."
"I promise." Derek laid his fist over his heart in salute. "I promise to stand between the Earth and whatever force threatens her until the day I die."
"We all promise the same," said Sandor who stood and laid his fist over his heart, just as Derek had. The rest of the bridge crew echoed the captain and XO's words.
Lorelai nodded, joy in her eyes. "Good-bye, brothers. I pray I will see you again one day – when Shambleau again rests upon the soil of Origin."
The Jirelian's face disappeared, leaving the blank screen staring back at them.
The viewport shutters slid open, revealing the void of space. No haze surrounded them. No cross loomed over them. The silver bracings they'd seen earlier began to rotate. They spun faster and faster, propelling Shambleau away at speeds so fast Derek nearly missed it when the ship jumped to warp.
The only thing left was the wink of light that twinkled for an instant after they disappeared.
Derek stared out the viewport for a long time. No one said a word until they received a hail from the Lambea.
Fomto, Neredia, and Baren appeared on the viewscreen. "Captain Wildstar," said Fomto, "we are grateful to have met you and your crew, but now we must go home as well. Our world is in great need."
"I'm… sorry for the part we played in its devastation." Derek looked away from the three Gamilons.
"Do not be so somber," Neredia offered. "Gamilon has been dying for a long time. It is difficult to see her so torn, but all we can do now is return and try to pick up what pieces remain. Be well, Eratites."
"Thank you, Captain Rikke, Captain Berger, Baren." Derek nodded to them. "If you ever find yourselves in need of our help, do not hesitate to ask."
"We will keep that in mind, but I'm sure your world needs you more than we do. Go. Take the cure home to your Erats." Fomto saluted Derek and Neredia and Baren followed suit.
"Good-bye… my friends…" Derek barely managed to say the words before he felt his throat tighten and his eyes begin to sting. He never thought he would be sad to see Gamilons leave, but today he'd fought side-by-side with them – even been willing to die for them. "I hope we will see you again."
The call ended and Derek watched as, outside, the Lambea slowly turned and set off back toward Gamilon.
* Origin - Earth