Title: "Heroes Welcome"
Summary: Karan S'Jet remembers what it was to be Fleet Command just before her landing on Higaara at the end of the game.
Author's Notes: This was something I wanted written to give a little more insight into the character of Karan S'Jet and what she experienced as Fleet Command. This leads up to right at the end when she's greeted by the Higaarans at the conclusion of the game.
Finger tips gently rubbed together. Hands tentatively slid between each other. A palm rose and hesitantly caressed a cheek. Karan S'Jet closed her eyes and marveled at the feeling coming of flesh against flesh. It was a simple sensation that she'd had to relearn since having been disconnected from the Mothership – most complex construct ever recreated by the Kushan people.
And it was a feeling that left her wanting.
In the weeks following the Higaaran's victory over the Taiidan Empire, a team of scientists had taken excruciating care in de-integrating Karan's mind and body from the Mothership. It had taken so long due to the fact that such a procedure had never been done before. When, years back on Kharak, the plans for the Mothership had been first drawn up, the computer scientists had tried numerous AI's to handle the near Herculean task of monitoring and coordinating all the subsystems of the starship. However, all had failed and the entire project had nearly ground to a halt had Karan not proposed a radical proposal: bridge the systems of the Mothership through the use of a human mind using untried neuronic circuitry. Many in the scientific community had balked at the idea, but the younger S'jet had been able to win out on her proposal.
The operation had been a success and S'Jet had been able to guide the crew of the Mothership, as well as her six hundred thousand colonists, to Higaara, their homeworld. What many of the specialists had feared was that the integration might have caused irrevocable damage. However, aside from some readjustment, the doctors had declared Karan fit to leave the starship and journey to the surface.
Readjustment. Karan rolled her eyes at the word. How does one go from being the heart and soul of a titanic ship to simply being a human being once more? At first, during the voyage, she had toyed with the idea of staying plugged in. Unfortunately, during the last battle for homeworld, the Taiidani Emperor had reached out across the depths of space and somehow attacked her psionically. Karan shivered, remembering the raw power that monster had thrown at her. Emergency bioteams had desperately stabilized her while the battle raged outside. Only when the fleet had destroyed the Emperor's flagship and killed the ruler had the attack on her stopped. Regrettably, the damage to the interface had been too far gone. Karan had relented to the procedure only after she'd gently eased the Mothership into a parking orbit over Higaara – her last act as Fleet Command.
Now, after getting used to being herself again, Karan now felt…limited.
The shuttlecraft shuddered slightly as its maneuvering thrusters gently pulled it away from the docking clamps. Seated and secured in a window seat, Karan glanced out the viewport and let her gaze wander over the sizable expanse of the starboard docking bay. Ships of various sizes entered and docked, dropping off or taking on cargo, some leaving immediately for places or tasks unknown.
As the shuttle cleared the threshold of the bay, the full majesty of the ship that had brought the people of Kharak more than half-way across the galaxy could be seen. Thirty kilometers tall on its long axis, the massive starship gave the impression of a crescent moon suspended against the ebony void of space. Karan remembered the first images taken from space of Kharak which showed the curvature of the world against the blackness of space. The designers had intentionally remembered that same image during the planning stages of the ship.
As the shuttle started to arc towards Higaara, Karan got a good look at her people's new home. Down below was a world teaming with life: three quarters of the surface was pure, blue ocean and the remaining land mass was covered here and there with lush vegetation. Everything was so very different from the harsh climates of Kharak, where water was scarce and plant life sparse. It would take some time to get used to their new home.
I guess everyone has to readjust to their new surroundings.
Karan glanced back at the Mothership. Repair ships, bots and suited crews could be seen swarming over damaged sections. Watching as they worked, Karan couldn't quite suppress a feeling of violation as the workers crawled like so many Kharakian sand ants over a carcass. The ship had been an extension of her mind and body; to her, that ship was her…had been her. Watching it recede, she felt as if a large part of her was being left behind.
A minor headache ebbed slightly at her temples. They weren't as frequent as they were before, but it was yet a further reminder of what she'd had before. As her fingers slowly massaged her forehead, one hand unconsciously strayed backward towards the scars and bandages marring the back of her neck and head. The scientists and surgeons had done their best to fix the neural connections from her brain to the rest of the body, but the scars would last for some time.
She smiled tiredly, looking out at the marred Mothership. Even though disconnected, the two still shared the same condition. The shuttle vibrated slightly as it slowly entered the outer edges of Higaara's atmosphere. The harmonics made Karan's eyes droop somewhat. Since the operation, sleep had been hard to come by, but she was mildly surprised as she started to nod off.
Karan S'Jet closed her eyes…and dreamed of a time when she swam through the heavens…breathed in cosmic dust…and laughed at stars.
oOoOo
6 Months BHL (Before Higaaran Landfall)
150 parsecs from the Ruins of Kharak
Kharak had been avenged.
After several days of chasing down the Taiidan Fleet responsible for the destruction of Kharak, the Mothership and her attending ships had been able to sneak in and launch a surprise attack near an asteroid field. Several hours of harsh and intense fighting ensued, and the enemy fleet had been eliminated, with several ships, including their carrier, captured for study.
High atop the gigantic structure of the Mothership was the bridge, within which was ensconced a heavily armored chamber known as the Command Core. In the exact center, and floating inside a hermetically sealed, transparent chamber, was Karan S'Jet. A balanced null gravity field surrounding the immediate area kept her upright and stationary. This helped in preventing any harm to the woman from the amount of equipment attached to her, as well as keeping her cushioned from possible turbulence.
Tubes and wires branched off from various parts of her body in a bizarre marriage of metal, polymer and flesh. Legs, arms, back, sides, neck and head all sprouted cybernetic appendages, giving the woman an octopus-like appearance. Any skin that shown was covered in a protective black and silver mesh jumpsuit. At mid-level sat the control torus, which served as the main gateway between Karan's central nervous system and the rest of the ship.
Surrounding Karan in a semicircular area was a vast array of workstations, equipment and technicians. Some of these were tasked in monitoring her health and well-being as well as that of the Mothership. What affected one, affected the other. The young woman was in direct control of almost all critical and non-critical portions of the ship, such as life support, navigation, propulsion, hyperdrive, sensors, power and communications.
As the living core of the ship, Karan was the eyes, ears and heart of the machine.
As Fleet Command, she was everywhere…and she was nowhere.
Although the computational power needed to keep the entire ship up and running was staggeringly high, her enhanced brain and nervous system was able to handle the load with no volition of her own. Eyes closed and head tipped back, Karan could, with but a thought, see any section of the Mothership.
In her mind's eye, various pickups from the security net floated before her. Karan mentally selected a scene, having it expand to show the mammoth portside construction yard and docking bay. The single largest enclosed volume ever constructed, the shipyard was capable of building anything from standard fighter-class craft to capital ships. Using efficient assembly technology, as well as interchangeable components, fighters and frigate-class ships took at most several hours to build. Research into larger, capital-class vessels showed slightly longer times for assembly.
While smaller ships could exit via the starboard docking bay, the larger ones had to be taken out of the port bay by the Hangar Cradle. Essentially a ship in its own right, the Cradle was a massive slab which parted from the Mothership to reveal the main bay. Once ships either left or were brought in, the Cradle floated back and locked in place.
Currently resting on the Cradle was a prize, a carrier captured from the recent battle with the Taiidan fleet. Seized in the last throes of the fighting, the carrier currently had engineers and technicians crawling through every inch of it, looking for any new technologies as well as any intel on the race that seemed bent on the destruction of the Kushan people. Initial captures of other Taiidani warships showed the crews, rather than surrendering, nearly fanatical in fighting to the last man. Before being brought in, the carrier's atmosphere had been voided out into space to eliminate the crew as quickly as possible.
At another mental nudge, Karan picked up the scenes of several Marine squads inside doing mop ups of any crew that still had somehow survived. She also listened in on heated discussions on whether or not to keep the carrier or break her down for needed resources. The ship would be an added tactical benefit to their growing fleet, especially since it could build ships of its own. On the other hand, who could really crew a ship responsible for launching the weapon that destroyed Kharak and slaughtered millions of innocent lives?
Unbidden, a video of gun camera footage from the Taiidani fleet came to Karan's mind. Although the reptilian part of her brain had been disconnected for better computational processing, she still felt a flash of anger and sadness at seeing the enemy fleet utterly destroy the Space Scaffold, the structure used to build the Mothership. She also couldn't exactly shut her eyes to the scene of a massive missile being launched from the carrier and igniting the atmosphere of Kharak. The roiling conflagration burned so hot, it turned the deserts of the world to fused glass. Millions perished in those few seconds.
Although the planet had been lost, the colonists needed for the voyage had luckily been saved. Karan's point of view changed to a heavily armored area of the mothership where she could see hundreds of thousands of cryogenic pods carefully tended to by biotechnicians. These colonists were the most important cargo of the entire voyage. Without them, the Kushan race would die out.
Satisfied that all systems were running smoothly at keeping the colonists in cryogenic suspension, Karan turned her attention out towards space. Every ship in the fleet had cameras and override controls; the former so Fleet Command could monitor their status and the latter on the chance the crew were incapacitated and needed to be brought in.
Several hundred kilometers away, she could see two tank-like Resource Gatherers carving away at several small asteroids with fusion torches. The Somtaaw crews worked diligently to bring much needed resources back to the Mothership, without which no new construction could be made. Squadrons of fighter craft flew past in combat space patrols. Although the Taiidani had been defeated, there was a chance of another ship or fleet jumping in. Vigilance was definitely the watchword for the fleet.
Nearby, a squad of Repair corvettes held station over a quartet of ion frigates, patching up several holes, tears and burns on their hulls. The research vessel, Illumination, rotated serenely on its circular axis while inside, scientists worked hard to crack the new technology they'd captured in the recent fight. Salvage corvettes combed through the debris of the decimated enemy fleet, looking for any hulls or parts to magnetically lock on to and tow back to base.
Even as she kept track of the status of the entire fleet, Karan turned every sense she had towards their destination. Their before her was the majesty of the entire galaxy seen nearly edge on. Even though the fleet had only jumped a small fraction closer towards the galactic core, the width of the center filled almost three quarters of the sky. Switching to other senses, Karan could view the galaxy in different wavelengths to see how much grander it truly was. Even listening in to the certain radio frequencies, she could hear the background 'hiss' of the still lingering aftereffects of the Big Bang. Even thirty thousand light years away, she could make out individual suns from the billions concentrated within the core.
Currently, the Mothership was in the middle of what astronomers called 'The Great Wasteland': a region of space between two galactic arms that had only a small scattering of dead or dying stars. This was only the third of what could be many hyperspace jumps that would lead them eventually into the galactic core. Somewhere deep within that dense conglomeration of stars was Higaara, their home.
Following a map etched into a Guidestone, discovered decades before, the fleet had a fair approximation of where it lay. It had been the hope that a possibly friendly species would be encountered to give them better coordinates. Sadly, the first two encounters had been disastrous. The first alien race, the Turanic Raiders, turned out to be mercenaries in the pay of the Taiidan, the second race they'd encountered. The third, however, was – as the saying goes – the charm.
The enigmatic and powerful Bentusi had come before them, offering technology in exchange for unrefined ore. Accepting the offer, Fleet Intelligence had then tried to press this new race on information about their world or possible enemies in their path. The Bentusi, however, proved somewhat reticent to divulge much information. They did at least confirm that the path mapped out by the Guidestone was the right one.
Just as the last of the ore had been transferred, the Bentusi announced that a small fleet of Turanic Raiders was on its way, and that they had to depart. For all their power, the Bentusi had appeared concerned at other races finding out about their assistance to the Kushan people. As quickly as they had arrived, they had departed. Another intense battle followed and the Kushan people had been victorious.
Karan had the distinct impression that the fighting would only intensify as they traveled deeper and deeper into the galactic core, and into the heart of the Taiidan Empire.
Her musings were cut short and she was brought back to the here and now when she felt more of her enhanced brain being accessed. A quick check on sensors showed the smaller vessels and fighters already initiating docking procedures. The larger craft were getting into position and Karan could sense their individual hyperspace modules slowly charging. Already the Mothership's own module was at fifty percent and rising.
Karan was mildly surprised at not consciously being aware of what was happening around her. It was the epitome of multitasking: while one part of Karan's mind focused on one thing, the rest tended to the constant needs of the Mothership and fleet.
The short, stout form of the head of Fleet Intelligence looked from one holographic display to another. Confirmations came in from all ships in the fleet. A large, blue progress bar on one display reached its end and then turned green. The man nodded and turned towards Karan's floating form.
"All ships have reported in and the hyperspace module is fully charged," he said to her, as Fleet Command. "We are 'Go' for hyperspace jump on your command."
In a split second, Karan ran through hundreds of checklists and preparations needed for the jump. Airtight seals and hatches closed in the event of an emergency before transit. She sensed the barely contained power stored within the hyperspace module.
"This if Fleet Command," Kara said, he calm voice echoing within the ship and throughout the fleet's comm net. "Begin hyperspace jump sequence on my mark."
Seconds passed. Then a very mild rumbling started to resonate throughout the hull of the ship. Within moments, it increased to a teeth chattering roar. A flash of light suddenly erupted half a kilometer in front of the Mothership, and a single horizontal line appeared in its place. The line parted in two, slowly separating to open the gateway into hyperspace.
Karan watched as the gateway expanded to encompass the height and width of the ship. Across the fleet, similar waveforms were also opening. Once complete, the gateway moved forward, slowly enveloping the whole of the ship. Just before being completely disappearing from normal space, Karan briefly wondered how the drama of the Kushan people would play out. They were but one small fleet against a vast galactic empire. She also wondered what role would there be for her once this followed through to its inevitable conclusion.
For now, it did not matter. Come what may, she and her people would meet whatever dangers lay before them head on. One way or another, they would come home.
The gateway surrounded Karan in pure, white light…and she, and the rest of her people, disappeared into hyperspace.
One step closer to home.
oOoOo
"Doctor S'Jet?"
Karan woke to the sound of a soft voice. Her eyes rheumily opened and she yawned in surprise. She had actually napped a little during the descent of the shuttle. Breathing deeply she looked up at the face of the flight attendant who had awoken her. She couldn't feel any vibrations from where she sat.
"Have we landed already?" she asked in bemusement.
"Yes, ma'am," the man replied. "And when you're ready, they're waiting for you."
Karan blinked. "Waiting?" The crew member said nothing, but merely smiled enigmatically and exited the cabin through the main hatch, which opened at the press of a button.
She rubbed a slight kink in her neck and shook the cobwebs from her head. The dream had been so real. In a sense it was, since her mind's way of dreaming was for Karan to relive certain moments during the Mothership's odyssey across the galaxy. Neither she, nor the other neuroscientists, could explain why this occurred. Perhaps it was her mind's way of regaining some form of equilibrium from the trauma of being cybernetically enhanced.
Karan only hoped it would pass over time since all the dreams did was further remind her of her loss. Idly, she wondered what role she'd play in the growth of her people. Now that she'd brought her people to their promised world, would she still have a place in the new society that was come?
Would she still be remembered one hundred years down the road?
With these troubling thoughts, she rose from her seat and started down the aisle towards the hatch leading towards the loading ramp. It silently slid open for her. She took two steps through…and then abruptly stopped.
On both sides of the darkened area, the entire crew of the shuttle stood on the closed ramp, silently in single file at parade rest. Confused, Karan was about question one of them, when the ramp slowly opened, with bright sunlight pouring into the dim bay.
As Karan stood there, blinking, the crew stiffened and, in unison, marched out from the shuttle. The sound of a dull roar drifted in from beyond. Tentatively, she walked down the ramp until she was just at the edge. She gasped in astonishment.
The shuttle had landed not in the main spaceport near the capitol city, but right in the middle of a vast courtyard that could easily hold hundreds of thousands of the now dead Emperor's loyal subjects. Instead of subjects, however, the expansive courtyard now held thousands upon thousands of Higaarans all expectantly looking at her. Massive flatscreen monitors, probably used for public addresses, all had images of Karan as she stood there.
Karan looked around in astonishment. It looked as if every Higaaran had either come down or had tuned in to witness her disembarkation. Every one of her people looked at her expectantly. The young scientist slowly nodded in understanding.
As Fleet Command, she'd brought them safely across a galaxy to their new home. Now, as Karan S'Jet, she would finish the task by bringing home the last Higaaran.
The eyes of every Higaaran, on or off planet, followed her every move as she deliberately brought her right foot just off the ramp, and put it firmly on the ground.
The entire area erupted in a deafening roar of cheering, applause and adulation.
A small lump formed in Karan's throat as she slowly turned all around seeing every one of her people cheer her accomplishment. Tears ran down her cheeks at the sheer love in every face before her. She briefly thought of all those that had not survived to make it to this moment. They had given their lives in the struggle to reach homeworld, never once questioning her orders. Now, in turn, she would honor those same, brave individuals by doing what she could to lead her fledgling people.
Across the courtyard and beyond to the buildings of the capitol city, the symbols of the old Empire were broken, battered or burning. A new era was upon them all, just as the Bentusi had prophesied. The galaxy, however, was still a dangerous place and the Kushan people now had to forge their own destiny.
To be able to do so now was certainly worth all the hardship and sacrifice Karan had endured. And, if asked, she would not hesitate to do it all over again.
All the doubts, worries and fears she'd had were, for the moment, fading away.
What mattered now…was that she was home.
-FIN-