

##### James S. Bowers is the author of two books, including this, his debut novel. Mechanical Heart was his first release, a collection of Science Fiction short stories. He can be found at www.glassswordteam.com where he merges his writing skills with other media content, including the use of video games. James currently lives in Worksop, England with his fiancé and daughter.

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##### For my mother,

##### who never once said "Don't, that's dumb" when she probably should have.

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##### PARIAHS AND PEACEMAKERS

##### by James S. Bowers

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Copyright © 2014 by James S. Bowers

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the publisher and the writer except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Edited By Steven Ure

Illustrated by Luke Mckay

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, January 2015

ISBN 978-1502757685

Glass Sword Publishing

Nottinghamshire, England.

www.glassswordteam.com

Written by James S. Bowers

Nottinghamshire, England. jamesstephenbowers@gmail.com

##### PROLOGUE

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##### The hum of the omnipresent power generator which fed numerous appliances within the hidden war room, was all that kept the three dejected alien figures company. They sat with bated breath around an ovular conference table, deep in the bowels of The Keep. The eerily dim white tube lighting neatly followed the contours of the interior architecture. The inactive surface of the holographic coated table top reflected the depressed mood. At the head of the table was the Caliterrian representative for the High Senate, Soulin Lee'Nur, who had begun to drum his fingers with impatience. His thick grey hide and canine-like features were all blazon evidence of his race's evolution from pack animals in the freezing wastes of their home world. The Caliterrian had been in existence, at some level for roughly ten million years. Soulin hailed from Sirran, Caliterria's capital city, which was situated on the largest continent across the planet's equator. His birth place was depicted with uniquely designed tribal tattoos all across his body. The body art was a very common practice in Caliterrian society and varied in both style and colour with the settlement or clan origin at its design core.

##### Perched to his right was Thaim-Paav Acil, a member of the Sarcurian Royal Family and their elected member of the High Senate. He lulled his head into his chest as he took a sharp breath inward. The Sarcurian were the most technologically advanced race and were vastly influential, despite the fact they were the newest addition to intergalactic society. In many respects their similarities to Homo sapiens were astounding which led many historical researchers to believe that the pair shared a common ancestor. Although evidence to support such a claim was scarce at best. The Sarcurian had a deeper red skin pigmentation, pointed ear lobes and tips which also allowed for a wider audible range and a flat ribbed nose which somehow allowed a stronger sense of smell. This made Sarcurians expert trackers and hunters in comparison to mankind. Thaim had been born, much to his modest pleasure, into the nobility

##### caste of Sarcurian hierarchy under the colossal energy dome of Rethera, the species' ancestral home. City-wide protection was employed throughout numerous population centres across the planet's surface and was necessary to protect citizens from meteor strikes, an unfortunate result of the close proximity Rethera shared to a huge asteroid belt.

##### The final figure sat opposite was the most bizarre of the collective. The Selin, 19217-JB, was a part of the asexual telepathic race from the idyllic garden world Tearsin. They physically appeared stretched in comparison to other bipedal species. Its head was devoid of many features and housed only two sets of eyes, one placed like that of a predator and the other higher and wider like that of prey. The fact they looked so peculiar and communicated through telepathy, a technique they could also employ with members outside their own race, was why many were unsure and uncomfortable around them. This gained further weight as they were also naturally reclusive which in turn degraded what little social skills they had. The oddly assorted group sat content to allow the silence to persevere. Time melded into itself, completely indistinguishable between seconds and minutes. After what seemed like an age, an orb which pulsed with emerald conviction materialised from the ether. It bobbed over them as its flashes intensified "Relaying priority message from Guardian Sha'Ni," it announced in a sexless synthesised voice. He'd had long enough to prepare but the news sent a shiver down Soulin's vertebrae before he stiffly nodded in approval for the AI construct to continue. The orb morphed into a miniature representation of another Caliterrian, this one had the presence of a battle hardened warrior. He seemed calm; his hands clasped behind his back, yet it looked as though he was fresh from a conflict. His golden ceremonial armour was charred and dirty. A fresh wound occupied the right side of his face which appeared to have the signature of explosive shrapnel. "Guardian, I am pleased to see you standing before us," opened Soulin in an exhausted but as friendly a tone as he could muster given the circumstances.

##### Soulin knew much of Talsek Sha'Ni and had bestowed the rank of Guardian upon him not three months previous. It was an honorary title in part, but was something every warrior aspired to and was always handed out by the ruling Forerunner, the political leader of the Caliterrian Empire. Opportunity for the accolade only came around every half a century, two warriors were agreed upon to fill one available position. As tradition demanded, Talsek was

##### forced into a gladiatorial style fight to the death. He emerged victor and spent several weeks under medical supervision recuperating from the injuries he had sustained. Even if he had required longer out of action the possibility would have been out of the question as the very fibre of galactic stability had shattered not long thereafter.

##### "I doubt you contacted the Senate for a heartfelt catch up, Caliterrian. We had been rather concerned when you stopped broadcasting communications," snubbed Thaim sharply. This was much to the displeasure of Soulin who shot the Sarcurian a look of contempt. He understood the elderly monarch's impatience, what with the pressure and impending doom weighing down on them, but he had no taste for snide remarks. "Apologies your excellency," Talsek returned with an unnecessary courtesy due to the fact that the Sarcurian Monarchy had no relevance to Caliterrian social or political interests. It appeared to settle the mood and kept the brooding alien on side. From the back of their minds another presence was felt, the effects of the Selin's telepathy.

##### "Continue warrior caste, what news do you carry from your campaign?" Without the context of emotion or connotation any conversation with the Selin often felt disingenuous.

##### "Dark Aurora has been a success, their fleet is increasingly disorganised and their situation is deteriorating rapidly. I stopped broadcasting as they were monitoring our communications. I make no apologies for my results." Talsek let a subdued smile occupy his face but only for a moment and then it was gone.

##### Soulin took heart in Talsek's news that proclaimed Caliterria was secure, yet shame still reverberated around the entire room. At what cost had success come? "We must escalate our initial efforts," Soulin managed solemnly.

##### "You suggest genocide? Would that make us any better than them?" Thaim spat, completely repulsed by the very idea of the plan.

##### "Have they left us much choice?!" Soulin roared, fuelled by the pride and fury at the suffering of past generations. The contemplative pause allowed tempers to simmer down ever so slightly before 19217-JB interjected once more.

##### "We once discussed that option and dismissed it just as quickly as it had surfaced." It was an answer the Sarcurian rapidly agreed with leaving the Forerunner downcast and furious. "We shall draw up proposals for Senate congress in the next cycle," concluded 19217-JB as Soulin forced back his chair and moved

##### toward the arched doorframe. Soulin looked back more in disappointment than anger, much to the other Senator's surprise as the door unknotted behind him.

##### He met their eyes with renewed passion; "I only hope I do not live long enough to see the consequences of your mistake." He dismissed their objections as swiftly as his proposal and slumped into the shadowy depths of the hallway beyond.

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##### ONE

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##### The breeze, its full force fractured by the many dense layers of forest, was rather soothing. The rustling leaves and the distant calls of numerous exotic avian creatures just added to the serenity. The crest of the first sun broke through the haze of the morning dawn, the warmth instantly recognisable as it licked at the bare torso of the young Sarcurian. He remained unmoved. He remained alert. Jarner sat crossed legged with a vacant mind in bronzed foliage, packed into a quaint natural clearing long enough that the lactic acid had begun to burn through his muscles. He refused to allow it to trouble him enough to move. The heat from the now half proud star was welcome comfort and brought much needed change across his pained body.

##### His ears perked up as the faintest sound alerted him to what he had been preparing for. The inexperienced would have dismissed it as background noise but he was much wiser. He sprung up, sweeping a trailing leg, which disrupted a pile of leaves and caused a loud crash, the tree-dwelling animals scattered at the sound. The outline of a barely visible silhouette imprinted itself into the ground much to Jarner's amusement. The air shimmered in confusion as his would-be attacker's stealth camouflage failed in stages, revealing a humanoid shape non-committal of gender, hidden behind the light armour of odd reflective material. Jarner stretched out his tired limbs as an arrogantly broad smile surfaced from the depths of his being. "Nice try," he chuckled as he looked down upon his victim with playful pity. Without waiting to endure the indignity any longer the armour swung its legs and catapulted itself to a combat ready stance within milliseconds, much to the surprise of Jarner, who took a few tentative steps backward. He was now less sure of himself than he had been. It beckoned the Sarcurian forward with a mocking outstretched hand which did exactly as it had intended: to annoy. Jarner rushed forward and by doing so, snatched the bait. He lashed out with a wild round house-kick but before it was fully executed he was caught by the attacker and up-ended with lighting reflexes. He lay and looked at the cocky showboating from a bizarre angle as the armour bowed and turned blatantly inviting another challenge. Jarner was far too hotheaded to sidestep the bait. He brushed himself off and charged, unwittingly getting hit with a torso high kick from a skilfully planted boot. He hit the floor hard, carried by the momentum of the blow. Jarner didn't get a chance to resurface as the figure pounced on top of him and inserted a pointed knee-cap into the crease of his spine. Its fist was raised but the blow never came. Jarner unclenched his eyes and something seemed amiss. A streak had shot across the horizon and from that existence seemed to oscillate. Shapes began to slowly distort and the environment blurred in turn; in and out of focus. Eventually the world gave up and collapsed in on itself leaving the pair locked in position within a large, clinically white panelled room.

##### "I wish you two could do something more constructive in your downtime. I'm the one that's gotta patch you up again once you're done," interrupted the ageing figure in the doorway. James scratched at his rapidly greying beard as he surveyed Jarner and Shayara who remained in the position he'd found them in. "You lose again?" He smiled at the Sarcurian as his extended hand heaved up Captain Shayara Ventii, releasing the pressure from Jarner's back. The Sarcurian wheezed with relief as his defeated, sleep deprived violet eyes rolled with embarrassment. He departed the virtual environment chamber without another word. Shayara sniggered with childish glee as she discarded her helmet and retrieved a towel from behind a wall panel which she used to dab her brow. "What can I do for you, Doc?" she requested as she tied up her hazelnut hair in a neat pony tail. "We've got something on the long range sensors. It's good enough to get R051E excited, whatever it is," informed Doctor James Crow. Shayara raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Far away from much of civilisation and at the corner of charted space, this was a rare and interesting discovery indeed.

##### The Pariah was a glorified fast attack and recon craft, too big to be a personal commuter and too small to be a conventional frigate, although its weapon systems and capabilities were slightly above that of the norm. The model had initially been penned to be a mass production model distributed to Senate Security Special Forces although the project was scrapped due to the exceptionally high cost of manufacture. Only the conceptual model was ever built by Indatech, the technology and manufacturing arm of the Senate. Shayara had spent numerous cycles adapting it to her own personal taste installing trinkets and gadgets as she saw fit, which eventually had turned the interior into a mass of circuitry and mis-matched equipment. She took a well-rehearsed step over the bare wires as she entered the bridge and slumped into the captain's chair, just as the podium to her immediate right glowed an ambient cherry red. A miniature human female materialised at the tip. She was young and likely matched Shayara's age of mid-twenties, with shoulder-length blonde hair and dressed in a casual shirt and jeans. She stood legs together with arms folded and had a vacant expression. Her mind was elsewhere, busy computing a billion other requests which didn't involve maintaining her avatar. "I have detected two rather weak emergency broadcast systems, both emitting standard Senate friend or foe identifiers," the AI construct informed after an unnaturally long pause in a synthetic but oddly warming tone. Shayara was dubious at the news as she wrinkled her freckled nose; not only did few vessels deviate this far from standard cross system routes but the probability of two running into trouble was the least likely situation possible. Pirate factions and slave groups were often a threat faced on the cusp of charted space yet they tended to stick with easy money targets. A Senate-sponsored target carried too much baggage in their opinion. It would have pressured the High Senate to take action against them but while they stayed small no one in power seemed to pay them much notice and that's just the kind of operational arrangement they were happy with. It was possible it could be a trap, set up by a similar class of degenerate, but Shayara surmised a trap this far out didn't make much sense and she was confident in The Pariah's capabilities if it were. "Swept for any other signs of life?"

##### "Of course. None present. I only detected the signals due to our close proximity, even then they are incredibly weak. It is likely no one else is even aware of them." AI construct R051E nodded confidently.

##### The sleek non-frigate emerged through a newly formed slip space rupture. It hugged the sides of the Pariah as sapphire particles danced about every inch of the exterior hull. Shayara's emerald eyes flashed with the thrill of adventure as she drifted within a couple kilometres of the debris field. She recognised the remnants of what both ships had been instantaneously, the smaller of the two had virtually been ripped in half. "That's what I think it is, isn't it?" she questioned as she gestured her hand over the larger half of the split.

##### "Sarcurian Luminary," responded Jarner who had recently joined them on the bridge and sat with legs up against the control panel.

##### "What's a Luminary? Some type of special operations unit your people have got?" chipped in James from the doorway as he managed to get no further due to the half suspended cables and numerous trip hazards. Jarner cocked his head as he tried to decide on the most accurate description a human could grasp, "Members of the warrior caste who catch the eye of the Monarch are selected for the task. It's a way of life. Sent out into uncharted space with a frigate and crew who eventually become your family. Many spend a great amount of their lives away from civilisation."

##### "What are they looking for?" James pressed still unsure at what they were, given the vague response which had served as an answer.

##### "Other civilisations, lost technology, lost knowledge. Anything and everything. Basically they're explorers." Jarner shrugged off, content he had fulfilled the question at hand rather well. Shayara moved closer to the panoramic view screen to study the second much larger space craft. It was most definitely a transporter and after closer examination bore numerous markings which linked it back to Indatech. Several possible scenarios surfaced and vacated her imagination much quicker than it was possible to digest them; none of which had any real substance.

##### Her curiosity was well and truly piqued however and it didn't take long for a decision to be agreed upon. "Can that transport support life R051E?" Jarner swivelled in his seat already well aware of what his childhood friend was considering, he did after all know her tendencies far too well.

##### "Secondary backup generators have taken some of the slack although not well. We have a tight window," assured R051E after not much thought or diagnosis.

##### "It's our duty as Conscripts to Senate Security to at least investigate what's happened here. Our only option, since the Luminary ship is a no go, is to board the transporter and try to fathom what happened that way." Jarner rolled his eyes at receiving the orders he had expected as soon as Shayara had started on that trail of thought.

##### "I'll prep the shuttle, we might get some valuable salvage from this escapade at least. How do you want to tackle it weapon and armour wise?" Jarner inquired.

##### "Keep it light this time, looks like we missed the fight." Shayara favoured the advantage light and manoeuvrable armour had over weighty and bulky armour any day of the week, especially more so when zero gravity was likely in the mix.

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##### TWO

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##### The cargo hold's entry shielding, which kept the vacuum of space at bay, was still operational when the Pariah's spherical drop ship eased its way through. The transporter wailed as the frost cracked under the propulsion systems of the boarding team, the interior had become a very frozen and hostile place. The ship touched down in a clearing barely large enough to sustain it. The rear hatch swung open with a poorly oiled squeak which eliminated any remaining element of surprise. Shayara clambered out first as her heads up display told of the dire condition of her new environment. It was evident reserve power was going the same way as the primary, environmental control was usually the first casualty in those circumstances. Her breath clung to the interior surface of her visor with every exhale. It was cold beyond her protective shell, much colder than it should have been. They'd likely have contracted hyperthermia within a few minutes if they hadn't of been prepared, they still could if they suffered an unfortunate suit breach. A fact which didn't bode well for finding survivors, she thought realistically. She primed her Indatech R19A assault rifle, a weapon widely popular among special operation units due to its power, compact design and the fact it was crazily customisable.

##### The hangar had evidently been a battleground that much was clear. "Where are the bodies?" Shayara observed more confused by the revelation than anything.

##### "No cargo pods either, that's slightly peculiar given it's a transport ship," Jarner replied sarcastically as he nursed his skull which he had clumsily thumped against the hatch due to his haste. He swept the barrels of his two Indatech manufactured T21-S Predator heavy repeater pistols across the immediate landscape and drew a blank, "Consider the ghost ship secured, ma'am, are you proud of me?" He smirked. Shayara looked at him with a cynical look he'd seen a million times before when out on operation, it was her way of telling him to focus. Not that she'd shy away from giving him verbal direction if the look didn't get his attention.

##### "It could be a trap so do take care, won't you?" she jibed back in a deadpan manner. She wasn't being sarcastic to worry him, probability was it could well be a trap. Slavers and pirates often used barbaric tactics to cover their tracks and satisfy some sick feeling of perverted ingenuity. Explosive rigged escape pods were a recent favourite and proved handy in dealing with witnesses which had slipped their clutches. "Traps I can deal with, it could be an ambush," he mused.

##### "Forever the pessimist, Jarner."

##### The pair dashed across the blood encrusted grate flooring as shadows disfigured every surface. The unstable lighting caused the figures to contort into grotesque shapes. They tentatively reached where the blast door should have been and Jarner fired a flare through the jagged hole to allow a visual in the murky corridor beyond. It spluttered at first, Jarner was half expecting it to be a dud, yet it impressed by igniting and basking the area in an ambient blueish glow. As expected, nothing moved. The flare had only revealed the final resting place of large chunks of the displaced door and a T junction at the far end. Shayara rolled her eyes and cursed the fact she didn't know the basic layout of the standard transport vessel; "It's never simple. I'll go left."

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##### Alexander Wilhelm, Human president and newly elected representative of the High Senate, sat with regimented posture. He clutched a docpad in his right hand, a glass of whisky in his left and his mind was elsewhere. As the voice of humanity it was his role, one of so many, to schedule a meeting with the rest of the High Senate as soon as he'd been contacted by the personnel AI assistant of Senate Security Conscript, Shayara Ventii. Her exploits were legendary and had rightly earned Homo sapiens much respect among the wider galactic community, so getting a personal ping had caught his attention instantaneously. His mind formulated many theories upon hearing the details of her discovery, the most prominent and worrying of which was the thought of corporate terrorism. Using his contacts he had already discovered the ID of the missing Indatech transporter as well as rumours about the high level cargo it was presumed to be carrying. He didn't know the specifics, even his clearance didn't get him everything. The aliens were still wary of humanity. Was it possible the Sarcurian's had seen the mystery haulage being carried aboard the Senate transporter Hope's Deliverance as a threat? Did they find whatever it was harmful enough to want it wiped out of existence or had there been a high level dispute amongst the dignitaries that he was unaware of? It was feasible, but when he thought about it longer, weren't they all on the same side at the end of the day? Alien politics was often more frustrating than human politics. If those questions were answered, the question still remained of what took out the Luminary vessel as the Senate transporter was not armed. The damage readouts were inconsistent with opportunistic pirates as such social waste did not possess such power capabilities; to his knowledge at least.

##### The holo-projector energised on his desk as a miniature stereotypical Butler waddled from inside. "The High Senate have authorised your meeting, Senator Wilhelm." He paused, Alexander assumed this was for Human-like dramatic effect as AI constructs were more than capable of computing millions of bytes of data per second. "Scheduled immediately, of course." Alexander nodded his approval at the welcome news as he got up and straightened himself out in front of his office mirror which ran the full length of the west wall. "Shall I keep you updated on any new data bursts from construct R051E, Senator?" questioned construct GR3AV35.

##### "Yeah, you do that while I go fishing." Alexander smiled, he believed someone had to know something.

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##### The internal and external pressure variations tested the fortitude of the ship's hull as it wailed in agony continuously through the ever expanding darkening depths. Shayara progressed alone, vulnerable to the walls which seemed to almost loom over her. The slightest security came from the steady and reliable illumination from her rifle's built in flashlight. Up ahead it drew R051E's attention to scorch marks etched into the wall plates; the AI was capable of monitoring the team over their HUD and the dozens of tiny cameras weaved into their armour. Construct R051E was an advanced Vanguard class intelligence developed by a well-funded and recognised human company named Arcadan Industries, although her design was based on Sarcurian technology. "Damage vector and origin inconclusive," she observed to a muted response, audibly disappointed, for all her tricks she was unable to give a definitive answer.

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##### The vacuum of space overwhelmed every crevice of the lower decks as it subdued what little oxygen pockets remained. Jarner Nevo cursed his rotten luck, first for choosing to go the wrong way and second for being cut off when power to the airlock had failed as he tried to backtrack. Whoever had hit the Luminary ship had intended to kill it off, yet it was highly evident the same intention had not been a part of the plan for the Senate transporter. All the damage had been targeted toward engineering and it had decimated the main thrusters. The reactor had fried itself and emergency power pitifully limped in support with the insurmountable task of holding all the systems together. Jarner bounded on, as quickly as the gravity-less environment allowed, encased in suspended debris and severed circuitry. He breathed heavily as he became increasingly annoyed at his helmet obscuring his peripheral vision; a necessary yet irritating hindrance. Another airlock came into view and Jarner allowed a slim smile to occupy his exhausted face, due to the fact he'd been wandering aimlessly for some time attempting to locate any other exit. He'd considered blowing the wall out and getting picked up by The Pariah. The safety protocols built into the airlock wouldn't allow themselves to be disengaged automatically while the conditions persisted on Jarner's side of the ship yet this hardly concerned him. He'd grown up on Coroniss, the crime capital of the galaxy. He'd earned numerous useful skills and techniques because of this, including but not limited to, busting through locked doors of any shape, size and design.

##### He removed a small service panel and activated his holographical interface which emitted from his armour's wrist plate. He went to work re-routing power and manipulating firewalls. Lights flickered angrily in protest around the entryway's frame. It screeched in submission after a little persuasion and parted just enough to allow the Sarcurian to squeeze through. It closed clumsily behind him and the nausea of pressure adjustments and the returning gravity soon took over. A reptilian-like hiss signalled the end of the switching process and the opposing door beckoned him to continue. "Keep up, old man, you're way behind," jibed Shayara over his headset competitively.

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##### The Keep's Auditor was displeased that High Senator Wilhelm was, as always, unpunctual. The Auditor, a fairly stocky Sarcurian who was tasked with making sure the political side of The Keep ran smoothly, took his job very seriously. Any tardiness cascaded into upcoming meetings and the whole thing became one big logistical headache. This is why before Alexander could even reach the seating area he was herded by Senate Security through the archway into a checkpoint and down the hall beyond. Alexander, unfazed by the abruptness, smiled warmly at a Human male he clocked amongst the rank and file of the checkpoint's staff. He reflected on just how far humanity had come in the past decade. A century ago, such a well-respected position would have been reserved for the more established races such as the warrior caste Sarcurian or the ever loyal Caliterrian. Although the two aforementioned were still the most prominent players on the galactic stage, Humans were slowly making their ambition and presence known.

##### This wasn't without opposition however; rapid expansion was frowned upon and divisions within Human society had surfaced. Some considered sharing power with aliens was an insult to what it meant to be Human and xenophobia was rife amongst many colonies. Typically, such worries originated from propaganda churned out by far right political groups and it wasn't an affliction isolated to humankind as other races had their own variety of supremacy groups.

##### The steps to the speaker's platform, as imposing as they were steep, came into view and clawed skyward at a sharp angle. The two thickly set Caliterrian, kitted out in heavy-duty ceremonial armour, stepped aside to allow the climb. The main decorative aspect was the flowing black and grey marble-like surfaces which covered all the walls, floors and ceiling spaces. Sapphire lighting intersected at set intervals in an attempt to calm and subdue. Alexander reached the summit. He surveyed The Keep in all its glory despite being here many times before. Hundreds of staggered seats outlined the two walls to both sides as they came to a point at the far end. This seating was for the representatives from many worlds, settlements and factions. At the tip of the polished onyx pyramid was a raised tier containing four throne-like seats belonging to the High Senate quadruplet. Three of the High Senate seats were occupied, the only chairs occupied in the entire gargantuan chamber in fact. The fourth belonged to Alexander yet centuries old traditions demanded him to concede it if he wished to address them on matters concerning his own species. It was a way to avoid bias; its effectiveness was yet to be seen.

##### The exuberance of the High Senate's area depicted the power they held quite effectively. Being the foremost important individuals in the known galaxy, one would have thought that would have led to a kind of arrogance yet they remained surprisingly well grounded. A vote of no confidence was exceptionally rare and the position was only usually lost in the event of death. To the far left was an age old Caliterrian warrior greatly championed by his own race and well respected amongst every other despite his grizzly nature and blunt attitude. Arkan Sha'Ni had recently gotten the unprecedented rating of a hundred percent confidence in the polls and at over four hundred years of age, an unthinkable vintage in Human standards, he was still going strong. His chalky frame didn't betray his age and Alexander assumed, quite rightly, the alien could easily break him in two if they were ever in a scenario which called for it. The fiery Caliterrian hailed from Neolo, his home world's second largest city which had gained precedence for producing a high standard of warrior. Alexander was unclear whether this reputation preceded Arkan or not. Next to him was the last member of the Sarcurian Royal Family, Queen Ora Acil who had assumed the position after the passing of her father. Her elegance was expected but even she was fending off the reaper at this point and without ever conceiving children of her own, the monarchy was doomed to die with her. The last figure was one that hadn't changed in recent or collective memory. The Selin often reached ridiculous ages yet it was rumoured 19217-JB was beyond the norm. "Welcome High Senator Wilhelm," introduced Ora as the other two settled their postures to accommodate the complexities of their seats' flamboyant designs, "Do you care to expand on the limited information you used to arrange this meeting?" she questioned. She was rightly wondering why the Human representative couldn't wait for the full Senate congress, scheduled only two days away. Alexander composed himself before engaging his voice, a skill he hadn't had much luck with in his younger years much to his downfall. "You are no doubt familiar with the Senate Security Conscript vessel The Pariah, captained by Shayara Ventii. Well, six hours ago it discovered the wreckages of two ships on the cusp of charted space-"

##### "This is hardly noteworthy. Pirates and slavers often prove problematic to wanderers in those sectors, hence why travel there is ill-advised," the Caliterrian interjected waving his claw dismissively. Arkan Sha'Ni was known to have little patience and thus enjoyed a much more direct approach than any other politician Alexander had ever come across. He guessed this was why he appealed to the impatient public as the whole political song and dance often got in the way of business being done. Alexander allowed a sigh to pass as he brushed off the rudeness of interruption, he was all for action but there were certain guidelines that had to be adhered to. "Granted that is true, however the two ships in question are an Indatech transporter and a Sarcurian Luminary." A stunned silence clutched The Keep; it was most unwelcome and unexpected news, which put in the wrong hands could have put a huge amount of negative publicity against the Senate. There were more prominent questions to be answered but the selfish awareness of public perception was never far away from any politician in truth. "The Indatech transporter Hope's Deliverance was carrying a high level cargo. I'm of the belief a rogue faction, possibly influenced by the Sarcurian Luminary on site, received a tip off on the transporter's cargo and location." Arkan pivoted in his seat just in time to witness the Queen's ever present regal facade vanish in an instant at the accusation.

##### "What evidence are you basing such a statement on?" she seethed as if placed in the hot seat personally. Alexander didn't pretend to be an expert at reading alien facial expressions, such an art was something which eluded him as of yet. It was still fascinating to him that the different races with their many languages and dialects could communicate at all. Centuries ago the Sarcurian's had developed a microchip that manipulated sound waves and perception. It made it appear that everyone spoke a common tongue and was small enough to be conveniently placed into many everyday items such as clothing or jewellery. It could even be implanted into the skin, usually fitted in the earlobe in most political and public figureheads. But even to him it was clearly obvious, without any training or technology, he had hit a nerve and her rapid response led him to believe whatever had gone on, she hadn't been a part of it. "Admittedly it's currently a theory but as I speak The Pariah's crew are scavenging for evidence which I do hope will lead us in the right direction."

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##### Jarner's HUD flashed with an objective update in the upper right hand corner which brought a sly smirk to his face as he read first to the bridge; failed. A fact confirmed as he rounded the last corner to be confronted by a smug Shayara. "Stop for some fresh air did you, old man?" she joked.

##### "Quiet the opposite in fact," he wheezed avoiding the irony of oxygen deprivation. Shayara squeezed through yet another demolished door which now served as more of a viewport than an obstruction. She emerged onto the bridge and deduced that most of the fighting had been done in the space around her. It had been a last ditch attempt to remain in command of the ghost ship, as was usually the case when being boarded by a superior foe. No threats were present on the pair's arrival; in keeping with the lifeless precedent the rest of the craft had set.

##### AI construct R051E burst her jittery avatar onto the central command desk. "I am now fully integrated into the Deliverance's systems. I regret to inform you that the ship's power systems are insufficient to accommodate me for any decent length of time," she informed as her avatar became fuzzy and inconsistent before phasing back, this caused the already unstable energy to flux rampantly.

##### "Do a sweep for anything relevant R051E and I mean anything." Another flux this time audibly tested the fortitude of the crippled vessel which signalled the start of the AI's data mine efforts.

##### "No data available, I detect a recent memory restore." She paused, exceptionally frustrated at the very prospect of drawing a blank before a pulse rocked Hope's Deliverance so hard Shayara feared the outer hull had buckled leaving them at the mercy of space. "My sensors have detected a significant current draw on deck 5a, the stasis pod centre. Enough to sustain a common class sentient life form." Shayara looked as worried as she felt. She turned to face Jarner who knew they both were thinking the same thing:

##### "Bad guy or good guy?"

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##### THREE

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##### The crisp golden dusk struggled to pass through the smog-tinged atmosphere as Vad Turso hunkered down upon the rear access ramp of the scrap metal husk he called a ship. She wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination; she was old, rusty and was held together more with duct tape than the intended nuts and bolts, yet she still managed to do her job well. With a little TLC he hoped she would last until he fell into enough money to replace or improve her. Vad rummaged in his pocket a half arm deep before it returned with a packet of cigarettes and a lighter in tow. It was soon lit and in the early morning light he took a much deserved and reassuring tug allowing smoke to cascade slowly out of his squashed nostrils as he exhaled. He felt a nice warmth of satisfaction, not least from the release of nicotine but from the change in his fortune and the surprisingly empty spaceport on the edge of Coroniss's capital Nemuroon. Coroniss was a bizarre planet which seemed to operate in polar opposite hours and conditions to all the other planets in the galaxy. The whole place was a sleazy pit of social despair yet it made it the best location to make quick and easy money and the young Sarcurian knew that as well as the next smuggler. He took in the last of the toxin before he rose and tossed the shrivelled butt aside. Vad patted his pockets in a habitual like fashion to gauge whether he had everything and crushed the dwindling embers from the cigarette under his boot as he descended the slight decline. Border control was no more than two hundred yards from Early Pay Day but he didn't rush; he had all the time in the world.

##### He always thought it was odd that a planet so obsessed with breaking laws and corruption would bother with rules like checking in at all but it obviously served a purpose. Likely to calculate the crime statistics, his brain chipped in. Vad reached the door and was scanned by a biometric orb affixed to its frame, it cross referenced him to see whether he was a wanted man or anyone of importance. The results wirelessly streamed to an unknown individual with his or her own agenda. That worried Vad somewhat even though he had nothing to hide. People disappeared every day on this planet and he didn't fancy becoming one of the statistics. The lock clicked open much to his relief but as he attempted to step forward he felt the unexpected and overwhelming sensation of being forced in the opposite direction. The Sarcurian tumbled backward uncontrollably before he crashed in a loud disorientated heap. His vision was blurry, he assumed from the blow to his head but his whole body was numb. He attempted to move but couldn't. His first thought was that he'd been shot. Maybe he'd interrupted one of the city's many notorious gangs shaking down the spaceport staff for protection money. The exact faction that controlled this sector was unclear as like every fact on Coroniss it changed daily. This thought, as colourful and probable as it could have been, soon dissolved as committal shapes returned and Vad made out the infamous black armour with white trim. He'd had a bad feeling about his cargo, even how it had come his way was questionable. However times were hard and an easy paycheque was exceptionally difficult to pass up in the current climate. After all, Early Pay Day was going into disrepair and his overheads were becoming extortionate. A second stun round hit and pulsed through every fibre of his being which sent him into a seizure.

##### Soon after, the world collapsed into a distant white speck and was rapidly consumed by darkness.

#####

##### "Something is off," voiced Jarner not entirely rhetorically. Shayara had to admit she shared his skepticism. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to raid the transporter and strip it bare of stock and life. The fact that whoever had done it could have missed someone was marginally realistic as it was physically a large ship but the likelihood was slim and the very idea just didn't sit right at all. Even the ship being intact at first had perplexed Shayara after seeing what had become of the Sarcurian ship. The longer she thought about it however the more it made sense until it actually became rather clever. The Luminary frigate was an expendable threat, the transporter was the target. Cargo stolen and crew taken care of, what need was there to destroy the vessel? After all, another critical reactor could have possibly brought unwanted attention, two explosions in such a short window was asking for trouble. The next patrol through this remote sector could have been a decade away so why not leave the ship drifting undiscovered indefinitely? Shayara had to admit the culprits were clever bastards, clever calculating bastards. They moved deeper into the groaning wreckage which made the pair increasingly uneasy, a condition not helped by R051E who estimated rather ambitiously, by her own admittance, that the transporter had roughly an hour before the damage sustained would become irreversible and the structure would tear itself apart.

##### Upon the news, the pace accelerated from a concerned but jaunty jog to a competitive dash. They reached the room they'd been after in no time, a place affectionately known as the Freezer. Shayara wondered whether the room shared the same architect as the cargo hold. It was rather bare in the centre, only occupied by the main workstation which monitored the vitals of the subjects in hibernation. Shayara estimated that there were around fifty individual cylindrical pods that lined the available three walls. Most larger vessels were equipped with stasis pods, however they were only really used for long distance missions. It slowed ageing but sleep patterns had to be cycled to avoid a few unpleasant side effects. Freezer Burn was the most common and feared thanks to overcautious practices and rumour. The most heard of urban myth was that roughly ten years ago a long distance transport ship had been raided by pirates. After taking everything of value they departed and sabotaged the vessel's systems which locked the crew in the pods in a state of purgatory. It took a Senate recon team seven years to find them and the individuals that didn't die from the harsh revival procedures, the lucky ones, had become grossly deformed and had lost most of their memories. How true this story was was unclear but the idea was believable.

##### One of the nearest pods had shattered glass with orange stains smeared all over it. "Sarcurian blood?" Shayara probed in reaction to Jarner's head nod. Next to it, the glass of stasis pod number forty one was misted up so badly that not even a silhouette could be made out. She wiped away the condensation with her gauntlet to be confronted by the striking features of a female Sarcurian Luminary in deep sleep. Her majestic battle armour betrayed her lethality and experience that her youth and beauty had hoped to conceal. Jarner hadn't said a word but they both knew they'd either found a witness or the prime suspect. Her vitals weren't good but the stasis tank had done a fairly decent job of keeping her stable, which was why she had climbed or been placed inside it in the first place. If she hadn't gotten medical attention promptly after the incident she'd probably have died as her injuries were serious. She had a fractured ankle, bruised ribs, numerous deep cuts and her primary heart had suffered a projectile injury and had shut down. Thankfully the Pariah had a doctor on staff.

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##### FOUR

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##### An unexplainable pain tormented her as she struggled against immovable forces to roll onto her side. The agony was too intense to care where in the universe she was and how she had gotten there. Her vision failed her as she attempted to prise her eyes open. It was either the after effects of the pod or weakness thanks to the battering and amount of blood she had lost. The operational activity of Luminary's was unknown to the Senate so the likelihood of a rescue team was virtually impossible. She took solace in the fact whoever had scooped her up were allies or at the very least a neutral party. She still breathed and her wounds had been tendered to; this was confirmed by the clinical stench which clung to her chest like its own kind of sickness. She once more attempted to take in her surroundings and forced her eyelids to open. The fuzzy image she took in was that of an alien designed medical bay; slightly irregular and cluttered but nondescript nonetheless.

##### From the design and a number of variables, her tactical brain deduced a few snippets of information. The ship was small, not as small as a fighter or fast attack craft but certainly not as big as a frigate. She determined this from the hum of a not too distant engine and the room's size. A sudden barrage of strange voices caught Cesh's attention beyond the closed door. They were unfamiliar, strange noises. The Luminary was not learned in dealing with any high races other than her own. She wasn't uneducated of course; she was aware of hundreds of species yet had never had the opportunity to interact with any in her relatively short life. She focused on the two figures, as they entered through the newly ajar door, so hard that it hurt. A wave of warmth blurred the edges of her vision as the discomfort dissipated thanks to the intravenous drip that was auto-medicating in the back of her hand; she was relieved but cautious when she recognised the race approaching her. She recalled that they were Human, a race she had studied on her home planet of Rethera.

##### They were very similar to Sarcurians she observed and shared many of the same mannerisms and expressions. She also recognised the emotion she was met with was either that of suspicion or uncertainty, much akin to her own. Humans were relatively new on the galactic stage and the Sarcurians had been the ones sent to ascend them.

##### A misunderstanding had occurred as no one had suspected humanity's insecurities and how they'd react to knowing they weren't alone in the universe. One of the dignitary ships had been shot down, which had contained Cesh's grandfather, before the Senate stepped in to prevent prolonged hostilities. The race showed promise but they were naturally hostile if confronted by the unknown which had kept them from ascending for a long time and many, especially the Caliterrian, still believed them unready. Everything was new to them and they did not yet know their limitations.

##### One was male, mature enough to be approachable, slightly dirty and stained in Sarcurian blood. The Luminary guessed it was hers. The other was female and had an air of authority which could have only been mastered by a warrior. On a larger vessel the Luminary would have assumed the female was the leader of a warrior clan yet she settled on Captain rather quickly which made them both of similar rank.

##### The Human female approached and placed a thin white band upon her wrist which the Sarcurian was too weak and sluggish to pull away from but she grunted all the same, unsure of the alien's intentions. She soon realised what it was as the strange noises they had been making with their mouths soon sounded as familiar and as smooth as if spoken in her native tongue. She gathered her strength, or at least as much of it as she could summon in her beaten state, and managed to prop her body up against the back board. "Your primary heart took most of the damage but your secondary should cope fine while it regenerates. Just take it easy for a few weeks," informed the male awkwardly without a hint of a formal introduction. The Humans were evidently as uncomfortable as she was.

##### "Thank you, Doctor?"

##### "Crow, James Crow. Do you have a name?"

##### "Cesh," she struggled.

##### "Got a last name?" interjected the female.

##### "I'm err, not sure," she mumbled, startled by her own blank answer, her mind was different. She couldn't explain it even if she tried. Things were cloudy, confused. Crow nodded and riffled through a list on his pad before handing it off to the female Human, Cesh guessed that it was to get her opinion on his findings. The Luminary prayed he knew what was wrong with her.

##### "Convenient," the woman puffed seemingly unconvinced. She handed back the data pad to the doctor who handed it over to Cesh to view. It flicked from what she guessed was unfamiliar human text to Sarcurian script as she grabbed hold. "Freezer burn?" she questioned as the Captain pulled up a chair for herself.

##### "Yes, substantial memory loss brought about by the rapid thawing process we were rushed into taking thanks to the failing condition of the Senate transporter." Cesh's eyes sparked.

##### "I remember the transporter. Damaged. Drifting. Then, nothing. Gasping for air maybe. Will this fuzziness be temporary?" she pleaded.

##### "As far as I can tell. You should get moments of clarity coming in patches before it all returns. As for when, that's more difficult to say. Certain things can trigger memories so we'll try our best with this." He smiled warmly. Cesh no longer felt threatened; from the doctor anyway.

#####

##### Darkness. He was unsure what he was experiencing. He felt nothing for so long but was acutely aware of taste and smell. Over the eternity of perpetual nothingness he had smelt blood, jet vapour, stagnant air and then cigar smoke. The audio clues matched his belief that he'd been transported off world yet he was still undecided whether he was alive or dead as events of note came in spots of hazy nonsense. Mobility wasn't an option yet but he felt alive; he'd never felt rougher but alive was alive all the same. He eventually regained the ability to pick out rough shapes that all began in various shades of grey but which eventually dragged themselves into the colour spectrum. He was in fact alive but whether that fact was soon to change in the near future he didn't dare venture.

##### He recognised the infamous Human Senate Security interrogator staring at him through reputation and from previous arrests. The stasis field was a new touch to the whole experience. His deep set wrinkles and greying hair he'd tried to hide with a buzz cut were all evidence of his age yet Vad guessed the man was still very much in his prime. "I shot you," instigated Larik Kass with a hoarse bluntness as he surveyed the young alien scoundrel. Vad didn't bite, aware he was fishing for information. This particular officer didn't need the good cop bad cop routine; scary cop was good enough. "I'm Colonel Larik Kass of Senate Security Internal Affairs as you are likely aware. You, my friend, are currently under arrest on charges of terrorism, theft of military property, espionage, treason, murder and last but by no means least damage to government property." He grinned darkly as the colour drained from Vad's face, leaving him with an almost pinkish hue. His stomach churned as if it were the epicentre of a violent storm, the severity of his little earner punched him hard in the stomach. "Bullshit," he whimpered before an agonising shock bolted across his body and reached his extremities. The unnecessary interrogation probe made another appearance, giving a painful zap to Vad's rigid body in an attempt to lower his resolve, not that it needed much more coaxing.

##### "I don't believe for one moment you're a criminal mastermind or a spy for enemies of the state. To be honest, kid, you're low life smuggler scum who has probably come undone by greed. Why don't we start at the beginning?" the Captain probed sternly. Vad realised this was far worse than just a bad cop routine.

##### "If this is about my cargo, I came into it on the black market. I was told it was excess stock and tech lifted from a raid on a slaver compound. I'm broke. I needed the money," he pleaded

##### "Names?"

##### "On the black market?" dismissed Vad.

##### "I'll need every last detail on your transactions with these individuals and you'll need a damn good lawyer," ordered Larik Kass.

##### "What exactly is this load tied to?" questioned Vad pushing his luck and fearful at what he'd gotten himself mixed up in.

##### "Highly classified."

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##### The Pariah slithered through the spires and glass behemoths of Engevaal's skyline, basked in the glow of the dawn's amber sun and the slowly dissipating neon from the previous night. As The Keep came into view, the crew found themselves flanked by three fast attack fighters which circled like vultures. The Keep was a huge pyramid-like structure, black and smooth like marble or jet with light blue scrollwork etched across it's surface. Humanity compared it to the Pyramids of ancient Egypt but that did nothing to convey it's scale or beauty. Shayara wasn't alarmed by the fighter jets but she knew they wouldn't hesitate about shooting them out of the sky if protocol wasn't followed to the letter. It was understandable as The Keep was a self-contained city within a city and home to the bulk of the most important figures in the galaxy. A few extra rules and munitions made sense to protect those inside.

##### "This is Senate conscript Shayara Ventii of the Pariah to Keep Port Guardian. We have a priority one individual aboard and have a meeting scheduled with the High Senate," she informed cooly. A long pause ensued as her credentials were no doubt being cross referenced and confirmed. "Affirmative, Pariah, welcome home. Follow docking route two to docking station nine. A Senate representative will be on deck to greet your boarding party." The communication channel closed and allowed the Pariah to take a wide sweeping arch over the onyx coloured triangle to enter a hangar on its blind side. Just as the Port Guardian had said, a precession of armed enforcers led by what looked like a Caliterrian dignitary were already in place.

##### Docking clamps fastened the Pariah securely to the ground and the crew departed the ship. Cesh had refused a hover chair and opted to carry her own weight on holo-crutches. The injury was shaming enough as Sarcurian warrior circles believed injuries, especially those obtained through falling prey to an ambush, brought huge shame due to the fact they came from mistakes that highlighted the flaws of the victim. She could take heart in the fact her ego could begin the recovery process by not allowing the injury to hinder her further. Shayara met the outstretched hand of the Caliterrian which showed that he had taken the time to observe Human pleasantries. "I will be your escort to the assembly area but I'm afraid the Luminary must be processed separately by Senate Security, I hope you understand." Shayara looked toward Cesh but the Sarcurian had already been led away. Shayara, James and Jarner were ushered along to the other side of the spacious hangar with ease. At the far end of the cavernous spaceport an automated skycar depot awaited them providing convenient connection to the other sections of The Keep's interior.

##### The Keep seemed extremely large from the outside but one could not truly appreciate the scale until one witnessed its contents. It had everything from housing, trade floors, office blocks, financial districts and of course the main Senate Congress hall. "Last population count of permanent residents reached a new high of roughly four million and it grows steadily each day. The biggest influx recently has been from your race Human as more of you fall in love with the luxury and security that we can provide here," informed the Caliterrian who took it upon himself to assume the role of tour guide.

##### "Is there a bar where we are going?" interrupted James much to the Caliterrian's surprise.

##### "Refreshments are available, yes, although I'd advise against the use of alcohol before meeting the Senate," responded the dignitary with a look of confusion and annoyance at the Human's bizarre priorities and the fact his spiel had been snubbed.

##### The transport ascended higher up to The Keep's tip, the architecture started to instil a sense of not-so-humble pride at the power held by those who walked the walkways of the highest levels. The skycar touched down and the first notable difference that hit Shayara was how subdued it was high up, away from the chaotic hustle and bustle of the lower, much more densely populated, levels. The Caliterrian, who had yet to introduce himself formally, led them forward across the platform. The bridge beyond curiously had no guardrail and was held in place by reverse gravity generators. The large archway at the end was architecturally as imposing as Brandenburg Gate back on Earth and beyond that lay the assembly area. It had a very high class feel with yet more fantastic alien aesthetics and indeed a large bar area. "You can wait here, I'll return when they're ready for you." With that the Caliterrian with no name ventured onward past the security checkpoint on the opposite side to the way they came in. "This place is locked down tighter than your knickers, boss," grinned Jarner. Shayara didn't look amused.

##### "Looks like we'll be here a while, you two want anything?" said James, gesturing with wallet in hand eager to get away. He shirked off the head shakes and plonked himself on a stool where an attractive Sarcurian female was serving up a violet coloured beverage to an important looking Caliterrian patron. "I'll have what he's having when you've got a moment, darling," James interjected as she passed by. The alien chuckled as he downed his drink in one. "Something I said?" James shrugged confused.

##### "It's Tecosic. It'd boil your insides rather quickly. Reacts with your stomach acid if I'm not mistaken." He smiled.

##### "On second thought, what whiskey do you have?"

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##### Scheduling another meeting so soon after the last should have been difficult but it was funny how quickly the words galactic security got things done. The fact the Pariah had brought back a witness or a suspect had strengthened their argument, yet High Senator Wilhelm liked to think he knew how to work the system, although it was just nice for humanity to be taken seriously for a change. The Senator arrived promptly and exchanged pleasantries with the two crew-members of the Pariah, he was told there would be a third but the staff doctor was absent from the group. He'd met Shayara numerous times and had always found her pleasantly blunt however Jarner he only knew through reputation. He didn't say much and came off as a little roguish which partnered his sarcastic and dry humour rather nicely. They entered the Congress hall and scaled the steep steps of the speaker's platform. There they found, much to Alexander's surprise, that the High Senators were already seated impatiently. This was highly unusual. Senator Wilhelm knew from experience that the High Senate usually kept speakers waiting for a whole host of reasons not least of which to remind would be usurpers of who was in charge. This situation had obviously sparked grave concern or interest amongst the rank and file of the elite but what would spook the Senate this much kept Alexander guessing.

##### A circular platform rose up to the speaker podium's height; on board was a slightly refreshed Luminary flanked by two thickly set Caliterrian enforcers. Alexander observed Ora gasp. "Welcome back, Senator, I am pleased the conscript has returned with you safely. Perhaps she can shed light upon the situation and improve the lack of satisfaction you brought at our feet last time?" grumbled Arkan Sha'Ni. The High Senate had been forwarded Shayara Ventii's findings in a report she had mocked up on her journey to the Senate home world. They already knew whatever cargo had been aboard had been taken and oddly the crew too so there was no point raking over covered ground.

##### "You recognise the Luminary, Queen Acil?" the Human Senator probed bluntly.

##### "Is it true you remember little?" she directed towards the blank expression of the Sarcurian Luminary, intentionally ignoring the question laid before her.

##### "Very little, ma'am." In hearing this, Ora slumped back in her seat, her eyes cold and unloving.

##### "To answer your question, Senator, yes I do recognise my dead husband's own daughter." This revelation almost knocked Alexander back down to the foot of the auditorium. Not only was it common knowledge the Queen didn't have a daughter but if the dead king had an offspring that would mean the monarchy wasn't dead after all.

##### "She goes by Cesh Zhurl although her real name is Cestine Paav Acil."

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##### "The Queen has requested your presence Madam Zhurl," instructed the chief royal hand from the door of Cesh's humble dwelling in the castle grounds. She nodded in approval and threw her packed haversack over her shoulder. She double checked she hadn't left any of her belongings behind. She hadn't come back for much, as most of her things had already been transported to her ship. She had hoped not to run into the Queen as she'd have much preferred to have slinked off world unnoticed but her spies were everywhere. She sighed before locking up for good, sure she'd never return home again. On her dainty jaunt across the courtyard she didn't arouse any kind of attention, why would she? No one knew who she had been but it didn't matter to her as it wasn't who she was now. Being the bastard child of a dead king wasn't an honorary role to fill and she'd been brought up in secret, said to be the daughter of a well-known general. The honour guard allowed her to pass, she took time to look up at the huge shield dome protecting the city and saw the irony in an asteroid collision which was of similar magnitude to what she expected to receive from the Queen. She navigated the castle like a seasoned servant using hidden passages and unconventional short cuts until she reached the Queen's personal chambers.

##### Cesh found her being attended to by her tailor; "Ahem," Cesh grunted impatiently. The pair leapt out of their embrace and the tailor out of the quilted protection of the duvet. He attempted to cover his pride the best he could as he darted from the scene. Now that all the royal attendants were out of earshot the pair could speak freely. "Are my whole family this loose?" Cesh spoke curtly from the door frame.

##### "I didn't expect you to come. However, I am a single woman, Cestine, and your father, however, was not," Ora snubbed as she made herself appropriate for company.

##### "What do you want with me, Ora? I enlisted to get me away from here so why call for me? Isn't me being far away beneficial to you?" Cesh asked plainly as she allowed herself to move deeper into the room now the Queen was at least half decent. "How long does it take you to get dressed, I bet it has been years since you've dressed yourself in this palace of yours."

##### "Careful, young one, I am still your Queen even if I am not your mother. I demand respect or there will be consequences." Cesh stayed silent and leant against the bed post being mindful to stay well clear of the overhanging bed cover. "I was of the mind that a Luminary had to have the approval of the ruling monarch. I recall giving no such approval." Cesh didn't even blink.

##### "I know. I forged my accreditation, thought you'd approve, ma'am." She smirked as she moved to the door.

##### "I never said you were free to go, I could have you executed for what you've done. You and your father be damned," warned the Queen.

##### "Goodbye, Ora," ended Cesh as she left her stepmother to her own devices.

##### The Queen slumped into a form fitting armchair and contemplated her next step, that was if there was to be one. Maybe the troublesome daughter-in-law of hers was right. She could do less damage out in uncharted space. Ora felt horrible for thinking it, but a part of her hoped the newly instated Luminary might run into trouble out there on her own. Cesh left the royal house for the last time. She rued the day that Sarten, her real father not her biological one, confessed to all of this on his death bed. She knew why he'd done it but it didn't make it feel any better. Lies and negative actions affected how well you were treated in the afterlife and although her father had died honourably from wounds sustained in battle he must have still feared for his soul.

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##### The Human contingent stayed very quiet. This was a highly disturbing revelation with huge political ramifications if this news were to ever surface. It still didn't explain what had happened aboard Hope's Deliverance. "A little is coming back, I remember bodies. Lots of bodies ripped apart by very heavy fire power, an ambush, I think," Cesh struggled.

##### "We know at least then if the Luminary's testimony is to be believed that the bodies were removed after her arrival," chipped in Shayara.

##### "What exactly was that transporter carrying? I am the same rank as you politically and my people put themselves at great risk, so I demand to know. Any scrap of information could trigger Cesh's memory and I'm sure that'd be hugely beneficial to you too," Alexander barked frustrated at what he assumed was a perversion of data flow. He was being excluded and he knew it.

##### The Caliterrian Forerunner looked uncomfortable where he sat. He gestured a reluctant but approving head toward that of his two companions before easing forward. "The transporter was carrying a prototype project codenamed Aurora. That's all I can really divulge but in any hands other than ours, this is a serious threat. You may be of the same standing Senator but you forget your race is new here and you are required to earn our trust," he teased. Alexander had to keep his temper in check. Subconsciously Shayara stepped in front of him to break the tension but before she could speak Ora spoke for her, "This meeting is adjourned. Until Cesh remembers anything to progress this we will get no further. An internal investigation will be set up and our best trackers will be sent to the region. The Pariah and the Luminary will be grounded until further notice and will be required to stay within the city limits." The High Senate concluded long before Shayara or Alexander could put up a defence. The High Senators wasted no time vacating their seats. Alexander was not content. Arkan had hidden something beneath his bullying of the Human race, whether it be information or fear something said had shaken him. Alexander was positive he wouldn't get information the conventional way.

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##### Alexander didn't even acknowledge his lovely and ever so helpful secretary on his way to his office. It wasn't a decision he made purposely, his mind was just elsewhere and wherever it was it was pissed. Still he was thankful for the strong whiskey on the rocks that Miss Chambers had entered with not five minutes after he'd blown her off. Thankfully she hadn't taken it personally and was well aware politics was politics. He waited for her to make a swift exit before beckoning on the services of AI construct Greaves. "You rang, Senator?" he asked with a polite cock of the head.

##### "Going to need your help, Greaves. Can you do me the pleasure of searching the Senate archives for anything to do with Aurora? Refine search by projects specifically those conducted by Indatech." With that the butler retreated back into the base to carry out his given task. Alexander expected a long wait so allowed himself to slide back in his chair. His eyelids lowered rapidly due to the plethora of nights he'd not been able to sleep. A position like his was a level of stress no Human had been privy to before and he'd aged a lot in a year. He'd even noticed a few grey hairs lining his brow in the mirror a week ago.

##### He had no idea how much time had passed when he was startled by the reappearance of Greaves who looked at him quizzically. "Are you feeling okay, sir?"

##### "Just catching up on some much needed nightcap, Greaves, what time is it back on Earth? I don't think my biological clock's adjusted yet."

##### "It is currently one thirty two GMT however you've been here on Engevaal using galactic standard time for four hundred and fifty two days Senator. It should be well adjusted by now." It should have been of course but the Senator found it spooky that it was so early back home and he was feeling it. Or maybe it was the aforementioned sleep deprivation? Either way his newly woken up brain was getting off subject quickly.

##### "Did you find anything then?"

##### "Very little to be honest. What I did recover was heavily guarded by the Senate core AI and I was only able to salvage a small amount of data. There is mention of an operation Dark Aurora. Time period is unknown but I believe the Senate or at least some of its races were at war." The Senator rocked back in his chair and mulled over the connection. Hearing the Senate was at war was interesting, it wasn't a part of their history that they promoted. At war with whom interested him more than the finer details but the operation name could have been a coincidence all the same.

##### "And?" He pressed his synthetic companion to continue.

##### "Project Aurora was a prototype created by the Shiva wing of Indatech industries." The Senator sprung out of his chair. Shiva was the secret super weapon branch of the Senate's technology manufacturer and they only dealt in research that pushed weapons of mass destruction. They were of course a last resort and highly controversial which is why they weren't known to the public. Someone very high up long before Alexander had arrived believed that such research was essential so it continued to receive funding. Alexander didn't trust their devices in the right hands never mind in those of a terrorist, revolutionary or supremacist. "Get me the Captain," he ordered as Greaves once more retreated into his emitter.

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##### Cesh sat legs folded on her bunk that she had been so graciously provided by Senate Security. In her room was the bunk she was perched on, a toilet, sink and that about summed it up. The essentials were apparently enough for a woman who hadn't even been convicted of a crime. As she laid back something clicked in place. As she closed her eyes something wormed its way through the haze

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##### Cesh swept her weapon freely across the kill zone but nothing gave any cause for depression on the trigger. Movement through the bridge was difficult as everything appeared to have been dropped where it had once been held and the volume of bodies rivalled that of the cargo bay. It had been a last stand for the cornered who had been cut down honourably like warriors evidently defending the bridge in a desperate attempt to hold onto control. The Luminary stepped over one of the dozens of bodies which appeared to have been tossed aside like a rag doll. She made steady progress toward Sana Mas, a middle-aged Sarcurian who had seen more than his fair share of combat and rough situations over the span of his career. Yet, even he was uncomfortable in the midst of so much death. Mhen Senni, the youngest member of her Clan, tossed aside one of the small crates he couldn't crack the encryption of and joined the pair in the centre. Cesh's clan had made its way through literally all the maze like corridors the ship had to offer on their journey to the bridge, a route they'd later learnt was the scenic one. Apparently alien-friendly maps and identically proportioned and designed corridors had thrown the experienced Sarcurian. Upon reaching the last map she conceded they could have halved the journey time by cutting through what she assumed was a medical facility due to its insignia with the lack of a legend.

##### She was startled mid step as an ear splintering alarm squawked out suddenly, a spiral of white light materialised beyond the view screen "Senate reinforcements?" questioned Sana, his assumption immediately disparaged by the huge alien warship of origin none of those present could even place.

##### "Ambush!" Exclaimed Cesh as a colossal brute of a beast she also couldn't identify de-cloaked and vaporised Sana with plasma rounds that had no problem penetrating shields, armour and flesh. Its momentum carried it forward as it sliced Mhen's head clean from his body with an energy weapon that shot from an underslung arm launcher before any of them could even react. Cesh sprang into full retreat and got to unload a few rounds of her own into the monster which sent its next volley off target, saving her life for now and allowing her to duck out into the corridor.

#####

##### Cesh sat bolt upright in bed, sweating profusely and incapacitated by the pounding in her chest. It was agony as her semi-recovered primary heart attempted to join in. That was no dream, she was certain she'd lived that experience and was certain that was a memory from Hope's Deliverance. Her comrades, her friends, were dead and that realisation was almost too much to bear in itself. She tried her hardest to focus on the creature that had ambushed them so much she began to have a nose bleed. The specifics of the creature was fuzzy. All she knew was that it was large, had two pairs of arms and was not a race she had ever come across before.

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##### SEVEN

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##### She eased into the seat opposite after rejecting any refreshments as per usual from Miss Chambers. She was agitated and fidgety, being grounded was the worst possible thing for Shayara. She had become a Conscript because she didn't like staying in one place too long, she was an explorer at heart no different from any in history. She also had a sense of duty to finish what she had started. It stung that she had been relieved in favour of useless Senate trackers, when she could do their job in a fraction of the time. Still she remained cautiously optimistic, Alexander had called her for a reason and AI Greaves sounded like it was urgent so either she'd soon be on her way or this was a reprimand to teach her to leave well enough alone in the future.

##### Senator Wilhelm had whiskey again, she observed. It was surprising the guy wasn't intoxicated more often as he didn't exactly do half measurements. She guessed he must have worked up a huge tolerance to it over the years. "What do you think about this whole thing, Shayara?" he instigated, the captain was unsure whether he had an ulterior motive or not but nevertheless he'd get a straight answer regardless.

##### "Could be corporate espionage. The fact the Luminary can't remember a thing is quite convenient but Doctor Crow assures me it is feasible judging on how unstable she was when she entered the stasis pod. I've just got a feeling there is more to this though." The Senator grumbled approval as he stood up and moved to his window which allowed a penthouse view of the city scape of The Keep.

##### His desk surface rotated to reveal a holographic display which energised showing an unfamiliar star system and his assistant AI. "I agree, Captain, which is why I asked Greaves to sweep for any mention in the Senate archives of Aurora. We got a few hits." He paused unsure on how to word it. "The most worrying of which is that Aurora could be a prototype weapon created by Shiva Branch of Indatech. You can imagine how serious this is if it's true."

##### "Fuck," Shayara managed to breathe knowing full well the weapon's potential if Shiva were involved.

##### "Show her, Greaves." The star chart zoomed in to an unfamiliar system on the edge of uncharted space.

##### "Before I was hampered by the core AI, I managed to retrieve several small data streams pertaining to Aurora. After analysis we believe we have the location of the facility that worked on the project. Interestingly the status of the facility is irretrievable."

##### "I fear it may have also been attacked by the same individuals that hit Hope's Deliverance. I want you, Captain, to take the Pariah and investigate the site," the Human Senator concluded.

##### "You've forgotten one very important factor, Wilhelm, I'm stuck here just like you." The senator allowed a smug smile to cross his face but locked it down moments after it surfaced.

##### "The Senate has already allowed your departure. Humanitarian effort. Aiding in the evacuation of Atlas who are currently experiencing civil unrest and a pandemic. You have family there, no?" Shayara rose to greet Alexander's outstretched hand and gave him a wry smile back as they clasped.

#####

##### Vad Turso exited the Senate Security detention centre with a few more bruises than he had come in with, both physical and to his ego. After the interrogation in the stasis field with Colonel Larik Kass it had gotten physical with another officer. He was assured afterward that it was to ascertain whether he was telling the truth but he couldn't help wonder whether they needed to work out the frustration of arresting the wrong man. A call from someone far above their heads had asked for Vad's release but who he didn't know. He had no friends in high places. Not to say however that the smuggler had gotten away scot free. With handling stolen goods and black market trading he'd been imposed a very heavy fine the like of which he couldn't have dreamt of being able to pay. So for payment his ship had been confiscated. His main business asset and home was gone and he didn't have more than a hundred credits to his name. It was either this or a maximum security slammer on an asteroid belt or a god forsaken moon somewhere and he knew that this was preferable, only just.

##### He found himself within the lower reaches of The Keep using whatever pocket shrapnel he had left to drown his sorrows. He downed his twelfth measurement before being escorted by The Keep enforcers out onto the streets of Engevaal's capital Curalie via a rubbish chute. After a few unplanned winks in the heap at the bottom he wondered the streets still blind drunk until the early hours. It wasn't like he had any place to be anyway.

#####

##### Its active camouflage prevented a visual ID and its masked emissions and highly encrypted data streams made the Human stealth frigate You Can't See Me nigh on invisible. Commander Isaac Jericho sat hunched in anticipation, going near uncharted space carried many risks and going against the Senate carried considerably more. It gave him a slight thrill. It felt good to know that the Human High Senator was not just a lapdog for the aliens. Isaac was by no means xenophobic but he worried like many that the crippling need to please the galactic community could inadvertently cause them to leave Human identity behind. Captain Kate Anders made her way toward the experienced soldier as she could tell recent events had troubled him. "Senator Wilhelm requested you personally and would like to express that he will take any repercussions handed out from this trip of ours," she reassured.

##### "That's not what bothers me, ma'am. I'm curious as to why I was hauled off of the front line against the extremists to be bottled onto a ship that doesn't exist to a region of space that also doesn't," Isaac commented offhand. He gauged her reaction appropriately, he knew that she didn't want to tell him but had to. After all what good was a fire team Commander out of the loop and down on morale? He needed information to do his job better and she was unwillingly going to give it. The pair paused their conversation for an extended period as two crewmen passed their position arms filled with paperwork that was destined to be filled with black censor bars and buried somewhere below sea level in a secure vault of deniable operations. "I'll level with you, Isaac. We have a missing Shiva branch project and the facility that produced it has gone dark. We are heading into a lot of unknowns and I need the best."

##### "The best available or the best of a bad bunch?" Isaac quipped as the Captain rolled her eyes.

##### "Something like that. Let's just say your reputation precedes you. Do not disappoint." She ended and with that she took a hard right up onto the bridge. Isaac stood in the hallway musing her last comment. He seemed to have that effect on people, especially superior officers. He knew it was because he'd on occasion ignored orders from command to achieve an objective. The gamble had always paid off and he was known to be the one you called on when you needed something done but brass still weren't fond of him. The proximity alarm aboard sounded amongst his pondering. "All hands on deck," blared Kate over the PA system.

#####

##### "What the hell is this?" shot Shayara in a rather concerned tone that even she wasn't prepared for. The giant crimson shield wall that confronted them beyond the view screen reminded Jarner of the shield domes back home on Nazzha and in all likelihood was probably based on the same technology. "Why would the Senate quarantine an entire region of space?" Before the crew could react the Pariah must have drifted within the activation range as multiple energy drones circled the ship. AI construct R051E was interrogated by multiple lower level AI programs demanding a Senate IFF and zone clearance. Construct R051E didn't even prepare a response before they withdrew at weird angles that looked most bizarre on the sensors to Shayara. She couldn't quite place it but they looked confused. "Sensor malfunction due to EMP strike, I assume the AI's overloaded themselves." R051E presumed much to the relief of the crew.

#####

##### "Drones disorientated, Captain. The gap's left us just enough room for us and the Pariah to make it through the cordon. With any luck the Senate and the Pariah will think it was just a software glitch."

##### "Excellent." Kate smiled.

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##### EIGHT

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##### Sleep was an impossibility thanks to a number of factors: police sirens, vocal abuse both on the street and from the neighbours with a few gunshots mixed in for good measure. It was an unpleasant night indeed. The inside of the building was possibly less or of equal pleasantness to the atmosphere outside. Banging of apartment doors, the thud of distant club music, the shabby flea ridden blanket Vad had long since discarded and the identifiable smell of urine all contributed to the charm of the room at Prime Suite Horizon. Vad had managed to swipe a drunk patron's credit pad as soon as he himself had sobered up but unfortunately Vad had gotten to it long after the previous owner had done some financial damage on it. With the pittance that remained he'd managed to check in to a hotel in a very rough district but he concluded a bed was a bed with a burdened sigh.

##### It came as a surprise his door received a knock despite no one knowing his whereabouts. Unless he'd been tailed by the police. Time froze. Either the foul-mouthed, spotty-faced receptionist was checking on him to see if he had settled in okay which he doubted beyond belief or a local gang had come to shake down the newcomer in their midst. If it was to be the police honestly at this point he'd have welcomed it. The door fell away from its hinges from a heavy boot, likely weakened by termites, as Vad was still having an internal debate about who he'd rather see from his three options. The ex-smuggler bolted out of the bed which screeched as the springs returned to a relaxed position. He was instantly knocked back to the far paint stripped wall as his chest received what felt like a hind leg kick from a wild Verikka back home on the farm. He thumbed the sticky mess from the impact with his mouth ajar as he looked up half expecting to see a hopped up junkie or special agent Larik grumpy arse. It wasn't. A familiar well-groomed face he'd last seen when he'd been lumbered with the doomed cargo that had gotten his ship impounded. He wanted to tear Mr X's throat out for the trouble and obvious bullshit he'd sold him but didn't get the chance as another round impacted his face.

#####

##### The angry mob could be heard several neighbourhoods over. She hoped it was moving in the opposite direction. What was bound to be a large group of people mad at the establishment against a lone police officer didn't likely carry great survival odds. She had to move fast regardless as she was needed elsewhere. Even though she had grown up on this street, searching the surrounding area for the chemist had become laborious. It wasn't like she couldn't remember where it was as she was a very outdoorsy child and could tread her patch with her eyes closed. It was more that the drastic terraforming from recent Human supremacy attacks had made the entire city unrecognisable. She cursed the xenophobic activists, who were frustrated humanity had to play nice with aliens, as she passed the burnt out convenience shop on the street corner that had once been owned by a good family friend of hers. It had been on the news vids a few nights ago. Panic buying had set in and the queue to get in was out the door when a nutter decided a bomb strapped to his chest was a great way of getting his viewpoint across about aliens. It didn't make sense on any level but it got people's attention sure, mass murder tended to do that, but at what cost? Did these people have no empathy for others? Or morals? Rumour had it though that the xenophobes and anarchists were getting help from the Atlas Underground Liberation Movement who didn't much like the governing body of Atlas or the way things had changed after joining the galactic community. That made the random acts of violence and civil unrest a very clever ploy indeed. Getting the underlings to do the dirty work and then striking when authority was at its weakest was inspired even if it did go against any grain of decency she had.

##### It was a very unsettling thought and Amy didn't much want to live in a world where death accompanied buying groceries. She took very little heart in the fact many other races had sects of supremacist activists.

##### "Ah," sighed the middle-aged woman as she came to the forefront of the building she'd almost hired a cartographer to find. The place was gutted. The lobby, a husk of mangled uncomfortable chairs once occupied by coughing-without-covering customers and misplaced low-level medication boxes displaced by overturned shelving units. She straddled the counter when the sound of hurried rummaging caught her attention from beyond the door that was held in place by a solitary hinge. "Someone there?" She chanced which caused the noise from within to cease. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm just clearing unsafe buildings." She lied. Whoever it was didn't need to know her real intentions and wouldn't have benefitted from knowing.

##### No response came regardless.

##### She eased the door open, her rifle raised, and was met by a mucky-faced youth with eyes larger than dinner plates. His hands were filled with medication and Amy guessed he was weighing up his chances of getting away but with her blocking what appeared to be the only exit he didn't look too confident on his chances. He was a little skittish, she didn't know whether he was hopped up on something or just scared being confronted with a firearm as she guessed he was only around thirteen. That didn't change the fact he could still be armed so she didn't lower her aim any great deal. "What are we doing here then?" Amy asked in what she wished wasn't a patronising tone. She never did know how to speak to children as she'd never really been that hot on the idea of having any.

##### "Trying to find Sunlight," he answered as he pushed out what chest he had developed by his age. Sunlight was a valuable commodity nowadays. It stopped the current pandemic level virus, known only as Shade, from progressing for a day or two depending on the person and was currently the only weapon to combat it. Those infected were fighting the clock, death was an eventuality despite the planet's top scientists trying to research Shade and engineer a cure. Coincidently Sunlight was also what Amy was after. "For you?"

##### "For my mum, why?" He was very confrontational and who could blame him with all the crazies on the street of late.

##### "I'm only being friendly," she reassured, only for him to tear up as if on cue. "Let me help you look then." She smiled which seemed to satisfy his sadness but he was still wary despite the uniform. Amy knew it was a stretch, she'd almost written off coming altogether. With the amount of people infected she expected everywhere to have been cleared of stock. She looked anyway, she didn't have much choice in the matter. After half an hour of sifting through everything from cough medicine to cancer repulsers the unlikely pair came out nil. Amy moved to the desk and cracked the lock with her retractable crowbar. Inside was a key and Amy could have given herself a real talking to for missing the signs the first time. For any average person they'd have missed it but not Amy, having spent many years with crime scene investigation that knowledge kind of had the habit of staying with you. The portrait that was above the desk was of a beautiful landscape she thought she recognised but that wasn't the interesting bit, it was ever so slightly off kilter and upon removal revealed a safe. "Bingo! Cross your fingers, kid." She smiled to the boy as she opened it up to find three loaded syringes of Sunlight, patient files and a diploma from a university she hadn't heard of.

##### "I'm not a kid, I'm fourteen," the child protested as Amy handed two over and pocketed the other. "Why do you need one? Are you sick?" he quizzed with a notable decrease of bravado.

##### "It's for a friend." She smiled as she lied again, making a habit out of it. He made his way to the door and slinked out as noisily as he'd entered. She hoped he had the sense to stay off the streets and away from trouble.

##### "Reality to Miss Mason, pick up, Miss Mason." Buzzed the radio that was fastened on her waist. She'd forgotten all about her team in her search. She sunk the syringe into the top of her arm. It burned but no more than usual.

##### "I hear you Captain Bullseye. Had to go the scenic route to avoid the rioters after we got split up. I'm not too far from you now." She told another lie this time not to a child but to her squad's sniper, Tobias Harley. She hadn't told anyone yet about her infection, quarantine was a death sentence and she wasn't contagious yet so she didn't see any harm in staying among the populace. She was also in denial. "We're at the objective but it's all quite here so no rush, yeah?"

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##### NINE

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##### Beyond the energy shield and the dodgy defence drones the solar system was exceptionally hostile. Energy storms, asteroid fields and an oversized sun all contributed to a rough trip. Shayara could be forgiven for contemplating that the Senate shut the system down purely for safety. That is if she didn't know any better. That's when she saw it on the far side of the closet planet's moon. The space station was strange, it looked like it was based on Caliterrian architecture which would have meant it was created in a time when the Sarcurians weren't the designated master builders of the galaxy. A very long time indeed. Either that or the Sarcurian didn't know about this place. Fairly feasible, thought Shayara, the Caliterrian did like to hold all the cards. As they drifted closer some very new and familiar battle scars became more visible, some as new as Shayara's sense of 'deja vu'. What didn't make sense however was that despite the obvious damage and the fact the station had gone dark, all systems read as expected. The power output, energy signature, automated systems and when construct R051E broadcasted the Senate IFF the docking clamp reached out to meet them. "I don't like this," Shayara conceded curiously.

##### "Me either," admitted Jarner yet they'd come this far and coming back empty-handed wasn't an option especially with the amount of trouble they were no doubt already in.

##### No one had come to meet the boarding party which consisted as usual of Shayara and Jarner. They'd been funnelled through the docking station by some sort of automated system that had to be controlled by an AI. It made Shayara uncomfortable. As soon as they'd cleared processing to the humid and sticky space station beyond James's worried voice buzzed over their headsets, "Guys, as soon as you got far enough in, the docking clamp sealed and disconnected. It won't respond anymore." That was a problem. They now needed to formulate an exit strategy.

##### "Sit tight, Crow, we'll think of something." Shayara hoped more than promised.

##### The pair inched down the corridor until the smell hit them about half way down. Shayara followed her nose which led them to the right and through two double doors which opened up into hell's kitchen. It was at least refreshing to find casualties but that didn't make being in their presence any easier. "I think I'm going to be sick." grumbled Jarner as he crouched down holding his stomach. Shayara couldn't blame him as the scene was quite graphic. The canteen had been transformed into a war-zone and just from the door she could see plasma injuries, decapitations, dismemberments and blunt force trauma fatalities. Before she could venture further into the mess hall, more literal than it was intended to be, she was lifted off her feet and pinned up to the doors by her throat. "Fuck!" she screeched as Jarner unloaded a few rounds just in front of her not that he could see a thing. It hit home as the silhouette shimmered but before Jarner could follow it up the figure raised its arm and fired something from an underarm launcher. It bundled the Sarcurian up in shock netting usual employed by bounty hunters that wanted to bag their target alive. It gave him a jolt as he tried to wriggle free to no avail "Shit this hurts," he whined.

##### The creature lowered its cloaking device to reveal a very ragged Caliterrian Guardian.

##### "State your business, Human, before I tear you in two," it seethed with breath that rivalled the intensity of the stench of the room.

##### "Senate Conscripts investigating why this facility has dropped off the grid," she wheezed due to her rapidly crushing windpipe.

##### "Liar. The Senate would not have brought Humanity in on this yet."

##### "I didn't say it was official." With that he dropped her to the floor as she gasped for air on all fours. She looked over to Jarner who was still wrapped up with pain plastered across his face. "You mind releasing my friend?" she suggested sarcastically from down near the Caliterrian's ankles. The webbing lost power and fell away from Jarner, understandably he looked pissed.

##### "Nice fucking welcome routine you got worked out here, get many visitors?" he growled almost standing toe to toe with the alien that was so much broader and taller than him. That didn't seem to phase Jarner in his current state of mind. "Care to fill in the blanks before I tear you in two?" The Caliterrian chuckled in a lower key sort of way at the threat from somebody he considered vastly inferior.

##### "I'll give you some respect, Sarcurian, not many stand up to me and even fewer that do do I allow to live." He smiled with a jagged sinister mouth as Shayara got to her feet and flexed her aching windpipe. She placed a hand upon Jarner's shoulder, part as back-up and part to tell him to wind the attitude in a little. He had every right to be upset but they needed the Caliterrian alive to divulge what had transpired here. "So, what wouldn't the Senate have brought humanity in on?"

#####

##### Kate was impressed with her new ship and especially with how it had handled under such a taxing assignment. The stealth systems especially were cutting edge tech only really designed for short covert drops behind enemy lines, not for tailing another vessel across the galaxy. Upon arriving at the space station, the Pariah had evidently been in a rough fight. She was impressed at the fortitude of such an old structure. The boarding party had likely consisted of Conscript Ventii and Jarner Nevo, or so intel suggested. Not long after arrival the weirdest thing had happened. The docking arm had powered down and kicked the Pariah off causing it to drift until the pilot had gotten his bearings and gained control. It had come perilously close to hitting You Can't See Me but thankfully they were none the wiser. The Pariah had limped away to a safe distance, with good reason, which by happy accident allowed the stealth frigate to get in closer. The secret intelligence operative on board hacked into radio frequencies which allowed the stealth frigate to listen in on the boarding party's comm traffic.

#####

##### Their new Caliterrian pet was most unhelpful indeed. They'd learnt his name was Keeto Cha'Bin and they'd also found out the Forerunner had sent for him personally. Arkan had indeed held out on them during Congress. As soon as they'd asked about the space station however, all they'd been able to deduce was that getting to the central computer was important and so they followed reluctantly in the shadow of the grizzly-looking warrior. He'd made it especially clear something was still on the station hunting him. He hadn't seen anything however and it was a hunch he'd not been able to act on as it turned out he'd been on site not much longer than the Pariah. So relatively uninformed, the trio edged forever onward becoming very uncomfortable by every passing shadow.

##### Shayara had actually heard of Keeto, he was quite a renowned figure if you moved in the right circles. He was often used as the Forerunner's personal assassin, off the record of course, and he'd been linked to many high profile kills amongst enemies of the state. She knew they had to be careful around him from here on out. If the chance presented itself she knew he wouldn't hesitate in confiscating loose ends if they were in as deep as she thought they were.

##### The primary corridor seemed to run along the whole length of the station, with it offering little in the means of cover. An exposed mass of circuitry and pipes was over their heads, large enough for someone to stand on and ambush from. Shayara wasn't brimming with confidence about their situation. The blast door to the bridge up ahead appeared to be seized partly open leaving a gap no larger than the width of Keeto's shoulders for them to squeeze through. Shayara noted it would be a problematic bottle neck if they encountered any trouble beyond. They stacked up in reverse order of importance as they entered but were met with no opposition. The bridge was on par with the mess hall. The main computer console had been tampered with, luminous cables crisscrossed against other more recognisable ones. The primary holo display seemed to be still functional so Jarner transferred R051E's AI fragment into the space station's systems. She strode across and gave a wry smile as she surveyed her surroundings and allowed a cock of the head. "Why do you never take me anywhere nice?" Suddenly her face began to droop as if having a stroke, her avatar jittered before dropping to its knees. Lights pulsated with anger and gravity dropped for a millisecond as construct R051E flickered in and out of existence like a dying flame. Just as rapidly as it had fallen apart, stability returned and the AI's avatar looked exceptionally traumatised by whatever she had experienced. "R051E, you okay?" Jarner requested not exactly standing too closely.

##### "There's another AI in the system the likes of which I have never had the displeasure of meeting. It attempted to vent the atmosphere on the bridge. It is rather rude," responded Construct R051E seemingly not overly affected.

##### "That's an understatement," huffed the Caliterrian as the AI glared at him with anger.

##### "What is it?" Shayara questioned cutting through the stagnant air with more ease than she expected but the glare moved to her. R051E pointed an accusing finger at their new companion.

##### "He should have told us!" She looked back at him as his jaw dropped ever so slightly. "We are in so much danger and while you play lapdog to the Forerunner trying to keep everything quiet they move to kill people in their millions!" She sneered.

##### "Who is, R051E?" Jarner asked.

##### "The Votheen! They know we're here!" she exclaimed. Keeto looked riled by the mere mention of the name, so much so he threw a chunk of debris through her avatar and returned the judging finger with a raised weapon.

##### "Blasphemous light bulb!" Before anything could even begin to escalate further a sound rather rapidly chilled Shayara and her companions to the core. The sound of movement. The sound of movement on mass. "Defensive positions!" exclaimed the Caliterrian which received a well-deserved glare from the Captain as she bounded over a workstation and slammed into the half open bulkhead door opposite Jarner. What or who the hell was a Votheen? Shayara hated being kept in the dark. She hated the ignorance and self-entitlement of the Caliterrian. "This is my show, Keeto, not yours," she spat in a rather annoyed tone. Jarner made a huge leap of faith by exposing his head to sneak a peek of what was heading their way. He jumped back as several rounds hit the reverse side of where his face had just been, causing sparks to fizzle on contact. "R051E, any chance the rogue AI has access so the stations security systems?" The AI paused for a moment to consider the Sarcurian's question although she didn't know why as the alien AI seemed to have complete control.

##### "It's possible, yes."

##### "Then that's what we've got, security droids and lots of them. Can't you subdue her?" he insisted as he peeked once more to learn they were uncomfortably close. AI R051E scanned for the foreign body's presence and looked frustrated at what she found.

##### "It would appear it has downloaded itself into fragments and has full control of the mechanised combatants. It activated a signal upon its escape," R051E responded arms folded. Shayara blew away the two humanoid but skeletal-looking figures that dared to cross the threshold onto the bridge.

##### "Be more specific! What kind of signal?" she yelled over the ringing like tinnitus in her own ears.

##### "A distress beacon to something in system." Shayara's eyes widened as the severity of the shit storm they were all in took hold. They needed off the station and they needed off now.

##### "Suggestions people?!"

#####

##### "Sneaky bastards," Isaac mouthed as he sprung from the workstation he'd been listening in from. From just the audio they knew the ground team was in a rough spot so he began to sprint toward the armoury to his surrogate team when he overheard a crewman sat at the star chart. "Tracking something, ma'am, on the long range sensors, it's big and coming in very quickly!" he yelled as alarms began to sound.

##### "This is it, people. We extract the Pariah and we bug out before company arrives. We have a damn slight window and if we're caught with our hands up our asses it's likely we won't get to tell this story over a hot mug of cocoa to our grandkids, so let's move!" she ordered simultaneously to her nearby associates and over the speaker system to the rest of the frigate. The star chart sitter grimly determined that on its currently heading and speed rating they had no more than twenty minutes at best estimates. This was going to be a bad day.

#####

##### The amount of combatants filtering down the hallway surprised Shayara. Did a secret research station really need so many synthetics around that were liable to be hacked...go figure. They were now cornered at the far end of the station with no viable means of escape having conceded the entrance to the bridge long ago. That was until an earth shattering crash knocked over almost everyone, aside from Keeto who managed to smugly stay upright. "You're not going to believe this, Shay, but a Human Confederate Navy frigate is offering assistance. They've just breached the hull and a special operations unit is on its way to you." Shayara didn't know how or care why help was in a system that to the rest of the galaxy didn't exist. The fact she might live past the current date was all the reassurance she needed. She was interrupted mid-daydream as her face was splattered by oil sprayed out by a recently decapitated droid as it stumbled away from Keeto. "Could you tell them maybe hurry it on up? We're not going to last much longer here," Shayara summarised as she pulled another close and blew its brain circuitry out at close range, allowing it to fall away and be crushed under the Caliterrian's hulking hoof. Jarner was in the thick of it, absolutely swamped by metal faces left and right, a couple he'd recently caved in. He was exceedingly aware he was fighting a losing battle as he suffered numerous glancing blows not least of which a sharp-edged blade that nicked his ribcage.

##### "Jarner!" exclaimed Shayara as she vaulted from cover using a dismembered droid as a human shield, trying to work her way to him. She didn't have to. The amount of targets were dropping sharply, it wasn't until she noticed this that she realised they had company in the form of jet black silhouettes who were filtering in from behind the enemy line. One grabbed Jarner before he hit the deck and was his crutch for the duration of the fight. The robots were disoriented and struggled to focus on just one target, the marines moved around them like water. Striking in one place and ending up in another.

##### Once the enemy was a pile of misplaced parts the trio caught their much needed breath. Shayara nodded as she passed by the mirrored visors of the ninja-like figures, they could only assume how grateful she was, on her way to Jarner's rescuer. He was the only one in the entire unit without a helmet which she guessed made him squad leader. He smiled warmly and had a charismatic charm which you didn't often see in military types who'd been sterilised by the system. His blue eyes glinted in the artificial lighting as she clasped his outstretched hand. "Captain Shayara Ventii."

##### "Commander Isaac Jericho, we gotta get you out of here, Captain. We've got a fast mover on approach. Turns out your AI friend sent for help." He hurried as Jarner swiped Construct R051E's fragment from the computer console.

##### Without exchanging any other pleasantries or explaining away the presence of a Caliterrian Guardian, the group rushed back down the main corridor again but it looked like time was already up. Shayara froze mid-stride as a huge alien warship sliced passed the corridor view panelling toward the HCNF You Can't See Me. It hailed crimson plasma down upon it, stripping its shielding away in no time at all. Once the protection was gone that's when the hammer blow came. Energy seemed to flow across its surface from the thrusters to the newly rearranged front end which revealed a main cannon. That in itself was likely as large as the Pariah. Once it had built up enough energy it launched toward the frigate in a constant stream and ripped it in half, a scene she guessed not all too dissimilar to that of the Sarcurian Luminary ship that had been next to the Deliverance. A shower of shrapnel and debris littered space in all directions, many of it slamming into the space station. A large chunk of hull nicked the glass of the view panelling further down causing it to buckle and rupture. The vacuum ripped two of the marines out into dark space, screaming, before the blast shutters slammed down to seal off the hazard temporarily. "Move!" exclaimed Shayara and Isaac simultaneously as they resumed their escape.

##### "James, stay out of that thing's range, swing by the marines insertion point and open the hatch in two minutes. Do not wait around if we're not there. Bug out. R051E can tell Wilhelm what happened," ordered Shayara over the comm system. Jericho took the lead, Shayara didn't have any qualms, after all he did know where to go. As they ran the alien ship must have opened fire on the station as a chain reaction rocked the stability of the ground they trod on. A life support tube cracked overhead, igniting and melting the three marines not quick enough to react and knocking Isaac off of his feet. It was hard to tell how badly he was injured with all the adrenalin being thrown about but his screech was a decent indicator of the displeasure. Despite being physically able to carry the only surviving member of their rescue party over his shoulder without breaking a sweat, Keeto didn't stop to lend a hand. Shayara and Jarner grabbed a shoulder each and moved the Commander as quickly as they could. "The smell of burnt hair always turns my stomach. The smell of burnt flesh too, I guess." wheezed Isaac with a croaky grunt of sarcasm. His skin had already begun to blister and his rapidly melting armour was beginning to mould itself onto his flesh. The extra weight was a hindrance and slowed them down but no one of any decency could bring themselves to leave their rescuer behind. They reached the T-junction where the SpecOps drop ship was perched and where Keeto had already reduced the droids on site to scrap. Shayara wondered how he knew where to go but did a double take remembering the Caliterrian were excellent trackers. He could probably smell its scent. They placed Isaac in the back, Jarner took the controls from a twitchy Keeto who he assured was the better pilot and Shayara hung out the back unloading her magazine upon another approaching horde. "Get us out of here!" she yelled. The black cuboid rose through the hole in the ceiling and out past the containment shield that stopped atmosphere from leaking out. As soon as it peeked from its hidey hole it was showered by plasma fire from the dreadnought hot on its tail. "Brace!" shouted Jarner as he barrel-rolled and sped toward the Pariah, swinging by on a tight vector. A round scuffed the outer hull and the Sarcurian had to battle to retain control as he punched through into the docking area of the Pariah despite the access ramp being only partially open. It came to a halt as it smashed through a series of storage crates and one retaining wall. Jarner dabbed his brow which had drawn blood from the impact. "Everyone okay? Having fun?"

##### "Not the time, asshole," Shayara responded amongst the murmurs.

##### The warship lined up its main cannon and began to charge. Before it was anywhere near ready its target entered hyperspace and vacated the system. The Pariah was safe for now but their journey had thrown up more questions than answers.

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##### TEN

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##### The conference went as grimly as expected. The High Senate knew of his deception but the consequences of his actions were yet to be seen. Thanks to construct R051E they now knew that the project that had gone missing was of the biological weapon variety and that a long since exiled race that had once been at war with the senate was behind the attacks. They were known as the Votheen but other than that they knew very little. The alien AI hadn't exactly been forthcoming. The Votheen were thought to be under quarantine so finding them moving freely and with increasing hostility on the edge of uncharted space was extremely concerning. The Caliterrian Guardian they'd picked up hadn't exactly been a welcome guest. Jarner had hit him with a stun round once they'd all recovered from the crash. He was to be considered hostile until proven otherwise and the Human Senator agreed with that assessment. They had been recalled to Engevaal which worried Shayara as she'd likely be arrested on sight for treason. Nevertheless the Senate would have to thank the Pariah for unveiling the threat. Without help the Caliterrian would never have gotten off of that station alive and without help she wouldn't have either which is why she took the time to check in on Isaac. He'd been in with Doctor Crow for quite a while and with his wounds treated he seemed to be in a rather well and chipper mood given the circumstances. "Surviving, are we?" Shayara smiled broadly pleased he was on the mend.

##### "I feel better than I look if that's what you mean and a damn sight better than the rest of my crew." He winked with his one good eye, the other obscured by the bandages across his face.

##### "Oh, I'm sorry, poor choice of words." She blushed.

##### "Not at all. We were a ragtag team pulled from every corner of the galaxy. Not even met them before a few days back but it still burns to lose guys in the field. At least we know what's out there now though, ay?" he summarised optimistically.

##### "So that's that?"

##### "Yup and we live to fight another day." He grinned from ear to ear but flinched not long after as James patted his shoulder forgetting about the damaged skin tissue underneath.

##### "Maybe wait a few weeks before you throw yourself back into the fire, yeah? Pun intended." He removed his hand but the residual burning sensation lingered for a while longer.

#####

##### He may have been on the most important posting on the planet, yet Tobias Harley still found chance to watch the local news vids on the tablet he stashed in a discreet compartment beneath his chest plate. He unfolded the display to size but he needn't have bothered. The outlook hadn't changed for the past week. People were rioting, the mystery infection was spreading and X amount of people had died since the last time they'd told you the number. Scientists were stumped and had reached out to the best minds at Indatech to help them determine what in the Sunlight booster hampered the virus in the hopes of engineering a cure. The infection's origin could wait for now. "The rioters are moving along the high street, on their way to the Governor's building for a mass protest at noon." Tobias regurgitated the reporter's spiel to his nearby spotter who waved off the smoky haze that had just been expunged from his nostrils not a moment ago. He shrugged. "I assume we've got enough people on street level to deal with it and if not we can manage crowd control." Shane Dyer brushed off very matter-of-factly. Shane was a career officer who Tobias guessed probably got beat up a lot in school and decided to become a copper to get back at the world. He'd also probably had a white pedal car with flashing lights on the roof when he was small and got beaten on for stopping kids older than he was.

##### "Aren't we busy? If I'd have known you'd rushed me to watch TV I'd have brought snack," quipped Amy Mason as she entered the Neo-City Bank's top floor office block that they'd requisitioned as a sniper's nest. Tobias's eyes didn't leave the screen but he acknowledged her presence with a simple nod and by informing her that, "There's nothing good on." When he finally did look in her direction he noticed something was off. She was smiling which in its own right was peculiar but that wasn't it. Amy was a good friend but a little bit of an unknown. She always had been. She had never had children, had never married, had never had a boyfriend from what Tobias knew. She wasn't bad looking, in fact she was rather cute with her expressive eyes, freckles and auburn hair. However she was ripped and a bit of a tomboy which he guessed put a lot of guys off. Hell, she could break most guys. He would never voice any of these opinions however. He included himself in the count of guys he assumed she could kick the ass of. "We expecting any trouble?" she asked curiously.

##### "We're always expecting trouble," Shane offered with a chuckle.

##### "A demonstration is planned in an hour's time. We're on overwatch. Whether we have the man power to repel it or not we'll have to wait and see," Tobias informed glumly. "Word is that the resistance are going to try and kill the Governor." The trio sat for half an hour before anything even passed through. A convoy of armoured vehicles rolled up a street that was supposed to be well guarded. Tobias zoomed in, "Are we expecting company?"

##### "Don't think so," Shane admitted as he checked the scanners. "Oh no, hold up. They're back up for the protest apparently." A fact confirmed as uniforms funnelled out when they rolled to a stop. ACPD Blue, Amy's unit, was to cover the main square and the Governor's building while inside ACPD Red gave Governor Darren Kennedy close protection while civil unrest stirred. The support moved around the well-known statue of colonialism on their way to the Governor's building. The statue was of a female cradling Earth and a male holding Atlas aloft, remembering the origins of humanity while at the same time celebrating Atlantan identity. "I don't recognise any of these guys," said Tobias curiously as he surveyed the scene through a telescopic scope. "Think I see a black beret."

##### "Cross reference their ID tag. Probably special branch but it would be nice to know," Amy noted just as Tobias pulled the trigger which ripped the head off the commander from half way up her torso. That's when several of the officers began to shoot at their comrades and dart in all directions. The saboteurs looked to outnumber the genuine officers by quite a lot. "No need to, boss, she had your tags." This was a tactic rarely employed by the resistance as it was so hard to get in behind enemy lines. They had a huge issue now though, there was no telling who was who and how many officer positions had been compromised. For all they knew the Governor could be already dead.

##### She'd seen the convoy arrive on scene and was initially pleased for the ground zero support. Jordan Brooker, the last member of ACPD Blue, had originally protested against her front door posting but she'd lost fair and square rock paper scissor style. It was astounding how many decisions were sorted that way in a professional environment. The vulnerability of being at street level wasn't the worst of it, the two jarhead's she'd been put with were from the Human Confederate Army Corps and were a few planks short of a treehouse. She guessed they'd travelled to Atlas via the twentieth century as they seemed to have a particular problem being posted with a female. They'd already insulted her numerous times the most recent of which asking if she needed help carrying her heavy weapon. She hadn't bitten yet but she would and it would be immensely painful for all involved. So they stood in silence, waiting for something interesting to happen. One of the sexist soldiers, who she'd named Blank and Grumpy respectively, moved to greet the commander on site as the trucks rolled up. He was suddenly showered by goo and brain matter as her head disintegrated. That's when the disposed's partner sunk two into Blank's chest at point blank range without hesitation. Grumpy had relaxed, wrongly assumed that they were friendlies and paid the price. Jordan managed to raise her rifle but a shot hit her left shoulder, spinning her around wildly and which caused her burst to chip away at the building's stonework and shattering a ground floor window. She didn't have time to worry whether she'd injured anyone accidentally as another round hit her spine and sent her bound for the ground. She looked up, too crippled and pumped to fear her would be killer's gun barrel pointed at her face. The shot never came as his head exploded in a palette of reds and purples. Jordan allowed one last smile as she drifted off listening to the fifty caliber responses of her friends too far away to help.

##### Eric Cooper checked his watch that Governor Kennedy, his boss, had given him one birthday too long ago to remember exactly. All hell broke loose on time as expected. He stepped back to allow the bodyguards to funnel outside to confront the blood thirsty horde. Of course the resistance fighters outside were bound to fail but they hadn't known that when they signed up. They served a purpose quite nicely as a distraction. They'd either be dead or incarcerated within the next hour but that didn't even make his conscience flinch. The rebellion or the resistance or whatever the greater public wished to label them was greatly misunderstood, yet it was gaining support slowly with some high profile individuals wanting change. That's what they were going to give the people of Atlas. Dispatch the selfish leader who cared more for his own safety than that of the people and then once the people's champions were in control they would bring to them a cure for the Shade virus. It was an ambitious but glorious dream and yet Eric was sure it would be so. He slipped into the office of Darren Kennedy. He had his back turned to the door, hunched over his desk. Seeing no other presence Eric withdrew a small concealed sidearm from his sleeve. He unloaded three rounds into the back of the oversized coward but all dreams of salvation evaporated as they were absorbed by an energy field. The Governor's assistant felt what he assumed to be the butt of a rifle strike the back of his head. The Red team leader he had been sure had vacated the building stood over him weapon in hand like a club. "Far too predictable, Mr Cooper." With that a boot hit his temple. Eric's last coherent thought was that of fury. He'd been a pawn no matter how well he thought he'd planned.

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##### ELEVEN

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##### The crew of the Senate Security frigate Ubiquitous Light relaxed in a plethora of ways at the back of the cargo hold that they'd retrofitted to be a type of communal area. Some gambled using a whole host of contraband, some congregated together to talk and listen to music and others just sat around recalling stories and boasted why their race was superior to the others. A sudden unnatural lull of silence swept across the group as most eyeballed their CO stood in the gap in the bulkhead. The last noise to taper off was that of a boozed up serviceman who bellowed loudly at a joke that was much less funny than he gave it credit for. Colonel Larik Kass never spoke a word as he took over exaggerated steps towards the upturned crate which served as the main gambling table. The only female at the table struggled to gulp her mouth full of alcohol down her rapidly drying throat before he arrived. Larik took no notice however and swiped an unopened bottle that was set down in front of her. He cracked it open on the crate's edge and allowed it to swill in his mouth for longer than was natural. All eyes were on him and he didn't wish to let the people down, he was a showman after all. "Colonel Kass to the bridge, Colonel Kass to the bridge," buzzed the synthetic voice over the internal ship PA system. He placed the bottle downed amongst the scattered cards and dusted his hands off.

##### "Clean this up," he said sternly with a blank face. "Now." Without any other words leaving his mouth he vacated the cargo hold. Eyes followed him all the way to the door and activity exploded as soon as he crossed the threshold. He tended to have that effect on people.

##### On the way to the bridge, Larik soon regretted his theatrics. The beer he'd tried in the cargo hold he'd not inspected thoroughly enough. It was likely designed for Sarcurian physiology. It wouldn't kill him like a Caliterrian beverage may have done but he'd certainly be having very uncomfortable stomach cramps for a few hours to come. The bridge was far more active than he had expected and far more so than it should have been. Alarm bells sounded. He slalomed passed runners and assistants who seemed to traverse the walkways as if using sonar, knowing just when to crisscross and intersect to avoid possible collisions. "Ah, Colonel Kass, what a pleasure," welcomed Ship Master Rhean Vi'Ton not entirely sincerely. Larik was used to it. He usually got attitude from Caliterrians merely because he was Human. He didn't generalise as he'd met plenty of helpful and friendly Caliterrians on his travels but it was difficult to shake off the perceptions of the norm. That was when he noticed that all the senior ship staff were present around the tactical display. "I thank you all for your promptness. We find ourselves in a troubling and uncomfortable position." The Caliterrian then proceeded to explain the tier one data that had been streamed to the frigate from the High Senate. Information pertaining to a race long thought dead, myth or fairytale. "Why am I telling you this now? Our sensors have just picked up a cruiser matching the Votheen's signature not one jump away from our position. Our orders are to intercept this ship and take it by force. We need to know where they came from. This race should be in quarantine. They are up to something and are believed to be in possession of a Shiva class bioweapon." Everything went quiet, those not angered by the name Votheen had now grown very silent upon this revelation. Eyes grew wider with every sentence and jaws became victims of gravity. "It is believed they have already unleashed this upon the people of Atlas. If you are up on the news vids, the plague there has recently been analysed by Indatech scientists and although the public are not yet aware of it, it does share many similarities to their stolen property. Talks are currently underway for a planet wide quarantine to prevent its spread. There may be a cure on board and you should consider this one of the primary objectives." He shifted his gaze to Larik who didn't catch it until a few seconds had passed, he was still in the process of digesting all this new and frightening information. "Are your men up to the task, Colonel?"

##### "Yes sir." A spontaneous reaction that leapt from his face far quicker than he could suppress it. At that moment he couldn't have even begun to realise what he'd signed himself up for.

#####

##### The factory district on the outskirts of Atlas's capital, Hansel, was the most run down region of the city since most products were now imported. The authorities tended to keep clear which allowed illegal sports like cage fighting and street racing to thrive. The Atlas Underground Liberation Movement also liked to exploit the free reign that was possible here. Many a body had been thrown into the disused factory furnaces. A large skycar touched down next to one of the smaller buildings which had probably been condemned a decade earlier. An opportunistic group moved toward the vehicle from the shadow of a side street but soon changed their minds as a pair of armed and thickset heavies yanked a beaten male out of the back seat by his hair. They proceeded to drag him an arm a piece across the dirt track to the entrance where they were cleared to enter the factory unit by a pair of eyes that peered skittishly out of the slit. Daniel Field attempted to take in his surroundings but couldn't exactly see much passed his inflated face, his head slumped down and swayed at will. The inside of the dilapidated structure seemed more depressing than the outside. The floor grit had begun to scratch away at his exposed knees, it would have probably been unbearable had everything else not have hurt the same amount if not more. With his eyes out of action he tried to rely on other senses. The air had a stench of rot about it, likely age old processed food or a body, and it seemed the rain had found a way in as liquid could be heard dripping and slapping against the cold hard concrete like a makeshift metronome. Dan's supports fell away which caused his weakened body to crumple onto the floor as his head hit the ground with a displeasing crack. He'd expected this since the hit on the Governor had failed but he had had no idea his punishment would be so severe. The tip of a cane probed his ribcage inquisitively. "Get up, you useless piece of shit." It was a gruff voice and a voice Daniel had become very well acquainted with. He tried his hardest to support his weight on his hands and knees but everything shook. Leon Winter, a much older gentleman who had begun to go grey gracefully, was one of the most important politicians for humanity and had quite a senior seat in the Human Confederacy. What wasn't common knowledge however was that Mr Winter was the brains behind the resistance movement. From his position he could influence a great number of people and Daniel knew all too well the extent he would go to protect his little secret. He wore a suit which likely cost as much as an average house and seemed to take great pleasure in lording over his beaten lackey. "You have no idea how much trouble you've caused, Danny." He paced allowing Dan to see the source of the metronome. He couldn't have been more wrong about the rainwater. The body of a young boy, eight years of age, hung by his feet by a chain from an exposed girder in the roof. A machete had been embedded into his skull which the blood ran down on its descent to the ground. It wasn't just any boy. It was Daniel's boy. He had known nothing of his father's shady profession. He thought Daddy was a banker in the city. The emotional turmoil almost floored him. It hurt far more than any physical pain ever could but he was determined not to shed a tear in front of the devil himself. "You son of a bitch..." He whimpered as his head touched the floor, he refused to look any longer on to what he'd caused.

##### A glancing blow impacted onto the back of his neck not that he felt it, punishment for the name-calling. "You and your back water Atlas bunch have seriously jeopardised an ongoing operation of ours and you're going to fix it, Danny," he demanded without implying he was asking. "I need Eric Cooper dealt with. He's a weak link and you know as well as I he'll talk if pushed. Being up for treason, murder and terrorism are all good motivators too." He began to leave but Danny called out with hatred.

##### "He's in custody what the fuck do you want me to do?"

##### "Be creative, Danny, work outside that box for once. For your wife's sake," Leon snipped as the lights gave out and Daniel was left with only the husk of his son for company. He now allowed the tears to flow freely. He solemnly decided he had to carry out the task or die trying but he would get even with the old bastard. He would rue the day he dared to harm Daniel's family. He was going to tear down his world around him and Daniel's poor boy would be avenged tenfold.

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##### TWELVE

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##### Now Alexander had an idea of the motivation for the attacks and the name of the perpetrators he sort of knew what he was looking for. He'd sent Greaves through the archives once more, a risky endeavour judging that rumours were circling about reprimands. Wilhelm wanted to know more about operation Dark Aurora. Now he knew there was at one time a military campaign against the Votheen, it could be of relevance. That's when the power died. Greaves materialised for a moment but vanished as if gasping for air. Something was wrong. He also couldn't raise his PA which was a system that should have functioned on emergency power if this was indeed a power cut. He got up from his desk and moved through his office to the door. No response from that either. A scream gripped the frozen silence thanks to the also unresponsive climate control system as the Senator recoiled. He vaulted over his desk withdrawing his Predator sidearm which had been strapped beneath one of the drawers of his desk. He held a shaky aim at the door as it crept open. A group of special branch Senate Security soldiers entered as their laser sights trained on him. The leader, a Caliterrian unsurprisingly, moved forward with a pistol trained on the Senator's head. "High Senator Alexander Wilhelm, you are under arrest by authority of Forerunner Sha'Ni." Alexander threw his weapon to the ground and stood allowing himself to be cuffed.

##### "And here I was thinking this was a democracy."

#####

##### Jarner bolted upright in his bed covered in sweat. He'd not dreamt or thought about that period of his life for a long time. He'd tried not to. Slavery was not something he wished to remember. The graphic scenes he'd been exposed to over the last few days must have affected him more than he had thought. He lowered his head back to his pillow and took a deep blatant breath. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light before he attempted to traverse the obstacle course that was his living quarters. He reached the sink unscathed, dodging satchels and weapon parts, the lights around the mirror illuminated to his presence as he splashed water on his face from the motion sensitive taps. "Time and location," he requested as the top right of the mirror displayed the relevant information. It was the early hours of the morning Galactic Standard Time and they were passing along a rarely used trade route notorious for its pirate activity. That fact was irrelevant as the Pariah was more than equipped to defend itself. Besides the route almost halved the travel time to Engevaal and time was a valuable commodity. The light around the mirror dimmed rapidly and the tap ran dry. "Oh. Okay then." Jarner shrugged as he tried to move to the door but clattered a low hanging cupboard. "Son of a..."

##### Shayara had fallen asleep in the captain's chair with her feet up on the controls hours ago. Her head was buried in her chest when she heard the soft breathing of someone next to her. "What is it, Jarner?"

##### "How the hell did you..."

##### "Light sleeper, so what's up?" she asked as she yawned so wide her jaw clicked ever so slightly in anguish. That's when she realised there was next to no illumination. The control panel was dead and she couldn't hear the reassuring hum of the engine. "Where's my power?"

##### "Not that light a sleeper then. R051E is unresponsive but we're still breathing so take some heart in that. At least some systems are working." Jarner smiled sympathetically and uneasily. Shayara started to drum into the controls using her holographic tool and raised a curious eyebrow. R051E had reported a corrupt data cluster in her logic array within the last few hours and appeared to be in her repair stage. The loss of power was likely to avoid complications by reducing the taxation on her systems. She should have warned Shayara about the unscheduled maintenance but she could forgive it, she didn't yet know how deep the problem went. That's when she spied the data stream which made electricity shoot across the hairs on the back of her neck like pylons. "Shit, whatever repairs R051E is doing has triggered our distress beacon!" Jarner's eyes bulged from his face.

##### "Pirates will be all over us, we're a sitting duck!" Shayara pivoted and rushed to the door almost knocking the Sarcurian off of his feet. "Pull the core, it might fry R051E but...scratch that..." Jarner trailed off as his eyes caught a glimpse of what was out there in space. Shayara stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly as her gut hit a dead spot. At first it looked like the stars were getting brighter. Then it looked like they had partners. At first came small cruisers and escorts. Then numerous frigates. Then something Shayara wished she hadn't seen. Something she hadn't seen in a long, long time. A capital ship the size of a dreadnought squeezed through the slip space rupture and even at this distance Shayara could tell it was on an intercept course. "Pirates?" asked the newly awoken James Crow as he stood in the hallway still in his boxer shorts.

##### "Worse," conceded Shayara.

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##### THIRTEEN

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##### Larik Kass wiped the sweat and blood splatter from his brow with his sleeve as the rest of his fire team sabotaged the corridor's blast door in the hope of slowing down their Votheen pursuers. In all his military career Larik had never faced a foe like them. They had outnumbered the crew of this small recon ship three to one but that didn't seem to have mattered. They were huge in size, half a person taller with two sets of arms and a thick exoskeleton that seemed to deflect smaller calibre rounds. Out of the six initial squads of five marines only one squad remained and a sole survivor from team four who'd gotten lucky by tripping upon retreat. The shot that should have killed him had barely singed his hair. "I'm calling it now, the bridge is a no go. We've not affected their numbers nearly enough. It's a suicide run."

##### "Agreed," Larik admitted. He rested to catch his breath on the nearest bulkhead as he checked the nav readout on his arm mounted computer. "If capturing the ship is a no go we have to get their navigation data or this mission has been a complete bust and I'm not having that on my record or conscience. We've lost good men."

##### "And we'll lose a hell of a load more if we follow your stupid lead. We jump ship," rifled back the redheaded Sarcurian the Colonel had initially agreed with. This defiance was met by a handful of not so reluctant nods of approval much to Larik's annoyance. The men were down on morale and he was public enemy number one. "I lead this operation. We are getting that nav data." He spat so close to the Sarcurian's face that he covered him in saliva. The alien pushed his forehead against the Human's in a show of force, he didn't want to be seen as being intimidated by his superior officer.

##### "Your choice, old man, but I'm leaving. Anyone who feels the same is free to join me." Thankfully only two of his unit joined the usurper but that didn't make it sting any less, they were down on numbers anyway. He could see others wanted to leave but were either too afraid of him or didn't fancy the Sarcurian's chances of survival. Larik didn't either but they were too far out of earshot now and frankly he didn't care what happened to them. He felt a consoling arm on his shoulder which he instinctively shrugged off. He could see more sympathetic eyes now. He had to use what he had left. One last gasp attempt to collect the navigation data and whatever that entailed.

#####

##### Shayara had unfortunately been right. The fleet had been the fortress like flotilla of the Lost Sentinels. They'd been a thorn in Senate Security's ass for millennia and never stayed in one place for too long. The dreadnought had swooped in and swallowed the Pariah up with ease. Nothing had been said by the captors. The Pariah's crew hadn't attempted to repel the pirates, they were vastly outnumbered and it was far more wise to go with it and see where it took them. As some scavengers began to loot the contents of the small non-frigate the crew were hauled away from their home under armed escort to a very well used prison block not all that far away. That was all the trigger Jarner needed as he was pushed toward an open cell. He swiped the guard's pocket blade and plunged it deep into his eye. As he squealed in pain Jarner slashed wildly as if feral upon the two guards rushing toward him. He broke the arm of one before cleaving out his throat and shattered the leg of another before Jarner was hit by a stun round by the warden which knocked him out cold.

##### Shayara couldn't blame him, he'd been through a lot after she'd left Coroniss for good but seeing how lost he was had her frightened to be sharing a cell with him. After Jarner's performance needless to say the already savage guards were much less accommodating. Across from them James shared accommodation with an unconscious Keeto, Shayara guessed he hadn't come peacefully either. Isaac had a room all to himself next door. The numerous other prisoners around them were a variety of very haggard individuals none of which Shayara recognised and some of which had expired likely waiting for their ransoms to be paid. The cell at the end had been repurposed by the warden as a gambling room. The round wooden table was full of booze and gambling trinkets. Shayara shuddered to think what they bet over. Which prisoner would expire first? What did the winner get? A pick of who they wished to rape? She shook her head of the thoughts defiantly. Not her. She laid Jarner on his side to stop him swallowing his tongue since the guards had just tossed him in by the arms. The aftermath of the antics outside the cell took a while to tidy up. The senior warden looked stunned when the guy with the broken leg explained it had been one prisoner who'd caused it all. Another sneered through the bars about getting even but Jarner wasn't coherent enough to care.

##### Time passed and so did Shayara's grasp on time. Some distasteful water in a rusted bowl was the only new development until Jarner began to stir. Shayara moved closer aware she was likely putting herself in harm's way but she guessed it was better than letting her friend freak out completely. His eyes snapped open and were unwilling to examine their surroundings. "I'm in a cell, aren't I?" he asked blankly, still not allowing his gaze to venture farther than Shayara's face.

##### "A little, yeah." She smiled not knowing what the news might cause him to do. She had known Jarner for so long she wasn't used to treating him with suspicion, like some stranger she was afraid of. He deserved better. He looked embarrassed which was hard to spot with his already red pigmentation. It was understandable, he'd behaved like some cornered animal and given similar results. "I'm sorry you had to see that," he managed.

##### "I think I'll let you off considering." She gave another sympathetic smile as he struggled to muster one back. She lent in to ruffle his hair but quickly found herself on the receiving end of a very spontaneous and unexpected kiss. At first an alarming sense of confusing punched her brain but that was quickly forgotten due in no small part to the fact that Jarner was rather a decent kisser. He pulled away sharply and shook his head clear. Shayara was still confused. "I'm sorry, my head's all over the place. Shouldn't have done that." Shayara gathered enough marbles to reassure him that it was okay and that was that. They sat in awkward silence for the duration until Jarner gave a smile. "Can you do me a favour?" She nodded slowly still really struggling to grasp the English language. "Don't let me see the bars."

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##### Reinforcements passed overhead clueless to the fact Larik and the rest of his team were underfoot, holding their breaths to avoid detection. As the last of the foot traffic moved through, the unit allowed a little more time and sleuthed out of the service shaft to their target which happened to be relatively nearby. An alien designed battle droid that the Votheen seemed to favour as cannon fodder caught them in the act but was quickly silenced by the sidearm of an alert officer three men behind Colonel Kass. The phantoms moved fleet-footed towards where they had been assured, through reliable intel, navigation was supposedly situated. In his career the term reliable intel hadn't carried much reassurance yet it was all they had to go on. Thankfully it appeared the data spike retrieved by the Ubiquitous Light's AI, which had allowed it to partially map the interior of the Votheen cruiser, was indeed reliable. Inside the boxy room one lone Votheen stood unprepared for the six weapons aimed his way. They were tough but not unkillable, an important lesson for the men Larik considered as it collapsed. They all had bloodlust and wanted some payback. The Votheen technology they'd encountered so far was on full display within. Votheen architecture and design was astounding. It merged the complexities of Sarcurian design with the subtleties and tradition of the Caliterrian. Had everyone built on the foundations of the Votheen before they'd boxed them away? Kiko, the groups leading technical specialist, moved to the console and used his holographic tool to upload hacking software which would help him sweep through an unfamiliar alien system. Zach covered the door as Larik stood anxious, it was taking far too long. Kiko's hands flashed over the controls as a subdued smile crossed his red skinned face. "I've found it. You got an exit plan, Kass? As soon as I pull the data they'll know where we are," he informed cautiously. There hadn't been much time to plan. The Votheen wouldn't likely allow them to exit through the hangar they had entered from and the drop ship by now had probably been overrun as he'd not heard from them in an uncomfortably long time.

##### "We improvise." He checked the ammunition in his Reaper rifle to find he had half a clip left. "Yank it."

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##### FOURTEEN

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##### Alexander had had his fair share of misjudgments in his political life, he didn't count this as one however. He was more a victim of a witch hunt, but it didn't make it feel much better when he was being judged and torn apart by the galaxy's most powerful beings. He'd come clean pretty soon after he had been taken into custody, he couldn't play dumb, they had known about his secret operation as soon as the drones had been tampered with in the quarantine zone. Not only had he gone against the Senate but he'd lost a whole frigate of men and women and now Shayara was three days missing. They also blamed him for the threat of the Votheen going public. News crews were on full alert reporting about their return and putting them in the frame for a biological attack on Atlas. All he had to push on for support was the fact that he'd learned of the Votheen's involvement and forewarned the Senate. Not that they were appreciative. Being the bearer of bad news wasn't a welcome title. He sat quietly for the moment from the wrong side of an energy field in the maximum security wing of Senate Security which he had all to himself. The other three High Senators bickered about containment of the situation and the possibility of saving face. Hearing apocalyptic news from the tabloids long before government was understandably unnerving to the general public. Finally bored by the injustice Alexander perked up. "You have to realise this is beyond covering up now. We have to act and we have to hold a crisis meeting in the Senate."

##### "Don't you think you've done enough, Human?" snapped Arkan furious that the representative dare speak in his presence. Alexander felt like he was being treated like an insolent child and that really pissed him off.

##### "Excuse me? Yes, I went against the suggested course of action but now we know the Votheen are conspiring against us, for sure. They have a Shiva weapon and evidently are willing to use it. I don't take too kindly to being bullied especially when the Senate dealt so superbly with the Votheen last time around," he fired back sarcastically as Ora nodded subtly with approval. It appeared Alexander's only enemy was the Caliterrian which didn't surprise him in the least bit. "We are not always supposed to agree, that is why there is a Senate. It's democracy and I cared too much to just wait around until they come knocking." Arkan moved closer to the shield wall and snarled.

##### "Yet you ignored the will of the Senate and cost the lives of an entire frigate and possibly the life of one of the most promising conscripts!" he fired back in response. Alexander was surprised the Caliterrian held the Human conscript in such high regard but he didn't dwell on that for too long at all.

##### "Then maybe I should have been properly informed of the dangers. I didn't ignore the will of the Senate. I ignored your will and you, my friend, are not the senate." All was quiet. Arkan had never been spoken to in such a manner for generations. He was lost for words.

##### "Senator Wilhelm is correct regardless of whether we support his little deniable operation or not. If we don't prepare or if we allow them to strike first we may lose public support for good. There'll be civil unrest and the Senate could lose thousands of systems. It could even collapse," Ora admitted uneasily but with authority. The air was stagnated through the conflict and ill feeling. Nobody said much for several moments and the guard on duty looked increasingly uncomfortable.

##### "I agree, we need to bring everyone up to speed or it may be our undoing," voiced the so far reserved Selin contingent.

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##### Improvisation, the least solid plan in history had so far turned out to be the most successful of the day. Larik had lost one guy over the past twenty minutes which was statistically a huge improvement on the hour that had proceeded it. The team had agreed that the hangar was a suicide run and the Votheen likely knew that also. Which is why it was the perfect target. It was almost the most ambitious thing Larik had ever done and no one was in the mood to argue. Especially after finding the dismembered corpses of the last group to desert his command. It turned out it was the last approach the Votheen expected as Larik dropped from the ventilation system on top of one of the brutes and took it down silently with his blade. He was soon joined by the rest of his team as he saw team two move across the opposite side of the upper balcony. The target was the control room which was in the centre of the second floor. The two squads of equal size made similar amounts of cautious steps, keeping to the shadows as much as they could before forming up on the door. Below on the hangar floor the foot traffic was insane. It was imperative they didn't draw the attention of the crowd before they were ready as it would be a massacre. No one near the drop ship they had come in on moved and it appeared as though the Votheen had begun to disassemble it. Larik nodded his approval as Kiko threw a stun canister into the control room almost lazily. He feigned a yawn as the dull flash and pop signified it had gone off. He was thankful it wasn't a dud but Larik wasn't even sure it would work on them. He knew nothing of their biology but winging it had gone well so far. They breached moments later and although he focussed too much on the aim of his rifle, Larik could see it had indeed worked. The eight stunned targets went down rather quickly but they'd missed one. One who had had its back to the stun round which had only acted as forewarning for it. It unloaded a volley of red plasma upon Zach, the youngest member of the unit, which cut him to ribbons. It melted through armour and bone and slapped loudly against the hull. The Votheen realigned before anyone could get a bearing on it and spun Kiko around with a shoulder impact before Larik ended its rampage by taking off its head.

##### A rallying cry in an alien language sounded from below. Larik's stomach hit a rough spot. Kiko managed to crawl his way through the pain to the command interface and worked as quickly as his injury allowed. Gun fire rang out as two officers attempted to hinder the Votheen's ascent using the rapidly warping door frame for cover. Kiko coughed up blood and stopped shy of executing his task. Larik recognised the fear in his eyes, he had hoped that Kiko hadn't realised what he had already. "As soon as I hit that button, I'm dead. My suit's ruptured." He shook as he spoke. He'd become a sickly pale pink now, bordering on white.

##### "I know this is hard, Kiko, but if you don't press that button we all die," Larik reasoned hurriedly as one of the officers at the door let out a shriek. They were running low on time. Kiko, much to Larik's dismay, shook his head and refused to move. The other soldier at the door took a heavy hit and a Votheen crossed the threshold. "I'm sorry then, Kiko, you leave me no choice." His hand shook as he brought his pistol up. "It's been an honour serving with you." Kiko opened his mouth to protest but the bullet sent him backward before a word could be uttered. His husk caught the control panel, executing the command. He was soon snatched away by a gust of air. A bizarre klaxon sounded as the hangar shields dropped and the vacuum swept in. Several Votheen tried to grab anything substantial but found no salvation as the overwhelming force ripped them aside colliding bodies with other bodies, bodies with walls and bodies with other solid objects on their undignified exit from the cruiser. The survivors of Senate Security were spared the horrors of space by their magnified boots and zero gravity preparations. The suspended corpse of Kiko floated around Larik like a tormenting ghost. He didn't regret what he'd done but he'd known the boy for so long it was hard to block emotion out. Yet he had survived and so had his men so in Larik's eyes his actions were justified.

##### The surviving three man squad of Larik, Ryinn Ka'Rym and Lunch Box, who had gotten the unfortunate nickname in basic training as he always had food on his person, surveyed the damage. No survivors. They all let a long exhausted breath leave their bodies as Larik keyed up the Ubiquitous Light's call sign. "Home base, this is Colonel Larik Kass. Reporting heavy casualties. We require a drop ship extraction from our original insertion point." A short uncomfortable pause entailed as white noise kept the trio company.

##### "Negative, ground team. Cruiser weapon systems are hot and LZ is not secure." Larik was so furious he could barely contain himself. He felt like he needed to break something which was a childish thing to think but the anger twisted a knot tightly in his limbs.

##### "That's bull shit. We have the nav data."

##### "That's still a negative, ground lead." Larik cursed up a storm but he knew they were right. Why risk a whole frigate for three guys? "We are going to need a recovery team then, home base. Track personal beacons." He cut off long before a response could transfer back to his request. His men knew what he was planning and they were beyond scared yet they stood silent. They were much more terrified about what the Votheen would do to them if they didn't jump ship. "If they won't come to us, men, we'll go to them. Disconnect magnetism we are spacing ourselves." They hoped he was joking, they hoped he had a better idea but as Larik was pulled out into the great beyond the other two officers stood stunned. "I guess we should follow." Lunchbox shivered anxiously. Lights danced around Larik as his tiny target was vastly too small to hit. He hurtled head over heels aimlessly but in the general direction of a speck on the horizon.

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##### FIFTEEN

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##### Keeto emerged from his forcibly induced coma and tried to stand, using the wall to pick himself up. He grumbled something indecipherably and attempted to take an unsteady step. Needless to say he didn't complete it before he gave out and smashed in to a rickety old bed frame which was minus a mattress. His mind was all aflutter when he eyeballed the Human in the cell with him. "Comment on this meat sack and die," he grumbled unconvincingly as he nursed his ego and his head. James Crow looked relatively calm despite being partially responsible for caging the Guardian the first time round.

##### "Well, they've made a mistake putting us together," James offered, "everyone knows you separate prisoners." He seemed rather pleased with his observation but Keeto had found something rather humorous in the Human's comment.

##### "Gods forbid we should rattle the cage and suffer revenge from the good doctor," he growled cynically. James didn't rise to the challenge, he didn't need to as the Caliterrian didn't have much fight in him. Suddenly metal screeched loudly which seemed to startle Isaac in his lone cell. "So is the joker flying this heap of junk qualified to do so?" He was immediately drowned out by a loud roar as a large chunk of wall flung through the newly dropped cell bars due to the power cut. The incarcerated crew of the Pariah slowly fed into the smoke filled hall and Isaac counted his blessings for being knocked off his feet by the blast long before the wall hurtled in his direction. They found that all the guards had already been disposed of. Above their corpses stood a well-armed team of three soldiers. Dressed in white armour with gold trim. Keeto snarled recognising the insignia and uniform of the Pirate Prince's private army. "Down, boy," ordered the leader as he swung his weapon in the Caliterrian's direction. "This is a rescue mission. We are at your disposal, Miss Ventii."

##### Shayara froze where she stood which wasn't the wisest thing she wasn't exactly near any cover if their little discussion had had visitors. She had no idea why such an infamous group would come to her aid and the soldier seemed to sense her unease. "I'm Rexan Syesh and I assure you that you'll get answers soon enough but we are kind of in a hurry here," he mused sarcastically as his visor revealed his angular Sarcurian face with bright amber eyes that rolled condescendingly. "Grab your gear and follow me. Those that fall behind stay behind and all that." No one liked following pirates blindly but they had no other option and the intrigue was far too much for Shayara. So they did as they were told and retrieved their gear from the warden's office that their captors had been far too arrogant to think about locking up. The Doc swiped a beautifully designed Predator pistol that had been lovingly decorated with ivory and gold markings. Shayara recognised it as belonging to the pirate that Jarner had stabbed in the eye. He wouldn't be missing it. "I thought doctors were pacifists?" Keeto breathed heavily looking over the sidearm he wished he'd snatched first. James smiled almost maniacally, so much so it even slightly unnerved Keeto.

##### "I'm a very unconventional, Doctor my friend. Fear my wrath now?" The royal soldiers crept through the cavity they'd created first as Rexan took point. They charged forward to cut down some unsuspecting rival pirates who were trying their damnedest to put out the fire that was spreading much too quickly across the deck. This gave Isaac a chance to get close to Shayara as he prodded her with the muzzle of his pistol. "What do you think they want with us?" he whispered softly.

##### "Maybe the Pirate Prince wants some good publicity saving a group of slaves," she thought, amused at the idea.

##### "Oh good, cause I was thinking maybe the Senate has put out a bounty for our return and the Prince wants to extort more," he suggested not jokingly enough for Shayara's liking.

##### "What a pleasant thought. Forever the pessimist," she said as their escorts returned to them. The alarm sounded as a dull explosion sounded several decks above. "I'd like to visit somewhere nice just for once."

##### The ghostly figure at the front crouched down and held up a clenched fist in the universally understood signal of hold the fuck up which the rear most member of the royal trio explained to Shayara who was closest to him. She nodded curtly at the obvious explanation. "I think I get it." She smiled through gritted teeth. He put his fingers to his lips in an annoyed a way as he could. Shayara was thankful for the breaking out and all but everything over the last few days had begun to stack up. Her patience had suffered, not that she'd been the most patient person beforehand. Rexan gestured her forward and as she got close he spoke in a hushed voice. "Our drop ship is being overrun and is quickly filling up with other prisoners. What I'm saying is our only other exit plan is your ship. If I get us there, will it fly?" he asked. His voice wasn't shaky but Shayara could gauge the concern hidden within it. Definitely a pirate and not a soldier.

##### "As long as they haven't stripped it bare, yes," she considered. They exchanged nav data over their holographic computer interfaces and were soon off again. Shayara had concealed her device so it had mapped their route perfectly. They reached the hangar in no time at all but soon wished another option was available. A huge firefight had ensued with the Pariah right in the middle of it. The Pariah was surrounded by a diamond shaped formation of Prince loyalist drop ships which seemed to be holding out rather well with many a body filling the kill zone around it. It seemed like after a lot of trial and error, the bad pirates had decided charging in was suicidal. Probably took longer than it should have looking at the scene from afar. Shayara shook her head as Rexan looked her way. Without a distraction or the construction of a bulletproof hallway to the extraction point they were going nowhere and everyone present knew it. Rexan radioed ahead and the mere mention of Shayara's name got the friendly pirates around the Pariah moving to cover their crossing. Apparently Shayara was important to Dead-eye Jack, the Pirate Prince, but she was more concerned with living at that moment so she followed across no man's land. Bullets whizzed by so close it made her skin bristle. Isaac took the head off a Sentinel who forgot to check his peripheral vision before chasing them down. The mist saved Isaac from several lazy rounds himself but he didn't slow to count his blessings.

##### The group scaled the barricades and darted onto the Pariah. Shayara left her saviours behind as they got tangled up in stray wiring. She moved along the memorised route to the Captain's chair. The place was a tip but she rerouted power in the hope she still flew. The engines spluttered into existence but the AI podium lay vacant. It appeared the scavengers had only had chance to take what had not been bolted down. R051E burst into existence with a confused expression plastered across her face. "They were not very gentlemanly. They prodded and poked in some places no person should go on a first date." She stomped.

##### "Get us out of here!" Shayara screamed anxiously as the Pariah rose up unconvincingly and shot through the hangar door. It weaved and darted between, frigates, warships and artillery from both sides of the conflict on its journey to the far edge of the giant skirmish. Shayara let out a drawn breath and let go of the chair's fabric that she had had in a death grip. Rexan moved forward with the intention of patting her on the shoulder but was immediately disarmed along with his companions. Isaac and Jarner pointed their firearms in the pirates' direction as Keeto unsheathed his war blade. Shayara swivelled in her chair and looked them over. "So do explain what Dead-eye Jack wants with me, won't you?" She had barely finished her sentence as an alarm sounded and R051E appeared again expectantly at her side. "What?!" shouted Shayara frustrated at the lack of peace she had been privy to in the last week. R051E looked sheepish in her response which if she wasn't raging mad Shayara may have cared about.

##### "Numerous ships have us surrounded including the Prince's private dreadnought, Adventures Fortune." The conference screen energised and one of the pirates stepped forward and ushered Rexan to stand down. "Now, sis, I shouldn't have to make an excuse to rescue family." He smiled as he removed his helmet. Jack had changed so much since Shayara had last seen him but she was too taken aback to take it in. He'd matured well but he still seemed the brother she remembered. Without knowing what else to say and with deathly silence present for far too long she voiced her concerns.

##### "I thought better of you than a pirate. How's the Prince for an employer?" she asked sarcastically, annoyed that the man she had always looked up to had abandoned his morality and become a crook. His sapphire eyes glinted with pride and boyish excitement.

##### "Funny story."

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##### SIXTEEN

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##### The feelings she felt from the revelation her brother was the Pirate Prince of wild space, Dead-eye Jack, couldn't be easily explained. She was sworn to uphold the law as a glorified bounty hunter to the Senate but the conflicted emotions made her go with the current events. They had been welcomed aboard Adventure's Fortune much to the dishonour of Keeto who hadn't spoken a word since the Pariah. He flatly ignored Shayara on the shuttle ride over when she attempted to make conversation and treated her with an air of suspicion. Did he believe she had hidden the truth about her brother's occupation, she wondered. Jarner had taken to Jack quickly as if welcoming an old friend which was understandable as Jack had given him his life back. He'd freed the Sarcurian from slavery a long time ago but those bonds still held true. Isaac was wary but trusted Shayara so never ventured too far. Doc Crow as per usual had stayed aboard the Pariah. This time Shayara hadn't minded, someone had to sort out R051E to make sure she was now fully operational and she had asked if he could take stock of what the Sentinels had stolen.

##### Shayara had assumed the Pirate Prince was just a title but as they moved through the grand halls of Adventures Fortune she realised it was more of a lifestyle. It was grand and looked like it was brand new off dry dock and every member of crew they passed seemed to really respect Jack. Or fear him. That chilled her, she had never regarded her brother as scary but he looked hard bitten now and minus an eye he seemed like he'd seen a lot of harsh action. They reached the bridge and a series of automated drone arms, that appeared from cracks in the floor, removed her brother's armour as he walked to his throne. It was made up of the armour of fallen Pirate Princes Shayara recognised. She eyeballed the chest plate of Red Band Falser and the flamboyant razor gauntlet of Cutthroat Thratta Da'Rellen. The idea of the Pirate Prince had been around longer than humanity's existence. It began when a large section of Pirates decided to join and become a huge faction under a single banner. The first had been a Caliterrian, with a certain amount of Robin Hood-ness about him, he had earned the title of Prince of Pirates due to the positive publicity he brought to the trade despite the illegality of his actions. For a fee the Prince's forces would provide safe passage and protection on trade routes through wild space and seemed to monopolise on the lack of competition and Senate legislation. The title was passed down usually to a trusted lieutenant or whoever toppled the current Prince. Shayara assumed it was difficult to maintain order as surely mutinies would be common place with disloyal degenerates clambering for power.

##### "I owe you an explanation Shay," he eventually said as he sat forward in his seat. "When I saved Jarner from the Prince's clutches it turned out the contract on the man was huge. Enough to get me away from the shitty life I had. I was working as a pretty respected bounty hunter but the average pay wasn't enough for me. So I took my employer's money and then took the throne. Turns out he's pretty bitter about my double cross and is now the Governor of Coroniss." Keeto didn't seem impressed as he clenched his right hand so hard his arm shook.

##### "What made you take the title?" Shayara asked curious at why he would stay after receiving his huge fee. Jack took a pretty big sigh as he relaxed back into the throne that had to be extremely uncomfortable.

##### "How could I turn down this chance? When you left Coroniss, life was hard. I did what I had to to survive and that led me here." Keeto allowed a huff which seemed to annoy Jack who cocked his head and looked the alien up and down.

##### "Did I offend you or something, Caliterrian?" Dead-eye stood up and cast his arms out as he surveyed his bridge. "I have brought law and order to wild space from this very room. Yet you come here and dare judge me. In my own house? Where is your precious Senate out here?" he asked rallying up his men at nearby work stations as he went. Keeto gave an amused low-key chuckle before stepping forward to the obvious challenge.

##### "You are nothing more than a pirate. A criminal who has been on top of Senate Security's most wanted list for five standard cycles. You preach providing stability to the region but you pillage company freighters to fund your operations." Jack clapped his hands in an over-exaggerated manner as he paced the breadth of his seating area. He had a fake smile on his face as he pointed the Guardian's way. "Gold star for the lapdog with the powers of observation." A few crewmen sniggered which really got under Keeto's hide. "I steal from those who won't miss it."

##### "I will be reporting this to the Senate as I doubt you will come willingly." Keeto seethed very aware that there were far too many combatants to take on himself.

##### "You do that." Shayara frowned as Jack signalled to the two closest guards who flicked their energy pikes to full power.

##### "Please escort Mr Cha'Bin back to my sister's ship," he ordered. At first Keeto stood defiantly but it didn't take long for him to bow out angrily as he was ushered out of the bridge. Jack sat back down and offered an apologetic hand. "I know he has a point but I'm the only one who can stop the Lost Sentinels. Their boss keeps trying to take this throne and if he succeeds and they are allowed to merge with my fleet. They won't only just be a threat to wild space, they'll be a direct threat to Senate-controlled space too." He put his head in his hands. "Enough of my problems. What brings you to this corner of the galaxy? The Sentinels were using you as bait to get to me. They had the audacity of sending me an extortion message on a lightly encrypted channel," he informed in rapid succession. Shayara hadn't thought about the Votheen for quite some time now and she didn't exactly know where to start. Regardless her mouth began to move, "I think the Senate is going to go to war."

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##### Constant bickering and indecision was the spawn of politics and it had long plagued the Senate yet the impending threat seemed to streamline the process as the High Senators were allowed to explain where the situation was at without interruption. Alexander honestly didn't know how the gathered collective of systems would take the news of a sentient hostile race on their doorstep. Although there was fear and panic he was pleasantly surprised by the positive undertone in the discussions. The representative from the colony of Azagrad signalled above the noise that he demanded to be heard so the Core AI let out a high-pitched noise and aimed the spotlight in the Caliterrian's direction. "From the information we have been provided I want to know how you were able to repel the Votheen in the last war in such a short period of time?" he asked brandishing his tablet. He had a point, thought Alexander. The tipping point provided in the data was very peculiar. Once the Senate had the advantage they easily swept the Votheen aside. He wondered what their ace in the hole was. "Operation Aurora," leapt from High Senator Wilhelm's mouth before he knew what was happening. His subconscious had connected the dots before his brain could and his amplified voice didn't save his blushes. That file in the Senate archives he wished he'd read swam about his head. Arkan was looking him over, not in the angry way he'd expected but in more of a defeated way. He stood up and paced, stooped over looking more of a hollow figure than the fierce warrior Alexander knew and loathed. "Operation Aurora was our last hope. Above Caliterria twenty thousand years ago the Senate authorised the production and release of a bioweapon onto the Votheen capital ship as it prepared for its invasion. Several similar strikes were made in major Votheen population centres. It was designed to thin their numbers, to give us a fighting chance. It did. It worked too well. The bioweapon mutated all on its own becoming much more aggressive and almost making the Votheen extinct." A roar of discontent spread across the congregation. Genocide was not something they'd ever expect from their government regardless of the threat. Alexander sat back not as surprised due to his snooping as he should have been and he didn't feel like feigning it either. Arkan tried to say something else but he was drowned out by rampant discussion. "Silence!" A crippling wave shattered the minds of everyone present and it took Alexander a while to realise what was going on. 19217-JB was stood and actually looked intimidating, he'd never seen one get agitated let along confrontational. "We are a peaceful people and were largely against the use of such horrific weapons. The Caliterrian wanted them wiped out and maybe in hindsight if they had been made to be we would not be in trouble now. The Votheen forced the hand of the Senate and if we hadn't taken the action we did the Caliterrian would most certainly be extinct and the rest of our races enslaved or worse." The Selin took its seat and the dominant force in Alexander's skull dissipated into nothingness. Arkan nodded in appreciation to his fellow Senator but looked sheepish, Alexander guessed he had never seen a Selin behave in such a manner before either. "It would appear the Votheen raided an Indatech transport ship which was carrying a specimen of the bioweapon for research purposes. We have reasons to suspect they have adapted it at a base level, weaponised it and deployed it on the colony of Atlas. The virus named Shade should not be news to you." A new wave of discontent ensued. Alexander couldn't believe what he was hearing. Why the hell was Indatech still messing around with bio-weaponry and especially one they didn't fully understand? The Senate shared his concerns but another mind grumble settled everyone quickly. No one wished another mental assault from the Selin. As all eyes moved back to the High Senate, Alexander chanced his arm. "How have they managed this without detection?"

##### "And what of Atlas?" added the now fully stood Chancellor Falkoner from one of the Atlas moons with conviction.

##### "That investigation is ongoing Senator and as for Atlas..." He paused unnaturally long, so much so that Alexander knew what was coming although he hoped he was wrong. "To prevent the spread of this deadly virus, Atlas is to be placed under quarantine and martial law should be implemented immediately." Whatever else anyone had to say was irrelevant as congress concluded in a downward spiral of chaos. Alexander made a swift exit before things became too out of hand. He sincerely hoped that wherever Shayara was she was sorting out this mess on the quiet.

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##### Even though without Larik's aid the navigation data would have never been in their possession, he still hadn't been given clearance to examine it. Neither had the ship master but that didn't make it burn any less. Orders were to deliver the data shard ASAP to Engevaal no questions asked. Needless to say Larik would have followed any order to the letter, he was after all a model soldier, but losing most of a platoon made it personal. He needed to know if it had been worth it. During the short period of uncontrolled spacing Larik had made a duplicate of the data and stored it in the operating system of his armour, under system preferences. He'd removed the memory core long before handing the armour over to the techs. Larik inserted it into his personal terminal after jamming the door of his living quarters. He opened a window and moved it to the lower left hand corner, he hoped the pornography would discourage the onboard AI from digging deeper and dismiss the primary window as a Human male's way of releasing stress after a botched operation. He gave it a moment just to be extra cautious before initialising the program. A star chart dotted the three dimensional space of the office like the light reflected from a disco ball. He moved through the galaxy like some kind of divine being. He passed many recognisable worlds including Engevaal, which had far less of a population than it should have had. He assumed it must have been out of date, understandable given the race's lengthy absence. Larik moved back through to his terminal and overlapped the Ubiquitous Light's star chart with the Votheen's. The data was much more legible now he observed as he retraced his steps. He followed the trail of the blinking red dot from where they had intercepted it. The Votheen ship had made several jumps through the galaxy including an apparent stop on the dark side of Atlas's main moon. Larik was intrigued at the freedom the cruiser had had especially so close to populated areas. It had avoided every patrol ship in Senate space and moved to remote sections in uncharted space. It moved as if they knew patrol routes which worried Larik. Either they had broken in to the network and everything was compromised or they were being tipped off. Larik was struggling to fathom the ramifications of either possibility as a knock sounded at his cabin door. "One moment," he called as he collapsed the planets and bundled the memory drive into his cargo trousers.

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##### SEVENTEEN

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##### The rain was extremely heavy and with Hansel being on the valley floor the fog had rolled in too. It was the wet season after all. That didn't bother Tobias, he liked cold weather. In fact he felt more comfortable in the winter months than he did in the summer due to his warm blood and crippling hay fever. He gave out an anxious sigh which bloomed into a damp foggy bubble that drifted away aimlessly. He leaned against the front wheel of the Indatech heavily armoured vehicle, or HAC for short, which was second in the procession of four. He kept watch as the other three were loaded up in turn for the rough trip to the Fort. The police headquarters was aptly named due to its impregnable fortress-like design, carved into mountain Alataku. Travelling there would have been a simple task if the news hadn't spread so quickly about the traitor Eric Cooper's arrest. Whatever he knew the resistance really didn't want the authorities to get it as they were out in force, hence the three HAC decoys. Despite their robust design Tobias was alarmingly aware that the HACs were not indestructible and judging by the lack of intel on rebel firepower his confidence was rock bottom. On top of that Tobias knew that they had sympathisers at every turn, he wasn't sure how they would make it but then he'd always been a bit of a pessimist. He'd been commandeered to ride shotgun in the HAC carrying the prisoner while Amy was in the vehicle behind. Shane was clearing up the mess in the courtyard and routing through Eric's personal belongings in the hope of finding something incriminating. Jordan was on the move with the rest of the casualties to a storage area where she would wait until the civil unrest had subsided. Tobias couldn't bring himself to turn off her tracker just yet. He wanted to make sure his friend reached her destination not that that really mattered in the grand scheme of things but it did to him. He allowed one last look around and climbed the short set of ladders necessary to get into his seat. The guy in the driver's seat was similar in appearance to Shane minus a couple years and wore thin framed glasses that perched on the end of his nose. "Tobias." He smiled as he gestured his hand.

##### "Brindle," he responded as he grasped Tobias's one hand with his two.

##### "Quite a grip you've got there, Brindle, can I have that back?" he asked sarcastically as he nodded in the direction of his rapidly whitening knuckle. Tobias needed someone who could keep his head in a volatile situation not an overeager rookie like this guy seemed to be. The engine roared into life and attempted for a brief moment to escape the confines of the engine bay by pulverising the bonnet. "You from Hansel?" Tobias asked trying to dispel the air of awkwardness.

##### "Yeah, I'm first generation. Parents came from Earth."

##### "Been with the force long, Brindle?"

##### "Not particularly and if it's all the same to you just call me Jack. It's short for Jack-in-a-box, sir."

##### "Tobias is fine. Why the nickname?"

##### "Used to steal cars as a kid, I wasn't exactly the model citizen. Truth is I was quite a reserved lad so when people found out it was quite a surprise. Hence Jack-in-a-box." He chuckled as Tobias managed a sympathetically awkward laugh, at a loss of what else to say.

##### It took ten minutes to navigate the tight spaces around the Governor's building but eventually the convoy reached the motorway which stretched out away from the capital. "Fuck, roadblock," huffed Jack as a row of police cars blocked all lanes of traffic. Tobias frowned as he keyed up an alternate route on the holographic user interface. They peeled off the highway via a slip road onto the city floor. Jack manoeuvred around the abandoned cars and the odd body which littered every street in sight. Tobias was just thankful the riots had moved elsewhere. That relief didn't last however as bullets pinged off the reinforced windscreen. "Crap," slipped out of Jack's mouth as he spun into a side street barely large enough to contain the brute, sparks flinging off the bodywork. "A rioter fancying a crack at us?" he asked with nervousness making his voice break.

##### "Probably worse than that," Tobias said leaning forward in his seat and sweeping the rooftops for movement. Their HAC burst out onto a parallel running street and was immediately boxed in by three ramshackle looking 4x4s, cheaply retrofitted with some heavy gear. Two got on either side, pinning the HAC in place while the other sped forward and got in front. The boot opened and a rebel leapt in a brave attempt to bridge the gap. Jack sped up as soon as the tailgate opened up which caused the guy to slam against the windscreen and then up and over bouncing off the concrete sickeningly like a rag doll. Tobias flipped the safety catch on his rifle and leaned out the window of the passenger side. It was difficult to keep his eyes open with the heavy rain and wind resistance but he'd always been the best shot in the department so he at least had a better chance of hitting something than anyone. The lead car's passenger tried to climb out to but was hit by Tobias as soon as he poked out his head. The body swung wildly outside the vehicle and hung there when the driver clipped a bus and flipped over as he attempted to correct his lapse of concentration. Jack slammed on allowing the two remaining cars to speed ahead. The two streets merged into one and Amy's HAC slammed into the outside vehicle causing it to flip up and barrel roll over her. "I hope they were bad guys," she stated nervously over the radio obviously not expecting them to cross her path. The convoy proceeded for another couple of miles, dogged by the remaining more manoeuvrable 4x4. At the crossroads it did something Tobias hadn't expected and peeled off. Disappearing into the maze of streets beyond the metropolitan area. "That can't be good," Jack said just as Tobias saw the puff of smoke from the suspended pedestrian walkway up ahead. Thankfully Jack had seen it also. He swung the steering wheel so hard to the right that the HAC danced for a moment on its two offside wheels. The rocket propelled explosive grazed by and came to a rest in the cockpit of Amy Mason's HAC. The resulting explosion was a mix of cruel red and blacks as the innards became outers in the convex side mirror. Tobias felt like he was going to throw up. Tears pooled in his eyes but he refused to shed them. He was allowed no chance to grieve as the 4x4 swung back into the fray. "Fuck this, swing alongside him now!" ordered Tobias as Jack complied, silently afraid of the anger in his voice. Tobias fired wildly not allowing the three occupants to fire back. Once they were alongside Tobias hit the rear passenger in the throat with a well-placed shot. The victim clawed at the guy in the passenger seat for some sort of aid or reassurance as he gargled on his own blood allowing Tobias to throw a frag grenade into the back seat. The driver dived back and tried to fumble it to safety but with no one at the wheel a nudge from Jack sent it careering over the guardrails and through a shop front. Tobias watched with dark satisfaction as charred metal and molten plastic rained out after a dull thud. Black smoke plumed from the gap and no one stumbled out.

##### An attack helicopter flew overhead as their escort moments later. Tobias breathed a sigh of relief but cursed them under his breath for their delay. They could have saved Amy. Oh god, Amy, he thought as a stray tear broke through the fortifications. They funnelled through the front gate which was manned by more officers than Tobias had ever seen in one place. The convoy followed the tarmac and stopped at the entrance to the Fort. Tobias climbed out and had to steady himself against the vehicle. His body had begun to withdraw the adrenalin that had fuelled him. His vision narrowed and he noticed he'd taken a glancing wound to the cheek. He regulated his breathing as he took in the usually immaculate garden area that had been trampled and converted into a makeshift forward operating base for the police and minimal Senate Security officers on site. Two officers came forward to collect the prisoner who was now lucid enough to not have to be carried, only supported. Jack whipped past so fast he was there one moment and gone the next. The shots rang out not a second after and hit an unintended victim. Tobias swivelled and pulled the trigger not knowing its target, it was training that took over. The Senate Security officer staggered back and crumpled onto the floor. The two sides faced off no one knowing who shot first. Tobias checked Jack-in-a-box, he'd already started to go cold. Tobias clenched a fist and got between the two sides, not his best move by any stretch of the imagination. "Calm the fuck down! Check the Senate, man, he shot first and tried to kill Cooper," he barked at anyone that'd listen and when no one did he went over himself. He was well aware he had to have at least twenty muzzles pointed in his direction but he was far too pissed to care. He removed the balaclava and held up the limp body. The lulling face wasn't that of a soldiers, that much he knew but it had a familiarity about it. "Does anyone know this asshole?"

##### "He's not one of ours," spoke the CO of the Senate Security contingent on Atlas who had rushed over from the FOB. An officer moved forward in the crowd and whistled.

##### "I know who he is." He paused unnerved by all the faces aimed his way. "It's Daniel Field, Leader of the Atlas Resistance." Tobias took a moment to look at the face again and took a hard gulp that had formed rapidly in his mouth. "Big fish," he muttered.

#####

##### The shimmering silhouette was easily passed over by a patrol of pirates that crossed his path. Keeto couldn't believe the relaxed manner in which they swanned about. That had been his escort's undoing, they hadn't given him the due caution he deserved and now he was free to roam. He moved to a service hatch and ripped off a panel with his bare hands not too concerned with the noise he was making. He doubted if anyone would be concerned enough to investigate. He had a duty to the Senate even if Shayara had forgotten that and he would not be treated as a crook by a degenerate such as Dead-eye Jack. He would take him down one way or another. He placed the tracking device into the ship's main feed and masked it with a nearby short to ground which would be categorised as a low priority repair by the ship bound AI. With the panel back to how it had been, Keeto moved further down the hall. He needed to find a way off the dreadnought and fast.

##### Shayara clasped her initially reluctant brother warmly in front of his two bodyguards at the foot of her ship. Having Keeto jump ship had really riled him as he knew now the Senate would know his identity and that implicated Shayara. "Don't sweat it, I'll sort it," she promised not all too convincingly.

##### "It was at least good to see you. Even if you only brought me bad news." He smiled back at her before letting go. He then shook Jarner's hand firmly, so tight his fingers cracked slightly at the pressure. "Make sure she doesn't get into any trouble." Jack didn't exactly ask but more ordered.

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##### EIGHTEEN

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##### The boarding party from the Ubiquitous Light had been wiped out, almost entirely. Arkan took it as a personal insult due to the fact the vessel was acting on his orders. Nevertheless he had granted an audience to the Colonel that had led the team and brought him the navigational readouts. He scrutinised the data which confirmed his fears, the Votheen were moving freely around the galaxy and had the peace of mind to avoid patrols and sector scrub drones. This raised so many security concerns it made his brain hurt. He pounded the console emitter and the image fuzzed on impact. Larik remained still, inside he was scared shitless. Arkan followed the Votheen ship's trajectory through several systems as Harbinger Reno Vas'Dia brought up his holographic tool, no doubt requesting a sweep for Votheen hacking attempts on the network. Reno had been Harbinger for most of Arkan's tenure. The pair shared an extremely tight bond and under Reno the Armada was recruiting record numbers per Caliterria standard year. He was rather slender for a Caliterrian and had a very rare colouring. His black hide was a genetic defect that had a one in two billion chance of materialising and his white tattoos symbolised he was from the independent state of Kevna so his allegiance to the Forerunner was an odd one. He was a keen tactician and was more eloquent than any Caliterrian Arkan knew. Rumours had it he was destined to succeed Arkan. The trail they had been following ended at, "Sayloch, their home world if I'm not mistaken, High Senator," Larik pointed out. Arkan looked up slowly and thoroughly at the Colonel. It made Larik feel uneasy.

##### "I'm indebted to you for this, Colonel, but under your watch I have lost a large amount of promising personnel." His voice grew louder and louder. Larik had been expecting having chunks torn off him, after all Arkan didn't have the reputation for being soft on operational fuck-ups. "I however will allow this huge failing to go unpunished due to this being first contact with the Votheen for you."

##### "I'm in your debt, Forerunner."

##### "Indeed you are. You are dismissed," Arkan fired back as Larik made a swift exit after a respectful and brief salute.

##### "Keep an eye on him," Arkan suggested as Reno nodded obediently making a note of his task. Arkan shifted his gaze back to the planet of the Votheen birth. A displeasing dust ball which would have been inhospitable to most. He wondered whether this was why the race was intolerable and hostile themselves. "Magnetise," he requested as the 3D model of the planet was replaced with a collection of satellite images. Arkan skimmed through them and wasn't at all surprised. A lot of arid scrub land, vast deserts and then something else. A trio of ships clustered around a mountain range. The largest of which didn't match the others. It was of a more ambitious design and was dark in colour. He saw a trail of what could have been people or cargo containers funnelling from a gorge. His gut wrenched. They'd been prospering underground under the Senate's noses. The AI Construct Curator, the core AI for The Keep, analysed the data as Arkan and Reno made note of vulnerabilities and cover opportunities. They had to assume the smallest ship was the cruiser they'd already intercepted. So that should leave the dreadnought and the frigate still on Sayloch if they hadn't left already. "I can determine Sayloch was not this vessels point of origin. Using the updated Votheen encryption key, although dated, it has allowed me to bypass security features," the AI spoke as it zoomed out to the star chart and into an uncharted region of space which was just a short walk to the Senate border. It centred onto a planet that was ripe for colonisation. A tropical climate with several continents of rain forest like biomes which had suitable living conditions for most races although likely too unpredictable and humid for Caliterrian's long term. "14b121 never visited and only observed once through telescopic research stations. Labelled Caboona in the Votheen database," the AI informed as it bobbed confidently archiving the new data in its memory core which would later be uploaded to the secure underground servers of the Senate Archives. These were protected against corruption, loss and AI fragmentation. The two carbon-based life forms sat unnerved by the whole idea. "Is it possible the Votheen could have colonised other unsettled worlds around wild space?" An unsure silence followed the intelligence's awkward questions.

##### "I hope not," Reno pressed angrily as he moved closer to examine its geography. "Here," he snapped as he clawed the largest continent. In the north-west was a subdued grey area that ran the length of one of the larger rivers.

##### "A city?" gasped Arkan. "By our ancestors..."

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##### NINETEEN

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##### This time around the Pariah was not asked for clearance by the fast attack fighters, nor did the fighters leave their side on approach to The Keep. They were forced to dock into a hangar much higher up than the last which was specifically for Senate Security purposes. As they touched down the Pariah was surrounded by a contingent of armed enforcers none of which looked all too friendly or Human. They waited until the crew disembarked the ship before marching them away, not a word was spoken. Shayara didn't argue, she'd expected this all the way back from her little venture but was pleasantly surprised when the main Caliterrian escort keyed up The Keep Senate Congress hall and not the detention centre from the skycar interface. The ride was grim and their fortune didn't change any upon arrival to the upper level. It was completely vacated from the depot to the assembly area. Even the bar was closed. As they took their seats an Admiral from the Confederate Navy was allowed to pass through. "I'm here to debrief you, Commander, and schedule you for immediate reassignment," he ordered in a grave tone that didn't permit questions or approval. Tobias turned to Shayara and gave her a warm embrace which she wasn't at all prepared for.

##### "Thanks for not leaving me behind and getting me back, Captain." He smiled as the Admiral checked his watch impatiently. "Good luck in there. This fight isn't over."

##### "We should be thanking you. Without your help we'd still be on that station...or floating out in space if that AI had had its way," Shayara joked. With that Tobias moved through the group to the Admiral who looked more bored than sympathetic.

##### "I'll be seeing you around, Captain." Shayara sat there in silence for almost an hour with Jarner and James for company who also didn't have much to say. If nothing else happened today at least she had made another ally in the universe thought Shayara optimistically. It was nice. She was in short supply of things to be optimistic about.

##### Not long after Shayara had decided she'd lost her mind through boredom, another group moved through the waiting area. An escort similar to that which had brought her and her crew now brought Senator Alexander Wilhelm before them. The two groups merged as the lead Caliterrian instructed them forward. The Senator moved toward Shayara and greeted her with a shake of the hand as they walked. "You're a sight for sore eyes, Ventii. I had feared the worst," he admitted so quietly she really struggled to hear over the background noise. She guessed it was to avoid the guards overhearing.

##### "How bad is it?" she asked not entirely wanting the truth from him.

##### "Bad. They're leaving me out the loop a lot now but they've gone public about the Votheen and they believe they were behind the outbreak on Atlas. Plus special branch has trashed my office."

##### "Fantastic," Shayara muttered as they climbed the steps reluctantly once more. She was so tired her lazily dragged feet were almost her undoing but Jarner was there to lend a hand. Once they crested the summit it was of great relief that Arkan was absent.

##### "Looks like our luck's changed for the better," Jarner mumbled under his breath, loud enough for only Doctor Crow to hear. Ora stood to address the speaker's podium, for once looking as old as she truly was.

##### "Welcome back, conscript Ventii. As Senator Wilhelm is aware under any other circumstances your actions would have been enough to find you guilty of treason which is a charge punishable as you are rightly aware by death. Although we don't support what you did we also have to take into consideration that the information you brought forth has given us much needed time to act on the threat we face. So that aside I would like to move onto why you have been unreachable for several days." Shayara almost smiled as the relief washed over her, she had expected a huge reprimand and even prison time but here the Sarcurian Queen was showing mercy. It was indeed a good thing Arkan Sha'Ni was elsewhere.

##### "I thank you for your understanding, your majesty. As for our whereabouts over the past few days. I made a poor decision to take a short cut back through a disused trade route in the hopes of bringing this dire news to the Senate earlier. Needless to say we ran into trouble with local pirate factions and I was forced to evade them for quite some time," she confessed, the white lie attempted to choke her but she managed to get it out without any awkward pauses and it seemed convincing enough.

##### "It wouldn't be your first poor decision of late, would it, Miss Ventii? I'm sure you're wiser from the experience," responded Ora flatly, Shayara was well aware she'd walked into that jibe.

##### Arkan emerged from the side door and made his way to his seat on the High Senate platform. "Ah, conscript Ventii, nice of you to join us. We are indeed blessed with your presence," he joked through jagged teeth completely ignoring his own absence.

##### "As I was just saying Senator, I had trouble with pirates," Shayara snapped just respectful enough for it to go unpunished but not unnoticed. Alexander stepped forward and held onto the railing illustrating that he wished to speak next.

##### "Can I ask the High Senate why me and my fellow colleagues were brought here in the manner we were? Surely if this is supposed to be just a debrief and a reprimand I should be sat among you. I have a feeling it is more than that." Arkan shuffled almost excited to become involved in the debate, he had the look of a hunter closing in on its prey.

##### "As you know the colony of Atlas has for the foreseeable future been placed under quarantine. We now know that the Votheen has manipulated a bioweapon that the Senate of years past used to end the war with them. They have most definitely distributed it amongst the people of Atlas. We assume they're treating the colony as a test site before they ramp up their efforts. The only problem we have in this theory is understanding how they were able to navigate freely without raising suspicion. Our investigation has turned up through a rather brutal interrogation on Atlas that the Underground Resistance movement has been in direct contact with the Votheen and were responsible for distributing the bioweapon into the water supplies of the population." Senator Wilhelm held a face that didn't betray his emotions but if it was anything like what Shayara was feeling then she wished she could have his poker face.

##### "That doesn't make sense. The whole idea of the Resistance is making humanity the alpha race, they're xenophobic nut jobs who conspire in the shadows. Why would they turn a weapon on other humans? Working with other aliens at that?" Arkan looked to be taking great pleasure in holding all the cards. He let the question hang as the human senator became increasingly red-faced.

##### "What is that charming Human expression? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? Did I get it right?" It was obviously rhetorical and Alexander wasn't going to dignify it with a response. "The Resistance wish to gain power, a foothold on the galactic stage and overthrowing the Governor of Atlas would have given them that. We are told that they were promised a cure once they managed to topple the governing body on Atlas, although I am sure the Votheen would never give that up willingly. It would appear they were used."

##### "We are entrusting you, Senator, to investigate these claims and bring those responsible to justice," Ora chipped in sheepishly as Arkan tussled to add salt into the wounds.

##### "Should you fail to bring us the culprits within three galactic cycles then there will be consequences for humanity," Arkan warned gravely. Anger shot across Alexander's face so blatantly that it made his brow quiver. Shayara felt it too, the audacity of the Forerunner to blame an entire race for the failings of a few.

##### "You do realise, Senators, that if I knew the location and identity of such individuals then they would already be answering for their crimes? I would like to add that supremacy movements are not an affliction just suffered by my race. The Sarcurians have theirs who believe humans are a lesser imitation of themselves and the Caliterrian still think us unworthy of what we have. I refuse to be judged by individuals with similar failings as a people." The Forerunner's face tightened to an angry knot. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, it was almost like he'd never met someone as fiery as him.

##### "The Sarcurian are still weary of you as you killed one of their monarchs during first contact and we are cautious of you as you yourself have rightly shown, you cannot be trusted. Your ambition knows no bounds. Perhaps we should ask the opinion of our Selin Senator since his race escaped your little smear campaign?"

##### "I've never known the Selin to make any decision or show any emotion so I doubt xenophobe is a word they process."

##### "That is enough!" Arkan spat with more venom than Shayara had ever seen. "You will investigate the charges we have brought forward and you, Shayara Ventii. For your part in this continued freak show, your Conscript privileges have been revoked. I employ you to avoid our path again in future." Before she could even protest the Caliterrian had left and was soon followed by the rest of the High Senate. Alexander sat on the top step, head stooped between his legs. Shayara slumped down next to him and gave out a very intentional sigh. "I'm sorry, Captain, I shouldn't have involved you in this," the Senator said out of conscience not sincerity. He didn't regret his actions or there results and nor should he, thought Shayara.

##### "Don't blame yourself, sir. Looks like humanity is on its own out here. So much for progress," Shayara stated sullenly.

##### "What do you think they'll do?" asked Jarner.

##### "I honestly don't know," said Alexander.

#####

##### The director of Senate Security, Caliterrian Halto Al'Ku, looked over the Guardian's report with an open mind and a closed expression. The vacant gaze from Keeto was evidence enough that something troubled him. "This," the director said pointing out one particular section, "expand." Keeto sat forward and kept himself in check reciting the events following their rescue from the Lost Sentinel prison barge. "You are sure Shayara Ventii's brother is the Pirate Prince?" the director asked very matter of factly. It was a very serious claim.

##### "Positive, Director." Al'Ku took back the report and gave a contemplative grumble.

##### "Her records don't indicate a sibling but you have my word that your claim will be properly investigated. Do you believe that Shayara was aware of her brother's occupation prior to the events?"

##### "Hard to say."

##### "She hasn't come forward with the information and she has just been debriefed by the High Senate so one can assume she isn't entirely honest as that would have been a chance to admit it. This likely factored into her suspension from our Conscript program," the Director mused as he keyed up the tracking beacon code that Keeto had offered him. The Guardian wasn't surprised the Human had been kicked out and nor did he care. She had been lucky not to be tried for treason after what she had done. Halto Al'Ku frowned when the signal came back unresponsive. "It would appear you're not the saboteur you thought, Guardian Cha'Bin. Your beacon has already been found and discarded it would seem." The anger that boiled inside was almost too much to contain for the young Guardian.

#####

##### The Pariah had been moved to a more permanent location in the lower hangars upon the crew's return. Everyone was feeling worse than they ever had. Not only did they know that a hostile alien race was out there but now they literally couldn't do anything about it. Shayara looked up Construct R051E's activity log to find her downtime had bought them an extra year of stability, three linguistic packs and an increase in performance. She frowned. All were beneficial but none were essential. Nothing explained why she had gone offline. Just at that moment an encrypted transmission crossed the Pariah's view screen. The surprise contact was the Pirate Prince once more. "I've got to be quick as they're monitoring you now. Just thought I better let you know that your little Caliterrian pet tried to hand me over to Senate Security. Thankfully I found his little beacon before they got my location. We're currently on the move to a new location, can't be too careful. I'm sorry to hear about your resignation by the way sis." Shayara swore internally. Keeto had no doubt thrown her under the bus too in that case and more trouble was the last thing she needed right now.

##### "Resignation?"

##### "It's all over the network. Top Conscript calls time on her duties. Doesn't paint you in a good light."

##### "My status was revoked, Arkan Sha'Ni's especially prickly today. I fear they might kick humanity out of the senate for good," Shayara admitted much to her brother's surprise.

##### "Then these are very dark times indeed."

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##### TWENTY

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##### In the past couple of hours Tobias Harley had made one mistake after another. He'd broken in to the interrogation room and made a very personal matter out of his and Eric Cooper's personal time. The man would pay for killing Amy, and Tobias preferred his hands than anyone else's. After losing an ear and a finger the traitor had admitted that the Resistance had had contact with the hostile alien race from the news vids who had given them the bioweapon they needed to topple the government on Atlas. He didn't understand why they had thrown in with an alien race or what the Votheen hoped to gain from the partnership but after killing Eric, Tobias had forwarded this information on to the Senate. This was his second mistake. The planet had been quarantined to halt the spread of the virus and now Tobias was a wanted man for killing the only man who could have shed light on the matter. He escaped through a sewer line with Shane Dyer who the Senate Security personnel on the planet had requested be brought in also. Tobias felt the Senate had left Atlas to fend for itself and he could be forgiven for thinking it. The duo followed the system for as long as they could but eventually they were forced to street level. Tobias hoped that their civilian fatigues would make them more inconspicuous but that'd didn't seem to matter to the rioters. The sunset finally submitted to the horizon long after it felt like it should have. Their journey could have been sped up by any of the number of vehicles abandoned on the major road ways but Tobias was well aware that would make them a huge target. Deciding to go on foot took them the best part of three hours, having dodged mass fights and shootouts, before they reached the business district.

##### Daniel Field, after a little research, was the CEO of a tech company named Alenda Technologies, although he was under a false name. Tobias intended to break into their headquarters to hopefully uncover some evidence which would explain the alien partnership and maybe a vaccine for Shade. Eric hadn't said the Votheen had handed it over yet but if it was going to be anywhere on the planet it was going to be at Alenda. He hoped if he came back with something he could clear his name. Eric was a dead-end fanatic and evidently low down in the pecking order so following his leads seemed pointless. The pair walked down the street as the large multi-story building loomed at the end of the row. Neither looked to it obviously, acutely aware that they could be being watched. A warning shot suddenly struck the concrete inches from Shane's right leg which caused him to stumble and fall. Before he could get back up again to dust himself down two heavies appeared from behind a parked truck. "You two are in the wrong place," the balaclava warned as he gestured his rifle that would have been useless at such close range.

##### "We're just trying to find someplace safe." Tobias quivered in his best impersonation of a scared civilian that would have warranted an arts award of some description had he chosen said career.

##### "Still not found the place," the balaclava mumbled which got a dumb snigger from his equally dressed companion. Tobias and Shane did a double take and stepped into a side street just out of the guard's line of sight. Shane pushed his thick framed glasses up his nose and peered around the corner to try and eyeball more sentries. "I think the resistance is closing up shop," Shane said as he came back to the safety of the dank side street. "Two guards on the roof, our friends by the truck and a whole fucking army in the lobby." Tobias let out a huge sigh, they'd come so far and didn't have the good fortune to be able to turn back. The only option was onwards and upwards. The thought hit him in the face as he rushed to the alley's entrance once more sizing up the possibility. He came back, a smile occupying his face. "I have a plan." He then proceeded to explain how the second story window had been blown out, the cause of it lay in an unfortunate bloody pile in the street below. The makeshift entrance was close enough to a neighbouring building so they might be able to bridge the gap. Tobias led the way climbing the fire escape in the alley, up the side of the building that he guessed was a downtown apartment block. He was startled when a woman bolted out of one of the windows in nothing more than knickers and a borrowed jumper. She squealed when she saw him and pushed past in a hurry. He guessed she was fleeing the social collapse within but she hadn't exactly emerged into an outside world that was any better. Shane made a joke about Tobias's appeal to women but he was too focussed to hear what it was. He did hear her scream however seconds before a gunshot sounded in the street beyond. Tobias wondered which of the truck attendants had ended her life and whether they cared. Tobias reached the building's sill and allowed his head to crest to the empty air above, long enough to survey for any danger. They were in luck, they were higher than the target building so above all the sentries. People didn't tend to take the time to look up so Tobias scampered onto the roof and made his way to the next building which was five foot below, long before Shane had even gotten to the top of the fire escape. The next couple of buildings lowered in increments each more daring than the last until eventually Tobias and Shane were just one floor above the shattered window. Making sure the sentries weren't looking Tobias crept to the edge and began to climb down, gripping for grim death on the face of the building he had been stood on. He positioned his boots and forced off so hard his knees cracked which hampered the corkscrew he had begun. He made it into the building but landed heavily on the landing of a stairway that seemed to span the height of the headquarters. He listened intently but was pretty sure that no one had heard his clumsy entrance over the blood curdling screams and gunfire. He rolled over and nursed his hands which were full of shards of glass as Shane landed more gracefully. Tobias limped to the doorway that led to the current floor and just opened the door ever so slightly to gauge the situation, it was grim. Office cubicles were tipped upside down and bodies broke up the empty spaces between blood pools, paperwork and spent shells. "Must be worse than we thought if they are killing their own," whispered Tobias as he let it creep shut.

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##### The duo made its way upward assuming that it was the most likely place for a CEO's office. They kept away from the centre and avoided the temptation to look up as a flashlight whizzed by every so often. Tobias hoped it was more out of caution than alarm. "Level 5 clear, advancing to Level 6. Start the truck, we'll be out of here in five," spoke the light source's owner as Shane held back. Tobias stalked the member of the purge team until he was hindered by another group on the landing of floor five. A guard stood watch as his colleague butchered staff on the floor beyond. Tobias waited for the better part of two minutes before the watchman moved onto the landing to light a cigar. As he came close Tobias pounced from the shadows but didn't catch him with his knife how he would have liked. It sunk into the man's shoulder and not his neck which caused the man to lash out striking Tobias on the side of the head with his elbow. Before he could recover the man with the knife sticking out of his neck forced Tobias against the far wall and landed a couple of rib punches before Tobias could send the butcher stumbling with a kick to the groin. The man steadied himself on the railing but Tobias rushed him and sent him up and over, down the centre shaft of the stairway. The gunfire drowned out the sound of the bone crunching. He eventually came to a rest on the banister of Level 2 with a broken spine, Tobias assumed it must have been considerably loud. He didn't wait to see if he'd alerted anyone, he just bounded up the last flight until he reached the final landing which was home to a heavily fortified door. One man, Tobias guessed the one he'd initially followed and the owner of the torch, stood over another who was tinkering with the wires of a removed command console. Wires of various denominations coiled haphazardly outwards, Tobias was thankful that they were here to do the donkey work. He'd never have gotten a door like that open even if he'd been given all the time and freedom he needed. "Bingo!" shouted the man with the soldering iron as the door began to part. What happened next Tobias wasn't sure of at first but as hot air struck his face which was soon followed by a peppering of small hard debris he soon pieced it together. When he opened his eyes again he was on the landing below, squashed against the glass that thankfully hadn't buckled. Flaming shrapnel was still raining down from the level above. He struggled to stand and climb the stairs back to where he had been moments before. Shane lay upside down dangling between the banister, the console's sheet metal cover in his temple. Tobias began to cry, out of the close-knit team he had established himself in over the years he was now the only survivor. It had taken less than twenty-four hours for his family to be wiped out and he was going to be the one to make their sacrifice worth it. He forced his way into the office which was rapidly being eaten up by the fire that had spread from the booby trap explosion. Tobias was determined not to lose evidence. He reached the desk and although the terminal was scarred and dirty it booted up first time and Tobias was incredibly puzzled to find that the document he sought was so accessible and aptly named. HERE.doc was on the desktop, it was like Daniel Field had wanted him to find it. He didn't have time to question it as footsteps grew louder by the second. In a moment of madness he removed the data and played dead amongst the rubble. He didn't expect it to work.

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##### TWENTY ONE

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##### The heavy rainfall struggled to penetrate the forest roof due to the incredibly dense foliage. It sounded breezy but the staggered tree line broke any kind of wind down long before it reached the Senate detachment. The platoon moved like phantoms across the forest floor with their adaptive armour that shifted to the environment as they moved. Larik Kass, handpicked by Senator Sha'Ni, took point and kept a very watchful eye on his motion tracker. The greenery restricted any clear line of sight. The unit's new scout returned and informed reliably that they had finally reached the edge of the forest and the city beyond. The insertion point had been a mile away from the city by a stealth frigate and Larik's team had been one of two. The other was working its way down from the north as Larik's unit approached from the south. Larik moved toward the scout who he had honestly had reservations about. He was Human and had almost as much experience with the Votheen as Larik but he had come away worse for wear and still wore the fresh scars like a trophy. Senate Security wanted this assignment all to themselves but humanity had dug in its heels enough to get one of its own attached to the mission. They had only accepted Isaac Jericho as he had previous experience with the Votheen. Senator Wilhelm assumed the Senate wanted to tie up loose ends and secretly hoped Isaac wouldn't survive the operation but the Human Senator was extremely confident in Jericho's tenacity despite the fact his injuries had not yet fully healed from his last venture. Larik didn't like having a man on the team he didn't know and neither did he like the fact Isaac didn't pledge allegiance to the Senate military. This wasn't helped by the fact that when Larik had attempted to research his new recruit the Senate had deemed his previous mission worthy of red tape. The only thing that had Larik on side was that Isaac had told him that he wasn't going to sit back and do nothing when the Votheen were out here plotting against Earth and its colonies. He respected a man of action, no reservations although Isaac seemed to forget that this was bigger than just humanity.

##### "You sure you should still be here, Commander Jericho? I can't say I have much confidence in a one-eyed scout." Isaac met the steely gaze with a look that shook off the remark like an annoying fly.

##### "I could show you how good my sight is by shooting down your bad attitude, just say the word," he answered back more suggestively than aggressively. It stirred a few Caliterrian enough for them to stifle a titter. Colonel Larik Kass stopped the murmurs with just a look and replied to the snide remark with a look of contempt. "I can't see any movement, a lot of cover out there too," Jericho informed remembering his role in the squad. As the team edged out nervily to the greys of the city their armour adjusted to the new colour pallet. The city appeared as though it had been sacked although this planet had never been visited by anyone else. Had the Votheen been fighting amongst themselves at some point, Larik wondered. The objective was a spire in the centre of the city that command had decided was a base of operations and although the outskirts were ghostly they had promised much activity in the centre. The mission was purely recon for now. With no other option than a full-scale assault on the Votheen home world of Sayloch, the Senate wished to know more of their plans. Larik did his best to keep his unit off of the main streets and used any cubby holes he could as cover. Any rooftop, building or window could have been a sniper nest and he was immensely aware of that. Taking a moment in the space where a house had once been, Larik assumed the city had once been a majestic example of design and architecture. Towers with reflective walls, ebony spires and gravity defying structures that seemed too top heavy to exist, all stood proudly the deeper into the city they got.

##### A faint hum sounded from a noncommittal direction which caused the hairs on the back of Larik's neck to stand proud. "Off the street!" he yelled as he charged across a large open square and dived under the shadow of a building that had collapsed and been caught by its neighbour mid fall. The stability of the structure was questionable but Larik assumed the damage wasn't recent and it hadn't fallen down yet so it would do. Seconds after the last soldier had scrambled to safety two matte black alien drop ships with golden tracery crossed the skyline, shimmering with crimson pulsations. The first continued north-west toward their objective while the other hovered above the square and touched down two hundred yards from the Senate Security squad's position. Larik fully expected a couple of Votheen scouts and he wasn't disappointed. Three figures crawled out of the rear hatch before the ship spiralled upward and chased down its partner on the horizon. Two of the targets were like no other Votheen Larik had ever seen, and judging by the gasp Isaac let out, that went for him to. They were slimmer, with an exoskeleton closer to black in colour than the typical tan. He examined them closely through binoculars trying particularly hard not to draw attention to himself through lens flare and movement. The two new breed of Votheen appeared to be senior to the other and the one with the scar over its left eye seemed to be in charge as he ordered the tan-coloured Votheen into a building to provide overwatch. "You seen this before, Colonel?" interrogated Isaac more loudly than he would have liked. Larik shook his head and his face must have been a picture. "What the hell's going on?"

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##### Senator Alexander Wilhelm was asleep at his desk when his AI Construct Greaves received an anonymous data burst. He had struggled to sleep over the last couple of days, between Arkan's threat and the impending sense of doom from the Votheen, it had proved to be quite a potent mix for insomnia. "Senator," the butler AI stirred his master rather sympathetically. Alexander wiped his groggy eyes and coughed, clearing his rapidly worsening throat. "I apologise but it is rather urgent, Senator. Priority transmission for you from Atlas." Alexander's eyes shot open despite his tiredness. He spoke no words as his AI put it up for him to view. The data packet was thick and had no identifying marks from its sender. He began skim reading the documents but upon realising what it contained he went back to the beginning and read each word as though his life depended on it, in a way it did. It took a good hour and a half but he pounded through it all before he dared to speak again. He couldn't believe it, all the information he needed from names and places to dates and times. He wished he could verify the source but the fact it came from Atlas gave it weight in his eyes. At least until it named the head of the resistance movement and then Alexander swore and couldn't believe his eyes. Leon Winter was a high profile politician and ex-general of the Human Confederate Navy. He was the last person Alexander would have ever suspected. He had half a mind to disregard the whole document but what else did he have to go on? Something in the back of his mind made him mull it over which took almost as long as it had taken to read the whole thing. Was it possible? He was an old man now, retired before humanity was allowed into the ranks of Senate Security. Did he resent humanity's willingness to serve under alien rule and not the centuries old Navy? He couldn't be sure whether he was grasping at straws or too biased to see what was right in front of him and he doubted he would know until Leon was in physically before him. "Bring him in."

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##### It was dark by the time the advance recon team reached the target objective. They'd been hindered the whole way, having to wait for the new breed of Votheen to move through the area first. Larik led his men through a building with a gutted front which eventually allowed them to reach the roof. The high vantage point allowed them to survey the scene from all angles. The target was a large intersection in between three huge spires. A small ramshackle base lay in the centre of the street which looked like it had been recently erected. A convey moved from the east and followed a ramp down underneath the central spire which Larik assumed was where the main base lay. "How are we going to get in there, Colonel?" Isaac questioned. Before he could answer another drop ship came overhead adding to Larik's suspicion that they were either gaining reinforcements or shutting up for good. It swivelled and touched down in a gap only just wide enough to accommodate its girth. The first out was one of the new breed of Votheen who was followed by a beaten and restrained Caliterrian. Larik couldn't believe his eyes, it was the leader of the second Senate insertion team, Faros Li'Kar. As he was marched toward the ramp he gave a sly wink in the direction of the building that Larik was on, hardly noticeable but definitely there. "That clever reckless bastard." Larik swore realising what Faros had done. In the pit of his stomach however he assumed that the rest of Faros's unit was KIA as that was how the Votheen operated. He wondered whether Faros had known that when he had gotten himself purposely captured. In the Votheen's eyes, prisoners of war took effort while commanding officers could be interrogated and tortured for information. Larik couldn't even confirm his assumption as radio silence was mandatory on this assignment. They didn't know much of the Votheen's technical abilities but they assumed that an alien radio signal would stick out to them like hiding in the dark with flares. "Plan, Colonel?" Requested one of the Sarcurian snipers without looking up from her scope. Larik swept the area with his binoculars and picked up another small convoy moving from the east. "That's our ticket in."

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##### TWENTY TWO

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##### A handful of Senate Security agents moved down the building nervily, shrouded by the new stealth camouflage tech that had been ripped straight from the Caliterrian Guardians. It wasn't a secret they gave up lightly but the Forerunner agreed that this particular operation was in need of it. It had been a nightmare to replicate and Larik felt uneasy knowing this was its first field test. They made it down to the ground floor and toward the convoy that had rolled to a halt just outside of the ramp. It was being checked by sentries who were evidently on high alert due to the discovery of the other squad. Larik stopped dead and dropped to the floor to make his shimmery silhouette less noticeable as one such guard passed so close by that he swore he could hear the rhythm of its heart as his own reached the resting rate of a hummingbird. The convoy was four vehicles long. They were designed, as Larik had come to expect by now, matte black with gold tracery. Instead of four wheels they had thrusters on each corner that could be rotated at will for variable direction and acceleration. The unit attached themselves to the underside of the transports and Larik found himself once again next to Isaac whose jaw moved like he was talking but Larik couldn't tell over the roar of the thrusters as the convoy picked up. They descended the ramp and a blast door edged open to their presence, allowing them through. The Votheen really were arrogant, thought Larik. Not even a cursory glance under or into the vehicle by the sentries. They may have been plotting in the shadows for generations but they were far too big headed of their ability and invulnerability. Today would prove to be a troubling day for their faith.

##### The transporter continued down a large cylindrical tunnel for several hundred metres before coming to a rest outside a large black panelled facility. The building was split into three sectors, cut into the earth itself. The main building was in the shape of a moon crescent while the other two that flanked on either side were more modest in design and size. Thick power cables ran visibly back and forth between the three, it looked like this base had not been long since completed and Larik wondered whether this world was to be the Votheen's forward operating base when the war finally came. The convoy ground to a halt outside of the central building and the rear hatch of the transport Larik and Isaac were swinging off hissed open. Two black Votheen emerged first, followed slowly by a pair of feet that looked surprisingly Human. Isaac held in a gasp and Larik an expletive as the well-polished shoes pivoted to address one of the Votheen. They both saw something they immediately wished they hadn't. Minister of public relations, Leon Winter, looked to be here by choice and not force. He slapped one of the Votheen on the shoulder as if congratulating a friend's decent joke. They began a brisk walk to the entrance. The two soldiers, still swaying, looked at each other wide eyed and open mouthed for several moments trying to piece together what was going on. "You think Winter is behind the Atlas virus?" asked Isaac, already knowing the answer but not brave enough to believe it.

##### "Why else would he be here?"

##### "We need to split up," Isaac stated. "Send me after Leon and you comb the other two buildings." Larik could have cursed the headstrong soldier but he knew he was right. There was no way a large team would be able to get in and out of the crescent moon unnoticed.

##### "You take this on as a vendetta and I will personally court martial you if you survive. Take Ka'Sei with you." With that Isaac and the Caliterrian demagnified their clamps and rolled out from under the transporter.

##### The new Indatech HUD was exceptional. The Senate Security special forces unit had amazing equipment, he knew he'd chosen well when he demanded to be put on the next mission against the Votheen. His experience made him a valuable asset and when he saw Leon Winter he knew his stubbornness had paid off. He had only one niggling negative in his mind, which wasn't a small thing by any stretch of the imagination. He'd done some research on Colonel Larik Kass and he didn't particularly like what he was seeing. The man was a maverick who valued the mission above all else, that particular didn't bother Isaac. The Colonel sounded like a man after his own heart on that count. What did bother him is that Larik had a reputation for heavy losses. In his last mission against the Votheen only three men, that was including the man himself, had survived out of a unit of over fifty. Isaac checked the readout of his three dimensional motion tracker, it adapted in real time depending on the direction he faced. They were clear to move across the yard and closed in on the front door. He was thankful that he'd been paired with Lau Ka'Sei but the guy frightened him. He didn't really speak and was a very reserved character that Isaac didn't know much about. What he did know was enough. He was unrivalled in hand to hand combat, light on his feet and supremely gifted with any variety of blade. It made him feel safer but no more at ease. The Caliterrian made him incredibly anxious. They reached the shadowy overhang that looked down into a trench near the entrance to the small building on the right. A stench drifted up so overpowering it made Isaac's stomach turn in on itself. As he reluctantly followed his nose he found the cause. The trench was filled with grey and bloated bodies from all different races, none of which were Votheen. As Lau got closer he noticed evidence of several injection sites on one of the closest victims. "Aurora?" Isaac nodded grimly, the Votheen had taken test subjects to perfect their virus and he assumed some of the victims were the missing crew of Hope's Deliverance. The front entrance was definitely out of the question, even with the new tech they had at their disposal. It took Isaac a while to accept the route they needed to use but the mass grave was definitely the only way to infiltrate the base covertly. It was foul, as bad and yet worse than he'd expected. Knee high in bodies with a sewage like undercurrent. They followed the trail and shimmied up the chute that had thrown up all the victims. It took far too long to reach a service hatch which Lau forced open. The two soldiers slushed into a maintenance area loudly, Isaac retching on all fours. No one came. They climbed up a set of scaffolding once they had composed themselves and across a walkway with no bottom in sight and no guardrails to stop them finding it. After a while of wandering aimlessly Isaac found a way that led to the proper corridors of the building, just as his radio screeched "Green light, green light."

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##### The larger group of Senate Security personnel outside found themselves spread out on overwatch across several of the buildings in the square. Upon hearing the voice of their commanding officer, Captain Iyin Falon hit the button on the detonator. Plumes of smoke rose instantaneously and Iyin's ears popped for a few moments, everything was muffled. Votheen darted from left and right attempting to unsuccessfully escape the blast radius. The ramshackle checkpoint building in the centre of the street disintegrated in a particularly spectacular flash of reds, yellows and blacks. The Senate marksmen opened fire at the stragglers too dazed and too far away from cover to survive. That's when a high velocity round took a huge chunk out of the corner of the building Iyin was commanding from. Two of his snipers went with the concrete that buckled and fell beneath their feet. "Why the hell is that tank still operational?"

##### "Charge was a dud, sir!" shouted a silhouette through the smoke. Another blast rocked another of the neighbouring buildings and Iyin could hear the faint scream of another wounded soldier on his watch.

##### "Heavy weapons, now!" he yelled as a burly Caliterrian thundered forward with an Indatech fusion launchers. He locked on to the vehicle but his head evaporated in a colourful mist as an enemy combatant pulled one back for his fallen allies. Iyin ran toward the weapon and fired in the general direction without waiting for lock on confirmation as a second round from their unseen foe struck him in the shoulder, spinning him wildly towards the very edge of the building. "Tank down!" yelled someone as a set of arms stopped the Captain from falling and dragged him to safety.

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##### The alarm sounded not long after a series of explosions caused stalactites to shake lose in the cavern. A swarm of Votheen filtered out to back up their brethren that Larik hoped were unprepared for the attack. He sneaked into the building on the right which he could only describe as a kennel. In the cages were large numbers of sick, feral and expired captives. Larik moved toward the closest to find it was an incredibly pale Sarcurian, wearing the soiled uniform of the Hope's Deliverance. It looked almost Human. "You have to get me out before they come back," whimpered a voice to his right. In a cage on the centre row was Faros Li'Kar, he looked more like the corpse of Faros than the man himself. Larik placed a solitary finger to his mandibles in the universally understood but ignored expression to shut up now. "I'm okay, just let me out." Larik examined him and it was obvious without getting too close that he was beyond hope as track lines laced his arms. He shook his head dismissively. "You've been infected," Larik said bluntly.

##### "I feel fine, get me out, that's an order. You can't just leave me here..." Faros trailed off as a hint of panic made his voice warble.

##### "Quiet, you're going to get us all killed," snapped one of the Caliterrian with Larik but it was too late as a shadow threatened the door. The unit scrambled to conceal themselves, some better placed than others. A black breed of Votheen entered and sneered as he looked around for the source of the commotion. "You! Caliterrian. What is it?" he ordered impatiently, evidently riled by the sudden assault on his base.

##### "You stupid beast. You have seconds to live and don't even know it." The Votheen moved close to the bars and grumbled at the threat in amusement.

##### "How exactly are you going to follow through on that in there?" The Votheen's gloating didn't last long as Larik plunged his dagger into its spinal cord, getting right in between the protective plates of its angular power armour.

##### "He never said he was going to kill you," Larik whispered as he twisted and swiped the weapon upward. The alien went rigid and then limp as it fell away to the floor. Larik struggled to remove his knife and pulled bone with it when it finally gave way. The Caliterrian captive tried to thank and congratulate Larik but as he tried to do so a bullet entered his skull and made the place where his mouth should have been a bloody mess. His jaw fell to one side before he could even get a word out. The rest of his unit emerged from the cracks in stunned silence as Larik put away his sidearm. "He was infected and we don't understand it yet. I'm not putting my men at risk," he said giving no other word of regret or condolence. Larik rounded the corner and went up a flight of stairs to the second floor. As he hid in plain sight from the patrols which had become vastly reduced after the distraction team had done its job, he took in the mannerisms of the new Votheen. They didn't seem as animalistic or feral. As if they were cunning. He considered how two distinct variants might have come to pass.

##### The area they found themselves in was clinically clean and not at all like the inhuman kennel in the prison area below. The pungent smell of cleaning chemicals was a welcomed change from the bodily fluids and death. The small unit moved like phantoms hopping from shadow to shadow. After dispatching two guards, Larik found the room the whole galaxy was looking for. Passed the one-way glass was a box room. A chair which had well-worn and blood-stained restraints was in the centre. Tools of all denominations lay on a bench to its left all well used themselves. On the wall, roughly waist height, was the most important part of the room. Two vials. A vial of orange fluid and a vial of blue. "Aurora." Larik hoped as he moved through into the room. As soon as he entered, the room shut itself down, a heavy plate shutter covered the doorway and began to close on the window. The Human Colonel smashed the glass case and bundled the vials into his trousers as Seretta, one of his Sarcurian pathfinders, smashed through the glass in the window with the butt of a shotgun. Larik dived out but his hand was crushed under the blast shield as it trailed behind him. To his credit he didn't scream but bit his lip so hard it drew blood. The taste was bitter in his mouth but it stopped him from passing out as his head began to swim. Seretta looked at him with sympathetic eyes as he drew his knife. "Do it," grumbled Larik as the Sarcurian swung and took off the Human's limb from the wrist, cauterising it instantly with the super-heated energy running through the blade's cutting edge.

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##### TWENTY THREE

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##### Isaac and Lau emerged from a small hatch high in the rafters which allowed them to enter the building's data centre. Isaac dropped to the suspended walkway without looking and soon found himself tumbling toward the top of a computer console at the foot of the room. He landed with a loud crash and found himself tangled up in wire that seemed to dart in a number of indecisive directions. The Votheen over him said no words but the grimace on its face was dark and merciless. It raised its upper right arm but the blow never came. Its eyes rolled into the back of its head as it toppled to one side lifeless, Lau stood over it with his sidearm still smoking from the round that had saved Isaac's life. "I owe you one," he managed as he wriggled comically trying to break free of his rapidly tightening tomb. Lau removed his rather large blade from its sheath and cut his companion free, all red faced and embarrassed. As he brushed himself down and Lau went to work pulling data from the computers the alarm sounded and immediately their tracking beacons signalled that the team was bugging out. "What about Winter?!" Isaac screamed furious by the audacity of his commanding officer. "If we grab him we can end this shit now! Humanity is in deep if he doesn't answer for his crimes." The Caliterrian studied the human unsure on what to say, what would rile him and what would comfort him.

##### "If we stay we will likely die. You think Larik will hold the ship for you? What good will that do you and your people?"

##### "If he has any shed of humanity left in him he would."

##### "Then you do not know the man," the Caliterrian snubbed.

##### Isaac had listened to orders. Defeated and angry he followed Lau and managed to clear the structure before half the Votheen population stormed the place to investigate. Dull thuds shook dust free from the cavern roof as the Votheen tripped the booby traps Lau had left behind. They managed to climb a rocky outcrop before their stealth packages gave out completely and without warning. Isaac's heart forgot to beat for a fraction of a second as the pair instinctively dropped to their chests thankfully unnoticed. "I guess they don't last forever," Lau mused seemingly unaffected by the sudden lapse in their equipment's reliability. As the Votheen poured in, Isaac noticed one determined looking one striding out. It moved across the uneven ground to where a Human was stood next to one of the armoured vehicles. Isaac swore as Lau assured him that the gods must have been on his side to allow Isaac a chance at Winter on the way out. Isaac zoomed in with the scope on his assault rifle to get a better look at what was happening. The alien seemed incredibly annoyed and began to beat on the not so innocent victim. As the Votheen attempted to crush the traitor's windpipe Isaac let off a round and opened up its own. As it choked on its own blood Leon Winter saw his opportunity and attempted to flee. He didn't get far before his left leg evaporated from the shin down. He hit the ground and as he spun about in agony dust kicked up all around him so he could no longer be seen. "Great shot," Lau managed, supremely impressed by the Human's accuracy at the range they were.

##### "Cover me." Isaac jumped from cover just before return fire flung up chunks of rock right where he had been hiding a moment ago. Isaac sprinted quicker than he knew he could as adrenalin forced his legs to keep up momentum pounding down harder each time, his feet biting into the crust. He broke pace and began to drag the disgraced politician to cover as crimson plasma fire danced around him in all directions. He thanked his good graces that the cloud prevented him from knowing how vastly outnumbered they were and also for breaking up his outline, making him harder to hit. As they dropped into a ditch that had been excavated to house the extremely thick power cables, Lau joined them, armour dashed in burns from shots that had been far too close for comfort. "I'll have your heads for this!" Leon boomed as Isaac hit him in the temple with the butt of his rifle.

##### "Who needs stun rounds." He smiled deadpan.

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##### He kept forgetting himself as he signalled for his men to hold up, only to realise the hand signal was now lost to his stump. It felt strange, like it should still be at the end of his forearm. Like a numb pain from sleeping on it. He knew so far he had gotten off lightly, the things he'd lived through didn't bear to think about and often haunted his dreams. He shook the thoughts from his head as his unit funnelled out using the work pallets as cover. They met no resistance on their way out but saw exactly why when they crested into the main staging area of the cavern. The Votheen seemed to have Isaac Jericho and Lau pinned from all angles. "He's bagged Winter." Seretta gasped as Larik noticed the third head poking out of the trench. He didn't look like he was moving at all, Larik hoped he was unconscious and not dead. He wouldn't have blamed Isaac for it but the Commander knew better, this went above them all now. "Take the heat off of them now! Drop ship's expecting a hot extraction so let's surprise them," Larik ordered as his unit re-cloaked and began to scale the exterior superstructure in the hopes of storming the sentry posts unseen. The Colonel keyed the frequency of the distraction team outside in the square but only static responded. He hoped it was technical trouble or that the radio couldn't penetrate the cave walls but he was worried. If they fought their way out of here was an army waiting for them outside?

##### The fire upon Isaac's position subsided as Senate Security clashed with the Votheen from behind their own lines. The element of surprise had caught them completely off balance as they began firing upon their own positions. Larik rattled rounds off from below and popped the shields of a rampaging foe just in time for Seretta to pull the trigger, sending the creature from its nest down through the masonry. The cracks from its bones turned Larik's stomach but it still twitched as it hit the ground in front of him. Hard to kill. He stood over it and took its head clean off with one bullet. Not impossible. Covered by the Votheen infighting and the work of his team, Larik managed to slide into cover alongside Isaac who looked extremely pleased to see him. "He's not dead, is he?" asked Larik forcefully without a hint of appreciation as he looked the politician over.

##### "Unfortunately not, no." Isaac regarded with a spiteful bite. "Good to see you too." A roar shuck the cavern and large chunks of rock began to rain down from the ceiling, the bombers had come in to clear the LZ and would be clueless that friendlies were underneath them. Larik handed the vials over to Lau who stashed them in his hidden pouch in his armour. The blast door dropped away as friendly personnel began to funnel down the tunnel. At the lip, the broadside of the drop ship opened up. Its chain gun unleashed a hail of bullets upon the Votheen foolish enough to charge. Using the chaos to their advantage, the Senate Security survivors began to sprint toward the tunnel as the drop ship turned its attention to the face of the building. It disintegrated Votheen as soon as it touched them but the horde seemed without end. Lau threw the still fully unconscious Human over his bulky shoulders and took off at an alarming rate despite the burden of the extra weight. Red hot flares strobed past them, clipping at their heels as Votheen put themselves in harm's way to prevent the black operation team's escape. Larik reached the crest of the tunnel as the first drop ship took to the clouds fully loaded up. The square they had left was a massacre now, body parts and rubble littered every spare bit of the roads and walkways.

##### Lau hefted Leon roughly onto the cold hard floor of the second drop ship as Isaac and Larik covered him. The Votheen began to clear the tunnel and pressed the drop ship's location. Isaac began to back toward the beckoning hatch and was well onboard, up and over the skirts, before he realised Larik hadn't followed. As the Colonel covered their escape a plasma round had struck him on the chest knocking him off his feet. "Fuck!" yelled Isaac as he subconsciously attempted to jump off in support but Lau's giant arm prevented it. The drop ship banked upwards sharply as a Votheen fighter sprayed the area they had been placed not seconds before. Fire peppered the cockpit as the vehicle kept ascending. "What are you doing? We have to go back!" Isaac ordered as he pounded on the head rest of the pilot's seat.

##### "We go back, we all die. Sit down, soldier," he cut off without turning back to meet the empty judging eyes staring a hole in the back of his head. Isaac punched the inner hull. He knew he was right but it didn't make it feel any less raw. The drop ship slowed ever so slightly as it passed the largest building the distraction team had used for overwatch, just long enough to allow a wounded Iyin to limp aboard with the aid of a Human and a Caliterrian. As he settled into a crew seat and clutched at his weeping wound he surveyed the faces around him. "Where's the Colonel?" The dead eyes of the surviving crew answered his question without any more words having to be spoken.

##### Larik smiled through the pain as he watched the extraction team disappear through the clouds. Someone somewhere had made the correct decision not to come back for him. The hole in his chest burned deeper than he ever knew a wound could. The pungent smell of charred flesh and death clung to him like a smothering blanket. He never saw the alien approach, he assumed he was struggling to stay conscious or alive. It bared sharp angular teeth and Larik assumed it would have gotten much satisfaction from killing or torturing him if it itself had lived much longer. The Colonel couldn't contain his smile much longer and when it surfaced the alien looked what Larik assumed passed as confused. "Always have a plan B." His one good hand waved a detonator suggestively at the Votheen who tried to pounce long after Larik had already pushed the button. The tunnel began to implode and the building on top of the cavern with it. Larik had made sure that he'd gotten one of his demolition experts to sabotage their fusion core. The expert hadn't returned and Larik hadn't even been sure he'd carried out his mission successfully before he'd pressed the button hopeful regardless. He was owed some good luck. The ruptured core would act like a black hole before reaching critical mass and releasing its energy like an atomic bomb. By his math the secret city of the Votheen would be a smouldering crater along with most of the continent. A Votheen warship broke through the atmosphere. Guests, and right on time. The last thing Larik saw was the brilliant flash of blinding white light that ended it all.

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##### TWENTY FOUR

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##### It had taken Senate technical specialists several days to process and translate all the data from the Votheen's secret outpost. They'd brought a body of the new type of Votheen back with them for research purposes and the autopsy had been done promptly. Arkan had grown increasingly impatient and anxious over that time as fears had grown about what the survivors had seen. The Votheen were mobile and scheming and it had taken them until it was too late to see it. The picture was so vastly detailed that he almost wished he could play ignorant to it. After the Senate had imprisoned the surviving Votheen on Sayloch for their crimes it appeared that they had settled secret installations out in wild space that they had never recorded. Enough Votheen were outside the cordon that they were allowed to flee to planets their ancestors had long since conquered and forgotten about. There they worked on protecting themselves against the bioweapon that had been their undoing. Evolving separately from their home world brethren they had altered their own genetic material. Once they had decided they had lived in hiding long enough they broke the cordon and returned to their home world to a shock civil war. After a very brief period of infighting, the weak inbreds left on Sayloch bent their knee to the new Votheen conquerers. It had hit Arkan like a lead weight. They weren't just dealing with angry freedom fighters of a long dead generation, they were fighting bitter and twisted monsters with the brains and capacity to do the Senate and its people real harm. The data packet the recon team had taken was full of star charts with points of interest that Arkan had passed on to the director of Senate Security for operational consideration. It also contained numerous references to humanity, a race they should have never met. Why the supposed leader of their xenophobic movement was behind enemy lines was troubling but also very fortuitous. Arkan would see Senator Wilhelm burn if he failed to bring him the answers he needed, he had no excuses now. It wasn't all gloomy news however. The vials brought back contained an incomplete vaccine for Aurora. It was designed to work with Votheen physiology but it was a thousand times better than engineering one from scratch, although Arkan was still concerned at how long it may still take. By attacking Caboona they had no doubt accelerated the pace of the war.

#####

##### The Senate Security interrogator had given Leon Winter a rough time in the five minutes he'd been ordered to watch over him. High Senator Alexander Wilhelm was in a forgiving mood from the actions of the Human officer, he'd have done it himself if he hadn't wanted to keep his job. He looked over the man he had once considered a friend with complete disdain. Even through the exhaustion and wounds, Alexander could tell the facade had dropped. The eloquent public speaker had been swapped out for a bitter old veteran scared of change. "I hear you confessed straight away." The Senator let it hang in the air but when he didn't get a reply he pushed the subject. "Out of guilt or did you think the punishment would be leaner?" Leon smiled in such a dark way that it made the Senator's skin crawl.

##### "I answer to no crime. I have done what is best for humanity. What have you ever done for us? I mean, really? Something that mattered as much as this?" Alexander was dumb struck at the accusation. His jaw gaped as Leon prepared another verse, "We came across the Votheen and they offered to spare our race if we aided them. Their success is inevitable, I have seen the true scale of what they have waiting for the Senate. Would you have denied humanity the chance of survival so readily? Are you that blind? So eager to whistle to Arkan's tune?" Leon probed, so confident in his stance that he began to stand up.

##### "So why the hell were they trying to kill you, you stupid man!" Alexander demanded as he forced the ex-politician back down.

##### "A simple misunderstanding. They thought the Senate recon team were with me. I have to admit it was very ill timed."

##### "Perfectly timed. We grabbed us one smug son of a bitch. They've played you for a fool, Leon! They don't plan on saving anyone!"

##### "You're a pet to these aliens, Alexander, and a narrowed-minded one at that. Humanity deserves better than you. They will call me a hero when I honour the arrangement we have."

##### "Really?" Alexander lulled which fooled Leon into thinking he'd gotten one over on him if that was his argument. "Then pray tell why a Votheen invasion fleet is laying siege to Atlas right now? You've doomed us all, you fucking asshole. You've probably damaged our standing with the Senate beyond repair and without their backing the Votheen will pick us off first."

##### "You always were a poor liar, Alexander, once I frame you for my death the Senate will have to re-elect a new Senator and I know just the man for the job," Leon threatened which really took Alexander back, who else was in on this maddening scheme and how exactly did Leon plan to frame him.

##### "I don't think you're in any position to make threats."

##### "Oh, aren't I? It should upset you to realise how little you know your friends." The noise came long after the shooting pain that shuddered up his arm from his shoulder. The guard had been Alexander's own for his whole tenancy. Carl Walker was a damn good man, or so he had thought. He had spent time with Alexander's children often times on trips off world. Another shot and Leon hit the floor, willing to die for his ridiculous plan. "The Senator has shot the captive!" Carl yelled as he rolled Alexander over with his boot planning on ending the lie's loose end where he lay. He didn't plan on the Senator also having a firearm, one he'd carried on him ever since Senate Security raided his office. The round took out Carl's right eye as the body swayed for much longer than it should have. When the calls for help were finally answered there were a lot of questions. No one really knew what to believe and as Alexander was treated for his wound he found himself drifting off into thought. In a perverted way he could see what Leon's logic had been. What would he have done if he thought humanity's survival could have been guaranteed? Saving humanity was one thing but condemning the rest of the galaxy was very much another. Darker thoughts crept in then. Was humanity afflicted with a selfish natural tendency to protect itself among all else? Maybe the Caliterrian had been right all along, maybe humanity wasn't ready for all this. He shuddered at the thought. He wondered what Arkan might have to say to all this and what the subsequent punishment might be. In that moment humanity's progress had been swept aside and set back a hundred years.

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##### The sky overhead was tainted a fierce crimson as the superheated sub-orbital strikes ignited the air it cut through. The aliens had come in vast number and with no intention of showing mercy. Atlas was to be an example to the rest of the galaxy. The bombardment had come only two days after Tobias had survived his venture into the headquarters of Alenda Technologies. He'd spent a night at home before setting out on foot, fully stocked, in the direction of the Fort. The only safe place on the planet he had assumed. The invasion had halted his progress and now he found himself with the grateful hospitality of a young woman and her infant daughter. She had offered him refuge in their cellar from the cold and fighting when she had found him curled up on her doorstep the night before. Her name was Holly Warren and she did her best to keep spirits up but her and her daughter's activities were often drowned out by gunfire. Tobias sat in a corner quietly and observed how close the two were, but mostly he just caught up on sleep. That's how it had happened the last time. Holly was sitting with Leanne on her lap as they played 'I spy' with the very limited amount of visual targets at their disposal. Tobias was asleep, drained by the watch he kept from the sky light in the loft space of their house. The girls were afraid to go up there, wary of drawing attention to their humble abode. He couldn't blame them one bit. He couldn't see much but more often than not it was unpleasant. He was jarred by a force which turned out to be Holly's hand placed firmly on his shoulder. The other was clasped across Leanne's mouth as her wide eyes refused to budge from the dead ahead position. The hand moved slowly and made a singular upward finger and that's when Tobias heard the footsteps on the floorboards above. Door slamming soon followed as it seemed as though the intruders were looking for something, or someone he thought grimly. The adults kept very quiet, Leanne tried her best but the odd whimper kept creeping out the side of her mouth. The footsteps grew louder until finally they began to creak down the stairway that led to the cellar. The little girl scampered extremely light-footed across the cold hard concrete floor and hid underneath a pile of clothes which she blended into quite nicely. It was well rehearsed. Holly took her leave in the wardrobe which Tobias was positive they'd check but it was marginally better than standing out in the open. Tobias drew the short straw and ducked behind a couple of large cardboard boxes which seemed to house things they'd never unpacked since they moved to the property. The seconds ticked by like self-contained eternities until the door finally began to lurch open. The figure in the doorway was no more alien than Tobias and he recognised the man as one of the recruits from the academy. The one they had all had bets on to finish top of his class. His bio-scanner swept and blinked green at all their hiding places, Tobias emerged seeing no point in staying hidden for much longer. He smiled and let out a big sigh as Holly joined him. Leanne didn't even flinch. Tobias moved toward the pile of clothes and lifted it up just enough to find her watery Frisbee-sized eyes. "Don't be shy, these are friends." He smiled as he picked her out slowly. The officer looked Tobias up and down with surprised eyes.

##### "Tobias Sterling, isn't it, sir? We had orders to bring you in."

##### "Had?"

##### "Difficult order to carry out when there's no one to bring you to," he said with an ironic cock of the head. "They hit the Fort first, like they knew we'd all be holed up in there. It's nothing more than a flaming hole in the ground now. I guess it wasn't designed to withstand an armada." Tobias's world rocked. All he knew had changed forever and all the people he had cared about were gone. He swayed but a gentle touch on his forearm prevented his collapse. He'd forgotten all about the two ladies present.

##### "So where are we going?" Holly asked, pulling her daughter close. The officer nodded toward the stairs and the message was understood immediately. The ground floor of Holly's home was gutted, bullet holes riddled every wall, the fighting in the street had caused horrendous amounts of collateral damage. He could see it in her eyes how thankful she was for the basement. If they hadn't have had it they would have almost certainly died.

##### They emerged out into the dusty air of the street. It was midday and the sun should have been high in the sky but the black clouds made it feel like the dead of night. The world seemed hostile and surreal. A small convoy of armoured trucks sat on the street waiting for them, loaded up with refugees and survivors from neighbouring streets. "We're moving to the old storm bunkers that we used when we colonised this planet. They survived terraforming conditions so what's a little invasion," the young officer joked dryly as they loaded onto the second rearmost truck which was completely empty, in fact not many of them were full. Tobias knew from his ranging days that is was about a three hours' drive south but he had to agree. If the Fort had fallen, the bunkers were the next best thing. He didn't have much hope for the plan but he didn't wish to worry Holly and Leanne. They looked like they had seen enough already. That was when a hot chill swept across the back of his neck. The vehicle behind them exploded into molten metal and showered around them in a violent storm. A scream carried by the thick air caught Tobias's ears and he suspected it was from Leanne but the little wide-eyed girl sat silently stunned. The origin had been a Votheen fighter overheard as it wound up for a return run. "Move!" bellowed an officer as the trucks fired up with thunderous vengeance. As plasma rained down on them Tobias closed his eyes, he'd already given up on long-term survival.

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##### TWENTY FIVE

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##### Discontent plagued the remnants of the Senate, those that had been able to attend despite the suspended space travel due to the impending war. The only exception to the rule were for the military vessels that prowled the borders of Senate population centres, expecting trouble and not all that ready for it. The Caliterrians, as expected, reacted the worst. Tablets were thrown and twice Senate Security had to break up a scuffle between one particular Senator and his unsuspecting Human neighbour. The Votheen had already scored a crucial victory, the Senate were fighting amongst themselves instead of focusing on the mutual threat. "Silence!" boomed the Selin High Senator which made Alexander's skull feel like it was going to split in two. He'd been completely honest with the High Senate in the hopes that honesty would redeem them in the eyes of the rest of the galaxy. He wouldn't stand for the failings of a few condemning them all. He was still unsure as to whether anyone believed he didn't kill Leon and that made him both angry and nervous. He didn't understand why the Caliterrian were so quick to blame an entire people, were they just acting out of fear now. Had this been the fate of the Votheen centuries before? Held in the hands of incapable air heads. The Caliterrian High Senator paced the stage in front of his throne. "We have lived in fear for far too long. We had thought them vanquished and banished to history like a bad myth but in truth they have never been far from our thoughts. That is why we must stand together, strongly. We can only do this when each race trusts the other and our goals are as one." He paused as Alexander nodded in support. "This is why I vote that Humanity be sidelined in this war." The calls of support from the Caliterrian and the jeers from every Human drowned out the rest of his speech but Alexander assumed he wouldn't have liked it. He was furious that the Forerunner had double crossed him and not pre-warned anyone of what he planned to do. He bolted from his throne long before any security could stop him. "You are all allowing your fear of the Votheen to cloud your judgement. The xenophobic likes of the rebellion do not speak for humanity. If it wasn't for Humankind you all would be a lot worse off. You would not have had forewarning about the Votheen and do correct me but wasn't the Aurora vaccine recovered by a Human Colonel? One, I might add, that sacrificed himself so that the cure could make it off world. You are going to need all the help you can get in this war and if you leave us to fend for ourselves then you may as well have killed us off yourselves," he said passionately as the forming Senate Security personnel allowed him to speak. Support grew in the stands as Humans and a lot of Sarcurians stood proud and applauded. The Caliterrians considered this and so did the Forerunner, allowing a hint of doubt to cloud his thoughts. "How can we be sure that what Leon Winter stood for doesn't infect you or the people around you? Where is he to answer to us?" Arkan questioned as a silence swept unnaturally around the triangular hall. "The suspected culprit lays dead, possibly by your hands. Humanity has proven in the past that it is too self-centred and who among your people, High Senator Wilhelm, could say that you would not have sold us out to save your own race?"

##### "I wouldn't have. I value what we have accomplished and the bridges we have built here although it would appear to me that the Caliterrian have never warmed to us and are using that as an excuse to exile us. You feel threatened, don't you? After all the glory of your empire you failed to prevent this war yet Humanity has accomplished more against this threat than you ever have." Alexander would later regret that last statement, he couldn't have known what it would lead to but his anger at the Forerunner's blindness had gotten the better of him.

##### "Then you are a liar as well as a fraud, High Senator. The Caliterrian people voted for genocide in the last war, we were out voted. If our will had been honoured then we would not find ourselves in this position, now, would we? Once more I see the dangerous need to excel and impress in your species and I fear for what you may do to fulfil that need. You remind me of the Votheen in so many ways, ambitions unbridled."

##### The negative row exploded and died down only after another telepathic blast from the Selin. Alexander felt nauseous. Ora stood next to address the unruly crowd. "We all have more pressing matters to concern ourselves with. Let us not turn on one another or we have already lost."

##### "Thank you, your majesty, at least one of the High representatives speaks with the voice of reason." Alexander sighed initially relieved by the support but it was short lived. Ora leaned in to whisper, "Do not thank me yet, Senator." She returned to address the Senate as a whole, "I am afraid however that the representative from Caliterria has a point and his concern must be heard. We are a diplomatic system however so it will be put to a vote." Alexander couldn't believe his ears. Even if the Sarcurian sided with Humanity as a whole, which he highly doubted given their history, the Caliterrian diplomats vastly outnumbered the two species combined. The result was expected. As the holographic screens appeared in front of the seats of every representative Alexander regarded the options and felt dead inside. It was painfully blunt and gave only three choices. The first was a pardon for any supposed involvement which would have ended the matter there and then. The second was postponement of punishment which would have seen the matter concluded after the war with the Votheen had passed. Alexander would have settled for this as he was sure that Humanity could prove itself against the alien threat enough to gain a pardon later down the line. The last made a hard lump form in the Human High Senator's throat. Exile, it read. It took a while for the results to come in which condemned an entire species, that was little comfort. Alexander was powerless to overturn it and was taken back at how such a thing had unfolded before his eyes. He phased out the rest of the meeting as fights broke out and Senate Security swarmed the hall. Two enforcers grabbed the High Senator by the arms and began to take him toward the exit. "Then it is decided, all Human non-essential personnel are to be relieved of duty and returned to Earth and other Human-controlled colonies. Senator Wilhelm will remain here and answer to the crimes named against him. There will be no military enforcement or regulation of your exile but you will no longer be welcome on Engevaal in matters concerning the Senate," Arkan instructed, his voice amplified to get above the noise. Alexander wriggled free of his restraints and stood at the very edge of the High Senate platform and he demanded to be heard.

##### "I employ Humanity to begrudgingly accept the terms of this truce and cause no situation that would show us in a negative light. We can leave Engevaal with our heads held high. Know that we will survive this war without you and I hope you come to realise the mistakes you've made here today. Humanity will stand in one voice and we thank everyone from other races that supported us here today. Know that I will continue to fight for justice here." That was all he could get out before Senate Security forcibly removed him from the hall. Arkan was gracious in victory and regarded the speech as honourable, backstabbing coward was the appropriate reply that never found its way back.

#####

##### Angular silvery splinters rained down from the shattered mirror as the tablet computer struck it. He slumped into the chair of his now redundant office which matched his redundant job rather nicely. The door slid open as the guard posted to watch over him peeked in to follow up on the commotion not a moment before. The Caliterrian snorted disapprovingly once he'd surveyed the damage, confident in the fact it was just a tantrum he left as promptly as he'd appeared. He may have been the most important Human in the galaxy not an hour before but now Alexander Wilhelm felt about as much of a pariah as a beggar in the street. AI Greaves strolled across the desk and bowed in front of Alexander. "My clearances are slowly being revoked by the Core AI construct. I've implemented countermeasures to slow it down as I assumed you'd have use of me before they turned me off completely sir." Alexander had to admit, after years of loyal service, Greaves had certainly gained a knack in presuming the ex-Senator's intentions.

##### "Of course." He struggled to smile at his companion. "Warn the confederation and tell them to put the Navy on their highest alert level. I fear the Votheen will come for us first now. Let's hope we have enough supporters within the Sarcurian that they grew a conscience and come to our aid if we get into trouble because I don't reckon much to our chances if we have to do this alone...obviously leave that bit out." The AI nodded as it began to flicker.

##### "Will that be all, sir? We don't have long."

##### "Tell the Pariah to get out of here before its grounded for good. We need all the men and women we can and I've got a feeling we'll need Shayara Ventii and her team now more than ever."

##### "Very well. May I say it has been a pleasure serving you these past..." With that the AI faded out for good leaving the Human ex-Senator truly alone, soon not to have a peer or friend in hundreds of thousands of miles. He sat there in silence for the better part of an hour before a ruckus outside his door caused him to hide under the desk with the sidearm that had saved his life in the interrogation room. He feared his sentence had been decided and Senate Security were coming to end his life and his alleged treason. The two very distinct gunshots caused electricity to shoot across the hairs on the back of his neck, his skin bristled as he focussed his sights toward the door. Three humanoid shapes entered dressed in the black armour of the Senate Security Black Operations Division. He thought that his number was up and he found himself thinking of home. A house he'd built in England with his wife. His children playing in the garden with an innocent blindness to the affairs tended by their father. Alexander didn't shoot, he stood up and met his would-be kill squad with an outstretched hand. The leader took off his helmet to reveal the healing face of Isaac Jericho. Alexander gasped and a tear rolled down his cheek. "I know you said not to do anything rash but Arkan Sha'Ni has just ordered your execution. You're convicted of treason, for going behind the back of the Senate but personally I think he just wants to make an example of you. I've managed to get enough of our sympathisers on side to get you off this rock and back home but we have to move now." The Commander slid a duffle bag at the feet of Alexander who opened it up to find armour identical to Isaac's and a T-21 Predator sidearm.

##### "You think he'd be concerned with making me a martyr."

##### "He's a Caliterrian, they're too sure-headed to consider us a threat."

#####

##### Shayara had already prepped for take-off long before the warning from Alexander Wilhelm had arrived. She had expected Arkan to treat Humanity unfairly, the man was painfully predictable but even she hadn't expected him to order Alexander's execution. There was no time to fight it as The Keep began to lock down." R051E's updating from the Senate mainframe," Jarner informed as he powered up the engines manually. Shayara mulled it over for half a second but there was no other option for it.

##### "Yank her!" she ordered as she dived into the Captain's chair. The thruster fired with conviction and moved them out of the reach of the docking clamps that tried to prevent their escape.

##### "I assume the Senate want their ship back," Jarner yelled above the roar. Shayara grabbed manual control and swerved the Pariah out of the hangar moments before the shield door closed on them. Shayara dabbed her brow and ran upward, punching through the skyline and out of reach. R051E's avatar shuddered and seemed confused by the unsafe ejection of her systems. "You okay?" Shayara asked dubiously.

##### "I am free."

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##### Alexander suited up in seconds. He knew time was of the essence and his life being on the line motivated him more than he knew he had in him. The small team moved through the upper halls to the skycar depot, assumed to have additional security and all Sarcurian due to the fact their faces were hidden. The one Sarcurian of the team, a female he was sure he recognised, cleared them through numerous checkpoints with ease. Alexander was thankful but hoped the restructuring on an entire planet was to blame for the poor security measures. Alexander waited until the skycar had shut and started its decent before he broke vocal silence. "How bad is it out there? Do we have any supporters?"

##### "Humanity was honouring your plea for a nonviolent removal until Arkan ordered your execution. Now it's getting a little messy," Isaac informed solemnly.

##### "Most of the Sarcurians are on your side, Senator. Queen Ora Acil is only allowing this to play nice with the Caliterrian as they have the most power and influence here. If the time comes when the Votheen are at your door, our fleet is yours," promised the Sarcurian much to the gratitude of Alexander. He realised it was the Luminary who Shayara had saved on Hope's Deliverance. Thankfully they had more allies in the galaxy than he had thought.

##### "I could have done with the Queen's support during congress. What about the Selin?"

##### "Indifferent as always, best to not put any of our eggs in that basket. Word is that the High Senator has already fled to Tearsin," Isaac remarked bitterly. Alexander took heart in the fact they at least had the Sarcurian's support, even if it wasn't publicly announced. The skycar touched down with a dim thud that brought no attention in the chaotic hangar. As they crossed toward a robed figure in front of a ship, that would have looked more at home in a scrap yard than in space, an alarm sounded. "Shit." Isaac sighed as he could hear authoritative shouts from somewhere not all too far behind them.

##### "Vad Turso at your service, looks like you have company. Please make yourselves at home," welcomed the Sarcurian with the ghastly scar on his face, gesturing for the men to climb aboard quickly. Isaac, his two comrades and Vad entered first but as Alexander attempted to a familiar figure dropped down in front of him impeding his progress.

##### The Guardian snarled angrily as he raised his weapon. "I'd had my suspicions when this vehicle's impound was overturned. I didn't have you as a man who would face your crimes honourably either," Keeto grumbled as Alexander raised his sidearm to match. "Your posture is all wrong, Human. I assume you've never fired a weapon before let alone killed someone. Would you like to complete your treason by murdering the hand of a Forerunner?"

##### "Seems like you're not giving me much choice," Alexander said as he steadied his shaky hand with the other as it cradled the barrel. Isaac was upon the Caliterrian before he even knew it.

##### "I suggest you lower your weapon. We are all on the same side here maybe you'd like to remind your master of that fact. We are going to be needing our President intact," he seethed.

##### "You are not leaving this planet alive," promised Keeto.

##### "If anyone shoots anyone right here and now we'll have another war on our hands and we could really do without that," Isaac reasoned, "But don't think we won't." The Guardian bared its teeth and grated them together as Isaac beckoned Wilhelm aboard.

##### "There will be consequences, Senator." Alexander watched the Caliterrian with caution as the ramp closed. He had never been regarded with such scorn in all his life and he was a politician.

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##### TWENTY SIX

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##### Construct R051E shimmered with newly found confidence as she inspected her own avatar. Shayara watched her cautiously from the captain's chair, positive something was indeed wrong. "The unscheduled ejection from the Senate mainframe severed the control the Votheen AI had over me," R051E informed as a stunned silence swept over the bridge.

##### "What Votheen AI? The one from the space station?" Shayara urged nervously.

##### "Correct. It did not download into the mechanical units that attacked you. Instead it hibernated in my lower priority systems waiting like a virus to spread to a new host."

##### "So where is it now?" Jarner fired back stunned that their AI was so comfortable in what she was saying.

##### "It knew we'd go back to The Keep. It has infected their systems in an effort to lower the planetary defence grid when the main invasion begins." Shayara felt like she was going to be sick. She had been taken advantage of and had singlehandedly smuggled the most dangerous security threat that had ever dared to cause harm to the Senate and its people onto the planet. "Fuck, as if humanity hasn't had enough bad press," James Crow breathed with a deep damning sigh.

##### "That explains your instability," Jarner realised all of a sudden as things began to make more and more sense.

##### "Warn the Senate immediately R051E," ordered Shayara but the shake of the AI's head confirmed their worst fears.

##### "Communications are already being impeded, Captain. I fear we are too late." The Votheen certainly had a solid plan which could be expected from centuries of meticulous plotting. Shayara cursed herself for not foreseeing her part in the supposed downfall of the Senate. If the Caliterrian ever learned of their involvement they'd demand the head of every member of the Pariah's crew.

##### "Any good news?" Jarner pleaded, more optimistically than he felt. The AI nodded.

##### "I believe I have something of value, yes. I've set course for the capital ship of the Human Confederate Navy, The Protector. We are being summoned by President Alexander Wilhelm. I'll bring everyone up to speed there as I require time to analyse what I have." She smiled slyly and collapsed back into her emitter. Shayara looked at Jarner and then James with a ponderous scowl.

##### "Should I be optimistic right now?" Jarner shrugged.

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##### Early Pay Day had ample space for all the new occupants as the often crammed cargo hold was completely empty, its cargo held by Senate Security as evidence. Vad didn't particularly care as he had his old rust bucket back and his health for what that was worth. His attacker had luckily had a poor shot, the bullets had missed all vital organs and the only real damage was the face shot that had shattered the skull all down one side. Luckily there had been no lasting damage to the brain. It had taken him a few weeks and numerous operations to recover. He had a steel plate holding his head together. Thanks to swelling on the brain he'd not remembered the attack or anything about himself until the back end of week two. The Human that had attacked him was one of the men who had handed over the cursed cargo that'd had gotten him into all this mess. As news broke Vad pieced together that the Human was likely a part of the Underground Resistance and wished to keep their involvement secret by cutting off any loose ends. He knew that the xenophobes could have eyes and ears at any level so not wanting to hang in one place for too long, for the fear that they may discover his survival, he checked out early and took refuge in another hostel on the opposite side of the city. It didn't take long for Isaac Jericho to track him down and give him the offer of a life time. As long as the Sarcurian could give them safe passage to the Human Fleet he would get back his ship and his life. Isaac forged Colonel Larik Kass's clearance and released Early Pay Day as promised. The thing that clinched the deal was the hope of getting back at the resistance and in part the Votheen. It also helped that he supported the Human's stance when it came to what the Caliterrian had done to them.

##### Alexander sat motionless on a low hanging beam in the corner of the cavernous bay contemplating where it all went wrong. Feet shuffled closer as he raised his glum gaze to meet the counteractive smile of Isaac who held out a warm cup of real Earth coffee. He flung the ceramic mug into the waiting paw of the President before taking a heavy seat next to him. "Real caffeine. I am impressed."

##### "Even alien smugglers have expensive and fine taste it would seem." Isaac smirked as he took an un-charming amount into his mouth and gulped it down loudly. Alexander felt like a snob and had to remind himself he was now among soldiers, real men's men. When he thought about all that Isaac had done he realised he would much rather keep the company of Isaac than any politician. What you saw is what you got and he didn't hide behind smoke and mirrors. Alexander heard the smack of lips as Isaac finished and began to initiate speech, "We're a few hours from the fleet. Apparently Ventii has something for us."

##### "I knew she wouldn't let us down." Alexander smiled in the first genuine sense for several weeks. His face ached.

##### "She's one hell of a Captain," Isaac agreed. After his encounter with her he'd done a little research, a lot of it not legal. He'd even gotten her black operation postings. She was every bit the person he suspected she was and more. He knew as well as the President that she could be the difference when the war found its way home. Isaac stood up and began to walk away but stopped as Alexander called out, "Are you conflicted at all that you sprung me?"

##### "Honestly, sir, no. Humanity needs to stick together and without a leader that'll be pretty difficult to do. Arkan needs to learn he's not judge, jury and executioner. The Senate is a democracy."

##### "So we thought."

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##### TWENTY SEVEN

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##### The city below was deathly quiet. Too quiet. Only a few skycars graced the skyline as Keeto looked down from his apartment. Productivity had come to a halt after the Senate's ruling on humanity. Most of the Humans had honoured the request of their now disposed leader and not caused any trouble. Until the Forerunner had ordered his execution. Now martial law had been instigated and that sat well enough with the Guardian. His ego was still raw from having Alexander Wilhelm slip through his claws and the Director of Senate Security was said to be furious. Keeto had decided to cool off before facing the punishment for his failure. He was on the open plan roof garden of his apartment when something seemed off. The skycars had begun to blur into a mass, not the neat vectors they should have been on. Then they started to fade as if getting further away, falling. Falling. Flashes of light burst as skycars hit buildings and each other. The calm of dusk had been shattered. Keeto watched no longer as he straddled the bench and bolted inside, slamming into the door's protective shield as his home locked down. He didn't have time to nurse his shoulder or question what was going on as he acted on instinct and threw himself through the window, balling up to protect himself from injury. It locked down as well, only seconds after. The rest of the buildings around him had similar protection suites which had also energised. Had the Humans gone with a cyber-attack in retaliation or was the lockdown initiated by the Senate in an attempt to protect its citizens against whatever was happening below. Screams and shouts for help filled the once peaceful air as occupants were terrified by a place they should have felt safe in. He could do nothing to help but he knew Senate Security Headquarters would be the place for answers and they could probably do with all the hands they could get. The problem was, Senate Security was a few hundred locked down levels below.

##### Keeto landed heavily as his legs gave way. The skycar he'd ridden atop of slammed into the ground throwing up all manner of debris that skittered off the heliport to cause more damage on the levels below. Before Keeto could get his bearings two rounds bounced off of his armour's shield which he responded to by rolling into cover behind the decorative fountain in front of Senate Security's lobby. It was definitely cyberterrorism as the security mechs had lost all ability to identify friend or foe. Their skeletal frame wasn't imposing, especially once compared with Keeto's bulk, but they travelled in numbers and stood freely in harm's way. An enemy without fear is a very dangerous enemy indeed Keeto told himself as he rolled out and took the two robots down in one fell swoop with a blade in hand. He retrieved their Predator sidearms and scavenged the additional ammunition. Now he was armed he had a workable situation which was in his favour. He crept into the lobby which was completely gutted, the clerk stationed there, the one who Keeto had never talked to, lay slumped in his seat impaled by glass shards. The Guardian moved up the primary stairway. Nothing challenged his presence but nothing greeted him either. That was until he reached the waiting area at the top, he had a pile of wasted mechs for company. As he got closer he saw a shimmer out of the corner of his eye that bounded over cover toward him. Keeto dropped to a battle stance prepared for what might come next. All around him figures de-cloaked but he was allowed a moment's reprieve. Director Halto Al'Ku, dressed in a variant of Guardian armour, moved through his men to meet the newly emergent Guardian. "Settle down, Keeto," he ordered as Keeto instinctively patted his right fist against his left peck twice in a sign of respect for his superior. "I am disappointed in your failure to keep the Human President on this planet. I sent you there with one objective to follow."

##### "I wished to avoid another multi-racial incident, sir," Keeto shot back more defensively than he had intended.

##### "Well, we've got one now," the Director admitted darkly.

##### "So it is the Humans?"

##### "Ha! If the gods had been so merciful. The Votheen." A dead weight stirred in Keeto's gut. He had been naive, he had assumed Engevaal would have had more time. "One of their AIs is in the system and has shut us out. The Oracle is compromised."

##### "What does the Senate have to say of this?"

##### "Complete disarray since the last session. The fools are looking out for themselves and not their people. Even Arkan is being more than just his characteristically stubborn self." Keeto held his tongue despite the slander of the Forerunner's good name. It just so happened that Keeto tended to agree with Arkan on most things and soiling his name like Halto had just done could be seen as treacherous. Al'Ku was much his senior however so out of respect he let the comment pass. "We take the initiative, Guardian. We believe the alien AI is based within the core of the Oracle so we are going to shut it down. Can I count on you this time?" Halto questioned more out of challenge than want of actually asking.

##### "You can or the blood of my ancestors be tainted."

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##### TWENTY EIGHT

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##### The Protector, flagship of the Human Confederate Naval Fleet, straddled the open space between Earth and the red planet. The Pariah had touched down in the cavernous hangar a few hours before Early Pay Day. Shayara hadn't seen fit to leave the bridge of her ship yet. It was only fair to wait for the President to arrive she had told herself. When his escort arrived she wasn't exactly sure what to make of it. Sure it was inconspicuous but she wondered why they'd chance the hazard of it not being able to complete the journey at all. Its chassis squealed as it touched down to let off its first passenger. As she saw him, Shayara clasped Isaac Jericho with surprised thanks. "Didn't I tell you to take it easy?" added James Crow from the sidelines not entirely joking.

##### "Duty called, Doc," Isaac brushed off with a smile as Shayara slapped his shoulder. "Plus I couldn't sit idle while Ventii here took all the glory for herself, now could I?" President Wilhelm descended next with a curiously hooded Sarcurian male in tow,

##### "Miss Ventii, I'm pleased you escaped that unpleasant mess. I hear you've got a plan for us." The next figure was Cesh Zhurl, Shayara gasped and shook her hand warmly before turning to Alexander.

##### "You too, Mr President. Not my plan exactly. We can talk more when we address the confederacy. Who's the escort?" she quizzed as the other Sarcurian threw back his hood to reveal his hideously disfigured face.

##### "This is Vad Turso, a smuggler by trade but a good man who offered his services for the right price. He was originally framed for the attack on Hope's Deliverance." Great, thought Shayara, a man whose loyalty were to credits and one who had a score to settle...that just made it worse. Regardless, he'd gotten the President to them safe and sound so she offered her hand which Vad shyly accepted. "Pleasure," he struggled all too clearly.

##### The operations room, close to the bridge, was a place of technological marvel. As well as packing the biggest punch, The Protector was also the most advanced ship in the fleet. The designers had worked in collaboration with a think tank of Sarcurian minds which spoke volumes about interspecies relationships. Especially when compared to the trouble between the two when Humanity had first ascended. At the far end of the circular holoprojector table was Admiral of the Fleet Victor Edwards. He was a man of African descent with a low maintenance smooth bald head. His arms were spread wide, clutching tightly at the railings in front of him as he hunched over analysing the data streams in front of him. He allowed his eyes to roll up from his work to regard the entering group. President Alexander Wilhelm entered first followed by Shayara Ventii, Jarner Nevo, Isaac Jericho, Cesh Zhurl, James Crow and Vad Turso. The group fanned out around the table evenly as construct R051E materialised on top of it and smiled to her comrades. Alexander nodded in thanks as the Admiral snapped a tidy salute in his direction. "With all due respects, Mr President, this is a Human problem so if the aliens could wait outside..." Jarner started for the door but was stopped as Shayara blocked his path with her arm.

##### "I think I speak for everyone here when I say we'll have to deny that request, Admiral. Jarner is a member of my crew so whatever you have to say to me you can say to him and as for Vad. The President's head would be hanging in Arkan's study if it wasn't for him. Cesh Zhurl has survived a Votheen attack before. I think you'll appreciate her insight on their tactics," Shayara answered with no sense in her voice for leniency. The room was silent and the air thick. The insubordination did not sit well with the Admiral, his knuckles had turned white as his grip strengthened.

##### "This is my ship, Miss Ventii, you may be sympathetic to aliens but look where that's gotten you. While you are here you will play by my rules. Unless you have forgotten with all your mingling, you are Human, the aliens tossed us aside," spat back the Admiral dropping any niceties or subtext from his speech.

##### "You are out of order, Admiral. I happen to agree with Shayara. The Senate didn't cast us aside, the Caliterrian did. The crew of the Pariah stay, without them we'd already be bending a knee to these ugly four armed bastards. Vad Turso stays as without him I'd be dead and you'd be pissing in the wind and Cesh Zhurl is a valuable ally you'd do well to keep on side. Now, do I make myself clear?" shot Alexander forcefully, furious at the rift between relations. There was a long pause before the Admiral nodded submissively.

##### R051E covered her virtual mouth with the back of her hand in a feigned yawn. Everyone looked in her direction which caused her actuators to simulate anxiety as she had not expected to get everyone's attention so easily. She tugged at her collar and smiled nervously. "If I may?" she pressed awkwardly. Alexander agreed long before the Admiral could say otherwise. R051E nodded, spun on her heel and burst into millions of tiny lights which all gravitated to their predetermined places in the galaxy. R051E manipulated into the quarantine zone and the space station while providing live commentary, "When I first came across the Votheen AI construct named Collective, it managed to worm its way into my subsystems and hid within low priority pathways." The Admiral let his grip go and folded his arms, brooding as he shifted uncomfortably where he stood.

##### "You mean to say you've brought a compromised AI onto my ship!" he barked toward Shayara.

##### "Are you going to listen to her?"

##### "It. Not her," the Admiral corrected as Alexander put up a hand which meant rather clearly to hurry up and quit the petty bullshit.

##### "I believe the Votheen AIs may be a hive mind like entity," R051E continued. "Collective had many voices and faces. Maybe it can communicate with other AIs like me or maybe it is like every other AI and manifests itself as a fragment."

##### "Is that it?" The Admiral shrugged. This time R051E shot down his poor behaviour with a well-placed finger against her lips. She shut off all the consoles and lights in the room so her avatar was the only point of interest. "Now that I have all your undivided attention. When Shayara made the decision to remove me from what she thought was an update the connection with the Votheen AI was severed and it was left in the Senate mainframe." Alexander had heard The Keep was in turmoil. He had tried his hardest to get through to confirm his fears but all attempts of communication had failed thus far. "The good news however is that a good hunk of its memory was left behind as it was unable to purge my memory banks due to the abrupt ejection. I've spent a good deal of my time processing what I have."

##### "A few hours is not a good deal of time if you have as much as you say," the Admiral suggested bluntly.

##### "You forget that I compute at a much higher rate than yourselves. In comparison, I have already eclipsed all your lives combined working on this project." A smirk crossed her face. R051E proceeded to explain that the Votheen had been hard at work since their exile. They had fanned out in uncharted space and begun to colonise worlds on the very edge of the Milky Way. On the cusp of the nothingness between galaxies. The records suggested that patrols near those planets had come under attack and the planets not long after. Once that had happened the Votheen had started to retreat inwards which had eventually led to them making contact with Senate races. "The Sarcurian Luminaries avoid the edges of the galaxy out of superstition. There is said to be a powerful ancient force out there that would do us great harm. That and the fact that nothing is out there worth sacrificing a great amount of effort and resource to get to," Jarner voiced not all too confidently. R051E cocked her head and added the Sarcurian perspective to the amassed enemy intel.

##### "It would appear as though they came under attack by an alien entity we are unaware of."

##### "So what's the plan?" Shayara felt anxious in the amount of unknowns and felt there'd been far too much lead up to the climax. R051E nodded and zoomed into the galaxy arm shared by the Sol system. The world at the very edge was the target. "This was the last colony to fall just two years ago. After that the Votheen stopped pushing the borders and focused inwards." She sighed heavily and shrugged. "We can all pretend but by my calculations the Votheen have the Senate beat if it turns into full scale war. Especially now that we are segregated, it is highly likely Earth will be hit first. I won't depress you with the probability but these mythical beings will tip the scale." She paused and considered herself. "I realise how insane I sound right now just to clarify."

##### "It is a stretch." Shayara considered. Thoughts kept swimming around her head. It would be a huge assumption to presume if they did exist that they'd still be there two years on and what if they did find them? Would they care? They could be hostile from the start and worse than the Votheen if they had the capability to devastate colonies at will. She voiced as much and the room stopped to consider. "Granted it is a long shot but what are our options?" R051E asked, "This could be our...what's that cute Human expression...our ace in the hole? I have drawn similarities between each attack and it would not seem that this race is overtly hostile. They seem to be playing shepherd and defending the edge of the galaxy. When one ship crosses that border, they burn the nearest colony to the ground. I cannot say whether they will care about the Votheen's campaign of genocide but they have previous so what could we lose?"

##### "We could gain another enemy," added the Admiral.

##### "If they wanted the system they have the ability to sweep through and take it," R051E answered flatly. That was a throat lump that wouldn't budge. The thought of this race scared Shayara but she wouldn't allow it to show. Alexander considered what he was hearing. They were indeed at a grim junction. "We have to face facts. The Senate and Engevaal may already be lost and Humanity cannot stand alone. It could be a suicide mission or a waste of time. It could be first contact with an undocumented and possibly hostile alien race but I think the benefits outweigh the risk."

##### "I am not committing any of my forces to this fool's errand. We need to be here. Ready for the Votheen when they show up on our doorstep or had you forgotten that, sir?" refused Victor sharply.

##### "Last time I checked, I was a free agent," Shayara said.

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##### TWENTY NINE

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##### Keeto moved light-footed through the maintenance halls of The Keep following in the footsteps of Director Al'Ku. He had taken it upon himself to play the hero which was slightly hypocritical in his role as he was acting without permission from the High Senate. Keeto was just thankful someone on the planet was willing to do what was necessary and take the initiative. The passageway opened up at the end and the unit soon realised that they were on the upper platform of the High Senate in The Keep's main auditorium. Keeto was awestruck. He felt honoured to be walking across the hallowed ground of the galactic elite even if it was under such trying circumstances. Only the Forerunner had ever set foot here. He moved toward Arkan's seat as the rest of his team fanned out. He studied its design, the elegance and exuberance of it was inspiring. He let his hand glide across the arm and studied the minute details that were lost on the eye. He knew more pressing matters beckoned but he realised that this may be his last chance to witness an important part of his race's heritage. "Maybe one day Guardian," regarded the Director who Keeto hadn't realised was watching. He removed his hand slowly, embarrassed. To Keeto's surprise the Director helped himself to a seat and brought up a holo-console, flicking through the screens in regimented fashion. If he hadn't have been so shocked Keeto would have protested but he was done long before Keeto worked up the courage to. The floor began to vibrate as hidden gears and cogs cycled below their feet. The speaker's podium moved backward and a huge tunnel opened up in the floor below them. Keeto went to peer off of the end of the High Senate's platform but soon found himself moving toward the hole. The High Senate area displaced itself from the wall and began to descend into the blackness. The tunnel walls wrapped around them and suddenly the platform came to a crunching halt. The Director looked spooked as he began to hammer on the holo-console but no response came. Something was wrong. The platform began to creak and shudder. Keeto caught on quicker than his peers and yelled orders to get off the platform. He took a running jump off the platform and grabbed at the tunnel wall. A couple of his comrades close to the edge followed before their footing fell away rapidly. The Director never stood a chance from his seated position. A few stragglers jumped but lost momentum as the ground fell from them, causing them to fall short and claw empty space. The platform hit the ground with a shattering boom and the dust thrown up shielded Keeto from the sight. Minutes past before anyone clinging on dared to move as they watched the scene unfold. The realisation on how close they'd all come to death was a grim reminder at how dangerous their mission was. "We press on and check for survivors as we go," said Keeto authoritatively more in optimism than expectation realising command had now fallen to him.

##### As the four survivors descended the inner face of the tunnel one hand hole at a time, Keeto's mind ventured. He considered what had gone wrong and whether the alien AI was taking active steps to prevent them reaching it. After almost an hour they reached the bottom with a last ten foot drop. Keeto stumbled from both exhaustion and the uneven ground. He sat on the ground catching his breath as his team joined him and searched the rubble. As expected, no one stirred. As they sifted through friends and family underfoot they found the Director, contorted in unnatural angles that made Keeto's stomach turn. To Keeto's advantage the rubble had smashed through the blast door that had protected the AI core. A trap was likely contained inside but they had no other choice. If they didn't end this now Engevaal would fall long before the Votheen arrived. He hoped the AI had expected to kill them all in one go and was still working on a plan for dealing with survivors but he knew that was wishful thinking. The last stragglers checked pulses but it was a frivolous. Not even a faint IFF pinged on the radar.

##### The room beyond was huge and all on one flat level. Rows of Pillars supported the room in rows on both flanks which was likely due to the stress of being under the entirety of The Keep. Every surface in the room was coated in glass and showed off the vast technologies underneath. Keeto presumed this room could be turned into anything it wanted, much like a VR training suite. In the centre of the room was a levitating orb between two antigravity generators. It pulsed with a green aura. This was their target, the AI core. An ear-piercing pop sounded as a projectile whizzed past Keeto's head and caused a fist-sized hole in the back of one of the Sarcurians still making his way through the door. The round caused his body to burn and smoulder. "Ambush!" yelled Arkan as he slid behind a pillar, a salvo drenched where he had just been. As his two remaining soldiers fired back he chanced a glance at where they were being attacked from. His jaw swung low as he watched the wire frame of a Caliterrian fire pure energy from his hands. It was being manifested by the alien AI he knew but the fact it could turn the room against them was worrying. It was a clever security design but not so once it had been compromised by an enemy. "We've got a problem, Guardian," yelled the elder Caliterrian two pillars behind Keeto's own. He didn't need telling in the least but when he braved another look he saw just how bad it was. Their rounds were going straight through the virtual image. How could they possibly beat an enemy they couldn't fight? Another energy blast took out the Caliterrian that had issued the warning as his pillar crumbled along with most of his face. Keeto fired a few rounds off at the core assuming cutting off the head would cause the body to die. The emerald shield caused the projectiles to ping off harmlessly. "Can I count on you, Guardian?" The voice of the Director sent a chill down Keeto's spine. He saw the wire frame grow detailing, the AI core was indeed toying with them now. The imitation Director released another shot toward the last Caliterrian support as he bolted from cover, vaporising him instantly in a cloud of smoke. As the Director charged up another blast, Keeto leapt out and ran through the image toward the AI core. The fake Director fired and the bolt shot straight through Keeto's lower back and out the other side, straight through the AI core. As the apparition faded Keeto stumbled to his knees and coughed up blood as he smiled. It was short lived.

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##### THIRTY

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##### "That's the perimeter alarm," noted AI Construct Vanguard, the AI issued to the HCNF Protector. His dark features and battle armour made him seem less approachable than R051E had been. All those present knew what the alarm meant. Unidentified vessels had breached the outer most defences of the Sol system and were on their way to Earth. "I'm getting unconfirmed reports of Votheen class warships over Engevaal President Wilhelm." Alexander nodded half pleased that they'd split their fleet and not sent the whole of their power to burn Earth. The assembled representatives had moved to the bridge after the departure of the Pariah. Isaac had pleaded to go with them but Shayara had flatly refused. They didn't know what they might find and she didn't want to lead more men than necessary to their possible deaths. No matter how much she insisted however James and Jarner would hear none of it. "How many are we looking at?" pried Cesh as she scratched her head at the Human readouts.

##### "One capital, four cruisers and a handful of frigate class vessels," the AI informed

##### "It may not sound like much but we will still struggle," the Admiral admitted and Cesh just so happened to agree.

##### "Divert all drive core power to the forward shields and overcharge all rail guns," Cesh ordered much to the surprise of all the crew. The Admiral seemed in a dark mood having already being snubbed and now an alien attempted to call the shots on his own ship.

##### "What makes you qualified to give that order on my ship?"

##### "I know how not to fight them, need I remind you I've already lost a ship and crew to these monsters?" Despite their differences the Admiral was not a stupid man, he was willing to listen to someone with insight on the enemy and her honesty gained her some degree of respect in his eyes.

##### "Listen to the lady," he ordered only half begrudgingly.

##### Minutes past by as the entire flagship burst into life, personnel rushed to their designated battle stations. Reinforcements flanked The Protector which sat majestically at the centre of the fleet. They had the Votheen vastly outnumbered but the alien tenacity and technology likely had them outgunned and outclassed. The Human fleet split into two under the suggestion of the present Sarcurian Luminary. One moved toward the south pole of Mars while the other attacked the north in an attempt to catch the Votheen on the back foot. As The Protector crested the northern hemisphere of the red planet the Admiral gave a wry smile as he watched the southern host take the undivided attention of the Votheen fleet. Going on the attack had their formation in disarray just trying to combat the first assault. The northern fleet hammered the Votheen from above as kinetic rail gun shells pounded the rippling shields of the capital ship. The Votheen attempted to disperse east and west but there was nowhere to hide in the three dimensional theatre of war when every angle was a possible attack vector. The capital ship, a gigantic tadpole easily two and a half times the size of The Protector, belched forth a cloud of fighters angrily that moved like a swarm of locusts. They darted amongst the fleet too small and nimble to be pinned down and eventually reached the Human flagship. The furious swarm were more of a nuisance than danger but AI Vanguard looked concerned as he dabbed his brow with the back of his hand. "Detecting multiple hull breaches, Admiral." He didn't see how that could be possible yet, their shields were fine and they hadn't suffered a direct hit yet. The AI brought up a 3D image of the alien fighters that appeared to have a large capsule under the body that released and drilled into target ships at close proximity. "Bioweapons?" worried Victor.

##### "Fortunately no. I detect multiple alien life forms on board The Protector. I assume the capsules are a clever way to take a ship intact. A sort of boarding device."

##### "Over my dead body!" Victor Edwards defied as he snatched a shotgun from the nearest gun rack and loaded it with as many shells as it would hold. He moved toward the Captain's chair and grabbed the microphone for the PA system. "Code Black, Votheen borders have breached our defences. Marine units repel at all costs, they will not take this ship. This is not a drill," he boomed before turning to Cesh Zhurl. "I'll put my doubts about you aside as I need your talents now more than ever. I want you to command Bravo Echo and hold this level." She nodded shaking off the slightly racist undertones of his request. He recognised she was his best warrior and he'd have been a fool not to utilise that just to save face. She had initially felt guilty for not going with Shayara Ventii. Cesh had experience dealing with unidentified alien races but something in her gut had told her to stay and when she had that feeling she tended to listen to it. She moved through the bridge to the hall beyond and met a large group of shaved head types who greeted her with mild suspicion. They had made a ramshackle blockade using all manner of furniture and had set up a chain gun which covered the entire hallway. "Can we help you, miss?" mouthed a common-jawed, pockmarked soldier who was stacking a very unstable tower of crates atop of each other. Cesh tried not to study his face but if she had to guess she would say the damage was either from plasma splash back or horrendous acne so no wonder he had a frosty disposition. "I'm here to lend a hand," worded Cesh diplomatically and was relieved as one member of the team, likely the commander, outstretched his gloved hand.

##### "It's good to have a Sarcurian on side and one with your skill set at that." The pleasantries didn't last long as the rattle of gunfire sounded a few decks below.

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##### THIRTY ONE

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##### As time had passed the distribution of stars in the viewing window of the bridge had dropped off dramatically. After two days of continuous travel the scene had turned almost completely black with just a handful of stars scattered haphazardly about. Shayara had intentionally avoided the Votheen colony worlds that had fallen just in case the mythological beings had a shoot on sight approach around such worlds. They therefore hadn't seen the full extent of a dead world until they reached the very last site. Shayara looked upon the orb and wondered whether it had once been a lush garden world with similar land masses to Earth. Now it bore no resemblance. The sapphire oceans had given way to dusty orange flatbeds and the green continents had turned a mucky brown. The readouts confirmed what they already suspected. No ozone layer to protect from solar radiation, recently burned off atmosphere and no suitable gasses that could support life. "I don't think I want to look for the people that are capable of doing this," James said very flatly. Shayara couldn't argue with him, she thought the same. She'd expected to find a defeated planet. Signs of orbital bombardment mixed amongst hotspots of ground invasions but this was something else. The colony was now more lifeless than Mars which had undergone a little terraforming as humanity experimented with the new technology. "Nothing on the scanners yet," R051E added quietly as if in anticipation. Shayara knew the AI was desperate for her plan to come off. It might give her leverage when the Confederacy pulled her in to be examined due to her exposure with a hostile program. If they survived that is.

##### "Move us passed the planet and keep pushing to the edge of the galaxy, activate the distress beacon. We need to bring them to us otherwise who knows how long we might be looking for. It might already be too late," Shayara ordered nervously although she masked the emotion. She did it rather well until a new star blinked in the horizon. Her anxiety went through the roof as her stomach spun up a storm, stabbing her painfully. R051E modified the viewing screen and zoomed in on the anomaly. The star's source was a swirling pool of white light that electricity flowed across, arcing this way and that. It built in size and momentum for some time. The now enormous entrance of the slip space rupture was only just large enough to accommodate the huge cylindrical dreadnought that tested its borders. The vessel was a brilliant white that seemed to radiate with the same energy as the portal. The long thick cylinder flowed back to two huge crescent moons that were fixed to the top and bottom of the craft horizontally. Several interlocking bands spun at intervals down the hull which seemed to be responsible for the energy surges. "If I prayed to a god I'd be cursing him right about now." Jarner gasped but no one heard him, Shayara was momentarily indisposed. The ship pivoted quicker than a ship of that size should have been able to and headed straight for the Pariah. R051E warned of an energy spike from the dreadnought and Shayara decided to throw the dice for better or worse.

##### "Drop the shields," Shayara commanded much to the astonishment of everyone aboard.

##### "Are you crazy?!" shouted James not believing his own ears.

##### "They'll know we're not hostile and against something that big, our shields won't be much help if they decide to open fire anyway..." she presumed. R051E complied with the bold request and didn't voice her reservations like the doctor had done. The imposing craft closed the gap, refusing to yield to Shayara's act of good faith. The ball of energy rippled up the body and formed at the tip in a large pulsating ball. "Shay..." hesitated Jarner as his worry got the better of him. She didn't get chance to back down as the orb hurtled toward them. As it hit, the Pariah shuddered violently and was encapsulated in an intense glow. Shayara felt light, strange and disconnected. Too numb to register pain and unsure whether she was still even alive.

##### The feeling subsided as the glow dulled. She felt different but not what she imagined death to feel like so she took small heart in that. Shayara still felt which she presumed was a positive sign. She could feel movement and hear noises. She breathed, another welcome sign, and it felt oddly refreshing and cool. She dared to open her eyes as they re-adjusted to the brightness of wherever she was now, it was not the Pariah. The clinical whiteness of her surroundings would have made a more religious person think they were at heaven's door but the new alien looking over her snapped her straight out of that romanticised idea. It looked strangely human, taller with a creamy sort of skin pigmentation. Angelic. It had pointed ears similar to that of a Sarcurian and feline eyes identical to that of a Caliterrian. "You have not been harmed, Human. You have come here to answer to our Emperor." It spoke with almost harmonic resonance. Shayara looked around and found Jarner to her left, frozen as if still at the point of impact.

##### "You opened fire..." Shayara managed, confused by the whole matter and considered whether she was actually dreaming.

##### "A way to transit you from your vessel to ours," the creature informed without trying to explain how exactly it worked, Shayara was thankful for that. Jarner began to move and took a while to gain his bearings. "You have both not been harmed long term. The distortion and dizziness should pass after a time." Without specifying how long the alien led them out of the room of portals and out into a grand hallway. The roof Shayara could not see and it was so wide she assumed the Pariah would likely fit sideways. The floor had the effect of white polished marble and everything seemed a not-all-too different shade of the same colour. They made their way passed a number of the aliens similar to their guide, all looked ageless and strong. The alien explained they'd left one individual aboard the Pariah as they didn't require two representatives of the same race. Shayara was at the moment glad they'd picked her but was unsure as to whether that might change. The creature kept redirecting their questions and told them to wait for their audience. At the very end of the long hall were two very muscular individuals dressed in silver ceremonial armour and armed with double-bladed white polished staffs which they held in their hands closest to the door they were stood sentinel on. They didn't give the aliens on their ship even the slightest glance which led Shayara to believe they had seen Humans and Sarcurians before. They passed onto the bridge where it was slightly more decorative, yellow coloured holographic terminals dotted around specific areas breaking up the restricted colour palette. The Captain's chair was far more simple than that of the High Senate thrones but Shayara could tell it was no less important by the five honour guard that stood at its base. The alien in the seat wriggled his nose slit inquisitively as the group approached. His armour was brilliant white with black tracery. "Administrator," welcomed the guide to the man on the throne as he bowed. "The two aliens from the rogue vessel wish the council of the Emperor." The Captain hummed contemplatively and nodded his head which lulled down into his chest. When it returned his eyes were solid black and glazed over.

##### "Welcome, Human and Sarcurian. I am pleased to see how your races have matured, working collaboratively in a common cause despite your differences brings me hope in the redemption of this system." It spoke with many voices at once.

##### "Who is it exactly that we are speaking to?" Shayara requested politely, unsure at what exactly was going on.

##### "Valoris Thal'Khar, Emperor of the first citizens of Atribula. I use this Administrator as the conduit of my will." Shayara then assumed the Atribulan could harness telepathy like the Selin but over vast distances and more powerfully, seemingly able to possess a host subject. Maybe all Atribulan could do it or maybe it was just the Emperor. Maybe even a device he possessed.

##### "We come as friends, Emperor. The Votheen have declared war and are currently laying waste to our worlds. We have evidence suggesting that you have had dealings with this race before. We are losing and have come to plead for your assistance," Shayara said as a grumble of discontent sounded. She wasn't sure at what. The Emperor made the Administrator smile wryly.

##### "The troublesome spawn resurfaces," the Emperor contemplated. "What do you know of the Atribulan?"

##### "Admittedly not much, all I know is that we share a common enemy." It was a stretch Shayara knew it, maybe the Atribulan just didn't like people coming near their territory. They may not even care what happens within the galaxy's centre. The Emperor resonated an amused laugh more friendly than intimidating.

##### "The Atribulan have no enemies, Captain Ventii. That would be to assume we have an equal. We are the seeders of life. Wardens of the living and executioners of the warmongers. You exist because we commanded and allow it. The Votheen attempted to break the rules set for them. Leaving this galaxy and contemplating genocide. This was not our will. They had to be taught this."

##### "What do you mean you seed life?" Jarner questioned finally finding his voice, confused at the claims the alien before him was making.

##### "Humans, Sarcurians, Caliterrians, Selin and Votheen are all examples of life we have engineered. We allow you to prosper and guide your evolution as we see fit. You have restrictions placed upon you, of course. You must stay within your designated galaxy and not interfere with the progression, in a negative sense, of any other race." Shayara's world rocked. This alien in a couple sentences had rewritten Human history, he'd rewritten Milky Way history. There had been no creator god, forever watchful and almighty. There had been no natural selection or natural Darwinian evolution. The big bang, all of it, had been engineered by a race of aliens. Advanced for sure but mortal and not divine.

##### "So who created you?" Jarner requested trying to piece it all together.

##### "And why do you create life?" Shayara requested, her head spinning and feeling very vulnerable if these aliens had half the power they claimed. The Emperor sat back down and folded his arms as his smile broadened.

##### "We are the children of the Lord Builder. He gave us life and gave us the gift to spread his power. We seed life for many reasons. Because it is our duty. Because others can accomplish what we cannot. Because we enjoy observing. This is the way of the Atribulan." The Emperor took a breath and moved from his seat, past his guard to the two specimens of his exhaustive work. How he was pleased to see the once dirt dwelling organisms flourish into something mimicking civilised sentiency. "I admit the Votheen have been troublesome. They continue to defy us and the will of the Lord Builder. A resulting factor of the hostility of their birth, no doubt. A learning curve for sure." The Emperor looked off into the distance as if recalling a memory long forgotten. Considering the ramifications of aiding in the Milky Way's war. "I must think upon this. I would ask that you be our guests until a decision has been made. I will see to it that the good doctor and your ship are brought aboard," he said with no inclination on how long it may be for his mind to be made up. With that he was gone and the Administrator returned, beady eyed and humbled. Shayara didn't question the hospitality as she didn't get the feeling they had a choice.

##### Their guide led them away from the bridge back past the disinterested door guards who refused to stir once more. The main corridor, that Shayara could swear ran the length of the ship, didn't have any lifts or stairs. Instead portals, similar to that the dreadnought had appeared, granted access to the other areas of the ship. Shayara didn't even want to know what happened when the power failed and you were moving through one. The transition period was short, a few seconds of blinding light and then you were someplace else. Alien symbols were scrolled on the wall next to each portal and one could see the other side through the centre. With the sensation of up and down and direction taken away they didn't know where on the ship they were. It was dizzying. "Do you require a domicile in close proximity?" the guide asked as he took a hard right into a colossal room that was full of stacked ovals.

##### "We'll share," Shayara instructed much to the surprise of Jarner who blushed ever so slightly. The alien keyed up the holographic display out of nowhere. One row of ovals, each the size of a shipping container, cycled as if loaded on a spindle. He ushered them in as the walls unfolded out. He left them as the walls closed around them like a flower bud and recommended conversing with the ship board AI if they required any further assistance. The room was as clinical as expected and contained a bowl at hip height suspended by nothing, containing what she assumed was water. An AI podium and a simple double bed completed their very humble dwelling. Shayara assumed the organic nature of the room could manifest anything that the occupants may need to settle in. "You could have subtly asked me to pop over if you needed company," Jarner joked with an innocence and nervousness Shayara had never noticed before.

##### "There's no way you're leaving me alone on this ship, that's all, don't get excited." They sat on the edge of the bed trying to fathom the complexities of the day's events.

##### "That's a shame." Jarner sighed as he leaned in and kissed his friend on the cheek. "I expected a better reason." He smiled playfully but with a fear in his eyes that told her he was unsure if they'd survive. In that moment all the troubles of the galaxy fell away as she kissed him slowly and passionately on the lips. For the first time in years Shayara lived in the moment.

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##### THIRTY TWO

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##### Cesh smashed the mandible of a Votheen as he rounded the corner with the butt of her Terutto Defence shotgun, spun it around in her palms deftly and unloaded a buck shot round through its chest. She wiped her bloodied brow on a loose rag close by and leapt the ramshackle cover the marines had mocked up. The kill zone of the turret had lived up well to its name until the ammunition had run out. That's when the marines had been forced to go on the offensive in order to maintain their lines. For all the Votheen's technological prowess their battle strategies were crude and uninspiring at best. Once enraged they seemed to suffer tunnel vision and put themselves in harm's way to exact their revenge. Self-preservation seemed to go out of the window as their sole desire seemed to be to bludgeon the object of their aggression to a bloodied pulp. "You'd think they'd try something new at this point." Jericho smiled as he put a round into the back of a fallen Votheen's head, just to make sure it was dead.

##### "Or maybe they're just throwing grunts at us until our bullets run dry," Cesh suggested, she'd noticed the lack of new breed of Votheen and it troubled her.

##### "Wow, you've got a sunny disposition, ma'am." The stream of enemy combatants died off completely not long after. They kept quiet for a time, mindful that the alien horde could be changing up tactics finally. Nothing came. AI Construct R051E appeared from a wall mounted emitter. She strutted across the rail and surveyed the scene. "All enemy combatants have been purged from The Protector and your presence is requested on the bridge." She winked out and a relieved pair of battle-scared warriors made their way to the command deck.

##### President Wilhelm observed the chaos before him with more anticipation than he had expected. The Votheen had been too sure of their fleet's power. The decoy fleet had been almost wiped out but the northern host had split their lines and was holding out quite well. The hull shuddered as plasma screeched overhead, The Protector responded and fired which split one of their cruisers in two. After that no more fire came. AI Construct R051E materialised once more on the holo-table. "The Votheen are in full retreat." The Admiral was first to act as he pounded the table with a clenched fist.

##### "Do not allow them to escape. Cut them down!" he ordered with anger dripping from his words. In their haste the Votheen had left many of their ships vulnerable. The Admiral was right although the laws of combat forbade it, yet this was an enemy like no other and the same rules of engagement it was decided didn't apply. If they retreated they could form back up with reinforcements or they could join their main fleet above Engevaal, returning once they were at full power. These were both conclusions he refused to permit.

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##### The light in the pod had dulled nicely that night in accordance with Earth time and the air temperature was perfect. She had ironically never been more comfortable. She found herself on an alien warship with her childhood friend's breath teasing the hairs on the nape of her neck. She lay still, cradled in the arms of the Sarcurian she had never realised she loved and let her mind wander. She hoped in her heart that Earth was still there for her to go back to. A shaft of light broke the serenity, Shayara's eyes struggled to adjust to the shock. She wriggled out of Jarner's grasp, threw the sheet over her naked body and shuffled toward the AI podium as a gold orb danced on top of it. The sphere shattered and out of the fragments a beautiful slender female of Atribulan decent looked upon Shayara with a warmth. "I am pleased that you find our accommodation comfortable," it said, nodding towards the still unconscious Jarner. Shayara felt as though her cheeks were on fire when the AI turned her attention back to her. "The Emperor has requested your presence, at your earliest convenience of course," the AI Construct said politely.

##### "Yes of course." The light collapsed quickly leaving Shayara in the dimness once more.

##### She managed to rouse Jarner without too much effort, the time for dreaming was over and duty called for the pair of them regardless of whether they wished to enjoy the moment longer. They collected their gear and made haste across the living area. The AI had told them to take their time but Shayara had no intention of making such a powerful being wait, especially when they had come for his help. She didn't have such an audacity in her. The lack of a guide this time however hampered their pace and it didn't take long for them to get lost. An inquisitive engineer sent them in the right direction but even so it was sometime before they found the bridge and that made Shayara blush more than her little run in with the AI. As the Administrator came into view it was evident that the Emperor had already manifested himself. Shayara and Jarner bowed out of respect as he greeted them with a pained smile. The Emperor walked among them, flanked by two honour guards. Shayara was unsure whether this was common practice and whether they truly trusted their guests. "I appreciate your patience while your homes may be burning as we speak." The harshness of his words bit hard and Shayara had to trouble herself not to speak out of turn. She wondered what had caused the lack of manners. "Usually the system should be allowed to run its course." He paused as if discussing laboratory results over a swift lunch. "Having said that, the Votheen have proven themselves a unique threat and their crimes must be answered for. They threaten to rule this system and that kind of power we cannot commit. Even if it means meddling in our own experiments." Shayara was suddenly more thankful than she had ever been but the logical part of her brain made her stop short of joy. The Atribulan seemed only concerned by the threat the Votheen may cause to them in the future, not the millions that may die because of them. She didn't much care for their agendas as long as they helped.

##### "So you'll assist us?" pressed Jarner who, not for the lack of trying, was getting immensely irritated by the manner in which the Atribulan were toying with their future. The Emperor nodded solemnly as he looked out the viewing window to the stars beyond.

##### "The Votheen will answer for their crimes before the day is out," he promised as he once more released control of the Administrator who seemed clumsy as he regained control of his own body. "I'll provide you with an escort to take you to the hangar where your crewmen and ship await your return. He has been very animated."

##### The Pariah appeared comically tiny in the vast and generally sparse hangar. James waited, leant against the ship with a cigarette in his mouth. "Since when have you been a smoker?" Shayara asked trying to recall a single time he'd engaged in the activity and drew a blank.

##### "I quit years ago. Always kept a pack in my medical kit just in case of emergencies."

##### "How cute, so this qualifies?" Jarner smirked.

##### "Possible extinction and two advanced alien races we didn't know existed a month ago? Yeah, I'd say so," he responded completely deadpan.

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##### The remaining Votheen warships suffered a pounding as they attempted to flee the theatre of war. The Protector led the charge with its superior fire power, armour and technology which had all given it the edge on this outing. "Forward rail guns overheating, Admiral, and shield has drained below ten percent," warned a concerned crewman from his post to the Captain's immediate right.

##### "Stay on course! Not one escapes!" ordered the Admiral with conviction. From the corner of his eye all the Admiral's drive fell away from him and he felt as helpless as a small child. The anomaly was small at this distance but the "Slip space rupture!" required no explanation. What followed did come as a surprise. Out of the void came a long angular dreadnought, pulsing with light. At the sight of it the Votheen attempted to do a double take, one pulling a manoeuvre so dangerous the vessel began to tear in half. The dreadnought used its energy to fire upon the Votheen capital ship. It cut through the shields and through the hull with ease, throwing debris from the hole it had caused on the opposite side. As the Admiral attempted to take in exactly what he was seeing his viewing window filled with stars, one of which pinged the Pariah's IFF signature. The cavalry had arrived.

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##### THIRTY THREE

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##### The Atribulan procession was a sight to behold as they made their way to the bridge of The Protector. Alexander was so far lost for words he'd spent most of the introduction gaping idiotically at the new arrivals. The revelations unravelled soon after, the Human President hadn't been entirely sure that it was all real. He'd pinched himself once just to make sure. The assisted evolution theory was one he found some solitude in. He'd always known that too many things were just passed over as coincidence in the universe but he could never have guessed that this was why. The thing that did catch him off-guard however was the statement that Mars had been humanity's ancestral home. A huge asteroid had wiped out the early organisms after little more than a few millennia but thankfully debris reached Earth and there the micro-organisms prospered. "So it is agreed?" asked the Emperor once he had finished reciting the battle plan he had so carefully drawn up with his fleet Commanders. Alexander mulled over the latest world rocker. The Keep was a left over Atribulan warship that had been retrofitted by the early Senate races for use as the seat of governance. They had believed their gods had placed it there for that very reason. The Emperor demanded it be taken back. A full-scale ship to ship battle in the orbit of Engevaal while a small contingent broke into The Keep, led by a few of his hand-picked honour guard. "What happens once we have The Keep? Is it that important to this war?" Admiral Victor Edwards asked knowing the death toll would be high if this plan was followed. The Emperor's head lowered as if the connection to the Administrator was being lost.

##### "We have contingencies in place for scenarios like this. We created much of the life in this universe, you really believe we didn't prepare for the eventuality that one day that life may challenge us?" he grumbled to himself as if he was being talked down to. "The warship you name The Keep is a countermeasure to such a problem. A weapon of great power that was once condemned by many but eventually agreed upon as necessary."

##### "If this weapon had been under our feet the whole time, I'm sure we'd have found it," suggested Alexander more unsure than he liked.

##### "You think we would have left such a horrendous weapon open to you to use freely?" The Emperor chuckled at the very idea.

##### "What exactly does it do?" Jarner questioned almost demanding someone to just spit it out. The Emperor moved to the viewing window and observed the majesty of the gathering fleet around Earth. The Human Confederate Navy 1st, 2nd and 3rd fleets were present. The Sarcurians had diverted all they could spare as well. The news of the mythological alien's return had brought more vessels than Alexander had ever hoped for. For that at least he was thankful. "The void will take a biological sample and de-construct anything in its operational range that shares the same DNA."

##### "What's the kill range?" Jarner asked.

##### "It has the radius of a galaxy." All the eyes in the room enlarged at the horrific weapon of mass genocide they had all probably walked over at least once. They just hoped the Votheen didn't find it before they could use it.

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##### The battle that raged above the atmosphere of Engevaal was a brutal one. The vastly outgunned Senate Security defence fleet was just buying time by throwing bodies on the line. The Caliterrian Armada had only recently joined the fray but even their tenacity was being tested. Arkan watched with increased disdain as his empire crumbled all around him. He was safe, for now, in the war room. That made him feel worse. Like a coward hiding while men and women died above. All in his name. He blamed the Senate of days past. The Caliterrian Forerunner of the time had demanded the Votheen be extinguished for good. They hadn't listened and now the galaxy paid the price. Arkan looked up data from the battle above on a terminal not infected by the alien AI. The Caliterrian Armada had taken a beating as it made up the brunt of the fleet. Something stood out to him suddenly. He cast an accusing eye toward Ora Acil who was also present, "Why is a large part of your fleet absent from the fight Queen?" he snarled, offended that the Sarcurian could be protecting their home world above the Senate's seat of power.

##### "How would I know from here? The Votheen AI has locked me out from my people. Would it surprise you if they were above Rethera?" She didn't even care that her defence was flimsy or that it may anger the Caliterrian. She was going to add something else but the Caliterrian looked stricken by something else he had read. "The Humans." He sat back and folded his arms. "They're here."

##### "I guess you were wrong about them after all." That almost felt good. Ora was sick of tiptoeing around the brute. Alexander Wilhelm had been right, Arkan had to learn the Senate was bigger than him and his people. Why had she not seen it before?

##### "I see no proof yet that they have come to assist us. For all we know they could have thrown in with the Voth..." Arkan bolted up from his seat, knocking it over. Something in the data had spooked him.

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##### The HCNF 2nd Fleet emerged through the Atribulan portal which had allowed a direct and instantaneous route to Engevaal. Their first view of the conflict was of a Caliterrian dreadnought erupting in front of them. It broke up in stages, swamped by the Votheen fighters that darted amongst the debris field like flies. The Votheen must have been stunned by the entrance of the Human contingent as they were allowed to skirt the border of the conflict unimpeded. As they cut in, it looked as if they'd run into a cul-de-sac as numerous vessels moved to intercept them. Just when all hope seemed lost more shimmering ruptures ripped across the theatre of war as the Atribulan and the Sarcurian joined the conflict and brought down an entire attack group. As the Atribulan took the attention off of the lesser races, another set of portals allowed 1st fleet through. "This is Sword, Shield form up. Intercept vectors," Admiral Edwards ordered over the communication channels that linked all the ships together. 1st Fleet was quickly encased in 2nd Fleet, the former was comprised up of The Protector and a smattering of frigates. The Pariah was safe in The Protector's hangar whilst Shayara and Jarner were in a Falcon class drop ship with fire teams of numerous other races. 2nd Fleet did its job, despite the nasty nature of it. A handful of cruisers were swept away by the heavy cannons of a Votheen capital ship. The core, 1st Fleet, remained untouched as it broke through the upper atmosphere and headed toward Curalie. Shield dispersed back into space as Sword levelled out and spat out its drop ships. Shayara's drop ship was among them, it headed toward The Keep which rose amongst the smoke in the distance, the city below was ablaze.

##### A supercharged slug smashed into The Keep and created a large enough gap in its face to allow the insertion team through. As they made their way to it, slicing through the skyline of Curalie, a flurry of plasma fire sprayed the stragglers. They disintegrated in an instant but most of the pilots' desperation kept them one step ahead of the carnage. As the drop ships funnelled through, it was immediately obvious that the interior of The Keep was in as bad a condition as the city outside. They moved amongst the interior city skyscrapers, a large bang and then a shudder caused Shayara to grip onto the cargo net. "What the hell was that?" she called to the pilot loud enough to be heard over the engines.

##### "No idea, systems are all fine and we haven't taken any damage." Then Shayara saw the feral eyes staring back at her as the Votheen crawled from the roof onto the windscreen. She tried to warn the pilot who had turned to answer her question but no sound came out of her mouth. The glass shattered as the Votheen opened fire, riddling the pilot as he gargled for air and screamed for mercy. The crew all rushed to clumsily unlatch their restraints as the alien climbed aboard, the drop ship losing altitude with every passing moment. Taking a quick glance out of the view port to her left, Shayara could see other ships in similar trouble, it had been an ambush. The Votheen had been waiting in the upper levels of the high-rise buildings. She saw Jarner wide-eyed fighting with his buckle as the alien made its murderous way down the line. She shook her head and placed a hand over the release. He held it. There wasn't enough time to kill the intruder and reassume control of the ship. The landing would be rough and regardless of where they were they probably wouldn't survive.

##### The abruptness of it was the most jarring part as everything turned black. The last sound she heard was the wail of the sheet metal bodywork as it bounced and crunched into something below. She wasn't sure if she was dead. Complete darkness; she must have been. Numbness, another sensation. A heat licking at her face. Maybe she wasn't. She took a shallow breath and twitched her finger which seemed to have found a warm sticky substance. As she opened her eyes everything seemed to be at the wrong angle; no, she was at the wrong angle. Her seat had dislodged in the impact and she was laying on her side still strapped in. The warm sticky mess was a marine's entrails that had leaked out when a beam had snapped and cut him in two. Her mind kept to Jarner as she fumbled once more with her straps that buckled without much complaint this time. Her first few steps were full of dizziness and were tentative. She stumbled along like a woman intoxicated. She found Jarner still where she had left him, unconscious but breathing. She let out a sigh of relief and looked around for the Votheen that had caused all the chaos. She saw its feet sticking out from the crushed cockpit. Her ears suddenly popped allowing everything to become audible, Shayara hadn't even realised they'd been muffled. She could clearly hear gunfire pinging off the body and battle cries. How long had she been knocked out for? She scurried about and located her firearm several rows forward under the seat of a deceased Atribulan. Half the crew had survived and vacated their seat. Shayara checked and her firearm was still operational. She smiled at the result and moved toward the hatch where both artificial and genuine light was flooding in. It took her eyes time to adjust to it but eventually she recognised the area they had gone down on. They were on the main skyway which linked The Keep's General Hospital to the main trading floor. The surviving members of the drop ship had used the debris and wreckage of the crash as cover. The Votheen had them pinned down on both sides and it looked incredibly grim. Shayara climbed out slowly, kept her head low and made it to the crooked wing that served as cover for a battle-scared Sarcurian. "What's the situation?" she asked but she didn't hear herself speak it above the ringing in her own head.

##### "The Votheen has a lot of feet on the ground here. Closing in from both sides and we have a handful of people left. They seem to know we're looking for something and are taking no chances. Their comm traffic is on fire though, the Atribulan have gotten them spooked." The Sarcurian wheezed as he applied pressure to his stomach wound that Shayara hadn't noticed until now. A Votheen climbed over their cover but was soon bursting into flames as an Atribulan honour guard fired balls of white energy from his gauntlets, similar to the technology used by their warships. A gust of hot air knocked everyone off their feet as the north end of the bridge erupted in fire and collapsed. Shayara forced herself up, her mouth full of the taste of coppery blood. She looked up to see two of the Confederacy's surviving falcon class drop ships, circling overhead to protect their downed comrades. This is what it meant to be Human, no one left behind. One touched down next to the wreckage of the one Shayara had been in. The hatch slid open to reveal the battle worn cheery one-eyed face of Isaac Jericho who'd still not adopted an eye patch in place of the bandages. "I think I owed you one rescue, didn't I, ma'am?" Shayara smiled.

##### "No, actually you didn't. Now I owe you again."

##### "Take it as a buy one get one free deal and we'll draw a line under the whole thing." He smiled and hefted the Sarcurian survivor on board and called a medic to him. "Come on, we've got to go, now." He pulled her by the wrist but she resisted. "What is it?"

##### "Jarner's still in there." She pointed to the husk of the drop ship that had begun to spark. "He's alive, just unconscious."

##### "No time, we leave now!" yelled the pilot who was itching to take off, plasma rounds slapped into his hull. Isaac took one look at Shayara and he knew what she was thinking.

##### "No one is left behind, you wait and that is an order," Isaac snarled as he followed a limping Shayara to the hatch.

##### They climbed inside and found Jarner lapsing in and out of consciousness. "I'm here, Jarner, can you hear me? We've got to go," Shayara told him as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Isaac cut his restraints with his boot knife but when Jarner tried to stand he hit the floor and shrieked in agony. Isaac examined him and shook his head frustrated.

##### "I think he's got a leg fracture, we're going to have to carry him." Shayara slung her rifle over her shoulder and they both supported the Sarcurian. The progress was painfully slow, Shayara was limping and had to support Jarner which made the limp more painful and pronounced. They emerged just in time to see the drop ship rise into the sky, leaving them where they stood. Isaac screamed several expletives, well aware they wouldn't return. It spiralled upward, passed the other drop ship on overwatch, then erupted in horrible crimsons and yellows. The Votheen fighter had followed them through the hole in The Keep and screamed away to the safety of the city. "Fuck!" exclaimed Shayara half pained by the fact they'd been left and half thankful they had. The surviving drop ship banked hard and dodged another round of fire spewed by the fighter that had returned for another duel. As it tried to come around again the drop ship unloaded a missile that caught the cockpit and caused the debris to rain onto the skyway amongst the rank of the Votheen, sending some up and over the barrier to a thousand foot drop to their deaths. Another fighter appeared, maybe it had been the first, and the drop ship took chase. Shayara and Isaac put Jarner in the mouth of the wreckage, hidden enough to avoid attention. They took up defensive positions on both sides and fired at anything that moved. "Is it coming back?"

##### "I fucking hope so!" was the appropriately blunt response from Isaac. Just as the flow of Votheen threatened their position and as a round singed the tiny hairs on Shayara's ear, the south crossing erupted in flame and shrapnel. The drop ship had indeed come back and unleashed hell fire upon the massing enemy. As the drop ship touched down where the other had once been, two Atribulan jumped out and hefted Jarner aboard. As Isaac jumped on board a friendly hand assisted Shayara up onto the ship. She turned to thank the marine but found the President in marine fatigues instead. "I'm not sitting up there twiddling my thumbs. I'd like to be voted in for a second term. It's a good thing I did. They weren't going to help you guys down here."

##### "He's not joking, the bastard gave me a direct order to touchdown with a gun to my head," the pilot admitted as he took off. Shayara shook Alexander's hand.

##### "Thank you, President, I'm still surprised that you're here."

##### "Well, I've learnt not much can be solved by politics or words these past few weeks. Thought I'd try another approach."

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##### THIRTY FOUR

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##### The Votheen had realised pretty quickly that the counter offensive was far more than just saving face. The distraction teams were in place and doing their job but The Keep had gotten the aliens' attention as they had begun committing more troops to it. As Cesh attempted to clear the upper landing zone which led to The Keep congress area, Votheen interceptors hurtled overhead. The Votheen trashed the last transport before it even had chance to touchdown. One occupant jumped from its sliding hatch when he saw the danger but was crushed under the flaming wreckage. Soon after that the drop ships arrived and took care of the fighters. Just three of the planned twelve had gotten through, Cesh hoped more would be on the way but she was pleased for some sort of reinforcements. They swung low and touched down, landing on the walkway to the speaker's platform that Cesh had visited with Shayara on her first visit here. It seemed like such a long time ago. The old breed of Votheen were thin on the ground, replaced by their much improved and cunning brethren. It made the Luminary wonder whether the black Votheen had begun to phase their lesser feral form out completely. The Votheen had camped out on the far side of the bridge but allied forces had them on the back foot now. The Luminary leapt over one of the corpses of a marine and unloaded a needle tipped round from her shotgun which took over the arm of the Votheen who stood over it. The rest of its body exploded in a mist of nasty coloured fluid thanks to the chain gun of the last drop ship that landed just in front of her.

##### Shayara dropped out of the ship and wondered whether the High Senate had survived the initial invasion. She assumed they were in hiding. Willing to tough it out while the rest of the galaxy fought for them. But here was the ex-Human senator, in the trenches with them. She knew if the races were to survive they'd need leadership but Shayara was certain the current batch was insufficient. Arkan Sha'Ni was full of prejudice and allowed fear to compromise his judgement. Ora Acil was frail and too much of a pushover when it came to refuting the will of the aforementioned Caliterrian. As for the Selin, it seemed the entire race was incapable of making a decision or a stand. The rest of the occupants followed quickly, Jarner walked much better with the holo-crutch that held his leg together. He had flatly refused proper treatment until everything was over. It wasn't the perfect solution but he could walk now, convincingly at that. Shayara watched the Atribulan with fascination. They were more than a match for the Votheen and were turning the tide of the war, even though the alien threat had them all outnumbered collectively. "Got some of that frustration out?" she directed to Cesh who was still clutching her weapon intently.

##### "Although it will not bring my crew back, yes," she said reservedly. The memory still pained her and Shayara was unsure whether she remembered all of it yet. She moved to observe the scene and realised there was a lack of command amongst the varied collection of races and combatants. She took the chance and climbed on top of a drop ship. "Listen up!" Despite the war around them, everyone looked in her direction. "If we push on, the Votheen will follow. They know we are looking for something and I don't need to tell you how important it is that they don't get it first. The fact they don't know what it is is a luxury that may change at any moment. We need to slow them down, and to do that we need a team to make a stand right here and now. The Atribulan Administrator and his honour guard will lead the research team to find The Void but they need time to do that," she bellowed as grumbles of varied opinions rolled over the assembled. "I realise it is a bold request and there may be many casualties. Especially if the Votheen realise how important this is. The decisions we make here could save billions, no. Will save billions." Cesh climbed upon the makeshift speaker's podium and placed a hand on the Pariah Captain's shoulder.

##### "I will lead the holding squad and I ask anyone who wishes to join me do so. It is time we took the fight to the Votheen." Shayara thought about questioning the Sarcurian Luminary. Was she sure this is what she wanted, but then she thought better of it. She didn't want a revenge-fuelled agenda but she hoped that wouldn't make Cesh's orders foolish, only more formidable.

##### Many people stepped forward to join the Sarcurian. Shayara was pleasantly surprised and eternally grateful. She just hoped the Votheen didn't swamp their position. They'd opted to set up two defensive positions. One on the bridge that was more exposed but would prevent enemy ships from landing and one in the waiting chamber. The narrow singular entrance would be prefect, forcing the Votheen straight into a firing range. The research team departed as soon as was possible, after stocking up on ammunition. The Administrator had two honour guard and was joined by Shayara, Jarner, Isaac, Alexander and two marines. One male and one female. Shayara observed several mechs on their way to The Keep's Senate congress Chamber. "Someone has beaten us here." They edged down the long hallway and its vacant checkpoints, well aware it was a horrendous place for cover if it was an ambush. They climbed the speaker's platform unscathed and at first everything looked fine. Then, when Shayara had reached the summit, she noticed the High Senate platform had disappeared completely. The half-moon shaped hole in floor was also a new addition. She peered over the end but couldn't quite make out the bottom of the shaft. "Now that, I have never seen. Have the Votheen found the pit?" Alexander said aghast at the hidden bunker hidden in plain sight. The male marine used his binoculars and turned a sickly shade of white. "The bottom is full of rubble...and bodies." He breathed tightly.

##### "Do you think the High Senators were on the platform when it gave way?" Jarner asked many unsure and dark expressive faces. Alexander tossed an empty magazine down the shaft, heard it rattle off the sides and eventually a dull clang sounded. It was a long way down indeed.

##### "Ideas?" The President had a great displeasure of heights and had since he was a child. Without warning the Atribulan jumped. Just as it looked like they were going to become a gross mess mixed amongst the rubble, they activated their gauntlets and glided to an inch perfect rest. Jarner looked through the binoculars he'd snatched and smiled. "That's pretty cool...showoffs."

##### A good portion of the Research team stayed in the Senate congress chamber, Alexander opted to lead the team which would cover their exit. It made sense to have someone making sure they could get out but as Shayara made her painfully slow descent down the shaft, she realised a swift retreat would not be possible. Not unless the Atribulan had an ace up their sleeve that they hadn't yet shared. As they got half way down, orbs encapsulated them, snatching them from the walls. At first most of the descent team fought against them, but it was soon evident the Atribulan had sent them up to speed things along. Shayara floated down gently and was soon followed by Isaac, Jarner and the female marine whose name they had learnt was Jenny. Jarner slumped amongst the rubble, propping himself up against the outer surface of the shaft. "You guys go on ahead, I need to catch my breath." He wheezed as Shayara began to sift through the bodies that had been dead a while. Isaac offered to keep him company which he gratefully accepted despite his bruised ego. Shayara found the Senate Security Director and had to stifle a gasp. The Atribulan had moved on beyond the crippled blast door, Shayara rushed to catch up. The room was a large flat space with many pillars in two neat rows. The Atribulan had begun using a holo-terminal that hung to the left of the room while Shayara moved to the Caliterrian that appeared to have been killed there. She recognised none, until she reached the AI core that had a football-sized hole in it. Face down was a Guardian she had wished dead but it was something else seeing him that way. "That stubborn bastard always did want to play hero," Shayara said as the walls around them began to unfurl like they had in the living quarters of the Atribulan warship. To the immediate left was a large ovular chamber below them, a wide staircase led down to it. In the centre of the room was a circular hole which was shut. Four lines led from it at north, east, south and west angles and flowed up to the roof where they joined and carried on upward through another small shaft. The Atribulan descended first, the Administrator stood upon the circle and was enveloped by an orange sphere that Shayara assumed was some kind of interface. The lines began to glow in an ambient fashion to, getting stronger with each moment. Shayara assumed after so much time of inactivity that calibration may be required but the Administrator was finished after a few seconds and once he'd vacated the sphere the circular pit opened up, pulsating with the common white electrical buzz of Atribulan technology. The Administrator removed a vial from his armour's sleeve and explained it contained the base DNA of the Votheen. Throwing a Votheen into the pit would also have worked but required an element of effort and danger. He poured the contents slowly and as he finished the light intensified, swirling violently upward and along the lines. The energy moved around them, knowing when to accommodate the room's occupants. Once the pulsations had reached incredibly frequent rates white flame shot from The Void and the energy flowed up and out the shaft to the roof.

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##### THIRTY FIVE

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##### The control panel exploded, the Navigator screamed as pieces of metal and plastic embedded in his face. "Shields at two percent, Admiral, the Votheen capital ship has us locked!"

##### "Divert all remaining power to the forward rail guns, that two percent is useless now. We take this fucker out now." The capital ship had been slowed by the numerous frigates guarding The Protector but now nothing nearby stood in its way. His ears popped all at once as every forward gun fired. The front of the capital ship was a mess but it kept on coming. "Again!"

##### "Weapons have overloaded and are offl..." The rest of the gut wrenching sentence didn't come as the boarders they had so valiantly fought off until now breached the bridge. The Votheen poured through the door. The Admiral grabbed for his sidearm but something grabbed him by the throat and picked him up with one giant arm. The alien had come around his blind side and snarled as if in victory. That's when a pulse of energy rocked the ship, the white light rushed across everyone and then it was gone. The alien dropped Victor as something under its skin seemed to bubble. The Admiral looked to Engevaal and saw another pulse emit from the northern hemisphere. This time the wave caused all the power in the Votheen capital ship to wink out. It began to lose orbit and was soon caught by the pull of the planet. It began to burn up in the atmosphere almost immediately. Victor lit a cigar and placed his boot on the stomach of the Votheen that had once been so sure in its victory, now it had dropped to its knees. Once the next pulse reached The Protector the Votheen screeched in a high pitched tone before bursting into flaming embers. Victor hobbled toward the pile of ash and spat on it in defiance. He had never understood the disgusting insult until then. The Votheen were an enemy that deserved as much contempt as they harboured for the rest of the galaxy. The people had spoken.

##### Shayara held a hand to her right ear, the reports were coming in thick and fast. The Void had decimated the Votheen in orbit and the signal was getting stronger. "The wars over." She smiled to herself.

##### "Excellent." The Administrator grinned as the taller of his honour guard disintegrated Jenny where she stood. Shayara panicked and acted on impulse, turned and took flight. The ground beneath her feet fell away from her as it turned to rubble, she spun as she fell and unloaded an entire clip on her attacker. The displeasing click signalled she was empty but thankfully the tall Atribulan lay dead, oozing blackened blood on the ground. "What the hell is this?" she demanded, her jubilation had quickly turned into fear once more. The last honour guard focussed his gauntlet on her to make it known she was under their control. The Administrator adopted a distorted smile on his face, as if he'd never seen one and only heard of them. "Does the Emperor know about this?" The head of the Administrator lulled and when it returned her heart dropped into a pit so dank and dark she feared it would never return. "Why?" Her voice small and shaky.

##### "The Votheen were a nuisance, too arrogant to pace its own evolution, and power hungry. So power hungry." He sighed as if in disappointment at a wayward child, not the murderous race Shayara had known. "The Votheen were the first in this galaxy, you all share a part of their DNA. Humanity in particular. The Votheen's past will be your future and we cannot allow this to pass. The cycle must be broken and the galaxy started anew." It beamed. It truly believed in the words it spoke but they were like nails on a chalkboard to Shayara's ears.

##### "Is that how you stay at the top of the food chain? Suppressing races that might threaten you in the near future?" Shayara snapped at the small honour guard who had taken one step too close.

##### "Stupid primitive," it growled while it still could. The gauntlet glowed but the alien soon didn't have an arm to use it as a high-pitched crack took it off. Then his head followed. As Shayara turned where she lay she saw Isaac holding a compact but high-powered sniper rifle at the summit of the stairs with Jarner at his side whose limp appeared to have gotten worse. Before either of them could react the Emperor fired his two gauntlets at their position which threw up a cloud of debris so thick that Shayara couldn't tell if they'd survived it. Holding in tears she bolted up right and charged. Knocking the Emperor's manifestation off of his feet and banging his head on the rim of the pit. She grappled on top of him and landed some decent blows but the alien was much stronger than he looked. He planted his feet and upended her into the pit. She threw out an arm instinctively and managed to get a grip on the edge stopping her falling into the blinding white light below. She hung by her fingertips, dangling in The Void that would kill her and her entire race. The energy lapping around her feet burned intensely. The bruised Administrator of the Atribulan got to his feet and looked upon victory with such a dark smile. Shayara never heard the bang but the hole in the Atribulan's chest told her someone had survived and her heart pleaded for it to be only one person, for it to be Jarner. The alien swayed and staggered, attempting not to fall in the pit. Isaac was behind him. Shayara's tears welled again. Was Jarner even alive? Isaac took a long interrupted swing using his rifle like a club. The sickening crack of the alien's skull was enough to stir the sternest of stomachs and it sent the alien tumbling down into the pit lifelessly to be consumed by the energy growing within. Shayara swayed and she began to black out. Her fingers felt numb, her arm likely broken from the impact. Just as she let go, the sensation of falling didn't come. When she opened her eyes it must have only been seconds later. Isaac was dragging her away

##### from The Void, they hadn't gotten far when it erupted again. This time it condemned all the double-crossing Atribulan in the Milky Way. "Jarner," she said before she realised. Isaac's look was pained to behold but he aided Shayara to her feet and walked her slowly toward the stairs. Jarner lay five steps down from the top, skin still smoking. One of the energy blasts had caught him in the chest but he still breathed although it was laboured and heavy. Shayara dropped to her knees next to him as he forced his eyes open. "It's all over," she whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek. "You're going to be fine." He coughed a painful laugh.

##### "You always were a terrible liar." Jarner smiled through gritted bloody teeth. "The Emperor and his fleets are still out there...whether they are in the next...galaxy or ten galaxies over. This isn't over by a long shot."

##### "Forever the pessimist."

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##### AFTERWORD

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##### This novel has taken me down a very long and emotionally draining road. It started out as an idea and a handful of semi-coherent characters in late 2009, the year I graduated from High School. Over the following three years it moulded itself into the workings of a novel and I eventually tied it all up, in a neat little bow, in 2013 when I approached a professional proofreader to give it the last once over. I won't embarrass myself with how many edits there were but let's just say they were considerable. For a year and a half I looked high and low for a publisher but the truth is, the world is tough. No one will touch you without an agent and no agent will risk someone who is unproven. So how am I to get that experience, in order to prove myself I hear you cry? Good question. If you learn the answer, let me know. I don't wish for this to be an Ode to how hard the industry is. In fact, it is quite reassuring. I'll know that when I do break down that door, that I have created something good...dare I say, great? So where does that leave this book? Pariahs and Peacemakers is my baby. The first story I ever wanted to tell and succeeded. I set out to write a novel, not for the first time, and managed to follow through on that promise. The characters have been with me for six years and the story for longer. Nothing will ever surpass the nostalgia this holds for me even though my skills and ability may grow with time. I'd rather self publish this than let it wither and die on my shelf, I owe it to myself. I sincerely hope you enjoy this adventure as much as I enjoyed creating it, I promise there will be many more to come. Thank you so much for supporting me and know your loyalty will not be forgotten or taken for granted. You are an awesome human/alien/animal/object! (Delete as appropriate).

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##### I'd like to thank my family here for putting up with my lofty dreams and my forced manuscript run throughs, without which I would be utterly lost and probably rocking in a corner. Maybe that is what you wish after the sixth explanation of who the Caliterrian are and why you should care, but you are gracious enough not to let on. To my fiancé, your insight is always welcome and enlightening and hearing you pronounce the names of characters is endlessly entertaining. To Martha, you may only be two and not fully able to grasp what Daddy does on his computer, but seeing you try to add to the content by mashing the keyboard with your fist fills me full of hope that you'll be a great writer one day. Hell, your nonsense mashing is already better than Twilight. To Liam, my brother, your geeky friendship and sibling rivalry drives me daily. I want to write something that will make you proud to have me as a brother whilst also rubbing your face in the dirt at how inferior you are to me. Finally to my mother, to who this book is dedicated. You have always supported my hobby and never once told me to give it up even though you knew as well as I that making a living off of it was almost madness. You all kept me believing that I could find a way and damn it I will, the bigwigs willing or not.

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##### My path through the education system to English has not been a smooth or traditional one. In Primary School (5-11 years old), I was in Literacy Support, a support group for super underachievers, for a very long time. I was much more suited for Maths and the Sciences than I was English, even as far as getting a hundred percent on my final Mathematics SATS exam. In High School this flipped on it's head and I attribute that to two fantastic teachers, to whom I am eternally grateful. Mr Beadle, an ex-miner who overcame a very mild form of dyslexia to become an English teacher and the head of KS3. I was still struggling with English at twelve and he helped me along. I like to think that he saw my enthusiasm for the subject, even though I did not yet know of it. My love affair with the English Language started when I misunderstood an assignment brief he gave me and wrote it a different way. He was so pleased with how I took it on and executed it, even though it wasn't what he had asked me for, that he contacted my parents and told them so.

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##### This great boost in confidence was built upon by my next English tutor who had me through three years of education. Ms McCormack was and still is, a lovely woman who has since left the school I went to to pursue other ventures in education. I feel sorry for the students that will never get to sit through one of her classes. She was a great mix of accessibility and authority. She made English fun and engaging whilst at the same time marshalling an environment of respect. If you dared to mess about in her lesson, you'd better watch out. She once pushed me to contact the BBC to try and become a writer after I handed in a satirical report that she loved. To have someone believe in me that much in education helped me more than anything that preceded it. She got a boy from literacy support to an A in GCSE. This allowed me to take English Literature part time at University where I am predicted to finish with a 1st after two modules. It hasn't been a straight forward story but without the influence of two of the greatest educators in the system, I would never have written a book or become interested in the written word. If anything, take away from this the fact that if I can do this, so can you. Never be afraid to dream big, work at something long enough and it will pay off.

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##### James

##### 23rd January 2015

