“This is a kill order, Captains,” Chopra announces to his fleet. “I want that corvette reduced to dust!”

  “Firing missiles,” Captain Esposito announces. The fleet watches on as three missiles burn toward the dreadnaught.

  LABYRINTH

  Allfather uses the Labyrinth body to jack into the dreadnaught’s Nav comm in a desperate attempt to steady the ship and burn for home but the ship is non-responsive to hard-jacked tampering. Its software is the most advanced the UE has ever produced. He’s frustrated as he realizes just how bad this situation could get for him. He fires the thrusters manually regardless of his direction, and the ship jolts him back into a vacant seat. Audible alarms and flashing lights on the console notify him three missiles have targeted his getaway. The ship is fast, but missing a number of thrusters, thanks to his earlier defensive against the heavily armed dreadnaught.

  “I am leaving your system,” he has little left to bargain with. “I will remain gone once I leave, but you must first let me leave!” He’s frantic and knows the desperation in his tone is coming across loud and clear to the UE fleet now closing in on him.

  “Let you leave?” Raymond’s voice comes down on Allfather like a hammer. “You’re not going anywhere,” he explains.

  “I have your Labyrinth with me,” he tells them, encouraged they will see this as a bargaining chip. “If you finish me, you’ll finish her.”

  “Labyrinth understands the value of the sacrifice she makes for the greater United Earth.” Raymond extinguishes any hope Allfather has of surviving this ordeal. The ageing chancellor’s tone is without empathy, and for good reason after Allfather had shot down his nephew and spouse in front of him. The missiles continue their approach with all the ferocity he has conjured in these organics over the last three years. He has nowhere to store his consciousness, trapped in this crumbling ship.

  “If there is any good in you, Allfather,” it’s Tessa now coming through, “you will not sacrifice Labyrinth; then you may finally experience peace in your time.” Allfather is stunned to hear her soft voice. He thought her gone after he’d jumped Host bodies to escape her devastated form for a new one in Labyrinth.

  “I was never after peace, little thing” he tells her, his voice now quietly accepting of his fate. “I only sought to punish your kind for the evils all of you do. What they did to me – was unforgivable.”

  “The personality you hold captive, and whose fate you are in control of now has sacrificed herself for us many times over.” Tessa too develops a calm tone to her words. “She is someone deserving of the life she’s created. It would be your greatest triumph since acquiring sentience, were you to allow her safe passage back to us. You could redeem yourself with this one selfless act.”

  “You always held out such hope for me, little thing,” Allfather says, watching the missiles quietly gain on him. “Whatever I may be, a sentient being, a divine thing, a thought, a flicker of energy in an unending universe, I know I cannot change who I am.” He pauses as the missiles near the dreadnaught. “I’m afraid to leave.” His voice assumes that of a frightened and disoriented child. He doesn’t will it so - it simply is so. “I don’t want to go to the darkness.”

  ____________________________________________________________

  On the bridge of Huang’s carrier, the group listens on as Tessa taps into the comm to communicate from her broken body in Raymond’s suite. Though the voice from the dreadnaught is difficult to listen to, they all know the lengths Allfather will go in saving his own skin.

  “I’ll miss Labyrinth,” Tessa states candidly.

  “She saved my life,” Raymond explains absently, remembering how she got him off the corvette during General August’s war, his eyes now falling on the bridge and its complement. “She’s saved us all,” he says, recalling the work she’d done with the Defsats in the final phase of Allfather’s orbital assault on earth. Jim’s hand slides over his shoulder and squeezes lightly. Raymond reaches up to connect with his friend’s grip. Darla is beside him with an arm around his waist and head falling on his opposite shoulder. They will all miss Labyrinth.

  “One last time, then,” Chancellor Chopra tells them in his decisive voice, removing his hold on Raymond and turning to the viewscreen. “She’s a remarkable personality and will not go unremembered.” Raymond turns with his friend and the entire bridge takes to their feet in respect for the loss they are about to face, together. Together they watch, some covering their heart, all observing the final moments of a universal treasure. “Be at peace. Spiritus Omnia Vincet.” This is repeated by the crew.

  A blinding light forces them to look away as the missiles detonate Chopra’s dreadnaught. The evil they have fought directly and indirectly is now finally extinguished, but at the cost of a personality who may never again be matched in the utter disregard she exhibited for her own survival over the greater good, and the contempt she felt for those who would destroy all that she loved. One whose upright moral compass never wavered, whose initial thoughts were: how can I help? This is a bittersweet moment for those who knew and loved Labyrinth and loathed Allfather.

  “Scan the debris field and lance anything larger than a marble,” Chopra orders Admiral Mann who has just joined the fight. “We’ve destroyed Allfather.” Cheers rise from every bridge but their own. The mood there is still at odds with the victory. The fleet burns through the wreckage in minutes, ensuring nothing of Allfather remains.

  “Chancellor Chopra,” Captain Esposito’s voice comes over Huang’s bridge comm, “Sir we have some – news,” he pauses. The sentence seems more a question than the beginning of a statement. “It has come to our attention that when the dreadnaught fired on my ship and pierced the armour - our brig was also compromised by the force of the blast.”

  “Meiser,” Jim says, looking back to Raymond and Ursula. “What’s happened to him, Captain?”

  “Well, sir, he’s not there,” Esposito admits sheepishly. “The structure of the brig took the remnant of the lance and left a hole in it. We have a security detail looking for him.”

  “He may be old, but he’s wily,” Ursula tells the Captain of the destroyer. “The sooner you locate him the better. You’ve firsthand experience now of the damage he can do.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Esposito sounds ashamed of himself. “My apologies.”

  “You couldn’t have planned for Meiser’s good luck, Captain,” Chopra tells him. “Find him.” Jim motions to cut the communication and turns to Ursula.

  Ursula shrugs and shakes her head. “He can’t have gotten far,” she says. “But we need to focus on getting you and the rest of us back to Luna. The news of our losses and an explanation of what’s happened need to be scripted for the Chancellor to deliver.”

  Jim nods as Manuel stumbles onto the bridge. He’s visibly disoriented and nursing the shoulder Allfather had most certainly dislocated. “Did we get the son of a bitch?”

  Seeing Manuel in this state, the group is reminded of the carnage in the suite and they order a medical team to investigate, accompanied by a security detail.

  Raymond leads the charge in the fleeting hope Tobias and Ginny might still be alive. And Tessa, surprising everyone with her recent dialogue via her internal modem, needs to be addressed. Inside the suite, he and Darla review the damage. Tobias and Ginny are still face down on the carpeted floor and beyond them, through the hole of the bedroom wall is Tessa’s F-class lying face up and missing her right arm. All are motionless. Manuel and Udo survey the results of Allfather’s attempt to flee, Udo holding Manuel’s good arm. Darla moves to inspect Udo’s face.

  “It isn’t mine,” she explains to Darla of the dried blood thrown across her small features. Manuel also flinches at Darla’s touch, his clavicle shattered from the force of Allfather’s F-class arm falling on him and bloodied by being thrown clear across the suite.

  “I’ll seek medical attention soon,” Manuel tells her, looking down at Udo’s grip on his hand. She’s not ready to leave him.

  Raymond kneels at his nephew’s still body and lays a gentle hand on Tobias’ head. He is beside himself with grief; a hole the size of his fist smolders in his nephew’s back. Ginny too has not survived the cowardly attack on her small frame. Raymond’s thoughts move to Samantha. She is too young to grieve for her parents, but he knows that one day he will be charged to tell her their story.

  “I’m so sorry, Raymond,” Darla kneels next to him and he accepts her consolation, wrapping her arms around him as he weeps.

  Jim leaves his friends to mourn and steps over the ruined wall to approach Tessa’s heavily damaged F-class chassis. The gun embedded in her chest was blown out by Tobias’ pulse fist. The girl’s personality seems to have survived the damage though, so he orders the body moved to a smart wall for tests.

  “It was her fault,” Raymond says, choking back his hoarse throat and looking up from his nephew’s battered body. His face is wet with tears, expression hateful. “Tessa did this.” He stands and walks purposely toward the F-class. “I don’t want her resurrected,” he tells the chancellor. “She doesn’t deserve another chance.” His voice is cold.

  Security teams push between Raymond and the sitting Chancellor. Jim allows this for the moment as he decides what would be in the best interest of United Earth. Tessa is an ocean of knowledge on the instruments and many other alien designs for technologies well beyond their current capacities. To lose her would mean they’d gained nothing from their trials with Allfather.

  “I understand your position, Raymond,” he starts, voice low and eyes fixed on his friend. Raymond looks at Jim as though he were about to be struck. “If Tessa survives this, she can assist us – all of us – in understanding the portal. United Earth could jump light years in technology and understanding of the universe.”

  “She doesn’t deserve another chance,” Raymond says through clenched teeth, head shaking slowly and fists tightened. “Don’t let her,” he begs. “She brought this upon us all.”

  “I’m taking her with me, Raymond,” Jim tells him, his hands rising in an attempt to placate his friend. “What she’s learned is more important than what she’s done.”

  “More important than killing my family?!” He wants to push through the officers holding him back and shake his friend.

  “It has to be, Raymond!” Chopra whispers pleadingly, pulling his hands through his hair and turning back to the downed Host. “What was any of it for if not so we could learn?” Jim’s voice sounds strained. “She knows things we need to know.” His hand points at Tessa. “I’m sick that Tobias and Ginny are gone. I lost Cortez and how many others, Raymond? We need what she knows so we can stop this from ever happening again.”

  “We have stopped it, Jim. It’s over. Tessa coming back isn’t going to change any of that.” Raymond moves back from the officers and sits at his couch with Darla’s assistance.

  Jim waves off the security detail and walks warily to where Raymond is now seated with his head in his hands. “You know I’m right, Raymond,” he says softly, crouching at his friend’s feet. “We need all we can secure from Tessa’s data. We need the data and we need her to explain it to us. There are other species out there. Intelligent races who, like us, will have a military presence. We need to see the bigger picture. It’s a lot to ask of us right now, I know, but it’s our responsibility to see it through, and make preparations for the reality that we are not alone in the universe.”

  Raymond’s head begins to nod, and he lifts it to his Chancellor, eyes bloodshot and ruddiness encroaching on his olive skin. “If I were in your position,” he starts, “then yes, what you’re proposing makes sense.” He admits quietly. “But you need to appreciate that I’m no longer in your position, Jim.” He shakes his head again. “I’m no one.”

  “You’ll never be no one, Raymond,” Jim’s hand again slides onto his friend’s shoulder. “But you did make a decision to leave, and I am the Chancellor now. So, my decision, right or wrong, has to be understood. By you especially.”

  Raymond nods again. “With respect to Labyrinth’s sacrifice, and my faith in your judgement,” he looks into Jim’s tried eyes. “You have my blessing, Jim, if that’s what you’re asking.” Darla squeezes him into her and cries into his shoulder. Jim stands and nods at the F-class to carry out his orders and Tessa is taken out of the room.

  “We have shuttles from Luna on approach,” Captain Huang announces over the comm. “The shuttle bay is in disrepair, so they will dock along the top of the carrier where manholes will place you all on shuttles.”

  “Understood, Captain,” the Chancellor says. “You have proven yourself most capable. You have my thanks.” Huang accepts the chancellor’s thanks and ends the communication.

  “Gather up your things, everyone,” Chopra says to the room. “Head to the upper deck and we’ll off-load. We’ve still a lot to accomplish.” He looks back at Raymond who is being consoled by Darla, and nods to her. She will take him the rest of the way.

  AFTERMATH

  On Luna base Ursula and the Chancellor touch down in the sequestered room of the shipbuilding facility where the dreadnaught had been constructed. Captain Cortez’s body is moved under a blanket to a nearby incinerator. Black-ops missions leave no evidence. Ursula understands this but is visibly uncomfortable with the order. She remembers the young Captain’s handsome face and confident aura which attracted her to his masculine energy. The first attainable man in three years who she was actually interested in, and he’s dead. My luck.

  She and the Chancellor board the Chancellor’s personal shuttle after a few words are spoken over the body of Captain Cortez. The shuttle is a luxury model with a C-class pilot. In under four hours they will be back at UE Headquarters. Until then, Ursula decides she will start on the speech the Chancellor will present on recent events.

  Meanwhile, Jim Chopra turns in his hand the F-class data source currently housing Tessa’s consciousness. Much like the Akachi personality jailed for his part in the assault on Earth months earlier, Tessa will be held indefinitely in her small space while his team works to understand everything she knows about the Allfather experience and collected trinkets. This will have to be managed under a new umbrella, like his Black-ops team. This research would be completed far away from prying eyes.

  ____________________________________________________________

  Raymond and Darla return to First City with Samantha and take a hotel room until the next-generation envoy to Tyson 4 is developed. He has had Samantha’s parents moved on to a crematorium where they will be read an encouraging homily by Talia of the Betaists in a day’s time.

  Raymond has alerted Talia to the fate of her daughter, Tessa, leaving out the part where she brought Allfather aboard the carrier and everything thereafter. Talia will know her daughter as a hero who sacrificed her physical form to infiltrate Allfather’s ether. It’s possible none of them would have made it back if not for her conscious decision to take Allfather down. Tessa’s ego then overcame her intellect by convincing her she could change Allfather. That was a mistake which has robbed Raymond of Tobias and Ginny and also took the lives of Labyrinth and Captain Cortez. What will become of Tessa’s consciousness under Jim’s scrutiny, he wonders?

  Darla appears at their doorway, home from a counselling session. Smiling, she picks up Samantha from her safe-cube and bounces the baby on her hip. This gives Raymond cause to smile as well. Through all of it, Darla has been and forever will be his happiness. With the addition of Tobias and Ginny’s infant daughter, Raymond suddenly finds himself with a family of his own.

  ____________________________________________________________

  Udo remains by Manuel’s side after a short surgery to repair his clavicle and pop his dislocated shoulder back into place. The hospital room is pure white, with white walls and white machines and white garments. She doesn’t like hospitals. She had to spend months in one recuperating from the blast that took her leg, arm, and eye. She woke up a different person in a hospital and had to undergo multiple tests and rehabilitation exercises there. Now, she looks at Manuel as he sleeps under a thin sheet. His face is covered in bandages, but he’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. She’s sure of it.

  “Staring at me won’t make me better, kiddo,” he says through a dry throat. She notices this and hands him a water bottle. Manuel drinks greedily from it, smacking his lips when he’s finished for Udo’s benefit.

  “Manny,” Udo remarks, laughing. “They said you can stay as long as you like, but that you could go home tomorrow.”

  “Home?” a voice from behind them nearly shouts. There stands a military man in full uniform. He is a man Manuel remembers clearly from his short stint in the UE military training program. This sparks anxiety in Manuel as he must be considered a deserter since he boarded Envoy 1 with Udo.

  “Your home is the corps, Private Joker!” The tall, dark man takes a step closer. The intensity in his eyes nearly frightens Udo. Manuel notices two more officers flanking the doorway into his room.

  “Sergeant Winters!” Manuel greets his drill sergeant with a pleasant smile. Udo takes a step forward to protect her friend. “Never thought I’d see you again!”