Beyond Light

Hawking-616f

15 minutes of silence and holding breaths passed, and the mauled and shieldless Beyond Light finished her leap. “Destination at 329 million kilometers from origin point reached,” LIBRA informed. “Course for Post-Accelerating Leap: complete.”

The windows at the cockpit spread themselves again, and the white dazzle was gone, replaced by starry black everywhere. “Did we lose them?” asked Jeffrey.

“Scanning: No artificial objects or energy burst detected. We are alone. For now,” Xi responded.

John didn’t put his eyes apart from his terminal sights, ready to unleash another Nebula-Nova shot at those monsters if they dared to appear again. But nothing happened. Were they safe already, or were Goliath and its vessels planning something? He didn’t know whether to feel relieved or concerned.

“John?” Mike’s voice sounded through his earcom. “we have arrived at the orbit of Hawking-616f. Come here and see something.”

“More enemies?”

“No. Something more alluring, and it’s not a hot woman,”

“LIBRA? Assume control of the Nebula Nova and shoot anything that dares to appear and attack,” John got up and walked to the entrance. “Yuri, stay here. Keep alert on any movement.”

“You gotta show to me what you found later, Commander,” the Russian said as he left.

“Understood, Commander," spoke the AI. "I have an equational aim. My hit rate is 99%.”

John moved back to the cockpit. He entered it without needing Mike to tell him about what he wanted him to see: Hawking-616f, gazing over the windows.

The third planet of the system. Brighter and with a similar size to Jupiter, the gassy giant was covered by a swirling cover of yellowish-orange belts, spirals, and spots, similar to the skin of a python snake. Green and blue patches were distributed all over its surface, and its atmosphere shined in a blend of pink and aquamarine, reflecting the light of Hawking-616a and b.

“Hawking-616f… Doctor Weiber talked to me about this planet. It’s slighter smaller than Jupiter, but eight times more massive. It has an average temp of -80 grades.”

“You better like the cold,” joked Jeffrey. "Living on Neptune acclimates you for this kind of places."

“So, what should we do, Commander?” asked Xi. “Should we lock ourselves into orbit, or do you want to dive into the atmosphere?”

“LIBRA, what’s our damage?” requested John.

“20 INI and 19 FNF casualties. Our shields are temporarily disabled. Hull sections 10, 12, 13, and 14 have suffered several damages, and require extensive repairing. Our radiation inhibitors and radar refractors can’t work with our hull breached. We are exposed and have no shields.”

“Damnit,” cursed Mike. “Seems like we’re out of our two main and only defenses.”

“And they took out some of us too,” Jeffrey continued.

John cursed in his mind. Not everyone could escape from that monster and its vessels. More numbers to the death toll of BLACKCAT. He felt as if those would not be the last people to die in the Hawking-616a System. But he would fight to make sure that didn’t happen, or at least that number was minimalized.

He made his choice, staring at the glowing gas giant ahead. “Alright, we’re diving into that planet. Xi, set our course and select a landing area calm of any storms. Mike, you know what to do. Jeffrey, keep checking out nothing picks us unprevented.”

“Yes, Commander,” the three men responded in unison.

“So, we’re going to be the first humans on an extrasolar gassy planet. What a time to be alive...” said Jeffrey

“Commander, it’s going to be more difficult to repair our damage in the atmosphere of a stellar object,” noted Xi. “Our Reversal-Buoyance Capacitors can only work for 24 hours straight before needing another 24 of rest.”

“We're like sitting ducks hanging around here exposed and without defenses,“ said John. "Let’s go down there. Do you know why the Uranian Crisis was called a spaceship guerrilla? It’s a mess to navigate and have reconnaissance on a gassy planet. Radiation, storms, magnetism, all hinder greatly detection systems. Let’s hide there for now. We repair our ship, and then we see what we do next.” He moved back, ready to leave the cockpit.

“Aren’t we returning to Sol?” asked Com. Officer Jeffrey.

“And luring those ships to us? They just tracked us from Vita Nova to the asteroid belt. They haven’t shown up for some reason, but they won’t take long to come after us if we don’t move. Let’s do it.”

Mike whistled. “Bella is gonna be angry.”

“She’s always angry,” responded Jeffrey. “The other day I asked her to take a drink and she lectured me all over about the rules.”

Both chuckled. With Mike putting the Beyond Light on track to Hawking-616f, John moved back to his terminal in the middle of the hexagonal room at the bridge. He could swear his mind was about to explode. What were they going to do now? They didn’t have enough firepower to confront those ships, which’s numbers they didn’t even know.

They managed to destroy one —almost at the price of being themselves— but it was obvious that they were no match for that supergiant. Returning to Sol? He vacillated about it for once. What business did they have in the Vita Nova System? He could just set a course back to the Sol system once they finished repairs and report, forgetting about it.

And although they would be fulfilling their mission by doing so, he knew they would be tracked, and Goliath was eager to get them. Not John nor his crew on specifical, but humanity as a species. It was transforming them right now into lobotomized freaks for unknown motives.

They would be dooming everyone in a selfish move if they returned. John breathed hard, reaffirming his choice of staying. They would win or they would lose, but that would happen in Vita Nova System, and he would do his best to make sure it stayed there.

“Alright,” Mike’s voice spoke. “Breaking through the planet’s atmosphere. Brace yourselves. ETA for destination sector at only 20 minutes. Get ready.”

The minutes passed, John working on his terminals the fastest he could. With such damage and casualties taken in that same day, it was his job to do the paperwork and administrative processes to keep the Beyond Light and her assets working the most efficiently.

“We’ve reached our destination,” spoke Xi. “Wait. I’m detecting something,” John’s heart skipped a beat. “It’s an artificial object. 2000 kilometers from us at the north. But it doesn’t match with the ones of those ships or Goliath.”

“What’s it, Flight Colonel? More enemies?”

“No…” Xi took a moment to respond. “It’s a static object. Analyzing… It doesn’t even resemble a ship.”

“C’mon, Xi-Xi,” said Mike. “Stop baiting us.”

“Generating 3D model… Got it. It looks like some kind of station.” Xi vacillated. “No biosignals detected, but I’m detecting radiation and heat emissions. They resemble the ones of Reversal-Buoyance Propulsors.”

“So, some kind of station, huh?” asked Jeffrey. “Who could it belong to? To Goliath?”

“It’s a chance,” said Mike. “There were also structures on Vita Nova. Should we approach, Commander? If it’s some kind of station or a static object we can use it for much easier reparations.”

“No, not in our state,” responded John. “Send a drone team to do a little recon. Make sure there are no menaces. We approach once we are sure we are safe there.”

What now? As if his head didn’t spin enough already. He just hoped it was not something else forcing them to escape again. Their options weren’t much, and they still needed to think about what to do next once they were repaired.