Future Management

Discomfort. Despite The Occam’s Razor having space for a small fleet of star ships in its hangar, and part of a planet at its heart, the staging area was entirely too small. Due to the shearing effect The Slingshot would have on the ship’s shields all personnel were restricted to the miniscule room and bridge, allowing the power that would be spread across the ship’s life support to be temporarily reassigned to ensure they made it through The Slingshot to complain on the other side. There were only two rooms on the ship with breathable air and Lore had chosen poorly. They had been given the decision to stand on the bridge with The First but they declined to be with their troops. Packed in like sardines, things were far too personal to give a pep talk.
“This is your captain speaking, we’ll be hitting The Slingshot in just a moment, if we had seatbelts I would advise you put them on. In the likely event that we have to divert even more energy to the outer hull, we recommend you put your helmets or respirators on now and keep them on till we reach our destination. Thank you for flying via Slingshot. Our journey will take us back to around twenty point three or Earth year nineteen sixty nine and will take a theoretical minute. I say theoretical because we’ve never done this before. All entrances and exits are locked and once again, thank you for flying Slingshot.” The loudspeaker crackled as Emm finished their announcement then turned the system off.
“Fantastic. We gave them like eight years to test this bloody thing and they never did.” Lore grumbled over their shoulder to Char who was packed just behind them.
“I’m pretty sure we did…” Quart chimed in from two rows ahead.
“Yeah, I think I lost my Breacher on the second run… or was it my toe?” Geo awkwardly turned to Jen who was two across from them.
“It was the third run and you cracked your glasses.” She shook her head then deactivated her helmets radio.
Although no-one could hear it, the engines began to cycle. As they did, hand bars were deployed from the staging area’s ceiling. Lore had been worried they were in the wrong spot but when a Lore sized handle was dropped to them, they felt comforted. Geo and Jen not so lucky however leading to Geo frantically trying to magnetize their boots before they started moving.
The ship slid between the two arms of The Slingshot and waited for the systems go ahead. Bolt after bolt of lightning appeared behind the ship. Juggling from arm to arm, The Slingshot’s sling was eventually formed. Slowly, The Razor backed away, tensing the elastic lightning. They stopped. The ship was angled towards the remains of Quatarr and prepared for launch. Emm revved the ships engines, handbrake on, waiting for control to be passed to them. The board lit green. Feet on the floor and finger on the accelerator, Clayton released the brake and with it, The Slingshot. The ship went from a standing start to thrice the speed of light and didn’t stop till Emm reapplied the handbrake.
“This is your captain speaking. We have arrived in twenty point three slightly ahead of schedule. Passengers are reminded to wait until the cabin opens before leaving due to the lack of breathable oxygen on the ship. Life support to the hangar should resume in a moment so until then, please pretend to enjoy the staging area’s many amenities that would be present if the area wasn’t so full. Thank you for travelling with us, let’s never do this again.” Even when communicating through their helmet’s radios, there was an awful static crumple at the end of the transmission leading many on the ship to assume that Emm was adding it themselves.
Journey over and life support restored, Lore, Char and Destiny made their way to meet with The First.
“We’ve got about ten minutes before The Guild attacks. We’re going to sneak down planet side to prepare the Quatarrians for transfer and hopefully rustle up some extra help.” Consensus achieved, they boarded a shuttle and made their way to the planet’s surface.
Lore had never seen Quatarr intact. In fact, Lore had never seen Quatarr but their memories of the war painted a vivid picture. Half of the planet was covered in orange desert mountains with the other being lush and verdant flatland. Much to Lore’s dismay, the shuttle touched down in the sand. Besides them, another small craft, worn by the sands of time and the current of the desert.
“Is that?” Lore pointed to the holey ship. Char nodded as they disembarked. Lore took one last look at the monument before catching up with the group.
The outer city gates stood ajar. This was all oddly familiar for Lore. They were hoping the outcome would be too. They were quickly accosted by security who recognised The First and their companions and escorted the group straight to the leadership’s tower. Lore was astonished by how calm Char appeared to be as she stood there with a beaming grin across her face. The lift doors opened and at the end of the hallway, they met their target.
“First Minister Jarrlaq.” The First spoke in the native tongue. “We are here on a mission of great import. You no doubt know of the plot to destroy Quatarr.”
“We are aware but if our intelligence is to be believed, The East and West combined could not defeat the fleet to come.”
“We have another option.” Char spoke up. “We have enough ships to bolster your lines. They can engage the fleet above while we work to move the planet.”
“Move the planet! Where? How? Why?”
“Minister, we have a plan to save Quatarr but it will require some adjustment. We will move Quatarr to the future. Five hundred years, or there abouts.” The Minister’s face dropped in disbelief. “That way, your planet and people survive. I won’t lie, there will be adjustments to make but it’s your people’s only hope.” The First stepped back. “We have the Cornerstone’s blessings. This is the way it saw fit.” The Minister inhaled sharply. They nodded. The First spoke into their Breacher. “All pilots, Breachers on and set for home. All Reapers, start weighing anchor. We are good to go.”
“This is a terrible first impression for humanity but trust me, most of them are pretty good.” Char looked to Lore and smiled.
“Humanity? They barely made it to the moon and now we’re going to have to treat them as equals?” The Minister shook their head. “You’re right, it’s going to be quite the adjustment but I will ensure that Quatarr endures if we survive the day.” Assaults.