The ancient Legion battle cruiser tilted toward the planet. Parts of the ancient Legion battle cruiser burst into fires as the radiation inside it slowly destroyed what was left of the ship. Arx watched in horror as it headed for the upper atmosphere. His people were still blasting it with everything they had, but it was not enough. The shields of the ship were simply too strong.
“Arx… I don’t feel good.” A woman stopped firing beams from her hands and drifted into space.
Another person’s voice came through his comm. “Arx, the radiation is going to kill us before we can do enough.”
“We can’t do enough. But we have to try. Form up and… wait, what was that?” Something buzzed past him. Then another and another. Hundreds of objects zoomed toward the ship.
“Sir, those are satellites,” a man said.
Arx watched these satellites link using their solar panel wings. They made contact with the shields on one side of the ship. All together, they burned their rocket thrusters as hot as possible and the ship slowly moved back away from the planet.
“Arx, those things are pushing it away from the planet!” One of his people reported.
“Are they BADGE?”
“No, those are telecom satellites… I think they are from Ren Tech.”
Arx said, “Help them!”
Quark appeared next to him. “Don’t bother. They have already pushed it outside of the danger zone. That ship’s gonna blow before they run out of fuel. Move your people away.”
Arx held up his comm to send out the signal when he noticed large chunks of the ship falling away. “It’s coming apart!”
“If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” Quark said, “But we can deal with the debris.”
“On it,” Arx pressed his comm, “Everyone, move away from the ship, but take out that falling debris.”
The heroes and ATLAS people flew at a distance around the ship, blasting and destroying the larger bits of debris that fell away. Once the remnants were small enough, they would burn up in the atmosphere.
“Warning, detonation imminent. Warning, detonation imminent.” Arx’s suit alerted him.
“Move!” He yelled, forgetting to hit the comm.
Quark clapped his hands and zapped all the people away from their furious attack on the debris, causing them to gather near Arx. Before either could say or do anything, they saw the flash point of the detonation of ten of the most powerful bombs in the known universe. However, they felt nothing.
Arx opened his eyes and was in almost complete darkness. He could only see the little lights on his suit and the suits of people around him, along with the odd bluish glow from Quark. EB floated by with a smile on his face. He pointed up, and the darkness cracked and shattered away. It was a giant eggshell.
Nova and Krystal Fae watched the monitors on the station while drones flew around the cloud of debris from the ancient ship. Shuttles carrying the people from the station returned to the docking bays, and the evacuees disembarked.
Arx left the lift with Chase and EB. He approached and informed, “Dr. Henderson says my people have experienced some minor radiation poisoning, but it can be easily dealt with. The ATLAS sensors on the planet show that only a handful of larger objects made it through and fell to the ground. I have people already going to investigate and offer aid.”
“Good work. ATLAS is proving its worth every day.”
“Thank you. I would like to take credit for the success of this, but we really didn’t make this happen. Those satellites saved the day.”
“I know, and I’m going to find out why.”
Krystal said, “Still suspicious?”
“Not entirely. I believe people can do good deeds. But I also know that big corporations are often working an angle for their benefit first.”
Krystal said, “Always the cynic.”
Chase asked Krystal, “Why are you still up here?”
“Just getting some details for the news report. Being able to be this close to these stories is why I am one of the top reporters in the industry.”
Nova asked Chase, “How are the recruits faring?”
Chase said, “Rattled nerves are all that they suffer from. We don’t normally have a global catastrophe when we assess potential new heroes.”
“A healthy dose of reality is a good thing. Though I’d rather not put the Earth at such a risk.”
10915 announced, “Incoming transmission from Dr. Adam Chorad.”
“Chorad?” Krystal looked at Nova. “When did he get our number?”
“I asked him to contact us. I have questions.”
“Oh, I see. I hope you don’t mind me taking some notes.” Krystal stepped back.
“Just be honest.”
“Always.”
The screen flicked on and they were now looking at the pristine interior of Dr. Chorad’s office at Ren Tech. He had a brilliant smile as he sat behind his desk. “I’m so glad to hear from you, and that you and the BADGE station are okay. Any heroes hurt in the incident?”
“Thank you for your time and concerns. No, the heroes are fine.”
“Good to hear.”
Nova spent a moment gathering himself before he said, “Before I say anything else, I want to say thank you, as do all the members of BADGE and ATLAS. Your system saved us and Earth.”
“So glad we could help.”
“Now, I have to know… how did you know?”
Dr. Chorad said, “There was a global alert. Of course, we all knew.”
“The alert was a general alert, not specific. The was no time for details to reach you. You had enough information to know exactly how to help.”
Chase whispered, “Don’t sound so accusatory. He saved our lives.”
Dr. Chorad laughed and answered, “Don’t worry, I expected Director Nova to be suspicious. After meeting him, I got confirmation of what most people know. Nova has a critical mind, which protects him and us, and provides him with the tools to help defend this world.”
“Thank you for the flattery. Now, please answer my question.”
“No, we did not learn the details of this from any regular news source. However, Ren Tech has over eight hundred satellites in orbit. We have the largest network of telecommunication satellites in the industry. We have been using them to monitor threats. When BADGE sends out a general alert to the population, we comb our own systems to see what we can learn.”
“To what end?” Nova asked.
“I see that critical mind is also filled with rocks,” Dr. Chorad said, losing his cheerful attitude and looking far more serious. “You may not know this, but BADGE alerts send people into a panic. You spread fear with every warning. We all know it is for our own good, like a tornado warning. But it still scares us. The unknown is the most frightening thing. Even a tornado warning tells you what the danger is. Ren Tech has some capacity to help. In fact, in recent times, we have used our tech to enhance the networks in at-risk areas so your teams and the local authorities can keep communicating. You’re welcome. In this situation, we saw that something big and ugly was about to fall out of the sky. My teams also told me that our own radiation sensors were off the charts. We were moments away from a global threat of radiation poisoning… regardless of a giant ship crashing into the ground. I made a decision to sacrifice half of our network of satellites to help you and save Earth. BADGE doesn’t own the right to be heroes, Nova.”
Krystal Fae clapped. Nova turned and glared at her. She said, “He’s right, you know. If BADGE would allow the media to actually inform people about the danger, it might lessen the fear.”
“Not now.” Nova stated, and then turned back to Dr. Chorad. With a lot of strength, and no small amount of humility, Nova finally uttered, “Then, I apologize.” He continued, “I have operated certain ways for centuries and I suppose times and people have changed. I will consider a more open flow of information in the future. Now, is there any way BADGE can help you repair the network you decimated for this act of heroism?”
The cheerful smile returned as Dr. Chorad said, “We were already planning on moving most of the satellite’s functions to the new spheres. This will push that project up quickly, but we can manage. Only the GPS system will remain in orbit, and it should work fine with the smaller network.”
“Good to hear.”
Dr. Chorad said, “Now, I have a lot of on my schedule as I am sure you do as well. Don’t be a stranger. If Ren Tech can be of any assistance in the future, we would be glad to help.”
“I will keep that in mind. Director Nova out.” The comm channel ended.
Krystal said, “Saying goodbye is customary when talking to regular people.”
“You should have all you need for your story.” This was Nova’s way of telling her to leave.
Krystal snapped her fingers and vanished.
EB said, “That guy is really nice. Like, super nice, and his tech is soooo cool. I just downloaded this game that…”
“Not now.” Nova walked toward his office.
Chase said, “What’s bothering him?”
EB casually said, “Nova’s always had a keen eye and great judgement for sniffing out the big bad guys. A handsome, smiling face is not enough mask to protect them from Nova’s famous scrutiny. He was ready to not trust this Dr. Chorad, but is finding… for once… his skeptical mind might be wrong. Having to apologize to someone he suspects is probably really, really sticking in his craw. But this wouldn’t be the first time. There was this one time, back when we were traveling with Captain Cook that… “ EB continued telling his stories while Chase led him back out of the room.
A cargo truck rumbled down a long, flat road in the middle of the night. The driver, wearing a BADGE maintenance uniform, worked hard not to fall asleep.
“Breaker, breaker, this is Big Weasel. Come in.” His comm unit activated.
He grabbed it and said, “This isn’t a CB radio. Stop calling yourself that.”
“Hey, we have the most boring BADGE assignment on the planet. Run supplies to Purg Pen every day from Perth. I gotta find my fun somewhere.”
“Okay, Big Weasel, why did you contact me? I just left Purgatory Pen. I got another hour before I make the city limits.”
“Oh, there was a sighting of some of the space debris falling near you. I was hoping you saw it. Might make the drive a little more interesting.”
“Nice. I...a....ch....a...” The signal rattled and faded.
“Big Weasel, you’re breaking up.” Nothing. “Hey, Bob! What’s the matter with this... WHAT THE HELL!”
He ran the truck right into a giant robot. It turned and powerful laser beams from its eyes were the last thing he ever saw.
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