The Last Light / LASTLIGHT

Everyone dreams of being brave. But stare into the black and when death stares right back, you may find yourself wrapped in the warm comfort of cowardice…and realize the only person you were able to kill was yourself…

We weren’t blind glory hounds, we tried chartering transports for an evacuation. Turns out nobody wants to risk a small fortune evacuating refugees who can’t pay from a conflict zone that might never return their ships in one piece. Crazy. I know.

So we emptied the colony’s credit reserves, drafted civilians to join our peacekeepers and hired the best mercs we could afford. We knew what was coming, and without help we knew there was no chance any of us were going to make it.

The mercs were supposed to meet us in orbit, but the only thing waiting for us was silence…and a despair that grew with each passing hour.

A jump signature finally flared on screen and the onboard AI chimed through the ship…

“Vanduul Escort Carrier Class – Designation, Hostile”

Before we could accept the hopelessness of our situation a second blip lit up on radar and again the ship’s AI droned in that unapologetic cold voice:

“Vanduul Advanced Destroyer Class – Designation, Terminal Threat – Recommendation, Tactical Retreat”

We could all see the magnified image on our screens, and just as I was searching for the words to convince myself we were somehow going to be ok, an unencrypted wide band communiqué came through…

“Risk assessment updated – threat level unacceptable – unjustifiable loss predicted – 50% refund granted”

“Unjustifiable”…Bastard mercs had waited to see what they would be up against, and now that their mediocre payday had turned into a war against two cap ships, they were going to take our money and let us rot…dead men can’t complain to the Advocacy after all. Everyone in orbit knew it, and now, so did those animals.

A flood of new contacts appeared on radar, Scythes…more than I could count, or wanted to.

The command to open fire was followed by a quick succession of impacts and the loss of gravity, our shields were all that saved us from an instant death. I disengaged from my post to start repairs when everything seemed to come to a grinding halt as all eyes turned away from the blinding glare of an antimatter warhead detonating in the distance.

Our “flagship”, a mining platform rigged with a few torpedo tubes and turrets, had been reduced to a few chunks of metal floating around the empty space where that impossibly bright ball of light had been just a moment ago.

The shock pulse was fast, silent and I remember thinking for a split second that it was beautiful, right until it hit us, sending me flying into a bulkhead and an irresistible darkness.

Most have the comfort of escaping nightmares, I pray you never wake up to one…I was alone, nothing but shattered bodies and torn hulls to comfort me. The warmth of blood in my hair and the taste of it in my mouth. The shock of still being alive subsiding, floating in the deafening quiet, it finally, truly dawned on me:

“It doesn’t matter…none of it mattered…we’re all going to die. I’m going to die.”

The Destroyer was in the distance now, entering into geosynchronous orbit with the colony, undoubtedly to start its bombardment.

The Escort Carrier was still lumbering nearby, its Scythes moving through the hulking debris and remnants of our desperate fleet thrown together at the last minute to defend our home, the frontier colony that no one else even knew the name of, much less cared about.

The bastards were hunting…no…they were culling us. We were now slaves, entertainment…food.

Lost in a terrible burning impotent rage, I reached for my helmet’s release. The visor prompt to confirm stared through me, as if alive, and I hesitated.

In that solitary moment of pause, everything changed.

A thin flash of light streaked through the top of the carrier and for a second I didn’t know what it was, until the eruption of explosions that followed shattered the bridge tower from within into countless dull pieces of junk.

Still half dazed and more than a little numb, my eyes were not my own in that moment. Beams of blue plasma rained down on that demon’s ark and I finally looked up and beheld the most glorious, beautiful sight of my life: an Alexander AWD Class Destroyer barreling down with all its guns firing, ships launching from the deck and its cannons incessantly pounding the carrier into submission.

After the second and third rail gun salvo, the carrier buckled, its power plant went offline and the cascade of secondary explosions that preceded the massive death blast was a welcome sight that sent waves of vengeful satisfaction crashing over me.

My euphoria quickly subsided, I realized it wasn’t over, as the enemy Destroyer was turning to face the new, unknown threat. The ensuing sight was as terrible as it was great, the two destroyers hurling themselves at one another, firing all cannons, missile pods and guns, the Terran fighters entwined in a swirling dance of fire and death with the horde of scythes, permeating the entire area with missile trails, engine exhaust, debris and chaos, the rage of the conflict spilling over to surrounding mining decks, fuel depots and utility stations until everything was engulfed in a grey blue cloud of toxic smoke.

There’s no such thing as a lightning storm in space, but that day I came as close to seeing one as I ever will. As the cloud reverberated with silent explosions of fire and light, a massive blinding blast forced me to turn away. There are few things that can cause an explosion like that, and I knew in that moment that one of the destroyers had been snuffed out.

As I forced myself to look back, amidst the mass of death, destruction and darkness, something was reflecting the light of the system’s solitary blue giant. The Terran Destroyer emerged from the clouded debris field, trailing fire, smoke and pieces of its enemy behind it.

The loudness of my thoughts died down and I finally let myself hear the soft pang of my suit’s low air alarm.

As color faded from sight, and the soft grays were slowly washed over by the overwhelming blackness, I faded into oblivion with a quiet satisfaction.

I opened my eyes, as though for the first time, in a room unfamiliar to me, flooded with the dim blue light of the star outside. As I slowly turned, I saw a tall young man standing over me with hair as white as the scarf that was tucked into his uniform.

“You’re safe now, the colony is safe, try and stay calm, we’re going to take care of you.”

All I could muster through the tears, pain and confusion was the same question I couldn’t let go of from the moment I saw that light pierce my tormentor.

“Who…are you?”

A half hidden smile formed on his face, and with a voice as soft as it was strong, he answered me as a father would.

“You’re aboard the Archangel, and we are The Last Light”.