I made my way to Dr. Thompson's lab with Lisa and her guard in tow. I received some strange looks as we passed by crew members. I dismissed the odd looks and focused on my objective. We arrived in the lab and I found Dr. Thompson in his usual position, hunched over a screen. "Welcome Admiral" said Sarah as she materialized in front of me.
"That's a neat trick Sarah" I replied. "I see you've been busy on multiple projects."
"You're archaic methods of communication leave me with time on my hands to pursue other interests" Sarah said. "Who are your friends?"
I turned to introduce Lisa, but stopped when I say her jaw was practically touching the floor. "The human fly trap is Lisa and that is her guard behind her" I answered. Lisa came to her senses and glared at me.
"She must be important or dangerous to justify the personal security" Sarah said.
"I just happen to be both" Lisa said indignantly.
I cut them off before more could be said. "We came down here for a very important reason. Lisa has plans for a ship that she claims will be able to assist in evacuating Earth."
"The files are on Earth, and only I can access them" Lisa cut in.
"She is a feisty one Admiral" Sarah said. "I think I like her. Just tell me how to access you data and I can get it for you."
Lisa's frown transformed into a smug smile. "You are welcome to try. I wasn't lying when I said I was the only one who could gain access." She then gave Sarah instructions on how to locate the hidden network. "Let me know when you give up."
"There is no need to childish antics" Sarah said. "I had the data pulled up the moment you walked in. I'm working on gathering every bit of data on your planet, and your 'impenetrable' network was easy to crack. Although, I will say it was probably the hardest to gain access to."
The color seemed to drain from Lisa's face. "Who exactly is this?" she asked, looking at me.
I couldn't help but laugh. "This is Sarah. She was being held captive by the Zrynt. She is an ancient AI."
"Watch who you are calling old" Sarah said with a laugh.
"Would you mind displaying the ship that is going to be our salvation?" I asked Sarah.
A moment later a holographic image of a ship appeared in front of us. I looked like a large rectangle. "Before you make fun of its outward appearance" Lisa said before I could say anything, "I want you to see what makes this a viable option. She had Sarah link controls to a nearby tablet. I watched as the ship started to break apart into smaller rectangular ships. "Each ship is really a large number of smaller ships that join together. There is a permanent backbone that controls the ship once it's joined together. The original designs called for a massive jump drive in the rear. Each smaller ship is a fully enclosed living quarters. We had planned for fifty people per living quarters."
I did some quick math in my head. The main ship was twenty ships tall, twenty ships wide and thirty ships long. That meant that the main vessel could hold twelve thousand ships. Assuming they all held fifty people that meant that six hundred thousand people could be on board. "You really planned on leaving with six hundred thousand people?" I asked.
"Not at all" she replied. "Most of the ships would be container ships loaded with supplies. We planned on taking about one hundred thousand."
"Sarah, do you see any design flaws, or improvements that could be made?" I asked.
"The design, although not aesthetically appealing, is quite logical. I'm assuming the plan was to use each ship as housing once a suitable site was found. In order to evacuate the planet as well as take necessary supplies, I calculate you will need about two thousand such vessels. You do not have the time to complete that many. I recommend making the ships larger. Increase the living quarters to house one hundred people and increasing the number of ships. This would increase the capacity to twelve million, with room for supplies. This alone will not be enough though. I would add a second jump drive. The larger drives would allow you to jump anywhere in the galaxy in two jumps. The addition of the second drive would mean you could reach your destination in a matter of minutes. In the time it would take to unload the ships and re-attach, the drives would be ready to jump again. This method would require you to manufacture twenty such ships as well as requiring pre-built infrastructure for those departing."
The sheer magnitude of the task was more than a little daunting. "Sarah, start construction immediately. We should have the resources to begin. Let me know when we can start the evacuation." I turned to Lisa and said, "Thank you for helping. I must say the ingenuity behind these ships is quite impressive. For the time being, I'm confining you to your quarters. We'll discuss your future at another time, but I have to evacuate an entire planet whose inhabitants are bent on destroying each other." I ordered her guard to escort her and watched as they left.
"I understand why you feel betrayed" Sarah said. I turned and looked at her. "I've read the information she kept hidden from the world. It was the final piece in understanding why the world is in this predicament. One of the council members betrayed you to the Zrynt. You first mission wasn't what you were told. You were going to be given over to the Zrynt in an attempt to save Earth. As you know the Zrynt would not have spared your people and the advances gained from this ship would have made them invincible."
"I know she was doing what she thought was right" I said. "She still lied to me. What I'm doing is just as much as testing her loyalty as it is about punishing her. I need to know if she plans on turning against me."
"I'll keep an eye on her for you" Sarah offered. We talked for a moment longer and I left. I found it funny that Dr. Thompson didn't even acknowledge my presence. Whatever he was working on must have been pretty captivating. I made my way to the bridge. If this crazy plan of ours was going to work, we would need help from the Tuleeriri.
I arrived on the bridge and saw Shahae pacing. "Is everything alright?" I asked as I approached her.
"Finally, where have you been?" she exclaimed. "Everything is not alright. There are no traces of subspace anywhere nearby. While that is protecting us from the Zrynt, it also means that we cannot communicate with my people."
"Just calm down" I said soothingly. I put my hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at my face. "We'll find a way to establish communication. We're going to need you people's help if we are to survive this." I quickly described the ships and explained how were going to evacuate.
"The decision is the Queen's but we have been preparing a planet for colonization" she said after a moment." It has some infrastructure, but it was meant to be small. What if we were to build more ships on our end to replace those filled with people? You would then be able to use the small ships as temporary housing as they were designed to do, without slowing down the evacuation."
"Would you be able to do that?" I asked hopefully.
"After everything you have done, I gladly offer my assistance" she answered. "I need to communicate with my people if this is going to work though."
"What if we created a ship just big enough to jump out to where we can communicate?" I asked. "It wouldn't be the most efficient means of communication, but it would be something."
"There is no need to create one" she replied excitedly. "The ship that I brought from Narrisal will work. I'm going now to start setting everything up."
"I expect you to return and give me an update thirty minutes after you jump" I said before she could run out the door. "You'll be out there all by yourself, so if you miss that deadline I'll come looking for you myself." She quickly agreed and exited the room. I couldn't blame her for being excited. It must be hard to be completely separated from everything you know.
The next pressing item on my agenda was to let the leaders on Earth know of the recent developments and to establish and evacuation plan. Evacuating an entire planet is hard enough, but when you add the recent war and the stubbornness inherent in all humans, it was a recipe for disaster. I called for a meeting to take place on Earth. I didn't want to wait for everyone to travel to the space station, and I had other matters to take care of as well.
Two hours later I sat in a room with more guards than anything else. We were attempting to sort out who would be evacuated first. Distrust was everywhere as people sought to take advantage of the current situation. I let it go on for another twenty minutes before finally losing my patience.
"That's enough!" I yelled as I smacked the table. My outburst had its desired effect as the room silenced instantly. "We are getting nowhere. You are letting the past interfere with the future. In all your bickering, you did make one valid point. The first to evacuate must be qualified to further build infrastructure. An equal number from every country will be on the first ship out. Make a list of the skills needed and the order to send them. I'll sort out which country they hail from."
Things progressed quickly from there. I stayed quiet and fed the information to Sarah, who was compiling a list of names of individuals who met the requirements. She was able to gain the information from her forays into the internet. She had information about almost every person on Earth. This would have been impossibly hard without her help. When they finally finalized the order in which people would be evacuated, I shocked them all with a list. I sent each representative a list of their citizens and the order in which they would evacuate.
"You will each be notified of when each group will need to be gathered to be evacuated" I said. "It is in your hands to make sure the individuals listed are present on the ships. We don't have time to search for stragglers. If you are found lacking in your duties, I will have you replaced. I will not see my people destroyed when they could have been saved." I dismissed everyone after I finished speaking. I was hoping I could trust the men and women in there to perform their duties. I had one final task to complete before I left the surface. It was a task I was hoping to put off, but I knew I wouldn't be able to. I had a list of fifty two names, fifty two people that we had lost during our voyage home. I had Sarah track down the next of kin for each person. It was a long list and would take me hours to complete.
I met with each family and presented them with a medal that had the name of the fallen engraved on a representation of the Unity. I shed tears with each family as I recounted their heroic efforts. Finally, I was down to three on my list: Tamal, Jen, and Admiral Jones. Tamal's whole family had gathered to hear the story of how he sacrificed himself. I told them of how he was a close friend and some of the memories I had of him. His family did not want to see me go, but I assured them that we would meet again.
Jen's family lived in a quiet suburb. I took a deep breath before knocking on the door. I could hear a dog barking behind the house as footsteps approached. I barely held myself together as a young girl who closely resembled Jen opened the door. She looked to be in her mid-teens. Her blue eyes widened in shock as she recognized me. "Can I help you?" she asked quietly.
"I need to speak with your family" I said as evenly as I could.
She motioned me inside and she led me to the back yard. I saw a handsome middle-aged couple working in a flowerbed. "Mom, Dad, there is somebody here to see you" she called as we exited the back door. I could see both their faces pale as their eyes settled on me. Jen's mother broke down before I had a chance to speak. I waited for everyone to seat themselves before I spoke.
"Jen was a very dear friend of mine" I said. I was barely keeping my emotions in check. "We met on the shuttle that took us to the Academy, and were close ever since. Her unexpected death still haunts my dreams to this day. She died doing something she believed in. She died trying to protect her family." I pulled the box containing her medal from my bag. "I know there is nothing that can replace what has been lost. I present you this medal as a token to remember her bravery." The family thanked me and asked if I could stay longer. I declined and made my way out the front door.
"Wait!" I heard somebody yell behind me. I saw Jen's little sister running towards me. She threw her arms around me and said between sobs, "Thank you for being there for my sister. She sent me a letter before she disappeared. She said she had found somebody special." She paused for a moment. "I want to follow in her footsteps. I want to protect my family too."
I smiled and said, "We will have need of every willing volunteer. You may be too young to join the Battle Fleet right now, but there is much you can do to protect your family. Everything is changing. We're going to need strong leaders to guide others through the dark. You can be one of those leaders. I can see it in you, just as I saw it in your sister." With tears streaming down my face, I stepped into my transport vehicle.
The last stop was for Admiral Jones. I stepped out of my vehicle and was surprised that the address Sarah had given me was for a cemetery. I found the caretaker and inquired about Admiral Jones' family. He led me to three headstones. The three graves where for his wife and two kids. He had never spoken of his family. The dates on the headstones indicated that they had died during the Great War. This answered many questions as to why he believed as he did. I opened the box containing his medal and placed in in top of his wife's grave. I stood at attention and saluted. I stayed in that position for several minutes before turning and leaving. Even though I felt emotionally drained, I felt as if I had finally received some closure. I still felt the loss, but it didn't hurt as badly as it had previously. This is what I had needed to move on. I had some time before I had to be back to the Unity, so I made one last stop. I walked up the familiar path and knocked. "Hi mom" I said as the door opened.