Captain Astra Tor’Veola Bel’Kairan of the Autonomous Planetary Covenant gritted her teeth. The vibration, from the tachyonic capacitor, rippled through her cockpit.

“Captain, we are taking heavy damage,” flowed the assessment of her A.I. wordlessly through the neural nanonics implanted in her.

“Options?” asked Astra, suppressed anxiety stirring.

“Tactical retreat,” suggested the AI.

“Unacceptable. Other options?”

“None. Not when facing three dreadnoughts, eight interceptors and twenty-five modified cargo freighters, while alone on a starcruisers. Captain,” The AI continued sending its opinion. “You are in a cruiser designed for recon not heavily built for combat.”

“Sidra,” Astra called her AI by name, “What is the survival probability?”

“Limited.” Answered her AI. “Would you like me to run the simulations and get you a precise number?”

“No, just tell me the optimal solution,” responded Astra over another loud tremour passing through her cockpit.

“Tactical retreat, evasive manoeuvres and lose the pursuers in asteroid belts,” flowed the instructions.

Astra took a deep breath, calming her nerves. Technically, what Sidra proposed does not count as desertion. Nor is the Vajran pride tainted by retreating. In fact, the Vajrahi celebrated life. A prudent choice to save a life is always admired over wanton self-sacrifice. Yet, she is Bel’Kairan. An illustrious name to carry.

“I could ram the cruiser into the lead dreadnought. Then melee my way to Roga Skarii.” Steeling her resolve, Astra gave the command. “Augmentation bots activate. Limit 90%”

“Denied,” came the A.I.’s response.

“Remove the limiter, Sidra,” said Astra while her view outside was dominated by fired lasers, anti-matter torpedoes and quantum fluctuation beams.

“As a Captain, you are only authorized up to 70%. Any further requires the approval of the fleet admiral.”

Astra cursed her luck. She just hoped it couldn’t deteriorate any further. As if in response, another loud explosion rocked through the ship. An unfortunate hit from an anti-matter torpedo took one of her flank thrusters.

“Captain, the distortion metric is still stable.”

Astra knew the implication. Another explosion rippled through the cruiser.

“Comm Link?” asked Astra.

“Sorry, Captain, but you are operating outside the parameterised coordinates. Neither your crew nor any Autonomous Covenant ships would pick your distress signal.”

Through the infinite void between, Astra noticed one of the interceptors moving directly in front, its tachyonic condensation cannon aligning itself in the direction of her cruiser.

“Captain, your orders?”

“Sidra, inform the ship A.I. for evasive manoeuvres and tactical disengagement.”

Another Anti-matter torpedo breached the cruiser’s hull, setting off shockwaves and gamma ray showers.

Astra continued her instructions, in urgency. “Prepare the escape pod and hold the distortion metric.”

With a heavy heart, Astra prepared to abandon the cruiser. As she entered the escape pod, she only begged for her luck to not fail her, any more.

---

“Captain.”

Silence!

“Captain Astra.”

No response.

“Captain Astra.”

Astra slowly tried to move her legs and then her hands. Tilting her head around, she found herself in the centre of a crater. Charred grounds and burnt vegetation around.

Astra crawled out of the crater with great effort. Her legs still failed her. Turning on her back, she let her gaze roam upon the blue sky and the green and brown vegetation enveloping her.

An alien sky and alien land!

Not that Astra was unused to strange planets. The Vajrahi were space-farers, settling in the vastness of the galaxy and Astra, born in family Bel’Kairan, had her fair share of growing up on various planets and space stations.

Her family, ancient and eminent, played a significant part in the formation of Veolian culture -- from the time when part of the Vajrahi decided to join the Autonomous Planetary Covenant and become Veolians, while the other Vajrahi preferred their independence. Bel'Kairans always supported the covenant in prominent roles. Either as representatives, ambassadors or, like her mother, a fleet admiral. Astra wondered, perhaps, that is where she made her first mistake.

“Why did I push so early in my career for advancement missions?” Astra berated herself. As a young Captain covenant with command of her own vessel, she should have ignored the rumours of nepotism. But she wanted to prove that she is every bit her mothers’ daughter. That the genetic sequencer in the womb incubator did no error in sequencing the genes of both her mothers.

“Captain Astra.”

“Give me a moment to collect my thoughts, Sidra,” said Astra, silencing her A.I.

“Why did I not declare my mission a success with the crippling of Roga Skarii’s operation?” That was the second mistake.

Astra’s advancement mission was to prevent the operations of the space pirate Roga Skarii. She had done the usual, apprehending a few key members of his crew, arresting a some of his black market fences, confiscating their goods and such. But she did not relent with the tiny victories.

When Roga Skarii retreated, she should have reported back as mission successfully completed, instead, she chose to pursue -- outside covenant controlled space. That was her third mistake.

While Astra expected to catch up in a fast starcruiser, to aboard Roga Skarii’s spaceship and pulverize him, she never expected an ambush with a mini fleet under the pirate’s command. That was her fourth mistake.

Now, Astra could only lie and wait on a primitive planet with no hope of rescue. It could have gone bad. At least she is still alive.

“Captain,” Sidra intruded on her contemplation. “In case, you haven’t noticed, you are not exactly alive.”

“What?”

“Your brain is forcefully fed electrical impulses. All your vital organs failed. The emergency routines took over and the exosuit is keeping your blood running, but its energy reserves are substantially falling.”

“Status report,” asked Astra. Her calibre as a Covenant Captain overrode the sense of panic rising.

“Your heart is forced to beat, but cannot handle the strain for long. Energy is being diverted to keep your lungs barely functional.”

“Supplies? Medic kits?”

“Roga Skarii’s pirates were persistent. The pod took a massive hit. Med packs were lost, though one did survive and landed close by.”

“So why am I not restored?”

“The guidance system malfunctioned. The nanobots in the emergency medtube did not receive the signals. Granted, they are genetically coded to you, but they will not seek you. You should manually release them. Once the healing nanobots recognise your genetic sequence, they will start repairing your organs.”

Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, Astra found herself in a much worse situation. Almost dead. Well, she is technically dead, only the emergency protocols keeping her body from cooling down and decomposing.

“The last medtube crashed nearby, but time is of the essence. You will need to retreat it soon. Sending coordinates through neural nanonic implants.”

Astra felt the surge of knowledge and a new sense of orientation permeating herself as Sidra completed the task.

“Where am I exactly?” asked Astra finally.

“You have crash-landed on a primitive planet.” Information flowed from her A.I.

“Primitive? So sentient life forms?” Astra slowly attempted to stand. Every part of her body refused to cooperate. Her luck just dropped from bad to worse.

“Yes, I have intercepted a few communication transmissions and analysed them already.”

“Technology level?” asked Astra.

“A lot of electronic communication but no quantum entanglement-based communication.”

“So unaware of quantum entanglement?”

“They are aware of it, just haven’t figured out the communication aspect. They are still struggling to overcome the decoherence problem with a few qubits for computing, with cryogenic methods.”

“I take it that, the natives of this planet haven’t discovered superconductors, then?”

“Only low-temperature superconductors.”

“And, I suppose then, they don’t have a distortion metric generator?”

“Incidentally, they call it alcubierre metric and, those concepts exist as a theoretical construct. Technology hasn’t reached for it to be physically feasible.”

Without a distortion metric generator, she could see no other means to generate fields necessary for FTL travel. Astra was now convinced that her luck not just dipped significantly but sapped.

“Physiology?”

“Only one advanced sentient species on this planet. Bipedal and almost similar to Vajrans, only almost. You could blend in with the locals if you are careful.”

“Are they martial in nature?” asked Astra, filled with caution.

“Hard to infer since they almost have no contact with other sentient races.”

“Any other useful details?”

“I have deciphered some of their common languages. Sending them through neural nanonic implants now.”

Astra attempted to rise again, but her feet still refused. Then she remembered the condition of her spine. Impossible on her own.

“Sidra, I find it impossible to move. Could you redirect some energy from my lungs and heart to my spine and legs?”

“Order acknowledged, though I must warn you, you will find breathing difficult and your heart rate falling rapidly.”

“I will bear the burden. Proceed.”

---

Astra ran through the thick forest till she reached its edge. A distance that she would have covered in a matter of few seconds now, in her present state, took hours. Twice, she leapt over highways, clearing massive distances. She finally slowed down as the first of the concrete and steel dwellings of the humans came in view.

With her time running short, Astra pushed herself further. Yet with each step, she found herself drained more and more. Her suit warned her of low-energy levels. She was aware of what would befall her when the suit actually become empty.

Her inevitable death! Or rather, the stalled death.

But she must reach the medtube before that happens, not just because her life depended on it, but because she was a Vajran, and the Vajrahi held life most sacred. Though, not above the notion of killing, but to embrace death without struggle was a taboo for every Vajran. No greater dishonour, no greater sin, no great odium than to willingly to lay down and accept death, irrespective of the cause or the creed.

As a race, the Vajrans existed to venerate life. To save a life is the greatest honour and a great prestige to serve one who saved a life. No matter the hardship, or inhospitable the environment, Astra would never give up without a fight.

“Captain, you must hurry.” Sidra communicated.

“I am. Stop mentioning the obvious,” responded Astra.

There were times when Astra was thankful for Sidra’s constant presence and other times, she found her A.I., annoying. This was one of the latter moments. Sidra was integrated into her. A series of mesoscale processors, smaller than a virus, forming a quantum stochastic cellular automata was Sidra. Sadly, having an infinite thinking ability also made Sidra resistant to criticism.

As Astra rushed through the city, she felt all the eyes of humans following her.

“Sidra, I thought you mentioned that Humans and Vajrans are almost identical.”

“Almost, Captain. Almost being the operational word here. The genetic overlap is huge. 99.43% to be precise.”

“Then why is everyone gawking at me?”

“Captain, you are approximately 20% taller than an average human.”

“Still within the margin of acceptable values.”

“There is also your exotic features and your suit.”

Astra gave another sweeping glance. She found most of the gazes directed at her, filled with curiosity. A few were obvious in their lustful intent, and a few were jealous, but none were scornful. Astra concluded no further merit in sparing time to consider and continued towards her target location.

Astra bolted through two blocks and then turned right and quickly covered one more block when Sidra prompted.

“Captain, the medtube coordinates changed.”

“How?” Panic surged inside Astra.

“Only by a little, and the movement is erratic and slow. Logical conclusion. Someone is carrying it and they are walking.”

Astra quickened her pace. Her luck definitely fell through a black hole. The Vajran bore the notion of luck to be much akin to vibration on a stretched sheet -- a sheet composed of a complex lattice of stochastically linked events. Being a Veolian only consolidated the belief further; for the Veolians hardened the doctrine with a postulate that the total luck in the universe to be a constant.

Astra, incongruently, decided that someone in the universe, at that very instant, must be enjoying their life with all of her luck.

When Astra finally reached the targeted location, her suit beeped the first of the warning. The energy level has run low. Astra had precious few minutes left.

From Sidra, Astra received updated coordinates pointing her directly to the large building ahead. A crowd in fancy clothing, incompatible with the normal attire information that the stranded Captain received from her A.I., loitered outside.

Summoning her willpower from the depths of her consciousness, Astra ran towards the building before her. As she neared the entrance, Astra was astonished to see the crowd parting. A few even tried to engage her in conversation, and their attempts only met the stubborn silence of Astra.

“Nice outfit, by the way,” said a man in a gray uniform with a trimmed beard, blocking her path. “Now your ticket, please.”

“Law enforcement?” Astra queried Sidra through the internal channel.

“Private security for the event,” responded Sidra. “I surmise this building hosts some local celebration of some sort.”

“Pardon me, Sir,” uttered Astra, pushing English knowledge gained from her A.I. “I do not intend to attend. Merely seeks to collect what is mine.”

“Right,” replied the man, a single eye raised.

“Please, someone in there has something critical... of life-saving importance… of mine. I only request entry to retrieve it.”

A woman, with blue eyes and chin-length short hair cut sharp to a razor precision and sporting the same gray uniform, joined the man. “Ma’am, your cosplay is stunning, but we really cannot let anyone without a valid entry pass.”

Astra’s exosuit beeped the second time, conveying the urgency.

“I implore you to make an exception. My life depends on it.” Astra pleaded. She could almost feel her legs bending, bereft of the energy from her suit.

“Fucking LARPers,” cursed the woman under the breath.

“Look her Lady,” said the man, “In costume or no costume, you either have a valid entry pass or you do not enter.”

Astra’s legs almost gave out. Staggering, she fell on her knees before stabilising herself.

Oblivious to the situation, a few people in the crowd took out their mobile phones to record the exchange, which they found rather amusing.

“Please, someone inside carries a device that would save my life.”

“Ma’am, if you need a help, I could call an EMT,” added the woman.

“Or, you could name the person, we would announce them to come and meet you outside,” said the man, “but you are not entering.”

“I know not their name, but if you let me go, I can reach the coordinates.”

“Okay,” said the man throwing up his hands, frustration rising, “We all get it. You are some hero who lost her powers.”

“Autonomous Planetary Covenant Captain,” corrected Astra.

“Liam, I got this.” The woman shoved the man aside, and turned to Astra with grim mockery. “Alright, Autonomous Planetary Covenant Captain, I am Gandalfina. Protector of the sacred dome of Comicon. And, You Shall Not Pass.”

Jubilant cheers erupted from the crowd at her obvious declaration. Astra could not bother to ponder why. Her time was ticking.

The woman produced a taser in her extended her. Cerulean blue sparks zapped, twice, menacingly.

“I assure you,” noted Astra, “Such low-power energy weapons will not work against my suit's defences.”

“We will see that,” said the woman before lurching forward.

Just as swiftly as she rushed, she fell to the ground in pain. Bits and pieces of exploded taser littered the ground.

“Motherfucker,” screamed the woman, “Bastard skimmed on the expenses, providing us with the low-quality shit. I am gonna sue his ass in claims.”

Astra felt a moment of pity for the woman, but quietly ignored the scene and rushed inside.

As she neared the location, a girl with blue backpack, stood with her back turned towards Astra.

Astra lurched forward and the final beep from the suit issued. She knew what it meant. Total depletion of energy reserves. She only hoped for her already slipping luck to hold on for paltry seconds before she could reach the girl.

And her feet stumbled, giving out. Astra fell.

Crowds parted at the clamour. The girl swivelled slowly with a glacial calm and considered Astra, scrutinizing her with an uncanny curiosity.

Astra attempted to rise, pleading for a few seconds more. Her gazed locked with liquid brown eyes guarded by long eyelashes.

And Astra’s vision blurred. She tried to keep her attention on the dreamy form of the girl, focused on those fine hips and slender legs, but Astra’s vision refused. It continued to blur.

And Astra found her awareness slowly fading.