Erika sighed as she clicked her comm off. She rested against the railing, overlooking the shattered remains of the gravity core. The hulk sat in the center of the room, lifeless and dead. Occasionally, she saw men giving quick glances to the debris, still not believing that their only lifeline back to home had been severed.

At least the more of the entities’ ships haven’t arrived yet. She thought gratefully. It seemed an eternity ago when they had engaged in battle even though it had been less than about a day. Erika felt another wave of exhaustion roll over her, and she slumped a little as she fought her drooping eyelids. How long has it been? Two...Three days? She had lost track of the time.

She caught a few hours of sleep here and there, but things had moved so fast that she hadn’t had the time for anything else. Once we’re out of the solar system. Erika promised her aching body. Once we’re safe—and not a moment earlier.

“Exhausted?” Amos walked up to her, holding out a white pill. “We’ve decided to break out the stimulants. It will keep you clear-headed for another few hours.”

The Chief Engineer seemed about ready to collapse himself. His eyes now carried dark circles, and he walked as if a hidden weight was dragging him down. Despite keeping his senses alert, even drugs could only do so much to stave off sleep.

“Thank you.” Erika took the pill and swallowed it quickly. “How goes it with getting the shuttles ready?”

“We have all the supplies ready to go, rations, water, basic equipment. We just need to wait for the Captain to finish loading up his shuttles before we can start ours.”

Erika nodded. “Klyker will go with the first wave. I want you to stay here for now to direct the evacuation. You know better than I do what equipment we’ll need.”

“To be frank.” Amos glanced at the destroyed gravity core. “We’re going aboard what’s practically an alien ship. Beyond the obvious, I have no idea what we might need.”

“Then just do your best. That’s all we can do right now.” Erika shook her head in dejection. She herself was still coming to terms with what happened. It was one thing to be beaten—it was quite another to have victory snatched from you. However, she couldn’t dawdle on the past, not when there was so much work to be done.

“There is one other thing.” She quietly lifted the data card.

Amos squinted his eyes. “What is it?”

“The Free Exchange needs to know what happened here. I’ve collected all the data of the expedition and log of our engagement with the entities. If our friends begin an attack on the Milky Way, well at least the galaxy will have some warning.”

The Chief Engineer nodded. “But without the gravity core, we can’t send an enhanced transmission. It’ll take nearly a decade before it reaches the nearest UTN node.”

“Decades come and ago rather quickly.” Erika waved it off. “The bigger problem is that Captain Singh controls the bridge, and I doubt he’s going to let us use the transmitter.”

“I don’t see why he wouldn’t agree to sending a message back. The man may be a zealot, but he’s not unreasonable.” Amos leaned on the railing as well.

Of course not. Erika sighed. In fact, she was certain that Samir was compiling a similar report while he waited for the shuttles to be loaded. Even while the man had his deep misgivings of the Free Exchange, there were still trillions of innocent people who lived in the galaxy.

Such a report wouldn’t have the effect she wanted. The technological impact would be minimal as they hadn’t learned enough to replicate the derelict’s devices, and the political impact was probably what the Free Exchange wanted anyway. It confirmed a hostile presence, and that was one of the reasons why they chose Captain Singh to begin with, they wanted a war. At least a war they could win. She mused.

In an ideal world, the Free Exchange would eliminate all the Andromedans and keep the Milky Way as it was. It wasn’t impossible that they could do so, at least hypothetically. The Hyperion proved the entities weren’t as advanced as to be indestructible. The firing of the gravity core might be expensive, but it was still a viable weapon.

The only real problem was scouring Andromeda. The entities had intergalactic ships. The Free Exchange didn’t. As Erika would’ve liked to speculate on how that hurdle could be crossed, that was a thought experiment for later.

She needed to get her hands on equipment which could broadcast her own transmission. Captain Singh would never allow her to broadcast her message back to the Exchange. What’s worse, he would probably destroy the bridge as he left to make sure none of the mutineers could pull anymore tricks.”

“Captain Singh is going to try to save face in front of the galaxy.” Erika came up with a quick lie to justify herself. “He’s not going to allow us to broadcast anything that might contradict his narrative.”

Amos raised an eyebrow. “You’d think he would stoop so low to do that?”

“Have I been wrong about anything before?” Erika turned to face him squarely.

Amos shrugged his shoulders as he weighed the idea. “I suppose.” His voice betrayed a hint of suspicion.

Eriks inwardly grimaced. That idiotic speech over the comm. Captain Singh had a flare for the dramatic. While he claimed the Free Exchange was plotting to use Andromedan technology for itself—and that was true as none of the protectorates would benefit realistically speaking—it was still important to keep in mind the optics.

Most of the crew hadn’t had the same experience with the Free Exchange. Many of them, while not naïve about the Exchange, still believed that it was just another bureaucracy. Some were even more jaded such as Amos and Klyker, and they had an inkling, or in the latter’s case, an understanding what was going on. Those could be controlled with either personal flaws or material reward.

So the speech wouldn’t turn the tide. Most of the crew would still opt for her especially after admitting to destroying the gravity core. But a man could only tell the truth so many times before people realized he wouldn’t tell a lie. That was the type of man Captain Singh was.

As such, he commanded a certain instinctual authority. Something deep in the human psyche responded well to those who told the truth. Men like Father Soren would’ve called it a conscience or natural law for the more theologically inclined. Erika called it a biological byproduct of a species particularly reliant on trust.

She could see the wriggling doubt in Amos’ eyes. The way he held himself stretching away from her, like he was careful not to get too close. He was questioning himself though it was still small beginnings. Erika’s eyes glanced through the equations before selecting her response.

“We can’t take any chances. The fate of the galaxy rests upon what we say. They deserve to know the truth—the full truth.”

Erika only needed to appeal to Amos’ sense of morality, and the man quickly fell back in line. He nodded his head thoughtfully.

“You’re not going to get anywhere close to the transmitter on the Hyperion. It’s on the upper levels of the ship. We’re not going to be able to get our men past the Captain’s marines. Even if we could somehow circumvent the bridge, it wouldn’t do us any good.”

“So that naturally leaves us with one other option.” Erika completed the thought. “The derelict.”

Amos sighed. “I know there’s a few transmitters on the ship. We could try to make for one of those and input the signal.”

“You seem skeptical.”

“Counting the bridge, there are a total of five control stations aboard the derelict. We need three of them to lock out the other two.” Amos took a deep breath. “The question is more a matter of much manpower are you going to divert for this project?”

Erika had already considered this. Every second they spent in the solar system was an increasing chance that more ships would arrive. Even if they seize the derelict from Tannis, it might not matter.

The gamble they had to choose was either a high probability of sending the transmission or a lower probability of seizing the derelict. Erika couldn’t possibly calculate the numbers, but she knew that beating out both Captain Singh and Tannis was unlikely.

“Our lives are not more important than the safety of the galaxy,” she answered him.

In truth, their lives weren’t anymore at risk in control of the derelict’s systems or not. If they beat Tannis, and that was the path with any real future, what was Singh going to do with control of ship systems? He had only a handful of scientists or engineers. And while he could shut off the air, he wouldn’t without certain leverage.

“We let Singh take control of the bridge. Our primary target is the sphere. That device holds the contents of the Andromedan civilization. If we can take control of that room, he won’t dare confront us.”

Amos nodded as the plan became obvious. They would split their forces into two groups. One to go for the transmitter and another to take the sphere room. Meanwhile, Singh would have his forces spread thin all over the ship thinking that their men would do the same. It actually maximized their chances of success as the marines could only be beaten by civilians with overwhelming force.

The Chief Engineer leaned back. “I suppose there’s nothing left but to get to work then.”

Erika nodded. “I want you to remember. What we’re doing here, it might just well save mankind.”

She thought she said it rather admirably. The words burned with the same passion she had held before, but there was a fire that was now dead in the Chief Engineer’s eyes. Perhaps it was coming so close to death. That did more than most to bring question to your choices. Erika noted it though she knew the man wouldn’t prove a threat, at least for now.

Amos nodded and she let him somberly walk away.

Erika stood in the shuttle bay as men ran to their craft. Some were busy carrying crates filled with rations and other supplies, loading everything they could into the small shuttles. Others were running through rapid inspections, double checking that Tannis hadn’t somehow sabotaged them.

Through the confusion, Erika saw Klyker running up to a shuttle. He stopped as he caught sight of her as he was entering the small vessel. The man was wearing a combat spacesuit although he still cradled the helmet in his arm.

Erika walked up to him, carefully watching as she did.

“I suppose you’re here to see me off.” Klyker held a dour expression as she approached.

“I know you let Captain Singh get through with his gun.”

Klyker’s grunted knowingly as he looked around to make sure no one heard amongst the general chaos. He dropped the helmet and stepped up to her. “Suppose I did. What are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing.” Erika shrugged her shoulders. “Seeing as you may or may not survive this battle—I have no real reason to hold a grudge.”

“That’s very… forgiving of you.”

“I just want to know why you decided to jeopardize your home. Narum falls if we don’t return to the Free Exchange. Given the loss of the gravity core, I suppose it’s inevitable now. It seems fate has punished you better than I ever could.”

Klyker stared at her cooly. “You see that’s the thing you don’t understand Commander.”

Erika raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not going to become a monster to save Narum even if I work with people I despise.”

“I think I understand that perfectly well.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that for a moment. It’s probably an equation running through your head right now. A percentage to be calculated for.” Klyker stepped to look down at her. “But you knew exactly why I let Singh through. So, the only purpose of asking was to remind me that my error cost me my home.”

Erika glared at him.

“That’s the difference between you and Captain Singh. The man may have his delusions, and he certainly has his sins, but he was never cruel.”

Klyker climbed back up the shuttle ramp. He picked up his helmet and glanced over his shoulder. Turning around again, he gave a mocking bow. “I ask for your leave, Commander.”

Erika swiftly turned her back on him. “Just go and die already,” she muttered.

An alarm blared as the final shuttles were being loaded. Everyone not leaving on the shuttles quickly departed. Erika was forced to retreat to a small glass room overlooking the bay. After another minute, the Hyperion slowly depressurized the massive space. Large, grey doors silently opened in the vacuum, greeted by the vastness of space. She watched as the shuttles all silently lifted out of the bay.

Erika crossed her arms as she watched the small craft fly into the endless night. You don’t know anything about cruelty. Her eyes followed Klyker’s shuttle as it disappeared around the hull of the Hyperion to join with Singh’s. The galaxy was at stake, and all of humanity might just have been condemned by Klyker’s mercy.

She had never been one for prayer, after all there was nothing to pray to but a cold and distant universe. There were no powers from the heavens that would see her through to victory, but she found herself wishing anyway. It was another touch of humanity which she had already been so thoroughly reminded of.

They were standing on the precipice of history—no they were falling now. The die had been cast, tumbling down into the abyss where no one could see the end. There was no controlling anything now, only hope that one came out the other end. She breathed in and let herself close her eyes for a moment.

Whatever happened next, there would be no going back.