 
### Prequel:

### Chapter I

We all have to do hard things from time to time. That's just the nature of life and the universe. Sometimes a person can go a long time with everything seemingly free and easy; the entire world just falls into place. But every so often, we're thrown an obstacle that needs to be overcome or a test that needs passing. It happens to everyone, and how we handle these challenges is what defines a person. Dyamatti was all too aware of this.

When the princess was a young girl, her father, the great King Laurenitis, would often school her about such things. And the harsh nature of life, well, those were the types of lessons he would drill into her hardest of all. She always figured it was because he desired that she have the tools necessary to make the challenges that lie ahead at least somewhat manageable. She knew he did it only because he loved her.

The King always knew that the young princess would one day have the weight of an entire people resting on her slender shoulders. But Dyamatti was no ordinary princess. She was no ordinary young girl, for that matter. She was Vunarri. And that meant that she would have been uniquely special even if she wasn't a princess.

Her powers over energy began to manifest themselves when the princess was an adolescent. The palace doctors ran a myriad of tests on her the minute strange occurrences started to happen, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except of course, for the strange mutation in Dyamatti's genetic code. There was a small extra bit where none should be. But it didn't really appear to be harming anything or serving any real purpose. So the doctors sent the princess on her way, chalking everything up to her being nothing more than a less-than-graceful young lady.

At first it seemed harmless enough. Her passing by a holo-monitor or light source would cause the device to glow wildly before shorting out and falling dark. But things took a turn for the dramatic when she caused the engines on the royal yacht to overcharge by nearly a thousand percent. The mercury engine's manifolds blew out from the excess of raw power and the star-drive's primary plasma coupling melted as if it were nothing more than low-grade enlar. The incident stranded the royal family in deep space for nearly three days until the yacht could be towed back to Alpheena for repairs. There could be no doubt about it. Dyamatti was Vunarri; one of the famed and feared Elemental Witches.

Most people of the Empire simply regarded the tales of Vunarri as nothing more than urban myth and silly superstition. But the people of Alpheena suspected there was more to the stories. There were simply too many strange tales and holographic evidence for there not to be something going on. Officially, the government had no comment on the matter, but that only served to make people more curious and believe that the King, and possibly even the Empire, was hiding something.

There were said to be at least four types of witches. The first type had complete control over water and possibly other types of liquids as well. Another type was believed to be able to wield fire and flame as if such forces were merely an extension of the witch's own body. Then there were those who could seemingly move objects with nothing more than a thought. And lastly, there were the witches who could manipulate energy in all its various forms. They were considered to be the most powerful of all Vunarri, and the most feared.

It was of the last type that princess found herself to be, and fortunately for her and those around her, she was able to gain control over her abilities before causing too much damage. However, much to the amazement of her parents and even herself, Dyamatti found that her powers were far greater than any of the other Vunarri she'd heard stories about. Making the fact that she never accidentally caused anyone great harm, or killed anyone, even that much more surprising.

It was because of her uniqueness that her father pressed even harder on her, in order to make her as strong and capable as she could be. Laurenitis was well versed in the game of politics and any weakness, or uniqueness, could be exploited by an adversary. The king was most determined that this was never going to happen to his daughter. Instead, he would see to it that she would grow up to be a wise and strong leader for her people. Sometimes that meant that the princess was subjected to less than desirable circumstances. Case in point: her latest assignment.

Most of the time Dyamatti was jetting across the cosmos doing her father's work, she was afforded the most deluxe transportation and accommodations that money could buy. Usually her primary task was visual service; meet this diplomat or that trade representative. All she had to do was look good in public. It was something the princess was a master of. Her elegant beauty and graceful charms won her fans across all the Empire.

But sometimes, however, she would have to get her hands more than a little dirty. On some missions Dyamatti would have to keep up appearances for the masses, but her true objectives were of a darker shade. Gathering secrets about foreign heads of state or keeping tabs on an untrustworthy rival can be dirty business, after all.

Although she was loath to use her powers on others, there wasn't always another option. Not only was it necessary to get out of some of the more sticky situations, her Vunarri powers were also indispensable when it came to covering her tracks.

For instance, her time on the Gleem home world was mostly well spent, save for the small altercation she and her entourage found themselves in when the Gleem representative caught the party trying to depart with some 'accidentally' obtained documents that would have given Alpheena an edge on the bidding wars for a new trade route through Gleem space.

When the awkward situation turned violent, Lt. Colonel Hastings' men did a valiant job of protecting the princess as always. But two of the assailants managed to get past the line of defense the bodyguards had created. Dyamatti, however, was more than able to fend for herself. With a quick flick of her hands, blue-green bolts of pure energy arced from her fingers and shot across the room. The bolts impacted on her attackers with concussive force, throwing them backwards across the room and incapacitating them. The other gleem, seeing what they were up against, decided that discretion was the better part of valor and hastily fled the scene, leaving Dyamatti and her party to return to Alpheena with the private documents unchallenged; after the princess used her powers to disable any holographic recording devices in the area, of course.

Aldarneeri was something completely different, though. The system was nearly a hundred and fifty light years from Alpheena, which was far further than the princess was accustomed to traveling. And unlike her usual forays, there would be no public appearances. To the contrary, this mission was to be as subdued and inconspicuous as possible. Dyamatti doubted if even her own mother knew where she really was and what she was doing. If anyone were to ask the princess about her actions, she was simply to state that she was attending a conference. And in a matter of speaking, that's exactly what she was doing.

Then there was the fact that the fate of the entire Empire would be riding on her success or failure. It was an uncomfortable proposition for sure, but the princess convinced herself that she was up to the challenge. Her gut and thoughts were loudly stating otherwise, though. And for the entire long journey to the Aldarneeri system, she was a nervous wreck. At least she could take some small comfort in the fact that on this venture she at least had a companion to share the risks with. It was one of her father's oldest and most trusted allies: Councilman Arazmus Tyra.

The old politician had been with her on many occasions in the past, but rarely did he partake in the more risky endeavors. And even when he did, it was usually to serve as nothing more than a distraction from what the princess was really up to. This time, though, Tyra was to be the primary contact when the Alpheenians arrived at the appointed coordinates for their clandestine meeting.

Such consolations were of little comfort to Dyamatti, however, as she silently paced back on forth inside her quarters. Tyra had been an invaluable asset to her in the past, but he was of little use if matters were to turn deadly. If that was to be the case, and the princess had every reason to think it could be, the old politician would become nothing more than an old man in need of saving. It would only make a bad situation worse.

It wasn't that the princess didn't believe in Tyra's skills. But there were so many different factors in play with this mission that the chances of everything going off completely without a hitch were very slim, indeed. Her father had learned that other parties may have somehow gotten wind of the Empire's actions. If that was truly the case, then it wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect that the meeting, however secret, might have already been compromised. There was a good chance that things might get out of hand rather quickly. Those were the undeniable facts and despite the princess' best efforts; she couldn't envision how any of them would complete this mission unscathed.

But whatever reservations Dyamatti held, they would have to be shoved aside. The Alpheenian vessel had arrived at the designated location and would be joined by the other secretive ship at any moment. Any doubts the princess had about the mission were now irrelevant. She had work to do.

And as if on cue, a voice broke through the silence on the ship's comm. "The Zyglarine ship has just come out of warp and is maneuvering to dock with us, Your Highness. It's time." it said.

"Understood, Colonel." The princess responded, trying to sound as confident as she could.

"Have the councilman meet me at the port airlock."

Usually the ship the princess traveled in was far larger than the vessel she was currently aboard. The idea behind a large, opulent ship was to make a powerful statement of imagery. The bigger and more powerful the starship, the bigger and more powerful the Alpheenians appeared. It was a simple idea, really. But the ship she chose for this journey was much smaller and far less imposing. The hope was that a vessel that looked unimposing would be viewed as such and hopefully ignored.

It wasn't long before all those needed were standing patiently at the port airlock: The princess, Councilman Tyra, and Colonel Hastings accompanied by three of his best soldiers.

Fortunately the party's wait was a short one, as soon there was a series of beeps emanating from the control console that was just to the right of the airlock hatch. The princess and the councilman both readied themselves and got into character.

Hastings calmly strode over to the console and activated its controls. A three-dimensional display popped up giving the colonel a holographic image of the party waiting just outside.

"Scanning..." he muttered as his fingers tapped the controls.

The holographic image focused on one of the Zyglarine party at a time, highlighting them as each was thoroughly scanned for any foreign items that might be a threat. When one Zyglarine was confirmed to be clear of any weapons, the console would emit a series of chirps before moving on to the next. There were five in all, which were completely scanned by Hastings before he sounded that all was clear.

Tyra glanced over at the princess and gave a nod. But as Dyamatti knew such a simple gesture was rarely so simple. Contained within that nod, Tyra conveyed a great deal. The time had come for the princess to fully embrace what the strange magnetic field of Alpheena had made her. From here on out, she would be more Vunarri than princess and the fate of billions of people within the Empire would be riding on her shoulders, and they would never even know it.

There was a brief countdown of beeps before the airlock doors pulled apart, revealing the group of Zyglarines standing on the other side. The princess noted that they looked rather unremarkable. Aside from only having four fingers on each hand, cone-shaped ears that were rather large compared to a human's, and a slight grayish-blue tinge to their skin, Dyamatti noticed that they looked about as nervous and uncomfortable as she felt.

"Councilman Tyra." the Zyglar in front said through his translation device, "it is such a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

"Likewise, Ambassador To'lok." Tyra replied politely, "I trust your journey here was uneventful."

"We weren't followed or tracked, if that's what you mean, Councilman." the ambassador quickly responded, knowing all too well what Tyra implied.

"Excellent. Then we can begin." Tyra said, his face forming into a charming smile.

The councilman gestured over to the princess, "Ambassador, allow me to introduce to you Princess Dyamatti, first heir to the throne of Alpheena."

To'lok gave a graceful and deep nod, saying as he did, "Princess, you are far more beautiful in person. The holo-images fail to do you justice."

"You are too kind, Ambassador." Dyamatti replied giving a graceful nod of her own. She was no stranger to politics and had done this same diplomatic dance a thousand times before.

"Now that the introductions are out of the way, we can proceed to more important matters." Tyra said, echoing the feeling of all those gathered to keep the meeting as brief as possible.

"Of course, councilman." To'lok agreed. "I've brought the devices."

The Ambassador gestured to one of the Zyglar standing beside him and held out his hand expecting to receive something in it. The other Zyglar nodded knowingly and removed a knapsack from around his shoulder. His long fingers peeled back the opening to reveal a small metal box contained inside. The Ambassador reached his hand inside the knapsack and pulled the box out, opening it in one fluid motion. From inside the box, two bracelets made of the purest platinum glistened and sparkled.

"I believe you will find that these bands will do what you require." To'lok stated confidently. "It took our top minds nearly a major cycle to fabricate them to your specifications. They'll channel and focus the princess' power and help sustain the reaction you need for much longer than she would otherwise be able to."

The ambassador held out the intricate platinum bands for the councilman's inspection. Tyra eyed the bracelets carefully. He gently retrieved one from To'lok's grasp and inspected it from all angles. He was no engineer, to be sure, but he was positive that the bracelets were of the highest quality and craftsmanship. "I think these will do very nicely." he said as he passed the band back to To'lok's waiting fingers.

The ambassador snatched the band from Tyra's hand and hastily placed them back in the box from which they came. He closed the box and sealed the clasp before passing the box to Tyra who in turn gave the precious package to the large military man standing next to him, saying as he did so "Take great care with those. They are perhaps the most important things in the Empire."

The colonel confirmed the councilman's words by adding "You heard the man. Keep those someplace safe. I want two men guarding them at all times."

The soldier gave a hearty "Yes, sir!" before turning smartly about and heading off deeper into the vessel to do as he was commanded.

All parties involved were quite aware of the risks they were taking. This meeting needed to be as secluded as possible simply because of what was at stake. If other powers outside of the Empire had any inkling of what was transpiring, there we be suspicion and doubt cast over the entire region of the galaxy. After all, hyperspace transport was the single most important goal for nearly every race in the galactic vicinity. If word got out too soon that the Empire's scientists had apparently solved the riddle of instantaneous travel across the cosmos, other forces would be hard pressed to acquire such knowledge for themselves. The entire region could erupt into violence and war.

As if to punctuate those concerns, a voice abruptly broke over the comm. "Colonel, we've got visitors", it said.

Hastings stepped over to the comm panel and pressed the appropriate key. "Who is it Lieutenant?" he barked as if both annoyed and suspicious.

"Three small ships are on an intercept course. By their configuration, I'd say Galutian skirmishers."

"Damn!" Hastings hissed as he turned to face the remaining two men. "Get the princess and the councilman to their quarters now!"

The two burly soldiers quickly but politely escorted the Dyamatti and Tyra from the airlock and back into the Alpheenian vessel. When Hastings was sure they had been suitably removed from the scene, he went back to the comm panel.

"How far out?" he asked.

"Two minutes, Colonel." came the unwelcome reply.

"What's going on?" To'lok asked, his tone much more nervous than it had been.

"Raiders, Ambassador. That's what's going on." Hastings replied tersely. "This meeting is adjourned."

The colonel raced back over to the air lock controls and began to furiously tap the sequence in. After a few seconds, an alarm sounded and the airlock doors began to part. Hastings gestured toward the Zyglarine vessel and said, "I suggest you leave the area as fast as your ship will take you."

All of the Zyglar dignitaries looked quite uneasy. With rapid steps they began to make their way back aboard their ship. Given the situation, however, and the intrinsic lack of martial skills on their behalf, some reassurance would prove to be quite helpful. To that end, the ambassador gazed directly at Hastings and asked with deep concern, "Our ship is no match for raiders. What do you expect us to do?"

"You're not the ones they're after, Ambassador." Hastings responded while he started to cycle the airlock and seal off the ship completely. "Get out of here as fast as you can and they shouldn't even bother you."

To'lok gave an uneasy chuckle as the doors closed behind him, saying "Yes, yes. I suppose you're right. Nothing to worry about."

When the air lock doors were finally closed and sealed tight, Hastings jumped back over to the comm. "The doors are sealed. Initiate separation." he ordered.

After a few seconds, a tense reply came back from the Lieutenant. "There's a problem, sir." she said.

"A problem? What do you mean?"

"The separation sequence won't initialize."

"Use the manual backup, then!" Hastings demanded.

"I tried that. It's not working." the Lieutenant responded, sounding more than a little frustrated.

"I'm on my way." was the last reply Hastings made before racing down the corridor and making his way to the main stairs that led to the bridge.

In under a minute, Hastings burst through the doors leading to the ship's bridge; barely waiting long enough for them to part for him. He rushed over to the pilot's station and began to rapidly scan to readouts on the holo-monitors as he assessed the situation.

"Shit!" he fumed "There's been a segmentation fault in the docking system, a memory leak. The clamps won't release. There's no way to separate."

"The Galutians are here." the Lieutenant informed, pointing out the front glass at the three small ships popping back into normal space. "What should I do?"

"Get the shields up and bring the star-drive online. We need to get out of here." was the colonel's command.

He pressed the comm icon on the holo-monitor, which was followed by an audible chirp to indicate the channel was now open and ready for use. "Zelinski, you and Wurtin man the guns. If those ships even smell like they're up to something, take them all out."

The men on the other end acknowledged with a hearty "Yes, sir!" before the colonel cut the link.

"Bring the forward guns online." Hastings continued while he hastily pressed keys and buttons. "Why haven't you engaged the armor and ship's defenses yet?"

"Sir, I can't raise shields while we're still docked with the Zyglarine ship." the Lieutenant replied, "as long as we're connected to them, we can't do anything."

In an instant, the seriousness of the problem completely dawned on the colonel. Not just their present situation, but how one convenient malfunction could serve to be the most damaging and debilitating thing at just the wrong time. It couldn't be coincidence. The princess's vessel was naked and exposed and it had to have been that way on purpose. They'd been set up. Not just from the outside, but from the inside as well. How else could such a precise malfunction have occurred? But such things would have to wait until later to explore, however. The immediate danger first needed to be handled.

And just as if things couldn't get any worse, the Lieutenant made the dire announcement Hastings had been gripping for. "The raiders are coming in hot, sir. They've got weapons powered." she said.

"Hard to starboard, Lieutenant!" he called out. It was the only desperate thing he could do to protect the ship and its occupants.

"But sir, that'll expose the Zyglar ship. They won't stand a chance." the young lieutenant objected. But her cries fell on deaf ears. Her commanding officer had made up his mind.

"You heard the order, Lieutenant. Put the Zyglars between us and the raiders." he barked back, not wavering in his judgment in the slightest.

Hastings was well aware of the gravity of his order. It wasn't something he took lightly by any means. But he was charged by King Laurenitis to protect the princess by any means required and he intended to embrace that responsibility completely. Whatever was to happen next would surely leave a deep stain on his soul, but that was irrelevant. He was never the important one. All that mattered was Dyamatti.

"Yes, sir." the Lieutenant replied somewhat meekly. Her confidence in their actions was far less secure than Hastings' was, but she reluctantly complied with the command.

While not particularly big in any way, The Alpheenian ship was far larger than its Zyglar counterpart. As long as the two vessels were joined, the princess' ship could easily dictate the directions and actions that both ships took. As the glistening vessel made its sharp turn, it dragged the lesser craft along with it.

Hastings tapped the comm channel again. "Light those bastards up!" he shouted.

The defensive guns roared to life and projectiles packed with small amounts of unstable energy were blasted out into the void. But a violent jarring shook the ship which caused the guns to miss their marks and fire off into the nothingness of space.

"The Zyglars are resisting us, Colonel." the young woman reported. "They're attempting to power up their star-drive."

"Hold them in place. If they try to engage their star-drive, they'll rip both ships to shreds."

"I'm doing what I can, sir."

The Galutian raiders dove swiftly in attack formation as their cannons unleashed pent up fury onto the small target that now blocked their path. Balls of destructive energy were flung at the Zyglarine vessel and tore into its vulnerable side. Having no protective shields and a very light hull, the unfortunate ship was ripped to pieces. Large chunks of plating were blasted from its frame, exposing the vital guts of the ship to the vacuum of space.

In the midst of the chaos, the Lieutenant announced, "the Zyglarine reactor has been hit. It's going into meltdown."

"Everyone brace yourselves!" Hastings cried out over the ship-wide comm channel. "Things are gonna get bumpy!"

There was a brilliant flash and an explosion as the Zyglar ship erupted in a ball of fiery death. The docking coupler linking the two vessels was shredded and torn, releasing the captive Alpheenian ship. But the close proximity of the blast slammed into the side of the hull with a massive wave of force. All those inside were knocked around like helpless dolls from the impact.

Fortunately, other than a myriad of items being tossed about and knocked out of place, along with a host of alarms sounding, the princess' ship was otherwise intact. The colonel knew that his ploy was a risky one. Had the Zyglar ship been just a bit larger, there was a very real danger that its explosion could have seriously damaged the Alpheenian vessel. He let out a sigh of relief.

"We have armor and defensive systems, sir."

"Engage the star-drive, Lieutenant. Get us out of here!" Hastings forcefully commanded.

Free from its burden, the Alpheenian ship's star-drive engine was able to engage. Space/time, itself, was warped around the gleaming vessel and it vanished from normal space. The princess and her envoy were whisked away from the scene at an incomprehensible speed.

### Chapter II

Dyamatti was safely in her quarters during the precarious events with the raiders. Most of the entire episode played out without her knowledge, save for the fact that something had obviously exploded near her vessel. Although, what it was, she couldn't really say. She did her best to quell any feelings of unease and stress. Those were the sorts of emotions that lead to rash and hasty decisions. Decisions such as hopping into the small auxiliary craft and speeding away to the safest place she could find.

But her father had taught her well. Instead, the princess busied herself with placing all the displaced objects back in their appropriate positions among the various shelves and tables in her quarters. She was in the middle of aligning several vases on a shelf when the door split open and her personal servant, Julian, came rushing in.

"Your Highness," he said while he bowed.

He briefly seemed to watch Dyamatti, almost as if what he was seeing wasn't quite lining up properly in his brain. After a few seconds, the reality of what the princess was doing sank in. His eyes widened and the expression on his face became that of someone who either had done something incorrectly, or that he was seeing someone doing something very much beneath them.

"You shouldn't be doing such menial tasks." He said in his thin and plain tone, "I'll send for someone to clean up."

"Nonsense, Julian. Besides, I'm almost finished." Dyamatti replied as she set the last few pieces in their proper place. "What condition is the rest of the ship in?"

"No damage." the plain man replied. "Although we did get quite a shake-up."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"No, Your Highness. Other than a few scrapes and bruises, I'm pleased to report there are no casualties."

"What about Councilman Tyra?" The princess asked as she moved over to a small ornate cabinet at the far end of the room.

"The councilman was a bit startled, but is otherwise unhurt, Your Highness."

"Tell Colonel Hastings I expect a full report."

"Yes, Your Highness." Julian replied while he gave a gentle nod to accentuate his compliance.

Seeing as his service to the princess was no longer required, the plain man excused himself with a deep bow. As he bowed, he took several steps back toward the door. The door, sensing the man's presence, obligingly slid apart and opened the way for Julian to leave.

Once fully alone, Dyamatti opened the cabinet and pulled out a clear bottle containing an almond colored liquid. She then reached for one of the small glasses on a nearby table. In a single practiced motion, she pulled the stopper from the bottle and poured some of its contents into the glass. Her slender fingers wrapped themselves around the glass and she lifted it to her waiting lips. After a few brief seconds of admiring the drink, the princess placed the glass against her lips and tossed the drink back; downing it with one gulp.

The princess wiped the back of her hand across her mouth and set the glass down. While she wasn't one for drinking her problems away, she was finding that she was relying on alcohol more and more. She would tell herself that maybe she could clear the urge out of her system if she could just get completely hammered at least once. But deep down she understood that she was in danger of using drink as a crutch to numb the stress of her repeated excursions.

Her father had sent her on many missions before, but this one was different. Unlike any of her previous exploits, it was the princess, herself, who was the focal point. Because of her gifts, she was able to do what no other person in the Empire was capable of. King Laurenitis was well aware of the risks and was clearly uneasy at the prospects sending his only child to her doom. But if the scientists were right, Dyamatti could help usher the Empire into a new golden age. Hyperspace travel would literally change everything. And it was for those reasons that the princess felt the weight of her stress far more than she ever had on her prior journeys.

After a few slow minutes of reflective silence on her life and choices, the comm channel emitted a beep to let Dyamatti know there was someone on the other end wishing to speak with her. The princess glided in her fashion across the floor and pressed the button.

"Yes?" she asked into the device.

"Your Highness, this is Colonel Hastings." the voice on the other end informed.

"Go ahead, Colonel."

"I wanted to let you know that we're currently heading back toward Imperial space at warp speed. We should cross the border in just over three hours."

"Any sign of the raiders?"

"No, Your Highness. We've lost them. There's no way they can keep up with us."

"Finally." the princess muttered under her breath along with a deep sigh. The colonel's words were the most comforting ones Dyamatti had heard in a while. It was fortunate that no one was around to see her reaction. It might have been deemed rather un-princessly.

"And what of the Ambassador's ship? Were he and his party able to escape?"

That was the one question Hastings was hoping to avoid. He figured that she would probably ask at some point, but by then he would have been able to concoct a good enough tale to convince her. And even though he was aware she could possibly ask him, the inquiry still felt like a punch to his stomach.

"Ambassador To'lok and his party fled the area. We've had no contact since, Your Highness." was the best lie that Hastings could conjure on the spot. It wasn't a great lie, but it would have to do for now. As with most things, the truth could be rather slippery from time to time.

"Good work, Colonel. My father will be pleased to know of your actions." the princess said, now feeling just a bit more relaxed.

"I'm afraid it's not all good news, Your Highness." Hastings countered. "I'll be at your quarters in a few minutes to fully brief you on our situation."

And just as quickly as it started to dissipate, the knot began to tie Dyamatti's insides up once more. But she gave no indication of her uneasiness, only saying in a cool tone, "Very well, Colonel."

And as Hastings had said, it wasn't long before the chime to Dyamatti's door went off. As before, she glided across the floor with light, pristine movements. Her slim finger pressed the icon to allow the doors to part and reveal the colonel standing on the other side. He gave a deep bow when he saw her, saying "Your Highness." as he did.

"Colonel." Dyamatti replied, trying to sound as cool and confident as she could. "Please come in."

After Hastings had stepped through the doorway and it slid tight behind him, Dyamatti asked, "what is our situation?"

"We're okay, for the moment." he answered. Although, his choice of words clearly indicated that there was more to tell.

"Go on."

"I don't know a better way to say this, Your Highness, so I'll just say it." the colonel said. It was almost as if he was still trying to find a way to dampen the blow of what he was about to say. He was sure there were better words if he was only able to sort them out. But his time was up. He was going to have to be blunt and to the point. "We were set up."

Instantly the knot in Dyamatti's stomach grew even tighter. "Explain." was all she could say.

"The Galutian's home space isn't anywhere near this region. They would've had to have some strong motives to be way out here." Hastings explained.

Dyamatti's eyes narrowed as her stare fell straight on Hastings. "Are you saying they were paid to attack us? Why? How much could they possibly know about what we were doing?"

"Those are all very good questions, Highness." the colonel replied with a nod. "I wish I knew the answers. But I'm positive someone sent them."

"My father was concerned there might have been leaks. It seems he was right."

"That's only part of it, Your Highness. There's more." the colonel added. "Before we were able to make our escape from the raiders, there were a few problems with several of the ship's systems. The shields and star-drive were offline and it appeared the backup systems had been tampered with."

"Clearly you managed to fix the problems, otherwise we would have never made our escape." Dyamatti noted, calmly pointing out the obvious.

"That's true, but it was the exact timing of those systems going offline that bothers me. It was too convenient to be a coincidence, Your Highness."

"So, what exactly are you saying, Colonel?"

"I'm saying that whoever sent those raiders after us had help from the inside. Someone had to mess with those systems for them to go offline like that."

Dyamatti instantly understood the implications of what Hastings was saying. It wasn't something to be taken lightly by any means. "Are you seriously suggesting that someone on this ship sabotaged us?" she asked.

"I can't say if it was someone on this ship or even before we left Alpheena. But I intend to find out, Your Highness." Hastings replied, his last words filled with a stern resolve.

"Make it your highest priority, Colonel."

"Understood, Highness." Hastings affirmed. "If you'll excuse me."

The princess nodded her understanding, and with a bow, the colonel made his exit from Dyamatti's quarters to start his investigation in earnest.

Hastings had a hunch that the culprit was indeed among the ship's crew, although he would never have directly told the princess as much unless directly confronted. He reasoned that Princess Dyamatti had enough to worry about. Anything that he could do to help improve her focus on the task at hand was reason enough for him.

Still, he thought he had a reasonable enough place to start; the ship's access logs. It was clear what happened to the docking mechanism wasn't a hardware malfunction. Although ship systems were known to fail, when hardware was the cause there were always indications that something was wrong beforehand. A squeak, a click, a grind, or some other audible clue would invariably give away an impending breakdown. With the docking clamps, however, there was no such telltale noise. It simply went offline, and because the princess's ship had been connected to another vessel at the time, other systems in turn were affected.

His hypothesis was simple: Sometime after they had departed from Alpheena, someone rigged the docking system to malfunction. There were two ways this could have been accomplished: Either a timer was set to cause the error at the appropriate time, or whoever the saboteur was must have manually triggered the event from a local console. Either way, the access logs would tell him volumes.

The Colonel arrived back on the bridge and made his way to the main control interface for ship-wide functions. This was the master terminal whereby every system on the ship could be monitored and configured. Although each system could be more easily serviced in the area of the ship it operated from, the master interface allowed a fair degree of control. But more importantly, it was the one station on the ship a root user could log into and access every log stored on the ship's computer.

With a few quick taps of keys and button presses, a display of every log of system access was displayed on the holo-monitor. Hastings scrolled through the system heading of each entry, looking only for the ones that pertained to his quest. Of the hundreds of entries he saw, only three showed that the docking systems had been accessed since they left Alpheena a quarter cycle before.

Of those three, two were labeled as system maintenance, which, when opened revealed nothing of particular interest. The entries listed a time, what system was involved, and for what purpose. At the end of each listing was the name of the person who had accessed the system. These were ordinary report logs. There was nothing in them that would help the colonel come any closer to finding the person responsible.

That left the third entry, which was dated two days after the ship departed on its course. Hastings noticed that the wording and structure was rather odd. The heading read "1 warning – memory allocation sector 6F470". When he opened it, the subject line was just repeated. Other than that, the log was empty. No name was listed. But he did have the time-stamp of when the log was made.

While he was no computer whiz, Hastings knew a compiler warning when he saw one. Someone had attempted to recompile the software for the docking mechanism. It looked like a memory warning, which might have been deliberate. Code will compile and execute with warnings, but not with errors. A well chosen tweak of the code could cause a memory failure which would freeze out the entire system. It was just a theory, but it was as good as any other.

Now all Hastings needed to do was match the log entry with a name. That part, though, was going to be more tricky. Unlike other logs, this one had been edited at the source, which meant that someone tried to erase their tracks. There was no way to completely delete a log; not even the colonel could do that. Backups were stored on an encrypted data sector that required a physical pass-card to view. But there were ways to alter the logs if one knew how and was so inclined.

Hastings first thoughts were that the culprit was an officer; someone who had higher level access to ship's systems. But that was quickly ruled out when he realized that someone with the level of proficiency displayed could easily hack into another account or create a new one altogether. But there was only one place where that kind of thing was possible.

"Anderson, have you noticed anyone using this terminal since we left Alpheena?" Hastings asked the young lieutenant.

"No, sir. Just you." she answered.

"Have you noticed anyone on the bridge who shouldn't have been?"

The young woman thought for a moment, "come to think of it," she said as if prying loose a memory she didn't think she'd ever need, "Crewman Lambert came in not long after we left."

"What was he doing?"

"That's just it, he didn't do anything." the lieutenant replied. "The door opened and he was just standing there. It was kind of odd."

"Odd, how?"

"He looked almost surprised to see me. It was like he knew the bridge was supposed to be empty."

The young woman's words caught Hastings by surprise. His gaze shot over to the lieutenant. "What do you mean, empty?" he asked.

"It was about thirteen hundred hours and I normally grab a bite to eat about that time, but I stayed to run a few system tests. That's when Lambert popped in."

"Go on." Hastings urged.

"He just seemed surprised I was here. I asked him what he needed and he said he was looking for you about some computer reports or something. Then he left. That was it."

"That is odd." the colonel agreed. "But not just because of his reaction to you."

"What else is there?" the lieutenant asked. "He was only here for a few seconds at most."

"Yes, but how did he get the doors to open in the first place? The computer won't even open the door for lower tier crew members."

"I didn't think about that, sir. I guess I'm just used to the doors opening for me."

While the regular crew members of the vessel had free reign to enter most parts of the ship, certain places were restricted to officers or specific ranking personnel. This was done for both security and protocol. Sometimes it was deemed wiser to shield sensitive conversations and actions from unnecessary eyes. What that meant was a crewman like Lambert shouldn't have been able to gain access to the bridge without someone letting him in.

"From now on, Lieutenant, take your lunch at a different time each day. Don't have a pattern to it."

"Yes, sir." the young lieutenant replied.

"And if anything else like this happens, I expect you to inform me immediately."

"Understood, sir."

The lieutenant had barely gotten the words out of her mouth before the ship shuttered and lurched. All sorts of warnings started going off. It took the colonel a second to process that something potentially important just happened. When he realized it, however, his eyes started to quickly scan each holo-monitor readout for any information about what had just occurred.

"Report!" he barked.

Lieutenant Anderson hurriedly tapped the controls at her station. After a few seconds of frantic attempts to find the source of the problem, she turned to the colonel, "our star-drive is malfunctioning, Colonel." she informed. "We're gradually losing power. We won't be able to maintain warp for much longer."

"Shit!" Hastings fumed. "Just what we need right now."

"What's the cause?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, sir. All I can make out is something is wrong with the star-drive."

The colonel tapped the comm controls. "Chief Waters, meet me in the engine room."

"Already on my way, sir." was the response.

"Anderson, find us someplace safe and secluded where we can get this sorted out."

The lieutenant tapped a few icons on her navigational monitor and various destinations popped up. She cycled through several before selecting a suitable spot. "The only place in range is a small mining colony located in an asteroid belt." she informed.

"That'll have to work. Set a course."

### Chapter III

It seemed like Dyamatti had been stranded in her quarters for eons. While long voyages usually limited one to a vessel, and as such an extremely limited amount of free space to roam; being relegated to her personal quarters was like being caged or held captive. It was starting to wear on the princess' nerves.

It had been more than a quarter cycle since they left Alpheena, but it felt more like a major cycle to the young princess. She couldn't take it anymore. The ship was traveling at warp speed and on its way home. There wasn't any foreseeable danger to worry about. Colonel Hastings would just have to allow her the liberty to wander the ship for a while.

Confidently, Dyamatti strode to her door and opened it. But she froze briefly before her foot could find its way past the threshold into the corridor beyond. A slight twinge of guilt tugged at her gut as she acknowledged to herself that was she was about to do went against security protocols. But she needed some time away from her cage. The stress, compounded with isolation, was starting to become quite maddening. She would just clear her head for a bit with a short walk and then promptly return to her exile. No one needed to be the wiser.

The guard posted at her door gave a cordial nod and said "Your Highness." but otherwise did nothing as she stepped out into the corridor. The fresh, recycled air filled her lungs as she took a deep breath. It smelled pure and clean. And even though technically it was the same air she was breathing in her quarters, this air was out in the corridor. That made it better.

But things quickly became a bit odd when a crewman ran past her on his way to the nearest mechanical access port. He barely even paused long enough to give the princess her usual recognition; instead he slowed long enough to give a brief nod and customary greeting before resuming his full gate and racing down the hallway. When he reached the end of the corridor, he gave a few presses to a control console. A panel on the wall slid away and the man ducked inside, vanishing from view.

Before long, another crew member came darting towards her. This time the princess moved to the middle of the corridor and directly into the man's path. She intended to find out what exactly was going on.

"What's all the excitement about?" she asked before the man could hurry by.

"The star-drive is malfunctioning, Highness." was the man's hasty reply.

"Malfunctioning? How?" Dyamatti asked in return.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but I really don't have time to talk about it. Ask Colonel Hastings. He can tell you more." were the man's last words before he offered a quick bow and ran off in the same direction as the first man.

The princess, now realizing that something was very much wrong with her vessel, tapped the monitor at the closest station and asked, "what is Colonel Hastings location?"

The computer replied in its dry and usual flat tone, "Colonel Hastings is in the engine room."

"Patch me through to him."

"Hastings here." the voice on the other end of the comm said.

"Colonel, what is our status?" Dyamatti asked in a tone that suggested she already knew much of what was going on.

"Our status is fine, Your Highness. We'll be back to Alpheena before you know it." the colonel replied, sounding a bit impatient at the disturbance.

"And what of our star-drive?"

There was an audible sigh from the other end. "I see word spreads fast on this ship."

"Never mind that." the princess retorted, "Have you located the malfunction with the star-drive?"

"Chief Waters is sure that it's just a software glitch, Your Highness. It's nothing he can't have fixed in a couple hours."

"Will we be able to continue at warp in the meantime?"

"Unfortunately, no. The star-drive is losing power. We've set course for a mining colony in a nearby system. It's secluded and we can make the necessary repairs there. Chief Waters assures me that he can get us back up and running again without much of a delay."

"Understood." Dyamatti replied in her usual cool tone. "However, in the future make sure you inform myself or councilman Tyra immediately of any other developments. We all have our jobs to do, and I can't do mine without the proper information."

"Yes, Your Highness." Hastings said as the comm was cut.

Dyamatti had been on enough missions to know when things were going to take a bad turn. She was certain that this was one of those times. Something told her that Hastings still hadn't told her everything. The ship's malfunction could very well be another attempt at sabotage by the unknown perpetrator. The princess decided it was best not to take any chances.

She quickly moved toward the center of the ship. That was the safest part, and as such, it was where all items of importance were stored. The weapons cache, critical supplies like medicine, and most importantly, the bands that To'lok had given her were all located there. The princess knew that whoever was trying to impede her mission was almost certainly after two things: The bands and herself.

Dyamatti realized that if there was indeed a saboteur among them, then even the safest part of the vessel had been compromised. While she was quite sure it wasn't either Tyra or Hastings, everyone else was still a suspect. That meant those platinum bands which were so delicately crafted and made for such a special purpose might as well be lying naked in the corridor. And with so much riding on her mission, it was a problem she intended to remedy.

When the princess arrived at the heart of the ship, she was greeted by the sight of two guards posted outside the vault door. These would be Hastings best men. The colonel would most likely trust these men with his own life, or even more, Dyamatti's. Unfortunately, trust of these men at the colonel's behest wasn't something Dyamatti felt she could afford.

The princess gave a wave of her hand and said, "Stand aside, gentlemen." while she approached.

Both men immediately snapped to attention upon seeing the royal figure. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, but the Colonel ordered that nobody be allowed in the vault."

Without even so much as a pause, Dyamatti retorted, "and just exactly whom do you think he answers to?"

Realizing the folly of their ways, both men swiftly stepped aside to allow the princess to pass. She was gifted with many talents of persuasion. Sometimes all she needed to do was rely on her beauty and charm to take control of a situation. Still, at other times she could channel her father's commanding demeanor if the need arose.

The door to the vault was unique among the ship's other doors. Instead of needing a key-code or the like, the vault was sealed to all except those with the proper DNA identification. And on this journey, that limited the number of people who could access the vault to only a small handful of people.

With a press of her slender thumb against a special panel, the princess gained entry to the vault as its great doors slid wide. She gave the guards one final look in passing before she stepped inside and sealed the way behind her.

Once inside, Dyamatti quickly located the small box that carried the bands. Her fingers slid over the box and undid the latches; freeing the lid to pop open and reveal the valuable contents.

The bands were exactly where they should have been. The princess allowed herself a small sigh of relief.

Even though the princess knew she was alone, she couldn't help but cast her glance back over her shoulders to check the room just in case. She reached her hand inside the box and picked up one of the delicate bands and slid it over her wrist. The platinum bracelet then did something most unexpected; it let out a beep and then clasped itself together. It was now sealed around Dyamatti's wrist.

She held her wrist up to eye it more closely. If she didn't know any better, she would think the band just linked itself to her in some way. Although, the more she thought about it, the more something like that would make sense. The bracelets were meant for her and only her. A mechanism to link her to the bands would serve as a security fail safe.

The princess knew it was best to save any closer investigations of the bands for a later time. There were more immediate concerns for her to focus on. She quickly slid the other band on her wrist, which also emitted a beep and closed shut and hopped up to return out of the vault.

It wasn't until Dyamatti was on her way to her quarters that she noticed the bright bands on her wrists didn't really make her feel any different. They were designed to amplify her already considerable powers and focus them on a point at the quantum level. It was a great deal of techno babble that she really didn't understand, although she often pretended to during the long and boring meetings about the subject. All she knew was that with the bands, she could use her powers to ignite a reaction at the quantum level which would then grow. She remembered being told something about particles and anti-particles coming together and annihilating each other. The idea was to kick start the power reactor for the new hyper-gate so that it could be brought online.

But given the circumstances, she was sure that she would feel something different. But there wasn't anything at all. Not that she could notice, anyway. With a shrug, she came to the conclusion that it was something else she would have to worry about later.

Before long, she found herself outside the councilman's door. If things were about to turn sour, it was her duty to look after him. Not that the old politician would ever approve of such thoughts. Still, her father would never forgive her if something were to happen to his oldest friend.

Tyra had stood by King Laurenitis' side for more than three decades. Even when those in the Imperial Grand Council sought to usurp the king and many had aligned themselves against Laurenitis, Tyra stood firm, never waning in his commitment to his king. But as steadfast as Tyra was, he was also an old man. In a combat situation, he would be nothing more than a liability, despite his best intentions.

The door to the councilman's quarters smoothly slid apart and Dyamatti stepped through to what was a very strange scene, indeed. Tyra was sitting at a desk while her aide, Julian, stood next to him. It appeared that he was taking notes of some sort while the councilman dictated instructions to him.

"Ahem." the princess said, catching the attention of the two men.

"Dyamatti, what a wonderful surprise!" Tyra exclaimed while rising from his seat to greet her.

"You seem awfully comfortable for someone who's been confined for his own safety."

Tyra let out a soft chuckle at the young woman's words. "When you've been doing these sorts of things for as long as I have, you learn how to make the best use of your time. Otherwise the sheer boredom will drive you mad." he informed.

"I suppose so." she replied.

The old politician took Dyamatti by the hand and said, "Come. Sit down."

He gestured for her to rest herself on the soft and plush couch in the center of the room. Meanwhile, he walked to the large chair opposite and eased himself into it, saying as he did, "so, why come and see an old man? Getting tired of being cooped up?"

It wasn't just the words that he said; it was the look in his eye that let the princess know Tyra was on to her. "Do I really need a reason to visit with an old friend? Can't we just pass the time together?"

He leaned forward in his spot and cast the princess a stare. "Dyamatti..." he said in a tone like a parent who knows when a child isn't being truthful.

"Don't try to bullshit a bullshitter, my dear." he said with a chuckle.

"What would you have me say, Tyra?" she shot back, still trying her best to feign innocence.

A smile began to stretch across the old councilman's face. He knew the young princess had her heart in the right place. "I appreciate the concern." he said, "and you're right."

"Right about what?"

"Don't think for a moment that just because I've kept myself locked away in this room that I don't know what's going on. You should know me better than that, girl." Tyra informed as he allowed himself to lean back into the large chair once more.

He cast a glance over to the plain man that was still present. "Julian, would you excuse us?"

"Of course, Your Grace." the plain main replied before bowing and leaving.

When the old politician was certain that no unwanted ears where listening to his words, he continued. "Things are about to get bad." he said, his tone much more serious than it had been just a minute before. "Someone knows about our plan, Dyamatti. That means they know about you and what you can do."

"I was thinking the same things." Dyamatti said as her eyes trailed downwards to the floor. "We'll have to fight our way home, won't we?"

"Yes, I'm afraid we will." he answered solemnly. "Still, don't let that get in the way of what you have to do. The mission comes first. You come first. Don't worry about an old man who might just get in the way."

"Tyra..."

"No." the councilman interrupted. "No words, Dyamatti. You must get yourself and those bands back to the Empire. It means everything. Now more than ever."

The princess knew full well the meaning of Tyra's words. The entire reason her mission and everything surrounding the hyper-gate was kept secret was not only because of what it would mean for the Empire's prosperity, but also what might happen if outside forces were to acquire the technology; outside forces who might have darker motives.

Not long after the scientific discoveries that led to the hyper-gate system was made, the emperor held a meeting with the kings to discuss the matter and its implications. King Laurenitis fought hard to suppress the knowledge for now. His reasoning was simple: Until the gate was finished, the technology was untested and not guaranteed to even work. However, if someone else was to steal that technology, they might be able to not only get it to work faster, but better. And if those who sought the technology had ill intentions towards the Empire, it would invite the Empire's destruction.

Not all the other kings agreed with Laurenitis, but the Emperor did. Jordan II ordered all matters pertaining to the hyper-gate held under the tightest of secrecy. It was yet another occasion that served to distance Laurenitis from certain members of the IGC and the other kings.

"I'll do my best." was the only thing the princess could offer.

"That's all any of us can do."

At that moment, the vessel lurched hard. Dyamatti instinctively reached out toward the councilman, as if her will was enough to steady him. Over on the comm console, a light started to blink and the panel emitted a series of beeps to indicate someone on the other end wanted to talk.

Dyamatti rose from her seat and walked to the blinking panel and tapped the appropriate control. "Yes?" she said into the comm.

"Uh...Your Highness?" the voice on the other end stammered. "I was trying for Councilman Tyra's quarters. I think I made a mistake."

"You didn't make a mistake, Lieutenant. I'm in Tyra's quarters."

"Ah, okay." The nervous voice continued, "I just wanted to let both of you know that we've returned to normal space. We're approaching the mining colony. Colonel Hastings requests that you remain in your quarters while the repairs are completed."

The princess looked over at Tyra and rolled her eyes. The old man let out a snicker in response. "We'll do as the Colonel asks. But inform him to hurry."

"Understood, Your Highness. Anderson out."

### Chapter IV

The local star's light glistened off the gleaming hull of the Alpheenian ship as it approached the docking port of the mining facility. The facility, itself, was located on a large asteroid in orbit along with innumerable others of various shapes and sizes. Companies realized long ago that it was both far easier and more economic to mine metals from hunks of rock floating in space. There were fewer taxes and fees. And best of all, no environmental concerns.

Originally, this was a colony set up by one of the local large corporations. The idea was to have a permanent residence established along with the mining facility. It was intended to provide a place of commerce for the sector as well as housing for the miners and their families. Things didn't go according to plan, however, as the colony was little more than a derelict ruin floating in the void. The facility, itself, had been abandoned long ago, save for a few stragglers looking to eke out a few drakes from what was left.

There were several docking points along the outer rim of the colony. All of them were empty, except for one at the far end. Linked to the docking port was a small, wedge-shaped ship about twenty meters in length. From the looks of it, the small vessel had been in service for quite some time. It was old and bore many small dings and dents from micro meteors and other debris it had encountered over the years.

Fortunately the Empire had the foresight to design its vessels with secondary docking ports and the princess' ship was able to dock on the far end, away from the other vessel. Hastings thought it might be wisest just in case those aboard the other ship were of a less than hospitable rational.

Fortunately, the docking procedure activated and operated flawlessly, although, the colonel mostly expected that it would. The real worry was when the repairs were finished and it was time to depart. The princess' ship had no problem linking with the Zyglar vessel; it was separation that was the problem. It was something he intended to have addressed alongside their current star-drive issues.

Those concerns, though, paled in comparison to the real dilemma: Who was it that sold them out? Hastings had his doubts about Crewman Lambert's guilt. Lambert just didn't have the skills required to reprogram the docking computer. And if he did, surely he would have figured a way to alter the logs to hide his true identity. It was something the colonel meant to look into while the ship was undergoing the repairs to the star-drive.

But before he could continue his search, the facility needed to be secured. While it was extremely unlikely that their unseen adversary would have planted a trap on the very rock they had arrived at, it was plausible that other threats lurked. The colony appeared to have been left to rot some time ago. There was no telling what sort of unsavory characters might have moved in and established themselves.

He sent three men out to patrol the surrounding area. Once they reported back and the all-clear was given, only then would Hastings allow the repairs to commence. Until he got the signal, everyone on the ship would just have to sit and wait.

That was the plan, at least. But as with most many things on this journey, the universe saw fit to show the colonel how little control he actually had. Just as his men were disembarking into the colony to start their patrol, Anderson's voice cracked over the comm to alert her superior that the situation had just gotten more serious.

"Uh, Colonel..." the young woman said uneasily over the comm, "I know you're not really in the mood for bad news, but you might want to tell the patrol to move quickly."

"What's the problem, Lieutenant?" Hastings shot back, more annoyed that nothing seemed to be going right than he was at Anderson's words.''

"The raiders are still pursuing us. Long range scans show they'll be here within three hours."

"Dammit!" the colonel fumed under his breath. "Understood, Lieutenant. Hastings out."

A fleshy fist slammed against cold, hard enlar as Hastings blood boiled. He was a fool. He should have known that the raiders would come after them. With someone working against them on the inside, another system failure or sabotage attempt was a certainty. The raiders would have known this. Either they would have figured their man would try something else, or the entire malfunction with the star-drive was plan "B", just in case plan "A" failed, which it did.

"Zelinski..." he said into the open comm, "better double time it. Anderson says we'll have company soon and I don't plan on being here when they arrive. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!" was the enthusiastic confirmation from the other end.

"Good. I want reports every five minutes."

There was even less time for repairs than Hastings had hoped for. Still, he was sure his men were up to the task. Solving the star-drive dilemma should be nothing more than a simple software fix. If the program was in bad enough shape, the option of loading an older version was always available. Each system was designed to store multiple backups just in case something went wrong with updates to the code. With a few commands, and older version of the software could be re-loaded back into the system. If the problem was something mechanical, though, the situation would be much more serious, indeed.

Chief Waters would have to tackle that particular job, however, as the colonel had other plans. Waters was the COO of the vessel, or Chief of Operations. It was his job to oversee the myriad of systems and functions on the ship and ensure that everything ran smoothly. And when it didn't, it was his job to fix it. Waters wasn't an officer, but he may as well have been. His decisions and actions affected everyone aboard the vessel. And his words carried a great deal of weight among the crew.

No, the colonel wouldn't be leading the repair crew. That was Waters' job. Hastings was intent on using the time to track down the saboteur and putting an end to anymore "mishaps". As an officer of the crown and bodyguard to the princess, that was his job.

As he walked down the corridor on the second deck, he stopped to use a command panel. He tapped a few buttons on the holo-monitor and asked, "What is Crewman Lambert's current location and status?"

The soothing female voice of the computer promptly replied, "Crewman Lambert is currently logged on to station three in the engine room."

"What's he doing?"

"Unknown. No input inquiries have been logged in the last seventeen minutes."

"Seventeen minutes? What was he doing before that?" Hastings asked.

"Unknown. Last input from terminal was encrypted. Unable to decipher." the computer answered with its unemotional voice.

Things kept getting more and more interesting where Lambert was concerned. Could he have been sending a message to his collaborators? Was that why the raiders knew to follow them? Or was it something else entirely? The colonel couldn't be sure until he pinned the crewman down and talked to him face-to-face.

If Lambert was smarter than Hastings gave him credit for, then all of this could be a red herring. There was only one way to find out. "Lambert is logged into the station, but is he actually in the engine room?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell what he's doing?"

"Crewman Lambert is doing nothing at the moment."

"Nothing at all?" Hastings wondered aloud. Why would his quarry just stand still in the engine room? Was he waiting for something or someone? "Is he moving or standing still?"

"Neither."

"How can that be? He has to be doing one or the other."

"Crewman Lambert is currently not standing. Crewman Lambert is..."

Before the computer voice was able to finish the sentence, Hastings realized his folly. In a shot, he darted away from the control panel and raced down the corridor.

"...dead."

The colonel reached the engine room in record time. Chief Waters and his men watched curiously as Hastings darted by on his way to station three, which was located in the back of the engine room on a lower sub-section.

As he rounded the corner and quickly climbed down the short set of stairs, Hastings eyes caught sight of Lambert. He was laying face-down in the corner. As feared, he was completely motionless.

Without thinking, Hastings began to roll the poor man onto his back. There was a desperate chance that Lambert was still alive, although it would have to be just barely since the ship's computer wasn't able to detect any vital signs. But any hopes were quickly dashed when the colonel reached out to check the crewman's pulse only to stop his hand before he could press it against the man's neck.

"What the hell did you get yourself into, Lambert?" Hastings muttered as his eyes caught sight of what robbed the young crewman of his life.

On the side of Lambert's neck was an open hole that looked to be seared and burnt. If the colonel didn't know any better, he'd swear Lambert had been shot in the neck with some sort of energy weapon. But that would have triggered the ship's internal sensors immediately. Whatever it was that killed Lambert had to have been placed under the skin and activated remotely. Hastings had never seen anything like it before.

"Holy shit, Colonel!" came a voice from behind. It was Chief Waters who came to see what caused the colonel to go rushing by him in the first place. "Is that Lambert?"

"Yeah..." Hastings replied with his eyes still fixed on his gruesome discovery.

"That looks like someone set off a blast chip."

"A blast chip?" the colonel asked as he finally turned to face the chief.

"Yeah," Waters answered with a slight nod, "I've heard stories about those things. They set off a chemical reaction when triggered. Burns the flesh so there isn't any blood."

With a glance over to the console, Hastings tried to get a better picture of what transpired here. The computer said that Lambert's last input was encrypted, but that doesn't mean he was the one who entered it. Anything entered into the workstation would be considered input, regardless of the source. Even a command executed remotely would be considered input.

"You said these things could be triggered remotely, did you hear anything odd?" Hastings inquired as he tried to get a better grip on the situation.

"Me and the other guys didn't really hear anything, Colonel." Waters offered.

"But..." he continued, "that doesn't mean anything. Blast chips can be set off any number of ways. Hell, maybe it was something he saw that triggered it."

Of course! Once again, Hastings cursed himself for being a fool. It was so clear now. As suspected, Lambert wasn't sending a message, he was receiving one. That encrypted message must be what caused the chip in his neck to activate. Once Lambert cast his eyes on the monitor and saw the message, it was over with. He was dead before he ever hit the floor. It was the oldest rule of espionage: Kill the saboteur and leave no trace.

But the elephant in the room wouldn't remain quiet any longer and the chief just had to ask, "But why would someone want to kill Lambert? What did he do?"

"Those are very good questions, Chief. And I plan on finding out."

"Do you think he was the one who messed with the ship's systems? Did someone pay him to?"

"I don't know."

The colonel understood that Waters was curious and had many questions, but that would just detract from his job of fixing the star-drive. Hastings needed the chief to be focused. It was best to end this encounter quickly and allow the work to continue.

"Thanks for the help, Chief. You've been very informative." Hastings said while he rose to his feet, grunting as he did.

"Not a problem, sir. Happy to be of help."

Looking once more down at the poor man lying on the floor, Hastings asked, "how far have you gotten with our star-drive problem?"

"We're working on it, sir. But it's a mess in there. The entire code is a mess." the chief replied.

"Did you find any viruses or malicious software?"

"That's just it, sir." Waters informed, "If it was foreign software, the system would have detected that and isolated the problem."

"So what is it, then?"

"Well, it's like the software was re-coded from the inside to destroy itself over time. Not just the FTL systems, but all the backups we have. We can't just restore the affected code like we normally would, because there's nothing there to restore. It's gonna take us a while to get it all sorted out, sir."

The colonel turned his gaze sternly on the chief and said, "You have two hours to get it fixed, Chief." before he headed out the way he entered.

Of course Hastings was well aware that there was little to no chance of the chief getting the star-drive fixed in just two hours. But time was a precious commodity that they could ill afford to waste. The colonel was sure Waters would come up with something by then; whether it was an old backup stashed somewhere or a workaround to the mess in the code, there had to be something that could be done without having to reprogram the system from the ground up. It could take more than a quarter cycle just to code the bare-bones structure of the star-drive. So that wasn't an option.

With the death of Lambert, there were now even more questions than there were before. If he really was the culprit, then who was paying him to betray his own people? Whoever it was had to have very deep pockets, indeed. The ability to bankroll a saboteur and raiders doesn't come cheap, not to mention the device that seemingly ended the crewman's life. If the source was inside the Empire, then that could explain a great deal. Certain large corporations had been able to penetrate the hallowed halls of the IGC before. There was a chance one had been able to do so again.

Worse still, it could be a foreign power. Although the Empire was on friendly terms with nearly all of the nearby regions and governments, each of those governments was working towards their own goals. The game was a simple one: Play nice in face-to-face confrontations and then, behind the scenes, do anything you could to get an advantage over everyone else. The colonel had witnessed both Tyra and the princess do just that on more than one occasion.

But to stoop to sabotage? That was something else entirely. Surely another power in the region wouldn't risk committing an act of war against the Empire. That would be utter lunacy. Even if they were somehow aware of the hyper-gate technology being developed, it would be best to sit back and let the Empire do all the work and when the gates were perfected, they could just reap the rewards through increased trade or other means. Of all the different races in the galactic region, only the reclusive Ikaranites might be capable of such a thing. There wasn't much known about them, but what was known didn't bode well for the Empire's chances in an open conflict.

The Ikaranites controlled a vast area of space that was more than twice the size of the Durantalian Empire. They were thought to be more technologically advanced in some areas, especially ship design and star-drives. They were ruled by a body known only as the Cabal who dictated the swarms of Ikaranites' every move and action. If they had somehow managed to learn of the Empire's plans, then everything was far worse than Hastings feared.

It was just a hypothesis at this point, but the idea did have credence. He knew it was a group with enough money to finance men and equipment, and the ability to infiltrate the crew of the private vessel of Princess Dyamatti. They had to have enough reach to be able to enact plans from outside the Empire's borders, or even outside their own borders, if it was a foreign power. Not to mention the fact that whoever it was had to have spies inside the Empire's inner-most circles of government. Those facts alone pointed to something bigger than just a corporation trying to pad its coffers. It had to be something bigger. Hastings was sure of it. But until he had his proof, his idea would have to remain a hypothesis.

It wasn't long until Zelinski and his men had secured the facility, allowing both the princess and councilman an opportunity to escape their confines and roam the immediate area, albeit briefly, and under heavy guard. It was quite evident that the mining colony had been abandoned for many Cycles and there was very little left of value for anyone to take. Nearly all of the buildings and storage areas had been raided by looters; leaving behind only scraps and junk for anyone else that might happen by. The only thing of note from Zelinski was a report about a pair of men, father and son, who were trying to extract a pittance of valuable ore from what was left in the mine. Hastings deemed the pair to be a minimal threat, but decided to have them watched by his men, just in case they did try something foolish. It would have been unwise to take any chances, he reasoned.

The pair of men were apparently the owners of the old ship that was also docked at the mining colony. When they were making their way back to it, carrying their minuscule bounty, the two happened to come upon both the councilman and the princess as they stretched their legs near the docking ring.

The younger of the two men immediately dashed over to the princess' party. He instantly recognized her and was eager to meet one of the most vaunted royals in all the Empire. In that instant, he never even bothered to question why one of the Empire's royals would be so far beyond the border.

The guards eyed the man warily as he rapidly approached; their hands instinctively reaching for their weapons. The young man fell to his knees and deeply bowed his head so rapidly that he slid on his knees for a few centimeters from the momentum. Instantly weapons were drawn and aimed at the young man kneeling on the ground.

"Your Highness!" he cried out. "Please, I'm not a danger. I just wanted to meet you."

"It's alright gentlemen." Dyamatti said in her smooth diplomatic tone. "The man is clearly no threat to us. Lower your weapons."

Dyamatti stepped forward through the defensive ring of men that protected her and said, "Please rise, sir, and greet me properly."

The guards slowly lowered their weapons, but still kept their eyes fixed on him. These men were the absolute best that Alpheena had to offer, and they knew better than to lower their guard, even if the situation seemed perfectly normal.

From behind, the older man came walking and a slower pace. His booming voice carried out across the area, "Dash!" he called out, "Get away from there! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

The younger man rose to his feet, though his eyes still refused to gaze directly into those of the princess mere meters from him. "It's okay, Da!" he shouted back.

The older man approached his son from behind, saying as he did, "One of these days you're gonna get your damn head blown off, you know that?"

If the young man called Dash heard his father's words, he gave no acknowledgment. Instead, he addressed the beautiful woman before him. "Your Highness, my name is Dash Rendarac."

"I'm very pleased to meet you Dash Rendarac." the princess replied, trying to offer as soothing of a smile as she could. "I'm princess..."

"Her Royal Highness, Princess Dyamatti of the family, Tunos." Dash hastily interrupted. "Heir to the throne of Alpheena. Yes, Princess. Everyone knows who you are. And I'm a huge admirer."

"That's very kind of you, Dash." Dyamatti replied while she stretched out her hand towards the young man.

Once more, Dash dropped to his knees and bowed his head. He swiftly grabbed the princess' outstretched hand and pressed his lips softly against the jeweled ring on her finger, saying, "Your Highness, I am but your humble servant."

Dyamatti cast an awkward stare at the man and gave a glance over to Tyra, who snickered at the sight. "Why do they always do that?" she asked.

"You're meant to shake her hand, young man." the old councilman offered, trying not to chuckle.

"Shit, I'm sorry." Dash replied, seeing his error and quickly popping back to his feet. "I mean...err...yes, sir."

Dash's father scolded his son, "She don't wanna hear no talk like that, boy! Watch your words!"

"It's quite alright. And what might your name be, sir?" Dyamatti asked the older man.

"Name's Rip." he answered, "I'm his father."

"Very pleased to make your acquaintance, Rip." The princess returned, offering a slight nod of her head as she did. "What brings the two of you to this remote location?"

"We're just scavenging, Highness." Dash blurted out before his father could offer a response. "Our ship is old and always needs some kind of part or another. We take what we can and hope it fits."

"Is there a problem with your ship?" Dyamatti asked.

This time, before the awe-struck young man was able to formulate a reply, his father quickly jumped in and said, "It ain't nothing, Highness. Our ship's just old, is all. We have to make little repairs to her all the time."

"I see." the princess replied, making note of the man's coyness.

"You gentlemen seem to be a long way from home. Do you often scavenge outside the Empire's borders?"

"That's how we make a living, Highness." Dash answered. "It ain't much, but at least we don't go hungry most nights."

To both men's amazement, the conversation had gone on far longer than expected. They both thought their encounter with the princess would be extremely brief at best. She was a busy woman with many important duties, after all. Why would one such as her want to spend more than a few seconds conversing with a couple of common rabble?

Unbeknownst to Rip and Dash was the fact that Dyamatti often enjoyed talking to what she deemed 'regular folk'. On a person-to-person basis, or even in a small group, it was something the princess wished she could do much more than she was able to. She found the experiences refreshing.

Once more, to the surprise of both men, Dyamatti chose to continue the conversation further. "Which of the provincial planets do you call home?" she asked them.

"We're from Farlocke, Your Highness." Dash freely volunteered, though he could tell his father was beginning to get a bit anxious from the encounter. A prolonged presence in front of those he didn't feel equal to made the older man uncomfortable, although he was trying his absolute best not to show it.

Dyamatti gave an understanding nod and said, "That would seem to make sense, given your line of work. Farlocke is closest to the border."

"Oh, we didn't start scavenging until long after we moved there, Highness." Dash once more volunteered. "I was born and raised on Tendarg. Da used to work at one of the orbital factories."

"She don't wanna know our life's history, boy!" Rip scolded. "She's got way more important things to do than hear our drivel."

Rip grabbed his son buy the shoulder as if he was laying his hands on a set of flight controls, saying as he did. "We've taken up enough of your time. We'll let you get back to your business. It was a real pleasure meeting you, Highness." and he began to usher the boy away.

"You as well." Dyamatti politely offered to the men.

Although the encounter could have gone on just a bit longer, the princess felt that it went rather well. Most of the time the people that she was allowed to meet were usually to dumbstruck by her presence to do anything more than incoherently ramble. But these two men were actually able to carry on a decent conversation with her. She found it to be quite pleasant. It allowed her to pretend that she was just one of the normal folk that she very often so envied, at least for a short time.

Hastings' time, on the other hand, was conspiring against him. Waters still hadn't found a sure way to solve their dilemma. With almost two hours gone by since Anderson's warning, they were rapidly running out of options.

There was one glimmer of hope, however, but it was faint and quite possibly dangerous. The chief thought he had found a temporary workaround for the star-drive. He figured out that the main problem lie within the star-drive's delicate temperature sensors. It was a critical piece of software. Any small fluctuations of the temperature within the reaction chambers and one could easily find themselves dealing with heat close to a star's corona. Such extremes were liable to cause a chain reaction within the star-drive's power systems and ignite a runaway reaction, taking the poor vessel with it.

But Waters was certain that if he could hack the code somewhat and fool the sensors, then he could get the star-drive operational again. Of course it was risky and he'd have to make sure the temperature was monitored manually, but it could be done. It was his only option, really. The only other means of repair was to dry dock the vessel and have a work crew perform the needed repairs, and that wasn't currently feasible. Lambert had done his deed masterfully.

"I'm going to reboot the engine in stages, one at a time." Waters informed the colonel. "As each stage comes online, I'll run tests to make sure everything is good before I proceed further."

"How long will that take?" Hastings asked, somewhat impatiently.

"About seventy minutes, Colonel."

"That's cutting it damn close. Do what you can to speed things up some. We need to shave at least ten minutes off that."

"I'll see what I can do. But I'm already rushing it. I'd prefer to have at least a couple of hours." the chief replied.

"We don't have a couple of hours, Chief." Hastings retorted, stating the bleakly obvious.

"I'm aware of that, Colonel. But if any of this doesn't work, there's a real chance the entire ship could explode."

"I have every confidence in you." The colonel said as he turned to head out of the engine room. "I'm going to update the princess and councilman on our status. Keep me posted. I want to leave the instant we're able to."

There just wasn't any wiggle room. The colonel felt like he was being pressed from all directions. Sure, Dyamatti was the embodiment of the mission. She was the reason they were all here. But it was more because of what she was rather than whom. It was up to Hastings, though, to make sure that they all got through the ordeal in one piece.

He was at least happy to see that the princess hadn't strayed far from her ship. She and the councilman were still located in the docking area. That was about as big a relief as Hastings was going to get.

Over on the other side of the docking ring, the colonel saw the two men loading what looked like scavenged pieces of junk onto their vessel. They appeared to be having a heated discussion over something, as the older man took one of the pieces and shook it at his son before he tossed it to the ground and stormed off back into the complex.

"Father and son bonding time, I see." Hastings muttered to himself before he proceeded to approach the princess.

He found the princess to be in good spirits, which he thought was rather odd considering what was happening around them. Still, if a calm walk outside the ship helped to sooth her mood, then he was all for it. It would only make his job easier, and he needed all the help he could get right now. But as the colonel had been steadily realizing, good news rarely stays good for long.

He approached the princess and her party, saying as he did, "Your Highness, I believe I have something good to report for once. Chief Waters has found a way to temporarily fix the ship."

"That is certainly good." Dyamatti replied while a slight smile slid across her lips. "How long before we can leave?"

"The chief is restarting the engine sequence as we speak. We'll be ready to leave within the hour."

"Please give Chief Waters my thanks. His skills have saved the day." the princess offered.

"I will Your..." Hastings tried to get out, but his words were interrupted by a low rumble that came from deep within the bowels of Dyamatti's ship.

"Oh, no." Hastings whispered aloud. "Please, no."

As if just to contradict the colonel and his wishes, a large ball of fire erupted from the gangplank that connected the ship to the station. It was soon followed by a billow of black smoke.

Hastings eyes had barely begun to focus on the alarming sight, when there came a deafening explosion. The entire aft section of the ship disintegrated in a raging torrent of flames and debris. Rolling shards of fire began to consume the vessel from the back end.

"Everyone get behind cover!" he shouted as his arms reached out to shield the princess from harm and guide her to safety.

"Anderson! Do you read me? Anderson!" the colonel screamed into his comm, each plea more desperate than the last.

There was static and some hissing sounds, but eventually a voice returned. It was Lieutenant Anderson's. "I'm here, sir." she said, her voice filled with unease and fear. "Alarms are going off all over the ship. What's happening?"

"Get everyone off the ship now! Do it now, Anderson!"

"Yes, si..." were the only sounds she was able to make before she and the rest of the ship was vaporized in an explosion that dwarfed the first. Balls of flame shot out into the darkness of space and streams of burning plasma blasted out into the void.

"No!" Hastings cried out.

He was hoping and begging that what had just witnessed was some sort of twisted nightmare. Inside the docking area, alarms rang out with ear-piercing screams and lock down fields formed over the damaged parts of the docking platform, sealing the precious inside from the cold black of space. He was at least thankful the colony's power reserves could still provide that, though he may not have realized it at the time.

After taking a few moments to collect himself, the colonel straightened up and attempted to regain his composure. Catastrophe or not, there was still work to be done. His mission was far from over.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. I think we are." came Zelinski's reply.

"Good, now turn off those damn alarms."

"Yes, colonel."

The princess' lithe gate glided her over to the Colonel. Usually her face held little trace of emotion, at least not around the Colonel. She was a famous royal, after all. Whatever feelings she held inside, Hastings was not privy to witness them. This time, though, was a rare exception. There was a definite look of shock and amazement on her face as she asked, "What just happened to my ship, Colonel?"

"It looks like Waters wasn't as successful as we hoped, Your Highness." was his regrettable answer. "Evidently, the star-drive couldn't take the extra heat and exploded, taking the entire ship with it."

Most of the time, Hastings was able to bull rush any problems with his will alone. If he didn't acknowledge anything other than success, then failure was out of the question entirely. He refused to allow it. But sometimes even his will was forced to cave and bend to the will of things more powerful than he. The princess understood this. Hastings had rarely failed her, and when he did, it was never due to incompetence.

"Very well, Colonel." she said. "That does leave us in a rather precarious predicament, however. Do you have any ideas how to solve it?"

"I do have an idea, as a matter of fact, Your Highness. But I'll have to get back to you on how realistic it is. Right now we have to get this area locked down. The Galutians will be here very soon."

"I'll leave you and your men to it, then."

After the immediate area had been secured, the colonel took stock of the situation. There were fourteen of them left, he counted. Fortunately the princess and councilman were outside the ship when disaster struck, which was a unique bit of luck that Hastings feared they would never replicate. However, of the fifty or so souls that began this voyage, only a handful of them remained. And what was worse, in a short time the raiders were going to make their appearance.

But all wasn't lost. Perhaps there was a way to use the tragedy to his advantage, Hastings thought. When the Gallutians arrived, they would clearly see that something had happened to the princess' ship. Their scanners would be able to pick up any residual effects and debris. Perhaps they would reason that all aboard the ship had perished when it exploded and simply leave, although if they did scan the area, they would easily be able to pick out the life forms on the colony.

If that was the case, then they could simply pummel the hapless derelict without ever having to leave their ships. The princess and her party would be helpless targets awaiting their destruction. Unless, that is, the raiders orders were to take the princess alive. In that case, Hastings and his men stood a fighting chance, albeit not much of one.

With focused precision, the colonel ordered his remaining men into various strategic positions. They didn't have any heavy weapons, but what they did have should be sufficient against any raiders who tried to take the princess by force. He was determined to have his soldiers ready for the fight of their lives if need be.

Ever since the raiders first appeared, the Alpheenians had their power and strength whittled down bit by bit. Now this was all that was left. Perhaps that was their game from the start. Whatever the case was, Hastings didn't have the chance to contemplate it. Time had run out.

"The raiders are here, colonel!" He heard one of his men shout. And sure enough, looking out the long sheets of clear enlar that guarded the docking ring, several small skirmisher ships were reappearing back into normal space. This was it.

### Chapter V

The only real plan Hastings had, other than just squeezing off shots at any raiders they saw, was to convince the owners of the other vessel to let the princess and her party use it. If he was persuasive enough, the colonel could convince the two men before the raiders had completely figured out what was going on. Time was critical because if they were able to make a swift escape, then their chances of outrunning the Galutians to the border increased dramatically. The longer they tarried, however, the greater the chance that the other ship would be damaged or destroyed outright. Hastings knew that once the raiders saw it, the small ship would be a prime target.

"Wait here and be ready for anything." he said before darted across the docking in the direction of the young man at the other end.

"You there!" he hollered out at Dash. "We are in need of your services."

Dash, who had been watching the entire scene play out, replied back, "I saw your ship explode. That was unreal! What happened to it?"

"That's not important right now. Princess Dyamatti needs your help, civilian."

"Citizen." Dash corrected. "Da and me are both citizens. He served in the IDF."

There was a rather large difference between citizens and civilians in the Empire. It was a title you had to earn and came with respect and several perks. Not the least of which was the ability to vote in imperial elections.

"Pardon me...citizen." Hastings apologized. But he was actually quite happy to learn that this young man was a citizen. It meant that there was a greater chance he would concerned with imperial affairs and hopefully more willing to get involved in them. "We urgently request the use of your vessel."

"I'll have to ask Da. He went back into the complex."

"Call him on the comm. We need to get moving right away."

"I'll do that, but he ain't gonna be happy." Dash replied, turning to walk back up the ramp to his ship.

But just as the young man was about to inform his father of Dyamatti's need, the raiders moved to attack. Of the five ships that Hastings could see, four of them broke off and began to strafe the facility. The pit of his stomach clenched tightly. If they were attacking the station, then that usually meant they weren't after prisoners, except, the raiders didn't appear to be headed toward the docking ring. Instead, they were racing to the back end of the colony, where the settlement was located.

Balls of unstable plasma burst from their weapons and arced across the darkness. Each impact pummeled the hapless facility; sending off fragments of torn and twisted enlar and metal. The entire asteroid rumbled from the vibrations of the blasts.

From behind, the colonel heard a terrified scream. "Da!" Dash shouted.

The young man rushed out of his vessel when he saw the raiders attack. Hastings barely managed to stop him before he was able to rush off to the depths of the complex. Dash struggled against Hastings' grip, trying desperately to break free.

"My da's back there! They're gonna kill him!" Dash cried.

"Do be a fool!" Hastings shot back. "You'll get yourself killed."

The enlar plating beneath their feet shook violently as a large portion of the settlement erupted into a white-hot ball of death. The colonel feared that the entire docking area would come apart from the force of the blast. Debris rocketed past the clear windows surrounding the outer ring as force fields activated once more, this time sealing off the docking area from the rest of the facility.

"Da!" Dash screamed as loud as he could.

"He's gone! There's nothing you can do for him now." the colonel shot back. "Help the princess! Help the Empire!"

"I won't leave my Da back there!"

"You can't help him now. But you can help save a lot of other people."

While Hastings was pleading with Dash, the four raiders had circled around and were docking with the colony. It made perfect sense. They were after prisoners. Well, at least one prisoner. The rest were expendable. If Hastings wasn't otherwise occupied, he would have marveled at the brilliance of the raider's plan. By eliminating most of the settlement area, the raiders had not only sealed the princess' group in a confined area, but had also destroyed the colony's environmental systems. Before long, there wouldn't be enough atmosphere to be able to put up any type of fight whatsoever. The princess would be forced to surrender herself. Either that, or suffocate.

The four ports opened and twelve men came charging in. By now, Hastings had seen what was happening and knew what the raider's ploy was. All they had to do was play for time. By engaging the soldiers, they were burning precious ticks of the clock. And with each tick, there was even less air to breath.

The ring became bathed in the light of energy weapons being fired, as the two sides battled the other; each from behind the meager safety of improvised cover. Minor explosions popped off here and there as blasts began to get nearer their marks.

"Please!" Hastings pleaded once again. "None of us has much time!"

The dark realization of his father finally began to creep over the young man. Rip was truly gone. There was no way to save him. At least Dash might be able to make some good come out of it.

"Get everyone on board." he replied, suddenly appearing a great deal more calm, although it was probably more due to him shutting down emotionally than anything else. "Do it quickly before I change my mind."

That was all the colonel needed to hear. He mustered every last ounce of speed he could and raced back across the docking area towards the others. It never even occurred to him that he might get hit by a stray shot, or that one of the raiders might actually draw a bead on him. He had to get Dyamatti on that ship and he needed to do it fast. Getting himself killed would have to wait until later. He just didn't have time for it.

"Wurtin, you and Zelinski lay down cover fire." He ordered sternly. "The rest of you head toward the ship. I want a rolling formation. Two at a time."

While the two men did as commanded and unleashed a fury of fire at their would-be attackers, another two men who were furthest away quickly darted in the direction of the small ship. After some twenty meters, they abruptly stopped and dove down behind a small pile of empty metal crates that had been left behind Cycles ago. They once again drew their weapons and began to fire from the safety of their position. In effect, they established a new point of cover fire. Then two more men rushed over to join them.

It was difficult for the Galutians to counter the separate attacks. They were forced to duck down behind hastily-erected barriers in order to avoid being vaporized by Hastings' men. It wasn't until nearly all of the soldiers had moved positions and they were able to shuffle the princess that much closer to Dash's vessel, that the raiders were able to make an adjustment. But the adjustment they made showed a true understanding of tactics.

Without any commands or audible orders given, the raiders began to slowly creep farther apart from one another. While such a move did weaken the center of their line, it also helped fan out their range of attack, which was infinitely more valuable in the present situation. No longer were they concentrated in a central ball. Now they were spread out and more resistant to the soldiers' attempts at attacking from different angles.

In a flash, the tide of the fight had turned in the raiders' favor. The Alpheenians were forced to stay crouched behind whatever protection they could find. Hastings knew that each shot either side squeezed off burned more and more precious oxygen. There couldn't be more than just a few minutes of breathable atmosphere left. He actually started to believe they might not make it out of there in one piece.

The colonel glanced over in the direction of Dash's ship. It looked like the young man was up to something. He had pulled a small crate out from somewhere inside his vessel and was opening it. From the crate, Dash pulled a rather large and nasty looking pistol. From the look of the thing, it had been modified heavily. It was probably the only means Dash and his father had of defending themselves. The young man grasped the weapon in his hand and slowly aimed it at one of the raiders.

"Oh, no. Don't..." Hastings thought to himself. But before he could say anything, Dash's finger squeezed the trigger and blistering orbs of energy were flung from the weapon.

Unfortunately, Dash's marksmanship was rather poor and he missed his intended target by a rather wide margin. In return, two of the raiders on the end swung their weapons around and launched their fury at the young man. Dash was barely able to leap from harm as several bolts of raw power exploded around the port's opening.

"Get back, you idiot!" Hastings shouted. He was hoping Dash would now clearly see the error he made. It was never wise to draw unwanted attention to your only means of escape. "Are you trying to get us all killed?"

All of her life, Dyamatti was told to let those around her do the heavy lifting. It was their job to protect her, not the other way around. All it took was one well-placed shot and that would be it. Most of the time this philosophy worked with little trouble, but sometimes the princess would question her father's advice. It seemed to her that when things got most precarious, it was she alone that could affect the outcome and save everyone involved. But there had never been an instance such as this before. Her men, although giving a valiant effort, held no chance of success. She would just have to deal with King Laurenitis' lecture when she returned home.

"Enough!" Dyamatti barked. "This ends now!"

Both Tyra and the colonel instantly knew the princess' intentions. But before either of them could offer an objection, she cast a harsh scowl to inform both of them that she was not to be silenced this time.

From deep inside, Dyamatti gathered her power. Her eyes glowed with the essence of the energy that flowed through her body. A faint ripple began to form in the air around her. The light began to shimmer as the force of her power resonated into the air. Unlike past encounters, this time she wasn't holding back. She was going to unleash the full force of her strength. Tyra could see this in the princess' focused gaze. He almost pitied the raiders for what was about to come.

With nothing more than a thought, Dyamatti surrounded herself with a field of raw energy and rose to her feet. First one of the raiders' shots impacted uselessly against the impenetrable aura. Then another shot. Within seconds, all of the raiders had trained their weapons on the princess and fired one round after the other at her. Each blast only served to anger the princess more and more. She held out her right hand and a beam of bright blue plasma erupted from it, tearing through the crates and barrels the raiders hid behind like they were made of paper.

A series of intense explosions rocked the docking area. The Galutians were flung far and wide before Dyamatti's might. Not a single raider was spared her rage. After only a few short seconds, all that remained was smoldering debris and bodies.

The princess cast her gaze out the windows at the last raider ship hovering just away from the asteroid. Not even at the distance of hundreds of meters was it safe from her. She casually waved her hand through the air and the small vessel was wracked with a fiery detonation which caused tremendous damage.

Perhaps realizing the inevitable, the unseen pilot powered up his vessel and quickly made his escape. The ship banked in a hard turn and retreated with any available speed it could muster.

With the last of the raider threat over, Dyamatti allowed her powers to withdraw back into her. She took a slight step back and then fell to her knees. Using her gifts always took their toll on her, but this time it had sapped her completely. She couldn't even stand.

Two soldiers swiftly ran to her aid and scooped her up. Each man placed one of her arms around their shoulder to support her weight. With careful steps, they headed toward the small ship at the end of the docking ring.

"Everyone get on board." said. The battle may have been over, but they still needed to make haste.

The group all made their way to Dash's ship and began to board, except the colonel who paused to inspect one of the fallen raiders. Tyra closely followed the princess up the gangplank and into the vessel. The old politician gave a slight smile at her and said, "I guess we can call that a successful field test of the bracelets. I've never seen you do anything like that before. You did good, Dyamatti. Your father would be proud."

All the princess could do was give a weak smile and nod in return. The experience had totally drained her. After expending herself to such a degree, it could take hours or more for her to fully recover. But Tyra was right. Never before had she felt such complete control over her ability. The small platinum bands would certainly serve their purpose. And with practice, there was no telling what she would be able to accomplish.

Hastings looked down and the broken body before him. There was nothing remarkable about the raider that the colonel could see. It was a Galutian, plain and simple. But what Hastings saw in its hand was very surprising, indeed. He bent down and pried the object from the dead fingers of the raider and held it up where he could get a better look at it. It was a weapon, but not just any kind of weapon. It wasn't even Galutian. It was Ikaranite. There could be no doubt.

After he was able to process the information and let it sink it a bit, the colonel knew that the stakes of the game just got much much higher. The Ikaranites were the ones pulling the strings, just as Hastings suspected. And it appears they were trying to give their Galutian pawns every advantage they could.

As he finally made his way to the ship, a horrifying thought leaped into his mind: Who told the Ikaranites about the hyper-gate? That was the real question. If the skwibs knew about what the Empire was doing, they had to have operatives placed deep inside the government. With that being the case, what else did they know?

When all members of the Alpheenian party had boarded, Dash hopped into the pilot's station and began firing up the engines. At the same time, he disengaged the docking port and sealed the hatch. All those inside felt a slight bump as the ship was released from the colony's grip and drifted away.

The sub-light engines came to life and propelled the ship further away into the expanse of space. With the current threat handled, the colonel allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. That was one of the most tense scenarios he'd seen in all his Cycles of service to the king. It was finally over. All that was left was to make the jump to warp and race across the finish line; that being the Empire's borders. Very soon now, the colonel would be accepting the gratitude of the king and the respect due him for his actions.

Except that it wasn't over. Perhaps the universe had something against Colonel Hastings and was taking out its anger on the poor man. Maybe he committed a great sin in a previous life that he was now paying a penance for. Whatever that case, he was about to receive some of the worst news he'd had since this whole journey started.

The colonel hastily shuffled his way to the fore of the craft to find Dash sitting in the pilot's chair. "Let's get out of here." he said. "Bring your star-drive online before anything else happens."

"Uh...about that." Dash replied almost as if he was apologizing.

"Please tell me there isn't a problem."

"Well, see..." Dash started to explain trying not to anger the man before him whose face was starting to turn quite flushed with approaching anger. "The star-drive isn't working."

Hastings shook his head and rolled his eyes. He probably should have been expecting something like this to happen. "You gotta be fucking kidding me." he fumed. "You mean to tell me that we jumped on this tub and we can't even get back to the border?"

Dash hopped up from his chair and reached for a small mechanical piece lying on the console. "We can fix it though. With this!" he proclaimed as he held up the part.

"Fix it, then!" the colonel exclaimed. "Now!"

"I could, except...well, it's kinda dangerous without the pre-stage flow limiter. See, in order to install this part, the star-drive has to be active. Stupid, I know. But it has to sync up with the field in real time. Without the limiter, the field will become active as soon as I plug this in."

"How is that a bad? We'll just make sure the navigational fields are in place before you make the repair." Hastings countered.

"You don't get it." Dash continued, "This part goes directly into the plasma assembly on the main graviton emitter. That's on the outside of the ship. I have to go outside, do an EVA."

The colonel gave a few choice curses under his breath. "You'd be killed the second you swapped out the bad part for the good one. I get it." he said, finally understanding the young man. "So why don't you have this limiter you spoke of?"

"That's what me and Da were looking for, only you guys showed up before we could find all the pieces. Da saw your ship and he wanted to get back just in case you were...well...not nice people."

That explained why Hastings saw Rip run back into the colony. He suspected that the young man's father had become angry when he found out Dash didn't have all the parts. Rip knew that the repair would be deadly.

Suddenly, one of the pilot's consoles started lighting up with activity. From what Hastings could make out, it appeared to be a warning. Dash plopped back down in his chair and swung it over so he could view the information.

"Oh, shit. I think you pissed off whoever those people where that attacked you." the young man said nervously. "We have more ships coming in."

"How many more?"

Dash pointed to the blips of light on his monitor as he counted each under his breath. It took far longer than Hastings liked for him to stop counting. The young man turned his chair to face the colonel. Hastings knew it wasn't going to be a good response just from the look on the man's face.

"Thirteen. About nine minutes out." was Dash's answer. "What are we gonna do? This ship doesn't have any weapons."

What indeed? Hastings thought. They were essentially dead or captured already. The only thing left to do was inform the princess. Chances were she was far too weak still to fend off any raiders. And even if she wasn't, the colonel had no idea if Dyamatti could even handle that many ships.

He walked to the back of the small craft, where he found the princess sitting in one of the few chairs aboard the ship. She was being comforted by Tyra and still obviously quite weak from her earlier expenditure. Strangely, the councilman had the look of a proud, yet concerned, uncle. It seemed that the councilman and the princess were closer than Hastings was aware.

"I hate to disturb Your Highness, but we have more problems. The star-drive isn't operational and we have more raider ships incoming." the colonel said, with more than a small amount of regret in his voice.

Dyamatti slowly nodded her understanding. Her elegant hands pressed against the chair as she attempted to rise from it, saying as she did, "then I still have work to do."

"Dyamatti, no." Tyra said softly. "You're still too weak. Who knows what will happen with those bracelets if you push yourself."

"He's right, Your Highness." Hastings concurred. "I'm afraid that isn't an option."

Slightly trembling, the princess stood upright. She had made up her mind. Although her father would tell her that it was Hastings' job to sacrifice himself and his men for her, she was having none of it. They had done their jobs and if the raiders weren't stopped, it would all be for nothing. Even if she did manage to somehow survive, she wasn't about to have that stain on her soul.

But before she could speak her commands, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Dyamatti's head snapped to the source and saw Dash grabbing a protective helmet from one of the shelves. In his hand was a small mechanical object she didn't recognize.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hastings asked.

The young man beamed a large smile and said, "I'm saving the princess."

"You'll be killed, you idiot." the colonel snapped back.

"I got nothing left, anyway. My Da's dead and I got no one back on Farlocke. Besides, I'm not one of your men. I don't take orders from you."

"What's going on? What are you two on about?" The old politician questioned, not understanding anything the other two men were talking about.

Hastings turned back to the councilman and said, "That part will fix the star-drive. But the drive has to be active when he installs it. As soon as he puts it in..."

"He'll be killed." Tyra replied, finishing the colonel's statement.

The old councilman approached Dash and looked him squarely in the eye. There was no sign of doubt or wavering. The young man was clearly not playing games or bluffing. He knew he was about to die and he was at peace with that decision.

"The Empire greatly appreciates the sacrifice you make today, my boy." Tyra said as he grasped the younger man's arm and gave a good squeeze. "You will be remembered throughout history for your deed."

Dyamatti glided in her fashion over to Dash. She placed her slender hand against his cheek. She moved closer and placed a long and tender kiss on his lips, much to the shock and dismay of those around her. Except Dash, that is. He very nearly fainted.

His eyes rose up to meet hers. She was absolutely beautiful. Her soft orbs stared back at him with gratitude and regret.

"What was that for?" he whispered to her.

"Because you earned it." she replied softly. "Thank you, Dash."

He beamed a wide grin at her for several seconds and then began moving toward the airlock. Before donning his helmet he turned to Hastings and said, "You owe me one." in a half-joking tone.

With the press of a button, an environmental force field dropped into place, isolating Dash. He placed the helmet over his head and sealed it tight. After a few quick taps of the controls, the airlock slid open and revealed the blackness beyond. He stepped through, and he was gone. The airlock sealed itself automatically.

A voice crackled in over the comm. It was Dash's. "Go to the pilot's station and wait for my signal to activate the star-drive." he said.

"Got it." Hastings responding and made his way back to the small bridge area in the fore section.

There were several tense moments where Hastings sat and stared at the monitor beside him. On it, the thirteen raider ships were prominently displayed. They would arrive in only a couple more minutes. Dash's actions would amount to nothing if he didn't accomplish his task before the raiders appeared.

"Alright! Do it now!" Dash cried out over the comm.

Without hesitation, the colonel tapped the holo-monitor and brought up the star-drive controls. He gave a quick tap of his finger and brought the FTL systems online. "Star-drive powered up." he said.

"Good, now engage it when I say 'go'."

"Understood."

"Go!"

Hastings pressed the button to engage as fast as he could move his finger through the air. There was a bright flash of light from outside the forward windows, then the surrounding stars shifted color to a deep purple before vanishing altogether. The universe, itself, began to glow with a soft blue light the seemed to emanate from everywhere all at once. The light was eventually squeezed off into a sharp cone originating from directly ahead of the vehicle. They had jumped to warp speed, and in so doing, their escape was complete. Dash had just given his life to save them all.

The ship wasn't very fast, but it didn't have to be to outrun the raider skirmishers, which only had a basic star-drive that couldn't be engaged for long periods before needing to power down for a time. According to the readouts, everything was nominal with the ships systems. They really were finally in the clear. It had only cost the lives of thirty seven people to achieve.

But at least they would be back behind the safety of the Empire's borders within several hours. After that, there was no telling. Hastings was aware of the seriousness of the threat the Ikaranites posed. He knew they weren't finished yet. But the ship they now possessed wasn't going to get them all the way back to Alpheena. Acquiring another vessel, however, that would be an adventure unto itself.

The End.

Other Titles Available By

J.A. Brimingham -

Dylan's Prize (Harbinger Book I)

Young Dylan Largent finds himself at a crossroads in his life when forces outside his control turn his world upside down. Trapped in a place he doesn't want to be, fate intervenes on his behalf and provides a way for him to return home. But nothing is what it seems to be at first glance. His new ship, The Chimera, is sleek, elegant, and luxurious. But the large vessel is much more than he can handle alone. Dylan must find a way to operate his new prize as well as learn to lead his new crew of misfits. There's Murc, the large older man with an odd cloud of bad luck that seems to follow him wherever he goes, Beetle, the moody medical drone with a peculiar sense of humor, Sandra, the motherly ship's computer who is unlike anything Dylan had ever encountered before, Nessa, the blonde vixen with a cunning as sharp as any blade, and Vic, the grizzled veteran with a wry wisdom. Then there's Alahnni, the young slave girl whom Dylan finds a strong attraction for almost immediately. He wants to save her from the wretched life she was forced into. However, as with all things aboard the Chimera, there's much more to her than meets the eye. But attacking pirates, scheming politicians, and the dreaded Ikaranites threaten to destroy the new life Dylan is fighting for.

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The Auction

What would you do if everyone and everything you hold dear was suddenly put up for sale? That's exactly was Allen Latimer and his family are forced to face when the United States goes bankrupt and the foreign creditors come calling, looking to collect on outstanding bills. In the near future, America has incurred so much debt to China, Saudi Arabia, and other nations, that these nations do the only thing left available to them to collect on what they're owed: Auction off every man woman and child in the U.S. Caught in a mess they didn't create, Allen and his family are forced to deal the unthinkable. The clock is ticking and time is quickly running out, but nobody escapes the clutches of The Auction.

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### A Brief History of the Empire

### Compiled By

### Thomas the Forgetful

Overview: Contained within these documents rests the historical actions and ramifications of our forbears. Everything from the first ground-breaking settlements overseen by the visionary genius of David Arlington, to more recent events such as the scandalous dealings of the Great Council on Purduay, is covered in these pages. This compendium seeks to categorize and illustrate the Durantalian Empire's history for the first 568 years of its existence. These records will serve to educate and enlighten anyone who chooses to glean this vital knowledge from its pages.

Before the Beginning: In the year -52 of the Imperial Calendar, a young man by the name of David Arlington began his life's work in the city of Andak, which was on the Old Planet. He was barely twenty three at the time; and as such, he was full of ideas and youthful vigor. While his superiors tasked him with mostly mundane chores of unoriginal scientific causes, Arlington secretly worked at something far greater. He was on a mission.

As the years steadily rolled by, he was able to rise through the ranks of his peers. And in so doing, new trust and responsibilities were placed squarely on his shoulders. Arlington was given access to all sorts of wonderful equipment and research. Gradually, he was able to expand on his own private experiments and improve them one hundred fold.

For more than a half century, Arlington toiled, always careful to be invisible to the watchful gaze of his superiors. He knew that should he ever be discovered, he would be labeled as a traitor and a thief. Judgment on him would be as swift as it was absolute. But he was very careful and succeeded in keeping his work hidden from prying eyes. Finally, on the eve of his 74th birthday, David Arlington and a large group of some carefully chosen souls climbed aboard his creation and blasted to the heavens, never to set foot on the Old Planet ever again.

Arlington's secret project, the first faster than light (FTL) warp drive engine, would propel him to a new home among the stars. It took more than a full major cycle for him and his people to reach their destination: A blue orb among the stars called Durantalis II.

The Beginning – The first settlement (0 i.c. - 5 i.c.): Not long after Arlington arrived on Durantalis II, he set about dismembering his prize creation. Not many people would so willingly destroy something that took nearly an entire lifetime to create, but it was all part of Arlington's grand vision. The ship that transported some three thousand people to the distant stars was also meant to serve as the foundations of a settlement. It was the easiest and most convenient way of transporting all the necessary materials, he reasoned.

It took almost another major cycle for the disassembling of the craft and rearranging of it into the structures that would provide shelter and services. But when they were finished, an actual settlement was made. But it was more than that. Much more. It was the first town built to be the permanent home for human beings on another planetary body outside the Old System. The town needed a name, so Arlington christened it "Pelorus" to serve as a new beginning for the human race.

\- A new government is formed (5 i.c. - 13 i.c.): Arlington thought others might share his views and desire a new home among the stars. To that end he left all his research behind in order for others to discover and expand upon, which they did. But he didn't leave it out in plain sight. In order to obtain all the information, one needed to be dedicated and secret. There was a code to crack and ciphers to unravel. Arlington wanted to ensure that only the most dedicated and honest scientists were granted access to his trove of information. He trembled at the thought of the Andak Regents acquiring his work and using it for more devious purposes. But for those that were able to access it, a lifetime of research was at their disposal. It would take very little time to replicate Arlington's plans, given the right tools and know-how.

Not long after the completion of Pelorus, new ships from the Old Planet began to arrive; ferrying people to the new settlement in droves. Arlington was nearly eighty years of age by this time and saw his health rapidly begin to deteriorate. He was aware that he would have to pass the mantle of leadership to his protégé, Angus McMillan.

McMillan was a stern man in his forties when Arlington tasked him with organizing the chaos of the growing populace. One of the traits about McMillan that Arlington respected most was that fact that McMillan was never one for rash and hasty actions. He preferred to deliberate on serious matters and would often seek the council of others he respected. However, if an immediate decision was to be made, McMillan was also quite capable of that was well. He was a natural leader who was respected and trusted by those around him.

With the passing of Arlington in 11 i.c., the people of Pelorus mourned the loss of their beloved leader and the man who had sent mankind on its new course. But with a population of more than fifty thousand people, Pelorus needed a stable government for its residents. More refugees from the Old Planet were arriving at a constant pace, and before long, the loose framework of cooperation among settlers was bound to collapse.

McMillan ordered the formation of an organized government. Each district of the settlement was to appoint one person as a representative on the drafting committee. There were ten representatives in all. For months they spent their days locked behind metal doors as they argued and debated the course this new government should take. In the end, it was decided that parts of proceeding systems would be used for something entirely new. A king would be named as the central figure of the government, while an elected council would advise on the intricate matters of state. A judicial system would serve to interpret the law and mete out justice. The king and his government would be bound by the Tenets of Liberty, which were specific rules the king must abide by. As of this writing, these tenets are:

  * 1.) There shall be no laws or edicts to inhibit by the government the gathering or assembly of people for a peaceful purpose.

  * 2.) There shall be no laws or edicts to inhibit by the government the freedom of the communication of ideas and opinions by the people.

  * 3.) The government, its associates and representatives, are forbidden from intrusive surveillance of any private civilians and citizens without just cause and prior approval from the judiciary. The property of private citizens and civilians shall not be seized nor searched without sufficient provocation and judicial approval.

  * 4.) There shall be no laws or edicts to inhibit by the government the rights and freedoms of the press to report and document proceedings and events. Never shall the government, its associates and representatives, attempt to dictate the course or actions of the press or any private journalistic entity.

  * 5.) The government, its associates and representatives, shall honor the rights of the people to evoke spiritualism however they deem to do so, as long as no harm or distress is brought upon people or animals. Never shall the government represent, advocate, or be affiliated with religious organizations of any sort.

  * 6.) The government, its associates and representatives, shall recognize all peoples equally, regardless of race, gender, orientation, genetics, or spirituality. Never shall the government be considered more important than the people it serves.

  * 7.) Never shall the government represent, advocate, or be affiliated with any business or corporate entity.

  * 8.) There shall be no laws or edicts to inhibit by the government, prevent, or diminish in any way a private citizen's right to vote in any governmental election.

  * 9.) There shall be no laws or edicts to revoke or in any way alter private citizens' and civilians' rights to receive proper and prudent due process under the law and justice system, unless acting in service to king and country during times of war or other public dangers. No private civilian or citizen shall be imprisoned, exiled, be deprived of property, or put to death except by the lawful judgment of a jury. Never shall a private civilian or citizen be made to answer for the same offense more than once.

  * 10.) The king shall be a servant of the people. He will uphold the law.

It was also agreed upon by the committee that McMillan should be appointed the first king of Pelorus, becoming who we now know as Angus I. It was a position he would hold for the remainder of his life, which was some thirty Cycles. During the reign if Angus I, Pelorus would thrive and expand. Its population would reach over one hundred thousand souls; with new, smaller towns and villages springing up just outside the borders of the city. David Arlington's dream of a new civilization based on liberty, equality, and freedom was, at last, a reality.

-The next frontier (40 i.c. \- 125 i.c.): The reign of Angus I was succeeded in 40 i.c. by his eldest son, Stephen, who came to be known as Stephen the Wise. It was during his reign that the small colony of Pelorus spread its borders at a vast and unprecedented scale. The entire planet of Durantalis II would come under the jurisdiction of the king and his council by order of the Declaration of Sovereignty in 66 i.c. The lone natural satellite, Urebus, was colonized for the first time in 69 i.c.

In 78 i.c., it was determined that a distant planet was also suitable for colonization. The planet was known as Farlocke, in honor of its discoverer, Jason Farlocke, and was 37 light years from Durantalis II. With advancements made over Arlington's original designs, a new colony ship was built and sent to the far away world.

The invention of the quantum communications system, or quan-comm as it is still known by today, allowed the settlement on Farlocke direct communication with Durantalis II. This proved to be great asset and allowed Farlocke to thrive, much as Pelorus had done nearly a century before.

After the success of Farlocke colony, it was decided to send another such ship to the relatively close planet of Heslin in 90 i.c. Soon, both worlds began to thrive and trade networks developed between Durantalis II and her two daughter worlds. With advancements in star-drive technology, the vast distances between the planets could be traversed in mere weeks instead of the long months it took before. This, combined with the quan-comm, allowed those on Durantalis to monitor and oversee the activities of the other worlds on a more detailed level.

In what was one of the most significant events in human history, on the fourteenth day of Orbay in 94 i.c., mankind made direct first contact with beings known as the Gleem. It was the first intelligent race encountered by man, but certainly not the last. Humans were only the second race that the Gleem had met in their travels across the stars and both species were of comparable technological levels. Through the Gleem, humans were introduced to the Attillics of the Altaive Confederacy and after a time of trepidation and reluctance, a trade partnership developed between the three races.

The Early Empire – The start ( 125 i.c. - 200 i.c.): On the sixth day of Arcturus in 125 i.c., the Durantalian Empire was born when members of the Planetary Council voted to ratify the Imperial Doctrine, which outlined how the government would work for the empire and all provincial bodies. Angus II of Durantalis assumed the role of Emperor, and in so doing, gained the title, His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Angus II. The Planetary Council that advised him was re-titled to the more-familiar Imperial Grand Council that we know of today. The planet Durantalis II was itself renamed to Durantalis Prime.

Each planet would have a ruling royal family that was first appointed by Angus II and who could only be removed through a rigorous and delicate method known as the No Confidence Clause. Each king or queen was subject to the same Tenets of Liberty that had originally bound the first kings of Durantalis II. Order replaced chaos among the many colonies, outposts, and Imperial territories. The Empire entered into what we now call the Silver Age.

\- Alpheena enters the Empire ( 201 i.c. - 230 i.c.): in 179 i.c., the colony on Alpheena was founded by Rudolph Earnst and Gabrielle Tunos. Unlike the first colonies, Alpheena's unusual magnetic field made things more difficult. It created havoc with a wide array of the devices and technology that the residents depended on. The problems were eventually solved, but only after nearly a decade of effort and vast amounts resources invested in the matter. In 207 i.c. Alpheena was officially recognized as a provincial planet. Tunos and her family line were chosen to lead and represent Alpheena, as she became Queen Gabrielle I. As of this writing, the Tunos family is the oldest continuous ruling family in the Empire.

In time, Alpheena would become one of the wealthiest and most powerful of the provincial planets. Its distance from Durantalis Prime was key in securing trade with species outside the Empire. However, it wasn't long before powers outside of the Empire were made aware of Alpheena's lucrative position and desired the planet for their own.

The Kiletican War ( 230 i.c. - 237 i.c.): For over two centuries mankind had not raised arms against his fellow man. While disagreements were commonplace and even expected, war was as foreign to the people of the Empire as living on the Old Planet was. Only rarely did situations devolve into outright protest by sections of the populace, and those only turned violent on a handful of occasions.

But in 230 i.c., a race known as the Kilet invaded Imperial space. It was the first time such actions had ever taken place. At first, bands of Kiletican raiders would disrupt the many trade routes near Alpheena in order to slowly erode the planet's control over the area. But over time, the attacks grew more intense. The Kiletican forces rightly reasoned that Alpheena's distance from the heart of the Empire, as well as the relative weakness of Imperial forces, would make the planet vulnerable to attack and subsequent acquisition by the Kileticans.

For the first time in recorded Imperial history, Emperor Tybus III mobilized the available military might of the Empire. He conscripted men and materials from all the provincial planets into the Imperial Defense Force (IDF) to meet the coming attacks head-on. These actions, however, were not enough to turn the tide. Even with more men and munitions, Alpheena struggled mightily against the Kiletican onslaught and many people perished. Centuries of peace had left the Empire's military lacking in both numbers and equipment. The Kileticans, on the other hand, were considered one of the more formidable powers in this region of the galaxy. Defeat and the loss of Alpheena seemed all but assured during the lowest points of the war.

But the longer the war dragged on, the more the Empire was able to mobilize its vast resources and pool them into a collective fighting force. New factories quickly sprang up across the provincial planets and older factories were re-dedicated to new military purposes. This era of history is credited with more advancements in star-drive technology than any other. Bigger and better ships with more armor and improved weaponry were soon being churned out of nearly every world within the Empire's borders.

By late 236 i.c., it was becoming apparent that the outcome of the war had been decided in the Empire's favor. However, the Kileticans attacks still proceeded almost without interruption. It was clear that a message needed to be sent in order to bring both sides to the bargaining table.

As the Cycle turned to 237 i.c., the Empire launched its first campaign into Kiletican space. The initial assault took the Kileticans by surprise and three of their outposts were captured in only the first cycle. This indeed was enough to initiate talks of a truce and finally bring about an end to the hostilities. On the seventeenth of Danibas, 237 i.c., the Acadian Peace Accords were signed by representatives of both governments, officially ending the war.

The Results of War - the dawning of the Golden Age ( 240 i.c. - 300 i.c. ): With the defeat of the Kileticans, The Durantalian Empire was now viewed as both a major economic player and a military power in the region. Her clout with other races quickly rose and more favorable trade deals were stuck which greatly benefited the already growing empire. No longer did the other races look upon mankind as a sort of novelty. In addition, never again would the IDF be so neglected. While the numbers would swell and subside over time, the IDF would always be a force to be reckoned with. With the rapid expansion of the Empire and her newly-found status, humans were now observed with both amazement and suspicion. The Empire would now be taken seriously by all parties.

-Purduay enters the Empire ( 301 i.c. - 310 i.c.): With the events of the war still fresh in the minds of the Empire's populace, it was decided that another planet be given provincial status. Purduay was chosen not only because of its growing colony and settlements, but because of its strategic position. Purduay was the outer-most planet the Empire had yet colonized; being some twelve light years beyond Alpheena. Besides acting as a buffer to the valuable trade routes surrounding Alpheena, Purduay was close to several local neutron stars and their precious neutronium. Never before had a planet been chosen to inhabit strictly on the basis of strategic positioning. But after the war, the Emperor and his council felt the need for more prudent expansion. Never again would the Empire be caught unaware by outside forces.

-The Great Expansion and the Kujahski (310 i.c. - 419 i.c.): In the Cycles after Purduay officially became a provincial planet, the Empire's hold on the region grew stronger; mostly through diplomacy and trade as opposed to other means. Soon, aspects of Imperial culture began showing up on planets far outside the Empire's borders. The Empire was affecting other societies simply because those other cultures respected the Empire and desired to emulate its success.

In 354 i.c., Vol became the sixth provincial planet. While Vol was the smallest of the provincial planets in size at just under twelve thousand kilometers in diameter, its location between Alpheena and Durantalis Prime made its inclusion a necessity. In so doing, the Empire strengthened its reach to the outer planets.

At the latter part of the fourth century, the Kujahski home world of Jyrozsicsekl was seeing increased raider and pirate attacks. The Kujahski people weren't exactly timid by any means, yet they much preferred to keep to themselves and did little to explore the space around them. Over the many major cycles the Empire was aware of their existence, Jyrozsicsekl mainly chose to stay out of the affairs of others while the Empire quickly expanded around them. The two parties did trade some resources and materials, but not nearly as much as one would think considering their relative close proximity. The raider attacks soon changed all of that.

The Kujahski had no organized military to speak of and were uniquely susceptible to the hostility. Being so close to Imperial space, the IDF would often find itself chasing the same raiders and pirates that threatened Jyrozsicsekl. That was the only way the Kujahski ever found any reprieve. If not for the occasional IDF patrols, Jyrozsicsekl would have endured nearly constant attacks. After several Cycles, and with their planet ravaged, the Kujahski officially asked for help from the Empire. On the ninth day of Suta in 396 i.c., the Proclamation of Allegiance was signed by dignitaries from Jyrozsicsekl and Emperor Sigmund I. With the agreement, Jyrozsicsekl fell under the protectorship of the Empire. No longer would the Kujahski people be threatened by pirates and raiders.

By the dawn of the fifth century, Jyrozsicsekl was prospering from their cooperation with the Empire. Nearly all of the damaged communities had been fully repaired. It was eventually agreed by the ruling body to go beyond the alliance and seek official inclusion in the Empire. The Kujahski desperately needed to expand their abilities and resources in an ever accelerating galaxy, yet they also greatly desired to remain as separated from the dealings of others as possible. The Empire could provide that.

In 419 i.c., Jyrozsicsekl became an Imperial territory. Only fifteen Cycles later, it was included as a provincial planet. It was the first, and as of this writing the only, non-human world to be initiated into the Empire. Unlike the previous six planets, however, Jyrozsicsekl was allowed to keep its original form of government. The Kujahski were mainly tight knit communities of families and close friends. And while they all had access to information and travel to all parts of the planet, they rarely made planet-wide decisions together. Each area usually followed an agreed-upon set of rules that changed only slightly from area to area. A global consensus was usually never reached on anything. It was just assumed that all Kujahski would agree. The Kujahski government reflected these beliefs and was organized accordingly. Regional mayors would oversee local areas and if the need arose, they would consult one another. It was, and still is, a simple but effective method for the Kujahski people. The only real change made to accommodate their status in the Empire was the addition of the system of private citizens and civilians, which all other people in the Empire were already familiar with. The Kujahski were also given a seat on the Imperial Grand Council alongside the six other provincial planets.

The Modern Era - Scandal and the weakening of the Imperial Grand Council ( 420 i.c. - 455 i.c.): The first part of the fifth century was a time of great economic prosperity for the Empire and all its inhabitants. In less than five hundred major cycles, the Durantalian Empire had gone from nothing more than a small outpost on a far-away world to a thriving power in the galactic quadrant with a total population of nearly eight billion souls. But as with all things, the good times hardly last forever.

In 420 i.c., the Granuen Capitol Company conceived a scheme to take control of the Purduay Grand Council, and in so doing, greatly enrich the principal shareholders and board of directors of the company. The plan was simple: Get one of the board of directors elected to a seat on the Grand Council and use intimidation, bribery, blackmail, and other types of coercion to influence the politics of Purduay in the company's favor. Seeing as the election process in the Empire is more like a job interview than it is a campaign, most residents in Nician district of Purduay readily accepted the Granuen's candidate qualification for the seat. In 422 i.c., Xavier Hyponsier was easily elected to the Grand Council, representing the Nician district.

Over time, Granuen Capitol was able to garner six of the nine available seats on the council. In all matters, they had the majority vote. King Hedrick IV, himself, was often overruled whenever he attempted to veto any new legislation put forth by the council. In nearly every instance, the six Granuen council members were able to persuade the other three to override the king's veto and enact the law. In addition, the council members influenced the courts to rule that most of the king's edicts be made null and void when they contradicted Granuen interests. Hedrick was little more than a puppet king. By 430 i.c., Granuen was enjoying a virtual monopoly in several key areas, including communications, neutronium mining, government contracts, and most importantly, global banking rights.

It wasn't long before the populace of the planet was well-aware of what was happening in the capital city of Ismeth. Inquiries were called for and protesters marched in the streets demanding that the council be impeached and held accountable. Despite the blatant violation of the Seventh Tenet, Granuen Capitol was too deeply rooted in the government for any actions to take place. The cries of the people essentially fell on deaf ears. For nearly thirty Cycles, Granuen was able to pull the strings of the government and many of its primary officials reaped benefits into the trillions of drakes. But the thing about greed is, it doesn't know when to stop. That fact turned out to be the undoing of the Granuen Capitol Company.

The Emperor and his council were not unaware of what was happening on Purduay. But bound by the law and the lack of any real evidence, Emperor Edward was unable to pursue the matter openly. Behind the scenes, however, the emperor had organized a task force that was constantly observing the matter and trying to flesh out any leads that would enable the emperor to act. Publicly, the only real tools the emperor had was the ability to deny government contracts to Purduian businesses, especially Granuen. But this tactic in turn denied Imperial funds to Purduay as a whole and the entire world soon began to suffer for it.

In 450 i.c. Paul Graham Drummond was elected to the Imperial Grand Council as the representative of Purduay. His sole job was to gain a foothold in the IGC in order influence the Imperial government and grant vital contracts to Purduay, and Granuen by default. The results, however, met with limited success. It was apparent that the IGC and, even the emperor, had insulated themselves from the schemes of Granuen for the most part.

In 452 i.c. Emperor Edward enacted a daring plan to ensnare as many of the guilty parties as possible in one fell swoop. A military contract handling new technology was up for bidding. The contract was worth billions of drakes. But the entire ploy was a ruse. Edward had placed operatives in the Purduian capital and just as the new contracts were announced to the IGC, the quan-comm link of Purduay was severed. Unlike normal communications across the hyper-channels, the quan-comm was impossible to monitor. By its very nature, no encryption was ever needed. Communication was sent in binary form between quantamly linked particles, meaning that only the people sending and receiving were ever even aware of the message at all. But without the quan-comm uplink, Drummond was forced to use the conventional hyper-channels, which can easily be traced. Councilman Drummond sent his message using a variation of a conventional Imperial cipher. It wasn't long before the encryption was cracked and all the data the messages contained was compromised. The ruling body on Purduay responded using the same encryption methods that were likewise broken.

The communiqués revealed a treasure trove of vital evidence that incriminated both Drummond and the Grand Council of Purduay. The messages included a list of actions Drummond could take to secure the contract, such as various types of bribery and extortion. It wasn't long before Drummond was arrested and charged with a lengthy set of crimes. To save himself, he started to give the names of his masters and their collaborators. He also turned over documents and data that he'd saved with even more vital evidence against Granuen Capitol and its board of directors.

Before long, all of the accused began to turn on one another and the entire depth of the scheme was put on public display. By 455 i.c., every member of the Grand Council of Purduay had been indicted and convicted of various charges, while King Hedrick IV was forced to abdicate his throne due to his lack of action in preventing the fiasco in the first place. As a result, the Empire was shaken to its core and the people lost faith in their government. Not just on Purduay, but on all the provincial planets. It would take over a decade before the effects of the scandal would begin to subside.

\- Post scandal and a new era ( 456 i.c. - 568 i.c. ): In the wake of the Purduay scandal, many in the government across the Empire called for an array of new laws and regulations to be enacted in order to prevent the same thing from ever happening again. Emperor Edward, however, was a prudent man who thought such actions to be hasty and without foresight. He reasoned that the incident would pass from the public memory in time. Before long, the scandal would fade into history and be nothing more than a reminder of the corruption of greed and power. Edward enacted only a handful of edicts to seal over the cracks that the scandal exposed. Without a doubt the most important of these was the Limits of Service edict of 458 i.c., which limited any member of the Imperial Grand Council to a maximum of three terms. Soon, the rest of the provincial planets followed suit and passed similar legislation. Thus, with only a small but important tweak of the law, Edward was able to make future compromises of the Imperial government much more difficult.

The ending of the Golden Age of the Empire was a hard pill to swallow for most. But just like the Kiletican wars from nearly two centuries before, it served as a painful reminder that diligence or jurisprudence could never become lax. Without these qualities, everything that the civilians and citizens of the Empire had fought so hard to build over the past five centuries could be lost in a mere fraction of that time.

In 501 i.c., on the fifth day of Ottomac, the eighth, and as of this writing, final provincial planet was added to the Empire's roster: Tendarg. Unlike Vol and Purduay, who were both recognized as provincial planets due to their strategic position, Tendarg's location offered little in the way of importance. The planet was, however, rich with iron and other metals. Silicon could also be found in abundance; scattered just beneath the surface. Even before the rocky world was given provincial planetary status, several prominent companies had set up operations. Tendarg is known mostly for its vast orbital construction yards where tens of thousands of starships of all types are produced.

Moving into the latter half of the sixth century, peace and prosperity again have taken hold over the Empire. Emperor Jordan III succeeded his uncle, Adian I, as Emperor in 559 i.c. With no real incidents to speak of for over a century, there is hope that a new golden age will dawn across the Empire. And that, dear reader, is where we now stand. What do the fates have in store for all of us as we move along into the future? What history will we record for our descendants? Only time will tell.

### The Provincial Planets of the Empire:

Durantalis Prime:

Equatorial Diameter : 13,102.4 km

Mean Rotational Period: 24.989 hours IST (Imperial Standard Time)

Orbital Period: 382.002 days IST

Ruling Family: Istaag (current ruler - Q:Serena VII)

Planetary Capital: New Gulfport

Largest City: Pelorus (pop. 42,371,428)

Global Population: 2.6 billion

Durantalis Prime was the first planet to be settled and the seat of government for the Durantalian Empire. The global capital city of New Gulfport lies along the coast of the Southern Ocean on the Meridial Continent. In the central valleys of the Ascadian region is the location of the Imperial capital, Pelorus. Pelorus is home to the Imperial compound where the emperor's palace as well as the Hall of the Imperial Grand Council can be found. Just east of the compound is the Judicial District. Inside its borders lies the Palace of the Judiciary, the seat for all judicial process in the Empire.

Farlocke:

Equatorial Diameter: 12, 216.6 km

Mean Rotational Period: 22.404 hours IST

Orbital Period: 328.116 days IST

Ruling Family: Bastereaux (current ruler - K:Ambrose II)

Planetary Capital: Rankong

Largest City: Rankong (pop. 11,222,156)

Global Population: 1.8 billion

Farlocke is the technological heart of the Empire. More cutting-edge industries and scientific research facilities are located here than anywhere else in the Empire. The capital city of Rankong is a traditional Mecca for the Empire's younger generation. Various notable counter-culture and artistic movements were spawned within the city's borders. The Bastereaux family has long-standing ties with the imperial court and has served as the rulers of Farlocke for more than 13 generations.

Heslin:

Equatorial Diameter: 13,313 km

Mean Rotational Period: 25.251 hours IST

Orbital Period: 347.769 days IST

Ruling Family: Justicard (current ruler – Q:Eodaline I)

Planetary Capital: Veetrix

Largest City: Halifor (pop. 14,492,801)

Global Population 2.2 billion

Of all the provincial planets, Heslin is the most like Durantalis Prime. In both the length of the day and the size of the world, Heslin mimics the Imperial home world to a fairly accurate degree. Even many of the same elements and materials in nearly equal proportions can be found on either world. The planet's largest city of Halifor was the first city in the Empire to install gate pads as a means of public transportation in 424 i.c.

Alpheena:

Equatorial Diameter: 12,573 km

Mean Rotational Period: 26.042 hours IST

Orbital Period: 292.060 days IST

Ruling Family: Tunos (current ruler – K:Laurenitis I)

Planetary Capital: Mesino

Largest City: Mesino (pop. 7,813,043)

Global Population: .9 billion

Not long after it was settled, Alpheena became the trade hub of the Empire. Many lucrative trade routes were established in the regions around the Alpheenian system. As such, Alpheena is on the leading edge of all things cultural. New directions in fashion as well as trends in art and music are created and imported into the planet's diverse and culturally rich cities at a steady rate. The Tunos family has long reaped the benefits of the many cultural revolutions born on Alpheena. King Laurenitis and his daughter and heir, Princess Dyamatti, are some of the most beloved and popular figures across the Empire.

Alpheena also experiences a magnetic field unlike any other of the provincial planets. It's been said to have unstable and unpredictable effects on the populace, although those claims have not been scientifically verified.

Purduay:

Equatorial Diameter: 13,509 km

Mean Rotational Period: 32.204 hours IST

Ruling Family: Fessner (current ruler - Q:Abigail V)

Planetary Capital: Ismeth

Largest City: Wolkford (pop. 3,377,681)

Global Population: .8 billion

Purduay was settled primarily to serve as a military outpost. The IDF placed several orbital platforms around the planet in order to guard the various shipping lanes to and from nearby Alpheena. Over time, Purduay grew into the resident banking center for the Empire. The Imperial Index, the premier stock and bond trading index in the Empire, is housed in the capital city. After the scandal of the Grand Council in 455 i.c., faith in the central markets waned and investors sought to find more stable assets. By the turn of the sixth century, however, the scandal had largely been forgotten and Purduay resumed her place as the center of imperial banking.

Vol:

Equatorial Diameter: 11,883 km

Mean Rotational Period: 21.772 hours IST

Orbital Period: 394.619 days IST

Ruling Family: Ofar (current ruler - K:Justin II)

Planetary Capital: Alusna

Largest City: Alusna (pop. 3,004,848)

Global Population: .8 billion

Vol is easily the smallest of the provincial planets. However, it's remarkably dense considering the size of its mostly-metal core. The gravitational force on Vol is actually slightly greater than it is on Durantalis Prime. Vol was settled before the turn of the fourth century by traders and companies who wished to do business closer to Alpheena's trade hubs. It made sense to grant it provincial planet status in order to act as an official bridge between Alpheena and Durantalis Prime, which are separated by a distance of about fifty light years.

Jyrozsicsekl:

Equatorial Diameter: 13,859 km

Mean Rotational Period: 34.114 hours IST

Orbital Period: 237.049 days IST

Ruling Family: N/A (current ruler - M:Klyxkakin )

Planetary Capital: Czxeklest District

Largest City: Czxeklest District (pop 397,545)

Global Population: 1.4 billion

Jyrozsicsekl has the unique distinction of being the only non-human planet within the borders of the Empire. It also differs greatly in many other aspects from its sister worlds. It's larger and more massive than any of the other provincial planets and also has the longest rotational period. Geographically speaking, Jyrozsicsekl is a jungle planet; covered in lush rain forests which comprise some sixty percent of its land area. Somewhat ironically, however, Jyrozsicsekl also has the smallest ocean of any of the main planets in the Empire. This is because a large part of the planet's moisture is locked inside the humid atmosphere. As a result, if the planet orbited just a little closer to its parent star, it would become an unlivable oven with surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead.

Also unlike her sister worlds, Jyrozsicsekl has no true urban areas. The Kujahski people live scattered all across the planet in small villages and communities. The only real city is the planetary capital in the Czxeklest District in the south western hemisphere. It's easily the smallest capital in the Empire, and what little is there was brought and built mostly by humans in order to help facilitate imperial involvement on the planet.

Tendarg:

Equatorial Diameter: 12,337 km

Mean Rotational Period: 28.365 hours IST

Orbital Period: 148.503 days IST

Ruling Family: Redmon (current ruler - K:Maxamillian V)

Planetary Capital: Hedgeroth

Largest City: Hedgeroth (pop 1,652,712)

Global Population: .7 billion

Tendarg is a planet rich in workable materials and metals. As such, many of the Empire's largest ship manufacturing firms are located on the planet. Having first been settled in the early portion of the fourth century, Tendarg holds the distinction of having taken the longest time to achieve provincial planetary status. With Tendarg's population growing substantially over the past century and the need to monitor the planets resources and populace on a more local level, it was finally given its current status.

Since most the planet's manufacturing facilities are located in orbit around the planet, Tendarg has the reputation of being the most untouched of any of the planets in the Empire. The strange result being that in addition to the large presence of industry, Tendarg also has a burgeoning tourist trade.

### The Imperial Calendar

Time in the Empire is kept by means of the Imperial Calendar and Imperial Standard Time, both of which are based on Durantalis Prime's rotational and orbital periods. This is made relatively easy due to the fact that the planet's movements are extremely regular nearly whole number values. The advantage of this is the fact that there are very little adjustments needed for "fine tuning".

The Twelve Cycle Calendar:

The Imperial Calendar is broken up into twelve distinct cycles, each lasting roughly thirty two days; the exceptions to this rule being Suta and Ronalote, which are each thirty one days in length.

The cycles are: Danibis, Bufeen, Suta, Arcturus, Milea, Ottomac, Desiry, Calato, Ronalote, Vesaun, Jere, and Plistone.

For the sake of record keeping and historical documentation, Cycles are given the designation i.c, which is shorthand for "of the Imperial Calendar". Negative Cycle numbers are used when referencing Cycles from before the time of the founding of David Arlington's first colony (Cycle 0).

Imperial Standard Time:

Imperial Standard Time (IST) is based on the rotation and orbit of Durantalis Prime for keeping time within the Empire. Hours are taken from the Prime Meridian, or the zero degree longitudinal axis of the planet. So whatever time is currently at the Prime Meridian is considered the official IST of the entire empire.

A day is twenty five hours in length. Each hour is one hundred minutes. Each minute is one hundred seconds. A quarter cycle consists of eight days. A cycle (sometimes called small cycle in older texts) consists of four quarter cycles (thirty two days). A major cycle (usually called a Cycle, with capitalization), which is equal to the orbit of Durantalis Prime around its parent star, is three hundred and eighty two days almost exactly.

