1808/AC02-14EVENTLOG

Ω CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Ember Song

“When your facing your own fate it is already too late to escape it. All you can do is delay the inevitable, but that is exactly what life is… The only victory is making it to see the next star.”

They had been on the monorail for awhile now. They’d been in utter silence the whole way, with the Chancellor flicking through screens. Skip had worked out the device was some form of projector. A piece of tech no doubt to be disseminated throughout the fleet.

If they survived this anyway.

The never ending tunnel of grey mechanics and pulsing power lines transformed into a crisp, clean whiteness. Painted panels and layers of armour became the norm until, eventually, they too gave way for emptiness.

The Monorail broke into another large chamber. This time, however, the dimensions were much more tangible. It was far from infinite like the hanger bay, rather the edges of the huge cavern could be seen, albeit through fog. The drydock was cut into by floor to ceiling walls inset with large bays cut upon them like cryotubes for giants. It was on inspection of their contents that one would realise what was built in the dockyard: Dreadnaughts, hundreds of them, many unfinished, and many others were being given the slap-dash fitting of components in a desperate attempt to launch them in time for the coming battle. However it was by the appearance of huge mounds of scaffolding running across its width, they had been building something even bigger when their time had run out. The true titans of war were to be left now abandoned.

“Ok, congratulations Councillor…” Skip was in awe, and thought how much French would be squealing with glee at the sight of this place. “I am impressed.”

“Building massive ships is not what is most impressive about this station. In Fact the act itself is far from impressive at all when every one of these vessels is dwarfed by Olympus orbital ring around Gaia.” The man shook his head. “No, the true wonder of the Eye is ahead. It’s our final gift to our civilization. And it might be all that can save us...”

“Am I going to get to the Phoenix in time for launch?” Skip tried to cut through the silence. The view was no longer of interest, merely a tunnel of machinery and the very bowels of the station.

“The Phoenix will be there waiting for you.” He looked out the window.

“Mind telling me where that is?”

“The heart of our research facility.” The chancellor took a deep breath. “You are a COBRA so I don't need to tell you about secrecy, but that being said your crew cannot know what you are about to learn.”

“My crew will know whatever is relevant to the mission, Sir.” Skip spat his words in disgust. “If a flight commander keeps secrets from his crew how can they trust them?”

“The nature of your position dictates-”

“The nature of my position dictates I pick a team of individuals that are reliable and dependable, and therefore completely trusted. What you tell me they will learn, especially if it relates to my ship.”

“Our civilization was not the first.” The Chancellor’s words at once would’ve been surprising, but with the circumstances at hand…

“I worked out for myself.”

“Yes, but neither are we the first humans.”

Skip’s head swivelled around slowly. “What do you mean?”

“Thirty years ago we found a device of infinite complexity. Unlike anything we would ever be able to build, yet it’s design was human. You could see it aboard one of our vessels and it wouldn’t look out of place. Some thought it was a gift… Some thought it was our own creation.” He suddenly stuttered, he looked embarrassed, like his statements to follow would be eternally mocked and belittled. “I believe it was a relic, an artifact from a people like us a millenia more advanced than our own, wiped out before we even evolved.”

“How can humans have made it if we weren’t around when it was?” Skip watched the man’s expression change again, this time a smirk.

“The better question, why is there no trace of life on our world before us?” The chancellor quickly realised that Skip was the wrong person to begin espousing theories to. THe man stared at him blankly, unable to even figure out what the question actually meant. “The device was a Hyperluminal-Effect Harnessing Engine… or as we call it simply the Long Jump Drive.”

“Long jump?”

“A faster than light engine. In the truest sense of the phrase.”

Skip shook his head. “No faster than light travel is impossible due to the laws of-”

“This is an engine built with an understanding and comprehension of the universe that follows laws of understanding that we cannot. We cannot understand it, we cannot replicate it, but we can operate it… barely.” The Chancellor’s gaze was drawn out of their cylindrical confinement, they were reaching the bowels of Mercurial Eye. “Rigged into our Inertial Confinement Engine it’s effects are extraordinary. A journey from Prokhyon to Gaia should take eight years at sixty percent light speed. With this drive it takes eight days. This drive makes a vessel break the lightspeed barrier, and beyond...”

Skip noticed the change too, although by the time he had, the change had become much more… Drastic. The Chancellor’s rambling explanation of equations and flight specs faded as his mind was drawn with an almost sixth sense to what was yet to come.

“Councillor Reev and Captain Skip demanding immediate access to Ember Song’s hanger, countermanding all security checks on my authority only.” The councillor spoke aloud, when Skip glanced back he saw the man was speaking to an image of another officer. He checked his own, rather inferior wrist computer. He had been getting pings it seemed for a while now, his crew desperately wanted to know what was happening, so he replied as honestly as he could; ‘Not the foggiest. Wait on the ship, wherever she is.’

There was one final ping, and then the lack of information really did start to rile the Captain.

“Are you going to tell me why you are taking my hsip and my crew deep into the station when, in the next few hours, it's going to be the last place we’ll want to be?” Skip tried to keep the frustration from his voice, but had mostly failed on that part. As the Chancellor went to speak he was halted by a raised hand. “No more riddles please I have no idea what you're on about.”

“As I said, the Phoenix will meet us there…”

“Where?”

A wide door opened ahead of them, although it seemed only by a crack at first. The threshold was only wide enough to allow them access, but it seemed as though it could accommodate the entrance of a large battlecruiser with ease. The room beyond was a lot smaller, dominated by a single landing strip.

“Here.”

The Chancellor gestured towards a portion of the landing strip that was surrounded with equipment. It was within that mess of lights, scaffolds and vehicles, that a single craft lay. It was no larger than a corvette, even though the fragments of technology scattered as debris around it rivalled that deployed on dreadnaughts. It’s hull was covered in firesuppresant, and the closer they got the more it was evident that the vessel had crashed at some point in the recent past.

“This is the Ember Song.” The Chancellor leaned upon the handrail, his gaze was fixated on the downed vessel. There was far more than disappointment or a lack thereof of emotion in his eyes. Rather there was simply… love. It was as if the sight of it this close had made him fall in love with it all over again.

“Looks like a right off.” Skip muttered. He Noticed something odd about it. The vessel had no signs of weapons damage nor any damage to speak of other than that caused by its ‘landing.’ “Pilot error?”

“Yes, she went down no more than a few weeks ago. It was, as you said, pilot error… Otherwise we would be helpless right now.” The monorail came to a halt, and shortly after it’s door slid aside, the Chancellor’s gaze remained fixed for a moment, as he too remained still. But as he gestured to follow, and proceeded out of the carriage, his look never left the Ember Song’s burnt and torn hull.

“So this is your plan, Sir?” Skip asked as he noticed another distant bulkhead slide open. He couldn't see much of the vessel that entered, but he recognised her immediately. “A busted up ship?”

“She is more than a busted up ship, Spacer. The Ember Song might be beyond repair but she is mounted with the only piece of technology that can save us, or more realistically; You.” The man began as he paced slowly to the vessel’s aft, Skip followed his coattail like a loyal hound.

Skip was getting impatient. They didn’t have time for show-and-tell. His impatience was building. He noticed the Phoenix being sat down upon her landing gear, she stood high and proud upon the runway not far away from the crashed hulk. She seemed to radiate with life, one that reflected from her brethren and almost resurrected it.

"We do not have enough time to wait for a Fleet Carrier to arrive, nor do we have enough time to download the intel from your data drive… our options are few and all of them will take too long..." The Chancellor trailed off, they could easily list how they were up shiv creek until their enemy turned up.

"So... we’re fragged? We knew that already Sir."

"At ease, spacer. There might be an alternative." He gestured at the crashed ship. "The Ember Song is that alternative… Surely you must know what I want to do by now. It is like I said, Captain. We do not have time to download the data to its drives, or remove yours entirely and install it on the Ember Song, even if we could get her flight ready-"

“This is a waste of time, Sir.” Skip gestured at the vessel as he began making way to his own. “It’s a nice ship, but mine is better and she needs my attention now.”

"I want to modify the Phoenix for Hyperluminal Flight and install the Long Jump Drive on your ship. Then I will send you and the Phoenix to OSFC Fleet Command ahead of this invader to warn them of what is coming.” The Chancellor spoke hurriedly. Skip stopped in his tracks, looking between the two vessels. He almost cringed at the thought, rather the unpleasantness gave way to frustration. Things were rapidly moving out of control. He ran his hands through his hair.

"How do you know the Phoenix is even compatible with your tech? She’s outdated now by three generations.” Skip shrugged his shoulders “I don't know what to tell you, Chancellor. She wont run it and even if she could, she’d be torn apart in seconds.”

"Because… It is the sister ship of your vessel, built by the same shipyard and one better.” The man actually began smiling. “You actually saw her leave her driveforge.”

Skip starred at the dead vessel with almost horror. His mind was wiped for a moment. A connection had been lost, wth something held dearly. The Chancellor’s voice was like an echo. "If you tear off the fuel scoop and sensor pods, and the structural bracing, Ember Song is a Chariot V underneath…

“But I want to do far more than just upgrade your drive and launch you into space. I want to take your ship and plug Mercurial Eye’s data stream into your data core. If we fire up every instrument and sensor on this station and tie in our transceiver we can flood your computer with intel on the fleet and its engagement not just from the systems on-station, but from the ones aboard the combatant vessels as well...”

He paused for a moment, like he had come to terms with how futile the plan sounded. “We will launch you at the last possible second. Right when the station takes critical damage. If we are successful, you will have a full profile and tactical data on every ship in the enemy fleet, enough for Fleet Command to plan a full defence and counter attack… You can push these bastards back, you can win this war. Captain!"

Skip looked back from his hand, rested upon the Ember Song’s cool hull. The chancellor was frowning, sentiment was not for now. He enunciated every word. “You. Can. End. This. War.”

Skip nodded slowly. The plan was a dangerous one, no doubt of it. The councillor seemed adamant in fulfilling this plan already. Regardless of his answer, Skip felt the Phoenix would launch regardless if he refused.

It would be seen as rebellion. But could an act of rebellion really win this war?

"Why not fit it to another ship and evac? You’ve surely got a big enough dreadnought to save everyone?" He asked, his eyebrow raised. The man shook his head viciously. That was evidently out of the question.

"It is… too late for us Captain. Our survival does not matter. Not when you hold the key to everyone else’s.” The Chancellor’s voice was hollow. He didn’t want to believe the fact, but it was true nonetheless. “In war there are sacrifices. This is our last stand but by the stars it will not be yours."

“You might be putting too much hope on us mate. We’re spacers. You have all this at your disposal…” Skip panned his hand across the hanger. “Surely there is a better option.”

“We are out of them. Trust me I would rather not have to rely on such an act of faith.” The Chancellor’s gaze shifted to the waiting Phoenix. He took in her worn down hull, the crippling damage and more specifically, the crew descending her ladder to join them. “I believe you all can do this. You can do it for all of us.”

“You will be remembered for this Chancellor. So help me be it, I won't let them forget your actions.” Skip insisted, again, the man shook his head, but it was less of a denial and more of a correction.

"The death toll already is estimated at four billion. By the time Prokhyon falls it will be at fifteen billion...'' The Chancellor sounded as though they had failed. Which indeed, they had. "When there are so many, no one will remember the dead, Captain. Only those left living will be named heroes. This is all on you now... fifteen billion lives to save four... do not fail us." He held out his hand. "Go own your freedom."

"I don't do this for Freedom, Councillor. I do this because it's the only thing in life I was ever any good at." Skip admitted as he took the man’s hand. He nodded to his waiting crew. “Same for them.”

"That is why I know you can save us." The Councillor started breathing. He fired up his wrist computer once more, and started pressing every cell on the large projected grid. Across the landing strip various vehicles and machines fired up. “I am going to take advantage of the situation and get you to transport as many sheets of Synthflesh and Vitality Boosters as possible to fleet command, they will need them more than we will. You get the Phoenix ready and I’ll keep Wulf’s reach away from this hanger...”

The Chancellor took a step back. The look on his face said he knew his fate might be coming sooner than his colleagues. “Don’t let me down.”