Beyond Light

Mission Dispute.

“So,” spoke Doctor Winslow. “Lemme see if I understood it: The Eternity of Return got wrecked by a 100 kilometers long tuna can with spider eyes, and his crew got abducted by some grown-ass grasshoppers. And I thought this place was getting boring…”

Everyone crossed more looks, concerned by either their unfortunate situation or the medchief’s out-of-place joke. Mike spoke. “So… what do we do now? If that thing’s near us and it knows we’re here then we’re as good as dead. Should we report back to Sol?”

“No,” responded John. “we’ll put our stealth systems on the march. If we return we run the risk of being traced by that monster. We need to stay here.”

“I’m with the Commander,” said Xi. “the first ships that attacked the INSU dreadnought had superior shielding and firepower. That giant destroyed it and its minions kidnapped his crew. It’d be ignorant to think that supership doesn’t count with FTL technology to follow us back, or tech to overcome our stealth systems. We’re running a high risk by reporting back.”

The rest looked concerned but didn’t speak. Despite wanting to return to the safety of the Solar System after seeing the monsters that ended the Eternity of Return, they knew that they were dooming billions of human lives by doing so. Most of them had families and friends waiting for them.

Besides, there was no way of knowing if that supergiant was alone. What chances did the Solar System have against it? They had not seen any of its capabilities yet, but if even those small ships caused a good number on the dreadnought, only something much more destructive could be expected from the super beast. The Eternity of Return looked like an insignificant rat next to it!

“Staying here? For what?” complained Supervisor Bella Diaz. “Commander Star, we’ve discovered what happened to the Eternity of Return. It’s time for us to go back. BLACKCAT is complete.”

“Complete?” asked John. “No. Far from it. We don’t know exactly who those aliens are nor their intentions. They likely kidnapped the crew of the Eternity of Return and we don’t know about their current status. How are we supposed to go back with so few in our hands?”

“The INSU has been recently producing more EPAL prototypes for various of the INN vessels. A properly designated fleet shall continue with further reconnaissance and investigation,” responded Diaz. “Our mission is over. Nothing says those footages aren’t manipulated or made by the PFSR. They might as well have vessels waiting around this system to attack us.”

“Oh god,” complained Mike, swirling his eyes and looking up.

John did the same. How could she still believe that nonsense? The INSU didn’t have the resources to massively equip a fleet with EPALs and send them to a far destination like Vita Nova. The Beyond Light was also part of the PFSR! Why would they attack their own investing?

He understood it better: If they returned with such vague information, Someone like Admiral Hopkins would take advantage of it. He would try to fill the holes and convince President O’Donnell to go to war with the PFSR. The pink-faced man would also laugh and spit on John and Admiral Frost’s faces.

John could not allow that. But there were people that concerned him more on Hawking-616a.

“Diaz, those are a bunch of ignorant claims,” growled Doctor Weiber. “You imbeciles and your politics putting things where they are not. Commander, this woman doesn’t belong here. She is contaminating a high-priority mission with her stupid politics.”

“Davis Weiber,” the supervisor raised her voice and showed her canines. "disrespecting an ISI officer is a highly punishable offense. Don’t think I’m going to look away from this. You’ll end up on a martial court!”

“I’m a civilian, keep your goddamned threats to yourself,” the old man of messy white hair responded. “I don’t belong to any military branch, you—”

“Stop,” exclaimed John. “You are not going to yell inside my ship. I’m the captain. Diaz, we’re staying here. That’s my final decision. Do whatever you want.”

The woman reddened and looked down for a second, although it was not because of being embarrassed or ashamed, or much less sorry. It was because of anger and resentment.

“This is not going to be overlooked, Commander Star. You’re neglecting the very duty you signed for according to BLACKCAT. Your expedient is so unclean you’ll end on a court too once we return.”

“You are free to write and report whatever you want, supervisor,” John calmly responded. He needed to show to his subordinates that it was he who was in control. “Leave this place, now.”

The woman glared as if she was aiming an IRM22 at him, but she only left out a hateful hush and turned around to leave, marching and going outside like an angry teenager. John understood her tactics: intimidation. He had already read the mission’s expedient, and the terms of discovering what happened were loose and vague.

Did she think she could intimidate him by pushing something like a duty? John was above it. As soldiers, their real duty was to guarantee the safety and interests of not only the INSU or the PFSR, but humanity as a whole. Their political game was left back on the Solar System. Right there, they were all a team of one that didn’t know factions or backgrounds.

And even in the hypothetical case that John was violating the code or disregarding the mission, he was decided to not return. Blair, Captain Cortez, and all of those who had been kidnapped still needed their help. He would not turn his back on them.

He looked back at his crew. They all wore poker faces, but none of them said anything. It was like they were getting used to the arguments between the two.

“I know you might be thinking that it’s time to return, but we still know nothing about what happened to the Eternity of Return besides the very basics. We don’t know the exact who or why. Supervisor Ivanovich, do you have any objections?” he asked the blonde woman, standing next to him.

“No, Commander. I understand the situation. It’s my duty to ensure the security and interests of the PFSR are met. Returning puts both at risk.”

“Very well,” nodded John.

Ironic. He thought Katiya was going to be the pain in the butt aboard, but the cold woman was much more reasonable than her union counterpart. Hopkins surely liked his puppets to be as intense as him.

“Commander,” spoke LIBRA. “according to the expedient, no grade of further investigation is specified. You can return back to the Sol System, but you aren’t obliged to do so. It’d be highly advisable to keep investigating on Vita Nova. It was already suspected that the survivors might as well be hiding on the planet's surface.”

“Thanks, LIBRA,” John felt glad to have an AI as useful as him. Others didn’t even speak until they were asked something, but he always intervened when something drew his attention. Maybe he was indeed a last-gen intelligence.

“Damn, man,” Mike whispered to Jeffrey. “This is why I don’t get into relationships with military women. They all love to get on your nerves so much.”

Both chuckled. John squeezed his lips and looked up. With the dispute sorted out, there was something else that only made him want to further up his mission.

“Well, that’s all. We’re staying. It’s too risky to return right now. Besides, there is something else. We discovered something on the surface of Vita Nova a pair of hours ago.”

They all raised their eyes to him, like curious mice about to get read a sleep time story. Yui’s dark eyes illuminated. She was the first to speak. “Oh yeah, the drones are still catching all sorts of interesting things! It’s a whole Earth with life! There are some—”

“Yui,” said loudly Doctor Weiber, in a tone that told her to let the Captain speak. The girl pouted and didn’t say anything else.

“No, Doctor,” said John. “She is right. If anyone is not well aware yet, I’ll put you up to date. Vita Nova is a planet capable of hosting life. We discovered plants, animals, and comfortable conditions that many of our terraformed planets would envy.”

“Amazing. Wish I could have been down there,” said Jeffrey. “I’d love to sunbathe so much under two suns.”

“But we found something,” continued John. “As you are aware, we’re receiving lectures from the Eternity of Return from there. There was something else too.”

He walked to the table and connected his helmet to the holoprojector. The screenshot light, and revealed through John’s point of view the hexagonal tunnel at the end of the canyon, as well as the two-legged cyclops robots. They all traded whispers and looks. It was as if they expected John and his team to be attacked at any moment, but nothing happened.

Chief Wallace paused the image and amplified the figure of one of the robots.

“Interesting, but unusual. That leg configuration is optimal for running, but not much for climbing, something weird for the terrain they were in. Their designers must be eccentric or they simply didn’t design those machines for that terrain. Still, maybe they count with some propulsors we don’t know about.”

“Robots? Tell me if I’m not hallucinating. Damn,” cursed Mike. “More aliens. And that tunnel. Someone must have made it. Maybe we are at the homeworld of those hugeass grasshoppers who boarded the Eternity.”

“I don’t think so,” said Xi. “this world doesn’t appear to hold an advanced civilization, besides those tunnels. I heard you didn’t approach, Commander. You didn’t follow the signal to that tunnel.”

“Sonny,” Derek spoke to the Asian man. “Here in the INSU, we valuate more the lives of our personnel than you do. besides, it could have been a trap.”

“So, what are you gonna do?” asked Mike.

“Derek's right. It could be a trap. But right now it’s the only thing we have,” John disconnected his helmet and put it on again. “LIBRA, Sargeant, let’s prepare a team. We are going down on there again.”

“Looks like it’s time to get dirty,” said the Sergeant Major, understanding what he meant. He approached John and both walked to the door.

“Wait, what are you gonna do, exactly?” asked Com. Officer Jeffrey Emmerson.

“Isn’t it obvious? We are going to track down those signals to wherever robotic burrow they are coming from. Might be a trap, might be not, but it’s what we’ve got.”

“Maybe that’s the place where those insects took our people,” continued Derek. “We can’t simply let them down there.”

“But those robots,” said Mike. “You don’t know if they are hostiles. And if there are indeed survivors inside there, then it must be filled with those giant cricket bastards!”

“What’s up, puppy Mikey? Are you scared” mocked Doctor Winslow mocked. He walked to John and Derek just as if combat was already calling him.

“This is not going to be like the last two missions on this system,” explained John. “This time, we’re taking heavy weaponry. If they don’t let us get in in a good way then we’ll make our way inside. It’s time to end with this,” his eyes glowed. The three men turned around and crossed the door.

“Damn,” cursed Mike. “A big one’s gonna arm up down there.”

“It’s obvious that violence was bound to happen,” said Doctor Weiber. “It was the first thing the Eternity of Return faced on this system. Nothing exempts us from it,” he walked to the door too. He had other matters to attend to. With drones deployed on the planet’s surface, Yui and the rest of his team had their hands full.

The Japanese girl looked at both sides and then followed him behind, stopping for a second before Mike. “Don’t be scared, Puppy Mikey!” she mocked with a cute voice, putting her hand on his shoulder. She then giggled and left.

Jeffrey chuckled. “Gonna say it fits you,”

“Oh, shut up, Jeff,” Mike rolled his eyes. “Let’s return to the bridge they are going to need us back there.”

And so they dispersed. John felt determined to reach the bottom of the rabbit hole, but deep inside, he was scared. Not much for himself, but rather for those around him. There was a powerful threat lurking in the shadows of that system, ready to strike at any moment.

The time to fight was coming. He could already foresee the combat. John was not a person whose’s first reaction to problems was violence, but those robots didn’t have any reasons to let them inside their artificial nest. But that wasn’t going to stop him.

He also feared something else, and that was to not have arrived on time to make any difference. They had already lost eight months. In case Blair and the rest of the crew were still alive, each second made a difference between life and death.

He had learned it when he was 19 years old and those terrorists massacred his whole unit. Maybe some of his mates would be still alive if he had cut that rope faster. He was alive because Blair had arrived at the right time to save him.