Beyond Light

Extra Vehicular Activity.

LIBRA made all the preparations for John’s next mission. With the help of scanning drones and the Beyond Light’s sensorial systems, he and his team would advance through the demolished clusters of debris in an attempt to find survivors and discover what had occurred there. 

Even though John knew that finding someone alive was a small possibility, the BLACKCAT expedient put that they were not only there to find the Eternity of Return. They were there to investigate what happened to it and who attacked them, in the case the ship was no longer operational.

That was the case. There were no traces of the vessels that attacked the dreadnought either, so their only bet was to get inside his remains and try to recover the hard drive modules from the Data Center: their main objective. Those modules contained the registers and recordings of what the Eternity of Return saw after his crew lost connection with the Solar System, as well as more detailed information.

But that was assuming they still existed. At that point, they could be nothing more than dust and atoms floating through space.

John got himself ready. The armory of the Beyond Light was an elongated room filled with expositors, stands, crates, and other combat supplies. John didn’t know if it made him feel secure or concerned. More weapons meant more fighting power, but no military vessel possessed exaggerated quantities of supplies if they weren’t going to use them. 

He put on his SHC-05 EVA Preserver suit. It was a set of slim yet thick black plate armor, with a light blue visor on the aerodynamic helmet. Some said that it fixed the ugliness of the last model of the series, but that was an armor used for its function. Not looks. 

Equipped with pressure seal systems, the suit insulated the user from outside environments and generated its own, artificial atmosphere, making it useful for vacuum or other hazardous conditions. It also counted with basic energy shielding systems and propulsion thrusters that allowed leaping up to 20 meters on gravities similar to Earth’s. 

“Finished with that, Commander?” asked Sergeant Major Derek Williams as John got out of the dressing room. He carried the same suit as him, albeit bigger. “I liked more the SHC-04 Warden, despite its ugly dead gray color and that horrendous bucket helmet.” 

“Could be comfier,” responded John. “But hey, as long as it works...”

Derek reached for the gun stands and took two SMGs from them. He passed one to John. “Normally, we would be taking something heavier and louder, but it’s unlikely we’ll be fighting any foes on what remains of that dreadnought, besides some malfunctioning drones.”

“Drones cannot turn hostile due to malfunction, Sargeant Major Williams," joined LIBRA. "But I support your first statement. Navigations Officer Xi and I have sent drones to scan the remains of the ship for biosigns, but we haven’t detected anything so far. There’s too much radiation to catch anything."

“...Keep working on that,” said John to LIBRA. “I’ll be keeping this. Thanks, Sergeant,” he put his SMG on his back. 

The Rapid Oppression Weapon model 0, nicknamed ‘Rowie’. It resembled an ironing machine upside down. Its small, cubical magazines were inserted at the wide top of the weapon, giving it a bullpup design. It was a short-range, suppressing weapon, meant for urban warfare and personal defensive purposes.

He also took his Autodefensive Mechanism model 1 pistol, the AM1, or ‘Amy’, as it was commonly nicknamed. It had the round shape of a flexometer, and instead of using projectile-based ammo, it shot ionized polonium-chlorine energy beams. Its battery had a lifespan of about 7000 shots before dying, proportioning virtually infinite ammo. 

It was one of the favorites among most branches in the INSU. Its reliability had given it more than 90 years of continued service with little to no modifications.

“Oh, Commander,” said Derek. A man of rosy cheeks and jet black hair entered the armory, wearing the same Preserver EVA suit as to them. “This is Master Sargeant Yuri Novikov, from the PFSR. He’s the third person you solicited for this mission.”

“Commander,” the man had a grave Slavic accent. He did a swift salute without straightening up. “Nice to meet you until now. I only had the opportunity to listen to you when you gave that speech three years ago.”

“It’s a pleasure, Sargeant,” nodded John. “Have you been informed about the details of the mission?”

“Informed and reinformed, Captain. Your AI doesn’t lose anyone out of sight. You people in the union like to make them so nosy.” 

John squeezed his lips. LIBRA could be useful and even to some point charismatic, but Yuri was right. He was uncomfortably intrusive sometimes. “Alright, let’s go,” he pressurized his helmet. “our chopper must be expecting for us.”

The pilot of a TT-22 Firefly chopper expected them on the hangar bay, its sliding doors on both sides open spread. Its propulsion engines, located at the wide bottom, and long, thin tail were already on. It was an aircraft unit commonly used for troop transport, but it could also offer support fire if needed and was capable of spaceflight as well. 

It took off, passing to its designated airlock. The compartment was pressure-sealed from inside, and the pilot then drove them into space. John looked through the window and wondered in what direction the solar system was located. There were uncountable stars everywhere he looked.

“Alright, Commander,” Mike’s image appeared on his HUD interface. “we’ll remain near the Eternity of Return for a quick pick up when you’re done. LIBRA and the boys are also working in the Navigation Room. If they detect anything, they’ll mark it on your HUD. Good luck.”

“Good work, Mike,” said John. “Anything else?” 

“Nothing of much importance. Xi and Jeffrey have scanned more detailedly the Eternity of Return to evaluate the damage, and damn. It almost seems as if they had some personal vendetta against them. I’ll put them on.” 

The image of Mike got replaced by Artillery Chief Xi’s. “Commander? Most of the sections and rooms of the ship have some damage to their integrities. It’s going to be harder than we thought to find any survivors. But on the good side, you should have a real quick path to the Data Center. Your suits should be able of handling the radiation more than well enough.”

“Thanks, Chief. Keep on it." 

Xi’s image dissipated. John felt impotence flowing through his veins. They expected finding the Eternity of Return with some damage, but not in that wrecked state. It was the most powerful human warship, and they reduced it to a floating pile of scrap! What opportunity did they have against whatever attacked them?

But he would not give up. Until he checked by himself that there were indeed no survivors, he would not stop trying to find someone alive. Blair did that for him once.  

“Oh, and John,” Mike appeared once again on HUD. “the guys on the lab have been observing the system. They’ve made some discoveries. You might wanna listen to them.”

Doctor Weiber’s image appeared. He spoke in an excited tone that contrasted with his typically grumpy voice.

“Commander? I’ve got interesting news. As you probably already know, Hawking-616a is a trinary system composed of a yellow and a red dwarf star, as well as a brown dwarf orbiting near both. Then there is an asteroid belt similar to ours on the Solar System, and after it, there are two rocky planets before reaching another asteroid and two gas giants. One of those planets is named Hawking-616e. Do you know what's its other name?"

“Vita Nova, Doctor," answered John. The planet had become quite popular on sensationalist media before being used by the INSU as the ultimate form of propaganda. "It's been suspected that the planet has favorable conditions for life. What have you discovered?” 

“Well, this planet is almost double the size and 1.5 times the mass of Earth. Which we already knew, but there is something else. It possesses a ring system, as well as three natural satellites. We've detected an atmosphere with a similar composition to Earth’s, and there seem to be habitable temperatures all across the equator and tropics of the planet. I’ll keep you informed of anything else we catch. Who knows what we might discover later.”

“Please do, Doctor,” said John. The scientific's image dissipated. 

John thought about it. He always believed that the universe was too big for Earth to be the only place where life could emerge. The idea of finding that they weren't alone fascinated him, but he saved his curiosity for later. He had a mission at that moment.

The space scrap that used to be the Eternity of Return became visible through the firefly's windows.