Journey to the Center of the Galaxy

Spaceship Ksenia's outer appearance made it unclear to anyone (on any side) of the battle which side the ship was fighting for. It was clear to Kevin that all sides were reluctant to fire on the Lunerian craft. Ishmaru and Federation ships would occasionally fire lasers near them. It wasn't clear if this was intentional or part of the chaos of the battle. Sillan was dead focused on piloting the ship. All of his facial tattoos rotated intensely and in conjunction with each other.

"Who else is fighting!" Kevin asked, seeing ships that appeared to be neither Federation, Ishmaru or from planet Avax.

"Space pirates and other people who are always looking for a fight!" Sillan said.

An Ishmaru ship suddenly crossed into their view and then was quickly obliterated by a dense, focused, red and black laser that drilled into the ship. The remaining elements crashed into Spaceship Ksenia's shield and then went flying everywhere into space.

"WOAH!" Said Kevin.

Sillan seemed hesitant to fire on anyone; at least for now.

"What the hell are we doing!?" Kevin asked.

"I am trying to prevent something terrible from happening!" Sillan explained as he dodged more laser fire.

The battle had become so grand it was hard for Kevin to tell who was who. It had metaphorized into elaborate layers of swarms of ships all firing on each other. Ships would come spilling out of the maelstrom everywhere as they were destroyed.

"What's going to happen?!" Kevin asked.

"The Ishmaru are about to try to destroy planet Avax! I've decided to play the hero and stop that. That's why we are flying into this chaos!"

"F#@# it!" Said Kevin. "Let's ride!"

Kevin was still clutching Earth Hammer. The metal and wood of the gun started to feel like part of his own hand.

Sillan turned the ship sharply and proceeded to fly even deeper into the heart of the battle. The intensity of the laser fire only grew stronger.

"Where is it going to come from!" Sillan yelled.

"A.I.! Set the bolan-Crec factor of the shields to 5 percent!"

"DONE!" The A.I. quickly replied.

Whatever that meant; it appeared to make them almost invulnerable to the myriad streams of laser fire all around them. No matter what hit them; it seemed to have no effect. Sillan did another deft turn and they ended up face to face with a massive Federation transport. Spaceship Ksenia suddenly looked like a dot in the face of a massive behemoth.

"WOAH!!!" Kevin said again.

Sillan stopped steering the ship and let it rest in place.

"This has to be where they will come from!" He said out loud.

"This is a bad idea Sillan!" The ships A.I. protested.

"Bad ideas are the stuff of legend!" Sillan said.

It didn't take Kevin long to figure out what Sillan was trying to do. A massive Ishmaru ship, somehow even larger than the Federation one (in front of them) suddenly entered into normal physical space. It immediately started firing on the Federation ship. It's weapons were considerably more advanced.

It fired dense black lasers that went directly through the Federation ships shield and straight through the ship itself. The lasers expanded and spread out, quickly tearing the ship apart like a piece of paper. Kevin watched on in horror.

"They did that so easily..." Kevin said.

"What the hell kind of ship is that?!" Sillan said.

Kevin realized this was the first time he saw Sillan look truly nervous.

The new ship was a giant, massive black sphere with a completely smooth surface. It was the darkest black color Kevin had ever seen. It had a single trench of open space that traced it's entire middle circumference. Red light crept out of every angle of the open trench. The very bottom of the sphere began to open; revealing a giant apparatus that began to jut out into space.

"What the hell is that?" Kevin said.

"New and terrible weapons!" Sillan said.

"You really think they can destroy the whole planet with that?"

"I'm not going to give them enough time to let us find out!"

"Are you going to use bolan-Crec technology to destroy them?"

"Yes."

"NO!" Said the A.I. "You vowed you wouldn't do that!"

"Circumstances are necessitating a new approach!" Sillan said.

"I'm going on the record against this!" The A.I. protested. "Everyone is going to know what you have Sillan! Think about it in the long term!"

"Yeah we'll write down you said that A.I." Kevin joked.

"Secrets can be forgotten, after they are found out," Sillan said. "But planets can't be brought back."

"Very well..." the A.I. said.

"Add a bolan-Crec factor of 12% to the matter cannons."

Kevin watched the red glow from the Ishmaru ships lights reflect in Sillan's eyes.

"Processing now!" the A.I. said.

The apparatus from the Ishmaru ship was now fully displayed and appeared to be readying to fire. The whole sphere continued to rotate until the apparatus was aimed straight down (through the battle) and pointed back towards planet Avax. It looked like a television antenna (except considerably larger). The center of the antenna was the largest part. It was composed of layers of other antennas that coalesced into one point. A dense black glow started to form around the entire apparatus.

"They are going to fire soon!" The A.I. said.

"Are the matter cannons charged?!" Sillan asked.

"They are charged!"

"Give me full control!"

A joystick rose up from the center console of the piloting module. Sillan clutched it in his left hand and began to aim the matter cannons at the gargantuan Ishmaru ship. A holographic aiming interface appeared in front of Sillan. He pushed a red button on the front center of the joystick. Spaceship Ksenia shook violently as a massive red and black aura began to glow and expand around the entire ship.

The matter cannons on the bottom of the ship rattled intensely. The red and black aura expanded even more, and then suddenly retracted entirely into the cannons. The cannons immediately released a dense, focused red and black beam that reached the Ishmaru ship immediately.

"That will do--

Sillan was suddenly cut short of his triumphant proclamation.

Unbelievably, his bolan-Crec technology; something he thought unrivaled in the entire galaxy, collided with the Ishmaru ships shield, but didn't penetrate. The laser caused the entire shield to bend sharply in the middle; until his bolan-Crec lasers dissipated entirely.

"What the FEN F#$$ EL!" Sillan said.

"That's impossible!" Said Kevin. "That was bolan-Crec!"

"It was ineffective!" The A.I. said.

The giant apparatus from the Ishmaru ship continued to arm itself; suddenly, a green laser (as wide as the sphere itself) went hurtling downwards towards planet Avax. It destroyed everything in it's path as it made it's way to the planet. It collided with the north-eastern part of the ocean that surrounded the planets main super-continent. Immediately, the entire ocean dissolved; causing a gargantuan, planet sized wave of steam to quickly engulf the planet and it's surrounding atmosphere. Planet Avax disappeared.

"NO!!!" Sillan said, a single tear flowing down his right eye.

Kevin and the A.I. watched on in horror. The planet sized cloud of steam quickly continued to expand outwards into space. The tear from Sillan's eye fell on to the cold metal of Spaceship Ksenia's floor.

"We failed!" Kevin said.

The sudden display of unfathomable destruction caused an immediate change in the pace of the battle. Many of the ships stopped firing on each other; as (Kevin guessed) everyone else also watched on in horror at what had just happened. Many of the Ishmaru ships began to warp away into worm-hole and light speed travel; having done what they set out to do. Sillan continued to gaze on in horror.

"What kind of technology could they possible have!" Sillan said to himself.

"This is a nightmare!" The A.I. said.

The Ishmaru eventually abandoned the battle entirely. The remaining Federation ships started to depart the as well. The ships from planet Avax were now stranded; with no home to return to. All the other miscellaneous factions that had joined the battle began to warp away too. One by one they blasted away like single points of light; stretching out into the infinity of outer space and the galaxy.

"How many people are going to die from that?" Kevin said. "The whole battle happened so fast!"

"They have technology superior to the bolan-Crec," the A.I. said. "There is nothing like that on record anywhere."

Sillan still looked completely stunned and didn't talk for what seemed like forever.

"I think it's time we stop floating along passively!" Sillan finally said.

Sillan watched the cloud of steam continue to expand out into space. The landmass of planet Avax was slowly becoming visible again. It's ocean was entirely gone now and the contours (of the mountains) that composed vast undersea topography were now starkly visible. Countless undersea life forms lay dead all across what was once a great planetary ocean. Sillan shed another tear; looking down at something he now held himself responsible for not stopping.

"It's not your fault Sillan," Kevin said.

"You did your best..." the A.I. added.

"MY BEST WASN'T FEN EL GOOD ENOUGH!" Sillan said, stranding up dramatically from the pilots chair.

Sillans facial tatoos rotated in a way Kevin had never seen before.

Kevin and the A.I. were silent for a long time. Eventually the A.I. tried to chime in with words of consolation.

"Perhaps it's time to go see your girlfriend Sillan?" The A.I. suggested. "We could try to get The Radnarand back?"

"Who is..." Kevin began to say. "Whatever..."

"I'm just going to let her do what she will for now," Sillan said, looking very sad. "Savanartha is impossible to control."

"It's in her programming," the A.I. joked.

"Of course it is," Kevin said. "Why wouldn't it be."

"Kevin..." Sillan said. "Please go to the relaxation room for now. I need to think about a lot of things."

"Okay..." Kevin said.

Kevin looked out the indestructible, polyhedron front window of the piloting module. The planetary steam cloud had expanded far enough to see the super-continent of planet Avax. Even from space, the planet wide chaos was obvious. The cloud began to coalesce in a ring around the planet. Kevin had no idea if a planet was able to survive such a calamity.

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Kevin sat in what he was still pretty sure was a chair, staring sadly up at the ceiling and holding Earth Hammer in his right hand. He considered playing Final Fantasy 6 or Black Hole Round-Up; but decided against it.

He had no idea how long it would take Sillan to think up a new course of action. The agency that had arranged his extraction from planet Earth (or "Old Casadasius" he reminded himself) had proven to be something completely different from what they thought. It was no longer clear whether they would proceed to the D.N.A extraction of The Illawayan.

Kevin realized this was the first time he could really think clearly about his situation. What could possibly be in his D.N.A? Why was it something so important? Enormous betrayals, preparations and actions had already taken place. Who was his great-grandfather?

Who was Kevin, himself...really? He knew he was from a blue-green planet in The Perseus Arm of the galaxy; situated inside the Oort Cloud. But after that, what?

He grew up, went to school, moved out, ended up at a "drug house," got attacked by aliens, got rescued by an enlightened space hero, and now he was here, in an entirely different part of the galaxy. As far as he knew, no one else from planet Earth had ever come this far.

"Having a crisis of identity?" The lamps A.I. chimed in from across the room.

"Exactly!" Kevin said, palming Earth Hammer in his hand and tossing it upwards slightly. It felt lighter than before.

"That gun looks like it's from a different galaxy," the lamp A.I. said.

"It's not from Tarn?" Kevin asked.

"Definitely not," said the A.I.

"Sillan definitely knew that already," Kevin said.

"Where is it from then?" Kevin asked.

"Almost impossible to say," said the A.I. "If it's not from this galaxy."

"Almost impossible..." Kevin thought.

Kevin sat for a long time after that; thinking about anything and everything a person could think about.

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Sillan entered Spaceship Ksenia's relaxation room. He was wearing a new outfit. It was the same as the one that reminded Kevin of Bruce Lee; except this one was green. His laser pistol was holstered at his side.

"Ken said you got that from the gods?" Kevin asked.

"You know that's not a chair right?"

"Why did the gods give you a gun? Does it have a name?"

"When you have lived for over seven-hundred years; Kevin, your life has many, many chapters; and more chapters than can fit one book. Even several books."

"What's the name of it?"

"It's named Fyzak; and it can shot through anything."

"It couldn't shoot through Galawan's shield."

"It could have if I wanted it too. When you have the technology I have, you have to pull your punches, a lot. I have a lot of secrets to keep. If people found out what technology I have; it could start interplanetary wars."

"What do you do for the gods?"

"What I did for the gods. It's not uncommon for Lunerians to act as envoys for the gods and other higher dimensional beings. I told you we were special. They also gave me a ship, called The Radnarand. For a hundred years I traveled the galaxy, doing one good deed after another, without completely knowing why I was doing what I was doing. I was just following orders."

"How did they command you?"

"With divine guidance...obviously. Sometimes they would manifest in person, in this physical realm, to give me instruction. At other times, I simply followed my sense of right and wrong."

"What happened to The Radnarand?"

"You see what's happening again?"

"Tell me."

"My uh...ex-girlfriend, commandeered it, based on things she held deeply to be right. I can't say I think she was wrong. After that...I started working for The Vend...or what I thought was The Vend...up until now."

"Was that the woman the A.I. was--

"NO!" Sillan protested.

Kevin stood up from what he was still sure was a chair.

"What is our next course of action?" Kevin asked.

"I've concluded we need to go back in time to sort all of this out."

"Go...back...in...time? Okay...f#$% it dude....okay! I've decided not to put up a fight in terms of my destiny."

"Your destiny huh!?" Sillan replied.

Kevin could tell that underneath Sillan's guarded response; that he was actually truly impressed.

"Where are we going to?" Kevin asked.

"The Galactic Congress...in the year T.C. 12,022. We are going straight to the source. Get ready for a family reunion Kevin!"

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Sillan Octavion had never actually traveled back in time. He wasn't sure if it was even possible. And if he succeeded; he wouldn't be able to tell anyone about it. Everything he was about to attempt was completely theoretical. His furthest progress with time travel was sending information and digital programming back in time at the atomic level. He was about to find out the true extent of what his bolan-Crec technology could do.

Kevin sat across from Sillan as Sillan made very complicated calculations on the main control panel.

"A.I?" Sillan said. "What's your progress?"

"This is extremely complicated!" The A.I. responded.

"Where are you at?"

"I'm having trouble expanding the time travel program any further than the molecular level. I'm 98% sure this is impossible to do."

"We will need it to expand to the point where we can move the ships exterior elements and our own physical cells," Kevin said.

Sillan smiled a bright smile.

Kevin looked out the ships front window. The entirety of space around planet Avax had become a solar graveyard of ruined ships of all types and sizes. The steam cloud had formed into a ring around the planet as gravity drew in the ruins of the battle.

A mass immigration had gone into effect; most likely the entire planet was quickly deemed uninhabitable. Kevin watched as one transport after another left the planets atmosphere and went into light-speed and wormhole travel.

"What was the galaxy like two hundred years ago?" Kevin asked.

"It was the beginning of the end of a golden era," the A.I. explained.

"Why?" Kevin asked.

"It was the end of Leafson Ableson presidecny...is the real reason," Sillan added.

"Was he a great man?" Kevin asked.

"The greatest," the A.I. said.

"He was president for forty years," Sillan said, still making calculations. "He united many planets; stopped many wars, helped establish The Vend...whatever that's worth now. He contributed to serious advances in technology. He was truly a great man."

"He was also a complete mystery," the A.I. said. "No one was really sure where he was from."

"Or where he went," said Sillan. "Common opinion was that he was from The Imari system, but that story never added up to me."

"He just disappeared?" Kevin asked.

"Exactly," the A.I. said. "The official story was that he became ill with pancreatic cancer and had to disappear from public view; but I always thought that didn't add up either."

"After that, Vice Galactic President Chem Unssway was ushered in," Sillan explained. "He started out pretty good, but in my belief, he began the down-slide of the entire galaxy. The first mistake he made was letting The Ishmaru have almost unlimited asteroid mining rights across the galaxy."

"That's when they first became powerful," the A.I. said.

"And look what happened!" Sillan said.

"What the hell kind of technology did they have?!" Kevin asked.

Sillan didn't say anything in response. Some of his facial tattoos rotated subtly as he worked.

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"What's your progress A.I.?" Sillan asked.

"Um, it's theoretically possible...to expand the bolan-Crec time particle reversal beyond the molecular level; but getting it to expand to a field that encompasses the whole ship is completely baffling me."

"Just keep working on it."

"I've hit a dead end," the A.I. protested.

"Keep working on it anyway!"

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Kevin stood silently gazing out the piloting modules front window. The steam cloud had now fully coalesced into a solid ring around planet Avax. The entire outer atmosphere and the space around the planet had become and endless graveyard of spaceships. The damage from the epic battle would be present for countless years. Kevin wondered how many lives had been lost.

"Too many to count..." he thought.

He clutched Earth Hammer tightly.

"Why does Jenen Trius want to 'end the universe," he thought. "Who could possibly want such a thing?!"

Kevin suddenly remembered the words of the goddess.

"Always trust a Lunerian..."

Sillan had disappeared to a different part of the ship to continue his time travel research.

"Traveling through time now..." Kevin thought. "Why not, at this point..."

"Jack would get a real kick out of this...this is equivalent to a billion hits of DMT."

"I wonder how everyone on Earth is doing?"

Kevin clutched Earth Hammer again. It was still giving off a faint purple glow. The mass immigration from planet Avax continued. Ships were launching out of the planets atmosphere, one after another, in an endless chain. The topography that had sat unobserved for millions of years (under it's oceans) could now be seen plain as day. Kevin still felt he was wedged somewhere between a bad dream and a cosmic adventure. He was beginning to decide which perspective he truly believed was correct.

"Maybe it's truly both?"

He thought about the massive Ishmaru ship that had destroyed planet Avax.

"How was it stronger than bolan-Crec?" He thought.

If anything was a "bad dream" it was that ship. Kevin could still see it burned into his mind.

"Trauma activated..." he thought.

He could still see the massive, pitch black sphere; towering and floating ominously in the pitch black of outer space. The red lights that encircled its circumference were burnt into his mind now. They looked like something so foreign it was from a different galaxy; maybe a different reality entirely.

"FEN!" Kevin could hear Sillan yelling from a different part of the ship.

Kevin kept gazing out the front window. More ships departed the ruined planet Avax. He thought about the "goddess in disguise" at Jacks party.

"I'm not qualified for this!" She had said.

"Qualified for what?" He wondered. "Am I qualified?"

Kevin milled about Spaceship Ksenia for a long time as Sillan worked. He found his way into the ships kitchen. It was a room he had never been in before. It looked like it was pieced together from a different ship; besides the Alentian Cruiser and the rest of the ship. He went into a refrigeration unit and ended up laughing to himself as he made a sandwich with ingredients he had to guess the identity of.

"That's quite the sandwich you've got there!" The refrigeration units A.I. stated.

"Yes," Kevin replied, taking a bite.

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Sillan found Kevin in the kitchen by the time Kevin finished eating. He said nothing as he sat next to Kevin at the dinning table. His facial tattoos rotated subtly as he thought about a lot of things.

"Any ideas?" Kevin asked as he ate the last bit of his sandwich.

"I think I pieced a lot of it together," Sillan replied.

"About time travel?"

"No...I'm still working on that. I'm thinking about what's really happening here. I think I figured out most of the picture."

"It's a Q and A session then," Kevin said.

Sillan began a long monologue:

"The first thing we need to figure out is how many different groups are at play here," Sillan said.

"Regarding my DNA?"

"Yes. Jenen Trius seems to want to use it to 'destroy the universe."

"That's not rational. How could he even be able to do that?"

"My guess is something of incredibly grand scale is at play here. It's likely I've never been actually working for The Vend...although I thought I was. Jenen is part of a cult that is trying to bring about a great calamity."

"I don't see the appeal in that."

"He's been using me all this time I thought I was working for The Vend. The mystery of their Avax headquarters being un-linked to the rest of The Vend is the main clue."

"That building was also linked to The Ishmaru."

"And we saw their president leaving just before we got to Jenen," Sillan said.

"Does this imply whatever is in my DNA could enable someone to destroy the universe?" Kevin asked.

"It does."

"Why were the lower Kal-Vant associated with 'The Federation Special Safety Initiative Board?"

"That name itself is a giant red flag."

"Yeah."

"It's likely The Federation itself has become fragmented and factionalized. I don't think Lylan Afee is aware of that. I got the impression she is still loyal to The Federation and thinks she is doing her duty."

"Do you think we will see her again?"

"That's quite the crush you have there Kevin," Sillan said.

"What we need to figure out is who in The Federation is after your DNA as well. That's what they were using the lower Kal-Vant for. It's either the same party associated with Jenen's cult or someone else entirely."

"What about the space demons?"

"I have no idea. But..."

"They said the same thing," Kevin explained. "When they attacked us Tarn. 'This universe will end."

"Hmm..." said Sillan.

"So there are at most three parties here?" Kevin said. "Jenen's cult, whoever was using the lower Kal-Vant and the space demons."

"The isolated Vend headquarters," Sillan said. "Was also linked to The Ishmaru. Who just declared war on The Federation."

"And they now posses technology superior to bolan-Crec," Kevin said.

"I have no idea how that's possible."

"So there are at least three parties here?"

"No, there has to be another party, at the least..."

"How so?" Kevin asked.

"There has to be a good guy here," Sillan said. "Someone who wants whatever is in your DNA to be used for the right reasons. The logical theory is to track down your great-grandfather."

"Is he still alive now?" Kevin asked.

"He could be...I wouldn't be surprised," said Sillan. "But I have a theory...which is why we are going back in time two-hundred years."

"Still seems impossible!" The ships A.I. chimed in.

"Are you implying it's easier to find him in the past than in the present?" Kevin asked.

"Exactly."