Chapter 46: 46: A Mission To Complete

Through yet another combination of my low-gravity fields and propulsion, I allowed myself to hover up into the air above the survivors of the previous battle. 

"Our Squadron Leader has abandoned us," I called out across the battlefield. "Belana had fled back above the surface to Prespian City, allowing us to fight down here alone against that… creature." 

My announcement had achieved its goal of grabbing the attention of those who had survived. They gathered around me in rapt attention. 

"There is still a mission to complete in this base, though the threat of the Null Space Hybrid has been eliminated," I went on. "My companions and I are going to be investigating the rest of this underwater base. We are on a search for two of our friends and fellow Guard members. The rest of you, however, should make your way back up to the surface." 

There were some mutters and murmurs at that, as if they hadn't been expecting me to basically just send them on their way. 

"My reasoning for this is simple. The threat of what happened down here needs to be made public. The people of Prespian City need to know about the threat that they now face. We don't know how many hybrids there are, or even how they managed to make their way onto this planet. They need to be prepared for the eventuality that we are overrun.

So, gather the injured, make sure anyone in a critical condition isn't going to keel over out of nowhere and find some way back up to the surface." 

I let myself drop back down to the ground and walked over to where Fal and Yr'Arl were stood. 

"How do I always find myself in these weird leadership positions?" I asked the pair. 

"You tend to put yourself into them, to be honest," Fal replied. "That being said, these guys did need someone to tell them to get themselves together. After that, they were kind of a mess."

"You did what you had to, Jacob Lyre, and you did it well. We may make a leader of you yet," Yr'Arl weighed in. 

The thing was, I didn't really want to be a leader. Back on Earth, I'd never been much of a leader at all. I was more of a keep to myself sort of person. Even when I played multiplayer video games I'd let other people take the lead, simply following their plans for whatever they wanted to do. These days it felt like all I did was take command. 

"We'll see about that," was the diplomatic response I decided to give. "Either way, I can't in good conscience force you two to come with me. If there's any more of those things down here then there's no way that I can promise to keep you both safe. You should go back to the city with the others." 

Fal and Yr'Arl glanced at one another, and then back at me. While they were both aliens from completely different species, the look on their faces was exactly the same. There was no way that they were going to be leaving me behind so that I could sort out this mess by myself. 

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"Well, fair enough then," I said. "Where should we start our search?"

"Well, this cargo bay looks a lot like the typical cargo bay that the original colony ships would have had, meaning Clan Pren probably salvaged one of those and sunk it," Fal said. "I used to work on old colony ships with my Dad before I became a member of the guard, just fixing up the onboard ship AI's so that they could be used for other purposes, so I've got a pretty good idea of where the bridge should be. The command deck of the bridge is where we should probably head first, if the computer systems are still active I'll be able to get into them there." 

That sounded like a pretty good plan to me. If this was the main base of Clan Pren then perhaps we'd finally be able to figure out who they had been working with by hacking into their systems. 

"Alright, that's what we'll do then. Stay on guard for any more Null Space Hybrids, or even just members of Clan Pren. We've got no real idea what we're walking into here." 

The three of us set off, with Fal in the lead and both myself and Yr'Arl making up the rear. She led us through a door off to the right of the cargo bay and down an increasingly winding set of corridors. 

Whenever I thought we would be coming to the end of our walk, we simply turned off into another set of corridors that looked exactly the same as the last. 

"Fal, how do you not get lost going through all of this, we've been through a room that looks exactly like this one what feels like 5 times over," I said, somewhat in disbelief as we turned a corner only to find the very same room all over again. 

"What do you mean?" Fal said, we've never seen this room before. 

"Yes… we have," I retorted. "We've seen it again… and again, over and over, you're telling me you have no recollection of walking through a room just like this one?" 

"I do not have the memories you are referring to either, Jacob Lyre, are you feeling well?" Yr'Arl asked. 

I wasn't feeling well. I wasn't feeling well at all, because I had the feeling that I knew exactly what was going on. This ship wasn't a winding mess of corridors like the Pillar of Autumn from Halo: Combat Evolved, where nothing made sense and everything seemed to turn back in on itself in strange ways that made no sense.

No, something worse was happening, and it meant that there were still people who were loyal to Clan Pren alive on this ship. 

And one of them, whoever they were, were adept at using their manna to mess with the very flow of time itself. 

Because I had been trapped in a time loop.

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