Chapter 2 #2
Energy readings unlike anything I’d ever seen were emanating from the Destrans’ moon below.
Massive power signatures that dwarfed even the combined output of all seven established Solas.
The readings were spiking and fluctuating in patterns that made no sense.
They weren’t coming from the Solas, thankfully, but from a sector not too far away from them.
My first instinct was to jump away immediately.
Whatever was happening down there was none of my business.
I was a transport pilot, not an explorer or a warrior.
My job was to deliver supplies and stay out of trouble, not to investigate mysterious energy phenomena that could probably vaporize my ship without effort.
But as I watched the sensor readings, something nagged at me. The energy patterns weren’t chaotic—there was a rhythm to them, a sense of purpose that suggested intelligence behind the power. And the location…
The strongest energy source was too close to the city for my comfort.
My people were down there. The Destrans who had tried to comfort me through my grief, who had shown me nothing but kindness despite my determination to remain isolated.
The healers who would have loved Pira, the navigators who would have appreciated Jorik’s enthusiasm.
The Destran people had been through so much and had finally found this sanctuary where their Solas could grow and flourish.
They could be in danger.
I stared at the sensor display for a long moment, my mind racing through possibilities.
It could be nothing—some natural phenomenon that the Destrans were already handling.
But it could also be a dangerous threat that required immediate attention.
Or it could be something else that fell into the vast category of things I didn’t understand and didn’t want to get involved with.
The smart thing would be to activate my long-range communications and report what I’d observed to the proper authorities. Let someone else investigate. Let someone else take the risks.
Let someone else be responsible.
There was something else, too. Something I couldn’t quite name—a strange pull in the back of my mind, like a whisper at the edge of hearing.
An urge that made no logical sense, drawing me toward that energy signature with an intensity that unsettled me.
It wasn’t guilt or duty driving me now. It was something deeper, something that felt almost like… recognition?
I shook my head, trying to clear the odd sensation. Probably just adrenaline, or some side effect of the energy readings interfering with my ship’s systems.
But even as the thought formed, I knew I couldn’t do it. Not when walking away might mean finding more bodies, more evidence of my failure to protect those who deserved protection.
“Fuck it,” I muttered, and my hands grabbed the controls before my conscious mind had fully made the decision.
The transport banked toward the energy signature, the hull straining as I turned faster than the bulky vessel preferred. Whatever was happening down there, I needed to see it for myself. Needed to know the city was safe, the people were unharmed.
Needed to know if this time—just this once—I might be able to make a difference.
The ship plunged back through the atmosphere with reckless speed.
My piloting skills pushed to their limits as I navigated the turbulent air currents around the massive energy disturbance.
The closer I got, the more intense the readings became, until my instruments were screaming warnings about dangerous energy levels and electromagnetic interference.
And the stronger that inexplicable pull became. It tugged at something deep in my chest, a sensation that was part longing, part inevitability. As if whatever was down there had been waiting for me specifically. The feeling made my skin crawl even as it drew me forward with increasing urgency.
What the hell is wrong with me? I thought, gripping the controls tighter. I’d never experienced anything like this before—this sense of being called, summoned by something I couldn’t see or understand.
And then I saw it.
The crystalline formations outside the city glowed with brilliant silver-blue light.
Their faceted surfaces pulsed in complex patterns that hurt to look at directly.
Energy arced between them in sheets of pure force, creating a localized aurora that painted the sky in impossible colors.
At the center of it all, something vast and alien was taking shape.
A structure grew from the rock itself, twisting upward like the awakening of some primordial god.
My hands shook as I brought the transport down close enough to investigate but far enough away to avoid the worst of the energy discharges. The readings were off the charts now, but buried within all that, I could detect something else.
Life signs. Correction: a single human life sign, faint but unmistakable.
Someone was down there, at the center of that maelstrom of alien power. Someone who might need help.
For the first time in over ten cycles, I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed my emergency kit and headed for the transport’s exit ramp. My heart pounded with a mixture of fear and desperate hope.
Maybe this time I wouldn’t be too late.