Domel Arcturus

The first thing I did was stood back while my father, who was wearing a light blue jumpsuit, slowly opened his eyes. I could never mistake his bright blue eyes that stood out against his black scales. I got my heterochromatic eyes from both my father and my mother. The unnatural blend of blue and yellow was a genetic anomaly that blended the features of my father and my mother. So, it's pretty much what made my eyes so cool in my opinion and was usually a way for me to try and get a girlfriend. It didn't work out that well.

"Dad? Dad, it's me, Arcturus," I said when my dad had fully opened his eyes.

Dad was still rather delirious from being cryogenically frozen, but once it settled, he looked at me, and said, "A-Arc?" in bewilderment.

"Yes, it's me, dad," I said, completely not realizing the fact that he was not expecting to see me again.

"W-what are you doing here?" he said weakly. "I-I thought..."

"It's a long story," I said. As I looked at his features, I said, "And you've grown old."

"I..."

Dad, despite of still weak, tried to walk out of the pod and hugged me. His touch was so cold, like a frozen meat. I guess that's what happen if you're cryogenically frozen for a very long time.

"Oh, Arc, I never thought I'd see you again," said dad. "But why did you come here? I told you to leave everything behind and live your life in peace."

"Like I said, it's a long story. There's a lot of coincidences that led me here."

"Sorry to interrupt," said Sel while clearing her throat. "I hope you and the others can get to safety yourselves. We have people that needs our help out there, so we don't have time to make you comfortable."

"Y-yes, I understand," replied dad, who had mostly recovered. Still, he was confused with Sel's remark. "W-wait a second, Felinian. Safety? But I thought this place is..."

"Nuoevans took this place as their home now," I said. "Two of us were incapacitated and we need to get them to safety."

"Do you remember where they were? Any indications of their position?"

"It's near where we landed on the abandoned landing pad," said Sel. "In a storage room. I think it's room B5."

"I know that room. Take Areil with you. She knows the way through the tube."

Areil, a rather tall red-scaled Vyrnian, was still recovering, but I guess that, given that she was still young, she recovered quicker. She heard what dad said and nodded before she took Sel with her and climbed a nearby hatch.

Still, I was surprised. Dad wasn't as surprised as I was when he knew about Sel. In fact, he seemed rather in his element. I was so curious that I asked.

"You don't seem surprised seeing a Felinian," I said.

"The base has been in contact with Felinians for a while now. Of course, most of them are pirates, including your friend."

"She's a former pirate."

"Yeah. Good thing that's the case. Wouldn't want to know your son end up becoming a space pirate, right?"

"You know I'm not that kind of Vyrnian. Still...how long has it been? Why are you also in the cryopod? What happened to you?"

Dad quickly became apprehensive. He hesitated to answer that question, but I guess it was due to me that he relented. He sighed and said, "I...guess something must've happened to you. How long...has it been?"

"3500 years, give or take," I said.

"3500 years?! Are you sure you got your date right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"It's just...No, unless it works?"

"What works?" I asked.

Dad was talking to himself, apparently thinking about something. He then looked at me and said, "I'll explain later. 3500 years? The computer did not release you?"

"Damaged during the crash. Now it's not working properly anymore," I said.

"I see," he said.

"I also want to know why you aged. I thought cryopods halted your biological age."

"I wasn't sleeping all the time, Arc. We were worried that the cryopods we used to prolong our lives and cheat times would deteriorate after a while, so we woke up and upgrade...or I guess downgrade, the system. We tried our best in hiding and find help, but no one ever came. Ever since the Exodus, the Vyrnians lost a lot of their progress. That's why some of the technologies were downgrades."

"You are aware of the Exodus?"

"Everyone is aware...oh wait, I see. I guess you're the exception of the rules. 3500 years? I never thought Vyrnian technology could last that long."

I was confused by his remarks. It sounded like something happened to me while the ship traveled to Earth. I couldn't have confused the situation, right? Even dad was uncertain if that's the case. I was confused, too. Why was he surprised by it? I'd get my answer later, but we still had something else occupying us.

"What happened while we went to sleep? What's the business with the Nuoevans?" he asked.

So, I explained everything that I knew about Vyrnians and what happened to them. Dad was rather intrigued by everything, including my short time on Earth.

"That planet is called Earth by its people?" he asked. "And you happened to look like a native beast they called 'wyvern'?"

"Not as complicated as my situation. Why were you surprised by the time? Did something happened to me?"

"I'll explain later. I could tell you this, however. Your ship escaped several days before the Exodus happened."

"You mean, the computer's too damaged to even tell the right time?"

"No, it's not the computer. Like I said, I'll explain later, right after we get this base back. You said the planetary shield is still holding, right?"

"We didn't have time to try and land, so we can't confirm it."

"I see." Dad pondered on the fact. "Look, son, I know you have a lot of questions, but we still have an urgent matter to address regarding this base and the Nuoevans. First things first, we need to take this base back. Given the time they took to take over this base, I'd say we went too sleep for a bit too long this time."

Dad seemed to know the situation well for someone who just woke up. I mean, he was a strategist in the military, which was also the reason why I got my job in the first place. He wasn't pulling any favors, mind you. I was simply inspired by him. He was a kind Vyrnian who loved his family. Well, a little too much at times, but I understood why, and it had something to do with my late brother.

"What space year is this, Arc?" he asked.

"I'm...not quite sure," I said. I neglected to ask anyone back on Arkari when was the date. If I did, I might know that I wasn't supposed to be sleeping for 3500 years. That's my problem, really. Sometimes, I accepted the fact too easily and forgot to question it. In my defense, however, the shock of waking up on a pre-space planet, then got abducted, then crash-landed near a Vyrnian colony, then learning about the Exodus, and...well, you got the point. We went from point A to point B so quickly I did not even think about asking the date.

Still, I quickly got the answer when someone said, "2077? We slept for 350 years?"

"I'm surprised no one ever found this room during that time," said dad. Well, it's kinda hard to know if the database room was used as a freezer and no one ever checked any access underground. Also, I did not think the Nuoevans settled in this place for that long. The colony was on Lekan, Vyrn's natural satellite. Lekan had no atmosphere and pretty barren. And besides, if they had actually settled, they would clean the place up a bit.

I had a lot of questions that I wanted to ask dad, but I knew that Zarya and George were my priority, especially when they were both safely extracted from where they were holed up. It was such a relief to see my partner and friend still safe. He was still unconscious, though. Zarya assured me that he was going to survive with no damage, and that was a relief for me.

Dad seemed to have seen my expression when I sighed in relief. He said, "Your friends?"

"Yeah."

"Then I bid you welcome. You may find a good place to heal and rest here. However, Arc will be coming with me," said dad to Zarya.

Zarya nodded.

"Now, I know how Nuoevans do their things." Dad then turned to the nearby computer, which was the control panel for the cryopods. One of the Vyrnians I woke up was already operating it. "They powered themselves using the suffering of others. I know it's very twisted, but we know why that's the case. It has something to do with why our planet is sealed and our people is scattered throughout the galaxy. However, I don't want to talk in detail about that yet. What we need to do is to take away their 'battery', the source of their power."

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"And this source is a Nuoevan they enslaved and tortured to power their psychic attacks," said Sel. "If not, there's no way they can sustain that much psychic energy."

"Wait," I said. "Battery? Not batteries?"

"If they do have more than one, they could liquefy our brain the moment we stepped into the colony," said Sel.

"And it's also a double-edged sword," said one of the nearby Vyrnians, who I knew as Estal Coriolanus, a well-known scientist. I did not really follow his works, but he specialized in brain waves, and by extension, psychic and empathic powers.

"How so?" asked Sel.

"The more battery they used, the less resources they have to maintain the feedback. Psychic powers have feedbacks that could be damaging to the users, hence the importance of only one of them. For one Nuoevan they exploited, they need at least three to prevent the feedback to abruptly end their power boost."

"So, if we induce this feedback, everyone will be incapacitated?" said Sel.

"Not if they have good psychic defense. Nuoevans and your kind have that kind of defense. They will still try to fight back, but they won't be able to use the same attacks as before."

"Then we have a plan," I said. "Find that battery and secure the base."

"The easiest way to find the 'battery' is to find the center of this colony, where they will have a good defensive point and also maximum coverage of the amplification," said Sel. "Just tell me where the center is, and I'll finish the job."

"Whoa, wait," I said. "You're not going out there alone."

"Look, Domel, I understand your concern, but your size is not going to work in stealth. Even if you have black scales, they will still be able to sense you."

"But I know to bypass any force fields and you need that," I reasoned. "There is no reason to believe that they won't have strong force field around their strategic point, right?"

"But still..."

"Meanwhile, the rest of you will be the distraction." I turned towards my father and the recently awakened Vyrnians. "If we confuse them, it might be easier to strike the battery and significantly reduce their defenses. Then, after it is done, strike them."

"Distraction is easy, but you are going to be right in the heart of it all," said my father. "I can't let you take that risk."

"I have Sel with me."

"Still..."

"Dad, just trust me on this, alright? I have a plan. I really do."

I did understand that dad wasn't going to let himself lose another son again, not after years of thinking I had long since dead. But, dad being dad, quickly gave up on trying to give me a reason and said, "Promise me this is not the last time I'll ever see you again."

"I promise," I said, trying to look sure.

Dad's face looked like the proudest Vyrnian I'd ever known, he smiled, nodded, and said, "Give him the general schematics and the tube map, Artem."

Artem (full name Boole Artemis) nodded and downloaded the map to my pathfinder device. When he looked at the device, he commented, "Well, it still works. Surprising."

"Guess Vyrnians built things to last, huh?" I quipped.

Artem chuckled and smiled. He patted by shoulder and said, "You'll get your distraction as soon as you say you're ready. Remember this, Arcturus. Nuoevans can and will sense you, so stealth is out of the question. If you want to go in, go in with a bang. Some of us will ambush and subdue them while you do your work. Also, they're photosensitive, so use that to your advantage."

I nodded, knowing that their weakness was so glaring that once the whole station was flooded with light, they would all be incapacitated. Of course, if it was so easy, we would not need to follow this risky plan. We could do that as a secondary plan, which was done by several Vyrnians sneaking into the control room. However, while they were photosensitive, the only way to really knock them out was a flash grenade, something that only George's sword was capable of. We really, really needed more than just the short bursts, but we later found out that it was more than enough.

Once we prepared ourselves, we went to the paths that the pathfinder device had laid for us. From there, it was a rather straightforward journey, even if it was rather confusing at times due to the tube's width and the dark and rather cold environment. Don't get me wrong. The portable shield generators did keep us warm, but it could not protect us from cold and give us air to breathe at the same time without draining its charge.

The route we went with was an older, less traversed route that was not pressurized. It was normally pressurized, but due to the Nuoevans limiting pressurized area with force fields, many areas had no air on them. Still, we occasionally found pockets of air from the pressurized areas where we could reduce the strain on our shield generators for a while before we continued.

Halfway through the journey, Sel, who was rather bored, said, "Seems like your father's a good fellow."

"He can be rather overprotective when I was younger," I said. "Can't blame him. He already lost a son."

"But it's good to know that there's someone who cares. Me? Well, I can't even trust anyone, not even my birth mother. She does not even care if one of us die or just in trouble. All she cares about is herself. In fact, everyone only cares for themselves."

"Is it because of the overcrowding problem I read about?"

Sel scoffed. "I have fourteen brothers and sisters. You think that's excessive? Well, the worst I've ever known was around 30."

"Holy shit."

"You damn right. My mother can't even care for herself, let alone one. Her lifestyle has already destroyed her, and my sisters and brothers even see me as a nuisance. Well, the feeling's mutual. So, let's just say we're not the happy family we were, which was the reason why I got myself involved with pirates."

"But you must have someone in your life you can trust," I said.

"Not someone, but three of them," said Sel with a smile. "And I will take my chance on them. No one would even want me in their crew, not after I got kicked out by a crazed captain."

She was being cheeky, so I satisfied her cheekiness by saying, "To be honest with you, Zarya did not want to be involved at all."

"And she's the one who I trusted the most. Ironic, isn't it? Anyway, let's get a move on. I think we're near."

We climbed the ladder and reached a hatch. That's when Artem's voice came from the pathfinder device.

"Once you open that hatch in front of you, you'll find yourself in the central plaza. They must've found out where you are, so move quickly. I'll start the distraction now."

He was right. I could hear ringing in my head already and noises outside the hatch. I needed to go in with a bang, so I signaled Sel to get ready. She powered up the energy weapon portion of George's sword. Then, I braced myself and opened the rather light hatch, in which I quickly found myself in the middle of a group of Nuoevans ready to ambush me. Well, we ambushed each other, given that the flash burst caused them to shriek in pain while shielding their eyes.

Then Artem's distraction came. She revealed that she also had energy conversion abilities and from the look of it, she was ready for attack. But, instead of attacking, she let out a very bright light from her hands, similar to Zarya's intensified healing wave, that blinded everyone in that room. I got out as I shoved the incapacitated Nuoevans away from my path.

Sel then shouted at me as to where the 'battery' was. I turned to where she was pointing at and was surprised. I knew that they were sadists, but I never knew it was that much.

The battery in question was a young Nuoevans, completely naked and in full view of everyone. He was restrained to a cross and was crying, looking like he was traumatized. Near him were two or three Nuoevans using their claws to cut through him, causing him to let out a painful shriek and a plea to stop. Of course, they would not do it, especially if he was suffering and that amplified the psychic power they had.

It was a problem for us, especially when I was stopped by a couple of Nuoevans holding my brain and kept me from moving. Only Sel, who was immune to all of this, kept walking towards the Nuoevans. Still, she was stopped by a psychic barrier, something that could only be done if it was strong enough.

Seeing how the young Nuoevan was being tortured by the other made me angry. They were clearly cherishing the fact that this Nuoevan gave them power, in expense of his suffering. From the look of it, they also seemed to enjoy seeing the Nuoevan helplessly trying to get away. I guess he was already past the point of calling for help and just begging, completely traumatized. Not too late to save him, though.

Sel was then caught in the psychic barrier. She could not pull George's sword and was stunned in place. Even if she was immune to the attacks on her head, psychokinesis was not an attack to the head. However, Sel was not an amateur. The gun-sword was stopped in place, but her fingers was still working. Using just her fingers, she turned the knob on the gun-sword to the very end. I could hear a rather loud hum coming out from it.

"Eat light, shithead," said Sel as she pulled the trigger.

I knew that I saw a bright light that burned my eyes. It was far brighter than the one she usually let out and it filled the room. The bright light was enough to cause the Nuoevans protected by the strong psychic barrier to lose their concentration and winced in pain. I quickly moved in when I felt I was freed and knocked out the Nuoevan tormentors using a short burst of electricity I took from a nearby high voltage cable. However, I could not stop Sel from decapitating the Nuoevan that she was attacking in the first place. I could not reprimand her for this, especially since I did not tell her that I did not want anyone to be killed.

I knew it wasn't over yet. I quickly turned to the tied up Nuoevan and told Sel to cut the chains holding him.

"Why can't we just kill him?" said Sel.

"I never thought you'd be the bloodthirsty type," I said.

"If his suffering is stopped, we got the advantage."

"No," I said adamantly. "He's a victim, so cut the chains."

Hearing our conversation seemed to make the Nuoevan scared and he tried to defend himself. But, given that he was tied up and what looked like a powered collar around his neck, I guess he was helpless and he knew about it. He tried his best, however, though it was in vain. But the dampening collar, as Sel told me, helped me calm the erratic and traumatized Nuoevan as Sel cut his bindings. I quickly took him down and cradled him with my wings.

"Shh, it's fine," I said, calming him. "You're safe now. It's alright."

The Nuoevan was still crying (weird seeing a four-eyed alien cried), but then he slowly calmed as I cradled him. Before long, he stopped struggling, and even closed his eyes. I could hear him whisper 'thank you' a couple of times before fatigue took him and he went to sleep.

I turned to Sel. She looked at the Nuoevan with a look of sympathy. She clearly felt guilty for suggesting that we kill this young Nuoevan. Couldn't blame her for that, especially after listening to her story.

A couple of seconds after, the light turned on. I shielded the sleeping Nuoevan from it in case he woke up. The rest of the Nuoevans, already dazed by what Sel did, could not recover fast enough before the Vyrnians walked in and subdue all of them. The fight was quite short, and that's what I needed. Too long and we might consider escaping. Good thing we could use their race's photosensitivity against them.

I was still cradling the sleeping Nuoevan when my dad came to check on me. I wanted to explain to him, but he understood.

"You can't mistake a slave collar, son," he said after hearing what I had to say. "He's all yours, Arc."

I decided that this Nuoevan had suffered enough. Aside from still being young, he seemed to be rather traumatized by this whole ordeal. My guess was that this Nuoevan had been with the group and was both bullied and abused. I really hated that aspect of a Nuoevan life, but I could not change that. Only a Nuoevan could change it.

After we finished our business with the Nuoevans by calling the authorities (it turned out they were criminals), the Vyrnians I woke up earlier then gathered the mummified bodies of the Vyrnians we found earlier, including the cultists. We had no incinerators, so our decision was to give them a star burial, which involved using a decommissioned ship filled with their bodies and set the coordinates to the sun. We found one small and abandoned cargo ship that barely worked. After reprogramming the system to go fully automatic, one of the Vyrnians gave the eulogy, then we let the ship ran its course to Arcturus, the star that was my namesake.

"We went to sleep for 350 years...because they saved us," said dad. "If you did not come here, we might sleep through until the equipment fails."

"So, what's your plan next, dad?" I said.

"The plan stays the same. We fight back against our enemies. I...have a lot of things to tell you, son, starting with what we're dealing with. But for now, we need to repair this colony so we can use it as a forward base."

"Can I help?"

"You can, but I understand you want to explore, too. So, I won't bother you too much as I do my own job."

"It sounds like I'm a freeloader," I said with a smile.

"Then find a job or something. It's a big space out there."

I started chuckling, before my dad followed.

"Nice comeback," I said.

"Good wit," he said.

I decided that I needed the rest, so we stayed on the colony for a couple days, both to help with the colony's repairs and possibly contact other colonies for help.

Imagine. It all started with my curiosity to the sealed planet of Vyrn, then I found out that my dad was still alive. Then, things started to get pretty good from there. Luck seemed to be with me since I started traveling from Arkari.

However, the revelation that dad survived after all this time was also followed by something else. It would define our story forward and gave us what we missed. Basically, there was a hidden danger than we were not even aware of.

And that danger returned just as dad and the others woke up.