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A Father Forgives

Domel Arcturus

---

It was still hard for me to accept everything I found back on Ijuri, and I held on the hope that dad was not part of them and was only forced to do so to save me. It sounded like I was dodging the truth, which I was. But, could you even bear to think that your own family became your worst enemy? Oh, and I recently found out that everything was far more complicated than what it seemed.

There was this problem with time itself. When I met with Zarya, I was surprised by how she knew that 1557 was 520 years ago and revealed that the dating system used by the post-Exodus Vyrnians followed two different forms. The first was the count started since the Exodus, in which the year was 501. The second was used for legacy purposes, and it was the year 2077. Not only that it showed that the facility was not as old as I thought it would be, but it also caused me to realize that I was not as ancient as I thought I would be.

But that's not the only revelation. Another revelation was the purpose of the Ijuri facility itself. Zarya downloaded some information before Lekan closed its doors from us and it showed that Ijuri was made for a secret research involving time anomaly. The significance of that was still a mystery to us, especially since we had no time to download any data from Ijuri, and still need to deal with the attack on Arkari.

I really wanted to trust my father, but I didn't know. I simply didn't know. Even if I held on the wish, I was still betrayed. That feeling would never come off that easy, and the only way to do that was to confront dad and hear it from him. But...for some reason, I couldn't. I held on the wish, but in doing so, I tried to shut of the truth. I was this confused Vyrnian who did not know what to say or what to do to the point it became noticeable.

The first person who sympathized with me was George. He somehow understood my feeling even though this had never happened to him before. Zarya, too, felt that I needed someone to talk to, so she did. When we were alone in the cockpit, waiting as the ship took us to Orlonel, she held my hand and said, "We'll get through this together, Arc. You, me, and everyone on this ship. They have your back."

"I'm trying to...but I can't. I should've seen it before. It's just...it's just they hid it so well I don't even notice."

"No one noticed it."

"But how? How did the Trikelians control a living body? It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe we just don't know our enemy well enough. Maybe that's what they do."

"I know," I said. "But I can't lose hope just yet. I know my father too well, and I know he won't give up that easily. I must confront him and speak to him."

"And it will be done, Arc. We all got your back," said Zarya.

At this point in time, I could only trust Zarya, George, and the rest of the Vyrkaya crew. I was still rather mad of Astha for sowing the doubt, but he was okay with me, especially after he walked to me and said he's sorry, though he did defend his actions as being the 'guy who gives others the doubt'. I did not know Astha well enough, but I certainly knew he was a Saukaur who'd say anything he had in mind, whether it's right or wrong. Sel also got that feeling of him, but unlike me, Astha was not the worst Saukaur she had ever met. In fact, Astha was the reason Sel could bear Saukaurs again.

But this team would be tested when we reached Arkari...when I confronted my father and learned everything that I missed...and a conspiracy that stretched far before my time and the foundations of the space-faring civilizations that populated this galaxy.

We, however, knew that going to Arkari now would be a mistake. What could we do to help without proper backup? While everyone knew how to fight, our enemies would be, too. Zarya and I decided to go to Orlonel, given that we knew the leader of that colony and hoped she understood our problem.

As we got there, we already saw some ships leaving the planet. I realized that these ships were battleships, so I assumed that Orlonel already knew Arkari was attacked. We needed confirmation, so we called Xilna using a personal comm she gave us in case anything came out of her research. Given that she never got to call us, I guess she still needed more time to research the Trikelian creature we got from the ruins. That, or because Orlonel was not supposed to be an xenobiology research, just archaeology.

Xilna answered our call. I could see she was rather busy coordinating the attack groups along with several other Vyrnians who I could assume to be strategists and commanders.

"Arcturus?" asked Xilna. "I thought you are in Lekan."

"Got...distracted," I said. "What's the fleet for?"

"For Arkari," she said. "You heard, didn't you?"

"Yes," I said.

"And we still need to talk to you about your father, Andrates, and about the Trikelian."

"What happened to it?"

"We'll show you."

Those ominous short answers made me felt uncomfortable. In my present state, I thought of every possible thing she would want to talk about. The most obvious one was that the Trikelian escaped. The worst one, borne out of paranoia, was that she held me accountable for my father's actions. I never told anyone about this thought before I told this story. If it did happen, I'd get away, far from them, so that they did not share the blame. Good thing it did not come to pass.

Xilna was already standing near the hangar as we opened the ship's door. She told us to follow her. As we paced towards her office, she told us everything.

"That Trikelian you found in the ruins escaped by taking over a researcher assigned to study it," said Xilna. "It killed everyone in the room it was held in and sounded the alarm to distract us as it flew away on a ship."

"Was the researcher alive?" I asked.

"Yes, and he was actively trying to fight back, but the Trikelian's control was too strong. We saw his efforts on security cameras when we realized one of our ships were gone. We tracked the ship and it headed towards Lekan. We thought it was trying to access the database, but then..."

"Arkari happened."

Xilna nodded. "I still don't know how the Vyrnians on Lekan managed to contact pirates and marauders frequenting this area in just under a week. How did they manage to do that? It's not like they have personal comms so anyone can call them, right?"

"Actually...they do have one," said Sel, who overheard our conversation. "It's called the Conference. Pirates can't go around plundering and raiding without getting the attention of other pirates. The Conference is a communication system used as an agreement so that one pirate can stay out of other's way. It is a leftover system from an earlier era of space piracy where there was actually a council of pirates or something like that. Nowadays, it's just something to access the black market or fencers."

"How do you know all this?" asked Xilna.

"I...was part of that life before," said Sel while looking away. "I am a former pirate."

Xilna's silence after that felt like she was silently judging the Felinian. It was normal in a sense, of course. Space pirates were very notorious, even in my time. However, Xilna just smiled, approached Sel, and said, "I'm impressed. People don't go around announcing themselves as former pirates."

"It's a fact from my past, and it's no use denying it," said Sel. "In fact, you need that information."

"Which helps explains things, so thank you. I...didn't quite get your name on your first visit."

"It's Sel Kylas."

"Sel Kylas," repeated Xilna. "Nice to meet you."

"Anyway," said Astha. "This...Conference thing. Given that it's a communication system, it is hackable, then?"

"The system's old and poorly implemented in the first place," said Sel. "I tried using it to buy something in the black market, but the interface is total shit."

"Black market, eh? Someone's a bad girl," teased Astha.

"But not too bad, right?" said Sel with a wink.

It sounded like Astha was hitting on Sel, and she went with it. I looked at Kilkaja, thinking that he might felt something. I guessed he felt something it wasn't what I thought it would be. He looked at the two and chuckled. Guess he saw that as nothing more than a friendly banter, I suppose.

Xilna took us into her office and locked the door behind her. She then said, "We don't have much time. I am supposed to depart to Arkari to coordinate retaliation and rescue operations, so let me explain why I took you here. Arcturus, if there is a possibility, you must try and convince your father to stand down."

This came as a surprise for me. I thought she would not trust me for trusting my father too much. I made it certain that she knew this was the case by telling her.

Xilna shook her head and said, "It is possible, but no one else can do it beside you. Family connections can go both ways, and I have a reason to believe that."

"Why me?" asked Arcturus. "Yes, I know my father's part of it, but I could be emotionally compromised, or even..."

"Because you have no other alternative," said Xilna with a seriousness in her Vyrnian face that I had never seen before. If you fail to convince him, we have no choice but to kill them."

"Kill them?" said George in surprise. "Whoa, wait. Aren't you being drastic here?"

"I gave Arcturus a chance, George Atmell, and we have a colony to save. I am willing to give him time, but not leniency. There is a chance they have been compromised due to the Trikelians and knowing these creatures, we would need more than just firepower to tackle them."

"But they might just be people controlled by the Trikelians!" said George. "We might be able to separate them and isolate the Trikelians. Killing them is far too drastic!"

"Do you know how to take control off them? As far as we know, killing them won't free their body from Trikelian control. You saw what happened to the poor Vyrnian trapped inside the ruins. Even death is not kind for them."

I wanted to suggest frying their brains so the Trikelians had no control over the bodies, but that's going too far. Why would I electrocute my own father to do that? It's wrong. Very, very wrong. But again, Xilna was right. We had no idea how to separate them with their hosts without resorting to irreparable damage or even killing. We also had a pirate raid to deal with, which complicated matters even more.

But unlike many of our choices in the past, I had no time to hesitate. I knew it was no longer something I could escape from. I must know the truth, and I would find the truth my own way.

"Let me talk to him," I said. However, I hesitated slightly when I said the next sentence. "But if it fails," I said. "If it fails, then do whatever you need to do."

I could see George was surprised by this, while Xilna nodded with a sense of sympathy. She excused herself and unlocked the door for us.

When we got out, George walked to me and said, "Are you really sure about this, Arc? What you're doing is..."

"I know what I'm doing, George," I said. "It is my choice to make...however painful it is."

"That's it? No alternatives?"

"I will consider the alternatives if it does not involve frying their brains or even blowing them up," I said, rather bluntly. "I know a way to release the host from the Trikelian, but their fate will be the same."

"But..."

"No, George," I said. "Just stop. Please...just let me see this through."

I wanted to be comforted, but I couldn't. The fact that all my choices led to my father's possible death depressed me. It was the fact of life and I could not deny it. Some people had to die, no matter how hard you tried to save them. Zarya understood that feeling well since she was a healer, but this time...it's far more personal than a patient-healer relationship.

George told me later, after I calmed down, that I did not talk to the others as we got to the ship and departed for Arkari. My head was full of things I wanted answers to. Things that I wanted to talk about with my father. Things. Many, many things. I just need the truth. That's all there is to it. I would accept this outcome if that's the case.

Unfortunately, it wasn't.

It only took a short time for us to get to Arkari. Many of the pirate ships were orbiting the planet over the colony and many of them were engaged in a fight with the ships from Orlonel. Some were destroyed, some were subdued, and others ran away. I did not even had an interest in that...just my father and the other Vyrnians from Lekan.

We landed somewhere outside Arkari due to the compromised landing pad. I immediately walked out of the ship and paced towards the destroyed colony, hoping to find my dad and confront him. I was stopped by Zarya, who wanted to say something, but shook her head and said, "If you want to talk later...I'll be there."

"Thank you," I said. Zarya was the closest thing I had for someone I could trust, and she helped me gain a courage to talk, and to accept the outcome. Whatever happened, she would be there, along with the rest of the crew.

We got into Arkari and found the place in ruins. Many Vyrnian bodies were strewn across the roads and those who were alive ran past us. We quickly found ourselves surrounded by pirates, who clearly wanted to kill us. They were only Orians, of course, and that made things easier. I simply needed to use my electric energy conversion and zapped all of them. However, I may have no control over the power as I clearly electrocuted some to the point of death. I only learned about this later, and for some reason it...did not horrify me. They attacked me and I defended myself appropriately.

But the Orian pirates were not the only ones accosting us. Slowly, but surely, my patience wore thin. The others started to actively engage the pirates along with me, and sure enough, we were separated. I knew fighting these pirates were useless, so I tried to find my father and the other Lekan Vyrnians for answers.

And I found him in the square, standing around as if waiting for someone. That's when I realized that he was waiting for me. Without delay, I walked to him and confronted him.

"Dad," I said. "We need to talk."

"Yes, we do, son," he said. His expression was blank. "Yes, we do."

"First, I need to know. Is this your doing out of free will or is it something inside you. Don't try to dodge the question, because either way, you've made an enemy of me."

Dad did not answer, so I walked up to him and said, "Is honesty that hard to follow? You already showed your hands, so it's no use trying to dodge it. Tell me why. The people of Arkari are peaceful Vyrnians. You have no reasons trying to disrupt their livelihood. In fact, you have nothing against them, as far as I know."

"Because Vyrnians are the only compatible lifeform," said my father. "The only one we've made compatible out of the other races in this galaxy."

"We?"

"The father you know is a hard Vyrnian to fight, but now he's no longer in control," said dad, though I know it's not him talking. "He's a fool for thinking that we did not notice his plans. I take it you have worked this out when you reached Ijuri?"

"There is no key to find. I know your plan, Trikelian. Vyrn is not sealed because of a cult or anything. It's a planetary cage for your kind."

"Ah...good thinking. Vyrnians are perfect," said the Trikelian. "Then you've also worked out that the Exodus and your exile happened around the same time?"

"Except the part about time anomaly," I said. "Why are you so invested in it?"

"If I say it's simple curiosity, you wouldn't believe me," said the Trikelian. "This galaxy you called home is a fine place to conduct an experiment, simply to give us an answer for time itself. We did experiments to all the races, but most of them ended up in failure and twisted their lives forever. We tried to give the Felinians an ability to control time, but it resulted with them adapting to it and use it to extend their lives eight more times. We gave the Nuoevans psychic abilities, but one small mistake led to an entire race using it in expense of other's suffering. But all of those did not give us the answers we seek, all because of their incompatible, primitive minds, and their selfish desires."

"Are you telling me that you're responsible for all that? I want to just call you a sick bastard, but I guess you're already a monster to begin with."

"Insult me all you want. You are already one million years too late. But then...years went by, and we finally found you, Domel Arcturus. A time traveler by mistake. It was time to act. We found you in an earlier timeline, oblivious of what you'd achieve. We couldn't change your personal history, but we were able to infiltrate your life, using your father.

"However, his insolence knew no bounds. He knew the Vyrnian Empire was compromised, and with a group of influential Vyrnians of his time, plotted for our downfall. He was a spineless fool who did not even know that we knew everything. We hastened our plans, causing the Exodus and frame you to give your father an incentive to get you out of the planet. Our little thorn, however, came from the President of the Empire himself, Masari Ivolantis. Ivolantis was Andrates's secret plan, and he enacted the Exodus Protocol to seal the planet. Many of us died attempting to take the ride on Andrates's ship, and many others were trapped behind a wall designed to trap us for thousands of years. But it was already done. One simple mistake, and the Trikelians win in the end."

"Which clearly makes you the desperate one for taking over this colony," I said.

"The Vyrnians of this colony will make such a good host for our fleet. The Trikelians will rise, Domel Arcturus, and you will give us the secrets of your travel. Your body is a specimen worth killing for. We will bring down everything just to see a time traveler in our midst. And then...time itself will bow upon us."

You know, I was glad that this was not my father's doing. My father was too kind to even have this diabolical plan. However, I was mad that this monster with god complex took over his body and made him look bad. It was finally decided. Taking my Draconus from my back, I pointed it towards the Trikelian. I could no longer see my father's face in there, only the mocking gaze of the one-eyed blob behind him. However, just as I readied myself to fight, I saw a ray of hope that returned me from that dark thought.

The Trikelian seemed to be in pain, but then I saw it tried to fight back.

"You insolent creature!" he said with a considerable strain on his voice. "How do you even resist?! Your mind has been locked deep within your consciousness!"

"I won't give up if it means saving my son from you!" said dad's voice. While straining, he said, "Son, don't hesitate. I want you to strike me with all your might!"

"I can't do that, dad!" I said, realizing what he meant. "I can't do it!"

"Your element is electricity, son! It's the only way to get this Trikelian out of me. Don't hesitate, just..."

His straining then stopped as the Trikelian asserted his control. It laughed.

"You underestimated me," he said. "I know what you're thinking. 'A sufficient electricity will get the Trikelian off'. It is true that your ability is a problem. But...."

Without any warning, he dashed towards me. I was ready to intercept him, but he stopped in front of me and quickly twisted his body. His tail whipped my unprotected side and I was thrown aside. The whip was strong enough to cause immense pain, which momentarily dazed me. I could not react when he kicked my face, dazing me even more.

"Domel Andrates is a fighter in his own rights," it said. "I believe he taught you how to fight with that glaive, yes? Unfortunately, he's more skilled than you are."

That kick was unnaturally strong for a Vyrnian, and I could see why. That tail whip was strong enough to break my ribs and the tail itself, as it looked crooked. I did not see any damage on the legs.

The fact that he used dad's body and damaging it made me angry, knowing that dad was helpless to stop him and he was clearly in pain. However, given that he controlled dad and accessed his brain, it knew a lot of dad's moves. However, I wasn't training exclusively with my dad. There were some tricks I remembered that I did not show my dad.

I recovered quick enough to start a counterattack. I quickly swung my glaive towards him, which he dodged. However, I proceeded to jam the blade to the ground and used it as a support for my kick. The attack was, of course, not as strong as I hoped due to the pain from the earlier attack, but I never said I was done.

As he fell off, I rushed forward. I put both of my hands together and started flowing the energy in my body and convert them into electricity. I got close and let out a burst of overloading electricity that threw him back even more. I knew this was dangerous, and it pained me to see my dad's body getting hurt by it, but I knew this was the only way to save him. He trusted my energy conversion element, and I would make sure he got out with my help.

I quickly returned to my Draconus as he got up to his feet. That attack hurt him as I could see the blast burned part of his chest.

"Impressive," said the Trikelian. "But tricks don't last forever."

The Trikelian was right. However, I had something planned in mind. Inspired by the attack I just did, I needed to do one more thing that was risky and could potentially be deadly if I was careless. However, it was the only chance dad got.

Without waiting for the Trikelian, I changed the Draconus's form into a chain whip and attacked the Trikelian from afar. He dodged it and started gaining on me. This was the moment when I used electricity to change the whip's trajectory and tried to stab him from behind. He saw through it and dodged it at the right moment.

It was the right moment. After the Trikelian dodged, there were many things that happened at once. First, I grabbed the glaive tip's chain. Second, I used it as an improvised sword. Third, I jammed it through dad's leg. The pain returned dad's control to his body momentarily. With a considerable strain on his voice, he said, "Aren't you...a bit too excessive?"

"Forgive me, dad," I said in the earnest. "This will hurt."

Dad understood. "Then I trust you, son." Before the Trikelian asserted its control and tried to push me away by clawing on my face, leaving a considerable scar on it.

The attack on dad's leg damaged his body, enough to cause mobility issues. That leg became unbalanced, and it gave me a chance to grab his body and started flowing electricity into him. The Trikelian tried to get me off by kicking my stomach with his good leg, causing me to reel in pain, then biting my neck. The pain was unbearable, but it was nothing against the pain I know my dad suffered. It's time to finish it.

I quickly increased the electricity, letting all of it out like a burst of energy. I made sure the energy was bearable for a Vyrnian. The powerful electric shock caused the Trikelian to loosen. I then risked it and increased the power even more until it finally got off. Dad's body was burned due to the electricity. The Trikelian let out a loud screech as it scampered off. George, who was nearby, tried to chase it. I hoped he got that slimy bastard.

Then I looked down my father's burned and unconscious body. I kept telling myself to hope that the risky attack did not end up killing him. I quickly checked his heart. It wasn't beating. I quickly administered CPR and also jumpstart his heart. I did this a couple of time and, just when I almost thought I really went overboard and killed him, dad gasped as he regained consciousness and looked at me.

"Son," he said, weakly. "You're grounded for sure."

"Well, at least I got you out safely," I said. "Plus a couple of wounds."

We looked at each other before we started chuckling, which quickly turned into a hearty laugh as we hugged each other, realizing that I managed to save him after all. I did not know what the Trikelian's fate would be until George returned, but until then, I felt like I won.

Then I felt someone touching my back. I looked up and turned around slowly to see Zarya. She had this happy and relieved expression in her.

"Well, sorry to interrupt your tender moment, but your father's hurt," she said with a smile. "Let the healer mend him, alright?"

I nodded as Zarya helped make dad comfortable. I smiled towards dad as I sighed in relief.

That was before I noticed something in my view that caught my attention. It was a draconic-looking creature. This creature did not look like any dragons I had met on Earth, or even any Vyrnians. It looked so alien. It had four glowing green eyes on its side and one on the top of its forehead. Its body kept changing forms and I could not even describe one form. It looked like a four-legged dragon one moment, then a snake in another. Its tails were many, with some of them looking more like tentacles than a proper draconic tail and some of them seemed to have teeth. It was hard to determine how many tails it had since it kept changing. It had wings, but the wing was...ethereal. It looked more like a vague energy than a proper wing.

In one blink, this creature was already over me, surprising me. However, that was not the only think he did. A stream of energy went into me as I saw things I could not describe. It overwhelmed me. It felt like my head was going to explode. I roared in pain, trying to stop this, but it was useless.

Before I blacked out, this creature, with its shrill, cold voice, said a cryptic remark that would haunt me.

"Make a choice, Domel Arcturus. It will be the first of many yet to come."