The Scalian Legacy

Captain Rauug was reviewing the latest inspections report for his ship. He had to address several minor findings, but all in all they were in excellent condition. While The Seguura was one of only two remaining operational Scalian battlecruisers, for now, he was proudly commanding the best ship in the fleet. More ships were being developed, but they were still months from being operational. This is what perplexed Rauug about this mission to attack Earth. Why not wait until they were in better shape to withstand a counterattack? Over the past two years, they had invested almost all of their resources on this new weapon and technology that used the mysterious wormhole to bypass Earth’s defenses. Thus, they were still quite vulnerable to an attack.

Still, Rauug was a Scalian of Nagaran. Like most Scalians, he had studied and drawn inspiration from all of Nagaran’s teachings over the many centuries. He understood that as long as they kept fighting and listening to their leaders, Nagaran would help them succeed. Following Nagaran’s will was the key to Scalian success and honor; this had been the case for many centuries. So, he trusted his leaders, even if he did not appreciate the way he was treated by them. He was ready to do whatever was needed to support the empire.

He was still deep in thought, when his communicator sounded off with a message. “Harzenre-Gargke,” It was his first officer, Garke speaking in Scalian, “There is holo call from Scalia for you, sir.”

A holo call from Scalia? Rauug was intrigued. With his superior on board and few others he even knew anymore on Scalia, what could this be about? And then a dreaded thought came to mind. “Who is it?”

“It’s the Minister of Justice in Nagarus.” Gargke replied.

The Minister of Justice from the capitol? This couldn’t be good. “Put it through.”

“Yes, sir.”

There were a couple of beeps and then Rauug’s holographic display lit up with the face of a middle-aged Scalian. Rauug suspected that the minister was about his age, perhaps a little older, but not much. Rauug had been in a few meetings with the minister in the past, but did not know him well at all. Thus, Rauug suspected this may not be a pleasant call.

“Captain,” the minister began in Scalian, “it has been a while. I hope you are well.”

“All is well, minister.” Rauug replied. “May I ask as to the reason for your call?”

“I’m afraid it is not good news.” The minister said. “Your sister, Ectsy Tranier has been arrested again, and this time the charge is quite serious.”

Rauug couldn’t help but sigh. His sister had been deteriorating ever since the death of her husband many years ago. Captain Rauug had done all he could to break her out of her downward spiral, but nothing seemed to work. “What did she do?” Rauug asked, fearing the answer.

“You have heard of the assassinations?” the minister queried. Rauug just nodded. How could I not have? Rauug thought to himself. It’s been all over the news. Dozens of royals had been murdered over the past year by some kind of rebellion group. “Your sister was part of a group that executed two royals yesterday. It doesn’t appear that she actually carried out the assassination as it seemed like she only had an outside role, but she was certainly involved.”

Rauug’s heart sank. The punishment for such a crime, even if all she did was help in a small way, was death and they wouldn’t take too long, either. Rauug tried to stay composed. “Understood. So, how can I help?”

“The rebellion against our leadership has become well organized and structured over the past couple of years. We suspect that a new and highly effective leader took charge about two years ago. Despite our best efforts, the identity of this mastermind has alluded us. Your sister claims that she can identify this leader and our systems indicate that she is not lying. We could try to force the information from her via neural interpreters, but as with most of the rebels we have captured over the last year, she has an implant, so we would be unlikely to get much information prior to causing her death.” Rauug nodded. An implant was a device that had one important purpose and that was to deny others from plugging into your brain to extract information. However, the device was quite dangerous and could accidentally cause your death; the Scalian government had banned it.

“Still,” the minister continued “She says that she will reveal the leader and his location if she is allowed to speak with you and this is why I have called. While we have captured a few rebels that we felt knew the identity of this leader, none had been willing to identify him up until now.”

“She’s lying,” Rauug replied. “She would never betray her leader.”

“We were doubtful as well given how long she has been a party to the rebellion.” The minister said. “Maybe she has grown tired of their violent ways or they have gone too far with these executions? Regardless, our systems for detecting deception are rather well advanced, captain. And it appears that she is not lying. It appears that she will indeed reveal the leader and his location if she’s allowed to meet with you. Thus, I need to ask you to come for a visit.”

Rauug was about to protest, but it seems like regardless of whether his sister was lying or not, this could be his last opportunity to see her alive and he could not let that pass. “I will come, minister.” Rauug replied. “What will happen to her if she does provide the leader’s name and location?”

“She would likely still be executed, captain.” The minister replied. “She is still a traitor of the highest order and she has only asked to speak with you, not for any leniency. Thus, we are not obliged to give her more than what she has asked.”

“What if I ask for her?” Rauug knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but if not for his sister, then for whom?

The minister did not seem pleased to hear Rauug’s request. “What would you ask?” He asked curtly.

“Just that she not be executed, sir.” Rauug wasn’t about to push his luck.

“Lifelong imprisonment costs money, captain and we are not in a position to provide for such traitors.” There was then a long silence between the two as if to see which one would flinch first. Rauug held firm as he knew that the minister was likely under a great deal of pressure to stop these killings. Finally, the minister spoke up again. “All that I can offer is a delayed execution. I can give her a year and only if we are fruitful with her information.”

“I appreciate it, sir.” Rauug was not happy with such a small concession, but it was better than nothing and perhaps he’d be able to see her yet again before the execution.

***

Jack was awakened by the nurse as she entered the room to check on him.

“Sorry to awaken you, Mr. Felder. I just wanted to make sure that all was well.” The nurse spoke gently. “I can let you sleep more.”

Jack shook his head and got up. He remembered feeling quite tired after Horace had left, and he had decided to take a short nap. He must have fallen deeply asleep because he couldn’t tell how long he was out of it. “How long was I sleeping?” he asked.

“About eight hours,” the nurse replied. “You really should eat some food. The monitors have indicated that your blood sugar levels are low or at least we think they are low for you.”

“Is it morning—or isn’t there any semblance of a real day on this ship?”

“Time becomes relevant only to your schedule on these ships.” She answered as she brought up a holographic display with several food choices. Jack suddenly realized he was indeed pretty hungry. The food choices were all over the place; many looked downright strange. Still, he finally came across what appeared to be waffles and syrup, and since it felt like a morning, he figured he might as well treat it as one. Jack chose his dish.

“Is there any chance that I can speak with the admiral?” Jack had asked the day before, but no one had come. He still felt that he had to convince them that he was genuine.

“Actually, I think the captain will be coming by shortly.” The nurse answered and then brought him a change of clothes.

The clothes looked like a simple long-sleeve, pullover white shirt and pants, but the material felt odd, almost silky, but without the sheen and very light. Jack got dressed and then ate as much as he could of the enormous serving of waffles and syrup that he had been provided. It wasn’t long before the captain arrived.

As the door swooshed open, Jack looked up to see the tall female he vaguely remembered from the day before. Jack still had trouble differentiating these future humans, but he now realized that the captain was slightly darker skinned than the nurse, had green eyes as opposed to the nurse’s dark brown ones and of course was dressed in a grey uniform that seemed to indicate her rank in some way.

“How are you, Mr. Felder?” She began as she took a seat on the chair that Horace had used the day before. “I hope you are adjusting to your new surroundings to some degree?”

“I am.” Jack sat up on his bed and forced a smile. “Horace was a great help yesterday.”

She briefly looked confused and then seemed to understand. “Ah, Dr. Greenfield. Yes, we figured that he would be able to help.”

“He told me about the Scalians, Pendorans, and Drumans. How can I convince you that I am from three thousand years ago and that the Scalians somehow time traveled to my time?” Jack got right to the point.

“You don’t need to, Mr. Felder.” The captain smiled. “We believe you.”

“You do?” Jack was surprised.

“Yes, but for reasons that I cannot share with you right now,” The captain replied.

“So, are you going to attack the Scalians?” Jack asked.

“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.”

“Why not? We’re in grave danger, aren’t we? Can’t they cause great harm?” Jack asked.

“Did Dr. Greenfield mention something called the ‘Scalian Sphere’?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, that defense system is quite powerful. If we simply tried a brute force attack, not only would it take us days to break through, but the Scalian countermeasures will likely take out many of our ships while we try. Several years ago, we were preparing for such an invasion and delayed for quite some time because of how daunting a task it would be. This is why we were quite happy to sign a peace treaty and simply contain the Scalians far from our home worlds.”

“So, how are you going to stop them and whatever they have planned with old Earth?” Jack asked.

“We’re working on it.” She smiled, making it clear even to Jack that he wasn’t going to get any more information on that topic.

“So, there’s nothing you can do about Robbie and Marcelo?” Jack knew the answer, but had to ask.

“No.” The captain grimaced. “I can only imagine your feelings of despair about their situation, but if we even ask the Scalians about them, we would be tipping our hand that we know about their ability to go into our past. Thus far, our knowledge of their ability, thanks to you is the only advantage we have.”

“So, why did the Scalians come here to this ship anyway?” Jack had been wondering about this since the day before.

“We have monthly meetings with the Scalian leadership in this area,” the captain started. “It was part of our agreement with them—in order to maintain a relationship with the hopes of one day being able to stop treating them as an enemy. I suppose that was wishful thinking. Of course, if it wasn’t for that clause, you may never have made it here.”

Jack nodded. Yet another incredible alignment of events that allowed him to arrive at this point. Could there be something to Horace’s philosophy? Could there be purpose in all things or was this just coincidence delaying the inevitable?

“Is there anything I can do for you to make your stay more comfortable?” The captain interrupted Jack’s thoughts.

“Actually,” Jack started. “I am rather bored here. Can I have access to read up on information or maybe watch some entertainment?”

“Of course.” The captain replied. “I’ll have an account setup for you so that you can interface with the system. The nurse will show you how to get on the system once you have an account.”

“Thank you.” Jack replied.

“I know you must be feeling quite out of place, at the very least, Mr. Felder.” The captain started. “While I don’t know how much solace it will give you, I wanted to make sure you knew that we do sympathize with your situation. We will try to make things as comfortable as we can for you.”

“I appreciate that.” Jack couldn’t help but to feel a motherly kind of compassion from this now not-so-ugly future human.

“It’s the least we can do.” The captain said. “If it wasn’t for you, we would be ignorant of this grave threat.” The captain then smiled, nodded, and bid Jack goodbye as she stood to depart.