A year ago, aboard the Artemis, Commander Tanner and his first officer were "awakened" because they were within sight of the Alpha Centauri solar system and the probes sent were analysing the various data. Their awakening was not insignificant because the ship's AI had encountered strong electromagnetic disturbances and there was a kind of "veil" obscuring the whole area, and the solar system should normally be much brighter when seen from Earth.
The reason they didn't know was that an astronomically immense arm of dark 'matter' was blocking the trajectory and no one on the Artemis or on Earth could analyse or predict what dark matter was, let alone speculate on its effects on an Earth ship or its occupants.
But avoiding it was totally impossible. The AI alone could do nothing but rely on the ingenuity of the commander and any signal to Earth... Well, that was on its way for a long, long time.
The long ship was several kilometres long and had a flexible, modular structure capable of absorbing the most terrible shocks and collisions. Everything was modular and repairable, and each section had its own survival-oriented power plant.
The aim was to give priority to survival, even if the engines failed, so the ship could provide food and water as long as the sun was shining and behave like a living island if it was lost, but at the cost of reducing the population or at least limiting the number awake. This would be the worst nightmare in the event of failure and with a trajectory calculated to return in 1 century using the gravitational acceleration of Alpha's Sun. In short, a zombie mission.
Fear gripped the commander and crew as they entered the shadow of dark matter.
Kim, Maxime and Sacha were also on duty.
Sacha: "Kim, what do you think of the situation?"
Kim: "I don't know, all we know is speculation, gravitational fields, magnetic storms, ionised fields. We don't know anything and this is the first time we've made contact.
Maxime: "Maybe we'll become like the Fantastic 5!"
Sacha: "I don't want to become Elastic!"
Kim: "I don't want to become a stone man!"
Maxime: "But you're still in the Stone Age!
Kim : "No... I'm the same age as Pierre but when he wakes up, he'll be younger... or older...". I don't get it any more... Time has no meaning here."
Sacha "You'll be old when you can't get an erection!"
HAHAHA!
Then as if a black veil crossed the ship and the light tended to diffract. As if we had drops in our eyes and lots of stars of all colours were in the ship. But everything was working normally.
Tanner "AI: Damage assessment?"
None, but I sense instability in the fusion reactor corium. A significant loss of energy in sections 1 to 3. The 4th is normal.
Tanner: "Follow the energy path, it must be leaving traces.
AI: "Energy builds up in zone 1 and a magnetic vortex forms a line towards Alpha."
Tanner: Sound the alert. Evacuation to anti-radiation tanks, hazmat suits and do I need an emergency wake-up call for all criogenes?
The AI had calculated.
"No, you don't. Reserve 4 allows this to be done at a later date. Each capsule is capable of being ejected and re-entering the atmosphere. There is no structural damage requiring evacuation".
Tanner: "So stay on yellow alert! Everyone back to their stations or take cover under the tank."
Kim, Sacha and Maxime received their emergency assignment orders and when they got up from the table (they were in the cafeteria) the stars gathered in complex geometric figures.
Kim: "Wait... those are Latin symbols!!! They say emergency heroic transport, divine protection and other names that don't make any sense!"
Sacha watched but at his feet a circle formed and at Maxime's feet too, then a triangle in the circle centred on them and they froze against their will.
"Kim!!! Help! I can't move!
He tried to grab Sacha but was thrown violently back into the room as he passed through the circle.
The alarm sounded even louder and the commander himself ran to see the stars shining brighter and the glare while Sacha and Maxime screamed and cried out
"I don't want to die! Mine!"
"KIM!!!"
Kim wanted to grab them again but Tanner held him back.
"They're already gone... it's only their image!"
Then everything went black, a red alert and a hole in the hull.
"AI!???"
No response.
The whole ship was in power saving mode with red emergency lighting.
The functions had stopped and Vidocq rushed to the reactor room, which was shut down.
It was a catastrophe.
3/4 of the ship's power had gone! No propulsion, just inertia.
The commander joined him.
"The situation?"
"It's terrible. There's been a breach and the reactors are dead. Matter is stable and there's no reaction. We're screwed!"
"We're going to use the 4th reserve reactor and deploy the solar panels manually and the sails"
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That way we'll be able to maintain vital functions and plan for the manoeuvres needed to put the ship into orbit.
Vidocq: "But if we go into orbit, we'll never get out again, we'll lose gravitational acceleration".
Tanner: "I think we've all had enough. It's time to get back on solid ground. Our life is here now. We have a better chance of surviving if we settle on Alpha than if we leave".
Vidocq: "But..." (he hoped to get a good night's sleep and see land again one day).
"No, don't think about it. Go back. 3/4 of the engines are down. We'll have to go back through the dark matter. What if the ship gets cut in half? What if while you're sleeping, the cryo system batteries are drained too?"
Vidocq was red-faced with frustration but didn't hold it against the commander
"I understand, sir... you're right... I panicked"
"Admitting one's mistakes is not for everyone. I can understand you."
Kim was sitting on the floor in a corner of the cafeteria, his chin resting on his knees.
"I... I couldn't do anything!"
The commander sat as he did and put his hand on his knee.
"There was nothing you could have done. It's a mysterious force."
Kim: "It was in Latin... I swear... it said Hero, journey and divine protection... and unknown codes..."
Commander: "They're not dead then... they're with humans...Latin, they were humans..!!!"
"You're not just saying that to reassure me?"
"No, Kim. I'm sure of it The AI had mentioned energy towards Alpha. They're here... We'll just have to find them and send them a communications terminal or antenna when we get close to the planet. That's where we're going anyway!"
Kim stopped crying and stared into space.
"Sacha... Maxime.. Stay alive, please!"
At the present time, the Artemis was arriving as best it could in a waiting orbit around Alpha.
Energy savings were drastic, with only the mess hall lit up and light redirected to the greenhouses and orbital cultivation systems for the natural production of vital resources.
Media and chargers were banned and power was cut off in the bedrooms, with the only light coming from the porthole.
The cafeteria had been converted into an officer's mess, but that was no longer important.
The only things to do were to observe and map the planet and, above all, to see if it would be possible to use the shuttles to disembark. Recharging the atomic batteries of the plasma thrusters would consume too much power from just one of the 4 energy sources. The only viable plan was to sacrifice a generation to set up an energy plant to land the rest, which would remain frozen for the next 20 years, without taking into account the difficulties, the fauna and the population if there were any!
The ship arrived above the central continent, in high orbit, i.e. the same distance as the earth to the moon, the ship being too big to get close without having to use too much acceleration.
Kim jumped up from her seat as she analysed the images.
"Commander! Commander! Come and see! There are cities and castles!"
I approached the screen and straightened up.
"There's life here. Scan the frequencies!"
He ordered an orbital probe, a kind of spy satellite, and the images were breathtaking.
"It's like being back in the 10th century! Sailing ships, beautiful buildings. Towers taller than all the others, in every colour."
"Atmosphere?"
"Similar to Earth, sir.
Other crew members looked on, about twenty of them, the others in cryo.
"How beautiful!
Then the Commander sat down and analysed the problems and solutions.
"If we're positive, this is a peaceful society and we'd be welcomed by other humans and language shouldn't be a problem. We should then preserve their culture and way of life and try to establish ourselves and then we'll see what happens with those on Earth;
But there are viruses and microbes, and we know nothing about the dangers for us or for them.
Then, if they are hostile... that will complicate everything. They're in the Middle Ages, but buildings like these indicate a high level of science that's different from ours. We can't take them lightly and we must always consider the possibility that they are trying to find Earth, however improbable that may be."
The discussions were endless.
Then Commander Tanner tapped Kim lightly on the shoulder.
I'm sure now that they're alive somewhere out there!
Then they flew over the eastern continent and saw lots of black artificial clouds and smoke in and around a large city.
Stella called Vidocq.
"Captain, I've done a spectrometric analysis of the smoke... It's coal!??"
"Zoom in on the chimneys..."
"And you could see they were utility structures."
Kim" Look!!! lines!"
The commander looked at the images:
"There's a lot of construction going on...and...rails?? There's more..."
He looked at his second in command.
If they've got rails, it's a train or wagons for a mine. They already existed in the Middle Ages, but not of this length or this constant alignment.
They must be using it for ore but . AI, zoom in further west. Follow the river.
"NO!" A dam.. it's built like a hydroelectric dam!!!"
Meanwhile, I flew over the carnage and the monsters looted the corpses.
An orc came to find me. "There are a few survivors in respiratory distress, should we finish them off?"
"No. Treat them! If they agree to serve our cause".
Maxime arrived with some wyverns and when he saw the mountains of corpses between the toxic clouds, his heart sank. Then he began to cry.
When he reached Masara Castle, he rushed towards me and beat me with his fists. He was very small compared to my 35 metres.
Maxime : "MONSTRE!!!! MONSTRE !!! MIR You're an abomination! All these people... skin peeled off, blisters, they're swollen and chemically burnt! How could you? "
I let his rage pass.
"You prefer their place? "
"But that's horrible.. why?"
"It's war and little man... I'm a wyvern and I don't have your empathy"
"But you were human!"
"And do you remember your previous life when you were a snake that ate frogs?"
Maxime:"????"
"I was born a wyvern from an egg and I don't have a navel as far as I know....So if you want to live, hold your tongue! Another Demonlord would have crunched you before your fist even touched him!"
"All this death. It's disgusting!"
Then Kratos interrupted: "The duke had good taste, while looking at the insolent hero."
Zalar was bent double.
Then laughed. "Mir, no.. Lord Mir (haha) he didn't mean any respect but found the use of a title funny as if I were a tyrant with his court of villains. And that's exactly what I was."
Then I say. "We're breaking camp and regrouping at the Capital and sending messages to the nobles.
"70% of available soldiers are to join the capital, a war effort to refinance accounts and 50% of crops are to be seized immediately. Any refusal will result in the confiscation of land and property and any rebellion will be punished by the total destruction of the city and the death of the nobles and their families. I invite the most reluctant to surrender to the Duchy of the North, which has betrayed us and will pay the price."
Enclin: "The enchantress has 100,000 men divided into 2 zones and if she sees us attacking the duchy, she will march on the capital.
Your victory instils fear in your citizens. It's terrible!"
"Bah.. I don't care what they think. I'm a dragon and they're only humans."
My sentence had shocked.
I was showing that our race was superior to humans.
The anti-magic gem was recovered and integrated into the capital's defence system.
2 weeks passed and I waited for Etincelle to sink into despair. I wanted to break this dragoness and prove to her that a Wyvernus wyvern was no match for a Draconis.
She was cured but heavily chained in the dungeons of the central castle
From the dungeons, she could hear (on purpose) my lovemaking with the other wyverns as they wept with pleasure and moaned.
Terror filled the captive dragoness as she heard other dragons being tortured, torn apart or slaughtered. The cries chilled her and when our act with Blanche reached its climax, Etincelle trembled with fear, imagining limbs being torn off alive and sobbing.
"MONSTER! DEMON LORD OF HELL! MAY YOU ROT THERE".
The next day, several spies were captured thanks to the traps, my magic glyphs that I'd invented, and by applying the safety rules to magic systems.
The goblin leader asked me what we should do with them.
"Send them home... head first!"
The goblin smiled at my humour but I didn't give a shit. I imagined all sorts of games and fantasies to do with a draconis and then I sent a new ultimatum to the enchantress to free my family.
Of course, she was waiting for me to go and fight her myself, but I wasn't stupid. That's all she was waiting for... a magical duel.
"If my tribe is not freed this week, in 10 days your palace will be in flames and I promise to raze your enchanted land to the ground. By the way, I have your precious Spark. She never stops talking about you... of course. It goes without saying that, once the ultimatum is over, I'm curious to know what a cross between a wyvernus and a Draconis could produce..."
She flew into a hysterical rage as soon as she read the letter... Signed MIR, your friend who means you well!
Then she cried... "Etincelle, pardon..." Then she went down to the stables to see the captive wyverns.
"Oh, you want to be clever and make me sing... You're going to dance now, Mir!"
my speeches were always short and to the point.