Epilogue: The Drifter
The cockpit of the Ballistic Exile Unit was steadily replacing its air with the toxic gas the assassins lackeys were kind enough to install. The units sole living inhabitant, a tall irken with zigzag antenna, and a tattoo around his left eye, was starting to scream with rage. Banging his fists on the blank instrument panel before him, he cursed the beings responsible for putting him in this predicament.
"Damn them! Damn their ignorance! Damn their stupidity!!" Each outburst was punctuated by the sound of gloved appendages being brutally beaten on an unyielding sheet of metal.
"They do not realize what my research could have meant to the Empire. They fear the consequences of my questioning the practices of old. This is why the species hasn't made any real progress. What they don't understand or cannot comprehend, they sweep under a rug and pretend it never came into existence. They are weak." He paused as his SIR units lifeless mangled body floated past his head.
"Too weak. It can't end like this. I wont let it end like this! I shall not give them the satisfaction of ending my life!" With that, he grabbed the head of his deactivated SIR unit, and started smashing it against the cockpits concave view port. Each impact chipped away at the glass. Little by little, the cloud of pulverized glass floating in the null gravity grew bigger, out done by the even more steadily growing toxic mist. The irken new that his next breath would be his last of fresh air. Those that came after would be killing him. WHAK! WHAK! WHAK!
Finally, with one last rasp of his burning lungs, the condemned irken let his makeshift weapon connect with the view port, completing the hole to the sub zero vacuum of space. But as soon as the toxic gas touched the frozen nothingness, it started to solidify. The irkens ocular orbs grew wide as he watched the air in front of him freeze solid. He had only hoped his plan would work, and he was surprised to find that he was correct. The irken only had time to open his mouth and give a short laugh before he was encased in ice. The air in his lungs hardened and the blood in his veins froze. Before it shut down due to the overwhelming cold, his pak sent random images to his already failing brain. A dimensional portal, a city of unique looking irkens, a smeet in an artificial womb tube, and a partially completed pak that was for the youngster. The irkens eyes glazed over behind the thick layer of ice, and he slipped into unconsciousness.
For months, the BEU drifted through space, colliding with asteroids, and getting sucked into worm holes that lead to who knows where. Finally, as the pod passed a nearby solar system with a yellow star at its center, a passing comet knocked him into a trajectory with the systems third planet from its sun. A planet of blue and green. The pod, unable to do anything about it, was caught in the planets gravity, but due to the BEUs velocity, it started to orbit the planet.
For years, the BEU revolved around the planet, collecting more and more ice particles on its repetitive circular journey. The planets barely evolved inhabitants never gave it notice when they gazed up at the stars, believing it to be a piece of junk left to drift by their primitive space program. Little did they know that floating above their heads was a creature of rage, and he would destroy anything to get his revenge. In later years, they would have liked to say he stayed dormant. They would have liked to have said that…