Arc 1, Chapter 10: Messages Across Time
The structure was unlike anything Stellar had ever seen, and after the past week, that was saying something.
It hung in the void like a crystalline flower, its petals unfurling in dimensions that shouldn't exist. Parts of it flickered in and out of visibility, as if the structure existed only partially in normal space-time. Energy patterns cascaded across its surface in colors that hurt to look at directly.
"Captain, that thing is massive." Clark reported, his voice filled with awe. "It's easily fifty times the size of Sanctuary. And the energy readings...I don't even know what I'm looking at. It's generating power on a scale that should create a black hole, but somehow the energy is being channeled into something else."
"Do you know what?" Stellar asked.
"Into time itself, I think. The structure is holding open multiple temporal pathways simultaneously. It's like...like a train station for different timelines. You could step through one doorway and emerge in the past, another and find yourself in the future, a third and end up in a timeline where history took a completely different path."
"The Architects built this?" Thorne asked.
"Or they became this." Carmelon mused, studying the readings. Mitchell had been unusually quiet since they'd approached the structure, the eagle's head tilted as if listening to something only he could hear. "What if the Architects didn't disappear? What if they transcended? Became beings of pure temporal energy?"
"I guess that's disturbingly possible." Clark admitted.
"Captain, we're being hailed." Hayes announced. "Audio and visual. The signal is coming from inside that structure."
"Okay. Someone's home...Put it through."
The viewscreen flickered, and a figure appeared. It was humanoid in the loosest sense...bipedal, with a head and torso, but its form constantly shifted, cycling through different appearances every few seconds. One moment it looked human, the next it resembled the Quellan, then the Kresh, then species Stellar didn't recognize. As if it contained all possibilities simultaneously.
When it spoke, its voice layered multiple languages on top of each other, the universal translator struggling to parse meaning from the chaos.
"Welcome...visitors from the past...the ones who activated the Protocol...we have waited...known you would come...temporal calculations indicated...ninety-seven percent probability..."
"For those of us who are still confused...you're an Architect?" Stellar said.
"We...are what the Architects became...when we understood...time is not linear...causality is an illusion...all moments exist simultaneously...we simply choose which ones to inhabit..."
"Comforting." Thorne muttered.
"You came here seeking knowledge...seeking to return to your timeline...seeking to prevent The Confluence's harvest...we can help...but first...you must understand...what you already accomplished..."
Stellar leaned forward. "What WE accomplished? We didn't accomplish anything. We ran. We jumped four hundred years into the future to escape."
"You do not see...because you are still thinking linearly...but we see all timelines...all possibilities...and in the timeline you came from...the one you think you abandoned...your actions have already begun a cascade...that will lead to The Confluence's fall..."
"How?" James asked, stepping closer. "We left Admiral Chen in power. We left Earth under threat. We didn't change anything."
"But you did...you recorded proof of Admiral Chen's betrayal...you survived The Confluence's attack...you proved that resistance is possible... and most important...you sent a message..."
"That message was...?" Stellar asked.
The Architect's form stabilized for a moment, becoming more human. It gestured, and a holographic display appeared between them.
"This message...the one Lieutenant Hayes broadcast...when you were fighting at Sanctuary...she opened channels on all frequencies...remember?"
Hayes's eyes widened. "The distress call. I was trying to contact any allied ships in the area. But there weren't any. It just went out into empty space."
"Not empty...the quantum relay network...the one built by resistance species...the one The Confluence partially compromised...your message traveled through it...reached seventeen different refugee groups...forty-three resistance cells...and two human colonies you never knew existed..."
The hologram showed a map of the galaxy, dotted with lights. Each one, Stellar realized, was a place that had received their message. Their desperate broadcast about Sanctuary, about The Confluence's attack, about Admiral Chen's betrayal.
"In your timeline...in the weeks after you vanished...those who received your message began to act...the human colonies sent investigators to Earth...presented evidence of Admiral Chen's crimes to the United Earth Council...she was arrested...removed from power...her technology sharing agreements with The Confluence were exposed and terminated..."
"The Council believed them?" Stellar asked, hardly daring to hope.
"Not at first...but then the investigators found the Novara records...found the eight hundred thousand humans Chen had sold...and The Confluence refused to return them...claimed legal ownership...the evidence was undeniable..."
The hologram shifted, showing Earth. New Mansfield. The massive city lit up with protests, demonstrations, riots.
"Humanity united...in a way it never had before...not in exploration...not in discovery...but in rage...the people demanded action...demanded rescue of the Novara colonists...demanded justice...and when The Confluence refused...humanity did something unexpected..."
"What was that?" Thorne asked.
"They refused to participate...refused to acknowledge Confluence law...refused to attend the adjudication session...and when The Confluence sent enforcement fleets...humanity fought back...not with superior technology...not with greater numbers...but with absolute refusal to surrender...to be owned...to be harvested..."
The hologram showed battles. Human ships, outmatched, outgunned...fighting with a desperation and creativity that The Confluence couldn't predict. Losing ships. Losing people. But never surrendering.
"And other species saw this...species that had accepted Confluence rule...that had surrendered their own people to avoid conflict...they saw humans refuse...saw humans fight for colonists they'd never met...for people who'd been lost for decades...and they began to question...why did we surrender...why did we accept this..."
More lights appeared on the galactic map. Species joining the resistance. Not many at first. Just a few. But growing.
"It took centuries...generations...The Confluence was strong...entrenched...but the seed you planted...the message you sent...the proof you recorded...it began a cascade...doubt led to resistance...resistance led to revolution...and four hundred years after you vanished...The Confluence finally fell...not because they were defeated militarily...but because no one would accept their authority anymore...their perfect legal system became meaningless when no one agreed to participate..."
The hologram faded.
The bridge of the Pathfinder was silent.
"We did that?" Hayes whispered. "My distress call...it started all of this?....I bet I have a statue somewhere."
Smile from Stellar.
"Your distress call was a catalyst...but the real cause was simpler...you refused to surrender...you fought impossible odds...you risked everything for people you'd never met...and others saw that...remembered what it meant to have courage...to value freedom over survival..."
Stellar felt something tight in his chest loosen. "Then Earth is safe. In our timeline. Even though we're not there."
"Your Earth is safe...eventually...the war lasted one hundred and seventy-three years...millions died...but humanity survived...free...and the colonies you saved...Novara was eventually liberated...New Titan never fell...because you bought them time...bought them hope..."
"But we left them," Stellar said. "We ran to the future while they fought."
"You gave them a reason to fight...sometimes that is enough...sometimes that is everything..."
James stepped forward, his mechanical hand clenching. "Then why did you bring us here? Why show us this? If we already won, if our timeline is saved, why not let us go back?"
"Because the timeline is not fixed...victory is probable...but not certain...there are still variables...still choices that must be made...and you...Captain Stellar...you have one more choice to make...the most important one..."
The Architect gestured, and the hologram reformed. This time it showed two pathways, branching from the present moment.
"You can return to your timeline...to the moment after you left...you will arrive with knowledge of The Confluence's eventual fall...with proof of Admiral Chen's betrayal...you can accelerate the cascade...shorten the war from one hundred and seventy-three years to perhaps fifty...save millions of lives...but you will live through that war...fight in it...die in it...most of you will not survive to see victory..."
The first path glowed red...short, brutal, violent.
"Or you can remain here...in this timeline...in this future where the war is already won...where humanity is free...you can help build New Earth...use your knowledge of the past to ensure the future is better...you will live long lives...peaceful lives...but you will never see your original timeline again...never know if it survived without you...never save the specific people you left behind...your families...your friends...they will fight the war without you..."
The second path glowed blue...long, peaceful, safe.
"Choose...but choose knowing...there is no wrong answer...both paths lead to victory...both paths serve humanity...the only difference is...which humanity you serve..."
The Architect faded, leaving them alone with the choice.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Clark broke the silence. "Captain, I think we need to vote. This isn't a decision you can make alone."
"Agreed," Thorne said. "This affects all of us."
Stellar looked at his crew. Saw Hayes, young and brilliant, with her whole life ahead of her. Saw Reeves at the helm, barely out of the academy. Saw Chief Ramos and Ensign Patel from Engineering, their faces drawn with exhaustion. Saw Dr. Voss, the medical officer who'd patched them up more times than he could count. Saw every member of his crew of seventeen—no, eighteen, counting himself.
"Everyone to the bridge." he said into the ship-wide comm. "We have a decision to make. Together."
Ten minutes later, the bridge was crowded. The crew of the Pathfinder stood shoulder to shoulder, with Councilor Verath and several other Sanctuary refugees joining via viewscreen, having been transported to other ships in their small fleet.
"You've all heard the choice." Stellar said. "Go back to our timeline and fight a war that might kill us all, but save millions of lives. Or stay here, in a future where the war is already won, and build a peaceful life. I want everyone's input. Hayes, you're youngest. You go first."
Hayes looked terrified to be called on, but she straightened her shoulders. "I...I want to go back, sir. I know it sounds crazy. I know we could die. But my parents are back there. My little brother. And if we don't go back, if we don't help, they might die anyway. Or live as slaves. I can't...I can't abandon them just because it's safer here."
"Reeves?" Stellar prompted.
The helmsman was quiet for a moment. "I joined United Earth Fleet because I wanted to explore. To see new things. And this future is new. Fascinating. But..." He paused. "But it's not ours. We didn't earn this peace. Other people fought for it. Died for it. While we jumped ahead to claim the victory. That doesn't feel right. I vote we go back."
One by one, the crew spoke.
Chief Ramos: "My children are in our timeline. Grown now, probably with families of their own. But they're my kids. I go back."
Dr. Voss: "I took an oath to preserve life. Going back means I can save more lives. That's an easy choice."
Ensign Patel: "My family is on New Titan. In this timeline, they're long dead. But in our timeline, they're alive and they need help. I vote we return."
Security officers Jensen and Martinez: "We're soldiers. Soldiers don't run from battles. We go back."
Each crew member chose the same thing. Return. Fight. Risk everything to save the people they'd left behind.
Finally, only four people hadn't voted: Stellar, Thorne, Clark, and James.
"Commander Clark?" Stellar asked.
Clark was uncharacteristically serious. "I've been thinking about something the Architect said. That there's no wrong answer. Both paths serve humanity." He looked at Stellar. "But only one path serves our humanity. The people we actually know. The families we actually have. The Earth we actually came from." He smiled slightly. "I vote we go back. Besides, this future has probably already figured out all the cool scientific discoveries. I want to be around when we figure them out the first time."
"Commander Thorne?"
Thorne had been leaning against the wall, arms crossed, face thoughtful. "You know what I realized? I joined the academy because I wanted to be a hero. Wanted to prove I was the best. Wanted glory." She looked at Stellar. "But being a hero isn't about glory. It's about doing the hard thing when no one's watching. It's about fighting battles you might lose because it's right." She pushed off the wall. "This future doesn't need heroes. It already won. But our timeline? Our Earth? They need us. So yeah. I vote we go back. And I vote we kick The Confluence's ass so hard they'll feel it across all timelines."
That got a few laughs.
"James?" Stellar looked at his grandfather.
The old commander, mechanical parts gleaming in the bridge lights, was quiet for a long time. "I spent seventy years regretting one choice. One moment where I thought I was saving humanity but really I was just enslaving us to The Confluence's system. I've lived with that for longer than anyone should have to live with anything." He looked up. "And now you're giving me a chance to fix it. To go back and actually save Earth, instead of just thinking I'm saving it. That's...that's a gift I never expected to receive."
"So you vote to return?"
"I vote to return. And I vote to spend every remaining day of my life making sure The Confluence regrets the day they encountered humanity."
Stellar nodded. He'd known what his own answer was from the beginning, but he'd needed to hear from everyone else first. Needed to know they were all choosing this together.
"Then we're unanimous." he said. "We go back. We fight the war. We save our timeline." He turned to the viewscreen where the Architect had appeared. "We're ready. Send us home."
The Architect materialized, its form cycling through different species. "A noble choice...a difficult choice...we will honor it...but first...we must prepare you...the jump back will be more difficult than the jump forward...you will arrive exactly when you left...no time will have passed in your original timeline...but you will carry knowledge of four hundred years of history...knowledge that must be protected..."
"Protected how?" Clark asked.
"We will encode it...into your ship's computer...into your memories...it will be there...accessible when needed...but hidden from The Confluence's probes...from their telepaths...from their technology...you will remember the general shape of events...know that resistance is possible...but not the specific details...those will surface only when required..."
"That kind of seems like punishment for using your toy without authorization." Thorne smirked.
"That's necessary...if The Confluence learned you know the future...they would change their tactics...alter their approach...the timeline would diverge...and victory would no longer be certain..."
"Understood." Stellar said. "What else?"
"You will not go back alone...others have chosen to join you...refugees from Sanctuary who wish to fight...who wish to return to their own timelines and begin their own resistance movements...thirty-seven ships...one thousand two hundred and fourteen beings...all willing to risk everything to change their past..."
Stellar looked at the viewscreen showing Councilor Verath. "Councilor, you're coming with us?"
"Not all of Sanctuary," Verath clarified. "Those who have families in this timeline will stay. Those who have nothing left but memories will return with you. We will be your allies, Captain Stellar. Your proof that cross-species resistance is possible. And perhaps, if we succeed, we will change history enough that our own species never fall to The Confluence in the first place."
"A temporal paradox." Clark said. "If we save your species in the past, then you never become refugees in the future, which means you never come back with us to save your species..."
"Time is not linear...causality is flexible...the Architects do not worry about paradoxes...they understand reality better than that..."
"Well, I'm choosing not to think about this too hard." Stellar decided. "When do we leave?"
"Immediately...the temporal window is optimal now...in seventeen minutes it will close for another standard year...you must choose quickly..."
Stellar looked at his crew. Saw determination in every face. Fear too, certainly. But also hope. Purpose. The knowledge that they were about to do something that mattered.
"We've all agreed. We're ready." he said. "Send us back."
"Then prepare...the journey will be disorienting...you will experience all four hundred and seventy-three years simultaneously...will feel every moment of the war you did not fight...every death...every victory...every sacrifice...it will be overwhelming...painful...but necessary...you must understand what humanity endured...what they accomplished...so you can help them accomplish it faster..."
"Okay. THIS seems like punishment." Clark in all seriousness.
"It is the greatest gift the Architects can give...knowledge...understanding...empathy across time itself..."
Mitchell suddenly launched from Stellar's shoulder, flying to the viewscreen and hovering there, eye to eye with the shifting Architect. The eagle screeched once, sharp and challenging.
"Ah...the enhanced bird...yes...we see you...see what you could become...you sense it too, don't you...the changes that await you...the evolution..."
"What's it talking about?" Carmelon asked.
"The bird's enhancements...they were designed by Professor Carmelon...using technology that was primitive by Architect standards...but the potential is there...and in the crucible of the coming war...with exposure to Confluence technology...to other species' genetic engineering...Mitchell will become something new...something that has never existed...a bridge between human and animal consciousness...a symbol of what evolution can be when guided by need rather than chance..."
Mitchell screeched again, then flew back to land on Stellar's shoulder. The eagle's talons gripped firmly, and Stellar could feel the bird's determination radiating through the touch.
"He's ready." Carmelon translated. "Whatever he needs to become, he's ready."
"As are we all." James added. "Let's go save humanity."
The Architect raised what might have been hands, and the crystalline structure around them began to pulse with light.
"Remember...when you return...trust your instincts...trust each other...trust that victory is possible...because we have seen it...we have lived it...and we know...no matter how dark the path becomes...humanity endures...humanity survives...humanity wins..."
"Not just humanity." Stellar corrected. "Every species that refuses to surrender. Every being that chooses freedom over safety. We win. Together."
"Yes...together...that is how victory comes...not through strength...not through technology...but through the simple refusal to accept that some beings have the right to own others...that is the lesson The Confluence never learned...that is what brings them down..."
The light intensified, and Stellar felt reality beginning to bend around them again.
"One final warning...Admiral Chen...she is not your enemy...she is your tragedy...a human who believed she was saving her species...who made terrible choices from good intentions...do not hate her...understand her...because only by understanding how someone like her could fall...can you prevent others from following the same path..."
"I'll try," Stellar said. "But I'm not making any promises."
"That is enough...now go...return to your timeline...fight your war...save your people...and know that across all timelines...in all possible futures...the Architects honor your choice..."
The light became blinding.
And Stellar felt himself pulled backward through time, through space, through causality itself. He experienced centuries in seconds. Felt the war, the deaths, the victories, the desperate struggles of beings he'd never met fighting for freedom he'd inspired them to seek. Felt his message echoing across time, across species, across the galaxy itself.
Felt Admiral Chen's arrest. Her trial. Her conviction. Her final words: "I only wanted to save them."
Felt Earth's rage. Earth's unity. Earth's determination.
Felt The Confluence's confusion. Their adaptation. Their escalation.
Felt species after species joining the resistance. Small acts of defiance. Minor rebellions. Until the small acts became revolutions. Until the galaxy itself said no more.
Felt The Confluence's fall. Not in a single moment. Not in a grand battle. But in a thousand small defeats. A million refusals. A billion beings simply saying, 'you do not own us.'
And through it all, Stellar felt his crew. Felt Hayes broadcasting messages of resistance. Felt Reeves piloting ships through impossible battles. Felt Chief Ramos keeping engines running when they should have failed. Felt Thorne fighting, always fighting, never surrendering.
Felt his grandfather's redemption. James Stellar, no longer a prisoner of The Confluence, but a symbol of what humanity could overcome.
And felt himself. Captain Bub Stellar. The man who refused to surrender Earth. Who committed mutiny for the right reasons. Who took seventeen people and changed the fate of the galaxy.
The light faded.
Reality reasserted itself.
And Stellar opened his eyes to find himself on the bridge of the Pathfinder, exactly where he'd been moments before activating the Architect Protocol.
"Status report." he managed to say, his voice hoarse.
"Captain?" Hayes looked up from her console, confused. "Are you okay? You just...froze for a second. Right after you activated the Protocol."
"How long was I gone?"
"Gone? Sir, you haven't gone anywhere. The Architect Protocol is still activating. We're about to jump. It's been maybe five seconds since you gave the order."
Stellar looked around the bridge. Saw his crew exactly where they'd been. Saw the viewscreen still showing the Confluence dreadnought preparing to fire.
Had it all been a vision? A hallucination?
Then he looked at his command console and saw new data files. Hundreds of terabytes of information, encoded and protected, labeled simply: "History That Must Be Made."
And he knew it had been real.
They'd gone to the future. Learned what needed to happen. And now they were back, ready to make it happen.
"Captain," Vask's voice came through the comm, "your time is up. Surrender or die."
Stellar smiled. "I choose option three."
He activated the Architect Protocol.
And for everyone else on the bridge, time stopped.
Reality tore open. Sanctuary disappeared. The Confluence fleet fired at empty space.
And thirty-seven ships carrying refugees from dozens of species materialized in the void, accompanied by one small United Earth vessel that had just changed history.
"Welcome back." the Architect's voice whispered in Stellar's mind. "Now go. Fight. Win. We will be watching. Across all timelines. Through all moments. Cheering for every small victory. Grieving for every loss. But knowing. Always knowing. You will prevail."
The voice faded.
And Stellar was left with his crew, his ship, and thirty-seven allies from the future who'd chosen to fight for the past.
"Captain," Clark said, his eyes wide as he processed data only he could see, "I just downloaded about four hundred years of history into my head. It's...it's incredible. It's..."
"It's classified, Commander." Stellar finished. "All of you, you're going to start remembering things you didn't experience. Battles you didn't fight. People you didn't meet. It's encoded in our memories now, courtesy of the Architects. Don't fight it. Don't try to rationalize it. Just accept that we know what needs to happen, and now we need to make it happen."
"How?" Thorne asked. "Where do we even start?"
"We start with the message," Stellar said. He turned to Hayes. "Lieutenant, I need you to compose a transmission. Everything we learned about Admiral Chen's betrayal. Everything we found in the Korath database. Everything about Novara. And I need you to broadcast it on every frequency, through every relay network we can access. Including the ones The Confluence compromised."
"Sir, if we broadcast on compromised networks, The Confluence will know exactly where we are."
"I know. But other species will hear it too. Resistance groups. Refugee networks. Species that are questioning whether to accept Confluence rule." Stellar stood from his command chair, feeling purpose crystalize in his chest. "Lieutenant Hayes, this is the most important transmission humanity will ever send. The one that starts the cascade. The one that four hundred years from now, in a future we'll never see, will lead to The Confluence's fall. Are you ready?...Do you want that damn statue?"
Hayes's hands trembled slightly over her console. Then they steadied. "Yes, sir. I'm ready."
"Then send it. Send it to everyone. And let's start the war that ends tyranny."
Hayes's at her console, composing the message that would echo across centuries. The proof of betrayal. The call to resistance. The simple message that would change everything:
"The Confluence is a lie. They don't own us. They never owned us. And we will never surrender. To any species hearing this: resistance is possible. Freedom is achievable. We are humanity, and we choose to fight. Join us. Together, we can end this."
She looked up. "Message ready, Captain."
"Broadcast it. All frequencies. Max power."
"Broadcasting now."
The message raced out into the galaxy at the speed of light, carried by quantum relays and conventional transmissions alike. To human colonies. To alien resistance networks. To species that had forgotten what freedom felt like.
And somewhere, on a Confluence enforcement ship, alarms began to sound.
"Captain," Clark reported, "I'm detecting multiple Confluence ships altering course. They're coming for us...Lots of them."
"How long do we have?"
"Three days. Maybe four."
"Then we have three days to find allies. To build a coalition. To prepare for the fight of our lives." Stellar looked at his crew. "And we start by heading to New Titan. There are two million humans there who need to know what's coming. Who need to know they have allies. Who need to know that surrender is not their only option."
"Captain," Verath's voice came through from one of the refugee ships, "the Sanctuary fleet stands with you. We are few, but we are determined. Where you lead, we will follow."
"Thank you, Councilor. Reeves, plot a course for the New Titan system. Max speed."
"Course plotted, sir."
"Then let's go save some humans. And maybe, if we're lucky, start saving the galaxy." Stellar settled back into his command chair, Mitchell returning to his customary perch on its back. "All ships, this is Captain Stellar. I know you all just experienced four hundred years of war in a matter of seconds. I know you're confused, scared, maybe even questioning whether we made the right choice. But I need you to trust me. Trust each other. Trust that what we're about to do matters."
He paused, feeling the weight of history pressing down on him.
"We've seen the future. We know we win. But knowing the outcome doesn't make the fight any easier. People will die. Ships will be lost. Sacrifices will be required. But every sacrifice brings us closer to a galaxy where beings aren't owned. Where species determine their own fate. Where The Confluence's perfect legal system crumbles because everyone simply refuses to acknowledge it."
Another pause.
"So let's go make history. The history we've already seen. The history we now have to create. Let's show The Confluence what happens when survivors stop running and start fighting. Let's prove that freedom isn't granted by those in power...it's taken by those brave enough to claim it."
He closed the comm and looked at his small crew.
Seventeen people. Thirty-seven allied ships. Against an empire that had lasted thousands of years.
But they'd seen the future.
And in the future, they won.
"Engaging FTL." Reeves announced.
The stars bent, reality stretched, and the Pathfinder leaped toward New Titan, toward war, toward destiny.
Mitchell screeched once. Not a warning, not a declaration of deception, but a battle cry.
The fight for humanity's freedom had begun.
And four hundred years from now, historians would look back at this moment and say, 'this is where it started.' When seventeen people on a small ship refused to surrender. When species from across the galaxy united behind a simple message. When the impossible became inevitable.
The Confluence's fall wouldn't come today. Or tomorrow. Or even this year.
But it would come.
Stellar had seen it.
And now he was going to make it happen.
"Captain," Thorne said quietly, moving to stand beside his chair, "for the record? That was the coolest thing we've ever done. Time travel. Fighting destiny. Changing history. Very heroic."
"For the record," Stellar replied with a slight smile, "I'm still not entirely sure we're not all insane."
"Oh, we're definitely insane." Clark agreed from his console. "But we're insane with a plan. That's better than nothing."
"Marginally." James added.
Carmelon spoke up from where he stood with Mitchell. "The bird says we're going to win."
"The bird has been right about everything else," Stellar said. "Why stop trusting him now?"
Mitchell clicked his beak once...agreement, certainty, determination.
And as the Pathfinder raced toward New Titan, toward war, toward the beginning of The Confluence's end, Stellar allowed himself one moment of hope.
They'd seen the future.
They knew what was possible.
And now all they had to do was survive long enough to make it real.
The viewscreen showed stars streaming past, each one a potential ally, a potential battleground, a potential graveyard.
But also each one a reminder...the galaxy was vast. The fight was enormous. But so was the determination of beings who refused to be owned.
"All hands," Stellar said one final time, "this is your captain. We're about to start a war that will last longer than any of us will live. We're about to fight battles we've already seen ourselves lose. We're about to sacrifice everything for people who don't even know we exist yet."
He paused.
"And I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else. Welcome to the resistance. Welcome to the fight. Welcome to the beginning of the end of The Confluence."
He closed the comm.
The bridge was silent for a moment.
And despite everything, the impossible odds, the coming war, the weight of four hundred years of future history pressing down on them, Stellar found himself smiling.
They were seventeen people on a small ship.
But they'd just changed the fate of the galaxy.
And that, he decided, was a pretty good start.
"Captain," Hayes said, "we're approaching New Titan. What should I tell them when they ask who we are?"
Stellar thought about it. Thought about Admiral Chen, about The Confluence, about the Architects and the future and the war they'd already won in a timeline they'd never see.
"Tell them we're the crew of the Pathfinder. Tell them we're human. Tell them we're here to help." He smiled. "And tell them resistance is no longer futile. Because we've seen the future, and in the future, we win."
"They're not going to believe that."
"Then we'll just have to prove it."
The Pathfinder dropped out of FTL at the edge of the New Titan system.
And Captain Bub Stellar, leader of seventeen people and one very intelligent eagle, prepared to start the war that would free the galaxy.
One colony at a time.
One species at a time.
One act of resistance at a time.
Until The Confluence fell.
Just like they'd seen.
Just like they'd make happen.
Starting now.
END OF ARC 1: THE AUCTION OF STARS
Arc 2: THE WAR THAT ECHOES will continue the story of Captain Stellar and the crew of the Pathfinder as they rally New Titan, face the consequences of their message, and begin building the resistance that will one day topple The Confluence. The war has just begun, and the hardest battles lie ahead...