The Joining: The Cycle of the Shards Book One

33: Launch

Qua'roti Alpha sighed heavily as he stared at his wrist, waiting on a call that he was now convinced would never come. At this point, though, it was too late to matter. Knowing when the sacred Shards would activate, knowing the distance between worlds, and knowing the time it was going to take for these two world-ending missiles to reach their exact targets, the time had come to launch if they were going to forestall the next War of the Shards. And the pig-faced general of the Marconian fleets knew it too.

"Why haven't we launched, already?" A slight snort emitted from the nostrils of the General. "It is too late for Critock, Alpha. If the Shards activate..."

"I know!" Alpha slammed a fist down into a nearby wall, an uncharacteristic response for the normally stoic figure. But the General was not wrong. "The final preparations are complete. The coordinates are set. The last fueling will be complete momentarily, and then they can launch. And you will have your war, General."

If the General had caught the angriness in Qua'roti Alpha's tone, he did not comment on it. He simply clasped his flipper-like hands behind his back. "If we had just prepared sooner, all this would have ended by now."

Alpha swung his head to face the General directly. "If we had fired a second before the timing says we should, the missiles would arrive early. If the Shards are not active when the missiles arrive, then they will not be able to be located with any accuracy. If that cannot happen, then we cannot guarantee that they are destroyed. Not only will we have our civil war, but the next War of the Shards will undoubtedly begin soon after. No, General, it will all end precisely as it was planned. With fire, and the verified destruction of the Shards."

The General nodded, and noticed a flashing light on a panel near the rocket. "Then it is time to end this, Alpha." Alpha turned towards the light, sighing. He took one last look at his wrist, the silver band remaining undisturbed, and then walked towards the missiles. The General followed him, and the two stood side by side at the panel, which was flashing 'Fueling complete' in Marconian script. Both took a hand, and placed on their respective sides. Together, they spoke one word.

"Launch."

Almost immediately, the missiles sprung to life. Bright white lights appeared across the sides where the metal pieces came together, and a roar began from the engines as they sprung to life. The white smoke that had been emanating from the exhausts of the missiles turned to grey as orange flames began to appear. The pair of missiles moved in unison as they began to move upward, slowly at first and then suddenly firing into the sky, within seconds almost disappearing from view among the daylight. Only two small points of light shone in the sky. As the General watched alongside Alpha, a small black hole appeared from where the missiles had last been seen, and then within an instant disappeared again, along with the weapons.

Alpha continued looking upwards as the General moved away, half hoping for something to have gone wrong with the missiles. A miscalculation, perhaps, that would have caused them to explode harmlessly in space. But there was no sign of any mishap, with no evidence to the contrary, there was no reason to think that the missiles were not on their way to Earth.

"I will contact my division, Alpha. We will have a recorder at the planet for confirmation a few kliks after the missiles terminate." Qua'roti Alpha looked up to find the General staring at him. He didn't look as smug as Alpha had assumed he would be, instead there was a small look of worry upon his pig-like face. Was it possible that the reality of the situation had finally set in on the Military leader?

Alpha looked back up at the sky, holding on to the slimmest of possibilities. "There is still time, General."

The general looked at him for a moment, assessing his equal among the Religious sect, and sighed. "All the same, I have to start preparing." With a nod, the General departed, leaving Alpha alone, waiting on a miracle that seemed much farther away than the millions of light-years that separated him from the mission.