Milo

“Faster! Incoming from the left!” Milo said.

Leo waved his arms, feeding the system another set of patterns. “Diego, on my go.” He held up a finger. “One. Two Three. Go!”

Diego pulled at the sticks and activated Leo’s new pattern.

The Final Sight spun in an aggressive spiral as the nukes chased after them, but they started crashing into each other and detonating.

“Claire, how is the core holding?” Milo asked, through his hand terminal.

“Barely, Capt’n. Tern, Argus, the other side! We are leaking performance,” Claire said.

“Fix it. I will not bother you. But you will know if we have failed,” Milo said.

Claire terminated the call without another word.

Their little corvette was failing. Saif’s fleet was bombarding them. Avoidance was not enough, their upgrades were not enough.

“We can go outside, draw their attention away,” Rahgon said through the mental channel.

Milo leaned back into his Captain’s seat. This cannot be happening. They had sacrificed everything and Saif had died for it. Beth and Sam had given their lives. But they were still failing. In Saif’s wake, his fleet was still alive and kicking.

“Rahgon, thank you. But it will not give us any advantage, it will only get you killed quickly,” Milo said. “Sit back and keep the eggs protected.”

“More stealth ships!” Leo yelled from the Co-pilot’s seat.

“Goddamn,” Milo said.

“Where do you want me, Capt’n?” Yuri asked, Birgitta was leaning her head against his shoulder. “I want to do something. I don’t want to die without trying.”

Milo bit his jaw down as a huge tremble went through the ship.

“That almost cracked the hulls on the left side,” Leo said. “Diego, this one. Go!”

“Yuri, you hold onto Birgitta. That is the best we can do,” Milo said.

Yuri nodded and got back down into his seat.

They had traveled all this way and they had succeeded in their mission, just to be squashed after achieving victory. Saif would be rolling in his grave, assuming it was his divine powers that reverberated through the living. Sam would have been happy with Saif’s death. In the long run they had won, but death would take them.

Something tickled in the back of his mind, almost as if Saif reached out and touched his mind and thought stream again. But that couldn’t be? Milo sought the eyes of his crew and all of them looked as disturbed. Was Saif still alive?

A series of thoughts passed through his thought stream and conscience before moving on.

A woman appeared. Rachel.

“Saif is dead. His time is ended, his empire is dissolved. All of whom have served him, from this moment on and onward, his control is disbanded. All of you, take control of your lives again and end this unnecessary violence,” Rachel said, her face and voice were just as the last time Milo had met her. “Saif is dead. To all you alien beings out there, don’t take out your anger at mankind because of the things Saif did to you. We have nothing but hatred towards the man. He grabbed control of us all. We fought him and won.” Rachel paused. “And mankind. We sacrificed a lot the past years to make this happen. These are our heroes. They saved mankind, and the Universe from Saif’s control, a control which would have plowed through every civilization until everything was underneath his boots. Our heroes.”

Images and short feeds slipped into his mind.

Sam.

Beth.

Tom.

Birgitta.

Leo.

Claire.

Diego.

Rahgon.

Elzrig.

Nym.

Tern.

Freet.

Argus.

Yuri.

The Final Sight.

Jacob.

Milo.

“Remember them and celebrate their legacy. They saved us all,” Rachel said.

The thought stopped and traveled away from his thought stream.

Milo snapped to it and looked for his crew. “You all saw that?”

They nodded.

“They stopped. The fleet is not shooting or chasing us anymore,” Diego said.

“They are disbanding,” Leo said.

“Before they get their wits back. Please steer us home, Capt’n,” Birgitta.

Milo nodded. “Pilots, put us on the track home. Claire, you can calm down the core again. We have a long way back.”

-

Milo leaned back into his seat, the Captain’s seat. The soft cushioning almost hugging him. A comforting feeling. He sighed and held Sam’s thermos close. Yes, they had won, but it had cost them dearly.

The journey home was long, back to Europe13. A trip that lasted for almost 18 months. Milo had decided to stay awake for its full duration, as the rest of his crew. His argument had been to have all the mourning done when they arrived. Thus, he had 18 months to mourn the death of his oldest friend and the death of his sister. A tall order to complete. But it had to be done.

His crew worked around him, Leo and Diego at the pilot controls. Birgitta and Yuri were in her lab. Claire, Tern and Argus down in her workshop, working on new modules or improving the reactor core. He didn’t mind. Everyone managed grief differently. The mood was muted.

The dragons and their eggs stayed in the cargo bay, they were going to come with them. Back to Europe13, and then all the way to Earth. Birgitta had mentioned a mountain range. The Himalayas, because of climate change some of the range’s slopes had mud running down them. Real dragons, no mythical ones, were going to be a part of Earth’s culture.

How would it go? Would they be painted as war criminals? That sequence of thoughts that had streamed through their minds, it had shown them as heroes, but that stream would never reach the rest of humanity. And who would believe Rachel? They way they had escaped Europe13 all those months and years ago, they had made quite a ruckus. Well, they would just have to make do.

With a firm twist, the lid of the thermos came loose and he filled his coffee mug with its black and aromatic content. All the way to the brim, letting the surface tension keep the liquid from spilling. He inhaled the scents and felt nostalgic. Sam’s favorite thermos. Milo remembered how his old friend had cradled it in the mess hall, almost like a mother cradling its newborn. He sipped from the mug, it tasted as good as always.

“I will miss you, Sam,” Milo said. “This one is for you.” He gulped down some of the coffee. “I will take care of your thermos and this ship, with its crew and all. I promise.” He gulped down again.

Loss was a weird thing. It was like a burning pain inside him, even though he was not hurt. As if his soul was wounded.

“Captain Samuels Adam, you will not be forgotten,” Milo said.

A beer bottle clanked into his mug. “I will drink to that. Samuels was headstrong.” Birgitta smiled at him and drank from her bottle.

Yuri leaned over her shoulder. “I barely got to know the man, but I will drink as well. He showed me that sometimes, throwing honor down the drain and just going for it, will get things done. I hate his guts, but he got things done.”

“That is true,” Claire said, entering the bridge.

Tern floated through and pushed against Milo’s side. “In the end Sam had created indifference with everyone aboard this ship.”

“How he moved in that layered rig. It was something awesome to behold,” Argus said.

Claire raised her beer bottle towards Argus. “Well, a little omf tech infused into his rig and wow, he could do some serious damage. He threw the layers of the rig towards his enemies.”

“Thank you,” Milo said, gulping down the last of the coffee.

“A fine Captain and the greatest of men,” Leo said. “He saw things in people, which others never could. He drafted me even though I was way past the age limit of Navy duty. He saw the hunger in my eyes, the need to fly in my soul.”

“I don’t remember how many times I patched him up. He always went out on strike missions. Combat suit or not, he always managed to get wounded. Serious or non-serious, he always needed some patching,” Diego said.

Elzrig flapped and floated through the bridge, landing right in front of Milo. “Sam, he really started to like us and we him. I think it had something to do with our violent nature.”

Nym landed in Leo’s lap. “I also want to be involved.”

Rahgon and Wyrhgon flew outside the Final Sight, in front of the main view screen.

“A hero of war,” Rahgon said. “Who I am honored to have fought against and with.”

Wyrhgon roared in agreement.

Milo stood up. “Thank you, my crew.” He filled his mug again and raised it high. “In Sam’s name and his violence, may he never be forgotten.”

“May he never be forgotten!”

It was as if a little bit of that burning pain inside him cooled down.

“But Sam was not the only one who fell. Beth fell, giving her last drain of willpower to ensure Saif’s demise,” Milo said. “Even though I didn’t grow up with her, in the end I got to know her as my sister. As family.”

Milo paused.

Tern floated up higher. “I bonded with her. Beth was a beautiful person, both in mind and spirit. She never gave up. Her strength will be remembered for generations to come. I miss her so much.”

“I know. Me too.” Milo put a hand on the omf’s outer shell.

“Beth was mighty. The mightiest,” Birgitta said, tears trickling down her face, Yuri comforting her.

“To those who have fallen, the mightiest of us all. We are never going to forget you.” Milo raised his coffee mug high. “To the fallen!”

-

Europe13 grew larger in the main view screen as the Final Sight approached its destination.

Captain Milo leaned forward in his seat, rubbing at his beard, even after growing for a full year he had still not gotten used to it. Maybe he had missed some vital grooming step?

“We have arrived,” Milo said. “Finally.”

“Target locks,” Birgitta said from her seat.

“I can confirm, Capt’n,” Yuri said.

“Incoming message, Capt’n,” Diego said, still sitting at the first pilot’s seat and with Leo at his side.

“Put it on the main,” Milo said.

A clean shaven and proud man appeared on the main view screen. The man wore the cleanest and tightest uniform Milo had ever seen. A real typical Navy man. Sam would have saluted the man. “You are the crew of the Final Sight.”

“Yeah, what about it?” Milo said, pressing his fingers into the armrests of his seat. It was not pleasant having huge guns locked-on towards his ship.

“You really are the crew of the Final Sight. I’ll be damned,” the man said. “Men, stand down. Release all weapon locks. Don’t you see, that ship is the Final Sight.”

“Confirming, Capt’n. All target locks have been released,” Yuri said.

“I am Hawk Stephenson, Commander of Europe13,” Hawk said. “I am sorry for the weapon pointing. We just couldn’t believe our sensors at first, thinking that your arrival was a sham. But you are real. You are the crew of the Final Sight. The heroes of the Universe, the saviors of mankind.”

Milo leaned back and looked upon his crew, they shared an equal expression of confusion. But he played along. “Commander Hawk, it happens to the best of us. Why are you calling us the heroes? You cannot know what happened out there. I am… We are confused, Commander Hawk.”

“You don’t know? Then you are in for a real treat,” Commander Hawk. “Approximately a year and half ago a wave of thoughts and contexts passed through everybody. And then I really mean everybody. We all were told about you and the sacrifices you all made, and all the terrible acts Saif put you and mankind through. We felt it was the truth.”

The thoughts that had passed their thought streams, just as Saif had died. It had made its way to everybody and informed them about everything.

“You are quiet, Captain Milo,” Commander Hawk said.

“I am just speechless,” Milo said. “We have been put to the brink of death for so long, that when some luck finally starts coming our way, I am naturally hesitant towards it.”

Commander Hawk smiled. “I understand. How long are you planning to stay?”

“A few days. Our supplies are running low, so we need to re-stock properly,” Milo said.

“Not good enough. You are legends become real. And your first contact with mankind is here, where it all started. We are honored. You need to give us the opportunity to show it properly. There will be celebrations in your names. Celebrities and common folk alike will want to talk to you,” Commander Hawk said. “To see you in the flesh.”

Milo muted the Commander for a minute and used the always online mental channel to speak to his crew. “Are we ready to party for a week or two before moving on?”

A sounding ‘hell yeah’ echoed through his head, surging from all the crewmates at the same time.

Milo turned the Commander on again. “Commander Hawk, we are coming in. Staying for a week or two.”

“I am arranging the press conference as we speak,” Commander Hawk said.

-

The first night of festivities drained Milo and he found himself sleeping in. For a bit too many hours. He didn’t go for brunch with the rest of the crew, he had another destination in mind. One which he had promised himself all those years ago to achieve. Today it felt easy, the butterflies in his stomach were gone and he shone with confidence.

Uniform on and he was off.

The route to the assembly yard was well known and the halls of Europe13 had not changed since his departure, except for everyone saluting and cheering him as he passed. And he happily obliged.

The entry to the familiar reception and a familiar face behind the desk.

“Hi, Linda,” Milo said.

Linda smiled in a way only she was able to. A warm welcome before a long shift at the yard, the usual. But today he was not working at the yard anymore and instead he was a war hero, a legend. And he was brimming with confidence.

“Hi, Milo. I didn’t expect you to ever come back here,” Linda said.

“I remember where I came from. I never dared to ask you before, when I still worked here. My whole body, especially my fat gut shook by the sheer terror. Do you want to go on a date with me?” Milo said.

Linda nodded and smiled even wider.

-

The two week stay grew into three. When Commander Hawk had said that everybody wanted to meet them, he had not been joking. They especially wanted to see the dragons and the omfs.

Milo poured coffee from the thermos into the two mugs on the mess hall’s long table. “My head is throbbing. I didn’t know that having too much fun would cause this much pain,” Milo said.

Linda grabbed the mug and sipped. “It is almost as if one borrows time and energy from the next day and uses it beforehand. And this is the cost.”

“An astute observation.” Milo managed to make his way to the bench, crashing down on it. “But at last it has come to an end. To Earth, we are going. If I never went to a party or celebration again, I would be quite alright. I am not built for this. I am built for staying at home with a good book, you saw my Dad’s library, the one which you helped me move onto the ship.”

“I indeed did, maybe you could pick out something for me to read on this long journey,” Linda said. “By the way, this coffee is godlike.”

The old coffee brewer sat besides the newer and fancier one.

Milo pointed towards it. “My Dad’s old brewer. He gifted it to me when I moved out. I used to keep in the training room. But since little training is done, having it here seems better, letting everybody enjoy it.”

“So thoughtful of you,” Linda said.

Milo squeezed her hand, which he still cradled the coffee mug. “Thank you for coming along. I wanted you close. I really, really like you.”

Linda smiled wide, it warmed him from the inside. “You have changed greatly but at the same time you are exactly the same Milo who always was a bit late to his shift and always looked at me with a nervous face.”

“Did you know?” Milo said.

“I had my suspicions,” Linda said, pulling his hands close and kissing them.

“But why did you not take the first move?” Milo said.

“You don’t think women are nervous about these things?” Linda said. “Also, there was the policy about romances in the workplace. I really couldn’t afford to lose my job. That doesn’t really apply to you any longer.”

Milo laughed.

-

Three weeks grew even quicker into six. And it was time to reveal Linda to his crew, before they all left for Earth and their final destination. The Mythical Cat’s Coffee Shop was the obvious meeting place and it would be nice to see the place one more time.

The Mythical Cat was located on the ground floor of a high rising apartment complex. The picture above the coffee shop’s entrance displayed a wild black cat wearing a cowboy hat. Thriving vines climbed on the outside walls and snaked around the closed windows. Coffee beans grew from the stalks in different stages of their life cycle. A satisfying scent of brewed coffee beckoned him to come inside.

“Let’s meet the crew.” Milo grabbed Linda’s arm and pulled her inside.

How they had managed to get Rahgon inside the coffee shop was a mystery, but the staff had done it. Rahgon, Elzrig, Nym, Argus, Tern, Yuri, Diego, Claire, Birgitta and Leo sat around a circular table. Chocolate muffins and coffee for everyone.

“Crew, this is Linda Andersdottir. Linda, this is the legendary crew of the Final Sight. She will join us on our journey to Earth,” Milo said.

Linda stepped forward and smiled. “Hi.”

“We have seen you two stalking around the ship. We are not ignorant.” Claire smiled.

Diego kissed Claire on her shoulder. “Claire bear, please.”

“Of course.” But Claire kept her smile.

“Andersdottir sounds very nordic,” Birgitt said.

“Actually,” Milo started, but was interrupted as Linda put a finger on his lips.

“I can talk for myself, Milo. But thank you,” Linda said.

“Ha!” Leo said. “The perfect woman for you. Someone who makes you sit down and be quiet, Capt’n. I like her already.”

Linda kissed Milo on his cheek, before jumping into conversation with the crew. She was especially keen when talking with the dragons. Who wouldn’t be excited with the opportunity?

Milo ate muffin after muffin, emptying his coffee mug several times as the discussions continued. And just enjoying the moment. Tern and Argus brushed his side, and pulled him away from the rest of the crew, to another end of the coffee shop. They had repaired Argus’ modules the week before.

“We have made some decisions,” Tern said.

“I will be staying with the Final Sight,” Argus said. “Your crew needs some alien intelligence.”

Milo nodded. “We will have you, Argus. Don’t worry. We are a bit short handed, so you are welcomed to stay.”

“I have decided to bond with Wyrhgon, and help the dragons nurture their new batch and save their future,” Tern said.

Milo put a hand on Tern’s shell. “Are you sure about this? I will miss you. We will miss you.”

“I am, Capt’n,” Tern said.

“Alright, then. We will come and visit you as often as possible,” Milo said.

They joined the others again, striking conversation and consuming muffins.

-

Earth. The crown jewel of mankind. The cradle from which humanity originated from.

“It is beautiful,” Milo said.

The main view screen zoomed in, showing a sparse cloud coverage, but underneath it was revealed the planet was filled with vast oceans, dense forests and huge mountains.

Linda leaned her head on his shoulder.

His crew were all gathered in the bridge, except the two bigger dragons who flew alongside the ship. Rahgon and Wyrhgon flapped their wings and roared.

There would be celebrations and parties, but right now, before all of that chaos started. This silence and space for thought was perfect. Scratch that, if only Dad, Sam and Beth were here, to share it. Then this moment would have been perfect.

“I am pretty sure the dragons are celebrating the mountains,” Tern said. “The eggs we saved and their future offspring will produce a new era in their civilization. An era together with humans, as will we omf.”

Argus floated past Tern. “I never thought humans could have not destroyed a planet this beautiful. Impressive restraint from a violent race.”

Birgitta and Yuri nodded to him.

Diego held an arm across Claire’s shoulders.

Leo smiled with Nym in his lap.

Elzrig stood proudly by his Captain’s seat.

They would be alright. They had made it through. The future was bright. Milo smiled wider than ever before and cradled the thermos tightly.