Beyond Light

Operation: Giantbreaker.

81 hours after…

Three days passed after the Beyond Light made official contact with the Soku, the aliens who originally attacked the Eternity of Return, and helped them use the strange device they found in the floating station. They were glad to help John and his team repair their ship. With the combined assistance of their drones, the Beyond Light was ready to rock again much earlier than expected.

Those three days was also a good time to physically rest. No one had slept well since the incident in the underground complexes of Vita Nova. They could recharge energy for the next days, which were going to be some of the hardest in their mission.

Even though things were calmer now, there were many of them that John’s mind could not let go of. His mind didn’t stop generating weird possibilities. Could their small, primitive ships really do something against Aleos —peace, the most ironical name its creators could have named it?

There were other things too. With the time passed, was there anyone left to be saved from the Eternity of Return? What was it of Blair? Where was he right now? Those were questions John made himself all the time. Thinking that maybe they could do nothing was the thing that frustrated him the most. If he hated something, that was feeling impotent and helpless.

But that day of January of 2546, all his attention needed to be focused on their next move. They finally left the atmosphere of Hawking-616f and were now making their way back to Hawking-616e. They had set course for the ringed planet 11 hours ago, traveling in the conventional way. If they leaped and Goliath was nearby, they would be giving it their location like a flare dazzling in a night sky.

“Supervisor Ivanovich?” John asked through the communicator next to her office, located in the third deck, where most corridors and rooms were painted in color beige. “May I come in?”

“Of course, Commander,” she responded. John put his wrist on the biochip scanner, and the door beeped in confirmation and spread apart.

He crossed inside. She worked behind her desk, typing on her holographic terminal without putting her eyes off it. “Is there anything you need me for, Commander?”

“Katiya?” John went by her personal name. “Not related to our job. I’m here to say I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you back at the incident with Diaz...”

She stopped typing, keeping quiet for a moment. She then raised her pale blue eyes at him. “It’s alright, Commander. We both did what we had to.”

“Thanks,” he squeezed his lips, slowly nodding with the head. “Wish there was any other way. I guess we’re going to be in trouble. But that’s assuming we return.”

“It seems like that’s the case.”

John nodded. He had almost forgotten Katiya was a person of rather few words, which some other crewmembers aboard mocked her about.

“You know? I don’t know if I should tell you this, you being a URB agent and all, but things are very tense for us back on the Solar System. There’s this man called Emmerson—”

“Hopkins?” She finished his sentence. “I know. We have always been one step ahead in espionage. But it’s okay. If we return I am getting discharged.”

“How so? You could bring many useful data to your bosses.”

“For siding with you. I am supposed to be here to make sure you comply with BLACKCAT. I violated our code the moment I killed Diaz. But not everything is about duty or codes.”

John smiled both inside and outside. Whether it was because there was something bigger to take care of or not, having someone as loyal and meticulous as her renouncing her duty for your cause was not a simple gesture. He admired that.

“Thank you, Katiya. That means a lot. I wish Bella thought like you. It seems like we’re both now renegades. All of us are.”

“So it seems, Commander.”

John squeezed his lips and headed for the entrance. “Well, I’ll let you work now. We’ll connect with the Soku in short. I’ll send you a direct channel.”

“Please do, Commander,” she continued typing in her terminal. “Good luck down there.”

“Oh, and thanks again, Katiya. For your understanding,” he smiled.

She launched a smile with a nod, and he finally left, the door pressurizing behind. Who would have thought it? The supervisor of the rival faction was the one who actually got some sense in her head. John would almost consider making passes at her if they weren’t dealing with a deluded machine with a thirst for human blood.

But he still felt bad for Bella. Even if she was serving someone else and didn’t want to listen, it was still too much for him to think that killing her was the only way. He wished he could go back in time and set things straight, but there was nothing to do differently.

He headed for the bridge. He had to meet Valva Okiel Soka and his subordinates at the conference room. Operation: Giantbreaker would start in less than two hours, and they had to set up most of the details before going back to action.

He entered the bridge, heading towards the conference room located at 120° from the cockpit. It was a small, dark room of 4x6 meters, with a set of holographic projects both on the floor and a hexagonal table. Derek, Yuri, and Doctor Weiber were inside.

“Am I missing something? Do I arrive late?” he entered. Derek and Yuri launched him a military salute.

“Not quite so, Commander,” Doctor Weiber greeted him. “Valva agreed to meet us in 10 minutes, but maybe he didn’t catch the grasp of our measurement systems. Yui did her best to explain to him. We were just talking.”

“How’s it going?” John looked at the three men. He leaned on the table. “How are you feeling about this?”

“It’s nothing, Commander,” Doctor Weiber sighed, looking reflective at the floor. “I just never thought that what would start as a project to put people on an extrasolar system would end with us awakening a cosmic nightmare. To think that my career would end like this… At least I gotta say it’s absolutely interesting, from a scientist point of view.”

“It is not the end, Doctor. We go there, deactivate that monster, and come back to the solar system victorious. And if we don’t, well, we’ll punch it where it hurts the most.”

“Wish I was as optimistic, son,” responded Doctor Weiber. “If we ever return Hopkins is gonna arrest us and put us in high detention. You can imagine what a man with his influence can do. The fact that the URB agent killed Diaz doesn’t help.”

“I’m sure Admiral Frost will talk on our behalf,” spoke Derek. “Gotta say the old man is one of the few up there that’s remained uncorrupted from his power.”

“Frost? He can only do so much,” said Doctor Weiber. “That depends more on President O’Donnell and the ISI, and you already know those rats. But very well, all of that’s assuming we win here. We’ve got something bigger right now. Let’s focus on our work, Commander.”

“Of course, Doctor. Where is Yui?”

“I made her separate and classify all the living subjects we retrieved from Vita Nova. Punishment for eating sucrose in a disinfected environment. Its remnants generate all kinds of bacterias.”

“That doesn’t sound like a punishment for Yui,” John raised one eyebrow.

“I know. The kid might be a really smart one —and let me say that I don’t say that of anyone— but she lacks the experience of age. She is lazy sometimes and doesn’t have any major goals or visions either. It’s all goofing around in both her life and job.”

“Give her some time,” said Yuri. “I was just like her when I was young.”

“You still don’t seem any different from her either,” Davis sharply said, in a dry tone that made John and Derek release a chuckle.

“Oh, c’mon, old man. I’m very good at my job. I would not be here aboard the Beyond Light if I was not.”

“Yeah, yeah… I credit you that. Being here has been one of the brief periods in my life where I have not been surrounded by absolute idiots,” cynically replied Doctor Weiber, making all chuckle even more.

Two holographic projectors at the floor shot blue light. The towering figures of Valva and Manak appeared, unlocking their flower bud helmets and revealing their gorillian faces. The gems on Valva’s beard reflected most of the light.

“Fleet Captain Valva Okiel Soka in charge of The Dream Cradle, The Ascending Illusion, and The Whispering Hope ships reporting. How is it going on there, humans?”

“Hello, Valva. We're running at optimal conditions,” responded John. “Gotta say that you did a splendid job helping us with the repairs.”

“When you only have small worlds separated by a long distance to minimalize the chances of Anuk attacking, your ships have to be capable of holding themselves enough. It’s an art we developed by necessity. What’s the plan, Commander John Star? We’ve only discussed the basics.”

Doctor Weiber put the Masdian Console on the table and pressed the circular device at the top. The figure of Vita Nova and its moons shined, the six points still being signaled.

“Same plan, Valva,” explained John. “Doctor Weiber here and our geologists aboard have located in precision the locations of those generators. We’ll begin with the moons. It’ll be harder for Aleos to detect us messing in there.”

“That’s what you believe,” said Manak.

“Valva, I hope your ships count with good stealth systems. We are going to need them.”

“Don’t worry. Our ships are more advanced than yours. We can become almost invisible if we so desire.”

John nodded. “Alright, let’s recapitulate. For accomplishing Operation: Giant Breaker, we’ll split into three teams. We humans and the Beyond Light are Team Alpha. We’ll go to Hawking-616e II, the oceanic moon.”

“Nothing like a good ol’ bath in an alien world…” said Derek.

“Kaun Lu?” asked Valva. “that’s what we call that moon. It means in our language ‘World of the Eternal Flood’. Good luck. We’ll be going to Vuenek Lu, the World of the Jungles. Send us the coordinates.”

“That’s Hawking-616e III for us,” said John. “Very good. You’re Team Bravo, Valva. As for the last generator in Hawking-616e I, it’s yours too. We only have one ship. I’ll send you a team of vehicles and troops. Let’s work there in a conjoined team. Team Charlie.”

Valva nodded. “Totom Lu, World of Fire. It’ll be a good opportunity to see what you’re humans are truly made of. Manak, you’re going there.”

“Don’t get behind, humans. We don’t have the time to babysit you,” disdained the younger Soku.

“Yuri,” John looked at the PFSR Master Sergeant. “Go with Charlie.”

“Yes, sir,” Yuri nodded with determination. “We will not fail.”

John nodded. “You’ll have the coordinates. I wish you all good luck.”

And so, the Soku disconnected, and everyone moved to the armory and vehicle deposit to get ready. If those generators were made by the Masdians, then more of those robotic units were likely going to be in the moons too, protecting them. And unlike the ones on Hawking-616f, they weren’t going to be friendly and passive, being so close to Vita Nova.

John just hopped that Aleos wouldn’t appear at the most unfortunate moment. Their survival —and the one of the billions, not only humans but alien too— depended on their success. But he felt the hunch that the giant machine was not going to make their work any easy...