Purge of Prometheus

begun filtering back to us. A few galaxies, including Protagon, have already replied. It seems that the message wasn’t just a bluff.” A little anger and stress crept into her soft voice. “If this is already happening, then we can really expect that… how many galaxies total?”

“Thirty-two,” Yen replied, exhausted.

“Then we can expect thirty-two galaxies to be without light or heat unless we do something soon.”

“Ma’am,” interrupted Vangore, the Wyndgaart communications officer. “I’ve got a message coming in. It’s coded high priority.”

“From another galaxy?” she asked.

“Negative, Captain,” he replied. “It’s being sent from a cargo transport traveling in sector Alpha-Alpha-Two- One.”

The members on the bridge turned to the display screen as the universe map highlighted in the designated sector and zoomed in. A dual sun galaxy appeared in the display, showing a pair of inhabitable planets.

“What’s the message?” Captain Hodge asked without looking away from the display screen.

Vangore paused, his head tilted to the side as he replayed the message. Straightening, he turned to the Captain with an astonished look. “The transport claims that the entire Terran Fleet just dropped out of heavy acceleration in their sector.”

Captain Hodge sat up straight in her chair. “I thought the enemy was in orbit deep in Terran space?”

“I’m running a scan now,” replied Merric, the Pilgrim tactical officer, as he brought up reports on his display. “Ma’am, our ships have gone in for a visual. They were decoys, ma’am, every one of them. The decoys are sending off false signals that make them look like the Fleet.”

“And no one thought to look?” she cried, indignant. “We plan the greatest assault in Interstellar Alliance history and no one thinks to get a visual on the one element that could put our entire plan in jeopardy?” She took a deep breath as her cheeks flushed red with fury. “Don’t we have a space station in orbit at Alpha-Alpha-Two- One?”

“Roger, ma’am,” replied Vangore, “but I can’t raise them on any of our hails.”

They’re already dead. Yen heard the words whispered in the thoughts of all the people in the room. He felt his skull begin to ache again as his telepathic power came unwanted.

“Then they’re already gone,” Yen stated, echoing the thoughts of all the officers on the bridge. Turning to the Captain, he continued. “Ma’am, I strongly recommend that we get the ground force back on ships immediately and give pursuit. If the Terran Fleet is already in Alliance space, then they already have the advantage. The only way to regain the upper hand is to pull heavy accelerations and get ahead of them.”

“Squadron Commander, your opinion would be more valuable if we had some idea of their destination,” Merric replied condescendingly.

Captain Hodge turned to Yen with an expectant expression. “Where do you think they’re going?”

“Exactly where I’d go if I were invading Alliance space,” he replied. “I’d go straight for High Council. I’d attack Arcendor.”

Captain Hodge nodded in agreement. “Magistrate Tylgar, set a course for Arcendor at once.” As the pilot set the course, the Captain seemed lost in thought and concern. Yen understood why. Arcendor wasn’t only the location of the Parliament, the civilian command for the entire Alliance. It was also the location of the Academy, the training ground for all new officers and pilots in the Fleet. But, most importantly for Captain Hodge, Arcendor was the Avalon home world. The Terran’s most likely course of action would also destroy her estate and kill her family.

Captain Hodge pulled the communication console closer to her and entered her command code into the panel. With the Revolution as the flagship for the invading Fleet, Captain Hodge was the only commander in orbit around Earth that had access to send out a Fleet-wide announcement, including to ground forces on the planet.

“Attention all Alliance forces, this is the Revolution,” her voice echoed throughout every ship and communication channel used by the Alliance. “We have scored a major victory over a complex and difficult adversary today.” She paused as distant cheers were heard throughout the ship. “The Terran threat has been struck a nearly mortal blow today by the combined might of the Fleet and ground forces. However, our work is not done. Much like the hydra of mythology, we have cut off the head of the beast but have not slain its body. We could stop now, satisfied that for now the beast is defeated. But if left to rest, the body of the hydra will grow two heads where only one stood before.

“The hydra’s body, the Terran Fleet, still threatens our survival and the well-being of the entire Alliance. Even now, the Terrans move into Alliance space in a maneuver as devious and underhanded as we have come to expect from these honorless monsters. They move against your homes, your families, and your livelihoods. They threaten to destroy all that you have and all that you love. They hydra’s head has been severed, but its body still thrashes blindly against your homes.

“It is time we put an end to this monster, once and for all. We did not fly halfway across the known universe simply to strike the head from the beast and then limp home to await its rebirth. Today, I lead you all to battle against the rest of the Terran monster. I know you all are tired. I know that the battle for Earth has been hard fought with many losses to our brave soldiers. But I ask that you not give up now. I ask that you find strength for one more fight and help me destroy the Terran Fleet once and for all.”

Her noble speech done, Captain Hodge began issuing commands. “All ground forces, report to transport ships for immediate lifts to your awaiting Cruisers and Frigates. Ships of the Alliance Fleet, prepare your navigation and tactical stations to receive new coordinates for immediate departure once ground forces are secured. Ladies and gentlemen, soldiers of Alliance, today marks the beginning of the end for a war that has lasted much too long. Revolution, signing off.”

The crew on the bridge smiled warmly at her speech, feeling bolstered by her words. Only Yen still frowned. She noticed his displeasure and arched an eyebrow. “You didn’t approve of the speech?”

“You conveniently forgot to mention that all their loved ones will die anyway, once the Deplitoxide finds their galaxies’ suns,” he said bitterly.

“I didn’t forget,” she hissed quietly enough that only Yen and she could hear. “Some things are better not mentioned. Right now, they need to think the end is in sight. They need hope more than anything else, and telling them about what’s happening on their home worlds will rob them of that hope”

Yen felt his headache spreading, tingling in his shoulders and arms. “Our soldiers are not to be toyed with. They are not your playthings!”

“No,” she yelled at him, startling the rest of the crew, “but they are soldiers and they will follow orders, much like I expect you to do. Our conversation is done, Squadron Commander!”

Yen spun and stormed off the bridge as transport ships began docking with the Cruiser. He stormed through the hall, heading toward his cabin, and shoved aside crew and workers who ran hurriedly to their stations in preparation for departure from orbit. By the time he reached his cabin, the air around him shimmered violently and the power flowed visibly from his body in pale blue tendrils of psionic power, feeding off his anger. Like parasites, the tendrils drained his own strength to fuel theirs, leaving him weak as he staggered into his cabin. He stumbled toward the table in the center of the room, his black eyes glazed and unseeing and his thin lips pressed tightly together, drained of blood. As he leaned heavily against the table, one of the tendrils lashed out and struck the chair nearby, shattering its back and twisting the metal frame.

Closing his eyes tightly, he concentrated on reining in the power; he tried to pull the lashing tendrils back within his body. Sweat broke out across his handsome face as he strained. The force of restraining his power felt like an attempt to harness the might of a supernova and force it into his skull. The strength of his psychic power seemed too great to be contained in within his weak form. Struggling, he regulated his breathing and chanted his mantra, slowly at first as he fought for breath, soon relaxing into the familiar cadence he’d used as long as he could remember.

Yen had once been a master of his power, his strength evolving over the past few years into a formidable might. But since overextending himself in order to defeat the Terran psychic, his ability to manage his power was running like sand through his fingers. He retained enough control to push people aside or destroy a computer screen, but the true power had grown its own sentience and no longer desired to respond to his command. A reflection of his own darkness and anger, his psionic energy had become dangerous to everyone around him.

As he pondered this shift in domination, his power slowly receded until nothing of its uncontrolled self remained visible. Yen that stood in the room, alone and exhausted. Rushing into the bathroom, he felt the bile rush