Infinite Dark: Awakening

Sarab tested out the new battle suit with Dantos as Callib monitored them, pleased by the results.

“Good,” He said with a smile; “The force fields upon those suits are the strongest ever conceived. They are so powerful they almost have their own gravitational pull.”

Sarab turned her shield off and lowered the helmet that covered her face.

“This will protect me from the magnetic pull of the Magnetar?”

“In theory yes,” Callib answered; “Without the suit you would be ripped apart within seconds down to your very cells. With the shields you can protect yourself from any harm for 30 years.”

“I do not wish either of us to be out there for anywhere near that amount of time,” Dantos spoke, lowering his own shields and helmet.

“Of course not,” Callib said, waving his hand, “That would not be logical, but it should buy us time so Sarab can fire off the beam at Rogue and completely disrupt its’ makeup and shatter it to a point where it cannot reform.”

Sarab nodded;

“What will happen after I fire the shot?”

Callib frowned at her;

“This is where it gets more dangerous; whether the beam destroys Rogue or not, once it is fired the absence of so much energy in that area of space will have an unknown effect upon anything near it. It could form a wormhole to another dimension for all we know, or the beam could suck you through with it as its fired at Rogue… there’s even a possibility the ripple effect could act like a powerful wave through space and destroy anything in its path… very risky.”

Sarab kept her face poised and did not flinch at these possibilities;

“It is necessary if we wish to destroy Rogue and worth the risk.”

Dantos shifted uncomfortably;

“There will be no one around to help you once we drop you off” He said; “If Rogue destroys us before we can destroy it, it’s not known how long you will drift in space after the shot is made.”

The plan was for Callib to fly the ship to the Magnetar; he needed to be close by in case something with the shield or beam went wrong. The Neptians were at this moment finishing the final process of enveloping the star in their force fields. The ship would be safe as it released Sarab but Callib would have to fly it a distance away from it once Sarab was ready to fire.

The recoil from the shot would fry the ship and doom whoever was aboard it. They didn’t have time to upgrade the ships shields to a level that would allow it to be safely flown near the Magnetar when it was fired.

While Callib and Sarab were preparing the beam weapon, Dantos would lead Samis and Cartos on a near suicide mission of their own. They would antagonize and harass Rouge away from the Neptian planet and out to where it would be in range of the Magnetar beam.

The beam would travel far faster than the speed of light and with the coordinates they planned to push Rogue towards the beam wouldn’t harm any other planets once it was fired.

Sarab wouldn’t actually be able to see Rogue when she fired her shot; the plan called for Dantos and the other two to get Rogue to a precise location at a precise time where Sarab would manually fire the weapon and hit Rogue.

It was a gamble and would need pinpoint accuracy and timing to work. This is why the shot needed to be fired manually; the high magnetic field around the Magnetar would disrupt a signal sent to it remotely on when to fire. If the beam was off by even a second it could miss and they would all be doomed.

Because of the high chance of failure, it was agreed the two pilots would stay with Panel on Neptia and in case of a miss would save as many Neptians as they could then escape into space. They could continue the effort or seek a safe new home and at least of a chance at survival.

“Our people will see to her safety,” This was said by Blip, who was helping Callib monitor the shields on their battle suits. “We will locate her through the suit and rescue Commander Sarab in case of danger.”

Sarab smiled at him,

“Thank you, we are sorry to bring your people into such an event.”

Blip shook its body briskly, they assumed this was the same as if they waved their hand aside dismissively.

“Rogue would find its way here eventually,” Blip responded; “It is important for all citizens of the galaxy to work together to fight a common enemy.”

Just then the door to their room opened and several Neptians rolled in frantically.

Their excited and garbled voices were too much for their translators to handle, but the meaning was clear.

“Rogue is approaching,” Blip confirmed for them.