 
### VOID STAR

By J.P. Yager

Smashwords Edition

Copyright: Joseph P. Yager 2012

All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced, displayed, modified, or distributed without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder. For permission, contact j.p.yager@hotmail.com.

Cover art: Graphiczxdesigns.zenfolio.com

Edited by: Lora @ Createspace.com

## Prologue

He ran as fast as his legs could go. Violent explosions struck at the earth and sent shock waves coursing through him from every direction. Blasts of fire ripped up soft jungle soil on both sides of his scrambling body as more laser-guided projectiles and energy bursts screamed across the sky, hungry for destruction. The invaders were everywhere.

By all appearances, his home world, Vale, was ending.

The reptilian-hominid, a Salarian named Dosh, barreled through the thick vegetation. From head to toe, he resembled a lizard that had taken a different evolutionary path toward human with his green and orange scale-covered skin and his large, round head and intelligent eyes.

Dosh made sure his pack was still on his back. He could feel its weight across his shoulders, but there was just too much at risk if he lost it, so he felt it necessary to make frequent checks. The surface of his planet was being ravaged by invaders determined to find the exact thing he was running through the jungle carrying. His people were sacrificing everything, so that he alone could succeed.

His heart pounded with fear. Somewhere out there were battleships as big as many planets. Thousands of deadly fighter-bombers were consistently being released on them like a plague. Disengaged from their mother ship, these carriers of death fell upon their world like meteors, free to unleash their malice. The enemy was too great in numbers for their paltry defenses to withstand. Against these insurmountable odds, he had managed to escape before they could kill or capture him.

Shouldering the impossible weight of the task at hand, Dosh forced himself to push on. His bravery would have to make up for his lack of height, speed, and agility.

Dosh leaped over fallen trees, narrow rivers, and fresh holes in the ground. Smaller critters than he bounded along with him, between his feet, in hopes of finding safety in a world gone mad.

In the artificial winds, his light-brown and forest-green robes billowed out behind him, dirt and water weighing down the bottoms. Cuts and bruises ran along his scaled face. His purple eyes searched the area 270 degrees before him, taking in low-flying aircraft, bursts of flame, and the ever-changing terrain. His jungle was burning, its ancient trees shredded.

After loping down into a shallow valley, Dosh took a moment to catch his breath. The familiar smell of white Hamasa flowers, which grew around the perimeter of his destination, brought respite and relief. The light citrus fragrance took him back to more peaceful times. He remembered running through the jungle for fun, playing games, and mating—but not for survival, not for the fate of all who lived.

A flash of metal detonated before Dosh, throwing him through the jungle in a violent tangle. Tree branches broke across his face as he flew blindly through the woods and landed in a bloody mess. All he could see was swirling darkness.

The darkness.

The thought of it grabbed at what was left of his courage and tried to shake it loose. That unstoppable black evil that had been unleashed into the universe was coming. He had to escape his world to stop it.

The sound of thousands of ships flying irregularly overhead thundered against his eardrums. It shook him back to reality. He looked up to see the enemy ships swarming overhead like locusts. They were going to find him.

_Get up_ , he told himself. _You are not dead_.

Dosh did his best to bury the pain deep in his mind. The fate of countless worlds depended on him.

He pushed himself off the ground and popped his arm back into place. When the muscle tendons met, the pain eased, though only slightly. Like his reptilian ancestors, healing came second nature. His tailed was battered and may fall off, but it was the least of his concerns.

A quick scan around the lush jungle floor showed his pack hanging on a bush nearby. He ran toward it, slung it back over his shoulder, and took off toward his hidden ship as a volley of bombs crashed through the expanse behind him.

After another several meters, Dosh reached the hatch. He pulled up what looked like a piece of forest floor, revealing the secret bunker. He swung his legs in and slid down the ladder inside. When he hit bottom, he turned to his ship.

The ship was a JS-9 hypersonic class, capable of three times light speed. It had come at a bargain since being discontinued centuries earlier for numerous flight abnormalities that occurred at light speed. Dosh had no other choice.

Its sleek body was covered in a thick sheet of dust and cobwebs. He wished he had taken it out more. And he worried that it wasn't the quickest craft—though he only had to outrun his enemy.

Dosh hit the wall switch. Machinery crunched and grumbled as the hidden takeoff strip rose to the surface. He threw his case inside the cockpit and climbed in.

_It will be all right_ , he tried to convince himself. Once he left the atmosphere, he would be free. Then he could find the others to help him. Ultimately, he had to find the Nymarian, Cleph'thera. He would know what to do with the star and how to find the one who could use it. He would not allow his mind to wander to any outcome except getting out of this alive.

When the bunker had completed its transformation into a useable takeoff pad, he punched the ignition. Thrusters awakened angrily from their long slumber. In seconds, the craft spun to life and shot forward. The JS-9 erupted from its hiding place.

The choleric jungle reached down to swipe at him, leaves and branches slapping the windshield, before clearing to bright-orange sky. He did his best to ignore the fighters swirling around him, turning to intercept him. He just pushed down on the throttle.

"Incoming. Countermeasures away." The ship's automated system warned.

Decoy flares burst out behind him as he continued to shoot into the sky. Dosh kept an eye on his force drive as it warmed up for light-speed travel.

The moment he thought he was clear; he felt his ship take a hit. Immediately, the entire aft right side exploded out.

The force of the impact threw the ship into a tailspin. It stopped ascending and began its long fall back to the ground.

Out of desperation, Dosh flicked open the guarded red switch on the middle console and ejected his emergency beacon into space.

His mind went wild as he spun around uncontrollably through the sky. One thought pushed through the rest: _Don't let them get it_. He desperately tried to reach for his bag, but the centripetal force kept him glued to his seat, unable to move. It was just out of arm's reach in front of him.

The ship continued its frantic descent to the ground. He wanted to undo his harness to try to get at it, but he wouldn't survive the crash if he did so. His only hope was luck.

As he hit one thousand meters, the automatic pilot protection system triggered. The top of the ship blew off, and his seat was thrown out. He watched his pack spin away from him and disappear down. Seconds later, his ship crashed into the jungle and exploded in a ball of fire.

Dosh glided his chute down into an open field with a headwind in his face. The moment his seat touched ground, he unbuckled himself and ran. He kept all his focus on where he'd seen the case vanish. He arrived at a riverbed and was thankful to find it floating gently downstream. It was still largely intact though charred and smoking slightly.

Before he could plan another way to escape the planet, he realized he had been surrounded. Enemy craft had landed all around his location. An announcement came from the intruders to relinquish the bag.

And yet, faced with these terrible odds, he refused to drop anything. As he stared at the oncoming soldiers, a wild thought went through his mind. _Destroy it_. He scolded himself. All hope would be lost if he did that, even if it was possible, which it probably wasn't. It was better for now that it fall into enemy hands with the hope that it would be intercepted. Maybe his allies would come across his beacon. Maybe hope could live on. Maybe...maybe not. The Ruverans would have destroyed it by now.

A long figure emerged from one of the ships. Its ship was different from the others. It had the look of dried human blood, with ivory-white highlights. The figure was elaborately adorned in the Ruveran Empire's colors of midnight black and vermillion red; a menacingly sharp helmet perched between the officer's shoulders. A laser gun flashed maliciously in black-gloved hands as the intruder seemed to be enjoying poor Dosh's predicament.

"That belongs to us now," a robotic voice said evenly.

"You don't understand what you are doing," Dosh pleaded. The three-and-a-half-foot Salarian looked up at the indistinguishable face of evil. "We have to find the chosen one. This doesn't belong to anyone else."

This figure, which was mostly likely a robot or robot-hybrid, was right in front of Dosh now, his hand outstretched. "Hand it over."

Dosh looked around. The enemy soldiers didn't look like they would listen to his warning either. They didn't care that he had the last hope to save them all. He had to give it up. There wasn't any other choice. He finally relented and let the dark figure take his pack away.

As soon as the pack left his fingers, the dark figure swung its weapon around in a flash of movement. Dosh never saw it coming. The gun struck him hard against his head, and he went down, unconscious. The dark figure grabbed the small reptilian man's collar and dragged him effortlessly across the ground.

Then the ominous figure walked back to its craft and dropped the little creature. The second-in-command would handle it.

"Render...did he have it?" the other officer picked up the reptile and threw him on board his ship.

"Let's see," came the robotic reply. He unlatched the bag and let the contents slide out. In his hand was a small, ordinary-looking orb. It was as large as a small melon, easily held in one hand. Around its smooth glass surface was a metallic ring that held it locked closed. "Let Master Velkas know we have it."

Render boarded the sharp red ship, a retinue following after. The door closed as the engines roared back to life. It shot off, followed shortly by the entire fleet that had devastated the planet in the attack.

A lone figure stood watching them go from the forest, helpless to stop them from taking his son. He could feel the power of the star and the life signature of Dosh growing ever farther from reach. For the last several centuries, the star had never called others to help it leave, to find a wielder to open the mystery held within. And now it was gone.

The only hope of stopping the encroaching darkness was in the wrong hands.

-o-

Above all else, Glade hated space travel.

The Asterion, a life form that most closely resembled the Earthen legend of the minotaur, sat wearily in his turret seat. After seventeen hours straight of dogfighting in open space, his mane of dark-brown and black fur was matted down and grungy. After being in the ship that long, filth just found you and held on. His own stink was killing him as much as the pain in his hooves from his having sat for so long.

He screwed the cap off another energy ale. It tasted worse than it looked. He began his day drinking them and soon found that he was just trying to outrun the original crash of the first one. Blasted Bregomon ales.

Near the edge of known space, called the Outer Rim by most, his squad had been out doing defensive sweeps of their planet. A band of marauders had come crashing through their perimeters earlier that day, and after a fierce fight, the intruders were driven off. Now, hours later, they were making sure they'd gotten rid of all of them. Duty bound to continue in spite of the monotony, Glade sat in the stew of smells that he had created and hoped they would call off these idiotic runs.

"Glade! Pay attention!" his pilot screamed over their main com channel.

Glade looked up from his bottle. He crushed the can and let it fall into the pile at his boots. There wasn't anything to see in his sights. "Pilot, Gunner One. Negative targets," Glade reported. His seat glided in its track as he continued to search around, his mounted gun following.

"Pilot, Rear Gunner. I have nothing too," came the reply from his wingman and closest friend, Lefty. He always had his back.

The ship's radar operator's voice came over com, "You two have to be kidding. You don't see that massive force coming? It's all over my screen up here!"

"When did it appear?"

"Just seconds ago. They look fast, sir."

"Warn the others," the pilot commanded.

"They already know, sir."

Glade strained his eyes. He could see the flight leader's ship floating ahead of the formation. Beyond that, he counted the rest of their ships in close proximity. He didn't see anything else besides them, just endless space.

His radio crackled, and he heard their controller over the speaker. "Fleet thirteen and twenty-one are both gone."

"That's impossible!" Glade's pilot exclaimed.

Glade searched for where those squadrons had been flying. They were on the other side of their planet doing their own pattern work past the white moon.

Then, out of that black space beyond, Glade did see something emerging, but it wasn't an enemy force. It looked like a black tidal wave in space. He squinted against the solar system's sun and focused on it to make sure the ale wasn't playing tricks on his eyes.

Spinning tentacles of darkness were flying out of the speeding mass. The body of it took up the entire side of their galaxy, and it looked like it was coming to crush them like a seething wall of death from the unexplored space beyond the Outer Rim.

"Pilot, Gunner One. We have to get out of here. _Now_!" Glade's mouth dropped as it streaked closer. Their home planet, which rested between the incoming blackness and them, was soon struck by the mass. The planet appeared to shatter into little pieces, which the blackness ate up, and then it was...gone. The sun went out like it had never existed. It was too impossible to watch; his entire galaxy had just been erased.

"We...we can't break formation," the pilot called. His voice indicated that he was looking at the same thing. Panic laced his words.

Sure, there was protocol. Glade understood that. He was part of a military body. No matter what happened, you never left your post—even in the face of death. But now wasn't the time to stay on a sinking ship or follow orders that had quickly become obsolete. Fear reached out from the abyss of his mind and forced him to react, overriding lessons of war learned since birth

Glade dropped down out of his turret seat and jumped into the closest escape pod. He no longer cared about anything except getting away from what was coming. The moment he was in, he ejected the pod. It shot off with a thunderous boom.

Over the pod's PA system, he heard, "You fool! I hope you realize that you are going to be charged with everything I can come up with. Dereliction of duty, abandoning your post, and—"

Glade watched from the pod as the darkness overtook his squadron.

Nobody would ever know he had abandoned anything. His conscience could bother him another day; at least he'd still exist. He buried his honor under a layer of blind fear.

He turned away from the ugly black tidal wave of death. The little pod's light-speed drive maxed out. As soon as it hit full bars, he engaged it and shot blindly into the universe.

Finally, he caught his breath, and his mind latched onto a certain truth he couldn't escape: the darkness would find him. It was coming for them all.

## Part One:

The Darkness

"Rysta, there isn't a species in existence that could battle the Dark One. We will be stuck here forced to watch the end of existence."

"Patience, Mykia. Apparently, you know little of the human race."

## Chapter 1

"I can get used to this." Swaying gently in the breeze, a young man lay sprawled out in a hammock. Clad only in swim trunks, his human body had warmed evenly in the day's supply of sunlight. His medium-length dark hair sprang out of his head in all directions. His cool green eyes hid behind black sunglasses. An arm's distance away hung his gray flight suit and leather flight jacket. In his line of work, it was necessary to plan ahead. Propped against his clothes was a sheathed sword; it was an ancient weapon he never let out of his sight and didn't how to use.

Beyond him unfolded the island world of Aquaria. Even through the dark shades, he could see the purple waves crashing into the blue undercurrents, both lapping onto the red sandbar under the golden sky.

He heard the familiar squeak of tires as a robot rolled to a stop next to him.

"Boost, I'm moving here." The sun was just starting to cast the sky into reds and purples as it set. "This planet is gorgeous."

The small robot considered his words. "You're right, Trevor. It is." The little robot paused as it processed the colorful scene. "This planet has most naturally occurring colors, like Io and Earth." It blinked up at him for reassurance.

Trevor winced every time he mentioned Earth. "Boost, c'mon."

Boost tilted his head, unable to comprehend the unspoken rebuke.

"What do we not talk about?" Trev inquired.

"Oh...right." The robot rolled its wheels into its body and dropped out two legs. It sat in another hammock, mimicking the young man.

Trev rolled his eyes. Even though they had picked up Boost after escaping Earth's destruction, the robot knew enough about it to draw similarities. The years had been hard for him and his uncle, flying across the galaxy, scraping by, and not once in all that time had they ever brought up Earth again—not since meeting up at Bastion.

"You better watch it, Booster. I think I hear your master coming."

Boost spun his head around, blinked, and then spun it back to look at him. "I do not believe you are correct."

Trevor laughed and turned back to the sea, glad to get his mind back off the past. After so much time drifting through space, this moment was truly one to enjoy. This world was at peace. No one was trying to cheat them, betray them, or kill them.

Wave after soft wave lapped up the beach to greet him. The smell of blooming pink lavender floating on the ocean breeze filled his nostrils with the promise of living in this peaceful state forever.

In the calm, he felt his hand twitching. It moved violently and fast from side to side.

_Not now_ , he begged himself.

He refocused on his breathing and took another drink of alcohol. The taste was drier than whiskey, but sweet like an earthy orange. The shaking subsided a little until it eventually stopped altogether. He looked to see if Boost had noticed and was thankful he hadn't; the robot was preoccupied with tightening the screws on his upper body, finishing the look. He was trying to make himself into a robotic Salarian, including a gray metal tail. What he ended up making himself look like was a junk heap of mismatched parts. They had got him on the cheap since his program was a little quirky.

The interval between his seizures was shortening. Even though he had avoided a full attack, he wasn't sure how much longer he could hide his ailment. His eyes darted to his sword to make sure it was still there.

A three-foot-tall Aquarian native arrived with a platter of assorted finger foods. Trev thanked the little critter. Its fur changed in cascades of colors, matching the wild beauty of the planet. The Aquarian bowed as it exited. The simple gesture was the only communication these aliens performed. It was possible they were just too hairy to speak. Either way, they knew how to treat visitors. The superb service doled out at this resort was refreshing and fully paid for, thanks to the woman who'd contracted them out for this.

"What are you doing?" Trev asked.

Boost set down the meat-and-cheese sandwich he'd made.

"You don't have to mimic everything."

Boost stared at him blankly.

"Fine. Eat it." Trevor motioned for him to take a bite of it.

Boost looked at the sandwich and then back at him. He set it back down and let out a long moaning bleep.

"Just relax." Trevor pointed out to the beach. Boost did as instructed, though Trev knew he was only copying his reactions.

Trevor's mind drifted to what he was going to do when the sun went down. He couldn't party it up with other flight crews unless someone else came in. They were really the only show in town at the moment. The resort did have some great simulators though. Even though he was the copilot, he had never been allowed to takeoff or land his uncle's ship. He believed he had to stay sharp in case that day ever came.

Trev instead flicked his glasses off and enjoyed the setting sun.

"That scientist can take as long as she needs." Trevor exhaled a smooth breath of enjoyment and let his eyes close; he wanted to take a quick catnap before the night began.

"She appears to be finished," Boost piped back.

Trev opened one eye and looked down to where the scientist who had employed them for this mission had been working. It was an unmarked building away from the resort. Kaida was dressed in orange robes that opened in the front. Her eyes were focused on the data pad in her hands. For a woman his uncle's age, she was quite fetching. Her long, coppery-red hair was pulled back in an organized bun that couldn't dampen her beauty. Her figure was curvy and full but toned. She looked up at him and grimaced. She didn't like him much.

He ignored her and looked down the other way toward where their ship was parked. Her giant assistant, Daphkalian, an Ecath, was loading up all their equipment. He was just about finished by the look of it.

Trevor had been enjoying the views too much to notice.

"Get your things. We're leaving."

Trevor nearly jumped out of his swim trunks. Though he was an older gentleman with a robotic leg, his uncle Nathan still had the drop on him. Trev looked up at his white-bearded face. His dark gaze was focused intently on him. He held memories of hundreds of fierce space battles behind those caramel brown eyes. Beneath that, his barrel chest heaved up and down like two massive kegs rising and falling simultaneously. His thin lips were spread out, which gave Trevor a sinking feeling his uncle's patience was running out.

"Can't you give me two more minutes to finish my drink?" Trevor asked.

Boost didn't hesitate. "Aye, Captain Sutherland!" He shot out of his hammock. "I'll get the preflight started." His legs folded up, and out came the wheels again as he rolled away.

Trevor looked out one more time to sea and then took another pull of his drink.

A hand shot across his line of vision and sent the drink flying into the ocean. "Nephew," his uncle grumbled. "Do I have to remind you that we don't drink before we fly?"

Trevor wanted to argue it was only his second drink but thought better of it. His uncle would only launch into a "When I was your age, at the Royal Guard Academy, I never..." story. He got out of the hammock and pulled his flight gear on. He zipped up the gray jumpsuit and pulled his leather jacket over it. He picked up his sword and lugged it back toward the ship without another word.

Theirs was the only ship on the landing pad. It was a Tiger-37, J-model, quadwing, dual-analog-capacity craft. It truly was one of a kind, seeing as the production plant and the world it had been manufactured on no longer existed. It had a sleek, straight body and engines that spiraled from the back toward the front like dead spider legs. Trev could see the cargo door open and Boost helping Daphkalian tie the equipment down for flight. It was still odd to see such a large Ecath like Daph, since most were pretty small and reminded him of lithe humanoid tigers from Earth. He was like a rhino-sized tiger version, standing one head taller than everyone on the crew. His orange-and-black striped body nearly took away from their ship's current color, which was the darkest obsidian black there was. They'd painted it that color to help them traverse past the outskirts of Ruveran-monitored space.

Its tail flash caught his eyes for a moment. One of the words was missing. After the end of Earth, or EOE, as the crew called it among themselves, Nathan had named his old war fighter, _Arilyn's Wrath_ , for the son he'd lost in the war. Arilyn had been Trev's closest cousin. Now his name was missing. It had been painted over and recently.

Were they just "Blind" _Wrath_ now?

Even though Trevor liked to play like he didn't pay attention or care, he had noticed a change in his uncle lately. He wasn't sure what it was yet, but he did worry about him. He had always been a little too militaristic, but he had been quick to laugh and joke. Trevor hadn't seen him smile in a long time. And after taking this job, he felt like Nathan had become almost loathsome.

Trevor pushed it out of his mind, grabbed his list, and started going through his checks.

Elsewhere, back down toward the beach, the older woman in orange robes walked up to Nathan. "How long will it be, Captain Sutherland?"

Nathan turned from watching his crew prepare the ship. He forced his eyes not to do what they naturally wanted to do, which was unprofessionally wander down. He looked her in the eyes and answered, "Ms. Elwin, we will be ready to depart in thirty minutes. Is all your equipment aboard?" Even as he tried not to check her out, his mind told him that he knew her from somewhere. Was he so old that everyone seemed familiar or did he just not remember?

"Daphkalian is loading it now. And, please, Captain, call me Kaida." She absentmindedly pulled her reddish hair behind her ear, further exposing her smooth, frail neck. Even her name echoed from a time long forgotten.

"Of course, ma'am." He coughed. Nathan could feel his missing wedding ring, and guilt darkened his approach to the beautiful woman. "If everything is set, go take your seat." His stony exterior left little room for debate.

Kaida watched the well-muscled captain depart. He couldn't help looking so dashing in his pressed collared shirt and tailored pants. His long, dark overcoat blew in the ocean breeze. With the smooth way he walked, it was difficult to tell he had a prosthetic leg. He was like an old stone statue from a different era, begging to be chiseled down. It hurt her deeply that he didn't remember her, but she would remind him when the moment was right. Or maybe never.

She couldn't wait to get away from this place. Her tests had failed. Ruveran technology could not be duplicated or repressed. Those she worked for were not going to be pleased. She needed a distraction.

She stole one last look at the beautiful landscape, taking in the serenity of the ocean. It was gorgeous—red sands and pink lavender, and purple waters. _That will do_ , she thought.

Then something odd stuck out; it was a flash of light coming from the sky deep offshore. When she squinted against the waning light of day, she would have sworn it was a falling meteor. But she knew well enough that there weren't any in the sector. That knowledge only served to pique her curiosity, and she wanted to follow the mysterious object. Whatever it was burned white hot through the clouds.

She felt her breath catch. It wasn't a natural object from space or the sky. It was a ship—and it was engulfed in flames.

"Captain!" she screamed.

The ship pad was easily within earshot, and out of nowhere, the captain reappeared. He came running down to see what the matter was, favoring his flesh-and-blood appendage for speed. He stopped short of her.

"Ma'am?" His calm, patient eyes met hers.

"Look!" She pointed up.

His eagle eyes followed her finger and went wide in moments. "They're going to make a water landing." He turned his wrist communicator up to his lips. "Trevor! Boost! Listen. Fire it up and prepare for an emergency extraction." He turned back to Kaida, suddenly realizing she was still there. "Ma'am, get on board. We're departing now."

Kaida followed after him. They raced across the landing pad together and burst through the cargo hold into the passenger compartment. She found her seat and buckled up. Her assistant, Daphkalian, did the same directly across from her.

In the cockpit, Trevor heard the thrashing approach of his uncle.

"What's the rush?" Trev asked, his checklist still out as Nathan dropped down into the pilot seat. He was double-checking the fuel system. "I think the auxiliary power unit is on the fritz."

Nathan gave him a vituperative look that said he wanted to wring his neck. "Didn't you hear me? Sheezus. You'd know we're running an extraction if you had your communicator on." Before Trevor could ask another question, he yelled back to Boost, "Leave the door open and prepare the extraction winch."

"Aye, Captain!"

"I haven't even cleared the fault list—" Trevor began and then stopped himself when he saw his uncle's face. He'd check it later.

"Are we clear?" Nathan called over the intercom.

"Aye, Captain. Pad's clear!" Boost called from the back.

Nathan hit the ignition. The fuel cells burst to life. The quantum engines spun up to 97 percent and held there. The captain punched the glide accelerator, and they shot off the pad. Low to the ground, they took off flying; the calm waves were thrown to either side of their path as they ascended above them.

They leaped into the air just as the other ship slammed into the water. A forty-foot splash erupted like a volcano and then rained back down into the tranquil ocean.

"You're going in." Nathan flicked his finger toward the wreckage.

"You can't be serious," Trevor protested.

Nathan nodded.

But then Trevor would rather jump into a burning ship than listen to another lecture about the facets of having honor and living by his code of ethics. He unbuckled his harness and jumped out of his seat. He slid down the railings and saw the two surprised passengers.

"We apologize for any inconvenience or discomfort this may cause," Trev said as he bolted past. He shot around the avionics bay and saw Boost waiting by the open cargo door.

"What a waste of time. No one could have survived that crash," he told Boost.

Boost shrugged as he hooked Trev up.

Meanwhile, Nathan activated the ship's automated fire-suppression system and circled the wreck. The fires fought hard to stay alive against it, but eventually, they went out.

Boost let the winch down with Trevor attached the moment the line was secure. The calm winds from the beach were stronger offshore. Water shot up and struck at his face as he descended. Trev put it out of his mind and wiped the moisture off. The salt water dried his mouth and burned his eyes.

His boots hit the top of the fuselage. The craft was already half-submerged. There was no way it was going to stay up much longer. Charred marks ran across the hull, and even though the fire had been put out, he could still feel the heat rising off it. Sweats beads gathered and fell from his temples.

Trevor opened the escape hatch on top, and a cloud of smoke blew into his face. He jumped down anyway. The sooner he did it, the better. He was familiar with this class of starship. It was a small passenger R-series carrier, usually used by VIPs from the Outskirt Worlds. Those who could afford this luxury rode with armed guards.

He added bringing a gun and an oxygen mask to the things he would do differently when he found himself in this exact situation again. If it came to it, he still had the diamond sword he always wore at his hip.

Through the gloomy smoke, Trev saw an alien, a Nymarian, in brown robes unconscious in his chair, his mouth hanging open. He checked for a heartbeat and found it, though it was faint. He looked toward the front through the haze and saw that the pilots hadn't been as lucky.

When Trevor went to pick him up, the alien's large eyes fluttered for a moment and his mouth almost moved; then they closed, and his body went slack again. His eyes sealed shut.

Thankful Nymarians were bony, thin, and a head shorter, Trev slung the only survivor's arm over his shoulder and dragged him back to the hatch. He pushed him through the opening, crawled out with him, and then attached him to the winch with himself. Boost brought the two of them back on board.

"I got him." Boost was surprisingly strong given his small size. He called it "robot strength." The little guy carried the alien back to the passenger compartment as Trevor caught his breath. He followed after closing the cargo door.

"I have some medical training," Kaida told Boost. "Put him down here by me."

Kaida's eyes widened when she saw the Nymarian. Just like in the stories, it had golden, nearly transparent yellow skin; bony, frail features; and a large, bulbous mouth and eyes. Nymarians were like legends. They were never seen. What brought such a rare creature to crash-land?

Boost did as he was told, propping the alien next to Kaida as Trev made his way back to the cockpit. The sky was a wild cascade of darker colors, as the sun was nearly gone for the day.

"All right, we need to get him back to Paega Bay for immediate medical attention." Nathan began to turn the ship around. The ocean claimed what was left of the Nymarian's charred ship as it slipped beneath the waves.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded. "Rift even detected."

"It can't be," Trevor said.

"Check it again."

"The system is working fine. This planet is about to rift."

"How close?"

Trevor pulled up the spectral relay and saw a growing patch of red. "We're close to the middle of it. Uncle, this planet is lost. We have to go."

"I'll send a warning to whoever is listening on this planet." Nathan punched the frequency in.

Daphkalian and Kaida listened to the warning sounds overhead and looked to Boost. Boost put on his seat belt and gave them a worried look, a feature he'd been working on. "Ruverans."

Inside the cockpit, there was no time for hesitation. "Ready the thrusters," Nathan commanded.

Trevor hit the switch on his console and adjusted the departure settings. "One-two-two-decimal-five set, full thrust, eighteen degrees engaged."

"Checked," Nathan answered. He pushed the throttle up to full power, and they burst forward. The ship climbed impossibly fast through the atmosphere.

"I don't see any Ruverans on radar," Trev commented.

"They're out there."

Trevor looked through his window again.

A massive beam of hot light shot a hundred yards off their nose. Coming from somewhere in space, it immediately broke through the planet's crust.

Trevor couldn't visually acquire its origin point, but what he did see churned his stomach. The oceans were boiling. Clouds began spiraling down. It was just like the rift that had taken Earth. He knew all too well nothing could stop this. Energy ribbons tore through the surface of the dying planet.

Nathan juked left just as one threatened to tear through the ship.

"Rift even commencing."

"Course set. Punch it! Punch it!" Trevor yelled. They had full bars for light speed.

Nathan looked over at the spectral relay and saw they were at the center of the red now. He engaged the force drive, and they blew through Aquaria's atmosphere into unknown black oblivion.

As they disappeared from that galaxy, energy spikes tore apart the peaceful planet of Aquaria. It stood quietly for a moment and then burst. Slowly at the center, a white nexus formed and pulled the chunks of dead planet into it. It closed into itself and disappeared, as if it had never been. The gorgeous island world had been wiped from existence, just like that.

A Ruveran battle ship emerged from the darkness of space. Like a shark, it picked up the scent and stalked after its prey.

## Chapter 2

The _Wrath_ lurched to a sudden stop and glided gently between two moons. The ship's crew found themselves gazing at a ring of asteroids that ran between the two celestial bodies. It was evident that these two moons had collided and the belt that connected them was debris.

"Terrain obstruction," the computer announced. One of the many automated systems the Tiger-37 was capable of employing ended the blind jump at the belt as a safety measure. While flying at light speed, something as small as a pebble could potentially destroy their ship, let alone a fresh asteroid belt.

Nathan and Trevor sat back in their seats in the cockpit, breathing heavily. They exchanged a glance that defied the divide that had grown between the two men. It was almost like old times, like family. They both smiled for a moment—Nathan, for the first time in years. Then the moment passed, and they both resumed their respective roles.

"We need to get out of here, and we're running low on fuel. See where the closest station is and reset our course," Nathan said.

Trevor turned back to his NAV computer. He watched his uncle go for a moment, about to advise they keep moving but then thought better of it. Instead, he removed the sword sheath and set it in the cubby next to him. For whatever reason, he picked it up and unsheathed it. His father's blood still stained the length of it. Trev clicked it shut again and set it aside. Was he expecting a different result?

Nathan had walked halfway back to check on the passengers when his robot stopped him, blocking the way, waiting for orders.

Without anything better for it to do, he said, "Go make sure Trevor doesn't do anything reckless."

Boost nodded and then sped off to go sit in the additional crew member seat behind Trevor.

Nathan dropped down the steps and saw his two passengers, plus the new stowaway.

The passenger compartment was one of his greatest achievements. When the war ended, Nathan had gutted it out and gone to work building. It became a sanctuary away from the pain of losing his family. It had taken seventeen months to complete before they started their new lives as planet-less cargo shippers.

The large room contained seating for forty-five. There were two bunk rooms on the right side, one for him and one for his nephew. In between was a plug-in port for Boost. On the left side was a full galley with fridges, ovens, and the like and next to that a spacious lavatory. The seats in the center could be maneuvered into multiple configurations; the one they were in had seven of the seats transformed into a long table. Staircases ran down into the compartment from the cockpit and out the back toward the cargo hold. The door to the hold was always closed to keep all the warm air trapped in the front, which currently held at a comfortable 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

Nathan noticed Kaida had torn out the first-aid kits and was working on the latest addition. The redhead had thrown off her overcoat and torn ribbons of cloth to help staunch the alien's external bleeding. Presently, she stood crouched over it with a medical scanner.

"Is he going to be all right?" Nathan asked.

The brown-robed Nymarian was on oxygen and breathing shallowly. His luminescent yellow skin continued to lose what color remained. The alien was covered in black soot from top to bottom and had all the appearance of suffering internal bleeding. The situation looked grim. The Nymarian was fading fast.

Kaida shook her head at the captain's question. She ran a hand through her lush red hair as though that would wash the truth out. "He may come around. But I fear the smoke poisoned him, and his other injuries are fatal. I will keep him on oxygen to make his...transition more comfortable."

Nathan had seen death many times on the battlefield. Sadly, this creature had only a handful of minutes left. Its life hung on a thread. "How are _you_ fairing?"

"I'm all right thanks to you." Her eyes conveyed more than mere thanks. The excitement of evacuating Aquaria in time was still fresh and strangely invigorating. Realizing then the moment wasn't right for what else she had in mind; she turned her attention back to the dying alien.

Daphkalian, her large assistant, just sat watching over them. His slick feline ears pointed back.

Nathan saw the need to divert their attention from everything that had happened and the alien's dire condition. He changed the subject. "We're going to have to stop to recharge the fuel cells for the trip back to Mara VII. We'll get you back there as soon as we can."

Kaida had a time table to meet, but didn't think this was the moment to bring it up. "Um...back there, I heard that alarm. Was that really a rift?"

"Yes."

"Did you see a Ruveran ship?"

Nathan was about to answer, "No," but was cut off.

"They're coming!" The brown-robed alien had opened his eyes wide the moment the word _Ruveran_ was spoken. He pulled off his oxygen mask and flailed, attempting to escape his seat. "We must go! We must hurry!" Then he fell back unconscious.

Nathan watched the figure and then asked Kaida, "What was that?"

"It's probably the last thing on his mind before he went under."

Without hesitating, Nathan pulled out the wake-salt package and opened it under the alien's nose. The stranger awoke instantly. He looked around wildly.

"Where am I? What's going on?" The alien went into a terrible bout of coughing. It was hard to tell whether the Nymarian's voice was always whispery or if it was because of the injuries it had sustained. "I must find the chosen one. Where is the one?"

Nathan had to hold him down to calm him. "You're safe. What happened to your ship?"

"Dosh?" The stranger looked around, still uncomprehending. He clutched his chest. For the first time he appeared to take in his actual surroundings and then Nathan. "We...we were running from a Ruveran battleship. It was trying to capture us." His words came out with great difficulty and a slight wheeze.

"There was no indication of any other ship in the sector."

The Nymarian nodded weakly. "They are out there. We were hit, but my pilots managed to hyper-jump. We were going to land on the nearest planet to figure out what to do next." The alien squinted as though rehearing something he'd forgotten. "I heard over the radio that another Ruveran battleship was inbound to destroy Aquaria, but we were already falling through the sky. Two battleships..." The Nymarian pulled at his abdomen and closed his eyes in pain. "I remember crashing."

_Two_ Ruveran battleships?

The intercom beeped on. "Uncle, sensors are going haywire. I think it's a Ruveran probe."

The captain pressed on the intercom panel. "Have Boost take it out."

"Roger."

Nathan gave the alien a once-over. He didn't look like anything the Ruverans would be interested in. "Why are they after you?"

"For what I know." He pulled out a computer pad from his robes. Another bout of coughing brought bright-yellow liquid to his lips. "Oh no...I'm dying," the alien said weakly. "I can feel myself slipping."

"I'm sorry. There is little we can do." Nathan searched the Nymarian's face. "What's your name?"

"Cleph'thera."

"Cleph, why were the Ruverans after you?" Nathan repeated.

The Nymarian searched the captain's face for a moment, considering. Then he pulled the captain down and whispered something in his ear. Without an answer, Nathan cleared his throat. Kaida had never seen such a strong man look so surprised—or afraid. The moment passed and then the old captain was back to his stony-faced self. The alien's data pad disappeared into the captain's coat.

"Do you give your word?" the Nymarian asked.

"On my honor," Nathan answered.

"The responsibility falls to you now. Please give me my last rites." Cleph went into another string of coughing. The yellow discharge turned dull green. Clutching his heart, the alien took his last breath. Then his body went slack.

Nathan drew himself up. Death never got any easier to watch. He looked to Daphkalian, the large, well-muscled man. "We have containers in the cargo hold for remains. Can you take care of him?"

Daphkalian nodded darkly. He picked up the frail alien and walked him out to the back.

"Please have a seat, ma'am," Nathan said, trying to maintain an appearance of professionalism in dire circumstances.

Kaida took her seat and buckled herself in.

Nathan slowly made it back to the front of his ship, a sinking feeling spreading through his veins. He paused outside the cockpit for a moment to gather his wits. The alien's words echoed in his mind.

He had never imagined something worse than the Ruveran Empire. He exhaled, straightened his jacket, and walked up the stairs.

"What are you doing?" Trevor yelled back at him.

Nathan left the top step and jumped back into his seat. "What is it?"

"Did you forget Ruveran protocol?" Trevor seethed with frustration. "Boost shot down the probe, but that'll only indicate we're actually here."

Ignoring Trev's persistent attempts to engage him, Nathan remained calm. "What systems are around here?" He took the ship's controls in his hands and throttled up. He performed a one-eighty before they got caught in the asteroid belt. Open space spread out before them.

"Nothing of note. Aquaria was the only station for light years around so close to the Outer Rim." Trevor looked to his uncle to make sure he understood that things weren't okay. He saw instead something familiar in his demeanor that he didn't like. "Wait. Did that Nymarian die?"

Nathan didn't say a word. He didn't have to.

"Well, c'mon, let's get out of here before—"

Nathan looked down at the radar screen between them. On it, he saw that two Ruveran battleships had jumped out of hyperspace. Both were on an intercept course, bearing down on them.

## Chapter 3

The _Wrath_ sat helpless as the Ruveran battleships closed the gap. Stretching from one side of their viewing screen to the other, the Breakers stood, like monoliths at a full stop. They stared their ship down as though they were hungry leviathans that had stumbled upon a weary traveler. Now their only escape was the field of asteroids slamming into each other at their backs.

Having trailed through hundreds of solar systems, spaceports, life-sustaining moon worlds, and the like, Nathan and Trevor had never seen a Breaker in person. They had been built after the destruction of their world, and what they saw was much more than they had heard.

One Breaker was the length of a continent. Its width and height were the size of the ancient state of Texas. They were mostly rectangular in shape; some angles appeared cylindrical, due to slightly rounded corners. Somewhere near the bottom rested the most dangerous weapon in the universe, the planet-destroying rift cannon.

"What are they waiting for?" Trevor asked. He expected the fighter ports to burst open and overwhelm them or some supercannon to blast them into oblivion. Instead, they waited.

"I don't know." Nathan was just as confused and uneasy. There was no comfort in a situation one didn't understand and had no training for.

Button 6 was blinking on their radios. Nathan hit it and opened the common frequency.

A woman's voice came over the radio spoken with a thick Ruveran accent. "We have your vitals and know who you are. If you enter the docking bay voluntarily, we will let you go on your way after we have the alien you retrieved. Until then, your force drive has been disabled."

Trevor did have to admit the offer seemed reasonable for Ruvera, even if it was true. But for some reason, trusting the very empire that had destroyed one's planet didn't come easily.

"Where are we? Do we have an out?" Nathan asked. He fiddled with the force drive trying to get something out of it, but the Ruverans were telling the truth. They had disabled it.

Trevor smiled. His uncle had fought the hardest against the Ruverans in the fight for Earth and would never let them dictate the terms of any agreement, no matter how dire the situation. Trev brought up the star map for the sector and scanned for anything that could aid them. The only plausible route at the moment was through the asteroid belt.

" _Breaker IX_ , this is Commander Jeggas," the radio crackled. The man sounded angry. "We have your data on those people on board. The rift of Aquaria removed a secret base of the enemies of the empire. According to your systems, we have identified an additional agent that escaped the event. Our orders are to terminate everyone on board."

Nathan and Trevor exchanged confused looks. Were they talking about one of them? They had been careful for the last eight years since Earth's destruction. What Aquarian secret base?

" _Breaker VI_ , this is Commander Argum, we have our order to capture and detain an alien as part of an unrelated mission. It is clear we must sort this out. Stand down until we—" She droned on.

"What are they fighting about? Are they after the same person?"

"No," Nathan answered plainly and then added. "Screw this." He punched off the radio. "What do we got?"

Trevor pointed to the energy ribbon beyond the belt. "The Endari Ribbon runs through this system." But he wasn't sure how it could help them.

"We'd be torn apart by it," Nathan grumbled, though it was an option and they didn't have many others. The stream of energy could be used for separation, but it was an unpredictable mass of energy that ran across the universe. The width fluctuated, but on average, it was larger than most suns. It was an event in space pilots actively avoided. No one actually flew into it.

"Your answer?" the woman broadcast.

Nathan disengaged autopilot, throttled up, and pulled the controls down into a 180-degree turn. The ship entered the asteroid belt.

"That was mistake," the perturbed male commander came again. Thousands of little red blips appeared on the radar as the battleship released its fleet.

Trevor punched out a load of countermissiles. The little projectiles stayed in formation as they reached their intended targets. When the enemy fighters shot them down, the trick ejecta set off an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP. The front batch of fighters went offline.

The _Wrath_ tore through the cosmic dust first. Gray pebbles flicked across the view screen. Temporarily blinded by the chalk, Nathan relied on his terrain-detection screen. He barrel-rolled around the first boulder.

Never taking his eyes from the viewers, Nathan guided the ship down and around the great space rocks.

Their pursuers gave chase.

"Boost, buy us five minutes," Nathan barked.

"Aye, Captain." Boost had crawled up to the cockpit at some point. His little robotic figure popped from his seat and ran through the ship. He climbed back up to the defensive turret. The bionic creature brought the laser sights up and aimed at the offensive volley ripping toward them. Laser fire tore through the sky behind them as Boost went at it.

Nathan continued to dodge the floating stones—up, over, around, and then through a hollow one. When Trevor stole a glance over and saw his uncle's expression, he could have sworn he was enjoying this. Chunks of moons clashed all around them as they passed by.

Then they hit the outer wall running between the two moons. It was blocked in all directions.

Nathan pulled up his mic. "Forward, Boost. Forward!"

The screen erupted with green laser fire. The larger asteroid before them exploded into harmless chunks. Boost kept on them.

Trevor glanced at the radar and saw the little fighters had disengaged and were going the long way to reengage them when they came through. They were somewhere outside the radius of the moons.

"Uncle."

"I know."

A batch of massive rocks spun before them, threatening to smash their ship. The oblong asteroids reached for them. Nathan throttled forward just as they all connected.

They both held a collective breath.

The _Wrath_ shot through. They had cleared the asteroid belt.

"The force drive is still offline." Trevor kept trying to reset it, but whatever the Ruverans had done to it continued to prevent it from firing up. Without light-speed travel, they were just killing time until the inevitable.

Outside the belt, Nathan pushed his ship to its highest threshold speed. He flew around another moon and put a massive red gas planet between them and their enemy.

The radio crackled again with a deep, commanding voice, "Jeggas, do not destroy that ship. We have orders."

The answer crackled back, "Argum, your radio is coming in broken and unreadable."

The fighters were back on them and firing. From Boost's position, he saw a good two thousand ships chasing them. It was like an angry nest of ants coming to kill their queen.

The Endari Ribbon grew in their viewport.

Nathan could hear Boost getting off as many shots as he could from the back. The radar was filled with little blips coming around at them. They now appeared as a mass of color instead of individual crafts. Nathan continued to juke and spin his ship away from them.

"Electromagnetic pulse detected," the computer announced.

Nathan reacted out of instinct and hit the emergency shutdown. All their electronics went offline. The powerless craft continued flying forward without systems.

The pulse burst out, and the subsequent shock wave blew past them.

Nathan hit the quick start and fired the ship's systems back up. All the screens and lights blinked back on. This wasn't the first time someone had tried to EMP him.

They were almost on top of the ribbon. It stretched its energy toward them, flicking its lightning fingers out to destroy them. Drenched in sweat, they saw the dangerous space phenomenon reach out to take them in.

"Are we really doing this?" Trevor called over.

"We don't have a choice." Nathan pushed the controls down, and they went at it.

"Here we go!" Trev called over PA. "Brace yourselves."

Downstairs, Kaida looked over at Daphkalian. Neither of them had any idea what was going on.

Behind them, the fighters ejected every weapon they could as they closed in on their prey. Then the _Wrath_ entered the ribbon, and everything went stark white.

## Chapter 4

Beams of electricity tore across the hull. The searing-hot energy drew up lines that the scorch marks traced over, performing a type of fire dance. Past the outer beam, which they had broken through, the inside of the ribbon was hollow, with smaller bolts of lightning striking at random intervals. A smoky river ran down the middle. Nathan brought the ship to it. Clouds of white smoke engulfed them as the ship flew through, and then the screens went blind.

"Did we just survive that?" Trevor put his hand over his face and laughed.

Nathan nodded his head up and down, thoughtfully. "So it would seem." Then, not taking his eyes off the screen, he asked Trevor, "Are they still on us?"

Trev looked down at the radar. It was a static rainbow of sporadically shifting colors. "There's too much interference to tell." In fact, all the flight systems were acting wonky.

"Good. That means they'll be just as blind to us." Nathan scratched at his beard. "Does this ribbon run past a spaceport down the way?"

Trevor brightened up. "Yes. Flora. It's between the Outer Rim and Ecath Space. If we took this all the way, it would take about six hours at this rate of travel." He brought out a series of old charts. "It'll take me a few minutes, but I can calculate an exit time."

He went to work in the seat, drawing up diagrams, connecting points, calculating averages, and then plugging the data into long computations.

Nathan watched him patiently from the corner of his eye. Sometimes, Trev was so much like his mother, Carrie. He looked a lot like her. He had her sharp features, dark hair, and green eyes—but his father Scott's scrawny build. And just like his mother, Nathan's little sister, he had a mind for mathematics. It was probably one of the many things she had in common with Trev's father, the engineer. He hated to admit that he missed them both, even though he'd been such a thorn in their relationship, even after she had passed away at such a young age. _But what's done is done_ , he thought. He hoped watching after Trevor after their deaths made up for it.

Trev punched his results into the only remaining flight computer that still worked: the timer.

"Good work," Nathan growled. "Now go get some sleep. I'll get you when I need to close my eyes."

Trevor looked at the old space captain and nodded. "All right." He clearly wanted to say something more, but Nathan waved him off.

Nathan watched him grab his sword and take the steps down. He knew he should have confronted Trevor on it years ago, but now it was too late. Trev's affixation with the blade stemmed from the fact it was all he had connecting him to his father. It might be a symbol he was using as a reminder of what happened that night, or maybe he intended to carry it in hopes of using it on his father's killer. Nathan didn't know, and he wasn't going to ask. A man's problems were his own.

He felt the ring he wore around his neck and saw this as an affirmation. Everyone had his own cross to bear.

Trevor left the cockpit and entered the passenger compartment. He found both passengers passed out. Kaida was snoring loudly, sitting up and covered in a blanket. Daphkalian was behind her on the ground, bundled up underneath the seats.

He looked at the empty seat where the alien had died. This wasn't the first time anyone had ever passed away on their ship.

Losing the Nymarian reminded him of the last person who had died aboard the _Wrath_. At one time, they used to have a true copilot, an Asterion named Epherus Vallmar. Eph was gunned down in one of the worst double-crosses they'd experienced as a crew. Desperate to get his shipping career going, Nathan had accepted a shipment of cargo that wasn't owned by the shipper. So essentially, they ended up helping a rogue faction of Bregomon steal something off a planet. When they arrived on Crystalis, the true owner, Plath, had been waiting with a retinue of armed guards. Epherus died as they took off; he had been sitting in Trevor's seat. They never went through Crystalis again for fear of running into Plath.

And since then, Trevor had tried to make what Epherus had taught him matter—well, when it came to piloting, not his warnings on trying to get revenge.

Having assured himself the passengers were all right, he walked into his own room and set his sword in his closet. He closed the door and locked it up.

His room was plain when it came down to it, especially for someone in his late twenties. There was only a closet, a desk, and a cot. No posters hung on the wall; there were no TV monitors and no games. His only entertainment was his father's book collection, which he kept in the bottom drawer of his desk. It contained books like Homer's _Odyssey_ , Orwell's _Animal Farm_ , and Welles's _Time Machine_. That was all he needed.

Trevor lay in his cot and pulled out a faded photograph. It had obviously been through many tough times; it was a picture of his missing girl. She was smiling off into the distance in the photo, her black hair blowing in the wind. She was fair skinned with a few freckles and a beauty mark on her upper left cheek. She was a beautiful girl, and they'd been together since he'd met her in college. That was until that faceless assassin took her and his father away.

His room might have appeared empty, but it was filled with what he no longer had: his parents, his girl, his health. All he really held onto, going from job to job, from one galaxy to the next, was the thought that one day, he would encounter his father's killer. But after eight years of no sign coupled with his deteriorating health, he worried his father might never be avenged. His soul would never rest.

He placed the picture back into his pocket and lay back in his cot. Sleep didn't come immediately, but eventually, it found him.

Fifty feet away, outside his room, Daphkalian saw the light go out in the kid's room. He unrolled, flicked on his flashlight, and looked back down at the papers the alien had been carrying. What had seemed like trash at first was turning into an opportunity of a lifetime. With a wry smile, he continued to read.

-o-

Kaida slept peacefully, dreaming of her home world, a place she hadn't seen in years. She was tending her garden, singing softly, and watching birds swoop down to steal her fruit bushes' berries. The sun was bright and warm on her skin. It was a wonderful spring day.

A small airship flew overhead and landed at her cousin's shipyard. Oran came out of his business to welcome his customer, saw her, and waved. She returned the gesture.

" _Traitor_."

She felt the word more than heard it. It cut through her like a dagger. She didn't recognize the voice, but at the same time, she knew exactly who it was.

Oran hadn't heard and went about his own tasks.

She walked back into her house by way of the kitchen. It was a cottage, like the ones in the old world had been like, with pots and pans hanging in the center over a butcher block table. It was small. She was able to see that the voice hadn't come from there.

Kaida passed through the kitchen, went down the hall, and arrived in her family room. The chair that always faced the middle of the room was turned away toward the window. A figure was sitting there, rocking ominously slow.

"Gastoff. I didn't know you were home," she found herself explaining.

The rocking stopped for a moment and then continued. "You are surprised to see me again?"

Kaida felt her stomach churning uncomfortably. She was so afraid, and yet her feet kept drawing her closer.

"I know about your new love interest." Something fell from the fingers of the mysterious figure. "Something tells me you have forgotten your vows."

The object rolled away from the rocking chair and spun to a stop next to her feet. She picked up the little metallic circle. It was her old wedding band.

"I haven't, Gastoff. I never will." The ring in her hand turned to dust and blew away. "But you died years ago. I have to move on."

Now her dead husband laughed as he sat in the chair, the chair he had made for her. He shot up and confronted her.

He appeared like she had last seen him, wearing a military uniform for Earth's Royal Guard. He had light-colored hair and eyes, but there was no warmth to him. This was not her husband. It was a wraith, a nightmare of him.

"You are falling for the very man who got me killed?" He laughed, but it came out like venom. "You wanted me to leave. Perhaps you wanted me dead. If you loved me, you should have stopped me. I would still be alive if not for you." He spat.

Kaida felt tears streak down her face. "No. I tried. You wouldn't listen. You never listened to me, Gastoff. You said you had to do it, but I disagreed."

He scoffed at her. "And what have you done lately? You can't even figure out the truth of their rift technology. You're a failure." He now stood right before her. "I curse this new love of yours. You are a plague to any man that would have you. The darkness will come for you both soon enough."

Kaida felt his hands grab hers and pull her into him. His fingers were like bony icicles. He opened his mouth at her and flies erupted from the depths of darkness. They flew into her face, and she was helpless to stop them.

She was batting them away, when she realized she had thrown her covers off and was attacking air. The tiny beating and buzzing of the flies had ceased.

Kaida breathed in fresh gasps of air. It was over.

She gathered her wits and got up. Her watch indicated she'd been asleep for a few hours. She fished out a sleep aid.

The dream had left her shaken. She didn't believe in the afterlife or ghosts. She was an objective scientist and rarely ever dreamed. Her scientific mind explained it away. It was even possible the energy in the ribbon was having an effect on her, making dreams feel more real, maybe even making hallucinations possible.

Daphkalian was out cold behind her. He was purring loudly. It appeared as if he were clutching something in his sleep, maybe even a small pillow. She smiled at the funny thought.

Kaida walked over to the galley and poured herself some water. She downed a couple of cups and felt a little better. She washed the sleeping pill down.

As she made her way to her seat, she saw the door to the captain's room was slightly ajar. It might have come unhinged in all the ruckus.

Before Kaida realized it, her curiosity had pulled her to it. She opened it further and looked in. She expected to see some semblance of an inhabited room but didn't find one. There was a thin mattress on the floor in the corner. All there was to see was a single blanket and pillow neatly stacked on top. There were no personal effects, nothing that could tell her what kind of a man Nathan was.

Just as she realized there was a framed picture of him, a woman, and a young child, something bumped into her.

"Can I help you?" a robotic voice asked.

Kaida looked down at Boost and closed the door, which locked automatically. "No, I was just...closing the door."

Boost searched her face for a moment longer and then without another peep, rolled himself into his port and powered down.

With the door locked, Kaida shoved her nosy curiosity back down. She was still tired, and though fearful of going back to the nightmare she had left behind, she sat back down and returned to the world of dreams.

-o-

"And that's what happened to the United States of America. They stand as a reminder of what happens when you don't adapt to the times." Inside a lecture hall, the aged professor surveyed his students' reactions. "Now I want you to study and compare the fall of the United States with fall of Communist Russia and China, the lessons we learned and how they can apply to the present day. You are dismissed."

Trevor closed his notebook and slipped it back into his backpack. He didn't use data pads.

The other students were on their feet, groaning after the long lecture, as they set about finding their way to the next class.

For some reason, Trevor had this feeling that this day had already happened, that this wasn't present day. But just in case he was wrong, he decided to play along.

He left his history class and walked out to the quad. There were cliques here and there he recognized. A feeling in his stomach told him these people were all dead, but he ignored it. How could they be gone when they were laughing, throwing a ball around, and eating their lunches like nothing was wrong?

The grass was cropped short and stood with their arms raised to the bright sun. He made his way across the campus lawn toward the small town beyond its walls when-

"Trevor Andrews?"

Trev turned to the sound of the musical voice, which belonged to a young raven-haired girl. She was the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen, from her head down.

He knew her, but yet on this day, he didn't. "I'm sorry. I don't think we've met."

The girl smiled at him, like she knew a secret. "I'm Nya. We have Physics 302 together."

He knew that was a lie. He would've remembered her from that class, and there was the fact he wasn't in that class at all. He used his hand to comb his hair down absentmindedly.

"Right," Trev answered. "Well, you know my name. I guess we're well met now."

"You look so much like your father; I could have picked you out a mile away."

His father was kind of a celebrity to the geekier side of their society. "Oh. You know my dad?"

"Scott Andrews is a legend. I'm trying to get into his apprenticeship program."

Trevor knew then she might be using him to get the position, but she was quite fetching. And he'd let this happen before. A few times. "Well let's get something to eat, eh?"

And just like it had happened in the past, the two of them went out for a burger and fries. Trev was mostly led by his libido, but they did have a lot in common. Well seemed to at the time.

Like looking through translucent glass, he saw a glimpse of things to come in the burger shack. Their unlikely relationship bloomed from that chance meeting on campus. The aggressive girl who got what she wanted, the tiger under the sheets, the girl with a fiery-hot temper and equally hot passion—the girl he was close to breaking it off with when the unthinkable happened.

"Is this how it was?" she asked suddenly across from him. The words echoed in his mind as his eyes shot open.

He was sitting on his cot, the fingers of his left hand resting over her picture. He was sweating even though his room was surprisingly cool. He found the sword that had murdered his father in his right hand. He saw his closet was open, and the sheath stood between the two.

He had a flash of the worst night of his life—the explosion at the lab that killed his fiancée, his father in a pool of his own blood, the dark figure of his dad's assassin looking at him through his opaque visor—the mysterious killer, the one he continued to look for.

Trevor clutched the assassin's sword hard until it hurt. He needed to have his revenge.

Before he knew it, the sword had fallen from his hands and he was balled up on the ground. The tremors were painfully contracting his muscles. When he went to yell in agony, nothing, not even air, escaped his lips. Stabbed over and over again, he winced. Then the hot needles stopped and ebbed back down.

Another attack. So close in frequency to the last one. Was his disease finally running its due course?

He had to find his father's killer—before it was too late.

-o-

Nathan sat watching his ship blow through alien clouds. It was much like flying through weather back at the academy's pilot training. In blind-man drills, you weren't allowed to know where you were going or what lay ahead. It was about instinct, training your senses, facing the fear of what you couldn't see, and coming out on top.

His eyes felt heavy watching the same clouds pass by. He knew deep down that he'd flown this tired before, yet still, it kept at him. Hounding him. It was like something in the air. He pinched his arm to stay awake—hard enough to draw a bruise. It worked for a moment, then...

"Nathan! Hold still." His wife was straightening the collar on his Royal Air Force uniform.

He looked around and found himself at a loss for words. He was at the academy. His wife, Maura, was looking at him and smiling. She was so young, younger than he could have ever remembered, and she was pregnant. They were backstage somewhere.

"What's going on?" he asked. He had no idea how he'd gotten there. Wasn't he flying? It was like a distant memory that no longer mattered.

"Honey, you're about to go on." Maura winked at him, jokingly. "I hope you didn't forget your speech."

_What speech_? was all he could think.

He felt a pat on his back. He turned and looked into the eyes of his mentor: the Armiger of Earth, Callius. He was a younger man too.

It was then that he saw his reflection in the mirror; he was a kid. Trevor's age.

Wait, who was Trevor?

He had no clue. He did look sharp though. His face was clean shaven. His military dress fatigues were white and freshly pressed. They had a hint of Maura's laundry detergent smell and starch. He had no rank, but that was about to change.

"Cadet Sutherland, you have made us all very proud." the Armiger told him. "Top of your class. Cheers, mate. If I'm not mistaken, I may be looking at the next captain of the Royal Air Force."

Nathan shook the compliment off. "I'm just glad I get to serve my world, sir."

"He's always so professional." Maura laughed.

Callius chuckled to himself. "Indeed. Knock 'em dead out there. And in the days to come, watch over my boy, Fox. Lord knows, he only listens to you."

"I will, sir," Nathan answered. Fox was like his little brother.

The Armiger nodded and left to go watch his speech.

"You'll do fine, sweetheart," Maura said. She always had a way of reading him, even when he didn't give anyone something to react to.

"I know." Nathan kissed his young wife on the cheek. "Go take your seat. I'll be out there in a minute."

Maura smiled and let him finish getting ready himself.

In a way, he knew how the rest played out. He gave an inspirational speech about the future of Earth and how it would be a major player in the years to come and he would help lead them into an era of peace. That the envoy that had made contact with Ruvera was going to bridge the two people together.

There was a blur in the audience next to his friend Fox and another classmate, Gastoff. A person he should be able to see but couldn't. It almost cleared, and then his eyes were drawn elsewhere.

In this moment, he was just a young kid, who didn't know that right around the bend, the Ruveran Empire would see Earth as a threat, that a war would come, that dark days were all that remained ahead, that Earth would be lost, that his wife and son would be on the very planet as it blew apart, their screams never heard.

Nathan straightened his lapels, took a deep breath, and finally entered the stage.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned and looked into the familiar eyes of his nephew. He was back in his spaceship, flying through a cloud bank. Miraculously, they were still in the middle of it.

"You all right?" Trevor asked.

"Yeah," Nathan answered. He shook off the remnants of the dream.

He must have blinked his eyes for a moment and gone under. He checked and made sure the ship was still fine. When he saw the timer, he noticed hours had passed. Maybe it had been longer than a blink.

Trevor found his seat, still shaking off his own dream. They were close to the exit point.

"Want to get everyone up?"

"Yeah. That's fine." Unconsciously, Nathan felt for his wedding band around his neck. He slid it back under his collared shirt.

Trevor saw the movement but didn't ask. Instead, he walked back the way he'd just come, turning on the lights and making sure everyone was strapped in. Boost turned himself back on when he heard Trev get the others up. They both returned to the cockpit.

"Ready?" Nathan called as the timer counted to zero.

Trevor buckled himself down and made sure his copilot systems were at least on, even if they were on the fritz. "Yup."

With that, Nathan grabbed the steering yoke and they exited the safety of the clouds, emerging back into the lightning storm.

## Chapter 5

The _Razerus XIII_ stood anchored in space, thousands of light years away from Nathan and the others aboard the _Wrath_. It was a testament to Ruveran technology and ingenuity. The _Razerus_ was so vast, it had to remain outside of the solar system it was built from to make sure it didn't affect the orbits of the planets. They could potentially be drawn to orbit it because of its huge gravitational pull. Too large to be called a space station or even a space realm or world, it was just _Razerus_ , the one-of-a-kind impenetrable domain and home of the Ruveran Empire.

Dacian Velkas stood and looked out over his achievement. He was surrounded by the bustling members of his command and control center. He was enjoying it, even with all the frenetic activity around him. Currently, there were eighteen Breakers docked, seven of which were being loaded for an attack on the outer world of Cenari. That fledgling world had no idea what was on the way.

He smiled. It was always exciting right before a world got taught their lesson.

In the reflective glass before him, he could see his long beige robe. This day. he had gone with the red-and-black sash to symbolize the impending attack on Cenari. His long white hair, thick for a man in his early sixties, hung down his back. His eyes, like those of all full-blooded Ruverans, were a sparkling orange. His smile was crooked and still on display for the moment. Apart from his heart, he was strong and prepared to continue his reign for many years to come. This was his universe. He was the master.

He thought about going to his private office to watch the attack force depart. He could pour himself something strong, perhaps a gin, and relax. He really needed something to keep his spirits up after Render's terrible failure.

Speaking of which...

A familiar ship cleared _Razerus_ space. The dark-red craft started its entry course into docking. His light spirits turned dark when he realized what he had to do. His work was never complete—especially when dealing with incompetence.

Dacian turned from the glass of the window, and one of his men was immediately there, bowing. "Sir?"

"Ready my ship."

The faceless soldier scampered off.

Just as he made to follow, a radio operator stopped him and bowed respectfully. "Master Velkas, I have a troubling report." The operator tried his best to keep his composure near his leader, but it was difficult when his master smelled so strongly of overused cologne and dust.

Dacian motioned for him to continue.

The operator proceeded without pause. " _Breaker IX_ just called in with a status report."

"Out with it..." Dacian said patiently. Since Render had lost his latest endeavor, the Void Star, to the Eckelions, he'd been sending everything he had to find out where it had gone. They tortured an Eckelion to death to get the name Cleph'thera, and then they had to find out where the Nymarian was and go after him.

"They say the Nymarian's ship crashed into a planet, Aquaria."

Aquaria? One of the worlds they had identified as having a secret Elysian base? Hadn't he sent a Breaker to destroy that world?

The operator continued as he processed. "Well, _Breaker VI_ rifted the planet as directed, though it seems the Nymarian was on board a new craft that got away in time. The two Breakers have conflicting reports of what occurred after, but they both say that the rogue ship escaped into an energy ribbon that they are both combing through."

_That made enough sense_ , Dacian mused. "Who rescued the alien? Was it the Elysians?"

The operator paled. "We don't think so. There is one aboard that has been linked to the Elysians, but it doesn't seem that it is an Elysian craft. Its manufacture has been tracked to Earth. And if the vitals-check they performed are correct, the captain of the ship is Nathan Sutherland."

Dacian coughed unintentionally. He grabbed the report from the operator's hands. Sure enough, it had a list of the names and aliases, and Sutherland's was there. It was a small universe indeed.

"Ready three more Breakers and have them prepared to launch in the next twenty-four hours!" he barked.

"Aye, sir." The operator took off and soon disappeared.

He stood motionless for a moment and let the information find its proper place for use. It kept going back to Sutherland.

He was still alive.

Dacian flicked his hand, and a retinue of guards appeared to accompany him. They left the command center behind and walked down the secret, heavily guarded halls toward his private docking station.

Black as deepest space, sleek and sharp, his ship stood at the ready. It just looked dangerous as was its intent. The side of the ship boasted a placard, on which was engraved the number of worlds that had been destroyed, enslaved, beaten, or otherwise broken underneath the heel of Ruvera. He would have them add another "I" to the "XXXVII" for the world of Aquaria.

He scaled the steps and took his seat in his private quarters. His mind flashed back to the last battle with Earth before he ordered its destruction.

The war with that world had been a humbling experience. They had crushed so many others, it seemed that Earth would be a walk in the park, so to speak. But they fought hard, they never quit, and they were stronger than Ruvera.

The last battle had him commanding the remaining ship in their fleet. It was nothing like the Breakers were now, but it was a decent ship—and it was breaking apart in the attack.

And then the thing that changed everything happened.

"Sir, the rift cannon is online."

Dacian Velkas ordered its first target.

The cannon exploded with a single blast. Earth took the hit and, for a moment, seemed to absorb the shock. But seconds later, it burst and disintegrated into dust. Then, with the force of the outward explosion, it pulled into itself and was gone forever.

The Royal Air Force of Earth drew back, most likely in shock, allowing Velkas to escape. They had no idea how close they had come to defeating the most powerful empire the universe had ever known.

Now with the lessons he had learned eight years ago, Ruvera would never be vulnerable again. Dacian had used the rift cannon to usurp his father and rule Ruvera. He brought countless worlds under his thumb and used them to build his unstoppable armada.

So it was interesting to him that the leader of the attack that almost killed him was still alive and somehow involved. Maybe he should have ordered the attack of those worlds known to harbor Earth's survivors. Too late now. He wondered if the old captain had any idea what he was getting himself into.

-o-

Render disembarked the sharp blood-red ship. The flight crew followed after, sullenly. There was worried talk among them. Letting an Eckelion strike force overwhelm them and losing the valuable object their leader, Master Velkas, wanted was embarrassing to them and the empire—especially after all the work it took to recover it from that primitive Salarian world, Vale.

Render watched Dacian's ship enter the docking bay and land next to them.

His guards came out first, and then the pale, wrinkled face of their leader appeared. Judging by the look on that face, he wasn't too pleased.

Dacian saw Render go down on one knee as he approached. No amount of bowing would soften his punishment. Dacian ignored the assassin and walked past.

He stood before everyone else, Render's crew.

"Ruvera hasn't been successful because of failure. It is successful because we crush the weakest links out of our organization." Dacian continued to eye the worried faces unable to make eye contact with his disapproving glare. "So that can only mean one thing, I'm afraid. We are at an impasse. A parting of the ways."

The crew looked from one to the other, scared and confused.

"But there is one thing we'll all learn from this." He motioned for his armed guards. "We'll see which one of you can hold his breath the longest."

There was a short scuffle as the crew was apprehended and led away. The airlock wasn't far, and soon, their bodies were floating outside the ship.

"Render." He looked to his assassin.

Render rose back up.

"You are lucky you still are still of some use to me. Let this be a reminder to you should you decide to fail again."

Render didn't answer; just nodded once.

"Well, do you still have the Salarian you captured?"

"Yes, sir," came the robotic reply.

"Good. Something came out of this absolute failure. Anyway, we have things to discuss. An old friend of yours has become involved with our situation. Someone you know well. I'm sure you remember the son of Scott Andrews?"

Render passed a hand along the scar that ran underneath the dark helmet from the wound that had mangled and transformed it into the disfigured living robot that remained.

"Yeah. I thought you'd like to see him again."

Dacian led the way back to his private ship. There was much to discuss.

## Chapter 6

The Endari Energy Ribbon ripped and roared across them once more. Violent bolts of lightning struck randomly, and one outer panel exploded. Nathan ducked and dived as best as he could through the unpredictable storm, calm as could be. Then, in moments, he pulled the _Wrath_ out of it. They surfed the calm space beyond the ribbon.

Thankfully, there weren't any Ruveran Breakers waiting for them. That meant they had a little bit of a head start for the moment, which was good, since they were nearly completely out of fuel and needed supplies.

Nathan brought the ship down into the atmosphere of the world of Flora.

Centuries ago, Flora had been another dead planet, devoid of life. But an ancient, unknown people seeded the world with Loira'lei trees. Loira'lei could grow in the harshest of circumstances and created their own ecosystem by producing a type of oxygen through nexra-synthesis; other plants and life were soon able to thrive. With the introduction of water, strange new life found a way, and soon Flora was a fertile planet upon which plants and animals of all kinds flourished; one of the busiest spaceports was housed there due to the lack of tax rates. Flora's name derived from the colorful and rare flowers that grew so abundantly there.

Flying through flocks of Cumera, a type of flying squid, Nathan zeroed toward the ground. The landing pad was packed, like it usually was, when they came through. The cityscape rose to meet them with spires and tall business headquarters. Nathan had to take vectors around as other ships took off. As soon as their landing gear touched ground, a ground crew rushed over to refuel them. Flora was all about getting you in and out—for a price.

After powering the ship down, Nathan gathered everyone in the passenger compartment. Before he spoke, he went through the list in his head again to be sure he didn't forget anything. They had a dead alien in the cargo hold; he had an encrypted data pad in his pocket; there were two Ruveran battleships after them; and he still needed to get his passengers to Mara VII, a two day journey.

Trevor passed out hot cups of coffee as they waited. The hairs on the back of his neck were upright, like when he was about to have an attack. He focused on his breathing and remained calm.

"All right," Nathan began. "I know you weren't up front when everything unfolded, so I'll just say that Ruvera was out to capture the alien. For what, I'm still not entirely sure. But the fact of the matter is, by helping him, we have endangered you."

Trevor knew his uncle was lying about not knowing why Ruvera was after the alien. His uncle never lied.

It looked like Ruvera's pursuit wasn't news to anybody except for Daphkalian, whose face lost a little color. "Wait. You mean they're still going to come after us?"

Nathan nodded. "Yes. They will hunt us down for as long as we live."

Daphkalian's expression grew dark. "I had no idea I was getting myself involved in stuff like this."

"I told you there would be risk when I hired you," Kaida spoke up.

"Not like this," Daphkalian huffed. "My brother was right about you when—"

Trevor had had enough. He knocked the coffee out of Daphkalian's hand. "Clearly, you're not paying attention. You would have died in that rift if not for us. If that ship hadn't crashed and we hadn't rescued that alien, we would've been on the surface of Aquaria and been sucked into oblivion."

Daphkalian's much larger form towered over Trevor's. There was a considerable size difference, but Trev was scrappy, and for a moment, things were tense enough for a fist to fly, but the moment passed when Kaida put a hand on Daph's.

"I'm sorry. This is my fault," she pleaded.

Daphkalian stared them all down. His tail whipped about furiously. "I'm over this." He turned and stormed out through the back.

Nathan's eyes searched the ground for a moment, and then they came back up to Kaida. "The Ruverans were looking for someone else besides the alien. They were out to kill that person. I don't think it was Daphkalian."

Kaida was quiet for a long moment. She searched his eyes for a way out, and when she didn't find one, she looked away. "I can't say."

Nathan breathed out through his nose. "That's what I figured." He pulled out the data pad the Nymarian had given him. "Do you recognize these?"

Kaida's head came back around. For a moment, she thought he meant the data pad, but on closer inspection, she saw he was talking about the figures on it.

"It's Tharitian mathematics. Yes. I know it," she answered.

"Well, neither I nor Trevor can make sense of it. We need to figure out what's on here, and seeing as we are in this together, we could use your help to unlock its secrets."

Kaida hesitated for a moment and then nodded. "Of course I'll help." She took the data pad in her hands, and then she added, "Please don't tell Daphkalian. I don't want him any more involved than he already is."

"Agreed," Nathan replied. He turned to Trev. "I need you and Boost to take care of the Nymarian."

Trevor was ready to object, but he decided it was more important to appear united as a crew. "C'mon, Booster."

Trev left with Boost in tow. They respectfully carted Cleph's encased body across the landing area toward the trade city and disappeared.

"How much you need?" a voice yelled from outside the ship. It was one of the refuelers.

"Full!" Nathan barked back.

In the passenger compartment, Nathan realized he had just gotten himself alone with the enticing redhead. His fingers lightly touched the ring around his neck. She was eyeing him too; whatever weight she had been carrying with her was suddenly gone. The feeling of familiarity returned.

"Can I ask you something?"

Nathan knew he had to stop this now, before she got ideas. She would just keep coming if he didn't keep her in her place, business only. But for first time in eight years, he couldn't.

"Since we'll be together a little longer, I was wondering something. What is the deal with you and your copilot? Are you family?"

Nathan allowed himself to breathe again. Crisis averted. He was getting too old for these games.

"He's my sister's kid."

"And you look after him?"

"Since the end of Earth, yes." He sat down at the table in the middle of the compartment and sipped what was left of his coffee. "He's the only one in my family who survived."

"I lost a lot of family too." Kaida didn't want to bring up Gastoff. She needed never to think of him again and to move on with her life, so she shifted the conversation. "I was wondering one more thing."

"Shoot."

"Why does he carry that sword? He doesn't look like he knows how to use it."

Nathan released a long sigh before answering. "His father was killed with it. Trevor said he found his father with that sword through him as the murder was happening. When he stumbled upon the scene, he fired on the killer. According to Trev, the intruder was hit in the face, and the impact flung him out the window. The fall was too great for any man to survive, let alone the shot. He didn't see anyone on the rocks below. Then he says he saw a rogue Ruveran ship take off before it cloaked."

Kaida tried to hide her surprise. "Does he know who did it?"

"After all these years of digging, Trevor can only find rumors and whispers. Whoever the killer is doesn't leave too much of a trace...only appearances of his ship."

"That sounds terrible. I wonder why his father was assassinated. Was he military?"

Nathan shook his head. "That's the mystery. He was an engineer. I think they went after the wrong target. Scott was harmless."

Kaida thought about everyone she had lost. Ruvera murdered at will and without cause. Sometimes, there was no reason to the madness. "So he carries that sword in hopes of using it?"

Nathan nodded. "If I know my nephew, he's looking for the assassin's ship right now."

-o-

"Anyone coming, Booster?" Trevor was just finishing up going through the police data. He had jacked into an access terminal. He had his head and sword hidden beneath a dark cloak as he worked.

"Forty-seven meters and closing," Boost announced.

Trevor completed the search and found that the killer's ship had actually passed through recently but had left thirteen days ago. Another missed opportunity. He slammed the computer access shut and left as inconspicuously as he could.

He patted Boost's head. "Good work."

After finding a burial service that handled Ecath and Nymarian rites, he had to excuse himself at the service station for another one of his tremor attacks. This one had put him on his back and almost caused him to black out. To make matters worse, his veins were turning a lighter shade of blue and he had a headache he couldn't shake off—more reminders his time was running out.

The two pushed their way through the crowd of traders, visitors, and locals. He nearly tripped over the large roots of a Loira'lei tree, which pushed through the cement walkway. Flowers were in full bloom and floating through the air, bringing acidic rose flavors to the air.

The cities of Flora had pretty heavy speeder traffic too. Hover cars and bikes thundered overhead on aerial roads. Ground level had crowded foot traffic. With the glowing blue leaves of the Loira'lei growing around buildings into the sky, it was truly a city that was always aglow. It never slept, and on this side of the world, it was forever night. He placed a hand on a nearby tree's bark and heard the odd whispers of the tree. It eased his pain with a song he couldn't understand.

Then, he wound his way around the bustling streets and found the bar he recognized. As soon as he entered, he heard the usual grumbles of "Earthborn." It was a slur throughout this part of the universe; "as stupid as an Earthborn" was a common insult. Just another aide-mémoire that those still left from Earth had lost their world and their respect in the universe.

Trevor pulled up a seat at the bar and ordered two Ecath dishes with which he was familiar. Since it was always dark on this side of Flora, it was always time for breakfast.

The barkeep was a female Ecath, a deviously beautiful, long-eared, furry-skinned version of Daphkalian. She, like all Ecath, was a tall mix of feline features though the female's ears were as long as a rabbit's. "Impatient to die like all Earthborn," she sneered.

Trev realized he was cutting in line to order at the bar. He apologized and waited his turn.

He realized he wasn't the only flight crew member out to get a quick meal. There were some common alien species like Asterions; Preslich, which were like large thin snakes with two arms and legs; other beautifully feral Ecath; and Gymon, which were a purple-skinned telepathic race that looked like what might happen if whales and humans were combined into something. One large Gymon in particular was leering at him over his drink, wide-set eyes unblinking, and skin appearing sickly wet and slippery. Trev turned away.

Boost popped up next to him. Oblivious.

"Did you get the usual supplies?" Trevor asked him.

Boost nodded.

An order of oddly colored meat and eggs appeared before him. He picked up a fork and knife and went to work. Like a starving man, Trev plowed through the meal in minutes. He washed it down with an orange moko, which was basically all alcohol with a bite of citrus.

"Ready?" Trevor asked pushing himself from the bar.

Trev paid his bill at the exit, scanning his wristband.

"Should we get some more..." Trevor began. His voice trailed off when he saw Daphkalian a good hundred meters away talking to a dark-cloaked figure. He could really be talking to anyone, but Trev felt in his gut it was sinister.

Daphkalian nodded a few times and pointed toward the dock where they were parked. As he continued to speak, he kept checking around himself to make sure he wasn't being watched. Finally, the dark figure nodded back, and then the two parted ways.

Instead of seeing where Daph went next, Trevor followed the cloaked figure.

"We need to return to the ship," Boost warned.

"Shut up, stupid. C'mon." Trevor hid in the crowd as Daphkalian lumbered by. As soon as he was gone, he jetted through the busy plaza to where he'd last seen the dark figure. The alley was thick with activity. At the end, the dark figure turned.

Trevor barreled down a separate street to head the figure off. He pushed on, not thinking of what he would do should he catch up to confront this mysterious person.

_What if he's armed_? he thought. _Well, I'm armed too_. Even though he didn't know how to use the sword, it was still a weapon.

When he hit another cross street, he stopped. Boost rolled into his leg painfully and backed up. Trev fought the urge to disassemble the robot and peered around the corner. He saw the dark figure had stopped and was speaking with two others.

Trevor ignored their dingy confines and smells of refuse in the cramped alley, closed his eyes and listened.

With a thick Ruveran accent, one spoke to the others. "What the crews of _Breaker VI_ and _IX_ are searching for is right here, docked at station thirty-one. Get as many soldiers as you can right now and meet me there."

The others didn't say a word, but Trevor imagined they agreed to his order.

When Trev heard them coming his way, he pulled his cloak over his head and began walking in the other direction as nonchalantly as possible. Apparently, with their eye on the prize, they didn't take notice. Two of them walked hastily past him.

Trevor realized the missing one was going to the ship to stop them from taking off while backup arrived. The crazy thought left in his head was that he either had to stop him from getting there or beat him to it. He took a deep breath and ran. Boost rolled after him.

-o-

The refueling crew finished up and drove away. Nathan was outside the ship, doing a final walkaround check to make sure all panels were closed and the pad was clear of debris. There were some new battle scars from their escape, but nothing too serious. He had found the transmitter they had pinned to them that had disabled their force drive. It had taken him a few minutes to take it apart and create an antidisrupter from it. They wouldn't be able to get away with that trick again.

After he felt comfortable with his check, he walked back up the cargo ramp. His cargo hold was surprisingly empty at the moment, more than it usually was.

The compartment itself was two hundred feet long and fifty feet wide. Its track record was pretty solid, even though there were moments when the antigravity kicked off. They were currently in a slick-floor configuration, but could easily flip rollers for palletized cargo. The rails they used could hug any size or type of pallet. The only thing on the floor was Kaida's equipment, which was tied down with straps, and Nathan's off-road vehicle, the CTV-44 Hammerhead, which was tied down with chains.

He thought about making sure the battery still worked on his vehicle when he sensed someone coming up behind him.

"Daphkalian. There you are," Nathan said.

The large man just shrugged his reply. "Where's Kaida?" he asked.

"She's helping me with something, probably sitting at the table I left her at."

"Good." Daphkalian produced a light assault pistol from the back of his pants. The barrel was leveled at Nathan's face.

"Whoa, easy." Nathan had his hands open to show he was unarmed.

"Put these on." Daph chucked wrist bindings at Nathan's feet.

"That's the plan? With me bound, you go in there and steal the data pad unhindered?" Nathan asked.

"Just do it," Daph snarled.

_Why doesn't he just shoot me_? Nathan grabbed up the bindings slowly. "Did you ever think what would happen to you after you lost your use? Ruverans can't be trusted."

"Shut up, old man. I read the alien's notes. I know what he told you. Even though most of it is completely ridiculous, I know an opportunity to get rich when I see one. They are paying me handsomely."

"I'm sure they will." Nathan clicked the bindings closed, and they turned red, indicating they were closed and locked.

Metallic footsteps rang out as Kaida walked into the cargo hold. Her eyes were down on the pad, and her brow was furrowed in thought.

"That makes this easier," Daph said quietly, facing toward her.

Kaida looked up and saw the situation as it appeared. Nathan was in handcuffs with Daphkalian pointing a gun at him. The gun slowly turned on her.

"I'm going to need that." Daphkalian smiled.

Kaida's eyes went to the pad in her hand and then back to the gun. "I don't understand what's going on here."

"I don't have time for this." Daph approached her. As he reached out to grab the pad away, he felt a quick, sharp pain in the nape of his neck. Then he fell and saw nothing as he crumpled unconscious to the floor.

Nathan dropped the heavy bindings on the floor and clapped his hands free of dust.

Kaida's mouth had dropped open. She played the quick scene over again to make sure she understood. One second, Daph was coming for her, towering as he did. Nathan was in bindings off to the side, and then he was right behind him as the giant fell forward, having dealt some powerful blow.

"How did you...?"

"They teach that on the first day of the academy."

Another sound broke through the hollow cargo bay. Nathan turned around and saw his nephew bounding up the ramp, Boost rolling up right behind him.

"We...we've been..." Trevor struggled for oxygen.

"Betrayed? We know," Nathan finished. "More on the way?"

Trevor nodded vigorously.

Nathan surveyed the situation and prioritized. "I'll put this one in the cell." He was looking at Daph. "Boost, get the engines going. Trevor, take care of that Ruveran running across the tarmac. Ms. Elwin..." He paused for a moment as he lost his train of thought. Her smell had reached his nose. "Please find your seat."

The group broke off into their respective duties.

Nathan dragged Daphkalian off to the holding cell as Boost rolled off toward the cockpit.

That left Trevor watching the dark-cloaked figure he'd been racing against. The figure had a large blaster rifle in his arms, and he fired on their craft. The shots were insanely close to the mark for someone so far away.

Trevor dialed into the cargo hold control panel. He rerouted a few systems here and there, directed the anti-grav toward the back, and then hit the activate button.

The encroaching enemy was struck by the invisible force and went flying backward. His gun continued fifty yards farther.

"Good-bye." Trevor flicked the switches back to normal mode and closed the ramp. The light went green as soon as the ship's door was closed and the locks fully engaged. Shield control powered on shortly after.

He ran up through the ship. He didn't see Kaida seated when he rushed through the pax compartment and realized why when he reached the cockpit. She was sitting behind the pilot's seat. No one was allowed in the front of his uncle's jet besides flight crew, and there was an even stricter rule with women. It was unbelievably archaic, but so was his uncle.

As Trevor went to warn her that his uncle would kill her if he found her there, Nathan came up the stairs. Slightly winded from dragging the traitorous giant around, he eyed Kaida, innocently buckled down inside his cockpit. She looked up questioningly.

Trevor watched as his uncle paused to let loose the demons and then suddenly took his seat without a sound. Trev's jaw dropped.

"Where we at?" he asked Trev.

Trevor cleared his throat to hide his surprise. "Before takeoff checklist."

Outside the ship, a handful of soldiers were running toward them, guns blazing. Their laser fire pinged off the _Wrath's_ shields harmlessly. The ship spun around, took flight, and shot off into the lower atmosphere of Flora.

On the ground, one out-of-breath soldier ran up to the others. "It's all right. _Breaker VI_ and _Breaker IX_ have just arrived."

## Chapter 7

"What in the world is that?" Rayph asked his supervisor.

Jeb, boss of Outpost Z-19, laughed. "Don't blame the game. You're the one who doesn't understand the rules. This is all about tactics."

Rayph tossed the board game aside, knocking the pieces to the ground. This game, chess, couldn't be more confusing. There was no way to attack your opponent outright. Maybe if they were playing a shooter or a strategy game on his console, he'd teach his boss a lesson. Earth games made no sense. Probably why their people had died out.

Rayph decided to go back to work and actually learn his job while Jeb went to go get more snacks from the storage cupboard in the next room. Maybe he would try this chess game later.

Outpost Z-19 was about the worst assignment you could get as an Ecath. Rayph had failed flight aptitude tests, science tests, and military training, and when he had tried to make it as a writer, he became a laughingstock. So for Rayph, the outpost gig was perfect—decent pay, barely any responsibility, and best yet, no work. All he had to do was monitor a few machines, and that was that.

The outpost was small. The bottom floor contained the rec room, which connected to a shared sleeping quarters and a bathroom. Then there were stairs that led to the small upper floor. Rayph wound his way up those tower steps and opened the door.

When he arrived, he saw a red blinking light on one of the computers and walked up to it. It took him a second to figure out it was actually one of their recording machines.

Rayph knew enough to work the thing. He dialed the knob up, put his headset on, and pushed "play."

There was a lot of static. "Hello?...Come in Z-19. This is Outpost R-81. We have reports of an anomaly in space. We know what you're thinking, but it's not a rift. It's something else. We can't seem to figure out what it is with our equipment yet. At its current rate of speed, coming from the Outer Rim, it will reach us at 1244 standard synch time. We'll let you know if it's something to worry about."

Rayph shrugged. The guy sounded older; he'd probably been doing this a long time—at least long enough to know better than to worry about nothing. Most events in space weren't anything to sweat over. A star collapsed here and there, meteor showers—it was nothing to go overboard with. Rayph wondered why the older man sounded so concerned.

He put his headset back down and threw his feet up. At the top of the outpost, there was a pretty nice view of the Milky Way Galaxy. It was beautiful the way it spiraled into itself like it had spinning tentacles.

Rayph had heard his boss talking about how in his day, there had been a war through this system, and one of the planets had been taken out. Leave it to the humanoids to figure out that kind of destructive power. He couldn't remember what that planet was called. Were they the ones that made chess?

"Anything new?"

Rayph turned and saw the boss eating a package of bitter wafers. It was probably why he was so large in the middle, which was strange for an Ecath. They were usually all lithe and catlike. Jeb was pretty fat and slow. He hoped he didn't turn into a Jeb working there.

"Naw," Rayph answered. "R-81 reported some weird space anomaly, but I doubt it amounts to anything."

"You want to come back downstairs and go another round?" Jeb had Rayph's white king in his hand.

Rayph shook his head and smiled. "I don't—"

"Z-19, Z-19, come in!" the voice from the radio called, panic-stricken.

Rayph watched his boss lumber over to the radio and answer. He also saw the clock above his head read 1242.

"Go ahead," his supervisor said calmly.

"I need to relay something back to Flora and quick. The anomaly...it's something...it's unbelievable! Warn them that they have to declare Protocol 3."

His boss wiped a crumb off his shirt. "Did you say Protocol 3?"

"We don't have time for this!" the voice yelled. "Yes! This thing is...it's, like, it's consuming everything! They must be warned before it's too late."

"I will."

"Good. Make the call, and then try to save yourself. Oh no...it's—"

The connection went dead.

"What was that about?" Rayph asked. He wasn't sure whether he should joke about it or what. The concern on Jeb's face said that would not be wise.

His boss pulled up an old-school phone, which Rayph had never seen. He immediately got a voice from the other end.

"Hello?"

"Initiate Protocol 3."

"Identity."

"Y-Eight-Two-M-Five-D-Three-Zero."

The other person ended the call.

His boss put the receiver down.

Before Rayph could ask anything, he saw something that scared him, something on his boss's face. He grew even more worried when Jeb covered his mouth with his hands. His eyes were looking out far in the distance.

Rayph tried to see what his boss was seeing. Out in space, he didn't really see anything new. Suddenly, he saw movement. It was subtle, like a trick of the eye. Then when he realized it was real, his own mouth became guarded, as if he didn't want the words spoken.

Out there, shadowy tendrils, like snakes, were winding their way through the Milky Way. Stars were disappearing. One whole side of where they were looking vanished in a type of dark vortex that was traveling forward.

"It's just like he said," Rayph said.

Nothing was shown on their monitors, and those things reached far beyond whatever the space event was. It was like the darkness really wasn't there, and yet what had been there was gone. Readings on planets and stars vanished.

Rayph shook his boss out of it. "We have to get to the ship."

"In eighteen thousand years, we have never had to order a Protocol 3."

Rayph was pulling him down to their ship. "What is a Protocol 3?"

Finally, his supervisor relented and started following him down. "Evacuate the planet."

## Chapter 8

Trevor couldn't take his eyes of the radar display; the moon-sized blips grew closer. Sensors indicated the giant battleships were closing in on the planet, sweeping it for signs of them. They were both screening it from the other side of the world, working their way toward the _Wrath_.

Sweat had either accumulated from the heat generated by the cockpit equipment or from blind fear. It didn't really matter what the cause though. Things were tense. Either way, Trev did his best to clear the moisture off with his sleeve.

Nathan pulled up on the stick so they'd miss a collision with a stream of Florian ships. They were flying out like scared minnows down a creek. Docking stations were bursting open with countless spacecrafts. Those on approach into the planet were turning around.

"What is going on?" Kaida asked from the backseat. "Are they leaving because of the Ruverans?"

"No. It's worse." Nathan set his radio headset down and turned on the intercom speakers.

"Attention...attention...Protocol 3 Warning is in effect." The prerecorded message played over and over again. Nathan flicked it to guard frequency. "It's an evacuation order."

Kaida still didn't understand. Florian Ecaths weren't afraid of Ruvera.

"Where to now?" Trevor asked, keeping his focus on the mission at hand.

Nathan joined the flurry of ships escaping the planet, unfazed. "I don't care. Wag it for now."

Trev shrugged. "All right." He punched in a random point and locked it in. The ship calculated the best route to get there. When it gave him numbers, he typed them into the flight computer. "Destination set."

The _Wrath_ tore through the atmosphere. Thousands of ships were all around them from horizon to horizon along with them, scrambling in different directions. They exited the thermosphere and hit space. Nathan dialed up the force drive.

"What is that?" the radio crackled.

"I've never..." came another.

The guard frequency erupted with fearful calls.

Trevor couldn't figure out what they were all looking at. It couldn't be the Ruverans.

The flight crew kept looking forward, their attention focused between the two planets they were going to light-jump through, when they saw something on the back video. Nathan hit a switch and enlarged the view.

Flora was alight with ships taking off and bursting into light speed. The Breakers were closing in on the _Wrath_ ; one of them was opening its fighter ports. But behind them, something else was happening. The energy ribbon they had traveled through was...changing. The end that ran toward the Milky Way galaxy had shadows screaming through it toward them. Beyond the infected energy ribbon was a mass of darkness that no words could describe. It was a living mass of moving shadows.

"We need to move," Trevor said in the quiet.

Nathan turned the back screen off. The transition between the two engine modes was nearing completion.

Trevor tried his best to put it out of his mind and help fly the ship. The radio crackled with worsening accounts, and the radar was showing the impossible. Everything the "anomaly" hit...disappeared.

One of the Breakers blew past them at light speed, its captain smart enough to get out. The fighters from the other were on top of them now.

Nathan reengaged regular flight to dogfight away from them. Watching the darkness coming had cost them a clean escape. He pulled the stick around into clumps of other ships. The fighters came from all directions, and a large band blocked them jumping.

"What are you doing? Don't worry about them. We need to get out of here." Trevor saw the mass of disappearing blips getting closer. The darkness was fast.

A wild look passed across Nathan's face. "We have to have a clear jump." He flipped his guns on and broke toward the ships blocking their way.

Trevor was now more afraid of his uncle than the Ruverans.

The ship turned toward Flora, and Kaida covered her mouth when she saw the darkness hit the planet. As it contacted the surface of the planet, it surrounded it like a closing mouth until the jaws completely closed. Not stopping for a moment, the arms of darkness continued off in spires, enveloping hundreds of ships in its wake.

"He's right. We have to go!" she cried. "Light-jump through them."

Trevor saw the blip for the Breaker completely vanish. When he looked up, he only saw oncoming blackness where it had been.

The fighters had disengaged from them and were making a run for it, while other ships were taken into the mass.

Trevor knew they were going to die if he didn't act. In one motion, he took flight control from his uncle, who was still wildly fighting them and then pulled the circuit breaker killing Nathan's side of the jet so he couldn't take control back.

He aimed the ship as best he could toward blank space, as missiles streamed at them.

Ships were sucked in right behind them as the darkness came for them. For a moment everything seemed like it was about to hit.

Without another thought, Trevor hit the jump switch on his uncle's side. Outside the ship, a spire of seething, hungering blackness reached out to swallow them too. Just as it licked the back, the craft shot off at light speed and disappeared. The darkness did manage to absorb the rouge missiles and Ruveran ships and anything else that hadn't escaped in time as it continued its path of destruction.

## Chapter 9

Stars went by in a flash. Hearts stopped in their chests. Breaths were held in waiting to be released from lungs. The universe looked like it had stopped. Then—

The aft right side of the _Wrath_ exploded.

The blinding speed-of-light travel slammed off, and they sped forward on momentum only. Before Trevor could figure out what to do next, he saw his uncle had control of the ship again and was looking at him like his murder wouldn't suffice.

"Don't ever do that again," Nathan hissed. "I didn't see we were clear."

Trevor felt stupid; he had thought he was going to get a "thank-you" in there, but no. "I just saved us."

"You just blew the force drive."

Kaida wanted to put her two cents in but realized that would only make the situation worse. Instead, she busied herself breaking into the ship's emergency systems.

Smoke detectors were lighting up one at a time throughout avionics.

"Make yourself useful," Nathan spat.

Trevor got up off his seat. "C'mon, Booster."

The two of them ran off to fight the fire, footsteps and wheels clumping down the metal stairs.

Kaida sat there, too overwhelmed to do anything. She had just witnessed the impossible—an entity made of darkness. There was no scientific approach to explain it. Though they were able to light-jump, it wouldn't buy them much time, twelve hours at most. Instead of worrying further, she finished up what she was doing.

A rumble sounded from the left side of the ship.

"What the—?" Nathan was looking over his displays. "We just lost our emergency beacon."

Kaida closed her display and sat quietly.

Meanwhile, Trevor and Boost were putting out the sporadic fires. Most of the wiring from the force drive engines had overheated. As soon as they hit the electric fires with suppressant, they died off. He hit the avionic fans on so that the remaining smoke would dissipate. The shelves of wiring were largely intact but thoroughly burned through.

On their way back to the cockpit, Trev saw Daphkalian staring out at him from their holding cell.

The cell itself had been retained from the old design of the ship and had come in handy a few times. The design was pretty old school, with its crisscrossing metal bars. The only thing "new" about it was the electric locks that were fully engaged with steel rods. Daph wasn't going anywhere.

"You have no idea what's going on, do you?" Daphkalian laughed. "Your uncle hasn't told you?"

Trevor laughed himself. There was no other way to react to the man. "No, we've gone over the plan. We're ejecting you into space in a few. We're just trying to find the right thing for you to wear for the occasion."

"Jokes won't help you." Daphkalian shook his head. "Your uncle knows what I know. I wonder why he hasn't let you in on it. He knows what the darkness is." He paused. "He knows about you."

"See ya around." Trevor waved the big man off. Was that the plan? Cause distrust among the crew so he could escape? This wasn't the Old West. Oddly though, something did stick. He thought about the way his uncle had acted when the darkness was coming. There was still something about it that stuck out. He just couldn't see it yet. And there was no way Nathan knew about his...secret.

He and Boost dropped back down into the passenger compartment and wound their way back toward the front. As they did, Nathan shouted over PA. "Ruveran ship inbound."

Trev passed the top step and buckled himself back down. "Fire's out."

"Good, because we have other problems." Nathan pointed to the giant blip that had reappeared on their radar.

The radio started crackling again. "Captain Sutherland, this is Commander Argum of _Breaker IX_. After what we have both witnessed, we do not want to lose another ship, yours or ours. We just want the data pad, and then you may go. Believe it or not, our intention is to use what's on the pad to stop that anomaly."

Nathan scoffed.

Trevor knew his uncle would never agree to anything with Ruvera. Nathan was battling them every day somewhere in his mind. They had taken away his life, his family, and his world, and all the training he had ever received was geared to fight them. He would rather sacrifice his life to help kill as many as he could, than to submit to them. Usually, Trevor was all right with fighting Ruvera, but after the bloodlust Nathan had just displayed, he wasn't so sure anymore. It was like after years of running from the fight, he was ready to reengage them, killing others like himself and Kaida to get his revenge.

"What's that?" Nathan nodded toward a white-and-blue mass they were floating toward—or, more accurately, was floating at them.

Trevor looked it up on the star map. "Marked as a hybrid-type planet named Frosterrene. By all accounts, it's a giant ball of ice flying through space with its own gravitational pull and thin atmosphere. It's experiencing a massive blizzard, planetwide."

"That's where we're going then."

Trev wanted to object, but his uncle seemed to be himself again, back in calm control. "We're not going to be able to escape that way."

"I'm not trying to escape."

Kaida just sat back and watched Boost roll out of the cockpit. He must recognize the next part of the plan already.

Nathan paused at his controls and looked out over at the giant speeding ball of ice. "Here we go."

The _Wrath_ lurched forward again, spinning toward the spinning planet.

The radio crackled at the first sign of movement away from the Breaker. It was the Ruveran female commander. "Captain, I heard you were a reasonable man. Sorry to see that's untrue."

The Breaker port doors fired open by the thousands. The sleek little jets pinged out and engaged on the their Tiger-37. Automatic countermeasures fired off as the fighters' weapons volleyed at them.

Kaida peeked at the back ship camera to see open space fill with their fighters. They were still a long way off, but the missiles coming at them were closing in fast. She turned it back off.

"Boost, use the wall," Nathan called over.

Trevor hated the wall, and for a good reason.

Boost fired it, and behind them, a force-field emitter brought up a large, solid barrier. Like its name, the force field grew into a large wall in space. The forward series of weapons from the fighters hit it. The force of the impact engulfed the missiles that impacted plus the incoming weapons still coming up from behind them. The power of all of it created a type of cosmic explosion that detonated everything at the middle of it, and then the force of it reached their ship.

The tidal wave hit the _Wrath_ , and they rode it into the atmosphere of Frosterrene. Snow and ice hit them and formed across the glass. The temperature inside the cockpit immediately dropped as they flew into the planet's atmosphere.

Gusts of strong wind carrying sleet were blowing them all over the place. Nathan grasped the yoke, utilized all his training for crash landings, and aimed his craft.

Trevor watched gratefully as the second large grouping of missiles died in the atmosphere, probably falling to the ground as icicles. He held on tight as the ship felt like it was coming apart, and down they went.

Nathan kept the ship aimed between two glaciers. There appeared to be soft powder running between them. It also looked like a landing strip. The rest of the terrain was covered in jagged, sharp ice towers.

Trevor ran through a quick before-landing check just as they struck the tops of the ice pinnacles. Shards of ice careened toward them.

Then the ship hit the snow between the glaciers, and they went through. Nathan realized too late that the snow was too soft. They tunneled deep down into the frozen world. Snow was flung up and hit them, along with rocks and ice until finally the ship slid to stop. Behind them, the tunnel they had created going underground caved in. They were buried alive.

With the _Wrath_ sealed in tight, the Breaker stood watch outside, floating after it. Fighter-bombers continued to pile out.

Argum gave the order to commence bombing the area where the _Wrath_ had just crashed. The fighters zeroed in, fighting against the storm, and began their attack.

## Chapter 10

Elsewhere, not everything was looking so grim. At a hidden shipyard within a multi-ring gas planet named Neroth, a celebration of sorts was underway. A middle-aged man stood before a throng of thousands. Dressed in clean, open brown robes with a white belt to mark the occasion like everyone else, the speaker raised his hands in triumph. His arms motioned toward where their vast battleships surrounded them, the fruits of years of work. Finally, they had rebuilt their fleet. _Finally_ , they would have a chance at a future.

This man was a little past his midlife with salt-and-pepper hair, which he wore combed to the side. Two light-brown eyes sat above a strong nose and a thick jaw. His naturally dark skin glistened with sweat that was both from apprehension and excitement.

A great cheer arose from the masses. Screams of praise and jubilation echoed off the walls of their secret base. They calmed as the figure lowered his hands to speak.

"This is truly a day of days. Easily one for the record books!" Fox Kalemegdon began. He held the sides of the speaker post and shook his head to himself. "I'll admit, I wasn't sure we would be able to accomplish this feat. When Earth was destroyed, my father swore we would rise again. And here we stand, poised to strike back. But our enemy is ruthless. They extinguish entire worlds on a whim. They murder and destroy at will. And now today...we finally have a chance to fight back."

The crowd burst into cheers. The sounds reverberated throughout the great bay.

Fox motioned for them to quiet down once more. "We have a responsibility now. We have the might, and we have the talent to meet our enemy on the battlefield once more. I have constructed a plan of attack with His Majesty's aid, one that aims at breaking the back of Ruvera. We will not fail in this. We cannot. Everyone in the galaxy will whisper of what we are about to do. The day the Elysians came. The day we all fought back."

The people erupted once more. This time, he let them go with it. They had earned a moment of celebration.

All around them were docking ports to massive battleships that could rival the Ruveran Breakers. They were one-third the size but faster and more agile with the upgraded shield technology. After going through several name choices for their battleships, like Vengeance, Marauder, and Justice, they finally agreed on one: _Valian_.

The legend of Vale read like a dusty chronicle from another age. Long ago, hundreds of years ago in fact, two similar races of humans lived together. Those calling themselves Valians, and the other, the Ruverans. And then one day Ruvera surprised the world of Vale, filling the skies with primitive airships, though highly advanced for their day. They enslaved the free continents much like they currently did the known universe. Then just when things looked grim, the animal people and humans attacked in a legendary rebellion. They almost defeated Ruvera, though time erased how it failed. The loss brought terrible consequences, public executions and punishments. But their spirit lived on. The Elysians would take up their torch once more.

_Valians_ 1 through 22 were all ready to go at long last with the _Helcarion_ as their lead command ship.

"Now, let's get to work!" Fox laughed. He turned from the microphone and was met by his personal aides.

"Sir, the _Helcarion_ is ready for flight on your order."

"Excellent. Is His Majesty aboard?" Fox asked.

"Yes, sir. He is under guard and stable."

"Well, let's get moving." He patted his aide forward, and they entered the command ship. His men and women in uniform were lined up, forming a path for him. He pressed through, and as he crossed, he was joined by their ranks. Beyond him, the crowd was dispersing toward their assigned ships.

Fox acknowledged to himself as he walked through the _Helcarion_ that they had done the unthinkable. After what had happened to Earth, the fledgling Earthborn community had had nowhere to go and no purpose left but to wither and die out.

And then his father, the Armiger Callius Kalemegdon, had gathered them back together. As soon as he found one group, he'd find another. So many had been scattered from Crystalis to Cenari. Some reverting to such low jobs as cargo haulers and messengers for other sentient species. And slowly, a force developed. Then unexpectedly, countless millions whose worlds had also been savagely defeated had joined them too. As they built a sizeable offensive force, the Armiger united them under one cause: to defeat Ruvera once and for all. But to do that, they had to destroy _Razerus XIII._ It was the only way. And on Neroth, they had rebuilt a force ten times stronger and more powerful than anything they'd had for years. Now, after all that time, they were ready to fight again.

Hope was back in their hearts, and Fox felt like it was all held together, still, by his father. But as the Armiger grew older and weaker and became ill, he knew the mantle of leadership would fall to him, and he knew he wasn't ready for it. His father had to hang on a little longer to see this all through.

Sections of the ship were opening like a city beginning to turn on its lights, one at a time.

He led his aide and personal guards up to the command center situated above the _Helcarion_. As he did, he could hear the other ships taking flight. Massive gunships rumbled to life for their first formation.

When he reached the top level, he saw the bustling activity as preparations were in full swing.

The director of flight met him as he came in. "Sir, we are standing by."

"Where's my father?"

"He isn't well enough, sir."

Fox nodded. He was sad he'd miss this. "Take her out."

He took a seat at the center of the room in front of the great monitors displaying the views from the hundreds of cameras throughout. _Helcarion's_ great engines shook the ground. Fire exploded out of the bottom of the supership, and it slowly lifted off the artificial ground they had laid down within Neroth.

Building momentum, it continued to shoot into the sky of the gas planet. The thin atmosphere spread as they burst through it. Then the viewers all showed something he hadn't seen in a long time: space. They had been hiding for so long building their fleet.

The _Helcarion_ broke gravity from Neroth and idled. The _Valians_ were up with them, ready to go.

With everybody ready to fight, Fox experienced a sensation he hadn't anticipated. He felt it running through him like something he couldn't control. This moment, everything was at peace. The universe was on pause. Their path was unknown, their future wide open for anything that would come their way. He hoped that they would do what was right, that they would make a difference again.

After years of training and practice, constructing the ships and crafting the weapons, working with aliens throughout the universe, and secretly building this force—now there was only one thing left to do. It was time to attack Ruvera head-on before they knew what was coming. Velkas knew they existed, it was impossible to keep it completely secret, but he didn't know about the force they had built up. Not yet.

The chief security officer was at his side, Fox's moment had ended. "Sir, we just picked up an escape pod with an Asterion soldier on board. We believe he's a little mad from space travel but may have vital intel."

Fox nodded. "Administer whatever medical attention he needs. We'll keep a close eye on him."

"Yes, sir." The security officer left.

The attack on _Razerus_ loomed ahead, when his head of radio operations ran up.

"Sir, I have reports streaming in."

Fox turned from the screens. "Out with it."

"Our lab on Aquaria was discovered. A Breaker-class ship rifted the planet to erase all trace of what we were doing there."

A terrible feeling of loss descended on him. "Our people there..."

"Didn't make it, sir. Except for one. That leads me to my other report. One of our drogue satellites just picked up a signal."

"That's what they're for, Soldier," Fox said.

The operator knew his vice commander was fighting back the bad news in his own way. "Maybe you should take a look. It's a coded message for you."

Fox took the papers from his hand and saw the odd frequency. When he looked closer at the repeating numbers, he saw the words embedded in them.

"Good work," he told his radio operator and turned to his director of flight. He motioned for him to follow him to the star map. "We're headed here. Now." The planet he zeroed in on appeared to be moving through a system.

His operations officer was at his side. "But the attack, sir..."

"Will wait. My father will understand. This is more important." Fox flicked his head at his director of flight, indicating he was to do as he was commanded.

"I'll let the Valian generals know too, sir."

Fox took a deep breath. He hoped he was right to take a big chance on this side mission. But the message had promised him something—a new hope.

He just hoped he wasn't too late.

## Chapter 11

After thirty minutes underground, Nathan had everyone gather in the cargo hold. Utilizing the wooden pallets for fuel and an old gas tank, he had a nice little fire going on the metal floor. The temperature was easily below zero and dropping. The only light came from the fledgling fire and emergency lighting.

After the crash land, Nathan turned off all nonessential equipment to kill any heat signature the Ruverans could pick up. Out of the kindness of his heart, he had even thrown Daphkalian a blanket on his way to build the fire. He had been nearly frozen. The locks on the cell were always powered by the ship batteries, so Nathan wasn't worried about his escaping.

As everyone came down into the hold, Nathan made sure his combat-terrain vehicle had made it through. Besides a couple cracks in the window and a small dent in the side, the CTV-44 was fine. If it wasn't so cold on this planet, he'd be able to see if it still ran.

Trevor and Kaida were in the cold-weather gear they kept aboard, including face masks. They stood warming up at the barrel fire, looking tired and haggard.

The bombing runs continued overhead. So deep underground, the explosives only caused rumblings. At first, the Ruverans had pounded the area above them. Most likely, the glaciers had caved in together and buried them deeper. It wasn't yet clear how they would escape their frozen burial chamber.

For a time, they didn't say a word. Yes they were being bombed, but the world had changed. A writhing darkness had devoured an entire galaxy. It was continuing through the universe. Who knew what was capable of or what it was. The rules to living were different now. It was more about escaping the path of whatever that thing was. And sitting motionless on this planet only meant it was getting closer.

Then there were the Ruverans out there trying to kill them. Without the force drive again, they were essentially trapped in a snowball.

And so they stood there, the three of them warming their hands in the cargo compartment as even their breath looked like it was turning to ice. Boost came down, oblivious to the cold, the attack on them, and the universe eater.

"I got it!" Kaida said suddenly, through chattering teeth.

The two men looked at her through freezing-cold hoods.

"I solved one of the algorithms. The answer was easy once I thought about it."

Nathan threw a few more pieces of wood into the fire, secretly apprehensive to get another piece of the alien's puzzle. The first part of what the alien had whispered had proven true. The darkness was real. But the second part was still too unbelievable.

Kaida's hands were shaking, but she still managed to pull the Nymarian's data pad out. She fat-fingered the solution in. One of the three sliders on it moved over and unlocked. A small compartment on the side opened up. She set the pad down.

"It's a hologram," she announced.

A burst of light jumped out of the pad and unfolded into a figure. The creature turned out to be a robed Eckelion. They had encountered some in their travels. They were a sea people, blue-scaled and about three feet tall. This one was dressed as a robed Scribe, which meant he worked with an armored Absolver. One took life while the other atoned for it and recorded the history of what they both accomplished.

"Greetings, Cleph'thera. I hope this message finds you well. I am Raxus, Scribe of Azel. By the light of the stars, my people are glad to assist yours in these dark times." The Eckelion bowed.

Trevor turned his back to the fire and kept watching as the Eckelion paused.

"A few days ago, we came across a Salarian emergency beacon. My Absolver, Azel, and I decided we should retrieve their holy relic back for them. We attacked a Ruveran ship and stole it back from them. Now I know I shouldn't have, but when we had it on board I touched it. Oddly, the moment I did, it showed me a vision. I saw many things of the present and the future. It was then I understood that the Salarian was trying to get it away to a specific person. I can't explain it, Cleph, but it has chosen someone to battle a great darkness—to protect us from being erased from existence. I believe that, somehow, we are supposed to help search for this person."

The Eckelion pulled a small orb out from his robes.

"Here it is, the Void Star, the most powerful weapon in the universe."

Nathan walked back with more wood. He didn't look like he was paying much attention. His eyes caught on the little device, and his mouth grew thin.

"I coded this pad in a specific way. The first solution is the easiest and why you should be seeing this first. The second is more difficult and gives the coordinates to where I am. The third, should all else fail, is nearly impossible and tells who the chosen one is. The one with the terribly scarred eyes. Even if Ruvera gets their hands on this, it'll take them forever to break into it, since they aren't familiar with our sciences or math. I will have to move locations should it take you longer to find where I am in order to protect this." Raxus the hologram appeared to be nervous about being caught. "Each solution will show you another piece of the puzzle, this being one of the three. Now this wasn't part of the vision I received, but I knew you would want to be a part of this. Your people were right about the Void Star when everyone else was wrong. It is...remarkable."

The explosions outside were either taking a break or were too far away to hear.

"I hope to see you soon with the chosen one. I fear to imagine another outcome. Farewell old friend." The hologram blinked off.

A silence descended on all of them. It was a lot to process.

Nathan broke it. "Boost, what do you have on this Void Star?"

Boost took a moment to gather facts from his information bank. "Void Star. Three entries; first one, known to those in the Parsi System as Vuli'sa, the Jewel of the Universe. They believed it existed to stop a universal rebirth, where everything would be pulled back into itself and burst forth once more to re-evolve as something else. They were a strange people who kept to themselves, but records show they once had the star before it was moved to Vale. Second entry: Yehara 45-3 System, known as the Helcarion which roughly translates to 'unstoppable force.' They believed it contained some massive, unknown power. They had it for a while until the Salarians got it back through years of war. Last entry: this is according to a Valian inscription I saw once, 'Void Star, protect us from the Dark One in our greatest time of need.' It's either Dark One or Darkness. In the Salarian tongue—"

"I got it." Nathan stopped him. He mulled this over silently.

An explosion shook the ground above them, and for a moment, the power flickered. It took a second for the emergency lights to come back on. A worried look flashed across everyone's face for a split second. But the ship hadn't been hit directly.

"Close one," Trevor whispered.

Kaida nodded.

Nathan walked up to Kaida. "Do you think you can solve the other two algorithms?"

"It will take me some time. But, yes, I believe I can." She pocketed the data pad.

Suddenly, a hard metal clang rang out through the cargo hold. Trev and Nathan exchanged a look. The two men ran up to the catwalk and crawled up to the top of the ship. Nathan had a flashlight out and found that the ship hadn't been completely covered by snow after all. They were embedded in a large ice cave. The light reflected off the ice crystals, and the whole cave lit up.

Already in the distance, they could see a figure disappearing deeper into the caves. The figure had made off with some of their spare cold-weather gear and a bag of supplies by the look of it.

The two of them dropped back down and closed off the freezing cold. It had been hard to imagine it getting worse outside, but it was worlds colder.

They retreated back to the cell, and sure enough, the cell door was wide open. There was no one inside.

Nathan just shook his head.

Kaida watched both men return and could tell what had happened. Daphkalian had escaped. She didn't want their moods to become too somber. "He probably won't survive for long out there." Even though she had meant it to cheer them up, it just sounded cryptic when it came out.

Trevor shrugged. "I guess."

"Hold it." Nathan shushed them.

Trevor struggled to hear anything through the thick lining of his jacket. There wasn't a sound to be heard.

"Boost, can you pick that up?" Nathan asked.

Boost connected a piece of equipment he kept locked inside his central compartment and held it up toward the ceiling. He waited to make sure he had it right. He put his sound amplifier away. "It sounds like a battle."

"Who would fight the Ruverans?" Trevor scoffed. He knew whatever fight this was would be short-lived.

"It's the people I work for." Kaida smiled underneath her mask. "The Elysians."

-o-

Outside the ice world of Frosterrene, twenty-two gunships and a mother ship appeared out of dead space. The _Breaker VI_ had not been expecting visitors. It turned to evasive maneuvers. The fighters returned from their bomb runs to defend it.

"What do we got?" Fox asked his generals.

"Looks like they won't be retreating, sir. They are digging in."

Fox nodded. "All right. Just like we practiced, Ladies and Gentlemen. Hit them where it hurts. Show them they can be brought down."

Outside the _Helcarion_ , the Valians were unleashing their own sets of fighters. They were smaller than the Ruverans', but faster and more maneuverable. A small-scale battle broke out.

Underneath _Breaker VI_ , the rift gun started glowing. They had intel that Ruveran ships had the capability to use rift technology to destroy smaller-scale items instead of just to create a void in space that destroyed everything around it. It appeared that was the route they were going to take. The soft-blue hue of the machine warmed up, sending a shiver down Fox's spine.

The huge white light boomed out of it, and _Valian 7_ exploded.

"Everyone, focus on your assignment. Take it out now!" Fox screamed.

The Valians all opened up on the giant battleship, speeding around it, blasting away with everything they had. Even though they were doing massive damage, the ship was too great to bring down fast.

"Sir, I suggest we use one of the X-13's," his weapons officer, his cousin's son, Lieutenant Jake Clemons, called.

In that moment of panic, Fox didn't care how few of those weapons they had and how much they might need them later. "Use it!"

Jake ran over with his order and motioned for his people to spin it up.

An orange spike shot from the _Helcarion_ and pierced the great gunship. The force of the shot tore through the Breaker, and then it shattered apart. The rift cannon evaporated.

The dogfighting went on until the Ruveran fighters either blew up or light-jumped away.

Fox mourned the loss of those aboard _Valian 7_. He would hold a memorial for them when he figured out the rest of this mess. It would be a bit. His people would be reporting losses and damage for the next few hours.

"So where is Kaida now?" Fox asked. He walked up to his radar officers.

One of them kept shrugging until a tiny blip flashed onscreen. "It's another ship. Not Ruveran by the look of it."

"They appear to be under a snow bank," another chimed in.

"That's probably her then." Fox smiled. "Send a team to help them out. I want another team here with me to greet them. I'm sure they'll have quite the story to tell."

## Chapter 12

After a team had helped rescue and extract the _Wrath_ , Nathan slowly brought the ship back to life. They were back in open air. The blizzard was still blowing at them harshly, but no one was trying to kill them. In the open ice fields, Nathan went back to work. As soon as the quantum engines were maxed out, the temperature jumped up to normal levels. The wing anti-ice melted off any residual icing. The crew completed all preflight checks, and then they were ready.

The _Wrath_ jumped into the sky once more. Over the ground, they couldn't see any sign of Daphkalian. Most likely, he was a frozen ball of ice. Nathan brought them all out of the frozen planet, and they were back in open space. Once there, it was evident something had gone down. Chunks of a great ship were floating around, and fighter carcasses were slamming into each other. Beyond a dead field, the crew took in a sight.

A couple handfuls of sharp-looking attack craft stared back at them. Fighters were looming around those like bees guarding honey. In the middle was a circular one with what looked like a spired city at the center. Whoever they were, they were clearly not Ruveran.

Nathan played with the radios until he picked up their frequency. "Awaiting instructions." This was the usual parlay when you were overwhelmed by a peaceful force you didn't want to upset.

"Let me talk to them," Kaida interjected.

"Quiet," Nathan told her gruffly.

Trevor finally recognized the uncle he knew. A hurt look played across her pretty face—she looked almost like a little girl about to cry—and then it turned to anger.

"Unknown craft, follow vectors for docking."

Trevor sat back and watched in awe as they grew closer. The flagship they were headed toward was astonishing; it looked like the inhabitants had recreated a small planet. Though it was like they had taken a slice off the top of a world, it reminded him of home. The buildings were like those back on Earth.

The docking station door opened as their ship arrived. They followed the glowing lines until they reached a large, empty spot. Already a crowd stood waiting, a lot of armed soldiers among them.

Trev started to think this wasn't such a good idea. Then they touched down, and Nathan killed the engines. Too late.

Outside the ship, Fox waited for the engines to speed down. It took a few minutes for the cargo ramp to open. He had everyone stand down until they knew the situation better.

Then finally he saw her. Kaida Elwin was disheveled and red-eyed but still lavishly beautiful. She was all smiles as she ran to him. He picked her up off her feet and hugged her tight.

Then he pulled away and took her beauty in once more. Her hair still shown like fire, even in the florescent lights of the docking bay. Her eyes were like emeralds. Old feelings welled up, but too much time had passed, and he knew those days were long gone.

"Here's the crew that helped me." She motioned back toward the little Tiger-37.

His eyes took in the little robot that oddly looked like a metal Salarian. Then he saw the dark-haired kid wearing...was that a sword? Finally, he saw a face he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Captain Sutherland?" he asked.

Nathan had the same look on his face, like he was seeing a ghost. "Fox..."

The two men met in the middle of the throng and clasped hands. "It's...it's been awhile." Fox hadn't seen his old flight commander since the final attack on Earth. The moment Nathan had lost his leg.

Nathan straightened up and ended the handshake. "It has, Lieutenant."

"Well, vice commander now. Is that your old ship?" He nodded toward the beat-up bird with the scratched-out letters on the tail.

Nathan nodded. "Needs a new force drive."

"I wish we could help with that. But she's an old model we couldn't recreate. We'll fix what we can though."

"Is your father...?" Nathan began.

"He's...fighting. I'll take you to see him if you'd like. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you again."

A dark look passed across Nathan's face, and then he smiled his crooked smile. "Sounds good."

Fox motioned for them to follow. "Welcome to our flagship, the _Helcarion_. Let me show you around." He turned to one of his aides. "Get a maintenance crew down here."

Trevor let their idle small talk drone on. His attention was on the city that had opened up before him. As soon as they left the docking station, they were inside of it. Buildings rose up on all sides; businesses were open and busy. He even saw a spot where they grew crops and raised livestock intertwined with busy city life. Parks ran through it. Rivers flowed. It was a perfect recreation of the world they had lost.

People there used simple speeders to get around or a monorail. Most looked happy to walk. They weaved their way closer to the main structure in the middle of the city.

Trevor saw all kinds of different aliens there. Nya had always said his education would be a waste, but since losing Earth and drifting through space, it had come in handy. He spoke most all their languages, 23 to be exact, and knew most of their histories. It could potentially pay dividends again. Or he could win if they were doing a trivia night.

He realized the tour was over and he hadn't heard a word.

"So," Fox concluded, "you can follow me. The rest are welcome to explore the city."

Trevor went to follow Nathan when he realized he was an uninvited guest.

"Don't do anything stupid," Nathan told him.

Trevor shook his head. "Wouldn't think of it." He watched his uncle rejoin the group and enter the heavily guarded structure.

He felt something tug on his leg. Boost was looking at him, either confused or acting like it.

Trev felt his stress bringing on another attack and in public; it wasn't the time. "C'mon, Booster. Let's get a drink."

Boost shook his robot fist toward the Captain to show he was on Trev's side, and then followed quietly.

-o-

In a circular elevator shooting up, Nathan found himself in a strange situation. He may have been out of the romance game for a while, but he still recognized other players. Playing the love game rarely welcomed more than two players at a time. He watched the floors speed past 150 and continue. How much longer?

"I'm so glad you're safe." Fox's look couldn't hide what used to exist between him and Kaida.

She had the same glimmer for him. "It's good to see you too." She passed a dirty look toward Nathan that went largely unnoticed.

"You have to tell me what happened after you arrived at Mara VII."

"I will," Kaida said coyly. She watched for Nathan's reaction and when she didn't see one, she added, "Maybe over a drink tonight."

Nathan coughed loudly. "Had a dream the other night."

Both Kaida and Fox stopped to look up at him. Brows were drawn down in confusion. He wasn't even sure himself where it had come from.

"I was about to give a speech at our graduation." He went to explain.

One of Fox's eyebrows made a hill while the other slanted down into a ravine.

"I can't stop thinking about it." Nathan laughed to himself. "Like, there's something I missed that night. Something important." Even though he was speaking honestly, he wasn't sure why this was the time to bring it up.

The floor dinged, and the elevator doors opened.

_What is wrong with me_? Nathan thought to himself. Letting this woman up in his cockpit, her making him look like a fool, her wonderful flowery smell—he didn't want any of it. And yet-

In the haze of uncomfortable silence, the three of them left the confines of the elevator and entered the command center.

Nathan let out a breath, both to get his bearings again and because this was quite a scene. There was a wall of monitors covering one entire side; in the center, there was a giant star map, and spaced throughout were stations with random people doing random tasks.

"Please follow me," Fox called. He brown robe swayed out behind him.

Nathan recognized some old faces, people who had been in the Royal Guard's leadership cabinet, advisors, and others he couldn't quite place. He hadn't seen them since Bastion, where most went their own way. He followed Fox past them to a private office lined with books.

Fox had resumed a professional veneer. He took his chair and allowed the others to get comfortable.

"I received a message that you were in danger and were onto something that could change the fight against Ruvera. In all seriousness, I have taken a huge chance on this and postponed the attack on _Razerus_. I hope that us losing the element of surprise was not in vain." Fox steepled his hands and looked to Kaida. "What happened on Aquaria? Were the tests successful?"

Nathan tried to make himself look like the fly on the wall, but found it unsuccessful.

Kaida shook her head. "The energy field was too unstable. We could not replicate the rift technology."

"But the message said you had found something."

"Not in the same sense you're thinking." Kaida was treading carefully. "It's more like we found a possibility. Another possible weapon."

Fox's face scrunched up into an ugly grimace. "A possibility? What would this be?"

"Something called the Void Star," Nathan joined in. This conversation was turning sour quickly. Fox turned to survey his old commander and friend.

"Is it a weapon?" Fox asked him patiently.

"We don't know for sure," Nathan answered honestly.

"Is it for defense?" Fox came again.

"We don't know that either."

"Can it be used to go back in time and stop us from wasting a rescue mission on a complete dead end?" Fox screamed, slamming his hands on his desk.

The room went silent.

Fox laughed to himself, sounding a little mad when he did so. "I'm sorry. It was my decision. I just...wait till my father hears of this. I'll never be ready to take his place."

"This isn't a dead end," Nathan asserted. "We've been running for our lives throughout the Outer Rim because we may have information on this star. It has to be important. They are sending everything after it. It could be the thing we need to turn the tide back on them."

Fox still looked troubled. "I think it's time we saw my father. Let me go check if he can see people today." He got up, straightened his robes, and told them to stay there. He left them alone.

Even though he couldn't care less, Nathan asked anyway, "Are you two involved?"

Kaida's eyes twinkled for a moment as she looked at him. "Since when do you care?" Her anger from earlier flared up. "Now you care; that's rich. Seeing as you delivered me and my equipment as promised, our business venture is through. Fox will see you get paid."

Nathan gave her an indifferent shrug. He didn't feel indifferent though. He kept looking at her thick lips and wondered what they felt like. Why was he pushing her away when he wanted to do the opposite? The old excuse of losing his family wasn't doing it anymore. He had been in mourning every day for nearly a decade.

He pinched himself out of it. _Get ahold of yourself_.

The door opened, and Fox motioned for them to follow him. "Do not tell him this nonsense about a space anomaly. It would upset him too much for his condition to handle."

They followed him up a floor that led down a thin hall and then through more armed guards until they entered a large, private bedroom chamber. On the bed lay a very frail old man.

"Callius..." The name escaped Nathan's lips. His heart echoed in his ears. Time seemed to stop. The years of wandering through space atoning for his mistakes, terrible losses like Epherus, burying himself under a false persona to protect what was left of his mind, Kaida—so many mistakes.

He found himself on his knees, holding his mentor's hand. "My Armiger."

The old man on the bed blinked his eyes open weakly. His sheets were ruffled above the sickly old man. "Cadet Sutherland? Is that you?"

Nathan rose from his bedside and stood over his former leader. "Yes, sir."

" _Sans peur_. I never forgot your call to arms." The old man's breathing was labored.

He wanted to say a thousand things, release all the heavy weight of regret that always threatened to consume him. But nothing came out.

"Your words still echo through my heart, Nathan."

And for a moment, he was back in front of the crowd. He had already delivered a strong intro, Maura was beaming, and his heart was racing. He looked out and saw the Armiger smiling. The crowd was clapping.

He continued his speech then. "We don't know the road before us. It is obscured like all future events. What we do know is ourselves. And if we stay true to who we are and the value of what we do, we can thrive forever."

The memory unlocked itself from his mind. He saw his old friend Fox, even Gastoff, and a familiar young girl by his side, looking up at him with eyes that went far beyond hunger. It was a much younger Kaida, heavier and with glasses. She had been the geeky kid in their class who always tried to talk to him. That was why...

"You inspired us all," the Armiger continued weakly. His tone grew wistful. "Our way of life is at an end, old friend. We outstayed our welcome. We failed to change in time."

Nathan looked to him again. He wasn't talking about losing the jump on Ruvera. "I don't understand."

"You will," Callius began. "Scott wasn't an engineer. He was my chief weapons researcher."

"What are you talking about, Father?" Fox asked, now on his other side.

"Son, I'm glad you are here too. My time is growing short, and an old man's secrets must be passed on."

Both Fox and Nathan waited.

"You both have done so much for our people. You need to know the truth of what happened to us." The Armiger looked up through red eyes at Nathan. "Your brother-in-law, Scott, was working on a weapon..." Callius coughed violently and straightened.

Nathan held his breath, knowing full well what was coming.

"He was making what would later be called rift technology. He created the very thing that destroyed us."

All the life drained from Nathan's face. "No."

"And only a spy could have known to take it. Someone he knew. Someone he trusted. They brought it to Velkas, who used it on us. Truth be told, we would have used it on them. War...it only ever ends when you wipe the other out. I should have listened to you. We would have defeated Ruvera on our own merit. We would still have our world. But we changed the playing field by continuing to create more destruction, including our own."

"No..." Nathan repeated. He felt his world crashing down on him—the sacrifices, the lies, the missions, the fear, the pain, the hope, the loss, all for a cause he believed in. The very ideals he thought he enforced were a mask. If they intended to use rift tech on them, they were no better than their enemy. It was as if the United States had dropped the atomic bomb on itself.

"I'm sorry," Callius said.

Nathan turned away and sat down.

"Fox, there's something you need to know too. I have done everything I can to prepare you for what needs to be done. You have been the Armiger this whole time except in name. Do not fear failure, for it only exists if you want it to. You haven't lost the element of surprise yet. They may know our numbers now, but they won't truly know what's coming. I have a few more things to tell you this night, and then you must let me go. My time is finished."

Fox nodded wordlessly.

Callius turned back to Nathan. "The fight for this universe isn't over yet, Cadet. We may have lost Earth, but we haven't lost our chance to even the score. Our enemy must be stopped at all costs. But this time, we'll do it the right way."

Nathan didn't have anything left to say. They had handed Ruvera the keys to the universe.

Callius pushed a button on his bedside, and doctors rushed in. "It was good to see you. Farewell."

Nathan let himself be dragged out. He wasn't aware of his surroundings until he was back inside Fox's office looking at the wall of books. Kaida was sitting beside him, still heated from earlier. After a time, Fox reappeared.

"My father told me it was a matter of security you weren't told," Fox explained. "No one knew except Scott and his team. Not even his family knew. Shoot, not even I knew."

Nathan just scratched his white beard in thought. "I need a place to lay my head down."

"I can arrange that." Fox made a call. He turned to Kaida. "I'm sorry about losing my temper earlier."

Kaida shrugged him off.

"Can we still have that drink?" Fox asked.

Kaida smiled. "Perhaps."

Fox got up and opened the door for them. "Well, I have to see to my father's wishes."

Nathan brushed past him, leaving both Fox and Kaida behind.

He made sure he got into the elevator alone. He needed time to himself. He had to figure this out. His eyelids were closing on him, though.

On the ground floor, he was led to an open room reserved for officers. He didn't care how nice the accommodations were. He took a long shower. The hot cascade burned across him like the countless sins he had committed. He shut the water off and stood there. Cold air hit his skin. Steam barreled up around him. It was quiet. His senses picked up on something. Someone had entered his room, and he felt he knew who. He toweled off and entered the bedroom.

Kaida was waiting for him, wearing something that left little to the imagination. A soft pink robe held the promise of more revelations back.

"I don't care that you didn't remember me from thirty years ago. I'm sorry that you lost your family and your military service amounted to a lie." She played with the belt that held her nakedness back. "I just want to have what I've always fantasized about—the class president, the captain of the Royal Guard, the dirty old space captain." She undid the belt, and her robe fell away.

For once, Nathan didn't think about what Maura or his son would think if he continued to live his life without them. He just wanted her, and that was what he took.

-o-

A few blocks away, a brightly lit bar promised the selection of a lifetime. The electric board updated regularly with different types of drinks to sample. So far, Trevor had kept up pretty well, ordering as soon as it changed to something new. Since he started pounding them back, the symptoms that presaged an attack had subsided.

Alcohol always worked, but he wasn't sure how much longer it would. His memories of contracting the parasite that threatened to kill him were fuzzy. He had been a young child, maybe six or seven. Wandering around the forest listening to what he thought was a voice from 'beyond'. Sounded silly now. But he could swear he had been called to the glen. That the thing that had crawled from the water, stung his hand and infected him, had told him it was for a reason. It was to make way for something that would change him.

Either way, he was infected and dying now. The only one in the universe that had the strain he had. What did it matter anymore why it was happening? It was coming to an end soon, just like Earth, just like the universe when the darkness was through with it.

Pretty far past buzzed, Trev peered over his glass. An Asterion was looking over at him, curiously.

"What?" Trevor asked, suddenly feeling brave.

The Asterion got off his seat at the edge of the bar and walked over until he towered over him.

"I can take you." Trev laughed. He looked to the barkeep. "I'll have another of these." He slid the empty glass away.

"Maybe you've had too many," the Asterion said gently. He took a seat next to him and motioned for one himself. "What's with the sword?"

Trevor shook his head. "I used to think I had a reason. Revenge. Now?...Pff." He chuckled and shook his empty glass. "Revenge only serves you. But what if you want redemption? It has to serve others. Can you achieve both?" He looked at the Asterion and laughed some more. "I'm babbling. Sorry."

The Asterion bit his lower lip. "Revenge. Redemption. We all live with some form of regret."

Trev stopped giggling and looked up at his large, horned head. "What do you regret?"

The alien exhaled slowly. "I abandoned my squadron. Though I don't even believe what I saw anymore; I now have to live with leaving my brothers to die. I think maybe I should have died with them. That is our way and I turned my back on it."

Trevor watched the barkeep finish making their drinks and grabbed it the second it hit the bar. He wasn't sure what the stranger was talking about.

"Well, you would do me a favor if you knew who flew a blood-red 52B Viper. There's only one left in the universe." Trevor made squiggles for the jagged end he could never forget. "With a custom-bladed tail."

The Asterion turned deadly serious and anger surged from his calm body language. "Of course I know."

Trevor's glass fell from his hands before he could take another drink. The answer had come unexpectedly, and it was sobering. "What?"

"I'll never forget that ship. That's the ship of Dacian Velkas's assassin."

Trev searched the Asterion's face and saw an equal amount of hate and anger. "What's the name?"

"The name is Render."

## Part Two:

The Light Awakens

"Rysta, I've been watching this whole time. You have chosen the wrong one for the task at hand. The Dark One is closing in."

"Mykia. Obviously, you haven't been watching close enough."

## Chapter 13

Nathan heard a heartbeat like it was coming from underwater. _Bum-bum_. The repetition almost lulled him back to sleep. His eyes shot open when he realized it was someone banging on his door. He had two seconds to realize where his clothes were and where Kaida had gone. The clothes were strewn about and hastily returned to his body. The mystery of Kaida's location would have to wait.

He answered the door and saw a young lieutenant. The kid seemed surprised he finally answered the door. "What is it?"

"Armiger Callius's health is fading as we speak. He has already passed his leadership to his son," he replied. "The new Armiger wants an audience with you."

His first feeling was the pang of loss. He would miss Callius even though he unknowingly helped orchestrate Earth's demise. His second was curiosity. What did Fox want? Nathan dismissed him, and the kid ran off.

Nathan turned back to his room and took in the mess he had helped create. Couch cushions were scattered. Wine bottles were numerous and suspiciously empty. Drapes had been ripped from their rods. He was tired and sore. But all in all, it was a good night. It still felt good to finally let loose and allow a little chaos.

The idea of leaving without seeing Fox or dealing with Callius's death was tempting. He had decided last night that he didn't have to abide by the old rules anymore. He could do whatever the hell he wanted to, and his conscience was not going to haunt him anymore. Live life as much as he could before the darkness got him. That was his new mantra.

Now where was that girl from last night? No note, no clothes, no sign of her. It was almost like he had imagined it. Had he been used?

Nathan grabbed whatever belongings he'd taken out and left the dorm. When he was back in the artificial outdoors, he found himself at a crossroads. He could go left toward the command center or right to his ship. Decisions.

"Uncle!" Trevor called. The young man walked up with Boost in tow. His nephew was wearing new green flight suit, black belt, and a long black duster. "The ship is ready to leave."

"Good," Nathan replied. He still couldn't decide what to do. "Have you seen Kaida?"

"No. Maybe she's helping her people deal with the Armiger's imminent death." Trev looked a little somber at the thought. Well, everyone passing by looked pretty down, he noticed.

"Let's get out of here." No longer having to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, he could let them handle the Nymarian's last request and the problem with the anomaly and Ruvera. He was going to take off in the opposite direction of all of it and start anew. It was time to run again. He hoped Kaida would catch up with them, but if she didn't, last night was still fun.

"Wait," Trevor said. "Are we really just leaving?" His face and demeanor held something Nathan had never seen from him before. It was like looking at himself thirty years ago.

"Yes. This isn't our mess anymore." Nathan realized the kid didn't know his father had constructed the ultimate tool of death that Earth had gift-wrapped and mailed the key to killing itself. The very thought of having to be around his own species sickened him, and he was not dealing with it anymore.

"It doesn't matter whose mess it is." Trevor blocked his way back toward the shipyard. "What would we do next?"

"What do you mean?" Nathan asked incredulously. "We would do what we've always done. Survive. Make enough to get by. Hope that we can live to see another day."

"I'm tired of running." Trevor paused. He took out the blade at his hip. The diamond sword scraped against the sheath. He showed Nathan the blood that still ran along it. "Too much of this has been spilled. Ruvera and the anomaly have to be stopped. We have to protect whose left."

Nathan considered this. Maybe everything he had stood for wasn't gone yet. "What do you have in mind?"

"We go after the star. Maybe this device can help us save the universe both ways. Getting on the ship and distancing ourselves will only mean they'll come for us later. With the Elysians on the attack and us finding the star, this could be the only chance we have."

Nathan nodded slowly. Maybe the Nymarian was right about what he whispered to in his ear.

"Let's finish what we started." Trevor said.

Nathan looked up toward the towers in the center of the city and then toward the dark entryway to his ship. "For once, you're right."

Trevor breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad he didn't have to reveal his true intentions.

"When did I finally rub off on you?" Nathan pulled him into a headlock and squeezed. Trevor twisted his way out and pushed off.

"Since we're going, do you mind if an Asterion joins us?"

Nathan shook his head. "Since we're probably going to die, I'll transport him on the house."

-o-

Armiger Callius took his last breath and lay at peace. Having looked after Earth for most of his life, his rest was well earned. Fox stood by his side until the end. When Callius went, Fox nodded to his aides to make the proper arrangements.

He walked out of the chamber and took a moment to himself. His emotions were mixed. He had waited his whole life to take over for his father, had been groomed for it, and now when the moment was here, he wasn't sure he was ready for it.

In the quietness, one of his aides found him. "Sir?"

He wanted to send the man away. "What?"

"Captain Sutherland is here to see you. I have him waiting in the atrium."

Fox motioned for him to go. He gathered his wits and crossed the command center. His advisors came, and he doled out orders as needed. Yes, they had to elude the Ruveran counterstrike that was after them. Yes, they needed to figure out a new plan of attack. No, he had no idea what to do about this Void Star thing.

He rode the elevator down, crossed the great columned bottom floor, and entered through the back. There, waiting inside the atrium, was his old flight commander.

The atrium was a natural escape, with birds and trees and flowers. There was even a fake sun or moon overhead depending on what time of day it was. It was a tranquil place Fox went to often when the rest of his fleet was being built.

"After last night, I didn't think you were going to come," Fox said honestly. He noted the young Trevor Andrews and his robot were with him.

"I wasn't going to. I was close to turning tail." Nathan scratched at the back of his neck and looked toward his nephew. "But someone reminded me of who I used to be. Who we both used to be, I guess."

Fox took the kid in and silently approved. He turned back to Nathan. "I'm sorry about before."

Nathan shrugged. "It wasn't your secret."

Fox agreed. "I'm going to be honest with you. I have no clue what I'm doing."

Nathan's face softened. Whatever weight he had brought to the meeting was lifting. He put a reassuring hand on his old friend's shoulder. "You know exactly what you're doing. Think of what you learned at pilot training. Remember what I taught you during all those flight drills. Always trust your gut. If you can't trust yourself, why would anyone else?"

Fox nodded his head in understanding, and then walked away from Nathan. "I can't screw up though. I lost one of my battleships yesterday. It was my decision to answer your call, and I don't have anything to show for it."

"You got me," Nathan joked. "Look. Leading isn't always about making the right decisions. Sometimes, it's about learning from the bad ones. It's about having others follow you not because they have to but because they want to. Saving our hides can still pay off. The Void Star is out there, whatever it is."

"Perhaps. But I'm still perplexed. There's some mysterious space anomaly tearing through the worlds of the Outer Rim. No one knows anything about it. I'll be honest with you when it comes to that. I don't believe it exists. I can't. If it's true we're all about to die no matter what we do. And then there's Velkas and his Ruveran Empire. Where does this star fit in?"

"I have a feeling that when we find it, we'll know what to do. I believe it's the answer to all of it. The Salarians had that thing hidden from everybody for centuries. Why?." Nathan sat on the stone bench along the wall. "My crew and I are going after it."

Fox joined him. "What if the Ruverans have reacquired it already?"

"That's a possibility, but I don't think so and really don't care if I'm being honest too. I haven't anything else left to do. How long until you plan to attack _Razerus_ head-on?"

"Probably within the next forty-eight hours."

"Do you have something we can use to signal you when we have the star and know it's useful?"

Fox nodded. "Yes, but it's a prototype."

"That'll work." Nathan patted his shoulder and let it rest there for a moment. "Only wait for us if you feel you have to. You're the Armiger now. Whatever you say goes." He removed his hand when he felt it had been there too long. "I know your father would be proud."

Fox shared a smile with him, and then he grew serious. "What if this space anomaly can't be stopped?"

"Then it's like you said; we're already dead." Nathan kept his smile. "And we should take as many Ruverans as we can. It's only fitting we get our revenge before we die. It's like all that stuff from ancient civilizations like the samurai and the Romans."

"You really don't know your history, but I appreciate the sentiment." Fox got up. He stood taller than he had when he first entered. "I'm glad you showed back up from wherever you've been. Good luck."

"Yeah. And, hey, I'm sorry if I came off distant. It has been good to see you again, old friend." Nathan patted his shoulder once more.

"And you, Captain."

Nathan shook hands with him, and the two men came to an unspoken understanding. "Let me walk you in, there's one more question I have to ask."

-o-

Trevor and Boost had the engines at idle and stood waiting, lying back on the new leather seat covers. He had to admit, even though they hadn't fixed their force drive, at least they had spruced her up. They waited for Nathan to finish whatever meeting he had had to attend.

The "open" light for the cargo hold went off. Then finally, he heard the familiar robotic leg clump up the stairs. There was a newness to him. A change. He looked lighter on his feet, human and artificial.

"We're ready," Trev reported.

"That Asterion you picked up is an interesting character." Nathan got into his seat. "I'm pretty sure he has enough weapons."

"Any help is welcome, right?"

Nathan shrugged.

"Oh. Some Elysians came aboard and dropped off a case. They say it's some kind of a screamer beacon that anyone can hear for light years around, and it's probably incredibly unstable and too dangerous to use."

"Sounds standard." Nathan nodded.

"They also wanted to remind us they would attack when they're ready, regardless of our status. They are going to give chase until then." Then Trevor saw a sadness in his uncle, like they were missing something or someone. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." He closed his seat buckles and started flipping switches to prepare for takeoff.

"You sure?" Trev asked again.

"Just drop it," Nathan grumbled. A hint of his darker shell remained. "We need to get the force drive fixed before—"

Suddenly, a familiar smell of flowers entered the cockpit. The soft-footed woman found her seat behind the captain.

"Were you going to leave without me?" Kaida asked innocently.

"Oh ya." Trevor added. "Kaida's been onboard waiting for you."

Nathan turned to face her. "You disappeared! And Fox said you were too busy to see us off."

"Well, I'm not seeing you off; I'm coming with you. And I really had things to take care of before I left with you guys." She held up the data pad in her hand. "And you were just going to leave without this? How were you going to find the location of the Void Star? I solved the second cypher by the way."

"Hold it." Nathan stopped and smiled at her. "We have the location?"

"Yup." She smiled back and winked.

"Well, buckle in. We have places to go."

The _Wrath's_ engines burst back into life, and they were off once again.

## Chapter 14

The crew aboard the _Wrath_ watched the Elysians jump into hyperspace, one by one, until they were alone in space. A string of comets followed in their wake, quietly disappearing through the system. According to their star map, they were somewhere between the Outer Rim and unexplored space in Sector 32-J. The anomaly at its rate of speed and direction of travel was a day away.

"Where to?" Trevor opened the NAV display. He brought up known repair facilities in red with guidance to each. The drinks from the night before were doing a number on his head, but he hadn't felt a tremor attack in hours, the longest it had been since Aquaria. He knew better than to think he was getting better.

Kaida pointed to a dark planet, arching an eyebrow in question.

"Crystalis?" Trev asked, recognizing all too well what it was. "Never again. No."

Nathan looked back at her, conflicting emotions washing together on his face. The edge of his mouth turned down. "Too dangerous."

"They have the best ship engineers around," she pressed. "It's the closest, and my cousin Oran owns his own shop there. It used to be my home a long time ago, so I know it's not bad."

"That place is a blight to the universe. It's overrun with the worst kind of scum. We swore we would never return there." Nathan turned back to Trevor to look at other worlds. Unfortunately, he could see by the NAV system that the nearest one beyond Crystalis would take another twelve hours or more and was equally disreputable.

Kaida was quiet for a long moment and then added, "I also have a book with similar algorithms that can help break the last cipher. It's not guaranteed though."

"I apologize, but we lost a good friend there. And people like Kendrick Plath don't forget."

"You're worried about Kendrick? Word is he died two years ago."

Nathan thought it over and turned to Trevor. They were wasting too much time in just thinking about what to do next. "Your cousin can fix our force drive?"

"Yes."

"Punch it in." Nathan decided.

Trevor did. The NAV routed them with an expected arrival time. It would take several hours without their force drive.

"I have one rule since we're doing this: make sure you don't meddle with the wrong people, including those you trust. Those who create small footsteps rarely get caught."

Kaida nodded. She saw Trev wasn't looking and motioned with her head for Nathan to follow.

Nathan stood motionless for a moment, also taking his nephew into account, and then shook his head no.

A flash of hurt crossed Kaida's face. Nathan indicated his controls. He was the pilot.

She got up and climbed down the ladder.

Trevor did his best to pretend he couldn't see their reflections. He watched Nathan go back to his controls, frustrated with himself. Trev could tell he wouldn't be much for conversation.

"Mind if I catch a nap?" Trevor asked.

Nathan merely shrugged.

Trev took it as permission and left his uncle to his own grumbly silence. He climbed down the stairs. When he reached the pax compartment, he didn't see Kaida, but he could hear her. She was blowing her nose in the bathroom. He thought about telling her he was out of the way now, but thought better than getting involved. They were adults.

Boost was charging himself, power bars going from three red to four yellow.

A thwacking sound piqued his interest before he committed to going to sleep. After each twang came a deep thump. He followed the sound down into the cargo hold where Glade was practicing archery.

Two large crates belonging to the Asterion were open and a variety of weapons out. A crudely built target sat on one side with Glade on the other.

Glade let another arrow fly and struck the target a good hundred feet away.

"You have to stay sharp," he explained to Trevor. "And I have to keep my mind off space travel. I hate it so much."

Trevor walked down and checked the target. He had hit dead center. "Impressive."

Glade shrugged it off. "This is one of the first things you learn to use as an Asterion. The other is that." He pointed to the sword on Trevor's hip. "And then a fork." Glade laughed at his own joke.

"Can you teach me?" Trev asked.

Glade mulled it over for a moment. "It is only fair. You are helping me find a way to atone. I shall help you atone as well. Revenge and redemption, right?"

He selected two light blades from his array and handed one to Trevor.

"We will take breaks if you feel one of your attacks coming."

Trevor stopped short. No one had been able to figure out his secret since Epherus. "What do you mean?"

"Asterions can smell out many things—fear, dread, love, but more than anything, sickness. I can smell the parasite below the surface of your skin. I also know you keep this a secret."

Trevor didn't like people calling him out, and he especially didn't like being discovered so easily. "So you won't say anything?"

"I won't have to. Your sickness is very advanced. You will reveal it yourself soon enough."

Trev clutched the practice sword in his hands till his knuckles turned white.

"Good. Use that rage. If you are going to learn how to fight, you must learn how to channel your anger." Glade motioned for him to attack. "Now let's see what you got."

In a blind fury, Trevor came at him.

-o-

Finally spent after a few hours of swordplay, Trevor took a quick shower and crawled into bed. He put his own sword away unused, still refusing to wield it until the right moment came. For a while, he just looked at the ceiling and wondered how much longer he had. His best chance at getting revenge was going after the Void Star. If Ruvera wanted it, Velkas would send his most trusted person after it, his assassin. And then Trevor would get his chance. He would see Render again soon enough.

Just when he thought he wasn't going to be able to sleep, his eyes closed...and he found himself in the middle of a busy spaceport. It took him a moment to recognize it and gather his focus. How did he get back here?

He was at Bastion Aerial Port. This was the meeting spot for countless refugees from the recently destroyed planet Earth. People were meandering around, crying, hurt, lost. Kids were looking for parents and parents for kids. It was mayhem with thousands frantic to find answers.

Trevor had just arrived on one of the main trams from the moon world of Io, where he had lived with Nya and where his father had worked. He had arrived without either of them, the pain of their loss still fresh in his mind. He pushed that out of his mind.

Trevor searched and searched. Bastion had been a fledgling spaceport, until millions of refugees appeared. It had been the closest place to Earth when the unthinkable had happened. He tried to find anyone who looked remotely familiar. Pictures with notes were written on walls. Where were his grandparents? Where were his cousins? His friends? He hoped he would at least find his Aunt Maura and his cousin Arilyn.

In real life, he had stumbled upon his uncle Nathan. He was just sitting on a bench staring out. For a while, he didn't say anything. He was adjusting a robotic leg, something he had never had before. When Trev shook him, he looked up and said with a drugged slur, "It's just you and me now."

But in this dream, things were different. There was no Nathan waiting for him. Instead, he looked back to the shipyard and saw something he'd never seen before in this memory.

A blood-red ship sat menacingly. The top opened, and out came a figure he didn't recognize. Dressed in black-and-red flight gear, it walked toward him.

"Render," he said to himself, and for some reason, it felt right.

The figure walked up to him with the sword he carried, the one still splashed with his father's blood.

"I'm coming for you," the figure told him in a robotic voice.

This wasn't how it was supposed to play out. He said the threatening words in his imagination. He stood up to the phantom. But seeing his adversary at last filled him with dread. What if this person found him and killed him? He never really thought out what would happen if he did catch the killer. Finding the assassin had always been an unattainable goal.

"I am the truth you can't let your mind accept." The dark figure pulled the diamond blade from its sheath. "I will be your end."

Trevor was frozen in place, unable to speak.

"You know who I am. You always have," the figure taunted. "But now it's too late."

Suddenly, Trevor saw the darkness swallowing the sky behind Render. It streaked across the sky and enveloped all. Both Render and the blackness came for him.

In a cold sweat, Trev jumped up from his cot. He dabbed the sides of his face. He changed shirts and tried his best not to think of what he'd just seen.

What truth was his mind hiding from him?

Just when he thought things couldn't get worse, his hands and arms contorted, and he dropped to the ground in agony. An overwhelming wave of pain forced him to black out.

## Chapter 15

Trevor and Nathan were both back at the controls when the computer announced they were nearing Crystalis. Nathan's mind was too preoccupied with Kaida. Since rejecting her shy advance right out of the gate, he hadn't seen her. Apparently with women, you get one random chance to do what they want you to do. Or is it: to do what they want you to want to do? There is nothing more frustrating than the simple difference between boys and girls. Losing hope on solving one of life's greatest mysteries, he let his thoughts linger instead on the night they'd spent together.

Trevor was still shaky from his last episode but kept focused. So much felt like it was shifting with Glade figuring him out so quickly, Nathan's being distracted, and now going back to where Epherus had been shot. What if Kaida was wrong and Plath was still alive and well? Perhaps even waiting for them?

Crystalis opened up before them. Thousands of cities were alight on the dark side of the planet. Trade ships and cruisers were coming to and fro. As they descended into its orbit, the cities of glass, as they were known, appeared. As beautiful and magnificent as ever, towers made of crystalline materials shot up into spires. The great cities of Crystalis were orderly, safe, and structured. They weren't going to any of those places.

The _Wrath_ tore across a few smaller towns and the town where Plath got the lucky shot that killed Epherus. On any other day, Nathan would stop and pay his respects. But just like the last time they were topside, they just couldn't. There wasn't time. Though he knew it was just an excuse.

Nathan followed Kaida's directions toward a small shanty town built in levels on top of the crumbling mountains.

They landed in what appeared to be a junkyard. Crushed cars were stacked on smeared space ships. Bags of indiscernible garbage were wedged between the stripped vehicles. What could be called a landing pad was big enough for only one ship, among the trash.

"This is my cousin Oran's place," Kaida explained. She appeared to be a little surprised herself at the disrepair of the place.

Nathan killed the engines, ultimately deciding they would see how this played out. The instruments spun down until they were as quiet as the night outside.

Kaida led the way out of the shipyard toward the small shop entrance. Cardboard taped over broken windows ran along the side facing the street. It didn't look like it had ever stood as a great place, but indicators showed that most of the damage was new; torn housing panels, blaster discharges, and walls that appeared to have taken a hit from a sledgehammer

"Oran lives above the shop. Wait here." Kaida disappeared up the side stairs. She had to climb over a missing one. After a few minutes, she reappeared with a red-eyed, disheveled younger man.

Oran yawned, ignored the odd assortment of strangers before him, and took one look at the ship. "A Tiger-37, eh? I can do it, but it will cost you." His shirt was dirty; his reddish-brown hair was matted, and he smelled even from a distance. He obviously could use the money.

Kaida nodded. "Of course," she whispered something into his ear to which he nodded gladly.

"I'll get working on her right away." Oran unlocked the shop door and disappeared inside. Tools started clanking and papers rustling moments later.

Kaida caught Nathan's questioning look. She was still upset from earlier, but it was smoothing out. "I'm going to go see some people. Want to meet up in a few?" she asked.

Nathan shrugged. He was still angry that she had been mad at him. _Man that sounds stupid_. But Nathan backed his gut instinct like the teenager he was acting like.

Kaida searched his indifferent eyes and spun off like a thunderstorm. Nathan saw her wipe her arm across her face a few times before she disappeared.

"You always have a way with the ladies." Trevor laughed.

Nathan gave him a dark look and then turned his attention to Glade. "I need a drink."

"I'll join you," Glade answered. "But before we do..." He reached into a large bag and showed off the assortment of weapons held within. Trevor watched them each pick one out like they were going on a date with it, and off the four of them went.

-o-

The Salty Dog sat crouched between two old, dilapidated apartment buildings. It appeared to have been a seaworthy ship or at least boat-shaped. The sign for the cavern had rusted to great effect and had lost most of the hinges connecting it to the front entrance. Off-white paint chipped in splotches throughout or showed off stains.

Inside the crusty place, cliques were gathered behind stout drinks. There were a handful of different kinds of aliens, so when two humans, an Asterion, and a robot companion entered together, they fit right in.

The place was filled with roughnecks, but the kind that only went bad on you if you disturbed them.

They found a table toward the smoky back and ordered. It didn't take too long to get a mug filled. An attractive Ecath girl brought them around the bar and set one in front of each of them. Her sensual feline face went unnoticed by the grumbly space captain, the carefree copilot, the disgraced Asterion, and the robot who was noting how to look more dangerous.

As time passed, Boost caught on to how the others pulled down drink after drink. A gathering of glass met in the middle and then became a bottom floor for the tower that followed.

"I don't think I've ever understood them," Nathan said after idle chitchat had drained. "They want a real man, but then when you act like one, the world ends." He slid the beer away from him and wiped his face.

"Uncle, you keep telling her to take a hike," Trevor replied.

"Oh. Look at who's observant all of a sudden." Nathan spun his current glass around. "Maybe you're right, or maybe I'm just getting too old for this. I just don't remember things being so complicated."

"They aren't. You've always been a selfish jerk." Trev chuckled into his drink.

Nathan's eyebrows came down in anger and then after a second's consideration, rose back up. "I blame the military."

Trevor wanted to get him again when he thought he heard something.

In the pause that followed, Glade entered the conversation. "So, I overheard your mission from this one." The Asterion nodded toward Trevor. "I'm glad you are letting me join you. Those Elysians didn't have a spot for me to join their fight, so I'm happy I can join yours."

"An honorable death is one fighting for one's life." Nathan waved for another round. "I did love those Asterion war calls. Is that why this venture interests you?"

"That? Yes. But also because I should have died with my brothers when the darkness came. I can never return to my people, and without them, life isn't worth living. It's like my world is gone." Glade slicked back his mane of hair. "My world is gone..."

"So now all you have left is revenge, redemption, or a weird mixture of both."

Glade shook his head. "Yes."

Nathan watched him for a moment and then broke out into a laugh. "You joined the right crew."

"Trevor Andrews," a woman called.

Trev turned his head to see who had called for him again. Nathan and Glade hadn't reacted. No one in the bar was even looking his way, which was too bad; there were some cuties. He figured he was hearing things when he saw someone outside motion him forward and then walk away. Trev stood up.

"Where you going?" Nathan asked. By his eyes, it was clear his uncle had finally had one too many. His military bearing was shot. "You have to keep up, Soldier."

"I'm going to get some air." Trevor left the table and went outside.

Nathan shook his head at Boost. "He's fine."

For once, Boost didn't agree with his Captain.

The night air had grown cold, and the streets were empty. Trev bundled himself up and searched out where he thought he had last seen her.

Just ahead, she reappeared. She was just as beautiful as she had been all those years ago. In fact, she hadn't aged at all.

"Nya!" he called.

The young woman nodded to him and smiled. She was wearing a summer dress despite the cold and beckoned him to follow with a teasing finger. Then she turned and ran further into the night.

Trevor couldn't believe it. She was alive. After all this time, she had made it off the planet. It was true he had never actually seen her dead. He had just seen her lab explode. He ran after her.

As it ran up his spine, the parasitic life form was approaching Trevor's brain stem. The disease was running its final course at long last, pumping hallucinogenic fluid directly into his head to make way the tendril that would end his pain forever.

"I'm coming, Nya." Trev disappeared after her.

-o-

Nathan drained another and looked up from his empty glass. He went to get up from his seat when he heard a commotion outside. There was a moment when his consciousness called for action, but he was feeling too woozy to intervene.

His instinct immediately told him it was caused by something Trevor had done, but his gut disagreed. He had gone chasing after something. Maybe to use the bathroom on the ship, since the one in this place was putrid beyond compare.

Just when the loud barks from outside stopped, five armed men burst through the bar door. There were five—two human, one Gymon, an Ecath, and an oversized robot with an arm cannon.

"We're looking for three off-worlders. There's a robot with them too!" the tiger-faced Ecath called. The figure was dressed in clothes reminiscent of a thief's with a cloak the color of midnight. His sneer betrayed his hunger for violence. The others were dressed in different variants of the same.

Everyone turned to the three in the room who fit the bill the closest. Nathan squinted against the alcohol and saw that everybody seemed to be looking at him. He motioned for their Ecath waitress to get another round. She stood motionless.

"There was another with 'em," an ugly alien from the other side of the room claimed. Most of her tentacle arms were pointing at them.

Boost's shuttered eyes blinked around, counting the weapons on the riffraff. They were armed to the teeth with guns, knives, and explosives. His robot counterpart was 90 percent weapons.

The armed men began to walk toward them, guns up. Patrons slid out of the way as the gang plowed through. Nathan could see that whoever they were, they were well-known and well-trained. His buzz was starting to fade.

Nathan flipped his wrist up and had a gun aimed at their leader. "Careful," he warned. Glade was also armed with two large assault rifles, which he had been hiding under the table. He kicked the table away and rose with them aimed at the robot and the humans. Boost just looked from one to the other.

"Not so fast." The leader motioned with his arm, and a sixth man appeared from outside. He had Kaida struggling in his arms with a gun to her head. "You don't want your girlfriend harmed, now do ya?"

"What is this about?" Nathan asked.

"Call it revenge." Daphkalian strode through the back of the bar. His face was badly scarred from frostbite. "Bet you thought you wouldn't see me again."

"More like, I _hoped_ I wouldn't." Nathan laughed a little. He was still pretty lit.

"I was lucky to get picked up." Daph coughed. "Had to make a deal with the devil to be dropped back here. Then I see Kaida Elwin walking alone. I think to myself, now Sutherland couldn't be too far away from her. It's time to even the score."

With a look of pure hatred, Daphkalian drew his weapon up and fired.

-o-

Nya ran through busy streets and alleys, through abandoned buildings and along rivers. Every time Trevor thought he was going to catch her, she reappeared farther ahead.

Crystalis, though it had fallen on hard times, was still a beautiful land. On top of hills, like the ruins of San Francisco, stood several districts. Much like that ancient city, it was mostly concrete. The difference was the land was taking the city back. Trees grew through old buildings, and rivers ran through streets. Since arriving at Oran's and meandering to the Salty Dog, he thought the city had grown wilder; some streets had animals grazing right the middle.

After going down several more blocks, across a wooden bridge, and over a street river, he caught his breath in an empty plaza. He could have sworn he'd run through it a few times already, but couldn't remember for sure. So much of the city looked alike. The fountain was a statue of an Ecath holding a large bowl. It looked like water was supposed to pour from the bowl into the circular concrete pool below, but there was no water in it, just a moldy gathering of wet trash.

"Remember?" she asked. Nya was sitting next to him. She was glowing slightly like a spirit, but when she touched his arm, he could feel her warmth. When Trevor went to hold her, she disappeared.

She reappeared on his other side. "You proposed in a place like this." She smiled. Her raven-black hair hung beautifully around her shoulders. She looked around at the scenery and then let her eyes fall on him.

"What is this?" he asked her. "I don't understand."

She was now dressed like she had been the last time he'd seen her—in blue jeans and a light-blue sweater. That night, she had told him to get to his father's lab, that Scott had made a breakthrough. She finally opened her mouth to answer. "Remember? You got on one knee in the snow, and you asked me to be your wife."

"Of course I remember," he said. "It was under the old Washington Arch Monument when we took that trip to New York."

"I knew you'd still cherish that moment," she said coyly. She got up and slowly began to dance with herself. "You always were a softy."

"So did you make it off Earth? Have you been here the whole time?" Trevor motioned to the dilapidated city around them.

She looked at him and laughed. Then when he blinked, she was at his side again. "Your mind is playing tricks on you, Trevor. Are you sure you remember everything as it was?"

Trevor didn't understand what she meant. Of course he did. He would never forget their time together.

"Look back. The answer to your greatest question lies there—the truth your mind is trying to protect you from, the answer that's hidden. You knew what your father was really working on. Don't lie to yourself anymore." Her smiled turned wicked, and her eyes began changing color.

"Wait. Stop," Trevor pleaded with the wraith.

Finally, they stopped on orange and glowed dully in the night air. "Now do you remember?"

She was there, and then, in a flash, she was gone.

Trevor was alone.

He felt his cold, sweaty undershirt sticking to him. His hair was wet. He felt tired. The arms of a feverish trance were lifting. He looked down at his shaking hands and knew what it meant.

The heat from his fever blazed across his forehead. Black spots were showing up in his vision. He could feel a new darkness closing in. Then he collapsed in the dirty street.

-o-

Nathan watched Daphkalian's shot go wide left and heard the chunks of wall fall behind him.

"That was a warning," Daphkalian choked out. The fur across his face looked like it was coming off in patches. The frozen ice world had taken a toll.

Nathan understood a miss when he saw one. Daph's eyes just didn't look right. "There is no need for violence here. Let's make a deal." Nathan rotated his wrist to remind them he was also armed.

"Trust you? Not likely," Daphkalian spat. His hands were shaky, making his guns vibrate. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled up their data pad. "Though I do need someone to unlock this."

Nathan's eyes kept betraying him. They continued to find the woman he needed to protect. He was blinded by fear of losing Kaida. He couldn't let anything happen to her. "All right, how about I start by dropping my weapon?"

Daph scoffed.

Boost continued to eye the others. Daphkalian was still blocking the rear exit. The other five were spread out around them. Kaida was still being held outside. Three verses seven were bad odds. He eyed the other robot and lamented. Its design was far more advanced than his. For once, he felt embarrassed by his appearance.

"A quandary indeed. You know I want the Void Star still, obviously. So that means I need the girl's help. Our bright scientist here wouldn't be able to open the data pad if I killed you or if I had just kidnapped her. No. I think we can figure this out right here. Together." Daphkalian motioned for the man outside holding Kaida. He brought her into the fray.

Nathan still kept his gun on Daph but continued to sweep the scene with his eyes. There wasn't a right way out of this. The random people in the bar slowly got up and poured out, finally seeing where this confrontation was naturally headed.

The man holding Kaida pushed her toward Daphkalian. He licked the side of her face and then put the data pad in her hand. "If you would be so kind."

Kaida wiped at the saliva on her face and looked at the pad. She really wished she hadn't tried to go back to her house where she got picked up than drug back to Oran's shop. Oran had gotten beaten pretty roughly too. He was tough though. He would be all right. She stared at the algorithms blankly, not knowing where to start.

_God, I hate this planet_ , Nathan thought to himself. His fingers itched for movement as the alcohol's effect started to wear off. Fear was making him sweat it through his pores.

"Just type in the answer, sweetheart. I need to get paid," Daphkalian coaxed. "Kullistan, did you deliver the insurance?"

The other Ecath nodded.

"We having trouble?" Daph said reaching an arm under Kaida's shirt.

In that moment, Nathan found his vision was good enough. "That's it!" he called. In one motion, he fired the pistol, and Daphkalian's head flew back. He dropped to the ground and rolled.

Glade had been waiting anxiously and opened up on the three closest to him as they opened on them. Laser fire erupted on both sides.

Boost hadn't been waiting for anything, but since his friends were fighting, he grabbed a table and threw it at the other robot. It struck its face. It was about to fire its shoulder cannon when Glade hit it with something explosive. The robot blew up.

The bar was filled with explosive crossfire as both sides tried to get to the other. Daphkalian and the robot were both out of the fight, so it was only five on three. Then Kaida appeared between Glade and Nathan.

Before Nathan could tell her to clear out, she grabbed an explosive off Glade and tossed it at the ceiling on top of their adversaries. It blew, and the roof came down. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. The whole place came down on top of them.

Nathan pulled Kaida into his arms and felt the wood smash over him. Pain erupted all across his back and neck and head. Hot blood oozed out as the throbbing began.

But he knew he was still alive.

Glade pulled himself and the others out of the destroyed tavern. Some of the wooden walls still stood, but mostly the old place was completely obliterated. There was no sign of the barkeep or law enforcement.

"You all right?" Nathan asked, helping Kaida to her feet.

Kaida dusted herself off and looked up him. "I am now."

As Glade helped Boost out of the rubble and Nathan went to show Kaida how he truly felt using his lips, Daphkalian crept out of the crumbled building. With all the injuries he'd sustained, including the shot to the side of his head, he knew he didn't have long to live. He slid his weapon up and aimed the crosshairs so the shot would take both lovers out. As his fingers closed in, a heavy metal object struck him on the back of the head. He went down.

Nathan planted one on Kaida's soft lips and pulled back. "Thanks for deciding to show back up."

Trevor shrugged, dropping the metal pole in his hands. He pointed toward the demolished building. "And you always tell me not to do anything stupid." He shook his head. "You guys blew this place up."

Sirens blared in the distance.

"C'mon," Nathan urged, turning back to the woman in his arms.

She pulled him in for one more deep kiss and then allowed him to drag her away.

Nathan did his best to ignore the incoming police sirens and indicated they should follow him back toward the ship. He also noted how drained Trev looked. Swinging a metal pole wouldn't cause him to break such a sweat. The more he looked at his nephew, the surer he was that he was ill.

When they were back at Oran's shop, they found him upstairs on his couch with an ice pack on his head.

"You all right?" Kaida asked, checking on him.

Oran nodded. "Yeah. They just knocked me unconscious when they grabbed you. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them." Though he was worse for wear, he couldn't hide his surprise at how bad they all looked. Even the dark-haired kid looked violently ill, feverish.

"I'm just happy we're all okay." Kaida hugged him.

Oran looked up at Nathan and pointed toward his ship. "She's all ready to go. Force drive is operational."

Nathan nodded at him. Kaida handed Oran a handful of hard credits and kissed his forehead. "A tip for the trouble," she explained.

Oran thanked her and watched them leave. Moments later, he could see the little Tiger-37 jump off his pad and tear through the atmosphere. He wished them the best. Even though Kaida had warned him some space anomaly was coming to get him, he would take his chances. He looked down at his wad of cash. He would be all right.

On board the _Wrath_ , the Ruveran tracking device Daphkalian's friend Kullistan had emplaced blinked quietly below deck.

## Chapter 16

Dacian Velkas watched his assassin depart from the comfort of his personal quarters. The vermillion craft shot off from _Razerus_. Soon Render would round them all up and place the Void Star in his hands. He would have one of the final pieces for his collection and possibly the most powerful device in the universe. It was also the only artifact left that legend claimed could prolong his life.

Months earlier, a separate artifact had been uncovered from one of the Outskirt Worlds. Whatever it was, it unleashed some kind of power. It was unknown what happened next after the radios died and those who had been there disappeared. But a Ruveran ship intercepted some survivors and they spoke of the end of the universe and how they needed to find something called the Void Star. It was something they claimed the darkness called for.

But what was this device? Was it a weapon or a healing instrument? Everyone thought it did something different. But all agreed it was powerful.

Dacian needed a reversal of his own before his health failed him and he died. He wanted another thousand years to rule the universe. Even if this star gave him one more day to live, it was worth all this trouble.

And now it was within reach once more. He was pleasantly surprised the Ecath had been successful after he had screwed up betraying his crew at Flora. No matter now.

In the silence of his private office, he heard a quiet murmur, a shade less than a whisper. He felt naked in his sleeping clothes. Though someone would have to have a death wish to sneak into his quarters.

"Hello?" He got up from his desk and checked outside the entrance. Two baffled guards turned to face him. He shut the door in their faces.

"Velkas..." the whisper called.

The hair on the nape of his neck stood on end, and he turned to see who was there. He was alone. His bedroom was large, but no one could hide within it. He was a bit of minimalist at home. Valuable art hung on the gray walls; black marble flooring with gold trim lay beneath his feet; and his oversized closet was open with no one inside.

"What is this?" he asked the nothingness.

Velkas threw on a robe and went to his balcony. His was the penthouse suite, so nobody had said it from anywhere around there. There was nothing flying by his place. He closed the slider on the way back inside. Was he losing it?

"Come here..." the whisper beckoned.

_Where_? he wanted to ask and end the ridiculous game of hide-and-seek.

He went back to his private office, and there in his chair sat a lavishly dressed figure. He seemed to form out of the shadows. The stranger appeared to be in his thirties; he had long, dark hair and thin, trimmed facial hair. He was handsome and seemed to know it. His feet were playfully resting on Dacian's desk, kicking off things that were too near. He was dressed in a black suit from another era and wore a long black tie. Then he flicked his fingers and was wearing black robes.

"How...?" Velkas was still finding the words difficult to find. No one got the drop on him.

"Easy there." The dark figure made prayer hands and smiled. "I come in peace."

"Who...?"

"Does it matter?" The dark figure looked away as though he was thinking about it. "You're right. Introductions are important. And I would like to avoid being called 'The Darkness' or the 'The Dark One.' You're right. I'll have to name myself. I've always been partial to Abel. So call me that if you want."

Velkas continued to stutter. His older age brought heart tremors pretty easily. He held his chest and breathed deeply. A weak heart was one of the many ailments that threatened to kill him at any minute.

"I'm sorry I snuck up on you like this. There's just business that couldn't wait." Abel disappeared from behind the desk and reappeared at Velkas's side. He did his best to pretend concern for the aging dictator. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to make you a deal."

Velkas took his heart medicine from Abel's hand and chomped a couple of the pills down. He followed them with a glass of water. He took in deep breaths until he stabilized.

"You okay? Are you coherent?" Abel warped back to his desk and threw a glass model ship up and down. "I don't have a lot of time here, Dacian."

Velkas took the seat opposite the stranger. Energy seeped from the ominous being. It made him feel darker emotions and think terrible thoughts. "What are you?"

"I am Abel. And that's all you can comprehend." Abel let the glass ship hit the ground and shatter. "Fine, I'll try to explain it. Imagine two very different planes of existence. One is this one, the world of life. The other is a shadow of it, a realm of nonexistence, if that makes sense. No? Oh well. Well, I'm the keeper of that other place. The one and only member."

Velkas just focused on his breathing. How had he lost control of this situation so quickly?

"Right. The deal. Here it is. I am going to consume everything through the universe of life. It's going to happen. It is happening as we speak in fact. My problem is this little device you are also after. Yeah. The Void Star. Now, I can't touch the thing; it's against the rules. But you can, and I need it destroyed. It's a simple act to destroy it..."

Velkas listened, and as ridiculous as it sounded, he felt like this entity was being reasonable. "What do I get if I do?"

"I will make your death fast and painless." Abel chuckled. "I see your thoughts, old man. Your mind goes straight to the opposite, doesn't it? What if you _don't_ help me? I will enter you and become a part of you, torturing you mindlessly with pain you can't begin to imagine, breaking your mind and allowing you to watch. The choice will be yours when the time comes. So..."

Abel reappeared at his side. He was holding him like a used-ship dealer. "Make the right choice."

Velkas nodded.

"I really like you. You can lie straight to my face." Abel grabbed Velkas's arm, and it went numb.

In his vision, he saw everything Abel was. He saw the hatred and pain, the endless darkness, the abyss that he was, the waiting he had endured to break through, and then the fatal mistake his people had made centuries ago. He saw the missing Breaker and the door that had opened what was left of the barrier and allowed this _thing_ to enter their world.

"There you go." Abel looked at the crumpled form of Velkas. "Sorry about that, mate. I had to be sure you understood the stakes. I'll let myself out."

Lying on the ground, Velkas shook, his mind unable to comprehend what he'd seen. He had crushed civilizations, millions of lives, countless worlds, and in less than ten minutes, he was weeping from one chance meeting.

Whatever the darkness was, it was getting close.

## Chapter 17

The crew of the _Wrath_ burned across countless galaxies. They made a couple of stops within the Inner Rim, near Ruveran-monitored space. It was the only direction left that led away from the anomaly. The force drive ran smoother than it ever had. Oran had outdone himself.

Trevor continued to watch in disgust as the older couple kept stealing away to meet up like kids. They couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other. Trevor missed the piece-of-crap a-hole version of his uncle that he had always known. He was tempted to bring up his aunt Maura to dampen their spirits, but it felt too wrong to do so. Unlike him, his uncle was finally moving on with his life.

Then after a day's travel from Crystalis, Kaida figured out how to interpret the coordinates Raxus had left. Trevor inputted them. The NAV routed them toward a solar system no one onboard was familiar with.

"It's near the Center Vortices," Trevor said to them both. "Which is within Ruveran space."

"Where better to hide than right underneath their nose?" Nathan asked. He took the controls from cruise control and pointed them to their new destination.

The force drive went full bars, and off they shot. The computer showed they would hit their destination within the hour.

When they were engaged into the jump, Nathan turned to Kaida. "Can you give us a minute?" She nodded and went below.

Nathan sat at the controls quietly, going over what he was going to say to Trevor. It wasn't going to be easy to tell him that after all this, they would part ways. He still wanted the best for his nephew, but he was done with all these space battles. He was getting tired of risking his life every time he flew. He just wanted to enjoy his remaining years with Kaida. Even if it was a matter of days. He also had to unload something else off his chest. No secrets.

"I don't know how to say this," he began.

Trev looked up from his readings. "All right."

"I know I've been hard on you." Nathan looked back and saw it all. He had been tough on the kid. But his father had been tough on him and that's he had raised Arilyn. A man had to grow up to be strong enough to handle whatever came. Babying young men only created sensitive creampuffs. He knew he wasn't the best people person, but he was a good leader and that would do. "Look, I'm getting too old for this. I'll just get it out there. The Armiger told me something you need to know. Scott, your father, he was working on something...so top secret the Armiger's own son didn't know either."

"What?" An echo of Nya's phantom came back to him. " _You know what your father was working on_."

Nathan cleared the lump from his throat. "Your father created rift technology."

The air was knocked from Trevor's lungs. "No, he didn't. He was trying to find a cure for me." The words came out before he knew it. He knew that Nathan had been lying—he hadn't known about his father—and he was regretful for letting out his secret all in one moment.

"A cure for what?" Nathan eyed him, concerned. He had been looking worse and worse since leaving the _Helcarion_.

Trevor felt the tremor attack coming on from the stress; the fever welled up, and he tried to leave before it hit. _I don't want him to see this_.

Nathan held him back. "Hang on. Where you going? Answer the question."

"Get out of my way." He tried to push past him but couldn't. Nathan held him there.

_Too late_. Trevor fell to the ground in an uncontrollable fury of shaking. He held his breath as it tore through him. A scream like he had never experienced burst from his mouth. Tendrils of sharp pain rushed through his body. A feeling of being poked with needles ran up and down his spine as he shook. When it finally dissipated, he took a deep breath. He slowly pulled himself off the ground, tears streaming down his face.

"What the...?" Nathan began. He looked his nephew up and down. Sweat poured from the young man's forehead, his eyes were red, and his body wavered like he could faint at any moment.

Trev sat back into his copilot's seat and concentrated on breathing. Not up to discussing it, he said simply, "Now you know." He paused.

"Scott was working on a cure for what?"

"I have toxi-parasitic strain C."

"You've had it this whole time?" Nathan couldn't hide his bewilderment.

Trevor nodded.

"But the sickness and the episodes..."

"With the exception of a few close calls, I've been able to hide it." Then Trev added, "Epherus knew. Glade figured it out too."

"I don't know what to do here." He really didn't. Though looking back on the past with this new knowledge filled in a lot of answers; the odd moods and the drinking. What he understood of toxi-parasitic strains is there were only two, A and B. There was no C.

"Just let me see this through." Trevor said in the silence they found themselves in.

Nathan looked him over. He should sit him out and get him medical attention. But that was the old him thinking. If Trevor wanted to see this through to the end, he would let him.

"All right," Nathan agreed. He patted his shoulder. "All right."

"I'm going to get us some lunch," Trevor said weakly and left his uncle to his own thoughts.

"That's...that's fine." Nathan watched him go. The realization of what he'd witnessed slowly dawned on him. His last remaining family member was dying. He didn't even get a chance to tell him this was his last flight. Now it didn't matter. It most likely was _his_ last. If the TPC was giving him fever symptoms, he had less than twenty-four hours to live.

Trevor finished up at the galley and polished off the sandwich he had made. He downed it with something caffeinated.

_Now he knows_ , he thought to himself. When he was a kid, his father had taught him not to reveal it. Those with the parasite were outcasts to modern society, destined never to see their thirtieth birthday. Now at age twenty-nine, Trev realized they would have been right to cast him out—all the years of schooling and an apprenticeship to a job specialty, only to have him perish before his first day. It was wise for his father to teach him that so he could have a shot at a normal life. But they still weren't were what this strain did.

But his dad had also told him he had been working on a cure, not a weapon—not _the_ weapon, the one that had shattered their world.

What was Nya trying to tell him? Why did she haunt him? There was an answer right at the brim of it all—something embedded in his subconscious, attempting to break through.

He grabbed up his uncle's lunch and made it back to the cockpit. He handed the food to Nathan and sat in his own seat. He could see his uncle lacked the verbal resources to cope with the new revelation, and this was welcome. Trev didn't want to discuss it. There was nothing to talk about anyway. It was the way it was.

Nathan kept his feelings inside. It was clear the kid didn't want to talk about it, which was convenient since he didn't even know where to begin. He had never even suspected he had the disease, but it made sense...Why hadn't Scott ever mentioned it? He would have to deal with this new information later.

After a little while, the force drive popped off, and they burst into the Charkus-3 System. The quantum engines hummed as the _Wrath_ floated toward the yellow planet they were aimed at.

Trevor flicked the NAV off and looked over his controls. "Loffgannon is in sight." The landing guide showed a safe trajectory toward a meeting point. "Enter the atmosphere at point A-two-two-seven-decimal-three."

"Copy." Nathan double-checked the landing data and disengaged the autothrottle. He did a course correction and rechecked his numbers. For a second, he felt an odd sensation, like he was missing something. But it passed.

A red-eyed Kaida found her seat and gave Nathan a quick peck. She wanted to know how the talk had gone, but she knew during landing wasn't the best time. Boost stood behind them looking out over the desert world they were approaching.

Nathan brought the ship down into an approach. The world looked like it was experiencing massive sandstorms. The topographic analyzers had warned them it was only through the top layer. The ship bumped and shook through the dust clouds. Nathan did the best he could to hold her steady through the worst of it, and they finally came out. The ground didn't look as promising. It was all sand dunes and hills. They burned across the empty terrain.

"This doesn't look right. What's the landing point again?" Nathan barked, his eyes on his own controls. He stole a glance and saw Trevor was out cold and drenched in sweat. Nathan did his best to control their fall. Without the proper landing data, the _Wrath_ struck the ground hard. The right landing gear indicator showed it was out of place, most likely broken off.

Sand and dust rained down and caked the ship. Hoof clumps sounded as Glade reached the cockpit. "Is everything all right?" He looked at them each in turn. His eyes, like Nathan's and Kaida's, stayed on Trevor.

He was breathing shallowly and mumbling deliriously.

Realizing they weren't going to explain, Kaida asked, "What's wrong with him?"

Nathan and Glade exchanged a glance, like they weren't sure who should vocalize the truth. Then Nathan shook his head and answered, "He's in the final stage of toxi-paratosis. He's slipping away from us."

Boost and the other three looked in on him as the color drained from Trevor's skin. He was already slipping deeper and deeper.

## Chapter 18

Glade and Nathan worked together to get Trevor onto his cot. He only seemed to heat up worse as time went on. Kaida took his temperature, and sure enough, he was climbing steadily over one hundred. She put a moist towel over his forehead.

"He should be all right for now," Nathan said resolutely.

A look passed between Glade and Nathan, two warriors who had seen their share of death and those on the brink of it. They looked away before Kaida noticed.

"Shouldn't we get him medical attention?" Kaida asked. She injected Trev with a booster shot to ease the pain.

"He'll be fine." Nathan said gruffly.

"But—"

"He wanted us to see this through. He'd want us to get this thing first." Nathan led the way through the passenger compartment and down to the cargo hold. Kaida saw the young man sleeping soundly and then followed after. Boost operated the door for them as they left and then followed after them. Nathan left the jet on idle.

As soon as Boost dropped the ramp on the ground, Nathan blew through the opening on his CTV. The wheels met sand, and he spun it to a stop. "Get in." Glade got shotgun while the Kaida and Boost climbed in the armored back. Then off they went in a blur. They screamed toward the oasis that stood a few clicks ahead.

The CTV was a hybrid of an antiground striker and an all-terrain, which was why Nathan liked it so much. Reflective nanite technology changed the color to match its surroundings. A heavy machine gun was mounted on top. The CTV tore across sand like it was concrete. On any other day, this ride would have been fun, but not now, not with what was happening to Trevor.

Loffgannon appeared to be a dead, desert planet. Oddly, sparse chunks of trees grew between long distances by watering holes. And the one they were aimed at was like a miniature jungle, thick and overgrown, and the edges were roughly the diameter of a half mile. It was hard to tell what lay inside besides the small lake Nathan had seen on their approach.

He parked the CTV at the forest edge. He told Boost to stay with the car. Then the three of them entered. Kaida was walking between the two former soldiers when a gun appeared before her. Nathan gave her a serious look that said it wasn't up for discussion. She held it and clicked the safety off.

"Be careful not to spook the target," Nathan warned, and the others nodded back.

Boost watched as the three of them made their way past the jungle edge, which was oddly overlayed with a dirt floor. Strangely, the sand blew up to it but wasn't able to get far. A counter wind blew from within. It was shady under the canopy of the trees, almost dark. The sounds of the minihabitat ceased as they entered, and Boost could see them no more.

Nathan had a handheld GPS, which pointed them straight ahead. It was most likely a point right next to the lake.

Bushes and twigs crunched underneath their feet. Small animals jumped through. It was hot and moist and smelled strongly of animal feces. Odd-colored fruits grew on the branches overhead.

"We're being watched," Glade warned.

Nathan felt it too. The hairs on the back of his neck were on end. But he didn't see anything, and neither did Glade. What lived in this place? Why did Raxus choose such an odd stop?

Cautiously, they continued on. The deeper they got, the more it seemed like they had never seen the desert beyond. This was an ecosystem unto itself. Nathan did wonder who the highest was on this food chain.

He saw the little lake ahead through the trees. As they got even closer, he saw a makeshift shelter constructed from fallen branches and leaves. The smell of the water blew in from across its surface. When they had cleared the canopy and stood feet from the lake, he saw the black marks on the sand.

"We missed him," Glade noted. "These are char marks from taking off."

"Let's check out the area anyway." Nathan motioned for them to fan out. He wanted a quick sweep just to be sure; then it would be time to get Trevor to a medical professional. At least his last moments could be made peaceful. It's the decision he should have made in the first place.

Glade held out one of his massive alien guns before him and walked opposite the lean-to. Nathan went the other route; he cleared the little makeshift shack and peeked inside. Of course, it was empty.

On closer inspection, he noticed it looked like someone had left in a hurry. There were scratch marks, footprints that indicated something running, and then there was the missing Eckelion.

"Do you think the Ruverans got him?" Kaida asked, standing behind him.

Nathan shook his head. "I think whoever was here left for some other reason—and quickly."

"Look!" Kaida exclaimed suddenly. She was pointing to scratch marks on the tree used for the lean-to.

Nathan gave her a confused look.

"They're symbols. Another cipher." She pulled out her communicator and snapped a photo of it.

"Let's get out of here," Glade said, having walked the length around. He used his best judgment to deduce the Eckelion hadn't used a water-hybrid vehicle and parked it beneath the lake. "There is nothing here. And I feel something...is off. Deceptively hidden. I can smell an unnatural decay. It is something...alive."

Nathan wanted to tell him to calm down when he saw movement in the lake. It was so gradual, he almost missed it.

Blending into the sand was a cask. Casks were serpent like creatures, with a snake's head and upper body; the rest looked like the body of a giant scaled lion. It was the same color as the lake bottom, except for its golden eyes, which had white slits through them. Those slits were fixed on him and motionless.

Nathan looked past it, feigning ignorance of its presence, letting the creature believe it could continue sneaking up to them.

"Cask," Nathan mouthed, barely audibly.

Glade heard and gulped. He remained calm as he scanned and then saw it too. Unfortunately, he tensed involuntarily when he spotted it, and the serpent knew the game was up. The cask's head popped out of the water, and it pulled its body out of the lake. Its mouth opened to reveal a multidirectional set of razor-sharp chompers.

The large animal came at them with wicked speed.

All three of them pulled triggers at it while sprinted out. Laser fire burst out and struck the creature. It dotted the monster's body up and down. Bloody wounds opened, but it kept coming. Another one, which might have been sleeping when they arrived, came at the sound of the other's call.

Both of the creatures charged at them.

The forest immediately opened with sounds of other animals. Glade led the way out with Nathan at the rear. The old space captain saw the fruitless effort to kill it with body shots, so he started hitting the legs and feet.

"Keep going!"

The jungle felt like it went on forever. Trees snapped. The casks screamed. Hearts beat into eardrums. Laser fire shot blindly into thick foliage.

The casks stomped down trees after them. The first one was thirty feet from Nathan and closing. He kept shooting at the legs, which helped somewhat, but the beasts were catching up. They must be desperately hungry to risk so much for a meal.

At last, they cleared the jungle and hit sand. Boost pulled the car close, and just as they went to get back into the CTV, a cask slammed into it. The impact threw it back into the jungle. It was dazed by the hit allowing them to scramble past it. Boost disappeared along with it.

"I'll hold them back!" Nathan yelled, now reacting in complete wartime survival mode. He would be able to buy them a few moments. He took off diagonally, but only one of the four took the bait. Hungry and wild with pain, it came. He guided himself back toward the ship, and now there were two groups making a dash.

When Nathan turned again, he saw the cask's mouth filling the sky above him. Then a second later, a hole was running through it. He looked back around and saw the turret on top of the ship. It was firing on the other one. Someone was manning the _Wrath's_ turret.

Then his CTV appeared next to him, and he jumped in. They swept around and picked up the other two astonished individuals on the run. Altogether, they careened across the desert, wind blowing in their faces, backs toward the ship.

_How_? Was all he could think as they ran up the cargo hold.

Boost closed the door after them as they all went up toward the pax compartment. It closed on another hungry batch of wild casks. The ship's hull sounded off as more and more came out of the woodwork.

Nathan led the way up to the top of his ship and saw Trevor near the controls. He was lying on the ground again, out cold. Nathan slapped his face a little bit. His skin was like fire to the touch. He was in a pool of sweat.

Nathan shook him, and finally, Trevor stirred. "Hmm?"

His heart rejoiced that he was still coherent. He picked a great time to come out of it. "Good job, kid. You hanging in there?"

Trev opened his eyes and looked around. Color was returning to his face. "I had a dream I was..." He realized where he was. "Oh...It wasn't a dream."

Kaida and Glade exchanged a look.

"C'mon. I need my copilot."

Trevor pulled himself up without Nathan's help. Kaida found a maintenance towel and dried him off a little with it. Trev found his bearings just when he needed them. The ship took a hard hit from something.

Nathan looked outside the turret. Seven or eight casks were trying to claw their way in, and beyond the dead casks, a group of them was coming out of the jungle.

When Nathan looked back inside his ship, he saw Trevor was already scaling down the ladder toward the cockpit. He was okay for the moment.

Nathan met him in there and took his seat. "Time to go." He hit the surface defense, which electrified the outside of the ship. Surprised screams rang out from outside. Then the bumping began once more. Nathan throttled the engines up and started making ground. Their weight and balance was a little off, but he'd been through worse scrapes.

"How bad?" Nathan looked over as he pulled into a takeoff pattern. Looking down on them was one last cask; it was screaming and trying to break through the front windows. Then it fell off and began a five-thousand-foot free fall.

"We have more trouble." Trevor coughed.

"What now?"

Trev just pointed. According to the radar, outside the planet was a mass of gray, just like they had seen on Flora.

It was the darkness anomaly.

"How did it get out here so fast?" Kaida asked herself. "That means..." She didn't have to say it; most of the known universe was most likely gone. All that remained on this side was deep Ruveran space and the abandoned galaxies beyond that.

As soon as they passed through the layer of sandstorms, they could see the darkness once more. It was the same pulsing black mass tearing through the center of the galaxy. It engulfed the solar system's sun and then spiraled from it toward the center, ripping apart the planets near it. One dark stream hit Loffgannon, and the effect threw their ship into space. Just as they began to get their bearings, the anomaly began pulling the system into itself. Tongues from the great abyss reached out to taste them.

Nathan engaged the force drive. The counter began to tick bar by bar, though much faster than it had before.

_Thank you, Oran_.

The shadowy chunks left of Loffgannon were being pulled along with them. The hungry black force pulsed as it swallowed everything in its path.

The velocity at which everything was being sucked in was increasing—or else Nathan's body was pumping so much adrenaline that time slowed.

He watched the bars and then turned back to the windows. They were spinning now as the darkness pulled them into oblivion.

Just as it came to swallow them, Nathan engaged the force drive, and they hyper-jumped blindly into space.

They burst out several galaxies away, grateful they hadn't flown through anything. The _Wrath_ glided along slowly, at rest.

Trevor didn't celebrate this time. It had been much too close. He wiped the moisture from his hair and coughed.

"I can't believe it's gotten this far," Trev said into the quiet. He was still coming out of his fever.

"It's getting worse. If it's this far...that means it's run through the ribbon and is spreading faster than it can ever be repelled," Nathan said and then added grimly, "I don't want to think of what happens if we don't find this artifact thing." He dusted sand from his outfit. "There won't be much left to save if we don't act fast."

Kaida and Glade were behind them filling the additional crew member seats. They couldn't agree more.

They all took a collective breath.

"Where are we headed?" Trevor asked. "What's left? Is there anywhere left to go?" His hand was hovering over the NAV.

Kaida had the cipher solved in her hands. "It's a short journal entry. It says he waited for Cleph'thera. He and his Absolver were attacked. His Absolver was poisoned. After Raxus had to bury his friend, he knew he had to leave. Then there's just a name: Zephlar-318," she answered.

Trevor searched through and found it. "It's not too far from here." He calculated the route. Nathan hit the ignition, and the _Wrath_ flew forward.

## Chapter 19

At the _Razerus XIII_ , deep beneath its state-of-the-art defenses, Dacian Velkas sat staring at his monitors. A Ruveran monitoring station in the Charkus-3 system went offline as it entered the maw of the black abyss. For the last twelve hours, he had been bombarded by thousands of similar reports—all of them having to do with the same anomaly appearing, destroying everything, and continuing on. It wasn't clear if it remained in the area it destroyed and expanded from there, or if it was what it appeared to be: a wall of death. This latest report was a bit different; it was first time in a long time he had seen his old adversary in his Tiger-37.

"And...close one," he told the screen. He rewound the video and saw the little ship make it out. He had no idea how close he had come to oblivion. Sutherland would never go down, would he? He was somehow tied with that loser band of Elysians. That was a new problem too, since they had cut rug and vanished with their new fleet.

His aged face crinkled in thought. He had to worry about what he could control. The anomaly had gone everywhere but the side of the universe his people inhabited. They were next. This brought his mind to the strange meeting with Abel and the deal he couldn't refuse.

He called up his fleet commander. "What do you have, Yorhune?"

The gaunt-faced young man appeared on his screen and didn't look happy. On the screen before him was a Breaker overlooking the destruction of another galaxy. "The aberration is unstoppable. We've been using rifts to try and slow it, but it keeps coming."

"I put you in charge of this for a reason. Deal with it." Velkas looked past his commander at their ship's viewer and saw the arms of darkness coming for his Breaker.

Yorhune never answered again. The video feed was cut off.

In the quiet of his office, Velkas took a difficult swallow. His empire was crumbling before his eyes.

He strode through his office and took in his private collection, which ran along the walls. There were treasures from countless foes the Ruveran Empire had defeated throughout their centuries of unopposed dominance. His favorite would always be a simple chunk of rock. His men had presented it to him in a ceremony after the greatest battle Ruvera had ever won. It was the last piece that remained of the planet Earth. He mused that the Earthborns had been their greatest adversary since ancient times, when his ancestor Relken first took over the planet of Vale. Putting down that revolution over five hundred years ago set everything else in motion like a domino effect. Of course, they'd abandoned Vale in search of other conquests centuries ago. That was until he learned of the Void Star and returned to their ancient homestead.

And now their long reign was coming to an end. Life was coming to an end. Maybe he would have one last laugh with an old enemy. That brought his mind back to his present conflict.

"You almost have it." Like a scream run through a grinder, the voice ripped at his mind.

He dropped to both knees.

"Do you remember my deal?" Abel asked. He was in his office, sitting behind his desk. Abel started tossing the chunk of Earth up into the air and catching it on the way down.

Velkas struggled to stay conscious through the pain. It felt like something was ripping his mind apart. Then it stopped.

"I am almost finished ending the universe, Dacian. It's been pretty fun thus far. And a long time coming." Abel threw the clump of rock up and smashed it into dust. It rained into nothingness. "So what's your answer? When the Void Star reaches your hand, you will...?"

"Destroy it. Immediately!" Velkas cried.

"Good. Good answer. Bravo." Abel appeared at his side and helped him to his feet. "You know what? There is something else."

Velkas braced himself for another onslaught.

"Easy, bud," Abel said calmly. "I'm only going to ask a personal favor, from one new ally to another."

"Anything," Velkas moaned.

"There is this legend of the device, and for some reason, I believe it's true. My vision is blocked from something about to occur, and I don't like that. I have a theory of who it is that's been chosen to stop me, and I would like you to do something special for me to make sure they can't."

Velkas just nodded.

"That's a good boy." Abel chuckled. "So here's the deal..."

-o-

For a long time, he sat quietly at his desk and stared into open space. He kept thinking about taking his ship and flying into a star. It would be fast and much better than what was coming. Would it even let him?

"Master Velkas," the intercom buzzed. "Are you there, sir?"

He sat there numb. At last, he shook himself out of it. There had to be a way out of this. He was Dacian Velkas, master of the universe. He was letting his judgment get clouded.

"Yeah, I'm here." As the wheels in his mind churned, he knew what he was going to do next. "Open a line to Render."

It didn't take long for his people to route a line to his assassin. The dark-armored figure appeared on the screen. "What can I do for you, sir?" came the robotic question.

"Render, ready to make things right?" Dacian fumbled to clear his messy, long white hair from his face.

"I will atone for losing the star," Render replied darkly.

"That you shall."

"My ship is closing in on their ship's location. What will you have me do?"

"I have a new plan."

## Chapter 20

Nathan brought his ship out of the hyper-jump. He saw the little fledgling space station the NAV had designated. Zephlar-318 was barely the size of a small city and had all the appearance of a junk frigate. He got clearance to land and went into the docking port. His was one of three ships in the nearly empty bay. The _Wrath_ limped into a spot with her broken gear earned from Loffgannon's landing. It sounded like it bent more metal back. But it could be worse.

The docking bay closed and a dirty, green light indicated it was oxygenated. From the view in the cockpit, Nathan could already tell they weren't going to find an Eckelion here. The sleek blue WX-33 the Eckelions flew was absent.

Nathan led the way off the ship. They processed through the receiving center, a gray-walled square with the latest space weather and occurrences displayed on multiple screens. Nathan had Trevor break into their system. He went through the visitors' log and couldn't find any Raxus. Plus, the last Eckelion ship to traverse this area had been there months ago.

"You're right. He hasn't been here," Trevor agreed. Sweat beads were gathering across his forehead. He was still looking better than he had on Loffgannon though.

"We should wait." Nathan answered. He saw what looked like red scratch marks running down the back of Trev's neck. They were definitely new. It appeared as if his blood vessels were bursting out. He steadied Trevor as he wobbled. "You all right?"

A dizzy spell was leaving him woozy. Trev grabbed the counter. "I'm good. I just need a drink." He was holding his head. It looked like the sickness was pulling him back.

Nathan looked to Boost. "I can't let this go further. He's needs medical attention. Get him to a medical station."

"Aye, Captain," he answered. Just as Boost came up to Trevor, he collapsed against him.

"I'm going to look around in case he is here and didn't register in." Nathan's face softened when it stopped at Kaida. "Can you look after him?"

Kaida nodded. "Of course." She ran over and gave him a quick kiss and then hurried after Boost.

Glade was looking through the glass top of the station toward the stars beyond. "I have a sinking feeling something terrible is headed our way."

"Me too. Help me figure out a backup plan."

Glade followed Nathan out of the receiving center.

-o-

A sinister-looking red ship appeared outside the fledgling space station. It crawled to a stop, floating there for a few minutes until Render pulled it around.

Master Velkas had doled out several squadrons of specialized ground troops for this. They sat hunkered down below deck, ready to move out. There was always room for overkill.

The blip on the ship's radar had gone from flashing to a steady red.

Sutherland's ship was there, which meant Trevor was with him.

Render smiled at the chance to finally get revenge for what that stupid kid had done.

-o-

Trevor, on the other hand, wasn't concentrating on anything. After going in and out of consciousness, seeing blurry lights and pitch-black, he found himself back on Io. He had been getting ready to go on a secret trip to infiltrate Ruvera. With no cure in sight, he had traded his dream of being a diplomat to be a spy for his world. After wrestling with how he should spend his remaining years, he decided he should make his life mean something. He knew this deadly quest would probably get him killed. Trev had just stopped by to say good-bye to his father. Then it would be onto the much harder task of breaking off his engagement to Nya.

His father was working diligently at his desk. His dad was like an older version of himself with graying hair and a slightly larger nose. He appeared deep in concentration, surrounded by stacks of papers. Schematics were hung across the walls. Formulas were displayed on chalkboards. There was a smell of aged books.

Scott smiled as he recognized his son approaching. "Hey, Trevor, I was just finishing up. I have news." He put his pen down and closed his notebook.

"I have news of my own. I was handpicked out of my class to undertake a dangerous mission—" As his confidence left him, he saw this was already not going as he had rehearsed. His father would never give him his blessing to go underground against Ruvera.

His dad interrupted him. "My team and I have found a cure."

"I thought you said they forced you to quit your research," an apprehensive twenty-two-year-old Trevor replied.

"You know I never listen to authority." Scott smiled broadly. "Plus, the two projects turned out to be connected. I have discovered a new source of energy: plasmatheric energy. When exposed to low doses of PTE, the parasite is eradicated, and your body will expunge the remains over time. I just tested it on Harriet, the monkey. She's fine. You're next."

Trevor hugged his dad. The thought of living life without having to hide his condition was unthinkable to him. He would quit the mission he was set against, since his life expectancy had just gone up threefold. No use throwing it away. Maybe he could get back into the diplomacy apprenticeship.

As they patted it out as father and son, an explosion struck. A deafening boom nearby shattered the glass of Scott's office and rained down on them. Cold wind from the ocean blew in.

"My lab!" Scott yelled. He ran to the window and saw the fiery ruins and smoke reaching into the sky. It was in pieces, burning.

Trevor ran to his father's side and looked. Scientists and researchers who had survived the explosion were rolling in the grass trying to put out flames from their clothes and hair out. Some didn't even make it that far. "Nya," he said.

"I just left her there. The energy field was stable. She was finishing up the process for human testing." Scott's hands were shaking. "She's the only one that..." His father left the thought unsaid.

At the time, Trevor didn't register she had known about his father's secret work. How long had she known about it? All he cared about was her safety.

"Let's get over there," Scott told him. They turned from his father's office and saw something odd. Right in the opening of the door stood a robed figure. His father paused. "Don't do this."

A blade flashed menacingly in the figure's hands; it was an ornate sword made of diamond. "I have come for the last of your research," it hissed. The lights from the office showed it was wearing a mask under the dark hood.

"No. Please stop." Scott stood between the two. "Let me check on my lab and cure my son. I don't want anything to do with this war. Have mercy."

"Your people are all dead. Your lab is destroyed. Give me the data."

Trevor's father blocked him. "No. This can't be. It's his last hope."

Trev's mind was spiraling. The lab was gone. His fiancée was dead. An assassin was blocking their only escape.

"Ruvera always wins. Your kind is a poison to the universe." The figure paused, slowly closing the distance between them like a thief in the night. "Have it your way."

The sword flicked out and flashed. The figure dove in a blur of movement and stabbed his father in the chest. The blow spun him around as he grasped the blade in surprise.

Scott coughed blood as he landed near the open window.

Trevor had his hands up in surrender. The figure scoffed at him and ran after his father. The dark figure grasped at the sword lodged in Scott's chest.

"Now for you. See you in another life," the robed figure mocked him, as the sword began to slide out.

Trevor was at his father's hutch where he kept a small pistol. "You're right." Trevor aimed his father's gun and pulled the trigger. A hot flash of laser burst forth, and the dark figure was thrown out the window. Trevor ran to see if the fall had killed the assassin, but he couldn't see anything in the water. He could only make out the waves lapping against the rocks below.

"Trevor," his father choked. He was lying in a pool of hot red blood. The diamond blade still remained lodged in the hole it had created.

Trevor held his father's head and watched his eyes grow dull. "Dad, it's okay. It's gonna be okay."

"She...she is...she is..." Then his father died in his arms.

A loud vermillion ship erupted from the ground below and shot off into Io's atmosphere. Somehow Render had survived and escaped.

The assassin was gone, and so was his wife-to-be, his father, and the cure that would've saved his life.

-o-

Trevor was suddenly jolted back to reality. He was surrounded by familiar figures. "What's going on?" He tried to stand and nearly fell when Boost caught him. He helped him leave the medical station and walk through the main thoroughfare.

"You've been out for a while," Boost answered. "The doctor has given you something to lessen the effects of the fever."

"Trevor!" Nathan looked surprisingly relieved.

Trevor straightened up groggily and looked around. "Did I miss something?"

"An Eckelion just docked. How do you feel?"

"Good enough." Trevor wiped the sweat from his brow. He shook off the remains of the fever as best he could. Whatever the doc had administered had some side effects or else his vision was going. When he focused his eyes, he saw the walls melting. He saw nonliving objects whisper to each other. There were odd little things happening all over. He massaged his eyes to no effect.

"Just follow us." Nathan couldn't look at him. The sickness was pulsing through the kid; his eyes even looked different, lighter almost like they were losing color.

Kaida and Glade met them at the receiving station.

"He's looking better..." Kaida seemed happy and then looked at Trevor more closely. His pupils were dilated; he was sweating profusely; and his skin was pale. She didn't finish her thought.

"He's fine," Nathan answered shortly.

Kaida wiped away the green bile running down the side of Trev's mouth. The sorrow behind her look said it all. Trevor was glad she had come to like him in the end.

"Focus," Nathan said darkly. "Look, the anomaly will be here soon; we have to get this star-thing and get out of here."

Kaida looked like she wanted to object but remained silent instead.

An Eckelion they recognized from the holograms came through the main bay. He was carrying a little pack on his shoulder—the same one that had belonged to Dosh, the Salarian.

Just as Nathan went to call out to him, a familiar ship pulled around to dock. One Trevor had been searched for his whole adult life.

After all these years, Trevor was going to get to fight his father's killer.

He would get to meet Render, face-to-face.

The ominous craft left space and entered the station.

## Chapter 21

"Raxus!" Nathan yelled.

The little Eckelion walked through the docking station, oblivious to the arrival of his pursuer. His head was hidden underneath dark-blue robes as if he was trying to blend in. He was doing a terrible job.

"C'mon." Nathan ran toward the little creature to warn him. The sleek, dark-red enemy ship slithered through the bay and aimed itself at their group.

Finally, the little blue hominid looked up and saw the group descending upon him. His eyes grew wide, and he looked like he was going to take off. Then his eyes focused and his mouth slid into a smile. He seemed to hold out his bag toward them in excitement.

Immediately, Raxus knew his decision to abandon Loffgannon had been the correct choice. After losing his closest friend, he worried he wouldn't be able to find the one the star called for. Cleph'thera must have gathered this crew for him.

Just as the little man was halfway to them, his ship exploded, and the small creature was thrown sideways.

"Get him." Nathan nodded toward the crumpled form of Raxus. Boost dodged the red ship's gunfire as he reached the alien. He pulled his small form up and met the group that was running into the station.

"What are we going to do?" Kaida cried.

"Make sure they don't get it." Nathan saw his ship far on the other side of the hangar behind the Ruveran craft, much too far to risk an attempt. They put distance between themselves and their attackers.

Trevor looked at the ship again and almost wanted to huff back at it. It was Render—the one who ruined his life and doomed him to die. "Wait, this is my chance!" he said, as the stress allowed the fever to break through.

As he slowed, his uncle pushed him forward. "Not now, Trevor. We have to move."

Trevor looked up at him through bloodshot eyes. "Please...I have to..." He coughed and breathed with difficulty. "...my chance..."

Nathan looked to Glade. "Help him."

Glade nodded and put Trevor over his shoulder. He was too out of it to realize what was happening, as he was losing touch with reality once more. Colors climbed across the rusty storefronts. Buildings seemed to bleed together into strange figures. He wasn't sure where they were going, but it felt like the wrong way.

"I'm okay!" he called. He just needed time to get away from them to get at Render.

Glade helped him to his feet, and they both ran together. The Asterion wouldn't let him go back.

Trev noticed what he'd missed before. This station was a junk heap. Most of the businesses were boarded up. It was mostly filled with Bregomon aliens, the ones who literally ate trash and collected garbage trinkets. But with his vision going berserk it was at least colorful. Together with Glade, he slushed through the dirty streets away from their enemy. No wonder his fever was returning so fast. He bet the medicine he'd been given had expired.

Then they reached a large, open expanse. Trev looked back and saw figures off in the distance. They were coming from every street and corner, leaving no room for escape. He wouldn't have to try to find Render. There was nowhere to go. Render would find him just like in the dream.

When they reached a dilapidated, three-story building, Nathan herded everyone in. "This isn't the best plan, but it's the only one left. What do you think of the vantages?" Nathan asked Glade.

The building was a large industrial factory. It sat at the very edge of the station and had a glassed-in view behind it. The walls were made of metal and were supported by beams. It would be able to withstand a sizeable attack for a short period of time.

"This is better than the spot I found for our last stand. They have to run across one hundred meters of open expanse to get to us. A three-story building has many firing points. This will give us a chance depending on their numbers."

Glade closed the door as everyone came inside. Trevor saw some familiar weapon cases and other knickknacks from their ship. This had been halfway planned.

Nathan turned to Kaida. "There's a way through to the docking bay below ground. Follow Boost until you come up on the ship. Boost knows enough to pilot it around to here. We'll keep them distracted until then." He pointed to oxygen suits near them. "When we see you, we're going to blow this wall and jump to the ship. Boost knows how to catch us. If you have to leave without us though...do it. It will fall to you to figure out how to use the star."

"I'm not leaving without you," Kaida pleaded.

Nathan pushed her back. "You have to, in case we don't make it. We can't let them get their hands on any more weapons, especially this one."

Tears fell down Kaida's face. She hugged him and kissed his forehead. "I love you."

"It'll be all right," he said and kissed her. "If I die, I'll find you in the afterlife."

After wiping her face clean, Kaida turned and left with Boost, who was carrying the unconscious Raxus. She gave him one more wordless look, steeled herself, and then disappeared below deck.

Nathan had been tempted to see what was in the little man's pack—he wanted to know what all this fuss was about—but thought better of it. They didn't have time for that. Now they just had to get it away from them.

The Void Star, on the other hand, was reaching out for the one it had chosen. It was within arm's reach, calling to be removed and used. It had very little energy left to do what needed to be done. And then the chance was gone.

"This plan doesn't seem like it will work," Trevor said. He was wavering, but his chance for revenge was keeping him motivated to fight despite being ill.

"Your opinion is noted. Glad you're back with us." Nathan sized him up. While Trevor had been under, he had discussed the parasites progress with the medics. The parasite was making its way to the brain stem; he would have a couple hours of consciousness before he relapsed and died shortly thereafter. He had just enough time to have his long-sought fight with Render. He patted his nephew's shoulder. "Ready for the final push?"

Trevor nodded weakly. "I just need to make one shot count."

Glade opened his weapons cases. Trevor picked up the precision laser sniper rifle. Nathan took out the assault blaster.

Nathan looked to Glade. "We need to hold them off for twenty minutes."

Trevor ran up to the third floor. He knocked over a wooden cabinet and propped the sniper rifle on it. Nathan found a good point on the second floor between two already broken windows. Downstairs, Glade placed down mines and trip wires. He grabbed his weapon of choice from his home world—a gigantic bow with explosive-tipped arrows. All three waited.

Ruveran soldiers appeared on the other end of the divide. Small groups of two went to investigate the life signals they'd been tracking through the junk barge. They found good defensive postures and cover. A scout went ahead of the others to map out the terrain.

Glade hit the scout's shoulder. He was blown backward. This forced the forward armies to hold back and stay in their defensive positions to await orders.

Nathan saw a lucky snipe hit far into their ranks. The soldier was spun around and landed backward; he was dragged off and replaced in moments. These soldiers acted like a well-oiled machine.

One of the Ruveran soldiers gave a signal, and they all opened fire on the building.

Nathan crouched down. The window shattered at his back and rained down slivers of glass. The wall and ceiling opposite was racked with holes, and chunks of debris jumped from newly formed tears.

When he heard a lull, he spun around and took a mess of shots. His assault rifle roared angrily in his hands. Two more of them went down. Unfortunately, there were hundreds out there, replacing the fallen and sneaking ever closer. He rolled to another window and opened up more blaster rounds.

Another explosive arrow hit a group and detonated. They were thrown every which way and quickly swapped out.

Nathan stayed low and found his way to the third floor. He heard a concussion grenade erupt below where he'd just been and counted his lucky stars. It would have killed him. He glanced at his watch. They needed to give them at least five more minutes.

Trevor was still in bad shape, but he was returning fire. The old captain felt bad his nephew was in a firefight in his last moments. But something about it felt right. Who wants to die old and gray in bed? Better to go out like a warrior.

"C'mon. Boost will take her around in a few minutes. Are you going to make it?"

The Ruverans were shredding the building. The wall was coming apart in large pieces even though it was made of thick metal.

"I'll be all right," Trevor answered. He looked up to his uncle. "I think I'm losing my vision."

Nathan checked his nephew's eyes and saw they had lost most of their color. They were currently an oddly bright green.

Then he suddenly realized the firing had ceased. Nathan crawled up and looked through the window. He saw a dark-armored figure holding Kaida and Raxus. Glade saw it too, and his bow fidgeted in his hands. Their plan had failed.

"Render," Trevor said quietly to himself. Staring through his scope, he saw the figure like it had appeared in his dream. All other hallucinations had ceased in that moment. In fact, everything looked clear. He felt the trigger going back. The sights were dead on for the kill.

"No. He'll kill Kaida," Nathan whispered. Seeing her in peril overran any decision that could come up. He had to protect her even if it meant taking away Trev's payback.

Trevor continued to inch back on the trigger.

On the other end, Kaida tried to wriggle out of her bindings. She couldn't believe they had been waiting for them. It was like their adversary had known what they would try to do. They hadn't picked up on Boost though. She looked at the Eckelion and saw he was still out cold from the shock he'd sustained earlier

Then, she watched the dark-armored leader search the little alien's bag. The figure removed a ball of cloth and unwrapped it. An odd little orb fell out. She had no doubt to what it was. The Void Star glittered dully in the figure's hands.

One of the soldiers came up. "We have it, Render. Shall I inform Master Velkas?"

The dark figure nodded. Then it turned its head and rasped at Kaida. "This is the second time I've had to retrieve this."

Kaida didn't know what to say to him.

Then the dark figure looked out toward the shelled-out factory building. "Trevor Andrews, Nathan Sutherland, and that other thing in there, come out unarmed or we will kill all of you. We already have the star. You've lost this fight."

Trevor waited for the shot to fire off. Just as it clicked, Nathan's arm hit it up, and it misfired. As he tried to line up another shot, Nathan pulled the gun from his hands.

Trev turned his near-white eyes on Nathan. "Give it back. This may be my last chance to avenge my father."

"Know when to fight another day." Nathan tossed the gun away and began walking down. "Don't let your revenge be at the cost of others."

Trev hesitated for a long minute. He heard the vague sound of his uncle going down the stairs. "Stop. I'm having trouble seeing."

Nathan turned and saw Trevor's eyes had completely lost their green color. They were both almost white. He closed the gap between them and helped him to his feet.

"I'm sorry," Nathan told him. What else could he say? He had ruined it for him. But things weren't over yet.

Trevor was feverish; he had lost his vision and his chance to avenge his father. He was so defeated he didn't even have the strength to acknowledge it. He just held onto his uncle's arm and tried to walk straight.

Together, they went back down to the first floor. The two of them met with Glade at the bottom. Glade disarmed the door.

"We gave it our best," Nathan told Glade who nodded knowingly.

They were just about to go through the door and surrender when the _Wrath_ appeared behind them. They hadn't gotten Boost after all. The ship sat idly waiting, Boost in the pilot's seat.

Three hundred yards away, Kaida saw the dark figure call an order into its helmet.

Nathan wanted to scream out and warn his robot companion when he saw his beloved ship explode. It ripped into a hundred pieces in moments. The last thing he'd had from Earth shattered into scrap.

And Boost was...gone.

The shock of losing both his ship and his loyal robotic companion with his girl held at gunpoint defeated something in the old space captain. It was like watching Earth burst apart again. He couldn't handle any more loss.

He led the way out of the building with his hands up. Glade helped Trevor follow suit. The three of them walked through the expanse with all guns raised at them. Eventually, they were surrounded. Ruveran soldiers jumped in and wrestled them to the ground. They were struck with weapons and bound in moments.

"That little stunt is going to cost you." Render laughed coarsely. "Time to die, Elysian."

Nathan watched in slow motion as the figure drew his weapon on Kaida. She never had a moment to react when the gun went hot. Kaida eyes went blank as soon as the trigger was pulled. The force of the blast ripped right through her, and her head flew back.

"No!" Nathan struggled against the soldiers, who used the butts of their guns to drop him.

"Tsk. Tsk. Have you gone soft, Nate? Never thought I'd see the day Captain Sutherland cheated on his dead wife."

Nathan felt his breath stop as the hair on his neck stood up. Only one person ever called him that. His rage turned to the dark figure.

Trevor's heart dropped. It couldn't be. All the little clues had been there. His body went slack from both the sickness and the revelation. His father had tried to tell him with his last words: "She is... _Ruveran_."

"It's been a while," Render told them as they neared, all attention on Trevor. Trev couldn't muster a word. He dared not. "How have you been, lover?"

Render removed the helmet and a splash of black hair erupted out, hugging her shoulders. Eyes as orange as any Ruveran's glistened at him.

"Nya." Trevor's eyes took it in just as his vision went completely white. For some crazy reason, he welcomed the blindness. Either her disfigured face or his loss of faith in the universe left him with nothing to see.

Nathan, on the other hand, saw a mangled scar running down her throat. The assassin Trevor had fired on. The blast had also taken apart some of the right side of her face, and it hadn't healed well.

"Indeed. You'll probably piece it together later. It doesn't matter to me." Her voice without the robotic amplifier was a rough, choking sound. She noticed the red marks running along Trev's own neck and his unseeing eyes. "You don't look so good yourself." She put her helmet back on, and the robotic voice returned. "Well, my master says to bring you alive, which I don't understand myself, but I guess I'll oblige. Let's go."

The group was briskly brought forward from their standoff point. Nathan looked back a few times to see if Kaida would get back up, but he knew she was dead. There would be no last second rescue for them.

"I'll take that back." Render removed the diamond sword from Trevor's belt. Trev didn't have anything to say.

Nathan saw the transport they were being led into. He saw the star go into one of Render's bags, and then it truly felt like he had lost. His ship was gone. Kaida was dead. Boost was gone. Maybe the universe deserved what was coming.

They were led through the station and finally tossed aboard the Ruveran ship. The doors closed, and all hope went with them.

## Chapter 22

The cells aboard the small Ruveran attack ship were standard—cramped and dirty. The crew was separated as a means of control. Nathan could see Trevor across from him and Raxus to his side, both out for the count. He guessed that he was sharing a wall with Glade.

Unable to communicate through the thick force field, Nathan sat and waited. This craft could easily make it to _Razerus XIII_ in a matter of minutes. The sudden jolt indicated they were flying at light speed already.

He sat for a moment and pondered what his options were. There was little chance of escape from the cell. His opportunity would have to come when they were being moved. He had to get a message to Glade somehow. He kept trying to focus his attention away from seeing Kaida's death over and over. She was dead. Gone. He was alone once more. It threatened to pull him into a catatonic state he couldn't return from. He had to get his straight. He had to do it to get out of this. Then there was the other thing.

Nya was Render.

The thought stuck in his mouth like ground pepper. He remembered the young woman well. Carrie, his sister, had introduced him to her when Trevor had brought her home from college.

She had been a beautiful young woman—vibrant, sharp-tongued, and challenging for young Trevor.

Maura would have them over when they visited. They fought a lot, but so did most couples. Then she had gotten a job working for Scott on the energy project, probably at Trevor's request. She had manipulated her way into his life. What else?

If she was one who had killed Scott, that meant she was one who hand-delivered the plans to Velkas. She was the reason Earth had been destroyed. She was the spy.

He pounded against his cell wall in frustration.

Nathan was glad Trevor had gotten such a good shot on her. Though half her face was still gorgeous, the rest was a mess. It left little to the imagination of who she really was inside.

But why did she have to kill Kaida? For being an Elysian? Poor Kaida. His heart ached, and grief threatened to overwhelm him once more. He couldn't think of her—not until this was finished. That also brought up the thought that the Elysian signal screamer that had been on board his ship was floating into the great abyss of space. And Boost...poor stupid Boost.

As he thought of this, he noticed Trevor coughing into his hands. He was lying down trying to get up. The green bile was streaming down his chin. Then he collapsed again. He wasn't moving anymore.

Nathan rushed to the edge of his cell and banged on the glass. "Someone, come help!"

Of course no one came.

When Nathan looked closely, he saw bright blue mixed in the green bile. He turned away when he knew what that meant. The parasite excreted this in the final stage. Within an hour, Trevor would be dead.

Nathan felt the giant ship leave hyperspace with another jolt. It didn't take long for the guards to return, led by their leader.

"Let's go," Render said, in her robotic tone. "Time to see your old friend."

-o-

Trevor kept going in and out of consciousness. Luckily, through the fever, he wasn't aware of how much pain he was in. One minute, he was with his mom running through a green field by their house on Earth; the next, he heard the sounds of a massive space city, and then he was fishing with his dad. When he was self-aware between visions, he knew he was dying. The parasite had latched onto his brain stem and was poisoning his mind. Thank goodness he was euphoric.

"Trevor. You will be alright sweetheart." His mother said knowingly.

The two of them were at the glen where Trevor had come in contact with the host parasite.

"What do you mean Mom?"

"Everything happens for a reason." She motioned out toward the water's edge and saw the parasite waiting for him.

"I don't understand."

"You will."

"Don't do anything foolish," Nathan whispered behind him.

Trev wondered what he was talking about. Was this reality? And was he talking to him or Glade?

They were led through the massive space station. It was readily apparent this was the jewel of Ruveran progress, the _Razerus XIII_. Sky trams tore across their rails. Moving walkways pushed and pulled crowds to and fro. Elevators shot up through their guided lift ways. Breaker-class battleships docked into it, which was insane, seeing as they were the size of planets themselves. Everything was in blinding fast motion here. It put the Elysians' _Helcarion_ to shame.

After leaving the shipyard, they had been loaded into a small vehicle transport. It shot through a fake forest, several cities by rail, underground shock rails where you could see a beautiful view of the galaxy below, and then up to what could only be the central command structure. Towering over the city were three identical spires that met in the middle. At the spot where they all touched sat a black metallic disc. In the opening, beneath it stood a mass of people watching them. Some pointed and made their snide remarks; others just snubbed their noses at them. Most waited to see where they were being brought or who they were.

The transporter they were in transformed into flight mode and took off. They were flown up to the central structure, which opened as they came in.

The circular construct was big enough to land a medium-class cruiser in. The vehicle made a sharp landing, and then they were removed and manhandled down a long hallway.

"They aren't going to imprison us?" Trevor asked weakly and then added, "No, Dad, those cigarettes aren't mine." Then he laughed. "What? How bad is your English, Nya? Just because there is no she-render doesn't mean girls don't submit. Fine, we'll compromise; we'll take the 'sir' out of surrender. Well, it still sounds ridiculous."

Nathan was worried. Trevor would probably die before they even reached wherever they were being brought to. And he had taken away Trev's one chance to even the score with Render. Just another regret to add to the list. When was the darkness going to get to this side of the universe and end this torture?

Trevor went quiet, breathing deeply.

When the hallway finally ended, a large set of double doors opened. The room beyond was filled with monitors, soldiers, and computers buzzing away. In the middle was a pale-skinned, luminescent-red-and black-robed man. His white hair was matted down slickly. When his mouth opened, Nathan saw his teeth were almost like fangs.

Nathan recognized his old nemesis, the man who had engineered the ruination of his life, killed his family, and destroyed Earth.

The girl Nya, Render, whatever she chose to be called, walked back around with the Eckelion's pack. She pulled an orb out and knelt before him. "I have the Void Star, Father."

## Chapter 23

"Good job, Nya," he said as Render stood and came around to his side.

Nathan wouldn't let his mouth drop. The young girl he had known all those years ago was the seed of the worst of his enemies.

"Captain Nathan Sutherland. I thought you were dead."

Nathan turned away from his snide glare. "Not yet."

"And who did you bring with you? Let's see." Velkas walked gallantly forward to inspect his other prisoners. He stopped in front of Trevor. "Well, I'll be. The spitting image of his old man, eh? It appears his disease is winding down its descent." He laughed at him. "If only he had had that cure in time. It's a shame."

He continued walking until he was before Glade. "Now, you...how did you get tangled up with the likes of this scum? I will have to pay your world a visit for repayment."

"My world is gone. My people are gone. I am one of the last that remain." Glade had his chest out proudly. "I should have died with them when the darkness came for us. Now I can go having fought once more to regain my honor and faced the likes of your evil people."

"What do you know of darkness?" Velkas hissed. He nodded toward Render, who was off to his right. She fired at the unarmed Asterion.

He tried to clutch his chest from the blast, but his hands were bound. He struggled to breathe as his left lung had been punctured. Deep-red blood spouted out, and then the old Asterion warrior fell away. He closed his eyes and slept. To him, it was a relief; he was ready to join his brothers finally and never wake again.

"Your crew is dropping like flies." Velkas broke into a hearty laugh. "You lost your wife, your son, your girlfriend...Your nephew is about to bite it in a second here. Now it's just you, old space dog. I'm glad you survived though. You get to be here to watch this."

Render handed over the Void Star. It stopped glowing the moment he grasped it with his bony white fingers.

"So much trouble to get this little thing. What secrets are you hiding?" Velkas looked down into it. There came a long pause as he tried to find a switch or panel on the mechanical shell around it. He pulled it and shook it, trying to find a way to open it. Abel had told him to destroy it, even told him how, but he had other plans as soon as he got it open. "I don't understand." He motioned for a faceless soldier to come forward. "Get the Salarian out here."

Velkas continued to struggle with the orb. It held fast. How could you do anything with this thing? It was locked tight.

Nathan continued to look for an opportunity and stopped when his eyes fell on Render. She was leveling her weapon at him, shaking her head. She knew him too well.

The soldier returned with a little Salarian struggling with his bindings.

"I will not aid you!" Dosh yelled.

The green-and-orange scaled creature was brought in front of Velkas and made to kneel before him.

"Oh yes, you will." Velkas docked the little creature alongside the head with the orb. "Well, that doesn't work. Now. How do you open this?"

"It will not open for you," the Salarian spat.

"Oh really? You don't think I figured that one out?" Velkas chuckled to himself. "And why is that?"

"Only it knows how to open it, and it won't speak to you."

"There's something actually inside it?" Velkas made a show with the little orb. "Must be a small something." He chuckled. "I have heard a rumor it opens for someone in particular. But who? And what is it supposed to do? What is this thing?"

"It's the greatest power in the universe," Dosh said proudly.

"So they say. We're getting off subject here. Your kind has been hiding it. You know how it works. I can get it out of you by force...but who wants that?" Velkas made a showy gesture with his hands.

"I will tell you nothing." The Salarian turned away and saw that he wasn't the only prisoner there.

Nathan saw the look on the little alien's face and recognized it; he'd seen it before. It was just like the Eckelion Raxus had done when he first saw Trevor, like he had seen Trevor's face and knew it well. The Salarian turned back to Velkas instead, pretending not to have seen anything.

"So it won't talk to me, eh?" Velkas began to walk away from the Salarian toward Nathan. "What about this old warrior? Surely a weapon needs a wielder such as this man."

Velkas motioned to his men. They unlocked his bindings. All guns were on him. Velkas tossed the orb toward him. Out of reflex, Nathan caught it. In one quick second, he saw something. It was just a glimpse of what was about to happen and what he had to do next. The orb remained dim in his hand as though nothing had just transpired.

"Nah. Nothing," Velkas noted. "Let's have it back now." He held out his hand.

Nathan went to hand it back and pretended it had slipped from his hands. The Void Star hit the ground and rolled. It hit the unconscious body of Trevor and stopped.

What power was left in the star expanded. In moments it arose until it was blinding. The light was shooting across the room from the white-hot center.

Velkas couldn't hide his surprise. "Well that's something."

Though he was deep in fever, Trevor's fingers weakly touched the edge of the orb, and then the whole thing disappeared into his hands.

Nathan saw his eyes flutter open, burning white light emanating like new irises. Then he closed them again. Nathan questioned his own vision when something incredible happened.

-o-

Trevor was floating in a world of bright lights. He felt better than he had in years. No more sickness. No more pain. He was at one with the universe. There was peace at last.

"You will be the first," a voice told him from the blinding light.

He couldn't see anyone else. Then the light looked to rise up around him to form a familiar setting. Light made up the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. Though none of it seemed to be real, it did look beautiful.

"What?" He asked.

"You have been chosen."

"For what? I'm dead."

"Not quite." Out of the light, a familiar figure materialized. It was his father.

"Dad?"

"In a way...yes. I've come to relay a message, Son."

"But how?"

"I tested the energy on myself before I was going to use it on you. It's the same energy that powers the star. A piece of me remains connected through the plasmatheric field."

Trevor wanted to run to him, but he couldn't move. It was like he was just there to watch. He stood waiting in the room of light.

"I don't understand this."

"You will. What you need to know now is important. The fate of existence sways in the balance. Many have sacrificed, and many more will. Everything that has occurred has been for this purpose as messy as it appears. Even the parasite was used to secretly prolong your life until you could find the star. The parasite was fighting off a cancer that would have killed you as a child. But the parasite has served its purpose. Now, on to other matters." His father held out his hand, and a creature of light appeared beside him. "You have been chosen by this Avari. Its name is Rysta. He is the leader of his kind. You will be the first to become one. Together you will face the Dark One."

"The Dark One? Do you mean the darkness? The anomaly?"

"What you have seen is not an event in space. It is a type of entity. It is not known how it broke into our world of existence, but it seeks to end it, and in a way, it will. You are the last hope for the future. If you succeed in what you must do, you will be the only one in the universe to survive this."

"How will I know what to do?"

"I will show you what is going to happen next."

"But what can I do now? I don't know how to fight. I'm lying on the ground in the center of Ruvera's capital dying, and I've lost my vision."

"The orb is using the last of its energy to help you until you can unite with it."

"This is too crazy. I'm hallucinating."

"You're fine, Son. Now pay attention."

-o-

Trevor heard yelling and suddenly realized it was his own voice. He shook it off, momentarily dazed. He was in a space station with a glowing orb in his hands. The pain was gone. He was alive, and he felt great. Healed.

Everyone in the room was staring at him.

"Well, I know you've seen how to use it." Velkas strode toward him.

Trevor shrugged as he looked around with his blind eyes closed. The scene was pretty close to what his father had told him it would be.

Velkas sighed and made to grab the Void Star when Trevor pulled back.

"Now. I don't want to remind you what happens when you resist me." Velkas nodded toward the crumpled body of Glade. Render was toying with the gun in her hands, shaking her head.

Trevor lamented the fallen warrior. He hoped Glade had found his peace. He put the star in his jacket and removed a piece of his shredded coat. After tying it around his eyes, he turned back to Velkas. "You'll never touch it again."

Velkas laughed. This kid had gall. "Oh really? Watch this." He was just about to give the order to have him killed...

Then, something hit the floor. It was followed by a metallic rolling sound, like a metal bowling ball. It thumped into a wall away from the main crowd of people and continued on.

"Now what is this?" Velkas called. "I hate surprises."

Render went toward the sound. From a dark corner, she came back with an odd-looking metal ball. "I'm not sure what it is."

"Boost," Nathan whispered unconsciously.

A scream burst from the little contraption. Glass shattered throughout the room as eardrums fought to stay intact. Everyone in the room dropped from the screech. Then a shock wave burst from it. All the computers, lights, screens, anything electric exploded, cracked, or blanked out.

Nathan had had the layout memorized since arriving. He grabbed both little aliens, Dosh and Raxus, as the room opened with laser fire, just as his vision said to.

In the powerless dark, he could see just a glimmer from the Void Star and was happy to see it vanish up ahead. Even though Trevor couldn't see, he knew where he was going too.

They both clamored down the hall. The vision Nathan had witnessed had been clear on what to do. They turned before they reached the long hallway toward the private ship bay. The emergency lights came on.

"You know where you're going?"

"I think so," Trev answered from in front. He was looking around like he could see. They burst through another hallway.

They continued through until they breached a guarded post. The soldiers were scrambling in the secret chamber they were in.

Trevor took them both out so quickly Nathan didn't even think it was a human moving. He caught the orb as it fell back into his waiting hands. Since when did he know how to fight? How can he see?

Nathan chased after him as they entered the hidden ship bay. It was just big enough for one ship: Dacian Velkas's personal ship.

The engines fired up, and the door opened for them.

Trev and Nathan ran up the entry stairs. Trevor jumped into the pilot's seat. "Good job, Boost."

Boost was worse for wear, but still in relatively decent shape for something that had been blown up, and had made his way back onto Render's ship before it left.

Nathan released the little Salarian, who gratefully buckled up. He looked like he was just happy to get out of the Ruveran's clutches, no matter who was releasing him. He laid Raxus down and strapped him in too and then made his way back to the cockpit.

Boost started to get up as usual, when Nathan stopped him.

"Captain?" Boost was motioning that he needed to take his seat.

"I'm staying."

Trevor turned to face his uncle. With an eyebrow raised, he asked, "Time to level the score?"

"It's not just about revenge anymore. I saw something when I touched it. Everything that's happened since Aquaria was foreseen: you finally growing up, me finding love again, Glade finding his honor. It's all part of some greater plan. Now, I have one last part to play. I have to kill Velkas before something terrible comes to pass."

Trevor gave him a knowing look and couldn't hide a half smile.

Nathan sighed. "Fine. Yes, it's about revenge too."

"I figured as much. I guess this is it, Uncle Nathan."

The gruff old space captain held his hand out. Trevor shook it. "You're a good man. I know why you were chosen for this. I always knew you had potential. Good luck." He dropped something in his hands.

"Good luck to you too," Trevor nodded.

They shared one more gruff shake, and then Nathan jumped out and closed the entry door.

"Ready, Boost?"

Boost looked at Trevor's blindfold and kept his questions to himself. "I have no idea what is going on."

"Welcome to the club." Trev looked down in his lap and saw the Nymarian's data pad. The last cipher had already been broken. He opened the last compartment, and a hologram displayed his face. Had his uncle known all along? Is that what Cleph had whispered to him?

Trevor took the craft's controls, seeing far beyond what his human vision ever had.

Outside the ship, Nathan ran back to a ventilation shaft and paused to steal one glance back. The ship had blown a hole through the outside of the dome and flown through.

"Go get 'em, kid." Then he turned back to his own task.

## Part Three:

As Darkness Meets Light

"Rysta, you may have been right. The capability is there in this human. But time has run out. I feel the Dark One coming from all corners of the universe. We are all that is left."

"Mykia. Remember, he's a human. The first thing you should know is they always come through when you least expect it. They love last second heroics."

## Chapter 24

Trevor brought the controls forward as the way in front of them transformed from a closed door to shredded metal. "Just keep shooting, Booster." They blew through the command center in a fresh explosion.

Trevor was having difficulty with the controls as they scraped through the last of the opening. This was harder than Nathan made it look, especially without his normal human sight.

The ship was in open air within the most secure part of the space station. Of course it would be guarded against something coming in, but what about something getting out? The command section had just suffered a massive EMP. Would they be watching yet? Too many unknowns and no other choices.

Trevor fired at the large bay door blocking their way. They flew into a massive super city. He wished it looked familiar. Unfortunately, he'd been in and out during that portion of his day.

Feeling so good was taking some getting used to. Whatever energy his father had tried to tap into that powered the star was otherworldly. It was like a supercharged, full-sugar energy drink "go" pill. The parasite was dead. He could feel that much. But that wasn't the only effect.

In the bustling part of the super city, a Ruveran officer looked up from the crowd. He thought he'd heard gunfire before everything fell dead silent again. He went to put it out of his mind, when the massive wall leading to the military district exploded toward him. Master Velkas's ship blew right through it. Before he or anyone else could react, it was gone.

"I think we're going to be okay, Boost." Blind to the visual world, Trevor took Velkas's ship between skyscrapers and under the main tramline and then began firing at the next series of blockades.

"We're nearing the lower section." Boost pointed a few hundred meters ahead. The bottom led back to a view of the galaxy, which meant it was a way out.

Trev took careful aim at the glass and timed it so the explosion and their exit were one and the same. The autoshield slammed shut behind them as they came through.

"That was close."

"I see a lot of defensive turrets on us." Boost was searching the outside structure.

"They aren't going to fire on their leader's ship." That was more of a hope that the EMP still had them chasing their tails.

"Incoming," the computer warned in Ruveran.

"Scratch that." Trevor pulled the sticks over to barrel roll. The ship responded quickly and went into a spin.

The laser-guided weapons screamed toward them.

"This could be a short trip." Trev stared at the volley coming right at them.

Right in front of them, a small fleet of battleships appeared out of light speed. They opened up their lasers on them. The blasts struck everything around Velkas's ship.

Trevor looked down at his screen and saw the first volley of weapons had vanished from the screen.

"Thought you could use a hand," Fox came over guard frequency.

Trev had no clue how they were able to identify it was him and not Velkas. Maybe it was an educated guess after hearing the screamer. Or they had great life scanners. "We need you to keep them off us so we can light-jump."

"We'll try."

The Elysian battleships were releasing thousands of little fighters that were already opening up on the _Razerus_. Counter to that, Ruveran battleships were disengaging from the _Razerus_ and arriving from hidden points throughout the galaxy. Trevor crossed the threshold of Elysian ships and continued on. They streamed past him going the opposite way. A large space battle was about to begin.

"Where we going?" Boost dialed up the NAV computer.

"Where this all started. We're going to the Salarian world of Vale."

Trevor waited for the drive to max out, and then he engaged the hyper-jump. In seconds, they were gone.

## Chapter 25

The ship lurched as it reached the end of the light jump. Trevor looked down at a world that seemed much like Earth. It had a natural atmosphere, oceans, mountains, lakes, islands, and so on. His heart ached at the thought. He pulled on the controls and shot the spacecraft at it.

The Salarian joined them inside the cockpit. "Where is Cleph'thera?"

Trevor grimaced. "He crashed into Aquaria and died later of the injuries he sustained. I'm sorry."

The creature was unable to hide his sadness. "He was a good friend." Then he brightened when he put it into perspective. "Well, at least _you_ found _us_."

Trevor flipped the planetary entry gauge down.

"I will do the rest of my part by showing you where you need to go. I'm Dosh, son to the Guardian of the Temple, Keeper of the Star."

"That's great, Dosh. Well, we need to land first, and technically, this is my first, so I'd buckle up." The ship began to lurch as they entered Vale's outer atmosphere. A mixture of temperature differential, turbulence, and wind shear tried to pry control away from Trevor.

Dosh could not believe his luck in finding the chosen one. What was odd, he thought, was that it told him to take it off the planet to begin with. But then if he had never tried to leave with it, he wouldn't have used the beacon that involved the Eckelions, which brought in the humans, who routed the Ruverans and then returned to this starting point. There must have been much more to the story. A pattern that had to play out. He turned and watched a red light start to flash.

"Another ship is tracking on us." Boost pointed to the radar.

"Nya..." Trevor said to himself. "Let's hope she crashes."

"Nearing planetary threshold." Boost dialed back the engines.

"We'll have to perform a rapid-D to shake her."

"A rapid descent will pull this ship apart."

"She'll hold," Trevor said.

"Incoming!" Boost called out.

The ship took a massive hit that shot her forward. The panels flickered on and off, some not returning. They had taken a killer blow, but paranoid Velkas had to have the strongest ship imaginable.

"Oh no," Dosh said from the back. A large contingency of weapons clawed at them again.

"Releasing all countermeasures." Trevor punched several red switches on the middle console. Velkas's ship responded with a bombardment of mines, countermissiles, and walls. They coughed out in a mess.

"She's disengaging," Boost announced. He paused. "There is a fire in avionics. Should I get it?"

"No. Just hang on. This is going to be rough." He turned to look at Dosh. "What position is this place at?"

Dosh yelled the numbers above the scream of the air speeding up to meet them. Trevor typed them in.

"We're in the outer atmosphere, coming in hot." Trevor pulled a switch on the side console. "I don't think we have a way to slow down. Emergency spoilers out." The ship tried to slow. He paused. "How far to our destination?"

"We are ten thousand meters from the indicated position." Boost pointed to the guidance.

They burst through the lower atmosphere. Trevor did his best to float her down.

At ten thousand feet above ground, they were going too fast to crash land, let alone perform a normal landing. The point on the display now read six thousand meters from their destination and continued to fall rapidly.

"We're too fast to land," Boost began.

"We'll be fine," Trevor claimed.

The ship continued screaming across the landscape. They passed a massive spaceport built on a mountain. They flew over forests, oceans, and ancient remains of cities long lost.

"We're overshooting."

"I know." Trevor pulled the guidance computer off the console. "Time to abandon ship!" he yelled. "Autopilot engaged." He unbuckled himself, and the others followed suit.

As they passed the avionics compartment, Trev, holding his breath against the smoke, reached into the avionics bay and disengaged the power core for the ship's weapons system. He placed it in a case. Boost picked up the still body of Raxus and carried the Eckelion into the escape pod where Trevor and Dosh waited. When they were all inside and accounted for, Boost closed the door.

As soon as the portable ship display reached below one thousand and the case was tied down tight, Trevor hit eject.

The escape pod immediately shot out. Even though they were all strapped down, their bodies were thrown toward the max their safety harnesses would go. The g-force pushed hard against Trev's chest and almost made him lose what little was in his stomach. It was hard enough to jolt the Eckelion back to consciousness. He woke up to a surprise fall.

Trevor tried to get used to his new sight, watching the ground as it sped ever closer. It looked like they were tumbling in an uncontrolled free fall.

They spun and swirled riding the high winds down until the autorelease on the pod's chutes engaged. It came to an immediate stop and floated gently down.

When they finally landed in a large grass field, Trevor and Boost popped the pod top and helped pull the others out. When he was back breathing the fresh air outside, Dosh saw the remains of his own ship, which had crashed in the nearby forest. How long ago had that happened?

The Eckelion was still trying to piece things together. "Where am I?"

"Glad you're with us," Trevor answered.

Raxus's fear subsided when he saw the Salarian was there too. "Dosh?"

"Raxus." The Salarian gave him a quick hug.

"I intercepted your beacon and was able to get the Void Star back."

Dosh pointed to the human. "This is the human we've been looking for."

"I know. The star showed me," Raxus said. He looked to be in as much disbelief as Dosh. "I only have one more task to perform."

"Me too," Dosh agreed.

Then a familiar ship reappeared on the horizon.

"It's Render..." Dosh couldn't hide his fear.

"Great. Now what?" Trev asked himself.

He wasn't able to answer; he was too busy watching two smoke trails burst from the craft and speed toward them. They were two laser-guided missiles.

## Chapter 26

Trevor searched the terrain for any sign of hope and found none; the grass valley was hopelessly devoid of cover. There was a riverbed, but there was no way it could protect them. There were odd-looking lightning rods littering the valley; they were basically long metal poles standing around uselessly. But they were nowhere close.

The missiles closed in.

The group watched as the first missile burst midair and then, just as suddenly, the second.

Trevor turned to the lightning towers. They were much higher, with large cylindrical bodies beneath them. They were anti-aircraft turrets.

"My people must have fixed our defenses," Dosh told them.

"Clearly," Trev said, though he was thankful.

"I wonder how they knew..." Dosh let the thought drop. "We're not far." He pointed to a spot where a river spilled into a lake. "My people must be manning the defenses. We'll have to do the rest ourselves."

They ran down the open field. Dosh led the way with the others on his heels.

On any other occasion, the green valley would have made for a nice day trip. The weather was perfect, the air cool. The smell of the ocean blew past them from some faraway shore. The smell reminded Trevor of Aquaria.

The thought brought back multiple images of what had happened since the beginning of all this. The Salarian had been imprisoned for trying to help him. The Nymarian with the data pad, Kaida, Glade—all died for a cause that ultimately centered around him. He couldn't let them down.

The defensive turrets continued their barrage against the lone Ruveran fighter. Several fiery explosions rang through the air. When Trev looked back, he couldn't see Nya's ship. He didn't think they could hit her. She would never go down so easily.

They huffed it all the way down until they finally reached a point at the front of the lake.

Dosh pulled up a section of ground and revealed a small room beneath. "Wait here."

The ground began to shake beneath them. The water of the lake started rippling and then bubbling up.

Dosh reappeared. "That'll do it."

From the center of the body of water, the top of a structure emerged. It came up slowly and loudly. A machine was screaming from underground somewhere. The lake separated itself from the long building that arose.

"This is the temple. It used to be hidden in the sky, but it was brought down during the Great Valian Rebellion. Our great ancestor Dego engineered a way to hide it again after we lost the war." Dosh motioned for them to follow as soon as a walkway appeared. Stone blocks emerged from the depths of the lake to connect the shore to the temple.

They sped up their pace.

Trevor looked over his shoulder.

He now saw a field of destroyed turrets and a single fighter opening on them. The laser fire seemed to hit a hidden barrier surrounding the lake. They pinged off harmlessly.

"Don't worry. She won't be able to get us with electronics," Dosh told them.

Unable to strike at them, the ship spun around and dropped. In a hurry, it landed by the stone walkway. Render popped out when she landed.

"She's motivated." Trevor turned back forward. The group reached the nave of the temple and went in.

"I'll need time to activate the device," Trev said.

"I can help you," Raxus said.

"I will do my best to seal the temple in time and slow her down if I can." Dosh nodded. "Now you must do your part. You have to stop the darkness."

"I will slow her down too," Boost added. "I don't see another use for me."

"You've done admirably, Booster." Trevor patted the scraped-up robot's head. "And thank you too." He told the Salarian.

Boost even looked like he was smiling at the compliment. Then, Trev nodded his thanks again to both of them and ran deeper into the unknown.

-o-

Nathan continued to crawl through the vents. He and his team were able to escape in the chaos, but the Ruverans would have things together by now. Velkas would be under lock and key.

Stranded on _Razerus_ , there wasn't even a slim chance he would survive this. Finally, at long last, his journey would be over. The Void Star promised a closure he would never have expected. He would always love Maura and Arilyn, but his heart had found someone else and they would be together again shortly.

"It's okay." Nathan heard from up ahead. The musical sound of her voice filled his heart with a new strength to continue forward.

He crawled through and looked down the crawlspace. Up ahead, Kaida was motioning for him to follow. She had the look of a flesh-and-blood person but with a slight glow, close to what had happened to Trevor had Nathan seen the same thing. She smiled at him to let him know it was okay. "C'mon. I know the way."

He didn't want to yell, so he merely asked, "How is this possible?" Even though he had seen the future, he still couldn't believe it.

"Anything is possible." She started down the duct she was near.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I had the chance," he said, following her. "I'm not one for romance." He paused to catch his breath.

Kaida giggled up ahead. "I didn't think you were."

"That night inside my room at the _Helcarion_ , I—"

"I know. Me too." Kaida laughed to herself as she went. "Of course, now you're one to talk."

Nathan saw her legs swing up an access ladder and go up. He followed.

"Do you know where you're going?" he asked.

"Of course. I'm helping you," she said simply.

His mind went back to what the Void Star had showed him. No matter what he did, he was going to be reunited with his loved ones. He would hold Kaida in his arms again. But there was one more thing he had to try to do before that happened.

"We're almost there," Kaida said, still climbing.

Nathan continued to follow and readied himself for his final battle.

## Chapter 27

"Armiger, I have two more...make that three more enemy battleships jumping out of hyperspace. We are cloaked but not for much longer. What are your orders, sir?" Lieutenant Clemons had an open line to the fleet, ready to act.

"Fire everything, including all X-13's."

"Did you hear that? Destroy everything we can and use all special weapons!" Clemons yelled.

Outside the _Helcarion_ , the agile Valian fleet attacked the massive space world of _Razerus_. Orange spikes injured the goliath but couldn't bring it down. Their fighters buzzed around the great ship but only looked to pester it. Action filled the screens, but the Ruverans barely noticed their presence.

Fox looked out the viewing port. Since parting ways with Nathan and his crew, his fleet had jumped nearly into the anomaly itself. From then, they'd been trying to outrun it. Wherever they had tried to move and regroup, there it was coming from another corner of the universe. Until the screamer had been activated, they'd had few places left to go. The dark tidal cloud had them all surrounded, including those on board _Razerus_.

"What of the anomaly?" Fox asked, refusing to call it what it appeared to be.

"It has completely surrounded this galaxy cluster. There will be no escape, sir," Clemons responded.

They were going to find out what happened when the real fox finally caught the rabbit.

The late Armiger, rest his soul, would call everyone back to be with their families in their last moments. But his father had also wanted them to fight this last fight even if they didn't survive it, and that was what they were going to do. Either from Ruvera or from the anomaly, it was all going to end here.

For some reason, Fox remembered something Nathan had told him once during the war. "If you knew you were going to die, why not take as many enemies with you? Your fate has already been decided, so you have nothing to lose." Then he'd added, "C'mon, Fox, wouldn't you rather die on the battlefield than as an old man in bed?"

Now what should _his_ last orders be?

Fox looked far through space and saw the darkness speeding toward them. He went to his intercom and opened a channel to the fleet. Another Valian ship had been hit with a rift cannon and was lost. Nearby Valians opened up on the Breaker that had done it.

"Attention Fleet, this is your Armiger. I want to commend you on your service. It was a pleasure serving with you these last several years. Trying to overcome our enemy is never a loss. My orders are to take out as many enemies as you can before the anomaly robs you of that joy. I'll see you on the other side, Ladies and gentlemen. That is all."

He put his com unit down. His forces fought with a stronger vigor. An injured Valian ship used itself to batter into the _Razerus_. When it hit, the thunderous explosion took out an entire wing of the station.

Fox turned from the battle and watched the darkness come. He thought it funny they were all suddenly relying on the Void Star. He just hoped that it was everything they thought it was.

-o-

"There we go," Velkas said as his screens came back online.

A fleet of his fighters were engaged in battle as the mass of black appeared. The thing, if that was even what it could be called, reached out and consumed a nearby planet. In a second, its mouth reached around, and it was gone. His fighters reached the spreading mass and had two moments to fire on it before they just...disappeared.

Uncloaking, Velkas saw the Elysian command ship was between _Razerus_ and the mass. The blackness came at it in waves and hugged it, eating at it, and then it was torn apart. The Elysians were no more.

He balked at it. Everything was going just like it had told him it would. His thoughts turned to his own self-preservation. So maybe he had tried to double-cross the darkness back there when he tried to open the star and not destroy it, but hey, if it knew him so well, it would've known he'd do that. There wasn't any way to know for sure where his current standings were. He just hoped the thing known as Abel went easy on him.

Something clanged behind him. When he turned, he saw the last thing he'd expected. It was then that he suddenly remembered he had sent his guards away so he could watch the apocalypse alone. And where was his useless daughter when he needed her?

"Captain Sutherland? Really?"

Nathan pulled out the gun he'd picked off the guards. He didn't utter another word before he pulled the trigger and discharged the full capacity of the weapon into Velkas. Velkas took the hit and went flying across the room, slamming into the opposite wall. Nathan tossed the weapon aside and ran to his adversary's side.

Velkas was a broken mess, already bleeding all over his nice rug.

"Didn't even...say a word...before..." Velkas looked up; blood was running down his face, pooling behind his head.

"I didn't want to waste time bantering with you." Nathan pulled himself back up. "This isn't the final scene in a story."

Outside, the massive dark force reached the _Razerus XIII_. The defenses didn't even react. Technically, there wasn't anything there to react to, it being the absence of existence. It hit the station. Nathan saw it tearing through as each camera screen blinked off.

It was ripping through the station like a starving lion.

Nathan could hear laughter below him. He looked down to watch Velkas coughing up blood. Between bouts of bloody spit, he giggled in raspy tones. "You have no idea who you're up against."

"You know what it is?" Nathan crouched over him.

Velkas gasped for air. "A force of unspeakable evil. An unstoppable entity. That which cannot be overcome."

The lights were going out in Velkas's eyes. Blood continued to flow from his open mouth, but his stare went blank.

Nathan had done it. Even at the premature end of his life, he had killed the ruler of the Ruveran Empire.

After the last fight outside Earth, he'd been inches from taking out Velkas's ship but allowed him get away. The shock of watching his planet torn apart had sent him into a mad daze. He'd ordered the retreat. He had pushed his ship to its limit and crashed outside Bastion where everyone was gathering. He had gotten more of his men killed and lost his leg in the crash landing. Then he'd gone on the run with his nephew. Until this moment.

There lay Velkas at last. Dead by his hands. Was it revenge or redemption? Did it even matter? It felt too good to not be revenge.

Something odd caught his eye in that moment. Nathan leaned down and picked up a simple piece of dirt Velkas had been holding. If he wasn't mistaken, it was a piece of Earth. There was no way to be sure, but it somehow felt like it was. He tossed it aside. There was no need to lament his home anymore when so many had been lost.

Suddenly, the walls disappeared, and he was surrounded by the dark mass. It was swirling like a vortex around both him and Velkas's dead body, as if they were the last two objects in the universe.

Out of the darkness came a lone figure in dark robes. He ignored Nathan as he knelt by Velkas and put a hand on his chest.

"You're not going to die yet. You have just begun serving me." The figure told the dead body.

The blackness entered into Velkas, and he became something...else. He screamed as he returned to life, enveloped in shadow.

"It's time to go home." Kaida appeared again by his side.

"I failed."

"It'll all work out." She grabbed onto him and held on. He could smell her and feel her against him. He kissed her cheek and clutched her tight.

Then the darkness swallowed them all.

-o-

Boost stood on the other side of the walkway and waited for Dosh to activate the door.

"There's just not enough power. We used the last of it to bring the temple up out of hiding!" Dosh cried.

Boost visually broke down the opponent coming at them. She was armed with an old-style diamond blade. She had ditched all other weapons. She walked forward as though nothing could stop her.

"We have to give him as much time as possible," Boost told him. He went over everything his master Nathan had taught him about fighting. His focus rested on the woman's helmet. Besides hiding her disfigurement, there were life-support components to it. It would do.

Dosh came out from behind the door with crude-looking weapons. "We have these."

"That will work," Boost said, arming himself.

"Strange. This is where my vision ends," Dosh admitted.

Boost had no idea what the Salarian was talking about, but he had learned enough about social behavior to answer the creature's statement. "We're good."

Dosh gave him a confused look so Boost shrugged. He had tried.

Boost looked up fast enough to see the sun of this galaxy get swallowed by the darkness. They had a handful of moments before they were swallowed up into the mass too. This could be the last bastion in the universe.

Dosh and Boost zeroed in on the oncoming enemy. Boost picked the spot Nathan would have told him to go for and attacked.

## Chapter 28

Trevor left the nave and entered the main chamber. It was a circular structure with a platform in the center. Metal circles were perched evenly near the room's ceiling, resting in deep, recessed tracks. Looking at it, he wasn't sure what it did. In the center was a stone platform covered in light dirt. Odd statues of aliens he had never seen before highlighted the walls. The place smelled of wet sand. The walls and floor ran with water from the lake it had rested under.

"The machine is dead," Raxus noted.

"That's what this drive core is for. A jump-start." Trevor said.

Trevor ran to the middle and pulled up the access panel. He set the case next to it.

Raxus watched as Trev struggled with the wiring. He looked like he was trying to find the power relay.

"I don't understand why I wasn't shown how to do this," Trevor said angrily.

Raxus finally understood his part. Scribes were also mechanical engineers. "Allow me."

Trevor let the Eckelion get to work. Raxus scanned over the system and popped open the case. The little blue man hooked wires here and there. Then he disappeared below ground. Raxus panned through the system network and realized he had his work cut out for him.

Trevor took his surroundings in. The metal disc tracks spiraled to a point in the ceiling as though it opened up from inside.

That was when Trevor heard the faint clatter of metal on metal. There was a battle going outside the chamber. He wanted to go and help them, but the Void Star was whispering to him in his mind to wait. That it was almost over.

"There we go." Raxus plugged the drive core into the main power relay.

The large room shuddered violently like in an earthquake, nearly knocking them both off their feet.

An electric bolt surged from the system, striking Raxus back. He took the overcharge to the chest but was otherwise unharmed. His robes were smoking at his breast. He shook it off and pulled himself together. He scaled the way back up.

The metal discs above them rumbled grudgingly and then started to move. Mud dropped at points throughout the room, caked on from centuries of disuse.

Trev opened his pack and brought the Void Star out. It was streaking alive with light.

The discs were moving along their tracks much faster and speeding up.

That was when Trevor realized the sounds from outside the chamber had ceased. He turned, and there was Nya.

She had removed her helmet. Something had damaged it. She was sweating with a streak of blood across the good side of her face. Behind her was the fallen body of Dosh, he was bleeding out, weak and watching. Rooting him on with his eyes. Boost's figure was sparking and dismembered.

"What we started that night ends now." Her voice was like rough sandpaper, as it truly was.

"You always had to win."

Trevor handed the star to Raxus, who ran off to the other side of the room with it. He hid behind one of the scary stone figures.

Trev took a defensive fighting stance. "Ready?"

Nya could only laugh at the unarmed young man. He had never learned how to fight. His weakness was one of his most charming aspects. And he was a blind man wearing a blind. Nya didn't even want to react to the insult that he remotely stood a chance here. She brought her diamond blade up and went after him.

She swung the blade at his neck with her fastest strike. As it went to connect, he seemed to vanish. As she sensed him to her lower left, she struck again. Then he was at her right, rolling back. She dove at him again. He flipped over the attack, and suddenly, she felt his boot hitting the back of her head, sending her into the platform at the center of the room.

She was vaguely aware of the discs spiraling around them now at insane speeds and the electric lights that were bursting to life all around them, sending sparks into the gathering ball of light in the middle. The temple was coming back to life.

Nya searched around and saw him waiting for her. She circled around, looking for the perfect moment to strike.

"I thought you were the best fighter in the universe, Render."

"I am."

"I doubt it. It's probably just another one of your acts. Spy. Crappy fighter. You probably use autopilot to do all those fancy maneuvers."

"I loathed every minute I had to spend with you," she spat back.

"I was going to call the relationship off when I thought you blew up. You were a terrible lover even when you had your looks." The statement was mostly true.

She felt the scar that took up her face and screamed as she rolled forward. She gave the direct point of her blade all the force she could muster behind it to kill the insolent cretin. In a flash of movement, Trevor kicked the blade from her hands and used his other leg to kick her off her feet back toward the center platform. The sword spun out of both their reaches.

"Render, what does that even mean?" He continued to move around her.

"It was an old call sign from my training. What does it matter?"

"I guess it doesn't."

Nya didn't see the lights of the room and the spinning disc that were all feeding into an explosion of light. Nya was focused dead on him. She kept making fists and cracking her knuckles as she continued to size him up.

"It's just that I can't believe I wasted time mourning you. You are poison. I wish I had known who you really were."

"We poisoned each other," she rasped, running a hand across her scarred neck.

"That is how _you_ would see it."

Hand-to-hand, she came next. He ducked and weaved, avoiding every strike she tried. As she grew fatigued, he only seemed to become faster. He blocked, ducked, and dived into a spin to parry again. It was unbelievable with his eyes unseeing. Breaths were becoming harder to get as her oxygen feed had been broken by the weird robot.

Meanwhile, the temple was erupting with activity. The ceiling rumbled to life. It spun within hidden tracks and opened slowly. The sky appeared above them. The afternoon sky was black and getting ever darker. The darkness was dividing into thousands of arms and then diving down from all corners of the galaxy at them. The only light came from within the temple.

"It's time!" the little alien yelled. Everything was up and running.

Nya almost went to punt the little thing, when her last strike caught air again. The diamond blade reappeared, skidding back between them. She saw the sword get kicked up and momentarily disappear. Then after a flash of movement she felt a pressure in her chest, sharp and deep.

She looked down at her own sword. The one she had used to kill countless enemies of Ruvera, including Scott Andrews.

"My father's soul can rest," Trevor said. He kicked her legs out, and she fell.

She reached up to draw the sword out and then fell back. Struggled to gasp, she didn't get back up. She tried to find another breath, but death found her instead.

The Eckelion handed the star back to Trevor. Above them, tentacles of darkness were reaching out for them.

Trev threw the Void Star into the pulsing light. In the center of it all, there was an explosion. The container burst open. A shock wave of light burst from it, and then a streak of light exploded upward to meet the darkness. The two forces hit each other, and the shock reverberated out. It flickered into a myriad of colors.

"Did it work?" Raxus asked.

The Eckelion looked up and saw the darkness was still coming. It had slowed somewhat as though the light wasn't strong enough to battle it anymore. It was giving them time to do something, but what?

The light in the center of the room turned a hot-blue hue. Raxus scrambled back from the heat. With his mouth agape, he watched an entity come from the blinding light. It was like something that resembled a blank spirit with indiscernible arms, legs, body, and head—the Avari from his vision. It was a creature born of light.

In a soft voice, it said, "Now...we become one."

The light creature entered Trevor's chest.

Raxus watched as the human began to glow. Trevor looked down at his hands and saw they were bright with balls of energy flying around them. His eyes were aglow with unimaginable power, showing through his blind. They turned on Raxus. "Thank you for your help. It's time for me to go."

"You're leaving? What about everything we've all done? You have to stop the darkness."

"And I will. This world is lost. I have to go back and make sure this dark future doesn't come to pass. That is the true purpose of the Void Star. If I succeed, everything will have a chance to go back to the way it was before the Dark One found a way into our world."

The young man reached a hand up, and a portal opened within the energy beam in the middle.

Raxus could see the black arms of death reaching down for them. He understood then that Trevor was right. There wasn't anyone left to save. They were all that remained.

Just then, the ground stopped shaking. The lips of darkness were reaching from horizon to horizon and from the sky.

Raxus didn't know what to say as the human jumped into the portal. It looked like he was ripped into a thousand pieces by the light, and then...he was gone.

Darkness came suddenly and swallowed the walls.

Moments before Raxus ceased to exist, he saw a black figure burst from the darkness. It was a beast made up of shadows. When it saw him, its mane of white hair appeared eerily human. The creature entered the light portal and disappeared inside as the portal closed.

Then he and everything else was gone.

## Epilogue

Beams of light rushed past him. Clouds of energy and indiscernible colors washed over him. He was whole, and yet he was not. Trevor was a part of it, flowing along the seams of power, awash with a thousand unknowable things.

He could feel familiar echoes all around, bits of pieces of the things he had known. His father was somewhere out there, telling him he was okay. A gruffer persona and lighter, fluffier one passed through to somewhere else.

He could almost hear his uncle Nathan's voice. "You did it, kid. Now get ready for the next part." And then he was gone.

The creature he was now a part of fed him strength. Whatever the thing was, it was the type of figure that led others.

"I still don't understand what I'm supposed to do."

Trevor became aware there were other beings of light around him. They gave out similar calls but different feelings. They hungered to find their own chosen one.

Then he could hear the commanding voice within him communicate with the others.

"I have the first. Now you must find the other ones we need," his creature of light said. "We'll all meet at the Origin. Be prepared, the Dark One has created a beast to hinder us. Hopefully, my friends, we will see each other again."

One felt like it joked back; another answered angrily; and a third softly indicated it would miss them. Then, Trevor could feel the creatures leaving them. They were exiting the tunnel of light he was falling through. Then they were alone together.

"Why aren't we going with them?" he asked the voice within.

"A human cannot exit the stream from within. You have to wait until the door opens for you."

"When is that?"

A fourth creature of light interrupted them. Whatever it was saying was contrary to what the leader wanted.

His creature spoke to this one too. "Why must you always fight me Mykia? We Avari were created for this purpose. You are bound to the one known as Tyvella. I know you already feel him. You are united in spirit. You will meet up with him there on Earth at the correct moment, 513 years from where we just left. Then open the door for us on Vale before the rebellion begins. I will have a better plan then. Mind the timeline and beware the forces of the Dark One until we meet again."

Trevor couldn't make out the thing's reply, but he could tell it was apprehensive whether it had chosen well. It disappeared too. When he heard Rysta say 'Tyvella', it sounded like 'Traveler' in his mind.

So they were going to Earth somewhere in the past? The rebellion on Vale? Rysta couldn't be talking about the legendary fall of Vale, could he?

"Well, we still have a long way to go. I will answer all your questions in time. I can see you are uncertain that your friends' sacrifices were for a purpose."

Trevor couldn't hide his thoughts from this creature. Nathan, Kaida, Glade, Dosh, Raxus, and even Boost had all sacrificed for a cause they barely understood, for a cause he wasn't so clear about himself.

"I cannot lie. I don't know how your choices will ultimately play out, but at least there will be a future to return to. But first, we must succeed in what we do next. Others like you must rise to the challenge. The Dark One will eventually find a way to reach backward in time to stop us. I will explain more as we go along."

Trevor didn't want to ask any more questions for now. He was mentally exhausted. It had been a long journey since watching the ocean on the shores of Aquaria, running from the Ruveran Empire, escaping _Razerus_ , almost dying from a parasite, avenging his father's death, and then going into a portal of light to who knew where. He wasn't ready to start thinking about the future depending on him.

He merely floated through the ethereal plane, letting himself feel the rush of pulsing light and have his much-deserved rest. He had to prepare for the next leg of the journey, screaming backward through time to unite with the one known as the Traveler.

Acknowledgements

Thank you all who support me, especially my wife Justine. Thanks Graphiczxdesigns, you did a fantastic cover. Createspace editor Lora, you were perfectly suited for the work you put into this manuscript. But the biggest thanks you goes to you reader. I hope you enjoyed the ride. Let me know your thoughts, especially if you saw something I can fix (j.p.yager@hotmail.com).

Now, I look forward to completing the next leg of this adventure and many others with new heroes and new stories to tell. We'll see what the future holds for this series and others I have in the works. Until then.

—J.P.Yager

www.OtterBored.com
