Gan found himself mysteriously teleported to the grand hall of his school’s graduation ceremony. It was a scene etched deep in his memories, the echo of his past, dressed up in the peculiar illogic of dreams. The sprawling hall stood as regal as ever, decked in streamers and banners of his alma mater, bathed in the vibrant glow of myriad lights. The jubilant atmosphere was thick, its familiarity a balm to his disoriented psyche.

  Yet, the question gnawed at him, a disquieting sense of wonder seeping into his consciousness. What was he doing here, revisiting this moment? Time seemed to have wound back, placing him on the cusp of a journey that had already unfolded.

  The ceremony progressed in the background, a symphony of names echoing through the grand hall. His classmates, their faces glowing with anticipation and a hint of nervousness, were called one by one. This ritual was much like his initial rite of the Captaincy ceremony—a grand spectacle where they were bestowed with the symbol of their future command.

  Each graduate met their Paktu at the stage front, their hands outstretched in an age-old gesture of readiness. The Paktu performed the mystical dance with a wand, encircling it thrice around in each hand. A puff of ethereal, purplish smoke appeared like a magician’s finale, coalescing into a miniature holographic depiction of their future ship. Excelsior-class starships for some, Excalibur-class starships for others—tokens of the destiny that they would command in the vast cosmos.

  Gan watched it unfold, a surreal reenactment of a past he had already lived. A faint sense of anticipation seeped into his dreamy state. “Would I get the Valtorian again?” he mused, his mind adrift in the sea of possibilities this dream world offered.

  He heard it—his name being called out, slicing through the symphony of sounds around him. Startled, he rose from his seat, his heart pounding in unison with the beat of anticipation. As he took a step forward, his expectation was shattered—a sensation of falling, a sudden loss of control. With a jolt, he hit the hard, unyielding floor of reality.

  Gan didn’t know how long he had been unconscious, but he awoke to the frantic shouts of the ship’s AI urging him to wake up. Apparently, gravity had been restored as well. The fall from zero gravity would explain the fading back pain that he was experiencing.

  He blinked several times. and His Paktu had fallen silent. Gan regained his bearings and climbed to his feet. He was still aboard the Valtorian. The ceremony was a dream. He shook himself to clear his mind, and the events of his subconscious mind faded away.

  A few minutes went by and Pelve announced that the air leak had been successfully contained.

  That was good news, but Gan was still baffled by what had caused the chaos. One moment he had been enjoying some well-deserved downtime, and the next, pandemonium had erupted. With the Galley out of commission, he wouldn’t be enjoying any meals soon. Thankfully, he had consumed some Siko Fvasa before settling in to watch the video.

  “What caused the breach in the Galley?” Gan inquired of the AI.

  “Unknown,” Pelve responded. “There was a massive explosion originating from the exterior of the hull.”

  A massive explosion? Could it have been some sort of chemical reaction? Gan thought. There wasn’t anything kept in the Galley that was explosive unless you counted the Ellurian beans. They always tore Gan’s stomach up.

  “Wait, you said it was outside the hull?” Gan mused aloud. Outside the hull. That made little sense. Could it have been the old mine he had spotted in the distance while scavenging? Surely not.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  “It is outside the hull,” Pelve confirmed. He still seemed less verbose than usual.

  “Display debris field Alpha1,” Gan commanded the AI.

  A separate hologram appeared, showing the debris field in vivid detail. Using both hands, he manipulated the image to focus and magnify the results. As he suspected, the mine was no longer there.

  “What’s the status of the mine from Alpha1?” Gan asked, already expecting the answer.

  Pelve’s response still startled him.

  “The mine is attached to the port side of the ship.”

  That was intriguing. The port side was opposite the Galley. It was either an unfortunate coincidence or the mine had somehow caused the explosion and moved. Neither possibility boded well.

  Gan recalled what his Paktu had mentioned earlier. If ever there was a time to call him, it was now.

  “Pelve, please connect me with my Paktu,” Gan commanded the AI. Pelve didn’t respond, but in just a few moments, Elo appeared in a holographic projection to his right.

  “Elo!” Gan called out, beckoning him to come forward.

  The Paktu materialized to his left, three feet shorter than Gan but of average height for his race. Despite this, he always seemed to make Gan feel inferior during their interactions.

  “I see you’ve stabilized the oxygen situation,” the Paktu remarked, sounding almost begrudgingly impressed. “You still need to repair the Galley and remove that ‘thing’ from the ship’s hull.”

  “So, you know about it, then?” Gan inquired, suddenly curious. He thought he saw a flicker of doubt cross the Paktu’s face for a moment. Then again, it could have just been a shadow from the holographic projector.

  “Of course I do,” Elo replied. “It was careless of you to let it attach to the ship.”

  “I didn’t ‘let’ it do anything,” Gan retorted. The Paktu had a knack for pushing his buttons. “The mine attached itself. I thought you said it was ‘a harmless, old relic from a time long gone by.’”

  “I did,” Elo acknowledged. “But you should never have let your guard down.”

  “Do you have the codes necessary to disarm it or not?” Gan demanded, his patience wearing thin.

  During his rigorous training regimen, Gan had gained a deep well of knowledge regarding the intricate workings of the Marau technology. One such piece of intelligence that had ingrained itself into his memory was the knowledge that the Marau’s deadly space mines, as sophisticated as they were, had a potential Achilles heel—built-in disarming codes.

  These codes were essential safeguards in the Marau’s military protocol, allowing their forces to neutralize the mines during their various missions or exercises to prevent unnecessary damage or casualties. This was crucial information, highly classified and guarded within the Marau military complex. The Ellurian government, however, had infiltrated this fortress of secrecy, placing a well-positioned spy who had access to this precious knowledge.

  Disarming a Marau mine was not a task for the faint-hearted. It was a complex process, requiring a deft hand and a mind of steel. The mine’s protective panel had to be removed to expose its internal mechanisms. The removal was no straightforward task, as the Marau designed the mines with an exterior shell robust enough to withstand space debris and minor collisions. Only a well-equipped ship could even hope to do it without damaging the mine and causing an explosion.

  Once this hurdle was crossed, the real challenge began. Establishing communication with the mine’s sophisticated operating system was akin to navigating a labyrinth of alien technology. The disarming codes had to be entered with precision into the mine’s control interface, a task that required a steady hand and a calm mind amidst the tension of the ticking clock.

  Marau mines were designed with an automatic re-arming feature that activated half a day after they were disarmed. This fail-safe ensured their functionality in scenarios where their controlling forces might lose communication with the mine. Failure to disarm the mine within this window would cause another inevitable, devastating explosion.

  Given the fragile state of the Valtorian, another blast would be catastrophic. This looming threat weighed on Gan, who understood the criticality of disarming the mine. The stakes were high and the room for error was nonexistent.

  “Of course I do,” the Paktu replied coolly. “I have already uploaded them to the ship’s AI in anticipation of just such a need.”

  Pelve acknowledged his receipt of the codes by displaying them in yet another hologram. He seemed to be keeping quiet while Elo was dressing him down, Gan thought to himself. Perhaps the AI had suffered as well in the explosion.

  “I guess that is all I will need, then. I had better jump on it,” Gan said as he signed off abruptly.

  Honor and respect be damned. He really didn’t feel like being berated anymore. He wanted to take action.

  Gan walked to the ship’s maintenance closet again. On his way, he asked Pelve to perform self-diagnostics. Pelve responded affirmatively as Gan started digging through the equipment at hand and loaded up a toolbox.

  He had the codes, and he had all the tools that he needed to remove the mine. It seemed another spacewalk was imminent.

  leave a rating, favorite the chapter, or drop a review—it helps a ton! ?? Thanks for reading and see you in the next chapter!