Beyond Light

Good Luck, Son.

As they made their way to the bridge on the third deck above, what drew John’s attention was how desolate the ship was. 

Judging by the standard crew composition of most vessels of similar sizes to the Beyond Light, it was as if she only counted with one-third of those numbers. The only good number of people John saw were those crewmen outside the platform and the workers roaming the cargo bay and the vehicle deposit.

“The Committee decided that for a stealth mission like BLACKCAT, all the personnel should be reduced to the minimal number allowed,” explained Admiral Frost when John asked.

“But who is going to take out most of the work?” asked John again. “this ship is big, Admiral. I fear they cut us to under allowed levels.”

“That’s incorrect, Commander Star,” spoke the smooth voice of LIBRA. “I am a last-gen artificial intelligence designed in parallel with this vessel. I was made to supply and take care of most functions that require human handling. Without me, this ship would need a total of 811 crewmen operating.”

“And how many personnel do we count with?” John asked.

“349 people aboard, Commander. 66 INN, 70 FNF, 52 INA, 51 ANF, 22 INFF, 28 SolOps, 29 Novnatz, 15 Civilian, 8 ISI, and 8 URB.”

INA stood for Independent Nations Army, while INFF for Independent Nations Flight Force. The FNF —Flot Narodnoy Federatsii, in Russian— was the People’s Federation Navy, and the ANF —Armiya Narodnoy Federatsii— the People’s Federation’s Army. Both INSU and PFSR were surely in equal numbers aboard.

They reached the bridge and got disinfected by a web as per protocol. They crossed inside. The odd configuration of the place disconcerted John: the tan-colored location was composed of five rooms accommodated around a hexagonal space in the center, where a seat and a set of terminals were installed. 

“You must be wondering about the set-up of the bridge, Commander,” said Admiral Frost. “with LIBRA being in charge of most processes, many positions became unnecessary. The designers wanted to try a new setup for the bridge. Flight Ensign, would you help us?” 

“Ah, yes,” Mike cleared his throat and took a step ahead. “this right here is the captain’s position, Commander. Here is where you can do most of your work, make orders, or receive communications from across the ship.”

“Wow,” John whistled and stepped ahead, grabbing the leathered seat of his new place. “they even jacketed this with a high-quality cover!” he sat on it.

“Man, everything here is high quality,” said Mike. “right in front of you is the pilot’s cockpit. There you will find me, as well as Jeffrey and Xi. Oh, they must be here right now,” he walked to the other side of the entrance. “Hey guys, the Captain is here, come to meet him!”

A black man and an Asian man came out of the sliding door with the cat of BLACKCAT painted, wearing the same matte black uniform design of blue margins as Mike. They saluted before John and Admiral Frost. He got up to salute them too. 

“At ease, soldiers,” he said. “I'll present myself. I'm Commander John Star, your commanding officer and captain from now on. It’s going to be a pleasure to work with you.”

“Commander,” the black man spoke. His head was bald, although he looked to be a little younger than him or Mike. “Flight Lieutenant Jeffrey Emmerson. Copilot, flight assistant, and communications officer aboard. It’s going to be a pleasure too.” 

He stretched his hand. John gripped it. “Flight assistant and com. officer? Is not that too much work for a single man?”

“For a human, yes,” spoke LIBRA. “But not for a human with the assistance of a highly advanced artificial intelligence.”

“Ah, you must know LIBRA already,” said Jeffrey. “he loves to remind us about how good he is.”

“Ain’t it?” John swirled his eyes. Both chuckled.

“Commander,” the Asian man took a step ahead. His black hair was perfectly gelled back. He stretched his hand too. “I am Flight Colonel Xi Liang, from the PFSR. Artillery chief and navigations officer. I hope our collaboration produces the best results.”

John gripped his cold hand, and the man did a small reverence. He gave John more serious vibes compared to Jeffrey. “Nice to meet you, Xi. I hope we work well together, despite our different backgrounds.”

“The artillery chief has worked with us many times in the past, commander,” explained Admiral Frost. “he has participated in many conjoint operations between both INSU and PFSR before.”

“Maybe one can day we can pass to the ship's bar to drink something with him,” said Jeffrey. “What do you say?” he put his hand on Xi’s shoulder and grinned at Mike.

But the Artillery Chief didn’t smile a little bit. “It’s a highly sanctionable violation to drink alcohol in the FNF. I pass,” he sharply responded.

“...It’s just time he gets used to us,” said Mike. “why don’t you explain to John the other parts of the ship, guys?”

“...Em, at the right side you will find the War and Tactics Room, as well as the Conference Room,” Jeffrey explained. “On the right side, the Navigation Room and the Gunnery Station are located. LIBRA takes care of most of the tasks, so our presence in them is not always necessary. We'll be only four people inside here.”

John would almost cringe to hear that reduced number if it weren’t for the AI installed on the ship. It would not be bad, though. With a reduced number inside it was easier to keep track of what was going on, and LIBRA doing most of the tedious work would also remove lots of pressure off their shoulders. 

He doubted for a moment if Project: BLACKCAT was really about finding the Eternity of Return. It now looked more like a tech research project.

“Commander,” said Xi. “I think it would be a good idea if we showed you the cockpit.”

“Yeah,” nodded Mike and Jeffrey. 

“Please do it for me,” said Admiral Frost “I must leave right now. The rest of the committee must be expecting me to begin the leap.”

“So, this is it, right, Admiral?” asked John. 

“I’m afraid so, Commander. Wish I could company you, but we have our hands full here. Take care on the other side,” he stretched his hand.

“Thanks, Admiral. You too,” John gripped it. “We’ll return safe and alive. We’ll discover what happened to the Eternity of Return and who those ships are.”

“Please do, son. Shut Hopkins’ mouth by doing so. I hope you find your brother too. I’m afraid that if you don’t return, well, conflict is imminent. Things haven’t gotten any less tense, and the Fleet Admiral will argue that it was all a trap from the PFSR to convince us to work together.”

John felt pressured. Now that he thought about it, not only the lives aboard the Eternity of Return were in play, but millions of them living in the solar system too. If he failed on Hawking-616a, then not only two of the best spaceships and thousands of lives would be lost, but a conflict around Sol would spill much more blood too. 

Project: BLACKCAT passed to sound from a secret mission of recon and rescue to the thread on which hung many souls, and the blank page where history would be later shaped on. They could not fail. It was all in John’s hands.

He straightened up and spoke clearly, saluting. “Don’t worry, sir We’ll do our best to succeed and come home back alive. You can count on that.”

“I hope you the best,” William straightened too and returned the salute. good luck,” he nodded to everyone and left the bridge.

What a promising soldier, William thought. Many things in play would be sorted out based on the Commander’s success. John could be young, but there was no other person in the system he would have selected for that operation besides him. 

He always did his best, even if that meant self-sacrifice. That was the reason why he proposed him as a candidate for the project, and could not be happier for him being selected. He would discover soon if he chose well.

Flight Ensign Mike Sean, Com. Officer Jeffrey Emmerson and Artillery Chief Xi Liang sat in their respective places in the cockpit. Mike’s position was the one in the middle, where all his flight controls were distributed below the windows and the camera screens. Jeffrey was on the terminals of the right, while Xi worked on the left side. John stood before them.

President O’Donnell’s image illuminated from one of the upper screens. “Commander Star? I’ve heard Admiral Frost has given you a tour over our ship. What do you think? do you like it?”

“It’s incredible, sir,” responded John. “you must have spent a fortune building it up.”

“Heck it did, son. But when something like the Eternity of Return getting attacked and lost in an extrasolar system happens, we gotta make our sacrifices. Do you have everything ready?”

John looked down the screen to his subordinates. “All ready, Commander,” informed Mike.

“You’ve heard him, mister president,” said John. “We’re ready to leave whenever you order it.”

“Very well, son. Greenlight to take off and make your first post accelerated leap: granted. Make us proud,” he nodded with a smile. 

His image disappeared and got replaced by the icon of LIBRA: the zodiacal symbol of roman origin. “Hatch 01 fully unlocking in three minutes: please wait patiently. Platform Pad 01: on lifting process,” informed the AI.

The floor below John vibrated, and everything began to slowly ascend as he looked through the windows. The noise of giant gears rotating and hydraulic pulleys hissings growled everywhere. 

“Get ready, everyone!” said Mike excitedly. “We’ll be leaving soon!” he raised his hand and slapped it with Jeffrey’s.

Navigations Officer Xi Liang quickly swept his hand over his keyboard and his holographic screen. “Setting leap course for object designated UI-223 or Hawking-616a for 81 separated jumps. Estimated Time of Arrival: 3.22 years.”

“It’s going to be a long time,” remarked John. 

“You better like cryopods, Commander,” joked Jeffrey. 

“Oh, man. I hate those things,” complained Mike. “the last hangover I had from them lasted me for an entire week.”

3.22 years. According to Doctor Weiber, the Eternity of Return’s travel took 3.01 years, and 6 months had passed already. John didn’t like it. They would reach the other side almost eight months later after the dreadnought got attacked. It was likely that they would not find anything, but they had to hope.

The platform kept raising, and the dark grey metallic walls of white lights and yellow stripes of the hangar got replaced by the full black of the outside sky. The stunning blue of Neptune glowed in the distance.

“Ah, Neptune,” said Jeffrey with a nostalgic tone. “I spent most of my childhood there, living with my grandma. I hope to retire there one day.”

“I was there for three months and didn’t like it,” said Mike. “It’s all so dark and cold. But the night festivals are on another level.”

The image of President O’Donnell appeared once again on the screen. This time, he was accompanied by Presidents Jiang and Turgenev. 

“Beyond Light, whenever you want. We prepared a whole expedient with every detail you’re going to need. LIBRA and supervisors Diaz and Ivanovich will also assist you the most they can. We wish you good luck on the other side.”

“Understood, Mister President,” said John. “Flight Ensign, whenever you want.”

“Oh man, I’ve been waiting so long for this!” Mike excitedly said. He swept his hands all over his projectors and then grabbed the manual controls. “Get ready, everyone aboard! In two minutes we’ll be leaving the Solar System!” he announced through the main communicator to all decks.

The image of the Presidents disappeared, and John saw through Mike’s screens; the Beyond Light had separated itself from the Tritonian base and was now elevating itself to the black space. 

“Elevation complete,” announced Mike. “thrusters on the march. Chief Wallace, you know what to do!”

“Leave it all to us, Mikey. Cosmic Lynx charged, and ready to execute its first leap,” the fast voice of the Engineering Chief sounded through the communicator. “this leap is going to be better than any you’ve seen before!”

“Arthy, this is literally the first leap I’m going to see,” chuckled Mike.

“Oh, whatever. Just set an automatic course. All machines hot and ready to rock,” the channel beeped and Wallace passed to stand-by mode.

John saw through the windows; Neptune suddenly disappeared from the horizon, and every star around became transitioning white dots as the Beyond Light commenced to gain speed. 

Mike’s enthusiasm was contagious, and without realizing it, John was already grinning too. Same for Xi and Jeffrey, who operated their terminals and mechanisms with smiles and determined focus.

“Minimal speed required for a post-accelerated leap: acquired,” informed LIBRA. “conditions are optimal.”

“Opening a rupture in 30 seconds,” informed Mike. “brace yourselves, people!”

John saw once again through the window. A white ball of light appeared ahead in the distant space, outshining every star around. It began to spread in a blue shine, making a suctioning swirl of luminescence in the middle of space.

“ETA for the first leap’s countdown,” said Flight Ensign Mike Sean, ready to pronounce the numbers. John stared at the distorting and waving portal in front of them. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two… Leaping!” he exclaimed.

The windows shut themselves as they got engulfed by nothing but dazzling white light. “All connections lost,” informed Com. Officer Jeffrey Emmerson. “we’re leaping inside a rupture!"

"Woohoo!" Mike rose from his seat and spread his fists. "We did it!"

So, they had finally left the Solar System! John smiled and traded handgrips with his subordinates. Three long years would pass for them before reaching Vita Nova, but their travel would be perceived as less than an hour in the solar system. 

But no one would see them arrive. Unlike the Eternity of Return, they weren’t going to leave any communications buoys behind, and the ones that the dreadnought left were too damaged to function. They would be alone once on the other side. John would become the maximum authority over every human there. 

He never imagined a day like that would ever come. They had become the second humans to leave the Solar System! That would almost make him want to celebrate if other things weren’t in-game. Many things would happen once on the other side, and he needed to give his 100% if he wanted himself and his crew to return alive and succeed.

It was now on him. He would not let his crew —and much less Blair, who he promised himself to bring home alive— down. They all left the cockpit. They would spend most of those 3 years in cryosleep, with some awakenings every 6 months for basic maintenance activities.