“Don’t call Major Barrett!” Mr. Okoro cut through the crowd with urgency, his voice pleading as he reached Jack. “If you do, he’ll order you not to save our people. First, you rescue Ms. Nakayama and her group—then you talk to the Major.”
“But why would he…” Jack began, trying to argue, but Mr. Okoro interrupted him.
“Because it’s the call I’d make if I were a heartless bastard. Tactically, it makes more sense to write them off and leave them to fend for themselves. Their jump drive is most likely no longer operational, and a handful of low-level crewmen aren’t worth the trouble. Listen to me, Jack.” Mr. Okoro grabbed him by the shoulders, his eyes filled with genuine concern.
“And the Templar?” Jack asked timidly.
“Is not part of the chain of command,” Mr. Okoro reassured him. “A mercenary has no actual authority to issue orders. And the rest of these men trust you to lead them. I can deal with Knight Zhōu if you want.”
Jack brushed him off with a gesture, gathering his courage before raising his voice:
“I will need volunteers for one final task. Those of you who had your headsets turned on have probably heard crewman Nakayama’s plea. Her team is part of my crew, from my ship, the Bismarck. Probably the last ones who made it, aside from those in this room. Without assistance, they will die. I intend to help them.” Tears welled up in his eyes as he struggled to maintain his composure, his voice rising even higher: “I will go alone if I have to. It’s a dangerous task, one we will probably not succeed in. I won’t think any less of those who do not come with me. But I was taught that the Interstellar Fleet never leaves a man behind! And I intend to honor that, or die trying!”
Cheers erupted as Jack desperately tried to hide his fear. He wasn’t sure where that speech had come from, or if he believed a word of it, but he knew it had worked. Slowly, and timidly a handful of people split off from the crowd and took their place behind Jack Soon enough, a small group gathered behind him. Among them, he recognized the older man who had spoken earlier, as well as Nurse Julie.
“I leave the rest of you in the capable hands of Knight Zhōu and Mr. Okoro!” Jack shouted, using the last bit of his strength.
As the group prepared to depart, having said their goodbyes, someone in the crowd called out, halting them in their tracks.
“Wait!” It was the last member of Jack’s assault squad, the former leader he had unceremoniously deposed.
“Private Scheer, reporting for duty!” he smirked, attempting to mask his hesitation. “Most of the guys from my squad—our squad—are with her. It’s my duty too.”
Jack smiled warmly. “Come on, then. While there’s still a chance.”
As they made their way back into the corridor, Jack tried to reach Eve on his wristpad. He suddenly realized that he had no blueprints for the ship and no real knowledge of how to reach her, or even where exactly she was. Trying to conceal his uncertainty from his impromptu rescue team, he picked a random direction and began walking with confidence and determination.
For the first time, as they moved through the relatively quiet corridor, Jack took a moment to examine his surroundings in detail.
It had long been theorized that the Mothership originated from the same civilization that created the T-gate network and its space stations scattered across the galaxy. In many ways, it made sense. Much like the gate network, the Mothership was incredibly old, built by a species with technology so advanced that even the all-knowing Othiri couldn’t decipher it. But as Jack walked through the ship’s corridors for the first time, he couldn’t help but notice the remarkable difference in style. Unlike the angular, metallic designs of Gateway Station, the Mothership’s corridors were soft to the touch, bathed in a warm light emanating from the walls. Its architecture was simplistic, devoid of many flourishes, yet not without charm. Most strikingly, it eschewed straight lines and hard corners almost entirely, giving it an almost organic feeling.
A tingling sensation coursed through Jack’s body as his wristpad buzzed. Mentally preparing for the worst, he lifted his hand and looked at it. It was a message from Eve—a frequency. With bated breath, he typed it into his headset and spoke, his voice breaking:
“Eve?”
“Jack?” came the incredulous reply on the other end. It was Eve. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were dead! Or worse!”
Jubilant, Jack prepared to explain, but before any words could come out of his mouth, Eve spoke again.
“Never mind that, did you get my message?”
“I did. I’m heading toward you with a small group.” Jack paused for a couple of seconds, quickly counting the people with him. “I have sixteen people—fifteen combatants and a medic. We’re coming from the hangar on the east side of the ship. How do I reach you?”
After a brief pause, Eve spoke again, her voice steady but tense: “Jack, we’re trapped in a room, not far from you, I think. There’s a man here with us, Dr. Liu. He can tell you what to do. I’ll put him through.”
“Hello?” A man’s voice came through on the other end. It sounded younger than Jack had expected and far less confident than he’d hoped.
“What do you want me to do?” Jack asked, somewhat incredulously.
“Every few dozen meters, or next to any entrance, there are control interfaces on the walls. I need you to find one. It should look like a round, polished, white stone. Small, easy to miss—pay attention!”
Jack scanned his surroundings. The walls in the corridor were mostly featureless, but there was indeed a white stone on the left wall, a few meters ahead.
“I see one!” he answered, excitement tinged with relief.
“Good. Very good. I want you to grab it. Just put your hand on it and open your mind. Or, well, just put your hand on it, really. It’s a neural interface—it connects directly to your brain. Once you feel the connection, think of a map or a blueprint, and it should provide one for you.”
Jack was startled by the request. Connect his brain directly to a mysterious alien ship? A ship currently controlled by their enemies, no less? Even under the best circumstances, the idea would have been unsettling, but in this situation, it made him downright nauseous. However, the prospect of endlessly wandering through a hostile Kharlath vessel was no better. Swallowing his discomfort, Jack steeled himself and prepared to do what needed to be done.
As soon as he touched the interface, Jack felt a presence probing around in his mind. It was far more subtle than he had imagined, but unmistakable—some sort of entity was connecting to his consciousness. He shuddered at the thought of what it could be and quickly pulled his hand away, frightened. It wasn’t like anything he had ever experienced. He had used neural interfaces before, of course, but those were passive—mere novelties or toys, devices he controlled with his thoughts rather than his hands. The idea of such an interface reaching out and touching him back had never occurred to him, and the sensation was deeply unsettling.
He counted to three, took a deep breath, and touched it again. This time, he was determined to get what he came for. He focused on the ship’s layout, and before he could even complete the thought, the knowledge was in his mind. It wasn’t as if the interface had shown him a map or explained it to him; instead, it felt like the information had always been there, as if he had intrinsically known it all along. It was as if he suddenly knew the ship’s layout as intimately as if he had designed it himself. The experience was unlike anything he could compare it to—almost like magic.
He pressed his headset, and Dr. Liu’s voice crackled through:
“Did it work?”
“Yes, I think it did,” Jack replied, still somewhat shaken.
“If I’m correct, when you think of the layout, it’s formatted like that of an Interstellar Fleet ship, yes? Similar to the maps on your wristpads?”
After a moment of introspection, Jack answered, “Yes. Sort of.”
“Fascinating,” Dr. Liu replied, excitement creeping into his voice. “When I first tried it, the map downloaded into my brain was like that of a city—with streets, alleys, buildings, all named! I have a theory that—”
“Dr. Liu!” Jack interrupted, exasperated.
“Yes, my apologies. Not the time. My point is that, in theory, you and Miss Nakayama now have the same map in your heads, with the same labels. Which means you can finally help us!”
After a brief pause, Eve’s familiar voice came through, this time with her characteristic self-assuredness:
“Jack? Do you know where Room 227 is, on Deck 6?”
He couldn’t explain how or why, but he did. He knew exactly what room she was talking about and could picture it clearly in his mind, along with the route to get there.
“I do. It’s not far from here. What do you need me to do?”
“We’re trapped here, locked inside. We’re safe for now, but there’s a large detachment of Kharalath troops outside the door. I think they know about the jump drive, and they’re trying to get in. Dr. Liu is confident they can’t unlock the door, but I’m not sure how long it’ll take before they break through, and we definitely don’t have the firepower to take them on by ourselves. We can catch them in the middle, like we did on the Bismarck. Maybe we have a chance.” She was trying her best to sound confident, but Jack could hear the underlying uncertainty in her voice.
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Steadfast in his resolve, though fully aware of the grim odds, Jack gathered his rescue party and led them through the ship’s winding, labyrinthine corridors. Signs of battle were scattered throughout—stray bodies, stains on the walls—but, fortunately for them, this area of the ship seemed largely deserted. As they neared their destination, Jack signaled his party to halt and contacted Eve once again:
“We’re next to Room 193. As soon as we turn this corner, we’ll be within range of the Kharalth forces. We need some kind of diversion.”
Eve’s response came after a brief delay:
“Dr. Liu can raise emergency bulkheads at both ends of the corridor. This will divide their attention and allow you to get your forces in position. Once you give the signal, we’ll open the one closest to you halfway, giving you cover while keeping the other closed so they can’t reposition. Once you’ve engaged them, we’ll open the door and come out blasting. Okay?”
Jack quickly approved the plan. As soon as he heard the bulkheads slam shut, he ordered his men into position and waved down Julie.
“Take this and get far behind us.” Jack handed her his plasma pistol. “I don’t want you in the line of fire.”
“Jack, I can take care of myself,” she protested.
“I don’t doubt it, but you’re the only one here with medical training. We need you on your feet more than anyone. And if Eve and I don’t make it or are incapacitated, these people need someone in charge. Someone who can keep them alive.”
She nodded, then moved back, stopping just behind the corner. “Good luck, Jack. I hope we make it.”
After signaling Eve, Jack gripped his rifle and got into position. As soon as the bulkhead lowered, he ordered his party to kneel beneath it and fire blindly above their heads. In the narrow, enclosed corridor, they didn’t need accuracy—just a relentless barrage of ammunition. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
Mere seconds later, they were knocked off their feet by a powerful blast. It was as if they had all been simultaneously hit by a charging bull. Stunned, and winded, as he struggled to breathe, Jack peeked out just enough to see the cause: a portable energy cannon. It was a strange weapon, one that Jack had heard about, but never seen up close. The bulkhead held, but his men were now exposed, lying on the ground. Thinking quickly, he signaled Eve again as the remaining Kharalth troops rapidly closed the gap. Eve’s group emerged from the room, blindsiding the enemy while Jack’s troops recovered. The dwindling Kharalth forces were soon trapped between the two groups, barely able to return fire.
Steadying his aim, Jack focused on the cannon, and with a loud bang, it exploded into a million pieces, taking several Kharalth soldiers down with it.
Desperate, the few remaining enemy troops fell to the ground, throwing their lances aside in a gesture of surrender. There was a persistent rumor throughout the fleet that the Kharalth were such determined warriors that they didn’t even understand the concept of surrender—but this wasn’t true. There had been multiple known instances of Kharalth surrender, and the Commonwealth held hundreds of them as prisoners. Still, it was a rare sight, and their capitulation now suggested that the boarding operation had been exceedingly successful, leaving them utterly demoralized.
The two groups reunited in the middle of the corridor, tension thick in the air as they kept their weapons trained on the remaining Kharalth. Jack quickly identified the leader among them—a warrior with red streaks painted across his helmet—and, without lowering his weapon, gestured for him and the remaining warriors to get on their knees with their hands behind their backs. His men swiftly gathered up the discarded weapons.
“Dr. Liu?” Jack called out, scanning the area.
A somewhat short, frail-looking man cautiously emerged from behind the wall of the room where Eve’s group had been trapped. On closer inspection, he appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s, but his sunken eyes, malnourished frame, and weary posture made him seem far older.
“Yes?” the doctor replied, his voice timid.
“Can you lock them inside the room? So they can’t get out?”
“I’m afraid not,” Dr. Liu said, shaking his head. “There’s a reason we chose this room to hide in. It can only be locked or unlocked from the inside. That’s true of most rooms in this part of the ship—I suspect they were originally designed as living quarters.” He stopped himself, realizing he was veering off topic.
Jack paced anxiously, processing the scientist’s words. He hadn’t even considered the possibility of taking prisoners, let alone what to do with them. They had no way to restrain the Kharalth warriors, and they couldn’t exactly march them around the ship. But the idea of executing defenseless prisoners didn’t even cross Jack’s mind. For the moment, they were stuck.
Sensing Jack’s dilemma, the prisoners began to grow increasingly restless, likely contemplating their fate. The atmosphere crackled with unease, and just as he noticed a lapse in the group’s concentration, the Kharalth leader sprang to his feet with inhuman speed. With a guttural howl, he charged at his captors, his warriors following suit. Chaos erupted before anyone could react.
In an instant, the Kharalth leader had seized a lance and was swinging it wildly. Two men went down immediately, one of them decapitated with a single, brutal stroke. Disoriented, Jack’s group fired back blindly, but their panic rendered them ineffective.
Jack’s heart froze as he saw Eve lying on the ground, a massive Kharalth warrior towering over her. The alien raised his lance, preparing to strike, but before the blade could descend, Jack instinctively threw himself in its path. “You could have just shot him, you idiot,” Jack thought to himself, grimly, bracing for what he was certain would be a killing blow.
The lance came down hard, knocking the air from Jack’s lungs as pain seared through his body. But he was still alive—and somehow, miraculously, in one piece. He looked up, dazed, to see a smoking crater where his attacker’s head had been. His vision blurred as he collapsed on top of Eve, struggling to stay awake.
As his would-be executioner crumpled to the ground, Jack stared in stunned disbelief at the familiar figure standing behind the fallen Kharlath warrior. Julie, the nurse, was there, pistol in hand. With one arm behind her back, she raised the weapon and, with methodical precision, fired two more shots, each one hitting its mark and downing the remaining Kharlath with surprising efficiency.
The situation quickly calmed as all the Kharlath were neutralized. Julie, moving with the same effortless grace, approached Eve, offering her a hand to help her to her feet. As she gently wiped the blood from Eve’s face, Jack couldn’t help but notice a flush of color rise to Eve’s cheeks—she was blushing, an emotion he’d never seen on her before, and one he certainly hadn’t expected.
“Stay still,” Julie ordered Jack as he tried to move, groaning in pain. “I’ll get to you soon enough.”
Obediently, Jack lay down on his stomach, trying not to think of the pool of bodily fluids slowly forming on the floor beneath him. Julie quickly set to work, cutting open his uniform with practiced ease and holding him steady with firm but gentle hands.
“You’re very lucky,” she concluded, assessing his wound. “It hit your scapula. That’s one of the hardest bones in the body. A bit to the right, and you probably wouldn’t be walking again. A bit higher, and, well... you wouldn’t be doing anything again.” She injected a painkiller into his back, and after a brief moment of discomfort, the pain began to ebb away. “Don’t get me wrong, what you did was very brave. But it was also very stupid. Next time you want to be brave, try to be a little smart about it.”
Bandaged up and feeling the effects of the painkillers, Jack attempted to stand, only to suddenly remember something crucial—he hadn’t given Julie a firing glove!
“Your hand!” he exclaimed, grabbing Julie’s right arm in concern.
But to his surprise, her hand appeared completely unscathed. Chuckling, Julie tapped her forearm with the butt of the pistol, producing a sharp, metallic sound—it was a prosthetic.
“You wouldn’t believe how handy it is when baking, too,” she joked, handing back his weapon with a sly smile.
Quickly slipping back into his leadership role, Jack signaled for Eve to approach.
“The jump drive—is it operational?” he asked, his voice steady.
“It can be,” Eve replied with determination. “Right, Dr. Liu?”
“Certainly!” Dr. Liu chimed in enthusiastically. “I’ve actually worked with one of these before, believe it or not. As part of my doctoral thesis, I was one of a handful of human scientists assigned to—”
“Doctor Liu!” Eve interrupted, her tone a mix of annoyance and amusement.
Jack tapped his headset, preparing to contact Major Barrett. The line crackled before a voice came through, sharp and casual despite the situation.
“Who is this?” Major Barrett's tone was impatient.
“This is crewmate Nereus, sir! With the Bismarck jump drive team. The device is secure and ready to go at your order!” Jack reported.
“Yes, yes. Very good,” Barrett replied, his irritation palpable. “Agent Okoro told me to expect your call. Fortunately, you have been more successful in your endeavor than he has in his own.”
Jack hesitated, stunned. “Mr. Okoro—is he—?”
“He is quite alright, yes, unlike the jump drive he was supposed to secure,” Major Barrett informed him, his voice laced with barely concealed contempt. “Unfortunately, we only have two devices secured and operational. This is less than ideal, but we’ll need to work with what we have. Prepare to activate it on my mark.”
“But sir, we’ve been told that we need a minimum of three to make the jump safely. What about the possible risks of—” Jack began, but was swiftly cut off.
“You’ve been told what you needed to hear to get the job done. Barrett out.”
The abrupt end of the transmission left a bitter taste in Jack’s mouth. Major Barrett, now in charge of the entire operation and, if they succeeded, the ship itself, had made a dreadful first impression on him. Jack was used to Captain Stirling—a man who, though direct and sometimes callous, was empathetic toward his men and loyal to a fault. Stirling was someone Jack could trust with his life, knowing that he wouldn’t be let down.
Barrett, however, seemed to be an altogether different kind of leader—one focused solely on achieving his objectives, with little regard for the well-being of those under his command. Jack wasn’t exactly thrilled about taking orders from such a man. Yet, he had to admit, Barrett’s plan had been more or less successful so far.
"Doctor Liu, in your opinion, can we jump this ship with only two drives?" Jack asked, his concern evident in his voice.
The doctor furrowed his brow, clearly deep in thought. After a moment of careful consideration, he replied, "In theory, yes. To my knowledge, the ship itself only uses one. It’s not about how much surface area a single drive can effectively jump; it’s about reducing the risk of a failure point—an area of the ship not fully enveloped in the displacement field. That’s why, for large objects, especially those without drives specifically calibrated for them, we use multiple jump drives with overlapping displacement fields. However, would I recommend jumping this ship with only two drives right now? Absolutely not! Especially if we haven’t secured the ship’s own drive. There are so many things that could go wrong—”
Before Dr. Liu could finish, Major Barrett's voice cut in, delivering the order with an authority that brooked no delay. "Engage the drive on my mark!"
Jack gave a quick nod to Eve, who pushed past the doctor, her hands moving swiftly over the drive's control console. Dr. Liu stepped back, his concern evident, as Jack relayed the final command to start the jump drive.
A loud, omnipresent hum filled the ship, growing in intensity as the jump drives powered up. The vessel began to shake and groan under the immense strain. Suddenly, Jack found himself floating in the air. The world around him started to distort, colors and shapes melting and blending into one another.
To his astonishment, he looked down to see his own body, frozen in place, among his friends, staring lifelessly back at him. He floated, disembodied, as the ship’s corridors dissolved into nothingness, leaving him alone, drifting through the vastness of space. The entire universe was spread out before him, an infinite expanse of stars and galaxies. He drifted among them, feeling as if hours had passed, yet no time at all.
Then, with a jolt, he was yanked back into his body. The ship groaned one final time, vibrating violently as the jump completed. Jack and most of his group were thrown to the ground by the force. Dazed, he lay there, struggling to comprehend the surreal experience he had just endured.