Shadows in the Void

Chapter 61: Weight of Command

The cryobay was heavy with silence after the chaos. Frost shimmered faintly on the pods, their surfaces glowing under the dim emergency wash. The smell of ruptured cryogel lingered in the air, sharp and metallic, mingling with the faint hum of the ship's systems.

Dagr rushed to Xinyue's pod, hands trembling as he connected his PADD to the interface. The screen flickered, data streams cascading across its surface. Helena appeared beside him, her glow soft, her voice gentle.

"Xinyue is fine," she said, holding a hand against his chest as if to steady him.

But Dagr's face twisted, not with relief, but with anguish. His rifle slipped from his grip, clattering to the floor. He bowed his head, voice raw. "Stupid. I left her here. I left all of them with Danver. And now more people are dead. I'm not a leader... everyone is at risk because of me."

The bay seemed to press in around him, the pods standing like silent witnesses. The survivors inside were fragile, vulnerable, their lives balanced on the edge of his decisions.

Helena's glow brightened, her voice firm but kind. "Dagr, you are a leader. You are exactly what was needed in the moment. No other engineer could have done what you have since you awakened. Without you, the ship would have completely malfunctioned. I would have malfunctioned. The survivors would have all been killed."

Her words carried both logic and warmth, a strange blend of clinical fact and human comfort.

Dagr shook his head, jaw tight. Leader. That word feels like a curse. Leaders don't leave people to die. Leaders don't fail. His chest heaved, guilt pressing against his ribs. Henry. Danver. The pods. How many more before this ends?

Helena stepped closer, her glow shimmering faintly. "You are not perfect, Dagr. No leader is. Leadership is not about preventing every loss, it is about standing when others cannot, about making choices when no one else will. You did that. You are doing that."

Her hand lingered against his chest, her gaze steady. "You carried me when I was breaking. You stabilized systems that should have failed. You fought when others would have surrendered. That is leadership."

He opened his eyes, staring at Xinyue's pod. Her vitals glowed steady on the PADD, a fragile beacon of hope. He clenched his fists, voice low. "I don't know if I can keep doing this."

Helena's glow flickered, her voice soft but unwavering. "You can. Because you must. And because you care. That is why you are dangerous to the queen. She cannot consume what you protect. She cannot own what you refuse to surrender."

The ship groaned faintly, as if echoing her words.

Dagr bent, picking up his rifle, the weight familiar in his hands. He exhaled sharply, shoulders squaring. His voice was low, almost a whisper, but it carried through the cryobay.

"We work in the dark so others can live in the light."

The words hung heavy, the old UESC engineering motto echoing against steel and frost. For a moment, the bay seemed to pause, the hum of the cryo‑systems pressing like a heartbeat.

Helena's glow shimmered beside him, her voice soft but unwavering as her hand lingered against his chest, her gaze steady. "Yes, Dagr. That is what you are doing, you stand in the shadows, bearing the weight no one else can, so that they may wake to light. That is leadership.  And remember, your name itself means daylight. You are the one who brings light into darkness. Even when you doubt yourself, even when you feel broken, you carry the dawn for others. That is why the queen cannot own you. That is why she fears you."

Her hand fell to his, steady and warm despite being only projection. "The queen cannot understand sacrifice. She cannot comprehend mercy."

Dagr's jaw tightened, his eyes welling but fixed on Xinyue's pod, its vitals glowing steady on the PADD. He nodded once, rifle firm in his grip. Then I'll keep working in the dark. For them. For all of them.

Dagr's voice was low, almost hesitant. "Helena... what's the status of the drones that chased after Danver?"

Helena's glow flickered, her tone shifting to clinical precision. "They have pursued what remains of Lieutenant Danver into an area I cannot monitor. Sensor coverage is obstructed. Probability of survival for the drones is indeterminate."

Dagr's jaw tightened. "Recall them. Bring them back."

Before Helena could respond, his PADD flickered violently in his hand. The screen warped, static crawling across its surface. Dagr frowned, lifting it closer.

The image resolved.

The queen.

Her voice slithered through the speakers, low and mocking. "Dagr... what do you resist me so?"

The shot widened, the camera pulling back into a tableau of horror. Gore and filth filled the frame. Body parts were scattered across the chamber, some fresh, seemingly twitching faintly, others blackened with rot. The Danver creature crouched low, slavering, licking at the queen's feet like an aroused but broken animal. Around them, smaller creatures fed hungrily, tearing at the remains with wet, eager sounds.

The queen reclined back on a bed of twisted organic matter, her form grotesque yet still commanding. She rubbed at her impossibly swollen belly, its surface undulating as if something—no, somethings—were pressing from within, desperate to escape.

Her voice dripped with cruel satisfaction. "Danver was able to provide me with what you would not. Though he was disappointing... unlike you."

Her hands slid slowly up and down her open thighs, the gesture obscene, deliberate. "It would have been more pleasurable with you. And the children..."

The camera panned, revealing the small creatures gnawing hungrily at the scattered body parts, their eyes glowing faintly in the dark. "...would have been superior." She picked up the twisted carcass of a small drone, its pristine black casing now smashed, and tosses it at the camera, laughing in an tone that made his ears ring.

Dagr's stomach clenched, bile rising in his throat. His grip tightened on the rifle, knuckles white. The cryobay seemed to close in around him, the hum of the pods drowned beneath the queen's voice.

Helena's glow flickered beside him, her tone sharp, urgent. "Dagr. Disconnect. Do not let her breach your focus. She is projecting to destabilize you."

But the queen's laughter echoed through the PADD, low and resonant, filling the bay with its terrible weight.