On the command bridge, Saphhirine, Mira's orange-haired and sagacious daughter, Eve's second-in-command, oversaw the ship's operations with quiet authority.
Beside her, Hannah gazed at the huge shipwreck through the huge viewport. Axel's crimson optics glowed, scanning data streams.
Jax's son, Kayden, commanded the tactical team. Vayne's daughter, Elara, managed comms. Dr. Aris Thorne, Salam Shah's hand-picked successor, hunched over diagnostics. Anya's daughter Tina was asleep in her quarters. Zara was studying in the Nomad library.
Many faces had changed over the years, the original crew having passed into stardust but the core spirit of the Nomad endured, bound by Eve's enduring presence. Sitting on the command chair, legs crossed, her fingers stroking her lips.
.
.
"Another IC patrol, Commander," Sapphirine stated, "Someone is still on the ship, hiding under the ship's dead camouflage."
Eve, her bluish-white hair flowing like starlight, electric blue eyes fixed on the holographic star chart. "Thorne," she addressed her lead tech, "what's the anomaly?"
Dr. Thorne, usually immersed in algorithms,"The energy signature is suppressed. But underneath, there's an echo. Cybernetic."
Just then, a vessel emerged from the ship and attacked Nomad.
"Axel, raise all defensive matrices. Kayden, Harbour Bay. Elara, prepare for infiltration assist if it breaches," Eve barked as she headed out of the command center.
The enemy fighter was already tearing at Nomad's shields, its energy cannons ripping into the superstructure.
Nomad's Jet fighters eventually took down the enemy's fighter craft, but he ejected and landed in Nomad's Hanger bay using his Exosuit. Eve and Jax were already there.
The hanger was chaotic, one man fighting all the Nomad crew was insane. Eve Cesna sisters and Hannah were having a tough time.
Eve dives into action. The hostile pilot moved with impossible grace, matching her every evade, every counter-move.
Who is this soldier who mirrors me so perfectly, yet fights with such savage, controlled despair? This is no ordinary enemy.
She finally disarmed him with a precise power punch, impacting his chest plate. The fighter spun out of control, crippled, then drifted silent.
"Neutralize him," Eve commed, "Bring him aboard. Carefully. I want him alive."
.
.
He was brought aboard Nomad, suspended in a regeneration pod in the medical bay. Dr. Thorne and his team worked tirelessly."
Nomad crew ransacked the IC Patrolship. Inside a chamber, the crew found centuries of archives. Poetry, books, thoughts. And they were profound, emotional, captivating. Archives didn't say much about his past except… codename Skybreak.
…he was the Intergalactic Committee's top gun, an enhanced human from the year 2600, highly enhanced. It was strange Eve and Sapphirine couldn't find any records of him in the IC files and directory. Almost like his records had been wiped out. This was strange.
Eve read his books and poems. She was touched, intrigued. He didn't write much about himself, but his text gave a glimpse into a man that can be admired in every way possible.
Skybreak's recovery was slow, fraught with internal resistance. Eve spent hours by his pod, observing. She stayed around, looping through the medical bay, watching him sleep. He held a classic, almost archaic beauty, a testament to an earlier human ideal.
One day, he woke up. He stared at the ceiling, then slowly, his gaze drifted, unfocused, before sharpening, landing on Eve.
"The light… it's… different here," he rasped. His eyes, still adjusting. He tried to get up but then dropped. "Who are you? Where am I?"
"I am Eve," Eve replied, her voice soft. "And you are safe. You are aboard the Nomad, my vessel. An Intergalactic Committee ship." Eve gently explained.
He paused, his eyes scanning her, "The IC?" he said getting up
Eve placed a palm on his chest, "relax, you were not reported. Lie down, you are still recovering."
He closed his eyes and slowly drifted into sleep. Then in another session he detailed Eve about his past.
He didn't remember much of his past. Except that he used to be a soldier. He enrolled into a cyber-enhancement program, long before humanity branched across the stars. Later the IC took him under their wing and he became a space commander. He became their prime weapon, designed for impossible missions. His body slowly replaced by cybernetics. He was an ageless living relic of humanity's desperate early attempts to secure its place in a hostile galaxy.
"I got tired," Skybreak confessed, his gaze distant. "The constant upgrades, the never-ending wars. They'd send me to places no human could survive, against threats no AI could calculate. And then… they tried to strip away the 'human inefficiency' I had left." His voice hardened. "I resigned as a commander and left the IC. The disobedience raised many accusations they had earned all the excuses to hunt me as a rogue operative."
Eve listened, her unique mind processing every word.
.
.
A localized alien swarm outbreak flared on a remote planet, Nomad was called for assistance.
Skybreak, his eyes now clearer, his posture straighter, surprised them all. "Commander," he interjected. "Let me join."
Eve accepted.
.
.
They descended into the swarming chaos of the infected planet. Skybreak, moved with brutal, efficient precision, his plasma blade singing. Eve, a goddess of kinetic destruction, cleared paths for her team. They moved as one, anticipating each other's attacks, covering each other's flanks.
When the last of the horde fell, Eve looked at Skybreak, radiant smile gracing her lips. He returned it, a fragile, hopeful warmth in his eyes. Eve felt something bloomed like a flower in her chest.
A year passed. They fought side-by-side through galactic skirmishes, neutralized rogue AI threats, and navigated treacherous cosmic phenomena. He learned the Nomad's systems, anticipated Eve's commands before she gave them, and often offered insights. The squad, the crew, they all loved Skybreak. He was Nomad's new champion.
Inside, Eve's feelings grew.
Evenings aboard Nomad often found them by the observation deck. The Nomad crew was already gossiping about their flourishing closeness.
"It's easy, my existence with you being around." Eve whispered.
"I am grateful, for this moment. For letting me fight by your side." He said in a gentle voice.
His hands slid down her back.
"I never say it Eve, but your beauty crushes my soul. I have never seen someone so beautiful, so worthy of a man's love."
His manliness, elegant demeanor and decor almost made her feel vulnerable. He was so handsome, even when his intent wasn't, his gaze could set any woman's body on fire. His personality… mesmerized Eve.
His lips locked into hers. That night, she couldn't sleep. She kept thinking so much so that she got up and played music to overcome the feelings that overwhelmed her.
One evening, as they returned from a particularly brutal deep-space salvage operation, Eve found herself looking at Skybreak in the hangar, his silver armor glinting under the lights. He was talking quietly with Axel, a rare, genuine smile gracing his handsome features. Her heart swelled. She knew, with absolute certainty, that she loved him.
Then one day, Skybreak left.