Chapter 4: Command and the Stars Beyond

The moment I spoke the words, I felt a shift in the air—as if some unseen force had been set into motion.

G’Lan’s red eyes flickered. “Acknowledged. Navigational course plotted. Prepare for launch.”

I barely had time to react before the ship responded. The deck beneath me rumbled, and a low, thrumming vibration filled the corridors. Ancient machinery groaned back to life, metal grinding as power coursed through its dormant systems.

A sudden lurch sent me stumbling as the ship’s engines roared awake, shaking dust and debris from the cavern walls outside. The ground trembled, loose rock tumbling from above as the ship began to rise.

“Holy—!” I grabbed onto the nearest bulkhead, heart pounding. “G’Lan, what the hell is happening?”

“We are leaving.”

The cavern around us collapsed in a shower of stone as the ship’s engines fired in full. The artificial gravity took hold just in time, keeping me upright as I watched through a small viewing panel.

The mountain was falling away beneath us.

Then we broke through.

For the first time in my life, I saw the world from above—not through an airplane window, not from the safe confines of human engineering, but from the belly of an alien vessel, cutting through the sky like a predator rising from its den.

We soared through the storm, punching through the clouds, and then, the stars.

It was breathtaking.

The blackness of space stretched endlessly before me, broken only by the twinkling glow of distant stars. The Earth lay below, a shimmering blue-and-white sphere, fragile and small against the void.

It hit me then; I was leaving.

For the first time in my life, I truly understood just how vast the universe was. And I was no longer bound to Earth.

I exhaled, gripping the metal railing as the weight of it all settled in my chest. There was no turning back now.

Once we cleared Earth’s gravity, the ship’s systems stabilized. The hum of power beneath my feet was steady, confident, alive.

I turned to G’Lan. “So, where exactly is this dreadnought?”

The AI raised a hand, and a holographic star chart materialized before me.

“Grid sector 84.65. Deep space, within an abandoned combat zone.”

I narrowed my eyes. “How far?”

“Approximately three standard days at maximum sublight speed. If the ship’s jump drive is operational, we may arrive within hours.”

I frowned. “And if it’s not operational?”

There was a brief silence. Then: “Then we drift until it is.”

Not the most comforting answer.

Still, I had already made my choice.

“Alright,” I said. “Let’s get moving.”

The next few hours were a blur of movement.

With G’Lan guiding me, I explored the guts of the ship, learning its systems. The controls were alien, but strangely intuitive. Maybe it was the AI translating everything for me, or maybe the ship itself was designed to be understood by any who claimed it.

Either way, I adapted fast.

Before long, I could navigate the halls with ease, moving through the curved corridors of smooth metal, past control panels lined with glowing alien symbols. The ship was old, but it was mine now.

And soon, I’d have something far greater.

Hours later, the ship lurched out of FTL.

A massive silhouette loomed in the void ahead.

I stepped forward, breath caught in my throat.

The dreadnought.

Even in its derelict state, the ship was a monument to war; a massive, armored behemoth stretching nearly two kilometers in length. Its hull was scarred from battle, but its structure was intact, a sleeping titan waiting to be claimed.

I swallowed. “Damn.”

“The Bin’Tak-class dreadnought is among the most formidable warships ever constructed by the Narn Regime,” G’Lan said. “Its weapons, if restored, could rival those of any modern fleet.”

I felt my pulse quicken.

This wasn’t just some ship. This was power.

A thought struck me then I was about to take command of a vessel built for an alien war. A ship designed for destruction, conquest, survival.

But I wasn’t Narn. I wasn’t a warrior.

I was just a man who had fallen into a cavern and woken up in the future.

So what the hell was I doing?

I pushed the doubt aside. Whatever I had been before didn’t matter now. This was my ship. My chance. My future.

I exhaled and looked at G’Lan.

“Let’s bring it back to life.”