A couple days passed while we were trapped in the depressing evac ship. The Haivu fighters hadn’t chased after us, so our lives weren’t in immediate danger. According to the captain, we were rendezvousing with the Galactic Union warship that was on its way to what was Maralu. Once we met up with the warship, the surviving evac ships would be escorted to a safe station nearby, apparently.
There wasn’t much to do while we waited, so I spent most of my time checking the news feeds with Yori and Noah. Apparently, the Haivu attack on Maralu was in sync with several other Haivu attacks on Galactic Union territory. They hit many stations that were located near the border in a surprise attack. The news feeds assumed it was partially an intimidation tactic, but also to weaken the GU’s strength on the border. Some of the attacks against the stations failed, however. Some of the Galactic Union fleet was concentrated on the Haivu front, so the stations that they were close to managed to repel attacks. Maralu was not so fortunate because it was in a low priority sector, and the Galactic Union military response was both slow and lacking.
About a day after the Haivu attacks, the Galactic Union officially declared war on the Haivu. This meant that the main focus of the GU military would be set on the Haivu, and military presence at the borders with other galactic superpowers were slightly lessened. The Galactic Union seemed to be taking the war seriously. Some industrial planets were starting wartime production so that the supply lines were never empty. Warships were starting to congregate on the Haivu border. The specifics of the military’s plan was not released to the public, of course.
Anyways, now that both Maralu and my ship were gone, I had no idea what to do. I didn’t want to work as a mercenary without a ship, and I didn’t want to join someone else’s merc crew either. I’ve had bad experiences with those, and it’d be a sure way to get Noah’s identity exposed. I didn’t really want to settle down at a station and wait for the war to cool down, either. My funds were limited, and I’d lost a lot of my net worth in that Haivu attack. I’d purchased supplies right before all of that happened, too! I had no plan in mind, but I could figure out what to do once our evac ship made contact with the warship. I didn’t even know where we were going to get sent, anyways. Things were probably going to work out. I could work as a bodyguard or security or something similar.
I looked over to Yori and Noah. Both of them were fast asleep. Yori’s head was leaning on Noah’s shoulder. Noah was a huge help to Yori during this entire situation. He’d kept them calm and took care of Yori while they were having breakdowns. I wasn’t really good at that kind of stuff, so I really appreciated Noah stepping up to help Yori.
Yori definitely was being hit the hardest here. Their entire livelihood got blown into smithereens. Their shop that they earned after years of apprenticeship. The client base that they built over years of hard work. Their home. Yori didn’t have any family on Maralu, thankfully, but they still had a lot of friends. I didn’t know if all of them got out safely, but it was still depressing. It all happened way too fast.
Me? I considered Maralu as the closest thing to home. It was by far the station I stayed at the most. I usually wandered around station to station to find jobs or to change it up, but I found myself going to Maralu the most. I was definitely going to miss it. But we had to move on.
I was planning to leave Maralu soon, anyways. I had to make progress in my quest to help Noah return to his planet. Maralu was too far detached from anything important, and I wouldn’t have gotten any good information there. I was thinking of heading towards the Galactic Union Capital System. Lots of good work there, but it was also risky. Only the most skilled mercenaries gathered there, and overall it was dangerous. Mega Corporations and the government was heavily involved in everything. You could work for either of them for good money, but there was a good chance you’d end up deep in some conflict that was completely above you. However, it would be the best spot to collect illegal information like Earth’s coordinates, or make enough money to be able to afford a ship that could sneak into Earth unnoticed.
Getting to the Galactic Union Capital System would be a lot harder with this war going on, though. They already restricted travel there, and had strict rules on who could get in and out. The Haivu war would make it near impossible to get in. Noah’s probably never been farther away from getting home, at this point.
The speakers on the evac ship crackled to life, echoing through the packed cargo hold. The murmurs of conversations quieted. The captain of the evac ship spoke once more.
“Hello everyone. We are about to rendezvous with a Galactic Union warship. They will be escorting us to a nearby GU military station, where you will be free to take other transports elsewhere. Before that happens, we will dock with the warship to receive rations, and an announcement from the captain of the warship. Thank you.”
The captain’s announcement woke up Yori and Noah.
“What was that announcement?” Yori asked. “I only caught the end of it.”
“We’re about to meet up with the Galactic Union warship we’ve been heading towards. After that, we’re being escorted to a military station.” I replied.
“What then?” Noah cracked his neck and stretched out his arms. “What are we doing after that?
“I’m not sure. I don’t have my ship anymore, so we probably have to take a public transport ship elsewhere and find jobs there.”
Yori sighed. “Man, I am not looking forward to working shitty low wage jobs again.”
Noah nodded in agreement.
We discussed the news feeds for a while, trading thoughts on the war situation and how we were going to drag ourselves back up. It kept our minds off of Maralu, and staved off the boredom that came with being stuck on a crowded evac ship. After a while, the evac ship finally linked up with the GU warship. I heard the telltale sounds of magnetic locks engaging. We were docked with the warship.
The speakers came back on. “This is your captain speaking. We have successfully docked with the GU warship, Spear of Kain, and are now receiving fuel and supplies. While that is going on, the captain of the Spear of Kain would like to make an announcement. I’m handing it over to her.”
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A loud, booming voice emanated from the speakers. “Hello, residents of Maralu. This is the captain of the Spear of Kain speaking. You’ve been through a lot, but the worst has passed. This sector is not the primary front of battle, so you will remain safe as long as you move deeper into Galactic Union space from here. The Spear of Kain will escort this evac ship, along with others from Maralu, to the nearest GU military station. From there, our escort ends. We have arranged for several passenger ships to move Maralu residents to safe stations nearby. There, you will be able to rebuild your lives. Keep your heads up, Maralu. Captain, out.”
The evac ship’s captain’s voice crackled from the speakers once more. “Thank you, Spear of Kain. We are currently en route to the GU military station. We are also handing out rations now. Please remain orderly and wait for the crew to deliver the food. Thank you.”
The buzz of conversation returned. I had to raise my voice so Yori and Noah could hear me.
“We’re finally going to be able to get off this damn ship soon. I’m tired of sitting on my ass doing nothing.”
“Agreed.” Noah said. “I’m itching to move my legs.”
Yori didn’t respond. Their eyes were glued to their tablet, so I left them alone for now. Eventually, an evac crew member came by and passed us our meals. They were pretty normal looking. Some mass produced bread thing I didn’t know the name of, along with some dry, gray looking vegetables. It was obvious that the rations were just stasis food. But I didn’t mind. I didn’t expect to eat anything good on an evac ship, after all. I promised myself I’d treat the three of us to something good once we were off this ship.
We ate in silence. The bread was way too dry and chewy, and the vegetables were cold. Not the worst meal I’d had, but it was definitely down there. Yori scrunched their nose in disgust. I imagined that Noah was doing the same, under his helmet.
After that unpleasant meal was over, there wasn’t anything to do while we waited for us to reach our destination. Our captain made an announcement later telling us that it would be about a full day, so we had a lot of time to kill. I obsessively scrolled through the news feeds again. Yori went to sleep. Noah went on his tablet and went on a searching spree. He was still learning new things about the galaxy, so he spent a lot of time on scientific articles. I heard him muttering to himself about how “That theory was right!” and “What the fuck is that?” He went from articles about space phenomena to the details behind faster than light travel and then into common pets in the Galactic Union, and finally, weird animals that exist on fringe planets in GU space. He looked like he was having fun, so I left him alone. After I finished my news feed doom scrolling, I decided to go to sleep. I leaned my back against Noah’s and closed my eyes.
----------------------------------------
A jolt reverberated through the ship, waking me up. I rubbed my eyes.
“Are we there?” I asked.
“Yeah, we just docked.” Yori said. “They’ll be letting us off this damn ship soon.”
Noah stretched his arms out and yawned. “Fucking finally. My legs are getting cramps.”
My legs seized in pain after I flexed them too hard. My face contorted in pain. “Ah! That makes two of us.” I doubled over, clutching my calf.
Yori and Noah laughed at my misfortune. I shook my fist at them in mock anger. Calf cramps were nothing to laugh at.
My pain subsided as the docking procedure finished up. Soon, the cargo hold ramp started to slowly open. Rays of light streaked into the dim cargo hold, forcing me to shield my eyes until they adjusted. All of the refugees stood up and got ready to disembark the musty, crowded ship. I was taller than most people on the ship, so I could see over them.
This Galactic Union station was located inside of a hollowed out asteroid, it seemed. The walls were covered in gray, dusty rock, with manufactured materials built into it. The control tower wasn’t a tower at all, it was a cube built into the cave wall of the asteroid. Several buildings seemingly led underground. On the docking bays outside, I saw a few warships, which dwarfed the much smaller transport ships around them. Several fighter class spaceships littered the docking bay as well. I saw military personnel bustling around, as well. It pretty much looked exactly what I imagined a military base to look like. Other evac ships from Maralu had landed, too. I wasn’t sure if all of them had gotten out, but some were here.
Eventually, the ramp lowered all the way, and we began to flood off of the evac ship. We were near the back, so it took a while. The other evac ships were doing the same. After several minutes of slowly shuffling off the ship, and onto the steel-plated ground of the docking bay, all of the Maralu refugees from all of the present evac ships were gathered into a gigantic crowd. If I had to guess, it was around 10,000 people. The sense of scale was all weird. A nearby warship easily dwarfed the crowd. 10,000 wasn’t even a lot. I was pretty sure at least ten times that was the minimum population of Maralu. I tried not to think about how many people didn’t manage to make it out.
At the front of the crowd, I could make out a tiny speck of a figure standing heads and shoulders around the rest. They appeared to be a Xilashi. They lifted what seemed to be a microphone, and spoke into it.
“Hello, Maralu. This is the captain of the Spear of Kain. Since I am in command of the warship sent to Maralu, I have been assigned to take care of you all. However, we do not have the capacity to house several thousand refugees. We do have some space, but not nearly enough for all of you. Don’t worry though, I’ve got a solution. There are already some transport ships here ready to take you elsewhere. Some of those ships are heading to Tank, others are heading to Ulus, and the rest are heading to Nrok. You are free to choose your destination.
Now, you are also free to stay here, for a time. There aren’t enough ships to transport all of you at once, so we will set up tents and whatnot on the docking bay and inside the evacuation ships you arrived on. There will be more transport ships heading to other destinations in the coming days, so if you find those preferable, you can choose to stay here and wait. We will have food and water for everyone, and a place to sleep. It’s not a bad option to wait, and some of you will have to wait, since there isn’t room for everyone on the first group of ships.
Finally, there’s a third option for some of you. I know some of you are bitter about what happened to Maralu. I am aware that you have lost your jobs and are looking for a new source of income. There is a way to fix both of these problems. You can enlist here, temporarily. We are willing to hire anyone as a soldier to fight in the Haivu war. There will be pay and benefits, of course. It will be hard. You will experience tough training, and even tougher battles. You will not be stationed in some fringe base. It is likely you will see real battle. However, you will be paid, given a place to live, and fed. If you find this preferable to migrating to another station, then approach me. I’ll get you situated. This also applies if you’re in a trade. If you are a mechanic, pilot, or anything you think can be valuable to the cause, then we will hire you. We will take any help we can get. That’s all. If you want to leave for the aforementioned stations now, then make your way to the transport ships. First come first serve. If you want to stay here for a while, then linger around or go back into the evac ships. And if you want to enlist or work for us, make your way to the front here. Thank you for listening, and good luck.”
The crowd was still for a moment, and then everyone started moving. I had to grab Yori and Noah with two of my hands to make sure we didn’t get separated.
“I’m going to enlist!” Yori shouted. “I think they could use a suit specialist!”
“Huh?” Noah and I said in unison.
“Are you sure?” I asked. “Isn’t it dangerous?”
“It’s not any more dangerous than going back out there!” Yori replied. “And I can get paid as soon as possible.”
Noah stroked his chin. “That is right. You’d be working again really soon. It’s probably your best option.” Noah turned his head towards me. “I think we should enlist, too. But as soldiers.”
I snapped my head towards Noah in surprise. “Are you sure? It’s fucking war, man.”
Noah shrugged. “Can’t be that much more dangerous than being a mercenary. Besides, this solves our jobless problem. We should be able to save up enough to buy you a new ship.”
Noah made a good point. I slumped my shoulders. “Well, since Yori is staying here, I guess we can, too. Let’s enlist.”
“And we can get revenge on those bugs, too.” Noah muttered under his breath.
We pushed and shoved our way to the front of the quickly dispersing crowd. It still took several minutes because of the sheer amount of people and the massive size of the docking bay. Eventually, we were in a much smaller crowd, standing in front of the gigantic Xilashi captain. We were going to be soldiers. Temporarily, I hoped.