Disclaimers: This story and all it’s characters are mine.
The Last Sol
by A.J. Marks
He took a deep breath and the pain in his chest told him that he would not survive it. The battle still raged on around him as he slowly came to full consciousness. The last thing he could remember was the charge against the last stronghold of the planet. He tried to raise his head only to be stopped by a hand on his chest.
“Please stay still my lord, your wound is grave but you might still live.” The healer said.
“Krimm, where is Krimm?” He asked as he tried to move his head.
“Right here my lord.” A man to his right said. “What is your command?”
“How goes the battle, did we take the stronghold?”
“Your strength allowed us to enter the stronghold, we are just picking up the last of the stragglers. The planet has been taken.”
“The Masters will be pleased Krimm.” He coughed a couple of times before he resumed “Prepare my ship for my arrival. You will remain here to oversee the rest of the mission and made sure that all pockets of resistance has been cleared. After that return to base for a promotion.”
“Yes, my lord.”
He closed his eyes as his second-in-command, Krimm, walked away to do his bidding. He thought about the vision he had seen while he was unconscious. He could remember flashes of faces and memories, or dreams he could not remember which it was. He could remember one distinct part of his ‘dream’.
The lake was a deep emerald green color surrounded by mountains and trees. There was a female walking beside him holding his hand as they approached the lake’s edge. A smaller male that was the height of a master was walking with them. He got the impression that this small male was not a Master but one of his own race. That confused him because there was no one that small that he could ever remember.
The female walking beside him picked up the small male and kissed him on the cheek. The feelings he got from the female also confused him. Every time she looked at him it made his knees weak and unfamiliar feelings in him.
Then everything turned to flames and ruins and he was standing alone with his familiar weapon in his hand.
He was not sure what to make of the ‘dream’, but lately he had been having them on a regular basis. He was sure that something was being kept just out of his reach.
He became aware of his chest wound again by the movement of the healers to get him aboard the shuttle. The trip up to his command ship was uneventful but allowed him the time to think and make up his mind as to what he needed to do.
When the shuttle arrived in the docking bay he steeled himself for the pain that he was about to put himself through. He got up and started walking toward the hatch. He almost faltered as he approached the door. The healer arrived just as he arrived and was immediately lectured to remain in bed. He just kept on walking.
“I will need a new shirt, meet me on the bridge.” He told the healer.
By the time he arrived on the bridge the pain in his chest was getting unbearable and he was taking short breaths. He took a moment to catch his breath as the rest of the bridge crew stood looking at him in awe. He looked at the navigation officer.
“Set course for Cible.”
“Cible? The Master’s home world. My lord are you sure?” The officer replied not believing his ears.
“Set the course and engage to Cible.” He replied as the healer walked onto the bride with a clean shirt. He took the shirt from the healer, took off his blood soaked shirt and put on the clean one. “Mush better, let me know when we arrive, I will be in my office.”
With that he walked across the bridge into his office with the rest of the bridge crew still in shock. The navigator plotted the course and engaged the engines.
After entering his office he went to his chair and sat down. He breathed a sigh of relief as he sat down to rest. He leaned back and thought that Krimm and the rest of the fleet would not understand why he left but he knew why. My time is running out and I need to know the answer, and the Masters will know.
Much later the navigator rang for permission to enter his office. He gave permission and the navigator entered.
“My lord, we are about to enter Ciblespace. I thought that you would like to be on the bridge.”
“Yes, I’ll be there shortly.” He responded. The navigator saluted and left him alone again.
He walked out onto the bridge where the crew was tense. The Solian ships were not allowed uninvited in Ciblespace. He walked to his command chair and sat down waiting for the message he knew would come. The screen came to life and a young man spoke to them.
“You are not invited, you are ordered to leave Solian Command Ship.”
He stood up before he responded.
“I demand to speak to the Elders.” He said. The man he was talking to seemed a bit shocked, as he was speechless for a few seconds before he responded.
“Leave and make a request to the Council.”
“I do not have time, I demand to speak to the Elders.” He said again.
The man on the screen was about to respond again when his attention was diverted off screen. He talked to someone else before a much, much older looking man replaced him, and he knew this man was an Elder.
“Are you Ok?” The Elder asked him.
“He will not be if he doesn’t lay down.” The healer replied giving him a look.
“It does not matter, I am dying this time, and you owe me answers.”
The Elder looked at him, and then down at something they could not see. When he looked back up he had made his decision.
“I will be aboard your ship shortly, and we will talk in your quarters.” With that the Elder signed off.
He slumped down heavily into his chair. The chest wound was starting to bother him badly again. He summoned what was left of his reserves and walked to his quarters with the healer questioning his decision all the way. Once he reached his quarters he dismissed the healer. The healer huffed but obeyed the order.
A couple of minutes later the door opened and the Elder walked in.
“Forgive me for not standing, but I am very weak right now.” He said with shallow breaths.
“I can see that, and I do not think it really matters any more to you, I can see it in your eyes.” The Elder said. “You have served us well, and you are right, we do owe you this answer. So what is your question?”
“I have been having dreams that seem so real” COUGH, COUGH “pardon me, I wish to know if the dreams are real memories or just dreams.” He told the Elder. “Sometimes right after I wake I feel like I am not whole, like something is missing.”
“Perhaps it is not something, but someone.”
He looked at the Elder like he had read his mind. “Why do you say that?”
“Her name is Jackie, that is the female you dream of, and she was real. What you dream may not be real memories, but they are based on real memories.
“Your planet was attacked by our enemies, but your people were strong fighters. They only lacked technology to successfully defend their planet. We realized that your people needed help, but we are not fighters. We helped arm your people and soon we realized that your people were easy to clone. We allowed your people to become our warriors to help other races from our enemies.”
“So it isn’t a dream, where am I from?”
“In the restricted space of Quadrant 5. We will go there.”
The Elder left his quarters and turned toward the bridge. He felt the ship accelerate beyond light speed and decided to go to the bridge, he wanted to see the planet from space.
He walked onto the bridge and surprised the Elder standing there.
“We are just about to enter the system.” The Elder told him.
He looked toward the screen and saw a blue-green planet. He could remember the shape and a tear started to work its way down his cheek.
“I wish to go down to the surface.” He said.
The Elder turned around, “I thought that you would, I know where you will want to go.”
They boarded the shuttle and went down to the planet. The Elder guided the pilot to a certain place on the planet. He and the Elder exited the shuttle and looked around.
He noticed stones standing upright in the ground, most only came to his knees, and were up to the Elder’s shoulder. He was getting weaker and weaker as his wound almost brought him to his knees with the pain.
The Elder noticed and saw some of his soldiers coming to help, but he waved them off telling them that he would ask for them soon.
“You are the first and the last.”
“I don’t understand.” He stained to say, he was having trouble breathing.
“You were our first warrior, and you are the last warrior who is not a clone.” The Elder saw his face and continued. “Yes, you were born from your mother, and you married and had a child with Jackie, your female, your wife.”
They stopped walking near one of the stones.
“Where&ldots; are&ldots;we?” He was really straining for breath.
“In a cemetery, where the dead of you people are, were, buried. This is the headstone of your wife, she is buried here, and your son at her feet.”
He looked form the Elder to the stone. His reserves were almost gone but he just had to touch the stone, touch his past. He sank to his knees by the headstone and pressed his hand onto the name on the stone. He then leaned against the stone while a tear traced its way down his cheek.
He looked up into the Elder’s eyes.
“I remember.” He whispered with a smile. “I&ldots; remember.”
And then his chest was stilled and the smile slowly left his face.
The Elder looked at the headstone and the fresh grave where they had buried him next to his wife. The wind started to pick up and whipped around the Elder. It was not a cold wind but a wind that was warm, and almost gentle, and it seemed to the Elder as if he heard whispers in the wind.
I remember.
He’s home.
The End