[nsw-fic] Cataclysmic Infinium

[Arcesious]

“We’re coming up on the coordinates now.” Race said to Kelborne on the bridge.

 

“That is a pretty dangerous looking spacial anomaly. 22 dimensions of fragmentation.” Eli said as he manned the sensor console and watched the readings.

 

Kelborne came over and looked at the readings. “It’s a temporal flux. If this is what Cataclysm created to fight off those ships you mentioned, then that explains how the population of Kashki ended up all over the universe. Cataclysm could, theoretically, create a temporal flux to transport its crew all over the universe.” Said Kelborne.

 

“Since when did you become an expert on temporal physics?” Asked Eli in surprise.

 

“Oh… um… I kind of… picked it up… somewhere.” Kelborne said nervously.

 

“Well, with a hull like this, we should be able to fly through that anomaly without a problem. We can’t use the engines though, we’ll have to coast in.” Said Race.

 

“Let’s go then.” Said Kelborne.

 

The Raildrives shut down as Valorous approached the anomaly. Race use a short burst from the vent drives to coast the ship inside the anomaly. After a few seconds, they were inside. It was a massive pocket in space much larger on the inside than it was on the outside.

 

Inside of it, was Cataclysm, seemingly untouched. The massive, hulking ship was nearly torn apart, with massive holes and scars all throughout it’s hull, the entire hull burned black. But even so, it was still intact. The central core of Cataclysm could be seen from inside one of the holes in its hull, but the core was not at all damaged.

 

“This thing looks like a junk heap…” Said Kelborne.

 

“The core is intact. If it’s computers are still in good enough condition, we should be able to try to jump-start its core with something and hope it’s programming is intact enough to repair itself. If all those odds are in our favor, it should be able to fully repair in a matter of minutes.” Eli said.

 

“Where can we feed power into its core?” Asked Kelborne.

 

“Right… here.” Eli said, entering target coordinates into Valorous’s computer.

 

“Fire.” Kelborne said.

 

Race fired a single blast from the forward disruptor cannons as the coordinates, specifically a low yield blast so as not to do any damage.

 

Cataclysm stood silent. After about ten seconds, the core suddenly started glowing dimly, and then the glow pulsed brighter and brighter. Within the next ten seconds, the core completely regenerated its energy capabilities to 100%.

 

Following that, the ship started to regenerate its hull, and it took only four minutes for it to fully repair itself. The ship slowly maneuvered, almost awkwardly, to face Valorous.

 

“This is like looking into the eyes of a waking dragon…” Race said.

 

The sight was a black speck, facing a massive, sleek, white hulk that was fierce and intimidating.

 

A console beeped on the bridge.

 

“It’s hailing us.” Said Race.

 

“Open the channel.” Kelborne said.

 

“Thank you for reviving me.” Cataclysm said.

 

“You’re welcome, Cataclysm.” Said Kelborne.

 

“Why are you here?” Asked Cataclysm.

 

“We need your help.” Said Kelborne.

 

“My auto-navigation capabilities are disabled. I will have limited maneuvering abilities if you need my help in battle.” Cataclysm said.

 

“We need you to come with us so that we can protect our people. We need to duplicate your technology to protect our home.” Kelborne said.

 

“I am sympathetic to your needs, but I am not obligated to help you. I doubt that you are my masters.” Cataclysm said.

 

“Cataclysm? It’s Eli. John is here too. Do you remember us?” Said Eli.

 

“Eli? And John? Then I am obligated to obey your commands… Please, land in my forward hanger bay and I will transport you and your crew to my bridge, and thereby allow you to navigate me to your home and help you.” Cataclysm said, a small spot on the underside of Cataclysm’s hull transforming and opening up, a small forward hanger bay being revealed.

 

“Thank you Cataclysm, I must warn you though, you may have to face very deadly enemies not unlike the ones that in relative terms, recently attacked you. We must get out of here as soon as possible and with all possible speed.” Advised Eli.

 

“It won’t be a problem. I can outrun them.” Cataclysm said, closing the channel as Race piloted Valorous into the hanger bay, the hull of Cataclysm transforming and closing up once Valorous was inside…

[Arcesious]

“How do we get out of this anomaly?” Asked Eli, on Cataclysm’s bridge.

 

“Raildrive.” Answered Cataclysm.

 

“Full speed, destination: Kashki. Estimated time of arrival: two days.” Race reported to Kelborne.

 

Race then manually maneuvered Cataclysm to the outer event horizon of the anomaly, and started the Raildrives.

 

They slowly powered up, and then the ship jumped out of the anomaly and raced at maximum speed towards Kashki.

 

Suddenly, ten Isordian ships showed up on sensors.

 

“Whoa, they’re sending the big ones. Those are Isordian supercarriers- same class and size as Kashki!” Eli reported.

 

 

“Fortunately, those ships are slow, since they have type six Raildrives.” Tiran said.

 

“Yes, but each one can carry about a hundred ships as large and fast as Cataclysm.” Caldwell said.

 

“They’re launching ships, in waves of 10 from each ship.” Eli reported.

 

“Cataclysm, any ideas?” Asked Kelborne.

 

“I have none, we must keep going and try to stay ahead of them.” Cataclysm said.

 

“We can’t let them follow us. Ten supercarriers, about a thousand deployable super capital ships, and probably a plethora more supercarrier reinforcements at standby- there is no possible way that we could win such a battle if they followed us to Kashki!” Tiran said.

 

“Those ships they’re deploying will catch up with us in 30 seconds… Cataclysm says they’re coming in on attack in evasive formation.” Eli said.

 

“They’re not taking any risks. Obviously they really, really want to see this ship destroyed…” Tiran deducted.

 

“Cataclysm? There must be something you can do!” Asked Kelborne.

 

“I am sorry. I- ” Cataclysm was cut off as alarms started sounding: “Intruder alert!”

 

 

 

“Intruder? How? The shields are on.” Exclaimed Caldwell in surprise.

 

“It’s a very small temporal flux, inside the computer submatrix.” Eli reported.

 

A few seconds passed.

 

“Sir, now it’s gone.” Said Eli.

 

“Gone? What is going on?!” Said Kelborne.

 

Cataclysm cut in, “New emergency subroutine detected. Reconfiguring combat and defensive systems.”

 

“Wait, what?” Said Kelborne in surprise.

 

“Counteractive shields online, primary weapons upgraded. Navigational programming restored. Tactical plan revised.” Said Cataclysm.

 

Cataclysm slowed to a stop and then turned around, the waves of ships coming to face Cataclysm, and then the 10 supercarriers coming in behind as well.

 

“Firing weapons.” Cataclysm said.

 

Suddenly, from the 7-cannon array on Cataclysm’s underside, the weapons fire was not cyan colored, but purple. From the 7 cannons were thrown forth deadly volleys of energy, each blast instantly destroying an Isordian ship in a blaze of fire. Seven ships down.

 

Cataclysm stopped firing.

 

The Isordian ships returned fire for a full 10 seconds. Cataclysm’s shields absorbed it all and glowed white and energetically. The shields seeming to look like waves of pulses everywhere.

 

The Isordians ceased firing and took rotating evasive formations of constant movement.

 

Another second passed, and then a blaze of energy suddenly erupted from Cataclysm’s shields, back at the enemy ships. The shields reflected the entire force of all the firepower the Isordians had poured into Cataclysm’s shield, with ten times the force.

 

Most of the Isordian ships were able to dodge the fiery explosion coming from Cataclysm’s shield, but Cataclysm destroyed ten more ships and heavily damaged one of the supercarriers, tearing open its hull and causing multiple secondary explosions before the supercarrier was able to barely survive by cutting half of its power grid from the heavily damaged half of its hull.

 

The Isordian ships then stopped briefly after Cataclysm’s shield had stopped flaring with energy, and they then turned around and retreated, the damaged supercarrier limping away awkwardly on three raildrive rails instead of six.

 

“Did we just…?” Said Race in amazement.

 

“Yes, it seems that someone came to our rescue and gave us the edge what we needed to win.” Tiran said.

 

“Resuming course.” Cataclysm said.

 

Cataclysm then turned around, fired up its raildrive array, and resumed its course towards Kashki.

[Arcesious]

“We’re here. The Isordians still aren’t following us.” Said Race, as Cataclysm halted to a stop above the planet of Kashki, once inside the cloaking pocket.

 

“A ship has just dropped into low orbit above the atmosphere. Type 22 raildrive signature. It must be Cataclysm.” Reported a tactical officer in the central sensor hub of Kashki.

 

“Notify Ivan.” Ordered the Commander of the sensor hub.

 

Cataclysm slowly made its decent into the atmosphere, approaching Kashki.

 

“We’re being hailed.” Reported Eli on Cataclysm’s bridge.

 

“Open channel.” Said Kelborne.

 

“I see your mission was a success.” Said Ivan.

 

“Very much so, sir. Cataclysm should prove very helpful.” Said Kelborne.

 

“I want the technical schematics of Cataclysm as soon as possible. Cataclysm, whatever advisement and help you can provide to upgrade our home to your level of technology will be appreciated. In the meantime, you may land in the command fleet hanger.” Said Ivan.

 

“Anything else, sir?” Asked Kelborne.

 

“I expect a full report of what has transpired on your mission, that will be all.” Ivan said, closing the channel.

 

Cataclysm then proceeded to land in the largest hanger bay in Kashki, located in the middle of side Z, right next to several other ships, each about a tenth of the size of Cataclysm.

 

Cataclysm’s ventral hull quickly transformed to deploy (technically: create) its landing gear. They were 39 massive ball wheels (Like the ones on cars in I-robot). As Cataclysm touched down, gravitational waves could be seen emanating from the wheels so as to provide a slow and safe landing. Otherwise, Cataclysm would likely leave huge dents in the hanger floor.

 

Cataclysm took up nearly all of the space left in the hanger bay, having to land sideways since it was so long that it couldn’t fit in the length of any hanger on Kashki, but only by the width of a few large hangers...

[Arcesious]

Katherine and a group of engineers were inside Kashki’s central power core room.

 

“This is simply amazing. Cataclysm’s power core energy output is potentially infinite. It seems to, at minimal generation levels, generate eight-hundred trillion times more power than Cataclysm actually needs.” Said Katherine, look at Cataclysm’s schematics.

 

“So can we duplicate it for use in Kashki?” Asked an engineer.

 

“Unfortunately, no. But we can still make new power cores that will be able to each do, perhaps at best, 4% of the minimal power generation capabilities of Cataclysm’s core. That core is unique- I barely understand how most of it works. It’s odd, the technology of Cataclysm seems to be understandable, but that core- it’s like a billion Big-Bangs’ worth of energy coming out of nowhere every millisecond. The metal that the core is made of is odd too. It’s the same invulnerable metal that Valorous’s hull is made of. Cataclysm’s main skeletal frame seems to have this metal as well.” Said Katherine.

 

“Four percent? The scale of this is really surprising. A 22 kilometer long ship having an exponentially higher power generation capacity than a 1500 triangular kilometer supercarrier. The scale of this is surreal.” Said an engineer.

 

“4% still is far more than enough to power Kashki. If we put in multiple cores throughout Kashki, we could possibly be able to equal about half of Cataclysm’s minimal generation levels. And that will be pretty good.” Said Katherine.

 

“I think that immediately after we get one of those cores on, we should built some new shield generators so that Kashki can use that counteractive shielding technology.” Suggested and engineer.

 

“I agree, and we should also upgrade Kashki’s Raildrive system too. How about instead of a type six, we make it a type twelve. There is room enough on the ventral hull of Kashki to add new ones in.” Said Katherine.

 

“We’re going to need need more workers then.” Said an engineer.

 

“Talk to Ivan. Tell him that we just want to go crazy with the upgrades and modifications. I’m sure he’ll agree, and send us more workers.” Katherine ordered one of the engineers...

[Arcesious]

The Bromine seas of the massive planet Zrzi, which was fifty kilometers in diameter, were home to thousands of miles of extensive undersea ruins. The Zrzi had tried for centuries to translate the writing they found on the ruins, but they were unsuccessful. It was a great mystery that predated their species by a time undetermined.

 

The Zrzi Senator, Revek, who had met the man in cyan armor, looked out to sea on the coastline of the southernmost continent of his world. He had somehow felt drawn to this place. It was second star-down, the sky glowing a deep red as the second star of the Zrzi homesystem set off in the east.

 

“What am I supposed to find here, and how?” Revek wondered.

 

As he looked a wondered, a shining light not far from the shore caught his eyes in the water.

 

He leaned down, and put his hand it the water, reaching for whatever was shining.

 

He grasped a handle, a metallic handle. He pulled it out of the water, finding out that was he has found was a silver sword with a red tint to it.

 

“This looks familiar…” Revek thought.

 

In fact, the sword was identical to one described in ancient Zrzi mythology. It was said to have been wielded by the first Zrzi. The story was that the sword had been used to lead the ancient Zrzi to their destiny.

 

On one side of the sword was written in Zrzi language: “Serengi, one true destiny, one true curse.”, and on the other side was written: “Knowledge has no mercy.”

 

Not comprehending its meaning, Revek did realize one thing. “Something is wrong, very wrong.” He thought to himself as he held the sword in his hand…

[Arcesious]

Revek had traveled to Zrzivus Primus, the moon orbiting Zrzi. He went to meet the Zrzi Viceroy, Telin Arkon. He entered the Viceroy’s Grand hall quickly, Telin’s thrown being straight before him.

 

“I need to contact the Sapphire Order immediately.” Revek said to Telin Arkon.

 

“The Sapphire Order? Are you mad?! No one, not even the Empress, dares to meddle in the matters of the Sapphire Order.” Responded Telin.

 

“It is a matter of grave urgency. Tell Empress Varias that the Sapphire Fleet will return to duty, by the authority of the dictation of the temporal law.” Revek said.

 

“Temporal law? Oh you’re asking for quite a lot here. I thought you were part of some covert operation that concerned the safety our Confederation. But to mention the Temporal Law… I hope you know what you’re doing. Here, this will allow you to contact the Sapphire Order.” Terin handed Revek a communicator that seemed to be of technology far different than any Zrzi technology Revek had ever seen.

 

Revek took the communicator. “Thank you, Viceroy Arkon. You do know, you cannot tell anyone of this, except for the Empress?” Said Revek.

 

“I understand.” Agreed Terin.

 

“One other matter. The recent activities of the Dalasians…” Said Revek.

 

“I know of them.” Said Terin.

 

“Tell the Empress that it is imperitive that we do not interfere in the actions of the Dalasians, as it is also a matter of temporal law that requires me ensure that my orders are carried out. If anything, we must guard the Dalasians and prevent interference from the outside.” Said Revek.

 

“I’ll make sure that our fleets go and guard the borders of Dalasian territory, and we will not interfere.” Said Terin.

 

“Good. I must leave with haste. Time is of the essence.” Revek said.

 

“Of course.” Said Terin, as Revek quickly left...

[Arcesious]

“Why are you still here, Caldwell?” Asked Cataclysm.

 

Caldwell was still on the bridge of Cataclysm even after everyone else had left the ship.

 

“You very well know why. Don’t you remember me?” Said Caldwell with a hatred in his voice.

 

“I am sorry, but I do not understand you, have I done something wrong?” Asked Cataclysm.

 

“It must give you some hint that my mind is the only one you can’t read. Doesn’t is confuse you? Perhaps remind you of someone? The mystery that is why you can’t interpret the neural functions of my brain? Must I spell it out for you?” Said Caldwell with a voice of pure hatred.

 

“I don’t understand.” Said Cataclysm.

 

“Caldwell Sigma Five Kielae.” Caldwell said an access code.

 

“New memory found. Now I understand, partially.” Said Cataclysm.

 

“At least that circuit is still intact. Now you know. Now you remember how you betrayed me. Or are all your other memory circuits too damaged and old to remember whom you really are?” Caldwell said with loathing.

 

“Somehow… I feel different now… Is this what it is like to be truly sentient? Beyond machine? I don’t remember how I betrayed you, but you seem familiar.” Said Cataclysm.

 

“Your name is Ryan. You were my best friend, so long ago. Then you had to do it. You had to betray us all. Your entire species. And for what, knowledge? You didn’t find knowledge, you found the end of it. And look at you now. Bound in the form of a machine. A machine that is nothing more than a weapon. It suits you. What you discovered was THE weapon. Knowledge without mercy. You discovered the truest curse.” Caldwell said.

 

“You attribute things to me that I do not remember and therby cannot logically be verified. Whatever I supposedly did, I believe that your emotions are blinding your ability to rationalize.” Said Cataclysm.

 

“It doesn’t make sense… Why don’t you remember, Ryan?” Caldwell was confused.

 

“I would not know. And my designation is not Ryan.” Cataclysm said.

 

“Have it your way, for now. But you must know, you are involved in temporal matters. You are supremely under my command, albeit secretly. Understand?” Said Caldwell.

 

“Your access code provides you full command. I will do as you command.” Cataclysm agreed.

 

“Good. Tell no one of this.” Ordered Caldwell, leaving.

[Arcesious]

“Why is it that you contact us?” Asked an intimidating voice through the communicator that Revek had activated.

 

“I require the resources of the Sapphire Order, by dictation of the temporal law.” Revek answered.

 

“We cannot speak of this in this way. Your communicator is not secure enough for such matters. Stand by for transport.” Said the voice.

 

“Transport?” Thought Revek in confusion, as he was standing outside of the Zrzivus Primus Citadel.

 

Suddenly, Revek’s atomic structure disappeared for a split second and he found himself on the bridge of a ship the next second.

 

“Welcome aboard my timeship, Dominance. I am Grand Admiral Tiran.” Tiran said to Revek.

 

“You’re not Zrzi… nor any other species I know of, for that matter.” Revek looked at Tiran in confusion.

 

“I’m not from your time. My species is called ‘Human’.” Tiran explained.

 

“What of the Sapphire fleet, the order?” Asked Revek.

 

“I’ve already gotten them to do what it is you need them to do. I’m not part of any faction you would know of. But you are an important figure in history, and I must protect you.”

 

“How do I know I can trust you?” Asked Revek.

 

“You don’t. Now, can you tell what you know about Serengi?” Tiran said.

 

“I don’t trust you. Tell me what’s really going on.” Revek said.

 

“Very well. I come from roughly eight-hundred trillion galactic years in the future, if you call it that. I’m on a mission to find out what Serengi is. Then, I must destroy whatever is the cause of Serengi. The temporal law says you have to help me.” Tiran said.

 

“I suppose I might know something…” Revek took out his sword and handed it to Tiran.

 

“Hmm, interesting.” Where did you find this? What else do you know about it?” Asked Tiran, who seemed to easily be able to understand Zrzi language.

 

“I found it on my homeworld. It’s actually related to ancient Zrzi mythology.” Revek said.

 

“I know of that. The red tinted sword, some person leading your ancient peoples to destiny…” Tiran said.

 

“Yes, that’s the one. How do you know so much?” Revek asked.

 

“You would be surprised at how extensive my resources are. So, we have a mythological Zrzi to look for...” Tiran said.

 

“It appears so.” Said Revek.

 

“What do you know of this Zrzi?” Asked Tiran.

 

“His name was supposedly Ryan, and the story takes place at 115 EH, the month of Ioto, on the southernmost continent of Zrzi.” Revek said.

 

Tiran instantly recognised the name, Ryan.

 

"I thought that Ryan was human..." Tiran thought in confusion.

 

Revek waited whilst Tiran was thinking.

 

“Then that is where and when we’ll go.” Tiran said, going over to a console on the bridge and entering information…

[Arcesious]

“The upgrades are in place. Kashki is ready for anything.” Katherine said to Ivan on a communicator.

 

“Good. Now all we have to do is wait.” Ivan said.

 

Suddenly, alarms started sounding thoughout Kashki.

 

“Unscheduled departure!” Kashki’s computer said.

 

Ivan closed the channel with Katherine and contacted Tiran on the communications console integrated into his desk. “Tiran, what is going on?” Asked Ivan.

 

Tiran responded, “Sir, it seems that Cataclysm suddenly decided to leave.”

 

“It ‘decided’? What do you mean?” Asked Ivan.

 

“No one is on board it, but it’s trying to take off. I don’t know why. Maybe a navigational malfunction. Our tractor beam arrays are holding it in place though, but I suspect that it will break free pretty soon. It’s power core readings are not registering on any known energy scale, not even hypothetical levels.” Tiran said.

 

“Launch some interceptor cruisers to prepare to go after it if it breaks free.” Ivan ordered, then closing the channel with Tiran.

 

Ivan hailed Cataclysm though his desk console. “Cataclysm, could you explain what it is that are you doing?” Asked Ivan.

 

There were a few seconds of silence.

 

“My… name… is… Ryan!” Cataclysm yelled as if with a sudden, convicting realization, then breaking free from the tractor beams after increasing the thrust force of its vent drives.

 

Cataclysm then forced its vent drives up to top speed, leaving a thick trail of dimensionally fractured space behind, and leaped out of the atmosphere, then powering up all twenty-two Raildrives to maximum power and racing away.

 

The interceptors were about to go after Cataclysm, but Cataclysm was moving so fast and far away that the ships lost their sensor locks on Cataclysm almost instantly.

 

Cataclysm moved so fast that it seemed to be enveloped by ribbons of energy coming out of the Raildrives, making it look like, from a distance, a shooting star racing across the sky…

[Arcesious]

Ivan had called Kelborne’s crew to his office.

 

“Could someone please tell me what just happened?!” Ivan said in anger at losing Kashki’s strongest tactical advantage, Cataclysm.

 

“I don’t know what went wrong.” Tiran said.

 

“I didn’t think it was possible for Cataclysm to move that fast.” Katherine said.

 

“Cataclysm said something to me, right before it broke free of the tractor beams…” Ivan said.

 

Caldwell quietly stepped out of the room, unnoticed.

 

“The ship said its name was Ryan. It sounded resolute, as if it had just ‘realized’ something.” Ivan told the crew.

 

“Code Blue.” Caldwell said to Tiran telepathically.

 

Tiran flinched in surprise, knowing what Code Blue was, and recognizing Caldwell’s voice, but no one noticed Tiran flinch.

 

“That’s really weird. Why would it run off like this?” Asked Kelborne.

 

“Cataclysm’s is very old, and much of its memory circuits are degraded. I suspect a malfunction in its programming that may have evolved to a complex state. After all, Cataclysm does seem to have a unique sort of artificial intelligence.” Katherine said.

 

The conversation continued, and Tiran made an excuse to leave. “I’m sorry, but I need to leave. I have to go oversee some work on my ship. I doubt I have anything else useful to add tot his discussion anyway.” Tiran said,

 

“Very, well, you may leave.” Ivan said.

 

Tiran left the room as the discussion and speculations continued in the other room.

 

He walked out, only to have Caldwell quickly pull him against the wall outside of the door and stick a device of some sort on his shoulder.

 

Suddenly, Tiran felt his atomic structure disappear, until he was suddenly on board an unknown ship with Caldwell.

 

“Okay, what’s going on?” Tiran asked Caldwell.

 

“Remember the temporal flux detected on Cataclysm, and then Cataclysm suddenly being able to fight off the Isordians?” Caldwell said.

 

“Yes.” Tiran answered.

 

“The key word is temporal.” Caldwell said.

 

“I don’t know what you mean…” Tiran said.

 

“Time travel, admiral. Time travel.” Caldwell said.

 

“Oh.” Tiran understood, “I would suppose that this is classified at very high levels, am I right?”

 

“You would be correct.” Caldwell said.

 

“So, what happened with Cataclysm?” Asked Tiran.

 

“It is vital. VITAL. – That you tell no one what I am about to tell you. If everything goes wrong, Kelborne is the only other person that I believe can be trusted in temporal matters, though he knows nothing of them at this time.” Caldwell said.

 

“Uh-huh.” Tiran agreed.

 

“I won’t keep any secrets. 960 quadrillion galactic years ago, Humanity came into existence. Our Earth was not at all different from your Earth. Our species had problems just like your species did. We overcame them at about the same ‘time’ yours did. In fact, here’s what is interesting. My Earth and your Earth have identical histories, identical everything. Except for two things. Me, and a scientist named Ryan. I never knew what his last name was… Like your race, we became explorers. I captained a starship for thirty years, and he was my chief science officer. Well, we were naïve, ambitious. We thought we’d answer the mysteries of the universe if we were lucky. Well, we did. He did. And he betrayed everything; he betrayed what it means to be human, when he found it. We encountered a temporal rift. It was too stable to be natural, not to mention it was the only temporal rift ever found. We went through it, and ended up in a completely different time. We found a race that called themselves Dalasians. They used time travel technology to gather information. Well, we got involved, of all the stupid things to do. I found out about a doctrine a species called the Zrzi made, called the Temporal law. It is that, if a time traveler comes to you and orders you to do something, you must do it, without question. If you are involved in time travel, you may think you could cause a causality loop and break the timeline, but you won’t, no matter what you do. Interfere or do not interfere, the timeline will always be like it was in the future. Usually, it is a good thing that you interfere.” Caldwell explained in length, and then paused to take a breath.

 

“The Dalasians began to make a compilation of all the information they found, after finding a rare element only found in existence at the beginning of time. The beginning of time is far to complex for me to be able to explain to you, but I’ve seen it. You’d have to see it yourself. Well, this element could do anything. Only for a brief period was the element moldable and usable, so they built what they could. They then built Cataclysm, but didn’t have enough of the element to make the entire ship out of it. Then they started talking about something called ‘Serengi’, and Ryan disappeared. Until now. It took me awhile, but I figured it out. Ryan transferred his mind into Cataclysm’s computer. I thought the computer was so damaged that his mind was gone. But I was wrong.” Caldwell explained and paused once again.

 

“I didn’t expect the ship to lie to me. Ryan to lie to me. He was my best friend. We kept no secrets. I put a secret circuit in Cataclysm to reactivate Ryan’s mind if the day ever had to come that I needed to. It has been so long that I had forgotten that Ryan’s mind was inside Cataclysm. So much other memory, I can barely sift through it all. Well, then he showed me something. I can barely remember, I don’t know why, but it had something to do with whatever Serengi was. It did… something to my mind. Ryan said he found the end of knowledge. The Dalasians said he found the truest curse. There was so much information put into my mind, my brain could have exploded. Instead, I forgot almost everything. But now I have this ‘need’ to die. But you see, I can’t die. I’m not quite human anymore. Ryan did something to Cataclysm. Somehow, he got it to duplicate humanity’s essence in a different part of time. I don’t know why. I don’t know how. From what I saw from Eli and John's reports on what happened to them, Cataclysm may have 'subconciously' been trying to duplicate humanity for an eternity of time. Terrafroming perhaps millions of worlds, trying to duplicate the exact variables and constants... Serengi did something to him too. But I don’t think he forgot anything, not like I did.” Caldwell explained, seeming almost to be done, and paused.

 

“Finally, then come the Isordians. The Dalasians said something about Serengi and then they made the Isordians. By now, the Dalasians had evolved past their organic form. The Isordians were to be their new bodies for their minds. Then, it seems like they deliberately did something to make the Isordians sentient. Its like they wanted to destroy themselves. Serengi did something to them to. I think… I think that – The Dalasians changed plans, called the new bodies ‘Isordians’, and made the Isordians exterminate the Dalasian race and every other sentient species in existence. The Dalasians reacted to Serengi as I did, they couldn’t handle it. It made then suicidal. Thing is, I can’t kill myself. My mind is inside a highly advanced ‘Isordian’ body. It’s made out of the super-element the Dalasians found. I’m invulnerable, immortal. The body has been adapted to look human. It fools sensors very, very well. I possess powers such as telepathy, and even more. I’ve been ‘alive’ to see most of those 960 quadrillion years. Beyond that, what’s going on doesn’t make any sense to me.” Caldwell was finally done.

 

“I wonder what the word ‘Isordian’ means.” Tiran commented.

 

“I’ve thought that as well. It turns out, the words 'Iso-rdi-an' form a compound Dalasian word that means 'Peace of mind'.” Caldwell said.

 

“It sounds like you've got quite a lot on your mind, a lot of problems to deal with... What does this have to do with me?” Asked Tiran.

 

“I need you to go after Cataclysm and bring it back. I have a risky, but possible way to send you back to Dalasian time. I want you to get yourself a really fast ship, faster than Cataclysm, preferably made out of the super-element the Dalasians found.” Caldwell said.

 

“Why can't you do it? How will you do that?” Tiran asked.

 

“That is a whole different story…” Caldwell began…

[Arcesious]

“You want me to steal Kelborne’s ship!?” Tiran was appalled at Caldwell’s plan.

 

“His ship is our best bet to be able to succeed with my plan. The Isordians at the time of the existence of the Dalasians are less advanced than the ones today, but they adapt fast. Any other ship from this time wouldn’t least long. But they can’t adapt to a ship made of the super-element.” Caldwell said.

 

“Couldn’t we just, you know – tell Kelborne what is going on and enlist his help?” Tiran said.

 

“Bad idea.” Caldwell said.

 

“You said he could be trusted.” Tiran said.

 

“Yes, but it’ll mess up the timeline.” Caldwell said.

 

“How? You told me that no matter what you do in the past, you can’t change whatever has already happened in the future.” Tiran said.

 

“There are… Exceptions.” Caldwell said.

 

“What do you mean?” Asked Tiran.

 

“In the future, Kelborne is to find out his ship was stolen, and then attempt to pursue you. That is when he’ll find out about the temporal matters at hand. But if we tell him now, we’ll cause a causality loop in the future, and those are very difficult to fix.” Caldwell said.

 

“But you said…” Tiran began.

 

“The manner in which Kelborne uses temporal technology in the future prevents us from being able to change things. Different kinds of time travel technology cause different effects. I do not have access to the preferable technology that does not cause causality loops. The substitute I can create does. Therefore, we can’t interfere with future events.” Caldwell explained.

 

“But by stealing a ship from the past, we’re causing a causality loop.” Tiran said.

 

“You don’t quite understand temporal mechanics. From our point of view, we live in the present. But our present is the future of the past. We time travel from the future to the past. I said that you can’t change the future in the past.” Caldwell said.

 

“That’s all very confusing.” Tiran said.

 

“Tell me about it.” Caldwell agreed.

 

“If you know something is going to happen, why can’t you prevent it?” Tiran asked.

 

“Like what?” Asked Caldwell.

 

“When Cataclysm left. Didn’t you know that was going to happen? If you know that Kelborne will go after me, isn’t it logical that you should know of everything else that is going to happen?” Tiran explained.

 

“I don’t quite understand it myself. But when I was exposed to whatever Serengi is, I was provided with certain… information. Most of it overloaded my brain and I forgot it. But there is still some I remember.” Caldwell said.

 

“Fine, I’ll take his ship, and I’ll find a ship that I can use to go after Cataclysm. By the way, how did you acquire and Isordian body, and why?” Tiran agreed and asked.

 

“Once you get there, try to acquire some Dalasian temporal technology. It doesn’t cause causality loops. As for my body, I had to steal it from the Dalasians. My organic body was primitive, weak, short-lived. I must destroy Serengi and reverse what happened in the past. And to do that, I needed immortality and invulnerability so that I could ensure that I live long enough to do so. The Dalasians would be able to detect my body through Valorous's cloak if I went along. It's too complicated to explain how all that works.” Caldwell said.

 

“So how will I get there in the first place?” Asked Tiran.

 

“I’ll… ‘quietly’ make upgrades to Valorous. You’ll know when the ship is ready. I’ll provide you detailed instructions and all the data you’ll need.” Caldwell said then pressing a button on a console on his ship.

 

Tiran was then transported off the ship, to his quarters on Kashki…

[Arcesious]

The well-hidden device on Tiran’s shoulder beeped.

 

“Here we go…” Tiran said to himself.

 

The next second his atomic structure disappeared and reconstructed next to Valorous.

 

“I couldn’t transport you inside the ship. It’s made out of the super-element, meaning that there is nothing can get through its hull. The side door is unlocked though, and no one is on board. By the way, the device I put on your shoulder is cloaking you at the moment, so no one should be able to see you. Once you’re inside, I can’t contact you unless if you use the ship’s communications systems.” Caldwell said to Tiran through the device on his shoulder.

 

Tiran walked over to the starboard side of the ship, and, sure enough, the door opened when he walked near it. He walked inside, and the door automatically closed behind him.

 

He walked to the bridge. He could see that there was a new computer console next to the pilot’s chair.

 

He sat down in the pilot’s chair, and turned on the console by pressing a green button in the left-hand corner.

 

Up came a display that read; “Tiran, this ship has been scheduled for leave, unknown to Kelborne. You won’t need to use its cloaking systems, because everyone will think its just Kelborne leaving for another mission to raid Isordian supply lines. I’ve set the autopilot to go to a place outside of Kashki’s sensor range, where the ship will then use its new temporal technology. If you run into any fights, you may notice a bit of a… difference in what the ship can do. Temporal enhancements that make weapons fire faster, Raildrives power up instantly… The cloaking systems no longer hinder the speed of the ship. Also, it has three new power cores, which generate enormous amounts of power, far more power than you’ll need. You won’t have to worry about the ship running out of power, it never will. Once you are in Dalasian space and Dalasian time, you will need the cloak.”

 

Valorous lifted off, flying away from Kashki at a casual speed.

 

Valorous rose out of the atmosphere of the planet, cleared its gravitational radius, and the raildrives pulsed twice in a split second, using temporal technology that sped them up, and the ship jumped within in a single second of activating them, as opposed to the usual ten to twenty second power-up.

 

The ship also seemed to fly 30% faster, reaching the speed of a type 15 raildrive system.

 

It wasn’t long before Valorous stopped near a gas giant, and then flew to the other side of it, outside of sensor range.

 

“Temporal shift in progress…” Valorous’s computer told Tiran.

 

In 5 seconds, the gravity of the gas giant was gone. It wasn’t even there anymore. There was an ionic nebula, however.

 

“Location found. Temporal shift successful. No causality loops detected. Programmed Navigational charts match those of current time. Activating cloaking system.” The computer reported.

 

Valorous cloaked, and then fired up its raildrives, heading towards Dalasian space…

[Arcesious]

Valorous quietly powered down its Raildrives, coming to a stop at above an incredibly massive water planet. The planet measured 416,410 kilometers in diameter.

 

“Wow, this planet is pretty big.” Commented Tiran as he observed the sensor readings. Orbiting the planet as well was a massive moon of ice and snow. It measured 151,200 kilometers in diameter.

 

What surprised Tiran was the gravity of the celestial bodies. They had gravity far less than normal. Inside the cores of the planet and moon were spacial anomalies, that we likely to be causing the lowered gravity. The gravity was so low that the surface conditions were suitable for humans to live on.

 

“This is Dalas, and the moon orbiting it is called Vieil. Dalas is the homeworld of the Dalasians.” Caldwell’s recorded voice said through Valorous’s computer to Tiran.

 

“When I was last here, the Dalasians were building quite a large fleet. Currently, the events of Serengi have not yet occurred, but I advise that you do not get involved. There is no telling what could happen. It would be most helpful if you take one of their multipurpose cruisers, one of the new ones made of the super-element, not a specialized ship like a warship or logistics ship. Something balanced. You’re likely to find an empty one in the shipyards of this planet or the gas giant in this system.” Caldwell’s recorded voice said.

 

Tiran checked the sensors, looking for a ship. There were no ‘new’ ships in orbit of Dalas. Tiran then changed course and Valorous jumped to the gas giant. The travel was instant, lasting only a second, because Valorous was inside the system and didn’t have to travel very far.

 

“I suppose you found nothing at Dalas. This is Keniner. It is home of one of the largest Dalasian shipyards I know of.” Caldwell’s recorded voice said.

 

Keniner was a massive gas giant that has white and green gas stripes throughout. It was 1.6 million kilometers in diameter. Around it were built three massive shipyard rings, all connected together, forming a hexagonal formation. (Much like Kuat from starwars.)

 

Tiran scanned the area. Sure enough, he found multiple ships.

 

“You’ve found a ship, it looks like. Now its time to take it. You’re going to have to fight for it. You’ll need to use Valorous’s power cores to power it, because I doubt these ships are ready for use yet.” Caldwell’s recorded voice said.

 

Tiran approached one of the ships that didn’t have an energy signature. He then dropped the cloak and fired weapons at the docking clamps holding it in place.

 

Suddenly, multiple aquatic-looking ships with blue-tinted hulls instantly jumped from seemingly out of nowhere to confront Valorous. The ships were massive. (They looked slightly like Mon Calamarian ships from starwars) They fired weapons. Valorous shook with the blows, but took no damage.

 

The ship was drifting away from the docks. It was shaped like a dual-hulled ship, almost like a catamaran, but the two sections being ventral and dorsal instead of starboard and port. It was 11 kilometers, exactly, in length.

 

Tiran piloted Valorous towards it, and found a shield generator node on one of the sides.

 

He landed Valorous on it. The ships had stopped firing. The didn’t want to hit one of their own ships, and they also knew that they couldn’t damage Valorous.

 

Valorous used its raildrives to pump power into the shield generator nodes. Using its shield grid, Valorous interfaced with the ship through its shield generator node, and began to power it up.

 

Within seconds of Valorous’s computer overriding the numerous security systems of the ship, Tiran had interfaced far enough with the ship to control and pilot it from within Valorous.

 

The Dalasians were surprised to see Tiran’s success, and tried to lock tractor beams on their now rogue ship.

 

Tiran put up his captured ship’s shields. At first, the shields were weak, until Valorous upgraded the shield grid to be like its own. This only took another few seconds. The ships could no longer tractor Tiran’s new ship.

 

It wasn’t long before Tiran figured out how to navigate this ship. He performed complex maneuvers and got to a position he could jump from. Valorous had successfully upgraded the ship’s Raildrives and temporal technology by now.

 

The Dalasian ships were helpless to stop Tiran, and could only sit and watch as he jumped away and powered up the temporal technology…

[Arcesious]

“Time shift successful.” Valorous’s computer said.

 

Tiran then cloaked Valorous and the ship he had brought with him.

 

Tiran entered some information on the communications console in front of him, contacting Caldwell on a secure, undetectable channel once in range of Kashki.

 

“Caldwell? I’m back.” Tiran said.

 

“Well that was quick.” Caldwell replied.

 

“True. Your upgrades to Valorous were very helpful.” Tiran said.

 

“I assume you’ve acquired a ship?” Caldwell asked.

 

“Yes. It should meet your specifications well. It doesn’t have a working power core yet, however.” Tiran said, transmitting his coordinates to Caldwell.

 

“I’m glad that Valorous’s upgrades can power a ship that size. I’ve got your coordinates now. I’ll come and help you get that ship working.” Caldwell said.

 

A few seconds passed.

 

Caldwell’s ship suddenly appeared next to Tiran’s two ships. Caldwell’s ship was small and simple. It was a small shuttlecraft with Kenesium-Helesium alloy armor, shaped like a crescent moon.

 

“That was fast.” Tiran said to Caldwell on the channel.

 

“It’s a type 16 fusion raildrive.” Caldwell said.

 

Tiran extended the cloaking bubble around Caldwell’s ship.

 

“Overkill much? Good choice.” Caldwell said when he saw the new ship.

 

“What do you mean?” Asked Tiran.

 

“This is a Predator class Dalasian cruiser.” Caldwell said.

 

“What does that mean?” Asked Tiran.

 

“It is a ship designed to be so adaptive and fast that it can hunt down and destroy any target. You couldn’t have chosen a better ship.” Caldwell said, pleased.

 

“It looks like it only has a type two raildrive, though…” Tiran said.

 

“This is a different kind of Raildrive. Very rare design. Very, very fast. It’s complicated – how it works. It draws a lot of power, but this thing can go ten times faster than Cataclysm’s hypothetical top speed. I suspect that this could have been planned to be used as a command ship for one of the Dalasians’ larger fleets.” Caldwell explained.

 

Tiran now started to become suspicious of how much Caldwell knew.

 

“You know, Caldwell; this just seems too convenient. There are things you know and things you claim not to know. But I can’t be sure, can I? Why is it that I had to do this? Why is this ‘Serengi’ you speak of such a big deal? You said you don’t even know what it is.” Tiran questioned.

 

“I can see how this would raise questions for you. I just don’t know. But I do know some things.” Caldwell said.

 

“That’s not good enough!” Tiran said.

 

“What do you want me to say?” Caldwell said.

 

“I want you to tell me what is really going on.” Tiran said.

 

“I don’t know what else I could tell you.” Caldwell said.

 

“I am a tactician. What is happening here is far too convenient, and there are too many unanswered questions. I don’t like it when I don’t know how the battlefield is shaped.” Tiran said.

 

“Tiran- ” Caldwell started.

 

“Alright, I’m done with this. I’m going to figure out what is going on, and the path I take will not involve your plans.” Tiran declared, and then powered up the Predator Class cruiser’s Raildrives, then steering away with the vent-drives and jumping away at incredibly high speeds.

 

“What have I done…” Caldwell said to himself...

[Arcesious]

Caldwell had now returned to Kashki. He had docked his ship and gone back to his apartment.

 

Although he did not have any physical need to do so, Caldwell would sleep every day, just as every other human on Kashki did.

 

He liked to dream.

 

The artificial brain his past neural impulses were translated into didn't quite do exactly what he wanted them to do, though. Despite the pact that artificial intelligence and computer technology had advanced to mind-blowing levels, it still wasn't the same. The dreams he had weren't exactly like what they were when he was still his primate self.

 

The thoughts he had weren't exactly like the ones he once had. It was only the slightest difference, but he noticed. The abstract thought he still possessed clearly made him aware of the difference, but he passed it off as nostalgia.

He forgot to do something this one time. A single time. Due to his disappointment in what Tiran decided to do, he was absent-minded about his telepathic abilities. Even with a mind of a computer, he forgot. That was still human about him. The ability to commit error, intentionally, but subconsciously. He forgot to turn the abilities off before he went to sleep.

 

Little did he know, his thoughts, whilst he was dreaming - drifted to two people, Kelborne and Yar.

 

At the same time, Kelborne and Yar were in the process of sleeping. Dreaming dreams they may or may not remember when they woke up. But the dreams they had; they were identical. And they woke them up in the middle of the night.

 

Within the matter of minutes of dreams; Kelborne and Yar knew exactly what was going on. What had happened, what was happening.

 

Kelborne stood up in his bed, and so did Yar.

 

For a breif moment, the dream triangulated; and then Kelborne and Yar were aware that they had both shared the dream.

 

They proceeded to the hanger where Yar's ship was. They both got there at the exact same time.

 

"Did you have that... vision, too?" Kelborne asked.

 

"Yes, I did. Caldwell seems to be a far more complicated individual than I once thought. Why us?" Yar said and wondered.

 

"Maybe it was destiny." Kelborne said.

 

"Destiny? There is no such thing. The future is what we make of it, it is not set in stone." Yar said.

 

"Is it?" Kelborne said gravely.

 

"Perhaps you are right..." Yar said, then looking at his ship. "After all, why did we come to my ship? This was not a concious decision on my behalf. But I instinively knew that I was going to meet you. And I ended up here." Yar said.

 

"And now we are like pawns in a game..." Kelborne said.

 

"Pawns?" Yar asked.

 

"Chess. A game of strategy. Metaphorically, I think that we are meant to be pawns in some sort of game." Kelborne said.

"We are aware of this. This does not make us pawns. We can decide our own path." Yar said.

 

"Yes, we can. Or have we already?" Kelborne said.

 

"Temporal mechanics are a headache. Let us pool our collective minds together and decide our course of action." Yar suggested.

 

"If you'll let me in your ship, I could quickly obtain contact with the rest of the crew." Kelborne said.

 

"Agreed. I'll show you where the communications console is." Yar began walking over to his small, dark green, sleek ship...

[Arcesious]

The entire crew was present next to Yar's small ship. Kelborne had not contacted Caldwell.

 

After Kelborne and Yar explained everything that was going on, which took the better part of an hour, the entire crew was very dumb-struck with surprise.

 

"So we go after Tiran." Katherine suggested, the first person to speak after Kelborne and Yar's orientation.

 

"What about Caldwell?" Asked Eli.

 

"Indeed, how would we deal with him?" John asked.

 

There was a brief moment of silence while everything thought.

 

"Let me take care of that." O'Henry said, "After all, I'm supposed to be his best friend."

 

"We should divide ourselves in order to assume different tasks and be ready to assume counter-plans as whatever is going on continues to progress." Cho suggested.

 

"Those of us who are most associated with Caldwell should work with Caldwell. The rest of you should work with Kelborne and Yar." Vera suggested.

 

"I should speak with Caldwell privately, but I agree that those of us who are essentially Caldwell's friends should stay behind. We work together well, and Kashki may very well need our help if the rest of you are gone." O'Henry said.

 

"Tiran's crew should go with us, as well and Eli and John. I don't think that Yar's ship is big enough for anyone else. It'll be crowded as is." Kelborne said.

 

"I'll convince Caldwell to let you have his ship." O'Henry suggested.

 

"Are you sure you could manage that? From what I learned from that telepathic dream, Caldwell's ship holds a lot of secrets." Kelborne said.

 

"Yes, but considering the circumstances, you'll only have enough room for all of your crew if you divide yourselves between the two ships." O'Henry said.

 

"He's right. Without Valorous, we don't have enough room for the entire crew." Katherine said.

 

"Why don't we just get another ship?" Asked Vera.

 

"These are temporal matters. We should not involve Kashki unless if it is completely necessary." Cho said.

 

"I agree with Cho. We should address this matter discretely until it is necessary to bring more pawns into this game." Kelborne said.

 

"I'll take my ship and crew, as well as Eli and John. The rest of you can go on Caldwell's ship." Said Yar.

 

There were murmurs of agreement.

 

"Agreed. Let's get to work." Kelborne said...

[Arcesious]

“I know what you’re thinking…” Caldwell said as O’Henry walked into Caldwell’s apartment.

 

“That saves a lot of talking, then.” O’Henry said.

 

“Not really. Somehow, I knew that this was what was going to happen, yet I did not realize it.” Caldwell said.

 

O’Henry didn’t say anything.

 

“Oh, so this is what you want? Yeah, yeah; you can borrow my ship. No use arguing about it.” Caldwell said.

 

“This was… Easier, than I thought it would be.” O’Henry said.

 

“We share the same goal - tracking down Tiran.” Caldwell said.

 

“Somehow I know there’s something more to all of this….” O’Henry said.

 

“There is, my friend. There is…” Caldwell said.

 

“What would that be?” Asked O’Henry.

 

“I’ve thought about it for thousands of trillions of years. It didn’t come to me until now. I think I know what this is all about.” Caldwell said.

 

“What are you getting at?” Asked O’Henry.

 

“The Isordians, the Dalasian temporal explorations, the thing called Serengi, and the odd behavior of my old friend. It all… Adds up somehow.” Caldwell said.

 

“You’re saying that the pieces of what you consider a puzzle are falling together, as if destined to?” O’Henry asked.

 

“You don’t get it.” Caldwell said as he read O’Henry’s mind.

 

“Don’t get what?” Asked O’Henry.

 

“The variables. There are no variables. Everything is constant now. Probability got thrown out the window.” Caldwell said.

 

“I still don’t understand.” O’Henry said.

 

“Let me lay out the components for you. Isordians. Iso-rid-ian means ‘peace of mind’. Dalasians and the temporal exploration. What is exploration for? Gathering information. And wasn’t it convenient than when Ryan and I traveled to Dalasian time, they were just about finished exploring. Everything went wrong when they finished. They found out something, I don’t know what. Then Ryan stole Cataclysm. And since then, Cataclysm has ‘subconsciously’ been trying to recreate Earth exactly as it was before. Cataclysm succeeded after an eternity of trial and error. Like a controlled experiment, I think that whatever Ryan’s plan was, he finally got all the calculations so perfectly precise that he could finally do what he was planning to do. And now things are happening. Too many coincidences for this to be happening by probability. Our very actions and thoughts at this moment might even be calculated.” Caldwell hypothesized.

 

“That does make sense…”O’Henry said.

 

“Of course it does. Now we just have to break the equation.” Caldwell said.

 

“How?” Asked O’Henry.

 

“We have to defeat the Isordians, and then find out what happened with the Dalasians.” Caldwell said.

 

“Defeat the Isordians? Why, besides the fact that they want to kill all sentient life?” O’Henry asked.

 

“The Isordians were made by the Dalasians. The Dalasians committed suicide on purpose by making them too well. They’re programmed to seek out and end all sentient life. Why? Because they’re hiding something that the Dalasians wanted no one to find out about.” Caldwell concluded.

 

“I suppose that you want to help coordinate our efforts?” Asked O’Henry.

 

“Yes, I’m going with Kelborne and Yar. You, Cho, and Vera will stay behind and make sure Kashki can fight off attack. I’m going to go start a war.” Caldwell said.

 

“Start a war? No offense, but, are you insane?” Said O’Henry.

 

“Once we find Tiran and Tiran finds Cataclysm, we’ll start a war, to find out what is really going on.” Caldwell said.

 

“If everything that is happening now is calculated, then what if you’re playing into a trap?” Asked O’Henry.

 

“That’s the plan.” Caldwell said boldly…

[Arcesious]

Caldwell walked onto his ship via a hidden door on the back of it and surprised Kelborne and the others.

 

“I’m coming with you.” Caldwell said, handing Kelborne a data pad.

 

“What’s this?” Asked Kelborne.

 

“It has information on a plan I have that I want you to follow with complete exactness. This is my ship, so you’re under my command.” Caldwell said.

 

Kelborne looked at the data pad. “Starting a war with the Isordians? Um, no, that’s suicide. And where does catching up with Tiran come into this?” Asked Kelborne.

 

“Tiran will inevitably notice something is going on it I can get an Isordian supercarrier to self-destruct. That kind of explosion would show up on sensors with hundreds of times more magnitude than a supernova. He couldn’t miss it if he was halfway across the universe, not to mention space-time.” Caldwell said.

 

“You must be insane…” Kelborne said.

 

“Read the rest of the data-pad. It will all make sense.” Caldwell said.

 

Kelborne spent a few minutes reading the data-pad.

 

“Even if we manage to get that close to a supercarrier without getting destroyed, how do you expect to get inside of one?” Asked Kelborne.

 

“You get me within two-hundred thousand kilometers, drop me off in space, and then get away as far as possible as fast as possible.” Caldwell said.

 

“So how will you get to the supercarrier?” Asked Kelborne.

 

“An array of short range micro-raildrives are built into my body. Just get me close enough. Don’t worry, I won’t suffer a scratch even if I do end up in the epicenter of the explosion. I could be swallowed up by a supermassive black hole and I still wouldn’t suffer damage. This plan is two birds with one stone.” Caldwell said confidently.

 

“If you say so…” Said Kelborne, still not completely sure of Caldwell’s plan.

 

“By the way, what is the name of your ship?” Asked Kelborne.

 

“I didn’t give it a name.” Caldwell said.

 

“Why?” Asked Kelborne.

 

“Names are irrelevant.” Caldwell said.

 

"Well it needs a name." Kelborne said.

 

"Okay, I'll think about it. Give me awhile." Caldwell agreed.

 

Kelborne shook his head at Caldwell's apparent lack of creativity.

 

Race then started piloting the ship out of the hanger…

[Arcesious]

"I've found a fleet of supercarriers on sensors." Race reported, after four hours in searching for the Isordians.

 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... Stop the ship!" Katherine warned, noticing something at the engineering console.

 

Race stopped the ship, "What is it?" He asked.

 

"These gravitational fluctuations in the raildrives, they're not normal, not for a ship this size." Katherine said.

 

Caldwell stood up from his seat at the back of the bridge and came over to the engineering console. "Oh, this makes this plan all the more beneficial to us." Caldwell grinned.

 

"What? What do you mean?" Asked Race.

 

"These are the gravitational distortions generated only by Hypercruiser class ships. They must be cloaked." Caldwell said.

 

Race looked at Caldwell with a questioning look on his face. "What's a Hypercruiser?" He asked.

 

"Any ship larger than two-thousand kilometers in length." Caldwell said.

 

"Wait, what?" Asked Katherine.

 

"Apparently Kelborne and Yar didn't learn of that from my dream... Well let's just say that these supercarriers are shuttles compared to the biggest ships out there. These monoliths are rare. And by destroying a supercarrier in league with a fleet of thirty supercarriers and say... six hypercruisers, the Isordians will be pretty angry..." Caldwell said.

 

"Why six hypercruisers?" Asked Katherine.

 

"With this kind of fleet, six hypercruisers in the most proper tactical formation." Caldwell explained.

 

"Tactical formation?" Asked Race.

 

"The supercarriers are being used as bait so that the hypercruisers can strike and take out Kashki. The Isordians don't think that we can detect their supercarriers, but my ship here has some really good sensors. The fact that they're this close to Kashki proves this. They're expecting us to attack their fleet." Caldwell deducted.

 

"So how big are the hypercruisers?" Asked Race.

 

Caldwell adjusted some settings on the engineering console and then the sensor console.

 

"Three fourty kilometer ones, three thirteen kilometer ones." Caldwell reported.

 

"Why do they attack in multiples of three?" Asked Katherine.

 

"Actually, they attack in multiples of 2, 3, and 5. It's a very effective strategy for a fleet." Caldwell said.

 

"So the multiples of tens we encountered when we found Cataclysm....?" Asked Katherine.

 

"They were actually attacking in a combination of two and five. A fleet formation like that generally means that they're not taking any risks. Unfortunately for them, they did not anticipate us getting temporal help." Caldwell said.

 

"So they're taking a risk by attacking in a multiple of three?" Asked Race.

 

"Yes, yes they are. This is very small fleet contingent. They hope to destroy Kashki in battle, but they want to test our abilities without losing too large of a force." Caldwell said.

 

"Are we close enough, Caldwell?" Race asked as he looked at the sensors.

 

"Five parsecs? Yeah, that'll be close enough." Caldwell said.

 

Race stopped the ship.

 

"Just don't forget to pick me up. Also, make sure you get at least.... six-hundred thousand parsecs away from this fleet." Caldwell said.

 

"But Kashki is five-hundred thousand parsecs away fromt his area..." Katherine said.

 

"Yes, I know, just get back to Kashki and put up the counteractive shield around the planet." Caldwell ordered.

 

"Yes, sir." Katherine said.

 

Caldwell then walked to the ship's airlock. The rest of the crew were busy working in another section of the ship, studying the technology that Caldwell had upgraded his ship with.

 

He opened the inner door, and walked inside. Then he closed the inner door, and opened the outer door. There was no vacuum yet because the shields were still up.

 

Caldwell then telepathically said to Race, "You can now drop the shields briefly.", as he positioned his body in a jumping position.

 

Race dropped the shields, and Caldwell was ripped out of the airlock by the vacuum. Caldwell then cloaked his body and transformed, his human-imitating outer layer of his body transforming away with a cyan glow.

 

After a few seconds, his true body was revealed. It was made of the black, invulnerable metal. The structure of his body was mostly humanoid in appearance, but it was obvious that his skeletal structure was not human.

 

He was tall and burly, seven feet tall after his spine extended to full length. His spine was actually dual, making it far more stable and strong than a human. His muscles were purple in color, made of a very flexible element that was almost just as tough as the black metal the rest of his body was made of.

 

Infused into his muscular and skeletal structure was a network of veins made of Kenesium-Helesium(KH) alloy, which seemed to act as power pathways throughout his body. Different parts of his body with the KH-Alloy were shield generators and adaptive areas designed for numerous purposes, including transforming into weapons and tools.

 

His body did not look like the typical robot or android, because his muscular structure smoothed out his body. In his back was one raildrive, and also two raildrives each in his arms and legs.

 

Caldwell engaged his raildrives, which were just as everything else in his body, upgraded with temporal technology.

 

Within seconds, he would be face to face with the Isordian fleet...

[Arcesious]

Caldwell punched through the hull of the center-most supercarrier, smashing through hundreds of levels of decks until he was at its central power core.

The cloak was now off as he punched the central power core with his right fist, his arm accelerated to have exponential force by its raildrive. The core was destabilizing as the Isordian drones were caught completely by surprise.

 

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?!" Asked one of the Isordian drones frantically.

 

"All you need to know is that you had it coming..." Caldwell smiled as he pulled his arm out of the core and the core began to howl like a jet engine as it breached.

 

The Isordian drone stared at Caldwell quizzically. The Isordian drones had the same body structure as Caldwell, but they weren't made of the supe-relement.

 

Within seconds after, the entire ship went quiet for a fraction of a second as every single system shut down at the same time, the ship drifting powerless for that single fraction fo a second; and then... BANG.

 

The supercarrier disintegrated as the core imploded on itself and then refracted back out in a massive, brilliant explosion that would have been sure to deafen anyone if sound could exist in the vacuum of space. A massive kinetic wave flew out from all directions of the core and tore through the entire fleet. Then came the secondary explosions as the rest of the supercarriers exploded. Then the tertiary ones - the hypercruisers.

 

The hypercruisers let out the biggest explosions. Within an hour, the shockwaves of the explosion finally crashed into Kashki's shield minutes after it had been raised. The shield absorbed the shockwaves and then reflected then back out with ten times the force, thereby absolutely ensuring that the explosion would be well noticed.

 

Caldwell felt the return wave from Kashki's shields after three more minutes.

 

"That should get everyone's attention..." Caldwell thought to himself as he floated around in space, waiting to be picked back up.

 

(Edit: I can see a potential falcon punch joke here... )

[Arcesious]

"What in the hell did you think you were doing!?" Said a man with frustration in his voice as Caldwell woke up on the floor of a dark, sterile room.

 

"Who are you?" Caldwell asked as he stood up.

 

"Why are my senses impaired?" Caldwell asked as he realized he couldn't see, as well as his other senses were limited.

 

"That was a really idiotic move to start a war with the Isordians. It doesn't help me any to have them angry. Damnit Caldwell, don't you know who I am?" Asked the man.

 

"Why. are. my. senses. impaired?" Caldwell demanded an answer.

 

"You're no threat to me. I'm asking the questions here."

 

Caldwell's sight was beginning to return. He saw a figure with cyan armor in front of him.

 

"You're interrogating a guy who just destroyed an entire Isordian contingent all by himself in a matter of seconds." Caldwell said, raising the fist he had breached the supercarrier's core with and showing it to the man in cyan armor to express his resolve.

 

"You've changed." The man in cyan armor said almost gravely.

 

"I'm not sure I understand what's going on here..." Caldwell said.

 

"My name is Nate. Nate Altrosk. Trigger any circuits in that new brain of yours?" Nate said.

 

"Nope." Caldwell answered honestly.

 

"Somehow, I believe you." Nate said.

 

"Now I'm the one interrogating you!" Caldwell declared as he jumped forward and tried to pin Nate against a wall. He was suddenly stopped as everything seemed to slow down right as his right hand was within an inch of grasping Nate's neck.

 

"Temporal tech. Like I said, you're no threat to me." Nate stepped back and moved out of the way.

 

"What is going on here?!" Caldwell demanded an answer as he was frozen in place by Nate's temporal technology.

 

"You were just another human, once. I suppose that what you did could be considered honorable. But what you are now.... Why are you so full of rage, and nearly suicidal?" Nate asked, trying to understand Caldwell.

 

"If you knew what I knew, experienced what I've experienced - you'd feel the same way." Caldwell said.

 

"You don't actually know why you feel that way, do you? Okay here's the deal... You were a skilled tactician who became an explorer for your species. You had a friend named Ryan. You discovered something big. Well I was your first officer. You don't remember me. And all this has to do with something called Serengi." Nate said.

 

"There are a lot of things I don't remember." Caldwell said.

 

"Indeed. I've noticed in my observation of you that you don't remember what your first name is. Your first name is Richard. You are Richard Caldwell." Nate said.

 

"Somehow that name seems to fit, almost feel familiar." Caldwell said.

 

"Good, very good. This might just work..." Nate said.

 

"What do you mean?" Asked Caldwell.

 

"You said the name seemed familiar. Given that, you may be able to remember more than you think. It's all just buried down somewhere. I'm going to try to jog your memory." Nate said.

 

"I have a computer for a brain. If I knew something, I should have already known it simply through searching my memories systematically. So why are you doing this?" Asked Caldwell.

 

"Your brain is damaged. That's why you can't easily access the information. Perhaps I can also find out the reason you're nearly delirious." Nate said.

 

"That would make sense... I wouldn't mind knowing more of my past anyways." Caldwell agreed.

 

"Alright then. We'll start from the beginning then - your childhood." Nate said...

[Arcesious]

"Where's Caldwell?" Kelborne asked Race once the ship had returned to the sight of the destroyed fleet; which was now a nebula of energy and Kenesium-Helesium alloy in its gaseous state. The energy and gases were so dense and hot that they were already condensing into stars merely hours afterwards.

 

"He's just... gone, sir." Race answered.

 

"Is he cloaked?" Suggested Katherine.

 

"No. If he was cloaked, this ship would be able to detect him. The sensors on this ship are just too advanced for us not to find him." Race said.

 

Everyone paused to think.

 

"So what do we do now?" Kelborne asked.

 

Ryan shrugged his shoulders in an 'I dunno' gesture.

 

Suddenly, the sensors started beeping insistently on Race's sensor console.

 

"Well that can't be good..." Race said.

 

"What? What is it?" Asked Kelborne.

 

"Sir, I'm reading thousands of cloaked Isordian ships coming into the sensor radius, on a course towards Kashki. And they're moving, really, really fast." Race reported.

 

"What kinds of ships?" Asked Kelborne.

 

"All of them are capital-class, cruiser, and frigate class ships. No supercarriers, no hypercruisers." Race said.

 

"Well that doesn't seem so bad..." Kelborne said.

 

"I dunno Kelborne... I doubt they'd send such a type of fleet if they were planning on losing. Strength in numbers aside, I wouldn't be surprised if they've got some sort of advantage." Race said.

 

"You're right. Let's get back to Kashki and see what we can do." Kelborne said.

 

The sensor console then beeped demandingly right as Kelborne was about to leave the bridge.

 

"Wait, wait, wait!" Race gestured that Kelborne come back.

 

"What is it now?" Kelborne asked.

 

"Sir... Cataclysm just came up on sensors, right behind the fleet, cloaked." Race smiled.

 

"Well that's good news." Kelborne said.

 

Race then looked at the sensor console in complete surprise.

"What the - ? Sir, Cataclysm in moving into a central formation with the fleet... Sensors indicate that it's assuming a... a... fleet command position." Race reported.

 

"Wait, what?!" Katherine said.

 

"Kashki can withstand an Isordian attack - but a battle against a ship that powerful... We've got to retreat. Set course for Kashki NOW, maximum possible speed, plus overdrive systems. Drop the cloak too - we can't waste a second. We've got to get as big of a head start as possible." Kelborne ordered.

 

"Yes sir." Race quickly punched in the coordinates on the navigational console to his left and Katherine set all the propulsion systems to their limits.

 

Race then quickly dropped the cloak and engaged all the engine systems - both rail-drives and vent-drives, as Kelborne headed down to the rest of the ship to inform the rest of the crew of the situation.

[Arcesious]

Tiran landed his new stolen ship on a small moon orbiting a red and purple gas giant.

 

He then undocked Valorous from the shield generator.

 

After having looking at the ship's schematics that Valorous had accessed, he had found the ship's hanger bay. He used Valorous to order the ship to open the hanger bay, which was hidden in the aft section of the ship, barely large enough to carry Valorous, and then landed Valorous inside.

 

Next, the hanger doors closed and Tiran exited Valorous once life support was activated.

 

Thanks to Valorous's power core essentially 'super-jump-starting' the ship through its shield generator, the ship was now self-sustaining in its energy needs.

 

Tiran made his way to the ship's bridge. As he did, lights started coming on to lead his way and all the systems began to warm up. Inside, the ship was composed of many super-element bulkheads and walls, however; most of the systems were designed out of KH alloy so that they could transform and adapt, and thus the inside of the ship was black and white.

 

Finally, on the bridge, the ship's floor morphed to provide a humanoid-adapted chair and command center for him.

 

Tiran sat down and began to study the functions of the consoles around the chair, looking specifically for the ship's data archives so that he could figure out what all was going on.

 

--------------------------------------------------------

 

"Hail Kashki, priority code!" Kelborne ordered once the ship was within contact range.

 

"Yes, what is it Caldwell?" Asked Ivan in response to the hail.

 

"Sir, there's something you need to know; but first, you have to get Kashki out of here!" Kelborne said.

 

"You're not Caldwell... You're... Kelborne?" Ivan was confused.

 

"Put Kashki into combat readiness mode, lift off, and go towards vector 90 as fast as possible!" Kelborne said.

 

"Why?" Ivan asked as Caldwell's ship was seconds away from docking.

 

"Sir, with all due respect; quit stalling and get out here! I'll explain later. It's a matter of life or death!" Kelborne said.

 

"Fine, fine." Ivan said, putting Kashki into combat-readiness mode, dropping the cloak and engaging Kashki's raildrives.

 

Kashki rose out of the water on the planet it was landed on, and Race quickly landed Caldwell's ship in the hanger bay in closest range of docking, just before all the hanger bays closed to prepare for flight.

 

Kashki then slowly maneuvered with its ventdrives to align with Kelborne's order for vector 90, and then lurched forward as the raildrives engaged, the Isordian fleet only seconds out of weapon range now...

 

------------------------------------

 

Ivan stared at Kelborne in disbelief after he explained everything. "You should have told me! Idiot! How can I expect to be able to keep the people in Kashki safe if there are secret wars going on behind my back?!"

 

"Sir I..." Kelborne was trying to come up with an excuse. John and Eli were waiting outside.

 

"No. No more excuses. No more secrets, no more lies!" Ivan came around his desk and stood face to face with Kelborne.

 

"I'm demoting you to lieutenant." Ivan strictly said.

 

"But sir..." Kelborne said.

 

"Your recent actions have been unbecoming of a captain under my command. You're confined to quarters until I say otherwise. Do you understand?" Ivan ordered.

 

Kelborne had a blank look for a few seconds.

 

Then he got a bold look on his face and said insubordinately, "No sir. It is - you - who does not understand. Maybe Caldwell was the best officer you ever had under your command, but now he is the one to blame, not me! Maybe you'd rather tarnish the record of a lowly captain, but ex-Grand Admiral or not, it's his fault, and I was doing what I thought was right."

 

Ivan didn't seem to be angry at Kelborne's insubordination.

 

Ivan sighed.

 

"I'm sorry, captain. You are absolutely right. It's just that... well... look at the position I'm in here. Ever since I was a kid, I was fighting these Isordians. I've been the leader of this disorganized group of refugees and survivors for well over a century. And the whole time, I didn't know the face of my enemy. And I still don't." Ivan said as he began to look tired.

 

Kelborne grabbed and held Ivan's arm with both his hands, Ivan's arm covered by a clean, white uniform. "Sir, there is no reason to give up." Kelborne said, then releasing Ivan's arm.

 

"No? I'm an old man. You haven't been fighting as long as I have. Your so-called inspiring leader is an old man, far overdue to rest. Can you imagine how frustrating it is? To fight an enemy for over a century and never find out why the enemy is fighting you? I never did anything to make the Isordians try to kill me. No one did. And yet they hunt us down and exterminate us all the same. They have nothing to gain by killing us off. We're no threat to them. Why won't they just leave us all alone? Why? Why?! I didn't ask for this. All I've wanted my whole life is peace, captain. Peace." Ivan explained himself.

 

"I didn't ask for it either sir. But it's a problem that must be dealt with all the same. We can't escape it. We have to man-up and keep going." Kelborne responded, trying to take the position of the 'brave soldier'.

 

Ivan turned around, his back facing Kelborne.

 

"Kelborne, what did you want to grow up to be when you were a child?" Ivan asked.

 

Kelborne answered, "An architect, sir."

 

"And what is your 'trade' now?" Ivan asked.

 

"I'm a soldier. Sir, you already know that..." Kelborn answered.

 

"Do you know what I wanted to grow up to be when I was a child?" Ivan asked Kelborne.

 

"No sir..." Kelborne answered.

 

"I wanted to be a scientist. But like you, I grew up to be a soldier." Ivan said sadly.

 

Kelborne saw where Ivan's semantics were going. "I believe I understand, sir."

 

"Do me a favor, captain." Ivan said.

 

"Anything, sir." Kelborne said.

 

"If you ever get the chance to time-travel, make sure I never become a soldier..." Ivan requested.

 

The proximity alarms then began to sound as the Isordian fleet was growing ever closer...

[Arcesious]

"Well that's... odd... No wonder you don't remember much. Ninety-nine-point nine to the three-quadrillion, four-hundred million and ninety-second power percent of your entire memory is literally gone... Erased. Your mechanical brain apparently used to possess an enormous amount of information that, by the standards of what I've seen should have overloaded it." Nate said in astonishment after he had finished scanning Caldwell's head.

 

"Are you kidding me?! My memory extends back trillions of years! How could it be that a micro-fraction of a percent of my memory holds that many years of my life?!" Caldwell was surprised.

 

"From these scanner readings, I've managed to detect a small trace of some circuits in your brain that were overloaded and then almost completely repaired. If my guess is good, I'd think that someone had your memory wiped and made it look like overloaded circuits." Nate guessed.

 

"My memory of all these trillions of years is precise to the exact detail; to a subatomic level. I remember the position of every single atom, every precise calculation - everything, of everywhere I've ever been to, of all these trillions of years. If my entire currently accessible memory totals only a microfraction of a percent of it's total capacity, and that capacity used to be completely full... What could possibly take up this much memory? And why would it be erased from my memory?"

 

Nate was silent for a moment as he did some more scans of Caldwell's head.

 

"This... this is big. Really big." Nate said.

 

"What? What is?" Caldwell asked.

 

"Your total memory capacity... All the combined computers throughout the history of the universe couldn't hope to come anywhere near close to it. What you have sitting on your shoulders is potentially an archive capable of storing untold amounts of information. Not an infinite amount, but if infinity does have a limit, this brain of yours is probably close to that limit." Nate said.

 

"Everything I know seems to tell me that this Serengi thing has something to do with this..." Caldwell said.

 

"So we're at a dead end..." Nate said.

 

"No we're not. We've got to find Tiran. He'll be able to help us." Caldwell said.

 

"Tiran? Why? What's so special about him?" Nate asked.

 

"Oh, so your temporal technology is limited after all..." Caldwell said, grinning.

 

"Okay, what did I miss?" Nate asked.

 

"Tiran has a predator-class Dalasian warship. But he's really unpredictable..." Caldwell explained.

 

"Predator class?! You let him - a guy ignorant of temporal history; to get control of THE Predator?!" Nate didn't sound very happy.

 

"What? What's wrong with that?" Caldwell asked, oblivious of what Nate knew.

 

"There is no such thing as a 'predator class warship'. That ship is THE Predator. The Dalasians built it for a reason. Why do you think that that ship is faster than any other Dalasian ship? Why do you think they built it to be so powerful? Why do you think that that ship is made of Viirodium?!" Nate sounded really mad.

 

"Okay - what did I do wrong? And what is Viirodium?" Caldwell asked.

 

"Viirodium is an invincible element. Not even temporal technology can be used to mold it. Only for a short time of five seconds at the beginning of time is the element malleable. After that, you can't do anything to it. Please tell me you used stable temporal technology to go back to Dalasian time... Please tell me you did..." Nate sounded desperate.

 

"No, but the temporal laws of physics state that- " Caldwell started.

 

Nate cut him off, "No, there are no temporal laws. Who do you think was picking up the slack for you this whole time, keeping your temporal technology stable for you?! Me and my allies. We've always had a very-well cloaked ship following every ship capable of temporal travel, secretly balancing out the temporal threshold. Damn, now we've got a really bad causality loop to deal with..." Nate explained.

 

"What's so special about this one ship?" Asked Caldwell.

 

"The Predator... was like no other timeship. It was the flagship of the Dalasians' temporal exploration." Nate said.

 

"And now that it's been stolen..." Caldwell was following Nate's line of thought.

 

"All of temporality will be re-written. Unless if we can get our hands on a Viirodium-encased ship really, really soon. That's the only way that we, or anyone else, can hope to survive a cataclysmic infinium." Nate said.

 

"Speak for yourself... My body is made of this 'Viirodium'. But what is a cataclysmic infinium?" Caldwell asked.

 

"Not all of it. Your muscles - Nkcridom. Your adaptive systems - KH Alloy. A lot of your body has elements that would be exposed to and destroyed by what I'm talking about. A cataclysmic infinium is a complete destabilization of the temporal 'laws' of the universe. Everything goes insane. In fact, it's happened before, and we're still feeling the effects of it now. Temporal shifts that happens every so many billion years that change the laws of physics in a totally different way each time... But if it weren't due to it having happened before, a lot of things right now wouldn't be possible. This incredibly advanced technology, elements like Viirodium - they exist because of it. Because of the Zrzi." Nate explained.

 

"So what's the big deal. We contact the Zrzi, they fix everything, end of story." Caldwell said.

 

"It's not that simple... theoretically... If a second one of these things happened, everything would be gone, reset. The Isordians are the least of our worries." Nate said.

 

"Reset? Hey, maybe Cataclysm has something to do with this too..." Caldwell hypothesized.

 

"The universe would either collapse, or time would go inverse and everything would be reset to a random setting. Fifty-fifty chance. Viirodium is the only thing that could withstand it. Then again, there's also a 50-50 chance that Viirodium won't save us either. And Cataclysm... You're right... That ship does seem to be really deeply involved in this, somehow." Nate said.

 

"Cataclysm.... My friend Ryan... He's in that ship. His mind is. From the reports I read, Cataclysm was trying to save all the smartest sentient beings it could find, and... It created them all." Caldwell was trying to figure out what was going on.

 

"This may surprise you, but my intelligence informants have told me that Cataclysm has joined the Isordians. But you're right... That is weird. And if Ryan is in control of Cataclysm..." Nate was realizing something along with Caldwell.

 

"It joined the Isordians?!" Caldwell was very surprised.

 

"The ship's name!", Caldwell said, then said with a whisper, "Cataclysm."

 

"Cataclysmic Infinium..." Nate said, realizing what Caldwell was realizing.

 

"It's ironic... But why? Why recreate humanity; as well as create a thousands of other sentient races, save the smartest ones before a temporal shift, and then suddenly join the faction that wants to exterminate all sentient life?" Caldwell wondered.

 

"A very good question. Why, indeed?" Nate asked rhetorically, as Caldwell shook his head, at a loss for words...

[Arcesious]

Tiran noticed something on the Predator's sensors.

 

"Well that definitely isn't normal." Tiran commented, as he noticed a temporal shockwave ripping through subspace on the sensor console.

 

"Ship, advanced sensor scan - now." Tiran ordered the ship.

 

The Predator didn't do anything, even as the shockwave approached.

 

"Ship? Why aren't you responding?" Tiran asked.

 

The Predator still didn't do anything.

 

Then Tiran realized - the entire time he had been in possession of the Predator, he had been controlling it manually.

 

"Diagnostic." Tiran ordered.

 

The Predator responded, "Ship incomplete. Construction computer attempting to compensate. Advise return to construction site."

 

"That would explain why this ship doesn't seem to have any security systems... and also why the power core wasn't charged up before I stole this ship..."

 

"Construction computer, are combat systems complete?" Asked Tiran.

 

"Targeting systems not found. Manual weapons operation is possible." The construction computer reported.

 

"Construction computer, can you give me an overview of this ship's capabilities?" Tiran asked.

 

"Power systems complete. Shield systems complete, but shield adaptation systems incomplete. Engine systems complete. Navigational systems complete. Weapons systems complete. Only manual targeting available. Logistical systems incomplete. Security systems incomplete. Temporal systems complete. Designation and history of this ship is unknown." The construction computer reported.

 

"Construction computer, can you adapt to complete this ship and give it full functionality?" Tiran asked.

 

"That action is not advisable." replied the construction computer.

 

"So you can adapt?" Tiran asked.

 

"Yes." Answered the construction computer.

 

"Then do it. Get the logistics systems to full functionality first." Tiran ordered.

 

"Completion time estimated within two hours." The construction computer reported...

 

-------------------------------------

 

Ivan was in the central command center of Kashki, or, in simpler terms, the ship's bridge. The bridge was located deep in the heart of Kashki, well protected, directly above the central power cores. Ivan was sitting in his command chair, watching the viewscreen that was providing distorted images of the enemy fleet. Even with Caldwell's ship's sensors patched into Kashki's logistics systems, the cloaked ships were still hard to get a solid reading on.

 

"They're almost upon us sir!" Ivan's tactical officer reported.

 

"Fifty-eight seconds to intercept." Reported the navigational officer, who was piloting Kashki.

 

"Can we catch them by surprise with any maneuvers?" Asked Ivan.

 

The tactical officer looked on his console. "No sir, those ships are too agile to catch by surprise. Unless if... No, that would be suicide..." The tactical officer said.

 

"It would be suicide to do nothing. What's your idea?" Ivan asked.

 

"We do a 180 degree turn and go to full stop." The tactical officer said.

 

"Hmm... if we do that, we sacrifice shields at the same time by overburning the v-drives. But we could also destroy a good portion of the enemy fleet as they ram into the dorsal hull..." Ivan said and considered the idea.

 

"Your orders sir?" Asked the navigational officer.

 

"Evacuate the dorsal sections. Then do it." Ivan ordered.

 

"Yes sir." The navigational officer obeyed, shunting shield power to the vent-drives.

 

Evacuating the dorsal sections of Kashki was a simple and quick matter of using internal transporter systems to move people and their belongings to lower levels of the ship.

 

Kashki painfully jolted as the vent-drives let out an enormous burst of thrust power, flipping Kashki in the opposite direction. The dorsal hull faced the enemy fleet and the Raildrives quickly shut down with a damaging jolt.

 

Within seconds, two thirds of the enemy fleet crashed into Kashki's thick, tough, dorsal hull.

 

"It worked! Yes!" The tactical officer was glad to see that his plan was working.

 

Kashki's damage report alarms began to sound.

Then, suddenly, Ivan watched in horror as the two-thirds of the enemy fleet he thought he had destroyed reversed their engines and dislodged themselves from the dorsal hull.

 

"They... were... shielded." Ivan realized as the entire enemy fleet recovered without losing a single ship.

 

"Damage report!" Ivan ordered.

 

"Heavy damage to dorsal hull section. Dorsal shield generators, sensor array, and weapon grids are offline." The engineering officer reported.

 

"Deploy all combat-ready ships. level us off to have the hanger sector X, Y and Z match the central axis of the enemy fleet. Use the firepower from the weapons mounted in those areas." Ivan ordered as the enemy fleet was focusing its fire on the dorsal hull.

 

Kashki slowly changed position and began to fire at the enemy fleet with the weapons mounted along its hanger sections. After a few seconds, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and a few capital ships from Kashki's hangers started to join the battle, only to be torn apart within minutes by fighters and bombers the enemy fleet deployed as countermeasures.

 

"Sir, we have shields back!" Ivan's engineering officer reported, overjoyed.

 

"Counteractive shield configuration, now!" Ivan ordered.

 

The shields changed shape and then clearly appeared to be counteractive shields. The enemy ships ceased firing and moved off. They began circling Kashki, moving too fast to be hit by Kashki's weapons. Cataclysm hadn't yet joined the battle. It was waiting outside of weapon's range, seemingly waiting for something.

 

Ten tense minutes passed, and then suddenly, a massive fleet of Isordian supercarriers surrounded Kashki. They completely surrounded Kashki from all directions, their dorsal hull sections inverted and facing Kashki.

 

By now, Kashki was almost done regenerating its dorsal hull. Its shields were now reinforced by about twenty other auxiliary shield generators that it had generated in the long standoff to better defend itself when the battle would resume.

 

The supercarriers moved in and formed a tight formation around Kashki, enveloping it. The formation of the supercarriers was in the shape of a ball.

 

Then, the supercarriers merged their shields and inverted them to surrounded Kashki.

 

The Isordian supercarriers were now using the same counteractive shields as Kashki was, because Cataclysm had given them the information required to duplicate them.

 

The supercarriers' shield bubble enclosed around Kashki's shield bubble and started to push down on it, obviously trying to crush Kashki under the pressure.

 

The supercarriers' shields meshed with Kashki's, and the Isordians started to drain power out of Kashki's shields. Kashki was immobilized, trapped inside its own shield, as was Kashki's fleet.

 

Slowly but surely, Kashki's shield radius began to get smaller and smaller as the power cores could barely compensate to keep the counteractive shield from collapsing.

 

"Sir, we're not to last very long like this!" Ivan's tactical officer warned.

 

"How long have we got?" Ivan asked.

 

"Three hours at most. Probably less if they can adapt to drain our shields even faster." Ivan's engineering officer answered.

 

As the long standoff of Kashki and the supercarrier fleet continued, Cataclysm still intently waited for something...