“Excuse me,” the man said in a stern, confident voice that belied his worn appearance. “Alcent has gathered the rest of the council in the War Room and requests your presence.”
Keryn and Adam followed the messenger to the War Room, a blockish room with a U-shaped table dominating the center of the room. At the base of the U, holding a position of power, sat Alcent. As the two entered, he motioned to a pair of empty chairs on his right. No sooner had she collapsed into the chair than Alcent began his rehearsed speech.
“We are a lost people,” Alcent began. “Our homes destroyed and our land forgotten, we’re wanderers in the void of space. We have no goal, no aim, no sense of direction. The longer we drift the more we lose our sense of self. We need a purpose and a goal. For that, I defer to our saviors. Of all those who fought in the Glen, two were the voice that launched a revolution. Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you Keryn Riddell and Adam Decker, the Heroes of the Revolution!”
Applause erupted in the small room as a mixture of faces and species cheered the two sitting at the head of the table. Keryn smiled sheepishly, unsure of how to react but sure that this was Alcent’s desired reaction. As the applause slowly died away, Alcent turned to Keryn.
“Please, Keryn,” he said comfortingly. “You set us free and got us a ship. Adam even gave directions on where we were going, but did not give an explanation of why. Enlighten us.”
His last statement ended without any of the compassion she had heard moments before. Keryn quickly realized that Alcent was not fond of being kept in the dark. For someone who made his wealth off information, she could understand his position quite well.
“There’s no sense in being coy,” Keryn said matter-of-factly. “We’re heading to a Terran scientific outpost.”
She was unsure of whether or not the ruling council heard the words “scientific outpost”. The mere mention of flying from one Terran stronghold straight to another sent the council members into an uproar. They spoke over themselves as they yelled to be heard so that only small amounts of conversation could be heard.
“…insanity…”
“…a suicide mission…”
“…she should be removed immediately.”
Adam slammed his fist onto the table. In surprise, the room hushed. All faces turned to the angry Pilgrim, whose face was flush red.
“We just left Miller’s Glen and you’re already squabbling like children!” Adam yelled into the quiet room. Many of the council members flinched away from his berating. “Keryn saved every one of your lives, but do you really believe that the insignificant numbers of lives in Miller’s Glen are the only ones in danger in the entire universe?”
Keryn placed a hand on Adam’s arm and the anger drained from his face. Looking slightly embarrassed, he took his seat. In his stead, Keryn stood.
“Adam, while enthusiastic, is also correct,” she began, her voice clearly carrying in the large room. “It’s great to know that everyone that survived Miller’s Glen is now safely aboard the Ballistae. You’re all safe now from a dormant star, which is no longer shining its light down upon your planet. But that’s only one sun. We’re talking about one sun in all of Alliance space. I know there’s still a lot of data to go through in the ship’s computer, but I can guarantee that what happened to us is happening throughout the universe.”
Keryn moved around the table, allowing the eyes of a dozen different council members follow her. “Every one of you made your money through smuggling and trade. Who will you trade with when everyone else is dead? I know that you all can’t be so self-serving as to believe that escaping Miller’s Glen was the end of all your problems.”
She continued to walk around the table as she continued. “The bottom line is that the Terrans created this mess and have to be the only ones with the solution to the Deplitoxide that destroyed the sun. We know that the Deplitoxide was farmed from a small swamp planet called Beracus, in the Falitan Galaxy. The Terrans have set up a scientific outpost there, which is where we’ll find the information we need to restart the dying suns throughout the universe.
Keryn stood at the open end of the tables, her arms crossed and staring at the council. She closed her eyes, letting the Voice creep into her words. “Note that I didn’t, at any time, phrase our destination or our intent in the form of a question. My mission is unchanged, regardless of the crew with whom I serve. If, at any point, you feel that you cannot be a part of this expedition, I can point you to the closest exit to the ship. In fact, I will help you through the airlock.”
The Voice receded before Keryn spoke again, this time with a soft smile on her lips. “Now, are there any questions?”
The council members departed one at a time, having no dissent for Keryn’s plan. As the last couple left, Alcent stepped in front of Keryn and Adam, begging them to wait.
“You may not agree with them,” Alcent said, “but they are influential members of this ship. Many of the soldiers who helped win all of our freedom, yours included, once worked for one of those twelve men.”
“Then maybe it’s time these soldiers made their own path,” Adam grumbled from behind Keryn.
“Maybe you’re right,” Alcent conceded. “But some of these men have known nothing else but servitude for decades. You can’t expect them to become their own men overnight. You’d both do well to not make enemies so quickly.”
“Are you saying you won’t support us?” Keryn asked dangerously.
Alcent threw up his hands defensively. “You more than convinced me that we’re doing the right thing. I’ll even talk to the others. I’m sure they’ll support you too. I’m just recommending a different tact.”
“Once you’ve talked them into the plan,” Keryn explained, “get this ship ready for combat. I don’t imagine a Terran outpost is going to be undefended.”
Keryn grew restless as the ship covered the distance to Beracus. The men on board were not soldiers and hadn’t been trained as such. Many of her recommendations went unheeded and repairs were abysmally slow. She lost her temper frequently and relied on Adam to smooth over the relationships with those onboard.
When she wasn’t pacing, Keryn spent her time alternating between inspecting the weapons bays — where she found a storehouse of Deplitoxide rockets — and working in the computer room with a brilliant teenager named Wyck. Only sixteen years old, Wyck had been serving in Miller’s Glen in the communications tower of the spaceport. His knack for computers had made him invaluable in fooling hostile passing ships into believing that Miller’s Glen was an uninhabited planet. The same brilliance that earned him a job on the planet garnered him a job on board the Ballistae as well.
Almost immediately, Wyck had pointed out the shortcomings of the Terran computer system. “The Terrans spend all their time working on genetic and biological experiments but spend so little improving their existing technological advancements,” Wyck explained one day.
“They did invent the Deplitoxide missiles and blacked out all the suns in the known universe,” Keryn countered.
“Yes,” Wyck replied slowly, “but every one of those advancements are biological and organic weapons. Take this computer system as an example. Everything in it is encoded, but they’ve applied such a childish cipher that it takes me only minutes to crack and decode any file I want.”
“So have you found anything I can use?” Keryn asked.
Wyck shrugged. “Unfortunately, no. It doesn’t take very long to decode their files, but they saved and encoded everything. I mean everything! I’m not entirely sure, but this file looks like the recipe for grandmother’s short bread pudding. It’s these tedious files that are slowing me down.”
“Keep decoding,” Keryn urged. “Somewhere in there is something important. It’s just a matter of you finding it.”