Episode 2: As a Spark
Red and orange tones lit the evening sky as Dr. Sado Sane sat cross-legged beneath the statue of Captain Abraham Avatar. His old friend's likeness stood tall, uniform pressed and neat, eyes firm. And Sado could have sworn a smile hinted on the old man's stone face, but the Doctor didn't feel much like smiling today. He took another gulp of sake and wiped his nose. "Are we the only ones who remember, Abraham?" He pushed up his glasses. "It's been a year… Have they forgotten so soon?"
A chill wind swept a leaf over the cobblestones. Sado caught it. The dead, brown husk crumbled in his hand. As the pieces floated away, there was a gentle pat on his sleeve.
"Mimi, you're sad too…?" Sado scratched the tabby cat's cheek, and her whiskers flicked at his touch. He swiped a noodle from his discarded plate. Mimi ate it in two bites and asked for another with a soft meow. Sado gave her two more noodles.
He shifted on the hard ground. His bones creaked, and a dull ache throbbed in his lower back. He sat straight and closed his eyes as he gripped the sake bottle tighter. "I'm surprised you didn't give out any sooner, you old coot. But you always were stubborn." Sado chuckled and muttered a phrase the captain kept on his cabin wall, "By faith, Abraham…" He shook his head. "I suppose that fit you to the last."
Mimi scurried behind Sado at the shuffle of hurried footsteps.
Stephen Sandor, Abraham's former executive officer crested the hill. Eighty-seven men and women trailed after him, their EDF blues crisp.
Sado's heart rose at the sight of Adam, Abraham's son, as the young man gave his father's monument a sad smile. Adam approached the headstones ringing the statue and laid a single, white rose on his father's grave.
As each crew member arrived, Sado's heart lightened. Everyone stationed Earthside, or home on leave was present—with a few exceptions. They crowned each of their fallen friends' gravestones with flowered wreaths. Sado swiped his eyes again as he followed the loose semi-circle of headstones from one side of the statue to the other. Every name brought memories—images. He knew all their faces, their voices. Some died under his care; others he found long after their last breath, and some… the cold void of space took.
So many lives snuffed out by the horrors of war…
"Sorry we're late!" Derek Wildstar burst through the crowd; Miss Forrester, Miss Noble and Mr. Glitchman appeared just behind him.
Sado chuckled as Wildstar darted through the group and greeted everyone.
"Mark!" Derek quickly found Argo's former helmsman and took his offered hand. "It's been too long! How's fleet one?"
"Boring," Mark replied. "How was two?"
"Same." Derek clapped his friend's shoulder. "Maybe it'll get better since we're home again."
Sado hauled himself up, and Mimi crept out to see the crowd. She sat, tail curled around clean paws, nose in the air.
"Star Force, attention!" Sado called over the din.
Each division formed an ordered line, officers at the head. Every eye was on the monument. No one spoke as they remembered the courage of the man who led them 296,000 light-years, only to pass away just as they re-entered Earth-space.
"We speak for everyone when we say, Thank you, for everything you did, Captain. The people of Earth owe you their lives." Sado snapped a salute.
A cold wind rushed through the courtyard as every member of the Star Force gave their honored mentor a fist-to-heart salute.
The last shades of evening faded into night as the sun set, leaving echoes of color in the darkened sky.
Two stone benches framed the courtyard entrance, and a dozen lanterns surrounded it. Their glow masked the stars, but the distant city lights still cut through the haze.
Nova craned to view the rest of the group. Everyone sat in loose circles on the cobblestones as they shared food and stories. She tapped Feria's arm. "I'll be right back."
Her friend, in the middle of talking with Homer, nodded and kept talking as Nova slipped away.
She circled the graves. Every name brought back a memory, and her eyes stung as she scanned the headstones.
Miles away, the city gleamed. No one would guess by looking at it how many arguments—fights—still break out every day. She recalled the four countries called into the Assembly of Nations just this week. Collapsed governments, riots, terrorism… "What a selfish world…" she whispered. "Is this what we fought so hard to restore?"
She passed two more headstones and knelt. Her hand trembled as she touched the grave. The lovely face etched in the stone smiled at her, and she smoothed unsteady fingers over it. "Astra of Iscandar… I wish I'd met you." A tear dripped onto the cold stone. "I'm so sorry Earth forgot your sacrifice so soon. Your sister didn't want this. She offered us a new life—one we desperately needed. But…" She bowed her head, face in her hands. Andromeda is only the first. There will be more ships, with firepower so heavy they could obliterate a moon.
She shivered in the cold night air and rubbed her frozen nose.
"I hope… we don't waste our second chance…" she said to Astra's likeness.
"Hey."
Nova flinched as Derek knelt beside her.
"Hey." She folded her hands in her lap.
"She was brave—to do what she did." Derek touched Astra's grave. "Don't know that I could have done it—leave home like that on a hope."
"Derek…" Nova studied his troubled brown eyes. "Are you all right?"
He stared at the headstone. "You—Feria, Homer… all had the same vision. But I didn't."
Nova touched his shoulder. "I can't say why we saw it, and I don't know what it meant," she whispered, "but it doesn't matter. You'll do what's right—no matter what. We're the Star Force. What happens to one affects the rest." She nodded to the crowded courtyard. "We face everything, good times and bad, together."
"Yeah." Derek nodded. "We do."
Nova got up and dusted off her dress. She caught a flicker of uncertainty in Derek's eyes. "Come sit with Feria, Homer and me."
As Derek settled between Nova and Homer, Royster leaned over from the next circle. "Is it true? Did Yunagi really take fire from a mystery ship?"
"Neville, this isn't the time–" Nova began.
"No, it's okay." Derek gave her a reassuring glance. "Radar couldn't get a clear image. It was too fast. And… ever since, I can't shake this weird feeling something isn't right."
Sweat beaded on Royster's forehead, and he pulled his jacket tighter.
"And the attack on Yunagi isn't all," Sandor said from beside Royster. The former XO's words silenced all other conversation, and every eye focused on him. "During Andromeda's christening, I was onboard Argo. Orion and I listened to the broadcast while we worked on the refit. Just as the President finished his remarks, I saw… a woman. She told me to board Argo."
A rush of murmurs rippled through the group.
"I saw it too," said a woman from the science division.
"So did I." A member of the engineering corps raised his hand.
Several dozen others, including Orion, also confessed.
Derek's face roiled with questions.
"We'll figure out what's–" Nova began, but an engine's roar drowned her reassurance, and a swarm of lights thundered overhead. The ship's stiff breeze whipped her hair into her face. "Andromeda's back from its test run."
Eager, who sat near the group's outskirts, leapt to his feet and shook his fist at the ship. "Learn how to stay in your lane, idiots!"
Dash pulled him back down.
Derek shoved his hands in his pockets as he stepped into Sandor's lab, nestled in EDF Headquarters' sublevels. Twenty-eight high-resolution displays covered the walls and streamed endless cascades of data. A wall-length computer station complemented them. "How's the work on the Argo coming, Sandor?"
"I've analyzed the data from Yunagi." Sandor pointed to the screen in front of him.
"Yeah, among other things," Derek said as he watched suit-cam footage from last year's encounter with Shambleau, a ship nearly two millennia old. Images and text from the tomb on Jupiter's floating continent followed. Derek shuddered at the next data set—information from the reactivated jump Gate control center.
"I haven't gotten any useful information from the logs," Sandor said. "But this was a productive year. I've incorporated my findings into Argo's refit work. However," his eyes darkened, "the council… voted to redirect my upgrades. They want a far more extensive refit than I'd planned. They're redesigning the entire ship—to make it just like the Andromeda."
"What?!" Heat rose in Derek's chest. "They can't do that! What about the work you've already done?"
"They're keeping that, but they want everything channeled into a centralized computer network. Reduce the crew's jobs to button-pushing."
"I won't let that happen," Derek growled. He stormed out of the lab and up twelve floors to Commander Singleton's office.
"You can't go in there!" General Stone, Singleton's aid, growled and stepped into Derek's path.
"Yes, I can." Derek countered through gritted teeth as he shoved past the stern man and barged into the office. "Commander, I demand to know what—Captain… Gideon?" Derek stopped short before his old academy instructor who stood by Singleton's desk.
Gideon handed a tablet computer to the Commander.
Derek took one step forward. "What are you doing here?"
"I have important business to discuss concerning my ship, the Andromeda. What are you doing here, Wildstar?" the gray-headed captain challenged. He narrowed his eyes at Derek from beneath his hat brim.
"I need to talk to the Commander alone," Derek insisted.
Gideon didn't budge.
Singleton eyed Derek. "Wildstar, whatever you have to say, say it. I don't have time for this."
"Why is the council gutting the Argo like scrap?" Derek fumed. "It isn't just a machine, Commander. She's—She's a good friend. One who deserves better than this."
"It was the council's decision," Singleton replied. "We can't keep one oddball ship just to please its old crew. Personnel must be interchangeable. The Argo's overhaul is necessary."
"But, Commander–"
"They've decided, Wildstar."
The old underground EDF complex lay dark, unused since its days of service during the war with Gamilon. Its operations room filled with thick tension as an old bulb flickered and popped.
"They're going to do it," Derek bristled, "make her like that—thing." He stood in a circle with the Argo's other former bridge officers.
Shadows reached for the group as two other lights winked out. A third cracked as the aged filament broke.
"I've tried to convince them not to make Argo like Andromeda—many times," Sandor said. "But they insist on the changes. They said if I wouldn't do it, they'd replace me with someone who would. I've stalled them for months."
Nova, Eager, Dash and Homer gave Sandor sober nods.
"The council won't delay much longer," Sandor added.
"Do what you can." Derek kicked a rock toward the far corner. "I'll think of something…" He crossed his arms as the flood of rage ebbed, replaced by despair. He clenched his jaw so hard the side of his face ached. The Argo was the only home he had left. She represented a family he loved, and the whims of stodgy old men wouldn't part him from that.
"Ah… I thought you might be here."
Derek took a startled step back when Commander Singleton entered.
"I come here sometimes too, when I need to think," said Singleton. The Commander stood in the center of the officers' circle. He clasped his hands behind his back and bowed his head. "Argo's crew reassignments are ready. You'll receive them by the end of the week—before Sandor finishes his refit."
"They can't do that!" Dread bit Derek's throat. "We're a unit—we work together. The Argo is our ship. We can't abandon her."
"I'm sorry." Singleton turned away. "I know what she means to you, but we don't have room for blind sentiment anymore. It's time she merges with the fleet." Singleton kept his eyes on the floor as he left.
"First, they want to take our ship. Now, they want to separate us. What's next?" Derek paced the room. "We have to stop this."
"It will take moving heaven and earth to sway the council," Sandor said. "And more than that to overrule their ultimatum."
Derek poured water around the base of the little plant sitting atop the nearby table. Its leaves rustled, and he jumped at the noise. Queen Starsha's gift had oddities he still wasn't used to. He sighed and set the empty cup on the table. As he sank into the plush chair by the window he rubbed tired eyes.
Outside, night gathered. Lightning flashed, followed by thunder's soft roll. Derek leaned back in the chair, eyes closed, and listened as rain pattered against the window.
When Earth's restoration began, rain fell for months—a gentle drizzle, Nova said.
Derek propped up one leg and folded his hands.
Three days. Still no reassignment. The council's injustice irked him. He needed time—to rest, settle.
Derek's comm buzzed. A message from Sandor. "Come to the lab."
Puzzled, Derek rose, pulled on his jacket and grabbed his keys.
When he arrived at the lab, Derek shook the rain off his jacket, and swiped wet hair out of his eyes. "What is it?" he said as he hung the jacket on a hook by the door.
Sandor stared at footage of distance space. "Look at this."
The man's tone made Derek's stomach knot.
"We thought it was just a quasar." Sandor pointed at a white sphere on the screen. "But it isn't." He magnified the image.
"That's—Is that a comet? It's huge." Derek leaned forward. The stormy white eye glared at him as the comet swirled larger and larger, seeming to come out of the screen. He couldn't move. A dry rasp scorched his throat. Then the lights died.
A giant white spot burned in Derek's vision. He struggled to breathe as black walls threatened to crush him. Got to get out! Derek stumbled through the darkness. The door. He forced it open, hands shaking.
"Secondary power's activating," Sandor said. But to Derek it was a faraway echo.
Emergency stairs. Derek fumbled to catch the first upward step. Two floors, then he burst into the cool night air. Hands on his knees, he leaned over and choked. A cough rattled through him and threatened to bring his dinner with it. Cold sweat soaked his collar.
He shrank away from the building. Tripped. The white comet stalked him. With each blink, phantom vision formed the comet eye in the dark, open doorway behind Derek. It reached for him with grasping white talons, and the eye yawned, an endless maw.
Screeches pierced the night. They tore Derek from one terror and threw him into another. The ground shook as, three blocks over, two trains plowed together with ear-splitting clamor, and an explosion shredded the suspended railway tubes.
Sirens wailed. More crashes thundered. The backup power didn't come on.
As Derek searched the sky, he splashed into a puddle and froze. Movement flickered to his right.
Nothing there.
He shuffled back a step.
Again—high up a nearby building.
No. Still nothing.
Five seconds. Seven. Forty-nine.
Sirens multiplied in the distance as EMTs aided crash survivors.
A glint of metal! An alien shape peeled away from one building and raced to another. The instant it made contact, it vanished.
Three seconds.
There it was again! It jumped to another building and disappeared.
Thirty more seconds.
It reappeared and whisked into the darkness
Heat rose in Derek's throat; his face tingled. He leaned over and threw up.
"Yesterday, the power station on the moon exploded," one councilman announced.
Derek sat in an emergency council meeting at the observer's table, Sandor next to him.
"A tragic accident," said another. "Terrible? Yes. But, the work of some malicious enemy as some assert?" The man gestured toward Derek and Sandor. "I don't think so. Even if it was, nothing stands a chance against Andromeda."
"May I speak?" Derek stood. "Men and women of the council, I can't believe this was an accident. I didn't get a good look at the ship that attacked mine last week, but it was faster than anything I've ever seen." The council glared at Derek as he continued. "Last night, I saw something else. It moved just like the ship that attacked us, but this one… could hide. It blended into its surroundings so well, I couldn't see it. Everything in me screams this is no coincidence."
"Do you have any proof of that?" Stone demanded from the head of the council table. "You've been under too much stress, young man. You should take some leave. Now, sit down and be quiet. You're here as an observer—at the generosity of the Commander."
Derek sat. He caught Singleton's eye. The old man's gaze held the faint light of sympathy, and a flicker of belief glowed despite the council's doubt.
The rest of the meeting dragged. Derek bit back a hundred remarks as he itched to shake the council to their senses.
Sandor held his tongue, but the tension in his face said he didn't want to.
When Derek tried to think about something else, Nova's voice echoed in his mind. She repeated the words from the woman in her vision, "Board the Argo."
If only I could, phantom, I would.
The meeting dispersed, and Derek and Sandor rode the elevator to the ground floor.
"You coming?" Sandor said and pointed to the second sublevel button.
Derek shook his head. "I need to think." He shoved his hands in his pockets.
After a long, hard look, Sandor nodded. "All right."
The door chimed shut.
Derek wandered to the old underground city. Desolate streets, empty apartment blocks, and dark utility buildings spawned memories from the year humanity spent underground.
It could happen again… We might have to hide in holes, cut through rock and stone to run from the terror above. Even then, I'm sure the council still wouldn't believe anything was wrong. He shook his head. I can't let it happen again… I just can't!
Ahead stretched a dim hall. At its end, an old red and gray hull welcomed him. Derek hurried toward it, steps lighter as he approached the Argo. She sat in her dry dock, and though her long journey two years ago had left her with scars, she was beautiful.
"You've had a year to rest, old friend," he whispered.
Comfortable silence settled around Derek as he climbed the clunky, metal stairs that lead into the ship. He wandered the semi-dark corridors. The familiar smell of metal, old and new, fused to his senses and eased his tight shoulders.
On the observation deck he leaned against the railing, his face reflected in the clear, domed bubble. Nova had stood next to him, in this spot, many times. He hung his head. I wish you were here now… Nova…
He sighed and headed for the bridge.
When Derek stepped off the elevator, the air stilled. His old post, the combat chief's station, center seat at the front of the bridge, waited for him. Longing rose, and he stepped toward his console. But halfway there, he stopped. At the back wall, Captain Avatar's chair sat empty.
"I know what has to happen… But can I ask them to do this…?" Derek whispered to the vacant post. "To follow me when I didn't share their vision?"
Soft blips and whistles answered. He whirled, searching the bridge.
"You came." Sandor stepped off the elevator. "I thought you might."
Another man, with white hair and beard, stepped out behind Sandor.
"Orion?" Derek approached the old engineer.
"Aye," the Irishman said. "You're not leaving without me."
"What do you mean?" Derek said as his stomach seized. How did he know?
"You're troubled, lad. I was too after the vision. What Sandor's found, what you've seen… There's no other way about it. I've loaded my things. Earth's in danger again. It's up to us to protect her. And if we're wrong… well, I'd rather be thought a fool than sit still while the world crumbles."
With another look toward Captain Avatar's old post, Derek nodded. "I'll contact the rest of the crew."
Notes:
The title for this episode was taken from Isaiah 1:31
"And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them."
Editing pass five completed on 8/15/2022
