Ivan Kal - Sanctuary

Eric nodded and sent the codes to the ship’s computer where Opal could access them.

“Trigger the self-destruct when the enemy ships close the distance. I want to take the bastards with us.”

“Only one ship is approaching, the other two are keeping their distance.” Opal said.

“Well, one is better than none.” Eric said.

“It was an honor Ship Master.” Opal said.

“Likewise Opal, likewise.” Eric said, and lost consciousness.

Opal waited for three minutes until the enemy ship came into blast range. She triggered the self-destruct sequence. It forced the fusion reactor that powered the ship to produce more power, while no safeguards were active. Soon the reactor blew, and the Voyager became a fast expanding ball of white fire. The blast engulfed the shuttle that the enemy ship was sending. A moment later Voyager was gone, along with the entire back part of the enemy ship. An instant later the ship exploded, the debris flying in all directions. There was nothing left of Voyager, but dust.

Olympus city

Laura walked the long corridors of the palace on her way to one of the meeting rooms. She was dreading the duty ahead of her. She tried to think of an easy way to tell Tomas the news, but couldn’t think of one. Navigated through the enormous palace by her implant, she finally arrived at her destination. She steeled herself and entered.

She was the one that called for this meeting. There were four people inside. Civil leader Nadia Wilson, she was the people’s voice. Minister Seo-yun Hyeon, she was in charge of most everything concerning technology. Field Master Elias Bakas, he was in charge of the army. Elias was Laura’s counterpart. And then Tomas Klein. They were sitting at a round table, which Laura knew was a holodesk. Tomas was sitting directly across from the entrance. The table had only five chairs. Laura made her way to the free chair, across from Seo-yun and at Tomas’s right.

“So, what is the reason for this meeting Laura? It sounded serious.” Tomas asked.

Laura steeled herself for a moment before she spoke.

“There was an incident.” She said hesitantly.

“What kind of an incident?” Nadia asked.

“We lost the Voyager.” She said.

“Lost? You mean we lost communications?” Seo-yun asked.

“No. The Voyager was destroyed.” Laura said.

“What happened?” Tomas asked.

“Voyager entered a system and proceeded to the planet. They sent a shuttle team to the surface, as per protocol. When the shuttle returned, Voyager’s sensors detected missiles. Ship Master Eric Donaldson ordered countermeasures immediately, and they managed to take down all but three missiles. The ship survived the three hits, but the sensors then detected three ships on an intercept course. Voyager tried to get to the hyperspace barrier, but the hostile ships had faster acceleration. They disabled the ship, presumably killing most of the crew. Seeing that there was no way for them to escape, Ship Master Eric Donaldson engaged the self-destruct sequence.” Laura said.

“Do we know who attacked them? Was there any attempt at communication?” Elias asked.

“No.” Laura said, answering both questions.

Tomas closed his eyes and covered them with his hand, Seo-yun reached over and covered his other hand with hers. She leaned in and whispered something in his ear. A moment later Tomas nodded. He turned to Laura.

“Do we know if those ships are the same as the ones the Traveler encountered?” He asked.

“We believe that they were not. The drives are similar, as is the material they are made of. But they don’t look anything alike.” Laura answered.

“But we can’t be sure.” Elias said.

“No. Though the ships that attacked Voyager didn’t even attempt to communicate. But then again, neither did we. And I doubt it would have made a difference. Those that the Traveler encountered on the other hand, did establish communications. And it was them that initiated the talks. I believe that they are two separate races.” Laura said.

“Inform Ship Master Kisaragi of the Voyager’s fate. And make sure she is prepared to turn and run away.” Tomas said. “Now, Voyager was on a long term exploration mission, and it didn’t arrive in that system from here. I’m assuming that there is no chance of them being followed here?” Tomas asked. Seo-yun and Laura shook their heads, and Tomas nodded. “Good. Laura, I will release all available resources and personnel to the Fleet. I want the ships ready as fast as possible. After they are finished we will talk about expanding the Fleet. If there is a hostile race in our neighborhood, we won’t be able to wait for the younger generations to grow up. We are going to need to draw from other departments, army mainly.” He said looking at Elias. “And Nadia, I need you to schedule a conference for this evening, I need to tell the people what happened.”

“Yes Tomas.” Nadia said.

Tomas got up, and nodded at the rest of them. “All of you have things to do, I suggest you get to it. I have a speech to write.” With that, he walked out of the room. Seo-yun got to her feet and followed him out.

Laura looked at Nadia and Elias. “You think he will be okay?” She asked.

“Seo-yun will take care of him.” Elias sad, and Nadia agreed.

“We have other things to worry about.” Nadia said.

“You are right.” Laura said.

Tomas entered his personal office in the south wing of the palace. He locked the door behind him, and walked over to a reading chair in the corner. He leaned back and closed his eyes. A moment later he heard the door opening. He remembered that Seo-yun had his access codes. A second later he felt a hand on his knee.

“Tomas…” Seo-yun said.

“I don’t think I am right for this job.” Tomas said.

“Of course you are. Didn’t we already go over this. It is not your fault.” Seo-yun said.

“I know, but I still feel helpless.”

She didn’t say anything. She just stood there, anchoring him. A few minutes later, he finally opened his eyes. He looked down to see Seo-yun looking up at him. He saw a touch of trepidation in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, I won’t lock myself away again. But that doesn’t mean that I can just ignore feeling like this.”

“Everyone is here to help you. You are not alone.” She said.

Tomas smiled at her. “I know.”

He got up and walked over to his desk. He turned it on and then looked at Seo-yun.

“Help me with the speech?”

“Of course.”

Three days later Adrian was still shocked by the events that Tomas Klein revealed in the vid conference. Voyager was destroyed by an alien race. And Eric Donaldson was dead. He remembered the previous Ship Master of Athena kindly. And Adrian couldn’t believe that he was dead. The records of the incident were made public, so Adrian reviewed and found that there was nothing Eric could have done. His ship was outmatched. The news pushed Adrian to immediately jump on the data regarding the dreadnought class ship. Three days in, he was barely half way through.

The ship design took a radical change from the previous ships built. Older ships were good, functional, but they were not going to win any beauty contests. The new ships on the other hand will look a lot different. When you looked at them you would immediately know that they are ships made for war. The dreadnought class was massive, and menacing. The dreadnought specs put the ship at 820 meters long, 380 meters wide at its widest, and 140 meters tall at its highest. The front of the ship looked like a double-headed axe head. The middle part of the ship was thinner, and covered in turrets. Around the half-way point two stubby wings protruded bringing the ship’s width to its widest, and the ship’s height also increased equally below and above the ship, bringing its height to its highest. That last part the designers named the Citadel. It was where the command center was situated.