The Cycles of Revelation Series

Artifact of the Dawn: Helpless (A Queer Sci-Fi Adventure)

Episode 66: Ardyn feels helpless as he watches the battle from the relative safety of the Rahn’naa control room.

When Ardyn arrived in the control center, he found a scene of barely controlled chaos as techs were shouting out updates, while Takyra and Aerys were busy in front of two of several display screens. Aerys was in front of the tactical display, showing the various ships in orbit, while Takyra’s display had numerous charts and graphs of data that Ardyn did not understand.

One display that caught his eye showed a visual of the ships as they closed their formation over Med’nor. “How can we see the ships?” Ardyn asked aloud to no one in particular.

Without turning to face him, Takyra responded while continuing to work the controls on the console before her. “Keryth launched a satellite a few days ago that gives us a visual feed of what’s going on. Please take a seat at that station and monitor the display for me.”

Ardyn hesitated. “Shouldn’t one of your techs be doing that?”

“You have eyes and a mouth,” Takyra said with an edge of frustration. “Just describe what you’re seeing. I’ll be watching the other displays.”

Taking a seat, Ardyn looked at the display. “Which one is the Wah’kah’ria?”

“Ask Cytra,” Takyra replied, before going back to her task.

“Cytra, which of these ships is the Wah’kah’ria?”

A moment later, names of each of the ships appeared on the display, with the one labeled Wah’kah’ria standing out with a blue aura surrounding it. “Thank you, Cytra.”

Now Ardyn could watch the ship Jevan was on, while also helping monitor what was happening. For the moment, everything seemed quiet. I wonder how Jevan is doing, Ardyn thought, when suddenly new ships blinked into existence.

“I think the Maara’dahl fleet just arrived,” Ardyn called out.

“Yes, I see them. Thank you,” Takyra said before giving an order to one of her techs. “Transfer all auxiliary power to the shields. We need them at maximum strength. Now!”

Ardyn tapped on his communicator. “Elder Taesys. Father. They’re here.”

“Thank you, Ardyn,” Taesys replied. “In case we don’t get to speak again, I want you to know… I’m very proud of you, my son.”

That small compliment brought a smile to his face and Ardyn lowered his ears in respect, although his father couldn’t see it. “Thank you, Father.”

Tracking the movement of the ships on the visual display, Ardyn saw the Pah’ora hang back while the Wah’kah’ria approached the Maara’dahl ships after they began firing their weapons at the battalion. That’s when another, much larger, ship arrived. “Takyra, are you seeing this?”

“Yes! What is that?” Takyra replied.

“A message just came from the Wah’kah’ria,” a tech called out. “They want to make sure our shields are up.”

“Send them a confirmation, and ask them what that ship is,” Takyra said.

Before they could send the response, Ardyn saw beams of energy come from the enormous ship. Instead of hitting any of the battalion ships, they kept going, aimed directly at Med’nor. “Takyra, I think that ship is firing on us!”

A moment later, the Rahn’naa shook violently and the lights in the control center flashed on and off several times. “Can we route any more power to the shields?”

“I can route power from the replication system,” Aerys said on the other side of the control center.

While orders were being given, Ardyn saw the Wah’kah’ria fly around some of the attacking ships, firing on them. One hit penetrated the attacker’s shields and Ardyn saw an explosion disabling the ship. Ardyn whooped out a cheer.

“The Wah’kah’ria just disabled one of their ships,” he explained when Takyra turned to him.

“No time for that now. Ardyn, please send a shipwide announcement that the replicators will be offline.”

Hitting his communicator and switching it to a shipwide signal, Ardyn conveyed the message. “Everyone, please remain calm. We had to take the replicator system offline to give the shields more power.”

Ardyn switched his communicator back to a single signal. “Father, how is everyone in the encampment doing?”

“Terrified!” Taesys replied. “The sky was so bright and loud. What’s happening?”

“A large ship is firing their weapons directly at us,” Ardyn explained, his eyes still tracking the movements of the Wah’kah’ria as it continued to exchange weapons fire with other ships. “We just gave the shields more power. Try to keep everyone calm.”

The enormous ship fired another barrage. Moments later, the Rahn’naa rocked violently enough that some consoles in the control center sparked. “Shields are down to fifty percent,” a tech reported. “Whatever they are hitting us with is deliberately draining power from our shields. We can’t take more than a couple more blasts.”

Another tech spoke up. “The power drain is cascading throughout our systems. Life support is at critical and even some cryopods are on the brink of failure!”

“Get a medical team down there and have them pull out anyone in a failing pod,” Takyra ordered. “They can take them to the hospital wing.”

That’s when Ardyn noticed another ship fire on the Wah’kah’ria. Instead of being absorbed by the ship’s shields, the energy beams hit the ship directly, and one part of the Wah’kah’ria exploded.

Oh, no! Jevan!!