Chapter 91: PART 5: CALIBAN - The Planet of War

Arriving on the Alké, Ada innocently requested a Raven. The request went up the chain to Aseem, a ship captain with a hard gaze and thick hands who wasn’t one to be swayed easily.”I’m Gorylkin!” she declared, and he raised his voice in turn, barking that the war against the League was no longer relevant, and that every ship was precious.

Ada had already grabbed her transient FAM, fire in her eyes, when Ravzan came running-summoned by other officers. He listened to Ada’s complaint with a grave expression, then declared that she would be entrusted with a Raven called Mission II.

Aseem turned a stunned look toward the admiral, who explained:

“Gorylkin has just saved the Alecto mission. She is under the protection of the Wau order. Ship Captain Aseem, try to see further than your nose.””She wants to go to Caliban. It’s a lost ship.””Then it will be a lost ship. Gorylkin, it’s yours.”

Ada solemnly shook Ravzan’s hand and took her place in the cockpit with Alpha and Kukth. She was given Dérive coordinates for Antioch-a direct gate to Caliban. After a rough takeoff, the Dérive brought her in two seconds to Antioch, which appeared vast before her.

Antioch was indeed a planet as large as three mythical Earths, but it maintained a bearable gravity thanks to a mysteriously low internal density. Its magnetosphere was weak as a result, and once a solar-protection process had been deployed around the planet, vegetation thrived, making it perfectly habitable in less than a century. Its immense surface now hosted hundreds of billions of humans, remarkably few Xenos, and all lived in often autonomous communities. That was the Antioch spirit: independence, self-reliance, endurance, distrust of outsiders, extreme solidarity with allies, few laws to obey but merciless punishment for those who broke them.