Teknoman Fan Fiction ❯ Shara's Last Gift ❯ Strange Days Indeed... ( Chapter 7 )

[In the middle of an autumn day, Warhammer sits silently beneath a tree contently.]

WH: You know what's worse than having to admit the truth, is it when it constantly stares at you in the face and doesn't leave you be until you can either accept it or it tears you apart.

Teknos Warhammer
Presents:

Shara's Last Gift
Chapter 7:
Strange Days Indeed...

A work of fanfiction
Based upon the manga by Tenkou Suzuki
And the anime made by Tatsunoko productions and translated by Saban Entertainment


*****

"Be wary, my beloved brothers. Though the path you take may be with little or no obstacle, be forever vigilant. For that is the price you pay for freedom. Should you fail that vigilance, you will be forever enslaved to evil, and I can do nothing but weep for your loss. Fare you well, my beloved brothers."

-The parting words of Karce, the Prophet, to his brothers, Zerif and Onol. Found in the 27th chapter, final verse of the Book of Karce Ohgias of the 2nd Sacred Record, Hutsim Uosheis. Excerpt used with permission from the Kharusian Authorities.

*****

With little to bar its way, a single craft flew inwards to the mainland to the shore. The sun reflected its light off the giant sized machine, giving its sheen a much more genuine and lifelike look. Its single occupant, searched for a place to land to give the machine a much-needed rest to allow its engines to cool.

Ness Carter, known to many more as Slade, the Teknoman, had found a small grouping of trees large enough to be able to hide Pegas while he tended to some necessary business in the port city nearby. After all, he was not sure exactly how people would react to seeing a three quarter ton, ten foot tall robot stomping about everywhere. So, he chose to play it safe and order Pegas to wait for his signal.

"INSUFFECIENT DATA. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LANDING HERE AND DELAYING OUR RETURN TO THE COMMAND CENTER?" The giant robot asked.

"I got something that I got to find in town. It won't take long." He said, trying to calm the robot's curiosity.

"INSUFFECIENT DATA. EXPLANATION REQUESTED."

"Pegas trust me. It won't take long."

"EXPLANATION REQUESTED." Pegas once again said, acting like a far too inquisitive child.

"I'll be back in less than a half an hour, I promise." He said, trying to keep his calm and realizing that he was verbally dueling with a machine.

"'PROMISE' IS AN UNKNOWN CONCEPT."

Ness resisted the urge to growl in frustration and simply ordered his battle partner to stay put. As he left the growth of trees behind, he realized that less than a half an hour was a bit too short for what he needed to do. He sighed resignedly and chided himself for getting angry with Pegas in the first place.

Entering the city, he noticed that it was in a similar fashion to the mall that the other Space Knight had told him about on their day off a few months ago. There were people everywhere, going about their business, talking with each other, haggling, dealing, and buying. As if they were blissfully unaware that the human race was nearing the brink of extinction.

The thought almost made him want to simply forget what he came here for and head back to the SKCC as soon as possible. However, he also knew that if Ringo was indeed right, then he might not have another chance like this. After all, considering the circumstances, it was not everyday you had the chance to get something for the girl you liked a lot.

His dad had often told him of the struggles men had to go through in order to show the women they cared about that they were truly appreciated. Ness now knew how true his father's words were. He had absolutely no idea what to get. Though it was easy to get something nice, it was the right thing that was hard to find.

Finding a seat in front of a store directory, he scanned the list of names, each one categorized with a certain type of item. At that time, he started hearing some thumping from another part of the shopping center, but paid it no heed. He then remembered seeing Star and Tina come back with boxes full of things, but never had the nerve to ask them what exactly they bought. Another chance lost. Ness was starting to feel that all this fighting with the enemy had not only drained him of his personality, but his ability to even act like a normal person seemed scrambled.

The thumping from the other side of the shopping center continued until it was starting to make thinking for Ness even harder. So, slightly frustrated, he got up from the bench and walked over to the source to see a small crowd of people gathered around the noise that was bugging him so. Maneuvering through the crowd, he saw that the source of the noise was someone playing the drums a bit too eccentrically.

The drummer, a woman appearing to be in her early to mid thirties, dressed in a large shirt, pants, and sneakers, along with several brass players and a pianist on a keyboard, were providing some entertainment for the people in the city. As well as her fellow members played, most of the people were drawn by the sound of her expert manipulation of percussion.

In addition, the song they were playing had been known as a long abandoned form of music known as 'scat', popular over a century and a half ago. Though the people were enjoying it, Ness wasn't. His head hurt enough from all the times he had changed in and out of his armor. What he didn't need was this.

As he had left, he never noticed that drummer, during a brief pause in the middle of the song, had noticed the audience member none too pleased with their music. She merely smiled and went back to her playing, thinking about talking with that man once she was done.

*

Looking at the clock, Ness realized that he had less than ten minutes before he had to report back to Pegas or else who knew what would happen once he got back. So, he had started asking a few store clerks a few questions to keep inconspicuous but at the same time, find out what he needed to know.

And he had found it!

In the glass of a potpourri store, was a bouquet of flowers known as Crystalia. A new breed of flower made through genetic engineering, these flowers had the appearance of being clear as crystal, yet at the same time still having the soft texture of most flowers. It also had the capacity to live a lot longer than most other flowers, henceforth it was often used a symbol of long lasting relationships or the beginnings of new ones which hoped to last long.

Though he was not a particular fan of flowers, he did have the presence of mind to appreciate their beauty. Also, a lot of the women that he had known had been particularly fond of them as well. Though he was not exactly sure if it would work with Star, it was certainly worth the effort to find out.

Now he had come to his second obstacle. He had completely forgotten about money and had left what little money he did have back at the SKCC. Worse yet, the season in which these flowers bloomed was had just ended and it would be another year before he could get some more.

"Oh, good choice." Said a voice behind him.

Slade turned around, expecting to see the face of a stranger- and only found a stomach.

He looked up to see the drummer from earlier was looking over his shoulder and at the present he wanted to give Star. Though Caucasian, she was easily around seven and a half feet tall, maybe bigger. She towered over him by about a foot and a half or two, he couldn't tell from this distance. He stepped back a bit in shock, having never before seen a woman that tall before in his life. She didn't seem to notice and kept on observing the Crystalia.

"I would recommend getting that for your girlfriend. If she's never seen it before, she'll love it." The woman said, before turning to him and smiling a bit.

Not knowing what exactly to say, he stammered, "Uh... who are you?"

She blinked once before realizing her intrusion. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was about to ask you something and then I saw the flowers. Silly me." She extended her hand. "My name's Sera. Nice to meet you." Ness cautiously took her hand and shook it, noting the larger size of her hand.

"Uh, Ness." He said, still trying to keep his composure.

Noticing his anxiety, she said without any sign of being indignant, "I'll bet you're wondering if there's more like me where I come from. No. My size was a bit of a...'Genetic fluke', if you can call it that. Both of my parents were about as normal as you can imagine." Her proportions though 'bigger' than most, were still equal in terms of how a regular person was supposed to be. If she were smaller, she would have appeared no different.

Being unsure of whether he wanted to know that or not, he released her hand and nodded. He then realized something, "How did you know that I was looking at this for someone?"

Sera only smiled again, "Because I see guys come here all the time. I overhear them talking with their friends about how hard it is to find something right, but they never get this one for some reason. Maybe it's not macho enough for them. I don't know."

Ness took another look back at the flower and began to worry. "Now I don't know whether if I should bother or not." Remembering his current state of poverty, he continued, "Even then, I can't buy it even if I wanted to."

Sera folded her arms and took a look from him to the flower. Then, without another thought, she walked into the store, leaving Ness confused. It was only a minute later before she came out of the store with a single Crystalia in her hand, placed in a clear case to keep it protected. She took his hand and put the case in it.

"If not now, then you never will. Even if it's not the best idea, it's better than never doing a thing."

Ness looked shocked as he realized that he was in the debt of someone he had just met. Before he could protest, she started walking away.

"By the way, don't even think of insulting me with thought of repayment." She said turning and giving him yet another smile. "Go get her, handsome."

Ness was left standing dumbstruck as the woman who had just appeared behind him and acted as if she had known him for years had done something that he would never expect. He moved slightly, trying to figure out what had just happened, mumbling incoherently without any hope of finding something to say.

He then sighed and simply decided to let it lie and go home. After all, he was never really one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

*

Entering the clearing, Ness noticed Pegas had shut himself down while he had left. He was about to announce his return, when he looked back down at the small crystal flower case in his hand and realized how hard it was going to explain to Pegas. So, putting it in a front pocket of his vest, he made extra sure that it would not be damaged on the way back.

As the teknobot left the clearing and started heading southeast, neither Ness nor Pegas noticed Sera had been watching them from the edge of the town. Yet, gone was her smile and friendly demeanor, and in its place was one more sullen and somber. She ran a hand through her light brown hair running back from her head and sighed.

"Well, at least I now know what he was like before... before it happened." Looking down, dark memories and experiences flooded her memory.

*****

On the edge of the floating artificial city of New Victoria, the supply fleet, bringing supplies and weapons for the people of Europe, had landed and begun the export of the materials. Among the few passengers in the fleet, three of them had been allowed by one of the head executives to borrow a transport to take them back to the Space Knight Command center along with some medical supplies that had been requested by the new doctor.

Amy Mizuno, in spite of her reluctance about one of the passengers, informed Tina Corman, Shannon Carter, and Balzac Saint Jaques, that with things as they were and learning of the mysterious group attacking them a few days prior, extreme caution should be taken.

In one of the passenger seats, Shannon Carter had found that sea travel had wearied her out and was sleeping rather uncomfortably, but could bear the discomfort enough to sleep silently. In the pilot's seat, Balzac took another look at the sleeping woman before returning his attention to flying the transport.

"I can't help but wonder what it's like," he thought aloud.

"Why would you care?" Tina Corman, in the co-pilot's seat, mumbled with evident dislike towards him. "She's dying and there's nothing that any one can do."

"I know," he replied, trying not to get irritated at Tina's immature behavior towards him, "It's just that hearing over what she and Slade told me about what happened with the Argos. It seemed like some kind of bad science fiction movie made real."

Looking out to the clouds, she countered, "Hate to break it to you, but we're living one. And there's still the big possibility that we can lose and be as good as dead."

Frowning back at her, he said a bit too harshly, "Well, forgive me for trying to be a bit more optimistic than you are."

Tina was about to give another smart remark before she realized that continuing this would not get them anywhere. She simply snorted and went back to analyzing their flight path through the mountains coming up from the mainland. A large cloud cover had developed and it was covering the mountains through Italy. In addition, there had been sights of alien activity in the air space, so they had to fly low for as long as they could.

"It's a miracle she was able to escape the way she did." Tina said, reading over the coordinates one her screen.

"I don't understand how, though. If Slade barely got out alive, how come Shara was able to burst out of her prison and escape?" He asked, maneuvering the transport slowly through the mountain range.

"I guess the fact that she's dying is proof enough." Tina replied without the agitation, slumping into her seat.

"Could be." He said before a long silence allowed the anger and irritation to subside.

Balzac almost could not believe the circumstances he was in. Two months ago, he was playing spy for General Galt, and now he was allying himself with the people the general disliked the most. It was so ironic that he was about to get sick from it all.

*****

On the beach of what was once known as Sicily, the waves crashed against the shore slowly and peacefully. Sensing no sign of human life around, a large human sized figure in a gray cowl and white cloak burst from the waves. With animal like grace, the figure landed upon the sand, making little to no sound. However, from all the heavy breathing that came from within the cloak, one would suspect that crossing the seas through the water was not the best course of action.

'I hate this planet!' The figure within grumbled as she spit out a mouthful of seawater. Processed foods, humans reek with filth, and the various pieces of junk she had run into during her swim. At that instant, she reached into her ear and yanked out a small toy which had not biodegraded for who knew how long.

Whatever it was, it was small, yellow, and had the shape of a rodent with a jagged tail. Its tiny black eyes stared at her with a seemingly mindless elation. She could not understand why, but the toy bothered her immensely. Especially when she squeezed it. It made this strange two-syllable sound that she could not place a name to.

"Pi-ka!"

Not wanting to waste more time with whatever it was, she tossed the toy away and started heading east once more.

Letting the memory of why she was here in the first place, her attention began to wander.

*

She looked to her comrade and could only see despair in his eyes. They had once more been forced into battle had not only did not prevail, but had been driven back and slaughtered. Their numbers had once been in the hundreds of thousands - now they only numbed twenty-four.

Lifting up a human with white hair and placing his arm over her shoulder, she asked, "Cecil... we have to go. We can't stay here any longer."

Cecil eyes were glazed over and misty as he spoke, "All gone... they're all gone..."

She was about to speak, but kept her peace out of respect for the reason for his trauma. In front of him, several of his closest friends had been killed, saving his life.

Through the desolation, rocks, and destroyed buildings, she found her remaining compatriots. All they could do now was hide until an avenue of escape was found. The basement of the building they hid in was not much, but it was the best they could do for the time being.

Two of the survivors noticed their entry and hurried to her side to take Cecil off her hands. "Thank the heavens!" Mauri Felren exclaimed as she and her brother Leo lifted Cecil and brought him to a makeshift bed for their wounded. "We thought we'd lost you too." Her brother then turned to Cecil's savior and asked, "Have you found Rolf and Galin yet?"

She shook her head and replied, "Too much interference to reach their minds. I'll go out and look for them again, and then we'll make a gate just outside their fleet and get out." She paused for a second, "How many did we lose?"

"Fifty-eight." Leo answered, clearly exhausted. The news was not at all comforting, but she went out to search regardless.

This planet was the last refuge the Teknos had. Every place that offered them sanctuary before had not only turned them away but had hunted them as if they were wild animals. Now a combined effort made by a race known as the Houshnagh was being made to ensure that no more of their kind would exist, innocent or not. Even now, a fleet had gathered around the planet and had been making orbital strikes with deadly accuracy. They needed to get out to the edges of this galaxy where they could recuperate and escape.

She called out the names of the leaders who had guided them as best they could, but no answer came. Now, out of her armor to escape detection, she hopped from stone to stone as quietly as she could. The smell of death was prevalent, smoke and dust blocked the sun out, and the silence was deafening. And to think that this was at one time a society where technology and nature had found a safe and equal balance.

She didn't like the silence at all. There was no life, no activity, nothing. They could not afford to lose both Darkon and Neigas at such a critical time. A clang caused her long ear to rise in its direction. She increased her speed as the clangs continued, feeling a lump in her stomach start to develop.

Neither one of those two went alone wherever they went. Neigas, being their leader was vital to their survival, since he had been the one, which developed their avenue of escape. Darkon had always accompanied Neigas, for there had been many Tek-Namin and other worldly assassins that would have liked to see the old android dead.

Recently, however, Darkon had become increasingly aloof and quiet. Ever since he had returned from his self-imposed isolation, she and Darkon had not even exchanged a single sentence. She was not the only one. Many of her friends had mentioned seeing him locked in heavy meditation for days on end. Without eating, sleeping, or hibernation, he had been putting his body through much stress. What had mystified them all was the intent. What was the point of his working like this?

When she finally reached the clearing where the source of the noise was, she froze in disbelief.

There was Neigas, unarmored, and fighting Darkon in what appeared to be a struggle for dominance. Part of Neigas' head had been crushed and even though Darkon was also unarmored, he seemed to have the advantage with speed and the fact that the android's body was starting to malfunction.

Neigas swung his staff downward, only to have it blocked and repulsed, leaving his torso wide open. Darkon took that opening and with a heavy swipe, separated the android's torso from his lower body with his bladed staff.

She screamed in horror, seeing one of her most trusted comrades murdered. Now, with Neigas gone, they were all lost.

Darkon turned to see the source of the noise, only to barely block a strike from her. It was now clear to her. Darkon was trying to kill Neigas for the sake of becoming their leader. He had betrayed them all.

"What are you doing?" Darkon demanded, blocking and parrying every one of her swings.

"TRAITOR!" She screamed, not at all concerned for her safety, "LIAR! MURDERER!"

Knowing that nothing could be gained from words, Darkon then took the offensive. In almost every respect, Darkon was her senior and superior, yet she had been able to best him on several occasions.

Fueled by rage, she continued her assault, even in the light of his strength overpowering hers. Yet, many sparring matches with him had allowed her to see an opening he often kept open and even now was no different. Like Darkon had done with Neigas, she knocked his weapon out of the way, forcing it into his weaker hand, leaving both of them with one hand free. With the opening, a small sphere of blue liquid appeared in her free hand, and without another thought, tossed it into his face.

Darkon screamed in agony as skin and hair was beginning to be eaten away. As he staggered back, her frown only grew larger at what this meant. This liquid, made by her and other healers, was a powerful universal-healing agent, yet it was also a very potent poison or acid when applied on Tek-Namin and Lahdam.

With the last of his eyesight, Darkon kicked her in the gut, sending her flying backward into the rocks. The kick had given him the chance to transform and fly skyward, where a Lahdam battle probe had materialized out of a cloaking field.

Holding her stomach, she realized now that the suspicions of many had proven to be true. Darkon had allied himself with the Lahdam, the most vicious of the Teknos' enemies. Standing up, she hobbled over to Neigas' inert body as the ship flew into the air and out of sight.

Kneeling beside him, she lifted the remains of his body into her lap, hoping to find some sort of life signs. From his quivering jaw and fluctuating lights from exposed circuit boards, he was alive, but barely. Though he was breathing, air had no real purpose for an android, save for internal ventilation. His breathing was coming and going rather rapidly.

"Innsali... is that you?"

"Yes. I'm here."

"Galin, where is..."

"He escaped. That traitor's been with the Lahdam all the time."

His hand grabbed her shoulder as the gaze in his only operating eye grew desperate, "Please, Innsali. Stop him... save him, please... I beg you. Save him..."

"Don't say anything. We'll fix you up again. Just hold on!" She cried, seeing the light in his artificial eyes starting to dim.

"There's something else... Darkon, he... he knew your father. It was what you were searching for, wasn't it?" He said with a smile in spite of his condition, "Darkon will be able to tell you the truth..."

The grip on her shoulder grew weak and with those final words, his hand fell off her shoulder and to the ground, no longer moving. She would have denied what she had just heard had it not been for the volley of plasma from high orbit, which sent metal, rock, and dust everywhere.

The nearest blast sent her flying from the inert body and into a cave, which quickly became covered from the falling rocks. The injury she sustained on her head, combined with the intense heat of the blast and weapons caused her sight to go blurry and finally fade out.

She had no idea how much time had passed before consciousness returned to her. Awaking in darkness from the few cracks of light from the opening, she struggled to stand up straight as her head continued to beat mercilessly. In her weakened condition, it took her nearly an hour's time before she could exit.

It was the first time since this world had been attacked did she realize that there was no dust giving the sun's light a near dreary atmosphere. However, her relief was short lived as she beheld what was there.

Nothing.

No buildings, plants, or life whatsoever for as far as the naked eye could see.

Taking a day to explore, she had discovered that most of the planet had been left desolate from an enemy she never saw. All she found were small pockets of plant life and water springs, which still made the planet slightly livable.

It was about a weeks' time before she had recovered to the point where she could give chase to Darkon and make him pay for his crimes... and discover the kind of person her father was.

Returning to the present, she changed into her armored form in a flash of blue light and continued east.

*****

At the Space Knight Command Center, Star Summers, still under Lahdam control, slammed her head against the floor.

The voices were not getting any quieter and the pain coursing through her body was only getting worse. She could not go to the doctor or else she'd be found and would have to kill people in order to keep it a secret. She had no idea when it was this horrid curse started in the first place, but it was long enough for her to start injuring herself for the purpose of trying to make them stop.

The pain she inflicted on herself was great, but superficial enough to cover the voices for a while. Yet the voices knew somehow and had subverted her pain. She was fortunate that she could even sleep at nights, let alone concentrate on every day activities.

It was ironic. Even though it was hard to focus on her job, the distraction helped avert the voices to a point. Yet, her commanding officer had ordered her to take the day off and rest. All she could do now was endure the misery being under such duress.

She re-addressed her situation and still could not find a way out of it. The whole purpose of her being subverted was so that she would be the one to end the life of Slade. She hated the idea, but it was the only way that she could escape this painful life.

Thinking of nothing else and the throbbing in her head still continuing, she decided to head to the medic bay and get some aspirin. With any luck, it would be enough to stop the pain in her head, if not the voices.

She avoided the gaze of her fellow space knights and took the route that had the least amount of traffic. Also, if she had the impulse to slam her head against the wall again, no one would notice. The pain was returning again and she groaned in frustration and despair as she opened the door to where Slade's mother, Harri Carter was working at a desk with what appeared to be a read out of Shara's x-rays.

"Good day, Doctor Carter." She mumbled tiredly, causing the aforementioned to turn and notice her guest.

"Good day, Lt. Summers. Is there something wrong?" She asked, standing up from her chair.

"My head's been hurting like crazy. Any chance of getting any pain killers?"

"Not for another day or so, I'm afraid. The next shipment of medical supplies I ordered has been having trouble getting here, due to the aliens that is."

"I thought as much."

"Well, Lieutenant, if it'll help, let me get you a cold pack and a sedative. It's an older remedy, but it works."

"Thanks, Doctor." Star mumbled, leaning against the entry desk.

Within minutes, the Doctor had returned and gave the ailing Lieutenant a Medi-cold headband and medicine used to put patients to sleep.

Star gave her thanks and was just about to leave when she saw the screen on Harri's desk. "Doctor, if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing?"

Harri, reminded of her current job, sighed as she sat back, "Well, I've been looking over scans that the staff here have taken of my daughter and I've been trying to find a countermeasure to the degradation process that the aliens seem to be putting her through."

"Any luck?"

Harri shook her head, "Whatever biotechnology the aliens use is advanced to the point where they can control and alter the very smallest strand of the genetic code."

"That far?"

"Yes. In addition, genetics was not taken as seriously in the past half-century for us, so the information that we have right now is a bit out-dated when it comes to trying to decode this." Harri's face suddenly went fierce as she turned to Star, "But I'm telling you that I'm not going to give up trying to save my daughter. No matter the cost."

Star smiled, thanked the good doctor, and left.

As the door closed, Star's smile vanished as she walked back to her room. "You won't succeed, Mrs. Carter... and if you don't stop me, I might kill your son... and I doubt either one of us wants that."

*****

On the bridge of the Space Knight Command Center, Comm officer Miaka Yuuki took a second to stretch her back after typing a massive report of the radio traffic coming to and from the Command Center. It was times like this where she really missed Tina. She would have been the one to do this, not Miaka.

She sighed and pulled the hem of her uniform down again. It was times like this where she REALLY wished Tina was there, and then she'd see if there was another pair of bike tights that she could borrow. Bad enough being in the prime of her life without with her boyfriend, and hopefully future fiancée, but the thought of wearing such a skimpy skirt was not appealing at all.

A bleep on the radar and a radio transmission from the bleep brought her back to the present. Turning on the receiver, she said, "This is SKCC-IR Branch. Please send recognition codes and identify yourselves."

"This is Transport SMT-032, sending you recognition codes."

Miaka's gaze was locked upon the codes given only to Comm officers like her. These codes were vital to the safety of the incoming and outgoing ships, so it was imperative that Comm officers memorized and recognized the various codes for supply transports, military, and civilian ships of all configurations. Now this transport not only carried passengers, but also badly needed supplied as well. Bringing up a separate panel, the schedule confirmed that this indeed was the ship that was going to come in today.

"Codes recognized and acknowledged. You may begin landing procedure in bay C-6."

"Hey, Miaka! Is that you?"

"Tina? Shouldn't you guys be back another week or so from now?"

"Yeah, but we got some uninvited guests..." the sound on the radio and the tone of her voice seemed to be giving the impression that she was speaking to another person in the ship, "present company included, and so we had to cut the trip short."

"Sorry to hear that... say, Tina."

"Yeah?"

"You got any other pairs of bike tights I can borrow?"

"What kind of question is that?!"

"The one I'm asking you now."

"Miaka... never mind. I'll look around in my closet and see if I have any spares."

"Thanks!"

Tina turned off the transceiver and held her face in her hands. It was bad enough that she had to share the same ship as Balzac, but to have Miaka blurt out something like that was worse. Balzac then took the chance and said with a smirk, "Friend of yours?"

Tina frowned and promptly ignored him. Though she and Miaka had been friends for a while, the idiosyncrasies that they had in their friendship sometimes made each other's company more trouble than it was worth. Tina did have to give her credit for being as smart as she was, but there were times when she wondered if Miaka had lapses of intelligence and acted half her age.

The transport hovered through the opened bay doors and landing thrusters came to life as the landing planks emerged from the ship's underbelly. The door bays closed and within minutes, the crews began the process of taking the medical supplies from the transport.

"Sure brings back memories." Balzac said, stepping off the walkway.

"I'll bet it does..." Tina grumbled beneath her breath, turning towards the entryway to the bridge. "If you really serious about helping us, then it would be best if you spoke with Commander Jamison. I have to go to my superior officer for debriefing. Excuse me." She finished, not at all hiding her insincere courtesy.

"Love you too." Balzac mumbled sarcastically before turning to Shara, "You sure you can make it to the medical offices on your own?"

The ailing Carter nodded and walked slowly towards another exit.

Seeing her leave made those same questions he had told Tina about return in his head. It didn't add up with what he knew. Whatever the case might have been, he had to get going.

Avoid the scrutinizing gaze of other personnel; he was able to make his way to Commander Jamison's office with no real incident. That is, until he entered the office...

The commander was at his desk, looking over the papers that came with the shipment of supplies. Upon hearing the door open, Jamison's neutral gaze went from lukewarm to stone cold. Nothing was said as Balzac stood right in front of the door as it closed and felt the temperature in the room go down.

Balzac took every last reserve of his confidence to just stand straight under Jamison's relentless stare.

"Commander... what ever you have to say concerning me... I can already take a guess as to what it would be." He said, waiting for the inevitable.

"Actually, I'm more surprised than angry, Balzac. I received a coded communiqué from New Victoria, telling me about you and what had happened. Though I too have grievances about you joining up with us, we got more important things to worry about." Jamison said, allowing Balzac a mental sigh of relief.

It was at that time that Tina chose to enter the commander's office. Her scowl returned as quickly as she had seen Balzac, yet tried her best to pay him no heed as she walked up to Jamison's desk and placed a typed report of what had happened. She turned around and was about to leave the office when Jamison spoke up, "Lt. Corman, I want to hear your report here and now of the events that occurred."

Tina turned and nearly was about to scream why, but held her tongue, stepped beside Balzac, and began to give a simplified version of her report. Yet, every time she tried to focus on the report, her glare reached over to Balzac, who could do nothing but add in the few details that Tina had left out.

From his chair, Jamison could tell that both of them were having the hardest time trying to concentrate because of their evident discord. He knew that they were both anxious to get out of that office and away from each other. Though his face was as neutral as any one could tell, he was smiling inside from an old saying that he had heard caused him to order them to this end. 'Watch them squirm! It's fun!'

How true that was...

*

Hopping through what few trails remained in the mountains, the stranger felt the emanations getting stronger and stronger. Whatever the presence was, it was remaining stationary, so locating it had become much easier than previously thought. Yet, with the presence of scanning technology appearing, the stranger had to carefully time its jumps so as not to be noticed.

It wasn't long before the stranger discovered the large facility embedded in the mountainside. A long and tall fence that must have reached all around the facility surrounded it. There was also a small gateway, which also concealed several hidden weapons ports to ward off intruders that would be foolish enough to try and enter through the front.

Taking in all the surroundings, the stranger picked up a single rock, aimed to the west of the front gate, and threw as hard as her arm would allow.

True to form, the pair of guards at the gate noticed the disturbance, and focused their attention on the sequential small rockslide. It was also the distraction the stranger needed to get past the guards unnoticed. However, were it not for the secondary and third level hidden motion detectors buried within rock and sand, the stranger's presence was transmitted to Commander Jamison's desk.

Looking up to both Tina and Balzac, Jamison said with an almost interested look, "It appears we have company." With the punch of a few buttons, the screen on his desk flashed to life and revealed the location of the stranger with near perfect accuracy. From what the screen displayed, the intruder was heading towards the northeastern entrance of the command center with inhuman speed. The scanners embedded in the open spaces between the outer perimeters also registered a field of energy around the intruder.

"Is it one of the teknomen?" Balzac asked, seeing the intruder's signal start to close in quickly.

"I doubt it. For one thing, they've never attacked by themselves, with the exception of Saber, that is. Also, the scanners register that the Z-Tron surrounding this one is of a different type." Jamison said, his gaze never wavering from the screen.

Tina looked from the desk to the general direction of the stranger and added. "I... I can hear it. Mentally I mean... It's speaking in... some strange language... it doesn't seem hostile, but I can't tell from the tone it's using."

Both men looked to Tina from her announcement. Yet, Jamison's gaze went from her, back to the desk again before replying, "Lt. Corman, how are your diplomacy skills?"

Tina lost her concentration and groaned inwardly. "How did I know he was going to say that?"

*

Stretching his back, Ringo was beyond happy, in spite of the painful pops that came through his spine. He had spent quite a bit of time on yet another upgrade given to the Space Knights from their owning company. Yet, this new Z-Tron gunner's turret was required by members of the pilots and crew themselves to assemble. To Ringo's elation, he had heard that more ships like the Blue Earth would by the standard by which the newer, more durable gunboats would be modeled after. In spite of that, he still felt good that it was his ship that set the standard.

Now that his shift was over, he was hoping to get a little quite time in his room before getting a bite to eat at the cafeteria. It was that time, however, that he noticed Shara going into his direction. He smiled and figured that something must have happened to make them come back early. Whatever it was, Ringo was more than happy it did.

"Welcome back." He said suavely, just to break the silence and bring her out of her dull trance.

Looking back to him, her face brightened somewhat and replied, "Hello, Ringo. It's good to see you again." She turned to the direction of his room and added, "I tried knocking, but you weren't there. So I thought you would still be busy and I decided to just wait in the infirmary."

Ringo stepped up to her and said in a smoother and more suave voice than before, "Well, now that you've found what you're looking for, what do you intend to do?"

A bit surprised at his bravado, yet still controlled in her posture, replied with a smile, "For one thing, this..." she leaned forward and pecked his cheek, "and second, I was hoping that you and I could talk for a while."

Now it was Ringo's turn to be surprised. Not only was her smile as genuine and brilliant as a freshly cut diamond, but her simple show of affection made his soul soar. It was something truly unique. Another part of his mind, in its infinite smugness, wondered just how good he was.

"So, Shannon, did you just get back?" He asked, not wanting to change the subject, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him.

Nodding, she replied, "Yes. We returned just a short while ago. We had to leave early for a few reasons. Nothing to worry about, really."

Blinking, Ringo asked, "Really?" He knew that it was supposed to be an operation that was not widely spread and for it to end prematurely would have to involve some sort of great need. He shrugged it off after seeing her nod again.

"Oh, if you don't mind me asking, where are you going?"

"Well, I was going to head back to my room for a second and then hit the cafeteria. But since you're here, want to go get a bite?"

She nodded again and said, "Lead the way."

*

Outside the compound, the shrouded figure found the base in which the sources of familiar mental energy was coming from and nearly gagged vocally.

The base itself looked like it had mutated hideously and fused itself with the mountain, leaving some parts exposed and vulnerable. Yet, what appalled her more was the design. Though she could understand how other cultures' style of building could be different, this base was in serious need of redesigning.

As egocentric as her own race was, they would not be so foolish as to let a base simply be in plain sight. Kharusians were always overbearing when it came to little things like camouflage. Letting her thoughts wander for a second, she wondered if an Onoli or Karci would be more likely to hide a base within a mountain. Yet, the more important matter at hand was to make contact and see if she could remember the language these people spoke.

She had only hopped a few rocks before seeing one of the sources her mind was sensing. It was in the form of a young human female running to one of the extended launching bays, looking northward. The visitor hopped a few more rocks until she was several meters from where the human stood. Judging by her appearance, the human girl appeared to be going through a growth spurt, yet still looked a bit like an adolescent. Somehow, the girl had caught that thought and frowned quite angrily. Apparently, the girl did not appear to like being referred to as a child. The stranger made a mental note to keep her mind shut in the future.

"Hello!" The girl called from the platform.

The stranger only tilted her head in response.

"Who are you?" The girl called again, yet the words she spoke were not comprehensible at all.

"Hawichinnok." The stranger called back through the cowl.

The girl blinked twice at the response. "Come again?"

The stranger sighed and put a hand on her head. It appeared that her memory of this world's language had faded with the passage of time. Instead, she pointed to the center of the base. The girl turned and gestured with her thumb to the entrance. Hoping that the human's gesture was an invitation to enter, the stranger leaped from her position to a few feet in front of the human.

Tina tried not to jump back from seeing the much taller visitor land in front of her. She tried to get a better look at the stranger, but the cloak and cowl covered far too much to establish any sort of identity. All she could really make out was the long ears, which appeared to be a combination of elf's and rabbit's ears and of course, the tail. It took all of Tina's composure not to laugh. A few seconds passed before the visitor looked over Tina and to the entrance, then back to Tina.

Not really knowing what to say, Tina asked, trying to stay calm, "Uh... do you come in peace?"

The visitor tried to figure out what exactly the human said, but the language she recalled from her previous visit was not like this at all. To the visitor, her words sounded like a poor excuse for a greeting. It was bad enough that she did not know how to speak the local tongue, but she felt this young woman was not at all versed in diplomacy. It was then, a memory of similar meetings returned, as if they were revelations.

The visitor's right hand extended from her cloak and from it her open palm, the visitor's light blue tek-crystal appeared in a similar fashion as Tina's. Getting the idea. Tina cupped her hands together and in another small flash of light, her own crystal materialized.

Tina did not understand exactly what the stranger was going to do; she did however know that the crystals that the Teknos possessed were not simply energy sources. They were also a blue print of each individual, like every crystal held the story of the one who possessed it. The stranger moved her crystal closer to Tina's and within a few seconds, Tina felt a surge of information flood into her brain. She staggered back and held her head as though she were experiencing a migraine.

The stranger, sensing her distress, replaced her crystal to the vortex from which it came. No sooner had the stranger's crystal vanished, the pain in Tina's head also vanished. Though the visitor did not like humans all that much, she did not, however, wish ill of them.

From what the visitor could see, the human was too inexperienced to simply go through what she had done countless times before with others of her kind. The attempted transfer of language resulted in far too much for the human to handle and ended up being painful. Yet, a little of the human's language had been transferred to her, so now communication would not be so hard, even if the visitor had only acquired a few basic pronouns, verbs, and phrases.

Looking to the taller stranger, Tina saw its hand exit the cloak and with one of its four fingers, pointed to herself, saying, "I... am... Innsali..." The human words sounded slippery and strange in the visitor's mouth, and hoped that a source of literary information could be found soon.

Tina gaped in awe. One minute, this visitor could not even understand what she was saying and now it was speaking in Standard English! With a bit of a shrug, Tina said a bit too casually, "Uh... do you want me to take you to my leader?"

Innsali tilted her head slightly. Not only was this human green, she was also quite tactless. Nevertheless, she nodded to the human girl's question and subsequently followed her into the mountainside facility. Though the outside of the base did not really give her much to like, the inside was a much different matter. Everything Innsali saw was organized and orderly. She had to give these humans credit for being able to adapt to harsh terrain.

On their way to the commander's office, Tina asked, "If you don't mind me asking, where do you come from?"

Innsali's ears perked backward in confusion as she tried to process what exactly Tina had said. The human had used an unclear introductory fragment, followed by an interrogative word, followed by a prepositional phrase, resulting in a question of her origin... if she heard the human right.

Hoping that the human had simply asked about her origin, Innsali replied slowly, "Kharuse-Naws."

Tina had no idea what Innsali had said and figured it would be best if she let Commander Jamison do the talking once they got to his office, provided that he could understand the stranger's words.

*****

Flying through the mountain ranges west of the command center, Pegas kept his altitude as low as he could, following newer precautionary programs in times such as this. From transmissions he had downloaded in his time in the launch bay, the Teknobot decided to maintain his behavioral protocols as best as he was able. To most, it would seem a bit strange for a robot like himself to indulge in self-maintenance and improvement when all his capacity was to simply be a battle partner for Slade. Yet, Pegas knew better. The processors that assisted his AI suggested the best course of action was to do whatever needed in order to fulfill the measure of his creation.

There was a small part of the robot's processors that included the possibility that he may have to sacrifice himself to save the life of another. Though it was standard procedure to his programs to store it away in a separate unit, Pegas found it necessary to keep that bit of information active until a truly suitable answer could be found to the countless inquiries he had concerning sacrifice.

"Pegas, how much longer until we reach the command center?" Slade asked, breaking the android out of his thoughts.

"ETA: TEN MINUTES AND THIRTY-FOUR SECONDS. EIGHT MINUTES AND TWENTY-ONE SECONDS BEFORE WE ENTER COMMUNICATION RANGE."

"Good. When we get within range, try and send a coded signal to Commander Jamison about our arrival."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

With a little bit of time to use, Slade let his memory return to a conversation that he had with Ringo a few days before he had left. Now that he thought about it, their conversation was not exactly like the one a usual person would imagine.

For some odd reason, Ringo demanded that he be called the 'Love Doctor' or something to that effect. All Slade wanted was a little more advice on when they had gone over, but Ringo's ego had gone into overdrive and had changed into some poor excuse for a dating serviceman.

Ringo... er, the Doctor, had advised him that in order to get the ladies, Slade had to be a really sharp shooter. Using the correct words to make oneself appear charming and witty was a definite option, but Slade admitted and forced Ringo to accept the fact that he was not a wordsmith. Slade imagined himself tripping over words and Star getting the wrong idea almost immediately. The embarrassment of the thought was almost too much for him to bear.

Next, Ringo suggested as Slade tried to speak with her, imagine in his mind every action was in the middle of a battle. Slade's response was less than enthusiastic. He would first start out with a 'Fire One!' then 'Miss' then 'Fire Two' then 'Miss', 'Counter-Attack', and finally, 'RETREAT!'

Now was a time that he really resented what the aliens did to him. Not only did they take away most of his emotions, they also took his ability to act tactfully among his own people. Had he not left on the Argos, he would more likely than not have gotten through this problem without breaking a sweat.

For now, it looked like he would have to resort to the blunt and simple. He would leave it in her room and hope for the best.

*****

On the dark side of the moon, Darkon could sense the stranger's presence drawing closer and closer to the Space Knight's command center. If they were to join in an alliance, his chances of victory would dwindle significantly. Yet, the chance of one such as her wanting to join with humans was quite slight. Darkon knew of her intense dislike of humanity and that would be quite an obstacle.

He even knew the reason why. The ordeal was so horrid to think about that she begged him to forget it. Yet, he could not. Darkon made a note to take in every single detail about his friends, foes, and surroundings so they could be used for an advantage in the future. Though he could not directly exploit this newcomer's dislike of humans too much, because both she and the humans had the unified purpose of stopping him.

When he chose to go down this path, he knew very well of what he would lose. Before then, he told very few of his intentions. Every one of them disagreed with his choice, but their logic seemed like sentimental babble in his ears. Most disappointing was an acquaintance of his, though more logical and cunning than most of his kind, tried to sway him from this 'mad course'.

Darkon's acquaintance was an exile among his people, ages old now and more likely than not, dead. He had seen countless worlds, seen the rise and extinctions of many races, and was witness to the birth of negative suns and microcosms, yet he did not agree with what Darkon had proposed to do in order to bring a sort of peace to this chaotic existence.

In his endeavor, he had indeed allied himself with the most vicious of the Teknos' enemies, the Lahdam. The Teknamin were too scattered and too caught up in their egocentric passions to even bother with. Yet, small parts of him regret leaving his long time brothers and sisters in arms, for he had grown rather fond of them. Now, he was alienated from his companions and had the misfortune of being allies to one of the most distrusted and hated races known by any civilized race.

In addition, he had made some bargains with some he later regretted. In fact, he could almost feel a representative of a former associate close in on his position in the astral plane. Unlike the time before, this visitor preferred the open spaces, for he could go almost anywhere he wished.

Darkon's frown grew larger as the form of a being only known as Emissary appeared in his mind's eye. The white coat did little to conceal the black clothes and unusual sphere imbedded in his right shoulder. However, what unsettled Darkon the most was his calm demeanor and his dark blue hair covered one of his eyes.

"I have no business with you emissary. Nor with your master." Darkon growled before the visitor came into view. "Begone or else I'll send your head back to whatever thing you serve."

Unfazed by the threat, Emissary replied calmly, "Is that really any way to speak to an old friend? After all, it was you who sought us out in the first place. It is because of you that our master still has sent me here to complete the unfinished business with you, Galin Phorintsu."

"The only thing that was completed was our contract. I completed the assignment you gave me and you gave me the control over the Lahdam without their masters knowing. The contract is fulfilled and done with. Begone!"

"Oh no, dear friend. The contract is far from over. By all rights, you still belong to our master and..." he would have gotten further, had Darkon's tangible projection not leaped at him and pinned him to the ground.

With bared teeth, Darkon snarled, "Do not forget, Emissary, that it was I who crafted the contract in the first place. You were the ones who needed me, not the other way around. You were simply there for my convenience, if not my good fortune. Our business association is complete and therefore terminated and should you or any other of your representatives give insult to my presence by appearance, I assure you that the last thing they see will be their body without their heads."

Emissary remained passive and much to Darkon's surprise, found the projection's arm moving away from holding the former to the floor. Try as Darkon would, the projection began to float away from Emissary and into the wall and vanishing. Standing up, Darkon's visitor regarded him as if no attack had occurred.

"Strange, hearing words from one who has no real body. And even if you did, you'd be using hands not your own."

Regaining his composure, Darkon retorted, "This coming from one whose arm belongs to another. You'd do good to return it to its rightful owner, for he's a just man, unlike you."

Emissary nearly chuckled at the insult, "And I am sure you are in such a position to say what is right and wrong."

Though Darkon's control over the physical plane was limited, he did have enough control over the body he had at the moment to raise the pointed end of his weapon at Emissary's neck. "I'll not say it again. Begone and bother me no more. No one owns me. Not you, nor your master, the Lahdam, or anyone!"

The calm face of the Emissary degraded into a cold stare, "You will regret those words, Darkon. Mark my words. No one escapes from our master."

Now it was Darkon's turn to smirk, "If it makes you feel any better, go on with your jargon. It makes no difference to me either way."

With a nod of reluctant acceptance, the Emissary turned and left the renegade Teknos to his own designs - just as his master instructed.

*****

In the meeting room of the Space Knight Command Center, to say that first contact with the alien visitor was rocky would have been an understatement.

The first hurdle they had gotten over was the introduction of names. Sadly, things did not get much better from there as Innsali tried several other alien dialects that could have survived on earth, but found Huttesse to be a bad alternative. After all, the closest speakers of that language lived in a galaxy far, far way a long time ago. In addition, whenever she tried the little language she had gained from Tina, it had only served to confuse them more.

Commander Jamison, visibly irritated at the lack of progress, found himself hounded by several members of the government for not informing them of friendly extra-terrestrials. Much to his chagrin, even the higher ups from the Solar Moon also wanted information that Jamison could not exactly give, aside from description.

Though Innsali could not understand the words that Jamison used to describe his agitation, she could, however, sense the tired commander reach the end of his rope. Looking over to a panel, Innsali saw words in the human language they were speaking. She stood up to her full seven and a half feet and pointed towards the words.

Noticing her action, Jamison saw the visitor start to gesture first to the words, then to her own eyes, then a motion of her hand going outward from her mouth. If Jamison read her right, she needed more information about their language before they could actually talk.

Though he wasn't sure if that was what she was saying, it was better than nothing. Activating a communication panel, he said, "Lt. Yuuki, head down to the storage units and bring back some thesauri, dictionaries, and what not. We may have an idea of how to talk with our visitor."

"Yes sir!" Came the reply before cutting off. Turning back to the visitor, Jamison took his seat once more. Rubbing his temples, he tried to focus on trying to speak with the alien.

"Tired."

Jamison blinked. He knew that the alien could speak a few words, but not enough to make any sort of coherent sentences. Yet, when she pointed at him and repeated, "Tired." he could not help but smile. He nodded and stood up, and almost as if the visitor understood his condition, nodded herself, silently saying that he should go.

As grateful as he was for the break, Jamison could not help but feel a little bit ashamed at leaving this alien to itself while he took a break. Yet, the books came and soon, the alien found herself reading through a dictionary at a speed somewhat higher than that of a normal human. Though he was not sure if the alien would try anything, he still took the precaution of activating the cameras in the conference room and observing from his office desk.

Though his job at the moment was to observe the visitor, he could not help but return his thoughts to hearing his mother's voice. He only grew up with foster parents, Earl and Cleo Jamison, and could never find any evidence of his real parentage, despite his best efforts. More than ever, he now wanted to know who his father was.

Though the sun was setting in the west, he could not help but feel that he had company when the lights dimmed. What was worse was that the company was someone he did not care for too much.

Emerging from the shadows, Shun smiled, "How'd you know it was me?"

Jamison remained stoic, "How could I not?"

Blinking, Shun gasped as if it the news was new to him, "Wow, you're right!"

Jamison was starting to find it hard to not wish harm upon Shun as the enigmatic personage continued,

"Did you miss me?"

"No."

"Thanks for your concern."

"What are you doing here? I'm busy."

To Jamison's surprise, Shun appeared almost hurt by his tone. Yet, the words in which Shun used dispelled the first idea. "You hurt me, Nathan. I only wanted to help and you wound me with your anger... but maybe it's not me... maybe it's something else..."

Now the Space Knight Commander was starting to get irritated at the visitor's ability to beat around the bush, "What are you getting..." he would have continued had Shun not changed shape and into another person, and this time, it was a person he knew very well.

Roberta White, his wife of twenty years and divorced five years earlier.

"Is it because you actually miss talking with dear ol' Robbie?" Shun said, using her face and voice. "Do you actually regret not speaking with her after all that's happened, even about your only son?"

Jamison's marriage had ended quite coldly, for neither one of them had anything else to say, for there was nothing between them anymore. Despite the years that followed, Jamison had felt the desire from time to time to see on how she was doing, but had purposely drowned himself in his work to avoid doing so.

"Or maybe..." Shun continued before taking the shape of a young man, in the very likeness of Jamison's only son, "Or is it that you can't accept the fact that Mikail's dead? All the hoping and praying in the world can't change the truth. Yet, you still cling to a lie and won't let go or else your world will crash in on itself."

Shun knew that he was attacking the weakest points of Jamison's heart and had in turn, got the reaction he wanted. In a fit of rage, the usually silent commander yanked a gun out of his desk and aimed it directly between Shun's eyes.

"What is the point of all this?!" He screamed.

With a self-satisfied smile, Shun reverted back to his original shape and said deathly quiet, "I believe I warned you, Jamison. You don't want to incite me, you can and will regret it." He reached up and gently moved the barrel of the gun downward, "Now, put that away, you might hurt someone with it."

A lifetime of self-discipline and training had been washed away by only a few seconds of provocation and now he was actually listening to reason at a time when his anger had flared to near insanity. Without a struggle, he lowered the weapon and placed it back in his desk.

Sighing, Jamison put his face in his hands and wished it good and done. However, Shun was not done.

"My reason for being here was because I wanted to show you someone." With that, Shun placed his index finger on Jamison's forehead and once more, the commander found his location had been changed once more.

In the middle of a mountain range, Jamison saw the sun rising and in front of the sphere of light, he saw a man watching the sun with a child. It was then he heard the man speak to his son.

"Isn't it pretty, Nathan?"

"Yes, it is."

"My own father and I used to do this whenever had had time to ourselves... and that was a rare thing. Now I do this with you and hope that someday, you will do this with your own son."

"Is there any real purpose?"

The man chuckled, "Well, mostly because to me, seeing this shows how simple and wonderful everything is. Even if it's not perfect, it's still great."

The child, still wondering and trying to understand his father's feelings, continued to ask questions. The man seemed like he expected such an inquisitive mind from his son.

"Some of the other children say that the sun's like a symbol." The boy turned to his father, "What symbol could it be?"

The man paused, giving serious thought to his son's question before answering, "It's like life. The sunrise shows the beginning of life and leads into growth and how the day becomes."

The child, upon hearing his father's words, seemed to shrink, as if suddenly scared, "Then that means... there will be an end too?"

The father, noting his son's anxiety nodded slowly. "Yes."

The child remained silent for a short while before answering a question that had not been asked. "I'm scared of that. I don't want to be, but I am."

The man reached over and placed a hand on his son's shoulder and whispered, "Then don't be. It'll come when it does, but to worry about it is nothing more than a waste of time." The man chuckled again, "I should know..."

His words soon faded into nothing as Jamison found the scene changing again to his office.

Silence reined for several minutes as Jamison held his face in his hands. He had seen who his father was, though all he saw was the image of him from behind.

"Why?" he asked silently.

"Consider it... part of your reward for a lifetime of vigilance." Shun answered in kind.

"I don't see why I would deserve such a thing. There were, are, and will be many people who will have no idea who their real parents were. Why single me out?"

"I can't go into details, Nathan. But know that this was for you and you alone. I would recommend making sure this is remembered. As much knowledge as I possess, it's minute compared to the one you humans call God." Shun said in all seriousness. He walked slowly back from where he came, "Remain vigilant, Nathan. The lives of those you're in charge of depend on it."

Though the silence of his darkened office offered some comfort, Jamison found his mind ever more troubled. Whatever this being was, it seemed to have some sort of purpose for him and so far, he had only been showing him images of what may have been the past.

But how did he know those images were the truth? Though he had often reflected on his parentage, never before now did he ever think to actually see and hear them. Somehow, he could almost 'feel' that those voices belonged to his parents.

His gaze turned to a new source of activity in the crew's quarters. Slade had returned and was holding something in his hand. He was also standing outside of Lt. Summers' room. Slade looked left and right, making sure no one was in sight, and quickly entered and exited the room.

Wondering, Jamison quickly rewound the video and zoomed in on the object in his hand. At first, the Commander was a bit surprised, but somehow found the whole scene slightly amusing. It still seemed appropriate to the commander.

There was no rule among the codes of conduct that courtship could not be followed though. Yet, if anyone wanted to be serious about their relationships, they also had to consider their career as a Space Knight as well. The commander remembered sadly of a well to do young couple that had broken those rules and had been discharged disgracefully.

Somehow, though, he could not imagine Slade going that far that fast. It took him a month before he could open up to anyone among the command staff. At the very least, the wait was worth it. The commander got a small bit of satisfaction that Slade understood what it was like to be human again - to an extent.

*

"I've waited long enough!" Saber roared as he burst violently from the sphere of biomechanical liquid and slime. The upgrade in his armor had indeed increased his power and speed, yet the desire to use his newfound abilities on Slade had overcome Darkon's orders to wait for recuperation.

"Saber!" Darkon yelled after him as the foremost of his warriors broke through the outer perimeter of the ship and sped towards Earth. Yet, before Darkon's image could get into range to communicate directly with him, Saber had already left the orbit of the moon.

"You four! Stop him and bring him back here at once! He will jeopardize everything! Go!" He commanded the others in a tone that suggested frustration with a tinge of fear. The last thing Darkon needed was an overzealous soldier who wasn't patient.

Moreso than his plans failing, Darkon had an uneasy feeling that there were other forces at work, waiting for this to occur. He knew that Earth had its own hidden trove of secrets that he dare not indulge in. Unlike the naturally curious, he knew well enough to leave some of the unknown as it was.

Within seconds, the remaining Teknomen sped after Saber and into the Earth's atmosphere. Mind reached out to try and reach Saber's mind, but the aforementioned was too caught up in his desire for petty revenge to listen. In addition, Darkon had yet a chance to install the vital slave circuits he did with all the other teknomen under his command.

Reaching his mind out further, he found a familiar presence, yet before he could put a name or face to it, the presence vanished. Almost as if it knew Darkon was trying to find it.

Once more, Darkon cursed his inability to move.

*****

After a long and arduous walk back from the infirmary, Star sighed with a bit of relief at reaching her quarters. The sedative was beginning to work and the medi-pak was relieving the pain somewhat.

In spite of all that was happening, all she wanted to do was lie on her bed and hope that once she woke up, this nightmare would end. She had hoped the same thing every time she fell asleep ever since her transfiguration and so far, nothing had happened.

In an attempt to get to sleep, she twisted and turned on her bed, wondering when sleep would claim her. Noticing a white object on her desk, Star crawled out of bed and over to the desk. Trying to fight off the weariness, Star focused her eyes to see something she'd never expect from someone.

In a small clear plastic case was a flower that every girl in her high school would have killed to get on her graduation day. The little note that came with the flower also brought a smile to her face. The note only held two words.

'From Ness'

Almost in an instant, the voices were drowned out and for the first time in weeks, she felt at peace. She held the small plastic case close and allowed herself to smile for once.

The voices, knowing that the stakes had been upped severely, increased their intensity tenfold. So much that the pain in Star's head now overcame her senses and she began to thrash uncontrollably.

There was no other recourse left. Star had to get away. Now. The crystal given to her from Sword emerged from her hand and an activation signal later, her room was filled with red light and explosions soon followed.

*

"Alert! All security personnel report to the crew's quarters at once! We have an intruder in the crew's quarters. All defense personnel report to the quarters at once!" The computerized voice proclaimed throughout all the facility.

The resident teknomen, alien guest, and even Balzac felt the tremor caused by the intruder and went to their respective positions.

The alien guest, following the trail of fresh air to the outside, stood upon a boulder just outside the perimeter of where a large hole appeared. Smoke ebbed out of the quarters and the gathering clouds above made the fire within more visible.

"Infiltrators." Innsali huffed silently. She'd seen countless teknamin, in their blind rage, enter vital instillations and ran amok, doing their best to cause as much chaos as possible. Yet, this time seemed different. It was far too sloppy for this one to be part of some organized attack.

Her ears were picking up something unique about this particular one. It seemed as though this one was being forced into doing this, but were still resisting. Being a healer, she might have been able to take care of this kind of problem, but due to her lack of understanding of the human physiology, it would be far too dangerous. In addition, one of the resident defenders had already reached the area where the infiltrator was struggling to simply stay up.

It would be best to just sit back and watch to see what would develop.

Brushing her way through the smoke and debris, Tina tried to summon the wind to tell her where the source of the fire came from. However, the smoke, being as thick as it was, made concentration rather difficult.

Squinting, she found the unmistakable form of a teknoman writing on the ground, clutching its head and screaming in pain. One of the things that was starting to bother Tina was who exactly this person was and how did they get in. Miaka had informed her of how the newest one, Sword, was able to get in and had kidnapped Star, but she couldn't have...

"Oh no..." Tina whispered to no one before advancing silently. Her weapon now hung limply at her side, where it once was ready to spill blood. The enemy had done this to Star, one of the people she had often looked up to when she had first arrived. And one of the first who treated her like an actual person and not like a child.

In a flash of red light, the armor around Star vanished, yet she still rolled on the roof of the command center as Tina watched helplessly.

"Stay away from me..." Star groaned in agony.

"Star... what happened?"

"What do you think happened?!" Star seethed angrily. "They've made me like one of them... no, worse than that, they made me into something they hardly need."

Without thinking, Tina emerged from her armor and ran to her friend's side. She had an idea as to what Star was talking about and she didn't like it at all. "Then fight them. We'll find a way to stop this."

She would have continued on, but Star's fist connecting with her cheek prevented anything else from being said. Tina flew back a few feet and into unconsciousness, yet her condition was oblivious to the suffering Star.

"I said, stay away from me!" Star screamed before the voices started increasing again. Upon hearing another pair of footstep, Star stood up to see Slade entering her eye sight, though more likely than not, he had seen everything.

There was no brooding isolation, no the silent calm, all that remained shock and disbelief. He had seen her eyes and now knew what it all meant. She had been turned against him. She met his gaze and soon found her breath coming and going on short gasps.

The voices were commanding her to go forward and kill him, but she could not. Even at this close, she could not. She had done so much to bring him out and to help him remember what it was like to be human; she would not be the means to his death. But in a sudden flash of uncontrolled arbitrary rage, she changed into her armor again, brought a large mace from nowhere and raised it high to finish him off.

A whisp of light came from behind Ness and collided with Star's weapon, sending it flying away. Both of them turned to see the source, only to see the alien visitor hurdle over Slade and throw a blue colored sphere, right into Star's face.

Star screamed as the sphere shattered and a acidic gel started to eat away at her armor and eyesight. With no boosters to fly with, Star jumped over Tina's prone body, over the edge, and out of sight.

Innsali watched the renegade retreat and turned to the human she had saved. This one was an enigma too. He had the taint of the Lahdam over him, yet he did not radiate any of the same auras that their slaves had. In addition, she could tell that the renegade had meant something to him at one time. She held back a snort and turned away.

"Affection can be such a fickle thing." She thought privately as thunder began to boom overhead. Rain would fall soon and considering how rare a thing it was around this desert climate, a flash flood was a definite possibility.

Turning back to the unconscious Tina, the Kharusian lifted the smaller human up rather easily and carried her back to the entrance where a medical crew could take care of her. She turned back to Ness and with a gesture of her head, ordered him to follow.

Trying to maintain his balance, he complied.

*

Once Tina awoke, she informed the commander and the rest of the Space Knights of the bad news. Miaka, overhearing from the bridge, realized to her horror she never noticed anything that would have lead to the truth beforehand.

Innsali was nowhere to be found, Ringo ended up hurting his hand from punching the wall, Mac sighed the same way when he heard of old friends of his becoming casualties, Maggie was in near hysterics, Balzac could say nothing, and Jamison, with folded arms, did not feel any sort of surprise.

The stoic commander kept his mouth shut as Ringo continued to punch the wall and scream every four-letter word in his large vocabulary. Jamison knew that sooner or later something like this was bound to happen and it finally did.

He left the room as saw Slade leaning against the wall in the hallway. No one had seemed more hurt than he and Jamison knew it. He was probably the only one who saw Slade deliver that package to her room. It always seemed the most valued people that have little to nothing to do with the battle are the most likely to be hurt. It also reminded him how much he hated clichés.

Walking to the bridge, he saw Miaka trying to concentrate on the task at hand, but found her shaky hands to be more than a giveaway of her anxiety. He knew that she was the one that found Star and figured that part of her worry was her lack of foresight. Jamison had known this for quite and while, and though he never told her, she had made considerable progress in learning how to control herself.

"Ensign." He whispered.

She whirled around and saluted, "Yes sir?"

From the look in her eyes, he could tell she was ready to crack. That was the last thing they all needed. "It's not your fault. None of us knew. They outwitted us and though Slade's still alive, the price paid was still quite heavy. There's no point to beating yourself up over something you couldn't control."

She looked downward, "I'm sorry sir... it's just that... I should have figured it out. But I'm stupid, just like everyone says..."

"Ensign!" Jamison roared suddenly. She tensed up and looked back to him, eye to eye. He continued in a voice that was not quite paternal, yet not superior.

"You're not stupid. You never were. If you were, I would have told you to leave this compound on the earliest transport and never return. But if you're going to waste time like this, I suggest you pack your bags at once. We're in the middle of a war and we need every available hand to help try and keep things in order. There's no room for people who can't help. The choice is yours, Ensign."

The other communication officers turned to their commander and to Miaka. The young ensign soon stiffened, replied with a 'yes sir' and went right back to her seat, her present woes forgotten. The others saw the commander standing tall and immovable at the center of the bridge with a gaze that even death itself could not prevail against.

Whether the commander knew it or not, he commanded a great deal of respect among many of the younger officers. To them, he was the model commander. He treated those under him like real compatriots instead of conscripts. His vision and leadership had also gotten the Space Knights much recognition.

Even news of his stare down with Commander Galt soon spread and soon wild exaggerations began to spring up around his character. Some said that he was strong enough to command a mountain to move, and it would. Others said that he could lead a battalion of men into hell and bring them all back alive. A few even joked that he must have been some sort of warrior angel, sent from the heavens to help them stand up to their foes in space and in the military, due to his pale skin, white hair, and indomitable red eyes.

Exaggeration or no, Commander Jamison was a figurehead of respect for many people - much to the chagrin of his employers.

"Commander, we got a teknoman coming in fast. Very fast!"

"Can you get a reading on which one?"

"I don't know. It looks like Saber's but the configuration has changed drastically and the power readings are off the scale!"

"Return to red alert. Inform all teknosuit squads to stand by and order the other space knights to defensive positions!"

*

Back in the infirmary, the other space knights heard the orders and followed them as quick as they could. Nearly running past Slade, Tina grabbed his arm and pleaded, "Slade, come on! We got to hurry! Saber's coming and..."

She was silenced as she saw the wild animal look appear in his eye, "...Saber..." he whispered. Slowly, his face contorted into the most hateful, frown she had ever seen him have. In the blink of an eye, he ran to the loading bay, without bothering to formalities, he screamed, "PEGAS!"

Hearing him yell like that made Tina fearful, because she felt that something inside of him had finally snapped. She remembered hearing him say about how much he hated the Lahdam for ripping his family apart and figured that this had only added fuel to the fire.

Though the teknobot was slightly anxious at his anger, he complied and opened his chest, allowing Slade to jump in and within seconds, the two flew out of the loading bay and right into the path of Saber.

Screaming like a madman, Slade swung his spear relentlessly at Saber. It almost didn't matter anymore if he won or lost. The lahdam, Darkon, Saber, and anyone else aligned with them were going to die, or he was going to die trying to kill them.

On Saber's end, he too was just as angered as Slade was. For many reasons that were now deemed unimportant by his rage driven mind. He was so close to beating Slade before, and now he was on equal terms with Slade. Judging by Slade's own rage, he figured this would be the last time they fought.

Not caring that the pouring rain was soaking her robes, Innsali watched the two warriors take their battle to the air and ground. Though she could not understand humans at times, she could empathize with them. The intensity between the two fighting gave her an idea just how deeply they despised each other. It also gave her proper incentive not to interfere.

When they had parted to release a standard energy bolt from their armor, a third light from the corner of her eye gave her cause to turn. At that same moment, the energy bolts which Slade and Saber fired, had collided, along with a third, but hardly visible blue beam. Innsali would have searched the source, but the explosion from the blast suddenly turned into a vacuum.

Holding on for dear life, everyone who saw the explosion saw a large blue vortex of blue, white, and black energy crackling as it drew in everything within its reach.

From their position in the air, Sword and the rest of Darkon's warriors, saw the vortex, and started to pull back once its pulls grabbed them. Even Tina and Balzac had seen the sphere and pulled back. Slade, Saber, and Pegas were not so lucky, for the sphere had the strongest grip on them and within seconds, engulfed the trio and collapsed into nothing.

The rain continued to pour as the spectators began to wonder what had just transpired.

Sword and her compatriots had received orders from their master to pull back and report. Balzac and Tina also received the same orders from Commander Jamison and returned.

Turning to where she saw the blast originate, Innsali found, heard, and smelled no one there. Yet, if she was right, the only one who could have done this was long dead. Or was he? Shaking her head, she returned to the Space Knight Command Center and followed the other two humans to their leader.

Though Tina and Balzac had tried their best to explain what happened, the end result continued to pull at the minds. Was Slade really gone? Was Earth's first hope against the aliens truly gone?

Hearing their guest enter made their fears no better as she said in a seemingly knowing voice,

"Gone."

End of Chapter 7

[WH sits outside in the rain, with an umbrella.]

WH: Man! It's about time I finished this chapter!

Anyway, what I really liked about this chapter is not only the fact that I've included characters that only a few actually know about, but they truly serve their purpose. And I hope that they did. To the best of my experience, original characters are meant to assist and accentuate the characters from the series. I've been the unfortunate witness to fanfiction where these so-called 'original characters' overshoot the real characters and make it a really aggravating experience. And if it seems that I've done something that stupid, let me know as soon as possible.

The quote at the beginning is going to be part of the culture of the next story I plan to write about Darkon. If you've already guessed, he's my favorite character in this story... or precisely, what I've made him into makes him my favorite. It's shallow and pretentious, but at least I'm trying not to make it so.

The song Sera was playing at the beginning was 'Trashin the Camp' by one of my favorite artists, Phil Collins, from the Tarzan soundtrack. And now some people despise me simply because I've been using references and cameos from what some call 'the "D" word'. Some people, yeesh.

One of my favorite parts about this chapter is the lovely 'exchange' between Tina and Balzac. And for those of you who enjoyed it, I've got plenty more where that came from. I guess it's also one of the reasons why Episode I wasn't as spectacular as VI, V, and VI. There wasn't enough of characters getting on others' nerve. But that's just me.

Next, yes, that little rodent is what you think it's from. And you know who it belongs to.

The couple of scenes after that makes me realize what a punk I am about multi-series crossovers. But I guess why I love it so is because you got more material to work with and more characters to torture. :) And from Teknoman, Tina gets the honor of being my tragic hero, but that doesn't mean that she'll suffer alone. Oh no, we couldn't have that!

It should be noted that Slade's little inward dialogue about Ringo being the 'Love Doctor' was inspired from another fic written by another busy, yet fruitful, teknoman fanfiction writer, Leizel Ann. Credit goes to her in many ways. Be proud, Leizel, wherever you are. You've inspired me again!

Now, the little diddy with 'Emissary' was using a character that more recent anime fans know and love. He's the only one that actually knows how to be a bad guy, as opposed to just some random psycho. But I ramble.

As a side note, I do plead guilty for using direct Star Wars references and demand death by chocolate!

Everything, everyone, and every concept that does not belong to me, belongs to it respective owner. I'll write a list at the end of this story to show you how unoriginal I am. :p

In closing; looking back at the original, I got the feeling that I really had no idea what I was doing when I wrote the first draft of all my crossovers. Which is good, because now that I'm going back over this crap, I put it up so that I may have a slim hope of entertaining people who actually bother with this.

Until next time, keep your fingers crossed that I can get this thing going as it was.

[WH starts to walk off, doing his Gene Kelly impersonation.]