

Fire Dawn I: The Black

Uc Amalu Jr

Fire Dawn I: The Black

By Uc Amalu Jr

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Uc Amalu Jr

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, events or locale is entirely coincidental.

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Fire Dawn I: The Black

Chapter One

The Navigation Unit on the lead Smith blipped into life. It had been in an almost comatose state since the last Smith council was held almost ten years ago. Since then,it had had nothing to do, other than the odd course change here and there to avoid space debris. But now, ithad a purpose. It would lead all mankind to the salvationof a new home, multiple new worlds. A new place to call their own.If the Navigation Unit could feel, right now it would befeeling rather good about itself. It had lead mankind forthe better part of two hundred years, it would be glad ofthe rest. Firstly though, the Navigation Unit had to decidewhich would be the Central Planet. There were threecontenders, roughly in the Centre of this new solarsystem. They were all almost an equal distance from thesystem's twin suns, not much to choose between them.The Navigation Unit decided to play a little game. Thisgame had no name, but that didn't make it any less of agame. It fired three Terra-Forming pods at exactly thesame time. These pods were equipped with technology totransform these new worlds into copies of Earth. Thisprocess would take fourteen hours. But, the NavigationUnit decided that whichever planet first accepted the Terra-Forming, that planet would be the Central Planet. Thatplanet would become the Alpha Site, essentially a newEarth.Of all the people on board the Smiths, no one was moreexcited to finally be within a few hours of feeling solidground beneath her feet, than Trixi. Like everyone else shehad been born within the confines of the titanium vessel.Technology when they left Earth had allowed for a tenpercent increase in the average lifespan, but that isn'teven ten years to the average human.Trixi was incredibly well read having checked out all of thegreat works from the Smiths library. From Shakespeare toSteele, and King to Keegan. She had absorbed all theirknowledge, and had loved every syllable of it. Because ofthis and her ability to retain information, Trixi was prettydamn intelligent.She looked forward to getting off the ship for one reason.She wanted to live.Four years had passed since the wonderful day thatMankind had entered its new era. Of the three-hundredinhabitable planets and moons in the solar system,nineteen remained uninhabited.In spite of mankind's massive technological advancesthere were two main sources of income throughout thesystem.Farming and smuggling.Trixi and two of her friends lived on a small moon in theMiddle Ring, the least inhabited area of the solar system.They had built a small house, thirty miles or so away fromanyone else, and on an island surrounded by at leasteight miles of water on all sides. At first the three friendshad seen it as the ideal arrangement but after four yearsof near-total isolation, they were becoming restless.Pete, a trainee pilot four years ago spent the majority ofhis time looking after the land, growing food andbreeding cattle. K, a girl around Trixi's age, spent most ofthe time working on her engines. She had machine parts of all shapes and sizes brought in by boat, and wouldcontinually use the parts of long decrepit machines tobuild new ones. K's parents had died along with Trixi'sparents in what had been called an 'industrial accident'. They had been building a small estate somewhere on theCore. There had been an explosion, and no survivors. Thatwas all the explanation either girl had ever had, and ofcourse while they were unhappy at the outcome, they hadno reason to question the cause.After the accident Pete had given up his dreams ofbecoming a pilot in the Force and had taken both underhis wing.They had everything they needed. Pete produced all thefood they would ever need, and sold the rest of what heproduced. Once a month, he and K would travel ahundred miles or so to the moon's main village, and sellfarm produce and whatever contraptions K had made atthe market. Whilst there they would pay their monthly taxat the village hall, and then they would travel home. Thatwas pretty much the only contact they ever had with theworld outside their little farm.Trixi loved the quiet life, there was no question about thatin her mind but something, somewhere was calling toher, and she knew she had to answer.She had become an excellent marksman, and her hand-to-hand skills were also of the highest quality. That is onething that could be said about Trixi. If she couldn't dosomething perfectly, she wouldn't quit until she had itmastered.K's last shipment had been mostly junk, but there hadbeen a few weapons in there, most of them dating back tothe Civil War. K had reconditioned them, and as she knewthat Trixi would want them, she gave them to her.Every six months there was a contest in the moon's mainvillage. Not a contest of anything in particular, winningcould be by any means possible, although the use ofautomatic weapons was strictly banned. The village had apopulation of around three hundred people but every sixmonths for two days at a time, pretty much the entirepopulation of the moon would descend upon the capital.Trixi, K, and Pete had never attended, but when Trixi askedher friends if they would like to go this time, they didn'thesitate.Trixi stood in the centre of a rough octagon with sweatdripping from her every pore. She wiped her forehead withthe back of her hand and surveyed the unconsciousbodies of her three most recent opponents. Despite herslight frame she had bested each and every one, all ofwhom dwarfed her in both size and stature.She breathed deeply and the thin material of her vest topdid little to prevent any onlooker from noticing herheaving bosom as her breathing began to slow, waitingfor her final opponent. She did not have to wait long, butwas unable to hide her surprise as a girl, perhaps a littleolder than herself but pretty much the same size, steppedinto the octagon."Finally," Trixi smiled, her breathing as close to normal asmakes no difference. "A fair fight.""My sentiments exactly," the girl replied, her smilematching Trixi's own. "You'd best be ready to get your arsekicked.""Bring your A-game girl." Trixi glanced to her right towhere she knew Pete and K were stood, right against thebarrier. The best seat in the house. She then returned herattentions to her opponent and the two girls squared offagainst each other, standing almost nose to nose as thering announcer gave his unnecessarily long and drawnout introduction. Off to the side a bell rang once toindicate that the bout was under way. "Alright then bitch,let's see what you got,"Before the girl had a chance to move Trixi head-buttedher, her forehead connecting with such force that she feltthe girl's nose crack and as she stepped back, Trixi notedwith some satisfaction that the nose of her opponent wasbroken, and fresh blood was spread over much of herface.The girl rallied impressively and even though she was inobvious pain she leapt at Trixi. She appeared to hang inthe air a little longer than should have been possible,much like in old Kung-Fu movies. As she came back downtowards Trixi she spread her legs and wrapped themaround her neck, using her own momentum to spin withTrixi's neck as a pivot before she flung her to the ground,where Trixi rolled for several feet.She waited for the girl to be within range before she madeher move and when she did so the girl didn't even see itcoming. From her position laying almost flat on theground, somehow Trixi almost ran up the girl's body, thefinal part of the move being a powerful kick to theunderside of the girl's chin which sent her flyingbackwards through the air. She somersaulted and landedin a crouch, one hand flat to the ground, and stared Trixidown."You have some skill," the girl spat out a mouthful ofblood as she spoke. "What else you got?"Trixi heard K mutter something, just on the edge of herhearing. 'Ohno, shedidn't', or some similar comment."I thought you'd never ask." Trixi smirked, partly due to K'scomment but mostly because she knew this bitch wasgoing down. She held her right arm out towards the girland with her middle and index fingers, gestured that sheshould make a move, which she did. From her crouch sheran full pelt at Trixi, who didn't even flinch.Trixi didn't move until then girl swung at her and shewrapped her arm around the girl's own, flinging her arse-over-head with ease and kept the hold in place with thegirl flat on her back. Trixi then somersaulted backwardsand landed on her knees, straddling the girl's torso. Fromthat vantage point she rained down blow after blow to heropponent's head and face until all that remained was abloody, unconscious mess.As she stood to raucous applause, by far the loudest ofwhich came from Pete and K, Trixi bowed the slightest ofbows and as the ring announcer did his job andannounced her victory, just in case anyone had missed it,she made her way to the edge of the octagon and duckedbeneath the rope.Three weeks later and they were still in the village,awaiting the grand prize. Apparently it had been delayedat customs at the Core for weeks. Trixi didn't mindthough, for as much as she enjoyed life on the isolatedfarm that she shared with K and Pete, she was definitelyenjoying the social aspects of the village.She had managed to acquire rooms at the only pub in thevillage whilst they waited for her prize to arrive. Trixi foundit only slightly disturbing that no one seemed to have anyidea what said prize might be, but she was damned ofshe was going to leave without it.It was one night in the third week of their stay that Trixigot talking to the Captain of a small vessel docked justoutside the village. He had explained to her that he ranmedical supplies and suchlike from the Core, to theMiddle and Outer Rings, and that his pilot had quit a fewdrops back. Apparently he had the fastest none-planetaryparliament ship in the System.Trixi of course told him about Pete, and how he had beentop of his class at flight school back on board the Smith,and of K with her expertise in engines and all thingsmechanical. When asked about her expertise, Trixi hadlaughed."Ask around," she replied once she had caught her breath."I'm pretty well known around here."

Chapter Two

Three hours later, Trixi awoke. She wasn't a particularlyheavy sleeper but then again, it had been an awfully loudsound that had woken her.She glanced to her right and even though it was prettydark, it was clear that the man in bed beside her, theCaptain from a few hours earlier was dead, his body coldand stiff."Well, that can't be good." she muttered under her breath.She slid out of her bunk as quietly as she could, andstealthily crept across the small room she had calledhome for the past three weeks. Trixi stood at the door andlistened, hearing nothing but a faint whispering. Sherightly assumed that whoever had woken her up was atthe end of the passageway. Trixi realised that there wasmore than one voice, and those voices were slowly gettingcloser, and she could just make out what they weresaying."The Chosen One must die, The Chosen One must die."was being repeated over and over. As they were gettingcloser and closer to her door, and she had the only roomon this level, Trixi had two options. Fight, or run.As she had no idea how many of them there were, sheopted for the latter. She had no problem with being out-numbered, but when she wasn't expecting it that was justplain rude.She landed cat-like on all fours, and waited a moment tomake sure she had not been seen. When she wassatisfied that this was the case, she scampered to thenearest tree, a small tree similar in appearance to an Oaktree, and shimmied up. There she sat and waited. Shelooked up to her room, and saw that the light had beenturned on. Whoever was looking for her was obviouslychecking her room first and there was no doubt in hermind that they had already discovered the body, althoughit was still a mystery to her as to how the Captain had methis demise.She had little time to assess her situation, and somehowneeded to let Pete and K know what had happened, andto get them the hell out of there. She had left her room ina hurry, not even stopping to pick up any personal effects,including her communicator. Confident that she was stillsafe to do so, Trixi dropped from her perch, picked up thenearest rock, and launched it straight through Pete'swindow. Pete looked out immediately, and Trixi motionedfor him to join her outside.Moments later, Pete and K had both joined Trixi outside.Trixi's would-be assailants were still in her room. As sheexplained the situation to her companions, Trixi wasformulating a plan."We need to head for the docks. There's a ship without aCaptain, and I say we rectify that issue.""I'm not gonna' ask how you know that." Pete repliedquietly as Trixi took point, heading towards the docks."I had the Captain last night, woke up and he was deadnext to me." she replied in a very matter-of-fact way, as if itwas normal for her to find herself in such a situation."I said I wasn't gonna' ask," said Pete, chuckling lightly."So, shagged the poor bastard to death did you?""I'm good, in fact I'm better than good," Trixi turned andwinked at Pete. She noticed K give the slightest ofsquirms, but she decided to keep that to herself. "Butthat's taking the piss.""Well as much as I enjoy talking about what goes oninside Trixi's panties, we've got a ship to find," K shook herhead as she spoke. She would have been the first toadmit that it had been a while, and she was quitepositively gagging for it. Like her two companions shehad not engaged in sexual activity of any kind since hertime on board the Smith, and all this talk of sex anddeath was getting her wet where it counted.There were only a few vessels docked. As Gamma Twelvewas essentially a tiny, backwater moon, there was nogreat need to facilitate for many ships at a time."What's this ship called then?" Pete asked as together, thethree of them scanned to five docked vessels."Not got a clue." Trixi replied with a shrug. "Gotta' behonest we didn't talk too much, especially once we'd gotour clothes off." her eyes came to rest on one of thesmaller vessels, and she headed quickly towards it. "At aguess, I'd say this is it." "Good enough for me," said Peteas he and K followed their friend on board. "K, get that hotass of yours down to the engine room and see if you can'twork some magic." Pete gave that 'hotass' a playful slapand watched K as she made her way down the darkcorridor towards her destination. He then turned andheaded in the other direction, to meet Trixi on the vessel'sbridge. "How're we looking?""Gimme' a second, and we should have internal coms,"Trixi replied as she pored over the central console. Heknew that it shouldn't, but it always came as a surprise toPete how easily Trixi slipped into any role, in any givensituation and he watched on, impressed. "There, thatoughtta' do it.""K, do you read?" asked Pete, hopefully."Loud and clear," the reply came back from the engineroom, yet Pete and Trixi heard K's voice as clearly andconcisely as if she were standing next to them."What we got down there?" Trixi asked with a smile,satisfied with a job well done, well partly anyway. Ofcourse that job itself was getting the vessel off theground."Hydrogen fuelled, thirty-eight cylinder. Looks like a classseventeen.""Just tell me we're good to go," Trixi replied with a sigh.She really wanted to get off the ground. It took a lot tounnerve her but those voices, that chant... it'd got herpretty rattled. She glanced at Pete as he sank into thepilot's chair, and K's reply came back."Oh we're good." it sounded to Trixi as though K wasstraining, she'd probably got a wrench out already."That's all I needed to hear," replied Trixi, turning herattention back to Pete. "Take us up pilot, get us off thisfucking rock.""Yes Ma'am," Pete laughed as he mocked a salute. He hitthe starter to ignite the engines, and waited for a fewseconds before he pulled up on the controls and headedup and out of the atmosphere. "We're clear.""Good," Trixi breathed a sigh of relief. "Right, now I'mgonna' grab a couple of hours kip. I suggest that you twodo the same."

Chapter Three

The three Core planets, Alpha, Beta, and Omega, were thepinnacle of human achievement. The four years sinceMankind's arrival in the system had been eventful to saythe least. The Human species as a whole had a populationof around three billion, much less than had left Earth. Thiswas partly due to several million people not making thetrip but mostly, it was due to the Cull.The Cull took place in the first six months of Mankind'sinhabitation. Anyone who was carrying an incurabledisease, or was considered insane, had been killed bygas. The Planetary Parliament ran a Nazi like regime.Those who managed to escape the Cull headed to theOuter Planets, where it was thought they could make theirown life. The Parliament were only concerned with theCore, and those planets closest to them, which meantthat the fifty million or so escapees could rest easy in theknowledge that they were unlikely to be worried by theParliament, as long as they kept themselves tothemselves.Planet Alpha was home to all Government, Parliamentary,and Military buildings, aside from the several smallermilitary bases to be found dotted around the Inner andMiddle planets. These buildings were designed by menand women considered by the Planetary Parliament to beat the top of their respective fields, be it architecture,interior design, or plumbing. These are the buildings thatwould go down in history that future civilisations wouldmarvel over.Planet Beta was home to the rich, and would be famous.Grand estates and country clubs occupied this very eliteplanet and its three moons.Planet Omega was considered to be the home ofprogression. Labs of all kinds where men, women, andchildren alike 'volunteered' to be part of geneticexperiments, all for the betterment of humanity. It wassaid that anyone who volunteers for such experiments areentitled to immunity from pretty much anything for lifehowever in truth, no one saw or heard from them again.Families were torn apart because of the Cull. Those whodid not have the means to escape were taken from theirloved ones, with no remorse shown by those carrying outthe Cull.Those first six months were always remembered andbecause of those six months freedom fighters wouldalways exist, fighting against the totalitarian regime inplace.

Chapter Four

The Planetary Parliament Ship Joshua was in close orbitaround the planet Prima. The ship was basically a bus, aninterplanetary mega-bus. On this particular day there werevery few passengers. Not many people wanted to go tothe Outer Ring. They were orbiting Prima, ready to dockwith the PPS Helsingborg to take on medical supplies.On the bridge the Captain sat heavily into his chair as atransmission came through from the engine room."Yes Bates, what is it?" he asked irritably."The cooler's packed up, Sir. The engines are overheating,"Bates replied, panic evident in his voice."Well don't whine about it. Get it fixed man!" the Captainwas exhausted. It had been a long run from Beta and hewas in desperate need of a rest. That said he had littletime for incompetence at the best of times."It's too late, Sir!" Bates' yelled reply came back. "There'snothing else I can do!""What do you suggest Bates?""We're going down, Sir!" Bates was almost hysterical now,and the Captain knew that there was only one option thatremained, and he sighed deeply as he switched the comsto the ship-wide setting."This is Captain Toller.We are in an emergencystate.Abandon ship.This is not a drill I repeat, this is not adrill.All hands, abandon ship!"Captain Toller was experienced when it came to spacetravel as he had spent the better part of seventeen yearspiloting a Smith but despite his calm tones, the orderscame much too late and before anyone really had achance to do as they had been ordered there was anexplosion in the engine room; the PPS Joshuaplummeted towards Prima, most of the vessel burningup before impact.There was however, a single escape pod jettisoned fromthe stricken vessel.It contained one survivor.One girl.Almost a week after leaving their home world behind andTrixi, Pete and K found themselves at a loss as to where togo. They were constantly monitoring their radar and wereyet to detect anyone following them. Of course that didn'tmean that they weren't being followed, it just meant thatif indeed they were being followed whomever was doingso was being extremely careful to go unnoticed. They weredrifting around the Middle Ring whilst at the same timetaking great care to avoid any of the larger populationcentres, in the hope that they would soon find a suitableplanet or moon to set down and catch their breath."They're going to come after us eventually. It's just amatter of time." Trixi and Pete were in the galley, sat at asmall table. Pete nodded. "I think we're going to needsome help, I mean, those guys meant business. If I hadn'tbeen as aware as I was I wouldn't be here right now, andthat ain't the kinda' thing I wanna' think about, y'know?"Trixi had a tear in her eye as she was talking. Pete smiledas he gently placed his hand atop Trixi's."I know, I've been thinking the same thing." It was true,Pete was far from stupid and he realised the necessity forhelp, or for more crew members. "The only problem wehave is who to trust. I mean it's not like we know who theywere, or who they were working for, and we have no ideahow deep this shit goes. I mean, they coulda' just beenfanatics belonging to some fucked up cult.""Where are we, what planets are we near? We must havefriends here somewhere! I know we've pretty much keptourselves to ourselves since the days of the Smith, buteven so," Her tears gone, Trixi had a look of eagernessabout her."Let me make a few calls, and we'll go from there." Withthat, Pete left the galley and headed towards the bridge.Trixi stood up, went to the fridge and poured herself aglass of water. There hadn't been much in the way ofsupplies on board when they had taken the ship, justenough to last the three of them a fortnight, maybe threeweeks. There was however, a huge supply of cigarettes,which was to be expected considering the vessel they hadcommandeered was a smuggling ship, although themedical supplies the Captain had told her about werenowhere to be found. Trixi took a carton of cigarettes outof her pocket and lit one. She hadn't smoked before hertime on board the vessel but this was turning to be a verystressful time and she found that the myth was true.Cigarettes really do calm you down. She pressed thebutton on the intercom."How we lookin' down there K?" She released the buttonand awaited a reply."OK," the reply came a few seconds later. "There's a fewparts that are going to need replacing when we get achance, but she should hold together.""Good to know," Trixi chuckled. "Shout out if you needanything." Trixi terminated the transmission beforemaking her way to the bridge to join Pete. When shearrived she found her friend poring over the navigationconsole, apparently inputting a set of coordinates."We've got a heading," Pete said without looking up,sensing that Trixi was behind him. "Should only take sixhours or so.""Where?" Trixi asked."A planet called Prima, just on the Middle Outer border.There's a couple of flight school buddies of mine set upthere.""They OK? Can we trust them?" Understandably, Trixi wasworried. As has already been said they had no idea whowas hunting for them. It was a risky move whatever wayshe looked at it but at the end of the day, there was littlechoice."Oh fuck yeah. I trust both those silly bastards with mylife," he laughed out loud as he spoke but as his laughterdied down he had a faraway look in his eyes."Good enough for me," Trixi replied with a shrug. "Anyidea what this planet is like?""Only what's on the nav com. Hot and humid.""Sounds like fun." Trixi smirked a little as she put a callthrough to the engine room. "K, we've got a heading.""Well it's about time," the reply came back."Amen, sister," Trixi laughed. "Give her all you got.""Yes Ma'am."Less than five hours later the intercom buzzed into life. Asthe video feed didn't appear to be functioning, thetransmission was only in audio format."Identify." Pete recognised the voice straight away and hisface broke into a broad smile."J.D., how are you buddy?" he replied into the intercom."It's Pete, we OK to come on down?""Feel free my man, you got the all clear." Once J.D. had cutthe transmission had ended, Pete carried on. "We'reabout to land, K. Everything alright down there?""All systems registering normal," the reply came back asPete guided the vessel planet-wards and within momentslanded just outside a small compound. He met K and Trixiin the cargo bay and opened the doors. They were greetedby a brilliant sunshine and a wave of hot, sticky air. It wasas if they'd got off a plane in the middle of the Amazon.Once their eyes had adjusted to the brilliant light, theystepped off the ship to find two men and a womanwaiting."Dan, J.D., guys it's good to see you," said Pete, as hemade his way over to his friends as quickly as the climatewould allow. The men shared a three-way embrace, manlyof course, before Pete nodded his head towards theirfemale companion. "Who's the hottie?" She was indeedgorgeous with a figure to die for and fine blonde hair thatfell a couple of inches below her shoulders."We call her Lemmy," Dan ventured as he knocked acouple of stray dreadlocks out of his face. "She don't saymuch, figure she's had a rough time of it. Her shipcrashed a couple of miles from here six days ago, noother survivors.""Seems to be harmless enough though," said J.D."Fair enough," more than satisfied, Pete introduced hisown female companions. "This is K, and Trixi." Dan andJ.D. both nodded, and Pete could not help but notice thatJ.D.'s eyes lingered over K a little longer than wasabsolutely necessary, not that he could fault the guy'staste though.As Dan and J.D. led the way inside the compound Trixi,with Pete and K butting in whenever they could, explainedthe situation that they currently found themselves in. Asthey walked, Trixi quickly scanned the compound. Acouple of large satellite dishes were off to the right whilstto the left lay the remnants of two, possibly three smallvessels, gutted and stripped for parts."So let me get this straight," said Dan, mildly impressedby the tale of Trixi's victory in the competition on GammaTwelve. "Trixi here won some contest on some backwatermoon and now it seems like what, you got a group ofreligious nuts trying to kill you all?""That's pretty much the size of it, yeah," Pete smiledhelplessly. J.D. looked at Dan, and then winked at Pete."What y'reckon mate?" He asked, and waited patiently asDan lit a cigarette."Sounds like our kinda' party."

Chapter Five

Days passed without incident, and slowly but surely thosedays turned into weeks. Dan and J.D. only had a small set-up. Their radar was only capable of monitoring half ofPrimian airspace so really it shouldn't have come as asurprise when movement was detected four hundredmiles away, but it did. Although everybody was preparedfor it, they were all equally shocked."We have to leave, now!" Pete was adamant. "K, fire up ourship, we're leaving. Dan, J.D., you're coming with us. I'mnot having you guys get into shit for hiding us. Get whatyou need loaded up, there's plenty of room." K was alreadyin the engine room, fiddling with various dials that mostpeople would have no idea about.She had attached the new parts that J.D. had given to her.Her favourite was the Half-Light drive, so called because itwould propel a vessel to half the speed of light, althoughit was yet to be tested.Trixi was with her, watching, learning, her thirst forknowledge nigh unquenchable. The intercom buzzed andPete's voice came through clearly. "Trixi, I need you uphere." She immediately left and headed to the bridge,arriving a minute or so later, breathless. "Exit strategy?"barked Pete without looking up. "Any ideas?" Trixi lookedat the radar. She could see quite clearly that the sky abovethem was littered with ships. "They're not Parliament. Thecodes are slightly different, but they're encrypted." Peteexplained, clearly shaken up by the sheer magnitude ofthe task that they faced. "I'm guessing that they've gotorders to take us alive, else we'd have been blown to shitalready.""We can cloak, right?" asked Trixi after a moment'sthought. She found herself inclined to agree with Pete'sassumption, and she intended to use that to heradvantage."Yeah.""Then cloak, right now." Pete did as he was asked and alight on the dash indicated that the vessel was indeedcloaked. "OK, now take her up. Get us to the troposphereand drop an escape pod.""But we only have one." Pete argued although he veryquickly realised that to do so was futile."Do you want to get out of here?" Pete nodded to thepositive and pressed the intercom."Are we missing anyone?" he asked quickly over the com,a question to which there was no response. "Good, thenwe're leaving." Pete took the ship up. One hundred... Twohundred... "OK, we're at three hundred feet, preparing tojettison pod.""Remove the cloak," Trixi ordered."What?""Remove the cloak," she repeated semi-patiently."Why?" Pete was clearly confused."Just remove the fucking cloak!" Trixi repeated again, allsigns of her patience gone. "It'll confuse the crap out ofthem. Two vessels de-cloaking at the same time fourhundred feet in the air, they won't know what's what. Doit!" And this time, Pete did."I need more K, you got to give me more!" Pete yelled intothe com."I'm giving you everything, she's got nothing else!" Kprotested in reply. The engines were already screaming ather, almost deafening as the noise echoed around theengine room."Well we're losing ground, we have to have more!" Petewrestled with the controls. He forced the vessel left andright as he attempted to dodge the weapons fire rainingdown upon them."K. That Half-Light drive you're so excited about. Use it!"barked Trixi into the com."Are you sure?" K asked, not sure she had heard correctly."It's not been tested. It could work, or it could blow usoutta' the sky!""It's a risk we got to' take. We'll be proper fucked if we stickaround here!" yelled Trixi. "Get it prepped!" She terminatedthe transmission but within moments, K was back on thecom."OK, we're good to go," then, as an afterthought sheadded, "I think." Pete engaged the Half-Light, and the shipinstantly disappeared from the sky. The crew's actions hadthe desired effect insofar as their pursuers were confused,and not knowing what to do they headed back to Prima tosearch through the wreckage of the escape pod."Well now, that was bracing," said Dan, walking onto thebridge. "Someone want to tell me what the fuck justhappened?" Pete and Trixi were silent, offering noexplanation. "Any time you're ready would be great.""All I can tell you is that we used the Half-Light drive andthat the ship's intact. Everything's still working normally,"said Pete, poring over the scanners."That's as maybe, but we have a problem. A reallybigfucking problem," Trixi was clearly worried and unableto hide that fact. Thing is, she hated the sound of hervoice when she was worried."What do you mean?" asked Pete. "We're all still alivearen't we?" He glanced at Dan. "I don't know about youmate, but I consider everything else to be a bonus." Petelooked again at his console. The scanners were sendingback distressingly unfamiliar readings, and the colourdrained from his face."What is it?" asked Dan. "I mean, we are still alive aren'twe?" Pete motioned for Dan to look at the console. A fewmoments later, Dan wore the same look as Pete."Where the fuck are we?""When?" said Trixi."When? What do you mean, when? What sort of a fuckingquestion is that?""No," said Trixi, calmly. "Where we are isn't a concern. Iknow exactly where we are, but I don't know when." Peterested his hand gently on Trixi's leg."Sweetie, you're not making any sense," he said as un-patronisingly as he could."Then listen to me as I say this," said Trixi, gettingagitated once again as she shrugged Pete's hand off herknee. "We have moved through Time. The Half-Light drivenot only sent us through Space at a high speed, it brokethrough the fabric of Time as well. Are we getting this?Time and Space, Space and Time. I know it's a fucked upconcept but we're all reasonably intelligent people here,aren't we?" It took a minute or two for this information tosink in."But that's not possible. Everyone knows that to break theTime barrier, a velocity twice the speed of light has to bereached." Pete spoke eventually, a large amount ofdisbelief in his voice. "There's not a man alive who canbuild a ship that can take that speed, let alone anyonewho can develop the technology to go that fast.""I could," replied Trixi, basking in her own self-belief for amoment. "And if I could do it that means there's a chancethat someone else is able to as well.""That's bullshit," Pete and Dan aired their disbelief inunison."Then you figure it out," Trixi was still incredibly calm. "Youfigure out why the scanner shows that we're in orbitaround Europa.""Europa, one of the Jupiter moons?" Dan was not onlylooking worried; he had a look of fear on his face."Exactly," Trixi let this sink in, and then said. "Next, youcan tell me why the scanners show the year two thousandfive!"

Chapter Six

On board the ship time seemed to stand still. No onereally knew what to say. Everyone was sat silently in thegalley around the table, trying not to make eye contactwith anyone else. Nobody wanted to place blame becausein fairness no one was at fault. It could be put down tonothing but bad luck. It could have been hours but themore likely scenario is that merely minutes passed beforeJ.D. spoke."So," he paused as if he didn't really know what he wantedto say, he just wanted to end the silence. "What does thismean?""We're fucked," said Dan sarcastically, before stormingtowards the bridge."Maybe not," the voice was unfamiliar. They all turnedtogether and looked at the new speaker, and to say theywere surprised to see Lemmy standing there was anunderstatement. She didn't wait for anyone to interrupt,instead she carried on. "Think about it, all we have to do isreverse whatever we did, and I don't mean do itbackwards, I mean do the opposite. We got here so logicdictates that we can get back.""Why would that work?" asked Pete once he and the restof the crew had got over the shock of Lemmy actuallytalking."Because it's so simple, everyone always tries to over-complicate things," she replied. There was a shout overthe com."Um.... guys," It was Dan's voice over the com. "You mightwant to come and look at this."Pete answered. "What's wrong?" he said, as he startedrunning."Just so I don't wind up feeling like a total idiot, we reckonwe're way back in two thousand five, right?""Yeah," shouted Pete, breathless as he entered the bridge."Then why does the scanner show multiple life formsdown on the surface of Europa?" Pete looked at thescanner, stunned. There was no doubt about it. Therewere definitely life readings from the surface of what wassupposed to be an ice moon. It made absolutely nosense. Exploration of the solar system hadn't begun infull until twenty-one hundred, aside from Earth's Moonand Mars. The first planet side base hadn't even been inthe planning stages one hundred years after the point intime they now found themselves in. It was no secret thatno life, intelligent or otherwise had ever been discoveredin the Milky Way let alone the Solar System. Thesereadings were wrong, they had to be."What else are we picking up?" asked Pete. "Heat,radiation, radio, anything?""Actually, yeah we are," replied Dan as he fiddled with a fewdials. "Listen to this," he said, turning up the volume.After a few seconds, Pete spoke."What the fuck is that shit?""Death Metal man!" Dan replied, beaming like a little boyin a sweet shop. "I've run it through the ship's decryptionprogramme. Turns out it's Morbid Angel, a death metalband from the late twentieth, early twenty first century.""Any idea's why that's coming from Europa?"Dan looked blank, and shrugged. "Meh?" he ventured."I thought as much. OK, try and make contact," said Peteover his shoulder as he walked out of the room. Hearrived back in the galley to find everyone in pretty muchthe same positions as they had been a few minutes ago.Trixi had just lit a cigarette, and offered one to Pete. Heaccepted. A day like this could make a man forget aboutlung cancer. "It's like this," he said between drags."Anyone heard of a band called Morbid Angel?""What's this, a fucking quiz show?" J.D. shouted. "What theHell is going on?" Trixi tutted at J.D., and laughed."I've heard some of their shit," she said, still laughing atJ.D. who clearly wasn't finding this as funny. "They're reallygood if that's what you like. Fast, deep and hard." Shewinked at J.D., who was getting more and more wound upby the second."Well," said Pete, trying not to laugh at a clear innuendohimself."They're on Europa; at least someone's playing themdown there.""Good taste," was all Trixi said. "Good fucking taste,"Three hours later the ship set down on Europa, en routepassing through an invisible electro-atmospheric field,built by the occupants of the moon to add an atmosphereto an otherwise lifeless planetoid. Dan had made contactwith Europa Base. It had one single occupant, a seventyfive year old man. It turned out that he arrived here inmuch the same way, although from much further on intime. Four hundred years, give or take. He explained howthe rest of his crew had died of a disease similar toSyphilis and although he to had caught the disease, hehad injected a minute amount of liquid nitrogen into hisblood stream, having developed and programmed it toseek out the Syphilis and suspend it. He had been herefor thirty nine years; thirty of them had been spent aloneso he really didn't talk much. After this explanation, hetook Trixi to one side."Girl," he said. "You're going to need this to get back." Hehanded what looked like a small remote control to Trixi."What is it?" she asked."Can't rightly remember what it's called, but essentially itgenerates black holes." he replied. Trixi looked puzzled."Why would we want to generate a Black Hole?""Because at the centre of every Black Hole is a doorway toeverywhere, you just have to know where you want to go,and that's where the doorway will take you," he explained."What about the pressure? Once you pass over the EventHorizon, it's like trying to survive at the bottom of thedeepest ocean, it can't be done.""I was hoping you'd say that," chuckled the old man. "Lookat this." Trixi hadn't noticed before, because it wasperfectly camouflaged. She hadn't been looking for it butsure enough it appeared before her eyes, materialising asif from nowhere. The old man disappeared leaving Trixialone and wondering if he had ever really been there inthe first place. She pushed that thought out of her headand lit a cigarette. If he hadn't really been there, then whohad she spent the last few minutes talking to?

Chapter Seven

Suddenly, and with no explanation, Trixi knew things thatthere was no way she could have known.She had only been talking to the old man for a fewminutes, ten at most, but she knew everything abouthim; who he was, where he was from, how he had got toEuropa and what he was doing there.She knew the names of his four daughters, and that hissecond wife had been brutally murdered.She stopped for a moment and focused on her thoughts.The old man's four daughters were named Sara, Jemma,Janey, and Trixi.

Chapter Eight

Captain Jenkins, a veteran of the Planetary Parliament ifthere was such a thing as a veteran of an organisationthat had existed for only four years, pressed the receivebutton on his remote activated videophone."Sir.""Captain, good to see you.""Thank you Sir.""Yes, quite.""What can I do for you Sir?""Well Captain, I was just making sure that you are alright.""I'm fine Sir.""Fine?""Yes Sir.""Then tell me this, Captain. If you are, as you put it, 'fine',then give me another reason that you allowed the twoSvensson girls escape.""I offer no explanation Sir. They disappeared into thin air.""Well that is not good enough, Captain. I am sending youreinforcements. Failure a second time is not an option. Doyou understand?""Yes Sir.""You had better," he paused for a moment and stared atJenkins, shaking his head slowly. "Have a nice day,Captain," and with that, the transmission ended.Trixi was shaken by this revelation taking place inside herhead. The old man himself had said that he came fromtime four hundred years later than Trixi's own time. Nomatter how hard she tried, Trixi could think of no sanereason how this could be. She decided to push it out ofher mind and lighting a cigarette, went in search of herfriends. They were exactly where she last saw them,hanging around outside the ship."Guys," Trixi shouted to them. "I have something to showyou.""It had better be good," said Dan, miserably."Who's pissed on your chips?" K asked."What?" Dan asked, before realizing that he had heardexactly what K said to him. "Oh, no one. It's just been apretty fucked up few days!""Yeah, same for all of us. Get over it," said Pete. Danscowled at the back of his head, as they all followed Trixi."Do you see?" Trixi asked."What are we looking for?" Replied J.D."I can't tell you. Let your vision blur, as if you're looking atone of those magic pictures." They all did as she asked."Holy shit." Dan was the first to see it. "She's beautiful,where did it come from?""It's always been here," replied Trixi. Slowly, everyone elsesaw what Trixi and Dan saw and were equally taken aback.The ship was magnificent, at least three times the size oftheir small vessel, with a name scrawled down the side."The Reaper," Lemmy said out loud, as everyone elsemouthed the name. Pete turned to face the girl."You know, you do chip in with a comment at the mostunexpected of times." Lemmy grinned, and winked atPete. Trixi noticed the wink, and laughed quietly to herself."Just keeping you on your toes, stud," Lemmy laughed asshe spoke."Alright guys, anything that we can take out of EuropaBase, get it loaded. I want to be hitting the sky in anhour," Trixi ordered, ignoring the obvious sexual tensionbetween Pete and Lemmy as best she could."Who died and made you Captain?" asked Pete, shockedat the authoritative tone in which Trixi spoke."The old man gave me the ship before he died, thatmakes me Captain," she replied with more joy in her voicethan she intended. Hoping that no one would notice, shelet it slide."The old man died?" said Pete, shocked for the secondtime in almost as many seconds."Yes, he kind of, vanished I guess. One minute he washere, the next he was not," Trixi replied. "Now get going.Like I said, I want to hit the sky in an hour."Ma'am," was the general mumbling of agreement.Fifty five minutes later they were loaded up. Dan was quitepleased with himself. He had raided the food stores anddiscovered what seemed to be an endless supply of prettymuch everything. Having tied his dreadlocks so theyweren't constantly in his face he had set about the task ofmoving as much to the Reaper as possible. K was equallypleased, as she had found a huge arsenal of weaponry. Allof this was now tucked away on board the Reaper, readyfor a rainy day."All set Ma'am," said J.D. He had adopted the pilot's chairas his own and had just completed the pre-flight checks."Take her up then, nice and easy," Trixi replied. "How's Kfinding the engine room?""She says it's like nothing she's ever seen. The technologyis incredible, and is apparently very user-friendly. She saidthat if all goes well she won't have to do a thing.""Well let's hope it stays that way," Trixi sighed. "Things arecomplicated enough as they are," she turned to Pete whowas sat at the nav com. "Do we have a heading?""Yes Ma'am," replied Pete. "I thought we might take aswing round Earth, just to give them something to talkabout, and then head for the constellation Vulpecula."Pete indicated this on the scanner. The Reaper wasridiculously more advanced than their old ship, as youwould expect from a design four hundred years its junior.The scanner was actually a 3-D projected image, hoveringfour feet in the air in front of the navigation unit."Any particular reason?" Trixi asked with nothing morethan the slightest of nods."No Ma'am, it's just well where else are we going to go?""Fair enough," said Trixi. She thought it was probably forthe best that she didn't tell anyone about the Black HoleGenerator just yet. She still didn't have everything straightin her head and until she did, she figured that everyonehad enough on there proverbial plates.

Chapter Nine

Leaving Europa behind and with it Jupiter and her manycelestial bodies, the Reaper sped through space towardsthe birthplace of the human race. None of the crew heldany sentiment for the planet as the only stories they hadheard were all of war and destruction. In spite of that fact,it was still going to be a special moment."How we doing J.D.?" Pete asked. "How long you reckonbefore we hit Earth?""Hour, maybe two," came the reply. "You up for hanging aU-Turn around the Statue of Liberty?""Hell yes," Pete chuckled at his friend. "Best not let on toTrixi what you're planning though, I think this power hasgone to her head,""She does seem a little uptight, but then again that oldguy did croak right in front of her," J.D. defended theCaptain, although he certainly couldn't argue. "That mightexplain a few things,"Trixi was in her bunk, not that she'd been able to get anysleep. She kept going over and over things in her mindbut still couldn't see everything clearly.The old man had been her father and she had threesisters, two older and one younger, two years separatingeach of them. Her father had arrived on Europa through ablack hole that he or a member of his crew had generated.But why? Why would he and his crew want to get toEuropa, and why would they travel almost seven hundredyears into the past to do so?It made no sense to her. She came to the conclusion thatthe Black Hole Generator given to her by her father wasfaulty. Maybe the Half-Light drive was the same as theBlack Hole Generator on a basic level, which would explainwhy they had arrived at Europa just as her father had doneso before them. Maybe there was only one, and the BlackHole Generator and the Half-Light drive were one and thesame, in which case how did Dan and J.D. end up with theHalf-Light? But surely that would mean that the twotechnologies should not be able to exist at the samepoint in Space and Time.She would work it all out, she knew she would.Down in the engine room, K was really quite bored.Because of the way the engine worked and the fact that itwas so completely self-sufficient she had nothing to dobut monitor it, ensuring that input and output levelsstayed within their set parameters.Having watched and monitored for ten or fifteen minutesthey hadn't moved at all so K headed down to thearmoury. She had an idea in mind for some kind of tank,an all terrain vehicle of some sort. It's not as if she didn'thave the spare time.On her way to the armoury, K stepped into the galley withthe intention of grabbing a bite to eat. In all theexcitement of the past few days, she couldn't remembereating anything at all. Lemmy was already there, wearing achef's hat and a little pinafore. She was stirring a hugepan of what smelled like the hottest chilli known tomankind; Grindcore Chilli."Give me five minutes, and this'll be ready," Lemmyshouted over the noise of the bubbling pot. "You mightwant to run down to the walk in and grab a case of lager,""I like your thinking girl," replied K as she turned and randown the corridor. Five minutes later she returned and aspromised, Lemmy had laid out six bowls of Grindcore. Therest of the crew were already sat, waiting impatiently forthe lager that K had on her shoulder. She placed the casein the centre of the table, and sat down ready to tuck in."I take it that everybody is aware of what we are about toeat?" asked Lemmy, an extremely knowing smile upon herface. "Grindcore Chilli is incredibly hot, I'm not sure thatyou boys can take it," if it was at all possible her smilespread even wider as she talked. "So if you can't manage itI'm sure that Trixi, K or myself will gladly finish off yourhelpings,""I think we can manage, right boys?" replied Dan, hurt atthe suggestion that his iron stomach wasn't up to thetask. J.D. and Pete nodded, and as one all six crewmembers started to eat.As he tucked into the incredibly hot and spicy dish, anunnerving feeling washed over Dan. He glanced aroundthe table and saw that everything appeared to be normal.The rest of his friends were chowing down withouthesitation so he attempted to do the same but hecouldn't shake the sensation that someone was lookingover his shoulder. He turned in his chair and saw Lemmy,although her appearance was drastically different. Shelooked much older and had several brutal looking scarsupon her bare skin. Dan turned back to the table just tobe certain and sure enough, Lemmy was sitting directlyopposite to him, munching through her bowl full ofGrindcore Chilli."They can't see me," he turned back to face the otherLemmy with an expression of bemusement upon his face."What.. the... fuck?" he stammered, fear boiling up insideof him."Oh..." Lemmy's expression also changed as a realisationdawned on her. "I've made a mistake. I wasn't supposedto appear to you in reality,""You're not making any sense. Why are you talking to meabout realities?""And apparently I'm here much too early," it appeared toDan as though Lemmy was now talking to herself, whichconfused him even more. "The time line must not havebeen altered yet. Shit! I bet you don't even know my realname,""OK, you're really scaring me now,""I know, I know," Lemmy now looked Dan straight in theeyes, and had he not known any better he'd have swornher eyes glowed red, just for a second. "You're not readyfor this, I'm sorry. You're going to forget that I was here.You're going to turn back to the table and enjoy your mealas if nothing ever happened," she smiled a worn smile."Do you understand?""I do," Dan replied, his voice monotone. He turned back tothe table and just as the other Lemmy had told him hewould, he tucked into his bowl of chilli and in that instanthe completely forgot about what had just happened.Fifteen minutes later, the case of lager had been polishedoff, and K was just eating the last of J.D.'s Grindcore. Fiveminutes after that, J.D. came back from the toilet, havingspent the last ten minutes throwing up."Couldn't take the heat then, eh lad?" Dan chortled,nudging Pete's ribs as he spoke."Fuck you," J.D. replied, feeling extremely sorry for himself."Fuck all of you!"

Chapter Ten

The navigation computer beeped into life as J.D. ran up tothe bridge, having detected an imminent impact."Pete, could do with a hand up here bud."Pete entered the bridge soon after J.D. and sat downbehind his friend at the navigation computer itself. "Yousee that big rock like thing we're about to hit?""Yeah, we might want to avoid that," replied Pete, asarcastic tinge to his voice. "I don't fancy dying in thetwenty-first century.""'specially not by crashing into the Moon I'd wager," saidJ.D., chuckling lightly at his friend's humour in the face ofdeath. "What do you think, evasive action?""I'd say yes," replied Pete, turning on the intercom. Therewas no panic in his voice, instead he spoke clearly andcalmly. "Guys, hold onto something or strap yourselvesin. Whatever, we're about to take evasive action before weend up strewn all over Earth's Moon. Hold on.""OK," said J.D. " Here we go." The problem that they werehaving was that although the nav com had planned aperfect course to Earth, it had failed to take into accountthat the Moon in the twenty-first century was much furtheraway from Earth than it was in the twenty-eighth century,almost twelve million miles further away to be precise. Asa direct result of this, the Reaper was passing the moonjust under four miles off the dark side, and the Moon'sgravity was not happy. It was hungry, and it didn't fear theReaper."Slingshot," said Pete."What?" J.D. was concentrating fully on wrestling thecontrols. "I've never pulled off a successful Slingshotbefore.""Now's your chance and our only chance, so get it right!"J.D. looked unsure. "Or I could always get Dan to do it, or Icould do it myself," teased Pete, as Trixi arrived on thebridge."Slingshot?" she suggested to Pete."That's exactly what I said.""Alright," J.D. was getting frustrated. "Alright, I got it." Hewasn't lying either. He took the Reaper within ten feet ofthe surface of the Moon, constantly gaining speed. The G-Force on board was incredible. No one could speak, theirfaces temporarily stretched back past their ears. J.D. letout an inhuman yet silent scream, as the pain of straininghimself to control the vessel almost got the better of him.It wasn't long, only a matter of minutes before the Reaperhad done full circle and was lining up for the Slingshotmanoeuvre. To the crew though, they were the longest fewminutes of their lives. The pain for each and every of themwas excruciating. Seconds later though the Reaper beganto leave the surface of the Moon behind, its manymountains and valley's becoming a distant memory.The manoeuvre was over and as the G-Force wore off andthe Reaper slowed down to a sensible speed, the crewcheered. J.D., beaming with pride simply sat there unableto do much else except shake all over."Anyone else want one of these?" asked Trixi as shesparked a cigarette, and then put it in between J.D.'smotionless lips. As he inhaled the beautiful nicotine, hiseyes closed and a wave of calm passed over him."Shit yeah," was all he could say.None of the crew had ever seen Earth, only a few pictureshere and there. The twenty-first century was the peak ofEarth's tenure as home to the human race. Visually it wasstunning and from so far away the crew could watchweather systems and cloud formations as they movedover continents. They all watched in awe.The closer they got, and the more mankind's ancestralhome filled their screen the more excited they got.Although not a single person on board had a directattachment to the planet, all of them knew that theirforefathers had made lives there, good lives for the mostpart. It was only natural for them to feel a little nostalgia."Breaking atmo in thirty seconds," Pete said, not thatanyone was listening. They were all too busy admiring theview. "We should come out somewhere over the northAtlantic." He looked over at J.D., who was currentlysmoking his fifth cigarette in quick succession. "You readybuddy?""I'm good man." J.D. smiled."Take us down J.D." said Trixi."Yes Ma'am.""Breaking atmo now." Suddenly and without warning, theReaper began to increase speed."J.D., what are you doing?""Nothing Ma'am, it's not me." Trixi knew this to be true asan extremely worried look suddenly appeared on J.D.'sface."K, what's goin' on down there?" Trixi yelled into the com."Impact in ten," Pete yelled, fear radiating from his mouth."I dunno'," was K's frantic reply. "Things just started goingcrazy.""Six." Pete wasn't the only one on board fearing for his lifefor the second time in the last hour."Hit the Half-Light," ordered Trixi, both fear and panicobvious in her voice. "Hit the fucking Half-Light now!""Two." And J.D. hit the Half-Light, causing the Reaper toinstantly disappear from Time and Space, materialising anano-second later."Everybody still with us?" asked Trixi. The replies althoughjaded, indicated a full crew."Anyone got any idea why that trip was so muchsmoother than our previous venture with the Half-Light?"asked Dan."Not me," began Pete. "But to be fair, I'm not complaining.Last trip was a nightmare.""True," replied Dan."Guys," J.D. looked worried. "I know where we are."

Chapter Eleven

A trio of missiles passed over the bow of the Reaper andexploded only a matter of feet off the port side. The vesselshuddered as the electrics flickered briefly and just for amoment, it seemed as though the oxygen regenerationunit would not survive. All on board held their breath inmorbid anticipation of a slow, painful death but thankfullyit was an anomaly caused by power fluctuations and theunit quickly began to function normally once more."What the hell?!" Dan voiced exactly what everyone elsewas thinking. "We've landed in the middle of a fucking warzone.""Anyone else ever flown in conditions of war?" asked J.D."'cos I never have.""You can manage J.D.," said Trixi, with more certainty thanshe herself felt. "You're the best pilot we have on board.""Yes Ma'am," he replied. "But still.""I said, you can do it.""Yes Ma'am," said J.D., as yet more missiles exploded, thistime just off the starboard side. The Reaper rocked again,and once more the electrics did their flickering dance."Pete, I need a way out.""Working on it man, working on it," said Pete from hisstation, his tone hinting at the frustration he felt for thefact that he was not at the helm himself. "I'll have you one,just as soon as I work out where the fuck we are.""I know where we are!" shouted J.D., wrestling with thecontrols as he did so. "We're back where we should be.Look," he nodded at the scanner. "That's Prima.""Shit, you're right," replied Pete There was no denying thatfact, it just didn't make any sense. "What the hell have wecome back to? What year are we?""Twenty-three twenty," said Trixi, after checking the Half-Light display."Anyone else remember there being a war last year?"asked Dan, as puzzled and bemused as the rest."Not this far out into the system," replied J.D. "All fightingwas confined to the Inner Ring.""I don't want to freak you all out," Lemmy spoke, startlingeveryone as she usually did each and every time shespoke up out of the blue."Why does anyone bother saying that line?" Pete tried totake the edge off the atmosphere as yet another missileexploded, and much closer this time."I think we changed history," This time, no one respondedto Lemmy. They were all extremely freaked out, none ofthem really relishing in the thought that they may havechanged everything. "When we de-materialised thesecond time when we all thought we were above the northAtlantic, well we weren't.""What do you mean Lemmy?" asked Dan, confused. "Andhow do you know?""I just thought I'd check back for reports around the timewe almost impacted," Lemmy went on. "There's talk of ameteor crashing into the sea just off the coast of Icelandon January fourteenth, two thousand. Two weeks later agroup of Icelandic scientists discovered what they called'SpaceDebris' washed up at Reykjavik. From this debristhey were able to build technology significantly moreadvanced than the rest of the world. Much of it turned outto be flawed. The most significant technology though wasa space craft way ahead of it's time. They developed anearly version of the Terra-Forming project and the Icelandicpeople claimed the Moon as their own in two-thousandfourteen. From what I gather..." Lemmy paused as J.D.pulled a semi-loop to avoid another missile attack, andthen she carried on. "From what I gather this causedWorld War Three which was won by Iceland, although fouryears later the CIA infiltrated the Icelandic Governmentand tore them down from the inside. America neverinvaded the United Kingdom; instead it was the other wayaround. Britain gained control over the United States,aside from Alaska which remained the last stand for theFree America Movement.""So is that why these guys are such bastards?" J.D.shouted over as he avoided yet another missile attack."They're British?""English actually," Lemmy carried on as if it was the normfor her to talk at such length. "England won the BritishCivil War because they forced the American army to fightfor them.""That does explain a few things," said Trixi. "Throughouthistory the English have never been at peace unless theywere at war, hence this absolute fucking shit-storm we'vearrived in." As she finished speaking an incoming videofeed came up on screen. The vision was that of a female,probably around her late twenties."You have entered English airspace; identify yourself atonce else the next missile will make contact." She spokein perfect English, the Queen'sEnglish. The kind of Englishaccent you only ever hear spoken by bad guys in films."This is the Reaper," Trixi replied. "I am the Captain of thisvessel, and we have as much right to this space as youdo.""You do not," was the reply. "Surrender your vesselimmediately.""If we refuse?""Then we have no choice but to destroy you. You have twominutes." Trixi cut the transmission."K, what do we have in the way of fire power?!" Trixi yelledinto the com."How many ships are we fighting?" replied K."I count seventeen," said Dan as he allowed his eyes toscan the data readouts."Right, I have an EMP. It sends a pulse straight to the coreof anything electrical within a five mile radius.""That should do it," replied Trixi."We have to shut down all systems before we can use it,""Already on it," said J.D. as he flicked multiple switches."Can you activate the EMP from there K?""Already got my finger on the button,""Is it just me or did that sound vaguely sexual?" Dansmirked and stifled a chuckle."Good, just let the engine power down, on my mark." J.D.waited a few seconds, completely ignoring Dan'sinappropriate comment. "Mark." K hit the EMP, and aripple of energy ran in all directions away from the Reaper,knocking out every system on all its aggressors. As soonas the EMP reached its five mile limit and fizzled out, andJ.D. powered up and the Reaper sped off, her crewlaughing and joking with each other out of nervous reliefmore than anything else."May I make a suggestion Ma'am?" Pete said to Trixi. "Thatsuggestion being that we get our arses outta' here andget back to our own time line?""Sounds good to me," replied Trixi. "But..."And suddenly she knew. The Black Hole Generator givento her by her father was exactly what the Half-Light was;only it's other half. The Yin to the Half-Light's Yang.Without its opposite number, either one would randomlypick a destination out of a hat, as it were. When both wereconnected, it gave the ability to pick and choose."K get up here," she almost screamed into the com. Karrived as quickly as she could, and now the whole crewwere assembled in the bridge. Trixi went on to tell thestory about her father, her sisters and her mother, thetruth about the Half-Light drive, and the ability she nowhad to remember things that were yet to happen."So what you're basically saying, family issues aside isthat if I attach the Black Hole Generator to the Half-Light,creating a kind of hybrid Half-Light, then we can gohome?" K asked having taken a few seconds to get herhead around the concept that tore the laws of physics intoseveral tiny pieces."Pretty much, yeah.""Then what the hell am I waiting for?" K shouted, runningdown to the engine room. Dan smiled at Trixi."You OK Ma'am?" He asked gently."I will be," she replied, matching the smile of her friend."Let's go home."

Chapter Twelve

On board the Reaper, the nav com detected a direct hitand automatically put up its shield surrounding the entireship with invisible energy. Several more would-be directhits were deflected in this way as the vessel wasmercilessly attacked by several Alliance ships, all of whommust have thought Christmas had come early when theReaper materialised in their midst."What do you think?" J.D. said to Pete and Dan. "Shall welet them chase us?""Will those shields hold up?" asked Dan."Well, they're showing ninety-nine percent intact," repliedPete. "I love this ship, even one direct hit like that on ourold girl and she'd have been fucked like a drunk in abrothel.""Take that as a yes then I think," Dan said to J.D."Right you are." J.D. spoke into the com. "K, open her up,we're going flying." Fresh from his Slingshot high, J.D.knew that he would have no problem out-running thePlanetary Alliance ship that seemed set on destroyingthem, but he wanted to have a little fun along the way. Heweaved this way and that way, feigning damage to theship before finally putting the hammer down a little,going fast enough to stay out of range, but close enoughto keep them interested."Do we give chase Sir?" Roberts asked of Captain Jenkins."That is what they want of us Roberts, but I see we have noother choice," and as an afterthought. "It may do us wellto request back-up, put in the call Roberts.""We have the asteroid belt coming up J.D.," Pete shoutedacross the bridge. "You OK with that?""Only one way to find out," replied J.D. as Trixi came ontothe bridge."What's going on?" she demanded."Nothing Ma'am, just a little game of cat and mouse," saidPete. "Only this time, the mouse is going to come out ontop, there's no way they'll follow us through the belt.""You're right, they won't," said Trixi, indicating four fastmoving objects on the scanner. "But I'm sure that theseguys have different ideas.""Oh shit what are they?" Pete knew the answer before hehad finished asking the question, he looked at Trixi asthey both stared at the screen before them, and togetherthey mouthed the words, 'Bounty Hunters'. "Get us out ofhere man," Pete yelled to J.D."Dan, I want you and K on the guns, now!""Yes Ma'am," replied Dan as he ran towards one of the twogun stations. "K I need you now," he shouted into thecom.It was all Dan and K could do to shoot missiles destinedfor the Reaper out of the sky, the bounty hunters gettingever closer with their much smaller ships able to navigatethe belt much more effectively."They have a lock, I can't break it." Pete was punching atscreens furiously, trying to decipher the lock code."Let me try," said a voice behind Pete, and Lemmy pushedhim out of his chair and took his place. Within seconds,she spoke. "This is a simple code," she said turning toPete. "Look, what do you see now?" she asked as shetapped away. Pete stared for a few seconds."Damn girl you're good. Gotta' say I wouldn't have brokenthat." The Lock Code deciphered, J.D. accelerated awaynarrowly avoiding multiple collisions with asteroids."Easy J.D., easy," Trixi said."I'll take it easy when we have some breathing space;"barked J.D. "Now let me concentrate." Trixi remainedsilent, making a note to herself to have a word with J.D.when he'd got them to safety.The bounty hunters did not give up easily. They were on apromise of a huge pay-off for the capture of the Svenssongirls. Trixi had her suspicions as to why they were beingchased, and she was absolutely correct. Lemmy wasindeed Trixi's younger sister, Janey. For whatever reasonthey had both wound up four hundred years into thehistory of their own time, Janey with apparently norecollection whatsoever. That would of course explain herintelligence, Janey was two years Trixi's junior and wassimilar to her elder sister in most every way. She foundherself feeling a little jealous.The asteroid belt navigated without incident, J.D. couldreally open up the Reaper and give her a good run. Flatout she could outrun anything, her only problem wasmanoeuvrability, but this wasn't an issue in open space."J.D. this course is going to take us straight into the InnerRing, we should be on Parliament radar any second now."Pete looked at J.D., his face like stone as he concentrated."Don't worry man," J.D. replied. "Get on the com to K, giveher these co-ordinates." J.D. punched a few buttons. "Getthe Half-Light ready for a short jump," he paused. "Well,maybe a little skip."

Chapter Thirteen

The Reaper approached the automated defences of theInner Ring. The bounty hunters chasing them fell into aloose formation, none wanting to get too close toanother, but equally none of them wanted to lose out ontheir prize. Without warning, the leading bounty hunterfired two missiles in quick succession, thus taking outtwo of his opponents and leaving only two still in thechase. As the Reaper neared the Inner Ring, the nav comwent haywire as it registered forty separate locks,meaning that unless something was done quickly thenthe Reaper would very soon be none existent as not evenits own defences could withstand forty direct hits. Theautomated defences fired, the nav com was going intooverdrive."Direct hit in ten," Pete screamed. "You better havesomething planned J.D.""Don't worry yourself," replied J.D., calm as you like. "Readywhen you are K," he spoke into the com."Five." Pete was beside himself. "Whatever you got inmind, do it now." K hit the Half-Light, and in the blink ofan eye the Reaper was on the opposite side of the InnerRing, cruising as if she didn't have a care in the world.The Reaper out of the way, forty or so missiles foundthemselves without a target so they locked onto thenearest moving objects. The bounty hunters were nomore."That was nice man," Pete conceded. "I gotta' hand it toyou that was very well thought out.""Calm down," J.D. laughed. "You're still not going to blowme." J.D. smiled as K came onto the bridge. He lifted herfrom the waist, swirled her around and planted a kiss onher lips. "That was amazing," J.D. said as he placed K backon her own two feet. "I can't believe that worked, yourtiming was impeccable.""Thanks," replied K. "It was you who told me how to work itthough, I think your exact words were, 'leave it as late asyou can'.""It worked though." J.D. was still laughing. "Those bountyhunters won't be bothering us again.""You're right, it was a very well thought out plan," said Trixias she stepped through the door. "Tell me next timeyou're going to' do something like that though, we allmight have died!""Yes Ma'am," J.D. conceded. "But we didn't."As time passed, J.D. and K grew closer. They werespending more and more time together, and when theythought no one was looking they would sneak a quicksmooch, or hold hands underneath the table. Theythought no one knew but the longing looks and fleetingglances hadn't gone unnoticed, quite the opposite.Everyone knew.Trixi was worried; she had been racking her brain trying towork out why she and Lemmy were being chased, andhow they had come to be in this time and place. She wasyet to broach the subject with Lemmy, as she was unsurehow her younger sister would react. It was hard for Trixi todeal with and she considered herself level headed, butshe was as yet unsure about Lemmy's mental stability."Well, have you got any ideas?" Dan asked."Are you really sure that we've run out of money?" repliedPete."Yes mate, I mean it's not like we had much to begin with.We need to find work or steal, or something soon, elsethey're gonna' find us drifting and starved to death.""We should speak to the Captain, make sure sheunderstands how big a mess we're in then," said Pete asTrixi entered the galley. "Speak of the Devil.""What's up guys?" she asked."Somebody's in a good mood," Dan joked."Good night's sleep," and then she went on. "So, what yougotta' talk to me about?""Well Ma'am," Pete cleared his throat. "It appears that wehave kinda'..." He tailed off."Oh for fucks sake, pussy," said Dan. "We've got nomoney,""How bad is it?" Trixi asked."Well you know that big bag of pasta we've got?""Yes," said Trixi slowly, as if trying to coax blood from astone."We have no sauce to go with it,""That's it!" Trixi laughed. "You're all bent outta' shape 'coswe have no sauce to go with your pasta?""No you misunderstand me," said Dan. "We have nothingto go with it. We don't even have any of those biscuits youlike so much and think that no one's ever noticed youmunching on.""Looks like we best get ourselves some work then, eh?"Trixi said, rubbing her hands together."We could always rent out J.D.," Dan suggested."I don't think we should aim quite as low as whoring outcrew members," laughed Trixi, and then as anafterthought. "Well, not straight away anyway."

Chapter Fourteen

"So where are we headed J.D.?" Pete asked as he enteredthe bridge, followed closely by Lemmy. He hadn't beenable to get rid of her just lately, wherever he went she wasthere like a permanent shadow... not that he minded, shewas damn hot!"Well I thought we might head to the Outer Ring, wecould do with taking on a few supplies and we shouldprobably try and get hold of some cash.""Sounds like a plan mate," replied Pete. "Lemmy's rustledup some food if you're hungry, nothing special mind.""Yeah bring it on." J.D. actually couldn't remember the lasttime he'd eaten. "I'm pretty much starving here." Heswitched on the auto pilot, ran through to the galley andwolfed down a big bowl of noodle soup.Days passed without any occurrence of note as the Reaperand her crew made their way effortlessly through theblack. It took almost a week to reach their destination, bywhich time supplies were desperately low."We're coming up on Libertas now guys, an hour or soand we'll be touching down," Dan said over the com. He,Pete and J.D. had been working a shift pattern piloting theReaper. "Do we know what kind of reception we're gonna'get?""Not really," replied Trixi. "This far out it's hard to tell.""You guys had better get geared up then," said Dan. "Justin case."The Reaper touched down at the docking station of a largetown. None of the crew had ever been to Libertas, but theplanet was known throughout the system as a primarytrading base. The cargo bay doors opened, the rampdropped gently to the floor and the crew cautiously exitedtheir vessel. They were greeted by a man, tall and gaunt,and twenty or so armed guards lined up behind him,weapons cocked and ready."Welcome to Libertas City," the man spoke. "I amCounsellor Mellor and I will be your guide. What is yourbusiness here?""I am Trixi, Captain of The Reaper," said Trixi as shestepped forward. "We come here looking to trade.""Before any of your requests are met, I must ask you torelinquish your weapons," replied Mellor. Trixi glancedround at her crew, and they reluctantly dropped whateverweapons they were carrying."Why the tight security?" Trixi asked."All questions will be answered soon," Mellor paused."Please, follow me." With that, he strode towards andentered a small building in the centre of the dockingstation. They followed and found nothing inside thebuilding but a steep flight of stairs leading downwards.They were ushered down. The flight of stairs seemed to goon forever, and still the continued down."Two hundred feet so far," whispered Lemmy to Dan. Dangave her a questioning look, but then realised that shewas more than likely to be correct. It worried him howintelligent the women in their crew seemed to be.After what seemed like an age they reached the bottom ofthe stairs and went through a huge door. They now foundthemselves standing on a ledge, at least fifty feet wide,looking out on an immense underground city."Impressive, isn't it?" Said Mellor. The crew nodded inunison."Exactly how far down are we?" asked J.D."Three hundred and forty feet," replied Trixi and Lemmytogether before Mellor had time to answer. Mellor lookedslightly concerned."That's right," He continued. "We've been living below thesurface for a couple of years. We find it more suitable toour needs, and of course for security purposes. When onedeals with as many different traders as we do, we find itnecessary."The crew of the Reaper looked out on the city in awe,lights twinkling here and there as people went about theirbusiness. There was a low humming noise, justnoticeable above the hustle and bustle of the city."That humming," said Dan. "What's that?""That's our air conditioning," explained Mellor. "This farbelow the surface there is no new air to speak of, so weinstalled a network of air ducts to various points on thesurface." Then turning to Trixi. "So what exactly can we dofor you?""We have a distinct shortage of pretty much everything weneed to survive, so anything you can do to help us outwould be appreciated." Replied Trixi."Well," began Mellor. "I'm sure that we can come to somearrangement, for a small fee of course.""That brings us to our second problem," Trixi looked alittle sheepish. "We are very limited financially," she pickedher words very carefully."I see," Mellor said, blankly. "Well that is a problem,certainly. We cannot be seen to be giving away freebies, asit were.""Of course you can't," replied Trixi. "And we would neverask for you to do so; however we do require supplies soanything that we could do for you as a method ofpayment would be considered." Mellor studied Trixi's facefor a moment. Finding nothing there but sincerity hequickly looked away."We have a problem on one of our main trading routeswith other cities on this world," he said thoughtfully."There is a group of pirates calling themselves the MaskedMen, there are nine of them and they are constantlyattacking ships on route to and away from us. Onlyaround forty percent of trade is actually getting through.""What kind of pirates are we talking about here?" askedJ.D. "I mean are we actually talking about pirates of old,Long John Silver with a parrot on his shoulder?""I don't know about the name or the parrot, but there are,"Mellor paused. "There are comparisons that can be drawn,yes.""How often do they attack?" asked Pete."It's hard to be certain, but we do expect an attack anytime now.""Do we have a boat?""There is a ship leaving for Capital City shortly," explainedMellor."Can we have our weapons?" K demanded, rather thanasked."That's my girl," said J.D. "Getting the important thingssorted." Mellor ignored this."Your weapons will be returned to you when you are onboard.""Right," began Trixi. "Let's get to work."From what Trixi could gather, Libertas was not dissimilarto the moon she, K and Pete had left all those monthsago. Sprawling oceans dotted here and there with manyislands. The difference was that Libertas as well as being aprime trading location was one of the most denselypopulated worlds in the system.They arrived at the boat, although boat is probably thewrong term. This boat made the Titanic look like a dingy;it was massive. They were all ushered on board, and aspromised their weapons were handed to them. Dan andTrixi headed up to the bridge, whilst the rest of the crewtook up station around the sides of the ship, lookingdown the mile or so to the ocean."I think," began Dan. "That we should have some music toget us in the mood," he produced a small memory cardfrom somewhere about his person. "Remember when wehit Europa, and your Dad was listening to that band?""Yeah, Morbid Angel, right?""That's the one, well I looked into music of that timeperiod and I gotta' say, it's fucking cool," he reached overto a console and slotted the card in, using the touchscreen to select a file he then stood back. "Check this shitout."Trixi was impressed, speed metal and an almost operaticsinging style. It worked very well. Dan had been right.Fucking cool indeed. "Who is this?" she shouted to Danover the screaming guitars."Dragonforce, now what do you say we let everyone enjoyit, eh?" He said as he flicked a switch, and the music cameout over every speaker on board.The ship set sail to the sound of Dan's metal collection,cutting through the waves as if they weren't there. Andwaves they were, absolutely huge. The currents under thesurface must have been incredibly strong because thewaves crashing against the side of the ship were almostsixty feet high, dwarfed however, by the size of the vesselitself.An hour or so passed by, and then a shout went out.There was a smaller, mush faster vessel approaching fromthe west."It's them," said the Captain, a look of real fear in his eyes."It's the Nine Masked Men," Dan removed his memorycard, not wanting it to get damaged in the ruckus he wassure would ensue, and tucked it back where it came from."Alright guys," he said over the ships tannoy system."Look busy, we got some company.""I have a shot," yelled Pete over the tannoy, cocking hisrifle."Take it, but don't miss," replied Trixi. Pete looked throughhis scope, took a breath and fired."Score!" He yelled. "Eight to go." Suddenly he lost hisbalance and almost fell over the rail as the attackingvessel fired magnetic clamps and attached them to theship, pulling themselves right alongside. "Fuck," he saidas he looked down through the spray. "Did anyone bringany grenades?" There was silence over the tannoy. "I'll takethat as a no then shall I?" He said, chuckling to himself."Looks like we're going hand-to-hand," said Trixi as shejumped down to the deck. She shouted back up to Dan."Give us a soundtrack.""Yes Ma'am,"Trixi stood on deck, watching intently for their adversariesto join her, as Dan obliged her request. As if on demand,the bad guys arrived."We have you covered Ma'am," shouted K."Seconded," said J.D."And it looks like I make it three times over Ma'am," saidPete."Good," replied Trixi. "Where's Lemmy?""Up on the bridge with me Ma'am," said Dan."Keep her there," before Dan could stop her, Lemmy haddropped down to the deck to help her elder sister, andboth of them were circling the opposition. They were bigguys, both at least six feet in height, and incrediblymuscled. They were wearing balaclavas and jeans, nothingon the top, obviously hoping that the two girls would beintimidated by their impressive physique. One of themran at Trixi, and she side stepped whilst dropping to thefloor and wrapping her feet around his left ankle, bringinghim heavily down. She flipped herself up and kicked himin the side of his head, knocking him unconscious.Lemmy hadn't taken her eyes off the second guy, who nowran at her. As he did so she leapt into the air, and landingon his shoulders she snapped his neck with her thighs.She hopped off before the guy hit the floor, and winked atTrixi. The remaining six men had just seen what hadhappened to their comrades at the hands of two littlegirls and all approached at once. It was a bloodbath, theystood absolutely no chance. It took at most threeminutes for Trixi and Lemmy to dispatch all six, andneither of them were out of breath."Have you left any alive?" asked K, as she to landed on thedeck."Those two over there." Trixi pointed towards the only twoleft breathing."May I?""Be my guest," replied Trixi, and K walked over to them,and shot them both stone dead."I can't be seen as the only woman on board who didn'tkill anyone today, now can I?" She said with a smile. Therest of the crew joined the three girls on deck."OK, now please remind us not to piss any of you off,"said J.D."Don't worry babe," said K as she jumped on J.D. "We likeyou."The crew of the Reaper took the previously pirate vesselback to port, with the bodies of all Nine Masked Men asevidence of a job well done. As they alighted they weregreeted by Counsellor Mellor."The pirates?" he questioned. Dan pointed back to theboat."That's their ship, and you'll find them all on board, invarious stages of deadness," he replied."Thank you all so much," said Mellor, shaking each ofthem by the hand. "You will find that your ship has alreadybeen stocked to the brim, you have done us a huge favouras we have you. Our business is done." With that Mellorturned and hurried away. The crew waited until he was outof sight before moving."Did that seem weird to anyone else," said Dan, lighting acigarette. "Or was it just me?""You're right mate, that was weird," replied Pete. "But whatd'you say we make like a tree?""Sounds like a plan to me," said Trixi as she led the wayback to the Reaper.Dan sat in the pilot's seat, with Pete at the nav com. Bothmen were satisfied with the days work, although neitherwanted to admit that had it not been for the girls, theremay well have been a slightly different outcome."Everybody ready?" asked Dan over the com."That we are," replied Trixi. "We're stocked to the brim justlike he said, lets get out of here, I still don't like it,""Hold on, we've got an incoming message," said Dan ashe fired up the Reaper. "It's Planetary Parliament, we'vebeen fucked,"

Chapter Fifteen

On board the Helder, Jenkins smiled. Thanks to swiftaction by his contacts on Libertas, he had found theReaper, and with it the Svensson sisters."This is Jenkins, Captain of the P.A. Helder," Jenkins saidas calmly as he could over an open frequency. He and hiscrew had been chasing the Svensson sisters for months,and he hated being out of his own time. "Just hand overthe girls, and we can all be on our merry way." He turnedoff the microphone and spoke to Roberts. "Take us down.""Yes Sir," replied Roberts, who promptly did as he wastold."Your ship has been temporarily immobilised, lack of co-operation would be ill advised." On board the Reaper,Pete and K were frantically trying to break the lock code."Dan, can you buy us some time?""I can try mate, but all systems are down." Dan replied."So until you two get your arses in gear my hands aretied."I've got it," yelled K. "They haven't locked anything exceptthe Half-Light, I just need to rewire a few things and..." shetailed off. "There, Dan start her up." Dan did so, and didn'twaste any time getting the Reaper off the ground. TheHelder gave chase, firing almost constantly."K where have they locked the Half-Light to?" asked Trixi."From what I can make out, Inner Ring somewhere. Justgive me a few seconds and I'll be able to tell you.""Sir, they're getting ready to jump," said Roberts."I see that Roberts," replied Jenkins. "No matter, we have atracking device on board now; they won't be able to giveus the slip. Wherever they go, we'll catch them.""Yes Sir.""Talk to me K," yelled Trixi."We're going to Omega,""That's the fucking asylum planet," said Dan. "A world fullof crazies." K engaged the Half-Light and theydisappeared, instantly arriving in orbit around Omega.Someone, or something, was watching."Well Roberts, where are they?" asked Jenkins."Inner Ring Sir, orbiting Omega, and they appear to bestationary.""Get on the com, I want the entire crew of that vesseldetained until we arrive,""Why aren't we moving?" Trixi asked no one in particular."Well Ma'am that's the thing," began J.D. "The enginesappear to be dead.""OK, just tell me that life support is up and running andwe'll go from there.""It is," said K. "Only on back up though. I can't work outwhat's wrong.""Well work it out, I don't like us being stranded.""Yes Ma'am,"Trixi was frantic with worry. She couldn't get her headaround what was going on, in the heat of the momentthings seemed so clear, and yet when she took time outto take stock of the world around her, the edges grewfuzzy and she couldn't quite focus on any particularthought."There is a crew en route to pick them up Sir," saidRoberts."Good," replied Jenkins. Today was turning out better thenhe had expected, although things had not gone exactly toplan he didn't really have that much to complain about.The bacon sandwich he had eaten earlier was beginningto repeat on him though; he would have to keep an eyeon that."Got it," yelled K. Her shout could be heard all over TheReaper, with or without the com. Trixi arrived, breathlessin the engine room."What is it K?" she asked."This." K held a very small motherboard in the palm of herhand. "This was connected to the engine; it's a trackingdevice that's set to disable any system it's attached to assoon as it's activated.""So they waited for us to make the jump, and then remoteactivated the tracker?""Pretty much, yeah," replied K, looking very pleased withherself."Guys, we have a problem." It was Pete over the com."Go ahead," said Trixi."We have fifteen, maybe twenty PA's raining down on us."Trixi turned to K."Is everything operational?" she asked.Engines and life support are a go," she paused. "But wehave no Half-Light,""OK, Pete take us down, we're gonna' have to lose themdown there somewhere," Trixi barked. "K, I want my Half-Light up and running." Pete did as he was told, andhurriedly took the Reaper down towards the wildlandscape of Omega.Jenkins videophone beeped into life to alert him of a callcoming through. He excused himself from the bridge,and made his way to his quarters."Jenkins.""Yes Sir.""I have just received word of your inevitable success.""Yes Sir." Jenkins stared blankly at the screen."I want to ensure nothing goes wrong," the speakerpaused, for effect more than anything. "I am sending twoof my personal guard to aid you in the successful captureof the Svensson sisters, just to ensure things runsmoothly you understand.""Yes Sir." Jenkins was frozen to the spot. He hatedspeaking to him, and usually went to great lengths toavoid doing so, but sometimes he just had to suck it upand make an effort. He always made him feel so small, soinadequate, and so worthless. It was as if he was alreadyinside his head, trying to pry his thoughts free."Sir, I think you're going to want to see this." Robertscame through on the com. Jenkins excused himself, andhurriedly made his way to the bridge."What is it Roberts?" Jenkins asked, relieved to beelsewhere."There's another ship appeared in orbit around Omega,""So," said Jenkins. "What's you point?""The call sign of the new vessel is almost exactly the sameas that of the ship we're chasing,"Roberts and his Captain watched helplessly as the newship single handed took out all the Parliament vesselsgiving chase to the Reaper. Then just as quickly as it hadappeared on radar the ship was gone, completelyvanished."Would you like to tell me what the Hell just happened?"Screamed Jenkins. Roberts gave no response; instead hesimply shrugged as he was as much in the dark as hisCaptain."What the fuck happened there?" Dan shouted to Pete."You got me mate, but did you notice anything familiarabout that ship?""What the fuck happened there?" Dan repeated again."It was us," said Trixi as she arrived on the Bridge. "The callsigns match, the only difference is the date.""Well have we gone?" asked Dan, a little calmer aftersomething of an explanation."I think so," replied Trixi. "Either gone, or very heavilycloaked. Besides that's for the best. I'm sure it can't be agood idea to influence our own past and future bycommunicating with them. I'm almost certain that wetook a huge risk coming back from wherever we were toaid ourselves in such a way.""Do you still want us to go down Ma'am?" Dan asked."Yeah I think so." Trixi didn't really want to, she'd heard thestories about Omega same as everyone else. She wasalso a little concerned about something that had beensaid earlier. The two girls Jenkins had referred to wereherself and Lemmy, she was certain of that. What wasconfusing her was why he wanted them. "But we shouldmake it as brief as possible, I don't want to be down thereany longer than necessary. We'll fix ourselves up and beon our way."

Chapter Sixteen

The Reaper grew ever closer to the surface of Omega.None of the crew had ever had any remote desire to visitthis planet, but they had little choice as the Reaper was indesperate need of repair, a task that would be easier if theship were on the ground. The surface of Omega wasunlike any planet they had visited, it was almost all a hugemountain range, and had the weather systems to go withthe terrain."I want a close perimeter set up," ordered Trixi. "No morethan twenty feet from the ship, and keep in constantcontact. K, can you manage the repairs yourself?""I should think so," replied K."What time scale are we looking at?""Four hours at the most Ma'am.""Good, but that's still four hours too long in a place likethis," Trixi turned to the rest of her crew. "OK guys, are weready?" There was a mumble of malcontent from Dan. "I'msorry Dan, what was that?""Nothing Ma'am, raring to go," he replied sarcastically."Glad to hear it, now all of you remember, twenty feet andnot an inch more."The crew exited the Reaper via the cargo bay, and it was agood job they had wrapped up warm as an icy gust ofwind swept up the ramp as they touched down on theplanets surface."Fuck me, its cold," shouted Dan over the howling gale."You got that right mate." Pete's shout matching that ofDan. "You OK, Lemmy?""Fine," she replied. "Stay close to me though." Pete washappy to oblige, he didn't fancy being caught out in thecold on his own either.A couple of hours passed by, during which there werevarious yelled conversations about anything andeverything other than the one thing that no one wantedto be the first to mention."So these genetic experiments?" J.D. couldn't helphimself. He knew that the topic was on the tip of everyoneelse's tongue as well."No," Trixi yelled. "Not out here, let's get off the groundfirst.""I'm sure I just saw something," Dan shouted."Saw what?" Yelled Trixi, rushing over to Dan."I'm not sure, it was only for a second, you know?""Eye's open guys, we might not be as alone here as we'dlike." Dan checked that his rifle was loaded. He knew it wasas he'd done it himself, but one never could be toocareful.Visibility was thirty feet at the most. In the swirlingblizzard surrounding their perimeter, things certainly werethere. Not things that you could name, countless geneticexperiments had seen to that. Soulless and unfeeling,more creatures now than man. The cold meant nothing tothem; their nerve endings had long been none existent."Guys I'm done." K shouted down the ramp."Everyone back on board, now!" Trixi yelled. She as muchas anyone didn't want to stay outside any longer than shehad to. "J.D. would you be so good as to get us off theground?""Yes mate, get us the fuck outta' here," Dan made hiscontribution. J.D. lifted off as the cargo ramp ascended toits rightful place. If you'd been standing down there onOmega as the Reaper took off, you might well havenoticed, just for a second a shadow flicker over the ramp."How long until we're out of atmo?" asked Trixi, lighting acigarette."Three minutes, it's rough as hell out there," replied Pete.Trixi threw him a cigarette, which he lit and took a long,relaxing drag."Not wanting to break the mood," said Dan as he lookedat the scanners. "But I think we've picked up a hitch-hiker.I'm picking up seven life signs, and there are only six ofus.""Where?""Well there's our four in here, K's in the engine room butI'm picking up two in the cargo bay. It's down there withLemmy.""We need to flush it," said Pete, a hint of urgency in hisvoice."Not with Lemmy in there we can't," replied Trixi. Shespoke into the com. "Lemmy, get out of the cargo baynow, seal the door behind you.""Say again please," came the reply. "You're breaking up.""It must be this atmo fucking with the radio signals," saidDan. "I'll go." He got up and ran towards the cargo bay.Halfway there he heard the scream and doubled his pace,which is impressive when you consider he was alreadysprinting. Dan arrived in the cargo bay to see Lemmystanding over the decapitated body of a huge creature. Itwas vaguely human shaped, but its body had beendeformed by experiments, and then by the elements outin the wilds of Omega."What the..?" Dan was speechless."He wasn't really up for the fight," Lemmy explained."Tough shit though, right?" asked Dan, finding his tongueagain. Lemmy just smiled, and wandered off. He watchedher go, shaking his head. Once she was gone he slungthe headless body over his shoulder and with thecreature's head in hand he made his way as quickly as hecould to the airlock, and flung his mutated cargo insidebefore he clicked the locking mechanism into place. Danthen hit the button beside the door and the airlockopened up to the thin atmosphere outside, the rushingair dragging the creature from the vessel. He turned away,rubbing his hands together to signify a job well done asthe airlocks exterior doors slid silently closed.

Chapter Seventeen

"Run the scan again J.D.," ordered Trixi."This'll be the fourth time you realise?" He replied,agitation clear in his voice."I don't care! We'll scan twenty times if we need to. I wantto be certain that we picked nothing else up.""Yes Ma'am," J.D. reluctantly scanned again. He knew forsure there was nothing else on board, he had calibratedthe scanners himself but on the other hand Trixi wasright, better to be safe than eaten."Hey you guys," K shouted up from the cargo bay. "Youmight want to check this out," Dan arrived down in thecargo bay first and was greeted with an awesome sight. Khad finished her tank, and a tank it was indeed.Completely armour plated and with more cannonsmounted on the top and around the sides than any self-respecting tank should have. They were soon joined byeveryone else, apart from J.D. who was scanning yet againat Trixi's request. The general consensus was that the tankgot a definite thumbs up. It was incredibly roomy insidewith stations for all, and even had a coffee percolatorincluded. "We should get a top speed of about eightymiles per hour, and she runs on hydrogen just like theReaper.""I'm impressed K I have to say," said Trixi. "You do like yourtoys I'll give you that!""Thank you Ma'am," replied K, smugly. "Any chance ofgiving her a test drive?""I think that can be arranged," replied Trixi. "J.D. aren't weheaded back towards Prima?""Yes Ma'am," J.D. spoke over the com. "Only a day or soout now.""Thanks J.D.," replied Trixi. "You can give her a test drivewhen we hit Prima," she said as she turned back to face K."Sounds good to me," she replied excitedly."So how about a coffee?"Jenkins sluggishly walked to the bridge. He had beensummoned by him, and he was sure that whatever thereason for his summons, he wasn't going to enjoy it."Ah, Jenkins," he said, over the videophone. "How good ofyou to join us,""Sir," replied Jenkins, with even less zest than usual."Roberts here has been filling me in, he seems to thinkthat you are," he paused. "Now how did you put it,Roberts?""As useful as a cock flavoured lollipop, Sir." Jenkins shotRoberts a look that would have scared limescale out of akettle."Ah yes that's right," he started again. "Roberts hereseems to think that you are as useful as a cock flavouredlollipop," he paused yet again. "I'm afraid to say, Jenkinsthat I find myself inclined to agree with our friend Robertshere. He has many fresh idea's, and says that he findsyour methods outdated and offensive.""Sir.""Do you have anything to say for yourself, Jenkins?" heasked."Is there anything I can say that won't result in my beingflushed?""No Jenkins, there is not.""We're coming into orbit around Prima Ma'am," said J.D."But I'm picking up something very strange.""What's that J.D.?" Trixi asked."Well as you know me and Dan lived on Prima for thebetter part of four years.""Yes.""Well I gotta' tell you Ma'am, I don't ever remember therebeing a settlement that size on Prima."J.D. was right. As Trixi looked at the scanner in disbelief, ahuge city unfolded before her very eyes."We are on the correct time line, aren't we?""Yes Ma'am," replied J.D."OK, just making sure," she said. "I guess we'd bettercheck it out then, eh?""You know, I was almost certain you'd say that," said J.D.with a little chuckle.Lefoile, Chief Guard of Outpost Seventeen was bored. TheCult had arrived on Prima almost a year ago and he hadto admit that for a bunch of religious nuts they had doneall right for themselves. They had taken the tiny hamlet ofTwo Rivers and turned it into a thriving Metropolis, and itworked. As long as people minded their own business,and obeyed the laws laid down by the Priests everythingran like clockwork. Of course there were those whorebelled against the Priests rule, not wanting to submit toa God whom they believed to be insane. Of course thosewho took part in any kind of rebellion were put downimmediately, usually by beheading. The Priests believedthe flesh of non-believers to be sacred, and they woulddrain the body completely of blood before eating theflesh. They said that by absorbing the blood and the flesh,they were absolving non-believers of their sins. Lefoileprivately thought that this practice was insane, he saw nological reason how you could base a religion aroundVampirism and Cannibalism, but who was he to argue.The Great God himself had spoken to the High Priest andtold him that this was the way, and who was Lefoile toargue with The Great God?Before Two Rivers had become such a metropolis, Primahad a nice spread of population but now there were veryfew people who lived and worked anywhere else but TwoRivers. They city was divided into three sections, and onewould find it impossible to enter another section withoutthe correct paperwork. The Priests of course had freereign, but mostly they were to be found in the CentralDistrict, with architecture that would go down in history,and only the most important businesses. Travel out inany direction from the Central District, and one would findoneself in the Business District. Anyone who was anyoneaspired to live there, it was said that the area wasequivalent in beauty and standing to twentieth centuryParis, although of course nobody was entirely sure. Onceacross the Business District, and across the Great River,was the Poor District, but poor didn't really cover it. TheShanty's around Sao Paolo had more class then the PoorDistrict.Lefoile was playing Solitaire with half a deck of beersoaked cards when he happened to look towards hisscanner. It was only then that he noticed a vessel enteringPrimian airspace. He picked up his radio."This is Outpost Seventeen, we have a bogey in sectorfour.""We hear you Outpost Seventeen, is any immediate threatposed? Over.""That is unclear, repeat that is unclear. Advise defencesactivated, over.""Copy that Seventeen, keep us informed, out.""Put us down over there J.D." Trixi said, pointing to anoutcrop of rocks a mile or so outside the city limits."Yes Ma'am," replied J.D. "Is K ready?""Pretty much, she's got Dan down there helping her.""I don't recognise this place you know," said J.D."Neither do I," replied Trixi. "We're gonna' have to becareful while we're down there."Within minutes the Reaper was on the ground hiddenfrom sight by what turned out to be a small canyon."Are we ready?" asked K."I believe so," replied Dan. "Well you're in charge K, givethe order.""Alright guys, lets load up," said K, a huge smile on herface. "Pete, get the coffee on.""Yes boss," replied Pete, laughing."Take her out K.""Yes Ma'am."

Chapter Eighteen

"This is Outpost Seventeen, the Bogey has landed, over."Lefoile thought he had better keep his superiorsinformed."Thank you Seventeen we will send a team out shortlyplease entertain our guests, over and out." Lefoilesignalled to his second in command."You are in command until I return Hogswatt, I shall notbe long.""Yes Sir," Hogswatt replied."Newhead, come.""Yes Sir." Newhead put down his Rubix cube and followedLefoile outside. It was a glorious day, almost eighty fivedegrees, with probably twenty percent humidity. The Terra-Forming had taken well on Prima, having turned theplanet into a tropical paradise."Would you like to drive, Newhead?" Lefoile asked."Yes Sir," Newhead said with a huge grin on his face as heslid into the driver's seat of the four by four. "Where are wegoing Sir?""I'll direct you Newhead, you just concentrate on driving."After a few minutes driving, Lefoile spoke again. "OK turnoff the road here Newhead. We should be upon them atany moment.""I think we already found them, Sir," said Newhead,staring intently at the huge tank directly in front of them."I think," began Lefoile. "That on this occasion, you maywell be right," Lefoile and Newhead both exited theirvehicle, and moved round to the front of the four by four,both lighting a cigarette as they did so."Locals Ma'am," said J.D."I can see that, thank you J.D.""Shall we introduce them to Betty?" asked Dan."Say again," said Trixi."Betty," repeated Dan. "That's what I've called this rocketlauncher.""OK, that makes more sense, but you don't half scare thecrap outta' me sometimes," said Trixi. "No, we aren'tgonna' introduce them to Betty, but we are going outthere geared up." Dan and Pete both smiled as she saidthis. "And Pete...""Yes Ma'am?""Did you bring any grenades?"Moments later the crew had exited the Tank, and werefacing Lefoile and Newhead. Dan lit a cigarette, as did Trixi."I am Lefoile, Chief Guard of Outpost Seventeen," saidLefoile after an unbearable silence. "This is one of myjunior officers, Newhead." Newhead nodded a greeting."What's happened here?" asked Trixi. "We were on Primanot a year ago, and there was no city, and certainly noguards.""Well maybe if there had been guards, then the people ofPrima would not have had to endure what can only bedescribed as Hell for the past year.""I don't follow you," replied Trixi. Lefoile carefully checkedthe surrounding landscape to ensure there was no onelistening, and then proceeded to describe exactly whathad happened on Prima. When he had finished, hesighed and lit another cigarette."Cannibals?" Dan said after a few moments, his voicesoaked in disbelief. "That's sick as fuck!" Newhead andLefoile both nodded. "We have to do something Ma'am, Imean this is mine and J.D.'s home world, and I'm fucked ifI'm having a group of drugged up priests running theplace." To say Dan was angry would have been anunderstatement."Are people happy?" asked Trixi, turning to Lefoile."Happy would be the wrong word, but I suppose they arehappy they aren't dead," replied Lefoile."Great God my arse." Dan turned to Pete and K. "Get yourgrenades, K's gonna' drive us and we're gonna' take Primaback from these nut-jobs." Dan glanced at Trixi, whonodded in agreement."What do I tell the military unit coming to pick you up?"asked Lefoile."You'll think of something," replied Trixi."Tell them you got hungry and ate us," shouted K. Withthat, the crew of The Reaper set off in K's tank."Have you got your eyes on those scanners Lemmy?"asked Trixi."Yes Ma'am, I guess the cloak's working, cos they don'tseem to care that we're driving straight for them.""Good," replied Trixi. "Dan how's Betty?""Betty's ready Ma'am, you just give me the word.""Well I don't think we need that guard house there, or thatbarricade do you?""No Ma'am," replied Dan with a smile. He aimed Betty atthe barricade and pulled back on her trigger. When thesmoke cleared, the barricade was no more, and there wasno sign of the guard house other than a pile of smokingrubble. "Fuck me!" yelled Dan, stroking Betty as one woulda lover. "I think I'm in love.""OK guys, now according to the info Lefoile gave us, weshould be entering the Poor District, he says it'll take usan hour to cross. Pete I want you and Lemmy to man themachine guns. I don't want to risk anyone hijacking, soshoot to kill, alright?"Twenty minutes or so passed without incident, before Kspoke up. "What's that up ahead?" she asked."Looks like a patrol, I make it four vehicles," replied Trixi."You guys know what to do." Pete and Lemmy let of shortbursts of machine gun fire, but they didn't seem to haveany effect on the oncoming patrol. "Dan you'd better clearus a path.""Yes Ma'am," said Dan, as he stroked Betty's controlsbefore firing. "K you did well girl, this gun's fuckingawesome.""Thanks dude," replied K."OK, onward," ordered Trixi. "Can we pick the pace up alittle K, I'm getting hungry and fancy deep-frying me acouple of priests.""Yes Ma'am," replied K to the soundtrack of complete andtotal agreement. "We have another barricade coming up,"she said a few moments later."Plough straight through it," said Trixi. "Let's see howgood this tank really is." K put her foot to the floor andsmiled as her creation got through completely unscathed,and without breaking speed at all."We're almost at top speed Ma'am, in the BusinessDistrict now.""OK well this won't take us long at all," replied Trixi. "We'llbe in the Central District in no time at all." Trixi was right.Soon enough, the tank was parked outside what wassignposted as 'The Holy House of The Great God'."Are we taking prisoners, Ma'am," asked Dan."Hell no, shoot to kill same as before," replied Trixi. "Right,teams of two. First one to kill the High Priest wins. Soundgood?""Fuckinay," shouted Dan. "Come on Pete, I'll race you butbring your fucking grenades.""Give me credit buddy," began Pete. "Like I'd forget,"They entered the Holy House, Pete and Dan went forwards,J.D. and K went left, Trixi and Lemmy to the right."Radio contact guys, every ten minutes.""Yes Ma'am.""You OK Lemmy?" Trixi asked when they were alone."I'm fine Ma'am, just want to get this over with.""I hear you." replied Trixi. "Let's go."They made their way down corridors, hiding in doorwaystaking down the opposition as stealthily as possible. Thetwo girls lost count of how many soldiers lay dead at theirhands."This is starting to feel familiar," said Lemmy after a while."You're right, I think we're going round in circles," Trixifumbled for her radio. "Guys, how we doing?""There are hundreds of the bastards, every time we score akill ten more seem to appear," said J.D."We're under heavy fire," Dan's voice came over the radio."Pete's taken a hit; I don't think it's too bad though.""Well be careful," replied Trixi. "Hold your position untilone of us gets there.""I'm OK to continue Ma'am. Besides I got my grenades,"said Pete, with obvious pain in his voice."If you die, I'll fucking kill you.""I hear that!" replied Pete, trying not to laugh.Dan was in his element, he couldn't remember havingthis much fun with his clothes on."We ain't got that far to go now man, I'm sure of it," heyelled to Pete over the deafening sound of machine gunfire. "Do us a favour mate and lob a grenade down to theend of that corridor." Pete obliged, but Dan couldn't helpbut notice the strain that the action put on Pete's body."We'll get you fixed up mate, you'll see.""Thanks mate," Pete smiled. "Let's crack on, yeah?" The twoof them hurried down the corridor, stepping overdismembered bodies. and avoiding pools of blood. At theend of the corridor was a sharp left hand turn, and theywere met by a set of huge double doors, at least forty feethigh."I think we've found the High Priest hidey-hole, Ma'am,"Pete said over the radio. "Can you get a lock on ourposition?""We're directly below you," K's voice came loud and clearover the radio. "Stay put and we'll be with you in a fewminutes.""No worries," replied Pete. "How's J.D.?""He's still with me," replied K, laughing."Pete, me and Lemmy are coming up behind you now, sowhatever you do hold your fire!""Yes Ma'am," replied Pete. Although Pete and Dan held,they trained their machine guns back the way they hadcome, just in case. Sure enough Trixi and Lemmyappeared moments later, much to the delight of Pete andDan."Good to see you Ma'am," said Dan."Well, we are very, very pretty," joked Trixi, turning to Pete."You OK?""Just a flesh wound Ma'am, hurts like hell though.""It looks kinda painful," replied Trixi, staring intently at thehuge gash in Pete's abdomen. Before she could do or sayanything else, Lemmy pushed past her and knelt downbeside Pete. She looked down at him, meeting his gaze."Now relax, this might hurt," she said, as she pusheddown on the wound. Pete yelped in pain, but the pain wasshort-lived. "How's that?" Lemmy asked. Pete looked athis wound, or rather his lack of wound."How did you...?" Pete tailed off."Now," began Dan, turning to Trixi. "That's new."Trixi shook off the shock quicker than the rest, as K andJ.D. walked around the corner."What did we miss?" asked J.D."We'll fill you in later," replied Trixi. "Are we gonna getthese doors open?" As if by magic, the heavy doors swungopen without a sound. The six entered the room, whichwas smaller then they imagined. In the centre of the roomwere Lefoile and Newhead, tied to a pillar. On either sideof the room were two huge desks, far too big for the roomand they looked completely out of place. Behind eachdesk sat a High Priest."Ah," one of the High Priests spoke. "You must be Trixi,"He didn't give her a chance to respond; instead hisopposite number continued speaking for him."We have been waiting for your return nigh on a year.""You remember us, yes?"'The Chosen One Must Die... The Chosen On MustDie...'Trixi shook her head, and focused on the two priests. Shenodded, slowly."We're glad you remember us, you were stolen from underour very noses back on that poor excuse for a moon, nowwhat was the name of that moon?" The Priest fumbled inhis brain trying to remember the name."Gamma Twelve." The words escaped before Trixi had achance to hold them back."That's right, yes," the Priests continued. "Gamma Twelve,"The Priest looked towards Lefoile and Newhead, as ifnoticing them for the first time. "Now we have guardsstationed outside this very room, if you and your friendsbehave we will find no cause to call them in. They do causea ruckus when they are summoned we're sorry to say.""What exactly is it that you... we.... both of you want?"asked Trixi."We want nothing that is not already ours," The HighPriests spoke in unison."Is that what you said to the people of Prima?" Danshouted. "You've made slaves out of most, and eateneveryone else.""Yes, we have," again the High Priests spoke in unison."So right now, you want what, exactly?" Trixi asked again."You, and through you your siblings." The High Priestspaused a moment to let this sink in. "As we understand itif we have one the rest are certain to follow." Pete and Danthrew each other a confused glance."But why?" asked Trixi."There are four of you, yes?""Yes.""The four of you represent each corner of the universe, youposses untold power which you do not know how towield, however we can teach you how to wield this power.You will be our weapons in the inevitable war.""What war?""You do not think that when mankind settled in thissystem that it was empty, do you? Mankind awokesomething of untold power and aggression. We needsomething of great power in order to fight back, else wehave no hope," the Priests weren't really speaking anymore. It was more like they were being spoken through."What did mankind awake?" Trixi asked."It...""What is 'it'?""We cannot speak it's name.""Speak it!""We cannot." Trixi turned."Dan?""Thought you'd never ask Ma'am, these guys are freakingme the fuck out." Dan opened fire, killing both HighPriests, but he didn't stop. He wanted to ensure that theyweren't going to get back up again. K and Lemmy ran overto Lefoile and Newhead, and began to untie them."But, you killed the High Priests," Lefoile couldn't hide hisexcitement."I'm thinking, Ma'am," said Pete."You want to' watch that," Trixi joked. "Go on.""Well we could always set up a base of operations here onPrima. I mean it's not that I don't like travelling aimlesslythrough space, but if those priest guys were right then it'ddo us good to have a place to call home.""What do you think, Lefoile?" asked Trixi. "Would we bewelcome here?""After what you six have just done?" yelled Lefoile, hecouldn't keep his voice down. "You stood against the HighPriests and still you stand tall, you will always be welcomehere.""Then I think, Pete, that it's a damn good idea."

Chapter Nineteen

"No, wait I'm confused," J.D. shouted across the centraltable. The crew of The Reaper were sat in the former HighPriests Chamber, having redecorated somewhat. Insteadof the two tables on either side, and the stake in thecentre there was now a huge round table around whichthey were sat."About what?" Trixi asked, perplexed. "We've gone overeverything, what is there you can possibly notunderstand?""Well for a start, everything," replied J.D. "There ain't awhole lot of this that makes sense. I mean we got Lemmywielding the power of some holy saviour. We have thedead priests who reckon that you and Lemmy along withyour two sisters are some god-like weapon, andapparently we've awoken some big nasty from its eternalslumber." J.D. paused for breath. "Oh and by the way,where are your other sisters?""I don't know," replied Trixi. "Listen J.D. I know it's a lot totake in, but remember everyone else is in the same boat.Lemmy doesn't even remember anything about whathappened." At this point Lemmy shook her head inagreement. "We need to focus on what we know, or atleast what we think we know,""Well I can't see the six of us standing up to whatever it isthat's coming," said Pete, calmly. "We're gonna' needhelp,""Who the Hell are we gonna' call?" Dan butted in. "We'rethe guys that help people out, not the other way around,""We'll think of something," said Trixi. "Right now we needto help out rebuilding Two Rivers. Apparently people wantto stay here, they think we're able to protect them, so wegotta' do what we can,"And they did indeed set about the task of rebuilding TwoRivers, setting up what they hoped to be impenetrabledefences, and advising the newly instated local authoritieson pretty much everything. At the request of JeffersonPlank, Mayor of Two Rivers Trixi was appointed head ofsecurity and given free reign to act in this capacity as shesaw fit. She started by recruiting a small army, who wouldbe trained by herself and Pete, her second in command. Kwas given a workshop and a small team of amateurengineers, and Dan and J.D. would train pilots. This leftLemmy pretty much to her own devices so she flitted hereand there, helping out where she could with therebuilding project.It wasn't until the six of them were sat round the tableonce more a couple of weeks later that Lemmy asked thequestion that they had all seemingly forgotten about."Guys," she began. "When we saved ourselves in orbitaround Omega, what was the call sign of the secondReaper?" The colour drained from five faces in sync."Fuck," said Dan, the first to speak as is so often the case."It's today," No one moved or spoke for almost fiveminutes, and then as one they ran, jumping over tablesand chairs in their efforts to reach The Reaper."I can't believe we almost missed this," shouted Pete,breathless."I'm sure it wouldn't have been a good thing for us tomiss it though," agreed K. Lemmy just smiled quietly toherself. She had known the date all along.J.D took up his usual pilot's chair and hurried through hispre-flight checks. Trixi passed him a lit cigarette."Yeah I might need this," he smiled. "Thanks,""No worries," replied Trixi. "I need you calm J.D., are youcalm?""Yes Ma'am," he said. "You got the co-ordinates readyPete?""Yes mate, all we need is the word from K," With that, TheReaper lifted off from the surface of Prima, and sped outof atmosphere."Lemmy, Dan," said Trixi. "Are you two ready on the guns?""Yes Ma'am," came the reply."Good, now if I remember rightly, we come in behind theattacking ships so give no quarter, we have to be in andout as quick as we can,""Yes Ma'am,""Ready when you are guys," K shouted from the engineroom."OK," said Pete. "We are go,"The Reaper vanished, and was instantly transported intoorbit around Omega."Fire at will guys,""That's one thing you don't have to worry about Ma'am,"replied Dan, laughing. "Have it you bastards," Both Danand Lemmy fired, locking onto target after target. "Aim forthe fuel tanks Lemmy," shouted Dan, only to realise thatLemmy already was doing so and already had more killsthan he did."Whoa, shit!" J.D. wrestled with the controls. "That was tooclose,""Guys there's one left, and they've locked onto TheReaper," Pete yelled. "Take them down, now!" And theydid, before the attacking ship had had a chance to utiliseits lock, Dan had locked onto the fuel tank and fired,round after round hammered into the side of the hugevessel, before it silently exploded."Get us out of here," Trixi shouted. "K, Pete, you bothready?""Way ahead of you Ma'am," replied K. "Co-ordinateslocked, and now,"They found themselves back in orbit around Prima, allbreathless from the previous few minutes work."Everything read OK?" asked Trixi."Yes Ma'am, however we may have a problem,""Problem?" Trixi repeated the word."I'm picking something up; it's distant and might notpose a problem, yet,""Well how long do we have?""A week, maybe two," replied Pete. "I picked it up on thelong range scanners,""What is it?" Trixi asked."Ah," replied Pete. "I'm not exactly sure,"Far away in the belt of asteroids and space debris thatcircled Mankind's new galactic home, something hadindeed been awakened. Something that had slept for avery, very long time. It had made its home here in thissystem countless millennia ago and had seen off manyattempts by various species to colonise its corner of theuniverse. It had known of Mankind's inhabitation as soonas Mankind had arrived, however it had been caughtunawares. Now it had had time to gather its thoughts andforces, and was prepared for all out war. A war that hadbeen predicted, a war that Mankind could only hope toprevail. An apocalyptic war."Do we have a heading, Sir?" Armstrong asked."We do," replied Roberts, Captain of the P.A. Helder. "Weare to head to Prima,""Prima, Sir?""That is correct Armstrong," Roberts replied with thepatience of a man who has had to bide his time. "I amgoing to succeed where my predecessor failed,""Jenkins, Sir?""That is correct Armstrong," Roberts repeated. "I am goingto capture the Svensson sisters single handed,""Pardon my impudence Sir," began Armstrong. "I don'tunderstand. The Priests are no more, so for what reasondo we need the Svensson sisters?""I'm glad you asked Armstrong," said Roberts, a wry smilecreeping across his face. "The High Priests of The GreatGod were not the only beings capable of controlling greatpower,""I see, Sir,""Should we strengthen defences, Ma'am?" asked Pete.They had landed two hours ago, and were once more sataround their huge table, discussing matters over a drinkand a smoke."I'm not sure what else we can do," replied Trixi. "Ourdefences are pretty strong, and we have a constant lockon whatever it is that's moving towards us," she paused."It is still moving towards us, isn't it?""Yes Ma'am," replied Lemmy. "It's kinda slow though,""Well the slower it is the better that is for us,""I've got Betty primed and ready," said Dan. "This ain'tgonna' have a chance, we're too strong,""Our unit is ready for action," said Pete. "I proposesending a welcome party out to meet this head on, see ifwe can't nip it in the bud before it even gets here,""Yes," said Trixi. "Do that, I'll leave you to organise thatPete, and the rest of us will get our ground forcesprepared,"

Chapter Twenty

Trixi sat alone in her quarters. Things had been so hecticof late that she hadn't been able to spend time alone withher thoughts. What had happened scared her. She had noidea what it meant and Lemmy couldn't even remember ithappening, or so she said but Trixi wasn't so sure. Shesecretly thought that Lemmy could remember, but reallydidn't want to. And then there was what the High Priestshad said about the four sisters. This also troubled Trixi,not least because she had no idea where her other twosisters were.She got up from her bunk and set off with a purpose, tofind Lemmy. She found her pouring over the scannerreadings, trying to set things to an exact time scale."Do you remember much about your life, Lemmy?" Trixiasked after a moment's silence."What do you mean?" replied Lemmy."Well do you remember your parents, any brothers orsisters?""No, not really," began Lemmy. "But I do sometimesdream about a family, someone else's life. Always foursisters with no Mother, but a Father who loves and adoreshis daughters,""What happens in your dream?" Trixi asked, intrigued."Usually nothing, but sometimes the sisters getseparated because of a tragedy, but I don't know why orwhat happens after that," Trixi waited for a moment beforespeaking."Come with me," she said."Where are we going?" asked Lemmy."You'll find out, just follow," and Lemmy did so. Shefollowed Trixi around the maze of rooms and corridorsuntil Trixi found what she was looking for. "This'll do,"Lemmy looked around. They were in a small room, but inspite of its size it had an incredibly high ceiling."Why are we here," asked Lemmy, confused."Sit with me," said Trixi, not answering Lemmy's question.The two girls sat opposite each other on the cold concretefloor. "OK, now I want you to do something for me,""What?""I want you to concentrate on your dream,""The one with the four sisters?" Lemmy said."Yes that's right, I want you to concentrate as hard as youcan," Trixi hoped this was going to work. "Close your mindto everything else apart from that dream," she waited asLemmy took several deep breaths, and closed her eyes."Can you see the sisters?""I can see them, yes," replied Lemmy. "One of them lookslike you," Trixi smiled, it was beginning to work."Can you see all four?" Trixi asked."Yes, they're sat out in a garden just talking,""Good, anything else?""I hear a voice; it's their Father,""What does he say?""He calls to them, he tells them to be careful, it's not safe,"The look on Lemmy's face changed. No longer was shesmiling, she looked concerned. "The one who looks likeyou is leaving, and the youngest one, she leaves as well,"Trixi knew that the two girls that had left were herself andLemmy."Lemmy listen to me," began Trixi. "I want you to focus allyou thoughts and energy onto the two remaining girls;can you do that for me?""I can try," replied Lemmy reaching out and grabbingTrixi's hands."Concentrate for me," As she said this Trixi and Lemmybecame surrounded by a blinding, shimmering light. Thelight dissipated, and as Trixi opened her eyes still with herhands gripped in Lemmy's, there were no longer two girlsin the room, but instead there were four, sat in a circle onthe cold concrete floor."Are you all set guys?" asked Pete. He had assembled aforce of pilots twenty strong and they were preparing to flyout and meet the oncoming threat head on."Yes Sir," The pilots replied in unison."Good," Pete changed the channel on his radio. "Dan we'reheading out, think you guys can handle things herewithout me?""Yes mate," came the reply. "Go kick some ass,"The fleet took off. K had modified a fleet of fighter jets shehad found in a hangar, and she was almost sure that theywould be able to carry out the task in hand. She had fittedthem all with a modified version of the Half-Light drive. Itwouldn't instantly transport them through space, but itwould certainly make the journey much quicker. K's voicecame over the radio."Take it easy with those babies," she said. "and make sureyou bring yourself home,""Don't worry," laughed Pete. "You got J.D. to look after youif anything goes wrong," he paused. "Leaving atmo now,keep us informed if it changes course,""Will do," replied K."There is a small fleet of fighters heading straight for usSir," said Armstrong. "I don't understand though, we areheavily cloaked. Even their most powerful scanners shouldnot have been able to pick us up,""Stay on course Armstrong," replied Roberts. "Keep uscloaked for as long as you can,""Yes Sir,""Ready to engage Half-Light," said Pete"Ready as we're going to be, Sir,""I recognise that voice," said Pete, shocked. "J.D., what areyou doing up here?""I switched with one of your pilots mate," J.D. laughed."Can't have you getting all the glory now, can we?""Well I got to' say I feel much better having you up herewith me, no offence to you other guys,""None taken, Sir," the reply came over the radio."But mate what about K? She thinks you're safe andsound back down on Prima,""Yeah I know, she'll not let me live this down," J.D. paused."But hey no point dwelling on that, are we ready toengage?""Yes indeed," replied Pete. "On my mark..." He waited."...and mark," The fleet seemed to be suspended just for amoment, while the Half-Light searched for it's path beforesending twenty fighters speeding through space."Trixi?" The voice was vaguely familiar; it was that of herelder sister."Sara?""Yes, it's me,""Jemma?""Trixi is that you?""Yes," replied Trixi, not trying to hide the elation in hervoice."Janey?" The three girls looked at Lemmy."Janey," Lemmy repeated. "Janey, yes!" Lemmy smiled."That is my name," The four sisters shared an embrace,not one of them wanting to release the others, until finallySara spoke."Where are we?" she asked. "The last we knew, you andJaney had gone to talk to Father. Now we are all here inthis strange place.""I have such a lot to tell you," said Trixi. "And I will do, Ipromise but right now we have work to do," Trixi stood upand her sisters followed suite, mirroring her steps as shemade her way upstairs, before pulling up a chair at theround table. Trixi pushed a few buttons in front of her,and there appeared a 3-D display, a chart of Prima and itssurrounding planets. While she worked, Trixi explained toher sisters what she and Lemmy had been through, andtold of the as yet unknown impending threat.She looked around the table, meeting the gaze of each ofher sisters. She couldn't quite place it but she could feelelectricity running through her body, and it was makingher uncomfortable. It looked to her that she wasn't theonly one feeling this, as her three siblings also lookedslightly uncomfortable. As one they placed the palms oftheir hands in front of them on the table, each staringdirectly into its centre. The electricity flowing through eachgrew, and although their hands remained stationary theirbodies began to contort, as if they couldn't controlthemselves. The temperature began to rise and Trixi'svision blurred, and before she knew what was whateverything she saw was outlined in a deep red. She feltlike she was being dragged towards the centre of thetable, and couldn't help but resist. Resistance, thoughturned out to be futile for no matter how hard she tried,she could not shake the feeling. If she could have lookedat her hands, she would have seen that they were stillstationary, but she found herself unable to look awayfrom the centre of the table.Without warning there was an extremely loud explosion,confined to the centre of the table, and the brightest lightTrixi had ever seen rose slowly up towards the ceiling.Despite its brightness, Trixi could not look away from thelight, nor could her sisters. They watched the light riseand rise, until it reached and went through the ceiling,and then a sudden release. The girls were thrownbackwards, as if some invisible force had been pushingthem forwards but had suddenly disbanded. They couldno longer see, but they could feel it. The light acceleratedupwards, encompassing the entire planet. An invisibleshield for an unknown foe."Sir, we've just picked up an unknown power surgecoming from Prima," Armstrong said."Has it affected us in anyway?" asked Roberts."Not as far as I can tell Sir," replied Armstrong. "But I shallof course keep you informed,""Yes," said Roberts. "You will,""The fleet of fighters has entered sub-space, Sir,""Did they make us?" asked Roberts."No Sir, not a bean,""Good," Roberts smiled. "Their defences are obviouslystrained, pick up the pace Armstrong,""Yes Sir,""Well that was fun," said J.D. sarcastically. "Two hours offlashing blue lights, we come out and it's still black,""Take it easy J.D., we're close," replied Pete. "Everyonelocked and loaded?""Yes Sir,""Um... Pete,""Yes J.D. what's...?" Pete was stopped in his tracks. "Oh, fuck,"

Chapter Twenty-One

Trixi sat breathless, and tried to look around at hersisters. Her vision was blurred as if she had smoked half amarijuana plant, she found herself unable to focus.Instead she thought back to that day, all four of them satin the garden. They were just talking as sisters do, mostlyabout boys and who fancied who. They had been teasingJaney about her new boyfriend, who was apparently verywell endowed. Their Father had been listening, and hadput a stop to such talk. She and Janey had left Sara andJemma in the garden, and that is the last sheremembered. She did not remember seeing her Fatherafter he had called them; the next thing she couldremember with any clarity was waking from a deep sleepfour hundred years before she was born.Trixi did not like how little sense this made. What madeeven less sense was that she and her sisters possessedsome form of supernatural, primeval power. She had noidea where that came from. She knew of course that in herown time there were people who possess healing powers,and the power of illusion and the like, but what the fourgirls had done two hours previously had scared her. Therewas however no other explanation that she could see."We will be entering Prima airspace in a little under fourhours Sir," Armstrong spoke into the Com. At Roberts'request he had been running the engines of the Helderragged. Roberts wanted to utilise the stretched defenceson Prima while he could."Thank you Armstrong," replied Roberts from his quarters.Dan was monitoring the scanners, both long and shortrange. He had just watched as Pete and his unit emergedfrom sub-space, and was now watching as they lined upfor an attack."Yes mate, get stuck into them," he shouted at thescanners, despite the fact that he was essentially talkingto himself, he felt infinitely better. It was only then that henoticed the Helder closing in on Prima. He hastily pickedup his radio, and barked into it. "Lefoile, we haveincoming," he paused to check his figures. "Four hoursout at the most, get the troops ready to mobilise,""Yes Sir," replied Lefoile. "Should I inform the Captain?""No," replied Dan. "She and Lemmy are having a heart toheart somewhere; best we leave them to it for now,""Yes Sir," Dan waited for the transmission to end, andthen spoke into the Com once more."K, I hope your baby's ready to play,""Yeah she's looking good," replied K. "Why, do we havetrouble?""Incoming, about four hours out,""Well it looks like it's just you and me," she began. "Pete'soff to intercept whatever's on it's way, Trixi and Lemmy arebusy, and I've no idea where J.D. is, I can't raise him on theCom,""I haven't seen J.D. since Pete left," replied Dan."Oh," said K. "You don't think he went with Pete do you?""He may have, although he didn't say a word about it tome,""I'll kill him if he has," replied K, angrily. "I'll be with yousoon Dan,""No worries, we got time,"In his quarters, Roberts smiled. It was not a nice smile,more maniacal than nice, and the laugh that went with itscared even him. He coughed violently to make up for thelaugh, and went about his business. After shaving hemade his way to the bridge."How are we looking Armstrong?" asked Roberts."All fine Sir," replied Armstrong, he always enjoyed givinghis Captain good news. "It looks like we are going toreach Prima earlier than anticipated Sir,""How much sooner?""About an hour Sir,""Excellent," Roberts smiled once more, that evil, maniacalsmile."Unit One," Dan barked into the Com. "You are a go, thisis not a drill guys so bring the bastard down," Danwatched as twelve fighters sped off to meet the Helderhead on. "They're entering atmo in thirty seconds, I wantto see debris falling from the sky," Dan wouldn't haveadmitted it to anyone, but he did like the authority here,what with only he and K being around. "Lefoile, are weready for a ground assault?""Yes Sir," Lefoile replied, his voice edged with excitementand nervousness. "We have forty men, myself andNewhead included,""Good man," replied Dan. "Bring them out to meet meand K,""Sir, we have twelve fighters on approach," Armstronginformed his captain."Shields up, and fire at will,""Yes Sir," It was a complete and total obliteration. TheHelder dispatched all twelve fighters within a minute."Is that all you have?" Roberts shouted out loud, laughingas he did so."They have taken out the fighters Sir," said Lefoile. "Whathope do we have here?""A little faith, Lefoile," replied Dan, calmly. "We have theequaliser remember,""I'm sorry, Sir?""Betty," Dan said a look of disgust on his face. "Are youtelling me you had forgotten about Betty?""Of course not Sir, but I... I..." Lefoile stammered."At ease soldier, I'm twisting your nuts," Dan laughed."Take it easy,"Trixi, whilst still unable to focus attempted to stand up.She soon realised this was a huge mistake. It seemed herlegs stretched out for miles and miles in every direction.As far as she could tell, her sisters were in exactly thesame boat. Whatever force had taken over them had mostcertainly taken its toll."Tell me when that big bastard's in range K," Dan shouteddown from his station, caressing Betty."Twenty seconds," K replied from the driver's seat. Danlevelled Betty. He could see the Helder quite clearly in hissights, and as soon as K gave him the word, he would firea volley of Betty's best."Five seconds," K shouted. Dan prepared himself. "Two,"He checked his sights once more, gently squeezed thetrigger and watched. It seemed to take an age beforecontact was made, but when the smoke cleared TheHelder was still advancing as strong as ever."Shit," Dan shouted. "They have their shields up,""Aim for the weak points," replied K."I can't see the fuel tank from here, it's on the oppositeside," The Helder began to fire, however with the additionof air resistance and gravity their guns were nowhere nearas effective as they would be out in open space. "Keepfiring," Dan ordered. "Their shields can't last forever, we'regonna' go around back,""Yes Sir," Lefoile replied. "You heard the man," Lefoilespoke to his troops. "Get at them!" Dan laughed quietly tohimself. Before they had arrived Lefoile had been on theHigh Priests Guard. Now look at him, attacking anoncoming ship, infinitely bigger than he, and he was alittle man, but he showed no fear."Take us round K," Dan said. "But whatever you do try notto let them see us!""What do you take me for, eh?" asked K as she put theTank into gear and set off."No need to be like that," Dan replied. "I'm just inleadership mode,""Yeah the sooner we get you outta' that the better Ireckon," K said with a laugh. Dan watched The Helderclosely as they sped around. She was a huge ship, onethat he himself would love to pilot."They're releasing their own fighters," Dan shouted downto K. "I'm gonna give Lefoile a hand, take a few of them outfrom here," Dan once more stroked Betty lovingly beforefiring, whispering sweet nothings to her as he did so. TheHelder had released close to twenty fighters, and Danshot half of them out of the sky, with Betty's help ofcourse, he would stroke her before he fired every singletime. "That should make it easier for our boys on theground," he said, smugly.K was concentrating on manoeuvring the Tank around theback of The Helder, which must have been almost twomiles in length. K couldn't help thinking how much funshe could have taking The Helder apart, cleaning her upand putting her back together again. It was such a shameto have to destroy her, but of course they had little choice.She felt a tap on her shoulder; Dan was trying to get herattention. She had been lost in thought and not noticed."Take this and plug it in," Dan said. "I thought there wassomething missing," K took the memory stick from Danand plugged it in as he requested. "See darlin'," Dan saidas the sound of Slipknot's 'Heretic Anthem' filled the cab."We gotta' have a soundtrack, now slow down, we'realmost there," K drove for a couple more minutes beforeDan informed her that he had a shot.He let the music fill him, take him over, all the timestroking Betty. When he was completely calm and at ease,he opened his eyes, levelled the sights, let out a long,deep breath and fired a single shot. He watched in slowmotion as the rocket shimmered in the air. He knew itwas a direct hit, but he couldn't stop watching as therocket lined itself up with the fuel port. Then everythingwas happening in real time, The Helder hit the groundbefore it exploded, sending a huge mushroom cloudhundreds of feet into the air.Trixi felt the building shake, but still she couldn't bringherself to stand. She did however, wonder what washappening outside. Well, she would find out soonenough.Once the smoke had cleared, Dan and K sifted throughthe wreckage to see if they could find anythingsalvageable."You really did a number on this Dan," said K. "She's prettymuch completely destroyed,""Yeah well it was either that or leave her to have her waywith us," replied Dan."True," said K. "But still it would have been nice if there wasat least something for me to play with,""You two there, don't move," Dan and K glanced at eachother, confused. "I have a weapon trained, you are both inmy sights, it would be advisable if you were to do as Isay,""OK mate, OK," began Dan. "What is it that you want?""I am Captain Roberts of the PA Helder, Captain now onlyof the wreckage amidst which we stand," Roberts replied."I want the sisters,""Wait," Dan thought for a moment. "I recognise thatvoice," He still hadn't turned around. "Cosch?" He turnedto look their would be assailant in the eyes. "I fuckingknew it, I'd recognise that voice anywhere," Dan smiled tohimself. "Cosch Roberts, who the fuck made you Captain?"Dan laughed. "They must have been desperate, last time Isaw you me and J.D. had just kicked your ass. You wererunning away screaming like a girl,""Well my friend, how the tables turn,""They do at that," Dan replied, not taking his eyes off thegun in Roberts' hand. "So what do you want with Trixi andLemmy?""It's not just them I want; the other two are part of thebargain as well,""Hold on a minute, for one there's no bargain to be hadhere, mate. Secondly, what the fuck are you on about?Which other two?" Dan was getting edgy. He knew hecould get to Cosch before he had time to fire his weapon,apart from the fact that he didn't have the guts to kill twounarmed people anyway, especially as one of them was awoman."There are four sisters,""Yeah we've heard this story before, but we only have twoof them. No one knows where the other two are,""Well it seems I know more than you, I have it on goodauthority that where one is, all four can be found,""I've heard enough," said K. Quick as a cat she was behindCosch and had his firing arm bent underneath his chin,his pistol pointing upwards. "Now did you havesomething to say?" she asked, sweetly."Don't kill me," Roberts was almost crying. "Please don'tkill me; I was only carrying out my duty to the Parliament,""Yeah?" K asked sarcastically. "Well this is only me carryingout my duty to my friends," She pulled the trigger, and asingle bullet went straight through Roberts head,shooting out of the top. Dan was taken aback for amoment, but soon regained focus."I gotta' tell you I'm constantly surprised by you girls," helaughed. "We'd best go find Trixi and Lemmy, make surethey're alright,"Pete and J.D. stared out at The Black. That was the onlyway to describe what they were facing."Mate?" Pete asked, his voice filled with fear."I know," replied J.D. "How do we fight that?""You got me,""I was kinda hoping for something a little moreconclusive," joked J.D. trying to lighten the situation. "But Iguess that'll have to do," As they spoke, The Black wasdrawing ever closer. As they watched, what could only bedescribed as entrails of The Black stretched out, andformed themselves into human shapes. They literallysurfed The Black.The Black was drawing ever closer. It could sense the teamof fighters that had been sent to intercept it, it could getinside the minds of the pilots, but it could not see. That iswhy it had formed its Surfer's, it would see through them.It liked what it saw; The Black was hungry, having not fedfor millennia. It was going to enjoy this meal.

Chapter Twenty-two

"Coming Father," Trixi shouted from the kitchen. Eversince their Mother had died, all the girls had done theirfair share of household chores. Trixi had just returnedhome with the shopping, having spent almost threehours trawling around the local supermarket fightingpsychopathic women for the last of the frozen turkeys. Itwas Christmas you see, the girls first Christmas withouttheir Mother, and they were trying to make things as easyas possible for their Father. She put the last of therecycled carrier bags on the kitchen floor, and set off insearch of her Father. She found him in the living room,sprawled on the sofa watching American Wrestling."I need you to look after your sisters for me," heexplained. "I may have to go away for a while with work,and although Sara is the eldest, I'm not sure I trust her todo what I ask,""Yes Father," Trixi replied obediently."Whatever happens, Janey is not to have her new boyfriendin my house, do you understand?" Her Fathers toneindicated to her that any form of misunderstanding herwould not be looked upon fondly."Yes Father, I understand," she replied."Now speaking of Janey, isn't it her turn to make dinner?"Trixi sat bolt upright in the chair. She had been dreaming,and by looking around at her sisters she assumed thatthey to were dreaming. They awoke sluggishly, one afterthe other."Everyone OK?" Trixi asked after a few moments silence."I think so," replied Janey. "Definitely feel a migrainecoming on though," she laughed."Where are we Trixi?" Jemma asked."Prima," replied Trixi."That's rubbish," Jemma scoffed. "Prima was destroyedduring The Great War, over two hundred years ago,""The Great War hasn't happened yet," Trixi tried to explain."I don't really understand it myself, but we have allsomehow been transported four hundred years backthrough time," Jemma and Sara both looked confused."What about Father?" asked Sara."He died a few months back, or at least I think he did,"Trixi was confusing herself now. "But either way, we arecurrently in a time about three hundred and fifty yearsbefore Father was born,""What did we just do? It's confused me incredibly," saidSara."And me," replied Trixi. "I think its best we go outside andget some air,"The four sisters were met outside by Dan and K, who weretrying frantically to find them."Where the hell have you been?" asked Dan. "And who thefuck are these guys?""It's a long story," replied Trixi. "But these are my sisters,Sara, Jemma and Janey,""That's Lemmy," said K."A case of mistaken identity from the beginning I'mafraid," explained Trixi."That's right," said Janey. "My name is Janey, not Lemmy,""OK whatever, so where did Jemma and Sara come from?"asked Dan."They got here in what I'd imagine is pretty much thesame way Janey and I got here, through some sort of timegateway,""What?""None of us are in our own time; we were all born fourhundred years in the future,""But you're still you, aren't you Ma'am?" K asked worriedly."Yes," replied Trixi, smiling. "Now what's been going on?""You've missed the fucking party, that's what's been goingon," replied Dan. "That Parliament ship that's beenchasing us around the system for a year, well me and Ktook it down,""I'm impressed," said Trixi."Yeah, the weird thing is, the ship was Captained by a guyme and J.D. used to bully at flight school, although Kfinished him off," Trixi looked at K, who made the shape ofa gun out of her hand, and mimed blowing her own headoff,""Very nice guys, well done," said Trixi, genuinelyimpressed. "Any news from Pete?""No not a thing," replied K. "And we can't find J.D.anywhere. We haven't seen him since Pete left,""I'm sure he'll be OK," said Trixi as she put a reassuringhand on K's shoulder."What do we do mate?" J.D. was absolutely terrified. Firefights and the like he had no problem with, not after whathe and the rest of The Reaper's crew had been throughthese past months, but how can you fight darkness?"We gotta' take it out," Pete barked down the radio. "Takeout the surfers, fire at will,""Thought you'd never ask, Sir," The reply came over theradio, as did whoops of joy from the other pilots, glad tobe getting the chance to get down and dirty with the bigbad. J.D. fired multiple rounds, trying to take out a singlesurfer but it was impossible to get a lock. They were muchtoo fast, and seemed able to anticipate every move beforeit was made."They know what we're gonna' do before we do it," J.D.shouted."I know, but what choice do we have?" asked Pete. "Wereally can't let this thing get through to Prima, or at leastwe have to give it something to think about,""Holy shit, did you see that," J.D. yelled. "Did that Surferjust swallow a fighter whole?""Without even chewing," replied Pete. "We're out of ourdepth here, we need some help," Pete and J.D. watchedhelplessly as one by one their compadres and theirfighters were swallowed up by The Black. "Wait,""What," asked J.D."What do you do when you're scared of the dark?" Peteasked, a huge grin forming on his face."Turn on the fucking light," J.D replied. "I like it, nowwhere's the headlights on this thing?" Finding the switchto turn on the lights, both Pete and J.D. acceleratedtowards The Black."We don't have enough to kill it," shouted Pete over theroar of engines. "But we can certainly slow it down," Stillaccelerating, Pete and J.D. aimed directly at the Surfers."They're disorientated," yelled J.D. "The light confusesthem," He fired a round at the nearest surfer, and sureenough it vanished. "OK, I'm counting that as a kill," hesaid, laughing."Think we can take out all the Surfers the same way?"asked Pete."That I do," replied J.D. "Let's get the bastards,""Ah, Trixi," Trixi turned to see Jefferson Plank, Mayor of TwoRivers descending upon them. He was a tall man, withextremely greasy hair and wore thick glasses. "And how ismy head of security doing?""Fine Sir, thank you," Trixi replied, and proceeded tointroduce them to her sisters."Charmed to meet you both, I'm sure," said JeffersonPlank, and then he turned to Dan. "I gather we had anunwanted visitor,""Yes Sir, an old buddy of mine who went all screwy in thehead," Dan nodded to K. "But that's taken care of Sir youdon't have to worry about a thing,""Good, I'm glad to hear it," Jefferson Plank went on. Hewas the kind of person who you got the impression neverreally listened properly, his mind flitted from one thing toanother without so much as to break for a breath. "Anynews from your friend's?""Friends, Sir?" asked Dan."Yes your two pilot friends, they flew out to attack..." hestumbled, but soon regained his footing. "...well I'm notreally sure what they flew out to attack, but they weredefinitely flying and I know attacking was mentioned,""I'm gonna' fucking kill him," K yelled angrily. "How couldhe without telling me? Pete had better bring him backalive!" Janey put her hand on K's shoulder, and usheredher out of the way, taking her to a quiet spot to cooldown."No news Sir," said Dan after Janey had taken K out of theway. "We would much rather not hear from them and havethem return safe and sound though, which I'm sure theywill do,""Quite," replied Jefferson Plank. "Well, I shall detain you nolonger. Please do what it is that you do best,""Yes Sir," and with that, Jefferson Plank wandered off, backin the direction of his temporary offices. Dan waited untilhe was out of earshot before speaking again. "Well Iguess there's nothing for it but to sit tight and wait forPete and J.D. to get back here,""I think you're probably right," replied Trixi. "I'm starving,you guys fancy getting something to eat?"It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that Peteand J.D. returned, having slowed The Black and returningvia sub-space. They had spent hours chasing The Black,until one of J.D.'s lights went out and they made a jointdecision to make a run for it. Their fighters touchedground, and after letting them power down bothclambered out."Man I got a cramp," Pete stretched out all of his limbs atsimultaneously. "I have no idea how long we spentcramped up in there, but damn it's good to be on theground,""Agreed," Replied J.D. "You gotta' smoke mate?""Yeah no worries man," replied Pete, handing J.D. acigarette."Thanks bud," said J.D. lighting the cigarette. "How longdo you think we have?""Well I'm damn sure that we royally pissed it off," Petepaused. "I dunno, but I'll guarantee we don't have as longas we think,""Well I dunno about you but I have to get some shut eye,"said J.D. before taking another drag. "I should probablyfind K as well,""Take it easy mate and get your rest. Something tells methere's gonna' be a few sleepless nights,"Pete and J.D. headed towards their quarters. J.D. sharedwith K, he felt they were getting quite serious now, and hehad to admit that he liked it very much. The way she madehim feel, like nothing else mattered but the two of them.He opened and shut the door as quietly as he could, andlit another cigarette."Man, I gotta' have a beer," he whispered to himself. Hesilently moved across to the fridge, took a cold beer out ofthe tray at the bottom, and opened it with his teeth. Heswigged down the beer, and took a last drag on hiscigarette before going through to the bedroom. K awokeas he opened the bedroom door."Where the fuck have you been?" she shouted, angrily. J.D.figured that she probably already knew exactly where hehad been, so there was no use in lying."I couldn't let Pete go up there on his own, and I knewthat if I'd have talked to you about it you'd have tried totalk me out of it," J.D. paused for breath. "We kicked itsarse though,""Damn straight I'd have tried to talk you out of it!" K wasstill angry. "What would I have done if you hadn't comeback? I love you,""You... What?""I love you," K repeated. "Don't ever do that again, I can'tlose you,""What... I..." J.D. stammered."What is it anyway?" K asked."What?""You kicked its arse, but what is it?"Darkness," replied J.D. "Pure, unadulterated, black,""I can't believe you went without telling me," J.D.'s replyhad shocked K, but she had more important things onher mind right now."You love me?" J.D. still couldn't believe it. He kept hearingK repeat it over and over in his head; it made him feelbetter than he had done for as long as he couldremember. "I love you," he said to her before kissing her,and laying her down on the bed.

Chapter Twenty-three

How had that happened? The Black had never beentreated in such a way, never had anything been able tomount an attack let alone succeed. Granted the twopuny Humans had only succeeded in slowing TheBlack, but it would not let that happen again. Theproblem was that despite the infinite knowledge andpower of The Black, it was unsure as to how theHumans had managed to prevail. The Black had alwaysbeen and would always be, in one form or another. Inmost places it was the fuzzy patch of nothingness thathid away at the back of your mind, until one daysomething wakes it. When awake it became the allencompassing entity it was now, destroying anythingit came across, be it a relationship or a species.The Black had not come across Humanity for a very,very long time. It had left The Earth, Mankind'sprevious home, several thousand years ago. Mankindhad only just invented fire to keep themselves safeand warm at night, in the dark. The Black had left itslegacy though, and made sure that future generationswere told of its infinite power.When The Black had arrived in this system, it hadbeen a new system teeming with life of all forms. TheBlack had eliminated all life systematically a speciesat a time. It was aware that some species hadescaped, but as it had not come across these speciessince, it assumed they had perished. Since The Blackhad nothing else to destroy, it had gone into a stateof hibernation, in the deepest darkest cave on thecoldest world it could find.Mankind had awoken it, and had won the first battle.The Black was determined that the war would not beso easily won.It could feel itself drawing ever closer to the Humanstronghold. The Black had no concept of time, not inthe strictest sense. All it knew was that it would notbe long before it reigned supreme once more. TheBlack had become lazy. Had it not become socomplacent The Black would never have allowed theHumans to make their home here in the first place.The fighters and pilots it had devoured had made theBlack all the more eager to reach the Humans, and itwould gorge itself on their very souls."So basically what you're telling me," began Trixi. "Is thatwe have to wage a war against darkness," she paused asshe listened to how ridiculous the words sounded as theyleft her mouth. "Actual darkness, as in pitch black?""That's the only way to describe it," replied Pete. He toknew that this sounded ridiculous, but he and J.D. hadwitnessed this phenomenon first hand. There was nodenying what they were up against."Well how do we fight it?" asked Trixi. "You two onlymanaged to slow it down,""True," began J.D. "But we do know it's weakness, all weneed is a bright enough light,""I've been thinking about that," said Janey. "But by thesounds of things, we're going to need a light with anincredible amount of power," she looked around thegroup to see if anyone else was going to chip in with anidea. When no one did, she carried on. "If we can come upwith the materials which I'm sure K can, then we canharness the power of the suns between four giant solarpanels,""Then all we'd have to do is somehow get The Black inbetween them, and turn the thing on," Pete chirped up."OK Janey, you and K get to work on that, I want itoperational as soon as possible," ordered Trixi. "The restof us need to come up with a few backup ideas, just incase,"Trixi hoped that Janey's plan would work, as she hadnothing. They had not come across anything like thisbefore. The Black was so powerful, Trixi wasn't even surethat they could overcome it. She turned to Pete."You know that it's going to be down to you to drive TheBlack in between the plates?" she asked."Not just him," said J.D. "Me and Dan will get in on theaction as well, we're all pilots remember," Pete lookedrelieved. He would never have asked either J.D. or Dan fortheir help, but he was glad that they would be up therewith him."Too fucking right," said Dan. "If we're going down, we'regoing down together, and if we don't go down I'm nothaving these guys ripping the piss forever and a daybecause I didn't have the bollocks to get up there,""So, you're going, right?" Trixi asked a little confused afterDan's speech."Yeah, you try and stop me," replied Dan, laughing. Therewas a cough behind them."I don't mean to interrupt," Lefoile said. "I couldn't helpbut overhear your conversation,""That's OK mate," Pete said. "What is it that you want?""I want to go with you," Lefoile replied. "I have a littlepiloting experience myself, and in all honesty I can't justsit down here twiddling my thumbs,""That's appreciated Lefoile," said Trixi. "Only if you're sure,it is going to be extremely dangerous,""I know," began Lefoile. "I would however, prefer to diefighting than live without trying," Dan put his arm aroundLefoile."Welcome to the gang my friend," he said. "You're gonna'fucking love it,"Two days passed. The Black drew ever closer, its progressmonitored on the scanners in a rolling rota, each takingfour hours at a time. The Black kept a constant pace like ahuge steam roller, slowly but surely, and ready to destroyanything it came across. On the morning of the third day,Dan was on watch. He had been watching the scannerclosely and judging by the pace The Black was travellingat, it would be here around midnight tomorrow."Well," he began, talking to himself. "As sunrises roundhere might well be in short supply, I'm gonna' go outsideand enjoy this one," With that he left his post andwandered outside. The first sun was just coming over thehorizon, casting an array of colours and shapes over thedawn sky. He pulled a carton of cigarettes out of hispocket, leant against the wall of the building, lit acigarette and took a long, deep drag."Any progress?" asked Trixi, walking around the corner totake her watch."I reckon we have until midnight tomorrow," replied Dan.Trixi went to speak, but Dan pointed towards the horizon,and handed her a cigarette. "Just enjoy this," he said, andTrixi did. She watched the shapes and colours danceacross the sky, and then as the second sun poked itshead above the horizon an even greater mix of coloursand shapes collided with each other, depicting some epicbattle, one that played out every day."We're gonna' win this you know," said Trixi as theywatched."I know," replied Dan. "I also know that it's gonna' befucking hard, and we ain't all gonna' make it through,""Well there's nothing else we can do," said Trixi. "Janey andK have our trap up and running, so all we can do is hopethat everything goes to plan,""We're not gonna' be more prepared than we are now,"said Dan, smiling. "You should get some rest, you dolook knackered,""I know, I haven't been sleeping all that well," Trixiexplained. "I keep having nightmares,""Well I doubt that you're alone on that score" replied Dan."Things have got really messy far too fast for my liking,""Go do what you want, something you enjoy," said Trixi,turning to face Dan. "I'll tell the others the same, I meantomorrow might well be our last day," Dan nodded andleft. Trixi watched as he headed straight into the nearestbar, and laughed quietly to herself.The Black continued onwards. It could sense the fear,getting stronger and stronger as it approached. It drunkin this fear and it made it all the more powerful. Such aglorious taste, so sweet. Yet in amongst the fear it couldtaste something else, something that it could not find inits vocabulary. It could taste the desire to live."Trixi told me I'd find you in here," said Pete, grabbing abar stool and placing it next to Dan's."I thought I was more predictable than that, I'mdisappointed in you mate," Dan laughed. "What youdrinking? It's all on the house on account of impendingArmageddon,""Fair enough who am I to argue?" Pete looked along thebar to get the attention of the barmaid, which heeventually managed to do. "Two beer's darlin'," he said."Anything else?" she asked, handing Pete two openedbottle's of beer, one of which he handed to Dan, clinkingthe top of Pete's bottle with his own."Yeah," he replied. "Where's your jukebox?" She nodded toher left, indicating that the jukebox could be found at theend of the bar. "Thanks,""That memory stick of mine's plugged in mate, so youshould be able to find pretty much anything you want,"Dan said."Now worries mate, I'm just gonna' put it on random andget incredibly wasted," replied Pete."That's something I can drink to," said Dan, laughing oncemore and signalling to the barmaid. "Two more of thesewhen you're ready," Dan quickly finished off the beer Petehad given him, taking huge swallows as Pete played withthe jukebox."Where's the rest of the guys anyway?" asked Pete sittingback down."Dunno mate, it was just me in here until you walked in,"Dan took a swig of his beer. "Apparently no one else is inthe mood for drinking,""That might have something to do with the fact that it isonly nine-thirty in the morning," replied Pete."Could be," Dan agreed. "Could well be,"It was a couple of hours later when J.D. entered the bar,with K in tow. "Alright guys?" he grinned."Will be when I can't remember how to order anotherbeer," replied Dan. He reached behind him and grabbedtwo bar stools for J.D. and K whilst Pete ordered four morebeers."Cheers bud," said J.D. as he and K sat down. "Who's gotthe fags?""That'd be me," said Pete passing one to J.D. "You wantone?" he asked K."Might as well," she replied, taking the packet from Pete.The four of them sat in almost silence, with Danoccasionally singing along to the music when certaintracks were playing. None of them wanted to think aboutThe Black, but they could not help it. It was at the forefrontat each of their minds.It was not long before they were joined by Trixi, Janey,Jemma and Sara. Lefoile was not far behind, and the nineof them sat at the bar, ordering drinks and smokingcigarettes, enjoying each others company whilst it wasstill available to be enjoyed."So when you said to us to do what we wanted," said Dan."What you actually meant to say was, 'I'll see you guys inthe pub later'," Dan joked."Well it seemed like the best thing to do," replied Trixi."Besides, where else can we go to forget our troubles?"Dan shrugged in agreement."So, we're all set?" he asked."Yes," replied Trixi. "We've set the trap a little out of town,""Makes sense to me," said Pete. "So long as we cancontain The Black, it saves us doing another rebuildingjob,""Great minds," replied Trixi, and turning to Janey. "See, Itold you our boys weren't as stupid as they looked," Janeyburst out laughing, as did Jemma and Sara."That was below the belt," said J.D., faking the look ofsomeone genuinely hurt."Yeah," said Dan. "Harsh but fair," This comment senteveryone into hysterics, so much so that for just amoment, they forgot the important things, and felt whatit was like to live without fear.The laughter died down eventually, and tears were wipedaway."So," began J.D. "Who's for a shot?" There was a generalagreement, so J.D. got the attention of the barmaid. "Giveus nine vodkas if you would be so good," The barmaidobliged, and went to put the bottle back on the shelfbehind the bar. "You know you might as well leave thatwith us,""By the looks of you lot, I'm gonna' have to get anothercouple of bottles out as well," replied the barmaid."That sounds like a plan," said Dan. "You gonna' join usfor one darlin'?" he asked."Why not?" she replied. "I think we can class this as aspecial occasion,"Dan awoke the following morning to see sunlightstreaming in through the cracks in the blinds. "Oh fuckoff," he mumbled."What was that?" came a cry from the direction of thekitchen."Oh fuck," he mumbled, much more quietly this time. Heforced himself out of bed and made his way through tothe kitchen. He was greeted sight of the barmaid from thenight before wearing nothing but a thong."I've just made a pot of coffee," she said, unperturbed."How do you take it?""Milk and a fuck load of sugar," Dan replied. He looked herup and down, and he had to admit he'd done pretty wellfor himself. She had black hair, finely plaited to look likemini dreadlocks which of course matched Dan's actualdreadlocks. The plaits at their longest point sat just belowher buttocks."How are you feeling this morning?" she asked."A little worse for wear," replied Dan, and laughed outloud. He cut the laugh short when he discovered howmuch it hurt his head."I'm not surprised," she continued. "I bet you can't evenremember my name, can you?""You know what? I was hoping that wouldn't come up,""My name's Tristian," replied Tristian, laughing. "And don'tworry, I never told you my name," Dan looked relieved."You got any smokes?" he asked. "I'm all out," Tristianthrew him a packet of cigarettes. "Thanks,""No problem," Tristian replied. "What do you think isgoing to happen?""Well, I mean you're nice and everything," Dan stammered."Gorgeous in fact,""Thanks," replied Tristian, glad that Dan found herattractive when he was sober as well as when he wasdrunk. "But that's not actually what I meant. I was talkingabout tonight,""Oh with The Black?""Yeah,""Honestly I don't know, I don't even know if we're gonna'be here tomorrow," said Dan, sombrely."Something tells me that we will be," replied Tristian."Most of us will anyway,""How can you be so sure?" Dan asked."Well how else am I going to be?" Tristian smiled. "Wehave to have hope,"

Chapter Twenty-four

"It's getting late," said Tristian. "It'll be dark soon," Sheglanced over at Dan. They had spent the whole daytogether, getting to know each other without the aid ofalcohol."I should probably..." Dan stopped. He didn't really knowwhat to say. Well what was there to say? He was well awarethe he and the others were facing certain death, as werethey all. Saying 'I should probably go and save the world'did not really cut the mustard, because the chances oftheir success without significant loss were lower than acat's chances in Hell."I know," replied Tristian. "And I know that you might notbe coming back," she paused to wipe a tear from her eye."But do your best for me, yeah?""Don't worry," replied Dan, lighting a cigarette. He didn'tsay goodbye, instead he simply said, "I'll see you later,"and kissed Tristian on her cheek before leaving.Dan wandered for a couple of hours, nowhere inparticular, but simply for the pleasure of being out in thefresh late evening air. He finally made his way to themakeshift airfield where the fighters were housed. Peteand J.D. were already there sitting in silence, each makingpeace with themselves. Dan pulled up a chair and sat withthem, equally as silent. An hour or so passed beforeLefoile arrived. The three men looked up and nodded inacknowledgement."I have just come from the scanner," said Lefoile. "Trixiwishes us luck,""Well we're gonna' need it," Dan smiled."We have a half hour before The Black reaches us," Lefoilecontinued. "Trixi has explained to me about the invisibleshield, she is however unsure as to how long it will hold,or if it will at all,""Well while the shield is up we can see what we can do,"said Pete. "I mean it may not be necessary to use our trapat all," The others nodded in agreement. "But at least wecan back The Black up against the shield then it hasnowhere to go, and when the shield gives we should be ina position to force it down,""Works in theory," replied J.D."So did Hitler's plan to invade Russia," said Dan. "Thatwent well,""Enough of that man," said Pete. "We've got a job to do,what say we crack on, eh?""I'm right there with you mate," replied Dan. As one thefour men stood up, and slowly made their way over totheir fighters. It was the longest walk of their lives, comingdirectly before what was certain to be the fight of theirlives. They weren't just fighting for themselves; they werefighting for each and every Human Being. The fate of everyman, woman and child rested on their actions, and thatwas a huge weight to carry. Mankind truly was anendangered species.They entered their respective cockpits, and carried outtheir various pre-flight rituals. Pete ran his fingersthrough his hair eleven times. J.D. took a picture of K outof his pocket and held it to his lips. Lefoile prayed, not toany deity in particular, but he felt it prudent. Dan twistedhis dreadlocks around his fingers, before tapping hiscrutch and saying, "Don't worry, we'll get out of this,"quietly to himself.As one, they started their engines, and each man took adeep breath of air before sealing their cockpits."We few," said Pete into the radio. "We happy few,""We band of fuckers," replied Dan."Mate," said J.D. "That ain't the line,""I know mate, but I changed it as I reckon we're properfucked,"The fighters lifted off, with them carrying not only Prima's,but Mankind's last hope."Can you see that?" asked Dan."It's grown," said J.D. "Pete I don't remember it being thatbig,""How the..." began Lefoile, before he realised anything hesaid would be futile."Well," began Pete. "It's grown sure enough, but all it is, isdarkness,""Yeah but there's a lot of it," replied Dan. They watched asThe Black deployed its Surfers once more. Entrails twistinginto vaguely humanoid shapes."Lights on, boys," shouted Pete, his voice edged withexcitement. The adrenaline had started to pump throughhis body, and he was loving the feeling."You think it'll fuck up my air supply if I have a smoke inhere?" asked Dan, turning on his lights and lighting acigarette at the same time. "Either way it's too late, but Idon't want to get too excited, you know?""I'm going around the back," said J.D. accelerating towardsThe Black. At the last minute, he dropped below The Blackand was now underneath it. "Guys it seems to go onforever,""We're coming to join you," replied Pete, as he, Dan andLefoile pulled the same manoeuvre as J.D."Glad you could make it," joked J.D. when his friends wereby his side. "Thought you boys were gonna' chicken out,""Slow and steady," ordered Pete. "Don't let your lights offThe Black, and for fuck's sake keep firing,"They did, and it was a slow process. There were no Surfersthis side of The Black, so there was nothing specific to aimat, only the vast expanse of darkness that was laid outbefore their very eyes. Machine gun fire would cut into TheBlack leaving huge gashes; however these gashes wouldquickly be filled with more of the same. They were gettingthere, inching The Black back towards the shield thatsurrounded the planet. Their lights flickered over The Blackas they attacked, but whilst The Black clearly did not likethe light as it was disorientated by them, the visual effectwas more than a little disconcerting. It made the darknessaround the light look even darker."We have it against the shield," shouted J.D."Is it holding," shouted Dan. Adrenaline was nowpumping through each and every one of their bodies."It does not appear to be moving," said Lefoile. "I mustcheck, you three hold it here,""OK mate, but be careful," shouted Pete."I shall be," replied Lefoile. He accelerated back towardsPrima."You're too close," Dan shouted. "Lefoile pull out,""I'm fine," replied Lefoile."No you're not," shouted Pete. "Watch out," They watchedhelplessly as Lefoile, oblivious to the Surfer directlybehind him, accelerated on."It's latched onto the back of his fighter," J.D. shouted."He's gonna' take it through the shield,""The Black is directly against the shield," Lefoile saidjoyfully. Seconds later The Surfer, now on the oppositeside of the shield, swallowed him whole."Lefoile," yelled Pete. "Lefoile, come in,""He's gone, mate," said Dan. It hadn't needed saying asthey all knew the truth. "He's gone and we have a fuckingSurfer on the other side of the shield able to attack theplanet,""Can we radio through?" asked J.D."No The Black has messed up our long range signal,"replied Dan."So they won't know what's going on," J.D. was frantic. "K'sdown there,""OK," said Pete. "You two go, but don't get caught up on aSurfer. I'll stay up here and see what I can do," before Petehad finished talking both Dan and J.D. had gone, taking amuch wider route than Lefoile had done. It did not takethem long to reach the shield, and both sure that theyhad not picked up a hitcher, they carried on through."I'm picking up a different reading from the shield," saidDan as the accelerated towards Two Rivers."Are we assuming that's a bad thing?" asked J.D."Well I don't see how it can be good, do you?""We have you on radar guys," Trixi's voice came over theradio. "What's goin' on?""There's a Surfer made it through the shield," Danshouted. "We're chasing it down now, but theresomething else,""What?" replied Trixi."The shield is giving off some very strange readings," saidDan. "Check it out," Dan pushed a few buttons and thedetails were sent to Trixi."Oh that's not good," said Trixi after a few seconds."Don't say it like that," said Dan."The shield is weakened, almost completely where youtwo came through,""Can you strengthen it?" asked J.D."Doubtful, I'm not really sure how we put it there in thefirst place,""OK well we're coming up on Two Rivers now; The Surfer isalmost directly in front of us so we'll get rid of this guy..."Dan paused what he was saying to release a volley ofmachine gun fire, destroying The Surfer. "...and now wecan head back up there and make sure The Black doesn'tget through," Dan and J.D. both pulled a loop, andheaded back to the shield. "You get your sisters together;see if you can come up with anything,""Will do," replied Trixi. "Be careful, we saw Lefoile getswallowed and I don't want anyone else suffering thesame fate, OK?"Trixi watched them on the scanner for a while, and thenturned to her sisters."They're not going to be able to hold The Black up formuch longer," she said. "We're going to have to come upwith something,""Well how did it work before?" asked Jemma."If we knew that we could do it whenever we wanted,"replied Sara, sarcastically."Drop the tone," said Janey. The two bickering sisterslooked at her. "Thank you, now we don't have much time,"She held out her hands, the other girls did the same. Theyjoined their hands to make a circle. Janey did not say aword; Jemma and Sara shared an awkward glance, andeach wondering what was going on. Trixi knew, andopened her mind, ready to embrace what was to come. Itstarted out with a tingle in her toes, she tried to shake itoff but it quickly became a tingle all over her feet,travelling the length of her legs. She found herself unableto move. Looking around at Janey she saw her youngersister smiling almost hysterically as she allowed thefeeling to take her over. Trixi relaxed and did the same.She opened her mind completely, allowing the feeling todo with her what it wanted. She closed her eyes and triedto remember to breathe, it was getting rather warm.She opened her eyes after only a few minutes, completelyat ease, allowing the feeling to control her. She realisedthat the four sisters were no longer on the ground;instead they were floating a few feet above it. They wereheading for a point directly under the shields weakestpoint, ready to launch a secondary attack once the shieldbroke down."Pete," J.D. shouted. "Pete are you receiving?""He won't hear you mate," said Dan. "Radio's playing upremember?""I know," replied J.D. "I just wanted to check he was OK,""Go around then," said Dan. "I can hold here,""Are you sure mate?" J.D. asked."Yeah," replied Dan. "Now get a fucking shake on," J.D. left,using the weaker part of the shield as The Surfers were yetto find their way through.He arrived on the other side of The Black to find no sign ofPete. He checked and double checked, carrying out fly-bysas close to The Black as he dared but there was no sign atall.K was at a loss as to what to do. J.D. was off being a hero,Trixi was to activate their trap, and for once she didn'treally feel like playing around with engines. She headedback to the bar where they had been drinking the otherevening, and found Tristian behind the bar. K smiled agreeting."You're looking lonely," said Tristian."A little, yeah," K agreed. "But so are you," The empty barhad not gone unnoticed."You noticed that, eh?" replied Tristian. "You fancy a drink?""Nothing else to do, so I might as well," K took the beergratefully. "So how did you and Dan get on?""Well," Tristian chose her words carefully. "I know how helikes his morning coffee, and I'm kinda' hoping that hedoesn't end up dying tonight,""The start of every healthy relationship," K joked. "Morningcoffee, and praying your lover stays alive,""He's not there mate," J.D. was distraught. "No sign of himat all," He had gotten back to Dan as quickly as he could,not wanting his friend to have to face the full force of TheBlack on his own."Fuck," replied Dan. He did not want to get too emotional,not yet, not up here. "You and me then mate?""Hell yes," replied J.D., equally as reluctant to show anyemotion."Make sure you got your game face on mate, cos thisshield looks like it could give at any minute,""I'm ready, don't you worry about that,"Trixi and her sisters were now directly beneath theweakest point of the shield, still floating a few feet abovethe ground."Mate it's giving," J.D. shouted."I see that," replied Dan. "Lights on," When the shield gaveout, for a few seconds there was nothing, as if The Blackwas unable to believe it's luck. It was sudden though,when The Black realised what had happened it sent it'sSurfers through first, hundreds of them. It was all Danand J.D. could do to keep them at bay without beingswallowed themselves. For hours it seemed the twofriends battled The Surfers before they finally felt like theywere getting anywhere.Trixi opened her eyes and looked at Janey. It was only thenthat she realised they were spinning, slowly but gettingsteadily faster. She looked around at Jemma and Sara,both of whom seemed completely at ease. They wererising, Trixi was sure of that, but she had no idea howhigh they were, nor how high they were going to go.Dan and J.D continued to take out The Surfers, apainstaking process but one that must be carried out."Does it look to you like it's not just The Surfers makingtheir way down now?" asked J.D. He was right; The Blackwas coming closer, drawing ever nearer to its eventualgoal. There was a crackle over the radio. "What did you saymate? J.D. asked."Nothing mate, but I heard that as well," Dan replied. Thenext thirty seconds or so played out in slow motion. BothDan and J.D. were startled by the sound of a primalscream, as Pete burst through The Black, behind him itseemed The Black had formed into a tornado of sorts, andwas chasing him down. Dan and J.D looked down towardsthe surface of the planet to see what looked like Trixi andher sisters rising towards them. They were spinningincredibly fast, and flickers of electricity seemed to bepassing between them all.Dan and J.D. watched in awe as Pete guided his fighterbetween the sisters, twisting and turning as he did so.They followed suite, although avoiding the sisters theyheaded for the surface of Prima."K," J.D. barked into the radio, as they drew closer to thesurface. "K, you need to set the trap,""Was that for me?" K asked Tristian."I think so yes," she replied."I have to go," said K, running out of the door."I'm coming with you," Tristian shouted from behind her."Well hurry," replied K. "We can't have much time," Theyarrived in the scanner room to see Pete hurtling downtowards the ground, and Trixi, Janey, Jemma and Sarachannelling The Black down after Pete. He was headedstraight for the trap."Set it now," Dan screamed over the radio."But Pete," replied K."Do it," Dan yelled. "We have no choice," K flicked theswitch. She and Tristian watched on the scanner as Peteincreased his speed, and his fighter disappeared fromview, crashing into the ground inside the trap. There was ahuge explosion which shook the foundations of the verybuilding they were in. They watched as J.D. and Dan spedtowards the crash site, slowing as they neared. Theywatched with baited breath as The Black, seeminglyunaware, entered the trap to gorge itself on Pete's soulbefore it was lost, and they watched as the full power ofthe system's twin suns was unleashed. There was adeafening noise, as close to a scream of pain and anguishas The Black could manage as the forces of light won overthe forces of darkness.The light faded, and with it the anguished screams of aonce powerful entity. Trixi looked around at her sisters,sharing a smile which each of them in acknowledgementof a job well done. They slowly floated down to theground, landing some way from the crash site to find Petesat on the ground smoking a cigarette."How?" asked Trixi. "That should have killed you,""I know," replied Pete. "It would have if it hadn't been foryour gorgeous sister there," Trixi turned to Janey."How?" she asked for the second time."I'm not sure," replied Janey. "I just knew I really didn'twant him to die in that crash,""Well none of us did," replied Trixi."I'm just glad that I'm still around to share in thesuccess," said Pete, smiling at Janey. "And of course, Icouldn't miss the post-battle drinking session could I?""You willed him not to die?" asked Trixi, refusing to dropthe subject."Yes," replied Janey before taking hold of Pete's head withboth hands and planting a deep, passionate kiss on hislips."Oh yeah?" joked Dan. He and J.D. had just landed. "Gladyou made it mate," he said to Pete. "I'm almost certain wecouldn't have done it without you," he gave him a friendlypunch, before holding Pete in a manly embrace."Right enough of that," said J.D. "It's not that I'm gettingjealous, I just want to get back to my woman,""And me," said Dan. "Not yours mind, mate,""Glad to hear it," replied J.D. They set off back towards TwoRivers, J.D. and Dan in their fighters, the rest walking. Peteand Janey walked arm in arm, unable to keep their eyes ortheir hands off each other."You know she's still my little sister?" said Trixi. "And that Icould without a doubt, kick your ass,""Yeah... but..." Pete stammered."She's only fooling around," said Janey. "Now shush you,"she said to Pete before kissing him deeply once more.K and Tristian were in the bar, waiting for their friends andsignificant others to return.It was not long before they did so, and were all soon satat the bar once more, Dan and Tristian having shared akiss as passionate as you are ever likely to see. K saton J.D.'s lap, simply holding onto him, never wanting tolet him go."I think," said Pete when he could prise Janey's mouthfrom his own for a moment. "If we could just take amoment to remember Lefoile," The group each raisedtheir bottles, took a moment and then drank to thememory of Lefoile.Outside the air was cold; a crisp dawn frost lay on theground. As the first sun poked its head over the horizon,vivid colours and shapes danced across the sky. Thesecond sun was soon to follow, and a greater array ofcolours and shapes collided with each other, depictingsome epic battle that took place every day, and wouldcontinue to do so for years to come.
