

Star Guild

Special Edition

Episodes 1 & 2

A NOVELLA

by

Brandon Ellis

Copyright 2013 by Brandon Ellis

Smashwords Edition

First Edition, December 2013

Copyright © 2013 by Brandon Ellis

www.brandon-ellis.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced,  
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any  
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,  
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without  
prior written permission from the author.

ISBN: 978-1494412975

Book Cover by Brandon Ellis

Editing by DBGregg

BlueHeronPub@aol.com

Proof Readers in alphabetical order:  
Chris Bailey  
Lynda Lanza French  
Katie Aborn-Milojevic  
Chrissa Syverson

Dedication:

To my son, Hunter. I love you so much!
Episode 1

The Attack
Location: Andarta System, Circinus Galaxy, 832 year cycle of Starbase Matrona's orbit around Planet Lumus

Year: Unknown

Approximation to Earth: Unknown

Present Human Knowledge of Earth: None

Admiral James Byrd was on vacation, something he had not experienced for several years. Taking a deep breath and enjoying his first minutes of an anticipated two weeks of bliss, he sat on his red blanket while viewing the beautiful meadow surrounding him. Leisurely, he looked down at a gold pendant he'd been holding in his hand and carefully eyed the mystical figures embroidered within it. There were two men riding one horse, both carrying a spear and shield. It was his grandpa's pendant, given to him as a child. He brought the pendant to his heart, holding it there for several moments. Then, carefully placing the pendant back into his pocket, he raised a glass of lemonade to his lips with his other hand. Suddenly, the ground shuddered violently, causing him to drop the glass, spilling lemonade down the front of his shirt.

The ground shook again, not allowing the admiral time to think as he automatically braced himself and gripped the grass near the edge of his blanket and feeling as though he could be lifted up and thrown across the field at any moment. An instant later, the shuddering stopped.

Loosening his grip from the grass and leaning forward, he pressed his palms against the ground to get up. He paused, making eye contact with a deer frozen with fear at the edge of the forest.

"What the...?" Tossed onto his back as another tremor picked up strength, he was oddly able to keep his eyes fixed on the deer as it panicked and raced into the forest. A moment later, the ground was still, and silence hung in the meadow.

Admiral Byrd, wondering what could be causing the quakes, stood up quickly and swiped lemonade off his clothing when he heard heavy footsteps approaching from behind. Before he could turn around to see who belonged to the footsteps, he was thrown off his feet again by another shudder.

Landing hard on his back, he heard the cracks and pops of bones absorbing and adjusting from the impact. He lay there for a moment, staring at the sky, waiting for the ground to stop shaking. When it did, he wiggled his toes and hands. There was sensation there. He sighed, furrowing his brow, his heart pounding rapidly within his chest, and took a deep breath. Without looking, he rolled onto his side. Dirt and grass fell out of his hair and he was startled to find himself staring at a black boot next to his face.

A voice from above said, "Admiral. We have a problem."

His eyes followed the boot up the seam of a pant leg, recognizing a dark blue Star Guild uniform. A young woman's face with hazel eyes stared down at him, her brown hair sticking to her forehead as if she had been running for a while. The admiral stiffened and a heavy feeling churned in his stomach. "Lieutenant Eden? Why are you here? What the hell is going on?"

The Lieutenant shook her head as she reached out her hand. He grasped it and Eden visibly raised her eyebrows because of his strong grip, especially at his age. She leaned back, grunting against his weight, as she helped pull him to his feet.

"The fleet is under attack, sir!"

Dusting himself off, the admiral frowned. "Is this a joke?"

Eden returned his frown. "I'm afraid not, sir." She grabbed his arm and started to run, guiding and pulling him toward the forest.

The admiral pulled his arm away. "Explain to me why we—"

A jolt rocked the area, but it was slight, allowing them to keep their balance.

The admiral looked into Eden's eyes. He was stern and unmoving. "Am I the subject of a prank?"

She quickly shook her head. "No! We have to get going, sir!"

Another blast shook the ground, knocking the admiral to one knee. Eden grabbed his shirt, forcing him up. "We must get you to your vehicle and the flight deck, immediately!"

The admiral paused, running his hands through his thick but graying hair. His mind raced. None of this was making any sense. As his brows arched he waved a hand, trying to dismiss everything as nonsense, thinking it had to be some type of simulation programmed into this biosphere. He smiled and chuckled. "Tell me, then, who would be attacking us?"

There was fear in her eyes and the admiral couldn't help but feel a sudden chill move from her to him. He dropped his smile. There was something going on. Eden gave a sour look. "They came at us quickly, sir!"

He pounded his fist against his hand. "Who, dammit?! Who?!"

She shook her head and her breath was quick and short. "We just saw it as a blip on the hologram, then more blips, then more. There were hundreds of them, maybe thousands! Flying crafts we'd never seen before. When our sensors detected that they were armed and targeting us, we didn't know what to do. They fired, so we fired back. We're still firing at each other." She hesitated, observing the horror suddenly sweeping over Admiral Byrd's face. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see his next expression as she said, "Starship Contrebis is down and Starship Sirona has taken heavy damage, many casualties and—"

He interrupted by grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. "Slow down, Lieutenant, and back up! What do you mean Starship Contrebis is down?!"

"Gone, sir!"

His eyes widened. "What? Destroyed?"

Eden nodded her head, and this time it was the admiral grabbing her arm, pulling her into a run, practically dragging her through the meadow and into the forest. "We have to get out of this biosphere immediately, and onto my starship!"

Jumping over forest logs, dodging low lying branches and moving around bushes, they made their way to a central door. Admiral Byrd yelled, "Open!"

The central door slid open vertically, allowing them to exit the biosphere, entering onto one of many large roadways spread throughout the starbase—a starbase the size and shape of a moon. Parked along the roadway, his vehicle sat directly across from the door, with Eden's parked just behind his. Seeing that the road was empty, he dashed across the street to his oval-shaped hover car, shouted "open!" and jumped in. Gripping the steering wheel with one hand and pressing the ignition with the other, he fired up the ion drives and rose into a hover just a few feet in the air. Looking behind him, he saw Eden jumping into her vehicle. He waved for her to hurry, then pressed his foot on the pedal and sped toward Flight Deck 21. He had to get off this starbase to assess the situation—a situation he'd never assessed before, and an attack for which they had never trained.

∞

Chief Petty Officer Crystal McCoy stood inside her two ton, twelve foot Mech Suit, which was appropriate for the intense gravity of the dwarf planet she was on, planet Lumus. Her body was just under half the suit's size, allowing her enough room to be comfortable in the suit's cockpit. In these types of environments, especially on a larger dwarf planet such as Lumus, gravity was too intense, making these bulky Mech Suits necessary for the outdoors. Nonetheless, she'd rather be somewhere else. Working another day inside one of these blasted, stifling Mechs wasn't her cup of tea, to say the least.

She brought her arm forward, making the Mech's arm mimic her own movement. Then she placed her Mech's thick, metallic fingers around a long, vertical twisting rock known as ebb—a heavy, dark gray ore which, when melted and cooled, created the most durable metal known to humankind. All Star Guild spacecraft, and even the Mech that Crystal was inside of, were made out of this very substance.

Moving the Mech's other arm, she grasped the ebb, broke off a chunk, and threw it into a large, metallic hover cart floating next to her Mech. If she could hear anything outside of her sound proof suit, she'd hear the deafening sounds of rock pounding against the metal of the cart, eventually wearing her ear drums deaf. A good reason the cockpit of the Mech being sound proofed.

Lifting the Mech's arms again, she broke off another piece and tossed it into the hover cart. She did this over and over again, frequently looking at the time on the HDC, the Holographic Display Console, just below the large window in front of her, counting the minutes until her job was done.

Throwing the last bit of ebb into the cart, finally filling it up to the brim, she blinked several times, trying to get the stinging sweat out of her eyes. She glanced at the clock again. Only an hour left.

"Complete," she called. Instantly, the hover cart moved forward, then zipped ahead at a high rate of speed, toward a large warehouse a mile away.

Crystal watched through the Mech's window as the cart moved around large, brownish-red boulders, successfully missing any obstacles in its way. She bit her lower lip, hoping for the worst, for a little drama, wishing that at least for once she could see the hover cart crash, smashing into pieces and tossing the ebb everywhere against the rocks, seeing everything explode into dust. She knew it would never happen because it never had, but a little change would be nice.

She surveyed the area around her, waiting for the next hover cart to appear by her side. "Next," she ordered. When, after several minutes, no hover cart came, she rolled her eyes and blew air out of her mouth, knowing that Hendricks, who was in the Mech several yards behind her, was being slow, as usual.

Hanging her head to the side, she refrained from yelling at him for the moment, and stared at the light fading over the horizon. A mixture of purple and gold hues filled the sky. It was beautiful, and perhaps the only thing that was attractive on this planet. The rest of this world was way too still for her taste. There were no trees, no vegetation, and no wind. There was never wind, which had baffled her for many years. There had to be something that formed these twisting rock formations. She had heard scientists speculate that the spiraled rocks were formed by massive rivers that once flowed throughout the planet, but she hadn't ever seen any water sources, anywhere. However, she knew that large underground lakes were somewhere on this planet, giving her crew and the rest of the fleet an unlimited supply of fresh water.

She took a deep breath, whispering to herself, "I hate this job." She shrugged. At least she wasn't on the hydro drilling crew, watching water being sucked up giant tubes all day long.

Water.

She pressed her lips against a soft tube hanging from the ceiling of the Mech's standing cockpit and sucked down a few chugs. Clearing her throat, pressing the Mech's parrot switch to the off position, she brushed her red hair out of her blue eyes and yelled, "Next!"

When nothing arrived, she pressed the parrot switch back on and turned her torso, causing the Mech do a torso twist as well. About fifty yards behind her stood Hendricks' Mech with several hover carts next to it. Taking a closer look at his Mech, she saw that its head was tilted upward at the sky.

"Dammit, Hendricks! Stop daydreaming and get back to work!"

"Uh," replied Hendricks over the com link, his voice quiet but taxing. "You better take a look at what I'm seeing, Chief."

She sighed. You idiot, Hendricks. Why do I have to play the sight-seeing game with you all of the time?

Crystal tilted her head, causing the Mech's head to do the same. She was expecting to ask Hendricks what she was supposed to be looking at, perhaps a cloud formation that looked like the mythical elephant that Hendricks always talked about. Or, a cloud that looked like a snow man, like the ones she used to make when she was a small child back at the biosphere on Starbase Matrona?

Crystal, however, saw something entirely different. In fact, there were no clouds in the sky at all, and when she saw what Hendricks was gazing at her jaw dropped. Up above, higher than the atmosphere, was Starbase Matrona. This was a normal sight, since the starbase acted much like a daytime moon for this planet, and had been there for over 800 years. However, what was occurring on Matrona, and around it, wasn't normal at all.

Explosions?

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" asked Hendricks, his worried voice piercing through the com link. "What do you think is going on, Chief?"

Crystal didn't want to say the first thing that popped into her mind, because it couldn't be. There would be no reason to say it, but the words slipped out of her mouth anyway, as if this type of event happened every day.

"Someone's attacking us."

"What?" questioned Hendricks. "Who would attack Matrona?" Hendricks gave out a little laugh.

"Chief!" said a woman's voice over the com link. "Look up!"

"I am, Daf!" replied Crystal.

"What's happening up there?" asked Daf.

"Daf, where are you positioned?"

"Two clicks east of you, gathering ebb at the Androse Quarry." There was a pause as they all stared at the colored explosions bursting above Starbase Matrona. "Chief, what are we looking at?"

A drop of sweat poured down Crystal's cheek, falling from her chin and dripping to her chest. She didn't know how to answer Daf's question, and she didn't want to answer it the same way she had with Hendricks. "Daf, listen to me. I need you to gather up the rest of Mech Team 11 and get them back to the warehouse, ASAP." Keeping her voice calm, she continued, "Hendricks and I will meet you there, soon."

"But, what's up with—"

"That's an order!" demanded Crystal, her eyes full of concern and staring at what looked like a red and yellow fireworks display all around Matrona.

"Roger that, Chief!" responded Daf, clicking off her com link.

Crystal pulled her eyes off the star base and focused on the mountains of ebb and red rock lying in front of her. She had to get to the warehouse to contact Command. There had to be a realistic explanation for what they were seeing, for what was happening to her home. It couldn't be an attack. No, that's ridiculous. She shook her head and almost laughed, remembering her response to Hendricks' question only moments earlier. Still, it was baffling. What were they doing up there? Was Command practicing a new type of war game? She shook her head, knowing she had too much knowledge and experience in the military to know how that wasn't the case. She started moving toward the warehouse, pounding the Mech's legs forward, marching quickly across the rocky land, not caring if she trampled important mounds of vertically twisting ebb as she went.

Bounding along and running at this pace for several minutes, she suddenly heard Hendricks' heavy breathing over the com link. She pursed her lips and crinkled her brow. "Hendricks, calm down. It's probably nothing."

The breathing came even heavier, then loud clanks filled Crystal's com link, making her wince. What the hell? "Hendricks! That's annoying! Turn off your com link until you've settled down!"

"Chief! Chief! Something's after me! I can't—"

Several more clanks came through Crystal's com link, then silence. "Hendricks? You there? Hendricks?"

When there was no reply, Crystal stopped her Mech and spun around. She gasped. A billow of smoke rose from a pile of metal more than twenty yards away. It was Hendricks Mech, or what was left of it. An instant later, the rocky ground near the destroyed Mech burst into projectiles of rock to create a hot, molten explosion, causing Crystal's hand to react by covering her eyes, with her Mech imitating her movement.

Lowering her arm, she saw that Hendricks's Mech had been blown into small bits that were littering the ground with flames. Crystal held her breath, her thoughts scrambling, trying to understand what she was seeing.

"Hendricks?"

When no response came, she knew that what she was witnessing wasn't just an illusion, nor was it the drama on Lumus that she had wished for. Hendricks was dead, turned to ash. She froze, feeling rooted to the ground. She held back a scream. Her eyes widened as she realized that she was probably next. She had to hide – flee! She had to do anything but stay here.

Crystal twisted her Mech back around and ran the Mech as fast as it could go. But, after a few moments, she glanced at her heat gauge and saw that her efforts were too much for her Mech. It was about to overheat and then shut itself down. She slowed the Mech to a jog. Her breaths were now heavy, just like Hendricks.

Opening all com channels, her voice boomed over the com lines. "If anyone can hear me! Get out of here! Get out now! Find cover wherever you can! Hendricks is down and we're under attack!"

A burst of flame erupted in front her, making her turn sharply, doing her best to avoid a direct hit. A second later, another blast hit the Mech's inner leg, causing Crystal's Mech to lose balance. She struggled to keep it upright, but the force was too much. The Mech fell on its side; smashing onto rocky ground and tumbling forward, until a large piece of ebb crushed against her window, cracking the glass and flipping the Mech over like a pancake on its back.

The Mech shook and then hissed. Steam filled the cockpit, covering the window and blinding Crystal from seeing anything outside of the Mech. Disoriented, adrenaline pulsed through her body and making her stomach burn with nerves. She shook her head back and forth trying to gather her wits about her.

What the hell? She slapped her cheek a couple of times. Focus, Crystal! Focus! Get this Mech up and go!

Turning the parrot switch on, she moved her arms, expecting the Mech to do the same, but the Mech didn't move. Checking the parrot switch to see that it was indeed on, she attempted to move the Mech again. No response. Looking at the HDC, she parted her lips and her shoulders sagged. Her Mech was dead, out of commission.

Then she screamed, kicking at the column supporting the HDC in front of her. "Turn on, dammit!" She hit the front console, causing it to blip on for just a moment, then it blipped off. She spoke into the com link. "Open all lines."

There was a crackle of static, and then it faded. The Mech was non-functional and a non-functional Mech wasn't a good thing to have on this planet, especially when being attacked—not that being attacked had ever happened before.

She glanced at the steam-covered window and slowly brought her hand up against it, feeling the dampness on the glass. She wiped droplets away, creating a streak across the glass pane, allowing her to see what was out there.

When she saw it she narrowed her eyes, rage swelling inside of her, fear engulfing her heart. She brought up her middle finger, showing it to an enemy she'd never seen before and never knew about. "Do it! End it, already! Let it blaze, bastard!"

A lone, triangular-shaped craft lingered just above her. A burst of blue air shot out from the underbelly, moving the craft slightly to one side, bringing the craft to a proper position to end its target—Crystal. The inner portion of each wing opened and black tubes protruded an inch outward. A second later, bursts of reddish, yellow flames erupted from the tubes, and the clang of the Mech's metal rattled through Crystal's ears. She was about to experience what Hendricks had. Closing her eyes, she braced for the inevitable.

∞

The admiral's Thunderbird was a thin, oval-shaped craft. Its wings were tucked back, like a diving eagle, with an ion thruster mounted on the tip of the craft's tail, with two ion cannons built into each wing. The aircraft sat perched like a bird on the flight deck. When the admiral had arrived on deck, the scene around him was chaotic. He left his hover car on the runway and saw people running everywhere, panic stricken. He marched over to several lockers stacked against one of the runway walls and opened the one designated Admiral. He grabbed his gear, put it on as fast as he could and not worrying about who was watching him. Two minutes later he had on his flight suit, helmet in hand. He ran to his Thunderbird, raced up the ladder and eased himself into the cockpit.

His skin tingled, a sudden cold hit at his core. The admiral started to feel what the rest of the crew and civilians felt—anxiety, chaos, despair—and the more he watched the disarray, the more he felt he had to display the confidence an admiral was supposed to display. But, his confidence was leaking out of him. He became angry, feeling ill-prepared and nauseous.

He clenched his jaw and glanced around at the pandemonium surrounding him on the flight deck. People were running into each other, grabbing things and then dropping them on the ground, not knowing what to do with the items anyway. Some were barking orders, but fear consumed them all, as if they had just been thrown into a pot of boiling water and doing everything they could to jump out as quickly as they had gone in.

Shaking his head, he slammed his fist against the rounded cockpit window. Hurry up, people! Get off the damn deck!

No one was familiar with any of this, and as more and more shudders quaked through Starbase Matrona, the more wide-eyed and crazy everyone became. Admiral Byrd's hands started to shake and he stared at them. He had failed, somehow. He had failed his fleet, his people. Even though he hadn't the faintest idea who was attacking them, he still blamed himself for the unknown. He should have been there, on his starship, as any Fleet Admiral should be, commanding the defense of his people. Instead, he was here; waiting to be blown to smithereens, along with the rest of the starbase.

People—get off the deck! If they would just clear the deck, he could launch and get to his starship where he could lead a defense!

Turning off his com link, he covered his mouth, looked down, and screamed. He felt like turning the Thunderbird on and gunning it out of there, but he couldn't. He'd kill his own people, plus the bay door was closed, anyway.

Looking up, he stared at the large bay door at the end of the ramp, waiting for it to open to show him something besides the turmoil all around.

"Admiral," said Eden's voice over the com link, knocking him back to the moment. "I'll be on your nine. You'll arrive safe and sound on Brigantia."

Starship Brigantia—his starship—his home! Why couldn't they teleport people from one place to another the way they did with food, clothing, and other small objects? Why hadn't science figured that out yet? He could be on Starship Brigantia if they'd just smarten up and be the geniuses they claimed to be.

Blame. The admiral shook his head. He was succumbing to the pressure, blaming unnecessary things for his current situation.

The admiral glanced to one side; Eden was in her Thunderbird, also waiting to take off. He gave her the thumbs up and turned on his com link. "Thanks, kid." He cleared his throat. "Flight Control 21, this is Admiral Byrd, do you read me?"

Static.

Open the damn bay doors! "Flight Control 21, do you read me?! We need the bay doors open!"

"Everyone's running around, Admiral," said Eden. "They can't open the bay doors until everyone is off the flight deck."

He pounded the glass again, knowing what Eden had said was common sense, although not wanting it to be true. If they opened the doors, all of the people scrambling around would be sucked into deep space. Squeezing the control stick as hard as he could, he did everything within his power to stop himself from tearing everything out of the cockpit.

A crackle came over the com link, and a tense voice spoke, "I'm sorry for the delay, Admiral. The flight deck is now clear. You're free to ride." The bay doors opened and the scene outside made the admiral's jaw drop.

Thousands of triangular crafts zipped by, shooting yellow-reddish flames, followed by bolts of laser fire blasting gouges into two of the starships that he could see in the distance. And one of them was his starship, Brigantia.

The starships were many miles away, but because of their size, they looked much closer, as if he could reach out and touch them. They were as big as small cities, housing nearly ten thousand personnel in each of them. The starships were cigar-shaped and equipped with immense ion boosters and hyper drives built onto their sides. He could see the starships fighting back, exchanging fire with the attackers, destroying some but missing most.

"Thrusters," muttered the admiral, and instantly the Thunderbird's ion thrusters were purring like a kitten. "Lift." The Thunderbird rose five feet off the ebb flooring, hovered in position and was ready for takeoff.

He looked again at Eden, then nodded his head, pushing the throttle forward; and in a span of two seconds, he was out of Matrona and heading for what he surmised to be a heavily damaged Starship Brigantia—his baby.

"Hard right!" yelled Eden.

The admiral pulled the control stick to the right, barely missing another Thunderbird being chased by an attacker. But, before the admiral could assist, the fleeing Thunderbird exploded. The attacker had hit its mark.

"That was Conner, Admiral," said Eden.

The admiral gritted his teeth. Connor was just a boy, barely over eighteen.

Eden and the admiral lit up their ion boosters, propelling them faster through space, flying in a zigzag pattern and heading toward Brigantia. Just ten seconds into the flight, the admiral's sensors beeped, indicating that one or more of his attackers had weapons locked on him, then unlocked, then locked again. Over and over again the sensors beeped, making him wonder if his Thunderbird's HDC was malfunctioning.

Seeing Thunderbird and attacking crafts whiz by, he quickly realized that he was moving in and out of the enemy craft cross-hairs, even though they weren't necessarily targeting him.

"Eden, are you still with me?" Looking at his HDC, he saw her Thunderbird signature by his side. He knew she was there, but needed to know how her mind was faring.

"I'm with you all the way, Admiral."

Two of the attackers looped and steadied themselves in front of Eden and the admiral. At first, they were far away, or so it seemed. When the admiral realized they were closing in on them much quicker than expected, he yelled, "Split!"

The admiral pulled on the stick, veering off one way and Eden the other. The attackers flew by, giving Eden and the admiral a sudden advantage if they continued their course and did a long horizontal loop, which would place them directly behind the two enemy craft. An advantage, though, the admiral couldn't risk. He had to get to his command chair on Brigantia. His Thunderbird, although nice, fast, and deadly, was no place for a career admiral. He only flew for fun, never thinking he'd actually be using it for combat, but then again, he never thought any of his pilots would use their Thunderbirds in real combat.

Glancing at his HDC, he noticed he was only a couple of miles from the Starship. He'd be there in less than fifteen seconds.

A crackle came over the com link. It was Lieutenant Brigger, calling from Brigantia. "Admiral, you are clear for landing. Bay 17, Sir."

A beep, different than the weapon's lock, sounded in his cockpit. Looking at the HDC, he ascertained that it was a warning sound because he was heading for an unopened bay.

"Negative, Lieutenant, the bay is closed and that's a problem!"

"Affirmative, Admiral. Pull up immediately, bay doors jammed, unresponsive. I repeat, pull up!"

Admiral Byrd pulled back hard, almost colliding with the massive starship. An explosion occurred just in front of him, making him think he hit Brigantia, or worse, that Eden had, but he quickly realized that it was another Thunderbird downed. He flew through the fiery blast, causing a sudden pulse of heat within the cockpit. A moment later, everything cooled to normal.

Coming around and veering just above Brigantia, he saw an enemy pull around and then behind Eden, shooting laser-like projectiles at her.

"On your six, Eden!"

"A little late, Admiral. I see him."

He pulled around, slipping behind the triangular craft chasing Eden. "Weapons lock!" he said. "On my mark, you break left."

"Aye, Admiral!"

The admiral, not one easily impressed, couldn't help but notice the precision and beauty in Eden's flying. It even seemed the attacker was impressed to, but how the admiral would know that, or why he'd even think that, baffled him. This whole situation was baffling. Who were the pilots of these attacking crafts? Why were they so hell bent on destroying his fleet, his home, his family?

Steadying the control stick, he followed the attacker. Closing in, his hands started trembling and his trigger finger weakened.

"Anytime, Admiral!" interrupted Eden, feeling pressured because of an elite enemy fighter shooting at her.

The admiral blinked, doing his best to clear his mind, to let the blur of the moment slip away. It didn't work. Everything worsened, and what was once a fighter in front of him became a mental fog. He cleared his throat. "On my mark."

"I've got to get this bogey off my back, Admiral—I'm ready!"

The admiral's hands felt like putty, shaking all the more and his breathing raced, making it difficult to concentrate. Shaking his body, doing his best to get himself back in order, he finally spoke, "On three."

The enemy ship in front of him shot several blasts at Eden, causing her to twist and pull up.

"Two."

Admiral Byrd tightened his grip on the control stick, readying his finger on the trigger.

"One."

Sweat dribbled down his forehead, down his eyes and to the tip of his nose where it dangled.

"Break left!"

Eden's Thunderbird broke left, just as Admiral Byrd pressed the trigger. Large round ion phasers shot a beam from ion cannons—looking like hundreds of large blue dots chasing each other into space. They missed as the attacker broke to the right.

Missing the target wasn't supposed to happen—it wasn't even an option. Stunned, he let go of the stick, accidentally hitting the top of the cockpit window with his hands. He quickly grabbed it back again–letting go of the control stick wasn't protocol, either.

"I missed!" he yelled.

"I know, Admiral! I'm coming around!"

The admiral looked out of the round cockpit window surrounding him. Destruction was everywhere. Maneuvering around it, let alone fighting in it, seemed nearly impossible even though it was happening.

"He's on your six, Admiral. Pull up!"

What? How? As if it would help, the admiral pushed his feet into the foot board and pulled back on the stick, looping upward. He looked straight up, seeing his attacker come into view, and then watched as his adversary turned into a cloud of fire and debris. He saw Eden's Thunderbird flying through the flames and felt a sudden rush of adrenaline as an eerie sensation of the jitters grabbed hold of him. "Thank you, Eden." His voice was breathy and shallow, haunting. Death had knocked at his door.

Eden's voice came through the com link. "My pleasure, sir! Although, we do have a problem."

Tell me something I don't know, Eden! "What's the problem?"

"We have inbound..." she paused, then coughed, clearing her throat. "I don't know what those things are, but they're entering our space, sir! Coordinates one-one-seven, just coming around planet Lumus."

Yes, two blips, no—four blips filled the flight sonar on his HDC. The admiral looked in the direction of the coordinates, squinting his eyes to see through the air battle explosions, seeing several reddish, pyramid-like ships coming around the planet like triangular suns peeking around a horizon. "Those are massive," he responded, his voice low and monotone.

"Admiral," said Lieutenant Brigger. "We see several large ships coming our way. Orders, sir!"

"Are the bay doors operational?"

"Not yet, sir."

A fireball lit up the area in front of him. He quickly changed course, looping and twisting his Thunderbird and saw Eden down another fighter.

"How many fighters do we have out here, Brigger?" asked Admiral Byrd.

"All of them."

All of them? From the admiral's first battle observation, he had just assumed that less than half the pilots were in flight.

He swallowed hard, zigzagging his craft toward Brigantia. "Where are they, Lieutenant? I don't see that many Thunderbirds out here!"

Brigger's voice was quiet and heavy. "Most of them gave their lives for the fleet, sir."

The admiral bit into his lower lip, nearly pressing his upper teeth all the way through. "That's more than two thousand pilots dead?!" The question hung in the air unanswered and he felt like letting go of the flight stick, allowing his Thunderbird to take him wherever it wanted to go. If, in such a short time, the fleet had been decimated this badly, then there was little chance of survival. At his rate, during the course of an hour, the last of his people could be wiped out of the memory of the cosmos forever.

"Bay 17 operational and open, Admiral!" shouted Brigger. "Free to land!"

"Thank God!" hollered Eden. "I've got your six, Admiral! Take the lead and land your bird!"

∞

Admiral Byrd entered Starship Brigantia's bridge with Eden by his side. The door closed behind him, and, gazing into the eyes of the men and women on the bridge, he saw the fear in them. Some nervously looked ready to burst out of their skins, while others looked as if they were going to cry. He wondered if he wore a similar appearance.

Saluting back to them, he dropped his arm to his side and the crew did the same. In the middle of the bridge was the command chair, the same one the admiral had occupied the last dozen years, and next to it was the navigation chair, where Brigger sat, and on the other side was second in command, Captain Louise Stripe. She was at the helm, steering Starship Brigantia.

As Eden and Admiral Byrd arrived at the command chair, a slight concussion rocked the ship, making them stumble, both falling against Brigger's navigation console. Brigger's arm flew up, doing his best to catch them, but with little success. They fell against the console and him, knocking them all to the floor.

Gathering themselves, pushing themselves upright, Eden immediately headed for her station at the flight commander's desk where she could monitor her pilots, and Admiral Byrd helped Brigger up.

"Thanks," said Brigger.

The admiral gave him a nod and walked over to his command chair and sat. He studied the main screen, which looked more like a big window encircling the bridge, allowing them to view everything occurring outside of the ship. This was his design, something he had thought of for the vid techs to create and he was blown away when the techs finished the project only months after being presented with the concept. These screens were now protocol on all starships. He called them vid screens.

"Damage report," asked the admiral.

"Shields more than half depleted, hull is—"

"Exact percentages, Brigger!" shot the admiral.

Brigger stood straight, not used to the situation at hand. "Shields 68 percent down, photon cannons 100 percent off line, ion blasters fully functional, engine fully functional, hangar deck fully functional, hyper drives fully functional, je—"

The ship tossed, making Brigger bite his words.

"How many starships are left, Brigger?"

"Four, including this one, sir!"

The admiral gave Brigger a double look, then glanced at Captain Stripe, silently asking for an explanation.

The captain answered, "Five have been downed, Admiral."

How were the starships destroyed so quickly? He wanted to ask the question, but didn't have time for the answer. "Open all com links to the admiral of each remaining starship," ordered Admiral Byrd.

Just as the com links opened, three holographic images of the remaining admirals, sitting in their own command chairs, appeared on a small stage, the holostage, a few yards in front of Admiral Byrd. A thin, bluish screen stood like a wall in front of the three admirals. They all looked grim.

All three nodded to their Fleet Admiral. "Admiral Byrd," they said in unison.

Admiral Byrd didn't waste any time—no formalities. "Get your birds inside your ships...we jump on my mark!"

"Aye, Admiral!" replied the two male admirals in the hologram, both old and tired looking. The third one, a female with dark brown hair with a tint of silver at the roots, remained silent. Even though her face didn't match the wrinkles of her fellow admirals, it reflected the wear of long nights, stressful meetings, and tiresome trainings. She stood up, out of her chair and at attention. "Permission to speak, sir!"

Admiral Byrd gazed around the room, annoyed. He had pressing issues and a discussion wasn't one of them, no matter how short a discussion it might be. His face became stern as he looked back at her, lips pursed tightly. "Permission granted," he said, noting her expression. There was more than worry in her eyes, more than the fate of humanity resting on her lips. Yes, something more, something personal.

The two other admirals blinked out, their holograms gone. Starship Brigantia shuddered, the lights blinking off and on again.

Admiral Byrd got out of his seat and stood tall. "Admiral Diana McCoy, do you have a challenge with my orders?"

She took a step forward with face focused and blue eyes not bending away from the steely stare of his brown eyes through the screen. "Yes." Then her body abruptly fell to the floor. Her starship had been hit hard. After several seconds, she collected herself and stood up straight. The admiral noticed she was clutching the side of her pants. She was nervous, but Admiral Byrd ignored it, choosing to listen—for the moment.

"I'm keeping Starship Sirona here, Admiral. As you know, all of the men and women on Lumus are from my starship. We plan on extracting them from the planet and then jumping. We will meet your selected coordinates as soon as possible."

Admiral Byrd gave a quick shake of his head. "Negative, Admiral! You will take Starship Sirona with us—we'll come back for those on Lumus when it's deemed safe!"

"I can't do that, Admiral."

The admiral's muscles quivered and his body tensed, heat flushing through his cheeks. "Disagreeing is fine, but you are sworn by oath to obey my orders! It's cut-and-dried, Admiral McCoy!"

"Not this time." She pointed to the floor, as if it was planet Lumus below. "Our family members are down there. We intend to retrieve them. Once we do, we will then rendezvous with you."

Admiral Byrd's face stiffened, his eye twitched. He felt like squeezing someone's neck, Diana McCoy's neck. "Admiral McCoy, you are disobeying a direct order!"

Admiral McCoy flared her nostrils. "My daughter is down there—sir!"

Admiral Byrd dipped his head. "Like I said, we will come back and retrieve them."

Admiral McCoy shook her head. "The rest of the crew and the citizens of Starship Sirona are in agreement—I must retrieve the sons and daughters of my starship off the planet."

He shook his head, knowing that a tally of votes from the inhabitants of Sirona could not have taken place in such a short time, especially during combat.

Another shudder and Admiral Byrd fell back against his chair. Straightening himself, he stared intently at Diana McCoy as he stated, "You are disobeying a direct order, Admiral McCoy."

Diana nodded, dropping her eyes to the floor. When she looked up, Admiral Byrd could see tears trailing down her cheeks. She touched her thick, dark blue command suit above her left breast, unclipping her silver and gold wings. She held the insignia within her hand, staring at it for a moment, and then brought her arm forward, through the blue screen. The screen wrapped around her forearm like water falling from a thin waterfall.

"No," Admiral Byrd shook his head. "I'm not accepting your resignation."

"I'm taking over Starship Sirona and hereby removing it from Star Guild."

"You can't do that!" the admiral erupted, just as another explosion rocked the ship. Admiral Byrd watched as Diana dropped her wings on the floor of his bridge, seeing the badge bounce and come to a rest near the base of the blue screen. Diana brought her arm back through the blue screen, resting it by her side.

"This is mutiny, Diana!" yelled Admiral Byrd, with spit spraying out of his mouth.

She bowed her head, knowing full well what she had done. "I'm sorry, Admiral."

Her image blinked out, and the bluish-clear screen in front of the holostage disappeared.

He fell back into his seat. Then he said, "Brigger, give the coordinates to all of the starships. Once all Thunderbirds land, we jump."

∞

Crystal wondered if she was dead...a ghost, or a spirit finding its way home through the darkness all around her. When she heard a thud and felt a jostle, she opened her eyes, gasping for air as if she had been underwater too long.

Her first glimpse at wakefulness was the crack in her Mech's windshield. Beyond the windshield, she observed the blue sky—the same blue sky she had looked at for years and years. She rolled her eyes. She was alive.

I'm still on Lumus. Who painted me so lucky?

She stretched her limbs, and as a rush of blood rose to her face, she felt her head pound and ache. I must have blacked out. Rubbing her head, she felt another jostle, then felt her Mech being lifted, and then resting at an angle. She was hanging diagonally, with the heel of the Mech's ebb feet touching the ground. Someone, or something, was holding her Mech by its shoulders. She looked up, forgetting that she couldn't see anyone through the thick ebb armor directly above her, where the Mech's head would be.

Suddenly, she was moving and her Mech's feet dragged on the rocky ground. Someone or something was pulling her. She glanced back down at her Mech's feet, seeing how shredded and battered they were. They scraped across the ground, shooting up sparks in the process.

She looked out her windshield, seeing the red mountains that she had come to hate during her long tenure on the planet. Where in Star Guild's name are they taking me?

"Open com link," she muttered, but her Mech's HDC didn't respond.

She sighed, fear filling her. Of all things, she didn't want to be some kind of prisoner. If these faceless enemies wanted to show themselves to her, then so be it. She'd scratch their eyes out until they screamed for mercy, or whatever sound they used for that word.

She exhaled loudly as she cracked her knuckles and glared out the window. Angrily, she punched her leg, squeezing her pants tightly and twisting them, unconsciously trying to tear them. She wanted to break something. "Bastards! All Bastards!" She let go of her pants and grasped her red hair. She was going to die and she didn't even have a photon pistol to defend herself. She wanted to hide or run away, but couldn't escape the cockpit unless she wanted to have a heart attack or brain death. The gravity pull on this planet was too strong, five times what a human could sustain. She cursed the planet and punched the window, wiggling her achy hand a moment later.

She was being tugged along like a helpless infant who had disobeyed her mother. Something she remembered all too often as a child. She wanted to scream, but knew it was useless. For what seemed like an hour, she stared at her Mech's feet. She just wanted freedom...or to see her boyfriend again. But, who was she kidding? Herself? She ended that relationship a year ago.

Abruptly, a shadow loomed over the ground. A shadow she'd seen countless times—it was from the dome of the warehouse roof where the Mechs were stored and her Mech's feet suddenly went from scraping against rocky ground to the smooth surface of an ebb floor. She was definitely on her way into the warehouse.

As she was being pulled through the warehouse entrance, Crystal watched the light transitioning from daytime to shadows as the large doors shut behind her, darkening everything but the slits of early evening light coming through the upper warehouse windows.

Passing through a second set of large doors, she watched them shut as steam rose from the artificial change in gravity, and knew she could safely exit her suit anytime she wanted. For a moment, she tested that idea by unstrapping her standing harnesses and reached toward the ceiling where a button unlocked the dome of the Mech. But, she stopped her finger an inch from it. Maybe she needed to wait it out...to think of a plan. She suddenly pictured herself clawing at the cockpit and being forced out by dozens of strange creatures, green ooze dripping from fang-toothed mouths.

A jostle and a clank sounded somewhere behind her, and by the way her Mech was now positioned, her Mech was lying on the floor on its back. As soon as the steam from the gravity change cleared, she looked out of the window. She was in Mech Bay, a place she had been thousands of times.

She heard a pound against her Mech's dome, sounding much like metal against metal. She remained still. It would take very special and strong tools to open up the Mech, unless they blasted it open like they had done with Hendricks' Mech, the poor soul. The question then floated in her mind. Why am I still alive? Do they want to experiment on me or something? She looked around for a knife, or any kind of a blade. She squeezed her hands into fists. She was just a Mechie, and they weren't authorized to carry such items while operating a Mech.

The pounding against the Mech continued. She covered her ears and closed her eyes. The sudden urge to fight slid away from her. She wanted anything else, even suffocation, as long as she didn't have to see who was doing the pounding. She could wait in here and waste away as her Mech's air tanks emptied. She reasoned that it would be a better death than the torture she was sure to soon experience. She almost laughed. She'd been watching too many holovids.

The window.

It was right in front of her. She could see out of it, meaning someone could see inside the Mech if they wanted to. If they did, they would see her plain as day.

The damn window!

She didn't want to stare out of it, but it was so large she didn't have much else to look at. Even if she looked away, she'd see it in her periphery. This was a problem. If the creature, or creatures, looked through the window, and even if she chose to avoid eye contact with whatever it was that was out there, she couldn't, ultimately. She wouldn't be able to ignore them, either. But, she was trained to look, trained to notice everything. It had been ingrained into her since she was a child, locked into her by her family's military prowess, shoved into her by her combat education, and nailed into her during her short stint as a Star Guild starfighter. Looking would be a habitual response.

The pounding stopped. They had failed to break through, just like she thought they would. The engineers designed it to be impenetrable to anything they knew; especially with its double thick ebbed armor, including the window made out of more than a thousand long, thin strips of clear ebb. How the engineers accomplished that, she didn't know. If a crack in the window occurred, like it had on Crystal's Mech, it wouldn't matter, because the crack would usually be on one clear ebb strip. The rest would hold firm.

She took a deep breath, wondering when her last one would be. If her HCD was working, she'd be able to ask it how much oxygen she had left.

A shadow appeared over her window and Crystal looked away, arching toward the dome of the Mech. If the creature was going to take a peek inside, Crystal was going to force herself to look away. She had to, and in this moment that's all she wanted.

She slowly slid her body closer to the hatch, thinking she might have a chance to pop it open and run like a bad ass into an office she knew was only twenty steps away. If the creature peered at her, it would leave the hatch unguarded.

Out of the corner of her eye, the shadow grew larger. In truth, Crystal would have to look at the creature. She would have to pay attention, because she would need to know exactly when to pop the hatch. Seeing the creature was her best strategy.

Placing her finger lightly on the open hatch button, she looked down at the window, waiting for the right moment. The shadow became smaller, closing in on itself, which usually meant that someone was coming closer.

Holding her breath, she held her spot like a mannequin, unmoving and unflinching. She suddenly lightened her touch on the button as a thought entered her mind.

What if there are dozens of them outside of the Mech, waiting for me to attempt an escape?

Abruptly, escaping became a bad idea. She let go of the button and stared out of the window, watching as the creature got closer and closer. When something pressed against the window, Crystal screamed.

∞

"All remaining Thunderbirds are accounted for and in the nest, Admiral." Brigger formed a big smile and wiped away the beads of sweat on his forehead. It was the moment they had all been waiting for, the jump countdown. It was something they had done many times, although always to coordinates less than a mile away. It was a common enough procedure, done once a month, and created long ago by weary and bored soldiers whom they had never met. But, they had never jumped out of their own system, to a new place entirely, potentially to new worlds, new moons, new suns. There had never been a need.

"I have to remind you, Admiral," said the second in command, Captain Louise Stripe, who was sitting at the helm next to the admiral, "Starbase Matrona has not made a jump of this type in over 800 years."

The admiral's face was firm and unwavering. "I have to trust the technology, Captain."

"And if it doesn't work?"

A jostle of the ship from another blast caused a couple of crewmen to fall to the floor. Eden rushed over and helped them up, then quickly moved back to her post, looking back at the admiral, readying for the jump.

The admiral placed his hand on the Captain's forearm, squeezing it gently. "I don't have an answer."

Her blond eyebrows drew closer together and she clutched her uniform's collar. "All of those people on Matrona will die if it doesn't jump and meet with our coordinates. They will be blown to hell, sir!"

"There is nothing more I can do, Captain." He looked at Brigger. "On my mark." He took a deep breath. "Three...Two—"

"Starship Intrabus down, sir!" yelled Brigger, meeting eyes with the admiral. "Gone, Admiral!"

Still staring at Brigger, the admiral touched his chin as if he were going to scratch it. Hope and luck seemed to be turning tail, running from his fleet.

"All com links open?" he asked, and Brigger nodded. "All remaining fleet, jump at will!"

∞

Outside, a small, round device no bigger than the size of a fingernail, shot from one of the red pyramids looming around Planet Lumus. On it was a blinking, orange light. It sped through space, seeking its target, and spinning as it flew. The device, nearing its intended target, extended a suction device from its tiny belly. A moment later, it hit and forcefully suctioned itself to a large, gray ship, near the lettering Starship Brigantia.

A moment later, Brigantia, along with the small, round device, lit up like a star, and then vanished from space.

∞

Admiral Byrd stood on the bridge studying a large, green planet on the vid screen. "Where, exactly, are we, Brigger?"

Brigger looked at his HDC. "We picked coordinates zero-seven-nine. We're still in the Andarta System, Circinus Galaxy, more than three thousand light years away from Lumus, sir." The last words fell off his tongue, as if he had just realized how far away from home they'd gone.

"Have they all made it?" asked the admiral, more concerned about his fleet than anything else.

The admiral held his breath as Brigger stared at his console, hesitated, and then replied with a doubting, "Yes, sir."

The admiral exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Wait—Admiral." Brigger brought his forehead to his hand. "No."

The admiral quickly moved around his command chair and stood over Brigger. "What do you mean no? Where are they?"

Brigger nodded his head up and down. "Yes and no, sir. Starship Taranis made it." His voice started trailing off, dismay overcoming him. "As we knew before the jump, Starship Sirona chose to stay, but Starbase Matrona is nowhere in sight, Admiral."

Captain Stripe looked up at the admiral, fear in her eyes as worry lines crinkled across her forehead. "Orders, sir?"

"We stand fast." He walked to his chair and sat, looking up at the vid screen, narrowing his eyes in search for any possible spark that might be the starbase. "She will come." His mind was full of doubt, though. It was full of the chaos he had seen on Matrona's flight deck while en route to his own ship. He figured that they probably hadn't been able to pull it together for the jump, and may not have even heard the coordinates in the first place. There was no leader, no sense of anyone taking charge on Matrona, and no one was stepping up when it was needed the most. Although he hadn't seen Matrona become a ball of flame, he figured they didn't have a chance, now that they had been left to fend for themselves.

His mind turned to the destruction that he had watched taking place before the jump. Six starships lost, one left behind, and only two, including his, made the jump. Over two thousand Thunderbird pilots dead and Starbase Matrona missing.

For nearly ten minutes, all was silent on the bridge as they waited for their home, their mother ship, to join them. "Systems check, Brigger," stated Admiral Byrd, disrupting the quiet.

Brigger had to swallow hard over the lump in his throat. There was a long pause; he couldn't take his eyes off the HDC.

"Brigger!" called Admiral Byrd.

Brigger jumped, startled by the admiral's sudden bark. He tore his eyes away from the HDC and turned to see the admiral's stern face. "Yes, sir?"

"What is the status of our ship, Lieutenant?"

Brigger looked back at the HDC, and then gazed in the admiral's direction. He didn't know why this order was necessary at the moment.

"Speak, Brigger!" snapped Captain Stripe, swiping blond hair out of her eyes.

Brigger jumped again, looking around the bridge. All eyes were upon him, as if the information he was about to give was the most important information in the universe. He placed his finger on the HDC, watching it change from Sonar to Status Check. "We're not looking good, Admiral. Two percent shields, 19 percent ion blasters remaining, 23 percent ion photons left, 98 percent engine functioning, 99 percent hangar deck functioning, hyper drives 50 percent, almost all long and short range sensors off line, aquaponics—" He gasped, lifting his hand to his chest and shaking his head. He had stopped mid-sentence, even though there were more systems remaining on the checklist.

"Brigger, is something the matter?" questioned the admiral.

Eden walked over to Brigger, tapped him on the shoulder and whispered into his ear. He nodded and stood up, walked over to Eden's station, trading places with her. Eden sat down in Brigger's station ready to continue where Brigger had failed, but then she froze, eyes wide and staring at the HDC. "We need Matrona here, sir."

The admiral crinkled his nose, a little annoyed. He knew what they needed. They all knew what they needed. Eden pointed to the HDC, showing the admiral what Brigger had just seen, and the admiral's eyes widened for a moment, and then he scanned the room, checking to see if anyone saw his tell. Any chance of survival had just decreased tenfold. He nodded his head, stating the obvious, "Yes, we need Matrona."

The admiral sat in his command chair, having fallen into deep thought, until he said, "Open com link to Starship Taranis."

Eden pressed a button on the HDC. A low voice sounded through, his image appearing on the holostage. "Admiral Jenkyns here."

"How's your ship?" asked Admiral Byrd.

"Our ship has sustained heavy damage. Do you want me to go through the systems check with you?"

"No," responded Admiral Byrd.

"I hope Starship Brigantia has faired significantly better than ours."

"Negative, Admiral Jenkyns. Our ship is barely online. We have at least a week of repairs to complete."

Eden lifted her brows, shaking her head, indicating to Admiral Byrd there was no chance that a week's worth of repairs would even put a dent in it.

Admiral Byrd looked up, staring at the vid screen around his bridge, seeking any change in space—a blip—any indication that Matrona had made the jump. "Admiral Jenkyns, some of our sensors are down. Do you have Matrona on your sonar?"

"Hold on, Admiral." replied Jenkyns. A long pause ensued as they watched the image of Jenkyn's hologram looking at something. He pinched his chin while concentrating, and then frowned.

Admiral Byrd's eyes fell to his lap. The last time he had looked at his lap he was on vacation, wiping off lemonade. "Admiral Jenkyns, do you have the location of Matrona or not?"

After more silence, Jenkyns shook his head. "No, sir, we don't have her on our sonar."

Admiral Byrd brought his fingers to his forehead, rubbing his thick, dark skin. "We have a problem, Jenkyns. We lost all of our fresh water reserves. We're empty."

"You have water in Aquaponics, correct?" asked Jenkyns.

"Aquaponics is gone as well. A rupture wiped them out..." he glanced up, trying to better describe the damage. "No, a rupture sucked them both out. We have no food or water, and no Matrona."

"You were our lifeline, Admiral," stated Jenkyns. "Our Starship doesn't hold water reserves. We have a minimal amount of food and water. Our run to get more from Matrona was scheduled for later this evening."

"How much do you have on hand?" inquired Admiral Byrd.

A short pause. "About two days, sir."

"Incoming!" yelled Eden.

Admiral Byrd's eyes shot to the vid screen and Admiral Jenkyns' image bleeped out.

"They're coming in fast, Admiral," said Eden.

The admiral knew there was no way they could survive another attack. He glanced at his shoes, seeing how clean they were. An image of them blowing up and bursting into flames popped into his mind. "Jenkyns—evasive action! Command at will!"

"Aye, aye, Admiral!" The com link clicked off.

Admiral Byrd watched two large red pyramid-like shapes on the vid screen many miles away; and Eden was correct—they were coming in fast.

"Any idea when the hyper drives will be fully functional?"

Eden moved her eyes all around the HDC. "Yes, about half a day. Mechanical is working on it."

"We don't have half a day. Tell them to speed it up."

"Yes, sir."

A loud beep sounded throughout the bridge and the vid screen zoomed in on the two objects speeding toward them.

Before he could ask what they were, Eden spoke, "Heat signatures suggest that those are torpedo projectiles carrying a photon load."

"How big is the load, Eden?"

"I don't know. Most of our sensors are down. All I have is the heat sensors."

"Launch countermeasures," responded the admiral.

Eden pointed to a crewman operating at another station. He pressed a few buttons, targeting the torpedoes and gave a nod to Eden. "Countermeasures launched." The vid zoomed in, showing two dozen large, star-like projectiles soaring from Brigantia, toward the torpedoes.

The admiral folded his arms and watched, but, just as the countermeasures eventually met the torpedoes, Brigantia's star-like projectiles exploded, shooting thousands of pieces of shrapnel outwards. It was an explosion ten times what they were expecting, and then another one occurred. Then a blue haze blasted out from the explosions, looking like a ring around a planet, expanding as it went and spreading into Brigantia's direction.

"Brace for impact!" shouted the admiral.

They all grabbed hold of safety bars located at each station. The admiral clicked the restraining belt located on his seat and held on to his bars. Then, like a wave hitting a large ocean vessel, Brigantia rocked back as a rise of photon energy hit, moving it up and backwards, vibrating Brigantia into a massive shudder.

After a few moments, another wave consumed the starship, causing everyone to grab hold yet again, doing their best to overcome the shock as best they could.

The admiral closed his eyes when the third wave hit, wondering if his vessel was going to make it, or if every screw onboard was going to vibrate loose.

For a moment, he thought all would be easier if it just ended now. All of this would be over in seconds and he wouldn't have the remainder of the fleet to worry about. It would be over. He wouldn't have to decide the fate of anyone, ever again. It wouldn't matter about this enemy. It wouldn't matter that they didn't have any water. Nothing would matter. It would all be over.

"Admiral. Admiral!" someone yelled.

Why had he chosen this path, to be in charge of thousands, no, millions of souls?

"Admiral!"

Admiral Byrd jostled himself from his thoughts. "Yes!"

Eden stared at him. "Orders, sir?"

"What?" Admiral Byrd pondered her question, wondering why she seemed to be in such a hurry.

"For the second time, Admiral! We have more inbound torpedoes! Shall I launch more countermeasures?"

He looked at the vid screen, seeing that there were indeed more torpedoes, and nodded his head. After a brief pause, he exhaled a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Launch more countermeasures."

"Countermeasures launched, sir!" said Eden, wiping her brown hair off of her sweat drenched forehead, eying the Admiral and hoping he could keep himself cool, unlike the way he had been in his Thunderbird.

The Admiral placed his palm under his chin, deep thought yet again. Eden wanted to pinch him, pull his hair, punch him—do something to get his mind back into the game where it belonged.

Two words kept repeating in his mind. Knights. Templar. Templar. Knights. Over and over again. Those were his grandfather's words, and his great grandfather's words before him, and his great, great grandfather's words before that. They were the helpers, the guiders of the lost. They gave their lives to be in service to others. Their oath was to help those less fortunate, to be a force of light in any darkness. But, he knew the Knights Templar were a myth. Everyone knew that, but he had no other option, no other strategy to turn to. He simply couldn't hold off this enemy forever. They were outnumbered and outgunned, so why not think about Knights and Templars?

Eden leaned over, whispering into the admiral's ear, "Never give up, Admiral. We need you now more than ever."

He gazed into her eyes, then narrowed his own. "Press the distress beacon."

"What?" Her eyes widened, thinking that this wasn't her idea of not giving up. "The distress beacon?"

"You heard what I said, Lieutenant."

A slight frown appeared on her face, not fully understanding why he'd send out a distress call. "To who, Admiral?" She put her hands out, palms up. "There is no one else out here. It's only us and them. No one can save us but ourselves."

He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out his golden pendent, rubbing his thumb over the knight sitting on a horse, wondering why there was a second knight sitting behind the first one. "Send the distress call, Lieutenant! Now!"

"But, sir! Who will receive it?"

He stopped thumbing his pendent, looking deeply into her eyes. "The Knights Templar."

She tilted her head, frustrated. "What?! That's a myth, sir!"

"We'd better hope it's not."

Then an alert horn sounded throughout the bridge. The admiral and Captain Stripe hurried out of their chairs to view the HCD in front of Eden. Eden stared at them, mortified, shaking her head. "We have inbound fighters heading our way. It looks like hundreds, sir! Between Brigantia and Taranis, we have just over a hundred pilots left—if that."

The admiral stepped around and walked closer to the vid screen, his lips quivering with fury. He wanted to tear the attackers apart–every atom–destroy them all! But, it didn't matter what he wanted. He had to do what Admirals do. Give orders and make the final decision. "Open com link."

"They're open, sir!" said Eden. She crinkled her brow, still staring at the HCD. "The torpedoes have just deactivated, Admiral, giving their fighters a clear path to us."

The admiral glared at the vid screen, watching two torpedoes slow down and stop, then hundreds of oncoming crafts barreling past them, heading straight toward Taranis and Brigantia with incredible speed. "Pilots! Report to your Thunderbirds!"

He flipped over the pendant, mouthing the words inscribed on the back:

Equites non intercedere nisi invocatum  
________

Knights Do Not Interfere Unless Called Upon

Episode 2

The Prime
The creature peered through the glass pane, showing itself, meeting Crystal's eyes with its own. Crystal screamed at the top of her lungs and crawled backwards, doing her best to get as far away from it as possible. Striking her head against the metal cockpit hatch, she swiped hair out of her eyes but suddenly relaxed.

"Daf?"

Her friend—her fellow Mechie—was blinking her eyes frantically, peering through the Mech window at a frightened Crystal. It had been Daf driving her own Mech, who had pulled Crystal's Mech into the warehouse. It wasn't an alien creature with fangs hanging down to its feet, driveling green goo out of its mouth like she had imagined. No, it was human. Thank Guild for Daf.

"You're alive!" Crystal gave a hardy laugh full of relief.

Realizing that Daf couldn't hear a word she was saying, she reached up and pressed the hatch button. A hiss and a clank told her the hatch had unsealed. She placed her palm on the hatch and pushed up, feeling cool air through the cockpit, sending a shiver as it blew onto her sweaty wrists and face.

Crystal felt strong hands grab her by the collar and pull her out of her Mech. Wow, thought Crystal. Daf is strong, something Crystal never thought about before. Crystal wondered if the heavy gravity of Planet Lumus had somehow made the Mechies a lot stronger than normal. It probably did and it was probably something that all Mechies and everyone in Star Guild knew about except Crystal.

Daf's labored breathing brought Crystal back to the moment. Daf was pulling her across the warehouse to a door leading to several warehouse offices. Crystal glanced up. Her eyes widened, seeing that Daf was pale and her lips were moving up and down as she continued to pull her.

"Daf?" said Crystal.

No reply.

Daf's breathing hastened and her pace quickened. Crystal looked at her own feet, seeing the back portion of her rubber soles sliding against the grayish black floor. Crystal wasn't hurt, so was wondering why Daf felt it necessary to drag her. But, she relaxed her body as she was dragged closer and closer to the office door, not wanting to stop Daf's progress, or potentially screw up what may be Daf's time sensitive plan of escape from these enemies.

Daf's voice suddenly came alive, quiet and low. In a breathy whisper she said, "They killed everyone. All of the Mechs are downed and the Mechies inside...dead. Who are they, Crystal? Who are they? Why did they kill them? Why? What do we do now? Will they send someone to come after us? Will Star Guild send someone to rescue us?"

Before Crystal could answer, or even throw out a guess, Daf let go of her, letting her fall to the hard floor. Crystal quickly spun around to see Daf struggling with buttons on a wall panel next to the office door.

"3-2-2-1," said Crystal. "The code is 3-2-2-1."

Daf looked at her, lips quivering, arms shaking. She blinked, and then blinked again in rapid succession. It was a little too fast for Crystal's liking. Crystal stood up as fast as she could, knowing what was happening to Daf. Just as she started to move forward, she saw Daf faint, fall against the wall and slide down to the ground.

Crystal bent down, slapping Daf's face. "Daf, wake up. Daf? Daf!"

Crystal sighed. This wasn't something she needed to deal with right now.

Shaking her head and pulling Daf off the ground, Crystal held Daf in one arm and pinned her against the wall with a leg as she typed in the code to the office door. The door slid open. Why don't we have voice command operations for this door? I'm going to have to get that changed, STAT!

She shook her head again, understanding her plight and thinking how that was the last thing she needed to be thinking about at a time like this.

Turning Daf around and grabbing her by the underarms, she pulled her through the office doorway. An automatic light turned on when she entered, brightly lighting the room. "No!" shrieked Crystal. She didn't want them on. She didn't want any possible attention brought to the warehouse. Moving around several desks, pulling Daf along, she crouched down, hiding next to a large, round shaped desk.

I've got to turn off the light.

Crystal froze as a thud sounded against a warehouse wall, definitely coming from the Mech Bay door. If she wanted to move, her body wouldn't allow it, and if it did allow it, she wouldn't know what to do anyway. Then she heard it again, and saw through an office window that the Mech Bay door was slightly indented.

"Shit!"

Again she wanted to move, but her eyes stared through the window, unflinching, at the Mech Bay door.

Another thud and Crystal finally slipped into action by running into a side office and she knew it was one with security vids.

Sitting at the desk, eying the vids, she suddenly realized something she should have realized the moment she entered the warehouse offices—not a single soul was here manning the stations, doing their normal routines for Ebb Operations. Where were they? The Mechies wouldn't be here, of course, because they were usually outside in their Mechs collecting ebb, but the warehouse men and women, the Star Guild officers, the boss man, and the Techies—where the hell were they?

Looking around to see any evidence of a struggle—chairs over turned, desks over turned, blood on the ground—she didn't see anything of the sort. It's as if they had just disappeared. They couldn't have gone outside without a Mech or they would have gone insane or brain dead, or better yet, had a heart attack within two minutes due to the dense gravity exposure. Maybe they did attempt to leave regardless of the outside gravity, doing their best to escape in a bad situation. The back window would tell her. She could see if there had been any attempts to escape through a back door. She might see dozens of dead people littered across the ground. Right now, though, it wasn't that important to see. It really wouldn't change anything.

She stood up as another thud slammed against the Mech Bay door, deforming it even more. Bastards! Leave us alone!

She turned her attention to the office walls all around her, white with silver sparkles. She shook her head at the decorating, and then stopped as a thought occurred to her. Duh, the vids!

Focusing her attention where it was needed, she looked first, and then ran over to the vid console. But, when she looked at the holovid all she saw was static, so she pressed a button and said, "Re-route all security vids to nearest Lumus satellite. Sync in to Mech Warehouse 11 and display."

Thud!

She looked up expecting the worst, but the bay door held.

"Holovid!" she yelled, bringing up a holographic display so she'd be able to see exactly what was happening outside. The satellite camera zoomed in, passing through the atmosphere, displaying a world of red rock, large mountains, dark gray ebb spiking out of the redness, and large craters where ebb once was.

"Zoom in on Warehouse 11." She pounded the holographic display. "Go! Hurry, hurry!"

It zoomed in.

"Stop."

The zoom halted and the holovid displayed the exterior of Warehouse 11.

"Mech Bay door," she ordered. The satellite panned and stopped. She put her hand up to her mouth, whispering outloud, "What in Star Guild's name is that?!"

Nervously, she glanced at Daf lying on the ground next to the desk in the other office. She had to get Daf and herself into a Mech before the bay door got forced open.

∞

"I repeat, pilots to your Thunderbirds!" yelled Admiral Byrd over the com link.

Captain Stripe read the status of repairs on her HDC and glanced at the admiral. "Four hours until we can jump, Admiral."

"It's better than the original report," replied Admiral Byrd. "They're working fast. Get Admiral Jenkyns on the com."

A click, then a hologram of Jenkyns appeared on the Holostage near Admiral Byrd's command chair. Jenkyns gave a nod, noticeably irritated with this sudden distraction. "Yes, Fleet Admiral?"

"Are your pilots ready?"

"Ready on your mark," responded Jenkyns.

"Launch them at will."

"Aye, Admiral." With that, Jenkyns' hologram faded out.

"First wave away, sir!" shouted Lieutenant Eden, staring intently at the HDC attached to her station—a station that was previously Lieutenant Briggers less than ten minutes ago. She lifted a hand, as if she were about to start the first string of an orchestra. "Second wave away, sir!"

Admiral Byrd stared at the vid screen surrounding Starship Brigantia's bridge, seeing two groups, each with a dozen Thunderbirds, flying head on toward the attacking starfighters. "Keep 'em coming, Eden!"

Arm still raised, Eden spoke, "Third wave...fourth wave... fifth wave... sixth and final wave, away!"

The Admiral continued to watch the vid screen as Starship Taranis' Thunderbirds flew out of their launch bay and came into view, joining Brigantia's Thunderbirds.

The Admiral looked over his shoulder, eying Captain Stripe. "How long before our Thunderbirds are within weapon range?"

The captain glanced at her screen, seeing the enemy coming in fast. "Two minutes, although I'm already hearing reports that our enemy already has weapons lock on several of our fighters."

The attacking enemy had left their pyramid-looking starships less than five minutes ago, yet at top Thunderbird speed the pyramids were more than a half hour away. With both Thunderbirds and the enemy bearing down on each other, they'd meet each other half way between the pyramids and Brigantia sooner than the Admiral wanted—within bare minutes. He needed time to think, time to plan a strategy, but time wasn't on his side. He wanted to meet with military counsel, find his long dead mentor, Fleet Admiral Sune, and figure out what the hell to do. This battle, this war, was something he'd never thought he'd experience. It was something no admiral in Star Guild had ever experienced. He had to learn quickly and make the right decisions, because if he didn't they'd all die on his watch and he couldn't let that happen.

The admiral wiped his brow and folded his arms. We need a miracle.

Eden looked up. "We've lost two birds, Admiral. The Thunderbirds are still one minute to weapons lock."

"Brigger?"

"Yes, Admiral?" Brigger stood up at attention. He'd been monitoring the pilots at the flight commander's desk, Eden's usual station. He didn't know what to do there.

"Have your nerves settled down?" asked the admiral.

"Yes, sir." Brigger was young, and though his nerves hadn't settled, he didn't want the admiral to know.

"Good. Now, take over Com Desk, I need Eden to command the pilots."

"Aye, sir!" Brigger ran down a couple of stairs to the Com Desk next to the admiral's station. Eden got out of her seat and stood at attention in front of Admiral Byrd.

The admiral cocked his head. "Eden, what are you doing?"

"Permission to fly, sir."

Admiral Byrd unfolded his arms and turned his head toward the vid screen, hesitated, then put his hands behind his back. "Request denied."

Eden took a step forward, her gaze flitting around the room, not settling on anyone, and unsure if her next statement would get her thrown into lockup. Finally, she brought her attention to the admiral. "Admiral. I must! Please."

He turned, about to speak, but Brigger interrupted. "Weapons lock! We have engaged the enemy." He smiled at the admiral, and then dropped his gaze back to the HDC. His smile faded as quickly as it came. "Thunderbirds down! Thunderbirds down!"

Commotion rippled through the bridge, and although the admiral's attention was locked entirely on Eden, the voices on the bridge softly echoed into his mind, sounding like people yelling through a wall.

Admiral Byrd wanted to shake his head, but Eden shook her head first, pleading for him to give her a nod and grant her request.

I can't let you go, Eden. I need your expertise, thought the admiral. When the words came out of his mouth, he heard himself say something entirely different. "Get your jump suit on. Command from the air."

"Excuse me?" asked Eden.

"You heard me. Leave before I change my mind." He turned, staring back at the vid screen encircling the bridge, placing his hand over his mouth as he combed his lips with his fingers.

She relaxed and bowed her head. She was sure she could help much better from a pilot's point of view versus a command desk. "You won't regret it, sir!"

"You better be right, lieutenant."

Eden ran out of the door of the bridge just as the admiral turned around to watch her leave, wanting to yell at her to stop, to command the pilots from the bridge. Instead, he watched the door close vertically behind her. He rubbed the back of his neck. His stomach churned. He didn't want his best pilot joining the fight. Eden was too important, too intelligent, and too brave for that.

"Admiral, we are taking heavy losses!" said Brigger.

The Admiral did a quick exhale. "How is the enemy fairing?"

"They are taking losses too, although not many."

"Give me exacts, Brigger!"

Brigger fumbled in his chair, glaring at the HDC in front of him. "28 of ours... no, now 29 of ours down. Only 12 of theirs, sir!"

The Admiral wanted to drop to the ground, cover his ears, slam his fists into the floor, scream. Holding back, all he managed to do was bite his lip.

"Eden away, sir!" sounded Brigger, letting the Admiral know that Eden had left Brigantia in her Thunderbird and was headed into action.

Captain Stripe left the helm and slowly walked over to the admiral, resting her hand on his shoulder. She whispered, "We need a miracle."

He could feel her hand shaking as he glanced at it, then at her thick lips, looking anywhere but into her eyes. "That's what I'm hoping for." He reached his hand into his pocket, feeling the texture of his pendant. Knights Templar, be my miracle. He blinked a couple of times. "Louise, in times like these, act like hope is always on your side, and that a miracle is always on its way, no matter what. It's time to take a giant leap."

The captain lifted her brow, wondering what that leap might be.

"36 Thunderbirds down, sir, and 17 enemies," reported Brigger.

Captain Stripe shot a glance at Brigger, then looked back at her admiral. "Suggestions?"

"Let's take Brigantia and Taranis for a ride. We meet head on with those pyramid flying piece of starshits and blow some holes in their asses."

She crossed her arms and dipped her head. "Indeed."

Admiral Byrd pointed to Brigger. "Open com link to Taranis." A crackle came over the link and Admiral Jenkyns' hologram appeared.

"Yes, Fleet Admiral?" Admiral Byrd sensed panic in Jenkyns.

"We move in on the pyramids, full speed ahead."

Jenkyns paused for a second, clearly calculating strategies in his head. "That doesn't feel like the best option, admiral."

"Do you have an alternative?"

Again, Jenkyns paused, looking down. "We retreat. We run."

"Jenkyns, we have four hours until hyperdrives are online and functional. Until then, we can't jump. We have to maintain and fight."

Jenkyns touched his temple. "Our hyperdrives are functional, sir."

Admiral Byrd titled his head, knowing what Jenkyn's meant, but asked anyway. "What are you saying?"

"If we move on the pyramids, we are likely to die, although with honor. However, the human race can survive if Taranis jumps. We can give our species a chance."

Admiral Byrd glanced at Captain Stripe, who gave him a nod. She agreed. He closed his eyes for a moment and placed his hand in his pocket, touching the pendant again. Knights Templar, hear my prayer. I know you're not a myth. I know you must be a part of our history, somewhere. Please come to our aid!

"Ten more birds down!" yelled Brigger.

"Orders, admiral?" asked Jenkyns.

"You are to jump on my mark!"

"And, what about my Thunderbirds, sir?"

Admiral Byrd shook his head. "They stay. If we can last four more hours, we'll have all birds dock here and we'll rendezvous with you at your coordinates. If, after approximately five hours we don't show, jump again." Admiral Byrd glanced at Brigger, making sure he patched coordinates to Taranis.

Brigger pressed several buttons, and then looked up at Admiral Byrd. "Complete, sir."

Admiral Byrd gripped his pendant. "Admiral Jenkyns, set your time to five hours."

Jenkyns took a deep breath and crossed his arms, putting two fingers to his brow in a quick salute. "It has been an honor, sir."

Admiral Byrd took his hand out of his pocket and placed both hands flat on his chest. "And, it will still be an honor when we jump to your coordinates." Then he stiffened and dropped his arms to his sides. "Jump on my mark, Jenkyns." The hologram bleeped out. "Five. Four. Three. Two. One—jump!"

Starship Taranis brightened like a small star on the vid screen, and then collapsed into itself, successfully jumping to another space. Admiral Byrd kept his eyes where Taranis had been, observing the remnants of the energy disbursements of a jump, seeing them slowly fade away and wondered if this would be the last time he'd ever see energy remnants again. Then he yelled, "Full speed ahead!"

∞

Lieutenant Eden's Thunderbird rocked backward for a second as an explosion burst in front of her. She propelled her bird over two thousand miles per hour through the fiery cloud, flying through yet another one of her kills. She pulled to the right on her control stick, surprised to see another enemy in her sights. Pulling the trigger, she hit her mark and flew through the glittery entrails of a once fully intact enemy fighter. Behind her, now more than a hundred miles away, was her home, Brigantia.

Sweat seeped through her hair, wetting the soft inside lining of her striated helmet. Outside, blasts coming from friend and foe dotted space. Everything was chaos. Shouts, incoherent dialogue, with screams carried through her com link in a continuous stream. It all filled her mind, combining into one monotonous outcry—reminders of the deceased, the exploded, the dead.

Her Thunderbirds were outnumbered four to one, and the commanders who had led them into battle had been the first to fall, leaving her as the last one in charge.

Checking her HDC, she spotted Brigantia's Alpha Group, the combination of three teams, totaling 52 Thunderbirds. She saw Brigantia's Delta and Gamma group still holding their own, but they had only 26 Thunderbirds left.

Taranis' groups were fairing much better, totaling 98 fighters in all. They had always been more trained than all of the other starship fighters, especially Brigantia which was famed more for its Brigantia Guard—the soldiers of her starship. The pilots of Taranis were the usual winners during starfighter war games held around planet Lumus each year.

Lumus. Eden shook her head. For a moment she had lost her concentration thinking about what was lost and what she may never see again.

But, she quickly wiped her sweaty palm on her flight suit and spun out of the way of an oncoming attacker, barely missing its heavy laser fire that zoomed just past her. Her heart beat picked up and she blinked several times. That was a close one and she knew she had to come up with a plan of action. They were losing this battle, and losing big.

Torquing her Thunderbird to the right, she disengaged from the fight, noting zero enemy fighters on her six.

She turned off the com link. "Power down." Instantly, her Thunderbird powered off. Any heat or electrical signatures coming off of her bird would be invisible to all sensors, buying her some much needed time to devise an attack plan. In a sense, she was invisible.

As her Thunderbird floated in space, she observed the occurring devastation. Thunderbirds and enemy fighters alike were ballooning into fire. Ion cannons and lasers traced the black space before her, missing and hitting targets. And, two large red pyramids, probably similar to starships, were coming closer and closer to the fight.

She tapped her forehead between the eyes—a strategy she used for tests and for staying focused. It also helped her to think outside of the box and it usually worked. "Think, think," she muttered, continuing to tap.

The enemy fighters were precise, rarely making mistakes. They worked as a team. But what was baffling was that for such elite attackers, these enemies didn't seem to know what to do when you got behind them. They usually became sitting targets, as if they had never experienced being chased or shot at. There was the random enemy that could skillfully evade an attack, but most of them were very poor at it. The only problem was actually getting behind them.

"That's it!" No, she shook her head. It couldn't be that simple. Watching more closely as the battle took place, she watched a Thunderbird being chased by an attacker. Another Thunderbird came in and around that enemy, flying right behind it. In seconds, the enemy was a fiery mess, and had made no attempt at evasive action while being followed from behind.

It couldn't be that easy. They don't know what to do when being chased, or, they don't understand the element of being surprised. They lock up and allow death to come? Why?

It didn't matter. She shrugged, puffing out her bottom lip as she tapped her finger on the HDC in front of her, thinking, thinking, thinking.

She sighed. She had to do it.

"Open com link." She swiped her hand across her mouth, wiping salty sweat from her lips. "Alpha group, teams one, two, and three, we change our plan of action." She found an empty sector on a map on her HDC. It was perfect for her idea. "Move to zero-one-six, I repeat, zero-one-six. Now!"

She powered on her Thunderbird, pressing it forward and flying to the coordinates. She watched as her starfighters immediately disengaged, took evasive maneuvers and were heading for the rendezvous point.

"Team One and Team Two, form a flock. Team three, create an arrow. When we meet at the specified coordinates, you better bet you'll have a hundred fighters on your asses." She looked at her HDC. She would get to zero-one-six in less than a minute, slightly before the rest of the teams. "Team One, when I give the order to break left, I will say 'one'. Confirm order!"

After she heard their confirmation, she continued, "Team Two, when I give the order to break right, I will say 'two'. Confirm!"

Again, several voices gave their confirmation. "Team Three, you are the closest group to the coordinates. Continue arrow formation, and swing around behind me. I'll be at the coordinates before you. When you are there, turn off your Thunderbirds and float. We'll be invisible to their sensors. When the enemy flies by us, we'll re-engage thrusters, and blast them to dust! Do you confirm?"

Hearing their answers, and knowing they'd do what she'd asked, she reached zero-one-six quicker than she thought, then turned around and shut down her Thunderbird. "Team Three, get behind me. The rest, don't mind us and continue to sector." She looked at her HDC and saw hundreds of enemy fighters hot on the tails of her starfighters. She flew for several seconds, watching Team Three flying directly at her. When they reached her, they did as asked and swung around behind her and shut down their birds.

So far, so good.

Up ahead, Team One and Team Two flew in flock formation, heading straight toward her, but more importantly, hiding her and Team Three from enemy view. She floated, her starfighter switched off–along with the rest of Team Three, and waited, placing her finger on the trigger. She closed her eyes, her mind spinning. She hoped this worked. If it didn't, they'd be a pack of floating craft just waiting to be blasted and this could be the last time she'd ever have a thought...the last time her heart would ever beat. Opening her eyes, she took a deep breath, and then glanced at her HDC. It estimated that Team One and Team Two would arrive in less than twenty seconds.

She clenched her teeth. She had to get this right. She was setting up an ambush and the surprise had to be perfect. If she was correct, this would put the enemies in disarray. If she was wrong, she'd be another fiery dust cloud in space. She figured that since chasing the enemy made them vulnerable, and once they flew past, she'd switch on the Thunderbird, along with the rest of Team Three, sneak up on the enemy from behind and blast them to smithereens!

The enemies, she thought. Who the hell are they? It didn't matter. What she was attempting was a gamble, but she was fresh out of options, other than watching her friends all die trying to save what was left of their fleet. This, at least, gave them a chance to gain the upper hand in the battle.

Ten seconds displayed on her HDC. Hold tight, everyone. Trust me on this.

An explosion of fire erupted at the back of Team One's flock formation. One of her friends, perhaps someone she had trained, now gone.

Four seconds.

"One!" she shouted. "Two!"

Team one broke left and team two broke right, suddenly parting, and she could see that the enemy craft hadn't detected her or Team Three at all. They simply continued to chase their targets, Teams One and Two.

"Team Three, fire at will!"

She switched on her Thunderbird and slammed her starfighter to full throttle, quickly catching up to the enemy fighters. When they came into weapons lock, she pulled the trigger. Blue ion flashes blasted from her cannons, shooting ion phasers through the black of space, hitting and bursting apart several of the attackers. She saw more ion tracers from her team fly by her, hitting a myriad of enemy craft. Explosions and flames filled space in front of her, lighting her cockpit up with yellow and red colors, mirroring the outside destruction.

And, to her amazement, the enemies weren't even fazed. They continued their pursuit, ignoring the fact they'd lost twenty or so of their own craft in a matter of seconds. It was as if they didn't know, or, didn't care about what had just occurred. The enemies were not leaving their targets, and not eluding the ion blasts.

This didn't make sense, but she had to continue with her strategy, which at the moment was clear-cut. "Follow the enemy and engage."

Team Three split. Some followed her and pursued the enemy chasing Team two, others went after those chasing Team one.

Eden settled behind an enemy craft and pulled the trigger, destroying yet another attacker.

A crackle came over her com link. "Eden, move your team out of the way!"

Admiral Byrd? Taking her eyes off another enemy craft she was about to blast, she spotted Brigantia heading right toward her formation. "All Teams, 90 degrees out of here!" She glanced at her HDC screen. "Coordinate zero-one-nine."

As she turned her craft, swinging around to about 90 degrees and heading toward the new coordinates, she spotted the pyramids. Although they were far away, they still had managed to cover a lot of space in a short period of time. Several small blips on her screen told her that more enemy craft had launched and coming her way, most likely to intercept Brigantia's sudden offensive play.

Where's Taranis? A bright, white light abruptly flashed between her and the pyramids, and then a large object appeared. Eden froze, letting go of the control stick, taking a hold of it a second later. "Oh, no!"

Starbase Matrona, which she thought was gone and dead, had jumped into enemy space with several enemy craft already heading in its direction. If Eden could have created the worst possible scenario, this would be it.

A loud beeping sound came from her HDC. Glancing at it, she did her best to control herself. Two photon torpedoes had launched from the pyramids and were heading directly for Matrona. The starbase had no defenses, no countermeasures.

∞

Through the hologram, Crystal viewed a broad shouldered humanoid, thick and much taller than any human she'd ever seen. It was outside banging a strange metallic device against the Mech Bay door. A giant? It can't be. Those are only in children's stories.

The humanoid wore a gray and green space suit. It had dorsal fin-looking spines coming off its gray helmet and down the suit's spine. The helmet also covered the entirety of the head and face, masking any facial features. A triangular craft was parked not far away, and probably the same one that had taken Hendricks' life, and then tried to take hers.

Crystal ran over to Daf and slid both of her hands under her armpits. A blast sounded, giving Crystal a start and making her drop Daf back onto the floor. Crystal crouched and peeked over a desk and held her breath. Oh, no! No, no, no! The inevitable had occurred. The bay door was gone, blown off of its hinge and she had to move, had to do something, anything, and fast.

Then she remembered that the door she had opened to get into the office was unlocked! She quickly crawled over to it, reached up her hand to a panel in the wall and pressed a few buttons, locking the door.

Another bang sounded from Mech Bay. She dropped to the floor on her stomach and started pulling herself back toward Daf by using only her arms, as if her legs were inoperative.

What am I doing? Go, go, go! She moved her legs, pressing her knees into the floor. Reaching Daf, she pulled her behind a desk and slapped her. "Daf, wake up. Daf!" Daf remained unconscious. Crystal shook her head. Dammit!

She peeked around the corner of the desk to look out the office window. She saw the humanoid crouching next to her downed Mech, inspecting it, easily seeing that the Mech's hatch had been opened, and knowing that someone had escaped.

The humanoid turned its head and looked through the window, and even though Crystal couldn't see its eyes through its mask, she knew it was staring directly at her. Then it stood to its full height. The enormity of the individual was terrifying and almost surreal. It was as tall as one of the twelve foot Mechs, and almost as wide. Crystal ducked back behind the desk and slapped Daf a couple of more times. "All you did was pass out. Why are you still unconscious? Wake up or I'm leaving you here!"

Daf didn't move. Was she even alive? Crystal pressed on Daf's neck, checking for a pulse. She was very much alive. "Get up, you piece of ebb!"

Nothing.

Crystal rolled her eyes and quickly pulled Daf across the floor, down an aisle of desks where she picked one and hid them both behind it. The light coming through the windows changed. This was good, thought Crystal. She'd be more hidden as darkness settled over Lumus... but the sun never dipped entirely below the horizon this time of year.

A blast occurred near the office door, throwing paper and splintered wood into the air. Why didn't they construct the inside of the office with ebb? She glanced up, seeing that the door and a large portion of the wall were missing.

Crystal covered Daf with her body. A loud footstep came into the office, making Crystal suddenly realize something. Gravity! With the Mech Bay door open, blown from its hinges, and now the office door and a large portion of the wall destroyed, the artificial gravity would have been sucked outside, leaving them to the mercy of Lumus' dense gravity.

Within minutes, her body would die, either from heart or lung issues, or maybe even brain dysfunction, none of which she cared to choose or try out. She had two minutes, at the most, to get inside of a Mech where pressure would equalize the heavy gravity, making it sustainable for both she and Daf.

Another step sounded in the office and Crystal peeked over the desk, seeing the very large humanoid hunched forward, doing it's best not to hit its head on the ceiling. It was clearly searching for her, snooping under desks, pushing them out of the way and toppling them over in the process.

Crystal also saw that it carried a spear-like weapon in its hand and the tip of it glowed an orange-red color. Crystal wondered if it had the ability to shoot. If it did, she and Daf were goners.

No more thinking, she had to go. She had one attempt and one attempt only. The humanoid moved another step forward, pushing aside the desk she had been hiding behind only a minute ago.

Taking several more steps forward, the humanoid peered into another room, crouching to move through the doorway, until he disappeared inside of the room.

This was it. She had to move.

Crystal grabbed Daf by the wrists and dragged her through the disarrayed desks, through the blasted hole in the office wall, and into the Mech Bay.

Crystal looked over her shoulder, peering at the standing Mechs lining the warehouse wall. There were about twenty or so Mechs, although only one with the hatch already open, plus it already had a portable staircase pressed against the cockpit.

With ten more yards to reach the Mech, she turned her head back around, eying the office and gasped. There it was, the humanoid, running toward her, taking long, athletic strides.

Adrenaline pumping and biceps burning, Crystal made it to the Mech and started to pull Daf up the staircase, straining and squinting, her eyes in pain, and feeling her muscles weaken under the pressure. A sharp beam of orange-reddish light zipped past her head and hit the Mech. A singe of heat smelled from behind her. Looking back, she saw smoke rise from a small indentation in the Mech's ebb armor. Gazing ahead, her eyes narrowed, determined all the more as adrenaline surged through her body. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the humanoid was much closer now, holding the spear outward as it ran, pointing it directly at her.

As fast as she could, she moved up the ladder step by step, surprised at her sudden strength and speed. At the top step, she shoved Daf up and over the hatch, hearing Daf's body thud against the bottom of the standing cockpit. She jumped up and over and the opening, seeing another flash of orange-reddish light scream past the open hatch, barely missing her. Landing on the floor, she grabbed the handle of the hatch and pulled it shut, pressing the lock button. She scrambled into the straps that belted her body into the standing cockpit, slipping them snugly around her, clicking the belt tightly. "Oh my Guild, oh my Guild, oh my Guild!" Shaking her head and breathlessly, she stood on the foot pads that instantly calibrated her body type to fit the Mech's operational output, then stared at the HDC in front of her.

"On!" she yelled.

The Mech came to life, lights flashing, steam rising and creating gravity at normal levels. Immediately, her heart slowed down and she stabilized. She made it.

Then a pound slammed against the Mech, jolting it. Crystal looked down at Daf sprawled on the floor next to her foot pads. Blood was dripping from her mouth and the side of her head and Crystal wondered if Daf was even alive.

She better not be dead!

Another pound and a jolt shuddered through her Mech. "You shit! You wanna fight?!" She turned her torso and swung her arms around, the Mech mimicking her movement, hitting the humanoid hard on its chest. It fell backwards, flinging its arms about wildly as it hit the ground hard, its spear twirling across the floor.

Crystal walked forward and stepped the Mech's foot down on the humanoid's chest. The humanoid grabbed the foot, wrapping its enormous hands around the sides of it, doing its best to get it off its chest. When it was unable to move the Mech even an inch, it finally let go and dropped its arms out wide, like a bird spreading its wings on the ground. Crystal used the two ton Mech foot to crush the humanoid, hopefully ending its life.

Then, bounding forward and moving as quickly as the Mech was able, Crystal headed for the blown out Mech Bay door. Dim light poured through it and she dared not look behind her, just in case...

"What's...happening?" Still lying on the floor of the cockpit, Daf had suddenly spoken. She rubbed her temple and winced. Then she looked at her fingers that had gotten wet with blood by touching her temple. "Why..." she coughed, "am I bleeding?"

Crystal looked at her HDC. "Can't talk right now—we've got unidentified craft heading our way."

"Huh?" Daf tried to stand, but fell back down when Crystal leaped her Mech out of the warehouse and slid down a small embankment, landing skillfully in stride. Crystal then turned her Mech and raced toward a large mountain in the distance, checking the heat gauge as she ran, making sure that her Mech wouldn't overheat.

"Stay down, Daf, and hold onto something!"

Daf pressed the ridge of her nose. "I think it's broken."

"I said, hold on to something!"

"Huh? Where are we?" She pinched her nostrils shut with her thumb and index finger, doing her best to stop the bleeding.

"I'll explain later, hold on to the HDC column!"

Daf slid over and wrapped one arm around the column, using her other hand to maintain pressure on her nose.

Crystal leaped her Mech high into the air to jump over a huge boulder, reaching the Mech's peak jumping capacity at twenty two feet. Crystal watched as the ground rose quickly toward her as she automatically pressed an air compression function on her HDC, causing air to blow out of two metal hoses attached to each side of the Mech's ankles, slowing them down as the Mech descended, making the impact soft and easy.

Sweat started dripping from Crystal's skin as she continued the Mech's fast pace. Another look at the HDC told her that unidentified craft were coming closer, although they were still miles away.

"Where are we going, Chief?"

Crystal peered down at her friend. Daf was still holding her nostrils tightly, blood having trickled down from her nose to her forearm.

"To the mountain." She pointed, forgetting to turn the parrot switch off, noticing her Mech pointing as well. Daf stood up and peered through Crystal's window.

"I see it, but why are we going there? Take us back to the warehouse."

"I know some hiding places at the base of the mountain."

Crystal pounded the Mech forward, hoping to get there before the incoming enemy found them.

"Hiding places?" asked Daf, still clearly confused by what was going on.

Crystal shot her a look, eyes narrowed and brows furrowed. "In case you forgot, Mechie, we're under attack! For all I know, we're the only survivors!"

Daf's mouth dropped open. "Wha..." She dropped her arm from the column, suddenly remembering the events just before she had blacked out. So it wasn't just a nightmare. It was real. "I thought you were dead when I picked your Mech up and dragged it to the warehouse."

"The universe isn't that lucky, Daf." Crystal glared at the HDC. The enemy crafts were now only several miles away, though coming from the other side of the mountain, blocking Crystal and Daf's Mech from their view. She didn't know, though, if the enemy used heat sensors to find their targets. If they did, Daf and Crystal were probably going to be at the bad end of a strafing run, and very soon.

She sprang her Mech over another boulder, landing skillfully in stride. She took another glimpse at the HDC. "How much time until I'm to Mount Gabriel?"

The HDC computed and blinked 11 seconds.

"How much time until the unidentified craft reach Mount Gabriel?"

13 seconds blinked on the HDC.

Crystal took a deep breath. You have to get this right, Crystal. You have to be perfect. No screw ups. Keep the Mech upright.

Since the enemy was coming from the opposite side of the mountain, Crystal figured that if she could get to the base of the mountain before the enemy crafts, they could hide and shut down the Mech, just in case the enemy did indeed use heat sensors.

"Hurry up, Mech. Go!" Crystal leaned forward with rapt intention, focusing on every movement. She jumped again, leaping over another boulder. She glanced at the HDC.

3 seconds.

She gasped out loud.

Coming up to the base of the mountain, she spotted the hiding spot she had known about for years—a thick ebb formation with two large rocks jutting upward, and a huge rock slab sitting horizontally on top of the two, acting like a roof. It had been a place to rest when the storms came, a safe place where she parked her Mech to watch the rain and lightning crash down from the sky.

One second.

She reached the rock formation and hid under it, immediately shutting down her Mech and hoping it would cool down sooner than later.

Daf pointed to the sky. "Whoa!"

One by one, enemy craft zipped overhead as Crystal sucked in her air, not daring to let it out. There were so many. Where did they come from? Why were they here? Crystal turned the parrot switch off and wiped the sweat from her brow. "I need some water."

∞

"Matrona jumped! I repeat, Matrona jumped!"

Admiral Byrd jumped out of his command chair and rushed over to Brigger's HDC. "Where are they?"

On the HDC, Brigger pointed to an area between Brigantia and the pyramid-looking star ships.

Before Admiral Byrd could react, two red dots beeped on the HDC. "What are those, Brigger? Zoom in."

The screen zoomed in, showing two large, blue orbs approaching Matrona. They had bluish-white tails and looked like comets.

"Those are torpedoes, sir!"

The Admiral shook his head, having known what they were the moment he saw them. "Launch countermeasures!"

Brigger leaned back, whispering into the admiral's ear, with fright in his voice. "They won't get there in time."

"Don't question, Brigger—just do it!" Admiral Byrd backed up and walked around to sit in his chair, fidgeting with his shirt, and then slamming his fist against the arm rest. "Launch them!"

"Launched..." Brigger turned his head and looked at the admiral, noting the fidgeting. "Launched, sir."

"Open com link to Eden," ordered Admiral Byrd.

"Open, sir."

∞

A crackle came over Eden's com link. It was Admiral Byrd. "Eden, we have inbound countermeasures."

She glanced at her HDC, knowing full well why they were launched. She saw the torpedoes on her HDC screen the exact moment they became inbound. She shifted her Thunderbird, heading toward them. "The countermeasures won't make it in time, admiral."

"We have no choice," he replied. "Get the Thunderbirds out of there. If Starbase Matrona is destroyed, all nearby crafts will be hit. Take your teams to our landing bays."

"Yes, sir." Eden clicked on all open lines. "Attention all birds, shake your attackers, finish your targets and immediately head to Brigantia's landing bay."

Eden pushed the throttle forward, speeding her Thunderbird faster toward the torpedoes, as she watched them draw closer and closer to Matrona. She sighed. She had to do this. She eyed her HDC, clicking on her weapons and waiting for the lock.

Weapons off line, blinked across her screen.

"What the hell?" she clicked on her weapons again.

Nothing changed. Still off line. It was like a bad vid. This couldn't be happening now. Did she melt her cannons somehow?

"Eden," said Admiral Byrd. "Turn around and head to Brigantia. There is nothing you can do from this point forward."

Eden pushed on the throttle even more, hurtling even faster through space, watching Matrona come closer, wanting to position herself between the starbase and the torpedoes. Her fingers trembled and she squeezed her muscles tighter, forcing herself to remain conscious. She was putting her body through "G's" that it wasn't used to, that no human was used to.

"Eden! Get back here! That's an order!"

She heard his voice and heard her own breath inside of her helmet. She ignored the admiral's pleas. There was no explaining herself, nor would it matter if she did. He wouldn't hear her, he wouldn't understand her motives, and would think her decision unwise, although she knew he'd do the same.

Her lips quivered and tears welled in her eyes. She didn't want to say goodbye, and as she passed Matrona, seeing more of it as a blur versus anything else, she took her Thunderbird to a speed most pilots wouldn't dare to attempt. She clenched her teeth, doing her best to keep her body intact and her mind aware. She veered off, heading directly at the torpedoes, seeing them glow a hazy blueish-white. Her HDC blinked red. Impact was in thirty one seconds. She needed to go faster, needed to put as much distance as possible between her and Matrona.

Star Guild, what am I doing?

By now, the admiral knew her plan and that he couldn't talk her out of it, so it was okay when nothing came over her com link. It was okay that silence filled her cockpit. She knew they were with her—the bridge of Brigantia—watching her on the vid screen. Some most likely looked at her as insane, others, such as Admiral Byrd and Captain Stripe, probably figured they would do the same if they were in Eden's spot. They would think there was no other choice than to save the fleet, to save the people and families they loved.

Star Guild, a family. My family. She smiled at the thought. In her young life, she always thought of having a partner and children, retiring as a flight commander, living the rest of her life in nice quarters snuggled up to the biosphere inside the starbase, where she could watch her children grow, then her grandchildren, and her grandchildren's children. They would play in the forests, the beautiful meadows, the rivers and hills, just like she had done while growing up. And, she knew, in a way, that it did happen. Star Guild had become that family she had been wishing for. It was always there, at her fingertips. The admiral, Brigger, Captain Stripe, and the rest of the crew were always with her, either in her thoughts or in person. Like a good family, they watched each other's backs. Some had shoulders to cry on, others were the kind to slap her on the back, saying wipe the crying piss out of your eyes. True brothers and sisters. Personalities, all different from one another.

Her cockpit highlighted blue and her head drew back stiffly. The torpedoes were nearly on her. This was it, her big moment. Death. For an instant, she thought about ejecting, pushing herself far away from the explosion, but it wouldn't matter. Impact was in nineteen seconds and if she exited her cockpit now, the initial impact of her Thunderbird against the torpedoes would kill her anyway. And if not, the waves that followed would.

Seventeen seconds.

She gunned it, putting as much force against the throttle as she could. If she wasn't about to use her Thunderbird as a weapon against the blue orbs of destruction, then the upper "G's" she had just put herself through would end her, rushing too much blood to her heart and causing a massive rupture.

Eleven seconds.

Two silver egg-shaped orbs, as big as her Thunderbird, appeared on each side of her. They were shining, as if they were the two most polished things in the universe. She knew she was hallucinating, a symptom of too much stress on her body.

Six seconds until impact.

She let go of the control stick, placing her hands on her heart and squeezing her eyes shut. Through her eyelids, all around her became more and more blue. The torpedoes would hit at any second and she welcomed it.

∞

On the vid screen, surrounding Brigantia's bridge, they saw two unknown spacecraft blip into view. They had all been watching quietly, sadness consuming them, waiting for Eden to do her damage on the torpedoes, and in the process ending her own life, when two spacecrafts jumped in on each side of Eden's Thunderbird. Both objects were egg shaped and silver.

A blue flash filled the bridge's vid screen a moment later, immediately causing a stir within the crew. The torpedoes had detonated, surely saving Matrona and killing their most skilled pilot, the commander of all of Brigantia's pilots. Eden was gone.

Gasps, cries, and shouts rumbled throughout the crew on the bridge as the vid screen displayed an aura of blue moving outward, a wave heading toward Starbase Matrona. Eden's Thunderbird was gone, incinerated with no trace, as if it had just disappeared. The two egg shaped ships were gone as well. It was either a strange suicide mission, or they had simply jumped in at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The admiral dropped his gaze to the floor, grief overwhelming him and causing him to forget all about the silver egg-shaped craft. He stiffened, holding in a cry and doing his best to be strong for the crew. He cleared his throat, bellowing out a muffled order.

When no one understood, he cleared his throat again, muttering, "Excuse me." He fidgeted with his hands, then finally said, "Turn the Thunderbirds back around. Head them toward the remaining enemy craft. This isn't over yet."

"Admiral!" screamed Brigger, prompting both Admiral Byrd and Captain Stripe to turn and face him. "The enemy starfighters are retreating!"

"Why?" asked Captain Stripe, crossing the room to look at Brigger's HDC, clearly thinking that Brigger was interpreting something incorrectly.

Brigger pressed a couple buttons on his HDC, and then pointed to the vid screen encircling the bridge. "Look."

"What? How?" The Admiral stared at the screen, rubbing his hands over his face and then folding his arms. The screen had zoomed in on the location of the enemy pyramids, showing debris spread out in all directions. The pyramids weren't gone by their own accord; they had been destroyed by something...or by someone.

Captain Stripe put her hands up into the air in exasperation. "What the hell?! Did they just destroy themselves?"

Brigger shook his head. "Something hit them from these coordinates. They—" he paused, smiling. "The attacking starfighters are now blipping out, sir."

"Show me," replied the Admiral. A smile crept onto his face, too, when the vid screen changed from the killed pyramids to the attacking starfighters individually lighting up like stars, collapsing into themselves and jumping out of the system, probably heading to another starship they could dock on.

Admiral Byrd walked over and stood next to Captain Stripe, arms crossed, speaking somewhat over his shoulder. "Eden saved us."

"Aye, Admiral. She lives forever among the stars now."

"She's the brightest star among them." He placed his hand on Captain Stripes' shoulder, squeezing it. "Take over and prepare us to dock on Matrona. I'll be in my quarters preparing for The Prime."

"Shouldn't we give Starship Taranis coordinates to Starbase Matrona, so we can all jump and rendezvous with Admiral Jenkyns?"

The admiral looked at the clock that had been counting down when Taranis would jump coordinates again. They had 4 hours left. "Yes, when we get to Matrona, we give the starbase the coordinates. We'll be docked inside of Matrona when she jumps, taking all of us with her. Understood?"

The captain nodded her head and then saluted her admiral. "Aye, Admiral." She turned, taking over the command chair as Admiral Byrd walked out of the bridge. "Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to dock with Matrona."

∞

Admiral Byrd sat in a large meeting room, leaning his back against a hard chair. A long table sat in the middle, with a gigantic bowl of fruit set in the middle of it. The room was surrounded with green plants hanging from the walls, vines climbing to the ceiling, flowers budding everywhere. A nice, bright and calming light came through the translucent ceiling, giving the room a certain glow, as much for the plants as it was for the personnel—who were about to join him.

He rubbed his hands together. They were cold and damp. He hadn't felt this way since his final exams at the Star Guild Academy, which was a little over a hundred and twenty years ago. Here, in one of Matrona's meeting rooms, he was sitting in a room where the Prime Director delivered his speeches, which were filmed over the holovids and broadcast to everyone on Matrona and to what was once a large fleet. Those times, which may come again, were at this moment, abandoned. Only two starships remained, Taranis and Brigantia. Today this room was going to be what it was supposed to be, a meeting room.

The admiral immediately stood to attention as several officials of the governance walked into the room. He counted them, knowing them each by name, and saw that all twelve of them were present. One gave him a nod, a man named Chase, the youngest official of the group. He was a political figure and he was the son of his deceased brother. Three armed soldiers from the Matrona Guard entered next, with phasers pointed directly at the admiral. They positioned themselves against the adjacent wall with phasers still aimed at him.

Stunned by the sight of the armed military personnel, the admiral glared at the next person joining the group, and that was the Prime Director, all 7 feet, 7 inches of him. Something was up, something that shouldn't be happening at a time like this—when hundreds of thousands were dead. Was he being relieved of his duty? If so, why with guns? For the first time in his career, he wished he had brought his phaser with him.

Admiral Byrd gestured toward the military personnel. "What the hell is going on, Prime?"

The Prime Director, Zim Nocki, also known just as "The Prime", made Admiral Byrd's large 6 feet, 5 inch frame seem insignificant. Zim was a beast, as thick in muscle as he was tall. He was charismatic, with a voice to match, and his face was beautiful, chiseled where it needed to be, and always gleaming with a shine. He was perfect for his high position in governance, just above the Fleet Admiral in Star Guild. Zim had a tendency of saying the right things at the right time, and doing the right things at the right time. He had been elected over twenty years ago, maintaining his position by winning each political race held for the last two decades. He never aged a bit, which was baffling for an official, since it was one of the most high stress jobs in the population.

Approaching the admiral, Zim's hand turned into a fist, and slammed against Admiral Byrd's stomach, crumpling him over. Zim held Admiral Byrd's curled body for a moment, then tossed him back into his chair like a whipped dog.

Wheezing, Admiral Byrd leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the edge of the table. He gulped a couple of times and coughed several more, then tried to speak, but nothing came out.

Zim casually grabbed an apple, and sat across from him. He leaned back in a chair, placing his feet on the table. Taking a bite and crunching it hard for everyone to hear, he spoke, "What the hell am I doing?" He laughed, his face reddening. "You left us high and dry, Admiral! The question should be, 'what the hell were you doing'! You left us to die, you son-of-a-bitch! I should have you removed from your position, immediately! If I had it my way, I would have you shot!" He shook his head. "You abandoned us."

The admiral, regaining back his breath, lifted his eyes above the edge of the table. "I had no choice, Zim. We had to leave. My fleet was getting destroyed." He sat up in his seat, facing the Prime Director. "Lieutenant Brigger patched through the coordinates to the entire fleet, including Starbase Matrona."

Zim dropped his feet and leaned forward, slapping the table with his hand. "We received no such communication, Admiral! And, if we did, you should have waited until you saw Matrona jump! You risked millions of lives!" He waved his hand, motioning for the other officials of the governance to join them at the table. Admiral Byrd had almost forgotten about them. As they took their seats, one of them nodded to him. She was an old friend, Overseer Savanna Levens and he was glad for her presence. She was the overseer of Sphere 6 on Matrona and it contained the biosphere. No doubt the plants in the room were taken care of by her office in the governance.

She spoke up, "Prime, the admiral would never knowingly do any harm to you or the starbase. What you are doing here is absolutely insane."

"I agree!" shouted Chase, grim faced.

Zim cocked his head to the side, staring at Chase, then at Savanna. "He left us. He knowingly left us." He shook his head, lowering his eyes to the table, his jaw set.

"I left the coordinates with the entire fleet, Zim. You know me just as well as Savanna does. I would never knowingly do any harm to you, or anybody else in Star Guild."

Zim stiffened. "We're not Star Guild, James, you are Star Guild. We are the governance of Star Guild and Matrona, and every speck of dust out in space. You had no authority over my position, including military. You went over my head by taking over the fleet, jeopardizing millions of lives. Millions!"

"We had no time to discuss options, Zim. We had to defend ourselves, and—"

"Defend?" Zim's eyes hardened. "You call that defending? You left! Plain and simple. You left us to fend for ourselves, even though we have no defenses. If we had coordinates, then we would have met you there. The only explanation we have is a coup d'etat."

Admiral Byrd shot out of his chair. "What?! By who?" He pointed to his chest. "By me?" He put his hands out, demanding an explanation and baffled by such a remark. "A coup...a take-over?!" He felt like laughing. They had remarkably survived an invasion, and now, in this moment, he was witnessing something even more unbelievable than the attack. He shook away the thought, changing to a more logical approach. "If you didn't have coordinates, then how did you find us? You jumped Matrona to our exact coordinates, did you not?"

"We found you because of a distress signal coming from your ship. Who were you calling, James? The enemy?"

Savanna stood up. "I've had enough, Zim. This meeting is over. What you're saying is absolutely crazy."

Chase stood up. "I second that. You're walking on ground you may not want to tread, Zim."

Zim ignored them, not taking his eyes off of the admiral. "Who were you calling?"

Admiral Byrd sat down. "The distress call was for the Knights Templar."

Zim stiffened, a twitch crossing his lower cheek. He smiled, although the muscles around his eyes didn't contract.

Admiral Byrd knew a real smile from a fake one, and this one was definitely fake. He was bluffing about something, or holding something back.

Zim looked around the room, his smile disappearing. He leaned back against his chair. His eyes became cold. "A myth, James. It's a tale only children believe. Magical knights swooping in on majestic space crafts are for action vids, not for real life. Why did you really send it? Did you really think you'd be able to contact the famous Grand Master of the Knights, Thomas Berard?" Zim's question roused a chuckle around the room. "He is as fictitious as your lie. Who were you really calling, James?"

The admiral knew he was being set up, and this was just the beginning stage, the grand opening to the main attraction of finger pointing. Everyone in the room knew he wouldn't pull such a stunt. They knew he had no interest in seizing control over the governance. Politicians were insane. This was insane.

The admiral cupped his hands on the table, leaning closer to Zim. "I didn't have any intention of taking over the governance. You take me on my word, Zim, or shoot me now." He pointed at the military guards. "I have no patience for being dragged along a lengthy political affair, or whatever it is you're trying to do." He threw his arms into the air. "We just got attacked by unknown forces, and you want to play me into your political agenda?"

Zim raised one brow. "Unknown enemy?" He let out a phony laugh. "Oh, I think you know them well. I even think you planned this attack, and until I can prove it, we have nothing more to discuss."

Zim stood up, nodded to his military guard, and exited the room with all but a few of the officials following him like whipped pups after their master. The pressures and panic of sudden war, and the resulting chaotic mayhem had either rendered them so afraid that they would do anything for Zim, or they were cowards. Nonetheless, this was a perfect opportunity for Zim to pull off any political agenda of his choosing. It was the perfect situation to pull the wool over everyone's eyes.

Across the room, Chase gave a thumbs up to his uncle, letting him know that he had his back. He also gave nod as he exited the room, shaking his head in disbelief.

Savanna stood next to her chair. "I'm sorry, James. I don't know what got into him. I've never seen him like this."

The admiral stood up, eying the top of his chair and placing his hand on it. He wiggled the chair back and forth slightly as he said, "It's okay, Savanna." He glanced up at her, seeing the green vines hang down the wall behind her, strangely outlining her face and seeming to make her glow. She looked beautiful, and if things were different...he sniffed, bringing himself to the present. "Everyone's alarmed by what just happened. They need to point fingers at someone, and who better than me, the fleet admiral? Anything to clear Zim's name from this near genocide is going to be in Zim's best interest."

Savanna walked over to him, placing her hand on his chest and staring into his eyes. "What happened?" She shook her head, her mouth starting to quiver, tears welling up. "A third of us, a third of the human race is dead, James. Who were these criminals? Where did they come from?"

The admiral placed his hand on hers. "I'll do everything I can to find out." He tilted his head, seeing there was more in her brown eyes than she was telling him. "What happened to you, Savanna?"

She looked down and cupped her face with both hands. She started to sob. He brought her into a hug and kissed the top of her head, smelling the aroma of her black hair. She smelled like roses, something he knew she loved. A flash of her children came into his mind, then a flash of her son.

He let go, shocked. His eyes went from steel to soft. Grabbing her shoulders, he lowered himself to meet her sobbing face. "Samuel?"

She nodded her head and slid into his arms again, needing to be held, to be warmed by another human's touch, and by someone who knew her son, her Samuel. "He was picking up his children at school when the first blast came." Her dark hands started to shake and the sobs became on stronger. Her hands then became fists. "No, no," she mumbled, punching his chest. "He was killed, saving his kids, my grand babies!"

The admiral wanted to ask how it had happened, where exactly was he was, at what school, but those questions were of no concern to Savanna. They wouldn't help the grief overtaking her. She knew what had happened, and reliving it in her head, imagining the explosion, or recalling what others told had her about Samuel's death, were probably occurring over and over in her mind. A moment of calm would be more appropriate.

After several minutes of their embrace, she stepped back and patted his chest. She gave a smile, though a very droopy one. She wiped her tears. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, Savanna."

"Do me a favor?" she asked, her chin quivering.

He nodded. "Anything for you."

"Find those who murdered my son."

He gave another nod. "I will and I'll bring them to justice, for you and Samuel."

She shook her head and backed toward the door. "Justice isn't what I'm looking for. I want to find a way to forgive them."

He gave a slight head shake. How could she forgive them? Why would she? And, what did she want him to do, capture the enemy and present them to her? He let those questions slip away, knowing that in this moment they weren't necessary. Savanna wasn't thinking straight, but how could he blame her? He wouldn't be thinking straight if he were in her position. For once, he thanked his lucky stars that he didn't have kids.

Savannah turned and walked away, down the hall and disappeared around a corner. Admiral Byrd spoke aloud to himself, "Somehow, Savanna, I'll bring those attacking bastards to your door stop, dead or alive."
Episode 3

Forever Mountain

Admiral James Byrd was stretched out on his green couch in his office. Other than a small desk, a large bed and file cabinets lining the wall, his office was rather empty. No pictures and no paintings. The only thing that gave it any real beauty were the two thickly lined clear-ebb windows, usually displaying the universe before him—stars, the seldom seen comet that flew by, the clouds of a nebula, and of course, the red planet Lumus.

He looked through one of the windows, feeling rather fortunate that they hadn't been blasted during the invasion, but he couldn't see out into space anymore. Instead, had a somewhat utilitarian view of the support columns of Starbase Matrona's inner docking station where his baby, Starship Brigantia, had been dry docked for repairs.

He glanced at his desk, feeling the sudden urge to place Eden's picture on it. She had been his favorite pilot, and probably his favorite person. Thinking good thoughts about her, though, wrenched and twisted his stomach into knots. He thought better of it, choosing to think about regrets, instead. How strange, he thought, how at the moment regret feels better than happiness.

He sighed and shook his head. He had sent Eden to pilot her Thunderbird to help Star Guild during the invasion. It was her request to do so and he had granted it, going against his gut instinct and paying the price for his decision. Nonetheless, Eden had saved a lot of lives. If he hadn't let her fly, he was certain more of his pilots would've been killed, and more than likely Matrona would've been blasted into space dust to hang as a ghost amongst the stars.

He looked back at the holovid he'd been studying for hours.

"Play." The vid bleeped on, displaying a holographic imaging of the battle.

"Stop." The vid paused and he grabbed a pillow, slipping it under his head. His mouth tightened as he studied the vid, his breathing slow and sharp. He had stopped the vid just as the pyramid-shaped starships erupted into an explosion of light and debris.

"Reverse."

The vid slowly reversed as the admiral scratched his head and blew spent air out of his mouth. He'd been at this too long, trying to determine how the pyramids were destroyed and especially who had destroyed them.

"Play."

A purple torpedo entered the screen followed by another, both coming from behind an asteroid to destroy the enemy pyramids, the explosions erupting outwardly and forming clouds of debris and shrapnel, covering everything in view.

"Stop."

"Zoom in."

He squinted to make sure what he was seeing was correct. He shook his head. It couldn't be.

"Zoom in two more nodes."

He sat up and scratched his chin, looking intently at the vid.

What IS that? He bent forward, studying it some more. He puffed out his lower lip. It couldn't be, but it was, no doubt about it.

He slapped a knee and stood up. He walked over to his desk and turned on the com link. "Captain Louise Stripe, please report to the admiral's office." He walked back over and sat down on the couch, crossing one ankle over the other and folding his arms across his chest. He stared at the vid.

He definitely wasn't seeing things. On the paused holovid, there were two silver egg-shaped orbs flying on each side of a Thunderbird passing behind the exploding pyramids.

He pinched his upper lip, studying the vid some more. Who are they and how did they get a Thunderbird? However, they had saved Star Guild's ass. He probably wouldn't be alive if not for those orbs—assuming they were the ones who shot the purple torpedoes at the pyramids. For a moment, he wondered if Eden was in the Thunderbird, then shook his head. In his mind, all hope for Eden was lost. There was no way she could have survived that blast.

He rewound the vid and played it forward, watched and reversed it again. He did this over and over again, trying to piece everything together. Part of him wondered if there was a malfunction involved. This holovid had come from the bow of his starship, near the bridge. Maybe it had been grazed by enemy fire? Part of him hoped that his distress call was answered by the mystical Knights Templar. Then he felt silly. They were the magical heroes out of children's fables, mystic warriors sworn to protect the universe. He chuckled. He shouldn't let his imagination get carried away, especially during combat.

Then the admiral frowned, remembering The Prime Director's response to his distress call. It was strange, as if he'd been hiding something from the admiral—from everyone. Why did Zim hesitate when he mentioned the Knights Templar? Zim's jaw had twitched and his eyes lied, but what about? Perhaps it was true that the Knights Templar were mythical, a legend told to children to bring their imaginations to life, to let them wonder if there truly were space knights combing the universe righting the wrong, using long forgotten magic. Perhaps that was the falter he had seen in Zim, that he was embarrassed that his fleet admiral would even mention the Knights Templar during a serious discussion, let alone send out a distress call summoning a spiritual knighthood.

Magic. Was he kidding himself? But, magic could sometimes be a simple illusion. The myths could be just that, a hoax or an illusion to deceive everyone.

Then he remembered his grandfather, the one who had given him the Knights Templar pendant. His grandfather swore that the Templars were real, claiming they had once saved his grandfather's starship after being struck by a rogue asteroid. The story went that mythical knights arrived, appearing out of nowhere, repaired his grandfather's ship, thus saving everyone on-board from a grizzly death. Once the ship was repaired, the knights vanished as if they had never appeared, allowing his grandfather and crew to return safely to their home. The only evidence left behind had been the amazing repairs themselves, and the pendant that one of the knights had gifted to his grandfather.

A buzz at the door startled the admiral out of his thoughts. "Come on in, Louise."

The door slid open and Captain Louise Stripe stepped through, her long blond hair bouncing with each step. She was a sight to see and she never seemed to age. Even though she was in her sixties, the Suficell Pods kept her young. She looked no older than a strong, elegant thirty year old woman, although being seen as a great beauty was not how she wanted to be perceived. She was a hard military leader, with the brains to match.

Louise stood next to the door as it closed, folding her hands in front of her. "The defenses are prepared, sir. If there's another attack, we'll be ready." Then she made an odd face. "Why won't Prime Director Zim come to his senses by allowing all of us to jump out of here? We're in jeopardy by staying. Does he think the danger is over simply because he thinks he's outing you?" She sighed. "James, you know he's not leaving this sector because of you."

"So be it, Louise." He waved her over, wanting her to sit next to him. "I want you to see something."

She sighed again, not because of him but because of her long day and she wondered if there'd be longer days ahead. She plopped down on the couch. "I heard what Zim did to you at the meeting. That asshole."

The admiral nodded, dismissing her comment and pointing to the holovid. "What do you see?"

First, she closed her eyes and rolled them around to clear her tired vision. Then she looked at the holovid. "Doesn't Zim realize we need to find a source of water since we're so far away from Lumus? Matrona's reserves will only last us—" She pulled her hand across her mouth and gasped. "What the hell is that, James!?" She was looking at a still frame of the two orbs and Thunderbird behind the exploding pyramids.

"You see it? Good. Then I'm not crazy."

She pointed at the vid with her index finger. "The Thunderbird and those orbs? Is that what you're wanting me to see?"

"Yes. So, you do see it?"

"How could I miss it?!" She looked confused. "Those orbs must be the ships we caught on sonar just before Eden was hit. Who the hell are they? They jumped in for a second, and then went off our sonar a second later."

"Look at this." He cleared his throat. "Reverse." The vid reversed and he said, "Play".

The torpedoes shot out from behind the asteroid, hitting the pyramids one-by-one, blasting them into a show of fireworks. Louise jumped back, grabbing the admiral's leg just above the knee to release it a second later, wild eyed. "Those aren't our torpedoes! Those orbs, whoever they are, were the ones who blew up those pyramids!"

"I know."

"Do you know who they are?" asked Louise.

The admiral shook his head. "Not a clue."

She tilted her head, seeing something in his eyes—his tell. "Don't play with me, James. You do have an idea."

He nodded, staring at the holovid. "Yes, I have an idea. They may be the Knights Templar."

Startled, Louise sank into the couch, carefully choosing her words before speaking to a superior officer and a dear friend. "You know how unpopular that explanation would be? You're telling everyone that our race existed more than 800 years ago. The Prime Director is adamantly opposed to that idea, James. It's a career ender. The Templar myth suggests that we came from other worlds and that the Grand Master, Thomas Berard, or whatever the hell his name was, brought us here and then vanished? Let alone taking a starship full of military personnel with him? Do you know how crazy that sounds? Oh, yeah, and they could perform magic tricks, too." She frowned, waving both hands above her head. "Don't get me started...!"

Admiral Byrd replied. "The Prime is setting me up. How he explains history is the least of my concerns, nor do I care if he believes me about the Templars."

Louise didn't reply. She was thinking.

"He's hiding something," said the admiral.

"You're all over the vids, James."

The admiral stood up and walked to his desk, tapping his chin as he thought.

"Did you hear me? You and this lie Prime Director Zim is pinning on you is all over the vids, broadcasting throughout Star Guild. He said he suspects you're the head of a coup attempt. That you set up this attack and that he means to prove it."

Starships. The Admiral tapped his forehead, ignoring Louise and staring at his desk. Starship Taranis. In a sudden panic, he shuffled through some papers on his desk until he found what he was looking for and lifted it to the light, squinting. "Right here." Then he stomped over to Louise and dropped a piece of paper on her lap. "Take a gander."

Louise snatched the paper, skimmed through it and glared up at the Admiral. "This is a travel log."

"Yes. Though short, it shows two peculiar things that I find a bit disturbing."

She shrugged. There was no point in reading the log. It showed the comings and goings on Matrona. There were starfighter reports, Starhawk Mech transport reports, starjumper and other space vehicle reports logged earlier in the day. Who cares about that? She stopped and moved the paper away from her, but then pulled it back as if making sure her eyes were working correctly. There was something.

"You see it, don't you?" asked Admiral Byrd.

"Plain as the bright sun I do." She stood up, cheeks reddening. "He left Matrona on a starjumper before the attack, and then came back to Matrona, just before Matrona jumped to our coordinates! Where did the son-of-a-bitch go?!" She paused and composed herself, embarrassed by her sudden lack of self-control. "Or, he could just be plain lucky, leaving just before the attack began...'a mere coincidence'."

"Keep looking, Louise."

She let out a huff and shot him a look. She didn't want to get involved. But...unable to resist, she cocked her head to one side and scrunched her nose as she read. "Well, it says he wasn't on the starjumper when it returned to Matrona." Then she bit the side of her lip. "Uh... where was he?"

The admiral gave a shrug. "That's a question that I want him to answer." He crossed his arms. "How did he get back on Matrona, especially after it had jumped into our new sector? It never shows him coming back to the starbase. We know he did, but there is no record of it. Why is that?"

Holding the papers close to her face, she started to re-read them as she paced back and forth. "Maybe he went to Starship Taranis?"

"Taranis jumped back into our coordinates an hour before we were to rendezvous with her. You heard me on the bridge give Admiral Jenkyns a direct order to wait five hours..." he splayed his open hand, showing five fingers. "After five hours, if we didn't make it, he was to jump to a new set of coordinates somewhere in the outer periphery. I never told him to jump back here."

Louise stopped pacing. "Jenkyns said he came back to fight...to help us."

Admiral Byrd became quiet and his shoulders relaxed. "He is a noble man, I give him that." He sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know. It's all confusing. Nonetheless, I doubt Zim went to Taranis since he wouldn't have known where Taranis had jumped. Plus, I don't see any log entries of Zim entering Starship Taranis, anywhere."

"Just like you don't see him entering Starbase Matrona," added Louise. "Why is Zim covering his trail? Or better yet, what trail is he covering?"

The admiral walked back to his desk and sat in his chair. "I need someone close to Zim to give me some answers, because Zim sure as hell won't."

Indignantly, Louise placed her hands on her hips. "You want a spy?" She shook her head. "Not me. I refuse."

"I wasn't asking you, Louise. You've never spoken but two words to Zim. I need someone inside the governance."

"Who?" questioned Louise, sitting down on the couch and gazing at the paused explosions on the vid.

"I'll figure it out, but until then I need you—"

"Admiral!" Louise shot both hands into the air, pointing at the holographic display in front of her. "It's erasing!"

The admiral dashed over to the holovid to see the still frame of the explosions, the Thunderbird and one orb. His brow furrowed. "Only one orb? Where's the other one?" The remaining orb started to fade and then erased a second later. The Thunderbird disappeared next.

"Reverse!" blurted Admiral Byrd.

The vid reversed, but when it played back he saw only the exploding pyramids, nothing else. The purple torpedoes, the orbs, the Thunderbird and the asteroid were missing, somehow completely wiped from the holovid.

∞

Chief Petty Officer Crystal McCoy had been watching the world turn pale blue for the last several hours. Planet Lumus' daylight had dimmed considerably, although the sun didn't fall much lower than the horizon this time of year.

Checking the time on her HDC, it was 9:36 pm. Right now she would normally be on Starbase Matrona, just like she was every night, in her living quarters sitting comfortably on her bed, watching an entertainment vid, eating an apple or some other late night fruit snack. That was her regular routine before she'd fall asleep, then wake up at 6:00 am, grab a shuttle by 7:00, in Mech Bay by 7:20 and readying her Mech for the 8:00 am stroll across the red stone plateau to the quarries. She rolled her eyes at the thought, having done the same routine for four years, over and over again. It could easily have turned into the rest of her life. If the death and destruction wasn't so horrible, she could almost thank these sick bastards for attacking and breaking her out of the mundane, hellish life she'd been leading.

Then she realized she hadn't had a drink since she'd been in the Mech. For hours, the enemy had been flying around trying to find them, a constant distraction and invariant wonder as to whether or not they'd be seen, caught, and dragged off to their death. It'd been an hour, though, since she'd seen any enemy craft. No excuses now, pulling her away from what she needed to do to satisfy her dry mouth.

She grabbed the tube hanging from the cockpit's ceiling with her lips and sucked. Nothing came out but air. The water tank was empty, not filled since its last outing—whenever that was.

"Dammit!"

Daf had been peering out of the Mech's window for as many hours as they'd been hiding at the base of the mountain. Her eyes were tired and her body was worn out. There was dried blood on the rims of her nostrils. She turned her head and looked at Crystal. "What?"

"You look terrible, Daf."

Daf blinked a couple of times. "That's why you said dammit? I just want...I just need sleep."

"Who's stopping you?"

Daf's mouth slackened. "Um, well, we have enemies trying to crawl up our butts, Crystal. Why else wouldn't I sleep?"

Crystal's stomach tightened. She was talking to an inferior rank that suddenly had a bad attitude. "It was just a question."

Daf shot her a look. "I'm just stating the obvious."

Crystal's eyes pierced Daf. "What's obvious is that you're tired and cranky. I can handle staring out of the window by myself. If anything happens, I'll wake you. Do you understand? You're endangering us by trying to stay awake. I need you fully aware." Crystal was Chief. She was the one who gave the orders; she wasn't used to being addressed like this, especially by Daf.

Daf turned back to the window, continuing her survey of the darkened land laid out before her. She was quiet, quickly getting lost in the terrain. This world was strange and she much preferred her position on Starbase Matrona, working in the biosphere as a Quality Steward with Savanna Levens, the overseer of the biosphere. Daf had planted and managed nature, or rather; she let nature do its own thing and watched it grow. She drank from its waters and enjoyed its songs. It was beauty in its purest form.

Then this position showed up as a Mech Operator. The pay was outrageous and blew her pay grade out of the galaxy. She had jumped on the opportunity and regretted it ever since. It soon became a struggle just to get up in the mornings. It was less than a week ago that she had finally found the guts to ask Savanna Levens for her old job back. Savanna was supposed to get back to her with an answer by today. Instead, Daf was stuck on planet Lumus hoping that starbase had somehow survived the attack.

Planet Lumus. Daf exhaled loudly. It was beautiful in its own, lonely kind of way, even when the sun disappeared for the evening, changing the red, black, and brown rock filled terra firma into a shadowed, dark blue version of itself.

They were up on a hill that merged with the base of Mount Gabrielle, making it easy to observe the land laid out before them, seeing much further than they could from a lower location. Here, they were concealed under a strange rock formation with two large, thick rock slabs standing on each side of their Mech, with a large slab sitting vertically on top of the two, acting much like a roof. It was a nice hiding place, and with their Mech shut down they seemed to be invisible from the attackers.

Daf's stomach growled, so she rubbed her stomach. "We need food," stated Daf, still peering out the window.

"And water," was Crystal's reply.

Daf's shoulders slumped. "We don't have water? What else is going to go wrong?"

Your attitude, thought Crystal, although she kept her mouth shut. "Warehouse 12 and 13 are a few clicks west. In a couple of hours, when the shadows are at their darkest, we can sneak over there."

Daf nodded, still staring at the land. "Did you see one?"

Crystal tilted her head at the question. "What do you mean, did I see one?"

Daf turned. "Did you see one of them? The big guys?"

"If you mean the enemy, then yes, I did," replied Crystal.

Daf glanced at her shoe and then picked at its rubber sole. "Those guys are big."

"Where the hell did you see one?"

"Ambrose Quarry." Daf stopped, and then picked harder at her shoe. "I looked up at the top of the quarry and there were hundreds of giants holding glowing spears. They were looking down at us." She gave a curt laugh. "I about crapped my pants!"

Crystal's eyes widened, filling with hope. "Were there any survivors besides you?"

Daf shook her head, continuing to pick at her shoe, but faster. "I don't know. The big guys shot their weapons, but it didn't seem to hurt our Mechs. But, when their starfighters came they ripped us to shreds. That's when I ran my Mech's ass off."

"You didn't look to see if there were any survivors?"

Daf stopped picking at her shoe and looked up at Crystal. "How? I was running for my life, Crystal. I was scared to death. I don't even know how I survived. I ran—"

Crystal raised her hand. "Stop. I understand. I was scared, too. I was certain that I was dead. You did more than I did." She looked at Daf square in the eyes. "You saved my life. And, for that, I thank you."

Daf folded her arms. "I'm glad you noticed, Chief." She turned, peering out the window again. She took a deep breath and said, "You're welcome." Then Daf cleared her throat, wanting to change the subject. "Mount Gabriel is also called Forever Mountain. I've always wondered about that."

"It's the largest mountain on Lumus. I think they named it that because it seems to go on forever."

"Oh." Daf shrugged, knowing that was an easy answer, something clearly observable by looking at the behemoth.

"It could be called that because of another reason, though," said Crystal who paused, wondering if she should continue, as if what she was about to say would be some type of Mechie or Star Guild violation.

"What is it?" asked Daf.

Crystal shrugged. "I was wandering around a couple of weeks ago, and stumbled across a large cave opening."

"During work hours?" Daf smiled. "Oooh, the boss was playing hooky?"

"I was investigating."

Daf perked up, a slow smile appearing on her face. "Investigating what?"

"My curiosity, I suppose."

"So, what did you find?"

"Tunnels."

Daf raised her brows and edged closer. "What? Really?"

Crystal looked out of the Mech's window. Shadows across the land had become even darker, resembling Star Guild's dark blue uniforms, something she used to wear a lifetime ago. She shook her head, then gasped, her eyes widening. She ducked, her knees hitting the cockpit floor.

Daf saw Crystal's reaction and spun around. She peered out the window. A craft had just flown by, but became smaller and smaller the farther away it got. Daf was glad that the Mech wasn't turned on. It would have mimicked Crystal's duck—a movement the enemy craft surely would have seen.

Crystal, resuming her normal position, rubbed her face. "I was wondering when they'd send another search party. And only one craft this time? I guess we're not so famous anymore." Crystal feigned a frown.

"Thank the stars!" laughed Daf. "I don't want to be popular. In fact, I've decided that I absolutely detest the idea."

Crystal nodded her agreement, but kept watching to see if they might have been spotted. But, once the craft had completely disappeared from view, she brought her eyes back to Daf who was fidgeting with her pocket as she watched out of the window. Crystal envied her, and wanted to be as calm as Daf while looking at the terrain. It brought peace to Daf, something she wished the land did for her. All she saw was ebb rock hidden in the shadows and it was everywhere. Instead of feeling tranquil about it, she just wanted to blow it all up so she'd never have to work the quarries again. She shook her head and asked Daf a question. "Where do you think they store all of the ebb we collect?"

Daf shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps back on Matrona, or on a starship? Why?"

"We've been collecting ebb ever since we've been orbiting Lumus, a little over 800 years. Shouldn't we have enough by now? I never see any new ships or bases being built." Crystal huffed. "I find that a little strange, don't you?"

"Well, they also use ebb on buildings, warehouses, floors, walls...just about everything," replied Daf. "They're holding the ebb somewhere, Crystal. Why?"

Crystal closed her eyes and shook her head. "There are two dozen warehouses housing 48 Mechs each. We gather this stuff every day and we don't have near the amount of repairs to use up all of the ebb that we collect, and have collected for hundreds and hundreds of years." Crystal's eyes narrowed, her face flushing red. "Have you ever seen a pile of ebb after it's been transported off this planet? Have you ever even seen the pilots who fly the Ebb Transports? Why are their windows always tinted so dark that we can never see them? Have you ever met anybody who says they're on the Ebb Transport Team?" She didn't wait for Daf's reply. "Yeah, me neither."

"Okay, so what are you saying, Crystal?"

Crystal rolled her eyes, wondering how Daf could be so dense. "I'm saying that it's being taken someplace else. But where?" In exasperation, she threw her arms up in the air. "I don't know and you don't know, and nobody knows! But, I do know that most of it is not being used by us. That I do know." Crystal glanced out the window again, focusing on a small mountain silhouetted in the distance and wondering about her life, her constant questions of how things were being run and why they weren't run differently. Hell, why was it mandatory to be over 7 foot 5 inches if you wanted to run for the next governance position of Prime Director? How could life have started on spaceships around planet Lumus? Who created the space ships? Who created the humans? We're here, so there must be other races out there somewhere, and why don't we go looking for them? Questions, questions, questions, and never getting any answers. She slumped at the enormity of it all. Through the years, she had come to see everyone as robots doing their best to live life happily as best they could, devoid of any real thoughts. She knew she wouldn't get much more out of Daf, let alone convince her that the governance had a secret they were hiding from everyone about their ebb storage.

"So, you mentioned tunnels?" inquired Daf.

Crystal looked down, jostled out of her thoughts. "Uh, yep."

"Can I get a little more information there, Chief?"

Crystal cleared her throat, figuring Daf was just another pawn, another thoughtless worker who was definitely not going to believe what she was about to say. But, she took a deep breath. Here goes. "I found a tunnel system that went deep under Mount Gabrielle. They seemed to go on forever. I walked my Mech through them for hours, never coming to a dead end, except for one of the tunnels. There, I came upon an enormous—and I mean an enormous—door that had strange writings etched on it." She stopped, not wanting to waste her words on someone who most likely would think she was crazy.

Daf's head jerked back. "Huh, who the hell built a door down there?"

Crystal said, "Who knows what Star Guild or the governance does when we're not looking."

Daf nodded. "Yeah, that's where they must hide the ebb from us." She giggled.

Crystal gave her a look. "Not funny, Mechie."

"Then why didn't we hide in one of those tunnels?"

"I only know of one way in, which is also the same way out. I didn't want to get us trapped down there, just in case. Catch my drift?"

Daf nodded as she stared out the window.

"I saw something else down there," said Crystal.

Daf looked a little suspicious, as if Crystal was just making it all up for her own enjoyment. "Okay, I'll bite. What did you see?"

Crystal shifted her weight from one leg to the other. She'd been standing for far too long and sighed, then sat down and crossed her legs. She continued. "I saw something else when I was down in the tunnels, Daf."

"Yes, you said that. What did you see?" Daf tapped her foot against the floor.

"The door. It said, or showed...that we weren't created here."

"You got that from a door?"

Crystal became still. "Yes, it showed that we weren't created on Lumus or Matrona or Brigantia, or any other star near this galaxy. We were created on another planet, and in another galaxy."

"How could you have possibly determined all of that by a door?"

Crystal tipped her head to the side and shrugged. She knew how crazy it sounded, and didn't blame Daf for not believing her. She might not believe someone if they told her the same story. She wanted to tell Daf that it wasn't just a door. It was something else, something that changed the more you looked at it. She didn't talk about that part. But, then she faked a smile and lied. "I'm just kidding."

Daf rolled her eyes. "Okay. You're being strange, Chief."

"I know. I'm just trying to take our minds off what we're about to do."

"What are we going to do?"

Crystal stood up and strapped herself in as she looked at the HDC. "Power up." The Mech turned on. She switched the parrot mode on line and glanced at Daf. "Hold on to something. We're heading west. It's time to get some food and water."

∞

A rap on Admiral Byrd's door woke him. He looked around. He was on his couch. He checked the time on the wall and it was 10:09 pm and he must have fallen asleep. He pulled both hands through his hair, ruffling it up a bit as he leaned on an elbow. Then he remembered the holovid—the orbs and the Thunderbird that had been erased. The vid had been tampered with, but by who, and why?

Another rap on the door and he sat up straight. "Who is it?" When no one answered, he took a deep breath and pushed himself up and stood. Then, as he wearily walked to the door, he rubbed his eyes, getting the blur out of them.

Another knock.

"Yes! I'm coming!" He rubbed a dab of slobber off the side of his mouth with his sleeve and spoke to the voice command in his door. "Unlock and open."

The door slid open and Admiral Byrd crossed a forearm in front of his eyes as a bright light beamed through the doorway. Noisy commotion sprang through, battering him with questions, statements, accusations, and what seemed to be chaos accompanied by shadows of people on the other side of the doorway, all mixed together.

Shit! Reporters! "What's the meaning of this?! Turn off those damnable lights!" He swung his arms in front of him, as if swiping away mosquitoes. "Get back!"

A woman strode through the doorway, temporarily blocking the light and giving the admiral a second to see what was transpiring.

Yes, they were all reporters, and more than a handful. The men wore suits with ties and the women wore dresses, sparkling necklaces, and pretty smiles. Small robotic hover-vid cameras were behind them with their lights blaring.

The woman who walked into his room shoved an audio device in front of his face. "Do you know why you're implicated in the coup? What do you have to say about the charges brought against you?"

Admiral Byrd wanted to shove her out of his room, not only because of the intrusion, but because of the question...a coup? The next stage of Zim's plan had been waged, and much sooner than the admiral had expected. He thought it was going to be a long, drawn out affair. Instead, he was being bull rushed less than seven hours after being accused of such a heinous act.

"I did no such thing...get out of here!" He placed his hands on the woman, easing her out of his room as a man slid by her, shoving another audio device into the admiral's face. "The Prime Director says he has proof you were the master-mind in the attack! Do you have a reply to that, Admiral?"

The admiral squinted, less because of the light than because of the stupid question and the illogical situation at hand. He shook his head. "Let me sleep!" He leaned against the man, pushing him against the wall of reporters, shoving them out the door completely. He glanced up to see a shocked Captain Stripe standing behind the crowd of reporters.

Captain Stripe directed her attention down the hall, waving her arm in the direction of the reporters. "Get them out of here!" Several of the Brigantia Guard came around the corner, rounding up the reporters and herding them away from the admiral.

Admiral Byrd, not wanting to discuss any more of this with anyone, stepped back into his office. "Close!"

The door to his room shut and it made a perfect barrier, muffling the harshness he had just experienced. No more leading questions, no more assertions. Nothing. He just wanted sleep; although he knew he wouldn't be able to because he was wide awake now and he needed a plan. It was him against the governance, and no telling what they would pull. He didn't expect such ruthlessness from what was once a peaceful administration. Who could he call? How could he get out of this? His starship was docked inside Starbase Matrona, which gave him easy access to all spheres within the starbase, but now it was more difficult for him to fly his starship out of here.

A thud on the door broke his concentration. But, before he could ask and assuming it was the reporters again, he heard a thick, low voice clearly calling through the door's voice command. "This is the Matrona Guard. You are under arrest. Surrender any weapons you may have and step out peacefully."

Admiral Byrd's heart skipped a beat. The authorities were here to take him away. Just like the attack, this was happening too fast, too suddenly.

He went over to his desk and clicked a button. A wooden panel opened, sliding out a large, three muzzle phaser. He picked it up and switched the function from stun to kill.

Thud! His eyes moved from the phaser to the door. "This is your last warning. We will blast this door open if you do not come out immediately!"

He gave a heavy sigh and his eyes moved back to his phaser. Dumb idea, James. He placed the gun back into the panel and closed it. He went over to the door and stood erect. He needed to look respectable in front of the cameras and demonstrate strength. He needed the people to see his face, to see the truth in his eyes, and to see through the lie that Prime Director Zim was perpetrating right in front of them all.

His stomach lurched. Chase!

He needed to get word to his nephew. Dashing back to his desk, he clicked the auto-write function on the desk's HDC and spoke into it. "Chase. This is of the utmost importance–it's for the safety of Star Guild, the governance, and the people. Zim has taken over the governance. I need eyes on the inside. Please be them for me. We need all the help we can get. Find out what you can and report it to Captain Stripe. I'll be in lock up. Uncle James." He pressed a button on the HDC and a silver sheet with the admiral's seal embossed on it materialized on his desk. His words were printed in black. He folded the note a number of times and curled his fingers around it, making a fist to hide it from view.

"Open!" he yelled at the door. It opened to a dozen Matrona Guard's pointing phasers at him. The man in the front nodded to him, lowering his eyes for a moment. He wore the sergeant badge. Immediately, the Admiral knew this man didn't like what he was doing. To Admiral Byrd, this man's emotions were good. This would allow him a little leeway on his way to lockup.

"I'm sorry, Admiral. I must follow orders."

A hover-vid camera flew inside of the doorway, hovering near the top of the door frame. It made a swooshing sound. The sergeant turned and aimed his phaser. "Get that hover-vid out of here before I blow it to hell!"

The hover-vid dipped and sped out the door.

"Thank you, sergeant," said Admiral Byrd.

"Admiral, please come with me." The sergeant turned and reached for the admiral's arms, readying the hand cuffs.

"Please allow me a little dignity as I leave my quarters and my ship. Don't embarrass me anymore than I already am." Admiral Byrd's eyes were soft. "If I run, you have permission to shoot me." The sergeant considered for a moment and gave a nod of his head.

Fleet Admiral James Byrd walked out of his office, following the eleven member Matrona Guard down the hall. The twelfth Guard, the sergeant, held his phaser near the admiral's back, moving the admiral along at a slow pace.

The admiral looked over his shoulder. "I ask one more favor, Sergeant. I need to give instructions to my leading officer, Captain Stripe. She'll be around the corner. It won't be long."

The sergeant paused, thinking. He tilted his head, about to shake it no, but then changed his mind. The admiral had been very important to Star Guild, and had been an icon for humanity for many years. "I can do that, sir."

As they rounded the corner, the captain was standing no more than ten feet away, arms folded across her chest, eyes burning holes into each Guard who passed her by. Then, standing to attention, she saluted the admiral, her jaw clenched and looking as if she wanted to break some heads.

Admiral Byrd walked over to her, bringing his hands up to meet hers, skillfully transferring the folded note into her palm. She folded her fingers around it, concealing its content from view. "Bring Brigger to the helm. It's about time he learned how to fly. And bring Charlie to Com Desk. You take over the command chair, Captain. She's your bird now."

Louise looked past the admiral, glaring into the sergeant's eyes. "Yes, Admiral, but it won't be long before I see you back on the ship."

"Aye, Captain, in times like these, the truth is all we have. Let's prove my innocence."

Admiral Byrd turned on his heel and continued with the Matrona Guard, leaving Brigantia, and hoping this wasn't the last time he'd ever see his ship and crew again.

∞

The shadows of dusk were looming larger and longer during the hour Crystal and Daf had been walking their Mech westward, toward Warehouse 12. Talking had been minimal. Crystal imagined that if she could walk on this windless planet without a Mech, she'd hear silence and feel the stillness of this world. There weren't any animals here, unlike the biosphere on Matrona. Bugs did not populate here, nor even water for fish to swim and spawn. The surface was devoid of anything but rock and dust, with only occasional rain that fell, and that was collected in large, one ton barrels. Humans were the only life forms on Lumus.

The Mech's HDC displayed 10:28 pm, way past Crystal's bed time. No wonder her vision was starting to blur.

"Are we almost there yet?" Daf yawned, rubbing her eyes like a child.

Crystal yawned in return, then gazed at the HDC and asked, "How much longer until we reach Warehouse 12?"

Eleven minutes flashed on the holographic display.

She peered down at Daf. "Eleven minutes. We'll be there soon enough, Daf."

They had been sneaking their way over to the warehouse, doing their best to not get caught.

Crystal spotted a huge boulder and positioned the Mech alongside of it, leaning its back against the breadth of it. She had her Mech peer around it, doing her best to be as invisible as she could. It had been an easy trek, so far, because no search parties had flown by.

"There it is." Crystal moved the Mech around the boulder, seeing Warehouse 12 not far away in the distance. The HDC flashed ten minutes.

"Ten minutes to the warehouse, Daf."

Daf made a funny face. "Yes, eleven minutes minus one minute is usually ten minutes. Thanks, Chief, I can count. I don't need updates every minute."

Crystal was learning that Daf wasn't very nice when she was tired, scared, and uncomfortable. Crystal knew she'd be even crankier in Daf's position, especially if she weren't in control of the Mech and leaving it up to someone else, but she would at least keep her mouth shut in front of a superior. There was a ranking order to be aware of; something Daf apparently didn't respect much.

Crystal maneuvered the Mech around a small boulder about half the size of the Mech. "Nine minutes to the warehouse, Daf."

Daf turned, taking her eyes away from the window. "Really? You don't say?"

Crystal held back a smile. Two can play at this smart ass game.

Crystal suddenly halted the Mech and Daf whipped her head around to the window to see why. Daf put her hand to her throat. "No!"

Crystal had stopped the Mech at the top of a long, downward slope that was covered with the corpses of men and women littered around destroyed Mechs, bloodied human limbs blown off—all dead. Even the dusk couldn't hide the grizzly nature of what they were seeing.

Crystal pounded the HDC. "Those bastards! Those giant, stick shooting pieces of trash scum!" She shook her head, wanting to scream. She pulled on her hair and clenched her teeth, pressing her Mech forward. She moved around the dead, enraged.

"What are you doing?" cried Daf.

"There might be survivors in the warehouse."

Daf shook her head. "Don't be stupid."

Crystal shot Daf a look, ignoring the comment, and moved the Mech to the body closest to them. She brought the Mech to one knee. "Slit-light on." A thin light beamed from the side of the Mech's dome, highlighting the face of the dead body. A woman, pale skin, eyes open. Dried blood crusted her lips. She had been hit in the torso by laser fire, and probably killed her quickly.

Crystal studied the woman's eyes. Her corneas were clouded, telling Crystal that it had been over two hours since this woman had been killed. In a day or so, she knew the woman's eyes would be opaque.

"Slit-light off."

Crystal stood the Mech up and continued toward the warehouse.

"Wait, what are you doing? We can't go in there," blurted Daf.

"The woman has been dead for hours. I don't think there's any danger here." She pointed at the warehouse, the Mech mimicking her movement.

Daf wiped her eyes. All she wanted was to go back to sleep, so this horrible nightmare would be gone when she woke up.

But, as they got closer, Crystal didn't notice any movements through the warehouse windows, and didn't see anything suspicious outside. They walked up a long slope and stepped onto the ebb flooring in front of a closed Mech Bay door. An HDC was fastened to the wall next to the door. She looked at her own HDC. Daf was clinging onto its column and staring out the window. She didn't look too good.

Crystal punched a holographic button on the HDC. "Connect to Warehouse 12's Mech Bay door Holographic Display Console."

Her Mech's HDC complied. Good, it's still functional. "Punch in code 1881." The code punched in and the Mech Bay door opened to a dimly lit room. Crystal stepped her Mech inside. "Punch in code 1881 to close Mech Bay door." The door closed behind them, dimming the large open warehouse. Up ahead was the second large door to the Mech Bay, where gravity would be equalized. Stepping on the ramp leading to the door, the door opened vertically, revealing rows of Mech's stored in the bay, some with their dome hatches open, but most closed.

Taking a step, both Daf and Crystal surveyed the bay, the door closing behind them. When the door slammed shut, steam engulfed the bay, surrounding their Mech until it subsided several seconds later. The Mech's HDC bleeped. "Gravity equalized."

Everything was placid and utterly silent. A lone man lay on the ground in a puddle of blood. He was a Techie, shot from behind, heavy and fat and wearing overalls. Crystal could see that the blood was coagulated, so he had died more than fifteen minutes ago, though from the outer pool of blood drying, she knew it had been more than an hour.

"I don't like the looks of this, Chief," complained Daf, concern and stress written all over her face.

"He's been dead for a while, Daf."

"How do you know?"

"The blood and the eyes—we had to learn this at Star Guild Academy. I was really good at it. You know, with my sick and twisted mind."

Daf was glad she hadn't gone to the academy, especially if they had to learn about blood, corpses, and all of the other disgusting things in the universe.

Crystal pressed the unlock hatch button with her index finger. A swoosh of air sounded, decompressing the hold from the hatch lock, making Daf jump. "What are you doing?"

Crystal looked down at her, her hand pressing firmly against the hatch. "You stay here. I'm going to get us some water and food."

Daf shook her head. "No, I'm going with you."

Oh, brother! "Trust me, Daf. You should stay." The last thing Crystal wanted was to be slowed down.

Daf stood up, ignoring the order. "I'll be out of your way. Plus, more hands mean more food and water."

True, thought Crystal. She gave Daf a nod and pushed open the hatch, feeling fresh air combing her hair and touching her face. It felt good to be out of the stuffy Mech. She forgot how fresh the air was here, even fresher than on Starbase Matrona.

Crystal moved up and out of the Mech, crawling down the side of it, finding the floor with her feet. She stretched, getting some kinks out. Daf came down, stretching like Crystal.

Crystal waved for Daf to follow. She wanted to inspect the dead man again, but decided against it, and instead walked past him to the warehouse office door. She punched in the code and they went inside.

Crystal moved down an aisle of desks and stopped. She raised a finger to her mouth and tapped her teeth. "I think... yeah." She pointed to another door. "There's the cafeteria."

Daf nodded and walked hastily to the door. Opening the door, she saw dozens of empty tables and quadruple the amount of chairs next to them. Everything was clean and proper. It hadn't been used. And, how could it? Most, if not all of the people here, were dead. Probably dead before noon.

Crystal walked past Daf with one thought in mind, ignoring everything around them. Get the food, hook her Mech up to water, fill the water tank to the brim, and get out of here. They had to go on from here and find a warehouse that hadn't been hit by the attackers. Maybe they'd find some survivors.

They walked to the kitchen door and pushed it open. There was food everywhere, and there were food bags hanging on the walls and pillars, and plenty of cooling boxes for storage stacked against the rectangular room's walls. Food would be plentiful.

Crystal shoved a bag in Daf's face. "Here. Grab food as quickly as you can."

Daf nodded, her face expressionless. She went to the first hanging food bag, opened it, and threw whatever she could into the bag.

Grabbing a bag herself, Crystal moved to a cooling box and opened it. She found apples, pears, oranges, and persimmons. She shoved armfuls into her bag, then snatched carrots and celery from a counter. Not her favorite, but when you're hungry, taste doesn't matter.

Protein. Where is it?

She went to a storage drawer nestled next to the cooling box and found onions. She shrugged. Oh, well. Above her, hanging from a hook, was a large mesh bag of nuts. She grabbed them. They were heavy.

A loud clang echoed throughout the kitchen. Crystal froze in place. "Huh?"

"Sorry," Daf held up a metal spoon. "I dropped this. I thought we'd need some spoons with all of the avocados I've got."

Crystal, mouth slightly open, looked at Daf's bag. "That's all you got? Avocados?"

Daf gave a weak smile. "The cabinet was full of them."

Crystal went to wave her hand around to all of the cabinets in the kitchen, showing her that there were other options, other drawers and cooling boxes to look at. She refrained. They were in a hurry and she didn't have time to argue. Crystal figured most people would grab a little of this and that, but apparently Daf didn't possess that frame of mind.

"Let's go." Crystal moved through the door, not looking back to see if Daf was following, although she figured she would. She entered the office, quickening her pace. She turned, moving around a desk, then halted. A strange blue haze was coming into the office from outside.

Daf saw it too. "What's that?"

Crystal narrowed her eyes. The last thing she wanted was to be found and she suspected that they had been. "It may be another patrol coming our way."

Walking over to the window, opposite the door leading to Mech Bay, they looked outside.

Crystal widened her eyes. "What the...?"

Daf shook her head. "I've never seen that before."

It was a perfect view of Mount Gabrielle, displayed like none other. Rays of blue light were shining through the caves and holes in the mountain, dotting the sky and land all around it.

Crystal looked at Daf. "Has anyone ever reported blue lights coming from Mount Gabrielle?"

"No, but everyone's on Matrona by this time of night."

Crystal did a big exhale. "It's probably the enemy. Let's get out of here. We can stop at Warehouse 13 next."

Crystal turned and hurried out of the office, entering Mech Bay. "Let's each grab a Mech with a full water tank. We'll split up the food. Two Mechs are always better than one."

Daf liked that idea. No more hanging on the HDC column wanting to drive. She nodded and Crystal and Daf separated, bags in hand, each looking for a Mech.

Crystal climbed up one with the hatch already open, hopped down into the cockpit and turned it on. She dropped the bag of food, pushing it over to the side with her foot. She stared at the HDC. "Water systems check." The HDC blinked on, showing a holographic display. To her surprise it was full. This is my lucky day. She nearly laughed at the irony. Shrugging, she climbed up and looked out of the hatch to see Daf running toward her, waiving her hands wildly.

"There's a man in a Mech over there. He's hurt!"

Crystal jumped down from her Mech as fast as she could. "Where? Is he conscious?"

Daf grabbed Crystal by the elbow, hurriedly escorting her to a Mech across the warehouse.

Crystal flared her nostrils, annoyed at Daf's inability to answer questions in a pressing situation. "Daf, is he conscious?"

Daf nodded her head up and down. "Yes, yes."

Crystal's gut suddenly felt empty, wondering if the man was even well enough to live. Not only would he hold them up, but now she'd have to help him. Not because she'd want to, but because she'd feel guilty if she didn't.

Reaching the Mech, Daf pointed at its open hatch. "In there."

Crystal climbed the steps and peered over the open hatch to see a man sitting on the cockpit floor with one shoe on and the other off, holding his ankle. He was looking up at her. "Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes."

She hopped down into the cockpit, making the man flinch. He was surprised by her athleticism.

Crystal bent down, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Mister. Can you walk?"

He shook his head no, his face pale. "I've broken my ankle. It's painful, but it's nothing compared to the carnage outside." Crystal noticed he was shaking a little. He must be in shock and Crystal saw that his ankle was swollen about the size of a grapefruit. "How long have you been here?"

He massaged his ankle just above the swollen area. "About two hours, I think."

She placed her hand on his low back, rubbing it. "We need to set your ankle."

He shook his head. "The soft tissue damage is more what I'm worried about. It's a closed break and I don't need it set, but a splint would be nice."

Crystal saw no discoloration and that was a good sign—no major blood vessel was severed, no internal bleeding to worry about. "We should—"

"Do you need any help?" asked Daf from above.

Crystal looked up. Daf was peering down at them from the top of the hatch. "Yeah, get me some things to make a splint."

Daf gave a confused look. "Get what?"

Crystal sighed. "Get me some thick tape from the Tech shop, and see if they have any pieces of wood about the length of your forearm. We're going to make a splint."

Daf nodded and climbed down the Mech in a hurry, heading to the Tech shop.

Crystal looked at the man. "How did this happen?"

He stopped rubbing his lower leg and leaned back. "They shot at us and I stumbled over something. I don't know what it was that I trampled over, but I heard a snap the moment I tripped. I crawled up here, thinking I'd be followed but I was the lucky one, I guess." He frowned and shook his head, pointing at the dome of the Mech. "I tried to close that thing, but it wouldn't budge."

Crystal smiled. "You have to press the hatch button over there."

He dropped his arm with a chuckle. "It's that easy? Of course."

Crystal raised her eyebrows. "It's that easy." She stood up, placing her hands on her hips. "What's your name?"

"Doctor Jerrod Simmons."

"You're a doctor?" She was a little shocked that a doctor would be on planet Lumus. They usually had therapists during work hours, and they knew the basics about injuries. "We need to get you to a Suficell Pod to heal your wound." But, in exasperation, she threw her arms into the air. "But how?! We'll need a ride to Star Guild or Matrona somehow, if the shuttles haven't been blasted out of the stars already."

The doctor cocked his head to the right. "We can get to a Suficell Pod here on Lumus."

A Suficell Pod was used to extend life by a hundred and forty years or so. It had the ability to heal all wounds and disease by emitting high frequency sounds that matched the frequency and vibration of the disease, thus shattering the diseased cells, flushing them like waste from the body by simply drinking lots of water. It also worked wonders on broken bones, healing them within a day.

Crystal peered at him. "A Pod on Lumus? Where?"

"On Starship Sirona."

My mom's ship? "How...!" She shook her head. "That starship isn't here, sir."

"It's here, right now on Lumus. She came down here to save us."

The shock was now getting to the doctor, thought Crystal. There was no way Admiral Diana McCoy, her mom, would be down here. That didn't make sense. Her mom was the hero type, but Crystal knew she'd have to go against direct orders from Admiral Byrd in order to get here, unless...she had somehow convinced the good admiral to let her go on a rescue mission. But, even so, she didn't think her mom's starship could have survived the trip, based on what she'd already seen.

The doctor continued. "Sirona tried to send help to this warehouse, but I don't know if their transports or starfighters ever made it."

My mom is here? Crystal slowly stood up. "Do you know the coordinates of Starship Sirona?"

Jerrod nodded.

"Then let's get you some help." She said, hoping he wasn't just hallucinating scenarios more acceptable to his mind. She pulled herself up and over the hatch, glancing down at Daf who was on her way up the steps, carrying a bucket in her hand. "Daf!"

Daf stopped, looking up at her chief. "I got your stuff...I think."

"Give me the bucket. And I need you to drive the Mech I was going to use. My food bags are in it and the Mech's water tank is full. We're heading to Starship Sirona."

Daf jerked her head back. "We're headed where?!"

∞

The sweet smell of flowers permeated Eden's nostrils and she heard the sound of rushing water nearby. Where was she? She was laying on something soft and delicate. It felt like sheets, but they were the softest, smoothest material she'd ever touched. They were cozy and comfortable and she could lay here forever.

Her mouth curled into a smile and she took a deep breath, stretching her arms and yawning. Her mouth became lax, turning into a frown. But, she asked, where am I?

She opened her eyes. She was in a room lit by the glowing light from a small flame shaped like a tear. It danced happily on a holder of some type that looked like it was melting, its shape and contents dripping down its own sides. She had never seen a candle before.

She gazed around the room, noticing the enormity of it. Ship quarters were a fraction of its size, so she knew she couldn't be on Brigantia. Plus, this place was elegant. There were ornate tapestries draped all around the room, some white in color, but most were mixed violet. They hung from the ceiling, the walls, and on the posts at each corner of her bed.

A Bed?

She was lying in a bed that was definitely not her bunk. She touched the sheets again, pinching and rubbing her fingers over them—so soft, so warm.

She lifted herself up and sat cross legged, her eyes full of oversleep. She yawned and stretched, then put her hands on her heart, letting out a breath of air.

Across from the foot of the bed were two large glass doors, framed with lavender colored curtains. Flowers grew out of pots near the foot of the door, although there was ample enough room to come and go through the door without tripping over them.

She placed her feet on the ground and stood up, rubbing her low back, feeling soft fabric, smooth and light, against her hands and skin. She looked at her covered body. She was wearing a white robe. How did she get into this? She took a few steps forward and looked at the floor. It consisted of a living ground cover, something she'd never seen done before, but had wondered about. She leaned over and caressed a single blade of grass between her fingers, noticing tiny little meadow flowers mixed with moss and grass. The only thing she had to compare it with was the biosphere on Matrona, the place for forests, lakes and vegetable gardens, where she always took off her shoes to feel the life beneath her feet. This floor was just like that, but this, however, was the richest fauna and soil she'd ever experienced.

Then she stood and shrugged, feeling drawn to go outside. She gave yet another yawn as she reached a glass door. The scene was spectacular, and explained the ever present mist in the air. Gazing through it, she saw a very large deck consisting of a huge stone being used as a deck and it had symbols etched into it. But then she jerked back, gasping, when she saw the stone deck merging into the side of what was a massive canyon, one much wider and longer than any man made canyon in the biosphere. Trees of various size and shape were growing at the top of the canyon and the sky above was mixed with pinks, purples, and gold. She saw two moons, one large yellow one with silvery rings, and the other one small and red, just above the horizon. She could tell that wherever she was, it looked as if night was on its way.

The deck doors before her suddenly slid open. A gush of wind and cool mist hit her and then died as quickly as it came. Between the mist and the roar of rushing water, she knew that a river or probably a waterfall had to be very near.

Looking left and right, wondering who had opened the doors, she cautiously placed a foot on the stone decking, and felt the coolness of it vibrate up her leg and throughout her spine. She shook at the intensity of it and smiled. That felt good.

She paused, crinkling her brow. The stone had done something to her. Her body now felt alive and awake and her grogginess had disappeared. She walked to the middle of the huge stone, enjoying the nature all around her.

Above the canyon wall, rainbow colored birds lifted out of trees and flew into the air, their calls loud and exotic. Some of them veered off from the flock and dove down into the canyon, disappearing under the stone deck, out of Eden's view. They reminded her of her pilots and their formations, and of her commands. In a way, she was like one of the birds and used their techniques with her teams. Her heart dropped at the thought. Are they alive? Did Star Guild make it?

Her shoulders slumped forward. Her only family, Star Guild, may be gone. She wanted to cry, something she had only done as a child. She put her hands to her face and swallowed hard, holding back her tears. But, after a few moments, she converted her fearfulness and concern into anger—behavior learned as an adult.

Then she looked around, eyes piercing the land like a sword thrusting. She wanted to scream. She couldn't bear the thought that her family, Admiral Byrd, Captain Stripe, Brigger, and all of the others might be dead.

A zap went up her feet, giving her a euphoric feeling, instantly changing her mood. She looked down. Once again, it had come from the massive stone. She bent down and touched it, feeling cool energy sloughing from it, but nothing more. She shook her head, baffled.

Standing up, she calmly realized that thinking about Star Guild and getting angry about it wasn't going to bring them back to life, if in fact they were all dead. And she noticed that this was a shift in her thinking, which wasn't like her. Reasonable thoughts like these didn't usually come this easily and weren't this calming back at Star Guild.

She shrugged and eyed the surrounding area. She had just walked out of a building that was dome shaped and transparent like crystal. Looking to the other side of her, she saw another domed building. Both domes had stone decks that edged up to the canyon. She wanted to go over to the other dome to investigate and to see who lived there, and ask why she was here and how had she arrived, but her stone deck was calling to her. She had to peek over the edge of it, to see what was underneath and down at the bottom of the canyon.

When she got close enough to the edge, she got down on her knees and crawled. Even though she was a pilot, she had a strange fear of heights.

Her old fears were consuming her like none other, her heart pounded, and the palms of her hands and forehead broke into a cold sweat. But, she looked over the stone edge anyway. Her eyes settled, along with her body, when she saw a rushing river below. It was flowing through the base of the canyon.

Then, looking directly beneath the stone deck, she was amazed. The deck was actually a huge stone protruding from the canyon wall with an underground river of some sort spilling out of the same canyon wall just under her stone deck, creating a waterfall, with tons of water plummeting to the bottom of the canyon floor far below. The loud source of water she'd been hearing all along had been right under her the entire time. The scene was spectacular, and explained the ever present mist in the air.

She backed away from the edge and stood up, feeling the fear of falling take hold of her. Turning toward the doors, she walked back into the room, stopping dead in her tracks. She yelped.

A strange figure wearing a robe with a billowy hood covering its face was sitting by her bed in the corner of the room. Eden quickly concluded that the mysterious figure had probably been watching Eden's movements on the deck, or worse yet, had been hovering over her while she slept. She froze, not knowing what to do. Was this person part of the group that had attacked Star Guild? Was this person sent to kill her? Was she going to be a prisoner?

She looked around for something heavy that she could use—any kind of a weapon.

"Welcome," said the figure, the tenor of his voice strong and healthy. He stood up and presented a respectful nod of his head, his hood still concealing his features. He gestured at each corner of the room. Eden moved into a defensive position as more robed and hooded people came from the shadows, three in all, making four strangers total.

"Who are you?" she demanded, backing up a step.

He lowered his hood, revealing a handsome face wearing a beautiful smile. He was young, his eyes blue as the Lumus sky, and chestnut brown hair. He was the picture of pure health in its prime. "I'm Thomas Berard." He held out his hands to his hooded friends, as if introducing them. "We're members of the Knights Templar."

About the Author

Brandon Ellis grew up on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon in a small community known as Gladstone, where he graduated from high school and moved on to college.

After being declared an All State Baseball and All League Basketball player, he obtained his state and federal Therapeutic Massage License, and is a successful Sports Massage Therapist & Instructor. Father of three, he is also a successful author.

After his family, Brandon has three great loves in his life - writing, teaching, and sports.

