“I am proud to announce that all five of you have been selected for the MACH Squadron Program. I am sure you don’t need me to tell you this, but I expect you to serve the Out-Han Alliance with performance no other unit can match. You are here because you are the best of the best, those who are willing to sacrifice it all to keep the peace and safety of our new galactic community. The Milky Way is only going to get bigger and more complicated from here on out. For times when these complicated matters arise, it will be up to men and women like yourselves to sort right from wrong; good from evil. And, Captain Finwe, though I admit my expectations for you were low to start with, you have proven your determination a million-fold. No one else is more suited or capable of your position. Do us proud, Marcus. Do us proud. *sound of servos whirring* Ahh, easy on the handshake, there!” – Governor General Hamish Reliant, Acting Military Administrator for the Out-Han Alliance, 2260. Recording taken from the Maxim Abiding Combat Hardware Squadron formation speech.

  Elias Savage awoke feeling like someone had smashed a glass bottle inside his skull. Shit, with how badly the light stung his barely opened eyes, he might have preferred getting glassed.

  Slowly, he forced himself to look around. He was in some sort of medical room, judging from the IV line attached to his arm and thin gown he was wearing. The light was harsh, its beams tinted a faint green through Kral’Thul’s hazy atmosphere. The room was small, and all to himself. White on white walls and tiles and ceiling and clothes gave him little respite for his eyes. Each beep of the heart monitor next to his head send a dull ache rippling through his skull. Each click of the device, however, was less painful than the one before. Bit by bit, Elias was feeling a bit more alive.

  His stirring groans announced the sound of footsteps in the hallway outside. With all the delicacy of a stampede of elephants the team he had become familiar with over the past few months stormed inside.

  “Elias!” Chel-Lin cried out, wrapping him in a strong hug, mantle completely enveloping his upper torso.

  “Please… not so loud…” Elias grunted.

  As the alien retreated from the embrace, wincing slightly, Elias did not fail to notice the sly look the others gave each other. What? Was it not normal to hug a friend after they nearly died? There was no way that was a sign he was secretly banging his lab partner, was there?

  Still, they were happy to see him awake. They told him that he had been out for nearly a whole day as rescuers and emergency services cleaned up the situation.

  “So, what exactly happened?” Elias asked. “To start the fire, I mean.”

  “They’re still doing some investigations,” Kurt said, adjusting his sunglasses- Wait, was that the glint of a tear in his eyes? No, surely not. No way his big, muscly, pop-loving bodyguard actually cared about his asshole VIP. Clearing his throat, he continued. “But, from what I’ve heard from Rannos and some of the higher ups, it seemed like some sort of accidental explosion or something in the communications sector of the fifth wing. Not sure how it spread everywhere so fast, and they’re still piecing things together.”

  “I see. And… how many were…” Elias trailed off.

  EXCAL, in the form of a humanoid drone, stepped forward. Elias wasn’t sure if it was a trick of his still aching mind, but somehow the android looked glummer, if that was possible. Synthesiser lacking the standard exuberance it typically had, he spoke.

  “Eight dead. Far more injured.”

  It was rough news. Eight, likely brilliant minds, all the tops of their fields, were gone. It was hard news to take in, considering how recent the accident had felt to Elias. And yet, there was somewhat of a silver lining.

  “But the death toll would be much, much higher, if it hadn’t been for you guys,” EXCAL said, tone lightly lifted. “And you, Elias. Especially you.”

  “Please, I didn-“

  “No, Elias, I don’t want to hear that,” Bernard piped up. “Don’t cut any sort of modest bullshit or smug ‘guess I felt like helping’ crap. I know I speak for the rest of us when I say that without you, I would have just walked out the front door of Nucleus and let god knows how many people burn.” A look of mixed shame and awkwardness took the others, necks craned and eyes averted. “But, you, Elias – you took a risk. An absolutely fucking ridiculous one that Lucian is going to tear your asshole open for, but one you took regardless.”

  Elias wanted to disagree, to chalk it up to a fluke or some other excuse. And yet, though he had no clue where such instincts came from, he had done what felt right. Perhaps it was some sense of childish inferiority – having never truly stepped out of his father’s shadow, he wanted to be the hero for once. Well, good job dumbass, you got yourself knocked out… somehow.

  “Yeah, well, good on me,” Elias said, shrugging. “Still, what happened towards the end? I can’t remember much. We were dragging some of the people out and… it goes blank for me.”

  The group looked at one another, a concerned look across Kurt’s face especially.

  “You… don’t remember?” Madison said.

  “Not really. I think I saw Chel-Lin. Maybe someone else?”

  “That was my father. Kar-Trine Daksira,” Chel-Lin said, a certain warmth to her voice.

  “Your father? Oh, that son of a bitch! He must’ve-“

  The sound of the heart monitor intensified for a second as the Tylas made a calming gesture with her tendrils. “Peace, Elias! Peace! It’s fine. Me and my father… We’re good now. It’s all good.”

  “Oh,” Elias mumbled. “Like… actually good or just pretending to be nice? He sounded like an absolute fuckhead in the past, to be perfectly honest”

  Bernard snorted out a chuckle and received a glare from Madison before Chel-Lin finished. “Actually good. We’ve both said some things we needed to be said. I think… things will be alright.”

  “Oh. Great. That’s good. But, hold on, what happened next?”

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  Chel-Lin took the time to explain what had happened. After Bernard had managed to give EXCAL further access, his drones were able to begin moving survivors and activate the safety mechanisms that should have already activated. Officially, the accident had caused a malfunction of those systems, but Elias felt that was quite the oversight. Additionally, of all the people to help, Chel-Lin’s father had heard of the accident and mustered a number of the members of his political party, the Proclaimers, to assist with the effort. Madison showed off a number of photos taken of Tylas helping move people and extinguishing flames. And yet, despite everything, there was a topic that needed to be discussed – something far more personal. The strange awareness that allowed Elias to save his lover, some sort of act of prescience.

  “It wasn’t just then, Savage.” Kurt said. “A guy you saved, Eric, told me afterwards – said you saved him from another similar situation. Out of the blue, you reacted before the danger even started. How the hell did you do that? It’s almost like…”

  “Like he saw it coming,” EXCAL said.

  EXCAL’s words cut through the air. It was clear that everyone had been thinking the same thought, but no others had wanted to say it so bluntly. Eyes all on him, he felt his cheeks turn rosy.

  “Well, to be honest…” he started.

  “I swear to god if you say ‘I just knew’!” Bernard said.

  “But it was just like that! I just- I felt it in my heart. I saw the floor falling away, a few seconds before it actually happened. And… in my soul, I just knew I needed to do something. It pushed me forward, made me act. When I felt that something terrible was going to happen to you, Chel-Lin, I was driven like I’ve never felt before. I saw it, and I needed to do something, anything.”

  The group absorbed the information, looking at one another. A few times someone would open their mouth to speak, but wilt away, the weight of the potential discussion heavy.

  “When did you first feel it, Elias?” Madison eventually said.

  “I mean, in the cafeteria, when the floor…” No, that wasn’t right. That unexplainable feeling had come earlier. Far earlier. “No, back in the lab.”

  “What? Before the alarms went off?” Kurt said.

  “No, it was after that. Before I left with my harness, I got a mask, calibrated my neural pad and…“ It was then. That was when he first felt it. “I took the S-Drive we were working on.”

  Chel-Lin’s eyes widened. “Elias, why?”

  “I… I think I knew I would need it. I could already feel the heat of the fire at that moment when I touched it.”

  Well, that was fucking terrifying. What on earth was going on? Elias had just wanted to mess with some new form of faster than light travel, nothing crazy, but now he was dealing with something beyond his wildest dreams. Was this tied to the strange code he’d come across? Some hidden function? A bug of sorts, tied to the waveform manipulation?

  The other possibility was even more unnerving.

  What if the S-Drive wasn’t made for just FTL travel?

  “Sorry, I’m absolutely lost,” Bernard said, scratching his head. “What’s this about S-Drives? I thought you were working on a multispecies harness of sorts?”

  “Oh, that’s right,” Madison turned to Bernard. “Elias and Chel-Lin are secretly working on a new form of FTL travel whilst covering up the work with less important projects.” Huh, thanks for that, Dr Dallas. “Oh, and he made a new, stronger internal core for the S-Drive to help with my project as well. First CHALICE Shaft ever!”

  “Madison, what the fuck?” Elias said.

  “Oh, and we came across some hidden old code from Project Grail afterwards,” Chel-Lin continued. “That probably has a lot to do with this, I imagine.”

  “Chel-Lin, again – what the fuck?!”

  “What?” she gave a shrug, mantle rippling. “I figured if we might as well all be on the same page. It’s not like anyone’s really hiding anything anymore. There are, how do you humans put it, ‘bigger fish to fry’, right?”

  There was about a split second after she said those words that she realised there was definitely something to hide between the two of them, a soft squeak leaking out of her. If the Tylas could blush, Chel-Lin would be as red as a cherry. Perhaps, if she stopped talking, there would actually be a chance for their relationship to continue in secrecy.

  Bernard, blinking and mouth agape in awe, just looked around. “Ok, what the hell guys? I’m over here making some special potatoes and you lot are fucking with mind-fucking physics? Great Observer, what did I do in a past life to get stuck with you lot?”

  There seemed to be a moment where Bernard considered discussing more, especially in reaction to the reveal behind the others secret projects, but he thinned his lips after a moments contemplation.

  “What did you do in your current life?” Kurt asked. “I distinctly remember you mentioning STDs last time we played strip poker.”

  “…No comment.”

  “Guys, can we please get back on track?” Madison said. “What happened to the S-Drive?”

  Kurt stepped forward, “I took care of that. Snuck it back into our labs after they took Elias away.” Oh Kurt, you big beautiful bodyguard!

  “Alright, that’s good,” Elias said. “But what’s going on with the Symposium? Are we still good for it?”

  “Seems that way,” EXCAL said, a note of disgust present in the synthetic voice. “There’s been a delay to sort everything out, and I believe most of the employees of the affected wing are being sent home. Lucian said he’ll be increasing security – his own personal guards – to keep everyone more safe going forward.”

  “So he says,” Elias said. “Sounds to me like his idea of a peaceful little convention just got turned on its head.”

  EXCAL gave a hum of agreement. He had seemed very different in the short time Elias had spoken to him since giving him his own development data. Had something been jogged in the computer’s mind? He seemed both more natural, but less upbeat. Something to keep an eye on, Elias supposed.

  “And any instructions for us?” Elias asked.

  “We’ve already had our disciplinary shouting session with Mr Valentari,” Chel-Lin said. “Yet, I think he’s just upset considering the situation. Rannos did as much as he could to help us as well. But it was a bit odd – it was almost like Lucian was putting on a bit of a show.”

  “For who, though? Was anyone else there?”

  Bernard shook his head, “Not that I could see. He did have a comm-device set up, so maybe someone was listening in, but I can’t be certain.”

  The others relayed some more detailed instructions – no official work for a week, no work involving dangerous components or chemicals for a month, and no more communications research involving high speed connection liquid that also happened to be highly flammable. That was the most likely cause of the accident, according to Lucian.

  God, what a pain in the ass. At least all of the team were fine. There was still a lot to be done, and Elias didn’t want to slow down his work based on the orders of some GaltCorp suit. Once he’d gotten his ear bitten off by the augmented corpo, he wanted to jump right back into the S-Drive’s mysteries. If he knew more, what more could he achieve? And not just him; with Chel-Lin by his side, the sky was the limit.

  Speaking of a certain, sexy alien, as the others left the room to give him some time to rest, she instead lingered. Drifting close, and holding Elias’ cheek in her mantle, she gave him a soft kiss on his lips; citrus, spice and everything nice left lingering on his tongue.

  “Thank you, Elias, for being my hero,” she whispered.

  “Chel-Lin, you know that I’ll always be there for you, Elias said, free of snark or sassiness. The words he spoke were true, from the heart.

  “In that case, shall I call you my little Sancho?”

  “Uh, Quixote was the one who thought he was a knight, but close enough. Just don’t call me fat.”

  “Oh, is my little monkey worried about getting a bit chubby?” Her voice took a sultry tone. “You know, I can think of an exercise we can try later to burn some weight.”

  “God, you are such a sex pest.”

  “I am not! I am just… well versed in the ‘human handshake’.”

  “You keep using Cambiar terms like that and Rannos might get jealous.”

  Elias was sore, but as Chel-Lin slipped beneath the blankets and held him close, he felt no need to stop her. Her cool straps stretched across his body as she laid in his embrace. Elias settled his head back into the pillow and looked at the blank ceiling overhead.

  If Uncle Samson could see him now, would he see the stars the same way Elias did now – teeming with life and more questions than he could have ever formulated on his own? Maybe. Maybe not.

  He wasn’t here, but Elias and Chel-Lin were; alive and unharmed. Together, maybe they could answer some of those questions. Then, maybe the night sky would no longer stir the same fear it did all those years ago to the next generation.