The Edge Of Space

Chapter 41 - The end...?

Vontaine woke up with Merca's head on his chest. He played with her hair, admiring its silver colour before she woke up slowly and smiled at him warmly.

"Morning Vonty," she hummed happily.

"Good morning my sweet. How did you sleep?" He asked contently.

"Really good... and you?" She said.

"Yeah, wonderful. I love staying here with you but we do have things to plan," he sighed.

"Yeah, I know. Just a little longer?" She pleaded.

He smiled and kissed her forehead gently before laying back down and pulling her close.

Just as Merca was slipping back to sleep, a deep, feminine voice rang out in her head.

"I like this one," it said quickly, making her jump and look around startled.

"Woah. Did you hear that?" She asked, looking to Vontaine.

"No? What?" He said confused.

She smiled as she realised her Ranth had finally talked to her. After all this time it finally said something.

"My Ranth said it likes you," she smiled.

Vontaine's face lit up with excitement and happiness. He was so happy and proud of her and the growth she was making.

They cuddled for some time before finally getting up and getting everyone together. After their celebrations, they said their goodbyes to everyone, wishing Grem well on his next planetary expedition and ensuring Kree was ready for his new position. Then left for their base in ring 3.

Upon their arrival, Malela was ecstatic to see their return as they docked the Kryber into their base. Zen wrapped around Vontaine's shoulders almost like a scarf.

She quickly formed in front of them and hugged all of them.

"How did everything go? Did you save this side of the universe?" She asked sweetly.

"We sure did," Vontaine revealed happily.

Her face lit up in glee. "I'm glad I could help with that," she said.

Eventually they explained what happened and the heroics of their journey to her, and she told them everything that happened while they were away.

She had named herself. Or more accurately her planet. She chose the name Narvaden, something about it made her think of a safe haven. She had named her people too. She chose Vardens for their species name.

After they talked again, they found out that the Vadens had thrown them another celebration with the help of Malela. This one felt more personal though.

While the party was raging though, Vontaine was looking into what Gladius had told him, he took Merca into the lab which also served as his office.

"Ok, so Gladius said that his boss was doing something bad, potentially a universal threat, I'm not sure what yet but we need to know," he explained as he typed away on a keypad.

"What did he say?" She asked, hugging him from behind.

"Nothing really, only told me a place. Sentinals rest and it's somewhere in ring four. However, that's a while away. Malketa could you scan for it?" He asked.

She agreed, jumping into the base before doing her scans. It took her several minutes but eventually, she found something.

"This is quite far from our current position. Approximately... 958 million light years. Even with the Kryber's impressive engine, a straight flight would take 9 years," she said.

"Woah... Ok. Well, I don't think we have that long but we'll figure something out. Thanks Malketa you can jump back to your Android body," he said with a smile.

They enjoyed the party for as long as they could before finally resting after a very long journey. Finally back home, they felt complete.

With everything said and done and the war stopped, everything was alright. Gladius's boss would be for another time, for now, was the time for family and friends. The most important thing for all of them was each other.

While they took several months off, Vontaine was working on something new and exciting.

Merca was talking with Malela about her Ranth and surprisingly it was finally talking to her. With every loving interaction between herself and Vontaine, her Ranth felt that love as well. The interactions she had with it were short but Merca enjoyed them thoroughly.

Malketa was off in the wild experiencing everything she could but was always back in time for dinner.

Chester was helping Fritz understand more about technology, and over months, he could fly the ships and also took a liking for forging weaponry.

Finally, Chester was very happy. He was finally able to experience life outside of the Dreadanu empire. It was beautiful and there was so much to do! It was exhilarating and he couldn't help but smile more and more.

All of them were working in their own ways to grow and strive! And of course, they were all keeping their strengths up by training and sparing with each other each day they could.

While this journey was complete, what questions were left unanswered? What disputes left unsettled? And what could our crew of hero's be looking forward to in their futures? All would be known soon enough. Potentially, the questions of the very universe will open themselves for us to discover.

SHIP LOG "This is Vontaine of the Kryber mark 1. Ship log 40 or 41? I think? Yeah... 41. It's been a good journey. I remember when me and Merca were lost in space in that crappy little ship we tried to put together. All eventually turned out well which is good. We've all recovered completely from the fights on Varsalome and we're almost constantly talking with Kree and Malibu because I'm a parter with their business now.

We got an amazing base here on Navaden with Malela, the heart of this planet. She's still a mystery to me but something I intend to look into. It's crazy how a planet can be sentient.

Everyone is doing super well, Merca and I are very happy, our relationship is still going strong as we knew it would.

The final stretch of everything is finally presenting itself too. I think we've found our next journey but it's gonna take some time to get there, however a new engine design is in the works so this should be... interesting to say the least.

But anyway. This is Captain Vontaine of the Kryber mark 1. Signing off!".