The Scalian Legacy

“Are you sure the translators didn’t screw this up?” Rivas was incredulously staring at the Holographic display with his assistant, Henry behind him.

The Pendorans and Drumans had successfully commandeered the Scalian freighter, accessed their systems and provided Rivas’ staff with the information on Project Redemption for them to decipher. Now that it had been deciphered, Rivas was wishing he hadn’t seen it.

“Boss, I reviewed the Scalian version carefully. The translation is accurate.” Henry replied.

“So, this Redeemer is pretty much ready to go at any moment and it takes them just about five minutes to launch it?” Rivas asked for confirmation.

“That’s what it looks like, sir.” Henry replied.

“How are we supposed to stop them?” Rivas asked himself more than Henry.

Henry just shrugged figuring that his commander wasn’t really expecting an answer to that question.

“Alright. I’ll take this to the captain and the admiral.” Rivas said. “Thank you.”

It wasn’t long after the admiral and the captain were notified that the team that had been charged with developing a contingency short-time horizon plan was called upon, once more, to review what they had come up with to see if it was realistic to proceed. Commanders Johar and Liu joined Rivas, the admiral and the captain in the large conference room with several leaders from the nearby human battlecruisers also joining video holographic displays.

“There has to be another way,” Captain Harris from the Galaxy One battlecruiser protested. “Too many things can go wrong.”

“We’re open to ideas, captain,” the admiral replied.

“Could we include additional trained officers, maybe even Pendorans, in life-sign-detection prevention suits on the Pendoran craft as backup? This may be our one and only shot at this,” Commander Johar said.

“The Pendoran craft is not large enough. The life-sign-detection suit technology would interfere with another such suit in close quarters and they would both be detected,” Rivas replied. “We can only have one in the ship.”

“So, the question is who our best chance is,” Captain Harris chimed in again.

“Correct,” The admiral said. “And given our past experience trying to invade Scalian battlecruisers, I think we need to stick with our original plan.”

“Either this is destiny or a cruel joke,” Commander Johar added.

After a few more minutes of discussion, it was clear that no other options were available to them and there was agreement to move forward with the plan. The Pendorans and Drumans were then briefed on the plan, which lead to more trepidation and concerns, but again no new ideas on how to proceed any differently. Given the urgency of the situation, the meeting was cut short as each group began to prepare for what very well could be their last mission.

“Mr. Rivas,” the admiral began as the meeting ended, “Captain Malarde and I will remain here. Can you please get Mr. Felder so that we can fill him in on what we need from him?”

“Yes, sir,” Rivas replied and left the room.

“Take me to these coordinates.” Rauug provided a small handwritten note to his pilot.

“Are we authorized for this sector, sir?” the pilot asked.

“I’m authorizing it,” Rauug replied sternly.

“Yes, sir,” the pilot replied.

Rauug had to see his old home town for himself. How bad had things really become? As the shuttle lifted off from the rooftop of the complex that housed the Ministry of Justice, it began to head north. Rauug found it amazing how Nagarus had spread for well over a hundred miles to the north. Block after block of tall homogeneous buildings. There were a few areas of new construction, but it looked like they were mostly out of room. The congestion of Scalian life was impressive and sad at the same time. So many Scalians condensed so tightly with little open space just seemed like it would get depressing after some time.

Soon, they reached the edge of northern Nagarus and began to fly over the great lake of Habath. The lake was enormous, spanning over a hundred miles to the north. Rauug recalled playing on the lake as a youngster with his sister. Sweet memories that he tried not to dwell on as they only reminded him of his sister’s fate.

Then, a little more halfway through the journey over the lake, Rauug gasped at the sight of ice on the lake. Lake Habath never froze over. Rauug continued to gawk in amazement as the chunks of ice became more densely populated on the lake’s surface until finally Lake Habath appeared to be completely frozen over. As they neared the northern edge of the lake, the snow accumulation became greater and greater, rising dozens of feet high. Finally, they reached the northern edge of the lake and Rauug’s hometown of Draniak. At this point, the shuttle slowed down and came to a stop.

“Why have we stopped?” Rauug asked.

“There are patrol ships ahead of us, sir,” the pilot answered. “They have indicated that we are in restricted air space.”

“Let me talk to them.” Rauug walked to the cockpit.

“This is Captain Rauug of the Seguura.” He spoke through the comm link.

“Captain, your voice has been confirmed, however, I do not see an order for you to enter this sector,” the voice replied over the comm link.

“I have full clearance,” Rauug challenged. “Who is your superior?”

“I see that you do have full clearance, sir.” The voice seemed to be more timid. “However, this has been designated as a special clearance section. I will need to contact the Minister of Justice to allow your passage.”

The Minister of Justice? Rauug was shocked. Why would special clearance be put in place for my old home town?

The captain shut off the comm link. “Can you scan the section with our long range scanners?” The captain asked the pilot.

“Yes, sir.” The pilot had started even before answering his captain.

Rauug re-enabled the comm link. “That will not be necessary. I was not aware that my old home town was under special clearance,” Rauug replied through the comm link. “I will speak with the minister about this. Thank you.”

Rauug disabled the comm link once again. “Once the scan is done, send it to the holographic display in the back for me to review.” Rauug ordered. “Then let’s go back to the Seguura.”

“Almost done, sir,” the pilot answered. Rauug exited the cockpit and sat back in the small main section of the shuttle. Then after another few seconds, the pilot spoke up again. “OK, done, sir.”

The ship turned and began its ascent towards the Seguura. Meanwhile, Rauug began to review the scanned area on his holographic display and what he saw shocked him. There were many life signs along the tall buildings at edge of the lake, but just beyond that things were different. Life signs declined rapidly. In the next few rows of buildings, there were quite a few faded life signs; a clear indication of poor health. Further back, there appeared to be areas with piles of dead Scalian bodies piled up.

These were densely populated areas. Rauug thought to himself. How could this be?

As if that weren’t enough to depress Rauug, just a few miles north of the edge of the lake, about as far as the scan could reach, the snowfall seemed to be many feet high. The area had probably not been cleared all winter. There was no way that anyone could get around under such situations. They had all been left for dead.

Rauug turned off the holographic display. He couldn’t witness the horror any longer. None of this had been reported, but with all news firmly controlled by the government, that shouldn’t have been a surprise. While he still couldn’t agree with his sister’s actions in the least, he could now at least understand what was driving these crazed attacks. Scalians were getting desperate and yet all resources were going towards this new technology. The same old story: full concentration on fighting the enemy at all costs.

Was this Nagaran’s true will? He asked himself, but then quickly shook off the doubts. He had devoted his entire life to this cause. Somehow, it has to be Nagaran’s will. I must have faith.