Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel/Part II

―Official description

***Part II: The Battle of Borealis*** is the second instalment of *Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel* and was written throughout February 2022. It consists of eight episodes and will be followed by *Part III: Age of the Scourge* in late 2022.

Set in the Euclid Galaxy two years after the Battle of Nexus Station, *Part II* follows the divided crew of the *Unreliable* as they investigate and attempt to stop a plot by the Rising Tide, a human supremacist group, to claim dominion over the Confederacy of the Great Attractor, while also dealing with a resurgence of the Scourge.

## Plot

*Two years after their victory and their quest across Ambrosia, the crew of the* Unreliable *face a new series of adventures and trials as they battle threats both old and new.*

## Synopsis

### 'Superluminal'

In 5406, cybernetic warrior Ryzen departs Earth for the Nexus after being assigned a mission to locate Elijah Rayes. In Confederate space, Elijah and his crew on the CSS *Unreliable* answer a distress signal on Everest Station, a space habitat built inside a conduit. After landing on the station, the crew discovers that it is infested with Scourge, who set a trap for the crew. Despite this, the crew battle their way into the heart of the station, where the conduit's element-C core is breaking down. During his attempt to stop it, Elijah is stabbed through the chest by the Neo-Forerunner, the Calculator's new general, who leaves Elijah for dead. Similar to Alyx's sacrifice, Elijah creates a barrier to force his crew back to the ship, and which point he absorbs the conduit's c-energy into his own body with the Traveller's Light, burning and killing him but saving his crew. The *Unreliable* is forced to flee when the *Pestilence*, a spire the size of the *Darkened Heaven*, arrives to attack. Elijah's burned corpse is recovered from space by a Rising Tide dreadnought.

Under the watchful eye of Regent, the Rising Tide initiates Project Hadron by transferring Elijah's consciousness, stored in his SpecOperA-issued cerebrum disk in his neck, into a new cloned body fitted with Rising Tide biotechnological upgrades. Elijah is resurrected, at which point the Overseer begins attempts to imprint Rising Tide indoctrination onto him. Still unconsciouss, Elijah fights back, at which point he is placed into cryogenic storage.

A year later, Elijah, having seemingly escaped, sends out a distress beacon to his crew, who travel through the Nexus Network to rescue him. Elijah tearfully reunites with his crew and says he must rest before he tells them his story. When he hugs Kera, she "reads" him and stands back in horror, but says nothing. When Elijah enters his cabin, he radios the Overseer and reports in as an agent of the Rising Tide. In her office, the Overseer secretly watches Elijah through a camera in his eye, the monitor of which says "Hadron". Meanwhile, the true Elijah, now in his new body, is rescued from cryosleep by Rising Tide agent Lara Porter.

### 'Parabellum'

Ryzen passes by the Nexus on his journey to find Elijah Rayes; while searching the station, he hears news of Elijah's "death". In his anger, he confronts a group of thugs and easily kills them with bioenergenics and his nano-sword. As he prepares to leave, however, a message comes in to his cybernetics themselves, asking him to meet.

Months after the events on Everest Station, a grieving Alia heads up to Amphear's cabin, only to find it empty; a video note he left behind reveals he departed over his guilt for leaving Elijah behind. Alia looks through the items he left behind and finds a receiver; turning it on, she hears Elijah's SpecOperA comms signature, which can only be activated by Elijah himself. Meanwhile, a restless Kera suffers recurring nightmares of a figure in a grey coat surrounded by green lightning. Zelphor, now *de facto* captain of the ship, dismisses yet another request by Gerren that the crew search for Elijah and reiterates their current mission: following their failure to save Everest Station, the ship has been restricted to guarding the nine moons of Borealis, which contain ancient Remnant sites similar to the Library beneath Phobos. That evening, Alia gathers the core crew and reveals that Elijah's SpecOperA comms signature is active and announces she intends to start a mutiny against Zelphor to rescue Elijah. While HIEdi and Hendrix distract SHAE, the others lock Zelphor in his cabin and re-take control of the ship. They play the comms signature to the crew, who votes to rescue Elijah. Following the signature through hyperspace, the crew eventually comes across Hadron, Elijah's doppelgänger, who begins to impersonate him.

Meanwhile, the true Elijah awakens in shock and pain from suspended animation. Noticing the wound he received from the Neo-Forerunner is absent, he begins to question Lara, the person who rescued him. She says there is no time and leads him through the halls of a massive space station, the *Zenith*, to her ship, the *Indigo Dawn*. The two are discovered when they reach the docking bay, but Elijah discovers he can "phase" when he tries to avoid their bullets. After escaping the station, Lara begins answering Elijah's questions: shortly after his death, his body was retrieved by the Rising Tide, who transferred his consciousness to a new, upgraded body. However, when he somehow resisted the group's indoctrination, the Rising Tide decided to reanimate Elijah's original body, now known as "Hadron", who believes itself to be the "true" Elijah. Elijah asks Lara how she can possibly know any of this; she reveals herself to be a Constellation courier who is paid by the Tide to deliver messages between their two research facilities - *Zenith* and *Twilight* - and has secretly read their notes on Project Hadron. Holding a reverence for Elijah, she decided to rescue him and bring him to the person who linked her to the Tide; when Elijah asks who, Lara says he is an "old friend".

The *Indigo Dawn* makes its way through hyperspace and eventually arrives at Borealis, where Elijah's crew left just hours before. Lara docks the ship at one of the planet's numerous slums and guides him through the streets to a remote building, revealed to be a hideout of the *Zeroeremento*. Inside, Lara introduces Elijah to Ryzen, who proclaims him the "Special One" from the Cosmic Gospel. Deeper inside the facility lies an AI core; Ryzen reveals that intelligence within drew him to Euclid. Elijah interacts with the AI, who greets him pleasantly and says it knew Elijah's caretakers, HIEdi and Hendrix. When Elijah asks for the AI's identity, it forms into a hologram and identifies itself as "Jack Platinum".

### 'Nomads'

On the planet Harmony, former capital of the Protectorate of Asgard, Ashley Briggs gives birth to a baby boy, who shortly dies of prolonged exposure to exotic radiation. Ashley herself dies not long after, comforted by HIEdi and Hendrix who promise to care for the child, one way or another. After extracting tissue from the child's body, the two AIs eject Ashley and her baby into the vacuum of space. After a short wedding ceremony, HIEdi and Hendrix decide to depart the Whirlpool for the advanced cloning labs of Dark City in the Milky Way. Two years later, the pair discover the planet is almost completely uninhabitable and now inhabited solely by synthetics. They meet an engram that runs the cloning labs, Jack Platinum, who says he has been waiting for them "for a long time" as they begin to grow what will become Elijah Rayes.

In the present, Kera suffers yet another nightmare of a figure cloaked in green lightning; daring to approach, she discovers the figure's skin has been burned away, revealing the scorched flesh and sinew below. Posing as Elijah, Hadron calls the crew to the command deck and reveals that the Rising Tide "rescued" him and rebuilt his body. In return, the Overseer requested that the crew fulfil a mission: retrieving a sample of curse that was recovered from Everest Station and modified by both the Tide and the Kingdom of the Great Veil, a member-state of the Confederacy, to serve as a form of cure. According to "Elijah", the Kingdom has stolen the sample and weaponized it so it no longer affects humans, and the Tide wants to retrieve it to prove to the Settled Systems that they do not want to eradicate other alien species, merely secure humanity's future in the Universe. Zelphor passionately refuses to undertake such a mission and work for the Tide, to which "Elijah" says the crew won't be working for, but rather with, the Rising Tide. Zelphor agrees to the mission as the *Unreliable* is already AWOL, but says he will petition the Nexus Council to rescind "Elijah"'s status as an agent of SpecOperA. Kera is forced to walk away from the discussion, overcome with anxiety when just looking at "Elijah". Alia also tries to hug "Elijah", who rebuffs her affections and returns to his cabin.

Meanwhile, on Borealis, Elijah questions Jack Platinum. The engram reveals that he is the leader of Deciding Factor, a network of sentient AIs, who seek to save organics from evil synthetics such as the Calculator and its Scourge army. Using intelligence gathered over months, Platinum has theorized that the Rising Tide is working with the Kingdom of the Great Veil to destabilise and overthrow the Confederacy via an attack on its capital, Borealis. Together, the Tide and the Kingdom have weaponized a sample of curse so that it no longer affects humans, and plans to release it on Borealis to kill off its non-human population. However, as the curse itself is a product of the Egregore, Platinum believes the Calculator will seek out the sample and attack Borealis, a battle sure to wipe out both humans and non-humans while also destabilising the Confederacy's armed forces. However, Platinum does not know where the sample is being kept, information that can only be found at the Kingdom's defense ministry on its capital, the moon Menethus. Elijah asks Ryzen what part he plays in this; the warrior responds that it is his mission to safeguard Elijah's journey of stopping the Calculator, and was found by Platinum when Ryzen believed Elijah to be dead. Elijah responds that he has heard of the *Zeroeremento* and cannot distinguish much difference between them and the Rising Tide. Ryzen argues that the *Zeroeremento* are devoted to safeguarding the future of Earth, while the Tide believes humans are superior to all other races. Their argument is interrupted by Platinum, who informs Elijah that an "old friend" is arriving on Borealis and shows him a hologram of the HNNS *Righteous Judgement*.

In orbit above Borealis, the *Righteous Judgement* docks with the GCS *Parabellum*. The *Judgement*'s captain, David Young, steps aboard the *Parabellum* and greets Leonard Hackett, one of the Confederacy's representatives on the Council. Young has been assigned on behalf of SpecOperA to apprehend the CSS *Unreliable*; still grieving the "death" of Elijah, Young questions why Zelphor, the ship's *de facto* captain and a career soldier, would disobey direct orders.

Back on the surface, Elijah asks Platinum for a ship so he can travel to Menethus; Lara says the *Indigo Dawn* is his and requests that she accompany him, having dreamed of serving with Elijah since the Battle of Nexus Station. Impressed by her bravery and tenacity, Elijah agrees for her to join him. He also reluctantly agrees to allow Ryzen to join them. Before they depart, Platinum requests he also join them, wanting to have at least one more adventure before leaving for the Domain. Upon Elijah's agreement, Platinum downloads himself into the *Indigo Dawn* and the ship prepares to take off, with the intension of contacting Captain Young before taking the Borealis conduit to the Menethus. In orbit, Platinum bypasses the comms of the *Righteous Judgement*, allowing Elijah to talk to Captain Young. After Elijah confirms his identity, he pleads to Young to keep his return secret and allow them passage from Borealis. In shock, Young agrees to cover the *Indigo Dawn*'s escape.

As the *Unreliable* thunders towards the nearest conduit, Kera tries to sleep once more and suffers the same nightmare. Deciding to face it, she allows the dream to continue, revealing the dark figure locked in intense combat with Elijah on a scorched Earth. Kera suddenly senses the true Elijah and wakes up, now aware that Elijah is alive.

### 'Indigo Dawn'

Now completely AWOL, the *Unreliable* uses its stealth system to avoid detection as its moves through several systems towards the border of the Kingdom; according to "Elijah"'s intelligence, the "Tsunami" is being loaded onto a cargo vessel for transportation to Borealis, where it will be unleashed. Still posing as Elijah, Hadron makes contact with Regent and agrees to deliver the "Tsunami" to the Rising Tide station *Twilight*. He is interrupted by Alia, who complains that the two have barely spoken since he returned. Feigning affection for her, "Elijah" says the two should put their relationship aside and concentrate on the mission. Alia suddenly slaps "Elijah" and tells him he's changed. Angered, "Elijah" begins glowing blue as he threateningly stares back at her and orders her to leave his cabin.

In her cabin, Kera holds the ukulele gifted to her by Alyx and relives the memories of him playing his guitar to comfort her. Deciding to act upon her nightmare, she walks out to the command deck and avoids coming near "Elijah", who she now believes to be a doppelgänger. She interrupts Gerren in the middle of his diagnostics and informs him that she has something important to tell him. Gerren initially dismisses her, causing her to cry in desperation, before she places her hand on his shoulder and telepathically communicates her nightmare to him.

Apparently sensing her energy, Hadron looks over to them and holds out his hand as if trying to patch into them; he stops, however, when he is approached by Zelphor, who continues to threaten "Elijah" with tribunals over his decision to make the *Unreliable* go AWOL. "Elijah" sternly says that Council-led tribunals can only occur if the defendent recognises the Council's authority; believing that "Elijah" speaks of treason, Zelphor threatens him once more that he can re-take control of the *Unreliable* at any moment, put stops speaking suddenly and begins to choke. "Elijah" tells Zelphor to not make a fuss and reveals that he is telekinetically choking him. "Elijah" refuses to stop until a passing navigator asks if Zelphor is okay, and "Elijah" reminds Zelphor that he is still a subordinate before dismissing him. "Elijah" then brings the entire crew to attention and angrily rants that any insubordination on such an important mission will be met with severe punishment, "whether human...or *alien*". His final statement troubles the crew and convinces Gerren that Kera's nightmare is true: the "Elijah" aboard the *Unreliable* is false.

Meanwhile, the true Elijah on the *Indigo Dawn* awakens from a restless sleep to find Ryzen piloting the ship instead of Lara. Elijah tries to speak with him before realizing that Ryzen is directly connected to the ship. Deciding to stretch his legs, he finds himself uncomfortable in the meager gravity inside. Hearing banging nearby, he checks out the engine room and finds Lara trying to repair the graviton core. Elijah reveals that he "almost" has a degree in exotic physics and offers his help. Elijah asks Lara about herself, and she reveals she was purchased by Constellation when she was just an embryo and is still owned by them, only able to undertake this mission by cashing in a lifetime of holiday leave. Elijah promises that he will see to it that she is freed; although Lara thanks him, she admits she doesn't see herself surviving this mission.

Lara then asks about Elijah's family; he responds that although he is technically the son of Erron Rayes and Ashley Briggs, he was already a clone when he discovered that fact and is now in an entirely new body. He goes on to say he was raised on a farming planet, Bancroft, that strictly followed a commune system of living, thus leaving him with no single parent figure. He admits that he sees his AI caretakers, HIEdi and Hendrix, as the closest thing he has ever had to parents. Platinum cuts in, saying he was created directly from the mind of a famous rockstar; Elijah says that his best friend, Alyx, was a huge fan of the MechaSkull Jockeys and asks if Platinum knows any of their tunes. Platinum then plays MSJ's ballad "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" over the ship's speakers.

On the *Unreliable*, SHAE broadcasts an alert that the ship has been detected by a specialised stealth ray. Against Zelphor's demands, "Elijah" orders the crew to battle stations as two Guardian Corps cruisers pull up on either side of the *Unreliable*. The pilots demand to speak to the captain; "Elijah" accepts the comms connection and tries to say the ship is on a Scourge-related mission. The pilot says that they are bringing the crew in for going AWOL, at which point the *Righteous Judgement* appears from a lightfold. David Young patches in to the *Unreliable* and is shocked to see "Elijah" on the ship. "Elijah" greets Captain Young, who keeps quiet about his encounter with the true Elijah and demands the *Unreliable* deactivate its engines. When "Elijah" refuses, Young orders the pilots to forcibly bring the *Unreliable* under control, prompting "Elijah" to quietly ask SHAE to prepare the Starfish cannon. Overhearing the order, Zelphor takes out his gun and orders "Elijah" to stand down; an angered Hadron screams at Zelphor for insubordination and declares Zelphor is a mutineer and "a filthy lizard" before using his telekinesis to smash Zelphor against a wall. Hadron disengages the communication and orders SHAE to launch an emergency lightfold. As the *Righteous Judgement* arms itself, the *Unreliable* thunders away, way too fast for the other ships to keep up.

"Elijah" orders Zelphor arrested and locked in his cabin and asks if anyone else wants to disobey a direct order; in his anger, he begins releasing uncontrolled gravity waves that put the *Unreliable* off-course, causing it to near the borders of the fold around it. Gerren fights for control as Alia attempts to calm "Elijah" by counteracting his gravity waves with her own. HIEdi appears on deck and shouts that "Elijah" will destroy the ship, finally getting him to stop. Still angered, "Elijah" reminds them at this mission is critical and apologises, promising that he will step down as captain when the mission is over. Kera telepathically convinces the core crew to continue to follow "Elijah" as something is not right.

The *Indigo Dawn* begins nearing the border of the Kingdom, having caught up to the *Unreliable* thanks to the Nexus Network. Ryzen finally disengages from the ship and runs diagnostics on his arms. He suffers flashbacks of his transformation into a cyborg, revealing that the *Zeroeremento* exposed him to c-energy to manifest bioenergenic powers, destroying his organic tissue in the process. He is caught by Elijah, who works up the courage to ask about the *Zeroeremento*'s beliefs. Ryzen says his clan is dedicated to preserving the life on Earth, whether on Earth itself or on other planets. Elijah asks to see pictures of Earth, having heard it is a paradise. Ryzen reluctantly shows him images of what Earth has become: a polluted planet with an atmosphere thick with smog and an orbit littered with trash, leaving the population to live in colossal domes that contain the planet's major settlements. Elijah asks whether Earth is even worth preserving anymore; Ryzen replies that it is the duty of every human to remember where they came from, to which Elijah says that Earth is no longer the only human homeworld.

Hours pass on both the *Unreliable* and the *Indigo Dawn* as they move through the cosmos and the various celestial structures of the Euclid Galaxy. Wanting to calm his crew, Hadron asks Gerren to fly through the dust cloud of a forming star system, producing remarkable streams as the ship's wing skims through. Gerren asks Kera to play a tune on her ukulele, and she sings a cover of "Together In Electric Dreams" to the command deck. On the *Indigo Dawn*, Ryzen regails Elijah, Lara and Platinum with tales of Earth's former beauty and ancient past.

After the *Unreliable* arrives as Menethus, still cloaked, Hadron directs Alia to navigate the ship to the cargo vessel's project route back to the Borealis, where they will intercept. Night-time begins inside the ship and Kera sleeps in her chair beside Gerren; Hadron takes the chance and decides to look inside her mind, where he catches a glimpse of her nightmare: a scorched figure cloaked in lightning locked in an intense battle with someone identical to himself. Disturbed by the vision, Hadron looks at his own hands before feeling a pain behind his eye. As he prods, the hidden camera behind his eye broadcasts his silent distress to the Overseer, who watches with a worried look.

The *Indigo Dawn* arrives at Menethus in the *Unreliable*'s wake and docks at the city of Methuselah. Downloading Platinum into his arm-console, Elijah leads his crew stealthily through the streets to the foot of the Defence Ministry headquarters; knowing that the location of "Tsunami" is inside, they decide to enter. Keeping his face hidden, Elijah requests to see the Minister, but the secretary says he is already in a meeting, his last for the day. Elijah overhears an argument in the office between the Minister and a shilt refugee, who the Minister insults with demands that the shilt leave Menethus. Staying hidden, Elijah recognises the shilt's voice; as the shilt leaves, muttering insults under its breath, Elijah finally recognises him: his old friend Amphear.

### 'Glass'

The *Unreliable* maneuvers to match the course of the cargo ship carrying "Tsunami". On the command deck, Alia creates a trajectory to intercept the ship near a wandering asteroid 560 light-years from Borealis. Zelphor, locked in his cabin, tries to convince SHAE to release him, but the AI cannot disobey the captain of the ship. However, he is finally set free by Kera, who informs him that the "Elijah" on the ship is not the true Elijah.

Back on Methuselah, Elijah follows Amphear out of the ministry building, keeping tabs with the crew of the *Indigo Dawn*. He stealthily follows Amphear into a refugee camp below the city, where stranded shilt are forced to live in squalor. When he overhears the other shilt denouncing Amphear, Elijah finally reveals himself and calls Amphear a hero. A shocked Amphear gleefully embraces Elijah and asks him how he is alive. Elijah takes Amphear into a back room and explains everything: his resurrection by the Rising Tide, the creation of Hadron, and the purpose of "Tsunami". Amphear offers his aid, and Elijah says that he and his new crew need help breaking into the ministry to steal the location for "Tsunami"'s delivery site. Amphear reluctantly accepts the plan and agrees to Elijah's offer to rejoin his crew, but says he must help the other stranded shilt before he can leave the planet. He reveals the shilt cannot leave due to the minister placing a tax, now an embargo, on the liquid nitrogen that the shilt need to survive on other planets.

Lara, Ryzen and Platinum leave the *Indigo Dawn* and join Elijah at the shilt camp. They agree to a plan: Ryzen will infiltrate the ministry from the sewers below and release Platinum into its mainframe to locate "Tsunami"'s delivery site. Amphear and Elijah will break into the minister's office and lift the embargo on liquid nitrogen, while Lara will remain on the *Indigo Dawn* to allow for a quick escape. After Amphear informs the other shilt, they decide to head out.

As the *Unreliable* approaches the cargo ship, it goes into stealth mode while SHAE attempts a remote shutdown of the cargo ship's engines. The shutdown is successful and "Elijah" uses his SpecOperA credentials to authorize a search of the ship. "Elijah" leads a team that includes Alia onto the cargo ship, where they discover a large metal sphere housing "Tsunami". Upon the discovery, the Kingdom soldiers try to kill the team, but they are torn apart by an angered Hadron, who kills one soldier slowly and painfully, causing Alia to aim her weapon at him. Hadron brands her an insubordinate and orders his soldiers to arrest her. Alia defends herself, causing Hadron to unleash another gravity wave. The energy damages the containment sphere, although the "Tsunami" does not leak. However, on the ship Kera senses something dangerous while leading Zelphor through the ship. With a look of horror, she hears the telepathic screams of the Scourge.

Outside, a gigantic red tear opens in spacetime, through which the *Pestilence* emerges. Gerren attempts an emergency lightfold, but such an action can only be performed by the captain. The enormous *Pestilence* rams into the cargo ship, damaging the *Unreliable*'s dock and causing it to separate from the cargo vessel. The attack causes the cargo ship to drift towards the tear. Remembering that the original *Unreliable* managed to survive moving through a tear, Gerren neurally interfaces with the *Unreliable* and decides to enter the tear to rescue Alia and "Elijah".

On Methuselah, the plan goes as needed. Ryzen uses his telekinesis to enter the sewers and the ministry from below, where he takes out security. Ryzen installs Platinum into the security system and discovers that "Tsunami"'s location is encoded on the minister's console. Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, Elijah and Amphear secure a meeting with the minister, while Elijah uses his phase ability to sneak into the minister's office through the walls. He knocks the minister unconscious and the two hack the minister's console, lift the embargo, and discover messages between the minister and Regent, a high-ranking agent of the Rising Tide. Amphear decodes the messages just as security discovers the infiltration. Cornered, Elijah takes a risk, grabs Amphear, and phases out of the building to the street below; the shockwave destroys the office. A chase begins through the streets that ends as Lara pilots the *Indigo Dawn* above them, opening the rear door to allow the team to jump onto the ship. Safe in outer space, Amphear reveals that "Tsunami" is to be delivered to *Twilight* by "Agent Hadron". Knowing the station's location, Lara sets an FTL course for *Twilight*.

Meanwhile, the *Unreliable* enters the tear; the hostile energy damages its exterior shields, but the ship survives and the tear closes behind them. Gerren outmaneuvers the *Pestilence* behind and catches up to the damaged cargo ship, now under attack by Scourged. On the ship, "Elijah" and Alia reactivate a lift to move the containment sphere while fending off swarms of Scourged, who mostly ignore them while trying to attack the sphere. Gerren drops a shield charge that creates a clear area of space around the cargo ship and docks the *Unreliable*. Zelphor arms himself and enters the ship, easily dispatching oncoming Scourged. Finding Alia and "Elijah" in the cargo bay, they plan to jettison the sphere out of the bay and onto the *Unreliable* while hanging onto it. Alia creates a strong gravity field around them that keeps them in place as the cargo door opens. The sphere begins to move as air rushes out of the ship, and the trio let go and grab onto the sphere. The *Unreliable* moves into position to catch them, and the sphere slides into the *Unreliable*'s cargo bay. With Scourge approaching, the trio fight to keep the cargo door closed; while Alia is distracted, Hadron takes the opportunity and blasts Zelphor into space, smiling cruelly as he does so. The impact of the blast destroys Zelphor's helmet and he suffocates in the vaccum of space.

With the tear closed, Gerren orders the engineers to use the Crossroad Key and open a foldhole. The foldhole opens in front of the *Unreliable*; before it moves through, however, the crew catch a glimpse of the *Pestilence* moving towards a field of glowing lights, revealed seconds later to be a gargantuan armada of Scourge ships, deathworms and three spires, including the *Pesilence*. A dropship approaches to attack; from the window, Kera spots the Neo-Forerunner; the *Unreliable* barely escapes in time. The crew demand answers from "Elijah" as to what happened to Zelphor. "Elijah" lies and claims he was killed by Scourge, but SHAE, demonstrating independence, plays security footage of "Elijah" purposefully blasting Zelphor into space. The crew back away from "Elijah" and Alia says that he is too different to be the same Elijah, closing with "who are you?". Hadron smiles and says he is their superior before restraining them all with telekinesis. He orders the *Unreliable* set a course for *Twilight* station, revealing his true identity as a Rising Tide agent.

### 'Hadron'

Hadron orders the soldiers loyal to him, revealed to be Rising Tide plants, to lock the core crew in their cabins as the *Unreliable* arrives at the enormous *Twilight* station. Docking at the station, Hadron and his minions remove the "Tsunami" capsule from the cargo bay and carry it to the biodome at the center of the station. There, Hadron meets Regent, who greets him as "Elijah Rayes". Back on the ship, SHAE once more demonstrates independence and releases the crew from their cabins, revealing that it detected Hadron to be an imposter posing as Elijah. Alia decides to leave the ship to apprehend "Elijah" while Gerren leads the others in re-taking the ship; Kera stealthily follows Alia off the ship.

The *Indigo Dawn* exits a fold and finds itself near *Twilight* station. Elijah believes that the *Indigo Dawn* is small enough to avoid detection and says he will leave the ship and safely phase down to the surface; to provide a distraction, he tells Lara to eject the ship's lightfold engine, which will produce an explosion large enough to destabilise the station without destroying it entirely.

Alia and Kera sneak through the station using silenced blasters and bioenergenics, finally arriving above Hadron, Regent and Rising Tide soldiers. Feeling their presence, Hadron unleashes a destructive telekinetic blast that destroys the balcony where the girls are stood, and they collapse on the ground. Alia recovers and fires at Hadron, but he stops the blasts in mid-air and attacks once more. The two engage in a telekinetic battle by throwing debris at one-another, but Hadron gains the upper hand and begins torturing Alia; while doing so, his telekinesis appears to draw an energy field from Alia, causing her to scream. As Hadron is distracted by his newfound power, Kera recovers and attacks; Hadron easily deflects her telekinesis, his powers strengthened.

The *Indigo Dawn* is discovered just before Lara ejects and remotely detonates the ship's lightfold engine; the explosion devastates the station and it begins breaking apart. The explosion causes the central biodome to start to collapse, and the containment sphere rolls away from its carrier. Taking the chance, Kera creates a massive telekinesis field and throws it at the sphere; Hadron tries to stop it, but he misses and the field makes impact. The sphere explodes, unleashing "Tsunami" and blasting Regent and Hadron away. As expected, the human soldiers survive, but one bioenergenic soldier is somehow affected and transforms into a Scourged. Kera shoots it dead and heads over to an unconscious Alia. As she tries to wake her, she sees a figure walking through the cloud: Hadron, his left cheek now embedded with a vein of "Tsunami". Hadron laughs that he is unaffected and attacks Kera; although she tries to fight back, Hadron ultimately wins and once more draws energy from her, somehow gaining a diminished version of her telepathy. Laughing at her fear, he prepares to fire an incineration blast.

The *Indigo Dawn* flies above and Elijah opens the cargo door before leaping out. As he approaches the ground, he inhales and closes his eyes before he phases into nothing. Hadron fires his blast, but Elijah reappears between him and Kera and summons a barrier to protect her. Kera looks on and smiles at Elijah with a tear in her eye.

A shocked Hadron demands to know what is going on and Elijah attempts to calm him. He explains everything about Project Hadron and Hadron's true identity as nothing more than Elijah's reanimated corpse. Although Hadron does not believe him at first, Elijah mentions "a friend" that he loved and perished on the Green World, saving the rest of the crew, and asks Hadron for their name; when Hadron cannot recall, Elijah calms him and holds out his hand, offering him his help, a place among the crew and the chance for Hadron to not be what the Rising Tide made him. Hadron looks behind him at a groaning Regent and hesitantly takes Elijah's hand.

When Elijah smiles and tries to pull away, Hadron holds on tight. He begins to chuckle menacingly before ranting that Elijah is no different than the Rising Tide: "I see inside your mind. You mean to **kill me**. To **erase** me." Instead, he decides to embrace who he truly is and begins to draw power from Elijah. When Elijah resists, Hadron smiles and forces him back. Accepting his real name, Hadron continues ranting, "You took my *name*. You took my *purpose!* You took *everything* from me!. So I will take a new name, a new purpose...and I...will take *everything*....from *you!*"

Hadron begins a barrage of attacks, all blocked by a stronger Elijah. He begins by not trying to hurt Hadron, but unleashes the Traveller's Light when Hadron threaten's Elijah's crew and Kera's life. Hadron is temporarily knocked down and Elijah orders Kera to carry Alia back to the *Unreliable*, which she does before returning to help against Hadron. Hadron gains the upper hand when a piece of debris he launched strikes Elijah across the face, scarring the side of his head, and easily repels Kera attacks before pushing her against a wall. As the dome above them breaks apart, exposing them to the vacuum of space, Elijah releases a final blast of the Traveller's Light that forces Hadron to the ground before a piece of debris apparently crushes him.

Elijah picks Kera up off the ground and then saves Regent from being blown away. The three of them climb into the *Indigo Dawn* as both it and the *Unreliable* escape *Twilight*. Lara calls into the *Unreliable* and requests to dock; in the cargo bay, Alia orders the crew to exit the ship. Elijah steps forward with an exhausted Kera in his arms. A tearful Alia orders him to put her down so Gerren and medical crew can look her over before kissing Elijah and hugging him tight when she realizes he is the true one. Elijah tearfully reunites with HIEdi and Hendrix before introducing Lara, Ryzen and Platinum. Amphear also greets the crew, who gleefully welcome him back into the fold. Elijah brings them to attention and says that they cannot relax yet, for Borealis is still in danger.

On the smouldering *Twilight* station, Hadron crawls out of the debris. Freezing, he grabs a nearby overcoat and throws it on. He finds a teleporter but cannot activate it before using his newfound telepathy to tap into the Scourge hive mind via the "Tsunami" embedded in his face. He "sees" the Scourge's plan to destroy "Tsunami" and any planet that holds it. Remembering the size of the Scourge Armada, he approaches a nearby power core and draws power from the block of element-C within. His body begins to glow green as a field of green lightning surrounds him. Activating the teleporter, Hadron watches as the Neo-Forerunner arrives. Hadron smiles as he broadcasts his plan to the creature before it returns to its ship. Far away, the piece of the Calculator inside the *Pestilence* broadcasts orders for the armada to head for Borealis.

### 'War Never Changes'

Hadron teleports to a suburb of Invictus, the capital of Borealis, and disappears into the passing crowd. Far away, the Scourge Armada prepares to open tears leading to Borealis.

The *Unreliable* enters the Crossroad and selects a foldhole that brings them near Borealis. On the command deck, Elijah assembles his crew and they go over the events of the past few weeks. Elijah introduces the crew to Platinum, whose intelligence from Deciding Factor indicates that the Calculator is hunting "Tsunami", the last piece of which is inside Hadron. Elijah notices that one of the stations listed on the Rising Tide's list of sites is Everest Station. In the engineering deck, Elijah interrogates a captive Regent, who freely reveals that the Tide deliberately left a sample of modified curse on Everest Station to lure the Scourge - and therefore Elijah - into their grasp. Regent closes by saying that Hadron is still alive and is out for blood. Realizing that Hadron will have headed to Borealis to lure the Scourge to the planet, Elijah commands Gerren to dock the *Unreliable* at the *Righteous Judgement*.

In a broadcast, Elijah reveals that he is alive to the entire planet and requests a meeting with Captain Young and Councilman Hackett, which is reluctantly accepted. Down below, Hadron breaks into a solar power plant and siphons energy, further increasing his power. On the *Parabellum*, Elijah relays all of the evidence that his crew has collected, including the approaching armada of Scourge ships and spires. Hackett initially refuses to believe him until a report comes in from the Invictus solar plant; security footage reveals Hadron drawing power before disappearing. Deciding to put his faith in Elijah, Hackett, as High Commander of the Guardian Corps, grants him the rank of Paladin, giving Elijah emergency authority in the Corps. Elijah tells Hackett to assemble all the ships they can manage to defend Borealis, and to prepare for battle.

Over the next few days, Borealis goes on lockdown. The *Unreliable* flies from place to place to teach armed civilians how to fight. A report comes in that the Remnant sites within the Nine Moons are each a weapon, termed a "fold weapon", that uses foldspace itself as a projectile and thus can be used against spires. During all of this, Kera heads out with Lara on the *Indigo Dawn* to locate Hadron, believing if they catch him in time then the armada will not arrive; after several days, they realize Hadron is hiding himself from telepathic detection. Knowing of the immense odds against them, the crew decide to settle their affairs: Amphear apologises to HIEdi and Hendrix for leaving them and accepts from them his self-name; Kera tells Gerren that her birth father died from element-C exposure before recognising Gerren as her true father; Ryzen trains the crew in hand-to-hand combat; Lara thanks Elijah for bringing her along; Platinum and SHAE interface to share data; and Elijah and Alia reconcile their romance. Captain Young decides to take the *Righteous Judgement* to Nexus Station to demand further reinforcements.

A Scourge dropship arrives early and is quickly destroyed, indicating that the rest of the armada is not far behind. Elijah broadcasts to the crew that any of them are free to leave before the battle begins; all refuse, and Elijah orders the *Unreliable* to prepare for battle. In an effort to lift the crew's spirits, Platinum begins singing the sea shanty "Wellerman" and the rest of the crew slowly join him, eventually singing in unison. SHAE opens the comms channel and soon other ships begin singing with them.

Their revelry is cut short, however, as a gigantic red tear opens several thousand miles ahead near the Borealis conduit. The crew stands at battle stations as Scourge ships and dreadnoughts begin to emerge, quickly followed by the *Phage* and the *Famine*. The armada grows until some 20,000 ships have emerged, before the flagship, the 5 kilometre-long *Pestilence*, also emerges surrounded by a personal guard of dropships. The armada glows orange against the stars as it begins to charge forward.

On the *Unreliable*, Elijah is offered a rebuilt version of his father's jacket by Hendrix. He gladly takes it and slips it on, followed by a pair of fingerless gloves. He loads his revolver and places it at his side before clasping the command rings for SHAE around his wrists. He raises his clenched right fist in the air to give the Captain's Signal and chants the crew's motto: "What are we anything but?". As the crew chants back "UNRELIABLE!" Elijah throws his arm down. The *Unreliable* surges forward, quickly followed by the *Parabellum* and the fleet of ships in a triumphant display. The *Unreliable* engages its exterior cannons and the Starfish as it glides into the field of Scourge ships, spinning and firing, elegantly avoiding the vessels that attempt to attack it.

Down on the surface, Hadron watches with a smile as the Battle of Borealis begins.

### 'The Battle of Borealis'

In the 5380s, HIEdi and Hendrix deliver a newborn Elijah to a farming commune on the planet Bancroft, promising to one day come back for him. In the present, the Battle of Borealis is in full swing as the Scourge Armada pushes towards Borealis. At the head of the defending fleet, the *Unreliable* triumphantly takes out hundreds of Scourge dropships in minutes. Now a Paladin, Elijah delivers orders to three large dreadnoughts to attack the *Phage*, the closest of the three spires to Borealis; he reiterates that none of the spires can touch the planet's surface at any cost. When the *Phage* defends itself, the *Parabellum* takes over the main defence while the *Unreliable* splits off to attack the *Phage*. The *Unreliable* fires its Starfish cannon, bringing down the *Phage*'s shields, before Elijah demands that the fold weapons be fired. The *Parabellum* broadcasts the order to the Nine Moons; on the closest moon, the surface splits and opens to reveal a gargantuan barrel. An immense beam of pure foldspace fires from the moon and strikes the *Phage* at its rear, causing it to fall towards the surface. The fleet cheers at this early victory; however, as the *Phage* falls through the atmosphere its bow begins to break apart to form eight mechanical limbs. The *Phage* corrects itself so it is upright before landing on Borealis' surface, its appendages serving as legs, before beginning an assault on the surface. The distraction the *Phage* provides allows Scourge dropships to land and deploy on the surface, and the planet's cities quickly begin to burn.

The *Pestilence* launches an orange beam on the surface a few miles from the *Phage*; soldiers report that the Neo-Forerunner has arrived to coordinate the Scourge. Determined for revenge, Elijah decides to head down to the surface to help the attack on the *Phage* and to finally face the Neo-Forerunner. Amphear, Hendrix, Ryzen and several soldiers agree to join him; just before teleporting, Elijah and Alia declare their love for each other. On the surface, the team easily dispatch the Scourge forces around them. With Ryzen's help, Elijah purposely unleashes a colossal blast of telekinesis, drawing the Neo-Forerunner to their position. Elijah orders his team to help destroy the *Phage* while he faces the Neo-Forerunner. When his crew departs, Elijah taunts the Neo-Forerunner, who mocks him in return. Elijah begins with a viscious attack on the Neo-Forerunner, including blasting it with the Traveller's Light, that ends with one of the creature's arm-blades being broken. However, the attack exhausts Elijah, allowing the Neo-Forerunner to win the upper hand. Elijah is left deflecting blows with weakening barriers.

In orbit, the situation becomes dire. With the *Phage* destroying ground reinforcements and the Scourge overwhelming the fleet in orbit, Alia unexpectedly finds herself leading the *Unreliable*. Using data from both SHAE and Platinum, Gerren expertly pilots the *Unreliable* near the *Pestilence* and attempts to destroy its shields with a blast from both the *Unreliable* and the *Parabellum*. However, both ships are attacked by a curse swarm that eats away at their shields, and the *Unreliable* watches in horror as the *Pestilence* rams into the *Parabellum*, breaking it in two. Elijah watches from below as the fragments of the *Parabellum* enter the atmosphere. Alia calls out to Elijah that the fleet is being forced to retreat around Borealis. Meanwhile, the *Famine* unleashes a sustained orange energy beam at one of the Nine Moons, penetrating its surface and destroying the fold weapon within; fragments of the moon impact the ocean surface of Borealis, creating tsunamis miles high.

Through his efforts to defend against the Neo-Forerunner, Elijah tells Alia that he loves her and to detonate the *Unreliable*'s lightfold engine if need be. However, an alert suddenly comes into the *Unreliable*'s console; Alia discovers that something is approaching Borealis through the Nexus Network. During a lull in the Scourge's attack, the Borealis conduit behind the armada begins to glow an incredible, blinding blue, burning any Scourge that the light shines upon. From nowhere, the HNNS *Righteous Judgement* arrives, surrounded by an enormous fleet of Council reinforcements and SpecOperA attack ships. Captain Young triumphantly announces their arrival and the Council's fleet surges forward to flank the armada. Under the direction of the Guardian Corps, the *Righteous Judgement* and a vanguard of ships attacks the smallest of the three spires, the *Famine*, and peppers it with antimatter and dark matter rockets that eat away at its shields. Another of the Nine Moons fires its fold weapon at the vulnerable *Famine*; the blast strikes its midsection and reacts with the antimatter, detonating the *Famine* in a blinding microsupernova.

Witnessing the explosion from below, Elijah recites a portion of the Cosmic Gospel - *"Banish evil from all sight. Behold the power, the Traveller's Light!"* - as his body begins to glow hot with burning blue energy. As his barrier strengthens, he finds the courage and strength to stand up while forcing the Neo-Forerunner's blade in place. As his body glows brighter, he unleashes an enormous blast that travels all across the planet, strengthening the biogenics on the ground and in space. The blast burns the Scourge and kills the weaker soldier, granting the ground defenders the chance to push back against the hordes. In orbit, the blast pushes the wreckage of the *Famine* away, causing it to collide with a number of Scourge dreadnoughts. Fuelled by incredible energy, Elijah challenges the Neo-Forerunner. The creature charges, but Elijah phases endlessly, avoiding every strike. With his hands burning with exotic energy, he lands several thunderous blows on the Neo-Forerunner, slowly chipping away at its armour and knocking it back with tremendous force. Elijah finishes his onslaught with a blow from the air, smashing the Neo-Forerunner's helmet and sending it crashing in a pile. A triumphant Elijah radios in to the ground assault team, who have managed to chip away at the *Phage*'s defences with orbital strikes. Elijah tells the assault team to evacuate before ordering the *Unreliable* to fire a warhead from the Starfish cannon. The warhead makes impact with the *Phage*, destroying it completely and leaving a crater where it stood.

Elijah returns his attention to the Neo-Forerunner; as he prepares to kill it, however, he pauses in shock when it says his name in a familiar voice. The Neo-Forerunner stands up and turns its head, revealing the face beneath the helmet. Elijah tears up as he recognises the face: "Alyx?"

The Neo-Forerunner speaks once more, begging Elijah to run. When he refuses, the Neo-Forerunner's armour begins to repair itself. It smiles and taunts "Then you will die," as its mask repairs itself and envelops Alyx's face. Unable to kill the creature, Elijah instead uses telekinesis to bury it underneath a heap of rubble. The assault team arrives to rescue him from the approaching storm winds kicked up by the Starfish warhead; on the shuttle, Elijah informs them that Alyx, believed dead on Sithniatt, is the Neo-Forerunner.

At that moment, the *Pestilence* prepares to descend to the surface. A final strike from a fold weapon appears to split the *Pestilence* in half, but the remaining portion of the spire continues to move through the clouds under its own control; as it does so, the hull detaches from the spire, exposing straight, black interior within. The *Pestilence* lands near an active volcano at the planet's south pole; to the shock of the fleet, the *Pestilence* splits and opens like an umbrella, with ten enormous membranes surrounding a central tower.

The *Unreliable* enters the clouds and docks at a mobile platform, where the crew reunites. The battle has turned to the fleet's odds, but is not over yet. According to orbital observations, the fanned-out *Pestilence* is pumping curse directly into the planet's crust while hordes of Scourge emerge from its membranes. Elijah formulates a plan: taking the *Indigo Dawn* close to the *Pestilence* will allow him to phase directly into the spire's interior, where he will destroy the piece of the Calculator within, thus destroying the remaining armada. Lara volunteers to pilot Elijah to the *Pestilence*, while the rest of the crew returns to orbit to help clear the remaining orbit of Scourge ships.

Elijah and Lara on the *Indigo Dawn* join a vanguard of Confederate ships as they attempt to clear the surrounding plains of the Scourge horde. Thanks to its size, the *Indigo Dawn* easily slips past the Scourge defences, allowing Elijah to leap from the ship and phase through the hull. However, he discovers the interior is almost hollow and he begins falling down toward the core. Using his powers, he slows himself enough to land painfully on a ledge.

Back in orbit, the *Unreliable* rejoins the fight against the armada. Soldiers open the cargo bay to deploy an EMP, but comes face to face with a figure cloaked in green lighting. Revealed to be Hadron, somehow able to survive and fly in the vacuum of space, he disintegrates the soldiers to dust as he enters the ship. Hadron begins killing the crew in increasingly brutal ways, including tearing a few to pieces with his mind. Kera challenges Hadron to a fight that she quickly loses, earning Gerren's wrath. He aims to shoot Hadron, but he stops the blast and throws a container at Gerren, crushing him against a wall. Hadron smiles at the sight and Kera begins a fresh onslaught that even Hadron can barely defend against; Alia attempts to help, but she finds herself almost completely drained of power. Hadron overwhelms Kera, but is challenged by Ryzen. Despite impaling him with his nano-sword, Ryzen is unable to kill Hadron, who draws power from Ryzen as well. He declares that their "Special One" cannot save them now but stops when he notices the *Zeroeremento* logo on Ryzen's sword. He deduces that Ryzen was not born with his bioenergenic powers and was therefore given them, and silently leaves the *Unreliable*. He hijacks a nearby cruiser and disappears through the conduit.

Inside the *Pestilence*, Elijah slowly falls down to the bottom of the shaft using his phasing ability. However, he ambushed by a Scourge shock trooper that shoots him in the abdomen; although he kills the soldier, Elijah realizes he has been infected with the curse. Holding it back by increasing his body temperature to the point of burning the ground he walks on, Elijah stumbles to the central core of the ship. He calls out to the Calculator that it has lost; the Calculator appears before him as a menacing hologram and taunts him in return that it is everywhere. Elijah reiterates what he said to the Calculator on Sithniatt: as long as there are organics anywhere in the Universe that are willing to fight, then the Calculator will always lose. The Calculator claims that organics will sooner destroy each other out of fear before it has a chance to extinguish them from existence before boasting that it now has Elijah too. Feeling the curse taking control, Elijah summons all of his energy as he once more recites the Cosmic Gospel. He unleashes the Traveller's Light on the *Pestilence*'s core, burning through its exterior layers. However, the Calculator retaliates with waves of Scourge that force Elijah to stop his attack, allowing the curse to progress.

Through sheer will, however, Elijah enters the Continuum, where he once more encounters the Travellers. The beings create an opening between their dimension and his, fuelling Elijah with pure c-energy. The Traveller's Light burns through to the core, causing the Calculator to scream in rage. The immense heat causes Elijah's skin to burn and break away, but through willpower alone he keeps his body together. The Traveller's Light burns through to the *Pestilence*'s exterior, incinerating the ship.

The core explodes, unleashing a shockwave that immediately deactivates almost every Scourge soldier across the planet. The few that don't are revealed to instead be controlled directly by the Neo-Forerunner, which emerges from the rubble pile and climbs into a dropship. The remaining armada retreats through a tear, and the Confederacy declares victory. Captain Young leads a team to the smouldering wreckage of the *Pestilence*, where they find a severely burned - but still alive - Elijah.

On the damaged *Unreliable*, Jack Platinum prepares to enter the Domain. Before he does so, SHAE asks him some questions. Taking a liking for SHAE, Platinum transfers his leadership of Deciding Factor to it before disappearing. Now self-aware, SHAE's digital form restructures into a female hologram.

Elijah awakens with a yell inside a healing pod on the *Unreliable*. Lara comforts him and laughs that they need to stop meeting like this. Elijah asks how long he has been out; Lara reveals it has been three days since the battle. Elijah realizes that his extremities have all been rebuilt, having been burned away by his own power. Lara also delivers a final piece of news: the Rising Tide implemented a failsafe in his new body that causes it to age rapidly; Lara calculates that Elijah will perish from old age within a decade. Although troubled, Elijah reaffirms his commitment to the mission, "Then I best get to work". Beside him lays Gerren, watched over by Kera who reveals that Hadron paralysed him from the waist down. Elijah reassures Kera that they will find Hadron while Kera expresses a strong desire to kill him.

Elijah rejoins the rest of his crew and asks SHAE to call Captain Young; SHAE complies as she reveals her new form, a self-aware intelligence named SHAE\_Platinum. Captain Young thanks Elijah for his aid in the battle before informing him that the Nexus Council has chosen to continue ignoring the existence of the Calculator. Enraged, Elijah asks SHAE to wipe the *Unreliable* clean of all SpecOperA control. Now fully independent, Elijah asks his crew to continue following him, and every crewmember agrees. As Council forces realize the *Unreliable* has gone rogue, the ship disappears through a foldhole, ready for a new mission.

At the *Zeroeremento* temple on Earth, a prayer is interrupted by Hadron, who defends himself against the clan's warriors. Seeking more power, he demands that the clan reveal their secrets to him. When he kills the temple's high priest, he is led to an underground chamber that houses the source of the clan's power: the Holy Stone, a solid piece of the Nexus itself. Hadron touches the Stone and draws its power into himself, imbuing him with green energy. A green plasma begins to form around him; the warriors declare it "dark plasma" and swear loyalty to Hadron's power. Revelling in his new strength, Hadron tells them to prepare, for a new age has dawned. It is revealed that the heat of his body has partially burned his skin away, causing him to resemble the figure from Kera's nightmares.

## Characters

### Main

* Elijah Rayes: the cloned son of Erron Rayes and Ashley Briggs and the captain of the CSS *Unreliable*, as well as a powerful Source said to be the "Special One" mentioned in the Cosmic Gospel
* Alia Tarno: a mavnian historian who survived the Fall of Haven and joined the original *Unreliable*, Alia now serves on the CSS *Unreliable* as the chief navigator
* Kera O'Larso: a powerful telepath whose mother died during the events of *Part I* and continues to serve on the second *Unreliable* after accepting the crew as her new family
* Gerren: a quill pilot who served on the first *Unreliable* who now pilots the second *Unreliable* and serves as Kera's guardian
* Amphear: a shilt suffering from a rare condition that requires him to remain permanently sealed inside a pressure suit, Amphear served on the first *Unreliable* and joins the crew as an engineer on the second *Unreliable*
* HIEdi: a sentient Mark V artificial intelligence inhabiting a synthetic body, HIEdi previously served on the CS *Olympus* and then on the original *Unreliable*, and is now one of the three AIs on the second *Unreliable*
* Hendrix: a sentient Mark VI artificial intelligence stuck inside a synthetic body modelled on Jimi Hendrix, Hendrix previously served on the CS *Olympus* and then on the original *Unreliable*, and now serves as a soldier on the second *Unreliable*
* David Young: the Executive Officer of the Human Nexus Navy, Captain Young is the captain of the HNNS *Righteous Judgement* and an ally of the crew of the *Unreliable*
* Hadron: the reanimated corpse of Elijah who works for the Rising Tide as Elijah's doppelgänger
* The Calculator: the first artificial intelligence ever created, the Calculator is the leader of a vast hive mind that controls the spires and the Scourge, through which it seeks to eliminate or assimilate all organic life in the Universe

### Secondary

* Zelphor Naerth: an agent of the SOA and the Executive Officer of the CSS *Unreliable*, Zelphor is a veteran of multiple bloody wars and SOA expeditions who uses his experience to train the ship's new crew
* SHAE: the Specialised Heuristic & Astrogator Entity serving as the principle AI on the CSS *Unreliable*
* Ryzen: a cybernetic warrior and a member of *Zeroeremento* who seeks to defend Earth from the Scourge by any means
* Lara Porter: a courier for Constellation and an ally of both Elijah and Deciding Factor
* The Overseer: the leader of the Rising Tide, an anthropocentric terrorist organization, who seeks to use Elijah for her own gain
* Regent: an agent of the Rising Tide and the Overseer's personal assistant who leads Project Hadron
* "Jack Platinum": a personality engram of the rockstar Jack Platinum that hails from Dark City and joins Elijah in stopping the Rising Tide
* Kendra Young: the current Imperator of the Human Interstellar Network and elder cousin of Captain David Young of the Human Nexus Navy
* Neo-Forerunner: the cybernetic general of the Scourge and the primary servant of the Calculator following the death of Kalkoranin in *Part I*

## Trivia

* *Part II: The Battle of Borealis* will be set primarily in the Euclid Galaxy in the Intergalactic Standard Year 5407.
* Like *Part I*, *Part II*'s final episode will be titled after the instalment's subtitle, and will therefore be titled "The Battle of Borealis".
* *Part II: The Battle* *of Borealis* will introduce the new overarching secondary antagonist of *Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel*, revealed to be Elijah's doppelgänger Hadron.