

BOOK ONE

Awakening

By

Donald Swan

TheHyperspaceProject.com

Copyright © 2013 C. Lebedz

5th Edition

All rights reserved. The reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including any information and storage retrieval system, is forbidden without the prior written consent of the publisher and author. For information about "fair use," contact the author.

This is a work of fiction. All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

Electronically published in the United States of America by Bad Rabbit Publications.

I dedicate this to my wonderful wife and best friend. Her skill as a writer and editor has helped to mould this rough pile of words into a work I can be proud of. I would never have been able to do it without her patience, guidance and inspiration.

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Enemy activity had fallen into an eerie calm, but everyone felt the coming storm—a terrible storm, poised to unleash its fury upon the galaxy. It seemed as though the entire universe was holding its breath. Waiting. Whether waiting for the salvation of mankind or its demise was yet unclear.

In some distant part of the galaxy....

Nick released a long sigh as he gazed down at the worn Tri-tanium deck of the ship. A voice recorder sat poised before him on a sturdy metal table, its crude silver casing dimly illuminated by a single overhead light. He'd been awake for hours, struggling over how to begin. A few months ago he had set out from Earth to prove his hyperspace theory. Now that endeavor haunted every moment of his miserable existence. It seemed only yesterday he was in orbit around Earth, staring down at the wondrous blue planet he called home. But that was before the accident. Now the closest thing he had to a home was this ship and its odd array of alien life.

_Alien life._ The very thought of it boggled his mind. Here he was, the first person to discover sentient extraterrestrial life, and no one on Earth may ever even find out about it. If it was his fate to be marooned here in the deep vastness of space, never to see his home or another human being again, then he could accept that. But the situation was worse. Far worse.

Nick shifted his weight in the chair, his blue-eyed gaze fixed on the battered floor at his feet. The skeptics back on earth hadn't exactly embraced his hyperspace project. In fact, Gerste, the leading German scientist, had been very vocal about calling the whole idea ludicrous. On national television no less. If only he could see the look on their faces now. He had proved them wrong, but the price of that victory was almost too much to bear.

Finally summoning the strength to begin, Nick somberly reached out and pressed the record button.

"Personal Log, Nick Bannon. I'm sending this to Earth, to anyone who will listen.... And you damn well better listen, because it could very well save your ass. _All_ your asses. My experiment was a success. Hyperspace really _does_ exist. I'm living proof of that. I only wish that I had stopped to consider the consequences of my actions. If I'd had any idea of the dangers involved...hell, I would've scrapped the whole damn project and gone back to what I like best—flying. But I never expected _this_. How could I have _possibly_ known something like this would happen?" Nick's forehead wrinkled in anguish at the thought of his terrible mistake. He closed his eyes and continued, his solemn voice echoing his regret. "Maybe I was a little too cocky or shortsighted. Something. Bottom line...I screwed up. Because of me, Earth may be facing the greatest threat mankind has ever seen. And I may be the only one that can stop our planet's total destruction. I don't kno—"

A voice coming from the doorway cut him off mid-sentence. "It's time."

"Be right there, Karg." Nick turned his attention back to the recorder.

"Listen, I'm out of time. I don't know if this will ever make it to you, but I have to try. We...mankind...um.... Jesus, how do I explain this? Under no circumstances should the _human race_ venture into hyperspace. It must be avoided at all cost. There are _other_ races... _beings_ out here...vastly older and more powerful than we are. Earth wouldn't stand a chance against them. If humans begin exploring hyperspace, it will only draw alien attention toward Earth, and _billions_ will die."

Nick paused to collect himself. Who knew if any of this would get through to the hard-headed military types back home. But he had to try. If he didn't fix this, it could mean the end of the entire human race. Uncertain of what lay ahead, he sat quietly in the dark metal compartment he now called home, the sound of his heart pounding over the faint hum of the ship's engines, like a distant war drum calling him to action.

He drew in another ragged breath and forced himself to continue. "In my ignorance I have handed these malevolent beings the power to destroy entire planets. Hundreds of billions of lives are in danger, and it won't be long before they find their way to Earth. I'm going to attempt to right the wrongs I have done. To erase all signs of this hyperspace technology, and with it, any hope I have of getting home. I only pray that I'm not already too late. God help us all."

Nick reached down, shut off his make-shift digital recorder, and removed the diamond memory card he had salvaged from his camera. He held the small crystal-embedded card between his fingers, allowing the light to dance off it as his thoughts drifted home. The fate of his entire species was in his hands, and time was running out. Chances were he wouldn't survive the next few hours. But he was out of options. Live or die, the Mok'tu had to be stopped. His life, or the lives of billions? The choice was clear.

Nick stood up and headed out the door, running face-first into Arya as she rounded the corner of the corridor.

Startled, Arya's hand landed against Nick's chest as they collided. "There you are. I was looking for you." She pulled away from him slightly, but with obvious hesitation. Her hand lingered long on his chest as she looked into his pale blue eyes.

"Arya," Nick sputtered. "I was hoping I would see you before I...go." He paused, not wanting to acknowledge the deadly reality of his plan. "If I don't make it back, I just wanted to thank you. For everything."

Something more was gnawing at him. It was silly, really. But if he didn't say it now, he may not get another chance. "You know, I've been wanting to tell you what the word _Aria_ means on my world, but I just never seemed to get the chance. It refers to a beautiful song. A graceful melody that floats on air and delights the senses. It's a fitting name for you."

Arya stared up at the strange creature she had come to know as friend. If only she were stronger, she could force back the tears she felt forming on her lashes. But for some reason when it came to Nick, she had very little strength. Through her tears, she smiled. If only there was more time.

The gift in Arya's pocket shifted slightly, pulling her back to the cold reality of their situation. She reached down and plucked a small, gold amulet from her pocket and held it out. "Here, I want you to have this. It is considered by my people to be lucky." She held the necklace up, letting the exquisitely crafted amulet dangle in front of her. "This amulet is said to contain water that was blessed by the very first Queen of Aris. I've had it since I was a child."

Nick looked into Arya's sad, green, alien eyes as she placed the amulet around his neck. She stood so close he could feel the warmth of her body, smell the subtle fragrance of perfume that drifted from her neck, drawing him silently toward her. He resisted the urge to reach out to her and instead only muttered an awkward "Thanks."

Her eyes locked with his and they stared silently at one another. This could very well be the last time they would ever see each other, and words were simply too inadequate to express the depth of emotions they held inside.

Nick finally broke the gaze. "I'm ready. You know what to do with this." He held out his hand and opened his fingers to reveal the diamond memory card containing his recorded message.

Arya took the card and cradled it in her hand. "Don't worry," she reassured him. "We will launch the hyperspace probe along the coordinates you specified. It will transmit your recording into hyperspace repeatedly for months before running out of power. I'm sure your people will get the message."

Nick's plan was a long shot at best. He hoped Earth would be conducting more research based on the data he'd collected during his first mission. With luck, a pilot from a follow-up mission could track the signal, find the probe and retrieve the data crystal. From Nick's calculations, hyperspace should amplify the radio waves, extending the transmission's range and increasing the odds of them locating the probe. The information on the crystal should be sufficient enough to scare the military into thinking twice about continuing their Hyperspace research program.

Arya watched as Nick turned and marched down the long corridor toward the hangar bay and his uncertain future. Her heart sank as he rounded the bend at the far end of the hall. She felt her mouth form his name, but only a whisper left her lips. The tension in her throat would allow no more. What was wrong with her? She couldn't seem to think straight. This strange human creature called Nick had her emotions running rampant. Emotions she had never felt before. All she could think of was how she just couldn't bear to see him die.

She fought the desire to run after him, stop him. If only there was another way, any other way. But she knew this was the only hope they had of saving her people and countless millions of lives on other worlds. She had no choice. No choice at all. Brave Nick. One day they would erect monuments in his name and rejoice. But not today.

Helmet in hand Nick hurried through the doors of the hangar bay. The hyperspace ship sat prepped and ready for his departure. Rows of bright lights along the broad curved ceiling of the hangar gleamed off the alien propulsion system that had been recently retrofitted to the back of his craft. The golden hue of the new tri-tanium engine casings stuck out like a sore thumb against the ship's white exterior. It wasn't pretty, but the new engines sure beat the pants off the old chemical rocket propulsion for both speed and range.

Nick started to walk around the vehicle then stopped abruptly. A smile broke over his face as he stared at the ship's nosecone. Karg's massive alien body rose up from behind the craft. A splotch of red paint clung to the side of his cheek. Nick shook his head as he stared at the paint.

Karg raised one boney brow. "What? Don't you like it?"

Nick grinned from ear to ear. "It's perfect. Thanks, Karg."

It was an Earth tradition for war planes to have painted nosecones. His father's old Starfighter was no exception. Nick had taped a photo of the fighter to the console of the hyperspace ship, in honor of his father, and in hopes that some of the old man's luck would rub off on him. Karg had always been fascinated by the picture of that old Starfighter, and had taken it upon himself to replicate the ship's markings. In pretty good detail, too. An open mouth full of sharp teeth now adorned the front of the craft, making it look like a big, fat great white shark. It was a nice gesture. One that made Nick feel a little closer to home. At least it helped diffuse the tension of his final moments, and for that he was grateful.

A voice crackled over Nick's com-badge. "If you're going, you better go now. We've just been spotted, and they're moving to intercept."

"Yes, Captain. Launching now. As soon as I leave the bay, get the ship clear of this area. You don't want to be around when I light this thing up."

"Understood. Good luck, Bannon."

With a pat on Karg's back, Nick climbed into the small craft and strapped himself in. He closed the cockpit canopy and roared out of the hangar bay to face the Mok'tu's massive Star-Killer ship. Alone.

Three Months Earlier....

Nick Bannon sat in the cramped, one-man cockpit of his Hyperspace vehicle at the designated test coordinates between the Earth and the moon. From his vantage point in space, the view of the Launch complex on the moon was breathtaking. The large main dome complex, ringed by smaller satellite domes, was easy to spot against the stark gray lunar surface. Particularly striking was the green biomass dome filled with genetically modified plants and algae, an integral part of the moon dome's life support system. Even the linear mass-driver rails at Pad Two, the very ones that had recently propelled him into space, were visible in stunning detail. As he pulled his camera up to get a commemorative shot, his gaze was drawn toward a glint of sunlight reflecting off something nearby. There she was, Space Station Omega. The first of her kind. Gleaming brightly against the dark backdrop of space. 'The Wheel' as it was referred to by the crew. The multi-national station was the first to use centrifugal force to simulate gravity. He'd often gazed up at it from the launch complex and wondered what it'd be like to be part of the crew. But he'd never seen it from this close before. It was impressive. Outfitted with all the latest tech, she sure was a sight to behold. But Nick didn't have time to enjoy the scenery. He needed to get back to his mission checklist. Today was a big day for him. It marked the culmination of years of preparation. This was the only shot he would have at proving his hyperspace theory. The military big-wigs had only allocated enough funding for one mission. If he didn't obtain some positive results from this probe launch, he wouldn't get another chance. It was a miracle that he had been cleared to use the space station's new instruments to monitor the experiment in the first place, something that would be practically impossible to do once the station went fully online. Nick's little experiment was more or less just a shakedown for the station before going operational.

Nick reached to flip the final switch in preparation for launching the hyperspace probe and accidentally bumped his elbow on the side of the tiny cockpit. Pain shot down his arm and buzzed to his fingertips. He winced but remained focused on his task. He was accustomed to the cramped conditions. Nick practically grew up in one cockpit or another. As a kid on his father's knee, the inside of a fighter cockpit seemed as big as his childhood dreams. Not so much anymore. It would be nice to have a little extra elbow room, but unlike the station, that kind of luxury wasn't in the budget. For now, he'd just have to deal with the cockpit's small size.

Hoping that all the equipment worked as planned, he took a deep breath and radioed mission control. "Serenity Base, I am go for hyperspace deployment."

"Roger, Hyper One. Omega Station reads ready. You are clear for field deployment. Godspeed."

After a final check of his instruments, Nick flipped the switch that armed the field generator. "Switching on telemetry now."

"Telemetry looks good, Hyper One."

Nick glanced over at the photo of his father that he had stuck to the console earlier. It was his favorite picture. There was good ol' dad, standing proudly in front of his Starfighter, flight suit zipped, helmet under one arm. The picture had been taken shortly before the Moon War. "I wish you were here to see this, dad."

He looked out the window one last time at the thin veil of atmosphere surrounding planet Earth below and once again tried to quell his uneasiness. "Piece of cake. Be home in time for dinner."

"Say again, Hyper One. Your transmission was garbled."

"Sorry, Serenity. Just talkin' to myself." Nick took another deep breath and focused back on the mission at hand. The smell of cold, oxygenated air filling his lungs was somehow comforting. It took him back to a simpler time, back when his father used to let him pretend to be a fighter pilot. He smiled at the picture on the dash. Those were the days. But there would be time for reminiscing later. Right now he had a job to do.

"Initiating hyperspace field in three...two...one...." He threw the last switch. A strange bluish glow danced outside the windows and lit up the cockpit as the instruments began collecting data.

"Serenity, you seein' this?"

"Roger, Hyper One. Data is five by five. My God, you actually did it!"

The sound of cheers rolling through the mission control center erupted over Nick's headset. Flight control team members chattered in the background as they worked furiously to make sense of the readings. Then a familiar calm voice came over the channel.

"Don't lose your head, Bannon. How does it look for phase two?" It was Phil, the flight director.

"I'm on it. Adjusting field strength for optimal insertion. Window now at optimal."

"Go on phase two," Phil replied over the radio.

"Launching hyperspace probe now, Serenity." Nick reached for the launch button. Just before he hit the switch, a loud warning signal went off. The sudden sound scared the living daylights out of him. Startled, he jerked back, accidentally hitting his hand against the cockpit window.

"Son of a bitch!" Regaining his composure, he looked down at the single red light flashing rapidly on the instrument panel.

Serenity Base broke in. This time Phil's voice held a note of concern. No one else would have caught the minor inflection in his voice, but Nick had heard this tone before. Something was wrong. "Hyper One, check your position, you appear to be drifting toward the event horizon. Please confirm."

Nick studied the console a moment, confused by the readings. "What the...?"

"Do you copy, Hyper One?" Phil sounded even more concerned than before.

"Yeah, copy that, Serenity. There appears to be gravity waves emanating from within the rift. Didn't expect _that._ Compensating." Nick fired a few short bursts from forward thrusters. Then a few more. But still he moved forward. He fired sustained bursts in an attempt to maintain distance from the shimmering hyperspace window, but it was no use. His ship was still being drawn forward. At this rate, he wouldn't have much time.

"Hyper One? _Bannon_...what's happening up there? You're still moving closer, and the window...it's... _expanding."_

" _What?"_ Nick sputtered. He was so near the event horizon he never even noticed the ever expanding edge of the rift. "What the hell? That's not possible." But a quick glance at the readings confirmed it. The window's size and gravitational forces were indeed growing exponentially. "Roger, Serenity. Dialing it down to see if I can get it to stabilize." Nick quickly turned the dial down to one-quarter power, then again to the lowest setting. But the window continued its expansion, and at an alarming rate.

"Hyper One, we're showing an increase in power output. We believe it could be feedback from the hyperspace window. You need to shut it down. Do you copy, Hyper One? Abort now."

Nick hesitated, his finger poised over the console, contemplating whether or not he should still launch the probe and gather as much data as possible while he still had a chance. While he wasn't one to give up easily, the equipment wasn't designed for this much power. It could burn out the instruments, and his project would literally be toast. Just his luck. Moments away from unlocking the secrets of hyperspace, and forced to abort. Hopefully, he already gathered enough data to warrant a second try.

"Damn," Nick sighed, then reached for the abort switch. Suddenly the blue glow outside turned into a blinding white light, obscuring all view of the cockpit switches.

"Oh, _shhiiitt!_ " Adrenaline surged through Nick's veins as he fumbled blindly in the direction of the abort switch. Then everything went black.

Nick pried one eye halfway open then let it fall shut again. _Where the hell am I?_ He struggled to sit up, but his arms and legs just lay there like limp, wet noodles.

His brain scrambled to make sense of what had happened to him, but the screaming pain in his skull made it impossible to focus. _Ah, geez, it feels like my skull's going to explode._ "Must have been one _hell_ of a night."

Nick reached a hand toward his aching head.

_Clank!_ The sound of his space suit glove hitting his helmet startled and confused him.

"What the hell?" One eye opened fully, then the other. He jerked himself upright. "Crap, I'm in space!"

Suddenly bits and pieces of the mission wiggled their way into his conscious mind. The launch. The warning signal. The white light! He must have blacked out.

Struggling to overcome his spinning head, Nick radioed mission control. "Serenity Base.... Serenity, come in."

Only an eerie silence answered his plea. "Serenity...? Omega? Does anyone copy?"

One flip of the radio dial confirmed his fears. Not a sound on any channel. Not even the usual satellite telemetry.

"Great, the radio's fried!" Trying to calm himself, Nick sucked in a tense breath then slowly released it.

A red glow emanating from outside drew his attention. "What the _f_...." Outside the cockpit window, he could see...something. But it wasn't space. Or at least not any space he'd ever seen before. The only thing visible in every direction was an odd, pulsating, reddish hue. No stars, no Moon.... No Earth!

"Shit!" He could handle just about anything fate threw at him, but this? Red as far as the eye could see. And no Earth? "Damn, _that_ ain't good. Serenity?"

He made another frantic check of the instrument panels. "Serenity, please respond." Again, nothing but static answered.

The cold, hard truth of his situation crept slowly into his brain. "I must be in...hyperspace!" He stared at the pulsating crimson hue beyond the window. "This... _has_ to be hyperspace." If he wasn't so damn scared, he'd be excited. For years he had dreamed of seeing the inside of hyperspace. But right now it was the last place he wanted to be.

He was never even sure if anything could survive in hyperspace. Little was known about hyperspace at all. One theory described it as a second dimension overlapping the known universe. Two dimensions existing in the same place at the same time. That theory—similar to wormhole theory—would allow communication, or even space travel, in a fraction of the time. A shortcut in space-time, theoretically. It would explain why entangled particles appear to interact at speeds faster than light. And here he sat, smack in the middle of that big ole theoretical dimension.

"It's no theory anymore," he muttered. Another sigh heaved from his lungs as he let his head drop back against the headrest. He could just see the headlines now. _Boy Wonder makes history by discovering hyperspace, dies before he can tell anyone._ "Yeah, just brilliant, Nick."

Overwhelmed by thoughts and fears, he stared out of the window at the barren red dimension surrounding him.

_Oh God, what if I'm dead?_ Nick gave his head a quick shake. "Snap out of it! You're a scientist for Christ sake."

"Think, Nick, think." He could clearly see that the hyperspace generator had been turned off. According to the readings, he had managed to hit the abort, but it was too late. The ship had been sucked into hyperspace before the generator could shut down. The added energy from the anomalous power feedback had opened the window larger than he'd intended. Plenty large enough for his small ship to be pulled in by the unexpected gravity waves.

Then a curved piece of what looked like titanium drifted across his path. As it slowly spun around in the weightlessness of hyperspace, he could see part of an insignia clearly emblazoned on its surface. The Greek letter, Omega.

A few more pieces of debris floated past. It took his brain a moment to put the events together. The new space station? But it was too far away to be affected. The window couldn't have expanded that large. _Could it?_ It had all happened so fast. _But i_ _f the edge of that window came into contact...._ "Crap!" Nick wiped a shaky hand across his forehead. There were twelve men and women on that station. _Did I just...? Are they all...dead because of me? I have to get back to find out what happened._

_Wait, the probe._ It must have been recording the radio chatter during the accident. He could get a better idea of what happened by reviewing what it recorded. Nick flipped through the time index. "This can't be right." He had apparently been unconscious for far longer than he'd realized. He checked his watch, surely the probe's data was wrong. "Two hours?" He didn't need the biomonitor on his fancy watch to tell him how high his heart rate was. It was about to beat right through his flight suit.

"Focus."

He reached out his arm, aware of the annoying twitch caused by the massive adrenaline dump, and turned the time index dial to just after he'd opened the window. "There, close enough." His finger hesitated over the play button. He sucked in a breath and pressed it.

Through his headset, the truth of what had happened was revealed in horrifying detail, the voices of the Omega crew clearly definable through the chatter. _'Something's wrong. The window's expanding...it's headed straight for us! Get to the EVA suits. Now!'_ Then the screams, the horrible screams suddenly cut short. Chatter from Serenity base continued for a few more seconds, then silence.

Nick swallowed hard. Not long ago he'd been safely cruising the Lagrange point between Earth and the Moon. Now he was lost in a nightmare of undulating red hues. How the hell was he going to get home? Was it even possible to get home? Could he even face going home after knowing the terrible fate of the Omega crew? One thing he knew for sure, he was on his own. There was no hope of being rescued from hyperspace. He hadn't prepared for this contingency. As if he _could_ have prepared for this. The ship's supplies were limited. A bottle of water, a protein bar, and enough oxygen for a short mission. That's all he had. He would only last hours, at most a day, if he couldn't find a way out of this hyperspace wasteland.

He sat there pondering his own mortality. What a stupid way for it all to end. He had so much potential. There was so much he still wanted to do. All the planning, and for what? Twelve people dead, a state of the art station destroyed, and him stuck in a tiny spacecraft in...somewhere. But Nick had never been one to give up easily, and he wasn't about to now. After thinking over his options, he took a deep breath and flipped his helmet visor down. The only thing he could do now was attempt to open another window. A window back to normal space-time. Maybe. Hopefully. He wasn't sure of anything at this point. This was all new, and so very little was known about hyperspace. Was it even possible to open a window from within hyperspace? Would it be big enough to get through?

The unique sound of Velcro broke the silence as he pulled the flap on the chest of his spacesuit. He reached into his pocket and rubbed the lucky coin that he had safely tucked there before the launch. The familiar feel of the good luck charm between his fingers somehow helped him gather his courage.

"Better to die quickly than suffocate in hyperspace."

The thought of sudden death reminded him of the power feedback. Not good. Could he risk that power surge happening all over again? He paused to think it through before throwing any more switches. The surge must have been coming through the probe. It's the only thing that made sense. There was a good chance he could avoid another catastrophe if he turned the probe off. He chewed his lower lip, deep in thought.  He had an urgent need to get back to his own territory.  He had to know what had happened back there. What if people were trapped in the station wreckage? There might be something he could do to help.  If anything, he needed to report what he had learned. The Omega crew deserved that much at least.

Deciding he had no other option, he turned the hyperspace generator on to full intensity. To his surprise a circular disc appeared in front of him. The spiraling disc expanded rapidly, opening a huge hole in the center as it grew. Stars peeked through from the other side of the open hole.

"Thank God," he sighed, relieved to see something familiar again. "Please let this be my ticket home."

Suddenly, the radio came to life with the chatter of multiple voices. " _Grhorykz satyra komas terok ka nok_."

Nick turned up the volume and listened carefully to the strange voices. "What the...? What language _is_ that?"

Nick was only fluent in English. But he'd been exposed to quite a few languages during his stint with the International Space Alliance. What he was hearing on the radio was unlike anything he had ever heard before. It sounded like Russian, only backwards.

"Hjasd kuscv kasemd."

_What the hell language is that?_ He tried the radio again, hoping to hear a familiar voice. "Serenity Base, come in. Serenity, respond please."

As his ship neared the window into normal space, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Something large and fast had entered the window from the top left and was on a direct collision course with him! He instinctively rolled right, punched the throttle, and cleared the window just in time to avoid getting hit. A shadow passed over his ship as the massive object blocked out the sun.

"Damn that was big!" He banked the ship to get a better look.

As he came around, the view out of the cockpit window almost left him speechless. "Uh, Serenity? Serenity, are you reading this?" he stammered in disbelief.

_This couldn't be possible!_ But there was no denying it. A large alien spaceship had plunged halfway into the hyperspace window. A really _huge_ ship. The kind of ship that made Earth's biggest transport ships look like mosquitoes. Nick stared with his mouth wide open. Following close behind the massive ship was a second, slightly smaller vessel. The two were locked in battle, exchanging weapons-fire. Brightly colored flashes blazed across the inky backdrop of space, exploding on impact with their intended targets. It all looked like a scene from the old sci-fi archives he used to watch—that vid of rebels fighting against the evil empire.

"I must be dreaming," he muttered, still staring slack-jawed at the massive ships. Nick figured that any second he'd wake up all sweaty with his dog Mooch slobbering on his face, wanting to go for a walk. "Yeah, that's it, just dreaming," he said, hoping to convince himself.

_Boom!_ A bright flash of green light washed over the cockpit. The hyperspace craft shook violently, jarring Nick out of his daze. Sparks flew from the console as a ship not much bigger than his buzzed by at blazing speed.

_Kabooom!_ A huge explosion, of a magnitude akin to a nuclear blast, came from the direction of the large ships. The blast lit up Hyper One's cockpit with an intense yellow glow. Nick jerked his head around to see what had happened. The hyperspace window had collapsed with one of the ships partway through it. The immense forces tore the giant vessel to pieces in a second. Hit by the debris, the second ship broke in two. Waves of explosions rippled across the torn and twisted sections of the ship as they tumbled through space. A quick glance at the instrument panel confirmed his suspicions. The field generator was dead. Whatever they had fired at him had fused the circuits in the generator.

_Boom! Boom! Boom!_ Three more blasts hit his ship. "Shit!" It was all happening so fast there was no time to think. He was under attack, that much he was sure of, and he wouldn't last long if he didn't do something quick. Dammit, the craft wasn't designed for this kind of pounding. No weapons, thin titanium-aluminum shell, and if those blasts hit the fuel.... "I'm dead."

The spacecraft was only a science ship. Fly straight, run an experiment for half an hour, and then head home. "You would think just once one of my plans would go right," he muttered as his eyes searched the surrounding space for something, anything that would help.

Then he spotted his escape.

"Asteroids! Perfect. You bastards don't know what you're in for. You just shot at the wrong guy!" Nick Bannon was good at flying by the seat of his pants. In the past he had spent a fair amount of time hot-dogging it around the moon. Lately all he could get away with was a little free time in the flight simulator. Now all those late nights spent goofing-off in the simulator, seeing how many Gs the ship could take before ripping apart, was about to pay off.

Nick steered for the asteroids. He quickly avoided one then banked and rolled around the next. There was no time to ponder who was attacking him. All he had on his mind was saving his own butt by whatever means necessary.

_Boom!_ A blast of enemy fire blew chunks out of a nearby asteroid. Lumps of rock slammed into his ship, causing minor damage to the starboard side. The impacts shook Nick in his seat. "That's not good." Those chunks of rock could kill him as easily as enemy fire.

_Focus. You can shake these guys._ Nick pushed Hyper One to its limit and beyond. He knew engineers usually covered their asses by adding safety margins to their calculations, and he was betting the craft could withstand more than the simulator program said it could.

The attacking ships hung in close, trying to get in a lucky shot. Sweat streamed down Nick's face as he attempted to out-fly his mysterious opponents. With a burst from the forward thrusters, he abruptly reduced speed and pulled up hard, sending the blood to his feet. The space suit squeezed his legs tight in an attempt to keep enough blood in his head to prevent a blackout. But the pursuing ships clung like beggar lice. The pilots following him were good. Too good. Maybe, just maybe, he was out-matched.

As the blood was forced from his head by the intense Gs, Nick's vision began to fade. He squeezed his glutes for all it was worth and struggled to stay conscious against the loss of oxygen to his brain. Just at the edge of unconsciousness, a bright flash lit up the asteroid field. This time the flash was orange. It could only mean one thing. One of the attacking ships had been destroyed by an impact with an asteroid.

Nick pushed back on the stick just enough to let some blood get back to his brain. His attackers were learning, adapting to his maneuvers and anticipating his moves. But one thing that they didn't count on was his unpredictability. Flying by instinct and only guessing at the outcome was what had given him a reputation as a risk taker. Some just saw him as crazy. Others thought he was some genius hot-dog pilot. His friends called him ' _Bannon the cannon.'_ But some at the I.S.A. liked to refer to him as ' _loose cannon.'_

He rounded one small asteroid, then another. In front of him, a huge rock tumbled head-on toward him, its ice-crystal covered surface glistening in the light of a distant star. Nick smiled. This was going to be close.

The enemy anticipated his next move. They expected him to roll and pull up hard to clear the asteroid. Instead, Bannon pushed down on the stick in a last ditch effort to outsmart them. Firing the top thrusters, he attempted to clear the massive rock upside-down. Blood rushed to his head from the negative Gs. His eyes felt like they were going to leave his skull, like corks from a popgun. The straps over his shoulders strained to hold his body in the seat as the surface of the asteroid whizzed by above him. Then everything started to go red. Too much blood to his brain. He had pushed himself into a redout. It was a potentially deadly situation. Consciousness slowly began to slip away. He fought against the blackness overtaking his brain. "Just...a little...more." He only needed to hold it together for a few more seconds and then he'd be clear of the killer rock.

The unexpected tactic had the enemy pilots scrambling to reacquire their target. Caught by surprise, they rolled over in a desperate attempt to keep sight of the small hyperspace vessel. In the chaos, they didn't notice the small, fast moving chunk of ice-encrusted rock barreling in on a rogue trajectory. The rock plowed into the lead ship, driving the sleek craft sideways into its wingman. Both pursuing ships lost control and slammed into the huge, oncoming asteroid. The explosion was the last thing Nick remembered before passing out. And passing out in an asteroid field was the last thing he wanted to do.

He was only unconscious for a moment before a piece of debris glanced off the cockpit cowling, creating enough noise to rouse him from his slumber. Around him hundreds of asteroids floated in an ever-changing landscape, bumping randomly into each other in an unpredictable rock soup.

"Ha, it worked! You're one damn lucky son of a bitch, Nick Bannon," he crowed. He was alive, but he needed to get out of this asteroid field before his luck ran out. If he could just shake off the grogginess. Nick struggled to focus his eyes on the instrument panel. He needed to get the tumbling ship stabilized before he had an up close and personal meeting with an asteroid. With a few well timed bursts from the thrusters, he was able to right the craft and proceed on course to what looked to be the edge of the massive floating cluster of rocks.

As he reached the far side of the field, he rounded a massive icy asteroid. From behind the huge, floating boulder, the silhouette of a ship came into view. "You gotta' be kiddin' me!" Would he ever get a break?

Upon second glance, the ship seemed to be lying there motionless. The unknown alien craft was large. Smaller than the huge vessels he'd seen earlier, but still much bigger than anything from Earth.

Earth. Where _is_ Earth? His attention shifted to his family back home. By now, they must be worried and wondering what had happened to him.

"I guess Hank's going to win that bet, after all. He may have trouble collecting though." Nick let out a half-hearted chuckle. But his feeble attempt at humor did nothing to cheer him up. The reality of the situation was beginning to sink in. "Damn, where the _hell_ am I, anyway?"

A survey of the surrounding star patterns led him to a disturbing conclusion. The lack of recognizable constellations meant he was nowhere near Earth, and the ugly truth was he could be anywhere in the _galaxy_. He could have even popped out of hyperspace into an alternate universe. Until today, hyperspace was only theoretical. No one had ever traveled through it, and he didn't have a clue about what would happen when he came out. He could have ended up anywhere, or even in any _time_.

The view of the massive ship through the cockpit window drew Nick's attention again. He was low on fuel and oxygen. He needed help and he needed it now. Still he hesitated over the crazy idea rolling around in his brain.   The idea was risky, maybe even stupid, but it could be his only chance. Would he die in space, or let himself be captured by what was clearly an advanced and hostile alien life form?

The decision proved to be the most difficult and scariest of his life. But ultimately his survival came down to simple statistics. If he stayed floating in space, he'd surely be gasping his last breaths in twenty minutes or so, but on that alien ship at least he'd have a fighting chance. And, hopefully, some breathable air. So far they hadn't seemed to notice him. If he was lucky, he might be able to find a way to sneak on board. But he needed to take a closer look at that ship. He nudged the joystick in the direction of the large vessel, and coasted up alongside. It didn't take long for him to come upon what appeared to be a small door or hatch about halfway down the side of the vessel's hull. An airlock? Possibly, but he'd couldn't be sure from this distance. And he wasn't exactly looking forward to leaving the safety of his tiny craft to do a spacewalk just to find out. Of course, if push came to shove, he'd have little choice. Nick fired a short burst from the rear thruster, nudging the hyperspace vehicle further along the alien ship's hull. He was hoping to find an open bay, or some way to land his ship, but he was taking a huge risk. He could picture himself waving to some alien creature as he accidentally floated by a window. Fortunately, he hadn't seen much in the way of windows on the massive spaceship.

Just then, a beam of light suddenly shot from the alien vessel, enveloping Hyper One in an emerald-green bubble. "Shit. Bad idea!" Nick quickly tried to pull away from the alien ship. His craft turned slightly and then stopped responding. He yanked the joystick over hard, trying to steer clear. But it was no use, he was being drawn in. No matter how much thrust he gave it, he was caught in...something. With an almost painful slowness, his craft was being pulled closer to the massive vessel. To what fate he was uncertain. If it was anything like the old sci-fi videos he'd watched over the years, he could be facing a gruesome opponent that was intent on separating his head from his neck, eating his brain, and using his spine as a wall decoration.

_Damn his indecision!_ His hesitation had cost him any choice in the matter. Like it or not, he was going in. Trapped like a fly in a spider's web, he anticipated the inevitable doom that surely awaited him.

A tingle of fear ran up his spine and his gut clenched as gruesome scenarios danced through his mind. One thing for sure, he wasn't going down without a fight.

As his ship was drawn closer, Nick had time to assess the massive vessel ahead of him. Smooth metal skin covered its exterior—similar to the look of titanium but with an odd golden-brown hue. It was a sleek vessel compared to those of Earth. Three pods near the rear of the craft appeared to be engines. Waves of electrical discharges rippled across a gap in the metal exterior of one engine pod, where it had obviously sustained damage. From within a gash in the side of the ship's hull, a ruptured pipe spewed some sort of green vapor into space. Several gun mounted turrets were also visible, attached at strategic locations around the ship.

Nick's mind was caught somewhere between amazement and terror as a large door suddenly opened in the side of the vessel. Hyper One was slowly being pulled toward the open door. Panic set in. There was nowhere to run except straight ahead, straight at his captors. "Like a cornered coon," he muttered.

Nick couldn't see any alternative but to get out of his ship with fists swinging and hope he got lucky. Maybe he could take them by surprise. These aliens had already tried to kill him once. He wasn't about to give them another chance.

A shadow fell over the cockpit as Hyper One made its way through the gaping doorway of the ship. Once inside, the door slid closed, sealing Nick and his hyperspace vehicle in a large bay. A metal arm swooped up from below and cradled the craft in a huge mechanized hand. It was as if a giant reached up and gently grabbed his ship. The arm smoothly glided the small craft deeper into the hangar bay. Ahead of him, some type of translucent electrical field stretched across the entire width of the enormous hangar. It looked similar to static on a vid-com when the signal was lost, only this hung in mid-air, sectioning off a portion of the bay.

Nick's heart jumped into his throat when he spotted something moving beyond the field of bluish, translucent static. As his ship passed through the strange barrier, shadowy figures took positions at the end of the bay. He peered hard into the dim light ahead of him, but he couldn't tell what he was seeing. There was definitely something there, lurking in the shadows. But what? It wasn't anything recognizable. Not humanoid, that's for sure.

Blood surged through his veins from the adrenaline being dumped into his system. He could feel his heart pounding out a message in his arteries, drumming the word _run_ into his brain. Fear was preparing his body for flight. But there was nowhere to run. He was stuck like bubblegum on a shoe.

"Focus." If he was going to survive this, he needed to stay focused.

The ship finally came to rest a couple of feet off the ground. To the left, a mechanical device lurched out of the darkness to position itself alongside the craft. The shiny device had three long, jointed legs with wheels attached to the bottom. It stopped abruptly and spun in place to face him. The metal machine resembled a three legged mechanical spider with some sort of creature seated in the middle. The legs of the device extended, raising it up to eye level. Sitting atop the device, a grotesque alien creature peered over a holographic display, its four eyes locked on Nick. Nick recoiled in disgust, releasing a gasp of shock and disbelief.

The slimy alien blob had four eyes and two puny arms. Each of its small hands had only three digits, which firmly griped controls on either side of the seat. If the alien had any legs, they weren't visible from where Nick sat. The slimy blob-like thing was covered in some clear, mucus-like substance. If this had been one of those silly made-up creatures on a sci-fi vid-show, he would have just laughed. But this was _real_ and sitting only twenty feet away. The mechanical device in which the creature rode had what appeared to be gun barrels mounted on either side, each pointed directly at Nick. The alien was definitely in a defensive posture, waiting for him to open the hatch.

A strong voice suddenly echoed from the opposite side of the hangar.

"Hatu katuk ragish zoktu surrik!"

Startled, Nick turned to see where the voice originated and promptly wished he'd stayed in bed that morning instead of hopping in a spacecraft to prove a theory. Standing nearby was the scariest thing he had ever seen. Twice the size of a full grown man, with four muscular arms, it was his worst nightmare on steroids.

Until this point Nick had harbored some hope. But now, looking at this monstrous alien, a little voice inside him whimpered something about his balls being in a sling. He winced at the thought of all the pain this _thing_ was going to inflict on him. His plan to fight was quickly replaced by Plan B. He would try to appear as non-threatening as possible and beg for his life. He was no wimp, but he knew there was a fine line between brave and stupid. He'd learned plenty of lessons about that. Back home, as a kid, the neighborhood gang had made him feel like a sissy running from trouble, until his father told him about the great Chinese warrior Sun Tzu, who had said: "He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight." No matter what other people might say, a tactical retreat or surrender was nothing to be ashamed of. It was always better to live to fight another day, when things were more in your favor.

Nick Bannon, big shot astronaut, scientist, and theory-prover, reached over to open the cockpit of his experimental hyperspace ship but paused momentarily to look at his hand. It was trembling. His hand was actually trembling. The surreal sight took him by surprise. He'd never had the shakes before.

Another impatient grunt from the beast outside prompted Nick into action. With some effort, he grabbed his shaky wrist with his other hand and guided his fingers over to the release latch. The canopy popped open and hinged upward, leaving him feeling more exposed than ever. He released his harness, tossed his helmet to the floor, and slowly, painfully climbed out of the cockpit and down onto the deck of the hangar.

"Oh God, please let me get through this," he mumbled as his feet hit the floor.

Raising his arms above his head, he turned to face his destiny. The large creature flinched and grasped its weapon tighter.

"Huktur akak! Huktur akak!" it said in a thundering voice.

The four-armed alien appeared to be getting more agitated by the second. Nick raised his hands higher into the air, hoping the creature would understand that he was surrendering. The big alien responded with a loud snort and then took aim at Nick's chest.

Nick's eyes flared wider. So much for the standard Earth surrender posture. Apparently the act of holding his hands above his head was considered a threatening move. Cautiously, Nick lowered his arms. His heart pounded so fast that time seemed to slow. As he stood there frozen with fear, his brain raced to process the new extraterrestrial landscape before him. The alien thing standing in front of him held a rifle of some kind with its two upper arms. The large creature was bipedal like a human but looked more like a mythical Ogre than anything else. A four armed Ogre with a thick, rough, elephant-like hide. Its head was devoid of hair and twice the width of Nick's. Its ears were small and laid flat to its skull. The beast seemed to have no neck. The muscles just flowed from its head to its massive shoulders. The alien's big red eyes, protected beneath a large, boney eyebrow ridge, were trained intently on Nick. The edges of its mouth turned downward, with one lip raised like a snarling dog showing a few of its large teeth. It was easy to see this thing meant business.

"Huktur akak! Huktur akak!"

The strength and suddenness of the creature's voice took Nick's breath away. "Don't shoot. I mean you no harm."

"Huktur akak! Huktur akak!"

"I don't understand.... My name is Nick Ban—"

"Hakak uratus octu!" the creature yelled, sounding more urgent than ever.

Nick lowered his head and got down onto his knees. The creature took a couple of quick steps toward him. Nick felt the floor vibrate beneath him with each mighty footstep. He cringed, turning his head slightly to prepare for what was coming. _Oh God, this is it_ , he thought. Suddenly, powerful hands grasped Nick firmly around each of his arms and hoisted him off the floor. Much to his own surprise, Nick let out half of a scream before a third hand grabbed his throat. There he hung at the mercy of this thing, this massive alien killing machine. He tried to speak but could only manage a murmur. The beast was now face to face with him, studying him. Its powerful, hot breath blew across Nick's skin as it leaned in to examine the insignia on his suit.

"Arak turyk tomnu?" it said.

"Karou sactimous heratzu," answered the other creature that had now moved in closer.

The two looked at each other then back at Nick. The huge alien tilted its head, seemingly puzzled by Nick's appearance, as if it were trying to figure out what Nick was and where he came from. The two alien creatures exchanged a few more words and then the massive one carried him to a dimly lit room where he was abruptly dropped on the floor. The two extraterrestrials then turned and quickly exited the room.

Nick fell to his knees choking and trying desperately to take a good breath, his heart pumping furiously. At least he was still alive. As he knelt there catching his breath, he peered around at the dreary room. Nothing but a single beam of light shone down onto the center of the metal floor, obscuring the dark corners from view. Glancing over at the doorway, Nick spotted an electrical field similar to the one his ship had passed through earlier. The field filled the doorway, blocking his exit.

"A force field? Holy crap, it's a damn force field!" Nick stood up and walked toward the door, nervously looking around the dark room as he went. A sound from one of the shadowy corners spun him around in fear. He froze. _Crap, is there something else in here?_ A few jaw clenching minutes later he determined that the noise had only been the scuff of his boot echoing off the wall. Relieved, he turned his attention back to the force field—keeping an ear tuned for anything that may come up from behind him, just in case.

After studying the shimmering static for a moment he noticed that the field emitter apparatus looked like it had been added recently. It appeared to have been retro-fitted to the outside of the door, and rather hastily at that.

Impulsively, he reached out with one finger and touched the field. _Zap!_ Instantly, a painful shock traveled up his arm to his chest and then shot all the way down to his feet. The shock knocked him back several feet into the room and onto his ass. "Son of a...mmm...mm... dammit!" He bit his lip in pain. The shock left him rolling around on the floor in agony for a few minutes.

"Stupid son of a bitch! I gotta stop touching stuff."

Nick was busy examining his arm, hoping the tingle would eventually go away, when he heard a noise. _Zzzt_. He looked up and saw that the field had vanished from the doorway. In walked big-nightmare-alien-thing again, so big that he had to duck his head as he came through the doorway. _Now what?_ Nick's brain screamed. _So much for a quick death, they're going to torture me and...._

"Whoa! What...who is that?"

 From behind the huge behemoth stepped an alien so human-like that Nick's brain seized up for a second. He was in shock. It was a girl! At least he _thought_ it must be a girl. She was thin and only slightly shorter than Nick. Her arms and legs were a bit longer than a human's and her skin had an odd greenish tint to it. He also detected a pattern on her skin, like that of a Leopard, with splotches of darker green running down the top of her arms. The female alien carried two small devices with her as she entered. Nick watched her move. She was even more graceful than a human girl. Her long legs carried her fluidly across the floor. Her gait wasn't so much a walk as a glide. The hair on her head was about shoulder length and mirrored the Leopard-like markings on her skin. Most definitely cat-like. Even her big, bright green eyes looked like a cross between a human and a cat. She was absolutely stunning. Alien, definitely. But stunning.

Her eyes had Nick's attention from the moment she stepped into the room. Her gaze was fixed on him with wide-eyed wonder, like a kitten focusing on something just before it pounces. One of her pointed ears occasionally twisted to the side as she listened to noises undetectable to him. Her cute little nose twitched at the smell of the new human species before her. Surprisingly Nick didn't feel scared. In her presence, he actually felt somewhat calm. Maybe because she seemed less threatening than the other aliens, or perhaps because she was so much like a human girl, he wasn't sure. In her eyes he thought he saw a glint of compassion, and for some reason he just felt that she wouldn't harm him.

"Sharaku atpa hurakti?" As soon as she spoke, Nick relaxed even more.  She had a much more pleasing voice than the other aliens.

"I am Nick Bannon. Can you understand me?"

The female tilted her head slightly and blinked her big green eyes. She held up the two devices she had carried in with her.

"Shaktu herak." She brought the devices closer to Nick's face.

Nick instinctively leaned away. "No, wait. What are you doing?"

The large alien grunted and took an aggressive step toward Nick.

"Okay, okay." Nick agreeably leaned forward again.

The female took one of the devices and held it about six inches away as she slowly moved it around Nick's head. Then she ran it down the front side of him and up the back. From a glance at the other device in her hand he could see that it must be some kind of scanner.

She turned to the big alien still guarding the door.

"Skakturu hepadite uruktu."

"Hakrutu arkinek," it replied.

Mister Ugly Ogre Face stepped over and grabbed Nick's head with one hand, turning and leaning it to the side. Nick struggled uselessly against its grip. He was like a ragdoll in its powerful hands. Quickly, the female removed some kind of device from a pouch on her hip and put it to Nick's neck. He felt a sharp sting where she pressed the device against his artery. He flinched, fear pouring into his veins like hot lava. A warm tingly sensation swept through his body. Had he been wrong to trust her? Was this alien female going to kill him right where he stood? Nick fought to control his fear. Never in his life had he felt so utterly helpless. He was completely powerless to do anything.

Then as suddenly as it started, it was over. The two aliens let go of him and stepped back.

"What did you do to me?" Nick touched his neck with his fingers, the sting now slowly fading. Were they waiting for him to fall to the floor and die? Did they inject him with something? They could easily kill him without doing that. Was he a guinea pig for some hideous experiment? What the hell was going on? His mind raced, but all he could do was sit there, his head reeling with fear. Everything turned into a blur. His life and all the bizarre events of that day whirled furiously around in his head. Nick's eyes searched frantically around the room for something, anything that would make a difference. But there was nothing that could help him now. A tingle crept over his head unlike anything he had ever experienced before. Resigned to his wretched fate, he finally collapsed to the floor. So this is it? This is the end? He was so young, he had so many plans. He wasn't ready to die yet. He desperately wanted to see his friends and family again. Overwhelmed by it all, and too helpless to do anything, he waited.

He flinched when a hand touched his shoulder.

"Jeez!" He spun and looked up to realize it was the female. Her eyes had a look of sorrow, as if she could feel the terror he was going through. Slowly, as if deliberately trying not to alarm him further, she reached up and touched her head.

"Harak," she said.

Nick stared at her. He couldn't understand what she was trying to tell him. She touched her ears and motioned to Nick as if to get him to do the same. Nick touched his ears. The alien female smiled. She touched her ears again and said "Aeroks."

Nick replied "Aeroks?"

Her eyes scrunched into an appealing squint as a look of frustration spread across her face. She pointed at his mouth and then to her ears.

Realization dawned on Nick slowly. "Ah! Ears," he said, then touched his own ears again.

She smiled and said "Aeroks."

She continued the same process with her arms and legs. Each time she would nod slightly when he said the accompanying word in English. When she had finished she handed Nick a device. He looked it over. It was small, compact, lightweight and displayed an image of a planet on a holographic screen. The planet didn't look familiar. Why was she showing it to him?

She pointed to the screen and then to Nick's mouth.

"Planet?" He shrugged, a little uncertain now.

She smiled and pushed a button on the device. A new image appeared. Again she pointed.

Nick was starting to understand. She was going through a language program. But it wasn't for him to learn _their_ language. Funny thing was they didn't seem to be trying to learn _his_ language either. The whole scene was puzzling, but at this point Nick was just happy to still be alive. So far he hadn't been harmed, just scared out of his mind.

Nick continued through the images, saying the identifying words as he went. When they came upon an image that was unfamiliar to him, the female pressed a button to skip them.

Just when he thought the language lesson would never end, the female stood up and went to the door. She turned and held up her hands. Nick assumed by her gesture that she intended for him to stay put. As the large alien exited the room behind her, the force field appeared across the doorway again.

Nick took a moment to again assess his situation.  He was definitely a prisoner, but at least he was alive. Despite his circumstances, the female made him fear his situation a little less. Perhaps it was the compassionate way about her. _Her_...whether she was female was still a guess at this point. She sure looked feminine, but...could he really be certain of that?  Hell, he wasn't certain of anything anymore.

A short time later she returned with some water and something that resembled a military food ration bar. How he loathed meal bars. They always left a bad taste in his mouth.

Nick was a beef and potatoes kind of guy, always leery of things like Tai food. But alien food? Now that was a downright scary thought. With as much diplomacy as he could muster, Nick carefully took a nibble of the bar. He held the small piece in his mouth and waited for the flavor to register on his tongue. Surprisingly, it tasted better than it looked.

"Chicken. It tastes like chicken." He grinned. Of course, if it was going to taste like anything, it would be chicken. Still, it wasn't quite chicken, was it?  No. It was alien food, made of whatever alien food was made out of.  He didn't even want to think about it.  He wondered if he would have any trouble digesting it, but in the end the hunger won out. He hadn't had much to eat before going on the mission and quite a long time had passed since that meager breakfast. Glad to have something in his stomach, he wolfed down the rest of the bar.

"Eat."

Nick stopped chewing for a minute and stared at the female creature staring back at him. "Holy.... Did you just say...eat?"

She smiled. "Yeess, eat fraktu."

His gaze was glued to her lips. When she spoke, her mouth didn't seem to move properly. He was hearing English words, but there seemed to be muffled speech in the background. Her mouth moved as if she were saying something completely different than what he was hearing, like one of those old Japanese videos that had been dubbed over in English. He couldn't understand all the words she was saying, but at least it was good to hear something he recognized.

"I can understand you! How?"

"Whee fix you." She pointed to his neck where they had injected him.

"You put something inside me?"

"Yes."

Nick felt a lump form in his throat again. Oh, God! What had they put in him? _Shit!_ His heart rate accelerated as fear rose into his chest.  "What did you do to me?" he demanded.

"We put transssakor smalaturak."

"What?"  Nick shook his head in confusion. "What are you saying?"

The female alien took the image device and typed something into it. She held it up so that Nick could see an image of what appeared to be microscopic robotic machines of some sort.

He pointed feebly at the screen. "You put these in me?"

"Yes. Seee."

She pushed a button and the image changed.

Nick watched as the picture zoomed out and rotated around until he could get a better over-all view. He was looking at an image of some alien brain loaded with thousands, if not millions of miniature machines.

Nick sat back in surprise. Shock and fear twisted his mind almost to the breaking point.

"My God, you put machines in my head? I have alien machines in my head!"

The female looked at him in concern, or what he thought was concern.  She seemed to understand his fear. In an attempt to communicate, she quickly put her hands on her head and then pointed to the image.

He looked at her and then back to the image device. "You mean you have these in your head too?"

She looked relieved that he understood. "Yes. All have these."

Nick's brain ground around the puzzle slowly. His eyes widened as he began to understand. "Oh! They're translators, aren't they? Those little gizmos in my...our...heads...they're translator devices?"

"Yes!" She touched his forehead gently with one finger. "They learn brain. Get better more later."

"Nanites!"

The female looked at him strangely. Apparently the word didn't translate.

"Holy shit, I have nanites in my head!" Nick was familiar with nanites. He remembered studying them in school. Nano-technology had always fascinated him. Microscopic robotic machines that could do amazing things. But they'd proven too dangerous and had been banned on Earth decades earlier. Back home, nano-technology was still in the early stages, and science had done more harm than good when it came to implementing any new technologies in that field. Earth's scientists just didn't know enough to use nanites safely. Once, some of those little buggers had run out of control and killed a whole town full of people and animals before they had been shut down using a massive EM pulse.

Nick felt like he was going to wet his pants.  He could only hope these aliens knew more about nanites than the people back on Earth, because now he had a head full of language-bots roaming freely through his synapses.

"That's why you look like a dubbed Japanese film when you talk," Nick muttered. "Because you _are_ dubbed. By those things in my head. You're not really speaking English at all."

If he wasn't so damn afraid, he'd be amazed.

A gruff voice coming over the intercom startled him. "Kurak he ready nouy?"

"Yes he kurak ready," the female replied.

Little by little Nick could understand more words. But the knowledge did nothing to ease his fear, or answer the myriad of questions he had. Where was he? Who were they? What was going to happen to him? With the language technology implanted in his head, maybe now he'd be able to ask.  But would they answer?

_Zzzt._ With a sound like flies hitting an electric debugger, the force field dropped again and that damn big, scary alien ducked into the room. Even worse, it looked directly at him as it stepped closer. The creature reached out and grabbed Nick's arm. Nick instinctively jerked back, but was unable to break free of the alien's strong grip. The beast twisted Nick's arm and pointed toward Nick's wrist.

"What is this ma sheen?"

Nick looked in the direction of the alien's gaze. The damn thing was pointing at his watch. His high-tech, fancy astronaut flight watch.

"It...it's a watch," he stammered. "It shows what time it is."

"How you destroy hurcyrac sheip?" the huge alien said with a booming voice.

Nick frowned in confusion. "I didn't destroy the ship. It was an accident."

"Akseedent? What is akseedent?"

Nick's brain kicked into high gear as he pondered the situation. It seemed that there was more here than met the eye. Whose ship was he on? And who were the guys on those other ships, the ones he had accidentally destroyed?  At this point he didn't know if the other vessels were friend or foe to his captors. Were they going to hold him responsible for destroying those ships? He could be in a whole heaping pile of hell if one of those ships were from this _things_ race.

He immediately went into cover-his-own-ass mode. "I did not mean to destroy those ships. That is what accident means. It was unintentional, a mistake. Do you understand?"

"You come through great hole. Hole weapon. Destroy. You know about hole." The alien squeezed Nick's arm harder. The firm grip made Nick nervous. It felt like the beast could snap his bones with one hand if it decided to.

"Great hole? What great h—" Nick's eyes pulled into a squint. "Wait a minute. Are you talking about the hyperspace window?" Shit, how was he going to explain this one?

"Hole is window. I open window, but ship damaged. Hole close. Accident." _Oh great_ , he thought. _Now I'm talking like them._

The alien beast let go of Nick's arm, and it fell limply back to his side. Trying to ease the uncomfortable buzz of pain in his arm, Nick rolled his wrist and repeatedly balled his fist in an attempt to get the blood flowing again.

"You kill enemy. We thank you," the big alien said.

Nick stared at the massive beast in surprise. "They were your enemy?"

An answer came from behind him. It was the female.

"Yes, they came and killed millions our people. The ones they not kill, they enslave. Two races fight each other over territory. Our territory they take."

Nick pondered her words. He was somewhat relieved to realize that this bunch of aliens hadn't been trying to kill him. Instead, it was their enemies that had been doing all the shooting at him. The alien creatures aboard this ship were just caught in the middle of some interstellar war.

The big alien pointed to Nick's pocket. "What is here?"

Nick was momentarily puzzled, uncertain as to what the alien referred to. Then he realized. The coin. But how did the alien even know about his lucky coin?  "Oh yeah. The scan, that must be how you know about it." Nick pulled the coin out of his pocket and held it in his palm.

"This is a coin. It's money, what we use to buy things. Do you understand buy?"

"Yes, currency. We also have."

The female broke in. "What you name?"

"Nick...Nick Bannon."

"Well, Nicnic Bannon, I am Arya. This is Karg." She studied him for a long moment, then reached out and touched his hair. She seemed intrigued by the texture of his hair and even wrinkled her nose a little as she rolled a few strands between her fingers. "We have not seen any like you. What species you?" she asked. The wonder in her eyes resembled that of a biologist examining some newly discovered life-form. Nick just hoped his ass never landed on a Petri dish.

"I am Human. From a place called Earth."

"Urt?" She glanced at Karg curiously. Karg looked just as puzzled.

"No, it's...." Nick started to correct her but then stopped himself. Maybe it was better if he didn't say _too_ much. After all, he still had no clue who these people...er...aliens were.

"What mean this?" Karg poked the I.S.A. patch displayed on the front of Nick's flight suit. The power of the alien's single, huge finger knocked Nick off balance, forcing him to take a step back.

"I.S.A. is an alliance dedicated to peace. It—"

_Beep, beep._ Nick's explanation was cut off as a voice erupted from the com-badges worn by the two aliens. "Karg, Arya, I'm getting anomalous readings from the aft section. Can you go.... Wait, what....I don't understand. I just lost engine control. I need you two to get down there. Now."

Arya's expression changed to one of concern as she looked at Karg. With a low growl, Karg turned and headed to the door.

"We're on our way, Argos." Arya glanced back at Nick as she started to leave. "Stay here." She held up one hand, much like a human telling a dog to stay.

Nick didn't even get a chance to spit out a response before Arya and Karg disappeared through the doorway.

The force field zapped its way back into position, leaving Nick trapped and helpless to do anything but wonder. No engines and enemy vessels all around did not sound good, and his ass was still on the line. He'd hate to be stuck in an ugly, cold room, unable to save himself should the ship go down. If these aliens couldn't get the ship fixed, they'd all be cooked.

Feeling frustrated, Nick kicked at the force field and accidentally touched the edge enough to get a good zap that left him reeling backwards and shouting curses at his own stupidity.  He hopped around on one foot for a few seconds, his injured foot held gingerly between his hands until his ass plopped onto a low bench.  He put his head in his hands and sighed.

"Damn, can my day get any worse?"

Faint, hollow thumps rang from a remote part of the ship, bouncing off the walls of the room where he sat. Nick dragged his face out of his hands and listened. The noises reminded him of being on Earth, listening to the sound of distant thunder rumbling through the metal aircraft hangar he'd spent so much time in. Figuring the sounds were coming from the aliens working to repair the ship, Nick decided to use the time to study his surroundings more closely. The dark, drab walls were really more like a prison cell than a room. Through the dim light, he spotted a sink in the corner with a mirror attached to the wall above it. He stood and walked toward the mirror but was startled by his reflection. He peered closer. The stress from the strange events of the day was clearly evident in his haggard face. His dark, normally neat hair stuck up every which way, his blue eyes were blood shot, and he sported a full day's stubble. He hadn't seen dark circles under his eyes like that since his dad died. He was a wreck, and he _felt_ even worse than he looked. The drawn face looking back at him brought a morbid sense of reality to his unbelievably bizarre day. He had still been hoping it was all some sort of strange dream, praying that any time now he would wake up safe in his bed after a hard sleep filled with weird nightmares. But the face staring back at him said otherwise.

"You've gone and done it now. How are you going to get out of this one?" he asked his pale reflection. As the words left his mouth, he heard the sound of Arya's voice in the background. She was talking to someone as she approached from down the corridor. The sense of urgency in her voice drew his attention.

"I'm headed to pick up the alien prisoner. I'll meet you on the Bridge."

Karg answered, his voice sounding tinny and distant over Arya's com-badge. "No, Arya! We don't know if he can be trusted. Leave him and get to the Bridge."

Arya paused just down the hall from Nick's room. "Karg, if they steal our prisoner, they will find out what he knows. You know what the Mok'tu would do with that kind of weapon!"

Weapons-fire in the background punctuated Karg's response. "Alright...." _Kawpow._ "But watch him...." _Blang._ "I'm pinned down in Bay Two...." _Ping._ "Be there as soon as I can."

A second later Arya popped around the corner. Nick immediately noticed the pistol in her hand. "Come on. Quickly!" Motioning for Nick to leave the room, she pointed down the corridor. "That way."

Nick proceeded down the corridor with Arya guiding him from behind. How interesting that she called _him_ alien. He had been worried about trusting them and yet all this time they were afraid they couldn't trust _him_.

"Stop here," Arya commanded.

Nick obediently stopped.

She pushed a button on the wall, and a door slid open. "Inside."

Nick stepped into the vertical transport tube with Arya behind him.

"Bridge." The tube bolted upwards, surprising Nick with its acceleration. His knees buckled for a second and he had to force himself upright again. Just about the time he managed to straighten, the tube came to an abrupt halt, leaving Nick with the odd sensation of having his stomach thrown upward toward his brains as his weight lightened. As he equalized, the doors opened, revealing a large, although sparsely occupied Bridge. The slimy alien that Nick had seen earlier was stationed off to one side, monitoring his holo-display. From a seat in the center of the room, another alien worked a small control panel. From what Nick could tell, the alien in the middle was from the same race as Arya, only this one was larger and apparently male.

"How the frek did the Mok'tu get on board?" Ayra demanded in an angry tone.

Without turning around, the alien in the center of the room answered in a strong, commanding voice. "It's an advanced tactical squad. The coolant leak from engine three must have masked their approach. They came in a Stalker."

"A stealth ship with a Tac Squad? How many?"

"Typical five Mech crew. They breached the hull near Bay Two and managed to cripple the engines. We can't get past them to repair it."

Not even thinking, Nick spoke up. "Why don't you just kill them?"

The alien in the center spun around with a look of surprise and disdain. His eyes flared for a second as his gaze landed on Nick. "Arya? What is _this_ doing here?"

"Sorry, Captain Argos." Arya grabbed Nick's arm and yanked him forward. "This is the alien from the hole. We can't allow him or his ship to fall into the hands of the Mok'tu or everything we have worked for would be lost."

The Captain's gaze slid back to Nick as he assessed the situation. Reluctantly, he gave Arya a barely discernible nod of agreement then it was back to business. "You better take a look at this."

A holo-display popped up in front of the Captain. With a voice command, the screen played a vid recording of the Mok'tu entering the hangar bay. From the few seconds of retrieved records, it was easy to see that the squad was searching for something. They were using some kind of small device to narrow in on their target, and that target was obviously Nick's spacecraft.

Nick's tension rose. He didn't like what he was seeing. Without that ship, he wouldn't have a prayer of getting back to earth.

Upon locating the craft, two Mok'tu immediately started to scan it. A third efficiently took out the hangar bay cameras with a few quick, well aimed blasts from a rifle. Then the screen went blank.

Captain Argos uttered another brief voice command. The holographic image responded by collapsing back into oblivion.

"How did they find us so quickly?" Arya asked.

The Captain's gaze moved to Nick.

Arya turned, her brow lowering. "You! You brought them here!" She raised her pistol toward Nick. A single stride brought her face to face with him, and with astonishing strength, she knocked him to the ground. She landed on top of him, one hand grasping his collar, while the other held the gun against his chest. Her blinding speed had taken Nick completely by surprise. "And to think I felt sorry for you!"

"Take it easy, Arya," the Captain warned. "He didn't do anything deliberately. The Tac Squad tracked some kind of fuel leak from his craft. That's how they found us."

Arya let go of Nick and stood up, leaving him lying on the floor. She stared down at him for a moment, an odd quirk to her mouth that seemed half smirk half apology. "Sorry."

Nick wasn't happy about the Mok'tu showing interest in his ship, nor was he pleased to hear of the fuel leak. He would need every precious drop of fuel that remained in the ship's tank to make it home. These aliens didn't appear to have the means to get him to Earth, so his hyperspace craft was his only chance. He sure as hell wasn't going to just let the damn Mok'tu take it.

He winced as he picked himself up off the floor. "Listen, people...er...whatever. Why are we just sitting here? You have weapons. We could take these bastards!"

The female's gaze met his, her mouth moving toward a slight grin. Nick didn't know what to make of her smile. Did she like his eagerness, or did she just think he was being stupid?

As if dealing with a small child, Arya took Nick's arm and gently pulled him aside. "Mok'tu Tac Squads have shields. You can't shoot them."

"Shields? Like the door to the room?" Nick questioned.

"No, the Tac Squad's personal shields only stop energy weapons, like this plasma pistol. Only a ship can generate enough energy for shields like your cell door, shields that can protect against a physical attack."

"So, you can't shoot them, but you can hit them with something?"

"Yes," she answered slowly. "A personal shield allows for normal movement and contact between objects but blocks energy weapons. Otherwise the soldiers would not be able to get close enough to anything to pick it up."

Nick began working out a solution in his head. Growing up as a wunderkind of sorts, he had become accustomed to making the impossible possible. For him, defeat was not an option. The Mok'tu had to have a weakness somewhere. Given enough time, he would find it.

"We could draw them out and hit them from behind. Ambush them," Nick suggested.

Clearly annoyed by Nick's ignorance, Captain Argos interrupted. "This is all pointless. Tac Squads are trained to disable propulsion and hold the area until support arrives. They are very efficient. You can't flush them out, and you can't get close enough to hurt one without becoming a splat on the deck. We don't have much time either. You can bet more Mok'tu forces are on the way." The Captain spun his chair back around and checked the sensor readings.

The sound of the tube doors opening drew Nick's awareness. He didn't even have to look to know who it was. He could tell by the vibration of the floor that Karg was entering the room.

Karg went directly to the Captain. "They're entrenched good, Captain. They have all the access corridors to the aft section welded shut, except for Bay Two."

Nick touched Arya on the shoulder to get her attention. "What about a regular gun? Would that work?"

Arya looked confused by his question. "A what?"

"Gun powder, lead bullet?" He could tell by her expression that she had no idea what he was talking about. "Um, an explosion that pushes a mass through a tube, at a target."

"My ancestors had such things," answered Karg. "Long ago, before plasma weapons. We have no such ancient weapons here. Plasma much more efficient, will not punch hole through hull."

"Can we make one?" Nick questioned. "There has to be _something_ on this ship we could use."

The Captain looked at Nick sternly. "There is no time. Can you create that hole of yours again?"

Nick shook his head. "No. Even if I could get to my ship, the equipment is destroyed."

Argos looked back at Arya and Karg with his usual commanding gaze. "I need options. If we don't do something before their Star-Killer gets here...." The Captain stared straight into Arya's eyes. "I will _blow_ this ship before I let them take it."

Arya took a deep breath and gave Argos an apprehensive nod. "Understood."

Nick Bannon was not about to let himself fall into the hands of an alien race that even Karg feared. Nor did he plan on going down with the ship. He pointed at Arya's gun. "Tell me about your plasma pistol."

Arya looked at the Captain for his approval.

Argos nodded. "Show him."

She walked over to a smooth, white table protruding from a wall on the right side of the bridge. Pulling the magazine from her gun, she laid it on the table and dismantled the pistol's chamber. She held up the shiny silver ammo magazine for Nick to examine. "This clip contains the fuel pellets for the plasma reaction and the power source for ignition. Each clip contains 144 rounds." Reaching down, she picked up the dismantled reaction chamber. "The chamber is where the Quantonium pellet is turned into plasma, which is then held by a magnetic field. The electromagnetic field drives the plasma through the barrel. It all happens very fast."

"An electromagnetic field? Like a linear accelerator?"

"Yes. You know of such things?"

"Yeah, we use linear accelerators in our rail guns and...."  Nick thought for a moment. "That's it!" His explosive shout startled Arya, and her ears automatically folded back as she flinched. Nick was too focused to even realize that _he_ had scared _her_ for a change.

"Can you fire the pellet without transforming it into plasma?" Nick queried.

"Yes, but they are very small in mass. They wouldn't—"

Nick interrupted her. "What would happen if a Quantonium pellet hit something at high speed?"

"It would only make a small reaction, not enough to hurt anything."

"Damn.... Is there a way to transform the pellet into plasma on impact?"

Arya stared down at the dismantled weapon as she answered. "With the added energy of impact, it may be possible to use...." What Nick was postulating finally coalesced in Arya's mind. "Ah, I see. That may work." She quickly turned back toward the center of the Bridge where Karg and the Captain were discussing their plans. "Captain, we may have something."

Argos turned toward her. "Go on."

"Sir, I could modify our pulse weapons to fire Quantonium pellets coated with Corminium 80. The range would be limited though."

Argos lowered his gaze to the floor as he considered the proposal. "That may actually work. The Corminium would add the extra kick needed for a plasma reaction. It would get through the shield and then react on impact with the armor. Good work, Arya."

"Actually, it was his idea, Sir." She turned toward Nick.

Captain Argos looked past Arya at Nick. "If we get through this, I guess we'll owe you. But don't forget it was your ship they traced here." His gaze shifted to Arya. "Get to work. They'll be here soon." Argos then glanced at the four-armed hulk of an alien. "Karg, give them a hand. But if they fail, you know what to do."

"Yes, Sir," Karg replied. As he turned to leave, he motioned to Arya. "Come on. We have to get to storage section twelve."

"But section twelve is near Bay Two." Arya sounded concerned.

Nick called out from the rear of the group as they headed for the tube doors. "Uh...aren't the Mok'tu in Bay Two?"

Without breaking his stride, Karg called back, "The supplies we need are in a room across from Bay Two."

Going down and kicking some Mok'tu butt was alright with Nick, but the team had no effective weapons yet. What were they going to do if they ran into the Mok'tu before they were ready? "Hey, why is it _we_ don't have shields?" Nick asked.

Arya looked back over her shoulder. Nick could tell by her expression that he'd asked a stupid question.

Having arrived at the tubes, Karg opened the tube doors and pushed his bulk inside.  Nick and Arya followed, cramming themselves in alongside the beast.

"Only Tac Squads have shields," Arya explained. "And nobody has ever killed or captured a Tac Squad member. Anyone that ever got that close to them didn't survive. We have tried to replicate the tech, but so far we have failed. The power requirements are enormous. Not to mention its adverse effects on living tissue."

"Wait! Did you just say that no one has ever killed one of these things? Never? Not even once?" Nick was astonished.

Arya stared back at Nick. Without her saying a word he knew she was dead serious. The situation was bad and getting worse by the minute. Nick stood in silence, not sure if he wanted to know anything more. Perhaps confronting the Tac Squad was a bad idea, after all.

"Me and my big mouth," he muttered.

Nick's knees buckled as the tube stopped on deck six. The doors zipped open and Nick was pushed out as Karg squeezed out of the tube. Nick reluctantly followed the others as they trudged down the corridor toward their fate. He wasn't so sure he could make the impossible possible this time around, but if he could...if he lived....  Damn, there were a lot of _if_ s rolling around his head.

Nick lagged behind the two. Keeping up with the alien's superior speed was proving difficult. Karg suddenly slowed down and crept up to a corner in the hallway. The beast didn't make a single sound. Even the floor remained still as Karg's feet softly met the ground with each step. How the massive beast could suddenly be so stealthy was beyond Nick's comprehension.

Karg turned and pointed to a door directly across the intersecting corridor. Hunched down to avoid notice, he slowly stepped out into the adjoining passageway, waving for the others to follow him across.

Nick peered around the corner. The hangar bay was only several yards down the hall. He could see straight into the open doorway. Inside, two Mok'tu stood guard over Hyper One, their legs hidden from view by a few crates stacked in the way. The sight of the Mok'tu in person was a whole lot different than watching them on the vid-display. In the vid they looked as though they were wearing armor, but at this distance they appeared to be more like robots than armor clad aliens. Nick froze for a moment, worried they might spot him.

Apparently annoyed by his hesitation, Arya grabbed Nick's wrist and pulled him across the hall and into the supply room. Karg was already busy opening some sturdy containers at the back of the room. The beast carefully removed a metallic bar from one container and set it on top of a crate. Reaching over to a shelf, he grabbed a peculiar looking device out of a box and plopped it down next to the metal bar.

Meanwhile, Arya combed the room in search of something.

"What are you looking for?" Nick asked.

"Tarodine fluid. It's a green liquid in a short cylinder."

After a few minutes of going through boxes of stuff totally foreign to him, Nick found one that held numerous tubes of green liquid. An odd aroma wafted from the box, confronting his nostrils with its unusual scent. The contents smelled like a blend of wintergreen and motor oil. "Is this it?" he said, holding up a cylinder.

"That's it. Bring it over here." She took the cylinder from Nick and tossed it over to Karg.

After quickly emptying another container onto the floor, Karg placed the gathered supplies into it.

With everything they needed packed in the box, Arya eased up to the door and peered out. "Okay, come on, we need to get to the lab."

Nick followed close behind her as they crossed the corridor. Carrying the container of supplies, Karg tip-toed along behind them.

_Clink...clink...clunk...._ The odd sound coming from behind them gave Nick a hefty dose of adrenaline.  They all turned in unison to see a round device rolling into the corridor. The blinking light on the small orb warned of impending danger. Nick spun around and forced Arya further down the hall. "Run!"

"Plasma grenade!" Karg turned and ran, scooping up Nick and Arya in his two free arms as he raced down the corridor.

_Boom!_ The blast erupted behind them, knocking Karg forward off his feet. Hot plasma flew down the corridor toward them. With one arm around Nick, one around Arya and two bracing his fall, Karg landed on the floor and slid several yards before coming to a stop. He let go of his two passengers at the same time the box of supplies he'd dropped tumbled haphazardly down the corridor in front of him. Glowing edges of red-hot plasma rolled around Karg as the explosion dissipated. Beneath his chest lay his two companions, untouched by the blast.

Nick had landed on top of Arya, and the two lay sandwiched together nose to nose on the floor beneath Karg. He stared at Arya, half shocked by the explosion and half mesmerized by her eyes. Which one's heart raced more, he wasn't sure. He felt like a school boy, suddenly flung face to face with his biggest crush.

"You can get up now," she said softly. Nick's hesitation caused a smile to spread across her face.

"Oh, um, right, just making sure you're okay." He rolled over onto the floor. Karg was still on his knees hunched over them. As Nick looked up at him, a slight wisp of smoke rose off Karg's shoulder. "Thanks, Karg."

Karg nodded slightly.

Arya spotted the smoke coming off of Karg. "You okay, Karg?" she said in a concerned voice.

"Yeah, a little singed, but alright." He stood up and turned to look at his back. His clothes were burnt halfway off, leaving all four of his shoulder blades exposed.

"Good thing you're Rakozian," Arya said as she studied his back.

"Yeah, they'll have to try harder than that to take me out."

After gathering up their box of supplies and heading down the corridor as fast as they could, the team finally arrived at the brightly lit lab. All sorts of high tech equipment filled the clean, white room. Consoles and apparatuses lined the walls and a row of work tables filled the middle of the room. An isolation chamber stood ominously at the far end. Karg placed the box of things they had collected onto a table in the center of the room. Arya removed the items one by one and placed them in a neat row on the table.

 "Karg, can you set up the electron depositor?" Arya asked as she handed him the cylinder of green liquid.

Karg took the tarodine fluid and grabbed the metal bar from the table. "Right away." He turned and started configuring some sort of machine that stood against the wall of the lab.

Nick needed to find out more about the enemy he was about to face. "So, who are these Mok'tu anyway?"

Arya led him over to one of the consoles. Without touching it, an image displayed on the screen. "These are the Mok'tu."

Nick looked at the display for a moment then back at Arya. "But...how did the console know to bring up a Mok'tu on the display? You didn't tell it to, you didn't even touch it."

Arya sighed and turned to Nick. He had such a look of bewilderment on his face. Arya took one look at Nick's face and a grin erupted on hers. She couldn't help but let out a giggle. Even with the severity of the situation at hand, she just couldn't hold back the laugh.

"What's so funny?" Nick said, looking even more confounded.

"Nothing," she answered, letting out another giggle. "I'm sorry, you're just so cute, in an odd sort of way."

More confused than ever, Nick didn't know whether to be embarrassed or take her remark as a compliment.

Arya attempted to contain her amusement at Nick's ignorance. "I'm sorry, I know this is all new to you. You see, the nanites, as you call them, send data, only short range, to other nanites and to certain equipment. In our ships, it allows us to give commands without taking our eyes off our target. I sent the command to show this file, by thinking it. Among other things, nanites also send the language data they learn to others. That is how I understand you. After they learned your brain and language, that data was transferred to my nanites."

"So they receive information too?"

"Yes, but for security, they are limited to receiving only certain data, like language files."

The logic and technical skill of it was impressive, but it still frightened Nick a little. It was all he could do to shake the thought of those rogue nanites on Earth. "So tell me about these Mok'tu."

"What little we know of them has been collected from regular Mok'tu that were killed, and from the salvaged data records of ships that the Dragorans had destroyed. But the Tac Squads are a lot tougher than regular Mok'tu. They're more heavily armored and have shields. We know even less about them because no one has ever killed or captured one. What we _do_ know is the Mok'tu have redundant systems, so if they get damaged, they can continue to fight."

"Systems? What do you mean systems?"

Arya looked over her shoulder at Karg, who was busy preparing the ammo.

Karg just grinned and cocked his head, as if he knew what Arya was thinking. "I still remember my reaction at the site of the first dead Mok'tu I came across."

"Mok'tu are Biomechanoids," Arya said.

"Biomechanoid? You mean living machines?"

"Not exactly." She looked back at the screen. "The only biological part is the brain. They grow their young in artificial pods. Then remove the brain at birth age and place it into a mechanoid body. The machine body contains redundant systems to maintain the brain. Their method is highly efficient. With only a need to supply the brain with nutrients, they can extend their lifespan many times its normal length."

"That's horrible." Nick was disgusted by the mere thought of it.

"There is more. They have effectively cut off the perception of pain. Their robotic parts can sense if they touch something or get shot, and then they react or act accordingly, but their brain doesn't register pain. We feel pain so that we stop before our bodies get damaged. It's a self defense mechanism. But they do not need the sensory perception of pain. If they get a damaged limb, they just keep fighting. They have been known to remove a limb from one of their dead to replace their own inoperable one. They will even pull off their own crippled limb to use as a weapon. Unlike us, Mok'tu will gladly sacrifice a limb if it gives them a tactical advantage. They can also go for long periods without breathing air. They are intelligent, strong, resilient, ruthless and one hetek of an enemy."

Nick's body suddenly felt too heavy to maintain a standing position.  Overwhelmed by the bizarre situation he found himself in, he sat down heavily on the nearest object that would support his weight. This was really seeming more and more like a dream.  A really long, really bad dream.  Just when he thought he had a handle on this new, alien world, it got weirder. Not just weirder, but more dangerous than he could have ever imagined. They were facing an invincible enemy, one that wanted to steal his ship and presumably rip his head off.

Ignoring his weak moment, Arya continued.  "So, aim for the head. I don't know how many shots it'll take, but hopefully these new rounds will burn through the armor. If not, the heat may be enough to damage the brain inside."

"Right, aim for the head. Always aim for the head," Nick muttered, still dazed. "Shit. What have I gotten myself into this time?"

Arya turned her attention back to the task at hand. "How's it going, Karg?"

"Almost done. These rounds should have enough of a Corminium coating to achieve reaction, but still fit the weapon tolerances."

Under normal conditions, Nick would have been studying the apparatus in the lab, trying to learn more about this new alien technology, but that was far from his thoughts. He was focused on the enemy and how to get home. "Know when to fight," he said under his breath. "And when to run."

"Nick."

He glanced up to see Arya tossing a pistol through the air toward him. He reached out, plucked it out of the air, and looked back at her. By her stern look, Nick knew the time had finally come to fight. He held the pistol up and gave a nod, happy they trusted him enough to give him a weapon. "Thanks."

"It has a full clip, and I disabled the plasma converter," Arya remarked as she loaded spare clips into her pockets.

The pistol was amazingly lightweight.  Even with the full 144 round clip the gun was half the weight Nick expected. He wondered how the pistol's light weight would affect its accuracy. Guess he would find out soon enough.

On their way out, Arya stopped near the door and aimed her pistol at a cabinet across the room. With hardly a sound, and too fast to see, a round flew from the barrel and impacted the cabinet. A loud bang rang out from the cabinet, accompanied by a red flash. The blast left a nice round hole seared through the cabinet door. A small puff of smoke rolled from the hole and floated toward the ceiling.

"Just checking," she said as she turned to leave. "At least we know they work."

"Against cabinets," Nick added.

Arya called to Argos on the bridge. "Captain, we're ready."

Argos answered back over her comm. "Good work, now get those freking things off my ship. More will be here soon."

The group made their way back to the hangar and approached the doorway cautiously.

Nick held his pistol at the ready. "What's the range of these?" he whispered.

"With the new modifications, I'm not sure. I think they should be accurate to at least fifty urks."

"Um, okay, what's an urk?" Nick's nanites weren't translating that one.

"Oh, um...it's about from here to your ship. Sorry...your nanites don't know how to convert things like distances or time until we give them some parameters. Then it will translate. We'll take care of that later." Arya paused to glance at him. "If we survive this."

Karg interrupted. He turned to Nick and Arya, hunched over as low as he could get. "They can't see us because of the crates. We'll sneak in and spread out. When I give the signal, take out the Mok'tu closest to you. The more targets we give them, the less they will be able to concentrate their fire. I can only see three, so watch out for the other two."

Nick gave the big guy a nod and tried to mentally prepare himself for the fight ahead. Arya moved left behind a row of crates as Karg went right. Nick positioned himself a short distance from where they entered, crouching down behind the safety of a crate. At least he was close to the door in case they needed to retreat.

"Now!" Karg's thunderous voice startled Nick.

"Shit!  I wasn't ready yet," Nick muttered to himself.

With no choice but to go into action, Nick popped up from behind the crate and fired two rounds right between the eyes of one of the Mok'tu before ducking for cover again. The Mok'tu reacted quickly, releasing several rounds from its Gatling-gun style plasma rifle. The shots landed a little too close to Nick for comfort, blowing pieces out of the large crate that protected him. He shook the debris from his hair and ducked behind another nearby crate.

From his left, the loud thunder of plasma rifle blasts split the silence again. It was easy to recognize the distinct discharge as that of the powerful Tac Squad rifles. They had a uniquely lower pitch than Karg's rifle, and considerably more power. Another exchange of weapons-fire erupted and then everything quickly fell silent. The shots seemed to have emanated from the corner where Arya had been moments earlier. The sudden silence didn't bode well.

"Arya!" A surge of adrenaline cut Nick's cry in half.  Where the hell was she?  Dammit! Where was she? Fearing the worst, Nick frantically swept the area with his gaze. From all appearances, these biomechanoids could rip a person in two with very little effort.  He didn't like the thought of Arya meeting such a gruesome end.

Just as he was mustering the nerve to go after her, a Mok'tu soldier stepped from around the corner and into his line of sight.

"You bastards!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the huge hangar bay.

With lightning quick reflexes, Nick swung his pistol toward the approaching enemy. Before he could squeeze off a shot, the Mok'tu fell forward onto its face with a hollow metallic thud. A puff of smoke trailed up from its head, and a stream of thick red fluid oozed onto the floor from its shiny skull. The Mok'tu was dead.

Much to Nick's relief, Arya stepped out from around the corner.  She smiled as their eyes met.

"It took him longer to die than I expected," she said with a thankful sigh.

Nick struggled to catch his breath. His heart was still in overdrive from the massive amount of adrenaline being pumped into his veins. The roar of the weapons and the pounding of his heart left his ears ringing with an annoyingly loud hum. He managed to pull himself together and get in a couple of breaths before spotting something moving out of the corner of his eye.

"Look out!" Nick warned, as another Mok'tu rounded the corner behind Arya. The huge mechanical soldier towered over Arya's small frame. With her so close to it, Nick would never get a clean shot in time.

Arya spun around to bring her gun to bear, but she was too late. The enemy swung its powerful arm, sending her pistol flying across the bay, and knocking her to the ground. Without a second of hesitation, the metal soldier was over her.  It bent forward and grabbed Arya with its robotic arm, picking her up off the floor and raising her to eye level. Its long, cold, metal fingers wrapped all the way around to the back of her neck, clutching her tightly in an icy grip.

Arya was now face to face with the Mok'tu, staring into its unsympathetic visual receptors. As she hung there frantically kicking at it, she tried desperately to pry its huge fingers loose with her hands. It was no use, the metal monster was going to squeeze the life from her body and there was nothing she could do about it.

Nick's finger was poised on the trigger, ready to shoot, itching to kill the bastard. But he hesitated as he assessed the situation. Arya was so close to the Mok'tu that the plasma blast from his pistol might kill her. But if he didn't act quickly, the mechanoid soldier could snap her head clean off.

"Shoot!" Arya screamed, her muffled voice barely leaving her tightly clamped throat. "Shoot the freking thing!"

Nick squeezed off eight rounds in one rapid burst. As the rounds met their target, smoke poured from the Mok'tu's metal skull, but the beast didn't move. Nick sprinted toward the towering hulk, emptying another five rounds into its head as he drew closer. The Tac Soldier seemed unaffected.

"Why isn't it dying?" Nick yelled.

The soldier just stood there motionless with Arya flailing around in its grip. Nick pushed his legs into a flat out run, planning on using the momentum and his own body as a ramming device. When he was close enough to the Tac Soldier, he lunged feet first into the beast, kicking it square in the hip in an attempt to knock it off its feet. The monstrosity didn't budge. It was like hitting a brick wall. The collision jarred Nick's spine and sent him bouncing off. He landed hard on his left shoulder. The impact pushed the air out of his lungs and caused him to bite his lip by accident. He barely missed hitting his head on the floor beneath him.

"Crap!" he cursed. The damn thing was solid as a granite mountain. No wonder everyone was so afraid of them.

Ignoring the pain in his body, he rolled nimbly and was back on his feet in seconds. With precision born of instinct and training, Nick aimed his pistol at the eight foot tall Mok'tu's head and fired another burst of rounds. A stream of hot liquefied brains flowed out of the skull and dripped down the Mok'tu's body. But the massive, silver hulk remained standing.

Arya still hung helplessly in the hulk's grip, staring at the metal soldier's expressionless face while steamy red liquid oozed down its neck and dripped onto the hangar bay deck. She struggled uselessly against the Mok'tu's grasp as the beast's metal legs began to buckle. The Mok'tu slowly collapsed to the floor with her neck still held tightly in its powerful mechanical hand. Pinned under the heavy, lifeless monster, she lay on the floor, fighting to get free. "Get this thing off me!" she screamed in a panic.

"I'm on it!" Nick pushed at the dead soldier's torso.  He had to strain every muscle in his body just to push the thing off of her. It rolled over onto the floor with a metallic clank. Nick stared down into Arya's frantic face. She looked up at him in desperation, still hopelessly trapped by the Mok'tu's huge metal hand clasped around her neck. A tear rolled from the corner of her eye. She was scared.  She was actually scared. Nick was surprised by her sudden show of vulnerability. Until this moment, she had always been strong and in control. He'd never seen fear in her before.

"I guess we're not so different, after all," Nick mused.

Arya whimpered as she gazed up at him.

"It's alright. I've got you," he soothed as he bent forward to help her.

Nick pried the lifeless mechanical hand loose from Arya's throat. As soon as she was free, she rolled away from the thing and lay gasping on the floor, struggling for air.

The sight and smell of the Mok'tu's liquefied remains pooling on the cold metal deck was enough to make Nick wince in disgust. The choking stench was somewhat like burnt hair mixed with vomit. He pulled away, throwing his arm over his nose to block the stomach-turning stink. "Ugh, they even smell bad." He wouldn't forget that aroma anytime soon.

"What took you so long? It could have killed me." Arya held her throat and coughed several times, still trying to get a good breath.

"I was af—" The sound of weapons-fire stopped Nick from finishing.

Concerned for Karg's safety, they both jumped up to see where the shots originated. They peered over the crates. Two Mok'tu stood in an open section of the bay. One of the beasts fell immediately to the floor, its skull billowing smoke. The other swung its rifle around to fire at Karg who stood nearby.

Before his friends could react, Karg ran and leapt into the air, his feet flying in the direction of his adversary. The Mok'tu released a barrage of rounds from its rifle, trying to get a bead on the advancing target, but Karg's amazing speed didn't give it the chance. The shots flew under Karg, one barely grazing his leg as he soared through the air.

Karg's foot landed square on its mark, forcing his prey's head down to the floor. His massive weight smashed the Mok'tu's armor skull against the hangar deck, crushing it almost flat. Red gunk squirted out onto the deck from under Karg's huge foot as the Mok'tu's brain was squashed like a watermelon that had been run over by a tank.

"That's four," Arya said. She quickly surveyed the hangar. "Where's the last one?"

Loud metallic sounds echoed through the bay, like a huge metal door being unlocked.

Arya looked around, her ears twisting as she listened intently to the strange noises. "I've never heard the ship make _that_ noise before." As she turned back to Nick, her eyes widened. "I have a bad feeling about...this.... Frek! Run!"

Arya grabbed Nick's arm and pulled him in the direction of the door. "Karg, get out!" she yelled over her shoulder as she ran.

A rush of air howled through the doorway that led to the hangar, driving against them as they tried to escape. Fine grains of dirt kicking up from the corridor floor stung Nick's cheeks as it pelted him in the face. The two struggled to reach the door, but the air's velocity quickly increased until gale force winds swept Arya backwards through the air and over Nick's head. He instinctively reached up, grabbed her leg, and held on tight as she floundered like a kite in a stiff breeze. The tug of Arya's body fluttering in the tornado-like vortex yanked Nick over and onto his back. The wind dragged them toward the other side of the hangar, where Nick managed to grab onto a heavy crate in an attempt to anchor the two of them in place.

Arya pulled herself down Nick's arm and hung onto the crate with one hand, her feet drawn upward by the violent torrent of wind moving through the bay.

Nick's lungs hurt. The air pressure was dropping. And fast. He struggled to catch his breath in the lower oxygen level, but it was no use. The swirling sensation of lightheadedness was already upon him. If he could only get to his ship. One good breath from the craft's oxygen supply would keep him from passing out.

At least Arya seemed to be holding out. The firm grasp of her hand around his arm was evidence enough of that.

Nick struggled to maintain his grip, but he could feel himself fading fast.

Suddenly, the rush of air stopped and the two crashed to the floor.

"What the hell...was that?" Nick spoke between gasps, his lungs burning for more oxygen.

Arya huffed back a reply. "The Mok'tu breached the hull to get on board. Their breaching craft must have detached, leaving a hole to space. Which means one of those baskurts is getting away!" She looked around with a puzzled expression. "But...why did the vortex stop?"

They both stood up and stepped around the crates to see what had happened to Karg. Nick scanned the area with his gaze. The cargo bay was usually neat and orderly, but now crates and debris littered the floor. There was no sign of Karg anywhere. Where the hell did he go? And what stopped the air from rushing out of the hull breach?

Karg's voice echoed through the vast hangar bay. "Whenever you get a chance, I would appreciate it if you could give me a hand."

Nick and Arya looked around, unsure where the voice was coming from.

"I have no idea," Nick said as he turned in circles. "Where the hell is he?"

"Up here."

Looking up they spotted Karg hanging above them. Nick and Arya stood speechless, twisting their heads to get a better look at the strange sight. There was Karg with his back plastered flat against the ceiling, his arms and legs dangling down, like someone had glued him up there. The big hulk had flung himself in front of the breach, using his body to plug the hole. He was sucked tight to the ceiling, stopping the outflow of air and saving their lives.

Arya gazed up at Karg in bewilderment for a moment and then busted out laughing. It was the funniest thing she had ever seen. There was this big lug of a warrior, stuck firmly to the ceiling, helplessly waving his arms and legs.

"You're going to be the talk of the next mess hall gathering," she said between giggles.

"Now, is that any way to treat someone who just saved your life?" Karg called down.

"Sorry, Karg, we'll get you down soon. But first we need to get the systems back online." Arya turned toward the door at the far side of the bay. "Come on," she commanded Nick as she struggled to keep a straight face.

"Alright, but hurry up, my rear is getting cold," Karg hollered as he watched his two shipmates head to the door.

Nick glanced once more at Karg and then followed Arya to the doorway. He had to admit it was an awfully funny sight seeing Karg hanging there with his butt out in space and his four arms dangling helpless. "Now that's what I call seriously getting your ass in a crack. Never a camera around when you need one," he muttered to himself.

Arya called to Captain Argos over her com-badge while she quickly made her way down the corridor to the aft section. "Did you get that baskurt, Captain?"

"No, they disabled the weapons. We couldn't do anything but watch him fly off. We'll have to worry about him later. Right now we need propulsion and weapons back online."

"You'll have it, Sir." Arya paused in front of a thick, metal hatch.  She swung the door open, ducked inside, and quickly got to work restoring power to the engines.

Nick stood watching. It would take more time for her to explain what to do than for her to do it herself, so he stayed out of the way. She was definitely proficient at everything he had seen her do up until now, and this was no exception. Nick looked around, lost in the unfamiliar alien power distribution hub. Walls full of removable control boards surrounded them on three sides. Arya quickly rearranged the boards, rerouting the power conduits with great efficiency. Nick tried to follow what she was doing, but he was still two steps behind when she slid the last control board in.

With the circuits bypassed and a final throw of a large switch, Arya was finished. Lights throughout the hub popped on and the silence in the compartment was replaced by the low hum of active power conduits. "Power restored, Captain." Arya grinned at Nick. "Now let's go get Karg down."

On their way back to the bay, Arya stopped and pulled a couple of space suits out of a locker. "Here, see if this will fit you." She tossed one of the suits to Nick.

Nick slid the suit on, watching how Arya locked her gloves and helmet in place. The suit was obviously made for someone taller, so the blasted thing ended up all bunched up around his arms and legs. Not exactly a great fit, but he wasn't about to complain.

"Ready?" Arya asked through the integrated helmet communicator.

"Ready," Nick replied, still uncertain of what she was up to.

The two entered the bay, and Arya climbed up onto a stack of crates near to where Karg hung from the ceiling. She threw a breather unit up to him and then hopped back down to the deck.

"Are you going to do what I think you're going to do?" Nick stared at Arya apprehensively, and then glanced back up at Karg. "Can he survive without a suit?"

"Rakozians are pretty tough. With the breather, he can withstand being in a vacuum for a few chronits."

From a nearby control console, Arya sealed the access doors to the hangar. "You better hang on to something."

Nick watched Arya grab onto a girder and hold on tight. "Oh, crap." He quickly clutched the girder, wrapping his arms through the metal bars. _She's even crazier than I am!_ He thought.

Arya reached over and pressed a button on the console. The huge hangar door slid open, revealing a beautiful scene of stars lying beyond the force field that protected the bay.

Nick recognized the field as the same one he'd traveled through when he'd been pulled into the ship. With all the bizarre events that had happened to him since he'd come aboard, that seemed like ages ago. In reality, it had only been a day. One _hell_ of a day!

Arya tightened her grip on the girder. "Hold on."

With a beep from the panel, a warning siren squealed throughout the bay. Red lights mounted along the top of the metal walls flashed rapidly, turning the hangar into a bizarre dance-floor-like scene. Nick mashed his body against the metal column in preparation.

Suddenly, the force field holding the atmosphere in place dissolved, and an explosion of air blasted out into space. It was as though they were inside a champagne bottle and someone pulled the cork. The air left so fast that it was over in a couple of seconds, hurling an array of small objects out of the huge doorway. The debris spun away from the ship, weightless in the void of space. Some of the dead Mok'tu slid a few feet across the floor while Karg tumbled down the bay, coming to a stop some distance away. He stood up and gave a wave to let them know he was alright.

Nick looked down at the lifeless Mok'tu lying around on the deck. "Well, at least you have some of these bastards to study now." As he spoke, a light on the chest of one Mok'tu caught his attention. The little red light was flashing faster with each passing second. "Look!"

Arya turned to see what Nick was pointing at. "Sket! This way. _Hurry!_ " Motioning for Karg to follow, she led them to a transport ship docked in the bay. Arya punched some buttons on an external keypad mounted to the outside of the ship. With a hiss of air, the transport door opened, hinging down to create an entrance ramp. The team hurried inside, and Arya quickly closed the door behind them.

Nick followed Arya as she made her way to the cockpit of the ship. Numerous explosions suddenly erupted outside in the bay, rocking the transport as they stepped into the cockpit. Nick instinctively ducked as a metal hand was thrown straight at him by an explosion and slammed into the cockpit window directly in front of his face. Small metal parts landed all around the hangar bay, bouncing on the floor in the eerie silence of the vacuum before finally coming to rest. The Tac Squad had self-destructed. It was the Mok'tu's final desperate attempt at killing them.

Arya peered out of the window at the mess. "Now we know why no one has ever brought back a Tac soldier for study." She dropped her head back in the seat and sighed. "I was really hoping to find out more about their shields."

"Now what?" Nick asked as he stared out the cockpit window.

"We'll fly over to Bay One until we can repair this mess. Unless you would rather climb around outside looking for the air lock," she said, removing her helmet.

"No, thanks. Bay One will do fine." With the atmospheric pressure returning in the transport ship, Nick unlatched his helmet and pulled it off with a twist.

Arya looked over her shoulder at Nick. "We make a pretty good team."

"Yeah, a good...team," Nick replied, surprised she included him in their group. With everything going on he hadn't even been able to think about getting home, just surviving. "Is it always like this?"

"No.... This was one of our better days." Arya stared out the cockpit window as she maneuvered the craft out of the bay, never looking back at Nick. The tone in her voice was dead serious.

Nick was dead serious about his question. So far, it had been the roughest day of his life. If this was a good day, he wasn't sure he would make it through a bad one.

Arya turned toward Nick. Her serious look gave way to a grin.

One corner of Nick's mouth turned up as he fought to contain what was building in his gut. A laugh forced its way out from between his lips as he tried to hold it inside. He fell to the floor in an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Relieved for it to be over, relieved to be alive, and relieved Arya was joking, after all. His relief washed away the tension of the day and the only thing he could do was laugh.

Arya was also glad to have the episode with the Mok'tu behind them, for now at least. She couldn't help but let out a giggle at the sight of the strange alien life form rolling around on the floor of the transport, all red-faced and laughing hysterically.

Even Karg began to laugh as they cruised along, his deep rumble of mirth echoing through the empty transport ship as they made their way around to the other hangar bay.

Arya walked down the corridor leading to the mess hall. As she rounded the bend, she heard Karg and Nick talking to one another over their morning meal.

"Your calendar is made up of twelve munse, your clock is divided by twelve, but your math and currency is based on ten? That's the most backward thing I have ever heard," Karg announced in his deep voice.

Nick scratched an itch on the back of his neck. "To start with, it's months, not munse. And what else would math be based on? Math is math."

"Yes, one plus one equals two, but basing it on ten is inefficient. We base it on twelve."

Nick was still perplexed.

Karg looked at him across the table. "Look, ten can only be divided by one, two, five and itself. Twelve is divisible by one, two, three, four, six and itself."

"Yeah, but—"

Karg cut him off. "What's three quarters of ten? Seven and a half. A fraction. What's three quarters of twelve? Nine."

"Yes, but—"

"How much is that currency you carry?"

"It's a quarter." Nick pulled the coin out of his pocket and flipped it over in his hand. "This is an old one, from back when they still had some silver in them. It equals twenty-five cents," Nick replied.

"Is that a lot?" Karg queried.

Nick laughed. "No, it's not much. A penny is the smallest currency on my planet. This only equals twenty-five pennies. Why?"

"What is half of that? Twelve and a half. A fraction! See, your system is very inefficient," Karg boasted.

Nick glanced up to see Arya standing there grinning. She had been watching their discussion from the side of the room. Arya raised her eyebrows and cocked her head as if to say _well, he's right you know._ Nick just shook his head, trying to grasp the strange alien concepts.

"So, instead of a dollar being one hundred pennies, it should be ninety-six? And a quarter would be twenty-four?" Nick said, narrowing his eyes in thought.

Karg laughed and banged the table hard with his hand, causing Nick to jerk so abruptly that he almost fell out of his chair. "Now you're getting it," Karg said. "There's hope for you, after all." Karg gulped down the purple gorban juice from his cup and stood up to go get some more, letting out a deep burp as he went.

"Well, Karg seems to be warming up to you," Arya remarked, as she approached the table. "I came to tell you that Captain Argos wants you to answer some questions later."

Nick nodded as he stared off into space. He'd known it would only be a matter of time before Argos would want answers.

Arya glanced down at Nick's plate of uneaten food. "You okay there? Don't like the karesh meat?"

Nick's gaze panned over to Arya. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine, just didn't sleep much." He looked down at the not _quite_ identifiable food in front of him. "The food is pretty good actually. What is Karesh anyway? No, wait...maybe it's better you don't tell me."

Arya sipped some juice from her cup. "Have you tried the gorban juice? That will make you feel better. You should get some before it's gone. It's not often that we have it."

"Thanks, I will." Nick poked around on his plate with the two-prong fork that came with his tray of food. "Can you tell me where I am?"

"You're in a star system called Garanta Orionis. Some still call it by its ancient Arisian name, Back Of The Giant," Arya answered. "Which, by the looks of it, is very far from your home."

Nick stared at her for a long moment. "That doesn't really help me a bit." He sighed and scrubbed a hand across the back of his aching neck. "It sucks being lost and not knowing where the hell I am. I mean, I didn't plan on being here. I'm really not supposed to be here at all. Wherever _here_ is. Don't get me wrong. If your ship hadn't picked me up, I'd be dead. So, I am very grateful you brought me aboard. And you have been very kind to me, but my coming here was just an accident. I don't even know _how_ I got here."

Arya set her cup down on the table. "I can see you are missing your home.... I too miss mine. It has been such a long time since I have been to my home-world." Arya looked almost wistful as she thought about her planet. "I really miss the Sarlansis trees. There are huge forests of them. At least there used to be, before the war." Arya lifted her gaze back to Nick. "Your home must be awfully far away for us not to have _some_ record of your species in our databanks. You really don't have any idea how to get home?"

Nick shook his head no as he toyed with his food.

"Well, Captain Argos will have the final say, but maybe we can help you find your home planet."

Nick stared down at his plate.

Arya leaned down to get his attention. "You should eat. You'll need your strength. I'll get you some juice. It'll help your energy." Arya left the table to round up a cup of juice, leaving Nick still staring at his plate, lost in his thoughts.

Moments later, she returned and plopped a cup down on the table. "Here you go. Taste it."

Nick agreeably lifted the cup to take a sip. "Wow. That _is_ really good. Kind of like fruit punch, only better. Thanks."

Arya sat down and shoved some karesh into her mouth.

Nick glanced around at the almost empty room. In one corner, a couple of aliens were gathering some food containers. The two creatures were completely covered with what appeared to be spacesuits. He only caught a hint of their creepy faces through their masks as they turned to leave. They appeared to be four-legged with two arms and a bizarrely shaped head. The aliens were definitely odd, and it was even odder that they were wearing spacesuits _inside_ the ship. It made him realize that overall he hadn't actually seen many crewmembers. Only a handful since being brought on board.

"I've noticed that there seems to be a very small crew for a ship this size," he said, still watching the two spacesuit-clad aliens exiting the room.

"Meths."

"What?" Nick turned to Arya with a befuddled look.

"We call them Meths. The two Coranii you were looking at over there. They're methane breathers. Whatever you do, steer clear of areas marked with red and yellow 'METH' signs."

"Oh, um, right. I'll do that." Nick's brain was still stuck on the whole methane breather thing as Arya continued.

"The Resistance is spread pretty thin. We only have enough crew to run the ship. That way we reduce our losses if one ship falls to the enemy," Arya explained through her mouthful of food.

"Resistance?"

"The Resistance is formed out of all the indigenous races in this sector. We have banded together against our common enemies. We're the ones that were lucky enough to escape the war between the Mok'tu and the Dragoran Empire. We were just in the right place at the right time to be spared. But we are few. The Resistance tries to rescue any survivors that it can. We stay in the shadows, attempting to fight the enemy any way possible. I feared our fight was a hopeless cause. But then you showed up with that ship of yours. You destroyed a Planet-Killer and a Dreadnought in one swoop. I knew then that the Divine One had answered our pleas. You are our salvation."

"Your salvation? I can't even get home. How could I be your salvation?" Nick asked, bewildered.

Arya's eyes glazed over as she spoke. "Our prophecies tell of a Great War spreading over this sector, and a brutal fight against soulless beings of metal and scales. It was written that when all appears to be lost, a noble warrior from a distant world would split the sky and swallow our violent oppressors, freeing our people. I never believed much in prophecy, and I never understood what it meant by _split the sky_ , but now here _you_ are. It's all so clear to me now."

Nick looked at Arya's hopeful eyes. He hated to crush her faith. "Look, I...I'm not who you think. I am just a man from Earth. A very _lost_ man from Earth."

Arya grinned. "The prophecy said you would be humble."

Nick dropped his head and sighed. "I liked it better when I was being shot at. At least I know how to handle that," he grumbled under his breath.

A beep from Arya's com-badge announced an incoming call. "Arya, bring...Nick to my ready-room."

"Right away, Sir." Arya stood up. "Come on Noble Warrior, you don't want to keep the Captain waiting."

Nick rolled his eyes. This whole savior thing made him really uncomfortable. Was this day going to turn out even worse than yesterday? What's going to happen when they found out he's really not their prophesied hero?

Once in the transport tube, Nick readied himself for the pressure of the lift's acceleration. As the tube shot upwards, Nick stood with his knees locked against the force with a smile on his face, happy that his legs didn't buckle this time. His pride would have been bruised if he let it beat him again. The tube came to a blistering halt. Nick's inertia carried him upwards an inch off the floor before he dropped back down. His feet hit the floor hard. The force transferred up through his rigid knees, jarring his teeth and forcing him off balance. Hoping Arya didn't notice, he wrestled to gain his composure. The damn thing still got the best of him.

The tube doors opened into a relatively small room with a curved, black table in the middle. The smooth, polished table sported a row of chairs around the outside of the curve. Facing them from the only chair on the opposite side was Captain Argos. From what Nick understood, the table was different than the ones on other ships. This one was the Captain's own design. He liked to have people close enough to see their eyes when he talked to them.

Nick and Arya stepped out of the tube and into the ready room.

"Thank you, Arya. You're dismissed," Argos said without hesitation.

Arya nodded and stepped back into the tube. The tube doors shut and she was gone, leaving Nick and the Captain alone.

Nick stood facing Argos with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Under other circumstances he would have suspected that the karesh wasn't sitting well with him, but he knew it wasn't the food. This was going to be an inquisition, and he was damn uncomfortable about it. The next few minutes would determine his fate. What could be going through the Captain's mind? After all, Nick was an outsider here. Hopefully he could reason with Argos, and with any luck, he could convince the Captain to at least spare his life.

"Please sit." Argos motioned to the row of comfortable looking chairs in front of the table. Nick spun the nearest chair a quarter turn, sat down and turned back to the Captain, who stared at him intently.

"Some of the crew believe you are fulfilling an ancient prophecy. They think you are here to save the galaxy." Captain Argos leaned across the table and gave him a stern look.

Nick looked away, trying not to meet the Captain's steely gaze. The large cat-like eyes of Captain Argos were unsettling. Like having a predator's gaze locked on you just before the kill. The sharp teeth didn't help much either.

 Argos leaned in closer. "I don't believe in prophecy. I believe in actions. I believe in honor."

A scary silence permeated the room as Nick waited for Argos to make his point.

"Your actions so far have been honorable. You fought bravely to save this ship, and for that I am in your debt. Of course you _were_ fighting to save your own neck, so I'm not entirely sure where that puts you." Argos paused and stared at the tips of his green fingers, which he rested on the table in front of them.  "No, I don't believe you're the savior that was prophesied about two thousand years ago, but I sure hope to God you prove me wrong...because, short of a miracle, my people, our culture, will be lost forever if we don't win this war." The Captain sat back in his chair, and a translucent image appeared over the table.

Hovering above the center of the table was a perfect three dimensional holographic model of Nick's hyperspace ship. Below the model were several schematics of the circuitry found within the craft. Nick recognized the schematics. He had almost singlehandedly designed those circuits himself. As he watched, the skin of the model floated away revealing the internal structure of the craft. It was an almost complete blueprint of Nick's ship.

"Your ship is very primitive. It's amazing you survived your journey." Argos peered at Nick with a suspicious squint. "How is it that a race as primitive as yours has technology that's beyond the grasp of even the Mok'tu? The power of this weapon is almost incomprehensible."

Nick spoke up. "It's not a weapon...Sir. It's only an experiment in high speed communication and space travel."

Argos raised his voice. "You can dran well bet the Dragorans and the Mok'tu think otherwise! You ripped their biggest ships apart like telura paper. I'd like to know _exactly_ how you did that. Unfortunately, now our enemies know you're on this ship, and that puts this vessel in serious danger. They want this technology, and they want it badly. The power to alter the fabric of space itself would make them practically invincible. The Tac squad that attacked us was only interested in one thing. This ship of yours. Arya was right. This technology in the hands of the Mok'tu would seal the fate of the entire galaxy."

Captain Argos stood up and paced in front of the window of his ready-room. Outside, a dark and barren planet loomed, framed in a picturesque backdrop of a brightly-colored nebula. Argos paused to look out of the window a moment, but he didn't seem to notice the impressive view. His mind was clearly focused on the matter at hand. He took a deep breath and continued. "I am faced with a very difficult decision. Try to use this tech to our advantage and risk that it may fall into enemy hands. Or destroy any signs of the technology and risk losing everything." Argos turned and fixed Nick with a hard gaze.

The lump in Nick's throat returned with a vengeance. The Captain clearly referred to Nick when he said ' _destroy any signs of the technology_.' Sweat rolled off Nick's forehead as he waited for the Captain's next words. Argos didn't seem interested in letting him off the hook easily. Instead, the Captain just stood there, silently staring out of the window, his hands clasped behind his back. He was an intimidating figure, strong, confident and in control. And he knew it.  Nick was at a serious disadvantage.  He had no say in the matter whatsoever, and that knowledge hung like an anvil around his neck.

"Or a guillotine," he muttered under his breath.

By the corresponding twitch of Argos' pivoting ears, Nick assumed the alien's hearing was keener than a human's.

Nick wasn't stupid. The knowledge in his brain would be as dangerous as the hyperspace ship in the hands of those Mok'tu monsters. He knew it, and so did the Captain. As long as Nick was alive there would always be a chance the Mok'tu would extract the information from him. Especially given their level of technology. That made him a huge liability. And being a liability made Nick very uneasy.

Nick waited for what seemed like an eternity in the excruciating silence. The tension filling the room was nearly more than he could take. His fate hung by a thread. And that thread could very well snap with the Captain's next word.

Argos turned back to Nick. "Fortunately for you, I believe the Mok'tu were able to get a fairly detailed scan of your ship. That's why the last member of the Tac Squad bolted out of here so fast. Your craft's technology was their mission objective, not capturing this ship. That means I need you and your knowledge to even the balance."

The blood throbbing in his ears was all Nick could hear by the time Argos had finished speaking. His heart was pounding like he'd just run a Moon Dome marathon race. This damn place was going to give him a heart attack yet. Nick slid down in the chair as the tension in his muscles relaxed a little. At least they still needed him. For the time being. _Breathe, Nick. Breathe._

Argos jabbed a strong finger in the air and highlighted a few areas of the holographic model. "We have analyzed the design of your craft, but there are several key systems that are damaged beyond recognition. We have been unable to decipher their construction or function. There is no way we can replicate those missing pieces. But I have no doubt the Mok'tu are making the study of your ship their highest priority. If they're able to reconstruct this technology first, no planet will be safe. We need to beat them to it. Will you help us?"

Nick pondered the repercussions of his next words. He had already been questioning the decisions that had led him to his current predicament. This may be the biggest decision of his life, with consequences well beyond what any man should ever have to consider. It was his fault this technology was thrust upon these people, and he had no misconceptions about what the Mok'tu would do with it. The Captain was right. No planet would be safe, not even Earth. It was looking like Nick had little choice.

"Yes. I will help you, Captain."

Captain Argos released a noticeable sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"On one condition," Nick added.  "When this is over, you help me find my way home."

It was the first time Nick saw Argos smile.

"Agreed. Welcome aboard the Ashok." Captain Argos stretched out his hand.

Nick stood and reached out to shake the Captain's hand, but the Captain grabbed Nick's forearm in an Arisian gesture of friendship instead. Realizing his ignorance of their ways, Nick awkwardly reciprocated by clasping Argos' forearm.

Captain Argos gave one quick shake, squeezing Nick's arm slightly, then let go with a nod of his head. The Captain's grasp was as formidable as his persona.

Nick's head was pounding from the anxiety and elevated blood pressure of having his ass momentarily on the chopping block, but it seemed he would live to fight another day.

Argos tugged his uniform straight and rounded the table to sit down again. His demeanor shifted from hard-nosed Captain to one of an old friend. "I'll have the crew set up a work area for you in the hangar immediately. We'll try to obtain whatever supplies you require. But first, tell me more about this experiment of yours. I have already seen its potential as a weapon. Tell me how it can be used in space travel and communications."

Over the next hour, Nick proceeded to explain how the hyperspace generator worked and the accident that had landed him in their territory.  When he was finished, Argos sat quietly. Nick recognized the look on his face. It was the same look his father would get when he had a lot on his mind. Argos must have had a whole universe on his.

Argos nodded almost to himself and looked at Nick with a blank stare. "Thank you. You should get some rest. We have a lot of work to do."

Argos stood, making it clear he needed some time to process what Nick had told him.

"Yes, Sir." Nick abruptly stood and walked to the transport tube. As the doors closed, he watched the Captain gaze from his window into the vastness of space. It was doubtful Argos was admiring the spectacular view. Nick could only guess the depth of conversation going on inside his mind.

"This is the Captain. In order to acquire the supplies we need, I am forced to move us away from this sector and the Mok'tu's advancing troops. I am therefore taking us into _Demented Space_."

Arya looked at Karg. She was clearly uneasy. "He's not serious, is he?"

Karg didn't say a word. He just stared back at Arya with a peculiar look on his face.

" _Demented_ Space?" Nick asked, watching the two's uncomfortable stare. "What's Demented Space?"

Arya turned toward Nick, answering reluctantly. "It's an area of space that everyone avoids. Things don't quite work right there. Spatial distortions cause navigation to be treacherous, and only those who are running from something venture there. Pirates, outlaws, and the like. It's a very dangerous place. There's really not a lot of reliable information about that region of space. Of all those that have gone there, few have returned, and their stories are...bizarre."

"Like Queens," Nick remarked.

Arya scrunched her nose and shook her head slightly. "What the frek is Queens?"

"Sorry. Inside joke."

Arya looked at Nick for a long moment, her green, cat-like eyes expressing her inner thoughts, which clearly said that she wasn't so sure about this silly creature called Nick.  After only a brief pause, she went back to her conversation with Karg.

"At least the Mok'tu or Dragorans aren't likely to be there. It's not strategically important enough for them to bother with," Karg said.

"I agree. I haven't heard of either race having any interest in that part of space. It's too...demented. The old star charts I've seen often depict Demented Space as a blacked-out area filled with the monsters of legend that are said to live there. It was said the monsters could swallow ships whole. Unfortunately, even today we don't have any reliable charts of that area. It's still a big unknown."

By the tone of Arya's voice, Nick could tell she didn't take the monster stories seriously. "Monsters or not, I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Nick replied.

On the Bridge, Sirok meticulously scanned the nearby star system. He watched his holo-display closely as the details of the scan came in. One gas giant and two smaller rocky planets, one of which had a breathable atmosphere. It was the first system capable of sustaining life that they had encountered since entering Demented Space. Sirok's console beeped while a red circle flashed on the screen in front of him. Finally, something interesting. "There's an energy reading coming from the second planet, Sir."

"Move us in closer. Carefully. Run a full scan when in range," Argos commanded.

"Bringing us in closer, Sir."

The ship plunged deeper into the solar system, eventually settling into a synchronous orbit around the second planet.

"Sir, the energy reading is coming from a group of structures on the surface."

"Life signs?"

"No life signs detected, Sir. But readings are extremely limited, due to magnetic and atmospheric distortion."

"See if you can cut through some of the distortions and get me more detail on what's down there. I don't want to send a team down blind."

Sirok turned back to his screen and punched numerous buttons on his console. "Yes, Sir. I'm working on it."

Down in the mess hall, Karg took the last delicious bite of his meal and belched in appreciation. "Dran, that was good. Too bad that was the last karesh we had left."

Nick stared at the remnants of food on Karg's chin. "By the looks of it, I'd say you were stocking up until the next time, Car. How many plates did you have?"

"Six, if you don't count desert."

Arya swallowed a large bite of roll. "What did you just call him? Kar?"

"Yeah, you know, a...." Nick paused and grinned. Talk about weird. It was the first time he'd ever needed to explain what a car was. "On my planet we have these vehicles with four wheels.... Well most of them have four wheels. Anyway, we call them cars. That's what he reminds me of," Nick replied, nodding toward Karg.

Arya followed Nick's gaze back to Karg. "Karg reminds you of a four wheeled vehicle?"

"No, he's as big as one, and his name...is kind of like car. So I just call him Car."

"Is your entire species this strange?" Arya quipped.

"Yes." Nick squinted and then shook his head. "No. I mean...." He paused with his mouth open as he thought. "Never mind," he sighed.

The Captain's voice broke the conversation. "Arya, I need you to put together a landing party. We're getting some energy readings from the surface of the planet we're orbiting. Maybe there's a settlement down there where we can pick up some supplies. Bring Bannon with you in case there's something down there he can use as well."

"Yes, Captain. We'll be ready in twelve chronits."

The transport pitched violently as the team pushed through the planet's dense atmosphere. Electrical discharges fanned out in all directions, creating a spectacular lightning show in front of them. As they broke through the cloud layer, the dark, foggy surface of the planet came into view. A gloomy place if there ever was one. Nick fully expected to see Frankenstein's castle looming out of the fog as they approached.

"There's definitely an energy source ahead. It's different than anything I have ever seen before," Arya noted as she studied the cockpit display.

Karg stared at the monitor in front of him. "I still don't see any life signs."

As they neared the power source, Arya set the transport down just outside of what appeared to be a small town.

"Captain...do you read?" Arya turned to Karg. "Just as I thought, the atmosphere is blocking communications."

Karg stood up and opened the weapons locker door on the back wall of the cockpit, exposing half a dozen plasma rifles. He grabbed two rifles and tossed them to Nick and Arya while loading one for himself.

Watching Karg was weird. Nick still couldn't get over Karg's four arms working in unison. It was so alien, so...well, cool. Talk about efficient. Nick grinned at the thought of Karg playing football or basketball. He would definitely be a first round draft pick, that's for sure.

"We don't know what we're dealing with out there, so be careful." Arya arched an eyebrow at Nick. "Especially you."

Nick scrunched his brow. "What do you mean, _especially me?"_ he said as he followed her to the door controls. She acted as though she didn't hear him, but Nick knew her sensitive ears never missed a thing.

Arya reached up and pressed the release button. A slight hiss escaped from the door as the small difference in air pressure equalized. The ramp swung down, sending puffs of fog rolling away as it came to rest on the ground. The team moved out slowly. Arya held up her scanner and pointed to the hazy outline of two buildings ahead. "This way." She led the team cautiously through the misty, tree lined path with Karg bringing up the rear.

Arya panned the area with her scanner. "I'm not getting any life signs at all. No people, not even an animal. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this, guys." She headed to the doorway of a nearby building and swung the heavy wooden door open. Switching on her rifle-mounted tactical light, she swept the room as she entered. As she disappeared into the dark doorway, she let out a blood-curdling scream.

Nick's stomach lurched up into his throat as he scrambled to get to Arya. He quickly entered the doorway and stopped abruptly, almost ramming into Arya as she backed out of the room.

Also reacting to Arya's scream, Karg ran to investigate. He bolted into the darkened doorway and slammed straight into the back of Nick. The massive force of Karg's momentum sent Nick and Arya crashing face-first onto the floor.

Nick grunted as he hit the ground hard. Worried about the dangers lurking in the nearby darkness, he quickly opened his eyes again, automatically preparing for a fight. Only inches away, a ghostly figure stared back at him through the fog, glimmering ominously in the beam of Arya's rifle light. His eyes strained to focus on the image so close to his nose. Who or what was on the floor next to him? As he pulled his head back, he could finally make out the fuzzy image. Startled, he clawed his way backward in fright.

Lying there, glowing eerily in the thick fog, was a corpse. The body almost appeared to move as the misty fog surrounding it danced through the light. The jaw of the corpse hung open in a terrible, silent scream―now forever frozen on its gruesome face. The alien's stiff hands were reaching out into the inky blackness of the room as if it had been begging for its life in its final moments. From the look on its face, it had experienced a horribly painful death.

Arya stood up and checked her gun while the males surveyed the corpse. Karg circled the body, as if studying it from another angle would help explain why it was there.

"Why does he have that look on his face?" Nick asked, wincing at the sight. "I just can't stand to look at him anymore. It gives me the creeps." He grabbed a nearby cloth and threw it over the body. Despite his attempts to squelch it, a shiver raced along his spine and the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. He hadn't felt that since the night he'd hung out in the graveyard with his buddies. How old was he at the time? Fourteen, maybe? This had that same feel. Creepy.

Arya studied her scanner. The readings seemed to puzzle her. "This makes no sense.  He's only been dead a day, but I can't figure out what killed him. There's no injuries or signs of disease. It's as if the cells of his body just stopped."

"Could it be some kind of pathogen? A virus or something?" Nick  postulated.

"No. I have checked for any sign of viral damage or poison. So far, nothing. There doesn't seem to be any type of contagion. That's one good sign. At least we appear to be safe here. For the moment."

Nick looked around warily. "Yeah...right. Personally, I'll feel better once we're back on the ship." Another chill ran up his spine. Something just wasn't right. He couldn't put his finger on it. Just a gut feeling. He hated when he got those feelings way down in his bones. They were seldom wrong.  And almost always bad.

Arya checked the rest of the room. Not finding anything useful, she headed to the door. "Come on. Let's get to that power source. Maybe we'll find some answers there."

As the team closed in on the energy reading, they encountered one dead body after the next, scattered throughout the town. Every corpse had the same horrific look on their face.

Nick's heart pumped harder with each new ghastly discovery. "Yeah, I'm definitely getting a bad feeling. Let's finish and get the hell outta here."

Karg and Arya nodded in agreement. Eyes wide with apprehension, they cautiously made their way through the settlement, methodically homing in on the source of the emissions. The team positioned themselves outside the front door of a building in the center of town. The energy readings appeared to be emanating from within the structure.

Karg glanced toward Arya and whispered, "Ready?"

With a nod from Arya, Karg kicked in the heavy door and they all stormed into the building. They came to an abrupt stop just inside the shadowy doorway, all of them listening intently for any sign of movement. But only an eerie silence greeted them.

The dreary room was filled with an array of strange, dusty gizmos and apparatuses. Arya scanned the area for signs of life, but just as before, there seemed to be nothing alive. Fanning out around the dark room, they searched for the source of energy concealed there. Through the dark cluttered rows they crept. Shadows cast from their gun-mounted lights danced through the odd assortment of objects and across the floor, making the whole scene even creepier.

Nick's heart felt like it was in a race as it thumped away at higher than normal speed. This was too much like being in one of those horror movies where someone or something was about to jump out of the shadows and eat him.  A sudden tug on Nick's arm sent him into a frenzy. He spun around, screaming like a little girl. "Aghhh!"

The light from his gun landed on the face of a monster. Rows of razor sharp teeth gleamed in the light as the beast lunged toward him. Nick jerked away, plunging backward as he fired two rounds point-blank into the hairy creature. Unable to break his backward momentum, Nick fell on the floor, the creature landing squarely on top of him. He struggled under the stout beast and fired a few more rounds into the monster's chest as he screamed for help. "Help! Karg! Something's got m—"

Just then he heard the low roar of Karg's laugh. The deep guttural chuckle snapped Nick out of his panic. Nick opened his eyes to look at the creature on top of him. It wasn't moving. He felt no pain. Perhaps he'd killed it before it could hurt him. As he looked up from beneath the thing, there stood Karg, his light illuminating the hideous beast.

Karg reached down and picked the hairy thing off of Nick and pushed it upright.

Nick stared at it, confused for a moment. The damn thing was stuffed! _A trophy, perhaps?_ It looked sort of like a grizzly bear. A grizzly with a Pacman-like mouth containing a hundred pointed teeth. No, maybe it was more like an ape. Whatever kind of beast it was, it sure looked scary as hell.

Nick studied the oddity as he got up and dusted off his pant leg. The eight foot tall beast stood ominously on its wooden base, its long claws reaching out into the darkness. The damn thing's claw must have snagged on his vest, and he had pulled it over on himself when he tried to run.

Nick shrugged and glanced around, too embarrassed to say a word. He figured Karg wouldn't let him live this one down any time soon. He'd be getting plenty of grins from the crew when he got back to the ship.

"Over here!"Arya yelled. "The readings are coming from this device."

The two rushed forward, stumbling through the cramped row of equipment as they followed Arya's voice. They found her standing over a strange device which sat atop a table in the center of the room. A corpse lay face down on the table, one emaciated hand still holding something attached to the device.

Nick carefully studied the apparatus in the dead alien's hand. "It looks like.... A dead man's switch! We have to get out of here!" he exclaimed.

Arya rolled her eyes. "Relax, the device has already been triggered. It's not a bomb or any kind of weapon. It seems to be more like an energy storage device of some kind. Maybe they were hoping someone would spot the energy signature and come to help them."

Arya reached down to flip open a cover on top of the device.

Nick automatically reached out to stop her, but it was too late.

A green glow radiated outward from a crystal embedded within the unusual device, illuminating the faces of the team as they leaned in to take a look.

"Alright, we've looked. Are we done? Can we go now?" Nick said nervously.

"Wait, I want to take this back for study. Round up the papers on the table so we can translate them," Arya commanded of Nick. "Karg, grab this thing and let's get back to the ship."

Nick pulled the pile of papers together, glancing curiously at the diagrams and alien writing as he quickly stuffed them into his tactical backpack.

The three left the creepy, equipment-laden room, and headed back down the path to the transport.

Arya's scanner suddenly emitted an odd beeping sound. She pulled it out of the pouch on her hip, and with a quick glance at the screen, stopped dead in her tracks. "Sket!"

Tension soared as the team surveyed the landscape in front of them, looking for any sign of impending doom. Nothing but silence in every direction. Not even the buzz of a single insect broke the eerie quiet of the foggy, alien forest. The unnatural lack of noise had Nick's nerves on edge from the moment he'd stepped onto the planet.

"What is it?" Nick whispered.

"I'm not sure. This distortion is playing havoc with the scanner. I think it could be.... Dragorans! They must have found the transport." Arya looked over at the alien device Karg was carrying. "They'll be able to track the energy source to us. Maybe we can use that to our advantage. Get back to the village."

The fog rolled in thick as the team reached the courtyard of what was presumably the town square. Karg placed the energy device at the center of the square and ran for cover.

Arya removed her com-badge and placed it behind the device.

"What are you doing?" Nick asked, perplexed.

"I'm using the scanner to configure the com-badge." She continued pressing buttons on the onscreen keyboard as she spoke. "I need it to amplify the energy signature being emitted from the device."

Nick gave her a confused look. "Won't that help them find us faster?"

"Yes. And no. The added signal strength should help to mask our bio-readings in all of this background interference, making it harder for them to pinpoint our location. We better hide, they should be here soon." Arya put her scanner back in its holster and motioned to a nearby building and the second floor vantage point it offered. Without so much as a glance at Nick, she turned and went off in the opposite direction.

Nick made his way to the second floor balcony that Arya had pointed to, and waited for the advancing enemy. "Why is it I can never get a break?" Nick muttered to himself. From the minute he'd popped into this part of the universe, people had been shooting at him. It would be nice to have one day that his life wasn't in imminent danger.

Feeling frustrated, scared, and even...dammit...a little hungry for a good old American cheeseburger, he pushed his back into the dark corner of the balcony and waited. He was barely settled in before a small pebble smacked him right between the eyes and landed at his feet. "Ouch!" The whack in the head snapped Nick out of his daydream. Glancing up, he saw an annoyed Arya trying to get his attention from the rooftop across the square. Arya threw her hands up and then pointed to a nearby alleyway. She was signaling the approach of the Dragoran troops. He leaned forward and peered down vigilantly from his second floor hiding place.

Within moments, a group of three Dragorans cautiously approached between two of the buildings at the edge of the square, pausing momentarily to assess the situation. Nick was finally able to get a look at these reptilian aliens. They were just as big as he had been told, with hard scaly skin that looked even tougher than a gator's hide.

"I'll be damned, they're...red." The reports he'd seen hadn't mentioned their color. He expected them to be greenish or brown like an alligator, but they were big, bright-red reptiles. They stuck out like a sore thumb.

The lead Dragoran stood like a confident warrior in his flashy metal armor, sweeping the area with his eyes and tasting the air with his tongue. The big lizard hesitated at the corner of the building.

"Yeah, buddy," Nick murmured. "The scene smells of an ambush and you ain't falling for it."

With a gesture, the lead lizard sent two soldiers off behind him to circle around the buildings as he stayed in the shadows, scanning the area.

The team needed a clean shot. It would take all their combined fire power to take down the Dragorans. From what Nick had been told, the lizards were cunning adversaries but prone to over confidence. Apparently, Arya was counting on that weakness, but they had to get all the Dragorans together in one place. If they didn't take them out all at once, they risked one of the lizards slipping away to warn the others.

The team watched the streets closely from their hidden vantage points, waiting for any sign of the elusive enemy troops. Nick felt like he was in a vacuum, overwhelmed by the silence of the moment, the eerie fog, the dead bodies of weird aliens strewn about, and now a band of assassins speeding up his tailpipe. He felt alone and damn scared out of his mind, not knowing what to expect or what direction death would come from.

"Where the hell did you two lizards go?" he whispered, one eye to the site of his rifle as he peered down at the Dragoran leader.

They were going to have to force the lizards out into the open, and, despite his fear, Nick was already formulating a plan. Flipping off the newly added chamber ignition switch on his rifle, he switched his ammo magazine to the specially modified rounds they had used on the Mok'tu. He held up his weapon and gestured for Arya to change her magazine as well.

Arya caught on right away and relayed the message to Karg. Ammo changed, they were ready.

Plasma bursts suddenly erupted from the tree line that surrounded the town. Unable to pinpoint where the fire was emanating from, the Dragorans fired haphazardly into the woods, trying to defend against their unseen enemy. Exploding plasma blew dirt and rocks out of the ground near the Dragorans, driving them toward the center of town to take cover. The shots appeared to be coming from everywhere but nowhere. There were none of the tell-tale incoming plasma lines as seen with normal plasma rifles. There was no way for the lizards to trace where their enemy was hiding.

Nick watched from his perch as the three Dragorans fled to the courtyard in the middle of town and regrouped. He knew what they were thinking. The Dragorans would have a better chance if they forced the enemy to come to them. They would attempt to pick off their enemy one by one as they approached. It was a tactic commonly employed by the scaly beasts.

The lizards quickly took up defensive positions within the low walls of the center courtyard. The leader sneered, no doubt confident in his strategy.

With the Dragorans in the open, the team opened fire from three sides. The reptiles wheeled in circles, desperately trying to pinpoint where the incoming rounds originated, without success. Left with little choice, they fired wildly into the fog, obviously hoping for a lucky shot. They never got one. One by one the lizards succumbed to the fury of plasma blasts bombarding them from all sides. After the last Dragoran fell to the ground, smoke pouring from its wounds, Nick met Arya and Karg back down in the square to assess their victory.

"Okay, they're dead. Now can we please get the hell out of here?" Nick impatiently queried as he glanced nervously into the surrounding fog.

"Wait, we need the energy device," Arya replied.

Nick glanced at her, one eyebrow raised in disbelief.  "Are you kidding me? That thing's nothing but trouble. I say we just leave it."

"It's okay, I have a plan," she said. "Most likely there are two or three more Dragorans guarding the transport."

Nick grabbed at Arya's arm as she tried to step around him. "Two or three more? Between their armor and scales, they were damn hard to take down. I'm not sure we'll be so lucky next time."

"If you have another option, speak up. Otherwise we need to hurry." Arya pulled her arm free of Nick's grasp and headed in the direction of the landing site.

Karg stepped over one of the smoldering Dragoran bodies, snatched up the device and fell in behind Arya.

Nick threw his hands up in the air and stared upward into the thick fog for a moment, as if seeking guidance from a higher power. "Yup, this part of space is definitely going to kill me."

With a heavy sigh, he dropped his arms back down to his sides, readied his rifle, and took off at a jog after Karg and Arya, who were already disappearing into the dense fog ahead.

As Nick caught up, Arya reached down and pulled out her scanner. "Frek." She stopped dead in her tracks and stood staring at the scanner.

"What now?" Nick stepped around her and looked at the scanner she held.

"You have got to be kidding me," he groaned. "Can my life get any better?"

The scanner was fried. A plasma blast had sliced it open during the firefight. One of the Dragorans almost got in a lucky shot, after all.

Arya stuffed the useless device back into its damaged pouch. "That was close," she muttered.  Without seeming overly concerned, she started walking toward the landing site again.

Nick was amazed by her cavalier attitude.  If the Dragoran had fired a few inches to the left, she'd be dead. He guessed that's what made her a soldier and him a scientist. She was battle hardened, and he was only just beginning his journey into the madness of war. Still, he doubted he would ever get used to being fired at, damn near killed, and scared out of his mind every second of every day.

The team stealthily continued down the path to the transport's location, until Arya held up her hand to signal for them to stop. Nick had his head turned, busy looking into the woods for any sneaky Dragoran soldiers, when he plowed into the back of Arya. Arya rolled her eyes, ignored Nick, and motioned to a spot on the ground.

Karg set the device down on the damp forest floor, just within the tree line.

Without a word or a sound, Arya waved for the two to follow as she made her way around the edge of the clearing to an area of dense brush on the other side.

"Okay, now what?" Karg whispered.

"Fire the modified rounds at the ground on the other side of the clearing. With luck the power source will mask our presence and they will think they are being ambushed from the other side."

"Not a bad plan," Nick commented.

Arya grinned at him, an impish, cute sort of grin that made her seem more human than ever.   "I'm learning," she replied.

The team fired a burst at the far side of the clearing. Plasma explosions blew dirt and debris into the air as each round impacted the ground. Several small trees blew in half, showering the area with splinters of wood. They stopped firing and waited, but nothing happened. No Dragorans taking cover. No return fire. Absolutely nothing.  Until....

A twig snapped behind them as a cold rifle barrel pressed against the back of Nick's head.

"Don't move," a deep, slurred voice commanded.

Nick moved his eyes left just far enough to see the rest of the startled team frozen in their tracks, rifle barrels held to the back of their heads as well. Damn, the Dragorans had ambushed _them!_

"Hey, fellas," Nick replied nonchalantly, already starting into a deflective spiel.

"Drop your weapons," the Dragoran commanded, nudging Nick's head with the barrel of his rifle.

"Not much on manners, are they," Nick quipped. A swift punch to the kidney was his only answer. Nick twisted in pain and tried desperately to maintain his composure. His smart mouth might just be the death of him one day. Hopefully, this wouldn't be that day.

"I said drop your weapons!" the Dragoran growled.

The team started to lower their weapons but paused when they heard a strange roar in the sky. The sound quickly grew louder.

The Dragorans peered up at the foggy sky in an attempt to determine where the noise was coming from.

A silvery craft appeared in the morning sky, diving down on them through the mist. The Dragorans raised their weapons toward the approaching craft and prepared to fire.

While the Dragorans were fixated on the craft, Nick's team took the opportunity to turn on them.  Weapons still in hand, the three of them spun around and began releasing a barrage of plasma blasts at their captors.  Hot plasma ripped into hard lizard flesh, burning holes almost clean through the torsos of the beasts. After quickly emptying their clips into the Dragorans, the three dove for cover.

Before the dazed Dragorans could even defend themselves, a second fury of rounds hit the big red lizards in the chest. The incoming craft had fired a devastating high-power torrent of plasma, almost cutting the Dragoran soldiers clean in half. They fell limp and smoldering to the ground, dead as a doornail. The ship roared by overhead and turned to make its way back to the clearing. Circling around with its landing gear deployed, it descended in the nearby field. Swirls of thick fog billowed toward the team as the craft touched down next to the transport.

The rush of damp, cold morning air filled Nick's lungs and eased the adrenaline rush that still had his heart pumping survival into his veins. "Damn, I thought we were all goners that time," he huffed as he stared at the strange craft.

As the small ship came to rest on the ground, a ramp seemed to roll out of nowhere, providing an opening for exit and entry.  Nick stared, waiting for the worst, hoping for the best.  He was relieved when Sirok appeared in his three legged, shiny metal contraption.

"Slimy! Holy Jesus, am I glad to see you!" Nick crowed. Sirok gave him a glare from all four eyes, silently reminding Nick that the nickname Slimy irritated him, a fact which Sirok had reminded him of just hours ago.

Nick's grin faded, but only marginally.  He was so damn thankful to be alive he didn't care who was mad at him, as long as he had someone on his team. Frankly, the gooey alien gave Nick the creeps, but he didn't want _him_ to know that.

"It's not slime, it's protective mucous. It has natural antibiotic properties," Sirok said defensively.

Ignoring Nick, he buzzed over to Arya. "We spotted the Dragoran Raptor on approach to the planet, and I thought maybe you could use some backup down here. Looks like I was right. Fortunately, the magnetic storm at the pole was strong enough to mask the Ashok's presence as the Dragorans approached."

Arya walked up and patted Sirok's metal rover. "Thanks, Sirok, we owe you for that one." A mischievous gleam came over her face. "Ever fly a Dragoran Raptor?"

"Raptor?" Sirok's body almost appeared to elongate with sudden enthusiasm, and his voice held a tone of delight. "No. Never. Could I?" All four of his eyes opened wide as he waited for Arya's answer.

"We need _someone_ to fly it back to the ship."

"Well, okay, if you insist." The words barely left his mouth before he turned and sped toward the Dragoran ship sitting nearby.

"I knew he'd like that." Arya smiled. "Any new toy makes him happy. He loves technology," she said as she watched him zoom off.

Nick let out a single, short laugh. "Yeah, I know. I have to keep going to his quarters to get back the things he's ' _borrowed_ ' from me. Just once I wish they weren't covered in slime." Nick leaned toward Arya, speaking softly for her ears only. "Just curious.  Does he ever get out of that contraption of his?"

"Well, actually he—"

Arya's com-badge squawked with a frustrating interruption from none other than Sirok.  "Uh, guys...you better come take at look at this."

"Speak of the devil," Nick murmured.

The team dropped what they were doing and converged on the Raptor class ship, weapons drawn. As they rounded the vessel, clearly visible through the back hatch, an Arisian sat chained to a metal bench. The young male had obviously been captured and beaten. Blood oozed from his nose and mouth, and he had noticeable scrapes and cuts over his body. His green skin seemed pale for his race, and he was definitely dehydrated and weak.

"What is your name?" Arya asked as the team worked to free him.

He mustered an answer from his dry throat. "I am Arnon. The Dragorans came, slaughtered my village, and took me prisoner. They were looking for information about some alien craft and a Resistance ship that was harboring it. We knew nothing, but they persisted. They killed the women and children one by one. We told them we didn't know. We pleaded with them, but they kept on killing and killing...." He coughed, too weak and dehydrated to continue.

"It's okay, you're safe. Rest now." Arya turned away, her eyes wet with tears. She walked out of the ship with Nick following a few steps behind.

"You alright?" Nick asked softly. He was well aware the Dragorans had been looking for him and his ship when they tortured and murdered the Arisians, and the knowledge didn't sit well with him. He felt responsible for Arnon's pain and loss. And he now worried that Arya would blame him, that they would all blame him for this horrible mistake, this accident he could never hope to control. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

If it wasn't for the Mok'tu's potential ability to recreate his hyperspace technology, Nick would just fly his ship into a sun and end all of this. It would be so easy. But he had no choice. The Mok'tu already knew too much. He had to do everything he could to stop those bastards. He had promised Argos he would help, and he was a man of his word. But he hadn't expected the Dragorans to slaughter innocent people to find him. He had been so naïve. He should have seen it coming. As much as he wanted to end it right now, there was too much at stake. He had to press on.

Arya turned away. "Please, I just need to be alone right now." She walked away, her head down and shoulders slumped.

Nick paused and stared after her.  He didn't have the right words to console her.  There was probably nothing he could say that would make her feel better anyway. Like it or not, this mess was his fault.

Feeling out of place in this insane world he had stumbled into, Nick turned and wandered back to the transport. The thought of all those innocent people being murdered because of him stuck like a thorn in his mind.

Back at the ship, Karg was unusually quiet while he prepped the transport for liftoff. Nick sat on a log nearby, keeping to himself. It would be nice to get off this dreary hunk of rock and back to the Ashok while he was still alive.

Nick was still lost in self-criticism when Arya stepped around the corner of the transport. He tried not to notice that her eyes were still wet from sobbing, but his attempt failed. Her eyes were so full of pain.

"Karg, you and Nick take the transport back. I'll fly Sirok's Saber," Arya said.

Since the Saber was a one-man fighter, Nick didn't feel shunned by the arrangement. He hopped up from the log to board the transport behind Karg. It was a relief to finally get underway.

"It's not your fault," Arya announced.

Nick turned to look back at her. It was a kind gesture, but he knew the truth. If he hadn't shown up in their neck of the woods, those people— _her_ people would still be alive. "Thanks, I appreciate the sentiment, but we both know the truth. Those people are dead because of me." He paused for a moment and stared intently into her pain-filled eyes.  "You may see me as a bumbling idiot alien. But...I promise you that I will not let their deaths be in vain." With that, Nick dropped his head and stepped into the transport.

Arya smiled through her tears as she watched him board. How could she tell him that she didn't see him as a bumbling alien? He had to be the one in the prophecy. Brave _and_ humble. He had to be, she could feel it. She walked around the transport and headed for the Saber perched nearby, happy that Sirok had agreed to take the Raptor back to the ship for her. She wasn't in the mood to deal with the stink of the Dragorans. The disgusting creatures didn't seem to believe in bathing. She'd love to get a look at the Raptor's systems, but her sensitive nose would just have to wait until the maintenance bots gave it a good cleaning.

Her mind drifted back to the prophecy. She prayed she was right about Nick. The situation had grown even more dire for her people. As much as the Resistance tried to fight the enemy invaders, they were losing ground daily. The fact was, without some divine help, this sector of space was doomed to suffer at the hands of the monstrous beings, possibly forever. Nick had to be the one.

"Has to be," she murmured as she took her seat in the Saber.

Nick watched out of the transport window as they lifted off the ground. He was happy to be leaving the freakish planet. Still, even more than ever now, he felt as if his fate were hanging in the balance. Captain Argos would not be happy to hear of the Dragoran's latest slaughtering, and would surely be even less delighted to know Nick was the cause.

The roar of a transport pod leaving the hangar bay echoed through the corridors of the ship. Nick raised his head out of his notebook to listen, his brow lowered. _Who the heck is leaving in a transport? We're not even close to any systems. Perhaps there's another ship nearby?_ He closed his notebook, dropped it on the table and headed to find Karg.

As Nick stepped through the doorway of the hangar bay, he found Karg staring at the stars through the open bay door. One of the transport pods was missing. "Karg, who just left?"

Karg answered without breaking his stare. "Arya. She went to negotiate for supplies on that commerce planet we passed yesterday."

Nick stood next to Karg and stared out of the bay through the haze of the force-field. "Who went with her? I mean, I thought the three of us were sort of a team."

Karg turned his head toward Nick as much as his short muscular neck would allow and looked at him with a forlorn expression in his big, red monster eyes.

"No one," the big guy said. "She went alone."

Nick's voice raised an octave. "Alone? Why the hell did you let her go alone?" He was surprised that she would have gone by herself, and equally surprised that anyone would let her.

"Captain's orders," Karg replied dutifully.

Nick's face scrunched in confusion as he gazed up at Karg. "Didn't Argos say it was too dangerous for us to risk going there?"

"Yup. That's why _we_ aren't. The three of us would be too conspicuous. But—"

"She could blend in better alone," Nick interrupted. "I still don't like it. It's too risky. What if she gets into trouble?"

Karg looked at Nick. It was easy to see the concern on his face. "Nothin' we can do about it. Orders are orders. She'll be alright. She can take care of herself."

A sense of gloom seemed to fill the room as the two stood in silence. Nick was uncomfortable with the situation, and he could see Karg wasn't dealing with it very well either, so he offered the only solution he could come up with in the moment. "Hey, how about I show you how to play Chess. I finally finished making the pieces. Okay, so it's not a first rate job, the pieces don't look exactly like the real thing, but it will still be fun. What do ya say, buddy?" Nick gave Karg a smack on the shoulder, or as high as he could reach, then pulled his hand away and stared at his buzzing fingers. Karg's muscle bound body was like hitting concrete. No give to it at all.

Karg turned toward the doorway. "No thanks. I think I'll just go back to my quarters and turn in."

Nick was itching to play a game of Chess. It would take his mind off Arya being alone down there on that planet, and it would probably cheer up Karg too. "Come on, you've been pestering me all week, asking when I would teach you. It'll be fun."

"Alright, but I hope you lose more gracefully than Sirok does." Karg grinned, showing a row of wide, blunt, and very large teeth. The grin made him look like an ogre and came off more like a grimace than anything else, but Nick was getting used to it.

"That's right. A little game of chess between the boys," Nick said as they made their way to his quarters. "Take our mind off our problems for awhile. That's the way the boys do it back home. Put our heads in the sand and hope no one shoots us in the ass."

Despite his cavalier words, Nick's mind was still on Arya and the hope that she would come back in one piece. He may have landed in this sector of the universe by accident and mucked up their world even more than it was already mucked up, but these three were friends now. They had a connection. Part of that connection was based on a similar need for survival, but part was also...well, the normal trajectory of friendship. Get your ass nearly blown off and you tend to bond with the rest of the team who were also worried about getting their asses blown off. Watch each other's backsides enough and friendship would develop. Nick had a right to be worried. The dangers on that planet were obvious, and Arya was a damn fool for going there alone.

Meanwhile, several sectors away, aboard the Dragoran Dreadnought Grok....

The Grok's First Officer turned from his position at the communications console. "Captain, Commodore Tawyk on priority-one channel."

Captain D'rog released a low, raspy groan. "I'll take it in my quarters, Lieutenant."

The centrally located chair swiveled and rocked as D'rog stood and headed for the door at the rear of the bridge. As he approached, the pneumatic door swished open, revealing the Captain's quarters. Its strategic location directly off the bridge was a design common to all Dragoran vessels. The feature gave the Captain quick access to command in case of an emergency.

D'rog made his way through the hot and humid room to his desk, where he sat down and activated his vid-link. The reddish glow of an overhead infrared light bathed him in warmth as he sat in his extravagantly decorated chair.

A strong, deep, computer-synthesized voice requested his security clearance. "Priority authorization required," the voice prompted.

D'rog answered without hesitation. He was well accustomed to the routine precautions. "Hektura tok neth." He stared at the monitor while the system scanned his large, scaly reptilian head.

"Voice print and facial identification recognized."

The monitor displayed the image of an impatient Commodore Tawyk. "Why haven't you secured my prize, Captain?" The Commodore's sharp teeth showed through his sneer.

"Sir, they have eluded capture. They are—"

Commodore Tawyk interrupted with a guttural roar. "You mean they've eluded _you!_ I'm not interested in _excuses,_ Captain! I chose you because your records indicated you were the perfect choice for this mission. Was I _wrong?_ "

"No, Sir. I will capture that ship. You have my word." D'rog's posture straightened.

The Commodore's lip rose on one side as he leaned into the vid-screen. A stream of saliva slipped from his upper teeth, falling onto his lower jaw as his lip quivered in anger. "You better, Captain. Your life depends on it, as well as the lives of your family. And you have my word on that!" The screen went blank, leaving the Commodore's final angry words reverberating off the walls of the room. The remarks circled around in D'rog's head as he sat staring at the blank screen. Anger and fear welled up from inside him until he was bursting at the seams with rage.

D'rog jumped up from his chair and swung his powerful reptilian arm. The objects on his desk went flying across the room, shattering into small pieces as they impacted the wall with intense force. "This small Resistance cell is cunning, but they will not embarrass me again!" he snarled.

A few days later, on the Ashok....

Nick had a tendency to get wrapped up in his thoughts and forget to eat, but a loud growl from his stomach and a gnawing sensation of hunger reminded him that food was accessible and he should get a bite while the getting was good. Maybe he could swing by and get Karg on the way to the mess hall.

Sirok's voice was clearly audible in the hallway as he approached Karg's quarters. "Sorry, Karg. No word from Arya yet. She was probably just delayed. You know her. She wouldn't contact us if she was afraid it would give away her position, or ours. Probably just lying low. We'll hear from her soon."

"Let me know if you hear anything," Karg replied.

Nick listened intently. The big guy sounded a little down, still worried about his friend.

Nick stepped into the open doorway of Karg's berth and knocked on the wall. Karg always seemed to leave his door open. Kind of reminded Nick of his sister. Her door was always open. Personally, he preferred to keep his closed, probably just out of habit. As a kid, if he left his door open, his sister would always interrupt him and mess with his stuff. Back then he wished she would leave him alone. Now he longed for one of her silly interruptions.

Karg turned to see Nick standing there in his usual thoughtful daze. "Nick, come in."

Nick snapped out of his nostalgic trip. "I was headed to eat. Thought I'd see what you were doing."

"I'm not doing anything really, just taking advantage of the downtime to clean my rifle. I like to be prepared. I can always eat, though." Karg set his plasma rifle down on the table in front of him and tossed the rag he'd been using on top of it.

Nick noticed a picture of Arya lying next to the gun on the table. "Still nothing from Arya, huh?"

"No." Karg replied without looking at Nick. "The wondering is starting to get to me. I'm sure she's okay, though. She's real good at taking care of herself."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Nick could tell Karg was worried about her. So was he. He just wasn't about to admit it. Not even to himself. He had to _try_ to believe she was alright.

"Come on, let's grab some grub," Nick said.

Karg gave Nick a strange look. "You don't even want to know how that translated." He visibly cringed, which was an unusual thing to watch.

"Food. Grub is food. I'm starving. Let's eat." Nick's stomach twisted and gurgled at the thought. "You coming?"

Karg jumped up and followed Nick out the door.

"She'll be okay," Nick muttered. "She has to be okay."

A few hours later....

Nick was making his way down the corridor, intent on returning to his quarters, but his steps faltered when the floor beneath him began to vibrate.

"What the hell?"

He stopped and turned circles, staring at the floor, trying to figure out what was causing the strange vibrations. _Is the ship under attack?_ Thump, thump, thump. The vibrations strengthened. The reverberating hollow thuds were coming from somewhere down the hall. It started out softly at first but grew ever stronger with each thump. Nick put his hand against the cold metal wall of the corridor to steady himself as he decided whether or not he should run. _Could it be the sound of cascading explosions tearing through the hull?_ His heart pounded faster as the thundering noises intensified. Crap, whatever it was, it was definitely getting closer!

Suddenly, Karg rounded the corner swiftly, almost plowing Nick over as he passed. Momentarily knocked off balance, Nick pushed off the wall to right himself and ran down the corridor behind Karg. The very thought of Karg running from anything caused a tingle of fear to race up Nick's spine. He wasn't about to get left behind. Nick didn't even know where he was going; he was just following the big guy. But as they ran, something odd registered in Nick's brain. Now the sounds were in front of him.

"What the...?" Nick cocked his head as he watched Karg's feet impacting the floor. The sounds weren't explosions at all. The strange vibrations were coming from Karg's massive weight, shaking the ship as he ran down the hall. "Karg, what's going on?" Nick called out. "Wait...."

As Nick sprinted down the passage, trying to keep up, Karg hollered back over his shoulder. "It's Arya. She's back, but her ship's shot up bad."

Nick stumbled around Karg as they both entered the hangar bay in time to see a beat up transport ship coming to rest on the floor. Carbon scoring on the hull and the hiss of a coolant leak on the port side were clear indications the craft had been in a battle. The transport's door opened, and a second later, Arya fell out onto the deck. Her eyes glazed, she pushed her face up off of the deck a few inches and then collapsed again to the floor.

"Sket!" Karg ran over to Arya's side. "Arya?" he yelled as he knelt beside her.

The hangar bay's access door zipped open and Captain Argos approached the two from behind as they leaned over Arya's motionless body. "How is she?"

Nick moved aside to let Argos come in closer.

Karg was already feeling for her pulse. "She's alive, Sir!"

The Captain knelt down to check Arya's injuries. His brow furrowed deeply when he noticed a small mark on the back of her neck, barely visible under her hairline. His movements almost frantic, he brushed her hair aside, revealing a dark green triangular mark on her neck amidst the lighter splotches that covered her skin.

"It can't be!" Argos exclaimed in disbelief. "It's not possible!" Argos stared down at the unconscious Arya, his jaw tense, his eyes blazing.

Karg gasped and jerked back at the sight of the mark on her neck.

Nick didn't like the sound of things. Worried that something was horribly wrong with Arya, he struggled to see around the Captain. "What? What is it?" His gaze darted from Karg to the Captain. "What's wrong with her? Will she be alright?"

Argos picked up the med-scanner he had brought with him from the bridge and held it near a wound on Arya's forearm. The display on the device began listing her genetic traits.

Species: Arisian.

Gender: Female.

Eyes: Green.

Height: Average.

Third Continent Ancestry.

Strong Frontal Lobe Development Expected.

Skin Pattern: A-1.

No Apparent Defects.

His brow furrowed, Argos quickly punched a few parameters into the device's on-screen keyboard, and it responded by displaying a rectangular green box with the words _Genetic Match Verified_. Argos almost dropped the scanner as his arm fell limp. "It's true then. My God! It's true!"

A faint sigh from Arya refocused everyone's attention.

Arya slowly moved her head and then opened her eyes, immediately squinting from the harsh glare of the bright overhead lights. She frowned as she peered up through her half open eyelids at everyone leaning over her. "Why is everyone looking at me like that?"

"Are you alright?" the Captain asked in a softer tone than normal.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's going on?" she asked as they stared down at her. When no one answered right away, she became testy. "What the frek is wrong with everyone? I said I'm fine."

Nick still had no idea what all the commotion was about. Was she going to be okay or not?

The Captain lowered his head slightly, his eyes still wide with astonishment. "Arya? _Queen_ Arya Nuraku of Aris?"

Nick looked over at the Captain and back down at Arya again. _What the hell was going on? Had everyone lost their mind?_ Nick shook his head. "Hold on a minute. What do you mean, Queen?" he asked, perplexed.

The look on Arya's face revealed the answer.

The Captain and Karg got down on their knees and bowed their heads.

Karg glanced over at Nick then reached over and pushed his one upright knee down to the ground. "That's the lost Queen of the Arisian Empire," he whispered, motioning for Nick to bow his head along with them.

Nick took a look at the two of them bowing in respect and fumbled to assume their posture. He snuck a quick peek at Arya, his mind racing to figure out what all this meant.

Without lifting his gaze from the ground, Captain Argos addressed the newly discovered Queen Arya. "We are your humble servants, your Highness. My ship is at your command."

Arya sighed. "Frek." She shook her head, apparently displeased that her true identity had been uncovered. With another sigh, she looked back up at the Captain kneeling before her. "Thank you, Captain. But how did you know?" she asked with a baffled look.

Argos replied respectfully. "The Royal Mark, Your Highness."

Nick mouthed the words silently to himself as he knelt there. _Royal Mark?_ He peeked over at Karg, who was staring hard at the floor in front of him, looking petrified.

Arya rolled her eyes. "I feared the mark would give me away one day."

Suddenly, the room became uncomfortably silent. The awkwardness had Nick, and everyone else, speechless. Seconds ticked by like hours until the Captain finally spoke.

"Your Highness, please allow me to escort you to medical," Argos humbly requested.

As Arya began to stand, Argos reached out to help her up. "I'm quite capable of making it there on my own, Captain. Besides you have a ship to command."

"Yes, but your safety comes first, Your Highness."

Conceding, Arya stood up tall and straight, her royal upbringing now clearly apparent in her graceful, stately posture. She looked at the three males standing before her. "This cannot leave this room. Do you all understand? No one else must know. You will continue to only refer to me as Arya."

They all stared at Arya. Nick's mouth quivered with a question, but he managed to stifle it.

Argos nodded with respect. "Yes, Your...I mean, yes, Arya. We understand." The Captain peered over at Karg and Nick with his commanding look. "Right?"

"Absolutely, Sir," Karg answered. His eyes were wide and filled with wonder, like a boy who had just found out his mother was really a superhero.

Nick also agreed. "Yes, Sir. Not a word, Sir."

Argos offered his arm so Arya could steady herself as he escorted her out of the bay. Nick and Karg watched as they left. Argos looked almost stately as he walked, like he was at a Royal Ball or something. Nick cocked his head in wonder and then glanced over at Karg, who was now on his feet again.

Karg's eyes flared as they met Nick's. "I'm so freked," he said.

Nick scrunched his eyes as he assessed Karg's demeanor. The poor guy looked like he'd just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"The things I have said in front of her... _to_ her. I'm doomed." Karg shook his head in distress. "I'm just doomed."

Nick himself was still stunned by the fact that Arya was actually some lost Queen. He could only imagine what Karg was feeling. Still, it was difficult to find words that would make Karg feel better. "Uh, I'm sure it'll be fine. It's still Arya, right? What is the _Royal Mark,_ anyway? Are you talking about that spot on her neck?"

"The Royal Mark is hereditary. Only the Royal Family bears the mark."

Nick puzzled over the latest events. "I don't understand. If she's a Queen, how did she keep it a secret? And for that matter, _why_ would she?"

Karg walked over to a small metal crate positioned off to the side of the hangar bay and sat down. The crate creaked and groaned under his massive weight. "She has good reason to keep it a secret. The way I understand it, when the Mok'tu invaded Aris, their Queen was killed. Naturally, the power then fell to the next in line for the throne, Princess Arya, but she was missing in the chaos that ensued. Many people continued to hold out hope that she was still alive somewhere, but no signs of her survival ever surfaced. Eventually, everyone assumed she had died in the attack, along with Queen Amorosa. If the Mok'tu knew she was still alive, they would hunt her down. They would want to make an example of her to keep the Arisian people broken and without hope. Not that there _is_ a lot of hope for the survivors these days. I suppose there's not much of an Empire left for her to rule over anymore. Millions dead, and her planet enslaved and all."

"But how did she end up here?" Nick wanted to know.

"We picked up her life pod several sectors away from Aris, near the small moon of a barren planet. She said she was a refugee that tried to escape the war on a freighter. We never had any idea who she really was. She gave us no indication of her true identity. Since then she has been a huge help in organizing the Resistance. Who would have guessed _she_ was the Queen?" Karg shook his mighty head as he stared at the floor in thought. "I should have seen it in her gracefulness. Even for an Arisian she had an unusual elegance about her. How could I have been so blind?"

"Wait a minute. Why didn't anyone recognize her? Somebody should've known she was the Queen."

"The heirs to the throne are not allowed to be seen in public. It would be...disrespectful. They stay sequestered in the Royal Palace until they take the throne," Karg explained. He gave Nick a long look then said, "Sometimes I forget that you are not from around here."

If Nick wasn't so curious about Arya and this new Queen business, he would have taken Karg's last remark as a compliment. But he had too many questions now to even think about how quickly Karg had integrated him into their team. Arya hadn't said much about her people. In fact, she seemed to avoid the subject most of the time. Nick had assumed it was just too painful for her to discuss, and left it at that. But now...now he knew better.

"What else do you know about the Arisians?" he asked Karg.

"Only that the Arisians and their Queen are highly regarded, even among my people. They are known for their great wisdom and compassion. I've never actually been to their home planet, but I hear it's beautiful." Karg paused, looking off into thin air as if dreaming of the Aris he had heard so much about. After a moment, he glanced back at Nick. "The Arisians were the ones that saved many of my people before the Mok'tu arrived. I was aboard one of the last Arisian freighters to escape. They could have just run, but instead they stayed to help us."

"They sound like a wonderful people. I hope we both get to see Aris someday."

Karg seemed willing to talk as long as Nick was willing to listen. And Nick was definitely willing to listen. The two talked until late in the evening, Nick learning everything he could about the Arisians and also Karg's world, before finally heading back to his quarters for some much needed rest. But Nick was doubtful he would get much sleep after the events of the day. Too much was happening too fast. His brain couldn't keep up. He'd seen more action in his short time in space than his entire lifetime on earth. It seemed weird now. Earth seemed so far away, so long ago. He'd adapted so quickly to this environment. It was amazing really. He longed to know more about these alien races, was determined to help, but still longed to be home in his comfortable bed, daydreaming about what it would be like to travel into deep space, to discover what lay beyond.

"And now I know," he muttered as he settled into his bunk. "Sort of."

He laughed out loud, just a short laugh. Discovering all these wonders for the first time really sucked considering he'd been plopped down in the middle of a war zone. He wished he had more time to learn the good things and less time spent trying to save his carcass and everyone else in the known sector.

"Fate is a funny thing," he mused. He pulled out his lucky coin and rubbed it between his fingers. "Which side will you fall on tomorrow?"

Nick fiddled with his notebook. He wasn't sure whether his daily entries would ever be of any use, but he kept on writing them anyway. It seemed to ease his anxiety a bit.

' _Days have passed with few signs of life. The Captain continues to push farther into Demented Space. The new Arisian crewmember has gained strength but is struggling to fit in. I'm sure it will take him some time to overcome what he's been through. At least the downtime has given Arya a chance to study the energy device we retrieved from the planet. When she isn't busy helping with repairs to Hyper One._

It has been difficult for me to overcome the technical challenges that face me here. The electronics of this world are so different that I have to map out the schematics of each individual integrated circuit chip from memory. Needless to say, progress is slow.'

Nick finished his entry and flipped his notebook closed. Things sure hadn't been easy for him since his arrival. Having to recreate the ship's circuits using alien technology, and all from memory, was frustrating at best. It was time for a break.

He set the notebook down on the table, gulped down the last of his gorban juice, and headed out to find Arya. A few minutes later he found her right where he expected her to be: in the lab.

"Hey, Arya, how's it going with the crystal thing?" Nick asked as he entered the room.

Arya scrunched her nose, lost in concentration. "Huh? Oh, it's frustrating. My scans don't seem to penetrate it. The energy signature is unlike anything we have on record. At times it almost reads like a life form, but then...." Arya sighed and sat back in her chair. "I really don't know any more about it than I did back on the planet. I can't even tell you what the freking thing does."

"How 'bout taking a break?"

"Sure. I could use one. I have to stop by the bridge to give the Captain an update, anyway. Want to come along?" Arya turned off the scanner as she stood up and headed to the door.

"Yeah, fine. Argos wants a report on my progress with Hyper One, so I might as well tag along." Nick hustled to catch up to Arya. She walked so darn fast. Sometimes it made him feel like a child, always lagging behind her. "By the way, how's the new kid?"

Arya cocked her head and shrugged her shoulders as she walked. "He's okay I guess. Just been through a lot. It will take him awhile, but I have a feeling he'll fit in fine with the Resistance. It's been a home to many of us refugees. How about you? How are you doing?" Arya glanced his way as they stepped into the lift tube.

"Me? Oh, I'm thankful to be a part the Resistance. These monsters need to be stopped." Nick glazed over for a moment as he considered his role in the Resistance.

"But...you miss your home." Arya frowned. She recognized the homesick look in his eyes.

"Yeah, a bit. It's the little things. Like, I'd give anything for a soda right about now."

"What's a so―"

The doors of the transport tube opened onto the bridge, and they stepped out into a conversation between the Captain and an unfamiliar figure on the vid-link. Nick rubbed his closed eyes then opened them again to make sure he was seeing properly. Yep, the figure on the screen looked like...a...talking...toad. "I'm not in Kansas anymore," he muttered under his breath.

"You may have a problem, Captain," the odd amphibian-like creature said.

"What kind of problem?" Argos asked.

"I can't tell you over the link. I am en route to you now. I will tell you everything when I get there. And Captain, I need you to have the _entire_ crew meet me in the hangar bay. It's important for _everyone_ to be there. I wouldn't ask if there were any other way."

The Captain paused as his brain processed the odd request. "Of course, Admiral Onaka. We'll be awaiting your arrival."

"Good. Admiral Onaka out."

As the vid screen went blank, Argos turned and noticed the two standing there.

"What was all that about, Sir? The Admiral is coming here?" Arya inquired.

"Yes, you heard him correctly. He's headed here and he wants the entire crew present in the bay when he arrives."

"What's so important that he would risk coming here?" Arya persisted. "This is outside of protocol. Something must be really wrong."

"I wish I knew," Argos answered. "Round up the crew, he'll be here shortly."

"Even Arnon, Sir?"

"Yes. Everyone." Argos seemed tense and worried as he turned and walked through the door into his ready room.

"Yes, Sir."

Arya turned to Nick as the door of the ready room slid closed. "I guess we better get to work."

She walked over to a console and made an announcement to the crew. "Attention all crewmembers, you are ordered to assemble in Bay One in thirteen point six minutes." She repeated the message and then motioned for Nick to follow her to the transport tube.

Minutes later, they stood among the chattering crew as they gathered in the bay. Everyone was wondering why the entire crew had been ordered together. Nick overheard at least a dozen different speculative scenarios as he stood next to Arya.

The cacophony was suddenly interrupted by a voice ringing out a command. "Captain on deck!"

Everyone immediately stopped talking and stood at attention.

Captain Argos walked out in front of the group. "You have been gathered here at the request of Admiral Onaka."

Murmurs of surprise rippled through the group. Argos paused to determine where the voices had come from.

"You will keep your comments to yourself. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" erupted from the crowd.

The hangar door slid open, revealing a sleek gunship en route to the bay. The crew nervously awaited the Admiral's arrival. Their apprehension had Nick on edge. Whatever was going on, it had to be big. Bigger than anything he'd already been through. And that scared the hell out of him.

Nick studied the formidable gunship as it moved through the force field and settled down on the floor of the hangar. The ship was downright amazing, a sight to behold, so technologically advanced that it left a lump in Nick's throat. Back home, people would crap if they saw something like that landing on earth. A hiss emanated from the ship, signaling that a seal had been opened. The crew responded by standing even straighter. One minute later, Admiral Onaka emerged from the ship and stepped down to the deck. Onaka was stout and had a slight defect in his gait that suggested he'd been wounded in battle. His gaze was stern, his demeanor serious, and his commanding presence raised the tension in the room to an almost palpable level.

Argos immediately saluted his superior, standing even more erect than usual. He waited for Onaka to respond to the salute before he relaxed his raised arm. "Welcome aboard, Admiral."

"Thank you, Captain." Onaka gave him a curt nod then turned his attention to the assembled crew. "You are all no doubt wondering why I am here, so without the usual rhetoric, I will get right to the point." He eyed the crew with severity. "We have reason to believe that you have a spy on board," the Admiral announced in a deep, powerful voice.

Following the Admiral's remark, whispers echoed through the bay. The crewmembers began to glance around the room, studying one another in confusion. A few let out a low laugh, mumbling that there were no spies on board _this_ ship. With a hard look from the Captain, the room fell silent again.

Admiral Onaka stepped forward to address the crew. His round, short physique was plump and every bit as frog-like as he'd appeared on screen. He faced the troops with his hands clasped behind his back, total ease and confidence oozing from him. His large amphibian eyes sized up the crew for a few moments before he began. He seemed in no hurry to speak. He was obviously accustomed to being in front of a crowd and giving orders. When he finally did speak, his words came slowly and deliberately. "We have recently learned of a new plot by the Dragorans to plant a spy in the Resistance." his deep voice boomed through the bay. "The brilliance of their sinister plan is that the spy doesn't even know they are a spy. To accomplish this, the Dragorans capture a subject and replace their normal nanites with specially developed ones. Then they wipe all memory of the abduction from the victim and release them back to the location from which they were captured. The subject wakes up unaware they were ever abducted. Usually the Dragorans prey on the drunk or battle-injured, the weaker of us, to gain their foothold. The victims are never aware they've been captured, and even if they notice a lapse in time, they simply think they blacked out or dozed off and are none the wiser. The spy nanites, as we call them, then sit in the victim's brain, listening and capturing information. Waiting. The compromised person can go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning totally unaware anything is wrong. Yet, while they sleep, their body is free to roam about under the direction of the nanites in their brain, committing treason, sabotage, even murder. These nanites are programmed for self preservation. If the host is threatened, the nanites take control, cutting the host's conscious brain off from the body. The host is then trapped inside their own brain, unable to do anything but watch as the artificial nanite intelligence takes over. Someone compromised in this way is extremely dangerous. Remember, the person won't even know they have been compromised and therefore could be anyone."

The crowd glanced suspiciously at one another.

Ignoring the nervous wave of tension that swept through the hangar bar, Onaka continued. "Luckily, we have devised a way to identify the altered nanites and eradicate them from the host's brain. We will require each of you to be scanned." The Admiral paused to lean toward Captain Argos, addressing him discreetly. "We are uncertain as to how long they have employed this technique, but it is likely the spy would be someone new to your crew. Perhaps a survivor you picked up recently?"

"Well, there have been two recent additions to the crew. The human and—"

"Sir!" Arya interrupted. "Arnon...he's gone. I saw him before the Admiral landed. He was standing right there. But he's gone now."

The Admiral looked at the Captain curiously. "Who is this Arnon?"

Argos looked tense. "A new crewmember, Sir. And a recently rescued survivor!"

Admiral Onaka confidently took control of the situation. "Captain, if he is a spy, we can't let him run loose. We have to find him, and quickly. Start searching immediately."

Argos looked at Arya. "Form search parties. I want him found."

She nodded, saluted Admiral Onaka, and immediately turned away to begin organizing search teams.

Argos returned his attention to the Admiral. "Sir, I'm sure it has been a long journey. You may use my quarters while we search for the missing crewmember."

"Very well, Captain. But I won't rest until you've found that man."

"Understood, Sir." With his usual diplomacy, Argos gestured toward the exit of the hangar bay and stood back in deference to allow the Admiral to precede him out of the bay.

Being one of the first teams organized, Nick and Karg quickly headed to the aft section of the ship. They had both agreed that the engine room was a good place to start their search. Lots of good hiding places there.

"Do you really think that kid could be a spy?" Nick asked, as he hurried down the corridor behind Karg.

"I don't know. That stuff the Admiral said was pretty scary. I was even beginning to question myself. I mean, I don't remember how I got this scratch. I just woke up this morning and there it was." Karg gestured to a scratch on his top, left arm and then gave Nick a look that expressed his deep concern. "I don't want to be a spy. I've worked too hard for the Resistance. Just the thought of being a spy and not even knowing it gives me chills."

"Karg, you're not a spy. That much I'm sure of." Nick gave Karg a pat. "Listen, buddy, I know this stuff messes with your mind. Hell, it's messing with mine. But you gotta stay focused. You're not a spy. I'm not a spy."

Karg frowned.

Nick fumbled for something else to say. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea that he'd just brought attention to the fact that he was a stranger among them, a survivor they had picked up, exactly what Onaka had just warned them about. "Um, by the way, did you notice the Admiral is a frog?"

"Yeah, he's Serkozi. They're amphibians. Great jumpers, those Serkozi. Why do you ask? You don't have anything against amphibians, do you?"

Nick shook his head. "No...of course not. It's just...this is all new to me. Before I met you, I had never seen an alien. Let alone an alien _frog_. It will just take a little getting used to I guess. Back on Earth, frogs are little things, not six feet tall, walking on two legs and... _talking_." Nick's brow went up. The whole thing was just weird.

"Admiral Onaka is actually a legend among the Serkozi. They even named a close combat maneuver after him. In the battle of Banahng, the Admiral was boxed in by two Mok'tu in front of him and one approaching from the rear. All he had on him were two pistols. The Mok'tu expected him to surrender. But he didn't. Instead, he ran straight at the two oncoming soldiers and leapt into the air. As he passed over them, he flipped upside down and emptied fifteen rounds into each of their heads. They were dead before they hit the ground." Karg chuckled, a deep-throated rumbly sound that rolled off the walls around them. The big guy was obviously pleased by Onaka's prowess. "Here's the real kicker. When Onaka started his jump, the two Mok'tu opened fire, missing him, but striking the third soldier coming up from behind. He singlehandedly took out three Mok'tu and walked away without a scratch. Nowadays that move is known as the Onaka maneuver, and it's standard training. Of course, it never worked on Tac Squad soldiers on account of their shields. But now that we have these new rounds, the Onaka maneuver gives us a new option."

"Pretty impressive," Nick said. Judging by the roll of blubber around the Admiral's middle, it must have been a while since Onaka had pulled off that maneuver, but Nick wasn't about to mention that to Karg. No doubt the old frog had since retired to an easier life of giving orders from behind a desk.

Karg suddenly stopped and pointed down the corridor ahead of them. "You see that?"

"The door to the lab? Yeah, it should be closed." Nick's voice was low and quiet.

"Exactly." Karg stealthily approached the open door. Nick followed.

"Cover me," Karg said. Without even a second for Nick to prepare, Karg swung into the doorway, bringing his weapon to bear. Nick slid into the room behind him, ducking to the side in order to maneuver around some tables. Cautiously, they swept through the lab in search of Arnon.

After a few minutes of searching, Karg announced, "It's clear...but what the frek is wrong with the lights?"

Nick tried to manually activate the lights in the room. Karg was right, they were completely inoperative. As he made his way back across the lab, he noticed something odd about the device Arya had been studying so intently. As he approached to investigate, the light from his pistol gleamed off slivers of green crystal that were lying on the table around the device. The crystal was shattered! From the marks on the box it looked as though someone had attempted to pry it out.

"Now that's strange," Nick said. "I know this was intact when we left the lab this morning. Someone has _definitely_ been here."

Karg looked down at the shards of crystal and then back at Nick, grunting out "Come on!" as he turned and headed for the door.

Suddenly, the high-pitched squeal of an alarm screeched throughout the ship, forcing Nick to squint one eye from the pain in his vibrating eardrums. "Agh!"

"This is the Captain. The Admiral's been shot! I want the officer's section sealed off immediately!" echoed over the ship's intercom.

"Frek! That's on the other end of the ship." Karg spun his massive body around and headed for the Captain's quarters with Nick following close behind.

Nick squinted in pain every time the damn siren wailed. Even covering his ears didn't help. He peered over at the big leather-skinned Rakozian with his one half-open eye. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"What? You mean the alarm? You don't like that? It reminds me of the Grand Rakozian Opera. Now, there's a woman who can sing."

Nick was still busy trying to figure out if that was just another one of Karg's jokes when they both skidded to a halt at an intersecting corridor, barely avoiding someone else coming down the other hallway. Guns drawn and muscles tensed at the ready, they realized it was only Arya barreling around the corner.

"Whew! I thought you were the spy." Nick bent over and held himself up with one hand on his knee as he huffed for more air.

Arya let out a big sigh as her shoulders slumped down in relief. "Yeah, you scared the sket out of me, too."

"Did you hear?" Nick queried.

"Yeah, I was near there when it happened. I thought I saw someone go that way." She motioned to the adjacent corridor.

"Come on, we'll go with you," Karg roared. The big guy was obviously ready for action and prepared to get this spy business over with quickly.

A distant, horrifying scream permeated the ship. The team looked around and then back at one another. "Where did that come from?" Nick questioned as he turned to listen down the passageways.

Arya's ears twisted around as she attempted to pinpoint the location of the sound. "Quickly. This way." She turned and sprinted down a secondary corridor.

Down the darkened passageway a figure slowly came into view. Through the dim lighting Nick could make out the silhouette of a body lying face up on the deck. As they approached, it was clear who it was. The young Arnon lay dead on the floor, his mouth open wide. A terrible silent scream locked on his face.

"Look at his hands. It's as if he was reaching out in horrible pain," Arya noted.

"If he just died, why is he stiff?" Nick questioned.

Arya pulled out her ever-handy scanner and ran it over the corpse. "It's exactly like the bodies we discovered on the planet. No signs of— Wait, this doesn't make sense. I should be getting some cellular activity and residual nerve impulses, but I'm not."

"I don't understand. He's dead, right?" Nick said perplexed.

"Yes, but normally the cells in the body take a while to stop functioning. Even after the heart or brain function has stopped. There should be some residual energy reading. This body has _no_ energy readings. Even the bacteria are dead. Something has drained every ounce of cellular and nerve energy out of him. What could do that?"

"Some kind of horrid, new weapon?" Karg offered. His big eyes were scrunched in concentration, and he rubbed his head with one of his four hands, as if the motion would help him think better.

"No, I don't think this was a weapon." Arya was still focused on the oddity of the corpse.

Nick tilted his head to the side, disturbed by the look on Arnon's face. "Could this have anything to do with that alien device from the planet? We just found it in the lab, broken."

Arya looked up at him. "Broken? What do you mean...broken?"

Karg spoke up. "Looked like someone tried to pry that crystal thing out of it. Nothing left but shattered pieces."

Arya tapped her com-badge. "Captain?"

Argos replied over the link "Yes, Arya. What do you have?"

"Arnon is dead, Captain."

"Good work, Arya."

"No...Sir, it wasn't us. We just found him lying dead in the corridor."

"Suicide?"

"No, I don't think so, Sir."

"Arya, are you telling me that someone else is running around on this ship killing people?"

"Not exactly, Captain. I have an idea, but I have to get to the lab to check it out."

"Alright, but let me know the moment you have anything."

"Yes, Sir." Arya looked up at Nick with concern. "We need to get to the lab. If what I think is happening, we are all in serious danger."

Agitated by the situation, Nick followed along. "What is it with this place? Why couldn't I have been spit out into a nice vacation spot? Maybe somewhere the natives think I'm a God and bring me drinks on the beach. Instead, I land in psychopath world, where everything is trying to kill me!" Realizing no one was paying attention to his little fit, and afraid of falling behind in the dark corridor, he stepped up his pace. "Hey, guys.... Wait up!"

At the lab, they managed to get the lights back on, and Arya began examining the damaged device. "Karg, are the translations of those papers we brought back from the planet finished yet?"

"Yeah, it's an old Kymean dialect. Took the system a bit longer to decipher it."

Turning to the translated text on her holo-display, Arya dove into reading. "My God, this is incredible."

Nick didn't move. His eyes panned cautiously over to her. The last time he heard those words, he ended up being sucked into hyperspace moments later. It wasn't exactly comforting. "Do I even want to know?"

Nick and Karg converged on Arya's workstation. They peered over her shoulder at the display, waiting for her to explain.

"This was written by the colony's lead scientist. Something was killing people in the community, one by one. He says here that it was some kind of creature that looked like black smoke. A creature of pure energy. It would often attack people in their sleep. Apparently, it was able to mask its energy signature and would only appear right before it attacked. It drew the life energy out of its victims, killing them within seconds. The victim would become paralyzed as it fed on their brain energy. After that was depleted, it would start to extract any cellular energy left within the tissues of the victim's body. The colonists were completely defenseless against it." Arya scrolled through the text and pointed to a section. "Here he talks about how he was finally able to create this device to capture the creature. But not before it had decimated the entire town."

"It's...an energy vampire?" Nick frowned in concentration as he pondered the news. His eyebrows automatically shot upwards when he realized the truth. "My God, he used himself as bait! That's why there was a dead man's switch!"

"Yes. And it worked. But now that thing is loose on this ship." Arya glanced nervously around the room. "And the worst part is that the crystal is destroyed, and I hadn't even gotten round to figuring out how the device worked." Arya scanned through the documents looking for some answers to the device's operation while she contacted Argos. "Captain, we have a problem. I am linking you what I have learned so far."

"Very well. I'll be in my ready-room," Argos replied over the com-link.

Nick sat down next to Arya, his brain already working to solve the problem. "What about shields? Would that protect us?"

"No. The villagers tried that. It just fed the monster, making it stronger. The thing even fed off their energy weapons. Some of the colonists attempted to leave the planet in a transport, only to be killed by the monster shortly after liftoff. With no one left alive to fly the ship, it crashed, destroying the only means of escape that the rest of them had. They were trapped on the surface with that thing, waiting to become its next victim. It must have been horrible." Arya hardly looked away from the monitor, studying the documents as she spoke. The nanites in her brain were helping her process the data at an astounding rate. "Now this is interesting. Good thing he kept detailed notes."

Nick looked at her intently. "What's interesting?" he said in a dry voice, the words barely squeaking their way out of his tense throat. He glanced warily over his shoulder at the dark doorway behind him, trying not to appear obvious. The damn thing was watching, he could swear it.

Arya didn't answer. She was too busy devising a plan. Suddenly, she shouted "Come on!" and bolted out the door.

"I wish she'd stop doing that," Nick muttered.

Nick barely turned in time to see her disappear around the doorjamb. He sped out the door and down the hall, trying hard to keep up. The sound of Karg tromping along behind him echoed like a freight train as they all headed down the corridor to the lift. Arya waited impatiently in the transport tube as Nick and Karg hurried to join her. Arya punched the panel of buttons and sent the transport tube hurling toward the bridge level.

Nick glanced from Arya to Karg as he gasped for breath. Neither alien seemed affected by the sprint down the corridor. It was downright aggravating to be so physically inferior to the other species on the ship. "Man, I gotta get back into an exercise routine," he wheezed.

The doors to the ready-room opened with a swoosh, and Nick and Karg stepped out behind Arya.

Argos glanced up from behind a console in the corner as the three entered the bridge. His usual calm demeanor had been usurped by dread. "You think that _thing_ is on the ship?" His voice was tense, the concern for his crew apparent.

"I do," Arya answered. "But I have an idea. It'll be risky though."

Argos pulled up a scan of the creature from the scientist's data records and displayed it on the conference table's holo-screen. "I don't have any idea how to fight against something like this. I'm open to _any_ options at this point." Argos took a seat and motioned for the three to join him at the conference table.

Once seated, Arya pulled up some additional data on the creature. "The creature is intelligent. At least somewhat. The scientist on the planet knew that sooner or later the monster would attack him. But the thing sensed what he was trying to do and stayed away from the device for weeks. The only reason the energy creature finally went after him was the fact that it was hungry. There were no other people or animals left alive on the planet. The scientist, Erakai was his name, gave his life to capture it." Arya pushed the hovering holo-display off to the side with her hand so she could look directly at Argos. "I think I know how to get this monster off the ship and destroy it for good. But we'll need to use the plasma torpedoes."

Argos listened as Arya explained the details of her plan. When she was finished, he stood up to pace the room before finally pausing to stare out of the ready-room window. After a long moment, he turned somberly to Arya. "I don't see any other choice. Do it."

"I'll get right on it, Captain." Arya spun around and headed to the lift.

Nick felt like a third wheel in all this running around trying to save the galaxy and the crew, and always...always following Arya. Dammit, he was a scientist. Back home, he was considered a genius. He hated feeling like an idiot running after the others and following orders all the time. No one ever asked his opinion. And right now, he had a lot of questions about Arya's plan. Questions he couldn't help asking.

As the team made their way through the corridors in the direction of the forward plasma torpedo bay, Nick finally let it out. "How do you know this will work? This _could_ make the monster stronger."

"It will make it stronger."

"What? Are you crazy?" Karg blurted out, spraying saliva over the back of Nick's head.

Nick frowned as he glanced up over his shoulder at Karg. "Hey! Do ya mind?" He reached up and brushed spit from his hair.

Karg shrugged in apology.

Arya stopped so abruptly that Nick almost plowed into the front of her as she spun around to face him. "It will take time for the creature to grow strong enough to break free. We will use that time to destroy it."

"That's your plan?" Nick was flabbergasted. He waved a hand near the back of his head as he spoke. Karg was standing so close his breath was tickling Nick's hair. "That's all you could come up with?" Scrunching his eyes closed in frustration, he dropped his head back and rubbed his forehead hard with the heel of one hand. "Arya, queen or not, I gotta tell ya', I've heard better plans." He opened his eyes to find Karg staring down into his face. Nick straightened his neck to face Arya again. She looked annoyed. Or maybe pissed. Hard to say with those cat-like eyes of hers. By a glance at her folded back ears it was clear that it was the latter.

"Well, for now, it's all we've got," she quipped. "So until you come up with something better, just shut up and follow orders."

"Right," Nick replied tightly. "Right. Because I'm just the idiot that destroyed a huge-ass ship that was trying to destroy you. Because I crossed the galaxy and beyond in my little ship and broke a code you people can't break. So, my ideas hold no weight around here."

Arya glared at him. "We're wasting time!"

Nick started to say something then stopped himself. Karg nudged him from behind, and the three set off again. "Right. Right. We got a monster to kill. Then we got Mok'tu ass to kick. What's next?" he muttered. "Oh, yeah, I forgot about the Dragorans."

Once in the torpedo bay, Nick and Karg worked quickly, following Arya's directions to prepare their monster trap.

Arya opened the cover of a torpedo that sat ready to be loaded into the launch tube and began the necessary modifications. As she worked, she referenced relevant information about the weapon's field generators from an online ship's manual displayed on her personal data unit. After several minutes of reconfiguring the torpedo, she leaned back and smiled in satisfaction. "There, I think that about does it."

She punched a few more buttons on the torpedo's keypad and secured the cover. "We're ready."

"I hope you're right about this," Nick said, staring down at the smooth, charcoal-gray casing of the torpedo.

Arya glanced up and uttered a noticeably uncomfortable "Me too."

Nick cocked his head as he looked down at her. Her sudden display of doubt concerned him.

After notifying the Captain of their status, the team sat waiting for the ship to move into position. In the silence of the torpedo compartment, Nick's watch sounded oddly loud as it ticked out each painful second.

Following a long, tense wait, word finally came down from the Captain. The ship had arrived at its destination. And not a moment too soon. The length of the journey had allowed the monster enough time to kill two more crewmembers. The Admiral's two personal guards.

Arya com-linked up to Argos on the bridge. "Okay I'm powering up. Shut down every system you can spare, Captain."

"Shutting down all nonessential systems," Argos replied. "Life support at minimum. It's going to get cold in here. I hope this thing cooperates, or we may just freeze to death first."

Trap set, the team waited. The specially tuned energy waves of the generator that Arya had configured inside the torpedo should attract the beast. At least that was the plan.

Nick sat down and turned nervously to Arya. He always had a hard time keeping his mouth shut when he was anxious. "Do you really think putting the crew in suspended animation will protect them?"

"Pretty sure."

" _Pretty_ sure? Well, I'm glad I still have a fighting chance at least. I wouldn't want to be stuck in a Cryo-unit, unable to move, when that thing came for me. I'm not sure I would have agreed to let you freeze _me_ with such a monster loose onboard."

Arya looked uncomfortable with the conversation and avoided Nick's gaze.

"You didn't tell them, did you?" Nick stared at her, his brow furrowed. He couldn't believe she would order the crew into Cryo-tubes without telling them about the monster.

Arya stared straight ahead, avoiding Nick's intent stare. "They understand the risks, and the chain of command. This is just between the Captain and the three of us. No one else needed to know."

Nick sat speechless. _How could she do such a thing? How could she be so cold?_ Nick stared at the floor for some time, trying to come to terms with this new side of Arya. Eventually, reluctantly, he began to realize she was right. Soldiers were trained to follow orders and respect the chain of command to avoid chaos. Soldiers usually weren't privy to the details behind the orders they were given. They just needed to have confidence in their leaders and do their job. Argos definitely seemed to have the crew's confidence and respect.

Nick sniffed. "I guess you're right. Just hard to swallow."

"It's okay. I am pretty certain that while in suspended animation their low energy readings will protect them. Especially in the presence of the strong energy signature the torpedo is pumping out."

"And what about _our_ energy signatures?" Nick added. Maybe the crewmembers who were stuck in the Cryo-chambers were actually the lucky ones. At least their energy readings weren't blaring out like a beacon to this thing. A familiar shiver went up his spine. He forced down a swallow and sat up straight, fighting to keep his fear from showing through.

In his peripheral vision, Nick spotted a white foggy cloud forming right beside him. He glanced over at it, and the blood froze in his veins. The small, billowing cloud floated just off his left shoulder. He'd be damned if he was going to be next on the menu!

Nick frantically tried backing away from the mist, falling off his seat and onto the floor in the process. After landing backwards and scrambling across the floor, he realized he had an audience in Karg and Arya. They sat calmly staring at him with grins plastered on their faces.

" _Black_ smoke, remember?" Arya raised an eyebrow and shook her head.

Karg let out a chuckle.

Embarrassed, Nick picked himself up off the cold floor and positioned himself on the bench again, his heart still pounding wildly. "Oh, yeah, right. _Black_ smoke. I knew that."

_What an idiot._ In the icy cold of the room, his breath had formed into what looked like a white smoky entity floating nearby. It had scared the living daylights out of him. "Damn breath," he muttered, trying not to look at his shipmates.

Nick couldn't seem to get comfortable. It felt like his butt was frozen to the cold, hard metal bench. As he fidgeted, he glanced up at Karg, and his eyes widened in alarm. Unwilling to embarrass himself again, he hesitated to say anything until he was sure of what he was seeing. But he was seeing...something...black.

Karg noticed the odd look on Nick's face. "Now what?" he said, rolling his eyes at Nick.

Nick answered as calmly as he could. "It's here." He nodded at a point just beyond Karg. "Right there."

"Yeah, right. I'm not falln' for that one," Karg quipped.

Arya spun around to see a black gaseous mass forming in the room, just behind Karg's right shoulder. When she spoke, her voice was carefully modulated and audibly low. "Karg, move this way. Slowly." As calm as she seemed, her voice quivered with tension.

Karg's nostrils flared and his eyes widened in fear. He slid his rear end down the bench toward Arya and away from the creature, keeping his eyes fixed on her the whole time, as if looking at the creature might cause it to attack.

Unfortunately for the big guy, the black cloud-like creature moved with him.

"Okay, wait. Stop moving," Arya said calmly.

Karg paused and peered over his shoulder toward the thing hovering there.

The cloud stopped then moved slightly toward the torpedo lying in the open launch tube. It hovered between Karg and the tube for a moment, almost as if studying the scene.

"Damn thing is thinking it through," Nick muttered.

"Arya? Do something," Karg ground out between clenched teeth.

"No one move," Arya commanded, her stare fixed on the creature. She didn't even blink while she watched and waited.

Nick's gaze flitted between Arya and the ominous black mass. _Dammit._ _What the hell was she waiting for?_ He figured the creature could sense the electrical impulses from his racing heart, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. Fear and adrenaline had gotten the best of him. Any minute the monster might find his runaway energy too irresistible and attack. The throbbing in his veins had his ears ringing so loud that the sound drowned out the ever present hum of the ship's engines. He'd never been so damn scared. Hell, he'd rather face ten mad Rakozians than _this_ thing. The pressure in his head was growing rapidly from the anticipation. If something didn't happen soon, he was going to bust a damn artery.

The creature moved a few feet in the direction of the torpedo casing then suddenly bolted back toward Karg.

Karg instinctively jerked away.

The creature stopped abruptly, only inches from Karg's head. The writhing black mass struggled to move forward, desperately trying to attack him, fighting hard against the magnetic containment field that Arya had deployed to ensnare the beast. The creature unleashed a terrifying, deafening scream as it thrashed about, trying to break free of its bonds. Unable to escape, it paused for a second then changed shape. It quickly morphed from a black cloud-like mass into the sinister shape of a hideous, black, multi-limbed monster. Each of the monster's arms were tipped with six-inch-long, sharp talons that clawed wildly at Karg as it screamed in anger. No question about it, the creature was furious over being trapped.

Nick almost wet himself at the sight of the horrendous beast. The squeezing in his chest was now beginning to concern him. _Crap, forget the creature, he was going to have a damn heart attack right there!_ And all this time he'd thought Karg was the scariest thing he'd ever seen. Now he knew there was something even scarier out there.

Karg was frozen in place, staring into what could only be described as the face of evil. Its talons slashed frighteningly close to his face. But the snarling creature was beginning to lose ground, slowly being drawn backward away from Karg as it thrashed violently.

The team watched the cloud condense down smaller and tighter as the magnetic field drew the thing into the waiting torpedo casing. The monster quickly gained strength from the power generator, and burst out in one final, wild fit of rage before being completely sucked back into the torpedo's containment chamber.

Nick had been sitting there frozen with fear, unable to breathe the whole time. He finally drew a breath only to be stopped mid-inhale by the sting of icy cold air. He forced another frigid breath into his protesting lungs and peeled his frozen pants off the bench to stand.

Even Karg was huffing as he looked at Arya. "That was close. Did you have to wait so long?"

"I had to make sure it got close enough to the torpedo for the magnetic field to capture it," Arya said as she too tried to catch her breath.

She hit a button on the console she was manning, and the torpedo slid into the launch tube. The door to the tube slammed shut, sealing the torpedo encased dark entity inside. With a hollow whoosh, the torpedo fired into space. From a nearby targeting display, the team watched the torpedo's trajectory. It flew straight on course as they held their breath and waited.

"Almost there...." Arya relayed.

Ahead of the torpedo lay a dark region of space surrounded by a bright swirling disc of gas. A black hole. They could only hope the hole's gravitational pull would ensnare the monster before it escaped the containment vessel. The torpedo flew on, covering the vast distance to the event horizon at blazing speed, assisted by the immense tug of the hole's gravitational forces. The huge black hole hung there, ominously waiting in the silence of space. One dark monster preparing to swallow another.

The torpedo casing ruptured suddenly, and the sinister black mass erupted from within.

Arya closely watched the readings from the sensor array. "The monster is feeding off the generator's power. It has increased in size by a power of twelve to the fifth," she announced with an unusual nervousness in her voice.

The creature continued to grow rapidly larger in the display until it was a million times its previous mass.

"We're freked!" Karg blurted.

The monster looked furious. It swirled violently in the blackness of space, only visible against the dark center of the black hole due to the enhanced sensor display.

Arya hit her com-badge. "Captain?"

"I see it. Moving us to a safer distance now," Argos replied.

Enormous black tentacles lashed out at the ship, only to be pulled back by intense gravity. The creature was now beyond the point of no return, slowly being swept backwards into the gaping mouth of the black hole. Despite the beast's struggles, it would eventually slip beyond the event horizon into its ultimate demise in the crushing gravity of the singularity.

"That's it then," Arya said. "There's no way it can get out of that. It's effectively dead."

Arya com-linked up to the bridge. "Captain, I suggest we get the hetek out of here, Sir."

"Agreed. Setting course. The three of you make a good team. Well done. Go get some rest, you earned it. That is, after you wake the rest of the crew from their nap."

Arya sighed. "You know how long it's going to take to bring them out of Cryo?" She looked at Karg and Nick. "Well, you heard the Captain. We make a good team, so come on you two, we better get to it."

"I feel like _we're_ in Cryo. It's dran cold in here," Karg complained as he brushed ice crystals from the edges of his nose.

"Yeah, sure.... Explore the creepy planet, get attacked by Dragorans, kill the monster hitch-hiker, wake the frozen crew.... Just your average day in space." Nick waved his arms and talked to no one in particular. "I mean, can't I have just _one_ day where something's not trying to kill me? Is that too much to ask?" In an attempt to brush off the shivers, he raked his hands down his goose bump covered arms. "Just one day on the beach of some nice, warm planet, with no gun fire, no schematics, no...." An odd feeling of being in a vacuum made Nick pause and glance around. He was the only one left in the room. "Of course I'm the only one here. No one ever listens to me. Hey!" he shouted. "Wait up."

"I hate it when you do that," he muttered as he jogged toward the door. Rounding the doorway into the corridor, Nick stopped. He expected to be on the heels of Karg when he hit the corridor, but the dark hallway was empty and eerily quiet. The light from the room filtered through a puff of breath as it left his mouth. He stared through the small cloud of frigid crystals and down the long black passage, listening. Nothing but absolute silence. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, but the reaction wasn't from the frigid temperature. He suddenly felt apprehensive and downright spooked.

Puzzled by the silence, he turned cautiously to look in the other direction.

Loud, deep snarls met him as he turned.

Nick lurched in fright as he saw a massive black shadow looming behind him in the darkness. "Ahhh!" He turned screaming and headed down the corridor as fast as his legs could carry him. "Karg! It's back! The creature is back!" he yelled. "Arya!"

His screams were silenced by the sound of laughter coming from behind him. _It's laughing? That doesn't sound...._ "Wait a minute." Nick's feet hit the floor with an ever slowing pace. He stopped and turned to look back down the gloomy hallway. Karg and Arya laughed hysterically as they rolled on the floor.

"Did you see him run?" Arya squeaked out between laughs.

Karg snickered and looked down the corridor at Nick. " _EEEK!_ Save me!" Karg screeched. "I've seen Echoc children who are braver than you, Bannon."

Nick bent over and held his pounding chest, trying desperately to catch his breath. "I swear, if the monsters don't kill me, the two of you will!" he huffed. "You guys really need to come over to my house for Halloween." Nick had been itching for a way to get back at his neighbor Joe for scaring him so bad last year. Karg would be perfect. The big hulk would make Joe crap his pants.

Nick plopped down and leaned back against the cold metal wall of the corridor, waiting for his heart to calm down.

Karg puzzled over Nick's statement. "What is Hal Owene? Is that some kind of human food?"

"No. It's a holiday. You'd love it. You would fit right in," Nick replied between huffs.

He blew out his cheeks and released a long breath. "Can't believe I'm still alive after all the stuff I've been through in this short time with you two. Is this how you normally roll?"

"Yes," Karg and Arya answered in unison.

Nick frowned, then grinned. "S'alright. I reckon I'll get used to it. I can keep up with you. Don't you worry about me. No sir. Nick Bannon is one tough dude."

"We'll see about that when we engage the Tac Squads again," Arya commented. "Now come on. Up on your feet. We have some units to unfreeze."

Nick scrunched his eyes in confusion. "Units? Is that what you call people?"

Arya shrugged. "It's easier than peeling off a list of alien nations to reference each one."

Nick nodded. "I reckon so."

"Now come on. I'm tired, and I want to get moving on this," she commanded.

Nick sat and watched her cat-like walk as she swayed down the corridor. He was startled when Karg grabbed him by the back of his pants and yanked him off the floor in one clean swoop, setting him back down onto his feet with little effort.

"Uh, thanks for the lift, Buddy," Nick said. He gazed at Karg. "Remind me again never to piss you off. That kind of strength is just downright scary."

Karg grinned at him with his chunky teeth and ambled after Arya. "You've already pissed me off several times, Bannon," he called back over his shoulder.

Nick stood staring after him, his jaw slack. "Right. Um. Yeah. Right. I did?"

Not knowing what else to say, Nick followed Karg down the corridor. "Time to unfreeze some units."

"What is that horrible smell?" Arya demanded from the doorway.

Nick looked up from his notes. "What smell?"

"You can't smell that? It's horrendous. Honestly, is there anything your species does well? You can't see well at all, your muscular structure is ridiculously weak, and you can't smell. How your people ever survived so long is beyond me. You must have large litters of young."

"Children. We have children and—"

"Here," Arya interrupted. "Come out here where the smell is stronger." She motioned for him to come into the corridor.

Annoyed with yet another interruption, Nick tossed his notebook onto the table as he eased out of his chair and followed her into the hall. One step into the hall and Nick recoiled, quickly burying his face in his raised arm to block the foul stench assaulting his nostrils. "Oh my God, what is that stink? That's awful!" Nick turned to head back into the room.

"Oh no, we're not done here. Follow me." Arya moved down the corridor, apparently taking it for granted that he would do as she asked.

"No thanks. I'm fine right here," Nick replied into his sleeve.

Arya paused and threw a glance over her shoulder, one fine brow arching upward when she saw that he hadn't moved. "Move your arsk. We have to find the cause of this smell. And quickly."

"I think I'm going to be sick." Nick fought the gag wiggling its way up his throat.

"Come on!" she insisted. "It's coming from this way."

Nick reluctantly followed her as she tracked the horrible smell down the hall.

"Arya?" the Captain's voice broke in. "Is there a problem with the waste disposal system? We're getting an...odd...smell up here."

"Not sure, Sir. I'm tracking down the cause of it now. Whatever it is, it's spreading through the ship's atmospheric ducts."

"Keep me posted. And hurry up, it's getting worse."

"Yes, Sir."

As Arya neared Karg's quarters, a loud trumpeting sound echoed through the hall.

"What the _hell_...was that?" Nick looked around cautiously. "It sounded like a tuba."

Arya glanced briefly at Nick and then peered at the bulkhead, listening. "What kind of creature is a tuba? It sounded kind of like a Halozian Wonk Shrell to me."

"Is that...moaning?" Nick turned in a circle, attempting to determine where the sound originated.

Arya's superior ears twisted independently, quickly narrowing in on the source. "Yes, it's definitely moaning, and it's coming from Karg's quarters!"

They both moved forward with cautious, stealthy steps, and eventually paused just outside the door to Karg's quarters. Another deep bellowing sound vibrated through the bulkhead, followed by a moan. Nick was curious but afraid to know what was on the other side of the door. He'd had enough drama already. He didn't need more.

Arya drew her weapon. "Karg? You okay in there?"

Karg's voice held obvious distress. "No."

Arya locked eyes with Nick. He gave her a silent nod of agreement then drew his weapon. She flicked her hand over the door sensor. Nick readied himself as the door panel slid open. His eyes immediately began to burn and water from the horrid smelling air that whooshed out of the room and enveloped him in a stink so powerful that his stomach lurched.

"Oh, God!" Choking, he fought the urge to reel backward and instead peered into the darkened room. "Yep, this is definitely where the smell is coming from. No doubt about that. Can't miss it."

Arya called for the lights. When they came on, neither of them could miss the massive heap that lay in the middle of the room.

Karg emitted a moan so deep that Nick felt it reverberate through his body. The big hulk clutched his stomach in obvious pain.

Arya leaned over the moaning bulk curled up on the floor. "Karg? What's going on?"

Karg made a sound like a whimper, all four of his big hands wrapped tightly over his belly.

"Karg! Talk to me!" Arya demanded. "What's going on?" Frustrated by Karg's silence, she reached down and tried to haul him up by the arm. "Come on! I can't think in all this stink. We need to get you out of this room before we all lose consciousness."

Karg resisted her attempts to get him upright. Arya let go of him and resorted to yelling. "Get up! I can't carry you. You're going to have to get up!"

Suddenly, the tuba sound blasted through the room, long and loud. Nick reeled backwards. "Holy moly! It's him! That sound is coming from Karg!" Nick said, gasping for air.

Karg groaned. "It's that freking aspak root or maybe the scriggle eggs we picked up on that grubby little farming planet. Ohhh...my insides."

"I thought Rakozians had iron stomachs," Arya reminded him.

"Yeah, me too, but that sket isn't fit for a Tarnac to eat." Karg's intestines gurgled and then let out a sound like a large, angry beast. His eyes flew open wide. "Oh, sket. Get out of the way!" Karg leapt to his feet and raced out of the door and down the hall.

Arya started after him. "Karg, what are you doing?"

Nick grabbed her arm to stop her from running after him. "Don't! I wouldn't follow him if I were you," Nick said, peeking out of the doorway.

Down the corridor, two crewmembers ran out of the elimination room toward Nick. As they passed, they shouted "Don't go down there! It's horrible. Not even the methane breathers could handle that!"

Nick pulled Arya into another room across the hall and shut the door. He glanced at her over his sleeve. "Man, I thought that case of food poisoning I had a couple years ago was bad. What are we going to do? We're going to have to evacuate the ship if this continues." Nick pinched the end of his nose with his fingers in an attempt to get some relief from the smell.

Arya stared at Nick's watery eyes. "I have an idea." She motioned for him to follow her. The two left the room and made their way to a locker room near the hangar bay. "Here." Arya tossed him a helmet and then slipped on a spacesuit.

Nick hurried to follow Arya's lead and get into another available spacesuit. He couldn't put the thing on fast enough. To be rid of the horrid smell would be such a relief. He wasn't sure how much longer he could survive the stink.

He clicked his helmet into place and sighed in relief. "Ah, finally, I can breathe." He gave Arya a thumbs up.

The two returned to the elimination room but hesitated before entering. Neither of them really wanted to go in there, but they had to do something. As they cautiously stepped forward, Nick hoped like hell he would be spared the site of Karg on the toilet. They made their way along the row of stalls, checking for signs of Karg. The sound of Karg heaving echoed off the walls of the room. Just hearing it was almost enough to cause Nick to lose his lunch, even inside the suit, isolated from the horrendous smell by the suit's self-contained air supply.

They tracked the sounds to a single stall in the corner and waited a few minutes for Karg to finish emptying his stomach.

Arya knocked on the door. "Karg, you need to come with us to the lab," she said through the door.

Karg's voice, obviously weak from his ordeal, nonetheless penetrated through the door. "No, I don't want any tests. Just leave me here to die."

Arya yelled so Karg could hear her through the helmet. "It's not for tests. Trust me you need to come to the lab with us."

There was a long pause. Arya looked at Nick and raised her hands in a gesture of uncertainty. Nick shrugged. He didn't know what to do either. He sure as hell couldn't convince Karg to do anything.

"Alright," Karg finally said. "Give me a minute."

A few minutes later Karg emerged from the stall, his face worn from his gastrointestinal encounter. A low bellow echoed in the room once more. "Sorry. I can't help it," he said, obviously exhausted.

Arya looked at Karg standing there all hunched over and tired. "Get to the isolation room in the lab," Arya directed urgently. "Go. Now."

A nervous look came over Karg's face. "Why. I don't have anything contagious do I?"

Nick looked at Arya. "He doesn't, does he?" Nick hadn't given much thought to the possibility of catching some kind of alien space bug. He sure as hell didn't want whatever Karg had. Anything that could cause this kind of agony in something the size of Karg might kill a human.

"No, I don't think so, but the isolation lab has its own separate atmosphere and disposal system. Its air doesn't mix with the ship's atmosphere and it incinerates any waste material."

"Oh, good thinking," Nick remarked.

Karg began walking slowly out of the elimination room. Nick tried not to look at the big guy's stained backside.

"Did you _see_ that mess back there?" he asked of Arya. "Who's going to clean _that_ up? And don't you _dare_ look at me! Not even in a spacesuit!" he quipped, gagging at the mere thought of it.

Arya glanced back at him as they walked. "Relax, we'll get the Meths to supervise the maintenance bots for that."

Arya tapped her badge. "Captain?"

"Arya? Please tell me you isolated the problem. Even Sirok is looking woozy up here."

"Yes, I'll fill you in later. Right now I need you to shut down the atmosphere to Elimination Two, on Deck Six, and turn the scrubbers up to full capacity. Hopefully, that will get things under control."

"Will do. I also need to talk to you about another matter. Come to my ready-room after you get finished down there."

"Aye, Sir."

As ordered, Arya appeared in the ready-room. "Sorry for the delay, Captain. I had to get cleaned up. Couldn't seem to get rid of that smell."

"I heard. How is he?" Argos asked.

"Not bad, but we'll keep him in Iso overnight to be sure. Apparently, there actually _are_ some things that even a Rakozian can't eat. I think it's safe to say we debunked that myth."

"One Rakozian myth was enough, thank you. We may not survive another." Argos motioned for Arya to have a seat. "I called you here about Arnon."

"Sir?" Arya was puzzled over why the Captain would want to talk about Arnon.

"Have you had any luck locating any of his family?" Argos walked around behind her. "I would like to send my condolences."

Arya was confused by the Captain's questions. Sending any communication to the family now would be nearly impossible from this deep inside of Demented Space. They were virtually cut off from the rest of the Resistance. Not only that, but Arnon was a spy and could have gotten them all killed. "But, Sir. He was a spy. He killed the Admiral."

"Yes, but it wasn't his fault. He didn't do it willingly. He was a prisoner in his own body. The poor kid went through a lot at such a young age, and regardless of what happened, I would still like to let his family know personally."

Arya lowered her head. "I'm sorry, Sir. We haven't found any records. It's possible his entire family was killed when he was taken prisoner."

Argos came to a halt in front of her. "You may be right." He paused for a moment. Arya waited for him to continue. It wasn't like Argos to seem so hesitant, or to pause for too long.

"There is one other thing I need you to do." Argos held out a data chip. "The instructions are all on here."

Arya took the rectangular metallic chip from his hand. She hesitated as she looked at it. It was rare for Argos to hand her instructions on a data chip without giving her some sort of explanation. It had to be something he didn't want to voice. And that made her nervous. "May I ask, Sir?"

"We need more information about the Dragoran spy plot. I need you to do a detailed scan of Arnon's body, and I also want you to run scans of the crew. We need to finish what the Admiral requested that we do. We have to be sure there are no other spies on board. The anomalous readings you need to scan for are detailed on that chip. And...I want you to keep it to yourself for now. You can tell the crew you're checking for Verusian flu. All of my instructions are there."

"When do you want me to start, Captain?"

"Immediately. I don't want to take any chances." Argos turned to gaze out of the ready-room window, as he often did when deep in thought.

"Of course, Sir. I'll get right on it."

In the lab, Karg stared out of the isolation room. "Tell me again what you call the one that looks like a beast." He twisted his head and peered at the homemade game board that was spread out on the table in front of Nick.

Nick put his finger on top of a hand carved Chess piece that sat along the back row of the checkered board. "It's called a Knight."

Karg reared back and snorted. "That's a ridiculous name. You have black ones and I have white ones, yet they are both called night. Of course, if you only called certain black ones night, then what would you call all the other black ones? I guess you could call the white beasts day and the black ones night. At least that would make more sense."

"Karg, forget what they're named, okay," Nick replied impatiently. "Just make a move."

"Okay, move my _day_ piece up three and right one."

Nick sighed. "You really are impossible, you know that?" Nick picked up Karg's remaining Knight and held it over the spot Karg wanted him to move it to. "Here?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, there. And that's check me, I believe." Karg grinned through the glass barrier.

Nick looked up at Karg. "Check _mate_. It's called checkmate, and there is no way...." Nick frowned as he examined the homemade board. "I'll be damned. It _is_ checkmate." He glanced back at Karg. "You know, you wouldn't have beaten me so easily if I hadn't been so focused on teaching you how to play."

Karg sat back. "You're right, this game is fun," he said, still grinning. He looked at Nick for a long moment, an odd, almost emotional gleam in his eye. Nick was surprised by his next words. "Thank you for staying down here in the lab with me and keeping me occupied. If you hadn't, I'd be going space crazy from being locked up in here. I don't like feeling caged," Karg confided.

"No problem, buddy. I know how boring isolation can be. I've had to go into isolation many times before going on missions."

"What on Rakozi for? Were you ill?"

"No, I wasn't ill. They kept us in isolation to make sure we didn't have a virus, or that we didn't get one before going on the mission. I always wished I had someone to play Chess with during my long hours in there."

The door to the lab zipped open and Arya stepped into the room. "Hey guys. How's Stinky doing?"

Karg's expression hardened. "That's not funny," he snapped.

"Good news. The maintenance bots have finally cleaned up the mess. Good thing too. Any longer and it would have corroded through the deck!"

"That's not funny either," Karg grumbled.

Arya looked at the game board in front of Nick. "You two playing Chest? Doesn't look too challenging."

Nick cracked a smile. Arya's mistake was cute. "It's called Chess. And don't ask me what the pieces are called either!"

Arya's mouth went into the little side-quirk she got whenever she was bemused. "Relax, grumpy, I'm just here to check on Karg."

"Stinky's doin' fine." Nick continued in an unconvincing fake accent. "Keptain! Sensors show some sort of gaseous anomaly ahead." He lowered the tone of his voice. "Yes, I do have a nose, ensign. Evasive maneuvers."

Arya giggled so abruptly that she accidently spit on the glass wall between them and Karg. "Sorry, Karg," she said as she wiped the dots off the clear barrier. "But it is funny."

"Yeah, he's a barrel of laughs." Karg folded his top two arms over his chest, pulled his knees together, and laid the closed fists of his bottom two arms on his thighs, as if shutting the two out. He almost looked like a huge pouting child, which made the scene even more comical.

Nick tilted his head toward the glass wall. "Lucky for us there is a waste disposal unit in there. Of course, I thought the stink may still breach that glass containment wall."

Karg grumbled something unintelligible.

Arya rolled her eyes at Nick. "That's not glass. It's much tougher than glass. It's a transparent tri-tanium alloy created by injecting a helium isotope into the crystalline matrix." Arya flipped a switch on a nearby console, and the transparent barrier turned opaque. "It's only clear when you apply a current through it. Like this." Arya flipped the switch back on and Karg appeared through the transparent barrier again.

Nick pushed back his chair and jumped up to take a better look. "Oh, man, that is way cool!" He tapped the barrier. "So this stuff can withstand a plasma rifle?"

"It would take a lot more than a plasma rifle, or a gaseous anomaly, to get through that," Arya answered.

Karg glared at the two of them. "I'm starting to think I'd be better off alone in here."

Arya turned back to Nick. Ribbing Karg wasn't what she had come for. "I can see he's getting back to his normal self. Maybe we should give him a break. Besides, Argos wanted you to show me how your hyperspace ship works."

Nick rubbed the back of his neck. It made sense that the Captain would want someone else to be familiar with the workings of the craft, just in case, God forbid, something happened to Nick. "Okay." Even though he was agreeable, Nick still felt a little protective of Hyper One and the technology it contained.

"You know how Argos is," Arya said. "The last thing he said to me was that he didn't want to take any chances."

"Yeah, that sounds like Argos. Always prepared." Nick turned back to Karg. "Guess I'll see you later, Karg. Best two out of three?"

"You know where to find me." Looking forlorn, Karg sat back and picked at the fingernails of his bottom right hand. "Not like I'm going anywhere."

"Not anymore, thank goodness," Nick whispered to Arya, causing her to giggle again.

"I heard that!" Karg grumbled.

The two grinned and waved, then headed out of the door.

Nick half jogged behind Arya as they went to the hangar bay.

"I'll never get used to how fast you walk," Nick said.

She grinned and gave him a sidelong glance. "I'm walking slowly so you can keep up."

"Figures," he muttered.

The hyperspace craft sat in the center of the bay, looking like a rustic, antiquated relic alongside Admiral Onaka's sleek gunship. Arya wasted no time climbing into the small vessel for her first lesson. Nick had always enjoyed teaching, but his students had always been wet-behind-the-ears earthlings with the attention span of a gnat. Teaching an eager alien about a technology they didn't possess was new and different. Teaching someone who was actually interested would be nice for a change.

Nick leaned into the cockpit. "Argos is right. It would be a good idea for someone else to know how to fly this thing in case something happens to me," he remarked, his arm draped inside the craft's cockpit. Nick moved to reach for a switch on the instrument panel and felt a gooey substance on the side of the ship squish against his chest. "Damn. Slimy has been messing with my ship again. Last week I had to go get some of my stuff back, again, after he ' _borrowed'_ it. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't always covered in goo." Nick grabbed a rag and wiped the slimy mucus from his shirt.

"Okay, where were we? Yeah, that's right. Beginning the art of hyperspace deployment. Now pay attention. Watch closely. The abort switch is here." Nick touched a control switch on the left of the console. "And this over here is the amplitude control." He drew her attention to the right of the console. "Just point the nose in the direction you want, flip this switch to arm it, and adjust your amplitude for the window's size. The window will form about half a click in front of you. Once the window is open, it will remain at that position in space until you shut down the generator. So, regardless of the change in your orientation, the window will remain fixed in that one place until you turn it off. Or the generator blows out. Just be sure you're not inside the window when it collapses."

Arya's eyebrows arched upward. "Yeah, I've seen what happens when something gets caught in a collapsing hyperspace window. I wouldn't want to end up like that."

Suddenly, a high pitched siren wailed through the bay, startling both of them. "Christ! Now what?" Nick exclaimed.

A voice squawked from Arya's com-badge. "Arya? Arya, where are you?"

Nick didn't recognize the voice. But he hadn't really had a chance to meet the entire crew yet, small as it was.

Arya's concern was apparent as she tapped her badge. "Kyrk? What's going on?"

Nick raised his brow. "Kirk?"

Arya quickly waved her arm at him. "Shush!"

"Arya. The Captain...he's dead!"

"Argos? Argos is dead?" Arya's head and shoulders dropped. "How?"

"He's been shot. A close range plasma blast to the chest."

Arya looked confused. "What are you doing on the bridge? Where's Sirok?"

"Sirok is gone. I came to give Argos the latest report on the Mok'tu, but the bridge was empty. That's when I found him in his ready-room. He was just lying there on the floor in a pool of blood, dead. Then I noticed that he had managed to write two words on the floor with his own blood. 'Spy is' was all he was able to write before he died. Arya, there's slime on the Captain's console."

A few beeps filled the silence while Kyrk worked the control console. "And that's not all. A wide beam transmission was sent out from this console, detailing our exact location. It was broadcast on a _Dragoran_ channel! I don't know how, but all vid surveillance and other data logs have been erased. I didn't even know that was possible. It's triple purple encrypted access."

Nick automatically pulled his plasma pistol from its holster. "That slimy bastard! I never did trust those beady little eyes of his. All four of them!"

Nick's heart skipped a beat when Arya turned her face toward him and he saw the tears streaming down her speckled cheeks. The news of Argos' death had impacted her deeply.

"Argos was like a father to me. I can't believe he's gone," she sobbed.

He brushed a tear off one cheek and was startled to realize how soft her skin felt beneath his fingertips. "Don't worry," he murmured as he gazed into her green cat eyes. "I'll find that bastard."

The death of Argos had brought out deep emotions in him as well. He had come to respect the man, even admire him. Argos reminded him of another important man in Nick's life. His father. Just like Argos, Nick's father had always commanded respect, and always comported himself with dignity and honor. Slimy was going to pay for his treachery. That was a promise Nick would keep.

"It _must_ have been Sirok that erased those files. He's our best tech. If anyone could pull it off, it would be him." Arya sniffed hard and wiped the tears from her face, her eyes now filled with steely determination. "You go and help search for Sirok. I'll stay here and guard the ship."

Nick hesitated, concerned about leaving her alone in the hangar bay.

Arya waved him on. "Go. I'll be okay."

Nick reluctantly agreed. Seconds later, he cautiously entered the corridor and headed straight toward the lab. "Karg, I'm on my way to let you out of isolation," he said into his com-badge.

"It's about freking time! Hurry up or I swear I'm going to rip this door off!" Karg huffed in frustration. The pounding of Karg's fists on the door rang out loudly over Nick's com-badge.

"Hold on, buddy. I'll be there in a minute."

Growing ever more wary of the dangers all around, Nick made his way through the dark corridor. Sirok could be hiding anywhere in the gloomy passages. As far as Nick was concerned the ship could use a little more lighting in the hallways. His inferior human eyesight was really becoming a problem for him now. Apparently, he was the only species on board that found the lack of visibility annoying. Nick stared into the darkness, trying to discern the shapes before him. Damn, if only he'd brought a flashlight.

Alone in the darkness, he jumped every time the ship made a noise. He'd never paid much attention to the normal creaks and sounds of the vessel before, but now they were downright unnerving. His heart beat faster with each step he took. The widely spaced row of overhead lights running down the corridor glowed softly, like dim street lights down an old deserted country road. In between, utter darkness. The dark recesses and blind corners had Nick's chest pounding with fear as he pushed forward.

As he nervously crept along, one of the overhead lights glistened off a glob of slime stuck to a door access keypad. The door was still open. Nick crept up quietly to the entrance and quickly bobbed his head into the doorway and back out again. _Damn, it's too dark to see anything._ Walking into the unknown completely blind was definitely not on his favorite-things-to-do list. He paused to gather enough courage to enter the room. "This is such a bad idea." _One...two...._

"Nick! Where the hetek are you?" Karg's voice blasted over the com-link.

The sudden loud sound of Karg's voice booming through the dead quiet hallway almost caused Nick to come unglued. "Dammit, Karg! Hold on, I have to check something out." Nick took a long, slow breath and held it for a moment as he tried to overcome the effects of the adrenaline racing through his veins.

"Crap!" Nick reached down and flipped on the light attached to his pistol. He had totally forgotten about the weapon's built in light. "Moron," he hissed at himself. "Can you get any more brilliant?"

Nick swung his pistol into the doorway, illuminating the room in front of him. He stepped in slowly, the clank of his boots against the tri-tanium floor barely audible over his pounding heart. As he crossed the threshold, he reached over with his free hand to flip on the light, all the while keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the room ahead. A flurry of sparks flew from a wall-mounted panel as the lights flickered on. Scared into action, Nick flinched and reflexively fired off a round from his pistol. The bolt of plasma ricocheted around the room, nearly taking him out before dissipating. With some fancy footwork he managed to dodge his own weapons-fire.

"Damn, I'm too jumpy. Hold it together, man."

He looked around again. At least the small room appeared to be empty.

Random sparks popped and hissed from the open panel as Nick approached. A quick glance confirmed that all of the internal circuits were fried, apparently by a couple of well placed plasma blasts. Clearly sabotage. Nick swung the door to the panel closed, looking for evidence of what the damaged circuits were used for. He was confronted with a row of alien letters printed across the cover. _Damn, I'll have to go get Karg to read it._

Suddenly the word 'Primary' appeared, floating just below the alien letters on the door panel. Startled, Nick jumped back. The word seemed to hover in mid-air, just in front of the panel.

"What the...?" Nick blinked several times, but the word still hung there in front of him. He squeezed his eyes shut, but he could still see the word. He deliberately held his eyes closed for a moment. Strangely, the apparition of the word slowly faded away.

_Oh my God, what's happening to me?_ _What's wrong with my eyes?_

Nick opened his eyes again, unsure of what to expect. He stared down at the base of the wall in front of him. Nothing. No mysterious visions of words. His gaze was drawn back to the panel. The words 'Primary Weapons' appeared before his eyes, floating right beneath the alien writing on the door. Like a ghostly phantom, the translucent letters hung there in the void between him and the panel.

"Shit! No way."

Nick spun around and looked at the panel on the facing wall. The words 'Primary Weapons' were replaced by the words 'Plasma Cooling.' Nick reached out to touch the panel. The ghostly red letters were clearly visible on the back of his hand. He held his hand in front of his face. Still the words remained, but then faded from sight again.

Nick tapped his com-badge. "Karg? I'm seeing words... _in_ my eyes. Is this normal? It's the nanites, right? Tell me it's the nanites."

Karg replied through the com-link. "Yes, that's normal. It always takes longer for the written translation system to kick in."

Nick sighed with relief. "You could have warned me about that. Don't you think?"

"Sorry, it's not often we run across someone who hasn't had the translators since birth. They interpret the signals from your optical nerve and then splice in the translated words. Your brain sees the real image and the overlaid translation from the nanites at the same time. Why yours took _this_ long to activate is beyond me. Must be because you're so...alien. Now, would you quit _freking_ around and get me the hetek out of here!"

"Karg, the primary weapon circuits have been destroyed. Tell me that doesn't mean what I think."

"It means our weapons are down, and the Dragorans know our location. All the more reason to _get me the frek out of here!"_

The sound of Karg pounding on the door to the isolation room rang out loudly through the com-badge, causing Nick to throw his hands over his ears. "Okay, I'm on my way." Nick turned to leave when he was stopped by a familiar sound echoing through the room. The low, gear-grinding noise could only be one thing. "Karg, the hangar doors are opening! I have to get back to Arya!"

"Just let me out first!" Karg roared.

"No time. Sit tight, I'll be back." Nick ran down the corridor toward the hangar. He slid around the corner just in time to see the bay's access door closing. Without hesitation, he lunged forward and hurled himself head-first through the air, barely squeezing past the door as it shut. He tucked and tumbled once, coming back upright on one knee, eyes swiveling to take in the bay as quickly as possible. A quick survey revealed no sign of anyone.

Nick's eyes scanned the landscape of small crates, spacecraft, and equipment, but no Arya.

"Where the hell are you?" he whispered under his breath.

It wasn't smart to give away his presence, but he saw no other choice but to call out for her. "Arya?"

No response to his shout. Only the faint echo of his voice reflecting off the curved ceiling of the bay. Still worried about being shot by a spy, Nick cautiously crept around the crates and then, not wanting to be out in the open for too long, ducked behind a transport parked nearby. Peering over the nose of the craft, he saw a figure lying on the floor near his hyperspace ship.

"Arya!" he instinctively called out her name.

_I knew I shouldn't have left her alone. That slimy bastard._ "If she's dead I'll—"

Arya's head moved slightly, and she let out a faint moan.

Nick glanced quickly around the bay and then sprinted over to Arya, keeping his head down as he ran. She lay face down, her body splayed out in an awkward position on the floor. One hand was above her head and the other pinned under her. The position looked painful, but at least he saw no sign of blood.

"Arya?" He reached down and placed his left hand on her shoulder, gently turning her over. "Come on...be okay."

As her limp body rolled over onto the floor, her mottled green hair fell away from her face. She looked so lifeless. There was no sign of movement, no sign of breathing. _Would CPR work on her alien physiology?_ He was uncertain, but what else could he do?

"Arya!" He insistently patted her cheek. "Dammit, please be alive."

Suddenly, he felt the pressure of a plasma pistol barrel against his throat.

Arya opened her big, green cat-like eyes. "Don't move," she commanded calmly, her eyes devoid of emotion and her body obviously devoid of harm. "You pathetic creature. You're such a weak species." Arya glared hard into his eyes, as if she were looking right through him. "Hand me your weapon. _Carefully_."

Nick frowned at her. "Arya?" He hoped this was all some sort of a joke, like the ones Karg and Arya had been playing on him since day one, but his gut told him otherwise. The look in her eyes was treacherous and hateful.

"Now!" Arya screamed. "Give me your gun! Now!"

The blood froze in Nick's veins. Her voice was so different. Everything about her was different. This was not the Arya he'd come to know over the past months.

He glanced down at the pistol she held firmly pressed under his chin then slowly reached for his weapon. Taking it gently at the top with just two fingers, he carefully pulled the pistol from its holster and held it high enough for Arya to grab it from him.

Arya nudged his neck with the barrel, so hard that he felt like his Adam's apple would crack. She definitely meant business. "Now, get up!" she commanded.

Nick slowly rose off his knees. The business end of her pistol never left his throat as she stood with him. The cold of the metal against his neck was nothing compared to the dark, icy-cold depths of the pupils that were staring back at him.

Arya backed toward the hyperspace vessel and threw Nick's pistol into the cockpit. "I have waited so long for this prize." She ran her hand along the skin of Hyper One, caressing it softly. "It's a pity there's not enough room to take you with me. But no matter, soon you'll be safely aboard the Dreadnought. It should be arriving any time now," she said with satisfaction.

Karg's muffled voice, mixed with the echo of pounding fists, emanated from one of the sealed access doors. "Nick! Arya! Are you in there?"

"They'll never get to me in time," Arya boasted. "I've disabled the door controls."

Her evil gaze never left his face. Strange, how scary her cat-eyes could look. She looked like a completely different person. "Because of you, your friends will have a few more chronits to live. The Dragorans will make sure they have you in their custody before they blow this ship, and everyone left on board, into little pieces."

She seemed to enjoy Nick's discomfort. "Oh, come on now. You didn't really think this _pitiful_ band of Resistance fighters was any match for the great Dragoran Empire, did you?" she said with an arrogant smirk.

The rustle of an environmental suit suddenly drew Arya's attention. One of her ears pivoted around to pinpoint the noise. From behind her, a Meth crewmember that had apparently been trapped in the hangar, rushed toward her wielding a large wrench. Without ever taking her eyes off Nick, Arya swung her pistol around and fired at the worker. With her lightning quick reflexes, Arya had stopped the Meth's attack with a single point-blank plasma blast to the face. A flame erupted from the crewmember's facemask, blazing like a lit torch. He immediately collapsed backward onto the deck. Quite dead. The methane in his suit, combined with the oxygen in the hangar, fueled the flames for a few more seconds, until a final puff of smoke rose from the ruptured facemask of the unfortunate Coranii.

Stunned by her malicious act, Nick looked from the Meth worker to Arya. As he stared horrified, goose bumps ran up his arms, culminating in a sudden intense shiver that raced back down his spine. Clearly, the _thing_ standing in front of him wasn't Arya anymore. This was a vicious, cold-blooded killer. "What have they done to you?" Nick's voice cracked in pity and fear.

Arya never even glanced down at the dead crewmember. Instead, she remained emotionless and intently focused on Nick. She gave Nick a grin so sinister it made the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up and reminded him that he was the prize pig at this Dragoran fair, and she intended to bring him to the barbecue.

"What have _they_ done? You mean what have _I_ done?" she hissed. "Rest assured the Arya you knew is still here, pounding to get out. Screaming to be heard." She tapped her temple several times with her fingertip. "Locked in here, in the prison of her brain." A cold, soulless laugh floated from her lips. "I finally put her where she belongs. Now, she can watch my greatness from a front row seat in her mind."

Nick stared so hard at the stranger in front of him that he didn't blink until a tear ran down his face, surprising him by its presence. There was no sign of the Arya he once knew. She was dead and gone, just as sure as if she had been hit by a plasma blast to the head.

The monster that was once Arya winced in disgust. "All this time I was forced to sit back and watch you fools going about your pathetic little lives. And you, you're the most pathetic one of the bunch. Always complaining about how unfair everything is." Arya cringed. "What she saw in you, I cannot fathom."

Without taking her watchful eyes off Nick, she reached into the Hyper One's cockpit and flipped on the systems. She obviously didn't think he was so pathetic that she could trust him.

Her eyes narrowed. "I was forced to wait patiently for the right moment, staying hidden in the recesses of Arya's pitiful, narrow-minded brain. The things that go on in there make me sick. Only now I'm in control, and that wench is nothing more than a sergut gnat buzzing in my ear, soon to be no more. But not before she's forced to witness her failure firsthand. It's ironic that she will be the demise of everything she fought for. Everything she held dear."

Tears burned Nick's eyes. The light in Arya's eyes had vanished, replaced by a psychopath's cold stare.

Nick glanced around the bay. "Where's your accomplice? That bastard Sirok? Or are you throwing him under the bus, too?"

"Sirok? That fool is not my accomplice. The coward probably ran and hid as soon as he found out Argos had been killed."

Nick was puzzled. "I thought...the slime found on Argos—"

"Sirok didn't kill Argos, you idiot! I killed Argos."

Arya suddenly jerked her head back. Her eyes twitched oddly, and her body convulsed as if she were in terrible pain. Nick stared at her, waiting for an opportunity to escape, but uncertain as hell about what was going on right in front of his eyes.

A glint of fear showed in her eyes and then her shoulders dropped suddenly. "Argos! No! Argos," she cried. Tears ran down her face as she looked back at Nick. "Nick? Nick, help me. Please...help me."

"Arya?" Nick was stunned by her abrupt personality change but still leery. He couldn't trust her. Not yet. Whoever was doing the talking now would have to prove she was the real Arya before he let his guard down.

Arya's painful struggle to regain control of her body was evident in every inch of her distorted face. She was fighting with everything she had to stay in control. "I'm sorry, I couldn't stop it. Please h―"

Nick took a step toward her, hoping to compel her to fight the monster in her head. "Don't let it win. You can fight it, Arya. Look at me! Stay focused on me. And fight the damn thing in your head!"

Nick's movement snapped the alternate personality within Arya's brain back into action. Its fail-safe, self preservation mode had activated, and it seized control of her once again. Arya's body flinched once, and then she raised her weapon up to Nick in a silent warning for him to stop his advance. Coldness fell over her eyes again as her spine straightened. A dark, merciless abyss was all that remained within her pupils. The artificial spy personality had won. She stared down the barrel of her pistol at Nick and smiled a cold, murderous smile.

Kyrk's voice broke the deathly silence. "I've picked up a Dragoran Dreadnought on an intercept course! We need those guns back on-line!"

From somewhere in the ship, a young male crewmember responded. "Snark here. I'll try to make my way there. Maybe I can bypass the main power conduits. Wait...all the freking doors are jammed. Can you override them from the bridge?"

"I'll try," Kyrk responded.

The monster inside Arya scoffed. "It won't be long now. Sorry I won't be here to see the action." She waved her gun at Nick. "Turn around."

Nick hesitated. Surely, she wasn't going to kill him. The knowledge he possessed was too important to the Dragorans for her to kill him. Sure, they may get the hyperspace ship, but they would want Nick as their backup. He had to do something, and quick. Faced with few options, Nick tried to take her by surprise. Using his limited knowledge of Tae Kwon Do, and a bit of improvisation, he attacked. He deflected the pistol with one hand while he moved in to force her off her feet.

He didn't count on Arya's blindingly-fast left elbow to his chin. The blow flung him to the floor and left him unconscious.

Arya sneered down at him. "As if there were ever any doubt who would win at hand-to-hand combat." Leaving him on the floor, she quickly boarded the hyperspace craft, closed the canopy, and blasted out of the hangar bay on a course to rendezvous with the Dreadnought. Once clear of the Ashok, she radioed the approaching ship. "Forty-seven reporting in. Mission objective completed. Requesting pickup."

Back aboard the Ashok, Nick roused to find Karg standing over him. "Karg?" He squinted up at the big ghoul looking down at him, then placed one hand on his head as if that could ease the pain burning through his cranium. "Damn, what a headache."

Nick readjusted his neck so he could see Karg better. As Nick became more lucid, his eyes flew open wide. "Karg! It's Arya! She's the spy. She's the one who killed Argos. We have to stop her!"

Karg stared out of the open hangar door into space. "She's disabled half the systems on the ship and there's a Dreadnought closing fast. We'll be lucky to even survive the next twelve chronits."

Nick stood up with effort. "Come on, Karg, buddy, don't give up so easily. We can use the Admiral's ship to go after her." He pulled on Karg's muscle-bound arm to no avail. The behemoth didn't budge an inch.

"It's too late. We'd never make it in time. Right now a strategic retreat is the best we can hope for."

"But what about Arya? And what about my ship?" Nick's brain raced to come up with a plan. There had to be something they could do. The Admiral had mentioned something about a way to eradicate the spy nanites. That meant they might still be able to save Arya and his precious ship.

"No!" Nick pointed a finger in Karg's general direction and shook his head emphatically. "I'm not going down easily. No way. Not this space cowboy. It ain't over til the fat lady sings, and I don't see any fat ladies singing around here. We have to stop Arya! No question about that. And we will. You and me." Nick made a move for the Admiral's ship.

Karg reached over, grabbed the back of Nick's shirt with one hand, and yanked him off the floor so he couldn't take another step. He spun Nick around in mid-air and looked him in the eye. "This isn't the time. Not here. Not this way. I don't like it any more than you do, but we'll have to find some other way to rescue her."

Nick hung uncomfortably by his shirt and stared up at Karg. Something about Karg's face just didn't look right. He cocked his head to get a better look as he swayed in the air. A huge tear ran down the big lug's cheek, pausing in its path for just a moment before dripping onto the floor. The sight of emotion on Karg's face shocked Nick. He hadn't known Rakozians _could_ cry.

"We won't give up on her. We will find a way. We owe her that much," Karg said as he tried to hold a stiff upper lip.

"Karg. Buddy. Put me down." When Karg silently refused, Nick became more insistent. "I mean it! Karg?" Nick reached up and put one hand on Karg's arm to stop his incessant swaying. "Karg?" Karg's limb was as solid as an Oak branch. Judging by Karg's stubborn stance, Nick wasn't going anywhere.

He wasn't one to give up easily, but he was very familiar with strategic retreats. Nick's rational brain struggled to overcome his emotions even as he considered surrendering to Karg's plan. It felt as though his brain would rip in two from the war being waged in his mind. Arya was out there somewhere. He couldn't leave her, abandon her without trying to free her from the nanites and the Dragoran tyranny. And what about the hyperspace tech? They had to stop the Dragorans from getting their scaly hands on that kind of power. Was Karg really thinking about any of that?

Slowly and reluctantly, Nick pushed back his own emotions and realized Karg was right. Going after her would be suicide. The crew would end up dead, and he'd likely become a prisoner. "I guess you're right. It wouldn't do her any good if we were captured or dead." Nick looked up at Karg from his awkward position. Karg raised him a little higher so he could get a better look into his eyes, apparently to determine if Nick were being truthful with him.

The thought of Arya in the hands of the Dragorans was almost more than Nick could stand. _What would they do to her?_ Would they discard her when they had gotten what they wanted? Space her? Torture her then kill her? The idea cut him to the core. It was torture not being able to run after her, grab her, and haul her back to the Ashok, whatever it took. It was going to kill him to sit still and let someone else devise a plan of action.

Karg stared deep into Nick's eyes. "I'll put you down when I know you won't run after her."

"I swear, Karg. I won't go after her. You've delayed me too long anyway. Besides, I don't want my butt to fry at the hands of the Dragorans." Nick rubbed the right side of his jaw. It was still painful as hell from Arya's sucker punch.

"You can let me down now," Nick said. "Anytime now, buddy."

Karg grinned.

Nick frowned. "Seriously. You can put me down." As Karg grinned back at Nick, something suddenly dawned on him. "Wait a minute, who let you out, anyway?"

"Remember that isolation chamber door?" Karg asked.

"Yeah."

"We're going to need a new one."

"You didn't." Nick winced. "Ow!" Talking was still painful. The ache was probably going to be there for awhile.

Karg was already using a free hand to call up to the bridge even as he lowered Nick to the floor. "Kyrk, get us out of here."

"I'm trying. Two of the engines are disabled. The Meths are working on them now, but even if they get them back online, I fear it will be too late."

"Shit. We're screwed!" Nick exclaimed, squinting in thought. "Dammit! Think, brain, think. There must be something we can do."

Karg lumbered to one of the bay's consoles and brought up a tactical display. The display clearly showed Arya's trajectory in Nick's ship as she left the Ashok. Peering around Karg's arm, Nick watched as the hyperspace craft sped toward the advancing enemy ship.

Nick stared hopelessly at the display. "We've practically handed the hyperspace technology over to them. I should have destroyed my ship while I had the chance."

"No. Argos was right. Sooner or later the Mok'tu would have recreated it from their scans, anyway," Karg replied.

"I can't believe Arya is the spy." Nick shook his head in disbelief. "I feel like I should have known, should have been able to see it somehow. If I had, we may have been able to help her."

Karg still followed the small craft's trek toward the approaching Dreadnought. "None of us knew. I can hardly believe it myself." He glanced at Nick, one brow lowered. "Wait a minute, if Sirok's not a spy, where the hetek is he?"

"The coward probably ran and hid when he saw the Captain was dead." Nick frowned, his mind still on saving Arya. They needed to get this tub moving. The quicker the better. "Shouldn't we try to help with the engines?"

"All access from here to the engineering section is sealed. I've already checked. We couldn't get there in time."

Nick peered at the display screen. "Uh...Karg? Why does it look like Hyper One has stopped?"

Karg used the tactical display to zoom in on the scene. The display reeled off a line of words that indicated various readings about the craft's speed and trajectory. "It _has_ stopped. It's starting to drift now."

Nick's eyes widened. "Arya must be trying to regain control." He stared at the display, jaw clenched as he watched the ship drift. "Come on, Arya, fight it," he muttered, as if he could will her to beat the nanites from his position so far away. "Get out of there. Come on! Turn around!" he yelled, staring hopefully at the screen.

The craft pitched and yawed erratically, then finally turned and accelerated back toward the Ashok.

"I have an idea!" Nick slapped Karg as near to his shoulder as he could reach. "When she lands, I'll need to take my ship back out, so get her out of there as quickly as you can."

Karg's big, boney brow lowered as he looked hard at Nick. "What are you up to? If you think I'm going to let you blow up the ship and kill yourself, you've—"

"Relax, Karg. It's nothing quite that noble. I'm going to open a hyperspace window."

"You're going to run, leave us behind? I don't think so!" Karg grunted.

"Is that what you think of me?" Nick was half pissed, half hurt. After nearly three months on this boat, he'd proven his loyalty. He expected a whole heaping helping of trust from these guys, not distrust. "I'm not leaving you behind. Besides, I wouldn't last a day out there on my own."

Karg still puzzled over what Nick was planning. "You know the Dragorans won't let you get close enough to destroy their ship. They'll disable your ship and capture you."

"I'm not going to take them out. I'm going to take _us_ in. Into hyperspace," Nick explained.

"That's insane! Didn't you say that you don't know how to navigate in hyperspace? There's no telling where we would end up! If we could even make it back out at all. I sure don't want to spend the rest of my days trapped in hyperspace."

"It'll be okay. I think I have it figured out. From the data I have collected, I've noticed there's evidence of gravity wells. Probably from nearby stars and planets. Anyway, I can use that to fix our position relative to those anomalies. I can't really navigate, but I can use it to plot a short jump. We can hang out in hyperspace while we make repairs, then jump back to normal space. I _think_ I can place us in the general vicinity of this region of space. When we jump back in, we should be able to get our bearings again."

Karg's distaste for the idea was abundantly clear by the look on his face. "And what if you _can't_ get us back? What if you put us in some other freking part of the galaxy?"

Nick bobbed his head and grinned. He almost felt like his old self, back home, old risk-taking, flying hard Nick Bannon, the prover of hyperspace theory. "I know it's a risk. But what are our chances against a Dreadnought? Not good, I reckon."

"Point taken," Karg reluctantly admitted. "I don't know why I'm agreeing to this, but...alright, what do you want me to do?"

"Just tell Kyrk to follow me in. I don't think he'll listen to me, so I'm going to need you to convince him."

Meanwhile, on board the Dreadnought Grok....

"Captain, the craft has turned around. It's headed back to the Resistance ship!"

"Yes, lieutenant, I see that. No matter. We will soon have them all. There is nowhere they can run now," D'rog replied, his long, sharp teeth showing through his confident sneer. He would soon have his prize. The Commodore would be most pleased with him. His station back on home-world would surely rise.

"Sir, the craft has reentered the Resistance vessel."

"Patience, lieutenant. All in good time. Ready the forward batteries. I want that ship disabled only. Is that clear?!"

"Yes Captain." The lieutenant quickly and efficiently coded in the commands then reported "Sir, weapons are at your command. Targeting engines only. Estimate 5 chronits to optimal range."

D'rog grinned as he waited to sink his teeth into his prey. It wouldn't be long now. The Resistance would feel the sting of his power, and he would forever be a part of the songs of his people.

On the Ashok, Karg stood ready with a plasma rifle in hand as he waited for the hyperspace craft to touch down in the bay. His entire body went tense as the canopy opened. This was Arya. He hoped she wouldn't force him into a position of having to shoot.

After a tense few seconds, Karg shifted his weight impatiently. So far, there was no sign of a pilot.

"Where the hell is she?" Nick murmured.

Together, the two of them approached the craft slowly and peered over the edge of the cockpit. Arya lay unconscious in the seat, slouched over to one side. Sirok sat in her lap, grinning back at them.

"Sirok! What the hetek are _you_ doing in there?" Karg exclaimed.

"Slimy! Dude! You saved Arya...and my ship!" Nick simultaneously crowed.

Sirok's grin widened as he raised a short, metallic rod into the air.

Nick's enthusiasm waned, and he jumped back, ready to take cover.

Sirok gave a short, wry laugh. "What's the matter? Never seen a Dragoran slaver's prod before?" Sirok's face scrunched into something resembling a frown, and all four of his eyes faced Nick. "I've seen many in my day. Unfortunately, it was always from the wrong end." Sparks flew from the rod as he pressed a button on the handle. "A good jab from this can render a slave unconscious for some time. Those Dragoran baskurts tortured so many of my people. I wasn't about to let them get their hands on this tech!"

Sirok slithered his short, plump body over to the side of the cockpit. "I knew the spy would be after this ship, so I hid behind the seat and waited for them. I never expected it to be her, though," he said, one eye pivoting back in Arya's direction. Three eyes still pinned Nick with a googly gaze and noted his concern over Arya. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. She'll wake up soon."

"I never expected you to...um...well...rescue Arya." Nick ended on a mumble. "Or my ship."

All four eyes were on Nick again, and one actually looked a little squinty. "Why do you act so surprised?" Sirok demanded. "I think maybe now you should show me a little more respect. I heard what you said earlier, you know."

Nick bowed as if addressing a King. "Forgive me, Your Royal Gooeyness. But you do have beady little eyes." Nick scrunched his face in embarrassment. "Okay, I agree...you've saved our butts. I was wrong. Now get your slimy ass out of my damn ship 'cuz I have work to do."

Karg started to reach for Arya.

"Careful, Karg," Nick warned. "I fell for her fake unconscious act earlier."

Sirok pulled himself up and over the side of the cockpit. He dangled for a moment before his metal chariot contraption zipped from its hiding place in the bay and positioned itself smartly underneath him. He let go of the edge of the cockpit and plopped down into the seat with a squish.

Karg retrieved the unconscious Arya from the ship. "I'm taking her to Cryo until we can figure out what to do with her."

"Good thinking. Wait...will that stop those nasty nanites?" Nick asked.

"I don't know." Karg shrugged. "It's the best I could come up with." Karg turned and headed out the door with Arya over his shoulder.

Nick climbed into the cockpit to prepare for liftoff. When his fingers touched the controls, slimy mucus squished between his fingers. "Oh, man. Slimy, you really need to do something about this!" Nick hollered. He used the edge of his shirt to wipe the gross ooze off his hand as best as he could and then closed the canopy. A quick rundown let him know that all the craft's systems checked out okay. On a whim, he reached into his pocket and rubbed his lucky coin. After all he'd been through the coin was still there, always with him.

Nick maneuvered the craft off the deck and through the protective force-field, aiming for open space. "It'll work." He pressed his lips together hard, a nervous habit he'd had since childhood. "It sure as shit better work."

After clearing the hangar door, he looped around in front of the Ashok. "Kyrk, you ready?" He still couldn't get used to that name. It seemed to roll off his tongue in a sort of joking way that didn't seem quite respectful. _Kyrk!_ Who'da thought it.

"We're ready, Bannon," Kyrk responded. "I just hope you're right about this."

"Yeah, me too," Nick whispered to himself.

He flipped the generator on, and to his relief, a window opened in front of him. He dialed the amplitude up just enough so that the window grew barely large enough to accommodate the Ashok's huge size. With the Dreadnought in such close proximity, he didn't dare open the window any larger.

Nervous energy poured through him as his ship started into the window. Shit was about to get scary. This was only the second time in his life that he had ventured into hyperspace, and the first time had been completely out of his control. He didn't know if he could actually do this and control it well enough to drag the Ashok and himself into safety.

"So far, so good."  Nick breathed through the words.

The small spacecraft cleared the window into hyperspace, the Ashok close behind.

"Come on, baby, hold on. Just a little longer."

Nick watched his instrument panel nervously, praying the new generator wouldn't burn out before the Ashok could make it through. And praying he was doing the right thing. Who knew where they would end up or what could be waiting on the other side.

Aboard the Grok....

The Captain of the Grok watched as the Ashok plunged into the hyperspace window. His prize was escaping! The Commodore would not look kindly on another failure. The scales on D'rog's face rippled as his teeth clenched. Muscles along his powerful jaw quivered while he attempted to control his rage. "Fire upon them now! Do not let them escape!"

Several bursts from the forward guns raced toward the Ashok, crippling its only remaining engine. But it was too late. The ship's inertia continued to carry it forward into the hyperspace window.

"Follow them in, lieutenant!"

"But, Sir. It's too small, we won't fit—"

D'rog stood and, with a single step, he was at the lieutenant's console. A forearm to the First Officer's chest hurled him across the bridge and plunged him down hard onto the deck. "Get out of my sight! You're a disgrace to this ship and the Empire!"

Dazed, the lieutenant hesitated for a moment and then scrambled to his feet. He stumbled into the nearest transport tube, eager to get away from the wrath of his Captain. A blow to the chest was the least of D'rog's often brutal punishments. Death could be next if the Captain so decided. Dragoran Captains were known for shooting First Officer's who questioned a command. The lieutenant wasn't about to press his luck.

D'rog's gaze never left the console in front of him. He was barely even aware of the sound of the transport tube doors closing behind his First Officer. His only thought was the escaping ship and the repercussions of failure. He pushed the Dreadnought's engines to their limit and beyond. Life support to non-critical areas of the ship ceased to function as he raced to redirect every ounce of energy to the ship's propulsion. The loss of a portion of the crew was insignificant compared to the mission at hand. One by one, power to non-critical systems were cut. He redirected power from the artificial gravity in the crew quarters. Every trick he knew to gain more speed. He must get through that window. He must not allow them to escape again!

The ship's engines neared overload, yet he continued to press on, fearless and willing to suffer any consequence. The gap to his target closed rapidly. Radiation leak warnings flashed on the console as the engine casings melted. Still, he pushed ahead. His only focus was the edge of that window. He watched for any change in the field's diameter as his ship raced toward the nearing hyperspace opening. D'rog leaned forward in anticipation of reaching the window. He could almost taste victory.

The Grok was within half a click when suddenly the circular window began to collapse.

"Noooo!" he roared long and loud.

He wasn't going to make it. The window quickly shrank in size until it evaporated into space. The Dragoran ship barreled through the remaining electrostatic discharge moments after the window's collapse. His prey had escaped to the elusive realm of hyperspace.

D'rog's scaly brow dipped and ripples shot through his clinched jaw. His head flew back and he released a long, deafening roar, as if every ounce of his being was suddenly expelled from his throat. At that moment he knew he had lost his status, his life, and the lives of his entire family. The Commodore was not one to bluff. Punishment would be swift and merciless. D'rog had failed.

He lowered his head and turned to see an ensign staring at him from a corner of the bridge, frozen with fear. The ensign was dead before D'rog even realized he'd pulled the trigger of his plasma pistol. He looked down at the pistol in his hand, sneered and stuck it back into his holster. He stood there, one hand on the Captain's chair, staring without seeing, busy contemplating his next move.

In hyperspace....

"Yeehaw!" Nick crowed. "We did it! That should buy us some time." If he'd done this back home, they would erect a statue and teach his accomplishments to little school kids forever and a day. Out here in space...wherever he was...his mates back on earth might never hear of this, but right now...he was just damn happy to be alive.

He lowered his voice to a whisper. "I can't believe I actually did it."

"Good work, Bannon," Kyrk replied from the bridge of the Ashok. "We do have one small problem, however. That last blast took out our only operating engine. But we still have thruster control. We should be able to hold position until repairs are completed."

Nick punched some keys on the spacecraft's instrument panel. "I'm sending you some positional data. Just align yourself with these three gravitational distortions and hold position relative to them. I'm coming aboard."

"Gravitational distortions laid in. Thrusters at station-keeping. Holding steady."

The red undulating hues of hyperspace glowed beyond the cockpit's windows. A familiar lump found its way into Nick's throat. He swallowed hard and tried to convince himself everything would be fine, but he knew this maneuver was beyond risky. A hunch: that was all he really had to go on. That and very slim data.

He slowed his approach to the hangar bay to ponder the vast red ocean of hyperspace. It wasn't anything like what he'd expected it to be when he had postulated his theory. He wasn't even sure what he'd expected. He hadn't really thought of hyperspace in terms of how it would look. It was amazing to actually _see_ the strange, red underworld. It was almost like looking at a gravitational field chart with gravitational currents and eddies but no planets or stars, only their gravitational distortions.

When Nick realized he'd been staring out the window for a few minutes with his mouth open in awe he decided to speed up his approach. He was anxious to check on Arya and see what kind of data the Ashok's instruments could gather on this bizarre dimension.

Nick jumped from his ship before it even came to a full stop on the bay floor and ran toward the Cryo lab. He called Karg on his com-link as he hurried down the corridor. "Karg. How is she?"

"We had to sedate her just to get her in the Cryo-unit. She bruised up a few of the crew, but she's in suspended animation now. The cold has slowed the nanites to a crawl, but it hasn't stopped them completely. If we don't do something soon, the dran things will sever all her life functions and then probably self destruct. I already have Sirok searching through the Admiral's files for anything helpful."

Nick picked up his pace, sprinting down the corridor. "Be there in a second."

Nick's pace slowed as he rounded the doorway into the Cryo-unit. On the opposite side of the room, Karg stood looking down into the transparent window of a Cryo-tube. A stream of ice cold vapor spewed from a vent in the end of the chamber. As Nick approached, Arya's face slowly came into view through the tube's frosty window. She looked so peaceful, so much like the Arya he had known. There had to be a way they could rid her brain of the nanites without killing her.

Sirok called on the com-link. "I've been through all the files, and I didn't find any more mention of the spy nanites or how to remove them. I'm afraid the Admiral may have felt the information was too sensitive to risk having it in writing. Anything he knew apparently died with him."

Karg's shoulders noticeably dropped.

Nick rubbed a palm across his rough, stubbly face as he thought. "Damn, where's the pot of coffee when I really need it," he muttered. "Hey, Karg, you think we could reprogram those language nanites to eradicate the spy ones?"

Karg shook his head solemnly. "I thought the same thing. We already tried it before putting her in the tube. That's when she went berserk, throwing crewmembers around the room. When I was finally able to pin her down, the nasty buggers started cutting the nerves to her life functions. I barely got her sedated and into the tube in time. I have life support standing by, but I fear it will be inadequate in this case. Not only that but the nanites we sent in were transformed into more spy nanites. Insidious, they are."

Karg's explanation was cut off when an alarm sounded from the Cryo console. "What is it?" Nick nervously asked.

"Frek, we're losing her. We can keep her body frozen, but, if this continues, I don't know if we'll be able to repair the damage to her brain. From what Sirok found out earlier, once the nanites have accomplished their mission, they self destruct. They literally go through a meltdown, frying the areas of the brain they are in contact with. Once that happens, there is really no hope."

Nick stared at Arya for a moment, his brain in high gear as he remembered something important, something that just might work. "Wait a minute! This may not be over yet, buddy. I have an idea. Back home they used an EM pulse to destroy rogue nanites. Would that work for these?"

"I think so, but because of their shielding, it would take a massive pulse." The gaze Karg turned to Nick was two parts hopeful and one part glum. And then it got worse. The big guy started looking sad and hopeless.

Nick didn't like the pucker face look. Not at all. "Oh, shit. What's wrong?"

"I don't know how we can generate that kind of electromagnetic pulse in time. We're down to minutes here."

Nick grinned. "Rail guns! We got big-ass rail guns, remember."

Karg's eyes opened wide. "The forward plasma cannons!"

Karg didn't even hesitate. He immediately yanked out the hose connecting the Cryo-tube to the wall and yelled, "Coming through!" He spun the wheeled Cryo-unit around, almost running over Nick's feet as he bolted for the door. Karg raced out of the room and down the corridor as fast as he could get his huge feet to move and still maneuver the Cryo-tube.

A Meth crewmember stepped out from a doorway to see what all the commotion was about.

"Clear the way!" Karg boomed.

The Coranii barely avoided the oncoming tube, quickly ducking back into the room as Karg whizzed by. A few seconds later, Nick almost plowed into the same Meth as he leaned back out into the corridor to watch Karg sprinting down the hall.

"Coming through!" Nick huffed as he tried to catch up to Karg who was now disappearing around the corner.

In the forward gun room, Karg pulled off the maintenance cover of the plasma cannon's rail assembly. Nick slid into the room just in time to see Karg picking the Cryo-unit up off its wheeled base and placing it on the rails of the electromagnetic drive system. "We need to anchor it in place, or we risk shooting her into space," Karg said, searching the room with his gaze.

Nick stared at the Cryo-unit lying on the rails. Essentially, one blast would send a magnetic pulse into the Cryo-unit. Problem was the rails were designed to fire huge plasma rounds out of the forward tube and into space. They needed something to prevent the Cryo-unit from being blasted into space while still channeling the linear magnetic pulse into the Cryo-tube. Something metal, and something strong.

Another alarm sounded from the Cryo-chamber. Arya was dying. They had no more time, they had to act quickly.

Nick spun around in a circle as he swept the room looking for something they could use to anchor the Cryo-unit.

Karg reached for a nearby storage locker and ripped the metal unit from the wall, bolts and all. He turned it and wedged it between the Cryo-tube and the plasma cannon's barrel then positioned himself at the weapons console. Karg paused with his finger over the fire button. "The tube _should_ refocus the field into a static pulse."

Nick looked at Karg's hovering finger. "What are you waiting for?"

"If I'm wrong, we'll shoot the nanites right through her skull." Karg took a deep breath, pushed Nick behind him with one swipe of his massive arm, and pressed the fire button. A hollow thump rang from the Cryo-tube as the magnetic pulse discharged along its length. Sparks flew from the display panels mounted on the sides of the chamber, and then all of the displays went blank.

"Quickly! We have to get her into another Cryo-unit. This one is destroyed." Karg threw the chamber back onto the wheeled gurney, flung Nick on top of it, and shot out the door again. One by one, numerous heads popped out from a row of doorways in the corridor to watch as the strange spectacle passed by.

"Gang way!" Karg roared. He rounded the corner and zipped through the Cryo-room doors, skidding to an abrupt halt in the center of the room.

Nick's white-knuckle ride had come to a swift and uncomfortable end. He slid off the slippery container and landed head-first onto the floor with a loud thud. By the time he scrambled to his feet, Karg had already transferred Arya's body to another tube.

With Arya finally secure in a functioning Cryo-chamber, Karg monitored her life signs carefully. "No signs of activity from the nanites. I think we did it. There is some damage to her neural pathways, but I think the med-bots can handle it. We'll just have to wait until we can revive her to really know how she's doing."

Waiting had never been easy for Nick. Especially not under tense circumstances. Through the next grueling two hours Nick did everything from pacing to whistling to annoying Karg with colorful rhymes in order to make the time pass faster. But time was not his friend today, and every minute seemed to pass at a snail's pace. Every minute ticking by while nothing happened inside that damn Cryo-chamber. He wanted to talk to Arya, wanted to see those cat-eyes open and stare up at him in that way she had when she was clearly thinking he was a cute moron from outer space. But nothing happened.

"All we can do is wait," Karg told him for the hundredth time since placing Arya in the chamber.

"Yeah, big guy, I got that," Nick muttered. He desperately needed to know if it was still the old Arya behind those sleeping eyes. _If it wasn't...._ He couldn't bear to think of the consequences.

The day turned slowly into night as Karg stood watch. Eventually, Nick dozed off in one of the chairs he had pilfered from the mess hall. Karg stared curiously at the snoozing human beast, his big head tilted in consternation. Nick was turned crossways in the chair, his feet draped over one arm of the chair and his head hanging off the other. A spot of drool escaped from the corner of his wide-open mouth and dripped onto the floor. How Nick could sleep in that position was beyond him. It looked incredibly painful to the neck. But perhaps that was a normal sleeping habit of humans.

"I still have much to learn about your strange species," he said under his breath. He grinned and shrugged his shoulders. It was best to let his friend sleep for awhile. Nick was awfully cranky when he was tired.

A soft tone chimed from the chamber that held Arya, signaling the beginning of the Cryo-unit's regeneration routine.

Karg reached over and poked Nick in the arm. "Nick! Nick, wake up."

The poke startled Nick. He jerked his head up, his eyes barely cracked open, and looked around the room.

"Nick! Wake up," Karg repeated.

"Wha...I'm awake, I'm awake. What's going on?" Nick sat up and rubbed a hand from his head down his face and back up again, then knuckled his tired eyes and blinked several times in an attempt to shake the sleepiness from his head. His brain began to kick in, and he realized why he was in the Cryo-room with Karg. "Arya? Is she okay?" He frowned as he wiped a disgusting dribble of drool from the side of his mouth.

"She's fine. The med-bots have done a good job repairing the damaged neurons. She should be back to normal. Functionally, anyway. I just thought you would want to be awake when she came to."

Nick was annoyed that his body betrayed him with a yawn at that critical moment in time. It seemed disrespectful somehow. "Yeah, definitely. Thanks. I must have dozed off." He yawned again and stretched, trying to force his dry eyes open. He'd swear someone had poured glue in them while he had slept. "Damn, I hate that."

He blinked profusely, waiting for a little moisture to lubricate his gritty eyeballs as he gazed down at Arya's serene face.

Karg cocked his head as he looked at Nick. "What is that noise you make when you're sleeping? Do all humans do that?"

"Noise? What n―" Karg's implication suddenly smacked him in the face. "Hey! I do _not_ snore!"

"That's what you call it? It's...annoying. How can you sleep through that?"

Nick threw his hands into the air. "I don't know...we don't notice it, I guess. But I don't snore. No one has ever said I snore, except for...Emily Rogerson back in college. Okay, so maybe I snore some. Once in awhile. When I'm really tired. But that's it." He shook his head. "Enough about me already. How's Arya doing?"

"So far, so good. I haven't given her any new translator nanites yet. Wanted to be sure she was alright first. Don't want to go through all that again." Karg pressed a button on the console. "This should stimulate her brain to wake up."

In the open Cryo-tube, Arya took a deep breath. Her response to Karg's brain stimulation was a relief to her shipmates, but they were far from out of the woods yet. They still needed to know if she was the real deal.

Arya's long eyelashes fluttered and then her eyes slowly opened. She lay still for a split second and then swiftly sat up, looking around in a panic.

Startled by her sudden movement, both Nick and Karg quickly took a step backward away from the chamber. Karg was preparing to fight, ready to pin her down but then she spoke.

"Nick! Help me!" She tried to grab at Nick's arm, but he was too far away. "Please don't let it take me. Please!"

Nick could see the legitimate fear and panic in her eyes. It would seem that the old Arya was back. He cautiously stepped closer and allowed her to take his arm. "It's alright. You're safe now. The artificial intelligence is gone."

Arya stared strangely at Nick then turned to Karg and said, "Karg? What's happening? I can't understand Nick."

"It's okay, you don't have any translators yet," Karg explained. "They got blasted by the magnetic pulse."

Arya looked even more panicked. "I can't understand you, either!"

Karg grabbed a small device from a nearby table and handed it to Arya. "Sorry, I forgot. Here."

Arya turned the device around and glanced at the page of text displayed on its screen. The device had been printing out the conversation as they spoke, translating everyone's language into written Arisian text. As Arya read the text, her body began to relax. "This is so weird. I was only an infant when I was injected with translators. To suddenly be unable to understand anyone is a shock. I even panicked and tried to access the console with my mind but couldn't." She looked at Nick, and her cat-eyes formed into a familiar squint. "How does your species bear to live this way? It's so...isolating."

Nick chuckled. "I guess you would see it that way. I suppose you can't miss something you never had. I've finally gotten used to having nanites in my head. I think I would actually miss them if they were gone."

"I think it's safe to go ahead and inject the translators now," Karg said, his big, round eyes on Arya.

Arya read the translated text then nodded in agreement. "Yes! Please. That would make things so much easier." She tilted her head to expose the artery in her neck to receive the injection. She frowned when Karg hesitated. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked impatiently. "Hurry up and do it."

Karg grinned. "I think she's going to be okay," he said with a wink to Nick.

An hour later, Nick sat with his arms draped over a chair and watched Arya finish the two helpings of dessert that Karg had brought up from the galley. Arya took the last bite then sat back and licked her fingers in satisfaction. The translator nanites in her brain were beginning to work again. "So glad that's over with. Not being able to understand anyone was horrible."

Nick voiced the question that had been on his mind since her awakening. "What was it like? I mean, it must have been terrifying for you. Being trapped in your own body, watching the nanite bugs doing their horrible deeds and not being able to stop them."

Arya stared at the floor for a long moment. Her eyes glazed over, a hint of tears forming in the corners. "It's hard to explain. I don't think I'm ready to talk about it yet. But, yes, terrifying would be a good word, yet wholly inadequate."

Nick sat silent for a moment. "I understand. If you ever want to talk about it, I'm here. And I've always been a good listener." He reached out and touched the back of her hand. She glanced up at him, her eyes filled with a mix of emotions.

"Of all people," she whispered. "For me to be the spy."

"It's okay," Nick soothed.

"It's sacrilege," Karg added. "For them to use the Queen of Aris for such a mission."

Arya looked over at her four-armed friend. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive. You were a victim," Nick answered. "You tried to stop the nanites. You fought them so hard. I saw it happening."

Arya's lower lip quivered. She pressed a speckled hand to her mouth to stop the quiver from getting worse. A tear streaked down her pert little nose and landed on the back of her hand. Nick stared at the tear. It looked like an iridescent jewel against her green skin. Beautiful and sad at the same time.

"It's going to be okay," he said. "I promise. You're safe. We're all safe."

"And stuck in hyperspace," Karg said.

Arya looked at him in shock. "What?!"

Nick grinned. "Yeah! That was my doing. I saved our asses by using my ship to open a window into hyperspace. The Ashok barely escaped by coasting in behind me. It was close, but the Dragorans lost this battle."

She stared at Nick. "This time, anyway."

"Yeah. Well. We still have technology they don't have."

"And now you're... _we're_ a bigger target than ever," she reminded him.

"We'll worry about that later." Nick took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. "Right now, all we need to do is eat more dessert." His gaze pivoted to Karg. "Because the big guy here didn't think to bring any for me. Let's go to the mess hall and get some real food. Like bacon burgers and French fries, and—"

Arya laughed. "You are beyond strange, you know that. I don't know what the frek you're talking about half the time."

"What's a bacon?" Karg asked.

Nick dropped his head into his hands. "If we ever find a hog on one of these barren planets, I'll show you what bacon is. For now, let's get something, anything, to eat. As long as it's tasty."

Karg rumbled, literally rumbled.

Nick raised his head. "What the hell was that?"

"All this talk of food is making me hungry."

"Listen, guys, I don't want to go to the mess hall. I want to be alone, so—"

"Karg won't mind fetching us some vittles, will you, Karg?" Nick volunteered him.

Karg grinned. "I'll be right back."

Nick turned back to Arya as Karg left the room. She stared at him with forlorn eyes.

"Nick, I'm afraid the crew will refuse to accept me after what's happened."

"I know you are. But don't be. You have no idea how much these people love you, how much they will do...and in fact _did_ do, in order to protect you. And they don't even know you're the Queen of Aris. They do it because you are one of them, a part of them. You are the glue that holds us all together. Don't forget that. These people are loyal to you until the day they die."

"That's just what I'm most afraid of," Arya replied softly. "I don't want to be the cause of their death."

Nick once again took her hand. After a long silence, he gently rubbed his thumb over the soft skin of her hand. "When I make a promise, I keep it. And I promise you this.... We will find a way to defeat the Mok'tu. _I_ will find a way. I'm going to make everything right. You can count on me."

Arya was silent for a long time before she answered. "You know...I believe you. Strange as you are, I do believe you."

One month later....

Nick poked his head into Karg's quarters. "Hey, buddy, do you know the results of the vote yet?"

"Yeah, come on in. I just finished going over it." Karg waved at him, urging him to enter the room. "Arya, by a wide margin. Just as I suspected."

Nick smiled and gave a nod. "I think that's a good choice. When are you going to tell her?" He pulled up a chair across the table from Karg and plopped down.

"We're going to announce it in the mess hall at dinner. Sirok rigged it to broadcast ship-wide." Karg slid a giant bowl of green chips toward Nick. "Want some?" he mumbled through a mouthful of the crunchy green food.

Nick hesitated for just a moment then decided to give them a try. He reached out and plucked a chip from the bowl. "Sure, why not. Don't tell me what they are, let me guess." Nick bit a small piece of chip off and gingerly tested it for taste. A flavor something like wasabi attacked his taste buds, followed by what could only be described as spinach mixed with peanut butter. "Whoa, that'll open the sinuses." He sniffed and fought against watering eyes. "Okay, I have no idea what this is, but don't tell me. It would probably just ruin it for me." Nick finished the one chip and grabbed a few more, holding one up to Karg. "Thanks."

"Good aren't they? They're—"

Nick threw up a hand to warn Karg off any explanation. "No, no, no, I said don't tell me. I really... _really_ don't want to know. Did you say you were going to announce it at dinner? It's almost that time, isn't it?"

Karg glanced at the digital display that resembled a clock. "Shek, you're right." He stood, plucked a paper off of the table, and grabbed a handful of chips. "Better get going. Don't want to miss Arya," he said as he shoved the handful of chips into his mouth.

In the mess hall, Arya sat at her usual table. When Karg saw her, he tapped his com-link twice to open a link for his announcement. "May I have your attention? As you know, due to current circumstances, we called for a vote on who the next Captain should be. The results are in."

The crew's sudden silence only enhanced the loudness of Karg's voice as it echoed over the ship's intercom. "The results are as follows. Two votes for Sirok. One vote for Karg. Glad to see _someone_ appreciates me. One vote for Kyrk, and fourteen votes for the new Captain of the Ashok.... Arya!"

The crew immediately came to their feet and began applauding. An overwhelming majority had made it clear who they wanted for their next Captain.

Arya sat frozen, stunned by this sudden announcement. Even with the recent turn of events, they had still picked her to be their leader. It was the last thing she had expected.

Arya suddenly realized everyone was staring at her. Feeling oddly shy, which she'd never been before in her life, she stood up and walked over to Karg. "Just for the record, I voted for you," she whispered to him.

Pasting a smile to her face, she turned to look at the crew. They were all still on their feet, the applause slowly dying down as they waited for her to speak. She cleared her throat and began her first address to the crew. _Her_ crew. It seemed so odd to think that. These people were now under her protection. She would be responsible for them from now on. For all of them. Even Nick.

"No one could ever replace Argos," she began slowly.

A voice from the crowd spoke up. "Hear, hear."

"No, I could never replace such a great man. But I promise all of you I will do my best to make you...and Argos...proud. Our mission is a vital one, one that could alter the course of the war. For many years, I have been proud to be a part of this crew. I have had the honor of working alongside all of you at some point in time, and I am honored that you chose me as your Captain." Her voice began to grow in strength as she took on the mantle of Captain. Her back straightened, and her chin lifted proudly. "We have had our setbacks. We have lost people close to us." Her eyes burned with fiery determination now. "We have been chased to hetek and back, but I swear to you, we have just begun to fight! Those baskurts will regret the day they set eyes on our sector of space!"

The crowd erupted in a long roar of approval as they cheered Arya on. She turned her head to meet Nick's gaze. He smiled, obviously proud of her. She shrugged and grinned back at him. Captain. This was a moment she'd never foreseen. Her stomach fluttered. Ready or not, the Ashok was _her_ ship now.

The anxiety level on the Ashok grew by the hour as they pushed further into Demented Space and their rendezvous with fate. The unusual effects of the strange region of space didn't help the crew's edgy demeanor. Navigation was tense at best. Sudden strange symptoms of nausea and headaches plagued the crew. Everyone felt a sense of impending doom, perhaps Arya most of all. It was as if a thick syrup had poured over the galaxy, covering everything in a huge blanket of dread. But she had to press on.

The thump of Karg's feet reverberated down the corridor in front of him as he slogged along. He was too deep in thought to hear anything. The time had come. The ship drew near its destination. Soon, Nick would be making the ultimate sacrifice in an attempt to save numerous races of beings on planets that he had never even seen.

The universe had conspired to put this rag-tag band of diverse races together in the right place at the right time. By the Gods, they might actually be able to put an end to the enemy plague that had swept across their sector of space. The prophecy could actually come true, after all.

Karg reached Nick's quarters and poked his head in the door. He hated to interrupt Nick as he recorded his thoughts, but he had no choice. "It's time," Karg announced from the doorway.

"Be right there, Karg," Nick replied, giving a nod.

Karg ducked back into the corridor and headed to the hangar bay. The hollow echo of Nick's final words faded behind him in the distance. _He's one brave warrior. I'm proud to call him friend,_ Karg thought to himself.

Arya rounded a corner in the corridor, headed his way. He knew exactly where she was going.

"Karg, have you seen Nick?"

"Yeah, he's in his quarters finishing his message. I don't know why he insists on using that antiquated recording device. We have much more efficient ones on board."

Arya hardly broke her stride as she answered. "Because it's the only thing his people would be able to read. It would take them too long to decipher our tech."

"I guess that makes sense," Karg replied as she passed by him. "I'll be waiting in Bay Two."

Arya trudged down the hall, her heart beating harder with every step. If only there was another way. _Any_ other way. As much as she wanted to call off this mission, she knew it came down to the numbers. One man's life for the lives of billions. She couldn't be selfish under those circumstances. This could be their only chance to stop the Mok'tu.

Arya rounded the corner to Nick's quarters and collided with him on his way out. She instinctively put up her hand to stop herself. She pushed herself back from Nick, but her hand lingered on his chest as she stared into his pale, blue human eyes. The feeling of his heart beating beneath his shirt overrode her strength to pull away. She wanted to be close to him. If only she had more time.

"Arya," Nick sputtered. "I was hoping I would see you before I...go." He paused. "If I don't make it back, I just wanted to thank you. For everything."

She stared down at her fingers as they lay against his shirt.

"You know, I've been wanting to tell you what the word _Aria_ means on my world, but I just never seemed to get the chance. It refers to a beautiful song. A graceful melody that floats on air and delights the senses. It's a fitting name for you."

Arya lifted her gaze and smiled at Nick. If she only had the strength to force back the tear forming on her lashes. But his words touched a place in her heart that left her weak. The world faded away for a moment as she stared at him. Time itself seemed to stand still as their gazes held one another in ways they could only dream. Perhaps it was her longing for the moment to never end. Maybe it was the fear of what was to come. But she was lost in the depth of his eyes.

The gift in her pocket shifted slightly, pulling her back to the grim reality of why she was there. She reached down and plucked the amulet from her pocket and held it out. "I want you to have this. It is considered by my people to be lucky." She held the necklace up, allowing the exquisitely crafted gold amulet to dangle in front of her. "This amulet is said to contain water that was blessed by the very first Queen of Aris. I've had it since I was a child."

Arya looked deeply into Nick's blue eyes as she placed the amulet around his neck.

"Thanks," Nick murmured.

Their gazes locked and held for a long moment. This might be the last time she would ever see him again. It was taking every ounce of strength to contain herself. Her brain screamed inside her head, begging her to stop him from going through with this crazy plan. How could she let this happen? Was she really going to let him fly headlong into certain death?

Nick shook off his gaze and looked down at his hand. "I'm ready. You know what to do with this." He stretched out his hand and opened his fingers. In his palm was a diamond memory card.

Arya scooped up the card and cradled it in her palm. "Don't worry," she reassured him. "We will launch the hyperspace transmitter probe along the coordinates you specified. It will transmit your recording into hyperspace repeatedly for months before running out of power. I'm sure your people will get the message."

The plan was a long shot at best. There was no telling if the humans would be doing any more hyperspace testing, or if they would be able to retrieve the probe. But Arya was at least going to give this brave species the chance. She owed them that much. Hopefully, Nick's calculations were correct, and his people could avoid the malevolent hand that had laid waste to her part of the galaxy.

Nick smiled but the pain on his face was obvious. He turned to head down the corridor toward the prepped and ready craft awaiting his arrival in the hangar bay.

Arya watched as he walked down the long passageway toward the hangar bay and his uncertain future. Her heart sank as he rounded the bend at the far end of the hall. Her mouth formed his name, but only a whisper left her lips. Her tense throat would allow no more. What was wrong with her? She couldn't seem to think straight. This strange human creature had her emotions running wild. She just couldn't bear to let him die.

She fought her desire to run after him, stop him. If only there was another way. But she knew this was the only hope they had of saving her people and countless millions of lives on other worlds. She had no choice. No choice at all. Her only comfort was that his brave sacrifice would be remembered on a hundred different worlds. One day they would erect monuments in his name and rejoice. But not today. Today was the day he would die.

Arya struggled to push back her tears. She was the Captain of this vessel now. She had to behave like one. Reluctantly, she turned and headed for the bridge. She couldn't let the crew see her in this crazy emotional state. They were counting on her strength. She had to show them what she could really do. She had to be as brave as Nick.

Karg had just finished painting when he heard the hangar's access door open. He could tell by the sauntering sound of the footsteps falling on the metal deck that Nick approached. He set down his brush and wiped the splash of paint from his cheek. As he stood up, he found Nick on the other side of Hyper One, grinning from ear to ear.

Karg raised one boney brow. "What? Don't you like it?"

Nick's eyes twinkled with delight as he stood there smiling. "It's perfect. Thanks."

Karg smiled proudly. Nick had spoken so fondly of his father's fighter craft that Karg had decided to copy its markings onto the front of Nick's ship. From what Karg understood, Earth's fighters were usually adorned with such markings. And today the research ship was as much a fighter as any ship could be. The large mouth full of sharp teeth that Karg had just finished painting on the nose of the craft reminded him of a Ceruk fish from Irridian Nine. A chill ran down Karg's spine at the thought of the large carnivorous creature. He had lost his best friend to one of those monsters while on a mission to Irridian Nine. Practically swallowed him whole. He still had nightmares about it. Karg figured Earth must be home to some similar type of scary aquatic beast.

Karg could tell by the grin on Nick's face that his gesture was appreciated. At least it seemed to relieve some of Nick's tension, and that had been his goal. He had little else he could give.

Arya's voice crackled over Nick's com-badge. "If you're going, you better go now. We've just been spotted, and they're moving to intercept."

Nick tapped his badge to respond. "Yes, Captain. Launching now. As soon as I leave the bay, get clear of this area. You don't want to be around when I light this thing up."

"Understood. Good luck, Bannon," Arya replied.

Nick slapped Karg on his shoulder and jumped into his ship. He balled his fists a few times and wiggled his fingers in an attempt to overcome the adrenaline shakes as he prepared for liftoff. He was suffering the worst case of nerves since flight school. Fighting the anxiety, he closed the canopy, and with a quick wave to Karg, roared out of the bay.

Karg stood watching as Nick blasted out of the hangar on his lonely mission to fight the massive Mok'tu Star-Killer. The roar of the spacecraft quickly dissipated as it penetrated the force field that held the atmosphere within the bay. The properties of the field caused a distinct drop in the pitch of the engine noise, reminding Karg of when he'd been a boy watching the scout ships race by on Rakozi. They made the same sound. Only...back then the sound had given him a feeling of wonder and awe. Now the sound gave him a feeling of dread.

The craft flew out of the gigantic bay and into space, looking like a shooting star as it banked and zipped out of view. So tiny compared to what it was about to face. And Nick inside, alone. All alone.

On the bridge, Arya struggled with the desire to radio Nick one last time. She had never called him Bannon, always Nick. Calling him Bannon just didn't feel right, but she had the respect of the crew to consider now. There were just so many things she wished she had said to him.

"Sirok, keep tracking him. Be ready to launch the probe the moment that hyperspace window opens," Arya commanded. She was a natural born leader and adjusting quickly to her role as Captain. It felt good to be in control.

"Yes, Ary...em...Captain."

The spacecraft careened toward the enormous Mok'tu vessel. Their plan was that the Star-Killer wouldn't fire on the ship. A craft the size of Hyper One wouldn't normally pose any threat to the mighty ship, but the Mok'tu knew the small vessel's destructive power. They had already experienced its wrath firsthand. Fortunately, they weren't the type to take revenge. They were only interested in the power the ship possessed. They wouldn't dare destroy it.

"The plan will work. It'll work," became Nick's mantra as he sped onward.

Weapons-fire suddenly erupted from the Ashok's rear cannons. The rounds targeted the hyperspace craft as it sped away. Nick weaved and bobbed, avoiding the incoming plasma bursts. This was the distraction he had been waiting for. It was time now.

Nick held his breath as he flipped on the hyperspace generator. The amplitude was purposely set low. The window would be too small for the Hyper One to fit through, but it would be large enough for what he needed. Behind him, the Ashok launched the hyperspace probe directly at the opening hyperspace window.

On the bridge of the Star-Killer class vessel the Vontuk, Master Mok'tu 957 watched and listened as his First Officer reeled off information as it came to him.

"Master, the hyperspace craft is headed toward us on an intercept vector. A hyperspace jump point just formed in front of the craft. The Ashok is firing on the hyperspace vessel, Sir. It appears the pilot is trying to make an escape. But the window is too small. It's possible the craft has been damaged and is unable to open a large enough window." The First Officer spoke with urgency. "Sir, the Ashok has now launched some sort of probe at the hyperspace window."

"What are they up to?" The Master spoke in a low tone, his question directed at no one in particular. He stared at the display in front of him for a moment. "Hold your fire."

 "I'm picking up a transmission," the bridge officer announced in his synthetic Mok'tu voice. "Language codes also being transmitted on a sub-channel. Translating...."

Over the radio channel, the translated human voice came in loud and clear.

"This is Nick Bannon. I have what you want. I am willing to make a deal." Nick dodged the Ashok's incoming rounds as the probe raced past him and disappeared into the window. He reached over and shut down the hyperspace generator. "I will give you this ship. Hell, I'll even teach you how to use it, if you promise to leave the planets in this sector and my own world alone. Oh, and in case you get any ideas, I've rigged the ship with Coronite. You do anything that I don't like and you can kiss this ship and its hyperspace tech goodbye.

The bridge fell silent as the transmission ended. A beep from a console broke the tense moment, alerting the Second-in-Command to a change in the readings. "The hyperspace window has collapsed, Sir."

The First Officer patiently awaited the Master's orders as the small craft continued its approach. "He could easily destroy us if he gets within range, Sir."

The powerful robotic body of the ship's Master sat motionless in its chair. The nanite enhanced organic brain inside its metal skull was busy deciphering Nick's strategy. After a moment of silence, the Master Mok'tu turned to his second in command. "Yes, he could destroy us. Yet we can't fire on his ship or we risk losing the hyperspace technology we so desperately seek. And he knows that!" Master 957 tapped his metal finger on the arm of his chair. "Scan that ship. I need to know if he's bluffing," he commanded, his synthesized voice laced with agitation.

The Master Mok'tu accessed a screen on his command chair that displayed a standard text communication form addressed to High Command. Mok'tu short code scrolled across the messaging form. ' _Master 957 to Command. Request following action.'_ The Master Mok'tu's wireless neural interface continued to type his message to High Command. When it finished, he sent the transmission without ever lifting a mechanoid finger.

"Sir, scans do reveal high concentrations of Coronite on board the craft," the First Officer announced.

Pushing a button on his console, the Master opened a com-channel to the incoming craft. "M-957 to pilot of hyperspace vessel. How do I know you will not attack us when you are within range?"

"You don't," Nick replied over the com-channel. "I guess you're just going to have to decide if this technology is worth the risk. I could _always_ go over to see your friends the Dragorans and make them the same offer. I bet your higher-ups would be pretty pissed off if you lost this tech to the Dragorans. Or if you destroyed the only vessel carrying it."

M-957 stared at the forward screen, confident in his superiority. "It won't be long before we develop hyperspace weapons for ourselves, so why would I take such a risk? Besides, I don't think you're in much of a position to negotiate. You don't actually think I'm just going to let you leave?"

Nick was taking a huge risk, playing a dangerous game. The Mok'tu could decide to blow him out of the sky. But he was betting that the metal bastards would instead pursue the acquirement of his technology at all costs. After all, it could take them a long time to develop hyperspace tech on their own, if ever. No, the Mok'tu wouldn't dare destroy the ship and him along with it.

"Hey, metal head. The Dragorans understand the value of what I'm offering. I bet they'd be willing to talk business. But the way I hear it, you're the lead player in this little war. So I came to you first. Am I wasting my time here? I wonder what the Dragorans would do if they got their hands on this technology. Do you think they would let you live long enough to come up with hyperspace weapons of your own? I doubt you would have time to develop much of anything before your species was extinct! See, it doesn't matter to me which one of you monsters gets this weapon, as long as I have a deal. I don't care if the Dragorans destroy you or you destroy them. It's all the same to me. So, the clock's ticking and I don't have all day. Do we have a deal or not?"

On the Vontuk, the First Officer's display flashed a warning. He quickly relayed the information to his Master. "Sir, another ship is approaching. It's a Dragoran Deadnought. It's the Kohg. Coming into weapons range."

M-957 was not pleased. "What? Where did it come from?"

"The Kohg's approach was masked by the planet. It's coming in fast. They must have used a gravitational slingshot. They're firing weapons."

The Master Mok'tu sat back in his chair, confident the approaching ship was not much of a threat. The Dragoran vessel was little more than a nuisance to him. "I have to admire their determination, but they're no match for a Star-Killer. It's suicide."

Annoyed by the Dragoran interference, he gave his orders. "If it's death they want, let's not keep them waiting. Return fire."

"Sir, the Dragoran ship isn't firing at _us_...it's targeting the hyperspace vehicle!"

"Move us between them. Protect that ship!" The timbre in M-957's voice let his crew know that his confidence was clearly diminished. "The Dragorans don't want the ship's technology to fall into our hands. If they can't have it for themselves, they'll destroy it."

Caught by surprise when the Dragoran ship appeared, Nick felt like a sitting duck in the tiny craft. With some fancy flying, he managed to avoid the first salvo from the Kohg, only to be grazed by the second. The energy that was released as the pulse hit the right wingtip caused a cascading systems failure. His heart dropped when all of the instruments in the spacecraft went dead. "No, no, no!" The plasma pulse had knocked out the craft's main power core.

The ship tumbled helplessly in space as Nick worked to regain system function. In mere seconds the coldness of space started to creep into the tiny cockpit. "This wasn't part of the plan. Why is it my plans never seem to work?" he grumbled as he scrambled to get vital systems back online. He wouldn't last long without life support. He'd be a frozen Nicksicle in no time. He could already see his breath forming ice crystal clouds in front of his face.

Nick suddenly noticed sunlight glinting off an object rounding the nearby planet. He struggled to get a better look as his ship tumbled, but he could only see the object for about two seconds each time his ship rotated in that direction. Whatever it was, it was approaching fast. He just hoped like hell it wasn't anything worse than what he was already facing.

Aboard the Vontuk, M-957 received word from his First Officer. "Sir, another Dreadnought is coming into range. It's the Grok."

M-957 straightened in his chair. "Ah, Captain D'rog. I see the rumors of your demise were premature, after all. A situation I will soon remedy!" M-957 turned calmly to his First Officer, the hydraulics in his machine body barely making a whir. "Target the Grok and fire as soon as the ship is within range."

"Yes, Sir."

On board the Grok, Captain D'rog leaned forward in his chair as his ship gained on the Kohg. "Target the Kohg and open fire."

"Sir?" Ensign Klak was confused by the command to fire on one of their own ships and momentarily hesitated to carry out the order.

D'rog sneered angrily at the ensign.

After a muffled pop, the ensign fell dead to the floor. Behind him, smoke wisped from the barrel of the first lieutenant's pistol. The lieutenant stood silent, smiling proudly.

"There may be a place for you in my New Empire yet, Lieutenant." D'rog turned back to the main view screen. "With this hyperspace weapon at my command that fool of a Commodore will soon yield to me. Or he will suffer the same fate as poor ensign Klak here." D'rog grinned, bearing his long, sharp reptilian teeth.

The lieutenant stepped around the ensign's body and proceeded to carry out the Captain's last order. "Firing, Sir."

The Kohg was caught between the massive fire power of the Mok'tu Star-Killer and a surprise attack from one of its own Dreadnoughts. It was a losing battle.

Nick had been watching from his crippled ship until the massive Star-Killer obstructed his view. If the Mok'tu hadn't blocked the Dragorans attack, he'd probably be dead already. But he had no reservations about the Mok'tu's motives for keeping him alive. They wanted his spacecraft, but without any power, he had no bargaining chip left. They would simply take his ship and him right along with it. Unless.... He would wait to blow the ship until he was within the enemy's hangar. That way he would do the most damage. With luck he'd start a chain reaction. But he'd rather it didn't get to that.

Doing his best to hurry in the cramped space, Nick unlatched his restraints and tucked his miniature flashlight between his teeth as he crawled under the instrument panel. He had reserved the flashlight's use for emergencies only and this definitely classified as an emergency. Floating in the zero-G environment, he checked the cells of the ship's battery backup. Cutting the wires to each cell, he shorted them against the craft's frame, one at a time. Sparks flew from the first few, but the next two were dead. After he finished eliminating the burnt out ones, he rewired groups of battery cells in parallel and then wired the parallel groups together in series. The voltage was right but at a reduced capacity. He had no idea how long the battery power would last. "It's like replacing D batteries with double A's, but it's all I got," he said to himself.

In truth, Nick was beginning to feel like he wouldn't make it out of this one alive. His nerves were on edge even worse than before as he crawled out from under the instrument panel and readied himself for what was to come.

M-957 sat in his command chair, stunned for a moment by the Grok's assault on the other Dragoran vessel. "D'rog must want this weapon for himself. That would explain why his ship disappeared and was presumed destroyed. He's turned renegade." M-957 was almost amused by the realization. He would have grinned if his metal face was capable of such an unnecessary expression.

Nick was working on regaining Hyper One's attitude control when he realized the close proximity of the Star-Killer. As the ship came around to its original vector, the Mok'tu's massive ship filled his view. Nick couldn't see a single star in any direction. The Star-Killer appeared to go on forever. "Damn, that's big," he said, in sheer awe of the giant vessel.

The Kohg finally succumbed to the brutal pounding of the two attacking vessels and erupted in a cascade of fireballs down its length. The ships fiery hull slid through the blackness of space, its own weight carrying it forward. The listing vessel drifted further off its course as the Grok overtook it.

M-957 had been waiting for the Grok to come into range. The Dragoran ship had no more chance of destroying a Star-Killer class vessel than the Kohg. Captain D'rog had been a crafty opponent in the past, a real thorn in M-957's side. Like a Scuddle Wasp, he would strike and retreat, avoiding the crushing blow of the more powerful Star-Killer. But there was no escaping this time. D'rog had grown careless. His desire for power would be his undoing.

The two enemy ships opened fire on each other. The shields of the Mok'tu vessel had no problem fending off the Grok's plasma cannons, but the Grok showed signs of weakening within minutes.

With the two enemy vessels engaged in battle, Nick knew this might be his only chance of survival. He reached a shaky hand over to the hyperspace generator switch, flipped up the protective switch cover and turned on the generator. He cranked the amplitude up to maximum and held his breath. In front of him, a hyperspace window formed within mere feet of the Star-Killer's hull. Nick punched the throttle and streaked toward the hole, aiming for the safety of hyperspace.

The immense distortion of normal space-time so close to the side of the massive Mok'tu vessel warped the ship's hull. The center of the ship bulged outward toward the hole. The internal stresses were more than the metal structure could bear, and the hull buckled. Mok'tu soldiers spewed into space from ruptured sections of the ship. Small explosions accompanied the fractures forming in the hull. The resulting debris was sucked through the window and into hyperspace. Nick raced to close the gap and escape. Debris swirled in around him as he plunged into the red hued underworld.

A Mok'tu soldier floating in the nearby debris pushed off the twisted metal heap it clung to. The calculated move launched the metal soldier through the eerie red vacuum of hyperspace and directly toward the small craft. The soldier was upon Nick before he knew it. The Mok'tu's powerful metal hand clamped onto the wing of the ship.

"Shit! I forgot you metal heads can survive in a vacuum!" Nick was frozen with fear for a moment as he waited for his brain to come up with a plan. There had to be something he could do. But what?

The Mok'tu peered at Nick through the canopy, one of its legs broken and twisted from the disaster it had just survived. Just as Nick feared, the soldier grabbed the wing with its other hand and started to pull itself toward the cockpit of the craft. All the while, it kept the visual receptors in its metal skull trained on Nick. Nick was quickly running out of time. He had made it into hyperspace, but he was nowhere near safe. He looked around nervously. There had to be something he could do. He scanned the cockpit for something of use, but there was nothing. His brain was going into panic mode as the monster dragged itself closer and closer. The corner of Nick's mouth suddenly curled upward as he surveyed the space ahead of him. He turned back to the Mok'tu with a growing grin, only to be startled by the Mok'tu face pressed up against the glass. It was right outside the cockpit now.

"Ah, crap!" Nick swallowed hard as the Mok'tu's right hand balled up into a fist. It reared back, preparing to drive a hole into the canopy with one powerful blow. Just as the Mok'tu moved to strike, Nick throttled up to maximum and glanced off a large piece of nearby debris. His precisely aimed impact ripped the Mok'tu from the hyperspace craft, leaving its mangled body embedded in the floating, twisted debris. One metal arm still held onto the ship, spewing sparks and fluid from its severed end. It was all that remained of the killing machine.

"Yeehaw! Didn't see that coming, did you? You metal bastard!"

Nick flew clear of the debris field and pulled an Immelmann maneuver to get a better view of the hyperspace window. Massive, exploding sections of the Vontuk's hull poured in through the huge window. There was no doubt that the mighty Mok'tu vessel would not survive. Nick watched in awe as inner pieces of the ship flooded into hyperspace. It was an amazing testimony to the destructive power of hyperspace technology. As a scientist, he had only imagined hyperspace as a way for faster space travel. He had totally ignored the destructive implications of the technology. No doubt his military backers were fully aware of its potential as a weapon. How naïve he had been.

After a few minutes of reflection, Nick finally came back to his senses and switched off the hyperspace window. Mok'tu soldiers floated in the debris field, moving in the distance as they struggled in the weightless vacuum of hyperspace. The creepy montage of ship debris and living machines distracted him for a few more moments. _How long would they survive?_ He wondered.

Nick quickly put some distance between him and the dangerous twisted metal, scanning for gravitational anomalies to get a fix on his location. He had a plan. He almost always had a plan. But would his luck hold out?

He kept a watchful eye on the ship's power level, turning off every non-essential system he could. If he could locate the probe that had been launched from the Ashok before his salvaged battery power ran out, he would at least have a chance. Without precious power, he would freeze to death or suffocate in the cold empty void of hyperspace. It would be too risky to jump back to normal space now. The Dragorans would still be nearby. He needed to find that probe.

Captain Arya sat quietly on the bridge of the Ashok as the ship's engines continued to put distance between them and the enemy. Unlike the heavier ships of the Mok'tu and the Dragorans, the Ashok had speed on its side. The Grok was already fading from their sensors. Its captain had hesitated too long before giving chase and would not be able to catch up to them now.

Signaling the Dragorans about the location of Nick's rendezvous with the Mok'tu had worked beautifully. Maybe too well. The Dragorans never suspected that the signal Arya had sent was a ruse. The Dragorans trusted their spies, maybe a little too much. They had never expected Arya to get free from the clutches of their insidious spy nanites. The Dragoran nanites were programmed with a number of fail-safes, one of which was a command to survive at all cost. But in a case of total failure with no chance of escape, the nanites that inhabited the spy's brain would simply terminate their host and then self destruct. Most likely, no one had ever survived their removal.

Despite the emotional pain the Dragorans had caused her, Arya had discovered a perk to having carried the nanites. She had only just now begun to understand the vague images she saw in her mind, but having been a Dragoran spy might have given her an edge over the enemy. She had started to piece together glimpses of Dragoran codes, procedures, and other images that flitted around in her head. Somehow a portion of the knowledge contained within the artificial neural network of the spy nanites had been imparted to Arya's brain. Some sort of neural bleed-back effect. That's how she was able to trick the Dragorans with a coded signal. But Nick may have paid the price for her success.

Arya replayed the vid of Nick's craft plunging into hyperspace. At least it looked like Nick had survived entry. But would he now die alone in hyperspace? Would he find his way home or come out into some other part of the galaxy? Even if he managed to make it out of hyperspace alive, he could end up far from any habitable planets. She couldn't shake an image of Nick's frozen body, floating along in hyperspace, encased in the metal casket of a powerless hyperspace vessel. Ironically, the elusive domain of hyperspace that Nick sought so hard to uncover may turn out to be his final resting place.

She stared out the forward view-screen of the Ashok. Nick had known the risks. The entire crew had known, and they had all signed off on the plan. The Mok'tu Star-Killer had to be destroyed at any cost. The research being carried out aboard that ship had to be eliminated. No trace of the data could be allowed to remain. Nothing could be left that the Mok'tu could use to begin their research again. Arya kept telling herself that Nick's plan had been necessary, that it had to be done, but all her inner talk didn't change the way she felt.

At least there was one good thing about the Mok'tu. They guarded their secrets well. They always kept their high priority research projects on one vessel. The Vontuk was the Star-Killer assigned to acquire the hyperspace technology. That's where the freking Tac Squad had come from. All the Mok'tu's research into hyperspace was most likely contained within that one ship. The Mok'tu tended to be overly confident of their superiority. A flaw they shared with the Dragorans. It was their biggest weakness. They would have felt safe with their hyperspace research tucked safely away aboard one of their most powerful ships. With luck, Nick's sacrifice had destroyed the Mok'tu's entire hyperspace research program in one lethal blow. At the very least, it should delay their progress long enough to give the Resistance a fighting chance.

Arya gazed again at the video of Nick's final moments. Without looking up from the screen, she asked for a status report from her first officer. "Sirok, what's our ETA?" She pushed a few buttons on her console to change the video's wavelength to the infrared spectrum.

"Estimated arrival in three days, Aris time. That is, if the charts you acquired on that commerce planet are accurate."

"Good. I'll be in the...um, _my_ ready-room. Keep me posted."

"Aye, Captain."

Arya pushed herself up from the captain's chair and walked through the ready-room doors. The room felt different without the powerful presence of Argos. So cold and quiet, like the spooky emptiness of a deserted building. She could almost feel the spirit of Argos sitting behind his desk.

A voice suddenly broke the silence, calling out her name. _"Arya."_

Arya jumped. "I must be going mad. That sounded like...Argos? But how can that be?" She panned her gaze around the room, scanning nervously for a ghostly figure.

" _Arya, it's your old friend Argos. Prophecy is upon us,"_ the voice continued.

This time Arya's cat-like ears pinpointed the location of the voice. She spun toward the desk. A dim light emanated from a monitor, illuminating the chair directly in front of it with an eerie glow. For a split second Arya swore she saw Argos sitting there, his back as straight and strong as always.

" _I have recorded this message for you and you alone. The computer sensed that you are the only one in the room and activated the display."_ The voice came from the monitor on the desk.

Arya was relieved and saddened at the same time. It was only a recording. Not some ghostly embodiment of Argos. Part of her wished it _was_ Argos somehow returning from the beyond. She so desperately wanted to see him, talk to him again. But she'd seen him die with her own eyes. She knew he was gone.

Ignoring the burning of emotion in her eyes, she moved around the desk to see an image of Argos displayed on the screen. He had been like a father to her. It was her fault that he was dead, killed by her own hand. Everyone had told her that she wasn't to blame, that there was nothing she could have done. The nanites had gained complete control of her brain, and she wasn't responsible for her actions. But that was of little comfort. The nanites may have blocked her outgoing nerve impulses, severing any control she had of her body, but they didn't keep her from seeing and hearing everything that unfolded. Perhaps that was part of the Dragorans plan; keep the host weak by preying on their emotions. Force the host's brain to watch as their own body murdered everyone they cared about. It was a torture of immeasurable cruelty. She had been a prisoner in her own body, screaming and clawing to get out. Begging to find some way to overcome the nanite's control and stop her own finger from pulling the trigger. She could still feel the pistol in her hand, still hear the final moan from Argos as he hit the floor.

Argos must have suspected her brain had been compromised. He had tried to covertly scan her that day, in this very room. His attempt had been a fatal mistake. The nanite's artificial personality, with its almost paranoid state of awareness, had detected his attempt to scan her and sprang into action. A split second later, Argos lay dying on the floor. The vivid memories were not something she would ever forget. No matter how hard she forced it to the back of her mind, it was always there, haunting her. Now the vision of Argos on the screen brought it all flooding back, every terrible second of it.

Tears flowed unchecked down her face, dripping onto the desk as she reached to touch the image of Argos on the display.

"Argos, I am so sorry." The pain in her eyes was starkly clear from the reflection in the ancient ship's bell that was proudly displayed on the desk. The bell had been a gift to Argos from the Admiral. The reflection of her face startled her. The last time she had seen an image of herself staring back from a mirror, it hadn't been her at all. Instead, she'd seen the face of a monster looking back at her. A monster with _her_ face, her eyes, her mouth.

Arya turned away from her reflection. She still couldn't bear to look at herself.

On the screen, centered in front of a paused vid of Argos, a small window prompted her for a password in order to continue playback. Arya stared at the flashing cursor, lost in her own regrets. Suddenly, the request for a password tugged at her brain and she became more present in the moment. "Password? What password?" She frowned in concentration. Argos wanted to tell her something but he hadn't bothered to give her a clue how to access it.

"Password," she murmured. "What could it be?"

She tried entering a couple of passwords that she had used in the past, but it gained her no entry into Argos' message. Trying to use a patience she didn't feel, she punched in a few pass codes she thought Argos may have used. Nothing worked. She thought hard about what kind of password he could have possibly used to encrypt the video, but everything she tried failed. Arya's frustration was mounting. It had been building all day. She had felt helpless to save Argos, helpless to protect Nick, and now helpless to even hear a message from her dead Captain. Her emotions were beginning to get the best of her. Everything she had been through lately and now this? _Is this some sort of cruel joke?_

Arya closed her eyes and breathed deeply and slowly in an attempt to calm herself. _No, Argos would never play a joke on her. He must have encrypted the message for a reason._

She took another deep breath. "Alright then. What could Argos have been thinking? He must have set the code to something I would know. But what?"

She reached over and pressed a button on the console, starting the video over from the beginning. _"Arya, it's your old friend Argos. Prophecy is upon us."_

She paused the vid, trying to decipher that last cryptic phrase.

"Prophecy is upon us?"

Her brow lowered as she concentrated. The Captain wasn't one for believing in prophecy. Still, he may have used something common to their ancestry, an old story they would have both heard in childhood. _Could it be?_ What was the name of that prophecy her mother had told her as a child? The one of the noble warrior from a distant world. She knew the story, but what was its name? _The Prophecy of...._

"Frek!" she shouted in frustration.

It was no use. She couldn't remember the name of the freking story. Who else might know? The ship's database was far from complete, but.... "What the hetek." It wouldn't hurt to give it a try. Without touching the console, Arya's wireless neural interface signaled the computer to run a search.

"Searching," the computer stated in a mechanical voice.

Arya sat down in the Captain's chair and waited impatiently, hoping.

After a short time, the computer stated, "One result found."

Arya leaned forward, her heartbeat quickening. Maybe the answer _was_ in the database, after all.

The Prophecy of Arimis displayed on the screen in front of her.

"No. Not Arimis," she sighed with discontent. She was familiar with the prophecy the computer referenced. It was a well known story, but not the one she was searching for.

"It freking figures. I wish we had even half of the dran data from the Arisian archives." If they weren't so far into Demented Space, she might be able to contact someone in the Resistance for more information on Arisian prophecies, but that was not an option to her at the moment.

Disappointed, she leaned the chair back as far as it would go and closed her eyes. She could see why Argos liked the chair so much. It felt like floating on a cloud. Soft and comfortable, and yet supportive. It was by far the best chair on the ship. She hadn't felt anything this comfortable since she'd been whisked away from the Palace in the middle of the night for her protection. That had been so long ago, and so much had happened since she'd barely escaped the Mok'tu invasion.

The stress of the long day was taking its toll on her. Exhaustion was beginning to set in. As she reclined there, she pondered the name of the old forgotten prophecy. Her mind drifted to her childhood in the Royal Palace. So many of the things she'd been taught as a child had seemed silly, boring, and useless at the time. But now it was all beginning to make sense. Government structure, politics, the heritage of the Arisian people. They'd been training her, even at that young age. Grooming her for her future role as Queen. Combat training. Now that was something she hadn't minded at all. She would have spent all day in the combat sim room if they would've let her. She smiled at the thought of those carefree days of childhood.

Argos' chair was beginning to soothe her tired body, perhaps too much. She yawned and scooted her body down further into the soft lounge chair. She was exhausted. So exhausted. Bits and pieces of her childhood floated through her mind, disjointed and unstructured as her body succumbed and she drifted into sleep.

The crew was unusually quiet. With the recent loss of Argos, the Meth crewmember Sprot, and now Nick, no one felt much like chatting. It would be a while before things on the Ashok would return to normal.

Karg left the somber mess hall without eating a bite. He had no desire for food or conversation. He just wanted to go to his room to be alone.

Once in his quarters, Karg sat down at the table dominating the center of his room and dropped his head into one set of hands. He closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again, sighing heavily as he stared down at the table top. He suddenly realized that something was out of place. He lifted his head out of his hands and gazed at the coin lying just inches from his elbows. He recognized the coin immediately. It belonged to Nick.

' _It's a Quarter. This is an old one, back from when they still had some silver in them_ ,' he  remembered Nick saying.

Nick's good luck charm. Since coming aboard the Ashok, the coin had never left his pocket. The human had taken it everywhere with him. Until now.

His chest felt heavy as he stared at the coin. If Nick had left his good luck coin behind, then he had expected to die out there.

Slowly, almost afraid of its contents, he picked up the note that was pinned underneath the coin. ' _Karg, after today, I figure you might need this more than me. You've been a true friend to me, and you've saved my ass more times than I care to admit. Funny, how I was able to make friends easier out here than on my own planet. Anyway, my Chess set is in my quarters. It's yours if you want it. Go easy on Slimy though, you know how he hates to lose. I'm not sure what your race's beliefs are about dying, but on my world, many humans believe our spirit lives on when we die. That we go to a better place. An afterlife. If that is true, perhaps we'll meet again on the other side. You watch your back, and take care of Arya. Now go kick some metal Mok'tu butt for me! I'll be watching, from somewhere out there.'_

Karg let out a long, deep groan as a single fat tear rolled down his nose and dropped onto the paper he held. _Paper_. Something so foreign to him but so precious to Nick. Afraid of losing this last connection to his friend, he carefully blotted the wet spot his tear had formed on a corner of the paper and carefully set the note further away in a zone that was safe from his tears.

He felt the loss of his comrade more than ever now. That dran human. Why he missed that pale, soft skinned alien so much was a complete mystery to him. Nick had been a pain in the butt sometimes and was as backward as they came, but he was good in a battle, and he had proven to be a valuable crewmember. He'd saved their butts on more than one occasion.

"And a good friend," Karg moaned.

He would never forget his strange alien friend.

He reached out and picked up Nick's coin, trying to rub it between the thick pads of his big fingers the way Nick used to. The coin dropped back to the table, another one of Karg's tears quickly following it.

Three Days Later....

Karg woke to the sound of explosions rocking the ship. "Karg! Get to Bay One, we're about to have company!" Arya's voice demanded over his com-badge.

Karg fell out of bed onto his knees. The rumble of multiple blasts to the hull rang through his room. "What...what's going on? Arya?"

"Karg! Get your arsk to Bay One! Now!" The sounds of explosions on the bridge almost drowned out Arya's voice. "Raiders!"

"Frek!" Karg grumbled. He flew out of the door into the corridor, driving a passing Meth into the wall as they collided. The Meth crewmember stumbled to his feet in his cumbersome environmental suit and continued on his way. Karg was too distracted to apologize. He hopped down the hallway attempting to get a foot into his boot and still shaking off his grogginess. He finally got his feet stuffed into his boots before rounding the corner into Bay One. The fury of plasma blasts hitting the hull reverberated through the hangar like a giant drum. "I'm in Bay One. What the hetek is going on out there?"

Karg waited for what seemed like forever for an answer. The silence on the com had him worried. Finally, Arya replied. "Raiders. Everywhere. Too small and fast. Can't get a clear shot. Can't outrun them."

Suddenly Karg's com-badge screeched and whined. Then a strange voice broke in. "Captain of the Ashok, surrender and I may let your crew live."

Karg waited tensely through the long pause. Arya didn't appear to be responding to the raider's demands.

"Let me talk to Arnon," the voice demanded.

On the bridge, Arya sat tall and straight in the Captain's chair, glaring at the main view screen. An unkempt, scarred face stared back at her. Typical raider scum, in need of a good bath and some manners. At least over the vid-link she was spared from his stench.

All her training and time spent watching Argos command the ship had prepared her for this moment. "Raider baskurt. This is Captain Arya of the Ashok. I have been lenient with you so far, but do not try my patience. Perhaps you have heard about how we recently destroyed a Mok'tu Star-Killer. Leave now or suffer the same fate."

The commander of the raiders smirked. "Yeah I've heard of you alright. And I've heard about that weapon of yours. A weapon of that power would be worth a lot of credits. Way I hear it, that weapon could probably rip apart a whole planet. The fact that a craft that small can unleash that kind of power has me shakin' in my boots." The commander gave a sarcastic laugh. "The thing is...that weapon may be scary powerful when it's launched, but right now it's sitting safely aboard your ship. Now surrender before I take your ship apart, piece by piece!"

Arya's mind raced. They knew about the hyperspace ship, but they thought it was still aboard the Ashok. How could she use that to her advantage? And Arnon? How did they know Arnon?

"I've called your bluff, missy," the commander chided. "Time to pay up."

"Commander Scumbag," she began, taunting him with insults. "I do not negotiate with raiders and especially not with the likes of you. You have ballusks, I'll give you that. I can't believe you would threaten the ship carrying the biggest, baddest weapon around. What the hetek were you thinking? You're such a _patuke_. I have nothing more to say to you. You're not even worth the effort of killing. Get out of my way, and I will let you live. And before you go making another brilliant decision in your colorful, yet undoubtedly _short_ career, I ask you, how sure _are_ you that this weapon can't be fired from within the walls of this vessel? Are you willing to bet your life on it?"

The commander's reply was long in coming. The smaller raider vessels zipped around the Ashok like betiks on a syrup tree, continuing to fly hit and run maneuvers. The constant plasma blasts were beginning to weaken the Ashok's defenses.

Finally the commander's voice broke the silence. "I understand. You have principles. You don't negotiate with raiders. That's one of your principles. But, you see, I don't have any of them principles. Life's much simpler that way. Know what I'm say'n'?" The commander grinned, one gold tooth shining amidst his decaying, food encrusted teeth. "It's a shame that a pretty thing like you is going to have to die, but now _you're_ trying _my_ patience!"

Sirok sent a message to Arya's console with his wireless neural interface. The raiders had made it through the Ashok's collapsing shields and had blown off the outer door to Bay One. With the shields failing and the hull breached, there was nothing to stop them from entering the ship.

Arya severed communications with the raiders, and the view screen went blank. The time for posturing was over. The raiders in this sector were notoriously dangerous and most likely one of the main reasons so few ever returned from Demented Space. "Sirok, you have the con. Patch everything through to my PDU." Arya held up her personal data unit, a handy, do about anything, reconfigurable on the fly, mobile gadget that she seldom left behind. "Tell Karg I'm headed down there, and get everyone you can to Bay One. We need to stop them from getting into the rest of the ship!"

"Aye, Captain." Sirok busily typed on his console. His holo-display showed a diagram of the ship alongside a roster of the crew and their current locations.

Arya turned as she entered the transport tube. "Lock down the bridge." The tube doors slid shut with a whoosh, and the tube sped down to the bay level.

Sirok broadcasted a message to all hands, ordering them to defend the hangar bay. The bridge grew quiet. The bombardment had ceased. The raiders were now focused on taking the ship. Sirok put a priority-one lockdown in place, sealing off the bridge. Arya would be able to command the ship through her encrypted mobile data unit, but if all else failed, Sirok would have to take over command from the bridge. The protective mucus covering Sirok's body oozed faster. It was a natural bodily function for a Kymean under stress, a vestige of his ancestry that allowed them to move quickly and replace the antibacterial covering at a more rapid rate. His nerves were beginning to get the best of him, and he could feel it in the thinning mucus running down his face. He knew that even with the bridge locked out the raiders could disable the engines and other systems if they infiltrated the ship.

Arya slid to a stop next to Karg in Bay One. The force field in the bay was holding, but through the translucent wall of static, the ominous presence of the raiders was apparent. A boarding party was nearing the field, spreading into several groups.

A handful of crewmembers ran into the bay behind Arya. Two Meths, a couple of Arisian ensigns, and Kyrk. Arya frowned. "That's it? That's all of you?"

"Hull breach in the aft section," Kyrk responded "Five of the crew were there when it happened. Three didn't make it. The other two are trapped."

Arya was all business. "Sket. It will have to do. Take cover. We draw the line here! Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir!" the crew replied in true military fashion.

In front of them, the glove of an armored space suit pierced through the force field.

"Karg! They're coming through! They must be using a field modulator."

Another hand came through the force field, a pistol aimed and at the ready. Plasma blasts ricocheted off the metal crate in front of them as they ducked. "Open fire!" Arya commanded, as she popped up and fired several rounds at the raiders.

A barrage of plasma bolts streaked back and forth across the bay. Puffs of smoke rose from the impacting balls of plasma, creating an early morning fog-like haze throughout the bay.

A raider rushed at the barricade of crates and pushed off the edge of a box with one foot in an attempt to leap over the barrier. Karg caught the soldier square in the chest with a rapid burst of plasma. He was dead before he hit the ground. His lifeless body smoldered on the floor next to Arya, forcing her to turn away from the sickening smell of burnt flesh that rose from the exit wounds in his back.

There were too many of them and with the protection of the field, they had the upper hand. Waves of soldiers rushed through the force field. The ones that survived the onslaught of plasma fire took up positions around the bay. A Meth stumbled forward, his suit damaged by enemy fire. Methane gas hissed from a rupture in his suit. He was suffocating in the nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere of the bay. Arya noticed him trudging forward, determined to make it to the front line. Before she could tell him to get clear, the Meth threw himself in front of the barricade. Enemy fire triangulated on his position and a fireball erupted from the flammable gasses in his ruptured methane supply tanks. The blast jarred the heavy crates, driving some of the containers backward. The force field flexed from the shockwave and then sprang back to its normal shape.

For a brief moment, the methane blast disrupted the firefight. Through the haze, Arya could see the enemy trying to regroup. Her heart sank. It didn't look like the crew was going to win this one. After all they'd been through a band of lousy pirates was going to take them out.

_Clink._ The sound had Arya's ears twisting to locate the origin. She looked down at the floor. An orb about the size of a gorsh fruit bounced into the center of the defending crewmembers. Her brain screamed for her to run, but it was too late. Bolts of energy shot out from the device and hit her in the chest. She hung there, unable to move, every nerve in her body screaming out in intense pain. Her eyes were locked in a stare across the bay. She watched as her crew just stopped, paralyzed in their last positions by fluctuating beams of energy projecting outward from the orb. Then she felt her consciousness begin to fade, and it was over. The team that had fought valiantly against so many enemies collapsed to the floor.

Arya awoke to the sound of the lead raider's voice. Her body hurt right down to her bones. She forced her eyes open then shut them again. They hurt too. When she tried to move, it was obvious she lacked all muscular control. Apparently, she was sitting on the floor, propped up against one of the crates, her hands bound behind her back. She forced one eye open enough to see two hazy figures standing nearby. Suddenly, an out of focus face leaned in. She jerked back only to fall over helplessly to the floor. She felt a rough hand on her shoulder, and then a sharp sting pricked her neck.

"That should bring her around, Cap."

Slowly, Arya's eyes focused on the figure before her. From her uncomfortable vantage point on the ground, she could easily see it was the commander of the raiders.

"Captain Binche, I believe." The Commander said sarcastically. "At last we meet." He gave a raspy chuckle, and a few of his soldiers followed suit.

Arya pushed the words out of her unusually dry throat "Commander Patuke, I assure you the pleasure is all yours." Arya knew she was only alive for one reason. They must have discovered that the hyperspace vessel wasn't aboard the Ashok, and they wanted her to tell them where it was. "Filthy pirate," she sneered.

"Pirates, raiders, those are such ugly terms. We prefer _procurers of unclaimed merchandise."_

"Unclaimed? Somehow, I doubt that!"

The Commander leaned down, grabbed her by the collar and pulled her upright.

The bindings around Arya's wrists dug into her soft skin, making her wince. "Ow," she protested. The head raider pushed his face in close to Arya. His need of a bath was now painfully obvious to her sensitive nose.

"Well, if everyone's dead, then there ain't no one to claim anything, now is there? And the name's Zurkan," he said with a sinister grin.

Arya tried not to vomit at the smell of his breath. The wooziness in her head didn't help matters. She tightened her throat, determined to hold her bile down. What the hetek was that weapon they had used on her? She had never seen anything like it. Or felt anything like it. She felt like she had been beaten by ten bat-wielding Rakozians. It even hurt to blink.

Arya glanced at her hip. Her PDU was gone! _Had they taken it? Where was it?_

"Frek," she mumbled. She glanced around at the raiders. There was no indication that any of them had her PDU.

"Now where is my little buddy Arnon?" Zurkan asked her.

"He's dead," she told him with satisfaction. "Killed by an energy creature. It sucked the life right out of him."

"You mean a Glop?" Zurkan grinned. "What a shame. Well, that means my cut of the profit just got bigger." He glanced nervously over his shoulder. "What happened to the Glop? It's not still on board, is it?"

"I wouldn't tell you if it was. Besides, all your men roaming around will just improve my odds. Big strapping guys like you would make a good meal for a Glop, don't you think?"

Arya smirked up at the commander. She could tell Zurkan's composure was slipping, though he tried to hide it.

As she gazed up at the idiot, she suddenly realized that she'd left her PDU in the storage locker. In her mind, she carefully retraced her steps up to the time they had engaged the raiders. She recalled having checked the ship's systems from the PDU when she'd been in the storage area picking up extra ammo. _Frek!_ She remembered now that she had set the device down on the shelf when a noise had startled her. She mentally cursed herself for being so careless.

"So where has that famous hyperspace craft gone? Hmm...where?" the Commander coaxed. He reached down, grabbed Arya's silken, green hair and pulled her to her feet. "The last transmission said it was in Bay Two. Where has it gone? And the pilot, the human, where is he?"

Arya stared directly into his beady little pirate eyes. Zurkan was definitely starting to lose his cool. That made him even more unpredictable and dangerous. At the moment, he had the upper hand. She was in pain, and she was having difficulty coming up with a good stall tactic. She fumbled for a good way to answer him about the ship. If she told him that Nick was most likely dead, he'd probably shoot them all right there.

A series of beeps sprang from Arya's com-badge. The Commander glanced down at her badge. "What the frek is that?"

Glad to have an opportunity to change the subject, Arya quickly answered. "The com-link is freked. You blasted the sket out of it with your ships."

Arya's badge continued to squawk out short and long beeps. At first she had assumed that the com-link really was freked, but then she realized there was a pattern in the beeps. The noises sounded like an ancient human code Nick had told her about. But who would be using it?

Trying to distract the commander from coming to a similar realization, she asked, "Speaking of procuring murchandise...what was that weapon you used to paralyze all of us? Pretty impressive. I might know some people who would pay handsomely for that kind of unit."

Zurkan smiled. "That was a lightning grenade. Leftovers from the Klagonian war. Hard to find these days. But you're avoiding the subject. Where is that ship?"

On the bridge, Sirok was also listening to the beeps over the com-channel. He displayed the incoming pulses on his screen. The pattern was familiar somehow. The database didn't have a match for it, but he knew he had seen it before. The image of a piece of paper in Nick's quarters flitted through his mind. That's where he'd seen these pulses before. A series of short and long dashes scribbled on a pad in Nick's quarters. But what did it mean?

He quickly set about having the computer analyze the pattern, cross checking with the human language files gathered from Nick's nanites. A translation slowly fell into place on the screen before him. 'Slimy, I need you to do the following.'

_Slimy?_ Only one person called him that.

Nick Bannon.

But where was he?

Down in the bay, Arya didn't know how long she could stall before Zurkan would start killing members of the crew. She desperately needed to give him an answer. "Fine, you baskurt!" Arya let out a sob, pretending that it was difficult for her to betray her friend. "The moon on the far side of this planet. He went there." She hung her head and continued to make a show of sobbing.

Commander Zurkan glanced at one of his men. "Get back to the ship. Tell them to head—"

A voice from the Commander's com-link interrupted his sentence. "Commander! The hyperspace vessel, it's—"

The transmission went dead. "Stuke...Stuke, are you there? Stuke?"

Arya looked up at the Commander. He actually seemed concerned, even rattled.

A voice answered over the com-link. "Stuke's dead and you're next, asshole."

Zurkan turned to Arya, rage building on his face. His jaw quivered, his eye's flared. "That baskurt killed Stuke!" He grabbed the hair on the back of Arya's head and forced a pistol under her chin. "Tell him to surrender now or I start killing the crew. Beginning with you!"

Arya had difficulty even focusing on Zurkan. At the moment her mind had seized on that voice coming over the com-badge, and a whole host of emotions were pouring through her. Elation, worry, doubt, concern, joy. That was Nick's voice! He was alive! She frowned, her happiness quelled by the fact that she would probably soon be dead at the hands of a lunatic pirate.

"Tell him, now!" Zurkan demanded, kicking her shin with one pointed boot.

Arya let out a wail and nearly collapsed from the searing pain shooting throughout her nervous system. She was only held upright by Zurkan's tight grip on her hair.

"Alright!" she screamed, as hairs were ripped from her scalp by the Commander's tight grip. Schooling herself, she spoke calmly into the com-link on the Commander's wrist. "Nick. He said he would start killing the crew, starting with me. Nick...don't surrender! Sirok, PDU!"

Zurkan abruptly stopped her words with a solid blow from his pistol grip. Sparks of pain shot through her skull and then she fell unconscious to the floor, blood oozing from the wound on her right temple.

He glared at her prone body. "Binche. I knew I couldn't trust her."

He raised the wrist-mounted com-link to his mouth. "Listen, human. I am only going to say this once. Surrender now and I will spare the crew. Waste any more of my time, and I will kill them, one by one, until you bring me that ship."

Nick's voice crackled through the com-link. "I have no love of the Ashok or its crew. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing stopping me from finishing you off right now."

"You're not fooling me for a minute, human. You've gone to great lengths to protect this ship and crew." Zurkan raised his pistol and pulled the trigger. A body fell limp to the floor. "That's one. How many more will it take?"

Nick sat quietly in his ship. The com-channel had been open when Zurkan pulled the trigger. He'd heard the blast and the body hitting the deck. His heart quivered at the thought of that body being Arya. Zurkan said he would start with her, so Nick could only assume....

Arya! The bastard had killed Arya!

A primal roar erupted from Nick's throat, and he punched the nearest panel. His entire body shook with rage and pain.

"You bastard!" he shrieked long and loud into the cold emptiness of space. "You bastard," he ended on a whimper.

Tears ran down his face as he tried to compose himself. He couldn't let this turd know how much he cared. He had to maintain the façade of indifference.

"Commander Prik!" he said into the com-badge. "This is Nick Bannon! You win. I surrender. I am setting an approach vector. The ship is yours...under one condition. You have to give me your word that you won't hurt anyone else."

"Agreed. But don't take too long. I've always wondered how tough the skin of a Rakozian actually is, and I'm not known for my patience." The Commander grinned at Karg, who was just beginning to rouse.

Zurkan turned and stared through the force-field into space. The muted shape of the hyperspace craft soon came into view. The docking arm cradled the ship and drew it closer. Slowly, the small vessel made its way through the protective field and came to rest in front of him. His goons quickly surrounded the ship, their weapons primed and ready.

"Get out, human!" Zurkan commanded, raising his pistol.

The canopy of the Earth vessel stayed locked in place.

"Come out where I can see you, human."

Still, no movement came from the craft.

Zurkan waved to one of the raiders. "Open it!"

The raider stepped over and pulled the outside latch. A slight hiss escaped as the canopy began to open. The cover hinged upward, revealing an empty cockpit.

Zurkan rushed to the side of the ship and looked inside. "Empty!" he growled in anger.

A subdued laugh sprang from Karg's lips. He knew Nick had a plan. He always did. Karg only hoped it was one that would actually work.

Zurkan's breathing deepened as his anger rose. Not only was the human not in the cockpit, but a vital piece of equipment was missing from the instrument panel of the craft! He stared at the numerous wires dangling out of a rectangular hole in the dash where the component had once been housed. Zurkan's patience was at an end. He was preparing to slaughter the entire crew when he noticed the note pinned to the harness in the cockpit. _'I have the ship's key component. If you harm anyone else, I'll destroy it.'_

Zurkan's blood boiled. He stood leaned over the hyperspace craft, his heart ready to burst through his chest he was so angry. _This freking human was making a fool of him!_

His movements were jerky as he turned to some nearby soldiers. "Find that human and bring him to me!" he snarled.

The two raiders stared at their commander, puzzled.

"You idiots! He's somewhere in the freking ship! Go check the other hangar bay!" Zurkan demanded.

The two bumped into each other as they hastily turned to leave.

"It's so hard to get good help these days," Zurkan mumbled as the two made their way out of the bay.

As the two raiders rounded a corner in the corridor, one stopped abruptly, causing the second one to collide into the back of him. "Did you see that?"

"I didn't see nothin' but my nose being mashed into the back of your head." Rubbing the blood back into his face, the raider peered down the corridor, trying to figure out what his friend was talking about.

"Right there. I thought I saw a shadow. Like that door down there closed."

The two crept toward the door, guns ready. They quietly positioned themselves one on either side of the door and prepared to enter. The taller of the two raiders reached up with his free hand and pressed the green access button. The zipping sound of the door sliding open startled them both.

The tallest one chuckled softly at their jumpiness. "You first," he said to the other.

His friend shook his head emphatically.

"Together then."

His friend gulped hard and nervously repositioned his body. The two poked their guns around the doorway and leaned in to take a look.

"Just a storage room," the taller raider remarked.

There didn't appear to be anyone in the room, so they cautiously entered, carefully placing their feet to make as little noise as possible. The walls of the room were lined with shelves full of various boxes and gizmos, but there was no sign of any person.

The tallest raider slapped the back of the other's head. "Moron. There's no one here. You're seein' things again."

"Wait. What do you think this is?" The shorter raider pointed with his gun toward a corner of the room. Sitting in the corner was a three legged round contraption with a seat in the middle.

"Maybe it's a toy for little ones to ride in." He put his hand on one of the control handles protruding from the console of the metal apparatus. "Ewww." He pulled his hand away to look at his fingers. Slimy goo clung to his palm. He turned and wiped his hand on his buddy's shoulder.

"Don't freking wipe that sket on me! Use your own freking shirt!" The tall soldier pulled away to look at the goo on his shoulder. "Why did you have to go and do that? It's my favorite shirt," he growled. "Come on. We better find that ooman before the boss gets mad."

The two walked out of the room, and the door shut behind them. A metal container on a shelf near the back of the room shifted slightly. The lid creaked as it slowly opened. Four eyes stared out into the empty room.

_Pop_. Sirok flipped the top of the container up and began madly typing into Arya's PDU. She must have known that he would have been monitoring communications. It hadn't taken him long to track the location of the data unit. And even less time to completely lock out the bridge and reroute all the commands through Arya's PDU. Now he could work to put Nick's plan into action.

In Bay Two, Nick was punching a sequence of commands into the bay's console when he heard the voice of two approaching raiders. He secured his helmet in place and ducked behind the console, one hand stretched up, index finger poised over a button on the control board. He was ready for what they had to bring.

Nick heard the zip of the access door opening. Two raiders stepped into the bay. _Zip_ , the door closed behind them again. If Sirok wasn't able to get those overrides in place, he'd be screwed. Nick hit the button and grabbed the base of the console tightly. The force-field holding the air in the bay suddenly dropped, and the air exploded out of the open space-door, carrying the two raiders with it.

Nick hit the button again, and the field reappeared across the open bay. He could hear the sound of air rushing in to refill the bay's atmosphere. A few minutes later, the pressure was equalized enough for him to make his exit into the outer corridor. A blast of air hit him in the chest as the access door slid open.

Nick paused in the doorway to taunt the raider Commander over his com-badge. "Hey, dumbass, I just spaced two of your henchmen. I sure hope they're good at holding their breath."

In Bay One, the Commander heard a giggle from behind him. Turning, he saw that his Arisian captive was awake again. "What's so funny?"

Arya grinned at him. "I see your translator nanites haven't finished processing the human language data yet."

Zurkan grunted. "What did he mean, dumbass?"

Karg replied "Stupid, moron, idiot...imbeci—"

"That's enough! I got it!" Zurkan raised his pistol toward Karg's head.

"You kill him, and Nick will destroy those components." Arya smirked. "Then your precious ship would be nothing more than a pile of worthless space junk."

"Grrr!" Angered by her composure, Zurkan turned and stormed away.

The sounds of screaming and plasma blasts rang from Zurkan's com-link. Another group of raiders were dead. Zurkan stopped, his veins boiling with anger. He picked up a heavy pipe from a scrap heap and took out his frustration on a nearby console. Sparks flew into the air as he beat the thing with every ounce of his being. His mother ship was destroyed, most of his crew dead. _This son of a binche was going to pay! "_ Human! Show yourself. Fight me, man to man," Zurkan screamed into the atmosphere.

Arya shouted across the bay to Zurkan. "Oh, you'll see him soon enough. Right before he kills you! Come to think of it, that's _not_ soon enough."

Zurkan had never been so infuriated in all his life. He turned, intent on teaching Arya a lesson in respect, but his steps faltered when he caught sight of a figure in the corridor. The human that had given him so much grief stood bold as you please in the doorway just beyond the Arisian binche. Startled to see him there, the commander froze. Nick waved then turned and walked down the corridor.

"Don't just stand there! Go after him!" Zurkan shoved the two remaining raider soldiers toward the door.

The two ran into the hallway just in time to see Nick round a bend at the far end of the hall. They gave chase, racing as fast as they could in their cumbersome armored suits. As they hit the corner, their feet slipped on a slimy substance, sending them to the floor with a smack. Their momentum carried them across the slick floor and through an open doorway at the end of the corridor. A quick blast to the door control from Nick's pistol and the door slid shut, trapping the two inside.

"Good work, Slim...I mean...Sirok. Now, that's how you bag a couple of raiders!" Nick shouted in glee.

Inside the room, the two raiders struggled to get to their feet. The slick stuff on the floor was like a combination of snot and motor oil. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't get enough traction to keep their feet under them. They finally propped each other up enough to peer out from the round window in the door. Nick stood there smiling back at them.

One raider raised his pistol to the window. Nick tried to warn him not to. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. It's magnetically seal—"

_Bang_. In the blink of an eye, a bolt off plasma ricocheted off the door and around the room several times. The blast came to an abrupt halt in one of the soldier's legs, knocking him to the floor. "You shot me! You Arskhole!" he cried in pain.

"Sure didn't need a translator for that," Nick joked. "Boys, wave bye-bye now." Nick waved to them through the window. The standing raider looked at Nick nervously. Nick smiled. "You're standing in an air lock." With a glance at Sirok, Nick muttered "hit it" out of the side of his mouth.

Sirok grinned and punched a key on the screen of the PDU. The outer air lock door opened, expelling the raiders into space.

Nick tapped his com-badge. "Hey, dumbass, you still there? Two more of your goons just decided to take a space walk. How many does that leave? Oh...wait...right...I think you're all out of minions. What are you going to do now?"

Back in the bay, Zurkan grabbed Arya's arm and pulled her to her feet again. She could tell by the sweaty palms against her skin that the tough, merciless raider was scared. He had met his match this time. Without his band of goons, he was nothing but a coward.

"To the transport. You're going to fly us out of here, binche."

"I can't fly with my hands tied behind my back. I'm good, but not that good," Arya quipped.

"Alright, fine." Zurkan put his pistol to Arya's back and, with his free hand, unlocked the restraints around her wrists. "Just don't try anything stupid." He shoved her in the direction of the transport. In a split second decision, he turned and took aim at Karg, who was sitting on the floor, chained to a support column. At least Zurkan would have the pleasure of venting some of his anger on the big Rakozian beast.

Karg swallowed hard as he stared at the baskurt's plasma pistol. He tested the chains that held him stationary, but it was no use. He was bound tight. There was no getting out of this one.

"I wouldn't," Nick said, as he stepped through the hangar door, pistol aimed at Zurkan.

Zurkan swung his weapon toward Nick and fired a shot. To avoid the plasma blast, Nick quickly dove to the right and hit the floor sliding. His weapon remained trained on Zurkan as he slid across the shiny hangar deck. But he hesitated to fire.

Zurkan smirked and took aim at Nick.

_Clank._ Arya walloped Zurkan in the back of the head with a tri-tanium pipe. He dropped to his knees and fell forward onto his face with a painful sounding thud. "That's for Kyrk, you baskurt." She grabbed Zurkan's weapon from the floor and trained it on his back. As she backed away, she glanced up to see Nick sauntering toward her from across the bay, his dark, wavy hair sticking up every which way as usual. Her heart pounded at the sight of him. As he came closer, she noticed a teardrop running down his face.

They simultaneously blurted out what was on their mind, their voices overlapping in perfect sync. "I thought you were dead!"

A slow smile formed over Nick's handsome face as he stared back at Arya. She chuckled softly. "Great minds think alike," he murmured.

Nick brushed the hair away from the wound on Arya's temple. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, her eyes never leaving his. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks to you. I really thought I was done for, until I heard your voice."

On his way to unchain Karg, Sirok raced around them in his three legged, metal rover. Two of his four eyes peered at them in curiosity as he passed. He zipped behind Karg and unlocked his restraints. The large chains crashed to the floor as Karg leapt to his feet. Within seconds, Nick was jerked off the floor and held inside the massive, smothering bulk of all four of Karg's arms.

"Nick! You're alive! You're alive!" Karg bounced him up and down like a baby until Nick's head began to ache.

"Karg, buddy! Please! You're breaking my back, crushing my ribs. I can't breathe in here," Nick wheezed. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you gotta put me down."

Karg stopped bouncing him and gently put him back on the floor. Nick massaged his temples and gasped in an attempt to recover from having the air squeezed out of his lungs. Karg stared down at him, waiting silently and patiently. He looked like a big kid with a new toy. Nick started laughing. The expression on Karg's face, the long days alone, the stress of thinking Arya had been killed, it all culminated in this moment of utter release as he stared into Karg's big, funky eyes.

Karg grinned. Nick's laughter began to swell into an all-out, piss-in-your-pants fit of laughter that drove the air out of his lungs and had him dropping to the floor on one knee. Karg chuckled and leaned down to look into Nick's face as he continued to laugh. Nick scrubbed at his eyes and tried to contain himself, but it was no use.

"I—I'm...j—just so hap—peeee to see you g—g—guys!"  Nick screeched through his mirth. "Oh, God!" He held his aching sides. "F—feels so g—good!"

Arya was beside him, dropping down onto both knees, laughing along with him. Karg soon followed. Sirok maintained a safe distance as he watched the three of them rolling on the floor, holding their sides in pain as they laughed like hynangtas.

"Strange species," he muttered, his four eyes trained on his crew.

"What's the matter, Sirok," Nick screeched through tears of laughter. "Haven't you ever had a fit of the g—giggles before?"

"No. I don't think I have. It looks awkward and painful," Sirok answered.

All three looked at him for a moment then dissolved once again into screeches of intense laughter.

"God, I'm so happy to be back!" Nick crowed.

A splash of water from Nick's cup was enough to bring the commander around. "Rise and shine," Nick said, kicking Zurkan stiffly in the side with his boot.

Zurkan moaned and opened his eyes slowly. Karg grabbed him with one hand, yanked him up off the floor and then set him down hard in a chair.

"Don't kill me," Zurkan pleaded to the group.

"Oh, we're not going to kill you. That would be too nice." Nick sat down in a chair across from him. "How did you know about my ship? And how did you know Arnon?"

"You're going to kill me as soon as I tell you, so you can just go get freked."

Nick smiled calmly. "You can do this my way or _his_ way," he said, pointing at Karg.

"Frek you! All of you!"

"Okay." Nick shrugged. "But you should have done it my way." He stood up from his chair. "Karg, you win. You were right. He's not gonna talk. He's all yours."

Nick looked back at Zurkan. "You should have cooperated. I was just trying to help you. Not that I care. I just hate it when he gets messy." Nick turned and headed for the door. "I'll be in the corridor. I just don't have the stomach for this."

Karg walked over to Zurkan and grabbed him under his armpit with one of his massive hands. Another hand grasped Zurkan's ankle tightly, while a third covered his mouth. Karg pulled the raider's pant leg up with his remaining hand, exposing his leg.

Zurkan looked nervously over the huge hand covering his mouth. "What the hetek are you doing to me?" he mumbled under Karg's hand. "Wait! Stop!"

Karg ignored his plea.

To Zurkan's horror, Karg opened his enormous mouth, pulling his lips back to expose his huge, blunt teeth. Karg eyed Zurkan's leg as he drew it closer to his mouth, then leaned forward and stretched his teeth around Zurkan's leg to take a bite.

Sweat dripped off of the raider as he struggled against the massive Rakozian. Muffled screams came from Zurkan's throat. "Wait! Please! I'll tell you anything, just don't bite my leg off! Please, I beg you!" Tears ran down Zurkan's face as he sobbed like a child.

Karg lifted one of his fingers from Zurkan's mouth. "Are you sure? 'Cause I'm really getting hungry."

"Yes, I'll tell you anything you want to know," Zurkan blabbered from between Karg's powerful fingers.

"Go get Nick," Karg directed as he lowered Zurkan's exhausted body back down into the chair.

Arya opened the hangar door and winked at Nick as he stood leaning against the wall just outside. "Looks like he wants to talk, after all."

Nick nonchalantly strolled into the hangar and plopped back down in the chair across from Zurkan. "Start talking."

"Arnon was a spy for me, but then he got captured by the Dragorans. Lucky for me, you rescued him. While he was aboard your ship, Arnon had been sending me secret transmissions, but then they suddenly stopped. When I found out the Dragorans wanted you real bad, I knew they would pay a huge finder's fee to whomever caught you. Naturally, I took my chances that I could find you. I've been chasing you for weeks."

Sirok shook his head. "No. He's lying. We would have picked up any transmissions."

Zurkan chuckled. "I doubt it. Not unless you knew exactly what to look for. The transmissions were masked to look like background noise. Even if you could filter it out of the noise, it would just sound like static. You know...white noise. When blended into the background radiation, it's virtually impossible to detect. And then it can only be decoded using a special algorithm."

Arya sat down hard in the chair next to Nick. She was clearly surprised by the news of Arnon's treachory. "All that time Arnon was a spy, after all. Only not for the Dragorans. For _this_ slug. Sorry, no offense, Sirok."

"None taken," Sirok muttered, still deep in thought about the ingenious hidden transmissions.

Arya frowned. "The transmitter is quite clever, actually." She looked hard at Zurkan. "I honestly didn't think you had the brains for that sort of thing." Her gaze went to Sirok. "You better get to the bridge to monitor things in case we have more company. Karg, will you supervise repairs?"

"I'll get right to it... _Captain_." Karg winked and headed out of the bay.

Nick glanced at Arya. "So, what do we do with him now?"

Arya heaved a weary sigh. "For the moment he's our prisoner. I'm sure I'll come up with something useful to do with him. Right now we need to think about repairing our ship."

"Right. Speaking of ships...." Nick stood up and walked over to the hyperspace craft, leaving Arya to guard the prisoner. After all the fighting and plasma fire ripping up the bay, he needed to make sure the raiders hadn't damaged his pride and joy. To his relief, everything seemed to check out okay.

As Nick leaned into the ship's cockpit, a scuffling sound erupted from behind him. He turned to see Arya struggling with Zurkan. The two were face to face, fighting over the pistol in Arya's hand. With the weapon mashed in between them, it was difficult to see who had the upper hand. Nick took a step toward them, preparing to rush to Arya's rescue when a shot rang out. The horrible, muffled sound of a close-range plasma blast. Arya stood there with her back to Nick as a puff of smoke rose from between the two.

"Arya!" Nick screeched as he bolted over to her. He came up behind her right shoulder with his gun already aimed at Zurkan's head.

Zurkan looked over at Nick with a blank stare. "Frek." His eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed to the floor, dead. A stream of smoke rose up from a burnt hole in his abdomen.

Relieved that she was okay, Nick spun Arya around and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry. Oh, God, I'm so sorry. I should have never taken my eyes off him."

"It's my fault. He was faster than I thought," she said, scrunching her little nose in surprise.

"It's over now. Everything's going to be alright," Nick whispered. He wrapped his arms a little more tightly around her.

She gave him an awkward pat on his back and waited for him to let go. But he wasn't letting go. Her heartbeat quickened. Nick's reluctance to release her was a surprise. One she wasn't prepared for. She had to fight it. She couldn't give in to her feelings. She couldn't allow her emotions to get in the way. _Dran, why isn't he letting go?_ She could tell by the tremble in her hands that she was fighting a losing battle. And did she really have to fight this battle? Why couldn't she just allow herself to sink into the emotion, and....

Her body softened as she finally gave in and melted into him, took in the heady scent of him, noticed every single inch of how he felt pressed against her, his strong arms, rippled abdomen, sturdy thighs. Her senses went into hyperdrive as she tried to impress every second of holding him into her brain. She never wanted to forget this moment in time.

They stood embracing one another until Nick pulled his head back to look at her, his eyes bloodshot with tears. "I thought he killed you."

Arya smiled through the stream of tears that were making their way down her own cheeks. "I thought _you_ were dead. We hadn't heard from you in _days_."

Nick raised his thumb to her cheek and gently stroked a tear from her face. Their gazes seemed unbreakable. In the silence of the empty bay, Nick slowly leaned in toward her, his nose almost touching hers. His heart was pounding so hard he could barely breathe. He just wanted to....

"Nick! Arya! You two alright? I thought I heard weapons-fire," Karg hollered as he stomped into the bay.

Startled, the two dropped their arms away from each other and took a step back. "Oh...yeah. Everything's great," Nick said, grinning at Arya. They wiped the tears from their faces and turned to look at Karg as he approached.

Karg looked at Zurkan's dead body lying on the floor and then back at the two grinning faces in front of him. "Um, you sure you're okay?" Karg asked, obviously perplexed by their expressions.

"Yeah, Karg, everything is...good."

Nick's grin got bigger. Arya's nose twitched just slightly, one side of her mouth turned up in an interesting little quirk that let him know all he needed to know at the moment.

"So the long and the short of it is that you were a handful as a child," Arya said. "Always getting into trouble."

Nick leaned his elbows on the table between them and smiled back at her. "I prefer to think of it as adventuresome."

The trio had joined up in the lab. Karg had been helping Nick, and Arya had simply stopped by to see what Nick was working on. The conversation had quickly turned to small talk, and soon they were all laughing and talking about their younger days. It was one of those rare moments that they could really relax and joke around, a welcome break from all the action of late.

As Nick was talking, Arya glanced over at the I.S.A. patch on his shoulder. Her eyes opened wider. "That's it!" Without further explanation, she jumped up and headed for the door, calling back to the two left sitting there. "Come on!"

Arya stopped suddenly, turned around, and held up her hand. She looked a bit confused and preoccupied. She shook her head. "No, wait...you need to stay here." With that, she walked out of the room, leaving the two of them stumped. "I'll be back!" they heard her call out as she made her way down the corridor.

Nick had started to stand up but stopped halfway when Arya had told them to stay. He stared at the empty doorway befuddled. "What the hell was all that about? Where's she going?" he asked as he slowly lowered himself into the chair again.

Karg shrugged. "Beats me. She's been acting weird since Argos died. A lot on her mind I guess."

"Yeah, I guess. I can't imagine what it must have been like for her to have those damn psychopath nanites in her head. That would be hard for anybody to get over."

Nick and Karg stared at each other uncomfortably.

Karg changed the subject. "What were you saying about those transmissions?"

"Oh, um, I had an idea about how we may be able to use a hyperspace generator to send transmissions between the different cells of the Resistance. I figure if we used a low-power generator to hold open a minuscule hyperspace window, one on a subatomic scale, then we could transmit a signal over great distances through hyperspace to another device. A sort of hyperspace two-way radio. We could shield the whole apparatus in a Faraday cage to keep the signal from transmitting into normal space. Heck, it would work anywhere, even deep inside an asteroid, because it bypasses normal space and matter."

Karg raised his boney eyebrows. "And the Dragorans and Mok'tu wouldn't be able to intercept the transmission, since they don't have the ability to open a hyperspace window. That's brilliant!"

"Only problem is, we have to build in a self destruct to keep it from falling into enemy hands. If one of the Resistance ships got boarded, we would need to be able to blow the generator."

"You know, despite all your disadvantages, your species can be surprisingly intelligent at times," Karg praised.

Nick's brow lowered, and a half-grin appeared on his face. "Um...thanks?" He hadn't heard a backhanded compliment like that since Aunt Ruth said to his mom 'You look good, did you gain weight?' Asking a woman if she'd gained weight was rarely considered a compliment. Now he could relate to the confusion on his mom's face that day.

"You certainly have a way with words, Karg," he said.

Karg grinned. "I like to think so."

Time got away from them as they joked and badgered each other until they ran out of things to talk about.

"I wonder what happened to Arya," Nick remarked. "It's been awhile since she left."

Karg stared at him for a long moment. "So...what's going on with you two?"

Nick frowned and hid a smile behind the glass he raised to his lips. "What do you mean?"

Karg leaned forward in his chair. "Come on, I've seen the looks you two have been giving each other."

Nick shrugged and tried to avoid Karg's stare. "Nothing's going on."

"Uh-huh," Karg rumbled, a knowing grin on his wide face.

The swish of the door broke the momentary silence in the lab. Arya returning from the bridge.

"Hey, Arya, you have to hear what Nick was telling me." Karg glanced at Nick. "Go on, tell her what you said about the transmitter thing."

Nick looked up at Arya, his mouth open to speak, when he noticed the odd look on her face. "Arya? What is it?"

Her expression was somewhere between amazement and bewilderment. She walked toward them with an almost uncertain gait, her eyes glazed, as if she were disturbed by whatever she was mulling around in her mind.

Nick felt an icy chill go up his spine as he watched her approach. "Karg, could some of those psycho nanites have survived?" he asked anxiously, his eyes remaining on Arya. Cautiously, his hand slid to the plasma pistol on his hip.

Karg uttered only a single worrisome word. "Um...."

"No, I'm fine. I think," Arya replied, staring straight ahead as she sat down, still deep in thought about something. She turned and looked into Nick's blue eyes.

He stared back at her with a puzzled gaze, his hand still resting cautiously on the pistol in his holster. "What?"

She drew in a deep breath and realized she had barely drawn a breath the entire way down the corridor. She inhaled deeply again, trying to catch her breath before continuing. "Do you remember the prophecy I told you about?"

"Yeah, I remember. Don't tell me...the hero dies. I hate when that happens." Nick was well aware that the crew believed _he_ was the hero in the prophecy. Something he had casually shrugged off. They were just reading too much into the story and the coincidence of his appearance in their space.

Arya swallowed hard and didn't answer him for a moment. "Well...I just remembered the name of the prophecy."

"If you tell me it's named the prophecy of Nick...." Nick grinned nervously. He didn't like where this was going. The last thing he wanted was to be hero to an entire nation of people. The pressure would be too intense to live up to.

"No, actually it's called the _Prophecy of Isa_."

Nick was still puzzled. "Okay, so it's called the _Prophecy of Isa_ ," he replied in a kind of hokey, spooky voice.

Arya pointedly shifted her gaze to the patch on Nick's shoulder.

It took a second for Nick's brain to kick in as he followed Arya's gaze to his I.S.A. patch. "Holly shit! I-S-A...Isa!" Nick's stomach turned loops in his gut. He tried to speak but his throat only allowed for a tight, nervous squeak. By the look on Arya's face, there was more. _Oh, God, here it comes_. "I know I am going to regret this, but what's the rest of the story?" he reluctantly asked.

Arya stared at the floor as she spoke. "While you were gone, I received a message from Argos."

Karg's interest was piqued. "A message...from Argos?" He glanced at Nick, his brow raised as if he were suddenly uncertain of Arya's mental state. "But Argos is dead."

Arya frowned at her big friend. "A recorded message, stupid. I haven't gone loopy...yet. Argos left me a recorded message." She held up a memory crystal. "I saved part of it to show you." Arya placed the crystal into a port on the console near her. An image of Argos popped up on the display.

Nick hadn't seen a picture of Argos since his death. He'd almost forgotten how intimidating he was. Strong, in control, and a full foot taller than Nick, he'd been an ominous presence when he was alive. The image didn't quite seem to do him justice. Although the resolution of the display was extremely lifelike, right down to the individual hairs of the spotted, cat-like coat that covered Argos' face. It still wasn't the same as actually being in his presence.

Arya pressed a key on the console and the video message began to play.

" _Arya, I assume that if you are seeing this message, I must already be dead. There are some things I need to tell you, and I'm afraid I may not get the chance. Let me start by saying I am so proud of you. The Resistance was nothing more than a loosely bound band of desperate people before you helped organize it into what it is today. I'm sure it would not have survived this long without you. You are a natural born leader, and I had hoped to see the day when you would lead our people, from home-world, from the Royal Palace, as you should. But what I want is not important. Our cause is what's important. You, our Queen. Regaining our way of life. Being free of oppression. Those things are important. You must continue, not for me, but for our people. Never give up."_

Argos paused for a moment, as if to collect himself. _"I found something while going through Admiral Onaka's belongings. Apparently, he had another reason for coming aboard. Something important enough that he had to be sure there were no spies on board before he revealed it. He never had the chance to tell me the real reason he came here, but I soon discovered the incredible truth. The time of prophecy is truly upon us. I didn't believe it myself at first, but then I saw this."_ An image of an I.S.A. patch identical to the one on the shoulder of Nick's flight suit popped up on the screen. The synthetic fibers around one edge of the patch were melted and charred. The letters I.S.A. were still clearly visible. Argos' voice continued in the background. _"This is an image taken of an artifact in the Royal Archives. This artifact was placed in the archives over two thousand years ago!"_

Arya paused the display. Her eyes were wet with tears.

Nick sat still, frozen in bewilderment, his brain seized up with a million questions as he tried to assimilate what he had just seen and heard. "What? How?" he stammered, baffled by the news. He shook his head. "That can't be right."

Nick glanced at Arya's wet eyes. "It can't be right."

"There's more," she said sadly.

Arya pressed the button again and the message continued playing. _"I thought that there must have been some mistake, but when I saw this next image I knew there was no denying it."_ Another image displayed on the screen.

Nick's stomach lurched, and he sat back so hard in his chair that the legs screeched against the metal flooring and almost toppled over backwards. Nick righted himself with difficulty and continued to stare at the vid display. There displayed on the screen was a two thousand year old hyperspace probe! The exact same probe the Ashok had launched into hyperspace only days before. The pattern of scratches on the side of the probe's casing confirmed it. He recognized the gouge that had been made when his screwdriver had slipped and scratched the side of the case. It was definitely the same probe. But how the _hell_ did it end up two thousand years in the past?

Argos continued. _"My only conclusion is that Nick must, at some point in the future, travel into the distant past. That's how the prophecy was born. Our ancestors found the probe and the data it contained, but they had no way to decipher the exact date the events occurred. They were only able to retrieve enough data to create the story in the prophecy. Unfortunately, there's no mention of what became of the hero in the prophecy. No one outside of the Royal Family was ever supposed to know about these artifacts. The relics were only discovered when the Royal Archives needed to be hidden due to the encroaching war. They were imaged and then moved as quickly as possible to a location off home-world for safe keeping. Arya, the hidden location of the Royal Archives is in Demented Space. It's the perfect place to hide something. It's off the charts, and even the Mok'tu avoid that area due to its space-time distortions."_

Argos drew a deep breath and positioned his hands behind his back, looking even more like a commanding leader. "The coordinates for the secret vault are attached to this message. There are indications that the Dragorans have already been trying to locate it. They can't wait to get their hands on it and stamp out any remaining embers of hope for our people. They don't want to leave any remnants of power that may someday come back to haunt them. They want to destroy the Royal House and everything in the Royal Archives, once and for all. Get to the archives before they are lost forever. And watch your back. You're the best hope for the future of our people. Remember, Arya...the Royal House and its power is still alive and well...within you!"

Nick stared at the floor in deep thought for a long time. Karg and Arya sat waiting, silently watching for his reaction. When Nick finally spoke, his voice was calm and determined. "The probe may have collected important data before it...whatever the hell happened to it. I need to see that data." Nick's eyes glazed as his mind raced through the implications of this new discovery.

Arya looked like she had just as many questions. She shook her head in confusion, and a little fear. "But the patch. The burnt patch. Two thousand years in the past? Nick, what does it all mean?"

The adrenaline racing through Nick's veins snapped him out of his deliberation. He could tell by the desperation in Arya's voice that she was concerned for his safety. "Don't worry, we just need to get to that probe and find out what happened. Um, what _will_ happen. Maybe we can change the future."

Nick struggled not to let his own fear show. A burnt I.S.A. patch found two thousand years in the past was not a good sign. The damn prophecy was real, and it seemed to indicate an unpleasant demise for him. But he couldn't get all mamby-pamby right now. He had to stay level-headed. It would take effort, concentration, and every wrinkle in his scientific mind to crack this puzzle and prevent his own death.

Arya straightened visibly in an attempt to pull herself together. "Right. We'll just have to change the future. Karg, get these coordinates to Sirok. But make it clear that I don't want anyone else to know where we are headed, or why." Arya handed Karg a crystal containing the data for their destination.

"Yes, Sir!" For the first time since Arya had become Captain of the Ashok, Karg addressed her with the courtesy and respect due her. His entire demeanor changed as he slipped from being her friend into being the person she could rely on to help her save Nick's hide. She was never more appreciative of her big lug of a friend, and never more proud.

Karg's eyes gleamed as he stood to leave the room. He gave her a formal salute and then hurried off down the corridor, leaving Arya staring after him, wondering what their fate would be now. And what new horrors her people might face out there. And Nick. What of Nick?

She turned her head to look into his blue eyes. He was deep in thought, his mind clearly churning over a plan. She couldn't help but smile. Odd as it seemed, she wondered where she would be without Nick, if he hadn't been flung into her galaxy and pulled onto her ship.

She reached out and placed her hand over his. He caught her forefinger beneath his thumb and squeezed gently. She stared at their two hands, so different and yet...so very similar.

"I'll come up with something," he murmured. "I'm not ready to die yet."

Arya stifled a sob. "It's just that.... I only just now got you back after thinking you were dead, only to discover that you are the prophecy and I might lose you, after all."

He turned his palm over and gently clasped her hand. "It's not gonna happen," he said. "I promise you that." He gave her hand a tug so she would look up at him. "You gotta trust me on this one."

She reluctantly nodded.

"I need you to stay focused. You gotta be strong."

She caught her lip between her teeth and nodded again. The movement sent glimmers of reflected light through her long, green hair. Nick smiled. She bit back another sob and then finally returned the smile.

"See. It's gonna be okay," he promised.

"I believe you," she whispered.

"Good." He pulled away and stood up. "Because we have work to do."

Nick sat on his favorite crate in Bay One. He'd taken a break from working on his hyperspace ship to eat a sandwich and was gulping down the last bite when Karg strolled through the door.

"Hey," Nick called out. "I haven't seen you all day. What have you been up to?" He moved his drink to make room on the crate for Karg.

"Eating, cleaning my rifle, eating, a little combat training, and um...eating." Karg sighed as he sat on the crate next to Nick. The crate creaked and groaned under his enormous weight.

Nick glanced down. The metal container was bound to give way one of these days. "You keep eating like that, and we'll have to reinforce the chairs in your quarters again."

"Can't help it, have to keep up my strength. Rakozians are known for eating vast amounts when preparing for battle."

"Battle? We're just going to find a hidden library of old relics. More like an archeological dig."

Karg raised a boney brow. "When have we gone anywhere without ending up in a fight?"

"Never," Nick sighed. "Damn, just once I would like to relax. Go fishing maybe." Nick leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and stared at the small craft.

Karg glanced over and noticed the necklace hanging from Nick's neck. "So, that's what a Sacred Amulet looks like. I've never actually seen one before, just heard about them from stories."

"Yeah." Nick held the amulet away from his chest as he looked down at it. "Here, take a look." Nick pulled the necklace over his head and tried to hand it to Karg.

Karg leaned away from Nick. "No. I...I don't want to." His eyes wide with fear, he motioned for Nick to take it away from him. Karg scooted his rear end over to the edge of the crate and tucked his four arms close to his body to avoid getting too close to the amulet.

"Karg, you look like my sister Susie when I tried to hand her my pet Boa. What the hell is wrong with you? It's just a necklace. Come on, take a look at it. The workmanship is extraordinary." Nick turned the amulet in his fingers so Karg could see the intricate detail of the metalwork.

"I said no!" Karg jumped up and took a step back. "Keep it away from me." His voice crackled with fear.

Nick laughed. "The great and mighty Karg, scared of a little necklace."

Karg shuddered. "They're said to possess powerful magical qualities. Just touching one can kill you."

Nick paused with his mouth open for a second, amazed and a little tickled at the vision of Karg cowering from a necklace. "Who says?" Nick asked.

"What?" Karg was too busy avoiding the amulet to even hear what Nick had asked him.

Nick held the necklace out in front of him. "Who told you that these have magical powers?"

Karg took another step back. "It is a story told to the young. It is a tale about a man who snuck into the Royal Palace and tried to steal the Queen's Sacred Amulet. When he touched the amulet, he turned into a stone statue. The Palace guards found the thief's stone body the next morning, still holding the amulet that he tried to steal. It is said his statue still decorates the Palace Hall to this day, as a warning to others."

Nick grinned. "Children's fairytales? You're scared of fairytales?"

"The tail of some creature has nothing to do with it! I don't even know what a fairy is. How could I be afraid of its tail?" Karg defended.

Nick frowned. "What the hell are you...? Oh...no. It's not...." Nick shook his head and started over. "There is no fairy and no tail. It's all one word. Fairytales are stories told to children. Sometimes they are meant to frighten them into being good. Your amulet story just sounds like a fairytale to me."

Karg straightened to his full height. "I'm not scared. I...I just don't want to take any chances, that's all. I'd rather someone made a statue in honor of me, not _out of_ me," Karg said, trying his best not to look scared.

Nick stared up at this friend. "Right. I see." He had to fight hard to hold a straight face. A tear formed in one eye as he clamped his lips shut and tried not to laugh. The uncomfortable look on Karg's face was just too funny. Nick didn't think he would be able to contain his laughter much longer if Karg continued to stand there looking like a spooked kid.

Nick placed the amulet back around his neck and patted the crate next to him. "Buddy, come on, relax. I promise not to touch you with my amulet."

Karg took a hesitant step toward the crate.

"I promise," Nick said. "Come on, sit down, we'll chat."

Karg hesitated.

"Not about the amulet. About something else," Nick assured him.

Karg cautiously came closer. Nick grinned and shook his head. A second later, Karg eased his bulk back onto the crate. Nick stared at his massive arms. He still had trouble getting used to something so scary being so easily spooked.

"How did you get those scars?" Nick motioned with his chin to indicate the scars on Karg's abdomen. "Must have been one hell of a fight."

Karg looked down at the scars across his abdomen then ran a finger along one of the long, raised patches of skin. "When I was a young boy, I went hunting with my father and was attacked by a Tarnac. It was a baby one. Only about eight or nine hundred pounds. It gored me with its tusks."

"That must have frightened your father. Did he kill it?"

"Kill it?" Karg looked puzzled. "Why would he do that? He took me out there hunting so I could catch one. We didn't kill it." Karg looked completely dumbfounded by the human's ignorance. "I jumped on top of it and wrestled it to the ground. Then I held it down while my father put a collar on it. We loaded it in our transport and took it home with us."

Nick squinted and cocked his head in utter confusion. "Wait. Let me get this straight. You didn't kill it? You brought it home with you? Alive? Did you say nine _hundred_ pounds? Tell me that was just a translator glitch."

"Yeah, perfect size to bring home. You wouldn't want to take the poor thing away from its mother any younger than that. He was the best pet ever, too. Sure do miss Spot. I used to ride him around all day, holding on to the thick fur around his neck. Spent many a night sleeping out under the stars, leaned back with my head resting on Spot. Great times those were."

"Spot?" Nick shook his head quickly and his eyes fluttered as his brain attempted to process what he was hearing. "It was your _pet?_ Your father let you keep it?"

"Of course. Every boy gets to hunt his own Tarnac when he is of age. 'Course not everyone is able to bag a Tarnac the first time out. My father was so proud that I did."

"You called him Spot?" Nick paused, a grin breaking over his face. "Oh, I get it now. This is another one of your jokes, isn't it? Yeah, play a joke on Nick because he's the new alien on the block. Do I look stupid or something?" He threw up his hands and shook his head. "Don't answer that."

"Not stupid. Ignorant maybe." Karg grinned. "And, no, it's not a joke. I called him Spot. It's a good Tarnac name. He had the cutest white spot on his left side, right in the middle." Karg looked at Nick real serious like. "And you _never_ joke about a boy and his Tarnac. It's a sacred thing, it is."

Nick's eyebrows went up as he shrugged. "Okay, cool. You had a nine hundred pound teddy bear."

"What's a _teddy bear?_ " Karg asked. "Is that what humans have for pets?"

As Nick was explaining the concept of teddy bear to Karg, a familiar whir came from the direction of the doorway. Sirok buzzed into the hangar bay in his transportation gizmo to check the transport's readiness. He was just in time to hear Karg roar.

"Teddy bear! I'll show you a teddy bear!"

Nick jumped up and hauled ass away from Karg as the big guy lunged off the crate and reached for him. Nick was running away from Karg when he almost ran head-on into Sirok whizzing across the bay. He managed to weave around Sirok and his gizmo and scrambled out of the hangar as fast as he could.

Sirok spun around and watched Karg slide out of the doorway in pursuit. He could hear the sound of Nick's voice fading as he ran away down the corridor.

"Karg! I'm sorry! It was just a joke!"

Karg's deep voice echoed through the bay. "I told you, never joke about a Rakozian Tarnac!"

With the Ashok in orbit around a small rocky planet, the team prepared to head to the surface of what they had dubbed Beta-Nine, the larger, nearby twin of an unusual binary planetoid system. They were trying to divert attention away from their real target by keeping the ship at a distance.

"I wish we could just beam down," Nick mused.

"Beam down? What the hetek are you talking about?" Arya queried curiously.

"I wish you guys had matter energy devices."

Arya was instantly intrigued. Always eager to learn more about advanced technology, she looked at him with gleaming eyes. "You've seen such a thing somewhere before? One of these matter energy devices? And what exactly does this device do?"

"Well, no. Not exactly. It takes the atoms of your body and converts them into energy. Then it beams that energy to the planet's surface, where the same energy is then transformed back into your body."

Karg scrunched his nose. "Do you have any idea what it would take to manipulate a beam of energy to reconstruct the atoms of your body at that distance, to that degree of precision? That's utterly ridiculous. I think, as you have said before, someone was pulling your egg."

Nick looked at Karg like he was a dunce. "It's leg. Not egg. Pulling your _leg_. And no one was pulling my leg. It was just a vid show. Fiction about what the future would be like."

"Fiction? See, someone _was_ pulling your leg." Karg shook his head. "Where do you see these things?"

"It's Star...." Nick broke off and rubbed his closed eyes in frustration. It was too complicated to explain to someone who'd never seen a vid show. "Never mind, I was just making conversation."

"You waste any more time and I'm going to personally turn your atoms into energy," Arya huffed. "Come on, get in the dran transport." Arya was anxious to get to the planet and find the hidden Royal Vault. She prodded Karg's backside with the butt of her plasma rifle in an attempt to hurry them along.

All three stepped inside, and the door clanked shut behind them. Arya wasted no time. She hopped into the pilot's seat and started take-off procedures. In no time, the transport sprang to life. The engines whirred softly in the background as the instrument panel lights popped on. A three dimensional holographic image of the bay appeared from a center console. The display made the transport easy to navigate in almost any environment. Arya brought the ship up off of the deck a few feet and turned it around one-hundred-and-eighty degrees.

Nick fell on his ass as the craft bolted out of the hangar. "Damn, someone's in a hurry!"

He didn't know the thing could accelerate like that. He had never seen Arya in this much of a hurry before, either. Not that he minded. He was anxious to get to the vault, as well. The data from the probe could shed some light on the mystery he'd been mulling over. _How did that probe end up two thousand years in the past? And the patch? What did a burnt patch mean?_ His heart beat faster just thinking about it.

"Karg, I've been thinking."

"Uh-oh, Nick's been thinking again," Karg joked.

"No really. Don't you wonder about the possible paradoxes? I mean, what if I destroy my patch right now? That would mean that it couldn't make it into the past. And if it wasn't in the past, there wouldn't be any record of it in the archives. And what if I just took a torch and made a hole in it? Would the picture suddenly show a patch with a hole in it? What if I replace the patch with one that said Nick? Would it then be the Prophecy of Nick? How would we even know if things were originally different and we've already changed it, changing the past to the way it is now?"

Arya looked over her shoulder at Karg. "Have you been letting him have too much gorban juice again?"

"Hey, this kind of thing bothers me. Doesn't it bother you?" Nick questioned.

"Don't make me come back there!" Arya announced sternly, without so much as a glance. She sounded like a mother scolding her unruly children.

"Are we there yet?" Nick asked grinning. The whole conversation, and Arya's demeanor, was reminiscent of a particular summer vacation he'd had with his parents and sister. He hated long, boring drives. Just the thought of that day on the road made his rear sore. He could almost feel the sting from the whipping he had received when his father had had enough of their sibling bickering and pulled the car over at the rest stop. He swore he could feel welts starting to form on his butt.

"Not a good thought right now," he mused to himself.

"What was that?" Arya said from the pilot's seat.

"Nothing," Nick answered.

Nick wished they could have set out from orbit. It would have made their trip shorter. But it made more sense to keep the Ashok some distance away to avoid alerting anyone to their presence. The last thing they needed was unwelcome company following them down to the planet.

He looked out of the cockpit window at the clouds rushing by, trying to get his mind off his painful youth. This planet had one heck of a thick cloud layer. He wondered if they would ever break through it. Time passed as he stared at the water vapor sporadically blowing by as they sped downward.

A collision warning chattered from the console, rousing the crew from their lethargic state. Arya watched as the ground appeared on the holo-display, though they still couldn't see anything through the cockpit window in the planet's soupy atmosphere. Darker colors eventually began to emerge through pockets in the clouds, revealing small glimpses of a lush landscape on the world below. As the transport cleared the thick cloud layer, Arya pulled the craft out of its dive and flew toward the location of the secret vault. Hopefully, the Admiral's data was correct and no one had beaten them to it.

An ever shortening cycle of beeps emanated from the holo-display, indicating that they were closing in on their target. Arya scanned the area. It would be good to know what sort of local inhabitants were around. "I'm not picking up any signs of technology. Just a wide array of lower life-forms. Although, the minerals present in the rock formations seem to be blocking the scans. Hard to say what could be under ground."

From the view outside Nick's window, the planet looked like a dense jungle. Surprisingly similar to the small pockets of protected rainforest still left in the Amazon on Earth. Mountain ranges whizzed by, their peaks shrouded in clouds. Even the lower elevations appeared to be enveloped in thick fog. Pretty, from what he could see of it, but no doubt treacherous and difficult to traverse.

A marker showing their destination popped up on the holo-display, visually identifying their landing zone ahead. Arya guided the ship along its course until they were almost directly over the top of the landing area. The quick deceleration was felt in every inch of Nick's body as the transport came to a screeching halt. Then the ship descended into the thick fog, Arya deftly avoiding the sloping terrain and tall tree line. Nick pressed his face up against the window to peer down at the landing zone, ever watchful for anything of concern.

The splat of an object against the window made Nick jolt backwards so hard he almost fell into Karg's lap. A six legged, frog-like creature clung to the outside of the window, right where Nick's face had been. It was an odd sort of creature with reddish colored splotches and a prehensile tail.

"Shit. That scared the hell out of me." Nick wiped at his face as if he could feel the creature's paws on his cheeks. Back in the Rain Forest of Earth, bright colors usually meant a frog was poisonous. He wondered if this planet would yield similar dangers.

Nick swallowed hard. He was suddenly overwhelmed by the thought of giant, alien snakes. He hadn't even thought of that possibility until now. Snakes were okay; he even kind of liked them, as long as they weren't giant, poisonous monsters waiting to squeeze the life out of him.

"Lord knows what deadly creatures could be lurking in that alien jungle," he muttered.

Arya set the ship down on a small, fairly flat, rocky patch on the forest floor. She powered down and then sat for a moment staring out of the forward cockpit window at the thick, misty jungle ahead. She didn't appear to be in a hurry to go anywhere now. The foreboding task of getting through the thick underbrush was no doubt the reason.

"Okay." She sighed. "I calculate our destination is a short distance in that direction, but we better be prepared in case we run into more than we bargained for. I want you two fully outfitted."

Nick grinned as he watched her. Battle weary as she was, she would carry out this task with dignity and bravery. She was starting to sound more like Argos every day. Maybe it came with the job. Maybe it was the need to always be prepared to protect your crew. In any case, she was a natural born leader. Just like Argos had said.

Karg stuck a heavy backpack in Nick's face. Nick peeked over the bag at Karg as he grabbed the straps. "Thanks, man."

Karg let go of the pack. The weight of it caught Nick off guard and pulled him off balance. He regained his footing with difficulty and eventually managed to get the bag flung over his shoulders. As he fastened the clip, he couldn't help feeling like he was chaining himself to a lead weight.

"Shouldn't you guys have super futuristic lightweight gear? What the hell is in this thing? The backpacking gear on my planet is a third the weight of this."

Karg stood loading the biggest rifle Nick had ever seen. "Forty clips of ammo, three days of rations, a sleeping bag, water purifier, extra clothing, medical kit, um...a spare pulse pistol, rescue beacon, five plasma grenades. I never go anywhere without plasma grenades. Let's see...what am I missing?" Karg shrugged. "A variety of other survival gear."

"Ropes, pulleys and other climbing gear, too," Arya added.

"Don't you think we've over packed?" Nick asked, looking at Arya. "Maybe we should include the kitchen sink."

She just gave him that _momma-knows-best_ look.

Nick followed her to the door. "Yeah, right. Better to be prepared, I always say." The words grunted out under the weight of the pack.

The transport's door swung down into the mist, landing with a loud clank against the rocky outcropping on which the ship was perched. Nearby in the misty brush, more than one creature stirred from the sound of the door hitting rock. Arya paused and glanced into the woods toward the rustling bushes. When nothing came rushing out at them, she pulled out her PDU and fearlessly walked down the ramp, swinging the device left and right to pinpoint the location of the vault.

"This way."

Nick strained to hear over the background roar of the abundant forest creatures. Birds? Frogs? Whatever they were, it wasn't unlike the constant noise of the Amazon. Nick looked up as they passed an immense tree. More of a tree fern than a tree, really. The thing towered over them, its trunk disappearing into the misty fog above. He glanced back down just in time to see Karg vanish in a waft of fog. _Crap._ He trotted forward through the soup and almost ran his nose into Karg's backpack. A horrid smell quickly permeated his nostrils. It smelled like....

"What the hell _is_ that? Karg, you're not having stomach issues again, are you?" A look at the ground revealed the source. Karg's foot was square in the middle of a large pile of dark, messy dung. "Oh, crap. Literally. Karg, you're standing in sh—"

Karg swung one arm back and poked Nick in the chest with his massive finger, almost knocking the wind out of him. Nick opened his mouth again to say something when he realized the two were listening to something.

Ahead, Arya panned the scanner. "This dense vegetation is making it difficult to scan very far. For a moment I thought I saw—"

She abruptly spun around and brought her pistol to bear at Karg's head. "Down!" she screamed, firing a burst of plasma rounds as Karg ducked. A large shadowy shape flew over Nick and through the mist toward Arya, meeting the stream of plasma from her pistol. An ear-piercing scream erupted from the beast, forcing Nick to cover his ears as he fell to the ground. Peering around Karg, he watched as Arya dove to the side to avoid the huge creature's trajectory. It crashed to the ground and floundered in the wet leaves of the forest floor. Karg was on it in a second, firing several bursts into its head until he was certain the large beast was dead.

Karg let out a low, rumbling laugh. "That was fun."

Between Karg poking him and that _thing_ scaring the daylights out of him, Nick was struggling to breathe. "Don't turn your back on it, Karg," Nick huffed. "They always do that in the movies and it's never a good thing."

He shook his head as Karg ignored him and walked off. "Why do they always turn their back on the monster when they think it's dead?" he muttered to himself.

He forced himself upright again and stared cautiously at the creature. Scaly skin, large claws, and big teeth. It looked surprisingly like a Velociraptor, only much, much bigger. It appeared to be very dead, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

Karg washed his dung encrusted boot in a nearby shallow stream of water. Even he was having a problem dealing with the stink. "What _is_ that thing, anyway?" he asked, as he peered over his shoulder at the huge animal sprawled on the ground.

Arya shrugged. "I have no idea. I've never seen anything like it."

"It's a dinosaur. Or a cousin of one, by the looks of it," Nick replied.

Arya gave him a puzzled look. "You have these things on your planet? It's a wonder your species survived."

"Well, no we...." He scrunched his eyes at her. "What's that supposed to mean, a wonder we survived?" Nick paused, waiting for an apology that never came. "Never mind. These lived on my planet millions of years ago. We only know about them from fossil records. They kinda sorta predated us."

"Oh, well, that explains it then," Arya quipped back with a grin. "Come on, we need to get moving. There may be more of them nearby."

Nick carefully stepped around the huge corpse, keeping his pistol aimed at its head as he went. The monster's body faded into the fog as they made their way through the jungle. Nick couldn't help but look back every few seconds to make sure it wasn't following. He just couldn't shake the feeling that it was playing dead. He'd watched too many creepy movies growing up. The monster always came back to life. Right when you least expected it.

"Hey, guys, why do I have the rear, anyway?"

The forest floor gave way to a bog of sorts. Nick's boots squished and slid in the smelly mud as he pushed to keep up. Soaked and covered with mud, solid ground slowly emerged under his feet again as they trudged forward. They had finally come to another rocky outcropping where he could get a firm footing. A short distance ahead the blank stone face of a mountainside stared back at them.

The team approached the rocky vertical face and stopped. Nick looked left, then right, then up. Nothing but rock as far as he could see in the fog. "Now what?"

Arya adjusted the setting on her scanner, but it was no use. The rock resisted her scans. "The properties of this rock make it impossible to scan. But the coordinates are five hundred feet that way." Arya motioned in the direction of the solid rock wall. "Inside this mountain."

"Sounds like the perfect place to hide something. I bet we aren't equipped to dig five hundred feet through solid rock," Nick said to Karg, out of the side of his mouth. "Told you we should have brought more stuff."

Arya turned and gave him a stiff glare and went back to fiddling with her PDU. Holding the scanner out in front of her, she stepped closer to the rock wall and brushed some of the vegetation aside with her free hand. She rubbed her fingers along the rock then stopped on an indentation. Using one finger, she outlined the small impression while examining it with the scanner.

"What do you make of this?" she asked, without taking her eyes off the screen of her PDU.

Nick walked over and peered closely at the small oval depression in the stone. He brushed some dirt out of the crevice with his fingers. It wasn't exactly an oval. There were some indentations on either side of the top and a faint pattern carved into the main depression. Nick struggled to make out what he was looking at. It seemed familiar somehow, but why he wasn't sure. Maybe if he could clean up the rock face a bit he could get a better look.

Arya held the scanner in front of the dent, flipping through different visual wavelengths. As she flipped to ultraviolet, a clearly defined image of what lay beneath the dirt encrusted surface emerged. Her eyes widened as she turned and stared at Nick.

One look at the image and Nick quickly holstered his pistol. He knew exactly what she was thinking. He reached up and pulled the amulet from under his shirt and held it out. The shape and design on the amulet matched perfectly. Pulling the necklace over his head, Nick held the amulet in front of the carved relief. With a nod from Arya, he pushed it into the indentation.

Vibrations rumbled at their feet as dirt fell from vertical grooves in the wall, just left of where they stood. A ten foot high, eight foot wide section of the rock face moved back several feet and then slowly slid into a pocket within the solid stone mountainside, revealing a dark passageway. The three leaned into the doorway to take a peek down the long and mysterious tunnel into the unknown.

"That's so takei!" Arya voiced, her eyes glowing with wonder.

Nick looked over at her with his usual confused expression. "What the hell is takei?"

"Oh, sorry. It's slang for...well, it kind of means...."

Karg interrupted, reading from the screen of his PDU. "Here it is. The forty-seventh edition of the Interstellar Dictionary defines takei as ' _practically perfect in every way._ ' But you'd probably just say _cool_."

"Cool," Nick replied, nodding in agreement as he peered back into the depths of the black cavern. "I'll take the rear," he quickly spit out.

Arya raised her brow. "Now you _want_ to be at the rear?" She continued scanning, but still couldn't get any definitive readings. It was a most unusual rock formation. The crystalline matrix combined with its high metal content scattered the scanning beam, making it hard to determine where the passageway led.

She reached down, pulled out her pistol, and switched on its built-in light. "Lights," she commanded.

The boys drew their weapons and flipped on their lights, glancing at each other nervously as they prepared to enter. Arya led the way, followed by Karg, with Nick bringing up the rear. Several yards into the black corridor, the stone door shut behind them considerably faster than it had opened.

"I knew it. I'm telling you, I knew that damn door was going to shut behind us," Nick grumbled. "Hey, wait up." Nick stumbled forward, trying to catch up to the silhouettes of his teammates as they slipped into the darkness in front of him.

Arya's light fell onto a metal door ahead of them. Tri-tanium by the look of it, and damn solid. As they approached, much to their surprise, the door opened automatically. Beyond the door, a larger chamber loomed in the inky blackness. Oddly, the floor on the other side of the doorway was no longer stone, it was metal. Arya cautiously stepped inside. Recessed lighting in the ceiling gradually illuminated what lay in front of them. A rectangular metal room emerged from the darkness. The entire thing was built from solid tri-tanium, even the ceiling. They were in one big metal box. No markings, fixtures or furniture, except for a door at the far end and a control panel on the wall next to it. The team turned in circles looking for any sign of danger as they crept toward the door at the far end.

The door behind them sprang closed, the slamming sound echoing off the walls of the chamber like the loud roar of a stick of dynamite.

Nick spun around and stared at the door. "Damn! How stupid are we? Do we even have a plan for getting out of here?"

Arya ignored him as she examined the panel near the door. "Nick, bring the amulet here."

Nick jogged over and handed the necklace to her. An indentation in the panel similar to the one outside caught his eye.

Arya pressed the amulet into the depression.

Nothing happened.

"Sket!" she hissed.

Hoping something had simply glitched, she removed the amulet and pushed it back into the indention again. Clanking sounds, like heavy gears grinding away in giant machinery echoed through the room.

"Sounds like a giant safe door unlocking," Nick commented.

"That's what I was counting on." Arya stepped back with a smile, confident that they would soon be in the secret Royal Vault.

Another set of gears began to grind somewhere outside the metal walls.

"That seems like a good sign. The door should open any moment." She readied herself to go through the door as soon as it opened. "This has to be the door to the vault, right guys?"

A creak in the ceiling made her glance up. "Frek!" she screamed. The ceiling was slowly lowering, moving terrifyingly closer with each second.

"Holy—" Nick instinctively pointed his gun at the ceiling.

"Like that's going to be any freking help at all!" Arya shouted at him.

Karg raised his four arms up and pressed them firmly against the metal that was marching down on them. His muscles flexed as he tried to slow the encroaching ceiling. The strain was abundantly clear in his clinched jaw. Karg's face tightened more as a bead of sweat rolled from his forehead. "Don't know how long...I...can...do...this," he whimpered, his legs trembling from the effort.

"Yeah, well, buddy, big guy, it's not working anyway," Nick said as he frantically looked around the room for an off switch.

He glanced over at Arya. She was busy punching symbols on the panel. Nick hadn't even noticed the grid of symbols before. He moved to take a closer look. The symbols appeared to be a keypad, and the millions of machines in his head confirmed it. The translated values appeared before his eyes. Numbers. A glance above the keypad revealed a symbol that defied translation. To the right of that was a short line, followed by a dot, followed by three more short lines.

"Do you know what these mean?" Nick asked, pointing to the row of symbols.

Arya was still frantically punching different key combinations. Each time she punched a sequence an error buzzer sounded. "No idea. I suspect it is something that is only revealed to highest members of the Royal Court. I've never seen them before."

One glance at Karg let Nick know they were in a losing battle. No matter how hard Karg strained, he couldn't slow the ceiling's relentless march downward. His muscles quivered under the enormous force.

"Buddy, you don't look so good," Nick mused.

"No sket!" Karg roared then collapsed to the floor.

Nick figured their weapons were probably useless, but what the hell. He ran to the other door and fired two rounds at the seam. The blasts ricocheted off the door and whizzed around the room, causing everyone to duck to avoid getting killed by the bolts of plasma.

"Will you knock that off!" Arya yelled as she furiously worked to figure out what code would possibly open the door, or at least stop the ceiling, which was now a third of the way to the floor. "Nick! Get your arsk over here and help me figure this out!"

Nick jumped to his feet and ran over to her in a semi-hunch. The ceiling was creeping lower and would soon block the access panel, cutting off any chance they had of saving themselves.

"Okay, four lines and a dot. It looks like maybe the answer fits in these spaces. Like something-point-something-something-something. This dot could be a decimal point." Nick studied the symbol directly to the left of the dashes. A circle with another symbol inside it. "Looks like Japanese to me. No, never mind, that wouldn't make sense."

"Hurry up!" Arya frantically screamed.

"Yeah, yeah!" he yelled back. "I got that part! You don't have to remind me!"

He stared at the odd symbol for a moment then tilted his head to look at it from a different angle. He wiped some of the dust off with his fingers, and badah-boom! The symbol suddenly made sense. "Pi!" he screeched. "It's goddamn pi!"

"What?! You're hungry at a time like this?" Arya stared at him as if he'd gone loony.

"No, not that pie. Pi. Only it's shown here upside down." He pointed to the symbol within the circle. "It's one of the most important mathematical constants. The relation of a circle's circumference to its diameter. But why would this panel have a symbol from Earth mathematics? Unless...."

They both looked at one another and simultaneously yelled. "The prophecy!"

Nick placed his thumb and index finger firmly on the symbol and twisted. "It looks like this may—" _Click_. The circle began to turn. Nick twisted it all the way around until the symbol was right side up, and then it stopped with another click. "There, now the symbol is right side up."

They both looked up. Nothing had happened. The ceiling continued its relentless march, inching down frightfully close to their heads. They were running out of time.

"Wait! Okay, I got it now. The dashes and the decimal...it's the value of pi!" Nick took his finger and pressed the buttons as he spoke. "Three-point-one-four-one."

A series of clunks emanated from deep within the structure, echoing around what was left of the diminishing room. Then silence. All three of them looked up. The ceiling had stopped just inches from the top of the panel.

"Great God Awmighty!" Nick shrieked. "I thought I was gonna be a squooshed pancake!" He plopped down on the floor and rolled around for a moment, reveling in the fact that he was still alive. They were all still alive. He took a deep breath and smiled.

Another clunk and Nick stopped smiling. His gaze panned around the room. "What now?" he said in a low voice.

Suddenly, the door in front of him slid open. "Quick!" he yelled, motioning for Arya to go through. "Karg, come on! Let's get the hell out of here!"

Nick ducked through the four feet thick doorway into the next chamber, with Karg squeezing through right behind him. Arya was already marveling over shelves full of artifacts and manuscripts that lined the walls of the chamber. She threw her head back and released a scream of joy that reminded Nick of a large cat's roar.

"We did it!" she exclaimed. "The Royal Archives! It's the most magnificent thing I have ever seen. I've dreamed of being inside the Royal Vault since I was a child. There's enough in here to keep me busy for the rest of my life. Thousands of years of Arisian history." She held out her arms and spun like a graceful ballet dancer as she took in the sight of it all.

Nick smiled. It was good to see something bringing joy to her life. She had seen so much tragedy. So much bloodshed. He turned to look at the marvels that were never meant for his eyes to see. Cases full of objects filled the shelves in front of him. Jeweled crowns, royal scepters, all sorts of beautiful things. Down the row, books that looked hundreds, maybe thousands of years old were stored on shelves from floor to ceiling. What secrets could possibly be contained in their pages? He could only wonder.

As he panned around the room, a familiar object drew his attention. Inside a glass case in the middle of the room, cradled by a special pedestal, Nick's hyperspace probe sat like a museum display. The charred I.S.A. patch lay at the base of the probe, mounted right above the Arisian words _The Prophecy of ISA._ The sight of it made him feel his own mortality, right down to his bones. There was no denying it any longer. His probe and the patch on his arm had indeed ended up two thousand years in the past. Just thinking about it made his head spin.

_But what if...?_ Nick yanked at the patch on his arm. The Velcro let go with a loud _shook!_ He held his patch up to the charred one in the display and compared the two. There were no discernible differences between them. He slid the strap of the heavy pack off his shoulder and dropped the bag down onto the floor with a thud. Rummaging through the bag, he managed to find a lighter of sorts. The small device was apparently designed to start a fire, not in the same way as a good old lighter from home, but it would work fine for what he had in mind. He pulled a knife from the backpack and proceeded to hold it over the flame of the lighter until it got good and hot. Quickly picking up his patch, he pierced it with the hot knife. The synthetic fibers melted away, leaving an oblong hole about three quarters of an inch long. Once again, he held the patch up to the one on display. If at some point his patch was going to travel back in time, then this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to study this peculiar type of paradox. If he damaged his patch, the one in the case would have to miraculously change also.

He looked at the patch in the case. Nothing. No change like there should be, theoretically, anyway.

"Nuts!" he muttered, disappointed that there was no change in the patch from the past.

"What?" Arya asked from across the room.

Nick stood there, shoulders slumped, eyes on the patch in the display. "It should have worked. I don't understand."

Arya came to stand beside him. "What should have worked?"

Nick was so engrossed in the failure of his experiment that he was surprised to find Arya standing next to him. He flinched at the sound of her voice so close then glanced in her direction. "If my patch traveled into the past, then this hole I just made has to show up in the one in this case. But it didn't." Nick rubbed the back of his head and continued to gaze at the patch in the case.

Arya stared at the hole in the patch. "Unless you journey back to a time before you made the hole and cause the you from that time period to travel back two thousand years into the past."

Nick sighed as he slumped a little more. "You had to go and say that. Now I'm more confused than ever."

Arya leaned around the glass case to take a better look at the probe. "At least you found the probe. Why don't you see what you can find out from the probe's data while Karg and I figure out how the hetek we're going to get all of this stuff to the ship?" She patted Nick on his shoulder and walked away, leaving him staring at his patch and mumbling.

Arya caught up with Karg halfway down the long room. He was studying. Not the _objects_ in the room, but the room itself.

"Do you notice anything about this room?" he asked as Arya strolled up to him.

"Haven't really looked at it, Karg," she answered.

"It reminds me of the inside of an Arisian ore freighter, only much cleaner. With the exception of the reinforcements to the walls and the shelving, this looks exactly like the cargo hold of the one I was on as a refugee."

She shook her head, her green hair swinging behind her. "I wouldn't know. I've never seen the inside of one."

Karg's brow lowered in thought. He surveyed the ceiling for a long time then moved his gaze to the far end of the room. "I wonder?" Looking ever more intrigued, he ambled off down the aisle of books.

Curious, Arya followed along behind, trying to figure out what he was up to. At the far end of the long rectangular room, a door came into view. Arya leaned to see around Karg as they neared the end of the room.

Karg walked up to a panel positioned to the right of the door and pressed a button.

The door slid open with a familiar _zip_ , revealing exactly what he had expected to find, a corridor with several doors on either side and one at the far end. He glanced around. Nothing looked out of place, nothing threatening. He stepped one foot inside the door and stopped. After the incident with the crushing ceiling, he would be wise to exercise caution. He slowly made his way down the hall, checking doors as he went. Crew quarters, kitchen, all the things he remembered from his stay on an ore freighter. Finally, they reached the end of the hall and the last doorway.

"Karg, I don't understand. This looks like a ship, but it's inside a mountain," Arya said as she gazed at her surroundings.

"Exactly." Karg pushed a button on the wall, and the door responded by sliding open.

Arya peeked under Karg's arms at what was beyond the doorway. "It's a cockpit! This _is_ a ship!"

She pushed her way past him and into the pilot's seat. She flipped a switch on the instrument panel, and the opaque windows of the cockpit instantly turned transparent. Arya stared in awe at what lay beyond the forward window. In front of them lay a short tunnel, even taller and wider than the vault room itself. She cocked her head as she looked at the end of the tunnel. It was a solid rock wall. "How the _frek_ did they get this ship in here?"

"They must have carved out this cavern and built the ship inside."

A shout came from the other end of the corridor. "Karg! Arya! Where the hell are you?"

Arya spun around and saw Nick stumbling into the corridor. He looked even paler than normal.

"Whew! Wow! You guys scared the crap out of me. Next time tell me before you go walking off like that." Nick noticed the cockpit Arya sat in. Looking thoroughly perplexed, he stepped inside the room. "Whoa! Talk about a ship in a bottle!" Nick gazed out of the windows at the tunnel in awe.

Arya smiled as she saw the wonder in Nick's eyes. Sometimes he was like watching a child in awe of the world around him. It seemed like he was marveling over some new thing every day. How could she not have a warm place in her heart for this odd man-creature?

"I think we may have found a way to get all of this stuff to the ship. Now if we can just figure out how to get it out of the tunnel." She turned her attention back to the console. She needed to check the primary systems. Hopefully, everything was intact and fully functional. "Did you find out anything from the probe?"

Nick pulled his gaze away from the windows and looked down at Arya. "Hmm? Oh, that's why I was looking for you. I was able to access the data and I know how the patch ended up in the past. It's not my patch."

Arya stopped what she was doing and looked up. "What do you mean it's not _your_ patch? Whose patch is it then?"

"I don't know yet. It's going to take time to recover the data. Something caused a lot of damage to the probe. I found out that another ship from earth had recovered the probe, but the ship became trapped in a gravity well. The ship was out of control and spinning down into the well. In a last ditch effort, the pilot tried to open a hyperspace window to escape. The velocity and spatial distortions forced the vehicle into the side of the window, where it was destroyed. Before the ship was ripped apart, the probe was thrown clear of the ship. It traveled through the window and into the past. The patch and the probe were probably the only things that your people were able to recover." Nick's mouth pulled down at the corners as he lowered his head.

"What's wrong? That's good news, right? It wasn't you," Arya said reassuringly.

"Yeah, but chances are I knew the pilot. Probably that gung-ho Spaceforce pilot that the military wanted to use for the mission in the first place. It also means that the probe never made it to Earth. The only good thing is...that the other ship and its technology were destroyed. Maybe Earth will be reluctant to send another one after the first two disappeared. At least there won't be two hyperspace ships the Mok'tu can chase down."

Arya placed her hand on Nick's arm in an attempt to comfort him. "Maybe we can try again. We do have the probe, after all."

Nick nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it needs a lot of work, but I can probably get it flight-ready again. But first...." Nick gazed out the window at the tunnel.

Arya grinned. "We have to attend to our current dilemma."

Karg interrupted. He'd been studying a screen in front of him for some time. "I think I may have something. Look at this. See the metal tracks on the ground stretching from the ship to the end of the tunnel? They actually appear to extend into the rock wall. I was able to scan the surface of the wall and, just like outside, there are crevices, grooves cut all the way around the wall at the edge. At first, I thought it was just remnants from the tunneling process, but the tracks make me think otherwise."

"Are you saying what I think you are saying? The wall is actually a door?" Nick questioned.

Arya whipped her head around to look at the wall again. "Is it?"

Karg shrugged. "Could be."

Nick peered over the instrument panel. "Karg, what's that down there in front of the ship?"

Karg used the ship's scanner to pull up the area Nick indicated. "It's...uhhhhh...I don't know what it is. It's some sort of sled with two Kessler engines mounted on it. Those engines produce enough thrust to move a—"

"Mountain!" Nick exclaimed.

"Yeah, I think you're right." Arya searched the console. "I bet there are controls for it here somewhere." She paused over a small section of controls on the panel then glanced at Karg. He gave her a quick nod. She reached down and pressed the center button.

Outside the ship, the two engines on the sled came to life. A blue glow illuminated the cavern as a swirl of dust blew over the windows. A low roar vibrated up through the floor, and the sled began to inch forward. Nick could feel the power all the way to his knees.

Arya watched the readout in front of her. "It's on automatic. The engines are just above idle."

The sled picked up speed, slowly moving toward the end of the tunnel. The team watched intently as it neared the wall. _Clunk_. The front of the sled bumped the wall and came to a stop, engines still idling. Nick let out the breath he'd been holding. He had expected something more to happen.

The intensity of the blue glow coming from the engines quickly increased and so did the roar. Dirt blew violently, whipping around the cockpit like a tornado. Through the dirt, the glow of the engines dimmed but remained barely visible.

"The engine's thrust is climbing. Eighty thousand ketras," Arya yelled above the noise.

"Yeah, I figured that one out on my own," Nick said sarcastically. "Is it me or is the glow getting farther away?"

Karg looked back down at his console. He had been so engrossed in watching the spectacle, he'd forgotten about the scanner. "Yes! The wall is moving!"

As the sled pushed the wall further down the tracks, the vortex of dirt began to calm and they could see the massive block of stone slowly accelerating down the tunnel away from them.

"Holy smokes!" Nick exclaimed. "This tunnel must lead to the other side of the mountain."

The block continued its course away from them, gaining speed as it went. It moved along the rails, gliding through the smoothly cut tunnel, the engines roaring at full power. Suddenly, a shaft of light streamed in from hundreds of feet down the tunnel as the massive stone block flew out of the passageway and crashed to the canyon below. As soon as the sled cleared the opening, the engines shut down and the contraption tumbled down out of view. All three of the team sat with their mouth open. A two hundred foot, solid rock door just blasted out of the side of the mountain, leaving an exit tunnel for the freighter. Sunlight beamed through the settling dirt. In front of them, they could see the peak of a distant mountain range through the billowing mist.

"Okay then." Arya released the breath she'd been holding then quickly checked the ship's systems. "If anyone was nearby, that would have got their attention. I think we should get moving. Better hang on."

Without wasting any time, she fired up the ship's engines. A gust of dirt-laden wind blew down the tunnel as the engines came to life.

"Well, it still works," Nick said.

The ship rumbled and creaked as it lurched forward. "We're moving!" Arya exclaimed.

Nick's legs felt like rubber bands wiggling around from the earthquake-like vibrations of the ship's hull. He reached for the nearest chair and plopped his butt into it. Through the window, he could see the opening of the tunnel getting closer as they slowly roared forward. Daylight washed the cockpit in a warm, bright glow. Nick was glad to see the light of day again. He'd had enough of this damn tunnel.

He held his breath as the cockpit gradually cleared the opening. The sheer drop of a thousand feet had him digging his nails into the bottom of the seat. He'd never had a problem soaring in a ship, but hanging off the edge of a cliff was a whole other story.

The nose of the ship peeked over the edge of the crevasse as the ship squeaked its way out of the hole in the cliff face. Nick grabbed the chair harder as the freighter jerked and lurched. In a pulse raising moment, the ship wobbled, dangling over the valley below, then stabilized. The ship had finally cleared the tunnel and was free. Arya pulled the nose of the freighter up as she maneuvered away from the cliff.

"Damn am I glad you're a good pilot!" Nick crowed. He let out a whoop of relief, startling Karg with the force of his yell.

Mist rushed past the cockpit windows as the craft began to climb. Even with the ship's inertial dampeners, the acceleration forced Nick's head back into the headrest. For a freighter, it sure had power.

It wasn't long before the ship pierced the veil of thick atmosphere and they could see the deep black of space in front of them.

Arya punched her com-badge. "Arya to Sirok. We're on our way back."

"I can see that. What are you doing on a freighter?" Sirok sounded puzzled.

"Long story. Prepare the docking bay."

"Yes, Captain," Sirok responded.

Nick stared at the stars beyond the window of the freighter as it roared toward its rendezvous with the Ashok. "Space. It's beautiful, cold, violent, full of wonder....and unbelievably large."

Arya glanced up at him. "Feeling nostalgic?"

"Feeling happy to be alive."

Arya frowned at the serious note in Nick's voice. She could tell he was feeling homesick, missing his planet, his people. The knowledge made her feel anxious inside. Nick had become a part of her crew, a part of her, and she had hoped he felt a part of her world. Minus all the war and the chaos. Perhaps that was why he still had trouble fitting in. Too much pain in such a short time.

She didn't know what to say to make him feel better, so she simply turned back to the console and the business of flying the freighter back to the Ashok.

"It won't be long now," she murmured.

Nick's weary sigh lay heavy in her heart. She caught Karg's eyes on her, briefly held his gaze then looked back out the window. The big lug knew what Nick meant to her. _Hetek_ , the whole crew probably knew.

She would think about all that later, though. Right now, she just wanted to get home. In many ways, she could understand Nick's pining for his home-world. She also missed her planet, and longed for peace for her people. It had been a long time since she'd known anything other than war and suffering. She wanted that to change. She wanted....

She glanced back at Nick. Perhaps she wanted too much.

Nick stepped from the ore freighter and then turned to take a look. The ship filled the Ashok's hangar. Even the force-field had been moved back toward the outer door to accommodate the vessel's large size.

A maintenance bot whizzed past him, carrying the case containing the hyperspace probe. Nick hollered after it. "Hey, be careful with that. Take it to the lab."

The bot continued on its path, a computerized voice responding as it headed for the door. "Affirmative."

"Damn bots. If it so much as puts a scratch on it, I'll—"

"What? Fist fight with it?" Arya grinned, one brow raised as she passed. "Males." She shook her head and walked on.

Hours later, after the crew had settled in, Nick found Arya in the cargo hold of the ore freighter, her nose in one of the ancient Arisian manuscripts. She looked up when she heard the door.

"Nick, you wouldn't believe all the wondrous things I have discovered."

She frowned as he drew closer. "You don't look nearly as happy as I do. What's wrong?"

"I just finished repairing the data drive on the probe, as best as possible, anyway. There are still some damaged sectors...." He sighed heavily. "Anyway, I found this."

Nick activated his PDU and played back a message he had found on the probe. It was another human's voice, and by the sound of it, he was in obvious distress. _"Mayday, mayday, mayday, I'm caught in some sort of gravity well. I recovered the probe. Repeat. I recovered the probe, but am hopelessly lost inside a gravity well. Serenity, do you read? Mayday."_ After a few seconds of crackly silence, the voice continued. _"I hope that the probe will record this message. There is no chance of escape for me. Even if I can open a window, I'll never make it through, but hopefully the probe will. I'm going to attempt to release the probe at the precise time to allow it to be thrown into the open hyperspace window. Please tell my wife...Becky.... Becky, I love you. I'm sorry."_ There was a long pause then he began to speak again _. "Opening hyperspace window now. Have to time it just right.... Releasing probe. I—"_ The recording went silent.

Nick stared down at the floor. "That was my best friend, John. He knew the only thing left for him to do was save the probe. Dammit! It's my fault. If it wasn't for me launching that probe, he'd be alive right now!"

Nick glanced at Arya. Her ears were folded back, a reflex from the loud sound of his outburst. He realized he had scared her when he shouted 'dammit'. "I'm sorry."

Arya's ears slowly picked back up. "It's not your fault." She got up from the table and came to stand in front of him. After a pause, she laid her head on his shoulder. "You had no choice. You had to protect your planet and your people. You had no way of knowing that would happen."

Nick sighed and wrapped his arms around her slender body. "Yeah, I know. But somehow that just doesn't seem to help. Becky didn't want John to join the program in the first place, especially with a baby on the way. Now she may never know what happened to him. I saw what my mom went through when my dad was missing in action. I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"It was his choice. Respect that and remember him well," Arya said. "Someday you'll be able to tell your people about his bravery. Without him, you wouldn't have the probe, and the Arisians would have one less prophecy." She fell silent for a long moment, her cheek resting against his strong shoulder as she listened to his steady heartbeat.

"Did you find out anything else?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Arya took his hand and led him over to an antique couch of sorts that had been stored in the archives. "Sit and tell me about it."

Nick sat down and leaned back. Arya tucked herself close and once again rested her head on his shoulder.

Nick gazed down at the top of Arya's head. "Well...the data I retrieved from the probe gave me an idea. Do you remember the covert hyperspace communication network Karg told you about?"

"Yes."

"I figure we could set up a series of hyperspace transmitters at different locations. We could not only use those transmitters for communication, but if they each sent out an encoded carrier wave, we could also use them to triangulate our position in hyperspace. That way, we can navigate through hyperspace and be able to calculate jump points."

"Jump points?"

"That's what I'm calling them. A place to open a window and make the jump into and out of hyperspace. _Jump points._ With the transmitter beacons, we would know where we were in hyperspace at all times. We could then know where to initiate a jump point back into normal space. At least, as long as we stayed within the network of transmitters. It's like the VOR or GPS systems we use back home. Hyperspace amplifies the signals, so it should work over vast distances. I even think we can power the units using the energy from within hyperspace. Humans have speculated about harnessing vacuum energy for centuries, but they never had a glimpse into the actual workings of hyperspace, like I have."

Nick looked down at the top of Arya's head again. He was getting used to the feel of her leaning against him. And he liked it. He liked it a lot.

Arya kept her cheek resting against Nick's shoulder, her long, slender fingers wrapped around his bicep in a position that felt comfortable. "That's brilliant, Nick. It may be all we need to turn the balance of the war in our favor."

He nodded. "Oh I almost forgot. I had another thought. On my planet, during the war, the Resistance fighters would broadcast a radio program every day to let their allies in far flung places know the latest news. They used it mainly to help with the morale of the Resistance fighters that were spread across large areas. Why don't we do the same thing over the hyperspace network? We can call it The Voice of The Resistance."

Arya sat up and looked at Nick with delight. "I love it! It's exactly what our people need. Who can we get to do the broadcasts?"

Nick raised his brow and smiled.

Arya's eyes widened in surprise. "Me? No, I don't―"

"Why not? What better symbol of freedom than the Queen of Aris?"

Arya pondered Nick's suggestion for a moment. "You're right. It's time I stop hiding and start helping my people. They need to know their Queen is alive." She stared into Nick's eyes, her expression filled with gratitude. "Thank you. Today has been such a wonderful day. First the Royal Archives and now this." She leaned back into the comfort of Nick's shoulder again and tucked her hand back around his arm.

Nick knew she could hear the beat of his heart quicken as he reached over and ran his fingers through her thick, shiny green hair. She nuzzled his chest in contentment and made a soft puttering sound. Nick's eyes opened wider as he looked down at her. _She purrs!_

Six months later....

" _This is Queen Arya Nuraku of Aris, and this is V-O-R, the Voice of the Resistance. Yesterday, our forces, led by Admiral Bannon, simultaneously attacked Dragoran and Mok'tu troops across the entire quadrant. Twenty three enemy ships were destroyed in the attacks, including two Mok'tu Planet-Killers and one Dragoran Dreadnought. But despite our new weapon, we still lost two ships, the Coranii Destroyer Sprag and the Rakozian Death-Stalker Armageddon. Their brave sacrifices will not be in vain. We will continue in their honor, and in the honor of the millions who have already fallen victim to the cold hand of our oppressors. We will not stop until every citizen on every world is free from the tyranny of the Dragoran and Mok'tu empires. We do this for our children and our children's children. We do this so they will never again look up at the heavens in fear. We do this because we must. We do it because it is right. Whoever you are, wherever you are, know this: We stand beside you. We are the Resistance."_

_  
_

THE END

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Alien/English Dictionary

**Chapter One of Evolution  **

(The Hyperspace Project: Book Two)

_Included Below! -Keep Reading._

Book Two

## EVOLUTION

Massive explosions ripped through the Hurak's hull, tearing the ship in two.  All Nick could do was watch helplessly from the Ashok's tactical display, the image of mangled, lifeless bodies silhouetted against an erupting fireball now permanently seared into his mind.  A vivid reminder of the cost of war, and the reason they fought against the odds.  The loss of another ship was a serious blow to the Resistance.  The loss of life...immeasurable.  _Damn soulless, biomechanoid bastards._   He hated everything they were, everything they represented.  When would the galaxy finally be free of their malevolent reign?

Admiral Nick Bannon raised his head from the tactical display and stared at the monstrous Mok'tu Star-Killer that now filled the forward screen from edge to edge.  It was the first time he'd ever set eyes on the mighty Brokta.  The legendary vessel was big as hell and blacker than death itself.  Its soot-black hull seemed to absorb every photon of starlight that fell onto its surface, making the ship nearly impossible to see in normal space.  But here, against the brightly lit background of the nebula, it was an ominous sight indeed.  At almost a mile in length, the rival Brokta was slow and cumbersome compared to the nimble Ashok.  But the giant ship's firepower and defense systems more than made up for its sluggish maneuverability.  The Mok'tu vessel was truly a formidable adversary, and just getting _this_ close to the enemy's flagship was no easy task.  Now here they sat, staring down the barrels of the enemy's most powerful plasma cannons.

By some stroke of luck and a hell of a lot of maneuvering on Nick's part, the enemy had allowed the Ashok to advance within weapons range.  And that's all he needed to finish the job.  Nick drew in a deep breath and prepared to bellow the final command.  It would all be over soon.

"Fire!"

"Aye, Admiral.  Firing on target," young lieutenant Aeryl calmly replied from his post.

Nick Bannon spun his chair around to check the tactical display.  Three other Resistance ships had also made it into weapons range and were closing in for the kill.  Nick welcomed the sight of the other ships.  His mission would have been suicide without the other Resistance vessels drawing some of the Brokta's massive firepower.

"Helm, watch that crossfire!"

A powerful plasma burst grazed the Ashok's shields, rocking the ship violently.  Ensign Coryn had been making his way across the Bridge, but the shock of the blast caused him to stumble.  He struggled to remain upright and grasped at the nearby railing to steady himself as the ship pitched.  His hand missed the railing, and he fell face first to the floor.  The Bridge was a chaos of crew members trying to remain steady on their feet.  Somehow, Nick managed to keep his grip on one arm of the captain's chair as his body was thrown from the seat.

"Sorry, sir," the helmsman called over his shoulder as he quickly worked the controls to avoid more incoming rounds.

Nick threw his ass back into the seat and checked the damage report.  He glanced back up at the Mok'tu vessel as they barreled closer.  "Tactical, why's that ship still in one piece?"

To the right, a Bridge officer fought to extinguish a small fire that lashed out from a damaged power conduit, sending a thick, white cloud of smoke wafting in front of the view screen.  A blinding light forced Nick to look away.  Sparks erupted from consoles around the Bridge as enemy plasma fire impacted the forward shield.  A direct hit.  Within seconds, the pungent aroma of shield emitter coolant filled the air, hissing loudly from a ruptured pipe housed within the ceiling.  Nick's lungs seized, refusing to allow the toxic gas in, but not before he managed to choke out a command.

"Protocol Two.  Switch to secondary systems," he ordered in between coughs.  His thumb found the latch to the breather unit compartment tucked neatly into the arm of the command chair.  As his lungs squeezed closed, damaged from the dangerous coolant in the atmosphere, his hand finally located the small life-sustaining canister, and he quickly pushed the mask to his face.  Clean air slowly replaced the chemical laden air in his lungs as he forced a few breaths from the emergency breather.  The unique tingly feeling of microscopic medbots working to repair his lungs was unmistakable.  He never thought he'd be thankful for the tiny alien nanite buggers that were busy augmenting his damaged tissues, but this was the second time they'd saved his life.  And he was damn grateful for them now.

As the pain in his chest eased, he took in a deep breath and shouted over the noise.

"Tactical...report!"  Nick glanced at the tactical officer then looked back at the Star-Killer.  "Why haven't we fired?"

"I'm trying, sir.  The instruments show full power, but I'm unable to open a jump-point!"

Nick leapt from his chair and stumbled across the shaky floor to the tactical officer's console.  A few quick system checks and he realized the lieutenant was right. But it didn't make sense.  The hyperspace generator seemed to be working perfectly.  Yet, no jump-point was forming.

The lieutenant held a hand to his earpiece as he struggled to hear a report over the racket.  "Sir, _all_ our ships are reporting the _same_ problem."

Nick's blue-eyed gaze darted left and right as his brain frantically tried to make sense of it all.   _Why isn't it working?_   _It's almost as if...._  He suddenly realized what was happening and quickly hit a button on the console to send a ship-to-ship message to the rest of the fleet.  "Abort!  We're being jammed....  Abort the mission and fall back to Red Six!  Abort!"  He clapped the lieutenant on the shoulder and spouted commands as he sprinted for his chair.  "Helm, get us out of here, full thrust!"

Nick turned in mid-air and came down hard in the captain's chair.  He had barely settled into the seat before the Ashok came about and accelerated away from the Brokta.  "Come on, baby, get us out of here," Nick muttered as he stared at the view screen ahead of him, willing the ship to go faster and carry them out of weapons range.   The steady stream of enemy fire was too thick for the ship to escape this one unscathed.  Every second they stayed, the hull took more of a beating.

"Shields reaching critical, sir."

"Just lost the starboard engine!" the Helm Officer cried out.

He could tell by the crew's shaky voices that they were scared out of their minds.  Nick straightened in his chair, the chaos around him playing in his brain like a slow-mode movie.  The surreal scene of plasma flashes and sparks seemed to go on for an eternity as the ship continued to take a pounding from the Brokta.  He had an excellent crew.  He trusted their abilities.  Despite the fear in their voices, they would fight to the death.  But death might be a fate that came too soon.  Even if the Mok'tu only managed to cripple the Ashok, Nick would be forced to use the self-destruct.  The Resistance could never allow the hyperspace technology to fall into the hands of those monsters.  He and the crew were well aware of the risks and what was at stake.   But ultimately, the decision rested on his shoulders, and it was not a decision he relished.   He felt like he was consigning his crew to their death either way.   And he wasn't ready to give up on them just yet.

"Just lost another engine!" Helm Control yelled over the rumble of enemy fire and small explosions.

The bad report only steeled Nick's resolve.   _It's never over until it's over._  "Steady, Helm.  We've made it out of stickier situations before."  Nick gave a confident nod as the Helmsman glanced back nervously over his shoulder toward the captain's chair.  The young man returned the nod, swallowed hard, and turned his attention back to piloting the ship.

"Can we open a jump-point yet?"

"No, sir. We're still being jammed."

Nick checked his sensor readings.  "It must be a localized field of some sort.  Keep trying.  It's bound to have a range limit."  He needed to remain cool and think clearly, but it wasn't easy.   _Shit,_ the Mok'tu had managed to block the only effective weapon they had.  He didn't even know it was _possible_ to neutralize the formation of a hyperspace window.  The thought had never crossed his mind.   _How on_ _Earth were they doing it?_

"Sir, the Tolaan is cutting across our rear.  They're turning back toward the enemy!"

Nick punched a key.  "Sterk, what are you doing?  Get clear!"

A crackly voice came over the channel.   "We've got your six, Admiral...."  Explosions and chatter from the Tolaan's crew filled the long pause.  "We die free!"

"They've positioned themselves between us and the Star-Killer, sir.  They're taking the fire for us."

"Captain, get clear, that's an order!" Nick shouted.

"Sorry, sir," came the reply.  "We've lost maneuvering thrusters.  Only one thing left to do.... Ramming speed!"

The channel abruptly went dead.  Nick watched helplessly as the Arisian ship sped toward the Mok'tu vessel, steady on its rendezvous with fate.  Nick ran a hand down his face and felt his eyes beginning to burn as he watched.   The enemy fire that had been pounding the Ashok's hull suddenly ceased...because of the crew of the Tolaan, because of their imminent sacrifice.  The Bridge grew silent as the Tolaan drew closer and closer to the Brokta, blocking out the weapons fire that had been aimed at the Ashok only moments ago.  It looked like Nick's ship, and his crew, would make it out of this one, after all.  But the growing quiet only served to punctuate the sense of impending loss for the brave crew of the Tolaan.

Nick stared at the monitor, waiting for the inevitable.  The Tolaan suddenly erupted in a massive explosion as it crashed through the Mok'tu's shields.  Chunks of debris pierced the shield and slammed into the enemy vessel, but the mighty Star-Killer remained.

"Sir, jump-point forming!" his helmsman reported.

"Good work, helm.   Get us out of here, best speed!"

" _Aye_ , Sir," the helmsman replied with a sigh of relief.

As the Ashok sped across the space-time threshold, attempting to escape into the safety of hyperspace, Nick lowered his head in respect for the valiant crew of the Tolaan.  At the moment, he didn't feel too good about himself, or his place in this fight.   He knew why the crew of the Tolaan had been so willing to sacrifice themselves.   They were still clinging to the belief that Nick was their savior, the one from that damn ancient prophecy.   And they would do anything to protect him.  Nick bit back a hiss of anguish.  He knew better.  He was only a man.  Just a man trying to do the right thing, and hopefully, somehow, stay alive through it all.

They had barely entered hyperspace when it happened.

"Incoming!" his helmsman suddenly shouted.

Nick bolted upright in his chair.  "Evasive!"

"No time!"

_Boom!_  A direct strike to the aft of the ship threw Nick to the floor.  The hyperspace window instantly began to collapse, grazing the damaged starboard engine pod as the field shrank in on itself.  The immense spatial forces of the collapsing jump-point ripped the engine to pieces as the ship coasted forward into the red abyss.  The last plasma impact had dealt the Ashok a crippling blow.  Half the ship's systems were now inoperative, and the last remaining engine, communications, and the hyperspace generator were fried.  The only good thing was that they had managed to make it into hyperspace.   Outside of that, they were like a sailboat without wind: dead in the water.

"Helm to station keeping."

"Aye, sir," the lieutenant responded as he picked himself up off the floor.  "I am sorry, Admiral."

"You did all you could,"  Nick said.  "No room to maneuver when you're in a jump-point.  We would have never made it this far if you weren't a good pilot.  At least we're in hyperspace, away from the Brokta."

"Yes, sir.  Thank you, sir," the helmsman answered, catching his breath as he seated himself and began working the navigation console.  "Thrusters at station keeping."

A deep, distorted voice came over Nick's com-badge.  "Gezitol wyzzt kiptorgyl ak."  Nick tapped his badge.  "Karg?  Is that you?"  Static and gibberish were all that replied.  "Damn!  Comms are fried."

Nick spun his chair around, his gaze landing on the only available crew member.  "Ensign Coryn, find Karg and bring him to my ready-room."

The young Arisian ensign stood staring at the scrambling crew, completely unaware that Nick had spoken to him.  Nick had seen that look too many times before.  The ensign was scared, in a state of shock at having come through a blistering fight with a ship bigger and bolder than anything the ensign had ever seen before.  Coryn had stared into the face of his own death and come out unscathed, but his brain apparently hadn't caught up to that knowledge yet.  He looked like a little lost boy.

"Ensign Coryn," Nick repeated.

The ensign suddenly realized the admiral was addressing him and snapped to.  His eyes widened at the sight of the admiral staring at him.

"Find Karg and bring him to my ready-room."

"Aye, right away, Admiral."  He gave a nervous salute and headed for the lift.

Nick watched the ensign leave the Bridge.  Poor kid looked relieved to have something to do.  Nick wondered if he had ever been that wet behind the ears.  Had he ever been that scared?   He couldn't remember.  Maybe this part of space had hardened him, changed him.  Somehow, Nick wasn't sure he liked the idea that he had changed.  He wanted to still be that same accident-prone scientist from earth, still staring at the stars and wondering what was out there in the big ole Universe.   Well, now he knew.  And he didn't like it as much as he had thought he would.

A short time later, Nick was studying the tactical data in his ready-room when Karg stepped out of the transport tube and into the room.  Nick didn't even need to look up to know it was Karg's eight foot, four-armed hulk of a body coming across the floor.  The vibrations were instantly recognizable.  Nick stood and turned to meet him at the conference table, still pondering the sensor data.  A three-dimensional holographic display showing their last encounter sprang to life from the emitter housed within the table.  Nick spun the hovering image with his finger, hoping that if he viewed the display from another angle, it would shed some light on recent events.

"What the frek happened?" Karg asked.

"We got caught with our pants down, that's what happened!"

Karg's brow lowered, he cocked his head, squinted one eye, and looked down curiously at Nick's legs.

"It's just an Earth expression," Nick replied, still staring at the display.

Karg straightened his gigantic, four-armed, ogre of a frame and stood respectfully at attention in front of the admiral.  "Right, sir."

"It means we were caught by surprise, that's all.  And you can drop the ' _Sir_ ' in here."

"Yes, s...."  Karg closed his mouth before the last word slipped out.

Nick paced the floor for a moment before coming to a stop in front of Karg again.  "The damn Mok'tu must have used the data from our attacks to develop some sort of jamming device.  By the time we opened a jump-point to escape, they tagged us in the ass, and now we're adrift in hyperspace without any engines.  But believe it or not, we have more immediate problems.  We need communications back online."

"You'll have it, s...Nick."

"And see if you can clear up the internal comms while you're at it.  Damn inconvenient.  I can't keep sending crew members on missions to locate each other on my own ship.  We have a lot to repair, and time is of the essence."

"I've got a team working on it already."

"Thanks, Karg.  Better get to it then."

Karg nodded and turned to leave, but then paused.  "If I may ask, how are we going to defend against the Mok'tu now?"

Nick's gaze met the somewhat humbled expression on Karg's face.  "I don't have a clue...and that scares the crap out of me."

The look on Karg's face shifted to one of puzzlement.  Nick shook his head.  "Never mind, it's just another Earth saying."

Karg's eyes blinked shut for a moment and his head cocked to one side.  "No, actually, I get that one.  It's not a pleasant image, but I get it.  We're in deep sket."

"Exactly."

_Later that day, aboard the Queen's Command Carrier...._

"Forgive me, Your Highness."  A female Arisian had appeared just inside the entrance of the Queen's outer chamber and paused, waiting for an invitation to come closer.  "I thought you would want to see this report."

Arya glanced up from the ancient manuscript she had been studying and immediately noticed the obvious difference in her assistant's demeanor.  Arya hesitated.  She didn't want to hear any bad news today, and judging by the young female's pained expression, it was definitely bad news.

She paused a moment longer and then finally decided that delaying the message did not mean it would go away.   The truth was the truth.  Might as well get it over with.  "Yes, thank you.  Bring it here, please."

The young woman stepped closer, bowed her head, and held out a thin, white tablet.

Arya held one corner of the rectangular device and tilted it up to read the screen.  It was a report on the recent offensive against the Mok'tu.  As she read, her hand began to waver, and she almost dropped the tablet.  With difficulty, she managed to regain her composure and looked at her Lady-In-Waiting.  "Thank you, Nishka.  That will be all."

The girl's gaze remained fixed on the floor as she took one step backward and then turned and quickly left the room.

Only when her assistant was gone did Arya allow herself to succumb to the deep emotion she felt.  Tears slipped from her eyes and streaked down her smooth, green speckled cheeks.   _The Ashok and its crew were missing!_  She lifted the tablet again and scanned the reports from the two surviving captains.   _'Location and status of the Ashok unknown.  Hyperspace weapon ineffective against the Brokta, due to previously unseen jamming technology employed by the enemy.  Admiral Bannon ordered us to retreat to hyperspace sector Red Six.  We were on the opposite side of the Star-Killer when we received the order and were the first to jump out.  The Ashok and Tolaan never made it to the rendezvous point.  All attempts to contact either vessel have failed.  Commencing search of their projected coordinates.'_

Queen Arya turned and stared out through the large circular window of her chamber and into the depths of space.   _What of Nick?  And Karg?  _A sob shook loose from her throat as more tears streamed unchecked down her face.  She had known this day might come, but she had never really been prepared for this moment.  She had always hoped that it would never happen.  She couldn't bear the thought of Nick not being alive.  Couldn't bear the thought of never seeing him again, never gazing into his shimmering blue eyes.

"They'll be okay," she murmured.  She took a deep breath to quell the tears and tried to stiffen her quivering upper lip.  Nick and Karg had a habit of beating the odds.  They could still be out there, somewhere. _ _ She held the tablet to her chest, as if that would somehow help, and stared into the inky blackness of space.  Hoping, praying Nick was still alive.

Her thoughts turned to this new jamming technology the Mok'tu had employed.  The consequences weighed on her heart.  She had grown accustomed to the string of victories the Resistance had achieved.  But what would happen to them now?  How would they fight against such a powerful enemy without their best weapon?  Their _only_ weapon?  Her hopes for a swift end to the war were dashed.  And Nick?  Could she go on without him?  She had to, for her people.  But...could she find the strength?  She had gotten accustomed to his presence in her life, and the feeling of being a part of something important had grown since he had arrived in her sector of the universe.  With Nick around, she never felt alone.  She felt like he would always be there for her.  Unless...he couldn't be.

She couldn't take the thought of him not being there.  It was too much for her to bear.  Unable to stop the strong emotion from rising up within her, Arya gave herself over to the anguish she felt and allowed her tears to flow like hot, raging rivers.   Without Nick....  She didn't want to be Queen.

Back aboard the Ashok, things weren't looking good.  The damage from the lost battle was extensive.  Communications were next to hopeless, and the engines were a whole other problem altogether.  As in, unfixable.  Unless they could scrounge enough parts to get _one_ of them up and running, they would remain free-floating in hyperspace until someone happened to find them or they died there.  Karg sighed heavily, frustrated at the time-consuming project ahead of him.   He wanted his comm back.  Nick was right, this dran trekking across the ship to have a conversation was more than inconvenient _._  He'd already walked the halls and taken the lift three times since the Ashok had lost her engines, and he was tired of it.

For the fourth time, Karg stepped out of the lift and onto the Bridge.  "Admiral?"

At hearing his rank called out, Nick spun the command chair around and found himself staring at a grubby, grime-smeared Rakozian.  His brows came together in a half-frown.  "Karg, what's the status?"

Karg let out a long breath.  He hated to disappoint Nick, but...things weren't good.  "The antennae array is completely gone, sir."

Nick's frown deepened.  "Can we rebuild it?"

"No, I mean _gone_.  It was blown clean off the ship.  And the engines, what's left of them, are a freking mess.  We're trying to see if there are enough parts to even put _one_ back together, but I think we'll still need to fabricate a few things.  The ship's a wreck.  There's no life support or gravity to half the crew quarters, and the power conduits are fried.  Shall I continue?"

"No, I get the picture.  Just a normal day in space."  Nick heaved a weary sigh.  "Okay, so communications are out of the question, at least for the time being.  And engines are a no go, until further notice.  So, we could be here awhile.  How are we on rations?"

"A week.  Longer if we stretch it."  Karg patted his big, muscle-bound stomach.  "Been needing to lose a few pounds anyway."

Nick glanced at Karg's enormous girth, then back at the ogre's face.  He wasn't in the mood to joke just now.  He was still reeling from the loss of the Tolaan's crew.  "Alright, seriously, how long on the engines?"

"Two days, maybe."

_Days.  _Nick didn't like the sound of that.  It meant they would be out of touch with the rest of the Resistance for far too long.  A lot could happen in a couple of days, especially considering that now the fleet had no effective weapon to slow the advancing mechanoid army.

Nick suddenly sat straighter in his chair.   Of course.  Why hadn't he thought of it before?  "Karg, we can use the transport's radio to signal the rest of the fleet.  They'll be out looking for us.  Get dow—"

Karg shook his head.  "No power to bay one, and the dran outer door to bay two is bent up pretty good.  We can't get the freking thing open.  The team that was working on communications is already down there taking a look at it."

Nick let out a big sigh and scrubbed a hand through his thick brown hair. It had been _one of those days_ , and a long one at that. "Alright, fine.  I'll keep pondering this. We'll figure something out. In the meantime, keep me posted."

"Yes, Admiral." Karg turned and headed back to the lift.

Nick watched the big lug amble off. "Karg."

Karg stopped and turned, his brow raised. "Huh?"

"Good work. Thank you," Nick said with a sincere nod of appreciation.

Karg gave a slight smile and a nod, then continued toward the lift. "That's my job. Long hours, no pay, and getting shot at all the time. Why would I want to do anything else?" He turned around as the tube doors shut, a big grin clearly visible on his face.

Nick smiled. He knew the big guy would never really complain. Karg never asked for anything. Just did his job. Still, Nick wanted him to know he was appreciated. It was easy to get wrapped up in the damn war and forget that they were all... _human_. God, he hadn't thought of the crew as _alien_ since shortly after being flung into this bizarre new world. _How weird was that?_ He thought of everyone now as just being a part of one great big crew. Not human, not alien. Just all part of a team. A muffled snort left Nick's nose as he thought about everything that had happened to him since accidentally being flung away from his own solar system and into a strange new environment. It had been one hell of a year for him. From scientist on earth, to hyperspace, to him being considered an alien life-form in a new world, and then admiral of the Resistance. The smile faded as his thoughts drifted to Arya _. Shit!_   Arya! She must have heard the news by now. And knowing her, she was worried sick.

Nick squeezed the bridge of his nose between his fingers to relieve the headache that had been building for the last few hours. He couldn't get caught up in thinking about Arya. He had to stay focused.

_Focus, Nick. Focus._ He had to figure out what to do about the Mok'tu. The Resistance had dealt the Mok'tu a huge blow in the last few months, but their massive ships just kept coming. The mechanoid army seemed endless. Recently, the number of Star-Killer vessels they were encountering was on the decline. Unfortunately, it was hard to tell if the lack of larger vessels was simply part of the enemy's strategy. The speed of the smaller Mok'tu vessels was considerable, making them a harder target for the Resistance.

_One_ thing was clear. Nick had underestimated the Mok'tu. If they had already developed a defense against hyperspace weapons, then it would only be a matter of time before they mastered hyperspace itself. Nick winced. The pain in his temple was growing worse.

**End of Evolution: Chapter One**

TheHyperspaceProject.com

