ONE: Epilogue of Hermesh

6. The Voice Within

The stunned silence that descended upon the bridge momentarily paralyzed everyone except Commodore Reemon Erra. Realising that every pair of eyes were fixed on him, Erra composed himself and spoke with all the authority he could master, "Verify the transmission."

Jolted out of immobility, the officer who had read out the message went about the task with mechanical efficiency. While everyone waited, Erra eyed Tekkar. She had by then regained her composure, but looked confused.

"Something bothering you?" Erra asked in a low voice.

"Why would Admiral Muurash'Hanaak transmit the message to Tooran and not directly to Ralnac?"

Reemon Erra did not reply immediately. He waited for the authentication process to be completed. After what felt like forever, but was, in fact, the bare minimum time required for the process, the officer stood up, turned to Erra and said, "Verification complete. Commodore, I…can confirm the code is from Admiral Muurash'Hanaak."

Without responding, Erra turned to Tekkar. Realising what was being asked of her, the Commander stepped up to check the message as well before affirming it with a curt nod. Finally, as the message reappeared right in front of him on a floating screen, Commodore Reemon Erra checked it himself using the established protocol, before authenticating and making it vanish.

"Given the 3-point authentication, I now invoke the Primary Protocol," Erra said solemnly, "I'm hereby ordering all nonessential crew members, not part of the command, navigation, science or maintenance divisions, to go to their hibernation chambers. You will be woken up when we reach the other side."

As everyone silently went about carrying out his orders, Erra stepping closer to Tekkar said, "Once the hibernation pods are activated, divert all available power to hold Tooran together. It is imperative that she stays in one piece. And once we have reached communication range with Ralnac, you patch me right through. If it hasn't begun already, the evacuation of the entire system must start immediately!"

"Yes, Commodore," Tekkar replied.

Reemon Erra watched on in silence as the Cold Run Order was implemented. Once all the non-essentials from the crew had gone into their hibernation chambers, leaving the outer posts of the ship empty, Tekkar commanded all the life-support systems of those sections to be turned off. She then diverted the extra energy to strengthen the structural integrity of Tooran.

"Now, why did he send the message to you directly and not Ralnac?"

Erra heard a voice whisper these words into his ears. Startled, he looked around the bridge. But nobody was standing near him. Conscious that everyone there was keeping an eye on him, Erra quickly composed himself. But the silence that followed was short-lived. He heard that unknown voice speak again, "What if the one distant memory that you remembered, momentarily, upon hearing your friend's last message was a reminder of that proposed madness?"

Discreetly surveying his surroundings and yet again, finding nobody there, Erra slowly stood up. Trying to think fast, the Commodore concluded that either he was losing his mind or something entirely inexplicable was happening to him. Whichever was the right answer, Erra knew, given the current situation, he could not disclose this unusual occurrence to anyone. But something that the voice had said compelled Erra to think again.

He was reminded of a meeting he once had with Muurash'Hanaak during one of the bloodiest periods of the Xacreth War. During that meeting, a plan to counter the Xacreth threat was suggested; an idea that at the time he believed was nothing short of madness. However, sometimes truly desperate situations can push one to contemplate solutions that would otherwise appear insane. But then, Erra was convinced that in its magnitude, the present threat to Hermesh was far greater than what the Xacreth ever posed. And if Muurash'Hanaak shared his opinion, then could it be possible that the Helmeshi would actually use the last moments of his life to tell him just that?

"Yes. He did," this time the voice replied as if from inside Erra's very head!

Still trying hard to keep a straight face and pretend that this was just stress induced hallucination, Reemon Erra walked up to Commander Tekkar and asked, "How far to the Central Singularities?"

"About 18 minutes, Commodore," Tekkar answered, "But we're plotting a course trajectory that will keep Tooran as far away from them as possible."

"Can you bring power back to the Strategy Room?" Erra enquired.

"Yes, I can."

"Meet me there in 2 minutes. Bring Captain Porthel of the Science Unit with you. And...make sure Tooran does not cross the Singularities without informing me first.” To the curiosity etched on Tekkar’s face, he added, “Don't worry, I will explain everything when you are there. Just not here."

**********************
Author's Note: Who do you think this disembodied voice belongs to? Any guesses? Feel free to drop a comment or feedback. Please point out any mistakes that you might find. I insist. And vote if you think my creation worthy. Your engagement helps with visibility for my story. TIA