Earth Is Mine

Chapter 21

The view outside our ship is a dark canvas, dotted with splotches of stars in the horizon and small specks that look like faraway planets or asteroid rocks. 

They float around us, seemingly still yet moving in their steady pace around their individual orbits, some completely random, some cyclical. Our war has no effect on these giants, they've existed long before us and will continue to do so despite the outcome of our battles.

The journey to meet Castor is a short one and we board his ship just before he blows ours up into smithereens.

We have to make it look like a struggle happened. 

The pain in my foot has reduced to a dull ache, I barely feel the wound created by the microfibre but the weight of its responsibilities weighs down on my shoulders like lead.

So many things can go wrong. One wrong step and all of this would have been in vain. 

And yet, it could also go right and that is all my hammering heart can hope for. 

Castor manoeuvres our ship away from the wreck and towards our destination planet, Delphi. It is a planet located in the Delphinus star system, almost a light year away from Spica. I have never been here before but I have learnt that the colonised planets here have all sworn their allegiance to the Plutonian empire under Lazarus's control. 

Like Earth, only a select few aliens on Delphi know of the existence of the empire and space travel. But unlike us, the aliens there do not share the same DNA as the Plutonians and therefore having been trading their land and resources over the years to the Plutonians in return for their so called technological advancements and protection.

Castor fiddles around with levers and buttons on the control board while Polaris, Hugo and I sit around waiting in tumultuous silence. 

None of us talk much, the need for idle chatter almost dismal as each of us try not to worry about this risky mission. It's especially hard to make conversation with people who might be dying with the next few hours.

We are traveling through the hyperlanes this time, since we aren't exactly hiding our destination. According to Castor, a Plutonian brigade was sent from Pluto to meet us at Delphi immediately after he made contact. 

"Patrol ahead, strap in," Polaris instructs and I immediately slide my hands through the straps wrapped around me, looking like a prisoner of this ship. Hugo does the same as well, my unfortunate accomplice.

My breathing stills momentarily as we pass through a small circle of hovering rocks and then I see the familiar Plutonian drone scan our ship with a line of green light. 

"State your business," A robotic voice echoes from the metallic ball.

"I have instructions to bring my captive to Delphi," Castor says clearly, his voice smooth and devoid of the anxiousness I feel. 

The drone falls silent and the lights on its surface dim ever so slightly as it stares at us. Two small red dots glow eerily in front of my face and for a moment I think someone on Pluto watching me through those tiny dots. 

I don't have to act. The discomfort I feel at the thought of Lazarus watching me through those red eyes reverberates down to my bones and I involuntarily shudder. 

"Affirmative. Your path is clear," The drone says in a detached, metallic voice. 

Sitting here reminds me of the times I sat in my designated chamber, waiting for my name to be called before I walked into the pits to fight. Every second feels like an hour, every hour, an endless eternity.