Darkworld: Earth

Bloopers!

One of the Topokans – Eolai had a long relationship with most of the crew but the exact pecking order of his allies was complex and if he was not paying close attention to it the lowliest janitorial servitor might suddenly rise to become the ranking officer – nervously began growling. Holograms appeared as the ship’s computer accompanied the verbal report with the data which was alarming his subordinates.

Fluctuations in one of the subspace fields which could theoretically be used for FTL travel. Nobody used that particular method because there were better options. Quieter options, faster options, and ones which required less energy.

The Topokan’s report concluded with a request to fire upon the phenomena the moment that anything resembling a space faring vessel appeared, to which Eolai naturally agreed. A few minutes later, a spherical ship appeared and was promptly destroyed by the combined fire of Eolai’s flagship and all of his allies.

“I wonder who they were,” Eolai commented as the debris cooled.

~~~~~~

Eolai wanted to believe that the device was innocent. It was broadcasting on the Rocktala. But he also knew that such an action might not mean the same thing to the guests as it did to him. He sighed and reviewed the data for a while longer before issuing his orders.

“Fire upon it with the Kitara beam and then bring the wreckage aboard for study.”

He would not risk his ship nor the lives of his crew for anything that had such a significant energy signature. The Kitara would cause the energy to disperse. He was uncertain what that would do to the strange device, but hopefully it would be salvageable.

Captain Moon was sitting in her command chair when the power abruptly went out throughout the ship. She looked around in confusion. “Anyone have any idea what just happened?”

Aboard the flagship, Eolai was slapping his weapons officer. “I said the probe, not the ship you idiot!”

~~~~~~

“So that’s it?” Sarah challenged, raising her voice and shouting over the din of the staff meeting. “We’re just going to abandon Diego to the aliens? We’re not even going to try to get him back?”

“The situation is more complicated than that,” Captain Moon said. “Diego has made the decision on his own to stay. He understands what’s at stake. The situation is complicated and nuanced, and -”

“It’s not complicated at all! You let them abduct him and brainwash him until he chose to abandon his own people! Gabriel is not in his right mind, he can’t make a decision like this on his own!” she shouted.

“Don’t you mean Diego? Sarah, what is wrong with you?” Anders asked.

“No, she’s right,” Gabriel said, looking at the back of his hand with a spaced out expression. “I am tripping balls.”

~~~~~~

Diego stood, examining the docking bay carefully, looking around so that his on board camera could get a good view. He wasn’t broadcasting live, but his suit was recording everything he saw. The large bay was brightly lit, an orange color that wasn’t displeasing to his eyes. There were two other shuttles inside of it, each larger and sleaker than his own, with obvious weapons attached to them. He swallowed nervously at the malicious glee that seemed to be radiating out of the spacecraft.

Movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and Diego turned in time to see one of the doors opening and an impossibility step into the hangar. His jaw dropped, and he almost forgot about the itch on his nose for a second. “No way,” he said.

“What is it, Diego? What do you see?” the captain asked over the radio.

“They’re grays, ma’am. There’s a squad of grays.”

Eolai smiled at the human, his massive eyes gleaming with excitement. “Remove your pants,” he said. “It is time for the probe.”

~~~~~

“Some of the answers that we will be bringing home at the conclusion of our modified mission to the stars will cause trouble. We will challenge the old beliefs and the old answers. But one way or another, I am certain of one thing.

“We bring the light to a dark world.

“Serving as your captain was the greatest privilege of my life. Captain Ji-eun Moon, out.”

She killed the intercom and removed her headset. She began typing on her console, entering memorized codes which were not written down on any surface within a thousand lightyears. Codes that she had memorized before leaving the earth’s orbit and which had been destroyed once she’d committed them to memory.

The system did not prompt her yes or no. It simply shut down, rebooting. She exhaled. It was done. Abruptly the lights throughout the ship began flashing red.

“Oh shit wrong codes!” Captain Moon exclaimed.

The ship self-destructed thirty seconds later.