The ship took off and hovered over the top of the forest. The night sky filled the viewport.
“The ship is approaching the spaceport,” Phog said. “They will know something is wrong in a few moments.”
They only had a little time before the Rekvok ship began to suspect that their spaceport had been compromised.
“We need to make sure the Rekvok know it wasn’t the humans who raided their spaceport,” Celeste stated.
She was glad when Jeb didn’t ask any further questions.
“Affirmative,” Phog said.
It was a dangerous plan she was suggesting, but it had to be done for the safety of the humans. The Rekvok would think the humans had raided their compound and killed their people. Then, they would send untold numbers of their troops to hunt down the humans. She couldn’t afford that scenario. The Rekvok might even get lucky and uncover the underground shelter, which would signal the end of the human survivors. Instead, she knew there was only one option left: reveal themselves and draw away the Rekvok’s attention from the humans.
Phog brought the ship towards the spaceport. “The Rekvok ship has stopped descending. It is holding at its position.”
“What are they doing?” Jeb asked.
He really didn’t know when to stay quiet.
“Fire at the landing zone and then get us out of here,” Celeste said.
Phog turned to her. “I need to uncloak for it.”
Celeste nodded. “Engage quickly.”
Phog uncloaked, fired two missiles at the landing zone, switched on the cloak, reversed the thrusters and left the area quickly. As the ship put distance between it and the spaceport she heard the explosions rock the night.
After a little while, Celeste leaned over. “Are they following us?”
“Negative, but I am certain they would know it was a ship,” Phog said.
“Keep heading in this direction for a while,” Celeste remarked. “Once it is safe land us down in a clearing.”
Jeb finally understood what had taken place. “I am sorry I didn’t understand everything going on earlier. Thank you for protecting the Western Continental Alliance. I know you risked a lot revealing yourself to the Rekvok.”
“I know it wasn’t the plan I set out to do when we left the underground shelter,” Celeste said. “But finding out about the Rekvok’s connection to the Zandrax changed everything. Destroying the spaceport was a way to slow down whatever plans they had for it.”
“Do you think the Rekvok will inform this Zandrax species about what happened today?” Jeb asked.
It was something Celeste had been thinking about ever since Phog had fired on the spaceport. She doubted they would as the Rekvok would probably think it was pirates just attacking a spaceport. However, the fact that their ship was cloaked might make the Rekvok second guess the pirate ship theory.
“I don’t think so,” Celeste replied. “With the galaxy at war it is possible that they would think we were pirates.”
Jeb had an incredulous look on his face. She knew this was all new to him.
“Yes, there are pirate ships that run around the galaxy,” Celeste said. “They look out to loot space bases, take crews hostage and steal cargo and ships.”
Phog brought the ship to a landing next to another forest. It was still dark outside the viewport.
“Can you let Tara know what has happened, but ask her to keep it to herself for now?” Celeste said.
Phog nodded and sent a transmission. She didn’t want rumors to begin proliferating at the underground shelter. Those would, in turn, put Tara and Sephim in danger.
“Some on the Council are, unfortunately, going to go crazy once they hear we destroyed the Rekvok spaceport,” Jeb admitted. “All of us don’t understand the greater implications of what is happening. To be honest, I, myself, am still struggling to make sense of it all.”
“I understand,” Celeste smiled. “The Earth is only one planet in a complex galaxy of species vying for power. It is really hard for humans, who have lived their entire lives on Earth, to really be able to accept it.”
She didn’t expect many of the human survivors to think of the galaxy being so interconnected. That kind of thinking might take a generation or two, if the human survivors even made it that far.
“Phog, can you check those transmissions you downloaded and see if there is anything else useful?” Celeste asked.
“I will get on it immediately,” Phog said.
She then turned her attention back to Jeb, who appeared to be grappling with everything that he had witnessed and learnt.
He stared at her. “What can we humans do?”
She felt the desperation in his voice. Seeing everything tonight, he probably felt they couldn’t last long against the Rekvok.
“For a start, we now have some weapons,” Celeste said. “It is important to get some of the people trained on how to use these weapons. You need to start by being able to defend yourselves.”
She felt arming the humans would possibly give them some confidence in themselves. It would also send a signal to the Rekvok that the humans wouldn’t simply give up to their fate.
“Jeb, did you say that all the humans on this continent were with your group?” Phog asked.
“All that we were able to find,” Jeb stated. “Why?”
“My sensors are picking up humans,” Phog reported.
More humans! How was that even possible? The Grekk media had been quite articulate in highlighting that Earth’s human race had been destroyed during the Enigma War. It had been incredibly persistent in reporting such news during those days. She even remembered Tara’s father talking about the end of the human race. But it had been far from the truth. Not only had they discovered a few hundred humans making up the new Western Continental Alliance, but there was now a possibility of more human survivors.
“How far from here?” Celeste asked.
“About one hundred miles north of our current position,” Phog replied.
“You seemed surprised,” Jeb remarked.
“You mean you aren’t?” Celeste asked.
“The possibility of other humans roaming about has always been on my mind,” Jeb said. “It’s just that we never had people adventurous enough to go and find more. Once we had gathered what we are today, most of us became satisfied that it was enough. But why did you think there weren’t other survivors?”
“We were told a story that we would be the last of the human race when they sent us out in the pods,” Phog stated. “We now realize it was a lie.”
“The chances of the alien species that attacked Earth wiping out every human being was very low,” Jeb said. “I think it had more to do with the fact that many smaller communities of humans believed an attack was imminent one day and had prepared themselves. Of course, the majority of the human population was wiped out when the first attacks hit the Earth. The aliens had the advantage of attacking first. The world leaders had no time to react. I remember the attack had come in continuous waves with no pause. The news media had shown the first wave of the attack before being knocked out. The multiple waves were probably the key factor that led to the fall of Earth.”
“But did the alien species ever land troops on Earth?” Celeste inquired.
“Not that I know of,” Jeb replied. “But once the media and communications channels were knocked out, there was really no way to know for sure of anything anymore.”
Celeste was unhappy that they hadn’t been told that human survivors had existed for years on Earth. She understood her father’s good intentions of keeping them safe, but it had come at a price. Although she knew that if she had found out earlier, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference because there would have been no way for her to leave the Grekk Empire and travel to Earth. However, knowing now that human survivors had been struggling on Earth while she was travelling on a Grekk starship made her feel guilty.
Jeb put his hands to his head in dismay. “In the early years we tried our best to contact whoever was out there. The problem was that our communications equipment was limited. As I said there had to be other humans out there that we never found. But with our old and limited channels of communication, it was hard for us to make contact with any of them.”
“I think we should investigate the new location since we also cannot return yet to the underground shelter,” Phog suggested. “The Rekvok would begin to conduct sweeps of the area for a while.”
“I agree,” Jeb said. “I want to know what those humans are doing up north. I don’t know how, but we could see if they want to join us and form a bigger group. Greater strength in numbers would help us when we need to fight the Rekvok.”
Celeste looked at the both of them. Although the both of them were eager to find out more about the new humans, she had to make the final decision. It was true they couldn’t yet return to the underground shelter. But she was concerned about leaving the humans, Tara and Sephim to fend for themselves. What if the Rekvok found the underground shelter during their sweeps of the area? She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if something happened. But the new humans could be linked to those her father had planned for them to find. If that was the case, it was important to find them as quickly as possible.
Phog must have sensed her dilemma. “We can get to the place undetected very quickly if I keep to the surface.”
Despite the cloak, she knew Phog couldn’t guarantee they would remain undetected. After revealing themselves at the spaceport, the Rekvok would be on the lookout for a cloaked ship.
“Okay, take us there.” Celeste directed Phog.