“Shuttle has docked, Captain.” Samir barely heard the words behind him.

He had waited until the final arrangements were made. All of Erika’s people were aboard the derelict now. The only group left on the ship were a few personnel left to hold the bridge until it was time to leave.

It’s a shame that we don’t have a self-destruct sequence. He looked around the room. Empty seats and blank computers stared back at him. This ship would remain here for the rest of time. At least, if the entities don’t come looking to scavenge it. He took a deep breath. It felt wrong to leave the Hyperion like this, but they were out of time.

Samir clutched the armrests of the captain’s chair as he stood up. Acknowledging the marine who had entered the bridge, he first went over to the communications station. Taking out a data card, he inserted it into the computer. There, the Free Exchange will have some warning. It would take decades for Samir’s compiled report to reach civilized space, but it was better than nothing.

The entities would see it, of course. Samir didn’t know how they would react—no one did. However, they would have to take that risk. The crew of the Hyperion still had a duty to the wider galaxy. Even after everything that had transpired, their mission couldn’t be ignored.

He turned around, glancing one last time at his broken ship, and he slowly nodded his head. One marine opened up a panel on the side of the wall. Inside was a backup generator. It was a simple matter of disabling the safety to cause an energy overload in the circuits. Samir watched as the man pulled the lever down, and all the computers flickered off as the wiring melted inside. Smoke rose from a few of them as the room flickered. If Erika had any last tricks to pull on the Hyperion, she wouldn’t be making any use of the bridge.

Before Samir stepped away, he felt drawn back to his chair one last time. Taking out his pistol, he carefully held it in his hand. The gun had served him well, but it’s time was now past. Erika Terese wouldn’t make such a mistake again, and next time he wouldn’t be able to shoot his way out.

Perhaps he couldn’t change the fact that he was a soldier, and perhaps deep down he would always be the Butcher of Three Systems, but it was time to acknowledge the truth. He was one defenseless man against the world, and something so little as a gun wasn’t going to save him. If he was ever going to defeat Erika Terese, then he would have to find something else. Samir left the gun on the seat and followed the marine off the bridge. He resolved not to look back.

It was a blur walking from the bridge to the shuttle bay. Samir was lost in thought, although he didn’t mind that. He couldn’t help but think of what would happen next. If their planned failed… well, their luck was bound to run out at some point. It was at least an interesting journey.

When Glen Tannis first came to him on that barren moon, He dared to hope that God was offering him a second chance, a way to redeem himself after what he had done. Ever since then, it had been impossible battle after impossible battle. All the planning in the world didn’t stop Erika Terese from practically bringing him to his knees. The only thing that had saved him was a chance mercy from Klyker.

Captain Singh walked into the empty hangar bay and climbed into the lone shuttle that remained. Lifting himself into the craft, he buckled into the chair next to the pilot, the rest of the men taking the aft section. Soon, the shuttle was silently flying out of the Hyperion and towards the derelict.

He looked out the cockpit window to the endless night sky. Maybe it’s still old habits. He wrung his fingers as he watched the derelict growing larger in the distance. Even now, there was nothing he could do but pray that they made it through the next twenty-fours hours.

Samir was a soldier, a man of action. He saw the world and his faith in terms of what he could do. However, it turned out he was actually capable of a lot less than he ever thought. He lifted his eyes as the derelict loomed over them. The massive ship dwarfed their shuttle, and it only made Samir feel ever smaller.

I shall leave it to God. He rubbed his beard absentmindedly. He had spent so long trying to prove himself, but the idea almost seemed ridiculous now. After all, he was just a man, one very small man in a world of giants.

The derelict was so large that he couldn’t see where it ended anymore. The world was a long wall of rusted steel and iron. Strange devices poked out of the hull, and he could see places where the ship had taken damage. In front of him, the hangar loomed.

Let Thy will be done. He quietly prayed. Samir relaxed back into the seat as they passed through the golden barrier. Whatever happened next, he would make his peace with it. There was nothing he could do but rely on God that they got through this. Hmph. He shook his head. It was that way the entire time. He just hadn’t realized it.

The shuttle landed in the hangar. It was a cramped fit with their four other shuttles, but they made it work. The craft came to a silent landing and Samir barely felt anything as they touched the floor.

“Have the hangar bay doors closed.” Samir ordered the pilot as he unbuckled himself. “We’ll be going into battle soon.”

It was a shorter walk to the bridge than he imagined. Thankfully, Samir’s men had not only managed to take the bridge but another three out of the four control stations as well. Of course, now he knew that Erika’s intention was to just take the sphere room instead.

She had likely planned this from the beginning, not that he could’ve foreseen it. In the long run, things would be held at a stalemate. Samir controlled all the ship systems, and Erika controlled the one thing that truly mattered. It was a game that Samir could only lose. Most of his men were soldiers, not scientists or engineers.

The more Erika’s men uncovered about the derelict, the more power they would have. She knew this, and that’s why she didn’t put up a senseless fight. Another impossible battle. Samir mused as he stepped onto the Andromedan bridge.

He realized he had never actually got the chance to see it before. He was always too busy handling the next crisis that he never indulged in the curiosity. The bridge had a low hanging ceiling, which gave it the appearance of a bunker. Looking out from the reinforced glass, Samir could survey the outside hull of the ship. Bulky computers and seats were arrayed in a semi-circle. Men worked the stations, although many had brought portable computers from the Hyperion to doublecheck translation notes or otherwise trying to decipher Andromedan systems.

It was nearly all what Samir expected to see, but to his surprise, there was a captain’s chair in the center of the room.

Samir smiled as he stepped forward and gripped the chair with his hand. It was the little things that told him God was still there. He sat back in the leather and rested his head. He closed his eyes. To whatever end we meet.

“Captain.”

Samir turned his head, and he saw the familiar face of Dr. Lukov escorted by two marines. The man pushed up his awkwardly large glasses, which sat poorly on his stout nose. His curly black hair looked unkempt and greasy after days of nonstop work. The short man gave a wry smile as he held a data pad.

“It’s been a long time,” Samir tiredly said. “I can’t remember the last time we talked in person. I thought you had been captured in the sphere room.”

“Commander Terese decided to send me here once I handed over my research. I’m to make sure your men don’t make any mistakes with the systems.” There was the slightest hint of disdain in his voice.

Captain Singh had left Dr. Lukov on the Hyperion to work in the sphere room. While he knew the scientist wasn’t exactly loyal, the only thing Dr. Lukov seemed to care about was his work and that he be left alone. It seemed the easiest thing was to post a few man to watch over him while they secured the Hyperion. He hadn’t expected to see the Doctor again after he learned the room had been captured.

Looking at him now, it was clear the man didn’t like being ripped from his research by Terese, but that wasn’t grounds to trust him either. However, trust mattered little at this stage. He could use all the help he could get.

“By all means.” Samir waved to the rest of the bridge. “Have at it.”

Dr. Lukov joined a small of group of men off to the side and began overlooking their work. Meanwhile, Samir tapped on his personal comm.

“The FTL is operational. How are things on your end?”

Commander Terese’s voice came back fuzzy. “We’ve done all the work we can on the shields. They should hold. The transmitter is ready to go on your mark.”

How time slips from us. He closed his eyes. It felt only moments ago that he was still on the bridge of the Hyperion. Now, only moments were left before they activated the drive. He opened his eyes again and looked around the room. People were quiet and tense. He could only hear hushed conversations as everyone steeled themselves for what would happen next.

It was the quiet before the storm—the moment before the plunge. Samir desperately wanted to wait, to have a little more time, but doing so only increased the risk of the entities advancing. They had to move forward, and that time was now.

Captain Singh nodded to Dr. Lukov. The scientist turned and inputted the command into the Andromedan system. The contents of the transmission had already been preloaded into the system by Erika. All it took was a flip of the switch and the broadcast was sent.

Samir took a deep breath. And so the battle begins. He pushed himself up in his chair. More information from Amos indicated it would take around twenty-five minutes to make the jump. Since they needed as much time as possible, they wouldn’t activate the drive until the last possible second.

“Did you ever figure out how the FTL drive works?” Captain Singh suddenly asked Dr. Lukov.

The man glanced up from a monitor. “Scans show remarkable similarity in the components in the FTL and the sphere. It’s reasonable to assume they were created on the same basic principles.”

“So what, we’re going to be compressed into energy?” Samir breathed.

“The specific physics are still far beyond me, but that’s part of the process. From my further research on the sphere, it appears the conversion is needed to facilitate what happens next. The FTL systems and the sphere are built to ‘shunt’ objects into different layers of spacetime.”

“And how does that propel a ship faster than light?”

Dr. Lukov took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with his shirt. “These layers operate on a different plane of physics. The sphere is designed as a container, effectively converting matter to a plane of existence where time runs imperceptibly slow. The FTL works somewhat differently in that it will bring us to a plane that doesn’t have the same restrictions that naturally impede such speed.”

Captain Singh looked out through the reinforced glass to the battered ship below. “What will it feel like?”

Dr. Lukov shook his head. “I haven’t the faintest idea, Captain. However, it does appear the principle also works in reverse. Things can be brought back as well. I suspect some interplay of energy differences between layers is powering the artificial gravity as well as providing basic motion. And as you’ve no doubt seen, it provides a nearly unlimited supply of antimatter.”

So that’s where the antimatter came from. Normal concentrations of the substance were difficult to transport and use, as any contact with regular matter would cause detonation. Gravity cores could be used as a workaround, but even a single molecule of the substance escaping was always a threat. The Andromedan solution mitigated that altogether.

“Five minutes have elapsed, Captain.” One man turned to him.

Captain Singh drew a breath. It’s time. He gave the command to one of his men who put in the flight path. Once they reached the other solar system, they would have to turn it off so as to appear to be handing themselves over. After that, the only thing to do was pray.

And Samir did pray again. Let Thy will be done. While he couldn’t guess at God’s intentions, he hoped they would survive this. He tried to rest back in the chair as engines hummed to life. He didn’t feel any lurch forward as the ship slowly began to move. After decades of waiting, the spindly vessel turned itself away from the gas giant and towards the star.

One of the crewman had attached a monitor displaying a basic sensor readout to the wall. Samir watched as an icon representing their ship pulled towards the red dwarf star in the center of the screen.

He could see the crimson dot in the distance. It looked like nothing more than a marble of red against the black night, but it was growing bigger by the second.

“How close will we get?” Samir asked.

Dr. Lukov wiped his sweaty hands. Perhaps he knew better how well the systems might hold. “Impossible to say. The shields should hold back the radiation and the heat.”

Samir gritted his teeth as the ship flew towards, what to any other ship, should’ve been death. The crewmen’s faint conversation fell silent as everyone watched the approaching star. They were about to cross a threshold that no one else had dared in the Free Exchange’s history. Crimson light filled the room as the ship plunged towards the star. The entire room was blood red as the once marble sized dot now engulfed much of the view.

Two men began whispering as they were looking over the shield diagnostics. Samir noted they were making small adjustments. He tried to ignore that as the ship rumbled on approach. They were past twenty millions miles and closing in fast. The Captain watched the monitor as the derelict cleanly passed the point of no return for gravity drive vessels.

He couldn’t imagine the radiation bombarding them now. Although it didn’t feel like much inside, what was out there would kill a man in seconds.

Glancing at the reinforced glass, he could see a slight golden shading just on the edges. The emitters were hard at work, blocking the deadly radiation from penetrating through. Samir tried to ignore that as well. He remembered earlier that he had brought up the question of the destroyed emitters on the ship to Erika, but she responded that the others compensate by sealing the vulnerable sections off.

Regardless, the unprotected areas of the ship would be superheated. While the basic structure would survive contact with the star, most of the equipment and technology would be effectively destroyed.

Far away, he could see the surface of the star clearly now. Below them was an ocean of fire and plasma, which churned and boiled. Gusts of flame flew out like a fiery storm, some tendrils reaching kilometers from the surface. The star burned silently in the vacuum as the ship angled upwards as it continued to fall into the fire.

The rumbling increased, and the whispered conversation between the two men turned more panicked. Maybe we die here. Samir clutched the chair. The ship was ancient; one failure in the system would mean the death of them all. Samir prayed again, although the words escaped him.

Dr. Lukov unsteadily walked over next to the chair. The shaking was intense now, and the man gripped a nearby console as the star’s energy roared against the ship.

“I suddenly remembered something, Captain!”

“What!?” Samir yelled back.

Dr. Lukov pushed up his glasses as he looked towards the star, the red glare burning off his spectacles. “The name of the ship, we found it in some of the logs! It doesn’t exactly translate well to our language, but we found the closest equivalent!”

“Well!?” Samir shouted back.

“Providence, Captain!”

Samir chuckled as the ship shook violently around them. Providence. He couldn’t think of a better name for a ship carrying the last remnants of a civilization. He couldn’t think of a better name now as they plunged towards destiny.

The storm of the star rushed towards them and smashed against the ship. However, instead of breaking upon the vessel, the outer shields activated. The inferno parted as water before them. Streams of crimson flared away as the ship angled again and started skimming along the surface of the fiery sea before them.

“The FTL drive should activate soon!” Dr. Lukov tightly gripped his data pad as the rumbling continued. “We only need a little more energy!”

“Captain!” a crewman yelled out, “we’ve done all we can! The shields can’t hold for much longer!”

Samir looked towards the outer shield. While it didn’t flicker like last time, he could see areas where the golden barrier was faded. The circuitry was so old and in disrepair that the weaker sections were failing from being turned on.

Suddenly, a jet of flame smashed against the reinforced glass. Samir nearly threw himself back in his chair as the star’s fury broke against the windows. Cracks appeared in the near impenetrable glass. Thankfully, the fire lost strength and fell back into the star.

“Dr. Lukov!” Samir yelled, “how much longer!?”

“Just a few seconds, Captain!”

Another flame shot through the shield and smashed against the glass. More cracks appeared on the edges. The interior shields were not designed to protect from such strikes. The density of particles was meant to contain and protect the atmosphere, not block the power of a star.

“Dr. Lukov! We may not have—”

Another burst of flame hit the glass. The windows cracked further. Long streaks of white now stretched across the reinforced material. One more strike would do them in.

Samir turned to him again. “Doctor!”

Dr. Lukov snapped up from his data pad. “Now, Captain!”

Samir saw a window of light opened up before them. He barely saw the onrush before they flew through it.

He didn’t know what to expect. Another layer of spacetime was something incomprehensible to him. Still, he couldn’t help but gape at what was just beyond the glass.

A new realm of yawned before them. Samir would’ve thought they were in a nebula, but the clouds of swirling light were too scattered and too bright to be gases. All manner of colors assaulted them as the ship flew in the strange void. Off in the distance, Samir saw strange formations dance across the black background empty of stars.

The fires of the star lost their strength, but they still swirled around the ship, propelled by some invisible force that Samir couldn’t detect. They danced around the ship as Providence sailed through the unknown.

“Where are we?” He breathed.

No one answered him. Everyone stood dumfounded at what was a new realm of existence. However, Samir didn’t need an answer to that question. It didn't matter anyway, but he remembered a promise he made to himself which seemed so long ago. To the ends of the universe.