Niall didn’t think he could save the ship. He wasn’t an idiot. He could read an engineering display and he could see that the magnetic containment alarm was a plant. The magnetic containment was fine. And given that everyone was making for the exits faster than drunks leaving a dry bar except Aertimus who was milling around the helm, it didn’t take more than a few nanoseconds for Niall to realise just what his brother-in-law had in mind.
And for Niall to realise it wouldn’t work.
Loona had protested when he had demanded to stay behind. She had acted in the typical Titan knows better manner and had taken some persuading. And in this instance persuasion meant a shouted, expletive filled, derisory monologue the like that Deputy Floor Leaders weren’t used to having directed at them.
His long time friend had promptly dumped his ass on the floor and left. Niall managed to get a brief nod to Darren and Darren nodded back. He was a soldier. He knew perfectly well what the look on Niall’s face meant.
Right now though Niall was wishing he’d been a little bit less curt with Loona given just how far it was from where she dumped him at the back of the bridge to the helm. He was pretty spry for someone approaching two hundred years old but his legs weren’t as good as they used to be.
“Hey!” Niall shouted as he approached the helm. “Hey! You giant gaping arsehole!”
It took a moment for Aertimus to realise he wasn’t actually alone on the bridge of his ship and looked over his shoulder and down the floor where he saw his annoyed brother-in-law looking up at him.
“Niall? What the frak!? You’re supposed to be off this ship!” He said.
“You’re a fucking idiot you know that?” He said stepping into the awaiting hand. “What are you going to? Ram the thing?”
“Fly into a launch bay and detonate the core seemed like a better idea to me.”
Niall rolled his eyes. “It won’t do it. You’ll hurt it but you won’t stop it.”
“You have a better idea then do you?” Aerti replied knowing the answer to his own question. If Niall had remained after everyone else had gone and wasn’t trying to talk him down well…
“Those Human ships. The ones half your size but produce more energy than a military corvette…” Niall said. “I designed them.”
Aertimus furrowed his brow.” Does Nas know?”
“Of course not!” Niall shouted. “I did it as a fallback. In case someone like Qorni ever got free reign to do as she liked. To make sure she couldn’t. But that reactor is configured in a way that generates billions of times more energy per cubic centiunit than the Gyfjon’s. Aerti, I can reconfigure the Gyfjon’s reactor to do the same.”
“Can she handle it?” Aertimus asked feeling hopeful for a moment.
“No. She’ll explode in one of the most spectacularly powerful explosions you’ve ever seen. It won’t be huge but it’ll vaporise every single piece of matter it comes in contact with. And most importantly. If we’re close enough to that thing…”
“We can turn it to dust.” Aertimus said. The hope he would see his wife and children disappeared within him but his heart swelled at the knowledge that this could end here. “What do you need?”
Niall half grinned. “That’s the spirit. Ibanez’s ops console. Take me there.”
Aerti did as he was asked and deposited Niall at the ops console that was specially configured for Human personnel. Niall started to tap away at it, learning the interface and removed two pads and started to tap at them as well, synchronising them with the ship’s systems.
“Enter your access code will you?” Niall said.
A few taps later and Niall’s pads were synced and he got to work.
“Time to get this show on the road.” Said Niall.
Aerti let out a nervous breath and returned to the helm. “Think they’ll ever forgive us?”
“I don’t want to think about it…” Niall said. “All I know is I do this then Sorcha and Naskia are safe. That’s all that matters.”
“You’re a brave man Niall.” Aerti said engaging the ship’s engines.
Niall tapped away on his pads and the console. “I’m not. There’s no fear in me. This is pure selfish desire to save the two most important people in the galaxy to me. Nothing else. You sir, were about to ram a moon with a paper plane to save a planet full of people you’ve never met. That’s bravery.”
The Gyfjon rumbled and groaned and it came under fire from pursuing Insectoid fighters.
“There’s no way I’d go back to my mother and tell her I lost this fight!” Aerti said in a way that Niall couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
Niall shook his head a chuckled. “Lilitu Bass, the secret driving force behind the success of the Bass family. I wouldn’t be surprised if she makes sure Poly ends up Empress one day.”
“Gods help Archavia if she does…”
One of the few remaining ceiling lights exploded as the ship took another hit.
Niall tapped furiously on his pads and on the console. He had to get this right. The timing had to be perfect and it had to be gradual. He slowly dialled up the intermix ratios of the Gyfjon’s reactor, altering them slightly with each increase gradually easing them in line with where he wanted them. This then increased dramatically the power the reactor generated. Which in turn caused the overrides to try to kick in and dial it back down to within tolerances.
He turned off the overrides and continued to increase the reaction’s potency, adjusting the magnetic fields that bound and compressed it, containing the reaction and preventing it from obliterating the reactor housing and leaving the Gyfjon as a floating hulk. He was just about keeping it on the right side of stable.
“Niall…should that be happening?” Aerti asked nodding to the exposed power relay in the corner which was now starting to glow and hum.
“The power grid on this ship is quite old. Not designed for this type of output. And it’s only going to get worse. Try to shunt as much to the engines as you can.” He replied.
Aerti nodded happily. He would take the extra speed. Though it would likely burn out the engines after a few minutes. Not like they’d need them much beyond that.
He dropped the ships nose and fired the engines up to one hundred and ten percent, taking them under a swarm of fighters and leaving them in his dust. He kept the ship rolling slowly on its x-axis, firing the fast tracking turrets at priority targets which were getting a bit too close for comfort.
As power levels rose the whole ship started to hum with the energy. The lights on every console, wall and ceiling started to glow brighter and brighter. Niall continued manually adjusting the flow and the containment, gradually guiding the reactor to the sweet spot where the reaction would then take on a life of its own and start to runaway.
The Gyfjon shuddered and shook. Something at the back of the bridge exploded and smoke started to fill the bridge.
“What the hell was that!?” Niall shouted. “That was not me!”
Aerti nodded to the viewscreen. The Hive ship loomed ever larger ahead of them, with Eebee just below it. But the screen was also filled with hundreds of Insectoid fighters, all firing, all swarming around the Gyfjon.
“I think they know what we have planned.” Said Aerti as he guided the ship through the swarm.
Niall smiled and started to tap once more. The Insectoids were starting to feel fear. He ramped up the intermix ratio and bit more and tweaked the containment again and another surge of energy ran through the ship. That blew out the relay at the front of the ship and started a fire in the Captain’s office.
“Emperor’s balls!” Aerti shouted. “Frak this I have an idea.”
He tapped on his console, one eye on the screen and one eye on the shield configuration. There was a flash around the ship and then any fighter in proximity to the Gyfjon exploded.
“What the shit did you do!?” Niall asked, noticeably impressed.
“I’ve diverted all the excess energy into the shield grid and reversed the polarity. I used to debate with an old engineering friend back when I was a junior crewmate if you had enough energy you could force it out through the shields and burn off anything coming in rather than absorbing it. Guess it works…it won’t last longer than a few minutes but it works!” Aertimus grinned like a kid with a new toy.
I’m impressed! Judging from the energy output you could probably ram anything under twenty units.” Niall said and kept tapping.
“Ram anything you say?” Aertimus grinned and nudged the throttle up a bit more and ploughed through the swarms of Insectoid fighters. “Why didn’t you tell me you could supe my ship up sooner!?”
Niall gritted his teeth, it was getting critical now. The reactor’s status readings all read critical and the energy output was off the scale. He was guessing now where the actual figures lay, judging it on a sheer gut instinct.
“I didn’t bring it to you because we’re about to you it to obliterate a ship the size of a planet. Can you see why I would want to sit on this?” Niall replied bluntly.
“Oh yes. But let me tell you, I appreciate you letting me play with your toys.” Aertimus replied with a small and a few more Insectoid fighters exploded ahead of him. There were a few destroyers and dreadnoughts bearing down on him as well but he paid them no heed. The more the merrier.
One of Niall’s pads sounded three tones and Niall let out a sigh of relief. Which was odd given what the tone meant. The reaction had now taken on a life of its own and was running away. Nothing could stop it now.
“That’s it! Two minutes!” Niall shouted. The ship started to jostle as it took fire from the big guns of the Insectoid Dreadnought.
“Understood, we’ll be there in a minute.” Aertimus responded.
There was another explosion on the bridge and ship shuddered.
“Frak!” Aertimus shouted. “Shield array on the port side has blown.” He rolled a slider on the side of the stick and turned the ship to show its shielded side to its main pursuers.
“Just keep us close to the Hive ship! The reactor will do the rest.” Niall said.
He started tapping on one pad. His job was done but he had one more mission. One more thing he wanted to do. He was hooked into the Gyfjon’s systems now.
“If you want to get any messages out, now’s the time.” He said to Aertimus.
Niall dialled into the comms and called his daughter. He waited. And waited. And waited.
He felt sick at the thought she might not answer. The last time he had waited this nervously for someone to answer was over twenty years ago when his life hung in the balance as well.
“Dad…?” A recognisable voice said weakly and the pale, sleepy face of his daughter appeared on screen.
“Sorcha!?” He said. “Are you ok?”
She nodded and smiled just a bit. “I got stabbed…saved Lessy. On a medivac ship. I’ll live.”
Niall breathed out a large sigh of relief. “I’m glad you’re both ok.”
“Joseph saved me. You have to like him now. No matter what.” She said with a smile.
He smiled back and shook his head. “I don’t have to do anything. Though I never didn’t like him. I was just going to give him a hard time…because that’s what I do.”
She laughed. Niall smiled and a tear ran down his cheek, enjoying the laughter of his baby girl one more time.
“I need…I need you to do something for me?” He said.
“What’s that?” She asked.
“Apologise to Loona. Tell her I didn’t mean what I said to her. I just needed her to ditch me.” Niall said.
Sorcha’s brow furrowed. “Can’t you tell herself yourself?”
Niall shook his head. “No…And tell your mother…” He choked back a sob. “Tell your mother that I love her more than anyone can put into words. We knew that we had borrowed time from the universe. It’s time to pay it back.”
“Dad…what…what are you saying?” Sorcha’s eyes filled with tears as her father’s did.
He wiped his eyes. “It’s the only way. Your uncle and I, we can end it here. We can take that thing out. You and your mother will be safe.”
Sorcha’s eyes darted open. “NO! Daddy you can’t!”
He shook his head and blinked back more tears. “It’s the only way…”
“No Dad, don’t leave me…” Sorcha started to weep. “Please Daddy don’t leave me.”
It was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. Say no to her. It had been difficult to do when she was three years old and it was even harder now.
“Tell your mother she made me the happiest man alive. And if I could I’d trade my life as a free man for another day as her possession. Tell her not to be sad. I’d rather go this way knowing you’ll both live than die slowly of old age having let this thing roll over our home.” He said.
Sorcha sniffed and nodded. “I’ll tell her.”
“And you. You’ve made me so proud. So, so proud.” He said.
She let out a sob.
“You’re as smart and as beautiful as your mother and as strong and as fierce as mine.” He said. “I know we’ve had our moments, but I couldn’t ask for a better daughter. Even through all the fights you got in, or noses you broke or classes you got kicked out of. You always made me proud. You stood up for what you believed in and you refused to settle for mediocrity. You’re my daughter…and…it’s always shown. And I’ve always loved you for it.”
She cried and nodded. “I learned from the best…”
“That you did.” He chuckled.
“I love you Daddy.” She managed to say between sobs.
“I love you too daughter.” He said and went to push the button to end the call. Aertimus was flying the ship to its limits. They were less than a kilounit from the Hive ship and the reactor was seconds from critical. “Don’t be sad…”
“Dad! Daddy don’t!” Sorcha protested.
Niall ended the transmission and turned to his brother in law.
“Thanks for being my brother Aertimus.” He said.
“You made it easy, Niall.” Aerti said and smiled.
And then everything went white.
****
“So what’s this guy’s name?” Aerti asked with a smirk.
His sister glowed red a little and smiled uncontrollably. He actually couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his kid sister was this happy. It was probably when she was about eight years old and had just finished designing her first radio that could reach out to other nerds on Selena. Not that he could really call her his kid sister anymore. She was almost twenty four now and was about to earn a first class PhD in the same subject as their father. And by all accounts was more brilliant than he was at that age.
“Niall…” Naskia spoke excitedly, elongating the word as she said it. They were walking along the green behind the old university building at Tannhauser Gate. It was a rare, warm day there for a change.
“And where’s this Niiiiiiiiiiiiall, from?” her old brother asked.
She brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ears and turned away, bashful, for a moment. “Oh just a backwater in Azatlia province.” She said.
“Come on sis,” Aertimus smirked. “I’m a starship Captain assigned to Vorsha and Azatlia. I’ll probably know it.”
“Well you can ask him about it when you meet him then!” She said. “Anyway what about you? Any ladies in your life?” she nudged her older brother in the side.
A sly smile crept up one side of his face. “Actually there is.”
Naskia gasped and her mouth hung open for a moment. “Tell me about her!”
“Well she’s beautiful for a start. Tall, elegant with beautiful curves. A little older than I’m used to but I don’t mind. I’d not change her for the whole universe…”
“You’re talking about your ship aren’t you?” Naskia asked.
Aertimus chuckled. “Well who else would I be talking about!? It’s not like I’m going to meet anyone patrolling the edges of Imperial space.”
“You never know.” His sister shrugged. “Love crops up in mysterious places.”
“Love?!” Aerti’s eyes spread wide. “I thought you were just dating a guy. When did love come into it?”
Beets weren’t heard of on Archavia. But Naskia’s cheeks were doing a pretty good job of emulating some. Her eyelids fluttered and she gave her brother a gentle punch in the arm.
“Ages ago!” she said happily. “He’s wonderful Aerti, you’ll get on great with him! I know it.”
“Why am I meeting him in a holosuite again?” He asked as they wandered inside a slightly more modern but still fairly old building.
She shrugged. “Just are. There’s a place we like to go. A simulation of where he’s from. It’s really quite nice.”
“I guess I’ll feel at home them if it’s all the way out in the backwater.” Aerti said as they ascended the stairs.
Naskia just chuckled.
They got to the third floor and walked down a corridor. Aerti could see Naskia had tensed up a little now. She wasn’t bouncing along as she had been on the way here and she was barely moving her knees at all as she stepped. He was also amused to see she still emulated their father’s nervous habit of walking with her hands clasped behind her back.
“We’re here.” She said and took a breath outside the holosuite door and looked around nervously.
Aertimus waited. Naskia chewed on a finger nervously.
“Well, aren’t we going in?” Aerti asked.
“Yes! Sorry! I’m just nervous!” she said and then typed in the code and the door opened.
Aertimus stepped inside and his sister followed, the doors automatically closing behind them.
They appeared to be in a bar. But not like any bar Aertimus had encountered on his travels. It was old looking. And smelling. It was almost made entirely of wood. Every seat, every table, even the bar itself had been carefully carved into leaf pattern and varnished. And behind the bar were bottles. Lots of bottles with lots of different coloured liquids in this. It was a very pretty sight. Much prettier than the shining, bright clubs he usually got dragged to on shore leave.
A man got up from the table nearest the bar. He was tall. Very tall actually. Good looking, with longish scruffy hair and a couple of days’ worth of beard growth. It looked like it was a deliberate choice as opposed to laziness. He instantly made eye contact, smiled and clasped his wrist.
“Good to meet you.” The man said. “I’m Niall Freeman.”
“Aerti.” He said. “Aerti Bass.”
****
Sorcha sobbed and redialled her father’s contact over and over again but he didn’t answer. Joseph clung to her, trying to console her but she was overcome.
“Daddy! Please pick up! Please pick up!” She cried as she tried to get through to him.
She looked up, the medivac ship was just starting to clear the atmosphere of Tau Ceti. The enormous Hive ship sat above Eebee, its engines glowing an ominous red as it pushed its way out of Eebee’s gravity well in order to jump to light speed. But it was still there. She could see flashes of weapon’s fire around it. Sorcha allowed herself to hope for a moment. If it was still there then her father was still alive.
There was a blinding flash that emanated from just beside the Hive Ship and she shielded her eyes.
“Daddy!”
As the flash dissipated she lowered her hand and her eyes focused on an expanding ball of white light. It glowed and shimmered and its surface seemed to flow in waves on the surface of the sea. It grew and grew, expanding slowly and first but getting faster and faster like a bubble. It kept expanding, swallowing everything it touched. Every Insectoid destroyer and dreadnought was consumed by it. It continued to grow, moving along the hull of the enormous Hive ship until it stretched from almost one side to the next.
And then, like a bubble, it seemed to wobble and the popped. In a shimmer of light and dust it disappeared leaving nothing behind it except the small chunk of the Hive ship it had not managed to swallow.
Sorcha looked out into the darkness and she wept.
Very touching 🙁
Damn you for making me feel things.
And thank you.
Truth be told, I stopped reading these after contact but one day I just decided to see where this had gone. Damn it man you gave me feels.
You have a lot of catching up to do, Hybrid is an amazing Novel, I highly suggest catching up on the rest ^_^
I binge read the entire story. And am now re-reading the entire series from the beginning.
This was a very sad chapter, but I can’t help but wonder. What will be the reaction of the Insectoids to having such a massive ship and no telling how many bugs destroyed in just seconds.
Courtesy of DX it has been written
Spoilers 😛
Poor Eyrn. She has had to endure so much pain and loss in her life.
As for Nas … it will be okay dear, we’ll buy you a new one.
So damn… I was listening to Blaze of Glory and then right at the See you again came on. Had to wipe a tear. Amazing writing. Wow
As I wrote the call to Sorcha I was listening to Arvo Part’s Spiegel Im Spiegel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ6Mzvh3XCc
And I cried a little.
Then afterwards I drank whiskey and listened to some Flogging Molly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AOp9c5DRzc
But Blaze of Glory would have done it too.
Ok, Spiegel would have jerked my tears equally. I love that you were listening to a song while you write music to me always completes it. And I could literally see Aeri and Nas walking together with a lite white haze around them as they talk, then him and Niall shaking hands as Scorha voice softly echoes ‘Daddy’ bring me back to the present…. And now if you will excuse me… I need to make another drink. Lol
It wasn’t even intentional. Just the radio put it on.
Lol, well still takes a lot to get me attached to a character much less mourn for them. I got to say… You, Dann, J.S. And DX are amazing writers. * Raises a glass of JW Blue Label to you all*
Neil was OLD and tired, in more ways than one. He was going to die at some point anyways, and for one of the most influential humans of the millennia with more competent scientists already waiting to replace him, this was the single most spectacular way he could have ever gone out. Doing the standard human tactic in war, get really desperate and asspull a superweapon of nowhere that no one could have possibly predicted.
Remember he is a Northern Irishman. Not like we’re not known for our loves of explosives.
(read in Steve Buscemi’s voice) “Define irony: Surviving a civil war in his home country only to be abducted by aliens, fall in love with one marry and have a kid. And then end up having to kill yourself in the most massive explosion possible to save them.”
I guess Niall will never set foot on Earth after all.
Holy crap you’re right, :,(
It killed me when I realised that.
Wow, Niall’s has been my favorite …and now he’s gone. I also loved Aerti. And now he’s gone. You evil bastard OHH, last week I had my appendix taken out, and now you’ve ripped out my heart. Great writing, but damn, this makes me sad.
I’m sorry mate. Believe me it hurt me more! I hope you’ve recovered well. Thanks for reading.
That was a bit shocking to have them both going out like that but it does make sense as that would be the way Niall would want to go out. He always seem to have a fear that when he would die that he would be buried in the backyard in a shoebox.
Plus it might go some way to settling the idea that the Empire aren’t the villains if a human would sacrifice himself to save it.
Their gool recordings of the whole thing will make Titans look very good as well. Just show Earth footage of the Gyfjon falling apart as they try to save countless humans.
Aerti was so likeable, and Niall was Niall. Rest in peace.
Woo! Aerti finally got some recognition! I was starting t wonder if people had forgotten about him!
I feel like Aerti is very popular.
I assumed since he was your character, OHH had to get your approval to kill him off.
If either of you can answer this now or later, who else at the same level in the military is there to go to bat for humanity? Avalon just caught in the proverbial cookie jar working with a foreign entity to build powerful weapons under the Empire’s nose. And who’s going to have words with the defense ministry that’s been ignoring Darren’s calls?
Actually, I had to convince OHH that Aertimus Bass’ death had to happen. I had Aerti on the chopping block since Exile was still being written and Hybrid was in its planning stage.
DX and JS agreed, OHH wanted Aerti to resign his commission and do a “mic drop walk off stage”, I felt he had to go down with the ship.
Niall biting the bullet was surprisingly recent as far as planning goes. OHH shocked us all when he brought that up.
Also, for trivia sake, it was originally Loona who was going to die, JS, DX and myself vehemently protested that, much to OHH’s lament 😉
The plan originally was Loona. Because I came up with it at the end of Physics and two weeks before Physics ended I broke up with a gal I’d been with for 5 years and Loona was based on her. Not because I hated her, but just out of respect for her. It was wrong to carry on using her image/personality for a character.
Then DX came along with Contact and Loona was now way too important. The compromise was to diverge Loona away from the character of my ex (who is now my friend, and for the record is an excellent cook). And that’s been done to a good extent.
TD did offer up Aerti as he was the obvious choice. However it did niggle at me months writing Hybrid that it didn’t sit right. And DX pointed out that scientifically speaking the Gyfjon couldn’t take out the Hive ship. So that was it. Niall came in and sealed it. I knew it had to be done. It killed me to do it, but the idea of him slowly fading away killed me more.
There’s always Vanser Nix, the current head of the Imperator Corps
There’s always Vanser Nix, the current head of the Imperator Corps
Well seeing as how the brothers-in-law pretty thoroughly trashed her ride Lauryna can always accept promotion to the Dodecahedron which will leave the center seat of Gyfjon II open for Izzy and whoever accidently sits on her.
Spoilers…. 😀
Explaining the Acolytes to the Empire is definitely not going to be a picnic, but Darren has a powerful argument in the fact that the Imperial Military had nothing more than an automated sensor array at Tau Ceti, despite Tau Ceti being so close to the border of Insectoid Space that the insectoids claim the system for their own. It took Gama fleet hours to arrive when the insectoids attacked; without the Acolytes the insectoids would have already harvested most of Tau Ceti E’s population by that point.
I could see Qorni wanting an investigation and pushing for treason charges. In her political calculations she never counted on Gama Fleet actually winning the fight before reinforcements arrived.
She might try to use a campaign of fear over these new human weapons to hang on to power. I mean you could use the human equality side’s own arguments against them here.
Which is why that’s too brilliant for her to try. She’ll be like “investigation!”, probably Nix could stonewall her, and she’ll sputter out.
More likely she’ll try to cut Niall out of any recognition of his sacrifice and the Acolytes as well. Would undermine her argument that the simple little creatures who need protection can defend themselves and make noble sacrifices.
After all she just went through, I can see Loona telling Qorni where to shove it, and making political games as difficult as possible.
I had a feeling in my gut you would kill Niall off in some way, this sacrifice is as good as it gets.
Cheers Nostory. Thanks for being with us.
I’ll be there until the end 🙂
Well I was right about the ship bomb, wrong about them making it out of this. Still it was an awesome display, bug zapping enemy fighters with the shields before vaporizing the Hive ship. They actually did, this is a win, one from a human and Titan working together. I hope everyone knows this very soon, and I hope the bugs shit themselves over what they just witnessed.
The sadness doesn’t hit until we get to Sorcha’s part, and will probably hit again when we read about the rest of the family finding out. 🙁
Sorcha is broken. The whole Tau Ceti stress, than many of her colleagues died in a horrible manner, that scene where she saw many gruesome death human bodies, Alesia in total fear and fear of losing her, Joseph very injured body and on top of that, her father and uncle gone. We almost forget that hologram game. Nothing leading to this project on Tau Ceti has gone right for her.
She can never think back at the good moments with Joseph there, because everthing else that happened is just to painfull for her.
The guilt will destroy her for now.
She’s tough. She’ll go on. If not for herself then her mother.
She will go on. But this will never go away. The pain al these events caused her were extremely bad enough and than finally thinking of going home she hears/sees her father dying. The main character didn’t won and lost so much, that there is no reason for joy or celebration.
Lessy’s going to have a hard time trusting Titans again, maybe with the exception of Sorcha.
Poor Sorcha by the way. For her the whole Tau Ceti experience was the most painfull of all. There is no happy end for her.
I expected Niall to die a very long time ago. That chapter where he was reflecting about his life and everything that he accomplished was a big hint from the writers.
And when he had to come along with Loona I could feel it that that would be the last time Naskia and Niall would see eachtother.
I tried so hard to hide that but it was too hard and it bled in.
You did good. But if seen so many films, series, animés with all kinds of endings and hints that I can’t watch anything anymore without taking in all details and thinking of all possible outcomes.
That timing of continuing that wedding story is no coincidence. That you want to put ALL characters together in a happy moment, meant that after the ending of Hybrid, that wouldn’t be possible anymore. The last chapter of the wedding story will probably be the last chapter of the whole Titan series… for now. 😉
A little foreshadowing can be a good thing. Also, I wasn’t sure if it was genuine foreshadowing or fake foreshadowing to play with reader expectations. (Like when Han Solo expresses the feeling that he’ll never see the Millenium Falcon again in Return of the Jedi prior to the Battle of Endor. The Millenium Falcon ends up surviving the battle with no worse damage than a lost radar dish.)
@OpenHighHat. It was Contact chapter 2 where you hinted that Niall would die at some point in a Titan novel and the feeling never got away with Niall surviving in Contact.
@faeriehunter. Who knows….
@Faeriehunter The funny thing about the ROJ foreshadowing is that originally the Falcon was supposed to be destroyed when the second Death Star was destroyed.
I thought about an happy ending because losing 2 main characters was too much. RIP Aearti and Niall.
Oh man! After the previous chapter this outcome became very likely, but it still hits hard.
…
…
Okay, I’ve pulled myself together now.
******
You know, for everybody expect Sorcha and Joseph the Hiveship’s sudden destruction will come as a total surprise. And the jamming should be gone now. I think I’ll like the next chapter. (Actually, this chapter was excellent, but impossible to like.)
I wonder how many Acolytes survived this hellish battle.
Cheers man. As always I appreciate your insight and encyclopedic knowledge of this series. You keep us right!
Wow….
RIP Niall and Aerti
So sad…
Much tears 🙁
I think this song this chapter quite succinctly;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cawk2cMTnGo
Haha – I used to play in a band that covered it. Though we did it in the Oasis style:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Lg82RSCw8
Man it’s really dusty in here, making me tear up for some reason…
RIP you crazy bastards.
And oh Nas, poor, poor Nas…
Man humans better get credit for every part they played, or I’m writing off Titans as a species.
Poor Nass…and…you know…Eyrn too
Well of course, but at least Eryn got a good bye of sorts and was well aware of the stakes. Nas is going to be blindsided.
It’s been written. It’s done in a certain way…you’ll understand when you see it…
After I wrote this chapter I ended up in a funk for about two days. It was REALLY hard to kill both of them, Niall especially. It felt like losing a close friend. I’ve been in his head for nearly three years.
And then the idea I have to tell Naskia…
Don’t ever do it to yourselves.
And thanks for your support Kusanagi. I’m pretty sure you’ve been with us since early on. It’s nice to have people along for the ride.
Ohhh, hey, they finally did what I was saying they needed to do ages ago. -_- Only they did it after sacrificing a bunch of soldiers and lives. >=/ Tell me, why didn’t anyone think to turn a few acolyte drives into massive, planet-consuming bombs and destroy it that way? They had a scientist that could have done it, and they wouldn’t have needed to make too many adjustments since the little ships were already built with Nial’s work. The Accolytes were also fast and small enough that, had they focused purely on speed and evasion, they likely could have delivered said bombs to the hive ship.
They would have needed the ship’s to stop defending. Dock with the Grypjon, have Niall tinker with them all, then hope they could survive flying through the swarm without detonating prematurely. Also there’s no guarantee they would create the same kind of blast radius.
So basically they didn’t have the time, and they probably weren’t desperate enough until their big gun went down.
Oh, I’m saying they should have done it when the fight first began, before they launched, or at least before the big gun finally fell. I forget her name, but the scientist that Nial gave the info to was there on the planet if I remember correctly. Meaning she could have done the same calculations that Nial had done, and they could have destroyed the main hive ship before now.
I believe she was on Earth at the time, though it admittedly it is hard to keep track.
Dr. Mukta Chandrasekhar is on Earth at present, not Tau Ceti E. (See A Noble Heart Must Answer, Part Two.)
Secondly, the reaction appears to be too unreliable to convert a ship into a bomb on demand. There were only a few minutes between the Gyfjon reactor’s reconfiguration and its explosion. And Niall had trouble with even that much.
I also doubt that an Acolyte would have had enough yield. Their reactors are far smaller than the one powering the Gyfjon. And finally, Acolytes don’t have shields; I doubt one could have pierced the insectoid swarm guarding the Hive ship like the Gyfjon did, small size and extreme maneuverability notwithstanding.
What FH said ^
And the end of Hybrid has been planned to be a bloodbath since Sorcha gave her first speech at the end of Hybrid. You don’t just kill off characters willy-nilly. There has to be purpose. See Game of Thrones. Lots of death. Each with purpose.
Atleast Myrell’s dead. You think any of the characters will learn what happened to ‘Pri’ or those other two humans she killed? Creepy to die anonymously and unknown like that.
I didn’t find that bloodbad had a purpose. The story hybrid isn’t bad, but it cast a large shadow over everything that was accomplished in most of the other novels. I have a different view on life and politics. I don’t like it when good characters turn into politicians and loose focus of what is really important in life and some characters became dull. That’s why I didn’t like many characters anymore in Hybrid. What made all the characters fun was so downplayed in Hybrid. The fact that Loona and Eyrn wanted the changes things within the current system, by playing completely by the rules of the current system was a downer. The way they tried the change things when they were younger was much more clever and fun and far more effective.
Real change came from Pryvani’s thinking and actions, Niall’s and Naskia display of playing guitar and singing in front of a big crowd, letting Titans come in contact with human movies, books, music, art, etc. Darren’s and Eyrn’s Tolbot adventures, Loona’s interview with Naskia, Niall and Nonah. These visual moments alone had caused those Titans who witness that these events to never see humans in the same way again as before. Their upbringing thoughts would fight the rational thought in their minds, but the seeds are planted. And they would talk to others about it and the holorooms would help with that process. That whole political stuff wasn’t nescessary. Alex and Rixie didn’t have to wait for what they know was a worthless system to throw a wedding party. All their friends and family believe in them and that’s the only thing that matters. Why the need to wait for a system’s/groups of people’s approvel, that you would never want be friends with. Why does their opinion have to matter. The same thing about Niall’s recognition as the father. If the DNA test don’t convince those so called intellegent people, why feel the need to be recognized by those pathetic groups people that are so insecure that they need to lie themselves because they know that it’s true. I only pity those kind of people.
I loved it when the main characters played by their own rules and cared little about the system but more about what is really important. And thanks to Pryvani and their own doing, they all had access to the best facilities and save environments where they could be themselves.
I didn’t find that bloodbad had a purpose.
Hybrid was the payoff that all those other stories built up towards. Faced with a imminent threat to all sentient life in the galaxy everyone came together as single team without even consciously thinking about it to defeat or at least seriously hamper that threat. Many individuals sacrificed themselves, if not willingly at least courageously and others would have too if necessary.
In the long run the species that may have been most effected may have been neither human nor titan. Both species are just moving along the natural arc they were destined to follow.
All along I’ve been trying to visualize how Hybrid must have played out too the collective hive mind. The bugs are neither good nor evil, they just are what they are. After the waste of Sperikos and now the great waste of Tau Ceti the hive mind may determine that cooperation rather than conquest is the best survival strategy even if they are far from understanding any society of individuals. If so, then all the sacrifices made by all the various characters through the series will have greater meaning.
@Locutus. In the big picture, nothing really bad has happened. Insectoid threat almost totally destroyed and it only cost the lives of several thousand individuals on the scale of 50 billion Empire citizens and 11 billion Eart humans?
But the way of thinking of the Empire, politicians will remain the same. Nothing is learned. The Empire is as horrible as our real world governments. Same indifference, same stupidity, same stupid mistakes like Tau Ceti will be made just a few years later, etc.