The Scalian Legacy

Rauug was relaxing as the night wound down for him. He would be going to bed soon. It had been a long, arduous day and he could use the rest. In one day, not only did he find out his sister was in trouble, he then saw her for the first time in several years before she was killed, only to have her posthumously announced herself as the leader of a planetary rebellion against the Scalian leadership. As if that weren’t enough, unofficial reports have circulated that many other royals were murdered in the aftermath of her announcement. Meanwhile, Rauug had to denounce his sister to the entire fleet as Tarza railed about her offenses against Nagaran.

Just as Rauug shutdown his holographic display for the night, a call came in. It was Gargke, his first officer. “Captain, a Pendoran protopher fighter has lost power and is drifting towards our shield at section D47. One of our patrol ships is on-site. The Pendoran pilot has evacuated the ship in his escape pod and is demanding that we let the fighter be destroyed, per our truce. We do not sense any life signs left onboard the fighter.”

How much more can possibly occur in one day? Rauug asked himself. “I will relay this to the admiral immediately,” Rauug replied. “How much time before it hits the shield?”

“About two minutes, sir,” Gargke said.

Captain Rauug immediately put in an emergency notification to Admiral Tarza and his aides. He quickly explained the situation.

The admiral did not hesitate with his decision. “Destroy the escape pod and let the fighter through the shield,” he commanded. “Then surround the fighter with a shield and bring the fighter onboard The Seguura while still in the shield. Nagaran is providing us with a little present prior to our mission’s completion.”

“Yes, sir,” Rauug replied.

Rauug relayed the message to Gargke. Afterwards, he thought about the implications. Had they just restarted the war? This would certainly be a day he would never forget and it did not seem to be over quite yet. He figured he wasn’t going to get much sleep for a while, so Rauug headed for the bridge.

The admiral ended the communication with Rauug and had a broad smile on his face. He glanced over to see the concerned looks on the faces of his advisors. He knew they would be concerned. After all, they had discovered just a few hours ago that the one called Jack Felder disappeared at the same time as the two old humans they had been studying. Later, they had found DNA residue belonging to an old human on the inside of one of the legs of the scout ship that visited old Earth. There was little doubt that the humans were well aware of—or at least suspected—that the Scalians had managed to visit old Earth.

“Sir, are you sure about this?” Hargue asked. “You yourself said that Admiral Alterman would find a way to attack us. This could be a trick. While it’s nice to have a protopher fighter, is it worth the risk?”

“Hargue, do you really feel threatened by a single fighter?” The admiral queried with a smirk. “You underestimate our capabilities. Anyway, I’m actually assuming it’s a trick. It’s not the fighter that I’m interested in. It’s the potential occupant. If there is someone still on that fighter, he will be dead soon. I just hope that it’s Mr. Felder himself.”

Nramal thought about this for a bit and then understood the admiral’s line of thought. “You want Felder to be onboard the fighter so that we can eliminate the paradox that he would pose when we execute our mission?”

“Of course, Nramal,” Tarza said. “Our only chance of getting ahold of this stowaway is for the humans to send him back to us, and I suspect they may have done just that.”

“Why would they send him?” Hargue queried.

“They don’t know that we have updated our scanners on The Seguura to detect these older humans. So, they may have thought that he was their best chance at success, even though that’s not the case at all,” Tarza said as he adjusted his gaze back on his aides. “Or at least, that’s what I hope they were thinking so that we can deliver his lifeless body back to old Earth with the other two. We may just be able to avoid this paradox that I was fearing after all.”

“So, you think they may be using a life-sign-detection prevention suit?” Nramal said.

“Either that or the fighter is truly empty. Regardless, I don’t see this fighter as too much of a threat.” Tarza smiled. “You two worry too much. Remember, Nagaran is always looking out for us.” He laughed out loud.

Jack was all alone, floating in the now dark Pendoran fighter as he held onto the grip with one hand and the battery pack with the other. The Pendoran fighter itself was drifting helplessly towards that menacing-looking thick green glow that Jack assumed was the Scalian Sphere. Jack had seen a Scalian ship arrive on the scene and figured that his former Pendoran flight buddy had already told them to blow up the fighter. Maybe they will take him up on that request. Jack nervously thought to himself.

Then it happened. The Scalian ship fired a single wide laser blast at the Pendoran escape pod and it exploded into millions of particles. Jack was noticeably shaken and felt his heart begin to race even more. He tried to calm himself down. While tragic, that was the plan and necessary for Jack to be allowed through.

Sure enough, just seconds later, the Scalian Sphere opened and Jack’s Pendoran fighter crossed into an area where no non-Scalian had ever been allowed. Just as Jack’s heart began to return to a more normal rate, he noticed that light-green glow surrounded his Pendoran fighter. He remembered that dreaded glow from back on Earth. The Scalians had surrounded the protopher fighter with one of their shields! It looked to be around the entire ship, but more than fifteen feet from actually touching the fighter. How was Jack going to cause any damage with that shield surrounding the fighter? That was not part of the plan. Jack could only hope they would disable it later.

Jack continued to float motionless in the fighter as it was slowly pulled toward a massive spaceship. It was shaped like a long thick tube that stretched for what seemed like a mile. However, the ship wasn’t smooth. It had a multilayered exterior similar to that of the Scalian ship that visited old Earth, but this one was hundreds of times bigger. Jack inferred from the pictures and short videos he had seen that he was being pulled to a Scalian battlecruiser—likely The Seguura. That meant that his secondary command—disabling the repulsion system—could be used. Still, if the shield around the Pendoran ship remained in place, the plan would quickly fall apart.

Beyond the battlecruiser, Jack could see a planet—he figured it was Scalia—and a couple of moons. The moons seemed mostly white and the planet had its white poles covering much its surface. Jack noticed that the white star just beyond the planet looked greenish through the Scalian Sphere. Their sphere had to be stopping some heat from coming through. Jack thought to himself. Jack wondered how much damage this defense system had caused the Scalians. Sometimes security hurts the one protecting itself as much as it helps.

Just to the right of the battlecruiser were a couple of very different looking objects. They had a wide cylindrical shape up top that slowly became increasing, but unevenly thinner, as you descended. Jack also recognized these—they were Scalian space forts. There was another battlecruiser and space port to the right of battlecruiser he was being pulled towards. Overall the view was breathtaking. If it wasn’t for his predicament, Jack would have admiringly enjoyed taking it all in.

As he neared the Scalian battlecruiser, Jack saw the Redeemer. It was a massive, black sphere not too far from the battlecruiser he was being pulled towards. As they got closer, Jack could see that the battlecruiser was surrounded by that same green glow, except that the glow stretched to cover the Redeemer as well. This had to be The Seguura.

As the minutes passed, Jack began to get quite warm and his lips began to get dry. He could feel himself begin to sweat rather profusely. Finally, Jack was approaching The Seguura.

Jack’s fighter was directed into a hangar bay residing towards the upper portion of the center of the ship. Jack saw the bridge protruding from the top of the ship, just above the hanger bay he was entering. Jack now realized how important it was the no one could see into the fighter from the outside. As soon as the fighter entered the hangar, Jack felt gravity kick in, and he hit the ground hard. Jack winced briefly, but then remained still. The fighter settled gently on the floor of the hangar, but Jack could see the shield remained ever present. Jack couldn’t be certain how much oxygen he had left, but figured it was less than ten minutes’ worth by now. He could wait a little, but at some point, he would need to take a shot.

It was less than a minute later when, behind the glow of the shield, Jack saw the hangar bay doors open. At least a dozen hairy Scalians in brown robes walked in. They were well armed, as they carried fairly large machine-gun-looking weapons—although Jack figured that it wasn’t bullets that would come out of them. Then, to Jack’s horror, the shield opened up, they walked inside the shield, and then the shield closed back behind them. They were coming towards Jack, and the shield was still in place! Now what? Jack moved his eyes towards the battery in his hands. He was running out of options and time.