ONE: Epilogue of Hermesh

18. The Unthinkable

As news of the Goulash Armada's annihilation and the fate of Ralnac started to spread across Hermesh, the supreme Amarthian, Helmeshi and Xacreth commanders met in Alamiin, to formulate a strategy to counter the alien invasion. Although, initially, many were in favour of an all-out counter-offensive, to try and push the enemy out of the galaxy before they could gain a foothold in Hermesh, after speaking to the surviving officers of the first two encounters, the majority of the commanders decided on a more cautious approach.

In an unprecedented move, the next three  Helmeshi star systems, right after Ralnac were hastily evacuated and allowed to fall into the hands of the advancing enemy, without any resistance. However, this unexpected lull in hostility was only the calm before the storm.

Of the many marks left behind on Hermesh by that great cosmic calamity that befell the galaxy eons ago, perhaps the most visible one was the Boran Expanse. Or as many called it, the graveyard of Hermesh. Situated along the outer edges of Helmeshi space, the expanse was approximately 120 Centrons long and in some places over 30 Centrons wide. Physicists and astronomers who had studied the expanse speculated that at some point in the very distant past, some unimaginable force hurled stars, planets, moons, asteroids and other celestial objects from hundreds of solar systems, towards each other, at an incredible velocity. The debris left behind in the aftermath of that cataclysmic event created the Boran Expanse.

It was here, naturally shielded and well camouflaged, that 20,000 ships of the Zaarnan Imperial Forces and the Helmeshi Peace Force confronted the enemy for the third time. Only this time, they had time to build defences strong enough to halt the advancing enemy.
Or so they thought.

****

General Naaroke Barmin was gazing out, as a few hundred ships returned from battle, to be repaired in the forward reassembly stations. In his mind, they resembled hundreds of giant leviathans, all scarred, damaged, broken and bleeding. The General recognised the shadow of death in the eyes of the crew. But, in spite of the unrelenting onslaught by the enemy, the enhanced armors of the crescent and prismatic ships had somehow held on and maintained some salvageable semblance of their structural integrity.

Still limping from his latest injury, the General slowly moved across his dark quarters and deposited himself on the solitary chair that stood next to his hibernation pod.

"And who might you be?" General Barmin asked into the darkness, as he continued to gaze out of the window, still observing the convoy of damaged ships from inside his otherwise empty room.

"I am Sheel," the voice answered from within the darkest corner of the room, "Are you Dmitry?"

"I was once known by that name, a very long time ago." The General replied, watching through the corner of his eyes as the secret symbol of the rebellion floated out of the darkness and slowly disappeared back into it. "And where, might I ask, is our illustrious leader, Shubhankor?"

"He couldn't be here right now," Sheel answered, "He sent me instead."

"Did he, now?" Barmin spoke in a low voice. Without looking at Sheel, he reached out to the glass of libation that he had left there earlier. As he nursed his drink and settled back into his seat, he continued speaking to the shadows in his room, "Then perhaps you can tell me who has slashed open this universe to send in those abominations and why am I the only one here fighting them?" General Barmin spat in a low voice filled with explosive intensity. "Why has he only sent you and not an army of our kind to defend Hermesh?" He finally looked at Sheel, with blazing eyes.

"It is not that simple."

"I'm sure it isn't. It never is," General Naaroke Barmin muttered, before asking, "But then again, how hard is it to say that our resistance failed and we lost and there's nobody else left to send?"