Oblivion Waits

Oblivion Waits

            “Captain?” asked the nearby communication officer.

            I could see the look on her face as she prepared herself to pass on the message that I didn’t want to hear. It was tense, maybe even afraid. This would be her first time bridging the gap between myself and the orders from high command on Earth. I already knew what those orders were, and I already knew I would dread them then as much as I did the day I took command of this vessel. The orders were of murder and genocide in the name of progress, and the vessel was an Oblivion Class Death Ship.

            “Orders?”

            “Aye, sir. Purge with extreme prejudice.”

            “Location?”

            “Theta Gamma 571, sir.”

            I recognized the system immediately, and that only served to make the bad taste in my mouth grow stronger. I had come from a planet there, called Caslon Alpha. It was a vat world – a planet where clones were grown from long bloodlines dating back some thirty thousand years or more. The crime was a fanatical uprising, and the message was of hate. It was a disease; an infection, and it had to be eradicated.

            That was the purpose of The Rising Light and her crew and none served her terrible purpose by chance. Every single person understood the sheer evil of what we were called to do by humanity itself; to step in when all other possibilities have been exhausted in halting mass treason and collect the ultimate payment for the sins of the many. But the price we paid for exacting that payment was terrible. Millions of innocent lives were lost; men, women, children, young, and old. Even the worlds themselves were greatly damaged; such was the ferocity of our weapon.

            Every step along the way to carrying out those orders was painful and difficult. From the moment the orders were issued, to the second a multitude of timed gamma bursts fired from the belly of that magnificent Death Ship started the clock that would spell the end of those worlds. The first step had been completed and we had our destination. The second step came swiftly in the form of a data sphere that I held in my hand. It contained the names of every single person that was known to inhabit the worlds whose death warrants had been signed. It only listed names, so there was no way for us to know who was actually responsible for the atrocities that led to that end. As far as we on the ship were concerned, they were just people, and it was likely that most of them would never even know they were going to die in a blaze of fiery damnation.

            Eighteen billion lives.

            It was a small system. It only had three planets, one of which wouldn’t have been habitable without extensive life support structures spread across its surface. That particular planet had the lowest concentration of people because it was just a mining world, but it was also the source of corruption that drove the entire population to mass treason.

            “Make way to THETA Gamma 571.” I relayed to Navigator Parson without looking up from the sphere in my hand that endlessly projected names in holographic form from its surface.

            “Aye, sir. Theta Gamma 571,” he replied without hesitation.

            “Sir?” said the communications lieutenant, Theresa Maximal.

            “Yes, Lt?”

            “You have a private communication marked urgent.”

            “Who’s it from, Lt?”

            “It just says TG571, sir.”

            “I’ll take it in my quarters.”

            “Aye, sir.”

            As I made way to receive this message privately, I pondered its unusual nature. For one, private messages were rare, as this ship and her crew operate above all but the highest authority in the colonized universe across ten galaxies. It was truly farfetched indeed to think I needed to know something important that my crew did not. Second, and perhaps most strange, was the name of the sender, TG571. This would imply the message concerned our latest mission, but the sender wanted to remain anonymous, and that knowledge troubled me yet further.

            I sat down at the massive, wooden desk in the captain’s quarters that had seen generations of men pass through in command of the most devastating weapon humanity has ever wielded. I never knew much about it, other than the fact that it was ancient and a part of a simple ritual that every captain before me took part in. They would etch something in the wood that would identify them to captains of this vessel long after they were nothing but dust. It was really just a tiny way of immortalizing themselves; a way of hoping someone would remember the prices they exacted, and the price they paid for doing their job. As I looked at the carvings in the wood, a smile crept onto my face only to be countered with a tear. I knew my name would be carved there one day. It was a bittersweet concept.

            “Play message marked TG571,” I ordered to the virtual servant that was always listening for orders.

            Almost instantly, a holographic head appeared above the desk facing me that I recognized as Chancellor Robert Sanderson.

            “Captain Martell, I know you have recently received purge orders from high command for Theta Gamma 571 and I much desire to speak with you regarding this matter before you fulfill this mission. Encrypted in this message is a direct live link to my private quarters on Sol Observatory. I am aware you are not obligated to even respond to requests such as this, but it is a matter of grave importance to me. Please consider it.”

            Once the message had been completed, the image changed to a silent, blinking image that just said one word. Connect?

            “Connect live link,” I said to the listening VS without hesitation.

            I didn’t have to wait long before I received confirmation the connection was active and only had to wait minutes before another image appeared before me, this time in the chair opposite the ancient captain’s desk. The image was of Chancellor Sanderson and it was as clear as if he was there in physical form. However, I noticed immediately how disheveled his appearance looked. He seemed tired, even worn out, and his face wore an expression that was sorrowful and difficult to look at.

            “Chancellor?” I said after a moment of waiting for him to start.

            “Yes, Captain. I apologize. I am not myself these days.”

            “Is something wrong, Chancellor?”

            “Please call me Robert, Captain. I am not feeling very much like a respected official these days. Not in a long time in fact.”

            “Why did you want to talk to me directly on stream, Robert?”

            His answer did not come swiftly, and his eyes welled up as if tears would soon follow. He squirmed around in his seat as if he was nervous, possibly even terrified of something.

            “Robert, you went to a lot of trouble contacting me. We’re sitting in dead space. The only star within a reasonable distance is the one in my engine room, so tell me now, why did you need to stream live to me? Why wasn’t a message enough? Why was it marked TG571? What does this have to do with…”

            “My son.” said the Chancellor and his voice cracked as if under great stress.

            “Son?”

            “Yes.” and then he dropped his face into his hands.

            “Living, official bloodlines are protected, Robert. Even if they were there, the Ministry would have translated them out via dark team long before they called us.”

            “No! He is still there!” cried the man desperately. “I know he is. I’ve been working for three years to get him out. All my time and resources have gone into it.”

            “Three years? Robert, the only possible reason the Ministry wouldn’t remove any living relatives of your bloodline from the system, would be if they suspected them of treason.”

            “No! He is not a traitor!”

            “Robert…”

            “No, Captain! That is not why!”

            “Chancellor, pull yourself together! If they are not part of the treason, then they cannot be there!”

            “He is not of the official bloodline,” he said finally while looking straight into my eyes.

            Realization dawned on me at that moment. There another way, but it required an act of treason by the Chancellor himself.

            “Bastard...?”

            “Yes, captain.” He answered and then hung his head in shame.

            There was silence for a long time after that. Chancellor Sanderson had wilted into a mass of tears and occasional sobs that were loud enough for me to hear. His admission of treason alone allowed me to have respect for him and his position. I could terminate the conversation with a command. I could terminate his life with a message to high command. Or, I could consider why he chose to take a wild chance that I might have mercy. It struck me hard when I imagined what must drive a man to take such a chance.

            “How did it happen?” I asked after a long time in thought.

            He had managed to straighten himself up and was no longer crying and sniveling, but still remained quiet, no doubt waiting to see how I would respond.

            “It was a long time ago, some forty years. I was a bloodline cartographer. On Caslon Alpha in the south quadrant.”

            “South? Svenson?” I asked.

            “Yes…” he said, clearly surprised. “You are familiar?”

            “I… knew a Svenson. We were close for many years.”

            “When?”

            “We met almost forty years ago. We grew up together on Caslon before the trials sent me to Earth. I never saw him again.”

            “I’m sorry, captain. I never saw her again either… the boy’s mother, I mean. When I was tasked to leave, I said goodbye and never looked back until much later.”

            “How did you learn of the bastard?”

            “It was two years after I left Caslon. A simple message addressed to me by my old title. It was meant to seem like it had been lost before it made it to me.”

            “What did you do?”

            “Commander… please understand…” he began but choked up once more. It was as if he desperately wanted to tell me, but the words wouldn’t come.

            “Chancellor, what did you do?” I said as suspicion arose in my mind.

            “I… I did what I thought was best for his survival, commander. Please understand that.”

            “What did you do!?”

“I had the child added to the appropriate age group of clones to be raised as if he was vat-grown.”

            “You did WHAT!?”

            There was silence again, this time even longer than the first time the chancellor from Earth admitted to treason. By adding the bastard child of an affair – his own bloodline – to be raised as if he was of pure Svenson decent, he had essentially corrupted everything that child would grow to do on its way to adulthood, and everything thereafter. If there was a reason for anyone to check his blood cartography and it was discovered he was a hybrid mix of Svenson and Sanderson blood, it was entirely within reason to expect both bloodlines to be purged.

            “I’m afraid I can’t help, Chancellor,” I said after many minutes of contemplation.

            “Captain, please, I’m pleading with you. Please help.”

            “Chancellor… there is little more one can do that is a greater crime than this. I can only think of directly manipulating active bloodlines or assassination of one of the as worse.”     

            “You… you were my last hope,” he said as his face dropped into absolute defeat.

            “I will take no action against you, Chancellor, but I will carry out the purge. In doing so, I shall erase your mistake from history itself. Consider this an act of mercy.”

            But the man didn’t seem to be listening to me anymore. His countenance had changed dramatically and his expression was haunted. He had begun to mumble quietly under his breath something I couldn’t understand.

            “Chancellor?”

            Instead of answering, he began to rock back and forth, slowly at first, then quickly.

            “Chancellor Sanderson, answer me.”

            Again, there was no answer, but I could almost make out the words he had started mumbling. He was repeating the same words over and over.

            “Robert!” I shouted.

            He gasped and suddenly stopped rocking. He glared up at me with wild eyes that were bloodshot from nonstop sobbing, and then he said aloud what he had been mumbling.

            “My boy… you’ve killed my boy. You’ve killed my Connor…”

            The name caught me like a hammer to the gut, and I was nearly overcome with memories and the feelings they brought. I had to take a breath before I could speak again.

            “Connor?” I said finally.

            “Wh… what?” asked the Chancellor, taken aback by my sudden change in tone.

      “Your son’s name is Connor?”

            “Yes, Captain. Connor Svenson.”

            -

             A child from the south, just like my friend all those years ago.

            Coincidence.

            A child from the south named Connor Svenson, just like my friend all those years ago.

            Coincidence?

            There was only one way to find out the truth and now I was determined to know if this bastard child was someone who had meant so much to me. A picture would have easily answered the question, but the chancellor had gone to as many lengths covering his tracks as he had in making sure the child was cared for. He had no pictures to provide me. He didn’t even know what his son looked like, but he still cared deeply for his well-being. It really was a strong trait that was inherent to his bloodline and it was designed to be that way. The universe needed men of power that were hardwired to care for people at a literal cellular level. It was a hard-learned lesson from thousands of years passed when humans first experimented with gene modification in clones.

            A mistake at the moment of first contact with aliens from another world had led to an understanding of what humanity needed to survive such as it had never had before. When the aliens came, old Earth leaders sent their best to greet them. It was an ambassadorial team made up of the smartest, gene-modified clones they had ever created. Only the most useful traits to the name of progress were kept. The idea was for these new humans to be capable of harnessing greater potential without needing to wade through other flaws of the human mind, but in doing so, they had killed the human soul.

            The clones came to a consensus within hours of communicating with the aliens. They knew the state of alien faster than light travel was possibly hundreds of years more advanced than our own, and they concluded the price for that knowledge was well worth it. So, they murdered the aliens in cold blood on live broadcast to the world and stole their technology.

            They were right, of course, but the world demanded their lives as penance. The cold, calculating minds of a hundred years’ worth of gene research was dissected and placed in laboratories to be used for nothing more than a study of mistakes. For the first time since they began trying to create the perfect human, they found themselves considering the soul of humanity as a catalyst for progress rather than a hindrance. Humans needed competing personalities and beliefs to survive the perils of their existence. They needed love just as much as they needed hate. They needed those who care about life to balance those who were prepared to end life if needed.

            That’s the reason Chancellor Sanderson cared so much for a bastard child. It was in his blood, his very DNA. It was also the reason why I knew I could never make a decision to end three worlds until I knew if his child was someone whom I had once cared about. Not because it was in my blood, but rather because the very history of humanity had shown me that even in the most extreme circumstances, love can make room for mercy.

            I sat quietly in my quarters long after the holographic form of Chancellor Sanderson had disappeared. I was contemplating my next actions and what they would mean. I looked at the wooden desk in front of me and wondered if it was coming time to carve my name into its ancient form. I thought of times as a child with a boy named Connor and adventures together as we grew up on the vat world. I remembered the look on his face when I delivered the news I was to leave for Earth. The blood trials had dictated what my aptitudes were, and while part of me wanted to stay on Caslon forever, a greater part wanted to see what my place could be in the universe. Connor was there, always, and though he couldn’t bear the thought of me leaving, he wouldn’t dare stand in my way but for a single moment.

I had already said goodbye. There were tears from all as I walked away from many friends who were either staying behind or leaving for other places throughout the human Supremacy. Even Connor would be leaving soon after, but not for Earth-like he had always wanted. His aptitudes meant he was best suited to serve the Colony Corps, along with twenty-five thousand other people from different vat words around the galaxy. They would be dropped onto a new planet to kick-start the colonizing process and I would never see him again.

I was nearly to the translation point when he appeared in front of me. His eyes were red and blotchy, but they were dry for the first time since I told him I was leaving. I thought he was angry at first, but quickly realized it was something else.

“Connor, I… I have to go. It’s time.”

“I know, Alex,” he said with a cracking voice. “I just needed to give you something before you go.”

“This,” he said and then pulled off his biomarker ring.

“You know I can’t wear that…”

“No, I know. I just want you to keep it somewhere close. So you don’t forget.”

“Forget? How could I ever forget you?”

“The universe is a big place,” he replied with a chuckle that immediately turned into tears of despair.

I took the ring and put it in my pocket then quickly looked away so he wouldn’t see the pain in my own face as it reacted to his. I was hurting as much as he was, but my mind said to be strong, for him. I leaned in one final time and embraced him as deeply as I could muster, and before he could say another word I stepped away and into the translation point. I stood there for a few seconds before the machine activated, and as lights flicked on and the glass door closed around me, he raised a hand and shouted “I...” but the rest of his words were lost to me as I disappeared.

Remembering those times erupted in me old emotions that I hadn’t felt in many years and I instinctively looked over at the wall where a personal belongings safe was hidden behind a void field. I stood and made my way to it, still reeling from all that I was feeling and trying to maintain my composure. As I stood before the void safe, I said “Captain’s Override: Charlie Alpha Hotel 0415.” and the void shielding collapsed. I reached inside and grabbed a small, golden box and then walked back to the captain’s chair and sat at the old desk placing the box on its surface. I slowly opened it, and inside was the ring Connor had given me so long ago. As I held it, I felt almost as if I was back there that day feeling his sobs on my shoulder as I embraced him that final time and I was finally overcome with the emotions I had been trying to keep at bay.

After some time, I regained my composure and said “Lt. Maximal, prepare a translation shuttle for The Furious Rampart

I had made up my mind; I would find him if I could and save him from the fate of the rest of the world if he was still alive, and oh how I hoped he still lived.

“Are we receiving someone from the blockade fleet, sir?”

“No. Have the fleet admiral prepare a dark team for Caslon. I will brief them when I arrive.”

“You’re going to the surface, sir?”

“Yes, Lt.”

“Captain, this is a serious breach of protocol for quarantined planets on orders for purge.”

“Noted, Lt. Make the call.”

“Sir, it is my duty to inform you of the danger if you go to Caslon.”

“Fine…” I said with a sigh. “Inform away, Lt.”

“Caslon reports casualties in the millions due to orbital bombardment of several vat facilities around the world. More than eighty-five percent of all translation points are offline, and the remaining TPs are said to be under heavy guard from planetary protection forces.”

“Do we know if they are loyal to the Supremacy?”

“No, sir. It seems the fighting isn’t even related to off-world political issues.”

“What? That’s unusual.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If they’re not fighting over loyalty to the Supremacy, what are they fighting over?”

“It would appear to be two competing factions for control of the local systems.”

“That makes even less sense. Surely one of the sides realizes they can’t take a vat world from the

“No mention of the Seven has been made since fighting began, sir. It’s almost like they aren’t acknowledging the Supremacy even exists.”

“Oh, that’s nonsense. There must be a religious connection. Chaos on this level rarely exists without some idiot making himself a god.”

“There are many mentions of one calling himself The Avatar of Privilege.

“I knew it. What’s his story?”

“Most records are missing so there’s no real name or bloodline information; however, it seems the man’s message is against sending mature clones off-system.”

“Of course it is. What is his opposition?”

“I can really only see local PPF resistance, sir. Martial Law was instituted five years ago, but support for this “Avatar” has swelled to immense numbers on all three worlds. They’ve not been able to maintain control.”

“The PPF numbers are massive. They would have over a billion trained soldiers. Where are they?”

“What records I can piece together show more than half switched sides barely six months into the conflict, sir.”

“What in the hell… how many are left?”

“It’s difficult to tell, sir, but best estimates show less than a quarter of the total original force.”

“It really is bad down there.”

“Yes, Captain. Far too dangerous, even if you’re with a dark team.”

“Yes… you’re quite right, Lt. Now, if you’re done, make the call.”

“Aye… sir,” she replied after a short pause.

The danger was immense and for the first time, I had a rare glimpse into just how bad it has to get before high command orders a purge. Normally, no one sees the reasons, and to the crew of a death ship, those worlds and those people are just numbers on a screen. We always accepted it in the back of our minds as justified. We always assumed the many thousands of years’ worth of doctrine that led us to that point was infallible, and here was the evidence.

As I traveled in the translation vessel to a point outside the effects of the neutron star spinning away in the belly of The Rising Star, I had time to ponder something else that had never really come to mind in my time serving the Supremacy, and the thoughts were directly related to Caslon and how it came to a state of near-complete ruin. Sure, it was historical fact that it was common for things to eventually go bad wherever humanity spreads itself, but this felt different to me. I remembered something Lieutenant Maximal said, “It’s almost like they aren’t acknowledging the Supremacy even exists.” Those words struck me in a strange way. How could they possibly deny the existence of the rest of humanity scattered around the rest of the universe? What could lead people to believe there was nothing else out there if that’s truly what had happened? How could a single man cause half a billion trained soldiers to desert and commit high treason?

I had no answers, and I realized I wasn’t meant to. I already had a purpose, and it was to be a final line of military defense against the one threat that humanity has faced for tens of thousands of years. It’s a threat that is impossible to truly kill, and can’t even be treated once its seeds have rooted.

It’s an idea.

That’s why we must commit these atrocities. That’s why eighteen billion people will unwillingly give their lives. Someone had an idea, and someone else believed in it, and then it spread like a spark through a perfect mix of flammable chemicals in the air. Unless you kill the source and anything that’s been contaminated, the fire will just keep lighting itself over and over again, but that’s not even the worst part. No, the worst is when there’s a survivor, and that survivor’s mind has been altered by the experience he or she survived. Now, the original idea that first began the nightmare lives on in a mutated version of itself in that survivor. The old principles of that idea might not have even survived, but what’s left could be far worse than what once was. So, we eliminate them all from afar. We let none escape. We force the idea to die within the confines of where it started and then we look away. We look towards where we stand in the universe across ten galaxies and we justify our evil actions by saying it is worth the price so that humanity lives on as it has for one hundred thousand years.

“Approaching safe distance for translation, Captain.” said the pilot of the shuttle. “A translation shuttle from Blockade Fleet Epsilon awaits you.”

“Report back to the I’ve given standby orders to be enacted upon your return.”

“Aye, Captain.”

            As I stood in the translation point watching the lights flick on and the glass door slide closed, I couldn’t help but flashback to that moment so long ago when I last saw desperate eyes watching me go, and an outstretched hand in my direction. Words were shouted, but I couldn’t hear them. The machine had activated and with a blink of my eyes, he was gone.

            I stepped out of the TP and onto the deck of the blockade command ship, The Furious Rampart. I was greeted immediately by an entire entourage of armed mercenaries who seemed to be the escort of a ridiculously tall man at their front who began to speak as soon as I appeared.

            “Captain Martell!” he began in a loud, booming voice. “I don’t think anyone alive has ever had an opportunity to meet the captain of a death ship in person.”

            “You have my gratitude for receiving me, Captain Gauss.”

            “But of course!” he said loudly while gesturing wildly with his hands. “Might I ask about the nature of your visit to Caslon?”

            “No,” I replied coldly.

            “I see, I see. Surely this little walk on the beach won’t jeopardize the purge orders?”

            “I have no reason to believe it will, Captain. Caslon is my homeworld. I merely wish to… recover something important to me before it’s gone.”

            “Well, you know better than I that I have no say on the matter. I would, however, seek to protect my payments. After all, purges don’t come around very often, and the Supremacy pays very,

            “Has the dark team assembled?” I said, choosing to ignore his words as I didn’t wish to hear him speak anymore. “I’d rather not tarry long.”

            “Yes, Captain. Commander Smith and his team await you in the forward observatory. Just follow the VS.”

            “Thank you, Captain,” I said, and then I was off to follow the holographic form of a virtual servant that was waiting for me.

            I didn’t have to walk far, and within a few minutes, the VS led me straight to a lounge where hundreds of mercenaries were gathered. There was all manner of entertainment present, and the mercs barely noticed my presence. They had no reason to know who or what I was, and even if they did, I doubted they would acknowledge it except maybe to offer a drink to the deadliest man they would ever meet.

            Passing through a wide archway from the lounge and into a massive room made mostly of void-glass, the VS led me into the observatory. It gestured in the direction of a group of men sitting away from the far fewer people that inhabited this room and then disappeared. For just a moment, I stood in awe at the sight below me. Caslon was visible through the void-glass and it was

            “I take it you’re Captain Death Ship?” said a voice like gravel to my right.

            “Uh… yes. Martell. Alex Martell.” I said, unable to take my eyes off the burning world below.

            “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

            “Beautiful?” I said, confused, and looked in the direction of the voice.

            “You’ve never seen the product of your work, have you, Captain?”

            “No.” was all I could muster.

            “I thought not. That’s a look of surprise on your face.”

            “Why say it was beautiful? This is… terrible.”

            “Ninety-nine percent of the known universe doesn’t know you exist. They don’t know of the death ships and the people that end whole systems of worlds. Among those that do know, there are legends and stories. Hell, there’s even psychological profiles by people that only entertain the idea such a thing could exist as a death ship crew.”

            “They’re not meant to know we exist.”

            “I know, Captain. But there are always survivors. Maybe one, or two. Maybe a group of people. But they’ll live, and they’ll spread the horror story of an evil man murdering worlds. They’ll speak of laughter as a mother and her child melt together and then dissolve into the ground. They’ll spread stories of Death himself walking the surface of a burned world, violating the bodies of the dead to thunderous applause from his minions.”

            “But that’s… that’s absurd. It’s not true!” I cried, horrified at what I was hearing.

            “Of course it’s not, but it doesn’t matter if it’s true. They it’s true. The legends say you’re a monster that kills for sport. That’s why I said it was beautiful, Captain. I wanted to see if I was working for a monster.”

            “And if I was a monster?” I asked as I looked back to the burning world I was meant to destroy.

            “Then I’d have to double my fee!” he said with a laugh and then walked off towards his gathered men.

            I stood, looking out onto the world below for a few more minutes before finally tearing my eyes away and moving towards the seating area where the very rough-looking dark team was gathered. The man I had spoken to leaned against a wall, while the others were sitting around a projector interface that was displaying an image of Caslon into the air. Bits of data were streaming across the surface, and it was clear some of the team were downloading data to their personal devices. All of them were heavily armed and armored, and none of them seemed to be new to the trade or the team, and for that I was grateful.

            “I am Alexander Martell, captain of The Rising Star,” I said in introduction.

            “We’re at your service, Captain.” said the man I had talked to previously. “I’m Commander Smith. This is my team. I hear you want to go to the surface of Caslon.”

            “Yes.”

            “Well, the first thing I’m going to do is convince you how stupid that is. You might be captain of a death ship, but down there, on the ground, your world-ending powers mean very little.”

            “Commander, I’ve already heard this spiel from my own people. I need not hear it again.”

            “You were surprised to see it burning. Did your people leave out that part, Captain?”

            “I… that wasn’t in the report. It must be something new.”

            “No, Alex, it’s not. Caslon has been burning like that for a year.”

            “A year? What the hell can even burn for that long?”

            “It’s the vats.” answered a nearby woman who hadn’t spoken yet.

            “Captain, this is Info Specialist Veronica Martell,” said Smith.

            “Martell? You came from Caslon?”

            “I was among the last to escape before the madman took control of the government and locked down out-system travel.”

            “When was this?”

            “Nearly twenty-five years past.”

            “Twenty-five? That’s around the time I left. I don’t remember any…”

            “Of course you don’t remember. No one knew of the political unrest that led to the takeover. One day, it just happened. We were just kids, Martells, Svensons, Sorrens. All we cared about was exploring the universe.”

            “But you said you escaped?”

            “Yes, but I didn’t realize it was an escape until months later. A friend contacted me. She told me what was happening. It was horrifying.”

            “I never knew…”

            “How could you not know? Did no one from Caslon contact you?”

            “If they did, I would have never known. As soon as I arrived on Earth, I went straight into the Oblivion Program.”

            “Which meant you didn’t exist anymore…” said Smith in realization.

            “Yes…” I answered as emotion spurred through me.

            A horrible idea was beginning to take place in my mind of what happened shortly after I left Connor standing there watching me disappear that day. I didn’t have the exact timeline, but I knew he was supposed to leave Caslon six months after me. I realized it was possible he became trapped on the planet as out-system travel was locked down. My heart immediately began to mourn another possibility. What if I was too late? What if he was already long dead?

            “Captain, why do you want to go to Caslon?”

            “I want to find someone.”

            “Who?”

            “A Svenson. He was a… friend.”

            “You want to find a single person on a burning planet? That’s not possible without bloodline records or…”

            “A biomarker,” I said, cutting him off.

            “I guess that means you have one.”

            “Here…” I said and pulled the ring from my pocket.

            “Connor Svenson,” said Veronica as she scanned the ring.

            “Is it enough?” asked Smith.

            “Not really. There’s no way to know the state of the bio-tracking system on the ground. It could be destroyed for all we know.”

            “I want to try, Commander. If we can’t find him, I will move on. But I to try.”

            “It’s not like I can say no, Captain, but I guess I can charge you more.”

We discussed at length the plan for getting on and off-planet. I learned that far more translation points were either shut down or destroyed - something on the order of ninety-seven percent - and the ones that were known to be operational were controlled mostly by zealot forces that were loyal to the man calling himself the Avatar of Privilege. We would be going into a known PPF stronghold, but we had no idea if the PPF forces would be hostile or not. We were basically bargaining that they had a lower possibility of being hostile than zealot forces, and even if they were hostile, they might be easier to fight with fewer numbers.

The time came swiftly after our plan was in place. I had taken time to arm myself, but knowing that I had not ever been in actual physical combat, I made a point to purchase a personal void bubble. Such a device is kinetically sensitive and would protect me from explosions and weapon fire. Besides that, my gear was a standard security loadout with an energy pistol and light, composite body armor that I wore under tactical clothing. Once I was ready, I made way to meet up with Commander Smith and his dark team.

“I see you bought a void bubble,” said Smith with a chuckle.

“I just thought it made sense since I’ve never been in a proper fight.”

“Don’t trust us to keep you safe?” asked Veronica.

“No… no that’s not it, I just…”

“It’s fine, Captain,” assured Veronica. “But you won’t need it. Why do you think we’re called a dark team?”

“I don’t really know. I’ve never had much reason to care until now.”

“Here,” she said as she tossed me a curiously heavy object that was about the size and shape of a deck of cards. “Make sure it’s on the outside of your armor and clothing. There’s only one button. Click it when you need it.”

“What does it do?”

“You’ll see when you need to, Captain,” said Smith.

With that, we moved to the translation point that would take us to the planet. The team went down in pairs with Smith going first. I went last with Veronica after an all-clear communication from Smith from the ground. When we arrived and stepped out of the translation points, we made a strange discovery; there were no PPF forces in sight.

“What the hell?” I heard Smith say as he scanned the area for life signs.

“Commander?” I called from across a desolate receiving room.

“Nothing. No one. Doesn’t make any damn sense.”

“Smith, here,” said Veronica.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Video feed, but I can’t tell if it’s live or old.”

“What’s on it?”

“I think that’s… is that the avatar guy?”

“Certainly looks important,” observed Smith. “What the hell are those people doing?”

“Looks like they’re bowing down to him.”

“Another man that thinks he’s a god,” I said in disgust.

“Well, something is giving him power over these people,” said Smith.

“Sir!” yelled another member of the dark team that had been securing the rest of the building.

“What is it?” asked Smith as he moved to a door that led outside, but he didn’t need an answer for he could see it with his own eyes.

On the ground, three of his men had fallen to their knees as they looked out onto a man-made valley below. That is when I realized we had come out at a vat facility, and this valley contained hundreds of void-glass vats that contained the biofluid necessary for clone birth. That would have been a common sight, and nothing to cause alarm, but what we beheld that day… all of the vats were full to the brim with fresh born, cloned infants that had been drowned in the biofluid. Every vat. As far as I could see.

Veronica’s screams shook me from the sorrowful trance I had gone into. The pain of the sight was unbearable, and at that moment my mind resorted to remembering why I command a death ship. It was simply my way of dealing with the horror of this proportion without losing my mind, but Veronica had no such duty. She was a child of this world as I was, but her path led her to mercenary work. I was in no doubt she had seen evil, but this… this was too much.

I tried to stop what happened next, but even Smith wasn’t fast enough to save her from herself. Her movements were smooth and quick as she placed her energy pistol to her temple and ended her life. Smith cried out in anguish because he was close enough to catch her before she fell, but not close enough to save her. The other members of the team were startled out of their own trances and readied themselves against attack, but when they realized what had really happened, they ran to Smith to comfort him. One man, Johannes was his name, embraced Smith deeply as the others did whatever they could to not fall prey to the sight of such evil as Veronica had. Smith’s screams could still be heard as Johannes kept him wrapped in his arms trying to comfort him.

There were barely any words spoken as the rest of the team prepared Veronica's body for translation back to the Rampart. When she was ready, a few, final words of goodbye were said along with orders to the Rampart’s captain that she should be void buried above Caslon. I was sure they just felt her final resting place should be looking down onto her once beautiful homeworld. The thought occurred to me that maybe, in some way, they wanted her to see the evil purged from it when this mission was done, but I wouldn’t dare voice it.

“Commander?” I asked as I approached Smith.

He had just finished translation procedures and Veronica’s body was gone for good and he sat at a table in a nearby room that looked like a cafeteria. His eyes were unblinking and red from the irritation of wiping away tears and he stared off into the darkness of the room.

“I thought she was ready for the mission.” he began a few moments after I took a seat next to him.

“Tell me.”

“She was gone for almost two years. I thought the time off was doing more harm than good. I convinced her to come back because I couldn’t stand leaving her.”

“Why was she absent?”

“Because…” he started but couldn’t finish.

I wanted to press for more details, but I was afraid the man might break down completely. While I sympathized with his apparent loss, my own problems still held strong in the forefront of my mind.

“She was my wife,” he said after a while.

“I had no idea…”

“No, of course not. We’re mercs. We don’t advertise.”

“How did you meet her?”

“Picked her up trying to get back into Caslon. When she heard the planet was in a bad way, she tried to smuggle herself back planet-side.”

“Why the hell would she try to go back if she knew how bad it was?”

“Wanted to help, I guess.”

“I assume you’re how she got into the merc business.”

“Not immediately. I took her away. Took time off. Just… ran away from what I did so I could be with her.”

“You eloped?”

“Yeah… yeah, I guess we did. But I had to come back to all of this. It’s what I do.”

“Did she come with you?”

“Eventually. Between me and some of my vets, we trained her to be as good as we were.”

“Why did she leave?”

“We were having a child. She wanted to have a natural birth.”

“Natural? Why?”

“I don’t know. I guess the uncertainty of having a child without knowing what it was going to be like was important to her.”

“Where is the child now?”

“It’s…” he began before choking up once more. “It’s gone, Captain.”

“Gone?” I asked confused.

“She got sick,” he said, looking up at me with pain in his eyes like I had never seen. “Lilac Haze.”

He went on to explain through periodic waves of despair how Veronica had unknowingly signed away the life of their child to a rare genetic disorder that she had no idea she carried. By not taking the precautions and not having a controlled pregnancy, the disease caused her immune system to attack the unborn child and turn its blood into dust. The child was prematurely stillborn, and Veronica felt the full burden of what she had unwittingly caused for her baby boy. There was no way she could go back to mercenary work after enduring such a thing, so she stayed on Koyan where her and Commander Smith had a home. She stayed there for many months, refusing to leave before Smith finally convinced her it would be better for her recovery if she got back to work. But the sights of all those infants drowned in bio-fluid… it was too much. Her mind broke.

I expected to have to plead with Commander Smith to continue the mission, but I was mistaken. A final night was spent resting at the vat facility, and by morning, we set off almost wordlessly to search the rest of the mostly intact facility for bio-records and trackers. It didn’t take long for Johannes to find the actual records room, fully intact and undamaged but for overturned furniture and scattered broken glass.

“Why would the madman leave this place virtually untouched?” I asked Smith who showed no signs of his devastated form from the night before.

“I think we need to do some digging. Not much is making sense on this damn planet.”

“I don’t understand how he can have so much influence over these people. Our intel said he was even off-planet controlling the system from the mining plant.”

“He was for a while. Something brought him back here, but I don’t think we’re going to figure out what. Besides, that’s not why we’re here.”

“Yes, I know. It’s just so much easier to get sidetracked trying to make sense of this madness when I’m on the ground. Up there… it’s all so distant.”

“Up there, you wield the hand of God himself. When has God ever come down and talked to the mad man?”

“Captain, the bio-tracker is still live at this facility,” said Johannes from the other side of the room. “The interface is here.”

“Can you tell if the system is working planet-wide?” I asked as I approached him.

“Here is where we are,” he said, pointing at a newly projected image of Caslon. “The green lines are active bio-trackers. Red is offline.”

“That’s not even half the planet,” said Smith.

“It’s all we have, Commander.”

“It will have to be enough, Johannes. Here.” I said as I handed him Connor’s bio-ring.

He plugged it into the device, and then we waited. It took a long time before any result came back, and Smith speculated it had to have something to do with damaged equipment. That seemed reasonable enough, as we already knew most of the world was burning. Hours must have passed before a definitive result came, though, and joy as I could scarcely remember flooded into my heart. If the information was correct, Connor was alive.

“How far?” asked Smith.

“Eighty-seven clicks,” replied Johannes.

“Damn, that’s a hump.”

“And we don’t know the terrain; how extensive the fire is...”

“We don’t really have much choice. No other TPs register as live near that location. We’ll have to move above ground.”

“We better get moving then. Captain, you’re going to be using that when we move out,” said Johannes, pointing at the little black device Veronica had given me before. “It’s gonna be really weird the first time, but just go with it.”

“What does it do?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Makes a dark field around you. Makes your edges blend into your environment to anyone that sees you. Movement will still catch their attention, but you’ll look like a shadow.”

“A shadow? That’s absurd.”

“Watch,” he said, then clicked the button.

Just as he said, my eyes could still see him, but it felt like I needed to keep focusing or risk losing him. When I lost focus, even for a second, he just looked as if he was a poorly formed shadow on the wall.

“That’s… very strange,” I said shaking my head and looking away.

“It can be unnerving if you know you’re looking for it. Most civilians don’t know it exists, so they pass it off as nothing.”

“What is it called?”

“Well, in the trade, we just call them shadow boxes. I don’t think anyone really knows what they’re called.”

“Alien, then.”

“Yeah. Moori, I think.”

“Moori are creepy by nature. Sounds about right.”

“Ok, everyone ready up!” called Commander Smith. “We’re moving!”

We set upon the surface of Caslon Alpha with speed and grace. I wasn’t as trained or as physically fit as these mercenaries, but I had no trouble staying with them as we wove in and out of destroyed structures and overturned ground transport vehicles. Giant craters from explosions from unknown sources dotted our path, and in some areas, the ground itself was melted into glass. What sky we could see was a constant burnt orange color. The rest was blotted out by smoke from fires roaring high into the air on the horizon. After many hours of moving at a slow running pace, I saw that we had been lucky to find the area we had translated into undamaged for the most part. It gave testament to whatever forces has taken residence there, but also brought to mind what terrible thing had lured them out. There was very little evidence of weapon discharge or fighting at all, so whatever had caused them to abandon post must have been powerful.

We ran for hours into the night, and as the burnt orange sky turned black, we were finally nearing our destination. A fire burned not very far ahead of us and to our right, but was still impossible to tell what its source was. It was even more difficult to understand what could be burning for such a long period of time, but the closer I came to finding Connor, the less I cared about the state of the world around me and how it had come to be that way. The bio-tracking system had said he was somewhere in the area, and I could feel anticipation building in my throat.

We searched until we found an opening to an underground transport tunnel that was long out of use. We had to climb a mountain of crushed vehicles and overturned containers that blocked most of the entrance. Once we dropped down inside, we found people, more than a hundred at least, huddled together in groups surrounding ever-flares for warmth. There were no guards and not even any weapons as far as we could tell. As we began to approach, some of them scattered away, but most had little reaction. Smith surmised it was likely because we weren’t in any sort of uniforms, and therefore must not be local. The people had no reason to be afraid of off-world mercenaries.

We stopped by a group of men that were handing out food to children – probably cloned young ones saved from the facilities – and asked them if there were any Svensons around. One of them only laughed and gestured around.

“Most of us here are Svenson blood. Even the kids.”

“How have you survived?” asked Smith.

“Run and hide, my friend.”

“We came from the east, a vat compound, mostly undamaged.”

“The east? A translator?” asked the man.

“How did you get through the PPF?”

“There were none. It was empty.”

“Damn. He got them too.” said the man.

“How is he convincing them to follow him? It seems like the PPF isn’t even fighting.”

“They’re not, at least most of them. It has something to do with their bloodline. He gets more to switch sides every day.”

“What’s his name?” I asked.

“Chargoen.”

“I’m not familiar,” I said, a little surprised.

“No one really knows how or who, at least none on the outside. We’ve been running from the fires too often to pay attention to the details.”

“We’re looking for a man named Conner. He’s a Svenson. The bio-tracker said he was somewhere around here.” I asked, finally.

“I didn’t know the trackers were working.”

“We got them operational,” answered Smith.

“Connor, do you know the name,” I asked again.

“There’s a Connor down that way,” he said with a gesture.

He said something else, but I couldn’t hear him anymore. My eyes fixed down the tunnel, and I began to walk. It didn’t occur to me to ask for more details. For some reason, I just knew I could find him if he was there. I walked slowly, scanning back and forth. I suddenly noticed I was listening for his voice and looking for someone that was my height. I knew he favored his left leg from an old injury when we were kids and if he never had proper surgery he would probably still be visibly leaning. I remembered his posture was always perfect and he never hunched over even among the full-blooded Svenson he was raised with.

“Alex?” said a voice close by.

My heart leapt at the sound. I turned…. more jerked, around, and there he was, smiling big and walking towards me.

“Connor… you’re here. You're alive.” I said sounding out of breath.

“I’m good at that these days.”

I couldn’t say anything right away. I was too taken with joy, and emotion set to overtake me. I met him halfway in stride, and we embraced tightly as we had so many years ago when we were young and ready to see the universe.

“You’re… alive. I’m so glad I found you.” I said as a tear fell from my face.

“You’re still gorgeous like I remember,” he said with a grin as he too shed a tear.

Again, words couldn’t come to me. Hearing his voice and feeling him close to me was too much. All I could do was kiss him deeply and hope that would be enough to replace the words I couldn’t utter.

“I tried to find you, Alex. I sent messages to Earth,” he said after I pulled away.

“Almost as soon as you left. Things got bad here within days of you leaving.”

“What did they say?” I asked, even though I knew exactly why he would never find me.

“They acted like you didn’t exist.”

“I can… I can tell you why, Connor, but later. Right now, we have to go.”

“I came here for you, Connor. I hired a dark team so we could find you.”

“How did you…” he began, “Oh. I remember.”

“Yes. The ring.”

“How foreboding,” he said with a slight chuckle.

“Who could’ve known?” I said, returning the laugh.

“Where are we going?”

“Off-world. There’s a bloc… a ship in orbit. We’ll translate there, and then to my ship.”

“Your ship? You have a ship?”

“Biggest in the universe,” I said with a wink and sly grin.

“Oh, how I’ve missed that,” he said with a laugh.

Our path back to the vat facility was a bit shorter than before, as Connor was familiar enough with the terrain to be able to take us through a few shortcuts. He explained along the way the reason they hadn’t taken shelter in the abandoned compound already was because they didn’t know the PPF was gone. I was also glad of the shortcuts for another reason; it took us out of the way of the facility’s valley full of glass vats. I didn’t know if he had already seen the horrors there that had led to Veronica taking her life, but I was happy not to have to see for myself if he had.

Once back on The Furious Rampart, Captain Gauss was there to meet me once again, but I spared even fewer words with him than before. The man’s presence made me uncomfortable, and I had no desire to be around him if unnecessary. Even more so now was that feeling since I had found Connor. I found myself unable to let him leave my side during the whole process of switching vessels and awaiting a translation shuttle to arrive from The Rising Star. As we sat around a lounge listening for word, Connor turned the discussion towards my ship and duties. I had been dreading this moment since I first found him only a few hours before, but I think part of me tried to imagine he would never ask and never care what service I did for the Supremacy.

“Why can’t we translate straight to your ship?” he asked with true curiosity.

“It’s too far away. Can’t bring it in system.”

“Why not?”

“It’s way too big," I said with a laugh.

“Just how big is it?” he asked in a mocking tone.

“Biggest you’ve ever seen,” I said, returning the tone.

“Damn, Alex. Grown men with space ships and you’d think we were still kids.”

“Those were the days.”

“Nothing like them. I still dream about the times we had together. It kept me going through all…” he didn’t finish but instead gestured with his hands.

“I’m happy it worked. I dreaded never seeing you again.”

“What?” I asked, completely surprised.

I didn’t have a chance to even attempt to answer, as a VS appeared and let us know our shuttle had arrived. With that, we both made way to a translation point that next appeared in one of the shuttles. I immediately set to issuing orders and preparing the ship for my return to many protests from Lt. Maximal citing violations of protocol. I finally just declared I’d change the damn protocols if I have to, but she countered declaring the protocols were set by high command. She was right, so I just cut her off and rejoined Connor.

As we began the short trip back, I invited Connor to look out the void-glass portals so he could see the as we approached. Even with it sitting there in open space right in front of us, it was still difficult to see given how far away from the nearest system’s star we were, but once we came close enough, some of the details of the structure became clearer.

“Damn. You weren’t lying. It

“That’s twice you’ve said that since I’ve known you.”

“I was just as surprised

“It’s the biggest ship in the known universe. Only solar rings are larger.”

“Where does it get its power?”

“There’s a magnetar at its heart.”

“What!?” he said in disbelief. “That’s… that’s impossible.”

“No. Just improbable.”

“This… this can’t exist, Alex. People would know if it existed. It would be common knowledge.”

“The Supremacy goes to great lengths to keep it hidden. That’s why you could never find me. It doesn’t exist. Neither do I.”

“But… what’s it for? Something with that much power…”

“It’s a weapon. It serves no other purpose.”

“A weapon? What use is a weapon like this if no one knows you have it?”

I opened my mouth to speak but was cut short. The pilot alerted me we were about to make final dock. I ordered the VS to lead Connor to my quarters so he could clean up and then show him where he could eat. It actually came as a shock to me that I hadn’t thought to ask him before. I was so caught up in my own vanity of having him back and making bad jokes that I had forgotten to ask when he last had eaten. But he still seemed like the same person I left on Caslon that day; sweet, gentle, and never a complaint from his mouth if he could help it. Another thought crossed my mind at that moment… did I deserve such a man after what I had become?

“Captain?” said Lt. Maximal as I approached the captain’s chair and sat down.

“Anything to report, Lt?”

“Nothing, sir. Are our orders still the same?”

“Purge orders, sir?” she answered, showing her confusion.

“Ah, nothing’s changed, Lt.”

“But, sir, what about…”

“Nothing has changed, Lt. You will await my command as always.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Has payment been made to the appropriate parties?”

“Yes, Captain. Commander Smith sends his thanks.”

“Good, good. I’m going to retire until reset, Lt. We will commence operations afterward. I’ll be in my quarters until then.”

“Aye, Captain.”

As I entered my quarters, Connor was already fast asleep in the captain’s bed, a half-eaten meal was nearby on a table. I found myself wondering again about his well-being besides being alive. When had he slept last? How many times had he escaped death? Had there been anyone else after I left him twenty-five years ago? Did he ever discover the truth of his blood?

I sat on the bed, careful not to wake him, and just watched him breathe for a few moments. Emotions began to well up once more, but this time dread was among them. How would I tell him what I was? How would he take it? Would he accept it and understand? Would he hate me? Would he see me as a murderer? Could he even look at me? Tears flowed immediately and quietly. I looked away from him and put my face in my hands. I just got him back… would I lose him again so soon?

Morning came too quickly. When I awoke, Connor was still in my embrace and I wanted desperately never to move, but the captain of a death ship can never truly have time to himself. As I got up, Connor began to stir and was getting dressed in no time. For the tiniest of moments, I hoped with no logic at all he had forgotten about the questions he would want to ask, but that hope was folly.

“Yes?” I asked without looking up from suiting my uniform.

“Why did you come back?”

“What do you mean? I had to make sure you were safe.”

“How did you know I was on Caslon?” he asked as he walked close to me.

“Someone told me.”

“Who? Who would even know?”

“Your father, Connor,” I said, knowing full well there was no way I could lie to him.

“Father? Is that a joke?” he said in the most serious tone I’d heard since I found him.

“No. Your father. Your actual father told me you were there. He knew I was coming to Caslon, and he wanted me to save you.”

“What does even mean? How can I have a father? Why were you already coming to Caslon?”

“He’s a politician on Earth,” I answered with a deep sigh. “Robert Sanderson. He met your mother many years ago when he worked on Caslon. You were the product. A natural birth too, I would think.”

“You’re saying I’m not a Svenson?”

“Well, half Svenson. Your mother was that half.”

“I assume since I didn’t know, it was unsanctioned.”

“He did what he thought was best when she told him. He thought you had the best chance of survival if you were raised like a clone.”

“And my mother?”

“He didn’t say. He was only concerned with your safety.”

“Is that why you were coming to Caslon already? Because of the chaos?”

“So, a rescue mission then. Dear old dad whom I’ve never known just happened to send the man I love to save me. Poetic”

“He didn’t send me to save you, Connor,” I said and my voice cracked.

“What does that mean?”

“I was already coming to Caslon to purge it. He…” I tried to finish the sentence quickly, but the words died in my throat of their own accord.

“Purge?” he asked and his demeanor changed ever so slightly.

“He didn’t want you to die in the process.”

“Die? Why would I die?”

“Had he not told me you were there; you would have died by my own hand.”

“Alex… you’re not making any sense to me.”

“I know you’ve heard the stories. The myths of whole systems dying from unexplained phenomenon.”

“Wh… what are you saying?” he asked as his breath quickened and his face contorted into one of despair.

“This ship… is an Oblivion Class Death Ship. I am its captain. That’s why it only exists in the stories and legends.”

“You’re talking about murder! Mass genocide!” he screamed and seemed as if he was out of breath.

“It’s more than that!” I cried, desperate for him to understand. “Look at the state of things down there, Connor! Those people are already dying. The world is burning. Treason has already been sown! We only purge systems that are beyond saving!”

“Beyond saving!?” he yelled in horror. “Who are you!?”

“It’s still me! That’s why I came down. That’s why I had to make sure you weren’t there.”

“I am worth saving, but not them? There are eighteen billion people in this system!”

“Yes, you are! Please, Connor, please just understand the scale of what’s happening here. The Supremacy controls ten galaxies! This is one system with three planets, and we only come when things cannot be fixed anymore! This is the ultimate last resort for treason on such a scale.”

“Alex… I can’t… I don’t… It’s too much. So many people. You’re going to kill so many!”

“I know!” I screamed loudly. “I have to live with every single death right here in my mind. They are there, day and night, always at the back of my mind screaming my name. I take no pride in what I do for the Supremacy, but it is my duty. It’s why I was created.”

“Alex, there has to be another way. This is Caslon! This is where we were born. We met down there. We fell in love there! You can’t murder them!”

“Connor…”

“What if we send for help, soldiers, something! Maybe I can lead them back right. What about my father, maybe he can help!”

“The orders cannot be rescinded. If I refuse, and no captain ever has, they will only send another. Caslon is simply not important enough to mount a full-scale military campaign when there are front line worlds three sectors over that have to be held at all costs.”

“Not… important enough?”

“I’m sorry. I am so sorry. The universe is massive and uncaring. Humanity touches the stars as far as we can see, and we are only two men trying to find our place. Mine is here, bearing the burden of the last line of defense against treason so we can stay among the stars for another hundred thousand years.”

“And where is mine, Alex!? Where do I belong if not between you and murder? What is my purpose if not to show people there is always a better way than genocide!?”

I didn’t know what else to say to the man I loved above all else. It wasn’t even that I believed him to be wrong, I just knew there was nothing else that could be done, at least for this system. Even if I believed a purge was still the best course of action, and I wasn’t so sure anymore, his words were weighing heavy on my heart and mind to the point I felt exhausted.

I stood and walked to the door of my quarters, and for the first time in my life, I felt unsure about what to do next. I looked back at Connor, who was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room and had his face in his hands.

“What would you have me do?” I asked sullenly.

“Send me back…” he answered.

“I… can’t.”

“Send me back, Alex!” he screamed as tears fell and his face turned bright red.

“I can’t! The planet is blockaded. No one gets in or out anymore.”

His eyes grew wide, and the look on his face was one of the most heart-wrenching things I’d ever seen. He didn’t say anything else. He just slumped down into the chair and dropped his hands and just sat there, helpless to stop the evil I still felt deep in my bones that I had to do.

“Connor?” I asked, but he didn’t answer.

I decided it was time to do my duty, and hope above all I could still come back to him when it was done. As I made my way to the bridge, my head hung low. Part of me felt shame, and another part felt anger because I knew he would never accept this grand solution to mass treason.

But the time for emotions had passed. I still felt the pain of doubt, but my hand was steady as I grasped the data sphere that contained all the names of the known inhabitants of Theta Gamma 571. I wondered for a brief second if Connor’s name was on there, somewhere, but the thought passed quickly as I made my way into the weapon’s activation chamber.

As I stood at the console, I looked up and the ever-present holographical representation of the neutron star that lurked inside the heart of my ship. Inside the most powerful containing space in the known universe, a magnetar completed a rotation every seven and a half seconds. The compressed remains of a star that once shined brightly provided near-infinite energy was the source of the deadliest weapon ever conceived.

The very moment I placed the data sphere I held in my hand into the console, the ship would fire some of the energy harvested from the magnetar back into its surface causing a starquake. This would result in a shift of the surface of the star of only centimeters, but the resulting energy release would be greater than that of a planetary star in a million years. The ship itself would contain the blast in the form of surplus energy, and then fire a timed series of gamma bursts that would travel through space at the speed of light and slam into anything in its path, destroying anything that wasn’t void shielded down to the cellular level.

I had been here before, holding a sphere, reading some of the names. I had felt the pain of justifying my actions, and thus the actions of the leaders of all of humanity. I had always taken the side of the internal battle raging in my mind that declared the price was worth it. End the treason here and now before it spread to other systems. Stop it in its tracks before it takes hold of whole sectors with militaries and power of their own to sweep across a galaxy, and what’s to stop them there? Travel between galaxies is nothing anymore. Where does the disease of treason stop when it can just take the next road to another place where human minds struggle to find meaning in a universe that doesn’t care about them?

Then, there was the other side of the battle that really just came down to a single argument. It was my beloved Connor’s argument and I wondered then more than ever if it was the most important thing to consider?

How valuable is a single, human life?

Was one person as important as the survival of a race? I broke protocol to save one man whom I loved dearly, but I was standing here on the verge of the murder of eighteen billion. Why? Who was he? Who was I to make the choice?

I held the power of life and death such as few ever had or ever would, and I made a decision. I stopped trying to understand, and I realized why soldiers and mercenaries exist. Killing is easy if you don’t have to think about it. Sure, you might live by a code, but when it really comes down to it, following someone else’s order takes the pain of responsibility away. That’s why the captain pulls the trigger. That’s why one man bears the burden. The captain doesn’t get to blame someone else for what he’s done. He has to live with the fact that he took those lives, and it doesn’t matter how he rationalizes it. His punishment is simply to live.

I dropped the sphere into the console, and as I slid my hands from the metal ball, the names began to disappear from its surface. I stared at it for a moment as the sickening, thunderous crack of an explosion signified the beginning of the end of Theta Gamma 571.

I walked back to the captain’s quarters after a command to Lt. Maximal to take us back into dead space. I don’t know what I truly expected to find when I entered the room, but Connor was there, lying in the bed, a dark burn mark on the wall above his head where a blast from my energy pistol that I never carried pierced his head. There were still cinders burning, and the smell of singed flesh still lingered from the wound. Whatever will I had left was gone when I saw him lying there, dead. Tears rolled down my face as I looked into his eyes that were still open and I felt as if they could still see me. It wasn’t that I expected him to leave me in the way he did, but I think, deep down, I knew I deserved to lose the last thing in the universe that I truly still loved. So I cradled his limp body in my arms and held him close one last time.