You, Me, We Are All Mistakes

15. A FIFTH PROJECTILE

CHAPTER 15
A FIFTH PROJECTILE

Each galaxy in Laniakea may elect one Senator to sit virtually or physically within the Superchamber of the Supercluster.

This Superchamber forms the political hub of the Galactic Core and is regulated by the Great Attractor presiding over Laniakea.

In addition, each galaxy may grant All-Powers to a single representative who remains influential yet distinctly autonomous of the Superchamber, its politics, and its Senators.

This focal point, its system of government, order, gravity, and time management, has stayed constant for over thirteen billion annums during our current Big Loop.

Beyond Laniakea is considered the boondocks and far less stimulating. Freedom of movement at the boundaries of this Supercluster is restricted, although a fixed refugee quota is close to agreement.

***

Sennai raised his head and smiled at the long-limbed Communications Officer. Ignorant of imminent danger he made an amiable request:

"Deluxia, I would like to speak to the whole ship. Will you put me through?"

"Yes Sir," beamed Deluxia. She wore the aquamarine livery issued to Fleet Communications personnel. Due to her elongated legs and arms, her skirt had been extended to touch the top of her knee, and each sleeve tapered further to meet her slender wrists. The only other modification to the standard uniform was a rear vent at the lower back to accommodate her sylphlike tail.

With jeweled talons she flicked a small switch amongst the myriad that lay before her. Contact was made and a faint hum on all open channels notified the crew of their Captain's imminent announcement.

"Captain Sennai, StarDate 1..." began Sennai #8, "Hellooo team. I thought I'd hold an impromptu townhall to say what a great day we're having up here..."

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#8 Expensive timepiece manufacture, theft, copy and resale remains big business straddling most worlds. However, if you care to consider eternity across a larger expanse, cosmic timescales are colossal and beyond even the most expensive watches. For the few horology artisans and black-market peddlers who did care, a proposal was put forth aeons ago acknowledging the inefficacy of measuring time in Old Annums. And recognizing that for ordinary Galactic Core inhabitants to converse on comparative calendars, a common universal standard must be assembled based on relative space-time, and not those dumb clocks. So, the StarDate was born: a timescale of such complex and cosmic proportions that it became much too difficult to talk of in Old Annums. So, a New Annum was conceived, which was much like the Old Annum except no one talked about it. Meanwhile, genuine and fake timepiece production continues.
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In that instant the ship's bridge was irradiated by a blinding burst of white light. Sennai smiled broadly - his habitual reaction to the photographer's flash. He duly struck a hump-backed bridge with his stomach strapped to the deck. The ship's deflector shields had withstood a colossal impact they were not designed for.

The ship shook. It rolled. The ship held together.

An extended muteness ensued across the inhabitants of the bridge as panicked fingers and talons wrested their nearest fixed objects.

A wide-eyed Walta broke the silence. "Captain! That was a new season Weaponify missile, Sir. Next impact due in three seconds."

"WHAT!" screamed Sennai, "Evasive action!"

This took exactly three seconds to say.

The ship shook. It rolled. But it no longer held together. The dorsal fin crowning its central column, incorporated into the blueprint as an after-thought by the ship's designers attempting to streamline its silhouette and reduce its phallic indecency, dislodged. The fin spiraled indiscriminately away to mercifully collide with the third missile. This promptly exploded, granting a fortunate crew at least nine more seconds before total annihilation.