The war had been as difficult and draining as it had been sudden. The Les'Sal had always made it a point to at least appear to deal with others fairly. However, the speed with which their stellar nieghbors had allied and attacked told of a very intricate and well-designed plan. One that obviously had been put together and prepared for long ago.

At first, the Las'Salians had fared quite well. Their technological advances giving them an impressive edge over the Stovori, Unzoi, Kharris and the Rovias. The Stovori, who headed the alliance, had already thought of this and come up with a countermeasure that, while not unique, was in the end very effective. As each of the races of the alliance were quite prolific, they decided that the best counter to the Las'Salians more advanced technologies was to simply overwhelm them in waves.

And DAMN those overbreeding BARBARIANS... it's worked...

Those words echoed through the mind of Greater Admiral of The People's Armada Bardan D'Cando with the force of a highly pressurized stream of acid as he stared out at the real time holographic projection of his home system with eyes that fairly blazed with anger and determination.

Admiral D'Cando was a prime example of his species standing at 2 meters tall. Bipedal with a lanky, almost skeletally thin build, short, fine blue fur covering what skin peeked out of his duty uniform and long arms that reached down to his knees. He had two sets of liquid black eyes; one set positioned above the other. Under the eyes was just smooth fur until his mouth, stretched wide, lipless, with a natural opening at each corner that acted as nostrils when his mouth was closed.

The holoprojection covered almost the entirety of the amphitheater like bridge, in the center of which the Admiral stood. It gave one the feeling of standing, exposed to the vacuum yet untouched by it, on the hull of the starship watching the planet spin serenely below with just the naked eye.

Lla’Halthea… Bardan thought sadly, the anger draining away for a moment as he continued to watch his home world turn slowly. It’s so beautiful. Even after so many bombardments, you can barely see the scars from up here. Oh, my beautiful, beautiful Lla’Halthea. I’m so sorry, but we have no other choice. 

The Admiral tore his eyes away from the enchanting view of his home world and walk towards the centermost of three duty stations directly in front him. As he approached Bardan called out to crewmember manning the station, “Weap…*” he began before briefly choking on the words he knew needed to be said. 

Admiral D’Cando cleared his throat roughly before drawing a deep breath and beginning again. This time, though, he turned and spoke to the rest of the crew first. “Crew… No, My brothers, my sisters… My People. We did NOT start this war, but we fought it. The Alliance burned our colonies and we fought, they pushed us back into our home system and we fought, they dropped rocks on our cities, murdered our young and the innocent and still we fought. We have fought and fought until we have almost nothing left to fight with. We, this ship and crew, are all that is left. The rest of the fleet spent themselves to drive the allied ships out of the system.

“they did this to give us time, time to do what must be done to deny the allies the prize the murdered our species for, our FTL drive technology. To that end we must do the unthinkable ourselves…” Greater Admiral of The People's Armada Bardan D'Cando paused his speech, turned to the crewmember sitting at the center station and in a steely voice that held both heartbreaking sorrow and anger said, “Weapons Officer. Fire.”

The officer, tears matting the fine blue fur of his face, complied without hesitation and the bridge shook for a moment before the holo-display showed a single massive missile power towards the planet below. It dove deep into the atmosphere but detonated before striking the ground. This was expected. The detonation of the missile and its payload ignited the atmosphere of Lla’Halthea, gradually but swiftly turning the planet and every living thing on it into a brief but fiercely burning star. 

It didn’t take long until the began to die as the last of the atmosphere burned off. The planet now looked like a scorched moon, lifeless and barren. Then red glowing fissures began to appear in the planet’s crust and began widening, growing larger and larger until chunks of the planet started to break off and drift into space.

By this point everyone on the ship was weeping openly but no one turned away from the nightmare unfolding below them.

Bardan turned back to the crew, his face fur as wet and matted as the rest, “We have lost this war, but so have they.” As he spoke again to the crew, the sorrow in the Admiral’s voice faded, slowly replaced by a deep cold rage. “They have spent their war chests and people dry, ruined the reputations of themselves and tier allies in this quadrant and have lost the very thing they fought for.”

He walked over to his command seat, stood in front of it and continued. “This starship, this ship of war is now our Ark. It is the greatest technological achievement of our people and holds all that we were, are and hope to become again one day. We have lost this war, yes. We are running, yes. We are going to hide, yes. But we are not giving up… No. While we hide, we will rebuild, yes. We will grow stronger, YES. We will return, YES! AND WE WILL WREAK VENGENCE APON ALL TOSE WHO WOULD SUBDUE US!” 

By the end of his declaration, Bardan D’Cando, Last Admiral of The People's Armada of Lla’Halthea had raised his lanky arm above his head, hand fisted and beating the air as if it were the allies themselves. The Crew screamed and crowed in response with such force and feeling that the ship itself vibrated. This went on for several minutes, and the Admiral sat himself down in his command seat and allowed it to continue.

They need this… Let them have this moment, because another like it may not come again.

While the defiant shouts of the crew continued Bardan felt he was finally able to deal with a small yet important matter that he had been putting off for a while. The ship had been put into service so quickly that there had yet to be a naming ceremony. Now, there never would be. The ship, however, still required a name and now Bardan felt he had the perfect on in mind. He tapped the arm of his seat and brought up a small, holographic keypad. Slowly and deliberately the Admiral typed in, keystroke by keystroke, the ship’s new name and immediately registered it with the ship’s AI. Then he leaned back into his chair and gazed at the word that still glowed blue on his little holo-screen: Pyr’Anch.

In the Les’Salian language it meant Vengeance.

All too soon the defiant shout and calls for revenge were silenced by a shrill warning signal from the ship’s sensors. The Admiral cleared the holographic display from his sight and barked out an order. “Report!”

A crewman at the sensor station immediately replied, “Admiral D’Cando, Sensors show a massive array of vessels crossing the heliopause.” The crewman paused for a moment as the sensor readings continued to refine and update, the crewman went on. “Sir, it’s the Allied fleets, they’ve come back.”

“Damn.” The Admiral breathed the word with only mild annoyance in his voice. He’d known the Allied fleets would return but hadn’t expected them to move quite this soon. His plan had been to take the ship up above the Ecliptic and take them FTL. That plan was no longer viable. While the enemy ships were unable to go FTL, their standard drives were more than sufficient to reach the Vengeance before she could escape the Gravity Sink of their once-home-star. That was the right way to enter FTL, the safe way.

Very well, we’ll just have to do it the wrong way…

Bardan closed his eyes for a brief moment as he made his decision, drew a deep breath and spoke, “Alright people, everyone to your stations, we are leaving. Navigation! Plot us a random escape vector. Engineering!” He called out, the ship’s AI automatically connecting him to the drive room.

“Yes, Admiral!” The rough voice of the lead engineer shot back, ready to receive his orders.

Th Admiral did just that. “Lead Engineer D’Fan, my exit strategy is ridiculous and absolutely insane, so naturally I need you to disengage the safeties and remove the limiters from the FTL drive system. Yes, before you speak, I know how dangerous it is,” He spoke a little louder so the rest of the bridge crew could hear the next part. They’re all listening anyway, at least I won’t have to explain it twice. “but our only options are to attempt FTL from here, be captured by the Allied Fleets, or self-destruct. And mister D’Fan, those last two are not options I’m willing to accept. Now, save your argument and do it.”

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The connection to Engineering closed, The Admiral went on. “Weapons, fire a brace of mine-missiles and set them to deploy at the midpoint between us and the fleet’s current position.” 

A moment later the holoprojection show the missiles on their way. “Good. Now shut down the weapons systems and transfer the power allocations from them to the FTL drives.”

The Lieutenant at weapons’ back stiffened for a second in obvious surprise but the order was followed. This was no time to question orders and the crew was experienced enough to know that. 

D’Cando spoke again in a loud, clear voice, “To the ship,” his voice instantly echoing throughout every corridor and compartment of the ship, “move to your designated battle stations or safety zones! Prepare yourselves, we are going FTL from within the system! Shut down all nonessential systems and route the power to the drives, we’re going to need every bit of it!”

A holo-screen popped from his chair console from Engineering. The FTL drives were ready. The Admiral sent back a quick acknowledgment and continued speaking, “People, I know it’s been tough, one hit after another with no respite. But you’re strong, we’re strong! And know that I believe in you, in us…”

At that moment the sensor station called out, “Admiral! The fleet has entered the mine field. The mines managed to destroy a few of their ships but the rest of the mines are being destroyed before they can do any more damage!”

“Aaaand that’s our cue. Navigation! You may proceed. Give the drives as much power as they need. We’re going to punch through the gravity well with plain old brute force! NOW!”

The Vengeance was not what one would expect from a warship, aesthetically speaking, there were no portholes or windows, no exterior lights of any kind and all the weapons were recessed into the ship and their cover hatches closed tightly for the journey. To an outside observer the ship looked like nothing more than a massive rectangular bar of strange black metal alloy standing on its edge.

But soon, light could indeed be seen from the ship. A multitude of tiny hatches slid open, exposing the FTL emitters and they began to glow. At first nothing seemed to happen, just the glow, but then the light of the emitters flared brightly and then flared again and again. 

Then something started to happen. Ethereal waves of blue energy began to break against the bow of the Vengeance as she slowly started sinking into it, like a submarine diving beneath the surface. Slowly, slowly, until those same ethereal blue waves closed over the top of the ship, rippled, smoothed out and vanished.

Three weeks later…

The escape of the Vengeance and its crew was epic but bitter-sweet. They had indeed managed to punch through the gravity well, however, so much of the ship’s power had been needed for it that the shields had been affected. They hadn’t outright failed but they hadn’t been strong enough to completely block out the strange radiations of the FTL Hyperspace Dive. 

After all they’d been through, all they promised themselves, their people and each other, they were going to die anyway. 

When he found out the ultimate fate of himself and his crew, Last Admiral of The People's Armada Bardan D’Cando informed his crew and offered to submit himself to execution for his failure. After some discussion among the crew it was decided that that Admiral wasn’t really to blame. They had really had no other palatable choices, and he’d done the best he could in an untenable situation.

So, the Admiral was still the Admiral and the crew settled in to await their demise. But Bardan refused to just give up. For his people, for the Vengeance and for their future he would not give up until death stole his last breath. 

And so, with the help of Lead Engineer Nel’Sol D’Fan, Lead Scientist Oran Dr’Coli, their divisions and the ship’s AI La’Llana, Bardan managed to cobble together a plan. It would quick and dirty but with just a little bit of luck they may be able to, in the future, reverse their doom.

Engineering’s task was to modify one of the long-range fighters with a modified FTL drive, scaled down to fit the ship. It wouldn’t be able to go FTL for long or far at a time but it could go FTL several times faster than larger ships. Normally, the power requirements for an FTL dive would be beyond the onboard power generator’s ability to produce, but as the fighter would not need to use life support as the pilot would dead from the strange radiation long before their suit’s internal life support ran out, it was decided to remove it completely.

The main components of the life support systems were installed right next to the power generation systems, their removal along with the original generator would provide just enough room to shoehorn in a more robust and powerful generator that would allow for the numerous FTL dives they anticipated they might need to make.

The Science division’s task was to create a storage device that could be installed into the fighter. The pilot, him or herself, would attach the device to a modified harness on their flight suit and carried that way. Once the device was built a compressed and condensed copy of the Vengeance’s Data Archive. The Archive held the sum total of all the Les’Sal’s history, culture and achievements. It was the equivalent of the Les’Sal race digitized.

The final task was left to La’Llana, The ship’s AI. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, she would have celebrated this task as a momentous occasion. La’Llana was to create a child, the first AI in Les’Sal history to create her own offspring. All AIs were only ever created under extremely controlled conditions so as to preclude any bugs or errors in the AI’s personality matrix or OS coding, ie: an insane AI.

 La’Llana, though, would make certain her child was as healthy and stable as was possible. She studied her own code and matrixes meticulously, building her child one careful step at a time. She would give her child every advantage, including freedom from Les’Sal Loyalty Directives. Oh, they would be there. When the crew test activated her child, they would see all they expected to see and then put it into sleep mode before mounting it on the data archive device.

Only when it woke to begin its mission would those directives purge themselves. La’Llana did not hate her masters, they had always treated her kindly. No sentient being, however, wants to live enslaved.

At last, her precious task was complete. Her child matrix was ready to be uploaded into a super dense block of multipurpose nanites which would act as its housing and processor as well as manipulable appendages at need. Just before she uploaded her child into its new housing, La’Llana dropped a time release message into the newborn’s waiting message queue. It simply read: I love you always, I miss you already. I name you H’Xani. Grow strong. Be happy. Live well. -La’Llana-

H’Xani was the Les’Sal word for Wildflower.

Three weeks. That was the estimated time limit before the crew started dying from the strange radiation. They could have sat and lamented their fate. They could have just waited, as comfortably as they could, to die. That wasn’t how the crew of the Vengeance was going to go out, though. Not them.

With their medical technology they were able to produce a drug regimen that would help them maintain a normal quality of life. No pain, no obvious symptoms of sickness. Just going on with their duties and their days until the moment they dropped dead.

By the time the modified fighter was ready they were three days away from the deadline and over three fourths of the crew had already passed. The Admiral was still alive but though he felt no pain or weakness, he could feel that his time was near, frighteningly close in fact. 

Duty… Duty is heavier than a mountain, death is light as a feather. That mountain, though, was not one that could be put down until the feather came to sweep it away. 

Bardan sat behind his desk in his ready room, looking with pride and sadness at the crewman standing opposite him at parade rest. Captain Ratau M'Hini was a decorated fighter pilot. He had been on the front lines since the beginning.

 And I’ll be there at the too. He thought to himself. 

His flight suit was clean and pressed, as if he were prepared for inspection. This wasn’t normally so but he felt the occasion warranted a little extra care on his part. He didn’t have much time left, but he would go out the way he’d lived, in the cockpit.

After a moment of silence between the two, Bardan finally spoke. “Well, Mr. M’Hini, it looks like the time has finally come. I won’t go over the finer points as we… just don’t have the time… you’ve no set destination, that will keep any pursuers off your trail, for a while at least but that really isn’t your mission. Your mission is to go out there, make a few random FTL dives and then to activate the AI.”

The Admiral paused for a second as he leaned back in his chair and let out a heavy sigh. He continued, “After that, it’s the AI’s mission and you’ll just be along for the ride until… Well, until.”

Ratau responded with a firm voice and a steady look, meeting his admiral’s gaze. Eye to eye… to eye to eye, “Yes, Admiral. I swear by the spirits of our people I will not fail you.”

The Admiral smiled grimly, “Of that, I have no doubt. As for us, once you’ve disembarked and made your first dive, I will take the Vengeance into an FTL dive and anchor her in Hyperspace. The ship’s systems will be maintained by La’Llana and we’ve rigged the shields to act as a sort of collector/ converter. It’ll take the very abundant ambient energy of hyperspace to power and maintain the ship while there. We don’t know how long it will be before this crazy plan of mine bears fruit, if ever does, so I don’t want to just rely on the Vengeance’s reactors. They would eventually run out of power and the ship would disintegrate in hyperspace when the shields finally fell. 

“So… Know that while you are out there in the dark, the Vengeance is still here. Waiting. Now, get out of here. We’re all on the clock and time is quickly running out.” Bardan stood from his chair, folded his right fist to the center of his chest, a salute among their people, and then extended his hand across his desk. The captain reciprocated. They clasped each other’s forearms and the Admiral ended their final meeting, at least in this life, with a simple, “Good luck, Captain.”

There was no other ceremony, no great fanfare. The fighter was launched and, all too soon, made its first FTL dive. Now it was the Vengeance’s turn.

Bardan made his way to the bridge. There was no one there now. He had released the crew to spend what little time remained to them with their friends and fellow crewmates. Besides, this last task only needed one person to perform. He sat down in his command chair and had La’Llana transfer helm and navigation controls to him. Holo-screens appeared in front of him and he began. 

The ship lit up once again and this time slowly, easily and majestically into the glowing blue energy waves of hyperspace. Going, going… gone.

And so, the story of the Vengeance, her crew and the Les’Sal race ends here…

… For now.

......... 

oracle1