3 September, 9 TE, Houston, Earth, Sol System
“Admiral, Kyiv just exited hyperspace near Neptune,” came Luna’s voice over Jack’s comm.
Jack stood and left his office, heading to the QD across the hallway. A moment later, he stepped through the QD into the control room for Kyiv’s berth on the Lunar Darkside.
“Luna, Kyiv wasn’t due back for another two weeks. Do you know anything yet?” he asked.
Luna appeared beside him, her expression unusually tense. “Captain Sokolov has made a discovery. I’m coordinating with Larysa and have called an emergency meeting with the planetary governors and the president.” She motioned toward a door that materialized next to him, revealing a sleeper pod. “Use that, and I’ll connect you.”
Jack climbed into the pod, lay back, and found himself in a virtual conference room with Luna, Larysa, Hiroshi, Aiko, Natalia, Elena, Aya, and the Governors of Mars, Earth, Venus, and Ganymede, along with Alliance President Leena Virtanen.
Captain Sokolov stood and began as a hologram of Alpha Centauri A appeared in the center of the room. “Four days ago, an object exited hyperspace here.” The hologram zoomed in on Artemis, showing a dot 1.8 AU away. The dot pulsed, then zoomed in closer to reveal a strange-looking vessel. “I immediately deployed Odesa and a squadron of fighters to investigate.”
An uncharacteristic silence filled the room as everyone processed the appearance of an alien ship so close to Sol. Eventually, President Virtanen tore her gaze from the ship and said, “This is incredible, Captain. What do we know so far?”
Natalia looked at the President, her expression somber. “The ship itself wasn’t damaged beyond a fault in their hyperdrive, which they clearly hadn’t discovered until after they entered hyperspace.”
“The drive worked well enough to open a transit tunnel, which pulled them in. Then it failed, leaving them with no way to repair it, slow down, or exit hyperspace…” She trailed off, her gaze dropping.
“Oh no,” Jack muttered.
Natalia sighed before continuing, “For those unfamiliar with the specifics of hyperspace transit, this means the ship had to decelerate naturally. The ‘medium’ between universes is slightly denser than real space. So, it took 37 years for the ship to slow down enough for the field keeping it there to destabilize.”
Larysa spoke up, her tone clinical. “I was able to fully analyze the ship, and it’s primitive—clearly a prototype. It was designed to accommodate around 50 of a mammalian species and perhaps 100 of the insectoids.”
The hologram shifted to show clinical drawings of two alien species. “There were 796 of the mammalians and 1,302 of the insectoids on board, all deceased for 37 years.”
Everyone stared, slack-jawed, until Jack leaned back and said, “Larysa, are you telling me you have a ship full of dead teddy bears and ten-inch-long bugs?”
Larysa sighed. “Yes and no. They resemble teddy bears, but they evolved on a planet with at least 1.65 G gravity. They’re sloth-like, arboreal climbers, and their muscle density suggests they’d be significantly stronger than an adult male chimpanzee. They’re herbivores, and their brain size suggests higher intelligence. As for the insects, I believe they might have a collective intelligence, but I don’t have enough data to confirm that.”
Matthew Sinclair, the Earth Governor, leaned forward. “Excuse me, what? You’re saying the insects were part of the crew?”
The hologram shifted to a cross-section of the ship’s interior. “The walls and ceilings are textured to give the insectoids perfect footholds. Additionally, the corridors and rooms are built in two scales. The larger corridors and rooms are 140 centimeters tall, while the smaller ones are 70 centimeters.”
Elena spoke up. “140 cm corridors? So the mammalians are around a meter tall? How big is this ship?”
Larysa looked at Elena. “The ship is 92 meters long and 47 meters wide.”
Jack stood, his voice heavy. “Nat and I saw this during the war on old Earth.” Natalia nodded, looking down as he continued. “Something—or someone—was killing these creatures so viciously that they loaded over ten times the ship’s capacity onto an unfinished vessel and took the risk.” He paused, a tear slipping down his cheek. “Larysa, what percentage of the mammalians are children?”
“Most of them,” Larysa replied quietly. “Based on wear in their teeth, much like human remains, I’ve been able to determine an age scale. Sixty-three individuals classify as adults, two hundred and eleven are teenagers, and the rest are very young children.”
Natalia’s face tightened. “This was an improvised evacuation ship, overloaded with children. Only absolute desperation would drive people to send their children away on an unfinished vessel without joining them.”
“Some invader was wiping them out,” Jack said, his voice taut. “They stayed behind to buy the kids time.”
The Governor of Venus interjected, “Why assume it was an invader? Couldn’t it have been a natural disaster?”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Unlikely,” Jack replied. “If it were a natural disaster, there would have been far more adults on board.” He turned to Larysa. “Do we have any information on where it came from?”
“Approximately 153 light-years away, just outside the Hyades Cluster.” The ship hologram vanished, replaced by a star map.
“I’ve just deciphered their language. One moment… Their home world is called Tahlaris.” The map zoomed in on a lush, forested planet. “It orbits a G-class yellow star, similar to Sol. They call it Astralis.”
Luna turned to Larysa. “Their database is extensive, but their technology is very limited. Give me 92 seconds, and I’ll provide a repor—” Her voice cut off, and her eyes widened, a look of horror crossing her face. When she resumed speaking, her tone was filled with barely restrained fury. “They are being invaded by an extraterrestrial species that is enslaving and…” Larysa finished Luna’s statement with a growl, “farming them.”
A creature appeared on the holographic display. Two meters tall, the segmented reptilian looked like a spider in a lizard’s skin. Its abdomen was horizontal to the ground, supported by four spider-like legs ending in claws. The torso was upright, with four upper arms built for grasping. The head resembled that of a lizard, with a compact snout lined with sharp teeth. Six eyes ringed its head, granting it nearly 360-degree vision.
For the next fifteen minutes, Luna displayed video footage of the invasion. At first, the invaders appeared to be raiding simply to kill. But soon, their true purpose became clear. Adults were sorted and separated. Larger adults and teens were sent to labor camps, fertile females to breeding camps, and everyone else was moved to fenced preserves—where they were available for live feeding.
“Monstrous!” President Virtanen snarled, leaping to her feet, tears streaming down her face. Jack and Natalia remained stone-faced, while the rest sat in various states of horror. With titanic effort, Leena regained her composure and spoke with deadly calm. “Luna, how long to deploy a fleet to that system?”
Luna looked up, her eyes reflecting deep sorrow. “Callisto can be there in three months, without making too much ‘noise’ opening the transit tunnel.”
Leena unclenched her fists, straightening her jacket. “I call for an immediate relief effort to aid the…” She hesitated, searching for the right words.
“The mammalian species is called the Ny'Shura, and their insectoid symbiotes are the Mirii,” Luna supplied swiftly.
“A relief effort for the Ny'Shura and Mirii people. Is there a second?” she asked.
Marcus Sinclair stood, fury blazing in his eyes. “Seconded. Earth votes Yes.”
The governors of Mars, Venus, and Ganymede stood and cast their Yes votes. Leena looked at Luna, who stood and added her Yes.
“It is unanimous. We will send a relief mission to the Astralis system to aid the Ny’Shura and Mirii.” Leena returned to her seat, her expression resolute. “Admiral, I’d like an action plan as soon as possible. Your mission will be to render aid to any Ny’Shura or Mirii in need.”
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17 November, 9 TE, Alliance Command, Callisto, Sol System
The conference room was designed to command respect—a vast, circular space centered around a large, polished wooden table. Jack sat near the front, his posture upright and attentive, next to Luna, who represented the Moon with a composed, almost ethereal presence. The governors came next: Matthew Sinclair of Earth, a steady and somber figure; Javier Escalante of Mars, his gaze sharp and unflinching; Yuna Hasegawa of Venus, serene yet resolute; and Oskar Lundqvist of Ganymede, exuding quiet strength.
Everyone stood as the Alliance President strode into the room and took her seat at the head of the table. “Everyone take your seats,” Leena said, with a quick look at Jack. “You may begin the briefing, Admiral.”
“Thank you, Madam President,” Jack said, standing and straightening his uniform. “TAS Kyiv has re-entered real space at staging point Portsmouth, one light-year from Astralis, and has begun reconnaissance operations. Captain Sokolov will be sending reports every 12 hours now that Cmdr. Tanaka has figured out a way to open a transit point between Portsmouth and Sol without disturbing spacetime too much.”
Luna spoke up as soon as Jack finished. “Quite literally a single point. The transit tunnel connects spacetime across an area the size of a helium atom for 0.000054 nanoseconds. As for the disturbance, the sensor acuity to trace the communication to Sol would require technology far superior to mine.”
Jack continued, “Callisto will transit to Portsmouth in nineteen hours. Transit time will be 92 days at the best possible speed. Upon arrival, we should have 90 days’ worth of recon from Kyiv to begin relief efforts.”
“And should the need arise…” Jack’s face turned hard, “I have Task Force Overlord, consisting of the battleships: TAS Warspite, TAS Texas, TAS Richelieu, TAS Yamato, TAS König, and Callisto.”
“Have the ground forces been settled yet?” Governor Lundqvist inquired.
Jack nodded and inclined his head to Matthew Sinclair. “As you are all aware, there are millions of hardened veterans from the war who have declined revival in favor of remaining in storage or existing in virtual-space only. Governor Sinclair suggested we show them the invasion videos, and close to thirty thousand immediately volunteered to deploy to Astralis and have been training virtually since. Callisto will have bodies ready for all of them by the time they reach Portsmouth.”
President Virtanen nodded to Jack as he returned to his seat. “Thank you, Admiral.” She stood, addressing the room. “For the last three months, I’ve pondered the magnitude of the decisions we face today, and only one solution addresses all of my concerns. Luna has kindly informed me that my idea is feasible: I will be accompanying the Admiral on this mission.”
“Madam President, you cannot be out of contact for 92 days and travel to a possible warzone,” came the immediate objection from Matthew Sinclair.
“You cannot, Madam President,” Yuna Hasegawa agreed.
Leena smiled and returned to her seat. “I won’t be out of contact. Should a situation demand my decision, Luna has stated she can arrange for communication in virtual-space during the 92 days when I’m otherwise unreachable by this council. As for going to a warzone, remember that unless something obliterates Mercury, the Moon, and Luna, we cannot be permanently killed, as she now has multiple backup locations for the Archive.”
“My personal diplomatic staff will accompany me, but I’d also like a diplomat from each Alliance colony. You have 19 hours to choose your representatives and get them here. I make this decision because this will be a first-contact situation as well as a rescue. It’s likely treaties, alliances, or both will need to be established—and this should be done in person, especially if we must go to war with the invaders.”
Luna spoke from her seat beside the President. “The public address across the five worlds regarding potential hostilities with the reptilian race initially met with resistance—until video reports were included. Public approval of the rescue effort is now near 100%, and 82% support military action against the invading species, with 37% demanding an immediate, overwhelming response.”
“If there’s nothing further, we all have much to do before departure.” She stood, signaling the meeting’s end.