Descent: Aries Wing

“I don’t know!” answered Jared. “She was with us when Commander Chambers came out of your office. She ran after him, but we haven’t seen her since.

“Dammit!” yelled Admiral Thompson. “The CED isn’t some kind of Romeo and Juliet, she should never had ran after him! Ugh…” the Admiral placed his forehand to his head. “Fools in love,” he uttered under his breath.

Then the comm lit up. “Admiral, sir.” It was Gerard. “The S.S. Sirius is on course to meet us in five minutes, and guess who’s at the helm.”

Admiral Thompson quickly perked up as he got up from his chair to leave his office. “Santa Claus. Tell St. Nick to be expecting me at the transporter bay. Time to get some answers!”

“Yes, sir!” replied Gerard.

“Commander, dismissed,” he said to Jared as the doors shut behind him.

“Yes sir,” Jared replied to no one but himself.

“Lieutenant, please leave us.”

“Yes, sir.”

As the lieutenant left the room to Bryan and Admiral Thompson, the stare down began. As soon as the doors closed, the Admiral asked, “Where is she.”

“Gone, sir,” replied Bryan flatly.

“Gone?” asked the Admiral inquisitively.

“Killed in battle, sir.”

Admiral gave an expression that reeked of disbelief. He began pacing around him in a circle. “You’re expecting me to believe that, Commander?”

Bryan didn’t answer.

“When did you plan on telling me that Ensign Jacobs was going to stow away and go along for the ride?” he asked.

“It was the right decision, sir. She could also interface with the orb, and…”

“…and she did it for the greater good?” he asked curiously. “I knew you’ve been hiding information from me, and from everything I’m hearing from you now, you’re not coming any cleaner.” He came full circle until he was inches from Bryan’s face. “Spill it Commander, now.”

Bryan continued to stare ahead as if the Admiral wasn’t there. “She requested to join me on the mission, and I accepted. She proved to be the deciding factor in the fight with Gonzalez and T’baxla, however T’baxla was able to kill her.” Keeping up the shield against T’baxla seemed like nothing compared to keeping his emotions under control in the presense of the Admiral.

“What else?” asked the Admiral. “What of the orb?”

“Lost, sir,” came Bryan’s dry response.

“Lost?” asked the Admiral. “Define ‘Lost.’”

“The orb is no longer in my possession, sir,” he replied.

“Who has it?” demanded the Admiral.

And with that, Bryan then looked the Admiral squarely in the eyes. He didn’t have to say a word at that point, as the Admiral knew. He might not have the details as to how or why or where, but the answer was sufficient.

“I guess,” the Admiral said, “that explains this.” He handed Bryan a folder, containing a sheet of paper. “We found this when we were searching your quarters for Ensign Jacobs.” Bryan took the folder from him as the Admiral continued to lock his gaze on Bryan, his stone cold expression turning into a wicked grin. “Lost,” he repeated. After nodding twice he briskly walked out of the transporter bay. “Good work, Commander!” he called back as he left the transporter room.

Bryan sighed, the hard part of the return trip over. He fumbled with the folder, removing the paper from inside. What was on it was nothing short of stunning.

It was, for lack of a better description, a photograph. It was Natalie, her back facing the picture, the upper half of her uniform tattered and frayed, standing amid the wreckage of a giant ship, against the backdrop of a red giant and a field of stars.

And Bryan thought he was done with the tears.

The replay of the ships colliding and destroying themselves was a particularly amazing sight. It seemed as though the D’mandrian ship just instantly exploded, something a ship that size shouldn’t do.

But what was more amazing was the scene after the explosion. It was almost as if a second explosion took place, this one lasting several minutes, getting brighter and brighter, before suddenly ceasing.

Finally, something that could be mistaken for a shooting star if there were an atmosphere lifted itself from the wreckage and into the star above.

Paul Dravis just smiled to himself. “Our luck couldn’t get any better.” He stood up in the center of the bridge, and quickly barked the order, “Prepare the God Killer.”

She thought she was prepared for this. She had travelled for billions of years among the coldness of space, waiting for someone or something to find her. Eons of nothingness was nothing new to her.

However, having consciousness was quite new, at least from the perspective of being alone for eternity. Despite spending some days exploring the inner reaches of TZ-39241, the excitement of being part of a star quickly lost its luster as time wore on. She missed Bryan greatly, but knew returning to him would be dangerous, as she would just be found again. At least inside the star, she was relatively safe.

That wasn’t all that Natalie was concerned about, however. Over the course of the last few days, her body was changing in ways that she didn’t understand. At first, she believed it to be a side effect of the merger. However, after examining her body on a molecular level, she quickly figured out what the source of the change was.

Hmm. Perhaps she was going to have to go home after all. She would need to prepare for this.