“Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty,”  

The Admiral left his office as soon as his phone call ended. His office overlooked the command room. “Code omega. Head for Tio!” the Admiral yelled with all his might. The massive Star commander vessel that led the emperors’ fleet fittingly named Olympus turned and entered hyperspace.  

“How long will it take?” The Admiral asked. 

“Two weeks,” replied the hyperspace pilot. 

We’re cutting it close; we should have set off when we first got the report. I will have to resign even if Tio doesn’t fall. I should have the doctor evaluate the video. The sickly-looking man with wired glass appeared in the command room without the Admiral’s request. 

“Sir, what happened at Tio?” asked the doctor. 

“Nothing yet. A sickness that kills you then brings your corpse to action will arrive shortly.” 

The doctor takes off his glasses and starts methodically cleaning them. Then he asks, “What else do we know of the sickness? Sir.” The Admiral invites the doctor into his office and plays him the video. “What strikes me as odd is the animalistic nature of some of the dead men. Compared to the composure of the Captains.” says the Admiral 

“The Pascal brothers are old friends of mine. Our originals lived over 500 years ago. They only cloned themselves into synthetics once. The Emperor told me to replicate myself a multitude of times to spread my knowledge to where ever he needs it.” 

“So, the sickness infects clones?” 

“It would seem that way. Based on the knowledge we have; the old Republic crew would not have had any clones. The Emperor perfected the technology after they fell to repopulate the universe. The cook suggested this sickness was the reason it fell. I do not know if this is true, but as the Emperor is sending the Olympus, he must think it is necessary. His original was alive pre-collapse of the old Republic. If this is not too out of line, what are your orders? Sir.” 

“Anything that has direct contact with the Atropos V must be destroyed,” the office falls into silence. The doctor recleans his glasses a few times. Then he paces across the room a half dozen times. The Admiral sits in his chair and pours himself a drink. “The sickness doesn’t have a cure, or the order would have been to administer that. We have never heard of it, so that it might have been short-lived. If it is reanimating the men’s corpses, how long could it even run around before decomposing? 2 or 3 weeks? Sir,” 

“Clones don’t decompose,” replies the Admiral. “If humanity only survived by waiting out the sickness, that won’t be possible now it has infected clones. Doctor, what is the population of Tio?” 

“50 billion give or take a couple hundred million.” 

“And how many clones?” 

“250 billion. The council set that as a soft limit a few decades ago.” 

“Well, I hope we get to Tio before the Atropos.” says the Admiral before he finishes his drink. 

During the two weeks in hyperspace, the Admiral had created two plans. The first plan was if they arrived before the Atropos V. This plan was straightforward. Create distance with Tio. Fighting the ship as far away as possible. The second plan was if the Atropos V was still hyperspace capable. The clones could arrive on Tio’s doorstep. We would have to engage in the vicinity of the planet. Combat close to planets is frowned upon. Civilian death is almost unavoidable.  Tio is one big city filled with the Republic’s brightest mines. No one wants to fire at an enemy ship and kill one of our own. 

 Dr Townsend estimated that the Atropos V had between 250 and 400 clones when the dead men took it over. Every Republic licensed ship was capable of battle with a skeleton crew. No vessel would ever need no more than 50 men; most ships need less than 10.  

The Olympus is the biggest and fasted ship in the empire. The bigger the ship, the more aggressively it moves through hyperspace. As the Olympus came out of hyperspace, it enabled the help of Tio’smoon. The moons gravitational pull made the Olympus slow down and dragged around it. On the other side of the moon, the busiest planet in the universe became viewable—a city the size of Jupiter with billions of lives unaware of the danger. The Olympus sent no warning to the planet. 

Atropos V floated between Olympus and Tio. Motionless, it stood with the city as its backlight.  

“Prepare for combat!” yelled the Admiral. 

The crew of the Olympus were in their battle stations long before the Admiral commanded. The weight of this mission at a scale a lot of the fresh lads had not faced before. The Admiral raised his hand but before he finished the signal to fire; six drop pods escaped the Atropos V and were rocketing at unnatural speeds towards Tio. 

“Prepare the Obliterator. Zion has fallen.” 

No one moved an inch, whispers of condemning a planet and the Admirals’ sanity. The Admiral repeated his order in a yell. Many of the commanding officers started to act, their men falling in line behind them. 

“Every second we wait allows time for the sickness to spread. Every second allows the sickness to get hold of bigger and more experimental ships. Every second we wait signals the fall of our Republic,” said the Admiral. The ship’s first mate, an averagely built man with dark shaved hair and no iris, approached the Admiral “Sir, the weapon is ready. What about the ship? Sir.”  

“To be dealt with after,” the Admiral responded. Then with a relaxed stroll, he stepped towards the fire switch and relieved the man of his duties. He sat down in a chair at a desk on the command bridge with one red button under a laser proof glass lid. He opened the lid carefully and placed his hand on the button without hesitation. “May the Emperor forgive me,” he muttered. 

A green ball started to form at the front of the ship. It distorted the space around it. It was began at the size of a pea; it inflated to the size of a football and continued to grow. It fired when it grew to the size of an exercise ball. It flew at the speed of light towards the planet. The Olympus recoiled aggressively, almost into the moon they had used to reduce their speed. The blast threw Atropos V several miles away from the planet. The ball of green energy hit the planet like a needle into a balloon. Green flames burst out of every inch of the surface. Within 5 seconds, the earth was dead. From life, to flames, to dead. Nothing stood on the surface. All life that ever was vanished. The dry planet started to crumble in on itself—a husk of what all that could have been. 

The crew of the Olympus stood silent. Some started to cry, and some tried to celebrate. The Admiral stood up and walked to the command deck. He ordered the men to fire on the Atropos V. The Atropos V didn’t sit still in the destruction of Tio. It was racing towards Olympus. The Olympus 24 side gunner slots were already filled and waiting on the order. A shower of plasma rained down on the Atropos V, melting the front half of the ship in an instant. 

Three escape pods burst out of the rear hanger and started darting towards the Olympus. The recoil from the Obliterator had destabilised the attack ship ports, so non rushed out to intercept as the Admiral had ordered them to do as soon as he saw the drop pods. “Don’t let them land,” the Admiral shouted. The gunners opened fire again, but the drop pods were too quick to hit and reinforced if a lucky round hit them. The first pod crashed into the side of Olympus, exploding on impact, but the other two made it into the open hangers. The gunners fired at the only target left, reducing the Atropos V to dust. 

“Sir, they have breached hanger 7 and 2. what are your orders? Sir,” reported the first mate. 

“Prepare for self-destruct. Seal every corridor. Slow the dead’s advance. I have to write a note for the Emperor.” 

‘This is Admiral Joseph Lorenzo, First Admiral of The Republic, Commander of the Olympus. With a heavy heart, I must report that we have succeeded in our mission. Tio has fallen, but no soldiers in the enemy’s army. The Atropos V has fallen; it houses no soldiers of our enemy. The Olympus has fallen and will not contain any soldiers for our enemy once I have finished this report. The meteors whereabouts are unknown. Your Imperial Majesty, I ask that you send more good men to track the meteor down before the sickness spreads across the universe. Thank you for allowing us to serve the Republic. 

Signing off. 

Admiral Lorenzo and the crew of the Olympus.