As Arthur and Selene were stepping through the portal, he felt weightlessness, as the emptiness of space pressed around them. Arthur’s reflexes kicked in as he surrounded himself and Selene with a telekinetic barrier to trap the air from Thyrandel. Even though he didn’t need it, it was different for Selene.

The next moment as they finally stepped out of the portal completely, they were met with the darkness of space, a cold field of drifting shattered metal. Weak starlight flickered off torn metallic surfaces, suspended in a vacuum.

‘Selene… we’re in space.’

Selene didn’t flinch, Transcended-rank powerhouses weren’t exactly fragile. Even though she couldn’t ‘breathe’ in space she could hold her breath for multiple hours, and could use mana to cover her body, forming a life-support shell and survive in space for some time. If she was surprised, her expression didn’t show it as Arthur had already surrounded them with a protective barrier.

Selene’s golden eyes moved slowly over the floating wreckage. “Where are we?”

Arthur shook his head. “I don’t know, let me check, we weren’t supposed to arrive in a place like this.”

The space here was full of… debris. Thousands of metallic shards, some the size of fists, some large as houses. Twisted metallic beams, burned-out components, torn cables and scattered armor platings, all drifting weightlessly in the empty space.

Arthur spun slowly, scanning the wreckage field, this place looked like an abandoned battlefield. Then a particular wreckage caught his eye, a thick slab rotating lazily, it was a broken metal door, charred black around the edges.

The faded text that was written on it was something Arthur was familiar with, ‘Q-2 C-13.’

It was written in the language used by the UFE, and the writing indicated it was once the door of a barrack’s quarter.

Arthur’s eyes widened, and for a moment, his entire body went numb.

“No way…” he muttered.

Recognition hit him like a punch to the gut, this wasn’t some random debris.

This was…

“This was the Dreadnought…” he whispered. “The battlestation.”

Selene looked at him slowly. “This was your base?”

Arthur nodded once, as his jaws tightened. The last time he’d been here, the battlestation had been intact, bustling with crew, officers, and ECHOs. Now… nothing remained but drifting corpses of metal.

A slow, dark dread crept up his spine, but he suppressed it. He didn’t want to come to any conclusions, before he knew for certain what happened here.

He released a small swarm of spherical micro-probes, each the size of a fingernail. They zipped outward in all directions, scanning, mapping, sifting through the wreckage for anything intact.

“Guardian,” Arthur said quietly. “Search for the black box if you can. Or any information still salvageable from here.”

[Understood, Commander. Deploying multi-spectrum sweep.]

As the Guardian took over the probes, Arthur pulled out something he hadn’t touched for a long time, a small matte-black device with three triangles etched into the surface.

It was an ECHO communication link, which uses Quantum-entanglement for transfer of information; they could be used in any parts of the galaxy to transmit information. 

If anyone was alive… this would find them. He powered it on with hope in his heart, as a hologram appeared showing the list of communication channels and started scanning them for any active ones.

The few seconds that passed felt like hours to Arthur, as he grew anxious. Selene, sensing Arthur’s agitation from his irregular heartbeat, shifted closer to him and gently slipped her hand into his, she tightly held onto it to reassure him.

Just as Arthur’s chest tightened with dread, and his mind spiralled into thinking of the worst outcome humanity faced.

A soft beep echoed from the communication device, and the holographic screen blinked and came to a halt showing a stable and active channel.

Arthur inhaled sharply and spoke, “This is Commander Arthur speaking,” he said, his voice was steady but tight with tension. “Is anyone there?”

From the other side a response came immediately as a woman spoke, “Commander… Could you please verify your credentials?”

Arthur exhaled in relief. “Alpha-005KITE,” he replied immediately. “Requesting coordinates of the nearest human base. I’m at the last known location of Battleship Dreadnought MK XI-909.”

There was a pause on the other side, likely her running his ID. She could have checked his communication device for his identity but during war, soldiers could lose their communication device which could be used by the enemy for sensitive information that was the reason for her to verify his credentials.

The woman finally spoke again as she stuttered, “C…Commander… you were declared MIA one year and three months ago. H-How did you appear in an enemy-controlled sector?”

Arthur sighed, feeling her suspicion, but he felt it was fair as anyone would be suspicious after hearing from someone who had been missing for more than a year and suddenly appearing in the enemy territory.

But he didn’t have time for slow back-and-forth explanations. So, using Technopathy he hacked into her system through the communication channel and got the locations of the human bases which were closest to his current location. He also downloaded the current war scenarios between the humans and the Chimarians, and the whereabouts of his teammates.

All that took place in two seconds. He spoke again, but his voice was a tone colder now.

“Contact Admiral Kane,” he said. “And inform him of my return.”

He paused, his eyes narrowing as he sifted through the war-data.

“And tell him… I’m rejoining the war.”

The woman wanted to ask more questions. “But Commander…” He cut off the connection without letting her finish as he didn’t want to waste anymore time trying to explain his situation.

He turned to Selene, and saw her watching him silently, and forced a small smile.

“I’m sorry you have to see all this. There’s a war going on between humans and an alien species called the Chimerians.” He paused. “So, I might not get to show you around the way I planned.”

Selene reached out and wrapped her arms around his, leaning into him gently.

“Arthur,” she said, her tone was soft but resolute, “I didn’t follow you across worlds just for sightseeing.”

“I can wait for that,” she said quietly. Arthur swallowed hard, suppressing his urge to kiss her then and there as it was not the right time for that.

Selene smirked softly, sensing his gaze and intention. “Now go and win this war.”

Arthur grinned despite everything. “I plan to do just that.”

He extended a hand, and space in front of them was occupied by a sleek, matte-gray vessel shaped like a spearhead.

It looked like a replica of the Epsilon-class battleship used by the UFE. Except this one was forged with Alloy-X, making it far stronger and lighter.

Arthur and Selene stepped aboard through a hatch. The interior lit up instantly, as holographic controls, energy conduits and HUD displays projecting the nearest star systems appeared.

“Guardian,” Arthur said quietly. “Take us to the nearest UFE base.”

[Affirmative Commander, coordinates are locked. Wormhole generation is in process.]

Arthur slid into the command chair. Selene sat beside him, watching him quietly as he stared forward, his eyes burning with determination.

And the battleship shot forward like a grey comet streaking through the void and vanished into the wormhole.

…

Solace Prime

The atmosphere in the space station was tense. The war had reached a point where even the veterans felt the nerve racking tension.

Admiral Kane sat at his office, surrounded by a curved table. The hologram of generals, tacticians, analysts, and even two members of the Senate were in front of him. And a holographic projection on his table showed the shrinking frontlines across the edge of the galaxy. Red sectors vastly outnumbered the blue ones marking UFE-controlled territory.

Kane rubbed the bridge of his nose as the top brass droned on.

“…Commander-level entities have been sighted in Delta Serpentis, Euphratia Outpost, and the Cygus line. We’ve lost three more colonies.”

“…Echo battalions are unable to break through Champion-level defenses. Losses exceeded 48% last week.”

“…If this continues, we’ll need to consider evacuating the Rim-sector…”

A general suddenly slammed his fist into his table, and everyone shut up. He breathed deeply, straightening his posture, his uniform crisp despite the growing exhaustion in his eyes. Even Kane straightened up after the general’s outburst.

“We cannot retreat from entire sectors,” he said firmly. “If we move our troops out, we will be abandoning hundreds of billions.”

Another decorated general cleared his throat. “General Garreth, unless we can kill even one of those Champion-class monsters… Do you think our troops would survive, and that too without Commander Sully’s presence?”

Kane’s jaw tightened and he clenched his fist under the table, as he heard the mention of Arthur. He was the only one who could fight the Champions. Hell, he had even killed one single handedly.

And every person in this meeting knew it. Some resented him, some even worshiped the name Arthur like a lucky charm.

But one year and three months ago, after he killed one of the Champions… he had vanished out of thin air. Leaving humanity without its strongest asset.

And leaving the UFE with a hole in their decision-making that no officer, no matter how powerful, could fill.

A senator leaned forward. “General Garreth, we must face reality. Commander Sully may have been captured or worse, he might have joined the enemy.”

These rumors had been circulating among the upper echelons of the UFE. That Arthur had either been compromised or kidnapped. But Admiral Kane felt these rumors were baseless, and knew there was a deeper mystery behind Arthur’s disappearance.

The meeting continued, and Admiral Kane sighed as he listened to the orders given by the top brass at the end. He really hoped Arthur was here, as he was the only hope for humanity to get out of this deadlock created by the Chimerians. 

As the meeting came to an end, he gave the official salute, and the meeting room was bathed in a moment of darkness as the holo screens flickered off.

***

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