2

When Torians talk about numbers in terms of people, they don’t talk of it in terms of individuals.  At the smallest levels, they talk about percentages in relation to a den.  The number eleven tends to be the accepted number of measurement among the Torians.  A pair of Torian will generally have two litters in their lifetime, each litter consisting of three to five offspring.  An unrelated Torian will often come to live with a married pair, most of the time female, and will become an ‘aunt’ or ‘uncle’.  This floating Torian essentially becomes a third parent.  This familial unit averages out to be eleven individuals in a typical family.  A den consists of eleven such families, or roughly one hundred twenty people.

Every now and then, an oddball family will be forced out of a den, or leave of their own fruition.  Such was the case of the Letr family.  Frska was the only surviving child of the only litter of her parents.  It was odd enough to have a single litter, and even stranger to have a single surviving child.  Her brothers had died shortly after birth and the family was too small and simply didn’t fit in with the den they lived with.  Her parents spent a few years enduring the unheard sorrow of their den mates, and when Letr was old enough at the age of thirteen, the Letr family set out on their own.

The trio explored Old Toria, or what was left of it, and learned to live off the land.  They explored parts of Toria that hadn’t been touched in hundreds of years.  Every now and then, they would discover something noteworthy, and report it to the proper authorities, whether it be of scientific, social, or military importance.  All would pay them for their discovery, sometimes handsomely.  It was enough to allow them to resupply and be back on their way.

At the age of sixteen, Frska set off on her own.  Being alone was an odd sensation for a Torian.  They were a people used to being with others, whether it be eating, sleeping, or cleansing.  It was enough of a need that the law enforcement used short stints of solitary confinement to keep the populace in line.  Frska wasn’t an average Torian.  She didn’t just enjoy the solitude, she rejoiced in it. 

Frska loved going back in time and exploring.  She loved being the first to discover whatever there was to discover.  As she searched through old Drengin housing projects she’d found rotting clothes and food, furniture turning to dust, an occasional skeleton, and more than once, animals of various types who’d made the home their own.  On the rare occasion, she’d found something useful in these Drengin housing projects.  The true finds were discoveries such as discarded weapons or datapads.  Once, she’d found a fully armed Class V Drengin tank.  She’d been paid handsomely for that find.  What Frska had concluded was that when the apes had left Toria, they did just that.  They picked up and left.  And then Frska picked up the pieces of what was left.  There were very few Torians who knew more about the Dren than she did.

The sky was clear and the stars were out as Frska sat beside the fire. The rabbit she had caught was almost ready and Frska was trying to finish up her notes when she heard the sound.  Without missing a beat, she pulled out her Drengin assault rifle and trained it in the direction of the sound, somewhere in the darkness between a pair of buildings barely lit in the moonlight.  The assault rifle had been a wonderful find, and she’d had enough time to not only practice, but perfect her shot with the weapon.  The weapon itself was brutal, able to rip the flesh off bones with even a near miss.  The results of a clear hit were catastrophic.  There weren’t too many people who could match her proficiency.  She had just kneeled down to pull out a flare, when a voice came from the darkness, “Frska Letr?  I am unarmed, and I have something for you.”

Frska adjusted her aim slightly as she located the voice.  “Come.”

A figure approached out of the darkness.  His clothes were nondescript for outdoor gear, and he held a datapad in his hand.  When it was obvious that Frska wasn’t going to say anything else, he began.

“Your reputation precedes you Frska.  And we are in need of your services.  It’s all right there on this pad.”

“How did you find me?”

The man smiled, “We can’t be giving away any secrets until you agree to help us.”

Frska frowned.  “I don’t believe you’re in a position to be keeping secrets.”  She lined the man up in her sites.

“With all due respect Frska, we found you once.  If I don’t return, we will find you again.  And you won’t even know what hit you.  And by the time we finish with you, you will know firsthand what our ancestors experienced.  I don’t think either of us would like that.  Now take a look at what we have to offer.  There is no need to be rude.  A simple yes or no will suffice.  It’s all right here.”  The man held up his hand showing the pad, and then slowly put the pad on the ground.

Frska kept her sites on the man until he vanished into the darkness.  She cursed silently as she lowered her weapon and dropped to her knee to pick up the datapad.  Little did she know her life would never be the same.

**

General Slat sat at his desk with a datapad, taking notes as Sergeant Slai debriefed him over the previous evening’s happenings.  The Sergeant was Sergeant in name only.  He was one of many in the General’s private military.  The Sergeant had clearance to information that very, very few did.

“And then what Sergeant?”

“Well, she began talking about…”

A buzz from the intercom interrupted the conversation.  A pleasant voice quickly followed, “Someone is here to see you Sir; he doesn’t have an appointment, but says he must see you.  He….hey!  You can’t go in there, stop!  Now!  Ow!!  I said STOP!”  The door opened and the Director made one step inside before he was roughly shoved against the wall.  With a nearly cat like grace, the assistant had the Director’s arm behind him, and an Enforcer planted firmly into his back.

The General looked up with a surprised, and then amused expression.  “Director Tles, how nice of you to drop in.  I see you’ve met my assistant.”  The General nodded and the assistant grudgingly released the Director.  The General looked across the desk to the man seated there, “We’ll finish this conversation later.”  The man stood, saluted, and made his way to the door.  As the assistant shut the door, the General held his hand out to the now vacant chair.  “Have a seat Director.  What brings you here this fine morning?”

The Director glared as he retightened the yellow belt around his waist.  The gesture wasn’t lost on the General.  Yellow belts were only worn by the elite and the fact that the Director had been accosted by a rank and file member of the military could theoretically have grave consequences down the road.  “You get twenty percent of my funding for any research conducted by your group.  I don’t care what it is, but I get a full 100 percent access to your research, notes, finances, prototypes, security clearance, everything when it comes to what you’re doing.  If I want to know what your researchers ate for lunch, you will tell me.  An additional 30% will be spent on projects that you authorize, but will be conducted by my group.”  The Director slammed a datapad onto the General’s desk.  “You sign here and now, we choose your location, and we’ll begin constructing labs no later than next week. “ 

The General thumbed through the proposal, quickly scanning the important parts.  There wasn’t much need.  The Director was the typical trustworthy type Her Grace liked to surround herself with, but it never hurt to be too careful.  Besides, it allowed him to stall and get the Director all worked up.  Not only was it amusing, but decisions made in the heat of the moment tended to be ones that would be regretted later.  “Director, you know I can’t give you access to my projects.”

The Director leaned over the desk.  “I happen to know General that you need this more than I do.  After reading through your reports, whether fabricated or not, I believe that you are on some level correct on the direction Toria needs to go.  Without your help, I’m fairly sure I can lead a course that could mostly protect us.  But I’ll be DAMNED if I’m going to allow YOU to hang MY head on projects that I have no control over.  What happens if you blow up a city on some weapons project that could have been prevented had you the knowledge General?  Who gets the blame for that?  It’s my funding.  It’s my blame.  You want it?  You sign what I have here and now.  Otherwise, stop your whining and you’ll get what I think you need.  What’s it to be General?”

The General’s estimation of the Director rose a bit.  The Director had a bit of backbone.  The Director also understood the General’s position a bit too much.  There were times when people had to accept what was offered and make the most of it.  This could well be one of those times.

“Give me 25% for my personal research Director.”

The Director gently took the datapad from the General’s desk and instead of making the change, began walking for the door.

“Alright, alright.  I’ll sign.”

The Director turned and handed the pad back, the gloating sense of triumph almost oozing from his features.  The General reread the proposal one last time, and then signed it with a fingerprint.  The General moved quickly onto the next battle and pushed a button.  A six foot hologram of Toria appeared near the side of his desk and slowly began to rotate.  It showed Toria’s major population areas mostly along the coasts where Torians tended to congregate.  The vast central plains of Toria were still in ruins from generations before.  “Director, I want my labs right here.”  The General pointed to a remote area of the planet near the edge of the Trik-Trak mountain range.  The Director smiled, “Sorry general, plans have been approved for my facilities there.”  The Director paused before he continued, “I have to admit, your intelligence is good.”  The General couldn’t help but smile, a worthy adversary indeed.  Somewhere, the Director had learned of the rumor of Precursor artifacts there.  “Alright Director, build the labs as you see fit.”  The General had underestimated the Director and lost the battle in a rout.  It was a mistake he wouldn’t make again.

**

Lt. Yugo Scrapth sat aboard his new station on the Dreamer as they once again left dock.  In the few weeks that the Dreamer had been on its way, the Torian Navy had learned a thing or two about space travel that couldn’t be taught in simulations.  There were simply too many variables to simulate and too many unknowns to account for in the vastness of space.  It took a certain type of person to live in space. The first few weeks had proven interesting. 

The former Captain had a mutiny on his hands shortly after the asteroid incident.  The Commander turned Captain asked security to confine the former Captain to quarters the remainder of the trip.  Shortly thereafter, an energy anomaly was investigated.  The failure to turn off power per Yugo’s suggestion resulted in the death of one Torian, severe burns to two others, and the short circuiting of 70% of the ship’s computer systems.  Random electrical currents had used the Dreamer as a lightning rod.  It took several days to rewire the bad connections and reinitiate and reprogram the systems that had been fried.  The stress of life in space was too much for the helms girl.  She was escorted to her room where she spent the rest of the trip on sedatives.  She remained in the fetal position until she reached real ground.  She would need counseling the rest of her life.  In another situation, the Dreamer had discovered a new mineral source.  The mineral would crystallize any carbon based life source it touched.  The crew found this out after a scientist picked it up with his bare hands for a picture because it was so ‘cool’.  When all was said and done, the Dreamer had lost roughly thirty percent of its crew to death, injury, incompetence, or mental breakdown during its first tour.  It was a good thing the first tour had been a short one.

Fortunately, experience helps in all things, and the people in charge knew more of what they needed for the second tour.  “We’re clear of the docking bays Captain” cited the new helmsman, ironically enough, another wiry little girl.  “Orders?”

The Captain paused for a moment as he looked out at the stars…  “Second star to the right, straight on till…hmm….make that the third star.  NO!  The fourth star!!  Oh!  I know, that yellow star!  Right over there!  Head towards that one!”

Yugo sighed.  Maybe the Torians were simply destined to make the same mistake over and over again.

**

The crowded room slowly emptied and Director Tles sat down in his chair, exhausted. It had been the fourth meeting for the day and it was only early afternoon.  Nobody had mentioned this part of the job when his name had been suggested but progress had been made, and much quicker than anticipated.  Fortunately, he had some decent help.  “I’ve got your lunch ordered and on its way up.  You have another meeting in…”  The Torian put the time piece to her ear “45 minutes.”  The Director nodded his head, leaned back, and closed his eyes.

Doctor Tles was fairly amazed at how quickly life could return to some semblance of normalcy after generations of enslavement.  Four generations removed from thousands of years of pain, suffering, and death, the youth of Toria seemed to act as if nothing of the sort had ever happened.  Sure, to some it was burned into them through an imposed family history or through visits to Memory Temples, but to others, much like Her Grace, it was simply making the best of the current situation and living life to its fullest.  Dresda, the sweet young scientist who had jumped at the chance of being his personal assistant was one of the latter.

“Do you need anything else while I’m out Director?”  The Director shook his head.  “No, I’m good for now, but have those scheduling reports ready for me after this next meeting.  We need those out tonight if section 457B is going to get started tomorrow.”  She smiled sweetly, “Yes sir!” almost bouncing out of the room, making sure to shut the door on her way out.

The office was a temporary one, looking out over the mountain range that held mysteries unknown.  Some of the Director’s scouts had found Precursor artifacts near this location.  Nobody remembered if they’d always been there, or if the Drengin had brought them but they had the potential for a wealth of knowledge.  Most of Torian’s history had been lost.  Excerpts were found now and again, and seeing as Old Toria had been all but abandoned once freedom had been regained, there were bound to be other pieces that showed up now and again.  It would take years, but the history of Old Toria would eventually be reclaimed.

For now, construction had begun on a series of lab campuses.  The land he had been given to use was immense.  Billions upon billions of credits had been set aside for the construction of these campuses, and Her Grace had given him the manpower to boot.  He couldn’t even fathom how many pods he had under his control.  Hundreds?  Thousands?  Tens of thousands?  He didn’t know.  But the logistics of the operation were beyond comprehension.

As to the labs themselves, planning was still in progress.  Plans had been made for everything from an earthbound spaceport to build prototype spacecraft, to underground labs to handle research of the more sensitive items.  There were, of course, labs to handle research of everything in between, from advanced computer technologies to advanced entertainment.  The campus would also double as an institute for higher learning.  The future leaders of Toria, and any other worlds Torians might settle, would likely come from these campuses.

Seeing as to how work had progressed so far, the Director was curious as to when he’d see the General’s plans.  No work would be completed without his, or his authorized representative’s, approval.  He was pretty sure the General’s campus would double as a military installation or training ground, but wasn’t quite sure exactly what else the General had in mind.  The Director would find out soon enough.  There was plenty to do in the meantime.  There was a knock on the door and it opened.  “Ttwenty minutes before meeting time Director.  Here is your lunch, courtesy of the General.  He asked me to give you this.”  She handed over a datapad and sat down opposite the Director.

The Director smiled. “Speaking of the Drengin, the General’s plans.  Looks like I have some interesting reading tonight.  Dresda, I need a meeting with the General, the foreman, and construction crew leads for sections 117-124 first thing tomorrow morning.”  Dresda took quick notes and was out the door to make arrangements.  “Interesting reading indeed….”

**

Zyltra, the new Captain of the Dreamer stood in front of the staff in a small conference room aboard the ship.  A small hologram projector on the middle of the table remained black.  Yugo tried to stifle a yawn.  He’d seen all this before, and instead scanned the room for anybody that might be missing.  All the critical members seemed to be there; engineering, the tech team, most of the senior bridge staff, and also heads of a few other departments including security.  Yugo mentally shrugged.  He had only been invited because of his role to this point.  Yugo concentrated when he noted the Captain had already started speaking.

“….today, I know we’ve been keeping everyone in the dark in regards to our true mission, and today is the day we officially begin.”

“For the past few weeks, we’ve been surveying local anomalies for a variety of reasons.  We’ve been working out bugs in the ship itself, working out….”  The Captain paused to consider his words, “…issues with the staff, but most importantly, we’ve been waiting for our drones that were launched to come back with information.  The information has been received and analyzed by Lt. Scrapth, and the results are right here.”

The Captain hit a button, and Toria appeared in the center of the hologram, a foot high above the center of the table.  After a few moments, various other stars and orbiting planets began appearing in various positions around Toria.  Each one was shaded in a green to red.  A small depiction of the Dreamer appeared on the hologram.

“As everyone has surmised, since we ARE a survey ship, our main objective is to be the light bearers of the Torian race.  We have discerned a flight path that has the highest probability of returning a suitable planet to claim for Toria.  Assuming, of course, that somebody doesn’t already live there.”  The comment produced a few muted chuckles as he continued.  The holographic Dreamer began moving as the Captain began.  “We’ll begin here with the Kupe star system which has the highest likelihood with five orbiting bodies.  We move on through here to Antares with three bodies.  Past the Skowbo star, which returned nothing.  We believe the drone was malfunctioning or lost so we’ll need to pay special attention to the area.  However, it’s on the way to Tycho with a single body, through the Torus star system which returned nothing, and end up in Russom with two bodies.”

The Captain droned on about different threats, needed departmental coordination, and specifics about each of the different systems.  Yugo ignored them as he studied the map.  Something itched in the back of his head that something was wrong.  The more he looked the more confident he was that they were doing the route backwards.  He leaned forward to the map.  The holographic Dreamer continued in an endless loop along the projected path.  Yugo leaned forward and with his pointer finger touched the star of Russom.  He was almost disappointed when nothing happened.

As he looked up, he noted that the Captain had stopped speaking.  In fact, everyone was staring at him.  The security officer was giving him an extremely odd look, as if he were trying to read his mind.  The Captain was obviously irritated, “Finished playing now Lieutenant?”

Yugo turned purple with embarrassment, but since he was already in the spotlight, he took a deep breath and responded.  “Sir, I believe we are doing this course backwards.  I have a feeling we should head towards Russom first, and then come back in the reverse direction.”  Yugo pointed on the map the reverse course, not that anybody really needed him to do so.

“A feeling.”

“Yes Sir.”

“We have spent the last three days running calculations in regards to the course, based on the results of the drones that YOU programmed, and you want me to lead us to Russom based on a FEELING.”  A few members of the audience chuckled.

“I know it sounds silly Sir, but…”

“SILLY is not the word I’d be using Lieutenant!  Do you have anything else to add Lieutenant?  Let me correct that, anything USEFUL rather?”

Yugo opened his mouth to protest, but looked around at the sea of disbelievers.  Nobody would believe him.  He surely wouldn’t if he were in their shoes.  “No sir.”

“Fine Lieutenant. Thank you for wasting our time, you are dismissed.”

Yugo had never been more embarrassed in his life.  He knew this event would spread throughout the ship in no time, and he’d have yet another comment on his record.  He wouldn’t have cared had he a family name to live up to.  Sometimes, he had to live with what he felt regardless of the consequences.  As he passed the security officer, the man gave him the slightest of smiles and the most imperceptible of nods.  Yugo couldn’t figure out whether he imagined it or not as he left the room and the door closed behind him.

**

Frska shined her light down the dark tunnel.  The tunnel was dark, dry, and dusty.  She shone the light up on the ceiling to watch for pests.  It wasn’t any different than the other tunnels she’d been searching for the past week.  She’d received an assignment to search through a particular section of the Trik-Trak mountains for signs of Drengin or Torian settlements.  She’d thought the assignment insane, there wasn’t any way that Drengin OR Torians, even Torians running FROM Drengin, would set up camp here in this portion of the Trik-Trak.  And then she saw the money.  Frska wasn’t born in a monsoon litter.  She understood that with money came risk.  She was looking for something important.  What?  She didn’t know.  Her employer wasn’t talking either.  Actually, he wasn’t talking at all.  Her instructions simply stated that when she found something, to hit the appropriate button on the datapad, and he’d be there.  So she’d been searching through various natural caves, and valleys, and mountainsides throughout the Trik-Trak.

This cave went a bit deeper into the mountains than past caves, it sloped down quite severely at one point and became a bit cooler.  Frska put her beam on high and continued forward when her boot hit a rock.  She pointed down and was startled to find that it wasn’t a rock. It was a partially buried skull, a Drengin skull.  Frska shone the light all around.  She found the rest of the body, or what was left of it, ten feet away.  A hole the size of a large bird had been blasted through the Drengin’s rib cage.  The hole was clean.  Frska mused that it had to have been some kind of extremely powerful energy….something.  Weapon?  Accident?  Frska wasn’t sure.  She pulled out her side arm, what the Drengin had called a Sureshot.  Frska hated what the Drengin had done, but she definitely respected their ability to produce efficient weaponry.  She’d take a Drengin weapon over a Torian weapon any day.  She checked the ammo, released the safety, and moved forward down the corridor.  She knew it was silly, but it made her feel a bit less nervous.

The passage finally opened up into a large chamber.  Frska stopped at the entrance and cautiously panned the area with her light.  What she saw took her breath away.  Frska was used to explorations, used to the unknown, but the wave of nervous fear was a new sensation for her.  She stepped back into the tunnel to regain her composure.  This was just another exploration.  Outside of the beating of her heart, she couldn’t hear anything.  She didn’t see anything moving either.  She simply had to overcome her fear and get on with it.  A few minutes of a chant her father had taught her and a bit of deep breathing brought her back to her normal self.  Having overcome her temporary lapse of self-control, she once again moved into the chamber to look around.

Skeletons littered the ground in various poses.  All looked to have died unpleasantly as far as Frska could tell.  Limbs were missing, or found long distances away and large holes were found in existing skeletons.  Some of the Drengin had been armed.  Weapons were scattered throughout the cave.  Marks along the back of the cave still showed scorch marks of some kind of energy weapon.  Whatever had attacked either missed a few times, or had simply blown through the target and into the back of the cave.  Some kind of what she assumed to be droid or robot lay motionless on the ground.  It seemed to be in very bad shape at best.  Frska shuddered. 

Further into the large cavern she discovered a base of operations of sorts, an old computer terminal, old military rations, rotted sleeping bags, a few spot lights, a generator, and other various odds and ends. Frska shone her light around, nobody would mind if she turned on the lights, hopefully.  She flipped the switch.  Nothing happened.  She hadn’t expected it too, but she could always hope.  Balancing the light between her legs, Lskra toyed with the generator.  It seemed to be fueled by some kind of fuel cell.  She looked around, and found an extra that had been kicked away during some action.  She pulled it over and opened it.  All the markers showed green, which she assumed was a good thing.  She pressed the buttons on the generator until one manually kicked out the dead fuel cell.  She put the new one in and hit the only obvious button.  It started immediately and the entire cavern complex suddenly shone in a bright white light.

The computer terminal, the cave entrance, the skeletons and the debris, all paled in comparison to what she found on the front wall.  From ceiling to floor, from one wall to the other, was a large metallic surface.  She’d never seen anything like it.  The entire metal surface looked perfectly smooth.  Frska approached the wall and went to touch it, but thought better of it.  This, thing, whatever it was, likely had something to do with the results here.  Frska shuddered again.  She didn’t want any part of it.  She felt like someone, or something was watching her.  She’d do what she needed and get out.  She moved over to the computer terminal to turn it on, but it was missing the top half.  Frska smiled inwardly as she noted that getting into the computer would be easy enough anyway.  She located the data banks, and with some difficulty, removed them and slipped those into her pack.  She didn’t know if they’d be worth anything, but she knew better than to leave anything of worth behind.  As she finished, she looked around for anything obvious of worth she might have missed.  It was then that she remembered her contact.

She quickly pulled out her pad and hit the button.  Nothing happened. Frska pushed it again.  She paced back and forth nervously, wanting to leave the entire place behind.  She jumped as a voice buzzed over the datapad.  It had been so silent in the chamber that noise seemed like a violation of a sacred sanctuary, like it would alert someone or something of her presence.  “Yes Lskra?  You found something?”

Lskra paused momentarily, “I’ve found…something alright.  I’m in some kind of underground cavern, and found a bunch of Drengin who died of some unnatural causes, rather unpleasantly by the look of it, not that I really care and all but-“

“Get on with it Lskra, I’m a busy man.”

“But this cavern looked to be some kind of research center maybe, or excavation site?.  One wall is made of an entire metal plate.  It goes from ceiling to floor, wall to wall.  If I don’t miss my guess, I’m assuming that something is buried here, and it’s big.  Really, really, really big.”

There was a pause, “Forward the coordinates of your find Lskra.  I will have someone in the area shortly to assist.”

The late afternoon sun warmed Lskra’s face while she waited for whoever ‘he’ was.  Trying to keep from being bored, she pulled out the computer databanks and attempted to access the files by connecting it to her datapad.  Hundreds of years in a dry environment didn’t seem to make any difference to the Drengin computer banks.  Lskra was able to open the file with minimum difficulty.  However, the file itself seemed to be corrupted.  It contained pages and pages of symbols and hash marks, and incomprehensible jumble.  Lskra tried various common debugging utilities she always kept on her pad, but none had any success.  It was then she saw the dust cloud.  Pulling out her binoculars, she saw a single van heading towards her.  It was a prisoner van the Drengin used to round up additional ‘volunteers’ to projects they were working.  She tapped the Drengin Sureshot on her thigh.  She had one friend shecould always count on.

She met the van at the bottom of the cliff.  The entrance to the cave was 200 feet above them at a nearly vertical climb.  Lskra had secured several lines for her employers.  There were four visitors in total, all in loose fitting dark blue uniforms, black belts, and black boots.  The apparent leader came before her, looked up at the lines, and looked back at Lskra.  “Let’s go.”

Lskra stood where she was.  “Who ARE you guys?”

“Dr. Tles, Director of Technology, now let’s go.”

Lskra stood a moment uncertainly, then grabbed the rope and began climbing up.  The Director followed on the adjacent line, followed by two of the men.  Lskra flipped on her light as she descended into the darkness, followed closely by her employers.  It was a relatively long trek, taking ten minutes through the roughly carved tunnel.  Having been through it once already, Lskra had a much easier time. She would stop from time to time to allow here employers to catch up, or pick themselves up.  It didn’t hurt that she had the light either.  They finally reached the cavern where Lskra confidently made her way over to the generator and started it up.

She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the now light filled room.  The men stopped in their tracks, gazing at the monstrous metal sheet buried in the seemingly solid rock wall.  The Director creeped forward to the wall, not quite touching it.  “Amazing…”  The other two approached him, and flanked either side.  One went to touch it when the Director pulled his arm back, “Not yet, not yet.”

“I assume this is what you were looking for?”  The three jumped having totally forgotten about Lskra who was back near the wall, patiently watching them.  “Not quite, but this is better, much, much better.  But this poses a problem Lskra.”  The two associates began pulling out the standard Torian Peacekeeper sidearm.  Lskra quickly pulled the SureShot off her thigh holster and aimed it at the Director.

“I’m sorry Lskra, nobody can be allowed to know this location.  We need to do brain probe, it won’t hurt too much, and then a brain wipe, so you don’t remember anything.  The alternative Lskra, is for us to shoot you and hope you live so that we can do the same.”

Lskra assessed the situation.  She could get one of them before they shot her, but the odds were against her, unless… “Alright, alright, I understand.  I’m putting my weapon down.”  She slowly lowered the weapon and the henchmen did the same.  As she got closer to the ground, she dropped and fired.  The henchmen ducked at the perceived shot.  But Lskra hadn’t fired at her employers.  The generator exploded showering the cavern with pieces of metal.  Milliseconds later, the lights exploded from an overload, blowing out the bulbs and spraying sparks intensely in front of the lamps.  A few lingering sparks trailed downward and then fizzled out, tossing the cavern into a pitch black.  One of the men groaned in pain before the man in charge cried out, “Damn you!  Find her!  Alive or Dead, she can’t make it out of here!”

Lskra knew where the exit was, she also had the only light.  She heard a shot fire within the cavern and heard the Director shout.  “Stop you idiot!  You’re going to shoot one of us!”  She felt her way along the wall, slipping out of the cavern slowly and carefully by touch, doing her best to keep her breathing calm and her steps silent.  The men’s inability to find her location was the only way she was going to live.  She followed the wall for a few minutes, waiting for it to turn.  As soon as she made her way around the turn, she flipped on her light and quickly made her way to the exit.  The sun was just setting over the horizon as she exited the cave.  As she surveyed her surroundings, a bullet whizzed by her right arm.  Lskra scanned the area and found the man taking cover behind the truck.  A bullet hit the edge of the ledge and Lskra quickly dropped down.  Finding her weapon ready, she rolled, aimed and fired.  This guy had no idea the power behind the Sureshot.  The shot hit the van door, removed it from its base sending glass in all directions, and hit the man.  When the man and door stopped moving, the body was barely recognizable.

Lskra holstered her weapon and pulled out her hunting knife.  While looking back into the cave,  Lskra quickly cut one of the ropes.  Tossing it down to the bottom, she sheathed her knife and rappelled down the other line.  As she landed, she stepped back and looked up.  One good shot from the Sureshot and the entire ledge collapsed temporarily trapping the Director and his goons inside the cave.  Her work done for the moment, Lskra slipped behind the wheel of the van.  The keys were still in the ignition.  She started the van, tossed it into reverse, turned the van around and floored it.  Rocks and gravel spit out behind the van as she tore off towards the forgotten cities of Old Toria.  She needed a place to hide.  She was officially on the run.

3

Nearly 6,500 pods had volunteered for the Mission Alpha exploration project.  It was a mere drop of the Torian population.  They were volunteer pods who would risk their lives for a new beginning on another planet.  There were no guarantees where they would end up, but enough Torians craved adventure, were unhappy on Toria itself, or were dragged along that a date was set.  One million Torians would board a single ship.  The numbers nearly defied reality.  The ship alone was absolutely enormous, but didn’t have nearly enough room for an active populace.  The only way to move people in that kind of numbers was in sleeping chambers.  A relatively small handful of Torians would handle the ship while the majority slept in a hibernating sleep.  Upon finding a suitable landing site, the ship would land, be dismantled, and then transformed into a new beginning for millions of Torians.

The ship was ready, the volunteers were ready, but the destination was still unknown.  Her Grace stood inside an enclosed balcony, protected from millions upon millions of tons of seawater by a thin protective shield.  “Your Grace, we are wasting time, we can send the ship to Toria IV, and build another ship in the meantime.”

Her Grace sighed and looked over at the minister, reiterating her position for the third time.  “No minister, I am sending out the colony ship as a second scout ship.  If they don’t find something in a reasonable amount of time, we can always bring them back to settle at Toria IV.  We aren’t in a rush, and I’d rather take the chance they land on some place fertile, and have others want to do the same, rather than send our ships out to habitable rocks, and be forced to implement a lottery system to determine who goes and who stays to the next rock.”

“Are you listening to me Your Grace?  Our reserves are quickly dwindling.  At the current rate, we will have to cut funding to nearly every program we have!  ”

Her Grace shifted in her revealing evening gown, “Minister, do you actually pay attention when I’m talking?  Have you seen exactly how much progress we’ve made these last few months?  Before you know it, we will be perfectly fine, and all this worrying will be for nothing.”

The minister frowned and was about to comment when one of Her Grace’s attendants came rushing in.  “They’ve found one Your Grace!  They’ve found one!  Come quickly.”  Her Grace smiled in triumph.  “As I said Minister, nothing to worry about, let’s see what we’ve found.”

The General paced back and forth in Her Grace’s formal waiting room.  The information he’d received regarding his project had mentioned the location of a suitable planet.  But he had to convince Her Grace in regards to the location without losing his secret, and with enough evidence to make it sound legitimate.  In reality, all he had received was the name of the system.  That was it.  Nothing else was received in the communication.  No backup, no comments, nothing – just the name of a system.  This was a more than a bit unusual.  But this contact was the best.  He had double duty aboard the Dreamer, and it would be foolish not to act upon the information.  He had to assume that only one thing was warranted.  As further scenarios played out in his mind, the door opened and Her Grace emerged, followed closely by the Minster of the Interior.

The General groaned inwardly.  The General could usually persuade Her Grace on a one to one basis, but Minister Menlka was a very stubborn and bright Torian, more so than most.  The General  wasn’t sure he would be able to convince both here and now.  He began to stall.  “Your Grace, I thank you for meeting me at this time of night.  I have just received information that I thought to bring you personally.”

Her Grace smiled, “But General, no time of night is too late for your visits, you know that.”

The Minister frowned.  The flirtations of Her Grace and the General flooded the court.  Nobody knew if any of the rumors were true, but the rumors were continuous.  Not that anyone would have issues with courting the General, he was extremely powerful, and handsome besides.  But having the ear of Her Grace made many jealous, including the Minster.  Breaking the unseen bond between the two, the Minister blurted in, “So what information do you have General?”

The General glanced to Menlka who stood there with a scowl on his face, and a sudden thought came to his head, something so outrageous that it might actually work.   “You know My Grace, I have just ridden in from the construction,” the General backed up to show his dusty field uniform, “and I was really hoping for a soak before telling you the news…”

A sparkle danced in Her Grace’s eyes for just a moment, “Why General, I don’t believe you’ve EVER accepted one of my invitations.  I would be delighted if you joined me.”  The anticipation in her voice was almost palatable.  “Won’t you join us Minister?”  The Minister was about to reply when he noted the expression on the General’s face.  The Minister was a powerful and resourceful man himself.  He understood the unseen rules of the court better than most.  He found the General to be a fair man, but didn’t always like the way he played, nor did he trust him.  The minister understood that something important was happening tonight.  It was the first time he’d seen the General, or anyone for that matter, take the initiative in regards to Her Grace.  The Minister hesitated slightly before deciding that this might not be the time to test the General.  “I’m sorry Your Grace, I’m afraid I have other commitments.  I will speak with you in the morning in regards to this matter?”

“Why of course Minister, arrange it with my attendant on the way out.”  Her Grace led the Minister to the door and shut it.  As soon as the door shut, the General felt more than saw her eyes on him.  The nightgown seemed to reveal even more than it normally should as she slowly made her way to him.  For the first time, he felt he knew what it felt like to be the prey.  She hooked her arm in his and almost whispered in his ear, “Shall we go soak General?” 

“I would like nothing better Your Grace.”

A few minutes later found the pair in a private soaking tub used mostly by Her Grace, and whatever lucky soul Her Grace happened to be entertaining that evening.  Tonight, it was the General.  Drying towels were placed on a rack close by.  Attendants weren’t requested or required in the inner chambers at this time of night.  The General lay his head back against the cushion placed there for comfort as the boiling water washed away days of dirt and grime.  It would have had completely relaxed him had Her Grace not been sitting next to him, her head inches beside his, her hand tracing little circles on the outside of his leg under the water.  After a few minutes of relaxing and silence, she turned her head towards his ear and whispered just over the noise of the water.  “So what’s this news General?”

 The General didn’t bother opening his eyes, or even moving.  His willpower was focused on the job at hand, not on the job that the current course of events was seeking.

“I’ve heard from the Dreamer Your Grace.  I’ve got a system for our Colony Ship.”  In the current circumstances, he felt less was more.

Her Grace stopped momentarily to process the news before continuing her seduction.  “What have you discovered General?  I have heard nothing.  If the Dreamer had found something, I would know.”  The General opened his eyes and turned his head.  Her Grace’s beautiful face showed confidence.  He gazed into her eyes, basking in the glory of her beauty.  He had gained more power around the court by resisting her charms than anyone else had by falling for her.  Tonight was a huge gamble.  It was the only way he could think of to get the project moving on such short notice, for the future of Toria.

Inches from her lips, he swallowed, “Do you trust me Your Grace?”

Her eyes gleamed with desire, “With everything my love.”

The General dropped his forehead to hers to cover his eyes.  There was a price to pay for using the ones you loved.  He didn’t have a choice but to hurt her.  Through the constricting of his throat, he managed to whisper, “If you really trust me, send your colony ship to Russom Your Grace.”  With his remaining reserves of will, the General quickly pushed away from her, and stepped out of the tub.  A stunned Grace watched as the General quickly grabbed a drying towel, and wordlessly slipped quietly out of her chambers.

An attendant entered the soaking room hours later, fully prepared to make the room up and prepare it for the following day’s usage.  She was brought up short when she found Her Grace sitting in the corner staring at the opposite wall.  Her Grace made no movement, and the attendant quickly rushed to her side, fearing that Her Grace had been injured, or worse.

The attendant bent down and hesitantly placed her hand on Her Grace’s shoulder, “Your Grace?  Are you ok?”  Her Grace stared into space for a few moments before responding, looking up into her advisor’s eyes.  “Yes, just tired.  That’s all.”  Her attendant frowned.  All her attendants knew her well enough to read her body.  “Come Your Grace, it is well past the tide, let me help you get ready for bed.”  With a grunt, the attendant pulled Her Grace to her feet, and led her the short way to her bedroom.  The attendant sat her Grace in her chair, and began to oil her back.  “Now tell me, what troubles you My Grace?”  Her Grace looked up into the mirror, into the reflection of one of her attendants, friends, and advisors.  She was one that Her Grace had trusted since she’d inherited the post years before.  Her Grace’s eyes watered as she smiled a forced smile.  “You know the games we play, that there’s always something vested in the play?”  Her attendant only nodded and listened.  “You never think it’s going to be you.  I’ve played this game for far too long, I knew I’d never come out on the wrong side.  It seems I was mistaken.”  A tear rolled down Her Grace’s cheek.

The attendant continued her ministrations as she talked, “The General, your Grace?” Her Grace nodded, closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of her companion and friend.  “We both know he has Toria’s best interests at heart Your Grace.”

Her Grace looked up, staring into her friend’s eyes.  She sighed as she closed her eyes and laid her head back on the chair.  “I just wonder what his vision of the New Toria looks like, and where exactly do we fit in it?”  She wiped a tear away before continuing, her voice regaining some of its authority, determination, and even anger.  “I want Mission Alpha on its way to Russom as soon as possible.  Any inquiries can come directly to me.”  The attendant finished her ministrations and led Her Grace to the bed where she covered Her Grace up, and turned down the lights.  As she slipped out of the room, the attendant turned back and whispered, “It will be done at once My Grace.”

**

The General cringed as the screech began, the signal that he had an incoming message.  He picked up and listened to his clock.  It was 2 hours past the tide, way too early for anything ordinary to be happening.  For the briefest of moments, he wondered if it were Her Grace, but hit the console without pondering it in detail, “Slat here.” 

“General. I’ve got a Priority X and need approval for a squad and a drophsip!”  The General opened his eyes, curiosity piqued.  If it was anyone else but Slai, he might have questioned the request.  The General found it difficult to trust people, but those he did he would trust with everything he had.  If a squad was needed, a squad he would get.   Questions in a Priority X got people killed.  “Approved.  Good luck Sergeant.”

Two hours later, Sergeant Slai laid in wait with the squad under his command.  These men had been handpicked over time, tested, and trained to the best of Torian ability.  They were the best at what they did, and loyal to the extreme.  These men understood they were part of the true power behind Toria.  For now, their job was simply to wait.  The Corporal buzzed into his earpiece, “I’ve got movement Sir, 400 meters to the northeast, looks like the target is running back alley behind the pits heading your way just west of your position.  Looks like she’s being chased by five, no six men Sergeant.”  The Sergeant snapped his finger for attention.  With a quick series of gestures, the squad moved wordlessly to a better position.  He wasn’t worried about being seen.  The black and green camouflage the Torians wore made them next to invisible in the night.  Finding a suitable location near where she should be coming, the Sergeant stopped the squad and they quickly found new positions.  Waiting was always the hardest part of these assignments.  “Sir, I’ve got visual, she’s just jumped the fence.”  Shots were fired and the Sergeant heard voices in the distance, “Get her!  Get her!  She went that way!”

“Get Ready Sergeant, twenty meters, fifteen meters….”  The Sergeant could hear the footsteps getting closer at a full sprint.  They were closer… and closer...  The Sergeant stepped out in front of the sprinting figure.  The figure collided sending the pair sprawling into a tangled heap in the wet grass.  Seconds later several men came charging into the moonlight towards them directly in between the slave pits in the street turned field.  They were met with a hail of gunfire by the Sergeant’s men.  Hidden behind corners, in bushes, nooks, and crannies around the abandoned slave quarters, the squad shred the pursuers as they stepped out of the dark and into the moonlight.  Four men dropped instantly in the initial volley.  The fifth tried to retreat to safety behind the wall but was taken down before being able to turn around.  The sixth man was nowhere to be seen.  The exercise lasted no more than thirty seconds. 

The sergeant struggled with the young girl trying to pin her scratching clawing hands.   His men had mostly surrounded them now in a defensive circle.  “LSKRA!  It’s me!”  The panicked Torian girl struggled more before grabbing his arm and biting.  The Sergeant screamed eliciting a chuckle from his men as they kept watch for the final assailant.  The Sergeant wasn’t amused.  He slapped the young girl, stunning her momentarily.  They were in hostile territory and he didn’t have time for protocol.  “Lskra, It’s me.  We’ve got to move, now!  Let’s go!”  Lskra stopped struggling; trying to comprehend exactly what was going on.  “You two!  Take her and move!  Now!  Blowfish, we’ve got the package, meet us at the rendezvous ASAP!”

Minutes later, Lskra’s head rested on Slai’s shoulder as the dropship rumbled across Old Toria.  Exhaustion, stress, panic, and fear had finally left her, leaving her empty and hollow.  Her voice was barely audible over the roar of the engines.  “I didn’t know who else to turn to.  It has been so long, and we left the den, and I didn’t know if you remembered me, and...”

“Shhh, you’re safe for now.”

Lskra was quiet for a moment, her eyes closed.  “Have you heard from my parents?”

“Not yet, now relax.”

“They aren’t going to make it are they.”

“Nobody knows where they are, now try to relax.”

Lskra snuggled up against the Sergeant.  “Thank you.”  She paused for just a second, “Sorry about your arm.”

The Sergeant put an arm protectively around the young girl.  “It’s ok, just relax…”

Shortly after low tide, several hours later, General Slat entered a small windowless room.  It was painted a strict white and was lit by a single fluorescent light overhead.  Outside the mirror on the opposite wall, the room was featureless.  Lskra slept fitfully on a cot that had been brought in, her arms wrapped protectively around her backpack.  The Sergeant rested in a fold-up chair, a Peacekeeper at the ready in his lap.  At the General’s entrance, the Sergeant immediately came to attention and saluted.  The General returned the salute and looked at Lskra who stirred, realizing something was happening.  As she groggily sat up, the General took a double take back at the Sergeant. 

“So what the hell happened to you?”

“Sir?”

“Have you seen your face?”   The Sergeant frowned and stepped over to the mirror.  His face had multiple scratches across it and his eye was slightly swollen and slowly turning darker shades of brown and black.  The Sergeant winced as he touched his swollen eye.  “All in the line of duty Sir.”

The General smiled in spite of himself, “Did she do that to your Sergeant?  Do you get beat up by a girl AGAIN?!?”  The General laughed while the Sergeant blushed.  Lskra was mostly awake now and on her feet, idly twiddling her fingers and shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

“Alrighty Sergeant, what do we have here?”

“Let me introduce you to Frska Letr.”

The General paused a moment, his mind working overtime as to where he’d heard the name.  It came to him in a rush.  “Ah!  You’re the one that sold us the tank!”  Frska blushed slightly, but was silent otherwise.   “So what brings you to us today, you have another tank for sale?”

The Sergeant interrupted, “Not quite sir, you might want to sit down, you’re going to find this rather interesting.”  The Sergeant passed over his chair and retrieved the other from across the small wooden table.  Frska sat down on her bunk, leaning back against the wall and looked pleadingly at the Sergeant.

“Frska, it’s ok.  Tell him everything.  Trust me on this one.”

Frska nodded and began the retelling of her recent life history:  From her background of exploring Old Toria to the unexpected visitor and employment.  She described her discovery, the attack, and pursuit leading up to the rescue by the Sergeant and his team.  When she was finished she was drained.

The two were silent for a moment soaking in the information before the Sergeant asked, “Think the Director has any idea what’s going on?” 

“I doubt it.  We’ll check the tapes later just to be sure it wasn’t him.”

Frska looked up, “But he said he was the Director.  He’s not the Director?  Who is he?”

The General shrugged as he rose to his feet, “Not quite sure, but I’m guessing it’s one of the Technologists.  They are always doing something kooky like this.  There’s a reason they stick to Old Toria.  As to which one, not sure, it could be one of quite a few.  You never know who’s in charge on any given day.  So you know the coordinates of this cave?”

Frska stood up as well.  “Yes Sir.”

“Good, anything else Sergeant?”  “No Sir.” 

“Alrighty then, good work Sergeant.”  As the General turned to leave, Frska remembered one last thing.  “Oh!  Wait, I forgot, when I was in the cavern, I was fooling with the memory banks of the computer there.  I found a few files, but I couldn’t open them.  I think they’re corrupted.  All I could make out was hashes and symbols and garble.”

The General slowly stopped and turned around, his eyes piercing the girl.  “Say that again?”  The Sergeant stood stock still, his eyes open in surprise.

Frska stepped back a step at the intensity in the General’s eyes.  She looked over at the Sergeant and saw his shocked reaction.  “This…this...isn’t a corrupted file is it.  This is what everyone is after, isn’t it….”  Frska did a quick scan of the room looking for an exit.  The Sergeant quickly regained his composure and stepped in.  “It’s ok Frska, everything will be just fine.  But we need to know.  Where are the files?”  The calmness and slowness in his voice alarmed her even more.  “You’re going to kill me too, aren’t you.  You’re all the same!  I knew I shouldn’t have said anything, I knew it!  All I want is to be left alone!”  Frska made to get up and bolt.  Slai quickly sat beside her, placing his hands on her arms for reassurance.  The General waited impatiently as the Sergeant did his best to calm the girl. 

When it looked like Frska had regained some of her composure, the General impatiently held out his hand, “The file?”

Defeated, Frska dumped out the contents of her backpack.  Carefully rolled up in a pair of socks was a fist sized memory bank of the science computer.  She slowly handed it to the General.

The General turned and inspected the small piece of hardware as if trying to solve the mystery inside.  “And this is the only copy?”

Frska snapped back, “Does it matter?”

The General tried to be calm but it had been a long night, apparently for everyone.  “Listen Frska, we are not going to hurt you, but you don’t know what you’re dealing with here.  If the information on these files is what we think it COULD or MIGHT be, you’ve just become a high profile target by many different organizations on Toria.  If you want to live, and no - we won’t be the ones doing the killing, you need to answer truthfully.”  He held up the memory bank again.  “Is THIS the only copy?”

Frska guiltily picked up her datapad and slowly handed it to the General. “I downloaded a copy of a few files to work with while waiting for the Director….errr, whatever he was.”  The General took a quick look at the datapad before dropping it.  In a single motion he pulled out his Peacekeeper and shot it.  Frska barely had time to scream before pieces of the datapad ricocheted off the walls, ceiling, and chairs.  The General looked to Frska, “NOW this is the only copy.” 

The General exited the room with the Sergeant in tow.  They both looked at the girl through the two-way mirror for a moment before the General spoke.  “She is a dead girl walking outside these walls.” 

“Yes Sir.” 

“I need you to explain that to her, and then I want her entered into our Network training program.  With the life skills she has, she should get what she needs to know in six months tops.  She could be an invaluable asset.  Make it happen.” 

“Yes Sir.”

 “Oh, and Sergeant?” 

“Sir?”

 “VERY good work today.  I won’t even give you any more crap about your face.”  The General smirked as he headed off to his office for the day’s trials.

**

“Planet scan complete sir, the result is negative.  Thyco I will not support life.”

“Are you sure you have the sensors calibrated correctly Lieutenant Scrapth?”

“Sir, I’m reading it right here, temperatures vary anywhere between 900 degrees and -300 degrees.  The planet is too small to maintain any kind of atmosphere.”  Yugo turned to look at the Captain directly.  “And look at it sir.  The planet looks like asteroid alley even from this altitude.  Would you like us to land so you can check it out in person?”

Captain Zyltra pounded his fist in frustration.  They’d been traveling for months searching systems that had the best chances of finding a planet capable of supporting life.  With one system left to go, there was little hope of bringing good news to Her Grace.  It was more than that though.  He was coming home a disgrace.

“What I want to know, Lieutenant, is why you sent a message to Toria without me knowing, without my approval, and without any proof whatsoever!  The fact that you were correct is beside the point, it didn’t come THROUGH ME!”

The bridge had come to a standstill.  The rumor that Russom had been colonized had started weeks ago.  Nobody knew exactly who, or how, or why a ship had been sent to the remote system, but people always stopped talking when Yugo entered the room.  The Captain had been increasingly agitated as each explored system came back negative.  Everyone had been waiting for the Captain to confront Yugo.  No other scenario made sense.  All eyes were on Yugo as he began his response, “Sir-“

A panel beeped and the security officer checked his panel, “Sir, we’ve got an incoming signature.  Sir, I think, I think it’s another ship.”

The Captain looked up at the security officer, “Take the Lieutenant to his quarters, he is dismissed.”  He looked at Yugo as Yugo dejectedly walked towards the passage leading to the rear of the ship, “I can’t have anyone on my bridge that I can’t trust.”  The security officer waited for Yugo to pass before following closely behind.

The Captain sneered as Yugo left the bridge, then looked over the controls at the incoming vessel.  They seemed to be passing, then veered to intersect quickly gaining speed.  “Helm, prepare evasion maneuver Z and begin on my mar-“

An explosion rocked the Dreamer sending personnel bouncing around the bridge.  The Captain flew into a console before roughly slamming to the floor.  Lights flickered throughout the ship before going out completely.  The few seconds of darkness were replaced by the soft emergency lighting. The scanning and communication consoles erupted in sparks.  The Captain scanned the bridge as he quickly slammed the button for Engineering.  “STATUS!”  A few members of the bridge made it back to their posts, but most remained where they were, shocked, injured, or worse.  “Helm, Z!  Now!”  The prodigy helms girl had just crawled back to her post and pushed a button that began the automatic evasive maneuvers.

The Captain touched his forehead and pulled them away to find them covered in blood.  Engineering buzzed back, “Captain!  We’ve got hull breach in Engineering, we’re leaking fuel, the sensor array is totally fried, we’re going to have to vent-

A buzzing on his Captain’s chair caused him to cut off Engineering.  “This is Captain Zyltra of the Free People of Toria, please identify yourselves and explain your actions!”

“Awww, Captain, I guess I lost the bet.  I said we could kill the Captain in one shot, my mate said you’d get lucky and it would take two.  It seems I owe him the killing shot.  You snails should have learned by now.  The universe is a dangerous place.  I guess that will be the last lesson you will learn…Captain.  Good-bye.”  Even to a person who’d never heard the actual sound, the Drengin snarling contempt was unmistakable.

The Captain watched on the view screen as a second identical vessel came around and casually crept towards the Dreamer.  Without hesitating, the Captain slammed the evacuation button.

Yugo found himself in a small room.  He groaned as he tried to get up.  He had hit his head hard on something and regretted trying to open his eyes.  The world seemed to be spinning.  He heard people rushing around, screaming orders, and attending to wounded littering the halls.  He looked at his escort who was bent over beneath him.  His escort seemed to be in bad shape.  Yugo slowly gained his feet and then helped the security officer sit down in a chair built into the wall of the small closet.  Yugo looked around.  It wasn’t a closet at all.  It was an escape pod.  Seeing that his escort was alive, Yugo started to make his way back towards the bridge when his escort held him back.  “Wait just a second Lieutenant.”  Yugo snorted back.  “For what?  Surely we are needed right now.”  The security officer looked past Yugo into the hall, but seemed to be concentrating on something else altogether.  His good wrist held tightly on Yugo’s.  “Wait for it….wait for it….”

Yugo rolled his eyes just as the computer voice sounded from the hall,  “Your Captain has ordered all personnel to aban-“  Yugo’s escort slammed the eject button.  Before Yugo had time to react, a metal door slammed shut and boosters ignited.  Yugo was hurled into the metal door as the escape pod escaped hurtled away from the Dreamer.  Yugo gasped at the sudden acceleration and turned back to look at the Dreamer through one of the portholes.  Explosions wracked the surveyor, randomly appearing in various sections around the ship.  Another vessel, a type he’d never seen before came creeping down on the crippled ship.  The vessel seemed to line up a perfect shot before a stream of light burst out and obliterated the bridge.  The rest of the Dreamer followed quickly thereafter.  The resulting explosion was so bright, Yugo had to shield his eyes.  When he could see again, very little remained.  The explosion had torn the Dreamer clean in half.  It was now nothing more than a derelict piece of space junk.  The pair of alien ships slowly circled the debris field once before heading off in the opposite direction.

Yugo looked over at his escort, speechless.  “What…how…who…..” 

“In a bit Lieutenant, give me a minute here.”

Yugo watched his escort as the injured man struggled to find a comfortable position in one of the pod’s chairs.  Yugo, feeling rather awkward in the silence, did his best to break it, “Are you ok?”

The escort looked at him with a pained expression, “I’ll live, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Who are you?  How did you know that was going to happen?  You DID know didn’t you?  Are you one of them?  What’s going to happen to me?”

The escort struggled to breathe, “All in good time Lieutenant, all in good time.”

“But, what’s going to happen, we could be stuck out here forever!  Weeks!  Months!  We won’t survive that long!  We don’t have food, or water, or-“

The escort coughed, “Relax lieutenant, I’m guessing we’ll be in this thing no more than, oh, two days max.”

Yugo looked at the man skeptically, “Really now.  Ok, humor me.  Who is going to be out here?  There’s no way.”

The escort smiled, “Who?  Not sure, but I’m very curious to find out.”

With that, the escort lay his head back and smiled.  Yugo sat and looked out the window staring at the stars, and wondered how anyone would find them way out here.

Well crud, the issue was with Firefox, not the browser...

So we can continue!

4

The dropship had landed within the Yellow Zone of the military facility.  The Yellow Zone consisted of the high security clearance areas including specialized training, research and development, operation planning, and a full on military prison.  The Yellow Zone was a shoot first, ask questions later area.  Outside the Yellow Zone was the Green Zone where the ‘regulars’ were trained.  The regulars consisted of the rank and file portion of the Torian military.  The Green Zone was relatively peaceful right now, but the General had been slowly increasing the numbers through the past few months.  When war came, he would have more than enough trainers on board ready to train the masses that would likely be needed to win a full-out war.  Within the Yellow Zone was the Red Zone.  Clearance to the Red Zone consisted of the General’s own personal army.  This included his staff, officers of varying ranks assigned to different tasks, scientists and his own personal security force.  A number of special projects took place within the Red Zone that were matters of Torian security.  The Red Zone was implemented to keep it that way. 

The door to the dropship finally opened and Yugo breathed in the cool fresh air.  It felt like a lifetime ago since he’d last been on solid ground, and he looked forward to being reacquainted.  His escort stepped out in front of him, and gingerly descended the small mobile staircase to the well lit landing pad.  A man Yugo had never seen before stood at the bottom of the staircase.  The two saluted, then embraced briefly before beginning to talk.  Yugo hurried down the staircase to listen in on the conversation.

“So how the was trip Commander?”

“Couple broken ribs and a fractured wrist, but not too bad all things considered.”

“How’d the translators work?”

“Surprisingly well, but they need to be localized a bit.  According to what was told to me afterwards, I called one of them a limp chicken at one point.  That conversation didn’t go too well.”

The General chuckled as he turned to Yugo.  “Welcome back Captain Scrapth.”

Yugo studied the General for a moment.  “I’m sorry, I’m lost beyond comprehension at the moment, your escort-

The General gleefully cut in, “He’s your new Commander.  Formal introductions are in order, Captain.  May I introduce you to your first officer, Commander Krii.  Now, as you were saying?”

Yugo dismissed the comment with his hand as he continued.  “Whatever.  I have no idea what you’re talking about.  Any of you.  I don’t know how you’ve pulled it out, hell, I don’t even know how I’m ALIVE.  Could SOMEONE give me some answers here?”

The General laughed.  “Of course Captain, of course.  Just not today.”  The General turned to the rest of his men, “Company dismissed!  Come Captain, let’s grab something to eat.”  More confused than ever, Yugo followed the pair as they headed purposefully towards the mess hall.

**

The van slowed to a stop at the solid security gates.  A pair of Torian marines walked out of the guardhouse, weapons shouldered, but ready.  “Out of the van please.  Let’s see ID and open the back.”  The driver, accustomed to such searches quickly showed his ID where it was scanned and approved.  “And you.”  Dr Tles nervously showed his ID badge.  This was the first time he’d actually been inside the Red Zone and the Torians here meant business.  The driver pulled open the doors where a pair of large cases were stacked and locked.  “Open the cases.”  The driver looked over to the Doctor.  The Doctor had the only key.  “Sorry gentlemen, the contents are classified, don’t you know who I am?”   “Don’t know, don’t care.  You either open the cases, or we’ll confiscate them and open them the old fashioned way, with a couple pounds of explosives.  We’ll also toss you into a cell where you’ll never see the light of day.  Now open the damn cases – NOW!”  One guard had his Peacekeeper pulled, the other was readying his assault rifle when a buzzing came from the booth.  “Stay here.”  The bossy guard quickly ran to the booth and spoke for just a second before returning.

“It’s your lucky day Director.  They’re cleared.”  The guard holstered his weapon and both returned to the booth.  The Director and his driver got back into the van and waited as the sturdy metal gate slowly slid open.  When they could, they drove to the most secure place in all of Toria.  Towards the center of the complex was a large building.  A ramp ran underground that was presumably for parking.  The Director was wrong.  It was actually the entrance to the lab structures.  It seems the plans that he was provided didn’t exactly match what was built.  The Director smiled to himself, very clever General, very clever.  The van stopped in front of an elevator.  The driver and the Director got out.  A pair of guards waited at the elevator while the cargo was unloaded.  As soon as it was, the driver returned to the van and drove away.  The pair of guards each grabbed one of the cases and walked into the elevator.  Not a sound was made, not even the traditional elevator music as the box descended. 

When the doors opened again, it was a quick walk to a large room, much larger that what the Director would have called normal, especially underground.  A series of targets had been setup on the far end of the room.  The walls looked to be in poor shape, abused by varying experiments.  One wall was made of a sturdy plastic behind which stood an observation area.  Sergeant Slai waited for them in the testing area.  As the Director entered, the two escorts gently laid the cases down on a pair of sturdy tables, then took positions on the inside of the door.

“Welcome to the Basement Director.  I heard you were coming and I look forward to seeing what you’ve got for us today.”

The Director smiled nervously, both at being out of his element, but also in living up to the expectations of the military man in front of him.  Working for Her Grace was one thing, but working directly for the military was something else altogether.  The Director moved to the first case.  A scanner checked his thumbprint, and a small compartment opened to a keypad.  The Director wiped his hands down on his pants before entering the ten digit key code.  The light turned green and the case clicked.  “Gentlemen, this is our first presentation today.”  The director pulled out with one hand a small assault rifle.  “This is the next generation weapon for small arms operations.”  None of the military looked impressed.  Lifting it with one hand, he handed it over to Slai.  The Sergeant began examining it as the Director continued.  “We call it the Screamer.  We’ve reverse engineered the Drengin assault weapons and modified them for our own personal use.  They are much lighter than the Drengin counterparts, and have a variable setting for the sonic vibration.  At the lowest setting, you won’t see any difference in damage from a conventional weapon, but at the highest setting, the vibration will act nearly like a concussion grenade.  The weapon does have a limited charge, so a few shots at the highest setting could drain the weapon completely.”

On the far end of the room a line of ganger fruits had been arranged in fairly humanoid shapes.  Ganger fruits were often used by the military due to their ability to grow anywhere.  The fact that the fruit mimicked many physiological properties of a Torian was simply an added bonus.  As Slai began setting up a test shot, the Director broke in, “Now make sure to take the safety off, and look through…”  Slai looked up and stared at the Director.  The Director blushed as he belatedly fell silent.  Adjusting the vibrations to its lowest setting Slai aimed at the center target and fired.  The weapon screeched a loud piercing noise as a bolt of energy streaked through the room and hit the ‘humanoid’ square in the ‘chest’.  The target fruit evaporated while the rest of the figure exploded in a cascade of reds and greens.  Slai nodded approvingly while he adjusted the vibrations up their highest setting.  The Director ducked his head while trying to warn the overzealous military man, “Wait!”  Slai aimed and fired.

The piercing of the weapon caused Slai to cringe as the shot sailed into the next target over. In an almost slow motion, the line of targets began exploding, one by one in an expanding circle.  The glass of the observation window cracked, then exploded outwards showering the rooms beyond with glass.  The floor and ceiling cracked and warped in a pattern central around the point of impact. 

When everything was silent, the Director lifted his head.  Melon slowly dripped from the ceiling while pieces of glass that stood hanging by a thread tinkled down onto the floor.  The Sergeant smiled.  “Nice work Director, not a bad first run.  What else you got for us?”  The Director only shook his head as he opened his next case.  He pulled out a flimsy looking vest and tossed it to the Sergeant.

“Body armor.  Able to withstand a direct hit from just about any weapon.  Even the one you are holding, assuming the vibrations aren’t too high.  Also very light weight, you can put it on under clothing with little to no hindrance in movement.”

“Very good Director, put it on, we’ll test it out.”

The Director paused.  A look of confusion crossed his face.  “Excuse me?”

“What’s wrong Director, not confident in your work?”

The Director struggled for words.  “But…but….”

The Sergeant rolled his eyes.  “Fine.”  He looked over to one of the two escorts standing guard, “Private, put this on.  Stand at the other end.”  The woman didn’t hesitate as she came forward and grabbed the material.  As she was testing the material in her hands, she looked over to the Director, “I hope this works Director, for your sake.”  A sheen of sweat covered the Director’s forehead as the woman pulled on the vest.  She muttered under her breath as she crossed to the other side.  Finding a suitable spot not covered in Granger juice, she stood impatiently.

“Alrighty Private, come get me.”

The woman began running, jumping from side to side to avoid being shot.  The Sergeant carefully aimed, and when he had the shot, pulled the trigger.  The shot rang out and took the marine in her chest.  Her momentum was reversed as the shot took her from her feet and sent her to her back.  She coughed a few times and rolled over onto her hands and knees.  “Private?”  The woman held up her hand to indicate she’d live as she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The Director commented in a subdued voice, “That shot would have obliterated her without that vest.  Even with the vest, a higher vibration setting will turn the eyes, inner ears, brain, and heart to mush.  Depending on the closeness of the shot, it will break bones.”  The Sergeant spoke to the Director while watching the Private get to her feet, “This is one nasty piece of work Director.  Nice work.  How is the armament for the ship progressing Director?”

“One thing at a time, it’s a work in progress.”

The enthusiasm on the Sergeant’s face faltered as he looked back.  “If we can’t get to a planet Director, we won’t be able to use these fancy toys of yours.  In case you haven’t heard, the Dreamer was lost.  It would be nice if we could defend ourselves Director.”

“We’re working on it, it’s our top priority.”

“Any word on the artifacts Director?”

The Director looked surprised momentarily, before dejectedly answering.  “No, I really haven’t had any spare time to prepare a group to search for them.  As soon as I finish a few other things, I’ll be getting onto that.”

“We can help you out if needed Director.”

“Yes, I’m sure you would love that.  No, we’ve got all our work cut out for us right now, but I appreciate the offer Sergeant.”

The Private had finally gotten to her feet and made her way over, a strand of bloody spit still stringing from her mouth across her chin.  She looked up at the Sergeant who stood waiting.  “You,” she said, pointing a finger into his chest, “are one sadistic son of a bitch.”  The Sergeant stared at her disapprovingly.  “Sir.”  The Sergeant gave a one sided grin, “We’ll be making this mandatory for the rest.  You need to know what it feels like before it happens.  Go get yourself checked out Private.”  The Private saluted as she made her way out of the room, picking up her firearm on the way out the door.

**

General Slat came to understand the value of knowledge from a young age.  He bore scars from some of his adventures into Old Toria in his younger years, and some of the discoveries he made there helped shape him into the person he was today.  History, artifacts, and discoveries about himself were all invaluable tools in the long run.

As such, the General made knowledge a priority in all things.  His ability to uncover knowledge, and know when and how to use it made him one of the most respected and feared people around Her Grace’s court.  The Red Zone was his new library of knowledge, a place he could store all the tidbits he’d gathered over the years without overly worrying about discovery.  On the bottom level of the military research lab was the Vault.  Security included hand prints, voice recognition, and retinal scans.  Only four people had clearance into the Vault, the General, two trusted scientists, and Sergeant Slai.  Dr. Tles doesn’t know it existed, and the Sergeant didn’t know he had access.  That left the General and the two scientists as the sole curators of the vault.  The Vault consisted of several different chambers, each separated by a thick wall of steel and protected by security measures much like the entry.  The outer chambers included a series of large self-contained laboratories where the scientists could perform experiments that might be considered outside the standard morals of the common person.  An inner vault was a private room for the General alone.  It included documentation from old papers and maps, to artifacts such as weapons and prototypes, to an unconnected computer that held the invaluable information his inner network and personal connections had gathered over the years.

The two scientists had cleared out a laboratory, and filled it with a series of holoboards, a chalkboard that could be written on, corrected, moved around, and then saved and retrieved later as needed.  The two scientists had been working on their latest project off and on for weeks.  Lskra’s discovery had been the most interesting project the two had ever worked; the deciphering or decryption of an alien language.  They had argued off and on regarding whether the symbols were actually an encryption device, like a lock to keep unwanted people out, or whether it was an actual language to be deciphered and understood.  The two holoboards were covered with writing as the two continued to argue.

“Look, if we run a quasdraztic function on this and then apply the Krzy theory of substitution on it, we can get-

“Krzy Theory of what?!?

“I worked on it all yesterday, I’ll show you the proof, but you’ll just have to trust me on this one.”

The other scientist sighed as the first continued.  “Now, if you apply the Theory, watch what happens.”

The first scientist made some adjustments on his holoboard, and symbols and figures were replaced with new ones.  “Now see, this series here,” he pointed to the board, “matches this series here, and here.  It makes the complete circle around this set of symbols here.”

The second got up, “That makes no sense at all.  For all we know, the Drengin could have been toying around, just like we are, and programmed the thing to do exactly what it did, tear the tinkerers apart with who knows what.”

“And they also could have tripped some kind of anti-defense system that ripped them apart.  I’ve given my ideas, what do YOU have!”

The second was silent.  Deciphering a language out of symbols was a difficult task.  The fact that there were likely words that the Torians didn’t even know EXISTED pushed the task next to impossible.  Both scientists understood this, and the second sighed.  “Ok, we’ll try it your way.”

The two scientists gathered around the central computer in the room.  The two generally did their work separately in separate areas, on separate machines, with their own copy of the files.  When they wanted to try something real, they used the source databanks.  With as little as they knew, there could be items that weren’t copied over, or were ruined in translation to ‘conventional’ Torian machines.  There were simply too many unknown NOT to use the source. 

The first scientist copied over a large series of files that constituted his functions before looking over to the second.  It took another few minutes to input the parameters and set the scope of the project.  When he was finished, he paused and gave his partner a questioning look.  The second looked back, a drop of sweat forming over his brow.  “Yeah, do it.”

He nodded and pushed the button.

Nothing happened. 

The second looked over, “How long is this supposed to take?”

“Anywhere from thirty seconds, to a few hours, or longer.”

The second looked over a bit irritated.  “Well, why don’t you-“

“LOOK!”

The pair looked at the screen.  The screen had blanked for a few seconds before the symbols had reappeared along the edges.  Ever so slowly, the symbols began appearing and disappearing along the edges of the screen, one then the next, then the next.  “What’s it doing?”  The first shook his head slowly and shrugged as he watched the symbols appear then disappear.

The pair sat there quietly watching, minute by minute, the symbols appearing and disappearing.  Two of the most brilliant Torians alive had been completely transfixed by a screen of slowly flashing alien symbols.  Almost imperceptibly, the symbols began to increase in speed.  Hours went by with the same pattern, the two scientists sitting and staring, the computer flashing alien symbols across the screen.  Shortly before high tide, the computer screen began to increasingly brighten.  The heat from the computer itself could be felt from underneath the desk the display sat upon.  Neither scientist noticed as the screen continued its alien dance. 

The symbols increased their frequency over the hours until the edges of the screen were nothing more than a blur.  The blur began slowly marching its way towards the center of the screen which began increasing in intensity and cackling with electricity.  The scientists stepped back away from the desk when the first had a panicked look.

“Are we taping this?”

The second cursed as he scrambled down the hall.  By the time he had returned with a camera and a stand, the center of the screen had become a blinding white light.  Ever so slowly a snake light appendage, cackling with electric current, writhed out of the computer screen as if searching for something.  The pair of scientist sat transfixed.

“You’re taping now, right?”

The second just nodded as a crackling globe of energy slowly emerged from the now dark screen.  Snake like appendages, a few feet long slowly waved as the crackling ball floated a foot above melted piece of machinery that had once been a computer. 

“I think it’s about time we found a safer location to film.”

The second nodded as he slowly removed the camera from the tripod.  He had just about made it to the door when the floating energy sphere brightened sharply, sending out electric charges to all corners of the room.  Computers exploded, the overhead lighting brightened quickly then shattered, and wall sockets showered the room with sparks.  As the sockets showered the room, the snake like appendages dove into the wall sockets.  The form pulsed, growing larger and brighter as it drank from the military power plant.  Finally, when the ball had grown to a four foot ball of crackling energy, the attacking currents stopped.  The pair of scientists stood anxiously near the doorway, still filming.

The energy form pulsed once and the two scientists jumped.  It pulsed again.  The two scientists flinched.  Then suddenly without warning, the sphere of energy burst through the doorway.  The impacting rush tossed the first into the closest wall head first with such force as to make him unrecognizable.  The other was sent flying through the nearby glass observation window and into the next lab.  He didn’t get up.  The energy globe ripped upward through the elevator shaft sending the carriage and occupants plummeting five stories to their doom.  The sphere burst through the top of the building and greeted the night with a white pulsing light as it streaked upwards into the night.

**

The Red Zone barracks stood in the northern portion of the facility.  They were mostly two story buildings, with sixteen marines in a building.  The marines shared a room, with 4 suites on a floor and the entire building sharing a central kitchen, large bathroom, and soak tank.  In the Red Zone, marines were brothers and sisters to a bigger cause.  They would live and die for each other.  The General liked it this way.

Officers had their own smaller private quarters.  The buildings looked almost identical, but the rooms were more private having their own bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom.  The soak tank was still shared.  The General did this on purpose as well.

The General, of course, had his own private quarters.  He not only had his own private amenities, including his own private soak tub, but also a private waiting or meeting room.  His residence was nearest the electric wall on the northern side of the compound.  A pair of guard towers flanked the fence some ways away, and the mountains could be seen in the distance.  Neither the yellow nor the Green Zone bordered this portion of the complex.  A gate had been installed, but was rarely used.  It was an emergency only route.  Those that used it better be dying or dead or they would find themselves the same.

One reason the General enjoyed the location was the electric fence gave off a soothing hum during the middle of the night.  When everything was quiet and still, he could just hear it.  It was one of the small but enjoyable luxuries he could afford.  The absence of the hum was the first thing that woke him.  He opened his eyes only to squint as a bright light streamed through the windows then dimmed. The General quickly sat up and grabbed his Enforcer.  Undoing the safety, he raced to the door and stepped out.

He had to shield his eyes as he looked up.  Taking a look around, the power was out but it was nearly clear as day from the streaking object that shone overhead.  Slai came running up as the General looked around gathering his thoughts.  Slai waited just a moment before the General began.

“We are on lockdown.  Nobody goes in or out.  Shoot first, ask questions later.  I want a headcount ASAP.  I want a full-on Red Zone search.  I want to know exactly what happened here.”  “Sir, yes sir!”  The Lieutenant bounded off, shouting orders to emerging marines as he went.

The General quickly returned to his quarters and changed into some real clothing.  It was likely to be a long day.

The sun was barely rising as the General approached the Slai and the small squad of Marines.  The group stood just outside the entrance of the office building covering the Vault.  The building was in poor shape.  Half of the third floor had collapsed while the other half was missing its roof.  Every window of the place had been shattered from the ground floor to the top.  Cleanup of the glass alone would take days.  After gazing at the wreckage for a few moments, then gazing at the hovering star that, if anything, had grown bigger and brighter in the morning sun, the General finally spoke up, “Status Lieutenant?”

The Lieutenant struggled for words for a moment before beginning, “We’re not one hundred percent positive Sir, but the event seems to have originated inside, or very close to the Vault.  The elevator down looks to be destroyed.  We searched the upper floors of the building and found two of the five MIA.  Cause of death is uncertain.  Our medical couldn’t tell if it was burns, trauma, or blood-loss.  All were pretty severe.  As to the Vault….”  The Lieutenant paused and looked into the building.

The General nodded and turned to his troops.  “Alrighty men.  We are about to enter the Vault.  You all know this is beyond top secret information.  I have no idea what we’re going to find.  Whatever we do find does not come out.  Period.  Nothing besides those of us here come in or out of the Vault.  I want biohazard masks on at all times and radio contact kept to a minimum.  Primary Objective is to look for survivors.  Secondary objectives are to figure out what happened, and to make sure nothing else down there is loose.  We will take it one floor at a time.  Understood?”

Almost as one, the group replied, “Sir, yes sir!”

“Then let’s do this.”

The door looked no worse for wear as the General opened it.  The door was likely one of the few items that made it through the ordeal unscathed.  Moving into the building, the General clicked on his flashlight as the morning sunlight dimmed away.  The sound of boots clunking on the tile floor was much different than the standard hustle and bustle that would have been seen here on a typical day.  But this wasn’t a typical day.  Scorch marks covered walls and ceilings and glass covered the floors.  Desks had been tipped over or torn completely apart and computers were thrown from the desks.  The damage got progressively worse as they approached the elevator shaft.  Walls had been peeled away from their supports and the ceiling was missing in places allowing the General to peer into the floors above.  Water dripped onto the floor from broken pipes. 

The smell of burnt remains further assaulted the party’s senses as they approached the elevator shaft.  Nothing was recognizable and black soot covered everything.  Had this been one of the traditional Torian buildings, the place would have likely collapsed.  As it was, a hole had been incinerated straight up through the elevator shaft, to where a bit of sunlight fell across the General’s face as he looked up.  Nothing could be seen up or down the hallway and looking up into the morning light showed nothing but black from the current angle.  The elevator box simply ceased to exist.  There was no elevator and no elevator carriage.  The only thing proving that something had existed there at all was the nicely cut hole in the ground dropping into the darkness.  Lights targeted down the shaft couldn’t penetrate to the bottom.  The strong odor of burnt covered everything, as did the soot that came with it.

The squad investigated one floor at a time.  Using a rope ladder that had been bolted into the top floor, the squad slowly descended floor by floor.  The damage looked to have been confined to mostly the hallways closest to the elevators.  The Vault had been constructed with security in mind, thus the large reinforced doors kept the inner workings of the upper floors safe.  As the team progressed deeper and deeper into the Vault, the damage was spread further and further out from the elevator shaft.  The more important rooms were generally furthest from the elevator, whatever floor it happened to be on.  Meeting rooms, break rooms, a few examination, and storage rooms had been penetrated and moderately damaged, but nothing that couldn’t be replaced. 

As the group cleared the second to last floor, the General stopped the group.  Only the Sergeant and General had permission for the last floor.  The General and Lieutenant climbed down the last bit, and dropped to the floor, their lights slowly panning the area.  Crumpled remains of the elevator were buried under pieces of the building that had collapsed from many stories above.  As the General began panning towards the labs, where the most severe damage seemed to have originated, the Sergeant stopped him.  “Sir…”   The Sergeant bent down, brushed aside some dirt and small rubble, and found a Torian skull.   The General looked up past the squad on the floor above, “Whatever it was must have passed straight through the elevator.  Poor guy was probably doing rounds in the office building when it passed right through him.  One down, two to go.”

The two passed into the hallway that split the labs.  Each lab had windows where observers could view any experimentation from a safe distance.  Nearest the elevator was a lab that kept live animals for testing, some of them small primate types as well as dogs, cats, and various other animals.  The General pulled his enforcer as he entered.  The cages were silent.  The animals lay still in their cages.  The General briefly wondered what killed the most, burns, shock, blood trauma, or something else entirely.  As he looked through the cages, a burnt and scarred monkey jumped at the cage door and shrieked a high pitch shriek.  The Sergeant jumped while the General stepped back, aimed, and fired.  The shrieks ended as quickly as they began.  The gunshot echoed throughout the enclosure.  “No idea what that energy did to these things.  Not about to find out.”

The pair moved deeper and deeper through the labs.  Nothing moved or made a sound.  As they approached the source, the General spied a figure laying face down on the floor of an adjoining lab.  Nothing was recognizable other than it had once been a Torian.  Moving into the computer room the pair felt something different in the air.    A static electricity could still be seen sparking from the various wall circuits that had been fried long ago.  What had once been a room completely filled with state of the art computers was now little more than a room full of charcoal.  The General wasn’t quite sure what he had expected when he journeyed down here, but this wasn’t it.  An entire lifetime of accumulated information had been destroyed.  All progress that had been made on research had been destroyed as well.  The scientists were lucky.  If they had still been alive, he’d have killed them himself.  The General cursed under his breath. 

Taking  a deep breath, the General looked over to the Lieutenant who was on one knee, cursorily sifting through some ash, “Well Lieutenant, we just might have a problem.”

6

Despite the organization of the General, the efficiency of his elite troops, and the technology of his military, the war against the Titan did not go well.  The attack had been going on for what seemed like months, but in reality, had only been a few days.  The machine was nothing the General had ever encountered, or even heard about.  It was immune to everything they attacked it with.  Nothing touched it.  It simply ignored nearly everything unless attacked.  Upon being attacked it would eliminate the threat and then continue on with its quest to eliminate infrastructure throughout the planet.  Upon completion of some inner objective, it would blast off and land somewhere else across the planet to begin anew.  Hundreds of thousands had died in the chaos.  Cities had been all but leveled.  The military was in disarray, and the General was pulling out his last stops.

**

“Very good Atrl, now let’s do it again, the other direction.”   Yugo and his crew had spent the last few months training in space.  While most of the crew had some experience in space through the various ships that had made their way into space over the last year, Atrl was new.  She had been handpicked by Yugo.  Yugo had enough experience with poor pilots that he wanted to make sure the pilot flying his ship was the person he wanted.  Atrl had been a surprise pick to the crew.  She didn’t have the grades, the pedigree, the training, or the typical demeanor of an ace pilot.  Even the simulations she’d prepped in hadn’t been all that good.  Yugo had felt something about her,    something that told him that Atrl would be an asset to his crew.  Skepticism had been replaced with wonder as Atrl had proven to be a natural pilot.  She could perform maneuvers the autopilot could perform, but with the ability to adjust as the situation warranted.  As Yugo reset the coordinates, a buzz interrupted his train of thought.  Looking onto his console, Yugo noticed an urgent message and confidential.

Yugo excused himself into the small private anteroom just off the bridge.  The room held a small desk, a few chairs, and a window open to the blackness of space.  Yugo hadn’t decorated the room yet despite his position.  He still felt that the entire situation was still half a dream and felt that making the room his own would sabotage it.  Besides, he really didn’t have all that much to decorate it with.  Yugo sat down at the personal monitor and took a deep breath.  He had been pretty much left to his own devices since being ordained the captain of the badly named Dreamfetcher.  Commander Krii was more than willing to give advice when asked, but for the most part, the run of the ship’s training program was Yugo’s.  This could potentially be his first real assignment.  Yugo wiped away a bead of sweat from his forehead before he flipped the message on.

A brief static was quickly followed by the image of the General.

“Good afternoon Captain.”

Yugo saluted.  “General.”

“I have a job for you Captain.”

“Yes Sir.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the, issues, we’ve had down here.  We need a bit more firepower.  I need this thing taken out, but not completely destroyed.  I don’t know how much it’s going to take, but I want as much as possible in one piece.  This thing has been rather…resistant to conventional attacks, so you might want to use the new missiles the Director sent up.  Schematics and tracking coordinates are being sent to you now.  Good luck Captain.”

The monitor flipped off before Yugo had been could respond.  There was no way the General could hear the nervousness in Yugo’s voice.  Whether this was the General’s mode of operation, or whether the General was giving him the benefit, Yugo wasn’t sure.  Regardless, there was a job to do.  He did a scan of the schematics.  It was a ground and aerial opponent.  Anything could happen. 

He was the Captain and he was in charge, regardless of the circumstances.  Yugo stood up and straightened out his uniform.  He paused momentarily before walking back onto the bridge.  It was utterly silent.  The nervous anticipation could be felt by everyone.  Without saying a word, Yugo went and sat down in his chair. 

“We have orders.”

**

The Dreamfetcher jostled through the lower atmosphere above Old Toria.  The ship had not been designed for traditional flying, but would work well enough for the current mission.  Yugo mentally began flipping through his options when Atrl spoke up.  “Sir, target acquired.  We will be in weapons range in 3 minutes.”

There was a lot of ground to cover in three minutes, but the ship would be fine.  The red alert slowly bathed the bridge in its glow, making it look like the entire bridge was bathed in blood.  Yugo shook his head.  He had other things to worry about. 

“Weapon status?”

His weapons officer paused momentarily, checking the panel, “Prepped and ready sir.”

“Engineering?”

“We’re at 100% sir.”

There was nothing to do but wait.

“2 minutes sir.”

And then he saw it.  It looked just a tad taller than some of the nearby buildings.  Except it moved.  And lobbed gigantic balls of energy death into the city.  As he watched, a power station was engulfed in an awe inspiring explosion.  Had he not known what it was, he might have enjoyed the show.  As it stood now, it was a rather formidable foe.

“30 second sir.”

“I want a double shot fired at the center on my mark.  Let’s see what this thing can take.”

“Yes, sir..”

10, 9, 8,….

The bridge crew sat silent as the monstrosity grew larger.

7, 6, 5…..

The monstrosity lobbed another globe of death into an industrial district.  Factories and warehouses were reduced to rubble in an instant.  The monstrosity grew larger before then.  It obviously didn’t seem to consider them a threat.

4, 3, 2….

The seconds ticking seemed to be an eternity.

1…  We are now..

“FIRE!”

A pair of Stinger missiles streaked their way across the sky.  Skimming just over several buildings, the missiles homed in on the center of the creature.  The bridge crew held their breath as the missiles closed in and struck the thing.  The explosion briefly lit the sky. When vision returned, the Titan was aiming at them.

“EVASIVE MANUEVERS!”

Ensign Nrek quickly pulled the ship starboard, but the nuances of flying a ship of this particular size, in gravity, was a bit more challenging.  The glancing shot from the Titan sent the ship tilting to a near forty-five degree angle.  Screams of pain were followed by a computer panel blowing out behind Yugo.  Officers across the bridge struggled to keep their balance or slipped downwards towards the starboard wall. 

As Nrek righted the ship, Yugo noted that a few posts weren’t filled, including his weaponry officer.  Yugo quickly stepped up into the slot.  As he adjusted the controls for another round, he looked up to note that the ship seemed to be gliding.

“Are we falling?”

“Sir, we’re losing altitude, we need more power!”

“ENGINEERING!”

“Sir, what the hell was that?  We’ve lost our atmospheric Nadion converter.  We’re losing power!  We need to retreat!”

“I need power to the engines, NOW!”

“Only thing we have left is life support sir, we need to retreat!”

“If we don’t get power to the engines, we won’t NEED life support when we are ground to bits in a mountain range, now get me power, NOW!”

It was a long thirty seconds before engine power was returned to full power. 

“Sir, we don’t have long before we…”

“Understood.  Ensign, turn this thing around, and let’s take another shot at this thing.”

The Ensign piped in, “Sir, we can’t take another hit by that thing.”

“Then let’s not get hit, ok?”

Quick, nervous laughter filled the bridge as the Ensign turned the ship around.  The monstrosity came back into view, continuing its grizzly work.  Yugo could barely see the streets below jam packed with

Torians trying to get out of the machine’s way.  They had no luck as another ball of energy landed atop a nearby building.  As the Dreamfetcher approached, the Titan stopped its attack and slowly turned to once again face the potential threat.  One of the hands seemed to charge up before firing another blast of streaming energy at the ship.

Nrek was prepared and fairly easily avoided the blast.  “Keep us on target and evade on my mark….”

Yugo prepped a four-missile salvo for firing.  It was the maximum the Dreamfetcher could fire at once.  Based on the first attack, he seriously doubted four would do the trick, but there was always the chance.  Yugo watched the charging hand grow brighter and brighter. 

“NOW!”

Nrek pulled the ship hard to port.  The streaming blast of energy streamed past the ship clipping the starboard side.  As the ship righted itself in preparation for another attack, the computer bank behind Yugo exploded.  The force sent the officer manning the station and Yugo to the floor.  Yugo grabbed for a handhold on the way down.  The missiles fired.  The bridge officers watched helplessly as the quad salvo of missiles was fired blind towards the Titan.  As Yugo slowly made his way back to his feet rubbing his head, he watched as the creature began charging up again.  They were close enough now that any real change in direction would do very little in avoiding a direct hit.  The quad missiles wound their way through the air.  The crew held their breath.  They might actually hit the thing…

The charging grew brighter and brighter.  The missiles we’re heading right for the hand.

Just before the energy band came streaking towards the Dreamfetcher, the missiles impacted.  The resulting blast seered through the Dreamfetcher as it fought to remain in one piece.  Systems began shutting down across the bridge.  “Sir!  We’re losing power!  We need to land!”

“Ensign!  Find a place to land!  Now!”

As the crew snapped back into action, Yugo returned to the view of the monstrosity.  The quad missiles had blown off its arm.  It paused momentarily, calculating what to do after the loss of an extremity before a series of explosions wracked the monstrosity’s insides.  As the Dreamfetcher descended, the creature, not more than a few blocks away seemed to stop dead in its tracks, explosions still lighting up from inside the thing.

The Dreamfetcher glided into a commercial parking lot more than landed.  The grinding of metal and stone was not a pleasant one.  It was better than the alternative.  When the ship finally stopped moving, the bridge looked around slowly before bursting into cheers.  Somehow, some way, they had managed the impossible.  A hand on his shoulder made Yugo turn.  A quick smile from Commander Krii let him know he’d done well.

**

Private Krxt and a fellow marine dragged another body into line.  Slska had spent the last thirty-six hours organizing and commanding the search and rescue operation through what had previously been known as the yellow zone.  They had rescued a few marines, but had mostly been dragging out bodies from the mounds of rubble that littered the area.  It would take time before the heavy machinery arrived to help clear the area, but it would be too late for any survivors still trapped.  The nightmare only seemed to have continued since the monstrosity left.  The fact that it had fallen provided only a temporary boost to the marines.

Slska wiped her brow with her sweat stained uniform as she watched a marine Lieutenant jogging towards her. 

“Sector C-10 has been cleared as best we can Slska.  Should we move to the next sector?” 

Slska looked up at the sky.  Night was closing in.  She looked back at the Lieutenant.  “Naw, have your squad prep camp for now.  If we have time, we can begin, but I think we’ll be cutting it close as is.  Any word on evac?”

“Communications are still spotty but we did manage to get a message through.  We’ve cleared a landing area about a click south of here.  The temp hospital is right next door.  We don’t have any qualified medics out here though.  We lost two marines this morning, and we’ll lose more the longer we stay out here without proper attention.  What are we going to do?”

Slska shrugged.  “Concentrate on what you can control Lieutenant.  That’s all we can do.  Get the camp prepped.  We’ll lose more by….”

The pair dropped their conversation as a pair of jeeps came driving up.  The marine in the back pointed over at Slska and the jeep stopped nearby.  Slska recognized the Torian in back as one of the marines she’d been working with over the last few hours.  However, she instantly recognized the man in the passenger seat.  It was none other than General Slat himself.

The Private and Lieutenant both came to attention, saluting in unison.

The General came to stand before the pair acknowledging their salutes with a slight nod of his head.  Inspecting the dusty, dirty, and tattered uniforms, the General’s calculating eyes finally came to rest on Slska. 

In a knowing tone, he questioned, “I assume you are Private Krxt?”

“Yes Sir.”

By now, a small crowd had formed at a respectable distance from the General.

“I’ve heard you’ve done yourself well here the last few days.  Considering the circumstances, and your training, extremely well.”

Slska blushed slightly but responded quickly, “Just doing my duty Sir.”

“Unfortunately Private, rules were broken.  You are herby under arrest.”

A second Torian, dressed in the uniform of the military police, quickly clasped Slska’s wrists behind her and restrained them with a pair of Dren restrainers.  Generally used on the worst offenders, the Dren restrainers clamped around the wrists with a series of barbs and jagged edges.  They were made to bleed a subject.  If the retained weren’t careful, it could easily slit veins leading to a quick death.

The shock left Slska with barely enough time to gasp before her tormenter pushed her towards the jeep.  The rest of the marines looked on in stunned silence as the pair of jeeps turned and drove away.  The Lieutenant looked around as eyes suddenly turned to him for direction.  There was one last order he’d been given before she’d been taken away.  He might as well follow it.

“Alrighty marines, let’s finish up here and prep camp.  We can start again in the morning”

Slowly, the marines began heading towards their designated camp sites.  The Lieutenant shook his head to himself.  He wondered how much worse it could really get.

**

Xavrs had learned quite a bit about military discipline from the Dren.  The Dren believed that order wasn’t maintained by coddling.  Occasionally, a show of force was needed to keep people in line.  Over time, Xavrs had learned to better appreciate the lesson.  Today was one of those days.  Three hundred marines stood in formation around Private Slska Prxt.  They were in the middle of a clear field in the yellow zone.  A slight wind blew through the dry grass and desert flowers that managed to grow in the drastic climate.  Slska found herself bound to a wooden “X” staked in the ground.  Her undergarments were the only clothing she wore leaving her back and legs exposed.  Her breathing came rapidly as she closed her eyes, not wanting to meet the gazes of the marines in front of her.

The silence was palatable.  Slska would have been able to hear a marine cough from the back row behind her.  She felt, more than heard, a marine walking up next to her.  Speaking in a loud voice, he broke the silence with her sentencing.

“Today, Private Slska will be punished, having been found guilty of the following crimes:  For the crime of stealing and destruction of military hardware, 5 lashes.  For the unauthorized use of a secured channel 5 lashes.  For the indiscriminate use and potential loss of military secrets, 15 lashes.”

Slska squirmed as the sentence was announced.  This had to be a mistake.  Surely, she had done the right thing.  Surely anyone in her position would have done the same.  She couldn’t be punished for saving other Torians.  She made one last plea to her captors.  “There has to be some mistake!  You surely can’t be doing this!”

The marine turned off his datapad and walked back to a small table.  A whip lie there ready and waiting.  He picked it up and tested it for its strength.  Then he turned it on.  A faint buzzing sound came from the whip.  Another relic from ages past, the vibro whip was a weapon of massive destruction.  A good stroke from the whip would be able to rip through to the bone. 

The executioner took his position behind Slska and without further ceremony, began the punishment.

The General watched Slska’s punishment from the nearby table.  He was sorry that he had to use people this way.  Word would get out about this punishment if it hadn’t already.  Slska still had extensive value.  The screams from Slska were genuine enough.  After 10 lashes, the General caught the attention of the striker.  He gave an almost imperceptible nod and the striker began anew.  The striker was a master at his art.  He needed to punish the girl, but not kill her.  The weapon he was using took extreme skill to use.  A novice would have killed her already, or himself if he were careless.

The final stroke came twenty minutes later.  The General wanted to prolong the punishment for the audience.  As soon as the final stroke concluded.  A pair of Torians came up to Slska.  Her back was an oozing, bleeding, mass of flesh.  She was beyond crying and beyond caring.  She just wanted to die.  The two Torians quickly untied her and caught her as she tried to collapse.  Being careful of their charge, they began dragging her through an aisle down the middle of the assembly.

The General stepped into the center and addressed the crowd.  “You all know the rules marines.  Nobody is exempt.  Not the highest command, nor the lowest private.  Chaos does not allow for the relaxing of the rules!  Remember this punishment next time you think about doing something you shouldn’t be doing.  Dismissed!”

As the assembly dispersed, the General quickly caught up with the Torians dragging Slska away. He whispered into the taller one’s ear,  “I want her treated, and taken to the chamber.  We still have business to discuss.  You two are responsible for her safety until then.”  The taller looked back at the General and nodded.

**

It was the smell of Rypquit that brought her awake.  The smell was an unmistakable bittersweet.  Slska had only known the scent twice.  Both times were from ancient healing rituals held for chronically ill elders from her pod.  Her body tingled ever so slightly with the exception of her back, which slightly throbbed.  She was sure the results of her punishment should have resulted in her unable to move for days, if not weeks.  Had she not distinctly remembered what she’d been through, she would have thought she’d simply been through a tough marine workout.  The beating of her heart was the only sound she heard.  She shifted slightly and the rustling sheets let her know she was on a bed of some type.  Wherever she was, she guessed they didn’t mean to punish her unnecessarily. 

She opened her eyes.  A candle was the only source of light in the small room.  Sitting on a small table a foot away, the candle’s flame flickered periodically sending dancing shadows across the far wall.  Sitting next to it was a neatly folded stack of clothes.  Next to the dresser, mounted to the wall was a full-length mirror.  A door opposite the bed stood closed.

Slska closed her eyes again, but sleep wouldn’t come.  Her mind was already engaged as to the next steps.  There was obviously something that was required here and the choices seemed obvious.  Was she a captive?  A guest?  Both?  Neither?  With a sigh, Slska slowly turned to her side on pulled the covers down.  It was then she realized she was naked and she’d been oiled sometime.  A slight blush covered her face as she tested her back before sitting up.  Only a dull ache let her know that something had actually happened.  She slid to her feet, ready to catch the edge of the bed, just in case.  Her body seemed whole enough.  She examined herself in the mirror.  As best she could, she traced the scars where the whip had caught her.  She remembered the blood dripping down her back, down her legs, pooling at her feet.  The thought caused her to shudder just slightly and she closed her eyes to banish the memory.  When she opened them again, she was still alone in the small room.  All that remained was a series of reddish scars across her back.  As pleased as she was, she found the circumstance unsettling. 

Quickly stepping to the table, she found a silk robe neatly folded on the table and quickly donned it.  The stone floor was chilly against her feet but there was nothing to be done there.  She did a quick check of the room.  There was no note, or instructions, or anything else of interest.  All she had left to do was check the door.  With a mental shrug, she tested it.  It was unlocked.

As quietly as she could, she opened the door and peeked outside.  A pair of marines opposite the door immediately came to attention.  Slska shrugged and smiled to herself.  There was no need trying to hide so she opened the door the whole way, blushing slightly with her underdressed appearance.  The marines seemed neither to notice nor care.

“If you would follow us Private Krxt.”

Slska nodded to indicate her acknowledgement and the pair led her through a series of hallways.  The rough cut of the hall indicated they were underground somewhere.  One marine led and the other followed.  Slska was perplexed to say the least.  A sudden pain jolted through her back bringing her up short.  It felt as if someone had jammed a red-hot poker through her right shoulder blade.  She gasped as she bent, trying to alleviate the pressure but it didn’t work.  Just as the scream left her mouth, the pain was gone.  The episode hadn’t lasted more than three seconds. 

The guard behind her, with a sincere look of concern on his face had both hands around her arm.  “You ok Private?”

Slska took a moment to bring her breathing back to normal, her hands on her knees before nodding.

The trio walked for just a minute before they stopped at another closed door.  The first guard opened it and led her inside.  A small table with a sampling of fruit stood in the center.  The room had no windows or other doors.  The fact confirmed to Slska that they were indeed underground.  As they ushered her inside, the second nodded, “I’ll let him know she’s here.”

The first nodded as he closed the door and took his spot guarding just inside.  “Please, have something to eat, you’ve had quite an ordeal.”

Slska sort of nodded.  “Ordeal” was an understatement.  She couldn’t help thinking the entire episode had now surpassed odd.  And then it hit her.  She was hungry.  She wondered exactly how long she’d slept, and what exactly had happened while she had slept.  Or maybe she hadn’t slept, and just didn’t remember what had happened.

Different scenarios crept through her brain as she sampled the variety of fruits and breads.  She noted that the meal was purposely light.  The variety of reasons that this could be quietly ate at her mind while she ate.  The marine guarding the door seemed perfectly content to watch the opposite wall.  After about twenty minutes, her imagination finally began getting the better of her, and she figured she’d at least try getting something out of her guard.

“So, is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?”

The guard answered almost instantly, as if expecting the question at some point during his stay.  “Not my place Private.”

She wondered if he did this often, if this were one of his roles.  Jail keeper?  Executioner?  She finished her meal with a glass of cool water and scooted back from the table.  With nothing to do, and nobody to talk to, she began to pace.  She always thought better when she paced.  The exercise helped blood to her brain allowing her to think more clearly.  At least, that’s what she always told herself.  Another jolt to her back brought her up short.  It was quicker this time, just a jolt and she waved off her guard who was about to rush to her aid.

“Any idea how long these are going to last?”

The guard was about to respond, then hesitated, as if considering whether to respond at all or not.  He finally decided, “It’s been far too long since we’ve punished someone with that particular device, and the….method we used to take care of you afterwards, well, the combination hadn’t been tried yet.  So to answer your question, no, we will just need to keep watch.”

Slska’s jaw dropped.  The answer opened more questions than it answered.  Just as she was about to barrage him with more questions the door opened.  Walking in behind the other guard was her tormentor, the General himself.  Her first thought was simply to slap him.  The General must have caught the recognized look of disgust as he smiled warmly and opened his hands to the pair of chairs at the table, “Come, sit, we have a few things to discuss.”

Slska knew she really didn’t have a choice, so she sat across from him.  “First of all Lieutenant, I’d like to apologize for your punishment.  I understand it was an… unpleasant experience, but totally necessary – on quite a few levels actually.  Sometimes you do what you have to do, regardless of the consequences.  I know you understand that.”  The ripping open of the dead Sergeant Slai flashed through Slska’s mind as the General continued.  “I do sincerely apologize for the punishment, we’ve done our best to bring you back to whole as best as possible.  There may be some lingering effects for awhile, but overall, we expect that you will be better off than as the alternative.”  Slska noted he was dancing around secrets, and then noted he KNEW she knew he was dancing around the secrets.  She couldn’t help but smile just a little at the game being played. 

“However, Lieutenant, we have come to the point in the conversation where you need to make a decision.”  The General passed over a small envelope to Slska.  She held the envelope as her mind processed what he had just said?  It didn’t make sense.

“Excuse me?”

“Slska, we have lost a good number of good man and women commanders the last few days.  On the other hand, we’ve been able to observe the abilities of a few incredibly talented and natural leaders.  You are one of them.  You had over two hundred marines working for you on your project.  You were a Private.  They were working for you because you had a plan, you knew what had to be done, you listened and took the good parts form other people’s ideas to incorporate into your own, and when the time came, ran over people to get things done.  After you were ‘arrested’, you know what happened?  They finished your plan of camping for the night.  The next morning, the entire operation ground to a halt, with each marine slowly finding their way to another squad with another plan.”

The General let it sink in for a moment before continuing.

“You have a choice Slska.  You can walk out the door right now as Lieutenant Slska.  You ‘broke the rules’ and paid the price for it, but you did it for the right reasons and are essentially a hero.”  The General paused.

“Or, you can listen to my other offer.”  The General sat back in his chair to measure her reaction.  It didn’t take long.

“What’s the catch?’

The General smiled as he leaned forward towards her, “The catch, as it were, is that if you hear my other offer, you are strongly suggested to take it.  Strongly.”

“You mean, you’ll kill me.”

“Naw, we wouldn’t do that.  Not often anyway.”

Slska stood up and turned towards the door. Before she reached it, she stopped.  What if the rumors were true?  There had been a number of rumors about the General’s military.  Most of them were so obnoxious they couldn’t possibly be true.  Could they?  She had personally uncovered one.  What about the rest?  Were they true?  What would they entail?  Was she really that close to finding out?

She turned back to the General who studied her with appraising eyes.  She knew he knew the answer already.  And then it hit her.  This wasn’t a decision.  This was a test.  She sat back down in her chair and looked the General in the eye.  “You already know the answer General.  Let’s begin.”

The General smiled.  “Toria is under assault by threats on a weekly basis Slksa.  There is a private group under my command that helps keeps these threats under control.  I want you to be a part of that group Slska.  The group only has power by secrecy.  The further away from me I can keep this group, the more power we have.  By punishing you the way I did, there won’t be ANY doubt by anybody who saw it or heard about it, which by now is most of the military, that you will hate me forever.  You have now become more valuable to me than you can ever imagine.”

The implications of what the General was saying assaulted her mind when a silly through crossed her mind.  “And I assume I’ll get an implant?”

The General laughed as he got up.

“It was implanted when we were patching you up Lieutenant, you’ll never find it.  You will be with us for at least six weeks while you heal.  Your first briefing is two hours after low tide.  These two will be your mentors while we get you up to speed.  I have a perfect spot for you.  Welcome aboard Lieutenant.”

With a nod to the pair of Marines guarding the door, the General slipped out.  Slska just shook her head.   None of the scenarios she had thought through had come even CLOSE to reality.  And well, that was a good thing.

8

The issues in the colonization of another planet were unknown at the time the colony ship Alpha had left Toria.  It wasn’t that the planet was inhospitable.  The planet had an atmosphere that would support life and a water supply that if not usable, could be made usable.  It wasn’t that the colonists were short on material based on facts that were known at the time of launch.

Rather it was the unknowns about the planet itself that made things difficult.  The local fauna had properties unknown to the colonists.  Which ones were poisonous, which ones were beneficial?  What of the local wildlife were dangerous?  Which weren’t?  Would the introduction of off world agriculture, disease, or stowaway animals affect the local ecosystems?  Weather patterns that were typical on Toria were completely different on Russom.  It would take years before hidden and periodic dangers would reveal themselves.  And the Torians on Russom took them all in stride.

The colony had to be moved after it was discovered that the erosion caused by the wind corridor they had settled in would prevent the planting of agriculture.  The bite of a common insect caused a blotchy, itchy allergy that turned the affected area brown.  Large bull like herbivores turned out to be extremely tame while small groups of vicious rodents would raid the stores at night.  With hundreds of thousands of Torians having made the trip, a day didn’t pass that the group made new discoveries and encounter new problems. 

Russom was a tad smaller than Toria but seemed to hold more potential.  At some time in the future, jungles would be cleared, deserts could be aerated, and swamps filled allowing for additional productive land.  As it stood, the Torians built where they could with the least amount of effort.  Housing was built alongside the emerging factories.  Canals were built from nearby rivers and streams for running water.  Slowly but surely, the settlers of Russom had plans to emerge as an equal to Toria.

In a second story office overlooking the landing pads of the small spaceport, a pair of Torians lay back in their chairs.  Their feet were kicked up, eyes closed as an afternoon breeze blew through the open windows.  As one began to snore, a beep softly sounded from the console.  The other Torian slowly put his feet to the ground and knocked his comrade who snorted before waking and putting his feet down as well.  The first looked to the second.  “So what’d you do, knock the controls out of whack again?”

The second looked down at the console and looked at the buttons, a bit puzzled before turning back.

“No, I think, I think we just lost a sensor.  I think I saw something out there – several somethings actually.”

“It’s just a malfunction.  They were never all that dependable in the first place.”

The now very awake Torian sat forward, pushing buttons to run diagnostics on the disappearing sensor.  “Should we, should we report it?”

“Just make a note in the maintenance logs.  When we get our next shipment, who knows when that’ll be, we’ll have the space cadets take a look at it while they’re out there.”

“You sure?  We’ve never had any issues with the sensors before.”

“Go back to sleep.  It’s nothing to worry about.”

The second Torian refused to be quieted.  “There was more there, I thought I saw the sensor picking something up.  What if we’re in trouble?  We really need to know!”

“Relax.  Run your diagnostics, and we’ll have the braniacs fix it next time they’re here.  Has anything ever happened before?”

“Well, no, but…”

“Exactly.  Now stop worrying.”

The second Torian sat back down, watching the diagnostics count down from its twenty-two minutes until completion.  As he sat there numbly watching the countdown, another console began to beep.  Both Torians jumped at the sound of the buzzer. 

As they squinted in, they clearly saw a number of incoming objects.  No response was incoming as the blips approached the beacon.  As the pair watched, the screen went black.  The beacon had stopped responding.

They both stared at the monitor for a moment before the first one spoke.  “Where was that beacon located?”

The second quickly scanned the readout before turning and responding, his face slightly pale.  “On the exact opposite side of the planet as the first beacon.”

The second one nodded and hit a console, scanning through a list of names.  “NOW it’s time to report it.”

**

Captain Plsk ran through the streets.  He had been trained, and trained well for his job.  He could naturally lead the marines under his command on Russom.  They had the job to protect the one million plus that now lived on the new planet.  Protection, in this case,  mostly meant helping clear out dangerous beasts, quarantining areas as needed based on new developments, and helping out in areas where a greater degree of secrecy, danger, or both were required. 

The Captain had reviewed the beacon logs.  There was no mistake that something was incoming.  In all likelihood, the something was neutral at best.  The fact that the incoming vessels had not responded to any form of communication alluded to the worst.  He was preparing for the worst as best he could.  It could be a losing battle.  He and his squads were woefully unprepared should a potential enemy arrive en masse. 

The Captain turned the corner onto one of the major thoroughfares through the city.  The street had been cleared, and in its place was a scene of controlled chaos.  In one line, a group of marines was distributing weapons to civilians.  The civilians were shepherded into various groups where marines were instructing how to load, aim, and fire the weapon.  With the exception of many young men who thought the experience exciting, the masses were afraid.  The Captain understood.  He was afraid as well.  They didn’t have nearly the hardware they would need to repulse an all out attack, much less the manpower.  But it was all he could do.  The General had been alerted, the population was being prepared as well as could be expected, and alternative retreat points were already under investigation.  All he could do now was watch and wait.  He hoped he would be waiting for quite some time.

A buzzing came over his communicator as he made his way through the crowd.  “Captain!  We’ve got incoming on the scanners.  And it’s big, REALLY big.” 

“How many?”

“Just one sir.  Hmm…make that 2, 4, 10, uh…dang sir, it looks like it’s disintegrating in orbit.”

A silence slowly descended over the area as those who had overheard stopped what they were doing to listen in.  Others began doing the same until the entire area was quiet, waiting on the verdict from the Captain.  Plsk stood there dejectedly for a moment before announcing the bad news, “The ship isn’t breaking apart Lieutenant.  Those are dropships.  Send the distress call to Toria, and set off the alarms.  I’ll be there shortly.”

Minutes later, the Captain and his squad stood outside the command tent, watching the skies.  The scene was replicated across the city.  Outside the scream of the alarms, the city was eerily quiet.  Sweat slowly dripped down the Captain’s forehead as he watched.  They heard the roar of engines before actually seeing anything.  The Torians had mobilized the few conventional aircraft they had to allow for a semblance of air defense.  It wasn’t nearly enough as the lightly armed dropships easily ripped through the armor of the conventional aircraft. A few unlucky dropships were caught in the crossfire and pummeled relentlessly to the ground.  The invaders did more damage to themselves than the Torians did. 

As soon as the dropships were visible, the few conventional anti-air launchers began firing.  These had been hastily constructed among the more fortified positions within the city.  The problem was the Torians had no idea as to what direction the attackers were coming from, or even if they were hostile for that matter.  Both questions were fully answered.  The sky was lined with dropships.  The Captain couldn’t even begin to count them all.  He guessed there were thousands of them.  None were very big, each looking to be able to hold 20 Torians or so.

The anti-air missiles managed to hit and damage a few of the dropships, but it was no better than killing single ants in a six foot ant pile.  They just kept coming.  As the dropships reached the ground – in city streets, fields outside the city, parking lots, back yards, the ships themselves began to fire to clear the landing areas.  Powerful laser bursts ripped through buildings, trees, and the hastily constructed barricades the Torians had constructed.   The Torians, those that hadn’t been killed or fled during the initial volley fired back.

When the doors finally opened, the Torians finally came to see the nature of their attacker.  It was the source of nightmares from ages past.  It was the past, trying to reassert itself anew.  It was the ape-like Drengin.  They stormed out of the dropships with a brutal efficiency.  It took very little time to secure their immediate area and begin their mission of reasserting dominance over their weaker foe.

**

“REPORT!”

“I Repeat!  Red Squad, REPORT!””  Captain Plsk could barely be heard over the laser fire emanating from one street over.  While half his military had been dispersed to lead the militia, he had kept the other half intact.  A military that was dispersed too thin, despite the numbers of the relatively untrained, would be just as good as no military.  He had kept the better equipment, including mobile armor, for himself as well.  It would be more effective that way.

“Red Squad here.  North side has been overrun.  It looks like they landed just north of the city and are heading towards your position.  We’re falling back.  We’ve lost a third of the squad, but managed to inflict some damage.  We are grabbing their weaponry as we can.”

“Red squad, use the canals to get behind them.  Lead them to Sessetrian Square and hold up.  You can get behind them and make a mess of them from the backside.  Yellow Squad will meet you there.  Coordinate with them.”

“On it sir, out.”

An explosion nearby made the Captain flinch involuntarily.  A pair of privates looked around nervously.  The Captain ignored it and continued his survey.  As best he could tell, the Dren had surrounded the city and were closing in, killing or capturing all that got into their path.  They seemed to be coming in on foot and while tough, were not impossible to take down.  The Drengin had split their forces roughly three ways with a small concentration sent right into the middle to cause confusion while the rest of the Drengin organized.  It had been a decent approach as long as the Dren didn’t mind losing the forces in the center.  They obviously didn’t.

A private ran in, his combat fatigues dirty and ripped, blood dripping from a wound in his forehead.  “They’re here Captain!  Time to move!”  The private ran out the way he had come.  A laser blast hit him square in the chest and he disappeared from view.  The privates guarding the Captain both gasped.  The Captain quickly shoveled his materials into a backpack and urged the two privates out the back path.  A defensive line had been established to their right as the Dren slowly made their way forward in an organized, careful, but measured pace.  They seemed wary, but unafraid of the Torian resistance. 

The Captain ran across the short alley to the house there.  Bursting through the door, he came across a young Torian woman and her three daughters huddled under the table in the kitchen.  He quickly looked around before retuning his gaze to them.

“If you want to live you need to go NOW!”

The group sat under the table shuddering.  The Captain continued on through his shortcut.  He couldn’t save them all.

“All squads, this is Command moving to Beta location, the Trough has been overrun.  Status check needed in five minutes.  Blue squad, retreat to Beta, I repeat, retreat to Beta!”

After moving away from the front lines, the streets were eerily quiet.  Everyone was either in hiding or on the lines.  Looking back, he could see Blue squad beginning their retreat.  It was a losing battle.  They wouldn’t be able to disengage.  However, it would allow him to create a weakness in the lines that he could exploit to get some out of the circle of death.  Many were going to die.  That was the price of freedom sometimes and from what he’d seen, there might be a chance they could win this thing.  But first, they had to do it on their terms.  And the circle of death was definitely NOT their terms.

**

The moon was well overhead as the General made his way through the maze of Her Grace’s pavilion.  Her staff had mentioned that she was enjoying the view from the south balcony.  This irritated the General.  It was a long walk.  Xavrs made the most of it by rereading the reports from Russom.  There wasn’t anything he hadn’t already committed to memory, but it was the details that he had to watch for.  Information was scarce.  He had to gleam as much information, both written and unwritten, from what had been provided.  The outlook was bleak.  The detachment was too small compared to the civilian population.  But the detachment had been well-trained.  Regardless of what happened there, action needed to be taken, one way or another.

He found Her Grace at the balcony, looking out over the ocean.  Gusts of wind rippled her nightgown as she remained where she was.

“Your Grace.”

“Good evening, General.” 

She turned around to face the general with the faintest of smiles on her face. 

“You received my reports Your Grace?”

Her grace dropped her eyes and sighed.  “I did.  I can only assume you’re here tonight for a formal declaration of war.”

“The power is still in your hands Your Grace.  You alone can make that decision for our people.”

Her Grace stepped forward and closed in on the general.  Her body pressed up against his.  It was obvious to him that she wasn’t wearing anything underneath her nightgown.  Her hand traced his cheek as her tone turned serious, “Stay with me tonight General.”

Xavrs stepped back.  “Your Grace, we are in the shadow of war!  We don’t have time for these games!”

The slight smile returned to her face.  “Do you find me that repulsive General?”  She twirled once to allow Xavrs to admire her.  The last year had been hard on her, no doubt, but the childlike delight with which she had gained office had been replaced with a mature intelligence.  He found that even more attractive. 

“Your Grace, this really isn’t the time or place…”

She stepped closer to him putting a finger to his lips as she slipped closer once again.  “Assuming you want my support General, you will be mine tonight.  Tomorrow, I lose you to your silly and likely dangerous game of war.  It’s possible, you know better than I, than I may never see you again.  The least you can do is spend the night with me.”

“Your Grace..”

“Right now General, you have the power over our people.  We can delay which will likely cost lives, or you can comply with the one simple request I ask of you.”  Her eyes sparkled and a devious smile played across her lips.

Xavrs groaned inwardly and sighed.  He wasn’t quite sure if she was bluffing or not.  She could be, but in all honesty, he didn’t think she was.  She knew she had him.  Pulling himself up straight, he looked almost royalty as he bowed, “It will be an experience I’ll never forget Your Grace.  Let me take care of a few things and I shall join you shortly.”

She smiled triumphantly as she crossed back towards the stairs.  Her had trailed across the back of his shoulders as she passed him.  “Don’t keep me waiting General….”

Xavrs sighed again as he dropped his datapads.  Everybody always wanted a favor.

**

Yugo jerked at the knock on his door.  As he slowly pulled on a pair of pants, he noted the knock came from the exterior door.  He moaned inwardly as he shuffled over.  Somebody had better be dying.

Unlike the typical marines, Yugo and his squad were stationed near the spaceport in the Red Zone.  This was one of the few buildings that had avoided destruction during the Titan attack.  Yugo was simply happy to still be in one piece. 

Yugo had his private room in the barracks, while the rest shared rooms throughout.  Unlike other units that rotated in and out of their stations aboard the various spacecraft, Yugo and his craft were assigned their posts until commanded otherwise.  Yugo always found that a bid odd, but didn’t question.  As such, the squad kept to themselves for the most part.  The Captain, officers, marines, engineers, and various specialists all had their part to do aboard the ship.  Outside of the ship, they simply got in the way.  So the squad did what Yugo told them to, and Yugo did what the General told him to.  Things had worked out well so far.

He opened up the door to see Pktri, his commander.  There was no hint of the sun and the bright lights from the spaceport were the only things that illuminated the commander’s somber face.  The commander handed over a datapad.  Yugo quickly read the expression and knew the commander wasn’t here on a social visit.

“That good eh?”  There was no response from the Commander.

Yugo quickly skimmed the datapad picking up the important parts.

“We’ll meet you in rank in ten.”

The commander simply nodded and turned.  Shutting the door, Yugo quickly turned on a light and finished dressing.  He took a quick glimpse in a mirror as he opened the door into the central common area.  Affixed to the wall was an old cowbell Yugo used to get his men’s attention.  The Dren had reportedly used something like this to announce that a meal would be served for five minutes only.  The bell resounded a good distance.  Torians either got their meals in five minutes, or they didn’t eat that day.  Yugo had found and kept it as a reminder of times past.  It was only to be used for emergencies.  It seemed even more appropriate now.

Yugo looked at the string hanging down from the chimes, grabbed hold, took a breath, and rang for all it was worth.  It took a few seconds before his crew began emerging from their doorways, either to curse  at the fool ringing the bell or take action as required.  As soon as a few started appearing he stopped ringing and shouted out.

“I NEED EVERYONE ON THE LAWN IN FIVE MINUTES!  THIS IS NOT A DRILL!  ON THE LAWN IN FIVE!  MAKE SURE YOUR MATES ARE THERE!  GO! GO!  GO!”

A controlled panic ensued as lights blinked on, Torians yelled at each other, and orders were followed.

For better or for worse, the day Yugo had long feared would come was officially here.  The Torians had begun to explore the stars, but at a cost that might be more than they could bare.  His only surprise was that it had been a bit quicker than he’d expected.

Five minutes later, Yugo was pacing in front of the fifty seven members of the Dreamfetcher.  So much was resting on so few, and they were part of that few.  Threatened to be consumed by the worry, he finally stopped and looked at his commander.  The commander, along with the rest of the crew, remained silent as they waited.  Distant activity could be heard on other parts of the base.  Apparently they weren’t the only ones who had received the message.  Yugo took a deep breath and began.

“Less than twenty-four hours ago, the Russom colony was invaded by the Dren.  Latest reports, those of a few hours ago, have the local garrisons in the process of stabilizing their position.  The attack came with no warning, and as of approximately two hours ago, the Torian and Dren are at war.”

Yugo expected more of a response than the few glances a few of his crew gave each other. 

“The next few days we will be patrolling our immediate sector while the rest of the military prepares the ground forces.  When ready, we will be escorting these ships to Russom, either as reinforcements or as rescuers.  Either way, I don’t expect the mission to be pretty.”  Yugo felt out of place giving a speech to Torians with more training than him, more experience than him, and on a subject he knew next to nothing about.  “The ship leaves at 07:00.  I don’t expect we’ll be returning anytime soon.”  The implied “if at all” hung in the air, but nobody dared say the words.  “Dismissed.”

**

Commander Pktri gave Yugo a nod of approval as he was dismissed with the rest of the crew.  Moving through the crowed, Pktri acknowledged and delayed several of the ship officers, all wanting a word with him regarding requirements for the voyage.  Pktri delayed them.  He had something else on his mind regarding their new head of security, Lieutenant Slska Krxt.  Pktri had witnessed her punishment and knew there was more to her story.  Her assignment to the crew meant she had been purposefully marked.  She just didn’t know it.  He followed her back to the barracks where she began quickly and efficiently gathering her belongings for transport back onto the ship.  He watched her for just a moment, studying her, before he approached.

“Lieutenant Slska, a word please.”

The Lieutenant looked up at the sound of her name.  “Of course Commander.”

The Commanders slipped into the room and shut the door.  “I’ve heard of your record Lieutenant, and while not entirely sure why you are here, and I know you haven’t been here long, but I need you to understand one thing.”

Slska stood and listened, a bit confused about what had been heard, and what more there could be in the situation she found herself.

“Our Captain could be the single most important person in this war.  He must live above ANY and ALL costs.  My life, your life, any of the lives of the marines under your command.  If we have to sacrifice the entire ship and crew for him, we will do it.  Is that understood Lieutenant?”

Slska stood with her mouth open for just a moment thinking through the implications.

“This is not a request Lieutenant, this is an order.  Unless you want to find yourself back where you came from…”  The Commander paused and lifted an eyebrow to ensure Slska understood.  “Then I suggest you see to it.”

Slska didn’t pause this time.  “Yes sir!”

The commander nodded once and opened the door.

“Commander?”

The commander turned, one hand on the lever.

“Why him?  He doesn’t exactly seem….”

The Commander paused and took a deep breath.  He hoped the General knew what he was doing with this one.  “Stick with the Captain per your orders Lieutenant, and maybe you’ll find out.”  He quickly left before she could ask another question.

Slska stood there a moment after the Commander left.  It had been an odd encounter.  Actually, she corrected herself, everything since the attack of the Titan had been odd.  Regardless, she had a job to do and the Commander had cut into her available time to do it.  She rushed to finish her packing and then check on the rest of her squad.  There would be hell to pay if she beat any of her squad to the rendezvous point.

It took a few hours to get the Dreamfetcher ready to move.  It’s not that the ship couldn’t have made it out earlier; it’s rather that necessity didn’t require it.  Yugo was to coordinate a several ship patrol a week’s travel away from the new military installation, the Dreamstake.  Military intelligence highly doubted that the Dren could coordinate a two pronged assault with any degree of precision.  Thus Yugo thought it better to spend an hour double checking supplies, repairs, and check for last minute requirements rather than hastily speed away with something they may need later.  If the hour they missed made a difference, then the Torians had a bigger problem than they realized. 

Yugo checked through the reports as they came in, and listened to his commanding officers.  Everything had checked out.  They had prepared well.  It was time to leave.

After the Titan attack, the damaged Dreamfetcher had been the subject of a major overhaul.  Armor from the Titan had been reverse engineered, as best they could anyway, and placed on the ship.  A shield generator had been lifted and integrated into the ship.  The Titan’s lasers had been neatly removed and installed to the ship, and the mortar explosives had been placed as well.  The Dreamfetcher was by far the deadliest ship in the Torian armada. 

Yugo ran his hands over the control console on the side of his chair.  There wasn’t a sign that the bridge had been nearly destroyed in its last encounter.  The ship restoration crew had gone above and beyond repairing the ship.  It didn’t look just new, it looked new and improved.  The bustle around him finally died down.  They were waiting for him.

Yugo’s index finger slowly traced its way down the control console again.  He found the button he was looking for (the restoration crew had managed to reverse the layouts), and pressed it.

“Engineering.  Status?”

“All systems go sir.”

Yugo turned his head to get a glimpse of Slska out of the corner of his eye.

“Security?”

“All marines on board and accounted for sir.”

He turned to view the young girl who had steered them to survival in the last attack. 

“Ensign Nrek?”

“Course plotted and ready sir.”

He looked over his left shoulder to his Commander standing there.

“Commander?”

“Stop your procrastinating and get us out of here Sir.”

Yugo smiled slightly and looked out the view screen one last time.  He saw the open expanse of the spaceport that ended with the Red Zone security gate.  Beyond that the wrecked buildings in the yellow and green zones dotted the landscape until the mountains grew from the horizon.  The sun was just peeking through a couple of the peaks.  It looked to be a beautiful day.

“Engage.”

With a barely noticeable motion, the Dreamfetcher rose into the air, adjusted pitch, and blasted through the Torian atmosphere and into the cold confines of space.  Whether the ship was home for the next few months or next few years would be determined soon enough.  Yugo’s brooding thoughts were interrupted by the helmsman.

“Course plotted sir.  We will arrive at the origin of our patrol pattern in three days sir.”

Three days till the beginning of patrol, another week before the military transports and escorts arrived, and a month to Russom.  Things were about to get interesting.

10

Frska tried to control her breathing as she regained her breath inside the remains of a mostly bombed out residence.  Two of the walls had crumbled, but she lay up against the upright one, the one that provided her some protection from her pursuer.  Her squad’s job had been to recon the Dren locations just within the city limits.  The rest of her squad had been stunned with a concussion grenade.  It seemed the Drengin enjoyed taking prisoners as much as killing, if not more so.  The Drengin also needed information.  She had barely dodged the effects and ran as she saw more apes than she could possibly fight.  She mused.  Her months of training had prepared her physically for the task at hand, and her background had prepared her for the explorations, but the sheer emotional strain of trying to stay alive was something the marines would need to work on in the next round of preparations. 

“Come here little lizard….”

Frska stiffened.  The chip they had implanted in her had a built in translator.  She wished she could turn it off. 

“I know you’re out there…I can feel your fear….”

Frska slowly pulled out her Screamer.  She set the setting to maximum.  It seemed that this was the only way to take down these fighting Drengin.  From what she had heard of the previous assault, these Drengin were faster, stronger, and more agile Drengin than had been encountered in the first wave.  These Drengin could climb buildings with ease.  They could easily lift and throw Torians as if they were small pets.  They could plow through building walls as if they were butter.  They were preternatural.  Something was just plain wrong with these Drengin.  This was no doubt true as when they were killed, a black liquid would drain out of their eyes, ears, and nose.  These Drengin had quickly earned the nickname “Bleeders” for both reasons.   

“Where arrrrrre you lizzy?”

The Drengin was just outside the wall and through the broken windows, she could see him making his way to the burnt out doorway of her building.  Frska slid low leaning slightly on the existing rubble.  She aimed at the doorway.  The Drengin’s head slowly snaked into the room, looking away from her, and then straight at her.  She fired. 

As big and strong as these Dren were, they still couldn’t take a Screamer shot to the head.  Unfortunately, neither could the building, as weak as it was.  Frska leaped through the broken window as the building began to finally succumb to the effects of war and crumble in on itself.  Frska tossed the Screamer aside.  That was one bad thing about the maximum setting.  It would drain the entire battery in just a few shots.  She picked up the Sureshot from the headless corpse and began to run.  The Screamer was extremely noisy, and between the shot, and the collapsing building the apes would be here soon.  She needed to make it back to friendly territory, if such a thing still existed.

**

The battle had gone poorly.  Around the world, a new generation of Drengin warriors had been encountered.  Impossibly strong, quick, and agile, the Bleeders had quickly demolished any semblance of Torian organization in their fight to defend the planet.  After the first few days of destroying everything in sight, the Bleeders began capturing Torians once the route had begun.  Apparently they had a need for labor.  The Torians were going to provide that labor. 

The General examined the recon group lined up inside the small cavern.  This group was the remains of his elite recon division – his scouts and spies.  He’d lost eighty percent of his recon units in the first four days of battle.  He needed the counter to this new and advanced Drengin.  And he needed it now, as in tonight.

“We know the Drengin have made our former colony their base of operations.  We know approximately where the Drengin are camped within the city…”

“Yeah, everywhere..”  There was a slight unenthusiastic chuckle from the group.

“Our goal tonight is to retrieve a sample of this product.  We don’t know exactly what it is or where it is.  It might be a food.  It might be a shot.  It might be a parasite.  Whatever it is, we need to find it and bring it back so we can figure out how to counter the damn thing.”  Xavrs pushed a button on his datapad and a small holographic display appeared showing the areas of operation.  “We are going to provide you a distraction here and here.  I need the first group to get to here and cut the power they’ve restored, and I need beta to search for the product.  Easy mission.  Find the product.  Get the product.  Get out.  Questions?”

There were none.

“I need you in position in three hours.  Get some rest, study up, and good luck.”

It was well past dark when the scouts made their way down through the valley.  The bridge that had once spanned the dry riverbed had been destroyed in the initial bombardments.  The top of the offending asteroid had already been covered in a fine layer of sand.  As they approached the bridge overhang the first shots of laser fire could be seen in the far distance.  A general alarm had sounded and soon enough, the night erupted in activity.  The Drengin barked orders with soldiers grunting back in acknowledgment.  The motor of the Drengin armor could be recognized as it rumbled its way through the streets.  As activity died down, the group headed out from their cover into the city streets.  The group wore black shirts and pants, and painted black in patterns across their green faces to help blend into the night.  In the shadows it was nearly impossible to see them.  The group slowly began to break up, each sneaking off into the night towards their appropriate targets. 

Frska sneaked through the back alleys, or what once had been the back alleys.  Between the asteroid bombardment and the dropship shelling, she was actually amazed that there were structures standing for the Dren to occupy.  Frska slipped between two buildings and wrinkled her nose.  Unfortunately, the smell of death wasn’t an unusual smell anymore.  It was one of the things she had been forced to get acquainted with rather quickly.  Rats scuttled out of her way as she made her way through.  From memory, she understood she was in the middle of her assigned block.  All there was left to do now was wait, and hope.  There was always the possibility that the group failed.  Then again, these generations of Drengin still thought the Torians as little more than walking lizards, incapable of planning or intelligent thought.  It was unlikely they would consider the Torians using diversions.

With that thought, the few lights went out.  A few curses and growling could be heard around the area.  Frska remained where she was behind the house.  As Drengin appeared from their houses to investigate Frska marked locations.  Some went back inside.  Others stepped down the street and others barked orders to unseen lackeys to get the lights back on.

Frska slipped in the back window of the first occupied house.  The occupant was already back in bed when Frska approached.  Her padded shoes prevented the Drengin from noticing her until the blade of her vibroknife sliced his throat.  He thrashed for just a second before succumbing.  A quick search of the room provided nothing.  As Frska was about to exit the front door, a pair of Bleeders on patrol made their way down the street.  Frska quickly backed up against the doorframe and waited for the patrol to pass.  When they were out of earshot, she counted to thirty, and then moved on to the next house.  When constructing a new colony, the Torian had decided to forgo originality in favor of efficiency.  The houses were all the same.  This made Frska’s job much easier.  She slipped into a house, checked for occupants, removed the lives of occupants if there was occupation, checked belongings and moved on to the next house.

When she entered the eighth house, she immediately knew something was different.  The house was packed with six foot high cabinet type containers.  The occupant wasn’t home.  In fact, it was difficult to tell if the house was being used as a warehouse, or if the occupant was simply very neat.  Frska quickly moved over to the first container.  It was locked with a simple key lock.  It was easy enough to pick, but that would take time.  She didn’t have time.  She shed her pack and rummaged through it.  After a brief search she found what she was looking for, a small vial of acid.  She had thought the idea silly at the time, carrying around a vial of acid on hand when doing recon.  The idea didn’t seem all that amusing now.  She quickly poured the acid over the small piece of metal holding the lock to the door.  The lock couldn’t hold the door shut if the lock wasn’t ON the door.  The smell of disintegrating metal was obvious and she cringed, mentally forcing the acid to work faster.  It didn’t work.

With one eye on the door, and the other on the cabinet, she waited impatiently.  It took sixty-four seconds.  Frska had counted every one of them.  She ripped off the small remaining portion of the door and opened the door to the cabinet.  Filled inside was rack upon rack of syringes.  Each syringe was filled with a blue substance, faintly fluorescent.  Frska gawked for just a second before pulling out two of the syringes and turning around. 

The open doorway was what she expected to see.  Instead, she saw the maniacal grin of a Drengin.

“And what do we have here?  Lizards?  Sneaking around at night?  Stealing?  Don’t you know that stealing isn’t nice?”

The Drengin curled his hand around Frska’s shirt and with a force that was not unproportional to his size, threw Frska into the far wall.  Frska tried to breath, but the sudden burning in her chest prevented it.  She saw three Drengin walking towards her, and she thought she felt something warm dripping down her neck.  She didn’t know what to do.  The three Drengin slowly merged back to one, but he still wore that maniacal grin.  She looked out the door and was shocked to see one of her squad mates gawking at her.  Frska did the only thing she could think of.  She tossed the syringe to her mate.  “RUN!”

Her mate caught the syringe out of reflex, looked at Frska and the Dren, and then ran.  The Drengin growled loudly, and then made to catch the fleeing Torian.  Frska raised her leg and tripped him.  The Dren crashed into the door loudly taking it off its hinges where it fell on top of him.  The enraged Drengin quickly got to his feet and turned to take it out on his tormentor.  He was just in time to see Frska pull the needle out of her arm.  A quick flash of fear rushed across his face to be chased away by anger.  The Drengin rushed Frska who quickly sprang to her feet out of the way.  The Drengin couldn’t change quickly enough and went barreling into the wall.  Frska quickly bounded to the other side of the room where she picked up the cabinet of syringes as best she could given the limited ceiling.  With a grunt, she tossed it at the Bleeder.  He smashed it aside as he came towards her again.  The second cabinet slowed him down no more than the first.  Seeing that her options were limited, Frska jumped through the window into the street, right next to the patrol that had come to investigate the noise.

A punch to the face caused the first Drengin’s eyes to roll back and go down.  He would never get up again.  Frska wrestled with the second one for seconds before she felt herself being grabbed from behind.  She struggled to free herself, but a quick punch to her gut quickly forced most of the fight out of her.  The Dren tossed her to the street where she lay gasping for air. 

The enraged Dren circled her, waiting for her to regain her breath.  When the Dren was tired of waiting, he kicked her in the midsection again sending her sprawling across the street.  The Dren wasn’t quite satisfied.  He came beside her and using all his power, stomped on her knee, shattering it into an unrecoverable mess.  Her screams brought out the few Drengin that hadn’t already been out.  “Sir, don’t you want this one alive?  Like the others?”  The lead Dren stomped on her other knee and waited for Frska to stop screaming before answering in a deep low growl.  “No, I want this one to suffer.”  He circled her one more time, waiting for her to recognize her impending doom.  “Good bye lizard.”  He lifted his foot to obliterate her head. 

In the supernatural speed that the concoction had provided, Frska lifted out her Screamer.  Set to the maximum setting, Frska fired as the Dren’s foot came crushing down.  The shot nearly cleaved the offender in two.  The group that was watching dropped to the ground, blood and black fluid dripping from their bodies.  The impact sent Frska skidding halfway across the dirt lane where she lay sprawled at awkward angles.   The patrol that arrived an hour later could only scratch their heads as to what exactly happened.

**

Unlike the other escort ships, it was decided that the Dreamfetcher was to be hidden in a small woods pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  In one of the few small bouts of fortune, the Drengin had some control over the asteroid attacks, and had concentrated on the areas with high industrial capability, military importance, or pure population.  The secluded forest grove was none of these.  The last few days had been almost boring for Yugo and his entourage stationed there.  They were a last resort escape route for the most important messages, items, or people as deemed necessary.  They were the only way off the planet, and were kept in reserve just in case.

Commander Krii was on the bridge, half asleep when the intercom buzzed.  “This is Green two incoming, we’ve got priority package that needs transport, hostiles incoming from 220.  ETA four minutes.”  The Commander immediately hit the alarm button.  Yugo was first on the bridge, wiping his eyes as the Commander filled him in.  Slska came up next followed by most of the bridge crew.

Yugo immediately took charge.  “Slska, I need marines and AA on the south/southwestside.  We’ve got incoming that will need support.  You have three minutes.  GO!”  Slska immediately left the bridge barking out orders in her communicator as she left.