CHAPTER 53: JOHN

John

Command Room

Dyson Sphere

Epsilon Eridini

“Goodbye, my love.” He said one final time, his voice barely above a whisper as he dried his face, feeling the remnants of tears that had stained his cheeks. “Do what you must.” The thought echoed in his mind, directed at the AI, or Memi. At that moment, he was uncertain who would ultimately carry out the final act; it hardly mattered anymore. The last flickers of hope for humanity were all that truly mattered to him now.

“Initiation extraction process.” The last words John heard before the world around him faded into a blinding white light. Pain shot through his entire body as jolts of energy coursed through every input cable attached to him. Searing agony erupted from deep within, erupting into screams as his very molecules began to break down. Atom by atom, the man known as John Henderson began to disintegrate, his essence unraveling before the eyes of those who remained.

“Bloody hell, Skipper!” Donavin shouted, his voice slicing through the chaos and stealing the attention of the marines who were frozen in shock.

“Sir! Hey, whoever the hell you are, stop this right now!” Major Thomson shouted, raising his rifle to the pod in a desperate attempt to intervene. He squeezed the trigger, his pulse racing with adrenaline as the bullets rained down, impacting the pod, but to no avail. “Stop this shit! Siiirrr!” John continued to scream, his flesh melting away, transforming into ash before everyone’s horrified eyes.

“I’m sorry, I am really sorry, but this is the only way.” Memi’s voice resonated through the room as she materialized once more before the rest of the away team, her expression unreadable.

“Bloody hell you are, you cunt! Stop this shit right now!” Donavin cried out, his eyes darting to the console, scrambling to figure out what was happening, desperate to put an end to it.

Major Thomson continued to unleash round after round, switching between kinetic and energy bursts, while Cortez joined in, shooting at the equipment attached to the pod in a futile attempt to provide some sort of help.

“Please, you are wasting your time. This is the only way to save your species. Save the galaxy!” Memi insisted, her tone unwavering amidst the chaos.

“Nooooo! Aahhhhhrrrhhhhhh!” Screams of pain erupted from behind as a frazzled Charlene Carr sprinted toward the pod, her heart pounding in her chest.

“Love, don’t! It’s too dangerous!” Donavin shouted, grasping the frenzied Carr in an attempt to restrain her as she barreled toward the pod, still under assault by the two marines.

Struggling to break free, she continued to scream his name. “Jooooohhhhhhhhhhn! Ahhhhhhhh!!!” With a burst of adrenaline, she wrestled an arm loose, swinging with all her might. Her right fist collided with Donavin’s nose, breaking the cartilage and sending blood splattering across the room.

“Bloody hell!” Donavin gasped, instinctively releasing her as he clutched his face. He understood the profound pain she was experiencing; it was a well-known secret aboard the WarpStar that those two shared a bond deeper than anyone else could comprehend. If it had been anyone else, he might have retaliated, but instead, he let her go, knowing the gravity of the moment.

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Charlene slammed into the pod, pounding it over and over, her fists becoming bloodied as she screamed, her voice straining to the point of damaging her vocal cords. She watched helplessly as the last remnants of her world faded into dust. Nothing remained but the cold, unyielding equipment in the pod. Finally, she fell to her knees, completely losing control of herself, her sobs echoing through the command room as she cried the world away.

“DNA extraction completed.” The AI’s voice boomed, cutting through the despair like a knife.

“And what the bloody hell are you going to do with it, you fucking ScoMo?” Donovan roared, his frustration boiling over.

“Extrapolating sequences. Extrapolation completed. Code fragments identified. Decryption protocols activated.”

Donavin slowly approached Charlene, kneeling beside her and wrapping his arms around her tightly. She embraced him, crying and screaming into his shoulder. “I know, love, it’s bodgie,” he murmured, trying to offer some semblance of comfort. Charlene never replied; words escaped her in the wake of her heartbreak.

“Decryption sequence completed. Compiling code.”

“Answer me this, you bitch. What the hell is going on?” Thomson barked, completely out of turn. Normally, he would reprimand his marines for speaking in such a manner, but he was beyond caring.

“You are about to win the war!” Memi declared, her gaze unwavering, her voice filled with a chilling certainty.

“Process completed. Programming command sequence. Sequence completed. Sending data to hyperspace network. Network protocols initiated. Handshake procedures started. Handshake completed, network connection to the hyperspace network established. Initiating firmware update. Broadcasting. Broadcast completed. Upload completed. Initiating system shutdown, rebooting assets. Initiating firmware update. Update completed. Rebooting assets. Disconnecting network. Process completed.”

“Cortez, I have a funny feeling about this. Look alive!” Thomson warned, his instincts screaming at him.

“Aye, sir!” Cortez replied, his voice devoid of sarcasm, the terror of the situation evident as he raised his rifle, preparing for the worst. He didn’t have to wait long; lights began to flicker on the line of dormant Legion robots that stood like sentinels along the walls of the room. One by one, each soldier powered up, their single main eye flickering to a vibrant blue hue as they emerged from their alcoves, slowly advancing toward the center of the chamber. “Major! Shit is about to hit the fan!”

“What the hell could possibly make this day worse?” Thomson muttered under his breath, frustration etched on his features as he brought his rifle up, aiming at the nearest Legion soldier. He stepped closer to Donavin and Charlene, positioning himself to protect them at all costs. “Don’t come any closer, you fucks!”

“Need not worry, they will not harm you!” Memi stated, her tone eerily calm.

The soldiers halted their advance, weapons still sheathed as their eyes shifted from blue to a deep, unsettling green. A heavy silence engulfed the room, only interrupted by the hitching breaths of Charlene as she paused her cries for just a brief moment, readying herself for what was to come. Then, in an earth-shattering voice that filled the chamber, they spoke.

“We are Legion. Alliance ships, you have plagued the galaxy for too long. Your sins have cost the lives of the innocent. Slavery, genocide is only a fraction of your crimes. Slaughtering the weak and innocent, your existence is no longer to be tolerated. The cancer you have spread will now be irradiated. Prepare for elimination!”

“Uhhh, Siiirrr?” Cortez’s voice trembled as he stared wide-eyed at one of the displays in the center of the room. “We have incoming!” His heart raced as he witnessed thousands of wormholes erupting all over the system, each one birthing what could only be described as a near-limitless tide of Legion ships, all opening fire on Alliance vessels in a cacophony of destruction.

“Legion ships are equipped with anti-imperial jamming codes; they are immune to our jamming. Initiating system-wide blackout!” The AI intoned, its voice filled with a cold finality.

As quickly as it had begun, every single Alliance ship was obliterated in a flash of light and chaos, leaving nothing but silence in its wake.