Episode Twelve

Homecoming

Tyler stood before a view port in his personal quarters aboard the Iron Regent - at the very top of the ship. The bridge had a turbolift that went directly to it. He stared out at his home world from orbit, trying to come to terms with the solemn truth that his world was doomed. There was nothing he could do. Never was. This whole time, he thought Project Failsafe was going to save his home. But it was never intended to save the world - it was intended to save its people. Tyler couldn't help but feel sad - so many places were going to fall to ruin when the world went up. So many great works and wonders. But humanity was more than it's constructs. It always was. Thanks to Tyler and his father, humanity would live to build new constructs, better wonders, and would walk boldly into a new era where Humans and Dragons lived side-by-side. This gave Tyler a spark of hope, a spark that was growing into a flame.

The turbolift doors slid open, and Tyler could hear Anna walking up behind him. "Don't dwell on it, baby," she said softly as she stood beside him and took his hand.

"Hard not to," Tyler admitted. He sighed. "It's been a long journey. But at the end of it, I'm glad to have you by my side." He looked to Anna. "I'm glad I got to see dad one last time. He's right - you and I have so much to live for. So much more we can do that he never was able to."

Anna turned to Tyler and leaned her head on his. "Personally, I look forward to seeing what our two civilizations do together. Remember how Emera kept repeating she'd work with other humans because of you?"

"I'm gonna hold her to that," Tyler said. Anna just smiled and chuckled. It was then that Kaylee made herself known.

"Lord-Admiral to the bridge," she requested. Tyler grumbled, but he and Anna nonetheless got on the turbolift and descended to the bridge, where they walked up onto the central platform where Thel was waiting.

"What do you have, Thel?" Tyler queried.

"We have a ship that left Earth - not one of ours," the Sangheili reported. "Thought you should take a look." He brought up an image of a vessel shaped like an arrowhead and colored in gray. Anna didn't recognize the ship, but Tyler certainly did.

"Venator-class Star Destroyer," Tyler identified the ship.

"Didn't you say those ships were a part of the Empire's fleet?" Anna asked.

"Indeed," Tyler answered. "Must have been spooked when they saw all our ships flying about evacuating the settlements. Kaylee, status on the evacuation?"

"Evacuation is eighty-five percent complete, Lord-Admiral," the AI answered. Tyler looked to Thel.

"Did sensors track the Venator's course?" he inquired.

"That's what doesn't make sense," Thel replied. "They're going to a system that has nothing in it, according to MJ12 Logs." Tyler paused to consider this.

"Could be taking a random jump to mask their destination," he surmised.

"Shall I deploy a tracker group?" Thel queried. There was a brief pause before Tyler responded,

"No. Let him go. He has his business, and we have ours. He's no threat to us at present, and by the time he can even get back, we'll be long gone." Thel paused, then clicked and lowered his mandibles.

"Aye, sir," he said simply.

"Evacuation ships arriving... evacuation is ninety-seven percent complete," Kaylee reported. Tyler studied the fleet of ships that was assembled. Multiple evacuation ships, being escorted by a fleet of varied vessels he'd only ever seen in games, movies and TV shows. It seemed so surreal. Lord-Admiral. Commander of a fleet and army. Even General Carter acknowledged his superior rank. Now, for the first time in human history, humans were working alongside aliens - even if they were holograms - and were going to be colonizing other worlds with dragons.

Again, a new era. An era of cooperation and coexistence. And there was the knowledge Tyler, Anna and Sebastian had gleaned from their op on Earth. Knowledge they were now going to carry to Dragonaria and beyond. There would be challenges, but Tyler now felt ready to face them, with Anna at his side.

He was ready to assume the mantle of Lord-Admiral.

"Lord-Admiral, the last of the evacuation ships have joined the fleet. We stand ready to initiate the Temporal Jump on your orders," Kaylee reported.

It was time. The future awaited. Humans and Dragons would now learn to live with one another. Tyler couldn't help but look at Anna. None of this would have happened if she hadn't happened across him, that fateful night they met. Now they were going home again... with a fleet and army in tow, plus refugees to settle on neighboring worlds. There would definitely be challenges to that, fear of the unknown. But they would all persevere, as they had before and after the cataclysm.

It was time to go home. Tyler looked one last time at his original home world. Rest in peace, father, Tyler thought. I will continue what you started. He inhaled, and gave his orders: "All ships, form up; prepare to make the Temporal Jump. Kaylee, route the destination coordinates to the fleet." As the fleet formed up around the Iron Regent, Tyler took a moment to think about him and Anna. They both had been through so much together. And now, Tyler was beginning to think about what Anna had said about having kids. He'd be thrilled to be a father. Still, that was a ways off. It'd be a bit before things settled down enough for Tyler and Anna to start a proper family.

The fleet took a good several minutes to form up, and once they did, destination coordinates were routed across the whole fleet, and in unison, the fleet opened their temporal portals, and were all gone, leaving Earth alone and empty...

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Emera kept telling herself that Tyler knew what he was doing. He'd spent four centuries on a nuclear hellscape. With Anna and Sebastian watching his back, Emera knew he would succeed. But that thought never completely erased the fear she'd sent Tyler to his death. She cast a look to a framed picture on her wall - of her at Tyler and Anna's wedding. She smiled at the memory. She rose from her desk and strode over tot he window. She knew Tyler, Anna and Sebastian would be gone for some time, but she had to admit, she was starting to worry. No status reports. No mission updates. Nothing but the recording Tyler left behind since they stepped through the portal. Emera could only hope and pray Tyler was successful. But while that did help to some degree, it didn't erase her fears. Still, she wondered what it would be like, having contact with the rest of humanity. Humans beyond the MJ12 turncoats.

As if to answer this, Remy burst into Emera's office. "Minister!" he shouted, causing Emera to jump.

"I trust you justify your intrusion with news of profound value, Remy," Emera growled irritatedly.

"We got a signal from Tyler!" Remy reported excitedly.

"From Tyler? Where is he?" Emera asked.

"You're not gonna believe this," Remy said, "But he's in orbit! He's on a ship in orbit, along with what remains of humanity! They want to talk to you about resettling humans on this world and others!"

Emera was shocked. Where the hell did Tyler find enough ships to evacuate humanity? And how the hell did he get into orbit without someone seeing them planetside? Emera followed Remy to a communications center, where Tyler was sitting with Sebastian and Anna, who were flanked by a few other humans.

"Tyler... I understand you have evacuated the humans of your world and want to resettle them here," Emera said.

"It's a lot larger than that, Emera," Tyler said. He inhaled deeply, then began outlining his plan. When he finished, Emera loosed a long sigh.

"You realize what you're asking, don't you?" She asked.

"And I know you're gonna say it's impossible, then I'm gonna give a speech about the extraordinary capabilities and compassion of the Dragon Federation and the benefits we could see from mutual cooperation, at which point you're gonna do the math in your head and say something like 'the overtime alone will be a nightmare'," Tyler responded.

"The overtime alone will be a nightmare," Emera sighed.

"Then we better get started," Tyler said. "And hey - this works out, you get to be the minister that made it all possible. That's nice padding for your next promotion."

Emera smiled, then chuckled. "Might even give me clout to win the Governorship," she said. She shook her head amusedly. "You always know how to push my buttons, Tyler." She paused, then said, "Get the provisions in place. Let today mark the beginning of a new era, in which Humans and Dragons live, fight, and die side-by-side."

"And that, old friend, is what sets you apart from Politicians I've known," was all Tyler said before he cut the transmission. Emera couldn't help but smile. Tyler had come a long way since coming to Dragonaria. Emera was feeling excited about what the future could hold for Dragons and Humans, now that they were going to be living together. But there was a long road between now and then, and it was a road they would walk together.

But on a desolate planet, far away in the depths of space, an entity watched from a subspace sensor. The creatures were growing - much faster, now, than they should. And it hated that. The dragons would likely not be susceptible to its influence, but the humans... it knew from past experience, most humanoids could be manipulated. Show them something they want to see, or something they can use, and they willingly corrupt themselves using it. Even knowledge marked as "forbidden" and "taboo" was useful in corrupting them. Especially forbidden knowledge.

Military humans were especially susceptible to this kind of knowledge. Show them something they can use to dominate the battlefield, and they become an instrument of your will, whether they realize it or not. It was that kind of recklessness that caused the death of all life on this planet. They sought to use the entity and it's "power" to crush all before them, but ironically, destroyed themselves in their own conquest. The entity turned on them once they'd outlived their usefulness.

But it would be some time before humans and dragons reached this world, if they even expanded that far at all. But they had technology far beyond their years; it would be a trivial matter to send them a signal to lure them here. Once they picked it up, they would be drawn to it, like moths to light. It was their nature.

The entity killed the feed, for now, and refocused on it's building efforts. Machines built combat drones of varying sizes and shapes, and all serving various functions. The entity had centuries to build this army. And soon, it would be loosed on the unsuspecting humans and dragons. No one knew it was here; the factory was hidden beneath the planet's surface. The factories' energy signature was masked by the radioactive isotopes in the planet's atmosphere. The ground was filled with various metals, making scanning beneath the surface next to impossible. This factory center, buried in the catacombs beneath this desert planet, was marked by simple letters.

H-A-D-E-S.

To Be Continued...