Beyond Light

One Last Shot.

“So, our new friends are finally going to speak,” mocked Commander Star. “They probably didn’t want to come out as desperate or something.”

Jay had his doubts. Why would they wait to jam all communications until that moment? those ships just made a quick swept and then the survivors escaped. Why didn’t they make a turnover, or at least remain in an effective range? Something was off. The colossal coming after them didn’t resemble the structure of those ships, nor did it share with them any trace of detail.

Maybe those ships weren’t trying to attack the Eternity of Return. That would explain their suicidal and desperate tactic. They were escaping.

“Play that transmission out loud, Ramirez,” ordered Jay. “Let’s see what our friends have to say.”

“Energy redirected to the Type-1 Focused Beam Cannon at 25%” announced Hydra.

“Here it goes, Captain,” responded Ramirez. He swiped his holographic screen, connecting his terminal to the speakers of the bridge.

“...” nothing but granulated static rumbled.

“What the hell is that?” frowned Commander Star. “maybe you caught some radio waves coming from the planets or the stars."

“Shh,” hushed Captain Cortez. “Be quiet.”

“...”

“...”

Everyone traded anxious looks. They didn’t realize that the immense figure of the colossal ship was already visible from the window above the flight deck.

“...”

Flight Officer Rossi swirled his eyes. “I think it's dama—”

“...Ah, there you are,” a deep, echoing voice speaking slowly sounded. Was it a synthesizer or a real voice? It was impossible to discern. It sent shivers down Jay’s spine.

“W-what the hell…” Commander Star cursed.

“...I did not think you would be so eager to come to us,” the transmission continued. “you have brought a fair quantity of your valuable species. All to us. And you have left a trail before a mine of more. Tell me something, lesser creatures. Are you that desperate for achieving what you were made for? to reach the eternal ascension? even though you still do not comprehend anything?”

Everyone shot confused stares at each other. What were they listening to? they knew their guesses; that giant machine couldn't be the work of any human faction. But how was it able to speak English in the first place?

“Look, through the window!” Brooks pointed his finger to the curved glass that separated the bridge from outer space.

The mysterious ship engulfed most of the panorama, with its set of void eyes shining and illuminating in red the room. They used their hands to cover their vision as they frowned their eyelids, but its most blinding characteristic was its enormous size.

It was like watching a whole city through the highest mountain. If Jay had to compare it to something, then that thing would be bigger than many settlements around the solar system. It would cover most of the horizon of some moons, like Luna, Miranda, Charon, or Titan.

It also looked taller than Olympus Mons on Mars, which was not even fully observable on the planet due to its gigantic size. That volcano almost reached outside space! And that colossal ship looked to be at least 15 kilometers taller than it!

If Jay had to guess, the ship would indeed stick out to space on most of the rocky objects of the solar system. It was four times taller than Everest on Earth!

Nobody could say anything at the immense panorama. They were all dumbstruck by its terrifying proportions. Everyone considered the Eternity of Return and its seven kilometers of length to be a super-colossal back on the Sol System, yet the ship before their eyes dwarfed him by being almost 15 times his size.

“...Captain,” Ramirez broke the silence. “the channel is open. You can respond.”

Jay activated his earcom without putting his eyes off the shiny red eyes and spoke the only words that could have come into his mind. “...What do you want from us?”

“...What you were destined to do, ever since you were even lesser organisms on your homeworld. You must join us on the unstoppable path of cosmical redefinition. But you are weak on your own. I must make you strong. To make you reach your next form.”

The voice of Hydra then pulled everyone back to reality. “Energy Redirection to the Type-1 Focused Beam Cannon at 100%. Status complete. Ready to load and fire.”

“...What does that mean?” Jay almost ignored Hydra, but he kept in mind her words. He was more intrigued by whatever that thing was had to say.

“Your current conscience won’t survive,” the grave voice spoke. “as it is useless for the greatest plan. Bend yourselves to us. There is no other way. Fighting is futile.”

“...Captain,” mumbled Brooks. “what should we do?”

Jay was paralyzed. Was that ship a single machine, or perhaps thousands of aliens were aboard controlling it like any other vessel? it didn’t matter. Whatever they wanted to accomplish was none of humanity’s business, and they would certainly not yield for any alien bastard trying to intimidate them by raw size and ontological words.

“Master Sergeant,” Jay made his ultimate decision. “fire. Load the Godmelter and fire at will. Make a hole on that giant bastard.”

“Aye Aye Captain,” he said, turning back to his screen. “...It’s been an honor.”

Everyone looked at each other with numb looks, but they nodded and continued watching at the colossal of dark grey and blinding red outside. They were ready for what had to be done.

Jay put his cap off. He inspected its black and golden bands, passing his fingers over its silver-colored star. To think that his military career and life were about to end. He felt proud for accomplishing what no one would ever do, and for having continued to fight until the end. He had a good life.

There were a few things he regretted, like not spending enough time with his daughter; Samantha. He took her photo out, clamped on the elastic band of his cap. There she was, young and smiling next to him; staring with the same eyes as her mother, who had passed away 10 years ago.

His last wish was to reunite with Marie in the afterlife, but while he was still alive, he would make Sam proud; that last shot would be dedicated just to her. He put his back on again and gripped his photo; the captain always fell with the ship. That was something he always heard but only understood until that moment.

“Cannon loaded at 100%,” C.S.O. Brooks spoke out loud. “Firing away!”

Contrary to the Rosenkopf cannons that were installed inside the hull of the ship, the godmelter was outside, so its loading process was silent. Before Jay could even say it, a giant beam of light in color gold got shot from the bottom of the ship, and it flew like a shooting star right into the center of the giant alien ship.

The Type-1 FBC was not nicknamed Godmelter for nothing. It was capable of blowing almost any ship to pieces with a single hit. It could go through basically anything in the Solar System.

But at that moment, Jay realized that maybe, they were fighting something stronger than a god. The blinding beam of light got halted by a red, hexagonal energy barrier that suddenly appeared before the colossal. The hyper heated tungsten evaporated, and the giant resulted intact.

The red octoeyes shined harder, and from the three elongated squares below the main body, a red beam fired. The brightest light engulfed everything, and then it all went black. The most majestic human spaceship ever built got halved in two by a single attack, and thousands of mini-explosions ran all over on its lacerated hull. Bits of debris got sent away into outer space.

“Hmm,” the deep voice resonated. “I am still detecting your basic matter. I cannot destroy you. I cannot kill you; for you will be the finest tool and children at the eternal guidance.”

Two elongated ships of the same colors came out from the holes sparsed on the upper structure of the alien ship.

“Now go, my loyal servants. Recover our new children; your new brothers and sisters. Their use has only begun. They left us the way back to their cradle, but it is not time for us to submit them yet if we want to harvest the whole field, for we need to make the first flowers bloom...”