Elsewhere

It did not take long to determine that everyone was alright. Mira had each group check-in with her and when she turned to let Duke know that everything was all good, he was gone. She looked around the bridge trying to figure out where he went. Lya flagged her down, “You looking for Duke?”

“I am. Did you see where he went?”

“He left with Aurelia – I would guess to their room.”

Mira nodded, “I think we can give them some time alone after all that.”

“Yeah, I think we had better.”

***

Duke entered his stateroom with Aurelia, ready for a celebration of the best kind. He turned around, offering her a smile but his XENOGLOSSIA started to scream at him that something was wrong. She stared him in the eyes and seemed to steel her spine.

“Duke, I need to go home. I don’t fit in here. I never know what anyone is talking about even when you remember to give me one of your potions. And you rarely have enough time to think about that at all. You are constantly running from one fight to another adventure. That is you. That is who you are. But it’s not me. It’s not who I am. I am the Legion Commander. My place is with the Legion, and I have been too far away from it for too long. I need to go back.”

Duke’s mouth went dry, and his stomach twisted into a knotted mess. I’ve done it again. How do I stop this from happening again? He opened up his mouth to respond but Aurelia placed her finger on his lips.

“I know this is a shock to you, Duke. You probably didn’t see this coming, but I’ve been at this point for a long time now. It’s not that I don’t love you because I still do. I just can’t stay with you on this adventure. And no, I absolutely will not ask nor accept you staying behind with me. Your place is here out in the stars fighting with the forces that shape the universe. That has always been your destiny. Mine lies elsewhere.”

She stepped forward and pulled the stunned man into a tight hug. “It’s alright, Duke. It’s alright.” He simply hugged her back still stunned as she continued, “I still love you. I probably always will. Remember that, but it’s not enough. I have a purpose for my life, and it is with the Legion.” She held him silently as she fought back the tears that pounded against her will. She would not let them loose now – that was for later, when she was alone. For now, she would hold him and love him like it was their last night together, for it may well might be.

***

It was late into the night for Mira. On a ship in deep space, night was a relative term as there was no sun rising or falling with the rotation of a planet. Instead, the cosmic timecode that ran through everyone’s system interface kept the relative time. In her travels, she had been to hundreds, if not thousands of planets. Many with their own rotational period which set up longer or shorter “days” than the cosmic timecode but many more than coincidence would dictate matched the cosmic timecode. No one had ever been able to explain why it was set to this twenty-four hour period or even what had been the determination for the length of an hour, minute, or second and yet too many life-bearing planets were so close to it. Regardless, she was on her twentieth hour of wakefulness and needed rest. She set her timer for eight hours and switched the ship’s systems to wake her if any of the thousands of conditions she had programmed in over time came to fruition.

As Mira moved to her Captain’s quarters, she took a short detour towards Duke’s cabin and immediately left. The sounds coming from his cabin told her more than enough – at least someone was getting some on this ship. Owning the ship wasn’t supposed to be a lonely life. She had planned on getting another mate in every station. Hell, she had planned on having an entire crew but they had drifted to other ships over time and it was harder and harder to replace crew as the Syndicate tightened its monopoly. And yet, here she was walking back to her quarters alone, again. She shook her head, dismissing the thought. “We have one hell of a fight ahead of us – just surviving the next few months will be something in and of itself. How the hell are we going to fight the entire Syndicate? With a single drop ship and six mechs? Yeah, we’re screwed.” She made her way to her bed and collapsed, exhausted.

***

When Duke awoke, he was alone as Aurelia had left at some point during the night. He had been so exhausted mentally, emotionally, and physically that he slept through the night. His first instinct was to go find her and convince her to stay but after their extended conversations last night, he knew it would be a futile effort. Frustration underpinned his mood as he stepped on the bridge.

Lya’s joke about him sleeping too much died on her lips when she saw him. He couldn’t help but pick up on her reaction with his XENOGLOSSIA which was currently his most hated Ability. It had shown him the desperate sincerity of Aurelia’s words last night and was what truly cemented the fact she was leaving in his heart.

“Good morning everyone. Did everyone get settled in after our escape?”

Mira pulled up a ship’s status screen on the main viewscreen for all to see. She explained it rather than having them read their way through. “We have six mechs fully secured in the mech bay. There are sixty-four infantry housed in the lower staterooms, and the rest of us are all fine. We have room for another twenty-six mechs and two hundred thirty-six infantry if we are looking for a full loadout. We only have provisioning for a total of six weeks right now. We can stretch that if we start rationing. One core has been depleted but the other twenty-three are full. In all, we are in good shape.”

Duke smiled appreciatively, “That’s a solid report. Thank you. I have a further question for you, Commander Zarkon.”

“Ask away.”

“Can any of your infantry pilot a mech?”

Zarkon scoffed, “To pilot a mech is the dream of virtually all infantry but sadly, the ability to operate a mech is a rare Class Ability that requires special conditioning and training to achieve.”

Gro’nok added, “Our mech pilots are chosen before they take their first Class. They must undergo a grueling test of resolve and capability to qualify. Very few actually qualify. More than a few do not survive the trials.”

“I was completely unaware of that. Thanks for clarifying it and that sounds barbaric to me, but I understand that I was raised in a different culture so I’ll just back off that right now. My follow-up question is this: How many mech pilots does your Clan have?”

“The Clan has a total of forty trained and capable mech pilots, but sadly, we only had eighteen functioning mechs at last count including the six below in the mech bay.”

“Well, that makes this next part more interesting. How many are left in your Clan? The reason I ask is this: The Syndicate knows that the Steel Tusks are involved with me by now. I expect they are going to make a move on your Clan as a way to put pressure on you to turn me over to them. I would rather get your Clanmates onboard this ship where it’s safer than a fixed location.”

Urgoth spoke, “Our clan is small but not that small. Even with the crafters and children excluded, the fighters alone would more than fill the empty rooms on this ship several times over.”

“OK, that gives me something more to work on. There may be a way to fit them all on the ship comfortably. Do you think the rest of the Clan would leave their home if we showed up?”

“We are a proud people, but not a foolish one. We well know about the Syndicate and their tactics. It would take some convincing, but I think they would join us, knowing what the Syndicate would likely do to them if they were found.”

“Gro’nok, Urgoth, would you mind joining me in the conference room? We have much to discuss.” Duke did not wait for an answer before heading into the room. He was fully seated when the pair of orcs joined him.

They sat down with neutral expressions on their faces. Duke jumped right in, “The first question I have for you is whether you really want to commit to coming along with me on this journey. I will not be offended in the slightest if you decide this is a suicide mission and decide to separate yourselves from my path. This is my path, but it does not have to be yours.”

The orcs looked at each other before turning back to Duke and laughing. “You think we would abandon an ally just because things get difficult or dangerous? Ha! This is when it gets fun. We seek a glorious life and do not turn from a glorious death!”

“OK, then I am going to share some things that very few know about. Can you show me any recordings of your home?”

“Recordings of our home? Why would you need that?”

“I will tell you, but you have to keep it a secret until it is time to reveal it to everyone. Agreed?”

“Very well, agreed,” Urgoth answered.

Duke pulled a dungeon core from his INVENTORY and palmed it in his hand. “Please suit up. We are going to be leaving the ship’s atmosphere for a while.”

The pair activated their extra-atmospheric modes of their mech pilot suits, exchanging confused looks before Duke TELEPORTED the three of them to the closest barren planet. As they stumbled, regaining their equilibrium, Duke tossed the Dungeon Core down to plant itself.

The pair followed the glowing core as it landed some twenty meters away and began to grow. “What is that thing?” Urgoth asked.

“That, my friends, is a newly forming dungeon. Give it a minute to finish and I’ll show why I asked for the recordings of your home.”

They waited patiently as the dust of the planet’s surface formed into a five-meter-tall hill with what appeared to be a cave opening facing them. Duke peered at the cave for a moment before heading over. “Come on in.” He stepped inside and to the side of the entrance so that the pair of orcs could see the full effect when they entered.

“What in the name of the lost tribes is this?” Gro’nok asked in wonder as he stepped onto the bridge of the Iron Reaver.

“I don’t know brother, but it looks like the bridge of the ship. But where is everyone?”

“It does look like the ship, but this is, in fact, a dungeon that I created.” Duke caused them both to start and flinch in his direction. “It is an exact replica of the ship except it’s not a ship at all.”

“It’s an illusion?”

“Not at all. Everything is real enough. I did not design it to be functional though. That is a bit beyond me at this point but someday perhaps I can do that.” Duke trailed off in thought before being pulled back.

“This is unreal,” Gro’nok announced as he sat down in a chair. “It feels exactly the same.”

Duke smiled. “I want to create a copy of your home for your Clan on the ship. It would be as real as this place feels. With even more information, I can make it even more real, like with the right air, seasons, vegetation, anything. And it will be a safe space. Nothing I have encountered can harm a dungeon from the outside. So, even if the ship gets blown up, the dungeon inside will survive. There might be something powerful enough to hurt it out here in the cosmos, but I haven’t found it yet.”

“This is like nothing I have ever heard of before. A wonder that defies logic. My blood boils with the thought of what this would mean for the Clan.”

“Let’s get back to the actual ship and talk about recordings.” Duke TELEPORTED them back to the ship. There was much to plan and much to discuss.