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He opened his eyes.
Everything swam before him. He had a sense that he was somewhere, yet nowhere. He couldn’t identify it. It was wrong, somehow.
He knew he was someone. But who was he? Where was he? How did he know he was he?
For a few moments, the world just swam around in front of his eyes. He only knew they were open now because of the moments of darkness when he blinked.
Suddenly, he had a burst of absolute clarity about who he was.
He was Shi’tra Juukamn.
His vision continued to swim, but after another moment, he realized he wasn’t alone. He had a crew, and they had been with him on the flight deck of their starship, he seemed to recall.
Were they dead?
His vision swam into focus. No, they were still where they had been all along.
Shi’tra was still recovering his senses as he thought about the last thing he could remember. He’d ordered Kyyl to overload the Multi-Phasic Universal Source Shield Generator, which had been the only way to take out the Ditufgne ring ships.
Shi’tra had always considered himself a man of principle. He may have been a pirate, but he still had a code of honor and tended to choose and follow rational action.
He’d had not intended to die nobly. But after watching Aravusq be banished to the void and knowing he was the only one who could save other worlds from the same fate he’d made his choice.
The crew would always follow his lead. Even down a noble path. They might not have liked it, but they were a family, and they would go along with his actions.
Shi’tra was becoming more and more aware of himself now. If they were dead and this was eternity, why did he still feel the minor discomforts of his body like he always had before? Shouldn’t he be free of pain and discomfort?
Shi’tra had never decided if he believed in an afterlife. But he’d presumed it would lack the minor nuisances of an aging and well-used body in life.
Shi’tra’s eyes were clear now. He looked around the flight deck. The crew looked as groggy and disoriented as he was feeling. But the Ravusqan Raider seemed perfectly normal.
Shi’tra wanted to stand, but he felt that he couldn’t trust his feet. Uncertainly, he spoke, “Is...is everyone alright?”
“I seem to be,” commented Lori.
“How are we still alive?” asked Hakk.
“If this is the afterlife, why am I still with all of you?” questioned Gek Guv Geq.
“What happened?” asked Roy, echoed a second later by Rhi.
“Didn’t we sacrifice ourselves to stop the superweapon?” questioned Kaeri.
“I haven’t had a drop to drink in decades, and I feel utterly hung over,” said Tvi’pra.
Before Shi’tra could try the comm, Kyyl was back on the flight deck. “How is this possible? I did it. I dispersed the Multi-Phasic Universal Source Shield Generator as requested. But... But it’s still fully functional. It didn’t blow. It seems to have recycled itself somehow after the overload.”
“Where are we?” Shi’tra asked.
Lori, Tvi’pra, and Kaeri were all looking over their screens. It was Tvi’pra who said, “I am not recognizing a single constellation. We are definitely not in the Aravusq system anymore.”
“The charts can’t match anything,” said Lori. “There are stars out there, but not a single chart is matching. And yes, I checked, and the systems all seem to be running perfectly normally.”
“I’ll run some diagnostics,” said Kyyl, sitting at his station.
“This is weird,” commented Kaeri. “The chronometers don’t make any sense at all. I can’t tell the time or date because the system has no signal.”
“Well, this is something,” said Gek Guv Geq. “We’ve not the slightest idea of where or when we are, how we’re still alive after we overloaded the Multi-Phasic Universal Source Shield Generator. Does anyone recall how we got from where we were to wherever in the universe that we are, or even how long it’s been since we chose the noble path?”
Nobody replied. Shi’tra felt utterly confused.
“We are most definitely alive,” said Roy. “Everything looks, feels, and even smells like it always has.”
“Yeah,” added Rhi. “You would think I’d at least get back my real eye if I was dead.”
Shi’tra arose unsteadily. He looked around at his ship and then his crew. He looked out the viewport and saw stars out there.
Even though all were at a distance, there was an alienness to the sky Shi’tra couldn’t have explained if he tried.
“Whoa,” Hakk exclaimed. “Uh, ships are...well, it looks like emerging from ‘warp’ the same as the Xorcerizts do.”
“Ships?” questioned Shi’tra, resuming his seat and shifting a screen nearer. “How many?”
“Looks to be...a lot,” said Hakk. “Counted twenty so far, and more are arriving.”
Shi’tra debated calling out battlestations to the crew. But he had a feeling it wasn’t worth it or even necessary.
He now saw the ships on his screen. They looked sort of like the Xorcerizt ships, but not quite. At least not like those they had seen. But the energy signatures and the reversion to normal space from ‘warp’ were identical.
“I can’t explain this,” Gek Guv Geq said. “I can’t explain a damned thing currently, but that’s beside the point. I just know those ships are old. Like, really old. Ancient old. I couldn’t tell you why or how I know that. But I am sure of it as I am that we’re still very much alive.”
“I wonder,” Kaeri mused aloud, softly. Then, she said, “The ring-ships were designed to send whole planets across an unfathomable distance instantaneously into the void between galaxies. That weapon had the highest, most powerful energy signature I have ever seen. That anyone has ever seen. But it was Ditufgne technology.”
She paused, as if working out how to express her thoughts, before she continued, “The Multi-Phasic Universal Source Shield Generator is Xorcxerizt technology. What if the energy discharge destroyed the weapon, but when it collided with the dissimilar Ditufgne energy it didn’t destroy us at the focal point. What if, instead, it threw us.”
“Threw us?” asked Tvi’pra.
“Tossed us?” Kaeri continued. “What if we were somehow tossed across some vast distance of space?”
“And time,” added Kyyl. “Given the nature of wormholes and the distances we’re talking about, it’s not implausible.”
“The Xorcerizts supposedly left our galaxy to cross the void to another,” mused Rhi.
“Right,” agreed Roy. “And maybe, somehow, we’ve also crossed the void to where they got themselves to.”
Shi’tra gave that some thought, observing the now four-dozen starships that were at a distance, but getting nearer.
“But do you think we destroyed the weapon?” asked Lori.
“Yes,” replied Kyyl. “That much energy, meeting the remaining vast energy of the Ditufgne ring-ships? Without a doubt. We destroyed them.”
“We did,” Shi’tra said. “I can’t explain it, but I know, with absolute certainty, that we did it. We saved the galaxy from that terrible weapon.”
“Yet our noble death managed not to kill us somehow,” said Gek Guv Geq.
“Signal incoming,” said Tvi’pra.
“Let’s see it,” ordered Shi’tra.
A moment later, the image of a Xorcerizt appeared. He had a look of wonder on his face.
Shi’tra couldn’t believe it. He’d never known them personally, but he was sure he knew that face. “Nallatrum?”
The Xorcerizt smiled. “Hello, Captain Juukamn, and hello to the rest of the crew of the Ravusqan Raider.”
“I’ll be damned,” said Hakk.
Shi’tra felt Lori take his hand. He looked to her and saw her mixed surprise and joy.
Nallatrum continued, “You should all know that you are heroes. What you did, what you were willing to sacrifice, will never be forgotten. You may not have lived heroic lives, but the galaxy believes that you died heroic and noble deaths. To all intents and purposes, you did.”
“We’re not in that galaxy anymore, are we?” asked Lori.
“No,” Nallatrum confirmed. “You are far from it. But we’re pleased to see you. Welcome to the galaxy that we call home.”