Plumes of lava soared across the planet, burning up what little oxygen remained. Hours ago, this planet had been home to billions of Kronospasts, living luxurious lives filled with pleasure and happiness. In the blink of a cosmic eye, it had all been vaporized by a moon-sized interplanetary impact. The planet’s own moon had crashed into the surface, instantly annihilating all traces of life.
Far, far above the planet’s surface, various ships hovered in mourning, unable to land. Already, several ships had crashed into the planet’s surface, their occupants forced to abandon ship as they ran out of fuel or their navigation systems succumbed to the distorted magnetic fields that now ripped at the planet’s remaining atmosphere. Travelling too close to the planet was nothing more than a death sentence, an opportunity to join the billions who had already died.
“This hurts a lot more than I thought it would…” Levik muttered as he stared out the window of the little ship. By his side were his two siblings, Kohra and Tenuk. Tenuk was trying to hold back tears, but Kohra had long given up on the idea of remaining calm and had curled up into a crying ball of sorrow.
“Yeah… I… I didn’t think this would… happen in our lifetimes…” Tenuk took a deep breath, but his voice was shaken. The three brothers may not have agreed with Kronospast tradition, they may have been outsiders, but they had still just lost everything that made them who they were.
“What can we do though?” Kohra whimpered, trying to pick himself up. But every time he caught a glance of the fiery inferno outside, he would collapse back into tears. “It’s all gone! There’s nowhere to go!”
Levik sighed. “He’s kinda… got a point. We need to get any survivors out of here. Before they all die in their ships. We… We have to lead them.”
Tenuk nodded in agreement. They were the sons of Lord Avra. They had to lead their people to safety. He helped Kohra to his feet, then looked away from the horrors outside, towards the back of the room where the computer terminal was.
“Dessi, please can you transmit the following message. All frequencies you can… Actually, one second…”
Tenuk hesitated, then turned to his brothers.
“Where do we send them?” Kohra asked. “We can just… send them to the next nearest territory, can’t we?”
Tenuk turned back to the computer terminal. “Nearest Kronospast stronghold is probably too far for most of these ships to travel. We need to get them to the nearest safe place and bring fuel to them first. Levik, can you get in contact with any nearby Vohra nests, see if they can supply any sort of fuel or transport?”
“Since I’m a Kronospast again, Talok will have to talk for me, but I should be able to get fuel supplies as needed. Hopefully food too. I’ll go do that now.”
Levik left the room. Kohra continued to stare outside, while Tenuk went through the navigation console. Finally, he found a suitable location for the ships to gather.
“Dessi, please transmit these coordinates and the following message on all frequencies to any and all nearby ships.”
“Transmitting, Ser.”
Tenuk took a deep breath. “Fellow Kronospasts, this is Tahnahos tou Avran speaking. I am sending you all coordinates to the nearest safe zone, where we will meet up with other races who will supply us with food and fuel. I am sorry for the horrors we have all faced today, but if we work together, despite our differences, we will survive and rebuild. Please meet us at the coordinates that have been transmitted alongside this message, and please look after one another in these… trying times. We will get back in touch as soon as possible. Stay strong, brothers.”
The ship’s computer closed the communication channel and began broadcasting the message. Kohra turned back to Tenuk, wiping tears from his eyes.
“We’re their leaders now, Tenuk. We are going to have to lead them.”
“I know…” Tenuk sighed. “And that means we’re going to have to leave everyone else behind. We need another ship.” Again, Tenuk turned back to the ship’s computer. “Dessi, can you send a message to Gath Tsoriou on Portalia please. Tell him to load up the ship Dessara with as many supplies as he can manage, then get him to meet us here… In the mean time, I need to tell the others what is happening…”