Chapter 6: Chapter 5 – Gate of Kaltazar

At the first look it was just like before, the empty void with the distant stars as a beautiful backdrop… but in reality it was quite different this time. One had to look closer to see one of the stars was shining brighter than the rest. It was still a distant speck yet brighter than its brethren, emitting a strong, blue light, sometimes twinkling, as a planet, giant in its own right, passed before it, obstructing its light for a brief moment. This was the first system of the Neo-Hegemony, the main opening into their territory, named; Gate of Kaltazar.

 

It was one of the three entry points into the empire’s territory, one that led to four other systems. This was the main hub for those who were returning home, after traveling the Galaxy and also one of the most defended sectors in the Neo-Hegemony’s territory. It was the gateway to the heart of their empire. Its name came from the first ruler of the hegemony, Kaltazar the Saviour. He was a hybrid between a human and another species that went extinct alongside them, 5000 years ago. Their names were lost to time but what they knew today was that they were a kind of slime-like creatures. Kaltazar himself was human in appearance but his body was slightly translucent, one could even see his organs under his skin if strong light was shown on him. 

 

He was the first to rally up his brethren, leading an exodus, gathering every and all hybrids he came across. After decades of traveling, from system to system, their fleet numbering a thousand ships, they arrived at this long forgotten place. It was at the far edge of one of the arms of the Milky Way. Here, they found a blue giant with only one planet orbiting it. The celestial body was a massive gas giant, one that was only a hair away to be classified as a brown dwarf. At first it looked like another failure at finding a new home, until they discovered it. The fully intact fueling base, orbiting the planet, dormant yet completely operational. 

 

They spent a year reinitiating its systems and awakening itl once again. When it finally happened they were blessed a second time, finding an intact Astropath chart in its data banks. It led from here to a web of a dozen different systems, interconnected with each other. One of them was what they were searching for; A habitable planet. It had its surface covered with one, giant ocean but one that was full of life. There were enough small and middle sized islands to establish their own, very first colony and start building downwards, creating underwater cities. It was finally found; A refuge from traveling the stars, a place to take root. It was the day when the Neo-Hegemony was founded and with the leadership of Kaltazar, they started to rebuild.

 

The other systems hid even more treasures, finding research stations, orbital mining stations and a huge shipyard that was capable of manufacturing not just capital ships but even space stations. It took them decades to rediscover everything and revitalize the dormant machineries, getting them to work. Kaltazar laid out plans not just for how to proceed for the next hundred years but to build defenses around their new home’s doorstep. Sadly, he never saw it being completed as age caught up with him soon after. 

 

After more than 40 years, when their first defensive platform was finished and towed in place, it was named after him, honoring their first ruler, the one who led them to their own, peaceful region in the Galaxy. Since then it was built upon, upgraded, expanded, strengthened and reinforced, year by year, decade by decade. By now the Gate of Kaltazar was the size of a small moon, generating its own gravitational field, preventing any ship from slipping by it. It became an impregnable object in the void. Its location was prominent, at the edge, where the Astropath opened up, spewing out the ships that seeked to enter the Neo-Hegemony’s territory. It had an obsidian black surface, lit up by many lights, coming from the inside and from the constantly patrolling warships’ engines. 

 

In the center it had a spherical core, surrounded by a ring and from that, multiple other spheres grew outwards, in all directions, looking like neural connections, packed together in a tight space. The outermost platforms were all military installations, packed to the brim with heavy weaponry and shield generators, ready to repel any and all attacks. It was impossible to break through this region of space, without destroying the Gate of Kaltazar itself.

 

“Hmmmm, pretty big of a station you have here!” said Omega, watching the image that first came up on the screens, after exiting the Astropath. His eyes were curious but not awed. Interested but not surprised.

 

“It is the Gate of Kaltazar! He was a great, great man!” explained Sylen briefly, excited to be back home and proud to show the wonders of their empire to Omega. “It has never been conquered! 80 years ago there was a fleet that tried to destroy it! 200 ships, all equipped with siege weapons! Yet none of them got through and none of them survived!” said with pride, puffing out her chest. “This is our home and refuge for many others! There are almost 20 million people living here, you know!”

 

“Impressive!” nodded Omega, smiling a little, listening to her happy voice.

 

“The damage was also impressive.” added Miyon “But she is right, it repelled an invasion we did not experience for centuries by then! It saved millions from death or worse.”

 

“What about the other two paths?” asked Omega, receiving a questioning look from Miyon. “Doesn’t matter!” sighed, shaking his head, knowing he was still not trusted enough. 

 

“The others-” spoke Sylen but her grandfather just harrumphed, silencing her. “Pa! He is not an enemy!” protested after a brief pause, sulking a little.

 

“Nor one of us!” commented with a strict voice.

 

“I understand.” cut in Omega, leaning on the back of Sylen’s chair “I ask when I have a question but if you refuse to give an answer, I won’t be angry. I know some things are not for me to know about. Not yet at least.”

 

“Good that you know your place.” looked at him Miyon with one eye but Omega’s kind and calm gaze was truly disturbing. He was way too lax, friendly and unbothered. In another word; suspicious!

 

“Pa, they are hailing us!” raised her voice Sylen as the console before her started to beep, signaling an incoming call from the arm of the expansive station that they were flying towards. “Opening a direct channel!”

 

“Approaching vessel, identify yourself!” came the female voice, through the cockpit’s speakers. 

 

“This is the Dawn, ID number 412314-1920118. We are coming back from a salvage run, permission to dock!” 

 

“Remain on a slow, approaching trajectory Dawn! Do not accelerate until identification is completed!”

 

“Acknowledged!” replied Miyon, waiting patiently, keeping the channel open. 

 

You are reading story Alpha & Omega at novel35.com

Omega wanted to ask something as he watched the station on the screens, getting bigger and bigger but seeing the two in deep concentration he just smiled. While Miyon was monitoring the channels, Sylen was keeping the ship on route and following the computer’s calculations to avoid collision with others as the space here was truly busy. Sometimes the whole cockpit lit up in a blue light as the Astropath opened up behind them and another ship came out, heading towards the same direction as them.

 

“ID confirmed, welcome back, Dawn.” spoke up the same female voice, much friendlier than before. “Dock 93Z is ready to receive you.”

 

“Copy that!” answered Miyon immediately “We also have a Code:4 on board.”

 

“Roger. An appropriate team is going to be ready to meet you when you dock in.” confirmed his report before they heard a click and the channel went dead. Omega was not that worried, only watching the two, waiting for the explanation as to what the Code:4 even meant.

 

“We are registered as a ship with a crew of two!” turned around Sylen, trying to say it in a soothing voice, afraid Omega was angry now, maybe even feeling betrayed, expecting that he is going to be detained. 

 

“I see.” nodded, waiting for further explanation. 

 

“It means we picked up a refugee! So there is going to be a group waiting for us to process you! I mean there is going to be a medical examination, registration and you are going to be entered into the nationwide registry of the Neo-Hegemony as a new citizen!” continued Sylen with a hurry.

 

“Their equipment is much more advanced than ours!” turned towards him Miyon too “They are going to tell us if you are truly a human or not!”

 

“That would be… troublesome!” sighed Omega, shaking his head. Going by only Sylen’s reaction he was not too keen on the idea of spreading the news.

 

“Troublesome or not, this is how it is going to be!” smirked Miyon while Sylen felt a bit nervous, unsure if this was the correct way or not. 

 

Omega said nothing more, just closed his eyes, sighing a little once more. After their ship finally docked in and they walked to the decompression chamber. Sylen tried to say something to Omega but no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t form her thoughts into words. When the massive doors of the Dawn opened and they walked through the short, tube-like corridor, connecting them to the humongous station, a group of men and women waited for them on the other side. More than half of them wore standardized, gray and black military uniforms, donning heavy looking armor pieces above it, accompanied by a rounded helmet that left their faces visible. They held rifles in their arms, for now in a lowered position but they were clearly ready to fight if required. The other part of the team was clearly their officer, his uniform free of armor pieces, instead he wore some kind of golden and sapphire colored emblems on the left side of his chest and on his shoulder pads. Maybe his rank or decorations, telling about his service in the military but for Omega they were just pretty lines on a piece of cloth. All of them looked human-like, only the surface of their skin was indicating otherwise. They were covered in scales of different colors; green, blue, yellow or red, reminding him of the image of a rainbow.

 

The other interesting part of the welcoming committee was a slim woman, taller than all of them, even he had to look up as she was standing at two and a half meters tall. Her neck was elongated, at least 60 centimeters long, with giraffe-like spots all around it. Her head was a bit oval in shape and from her forehead, two, small, stumpy looking horns were pointing forward. She wore an oversized, white coat, with a scanning device in her four fingered left hand, already scanning the trio.

 

“They are clean.” said the woman with the long neck.

 

“Understood, doctor.” nodded the officer, fixing the black beret on his head, nodding towards Miyon and Sylen before his eyes fell onto Omega’s face. “Hm…” furrowed his brow, his right hand resting on the holstered pistol at his waist. It was rare to see someone looking so… clean. Human-like. Even the doctor was leaning forward, letting her long neck carry her head closer to him. 

 

“We found him-” Miyon opened his mouth to speak but Sylen finally gathered her courage. 

 

“Alongside a wreckage, in a pod! He was injured and he lost most of his memories!”

 

“We are going to make a brainscan.” replied the doctor, picking out a fleshlight from her coat’s pocket. “A serious head injury is not child’s play!” said with concern, shining it into his eyes, right there and then. As soon as it shone on Omega’s face, his skin was softly translucent, making his muscles visible under it to their eyes.

 

As soon as it happened, the soldiers behind their officer visibly relaxed as now they did not find his appearance weird, troubling or curious. For them, he was from the same species as their first ruler. A rare existence but not so rare to be too weird. Even the doctor smiled, nodding at Omega. 

 

“Your kind is resistant to most types of blunt force trauma, there should not be too much damage there but come, it is best to make a full analysis of your internals! We can also register you into our systems in the meantime! You are going to find your home here, we promise! Or, we can uncover your past, you may already be a citizen!” smiled kindly at Omega who just nodded, thanking the doctor and following her without a fuss.

 

The ones who were truly surprised and anxious were Miyon and Sylen as they were sure… his skin was not like that before. As to what happened? Thinking back, someone who was floating in the void, without any protection, surviving the blazing fire of a heavy flamer, opening an Astropath… this was truly nothing in comparison.

You can find story with these keywords: Alpha & Omega, Read Alpha & Omega, Alpha & Omega novel, Alpha & Omega book, Alpha & Omega story, Alpha & Omega full, Alpha & Omega Latest Chapter