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-ONE WEEK LATER-
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Captain's Log:
The Craton has reached Relief Base 6206, ten light years from the location of the Enabling of the Xanagee, and we have begun repairing and refitting her as best we can. The most we can hope for, really, is to be able to limp from here to a proper shipyard for full repair.
Our ersatz allies in Dawn's ship left us some time ago, sending me back to the Craton during a brief layover three light years out from the Enabling.
The Craton is in a very poor condition, with over two hundred dead, both on the ship from radiation exposure or attendant injuries as systems failed, along with the total loss of our exploratory team sent into the Enabling and technical crew that had been on the Raven's Ghost when it had been destroyed.
Doctor Y has, thankfully, successfully extricated himself fully from our computers. He seems changed in some ways, and I think even he will have much to dwell on from his experience.
I have spoken to all of the command staff, and many have ghosts to wrestle with as a result of all we've learned. Jaya, specifically, was injured and is lucky to be alive, and I can sense a hesitance and fear in her that I only hope she can overcome.
Apollonia was also hurt, though she seems all right in body, something about all of this has resonated with her. I suspect she has learned what it is that is bound to her.
I do not know if I should reach out to her, or wait. I am still reeling myself, and though I shall keep an eye on her in case she needs help, I . . . I also have to trust her. She has grown in so many ways from the young, scared girl from New Vitriol.
Boniface Tred's actions during the crisis were exceedingly heroic; I have offered him a promotion, and he has decided he will take some time to consider the offer. Until now, he has steadfastly refused all promotion, but I think that may change now.
I distract myself, though, from the parts I feel most hesitant to talk about.
Yet, though I find I am afraid and feel cast adrift in uncertain times as a result of what occurred, I cannot be content to let myself stay that way.
We have very little hard data about all that happened near the Enabling, what with the Craton's loss of external sensors and the fact that my personal system was blanked.
Yet, my report has already sent shockwaves through Voidfleet command and the Union government in general.
Ambassador Kell has, unexpectedly, reviewed my report, adding his own commentary, while also standing by my every statement. This carries a lot of weight with many.
The revelation of the origin of the Leviathan at Terris has ramifications that I cannot yet begin to unpack, but I know that this is the spark that will set ablaze a fire. Smarter minds than I will be trying to figure out what is going to change, I only know that change is coming.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Yet despite the inborn fear of change, I am also excited. I hope.
At least with regards to the Union. Other things I have learned, I have . . . deigned to include in my report, things of a personal nature. Such as the nature of Apollonia's existence, and my own connection to the Leviathan we encountered a year ago. As the Terris Leviathan is now codenamed Orange, I have dubbed this one White, in my head.
I know that this personal journal is confidential, until the day that I am gone and a historian gains permission to look back on the personal thoughts of a star captain and mayor who existed as an outlier from the usual command staff. Or perhaps some committee, investigating my actions after a terrible incident. To those who find this, I can only say; I do not yet know how to say those things, to describe them in a way that really makes sense.
Perhaps our language is too limited for such ideas to even be expressed.
Until I figure out how, I will say nothing. And I apologize to all those of the future, in case my failure here becomes the death of us all.
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Jaya found that her cabin felt stifling.
She had recovered fully, she felt no lasting effects from her radiation dose.
For the past week, though, she had been trying to work through what she had learned.
She had spoken to Brooks about what Shaw had told her. Unfortunately, his personal computer where he had stored his data had been corrupted. She had had few resources to allocate to recovering it, with all the vital infrastructure of the ship needing work. Even his DNA chain was hopelessly destroyed by the radiation, leaving no physical evidence.
Brooks had listened to her when she had told him of what Shaw had said. That CRs were hosts to Embrions. That there may be a secret third person with such a connection to them.
But she could tell, as she told him, that he had known.
How?
What he might pass up the chain of command concerned her. She had already sent her own, sadly limited report to her secret comrades.
This was a turning point, she was sure of it. Though Brooks had shared little about what had occurred in the temple with her, she had learned enough.
The Leviathans had created a star. That was not the action of a mindless creature, as many had speculated the Leviathans to be.
It was done with will, intent, and thought.
They were intelligent, and they were many. Prior guesses on their population had been in the thousands, at most. To see millions collect in one space was worse than anything they could have imagined.
Yet even in her report to her secret superiors, she did not include everything.
Her survival made no sense, borderline miraculous. She had memories of dying. She had felt her body shutting down, she had been going blind, even. It was so bad that she had been burned not just on the outside, but even her internal organs.
She had been with Alexander Shaw, who was now dead.
She could also remember the shadowy figure. Her vision had nearly entirely gone at that point, so she could not say she saw who it was.
But she knew, all the same, that it had been Cathal Sair. Behind him, two other things, inhuman things, had stood. Accompanying him. Guarding him?
The man had been staying in his cabin, resting. While uninjured, he had claimed exhaustion through a few channels that she had checked.
How had he done it, she wondered. How had he saved her, walked through the vacuum and brought her back out?
Even with the best of medical technology, a dose of radiation as bad as she'd received was not something that could be fixed.
How could she, without any evidence at all, bring this to anyone?
She did not even know what to say to the priest.
He had saved her life, but Jaya knew that she did not yet know the cost.