Horizens (Fiction)

The Guardians of Zion

Chapter 1: genises part 1

DRINGER capital of the confederacy

DATE: 1621998

"why have you called me hear, sir?" captain jason hunter asked. He was standing in admiral talla's office, having been called there for a special mission. "take a seat jason." the admiral informally told him.

Talla and jason had gone to military school together, and all though she had been quickly promoted to admiral, they remained good friends. Jason took a seat and waited patiently for her to finish reading what ever it was she was reading. Finally she sighed and looked up. "i have bad news. We have lost contact with the aztec When we last heard from her, she was in the outer reaches heading towards an anomaly in space. That was a week ago."

Jason thought for a second. "and you want the eldorado to go find her? Shes never been out of the center state, much less the outer reaches." the confederacy had long ago completely explored there own galaxy, so they had started heading out into the void between galaxy's, refereed to as the outer reaches. "i know that, Jason. But your are best captain. And this is right up you're ally. Besides, you always wanted to be an explorer." Jason leaned back in his chair and frowned.

"this is hardly what I meant. The aztec was the same class as my ship, I doubt we would have any more luck then them." "wrong, captain." the admiral replied. When she was mad with people, she tended to forgo her usually informal self.

"its most likely just a transmitter malfunction. But even if its not, you will know theirs something out there, and you will know its dangerous." Jason sighed. "you win as usually, sir. Ill prepare my crew." jason got up, saluted, and left.

Chapter 2: genises part 2

THE OUTER REACHES

DATE 1621998

"report, helmsman." it was three days since the eldorado had been given its mission. She was now deep in the void between galaxy, looking for the missing ship. "nothing yet, sir." the helmsman respounded She, like tarra, was a dringite, a near human species, the only primary difference being they had three genders. "keep scanning, zaharra. Well find them eventully." zaharra nodded and went back to looking back at her controls.

An hour later, zaharra spoke up excitedly. "sir we have detected something" "full speed. Head right for it." as the bridge crew prepared for what ever was coming, the eldorado speed up. Soon a construct appeared on the screen. "what on dringer is that ?" the security officer asked. Floating in the void was a large metal triangle, pulsing with energy in the middle like a portal. "i think we have just found are mystery. Do are comms still work?"

the communications officer replied. "yes sir." "send a message to admiral talla, tell her..." suddenly the ring flashed and a ship started crawling out of the center of the... thing. It was roughly twice the size of the eldorado and shaped like a triangle simaller to the ring. "hail them" jason ordered. Suddenly a flash of purple light flew from the front of the unknown ship and collided with the eldorado. " sir are comm is down" said the communications officer. "well I think we can classify these aliens as hostile. Prepare to..." jason was again cut off as another flash of purple light flew from the ship. This bolt however, shock the eldorado.

"BATTLE STATIONS, EVERYONE. BEGIN AN ATTACK RUN ON THAT SHIP, YETS SHOW THEM WHAT WE CAN DO." jason yelled. Its solar engines flaring, the eldorado roared forwards, its guns armed. When it closed, its rail guns bit into the enemy ship, raking its hull with its full firepower.

To the crews shock, the magnetically powered energy bounced harmlessly of the hull. "impossible." zaharra breathed. "that was enough firepower to destroy a small continent!" before jason could reply, another bolt of enemy fire collided with there hull. This time, the eldorado was sent flying by the force, while various parts of the bridge exploded. "SHUT THE POWER OFF!" jason yelled.

"make them think were dead." the eldorados engines stooped, causing the ship to float aimlessly. The enemy ship flew by, stopped to scan there ship, and kept going. "why didn't they finish us off?" asked the security officer. "my guess is they think it would be a waste of energy. Regardless, we have no chance against that thing. Are only hope is that are message got through to the admiral."

Chapter 3: genises part 3

OUTER REACHES

2161998

in the deep expanse of the void, a single ship drifted, next to a large metal triangle portal, and a enemy ship of immense power. Aboard this ship, the eldorado, captain jason hunter and his crew waited, holding there breathe. It had been hours sense there curb stomping by the enemy ship, the eldorado still on low power, silently waited, in hopes there message had gotten threw. The over the intercoms blared " C.F.S eldorado, this is the victory, we are on are way."

jason lept from his chair and replied. "this is the eldorado we read you. Its good to see you. There was a flash of movement in the endless void, as the victory arrived. Ten times the size of the eldorado and aztec, it was a heavy warship, and it was more than ready to deal with this new threat. As the strange, triangular enemy ship turned to face the new comer, the victory unleashed volleys of rapid fire from its lasers and rail guns, the incredible output impacting with the enemy ship, causing it to buck and roll. However, it soon gathered itself and locked itself back into position and fired at the victory but the shots bounced of. Jason noticed a trail of energy shot out from the portal to the enemy ship, and it fired again, this time an explosion was seen on the much larger warship. "SIR!" shouted zaharra. "i see it. Full speed for that triangle. Take it down."

the eldorados engines sprung back into life, and the frigate rocketed towards the metal triangle portal. With the enemy ship distracted, the eldorado unleashed a volley of rail gun and solar laser fire into the construct, blowing it in half. The enemy ship suddenly stopped and shuddered, now being cut off from its aberrant power source. The victory took advantage of the situation, firing directly at the strange ship, incinerating it. The captain of the victory appeared on jasons ships view screen.

"is your ship alright, captain hunter?" the one eyed humanoid asked. "yes sir. We are ready to report on the situation to command if you are." the other captain thought a moment. "what do you think that was?" "i don't know" Jason replied. "but I doubt we have seen the last of them."

Chapter 4: crusaders part 1

SERINITY

2161998

the serene, peaceful planet of serenity. How boring. dax sat on the wall of the inclosed landing platform, bordely looking at small children playing in a stream. "i don't see why I have to be here. Especially for training to be a warrior." he told his master, seww. "patience, young one." he said simply. Dax hated it when he did that.

"why cant you ever give me a straight answer?" seww's eyes twinkled in that irritating way they always did when he was about to give a speech. "you should fell honored, dax. The crusaders don't except just anyone into there ranks." dax sighed. " ok, if you're not going to explain that to me, could you at least tell me a lesson or something?" seww smiled. "come, let us walk." apparently my master is incapable of just plain talking. Dax thought bitterly.

The two walked down into the garden paths, and seww began his lesson. "in the dark ages, over 90083 years ago, the galaxy was in turmoil, with no clear leadership. Eventually, one single government took charge of a majority of space, and over the many years, all political groups have joined, although some less than ecclesiastically. After these events, the great land army's were phased out in the incorrect belief that they were outdated by the new starships. This state disagreed, and formed a warrior sect, the crusaders. Since then, our order has been training young people of the galaxy for the inevitable day they are needed."

dax just starred. "i already know this." " you do?" seww said surprised. "yes. You told me the day I got here!" dax practically yelled. "huh. Guess I forgot." was all he said as he walked away. "great" dax thought. "not only is my warrior master a pacifist, hes also senile."

Chapter 5: crusaders part 2

SERINITY

2161998

"well" dax thought. "things have gone down hill rather quickly." it was the day after sewws confusing repeat lesson, and dax had gotten himself in trouble. Being bored, he and his friend, a red skinned poq named alice, had deiced to go exploring the wilderness beyond the crusaders capital city walls. They had been traveling for hours when they had came upon a strange site. A strange ship was sitting in a valley, inclosed round by a large grove of trees. The ship as it turned out was a pirate vessel, and alice and dax were spying now stuck spying on them, as there was a guard in there way of leaving.

"i cant believe it" the lead pirate was saying. "the crusaders are supposed to be some of the best warriors in the galaxy, and they didn't notice when we landed." this brought a bout of laughter from the pirates. "apparently pirates don't have very good senses of humor." dax thought. "none will ever expect us to be running are operation from serenity. Who knows? Maybe we will even be able to catch a couple young ones to sell as slaves."

"great. Not only pirates, but slavers as well. Why didn't the crusaders pick up there ship?" dax mused to himself. He turned to alice, about to ask her how they were going to get out of this, but his movement caused the branch they were sitting on to collapse, sending the both of them tumbling down right into the pirates camp. "well what do you know? Some free slaves!" the pirate captain said, very quickly getting over the shock.

Four pirates ran up and grabbed the two young crusaders, pinning their arms behind their backs. "great. I wish my master had thought me to fight instead of giving pointless history lessons." dax thought bitterly. "this one especially will make a good slave." the pirate captain said, grabbing alices chin. Apparently alice had started combat training, as she managed to get a hand free and punch him in the face. "you will pay for that, scum!" the captain growled. Suddenly an idea poped into daxs head. "hello there kind sirs." he suddenly said.

Everyone looked at him. "what a pleasant surprise to finally have visitors here." "who are you talking to?" alice asked her friend, bewildered. "why these fine young men who have came for supper, dear!" alice suddenly realized what he was doing and joined in. "oh how nice. Ill get the guest room ready." for who?" asked dax. "why, for these young gentlemen, dear." dax turned around to the captain. "why, hello there! When did you arrive?" the captain promptly punched him in the face.

"what do you think we are idiots?" he asked angerly. "acting like you're on something wont save you." maybe I can do that." a voice came from behind them. A tall figure clad in white armor, stood a top the tree filled hill overlooking the valley. "GET HIM!"

the pirate captain yelled. The crusader jumped down, simultaneously pulling his sword and gun, quickly leaping over the first attacking, deftly cutting him in half. The other pirates drew there guns, firing on him. The crusader ducked and dodged, anything that he did not manage to dodge impacting with his armor. The crusader fired back, felling many of the pirates, before he got to close range and finished the rest of with his sword. All except the captain, who grabbed dax and held a gun to his head. "don't take another step, crusader, or ill..." the crusader warrior just shot him in the head. As the smoke cleared the three people standing looked around. "well" said the crusader warrior. "you certenliy know how to get in trouble."

Chapter 6: crusaders part 3

SERINITY

2161998

dax walked down a garden path towards his master sitting on a bench a day later. It turned out that the crusaders had known about the pirates there all along and had just been keeping an eye on them from afar. This greatly comforted dax, as he did not like the idea of the crusaders being outsmarted by simple mercenary's.

Dax sat down on the bench by seww, who was starring happily at a butterfly. "i understand down master." he said. Seww turned to lock at him as he continued to talk. "you taught me the lesson twice, to show me that you should not underestimate people just because they look crazy. Granted it did not work on the pirates, but it was still a valuable lesson."

seww just starred at him. "what on dringer are you talking about?" he asked. "i told you that story because I forgot I told you before! Im not smart, im senile! In fact im retiring this week. You're new master, shix should arrive in about ten days. Good day to you, dax." with that he got up and left.

Dax watched his master leave as alice walked up to him and sat by him. "you now alice." dax said. "i just don't understand some people."

Chapter 7: the traveler part 1

1621998

CALAFRAX

calafrax was home to one of the largest criminal syndicates in the galaxy, as well as the best gladiator fights. However, right now it played host to a very important person, though nobody knew it. In the largest arena on the planets surface, gladius maximus, a raging battle was going on in the middle of the gladiator pit. Warriors and slaves from across the galaxy were here to test there strength. Whether they wanted to or not.

But one particular person in the crowd wasn't watching the games, but instead the owner of the arena, crime lord zevron. This man looked about thirty and was dressed in a dusty brown trench coat and wide brimmed fedora. He never took his eyes of the fat owner of this fine establishment, ignoring both the cheers of the crowd, and the sounds of battle from the pits below. The man knew zevron did not like being interrupted when he was meting with clients like the one who was up there now. Finally something caught the mans eye, drawing his attention away from the owners box. Three figures clad in white armor were walking up and down the isles of the stands, looking for something. "crusaders" the man thought. "they think they can stop gladiator riots by themselves. I would call it arrogant if it weren't true."

suddenly the man heard a cry of anguish, not from the pit, but from the owners box, and he turned in time to see lord zevrons business guest plummet to his death in the arena. The man shock his head and got up, starting to head for the owners box. "hey sugar." the man turned to see a female paq slinking towards him. "howse about you lend me some cash to beat on the games with?" "no thank you" the man said cheerful "i have a headache." with that he just walked of, leaving the confused lady behind.

The man continued to weed threw the crowd, until he finally arrived at the door to the owners box. He tried to walk in, but the two guards in front stooped him. "you're boss is excepting me." the man said. "we are not going to let any random guy in who says they have a appointment." the man smiled cheerful and began to walk away.

Suddenly he wheeled around and ran towards the box. The two guards pulled there guns, expecting to be attacked, but the man instead jumped, grabbed the roof of the box, and swung himself on top. He quickly rolled until he reached the edge, where he swung down, right in front of zevron. "hello" the man said, grinning broadly at the shocked crime lord. " I believe you have something of mine."

Chapter 8: the traveler part 2

1621998

CALAFRAX

"wha...wa...what?" zevron stuttered. The man just simply stood there smiling, waiting patiently for him to get over his shock. "why Fredrick, how are? I didn't expect to see you here!" he finally managed. "oh really." Fredrick replied. "is it because you thought I wouldn't find you? Did you think we had no more business together? Or was it that you sent a small fleet of ships to kill me?"

"what? Someones trying to kill you?" zevron said, panicking. "cut it out, zevron, I know it was you. I even know why you would do such a thing." "you... you do?" the crime lord questioned. "yes I do." Fredrick replied, walking closer to the crime lord, who cowered in his seat, even with his ten guards. "you took something of mine. And youre afraid I will want it back." Fredrick said simply, leaning right up to zevron.

"what? Me, steal from you? ne... never!" zevron stuttered." "aw, look at the poor crime lord. Is he afraid?" Fredrick mocked before getting back down to business. "you have my map. You know you can get a fortune for it, is that why you took it?" "no! NO!" zevron protested. " I don't have..." with a wave off Fredrick hand, a large paper scroll flew from behind zevron, into his hands.

"how did you?..." the crime lord began to ask, but Fredrick cut him off. "i will let you get off with it this time, but if you double cross me again, it will be the end of you! I don't know why I even accepted a job from scum like you in the first place" Fredrick said sternly. He then walked right by the crime lord and his guards, and out the back door. As he passed the two guards from earlier, he saw they were still trying to figure out what happened.

" i don't think you're boss will be seeing anyone else today, boys" Fredrick told them, causing them to look in shock at seeing the man who had outsmarted them (not like that's hard). Fredrick just laughed and continued on his way.

Meanwhile, the three crusaders watched from afar.

Chapter 9: the traveler part 3

CALAFRAX

1621998

Fredrick continued to walk down the long, inclosed hall ways, away from the Cantrell arena. He was paying more attention to reading his map then to where he was going, and consistently did not notice the coming encounter. "halt!" Fredrick quickly looked up to see the three crusaders blocking his way with there hands on there weapons. There leader stepped forwards and she spoke again. "surrender yourself. That map is property of zevron."

"why are the crusaders enforcing criminal warlords now?" Fredrick inquired. "whether we like it or not, he is the governor of this sector, and we will not stand by and let you steal from him." she replied, obviously disgusted at having to side with zevron. "please don't do this." the leader was taken aback. She had not been expecting him to say that. "sir, were going to have to ask you to surrender." she reenforced. Fredrick sighed, sliding the map into his coats pocket.

"if you must. But I warned you." he said darkly, all humor gone. There was a brief pause of silence and then the scene Basicly exploded. All three crusaders attacked at once, drawing there swords and guns. At the same time, Fredrick was ready for them, weaving in and out of the three, firmly fighting defensively. It was a almost completely evenly matched fight, with Fredrick unwilling to go on the offensive. Taking advantage of this, the leader sent a deft but deadly strike right towards his head. Fredrick saw the fatal blow, and did the only thing he could. He grabbed her descending arms, and kicked her hard in her midriff.

Their was a loud sound of bones cracking as the leader crumbled to the floor, pain coursing threw her body. The other two, enraged, doubled their efforts trying every thing they could, with Fredrick barley holding them off. The leader saw what was happening, and despite her wound, managed to get up and charge the stranger who was holding his own against two crusaders trying to kill him. Fredrick felt someone coming up behind him, and wheeled around, putting as much power behind his fist as possible. The blow connected with her vizor, which shattered.

The leader shrieked in pain as she went down, throwing of her helmet and cradling her face. The two other crusaders forgot about there opponent and rushed to there leader. "get her medical help, NOW." Fredrick said darkly. One of the crusaders looked up at him, only to see him rushing down the hallway. Once reaching the outside landing dock, Fredrick did not waste any time boarding his ship and starting the tack off. He did NOT want to be around if anymore crusaders showed up.

He sat down in his pilots chair and stared at his map. "All this fighting other a map of the omniverse. maybe im in the wrong business." Fredrick said to no one in particular.

Chapter 10: insurection part 1

SHORDIA

1621999

"any news from the surface yet, zaharra?" captain Jason hunter asked. "not yet, sir." the helmsman replied. It was exactly one month since the eldorado had engaged the mysterious ship and portal in the outer reaches. Things had not been peaceful, however. The confederacy was really more of just a group of independent countries, rather than one large cohesive nation.

Recently, descent had been aroused in the state of shordia by the new Governor, former crusader shaid. The crew of the eldorado, along with the crusaders dax and tiix, to negotiate a peace treaty. Since they had arrived, the crew of the eldorado had been waiting nervously aboard there ship in orbit, as shaid only allowed the crusaders on the surface of the planet.

"i wish we could go down to the surface. Its to tense aboard this ship." the security officer commented. "are gracious guests are very specif about that kind of thing. Frankly, it makes me nervous." with that, the bridge went silent again.

"sir, I think im getting something." zaharra suddenly reported. "but its not coming from the planet. Its coming at the edge of the solar system." Jason thought for a second. "what kind of signal is it?" "it appears to be some kind of disturbance in the space/time fabric." reported the science officer. "well we don't really have a choice. Do we? Set a course for that signal." zaharra nodded and set the course.

Soon, the eldorado arrived at the signature, only to find nothing there. "whatever it was sir" the science officer reported. "its gone..." he was cut of from a shout from the dringite helms woman. "were receiving a distress call from the crusaders, down on the planet!" Jason frowned. "it would appear are guests are not so gracious after all. Set course for shordia prime, full speed."

Chapter 11: insurection part 2

SHORDIA

1621999

"how did the negotiations go, master?" dax asked master tiix. It had been a month since he had received his new master, a female cylops. "they went as well as can be expected. This is a very unstable situation, and we most proceeded cautiously."

dax nodded and fell silent. He found himself bestowed with a new since of honor and respect over the last month. However, this was probably due to not having a senile teacher any more. "why did shaid leave the order?" he suddenly asked his master. Tiix sighed before replying. "shaid was one of the crusaders greatest warriors. But he was restless, always looking for a needles fight. He finally went to far and was demoted by the crusader leaders. seeing it as a insult, he stormed off serinity, to come back to his home world and help all he could here."

dax thought on this for a moment before asking "aren't we supposed to be warriors? Arent we supposed to get in fights?" tiix quickly responded, apparently being ready for this question. "there is a difference between fighting and picking fights willy nilly. As you grow in you're training you will learn this to be true." they fell silent again, contemplating matters.

Suddenly tiix stooped, flinging out her arms to stop dax. "what is it?" he asked. Tiix just pointed up ahead the hall they were in. dax looked and saw a shadow falling across the floor, and instantly understood. Master and trainee acted at the same time, tiix pulling out her sword, and dax pulling out his distress signal. It was a small one way communications device, tied in directly to the orbiting eldorado.

The beeping of the device however, alerted the ambushers. The hall sprung into life, as about twenty guards jumped out of corners and adjoining rooms, surrounding the two crusaders. "surrender" the leader said. "or die."

Chapter 12: insurection part 3

SHORDIA

1621999

the deep, unbroken darkness of space. Suddenly there was a blue flash of light, lighting up the endless nothingness. When the darkness faded, there was a new object floating there. A ship of incredible old design, circular in shape, and radiating energy.

Aboard this ship, the explorers, bridge, their sat a man. He appeared to be in his late thirty's, and was dressed in a dusty brown trench coat, and a wide brimmed black fedora. He was intently studying a map, not paying attention to anything else. That is, until a beeping noise alerted him that he had reached his destination. He looked up and studied the instruments on his control panel. "horizens." he mused to himself. "i haven't been here for about a hundred years or so." he rolled up the map, placed it in its place by his seat, and pushed a few buttons on the control panel.

There was another, smaller, flash of blue light and the explorer took of at a leisurely pace. Soon it arrived at a planet which his database identified as shordia. Deciding to have a look, the man, known as fredrick, left the bridge for the transporter room after putting his ship in orbit. He materialized in the capital city, specificly the market streets ally. He took of for the capital palace emediatly, taking in the bustling land scape of the city.

As he approached the walls of the palace, however, he was grabbed from behind and pulled into a dark allyway. He easily shock himself free with one move, spinning his would be captor around to face him. "who are you, what do you want and how many fingers am I holding up?" he asked the person, a young man in a red tunic. "i am turorer, I am trying to save you, and...what?" he asked. "never mind." Fredrick replied. "what do you mean save me?"

"if you go in the place, you will not leave. No one ever has." the young man said nervously, looking around to see if they were being spied on. "why don't they?" Fredrick inquired. "no one knows. All we know is that it is on are new governor, shaids, orders" the young man said. " well it sounds like I need to pay this governor of yours a visit." "DONT DO IT!" the young man said franticly. "he is five times as good as a crusader." Fredrick just smiled sadly. "the last time I fought someone who was five times as good as a crusader I almost killed her. Good day to you sir." with that he strode of towards the palace.

Chapter 13: insurection part 4

SHORDIA

1621999

tiix and dax sprang into action at the same time. Tiix charged the guards in front of them, while dax held of the guards attacking from behind. Dax had practiced hard at combat training in the last month, not wanting to get in the same situation as he had with the pirates. Still, he was only a trainee, and he soon found himself overwhelmed. Tiix, on the other hand, was a veteran crusader master, and had already finished her group of guards, and was attacking dax's group.

With his master at his side, dax quickly defeated the guards. "did you call the eldorado?" his master asked. "yes mam. They should be here soon, there only in orbit. Master tiix nodded before saying "we must move on. Shaid has obviously begun open rebellion. We must confront him." dax became worried. "didn't you say he was one of the best crusaders? Shouldn't we wait for reinforcements? At least the eldorado?"

tiix frowned. "we don't have the time. If he manages to escape, he could sway other systems to his cause, and begin open war." dax nodded his understanding, and took of with his master towards the governors room. They managed to avoid any more guards, and finally arrived at the governors room, which was more of a throne room. There was a number of troops outside the doors, but they were no mach for the crusader master.

The two crusaders took a deep breath a pushed the doors open, preparing for the fight of there life.

Chapter 14: insurection part 5

SHORDIA

1621999

shaids governor guards were confident they would be able to stop anyone who tried to infiltrate the palace. Jumping from balcony to balcony, Fredrick grabbed the roof and swung himself on to it. To avoid confrontation, the black hat and brown coat wearing mercenary had deiced to travel on the outside of the building. He soon made it over to the skylight over the governors throne room. It wasn't a pretty sight.

The six foot, black haired, imposing figure of shaid was striding back in forth of his throne. There was a female crusader laying in the corner, who was not moving. The third and finally figure was scrunched up in middle of the room, cradling his arm. Fredrick finally noticed that the crusaders hand was not still connected to his arm. Deciding it was time to intervening, Fredrick cheeked his scabbard on his back, took a large breath and plunged threw the sky light.

He fell with an all mighty crash against the floor, startling shaid. "who are?" he demanded angrily. Fredrick smiled. "im the tooth fairy." shaid scowled. "do not toy with me, weakling!" with that he pulled out a sword handle, apparently pushing something on it, as a red blade of crackling, sparkling energy. "where did you get that?" Fredrick demanded, the playfulness immediately going out of his eyes. "you would not know. You are nothing but a simple fool!" Fredrick grabbed the sword hilts out of his scabbard, and drew two kantanas.

"I thought the drone collective with the chromes, I lead the calvary against the construct, and I have seen the worst nightmare. The only fool here is the man I see before me." "what are you blabbering about?" demanded shaid. Fredrick smiled. "you are about to find out."

Chapter 15: insurection part 6

SHARDIA

1621999

shaid and Fredrick sprang into action at the same time. Shaid was a great duelist, able to easily defeat two trained crusaders. And yet he found himself repeatedly being driven back by the strange man in the trench coat and fedora. Shaid finally managed to counteract, and swung his sword down where Fredricks head was. Unfortunately for shaid, Fredrick was to fast, and the energy blade cut threw thin air... and Fredricks hat. "hey!" he shouted, swinging his kantanas back at shaid. "i spent good money on that hat!" shaid snarled at the mercenary.

"YOU WILL NOT LIVE TO BUY A NEW ONE." the battle continued, with shaid putting his full effort into trying to destroy his opponent, with Fredrick almost lazily dodging all his attacks. Finally, the three blades meat for the final time, in a clash of metal on energy. At first, shaid appeared to be winning, flexing his muscles, knocking one of Fredrick swords away. However, Fredrick ducked under his opponents arms, kicking him hard in the stomach. Shaid faltered, allowing Fredrick to grab shaids sword, twisting it in his opponents hands, plunging it downwards directly into the rouge governors chest. The room was quite, as both duelists stared at the deadly wound, before shaid disappeared in a loud explosion of sparks.

Fredrick stared at the late shaids sword, deep in thought. Finally, he walked over to a wall, and began cutting into it. When that was done, he turned of the energy sword and attached it to his belt, walked over and picked up his second kantana and sheathed them both back in his back scabbards. With that he began walking out of the throne room. The doors shot open, and two guards ran in, both clad in royal shardia uniforms. One wearing a helmet, the other a brown wide brimmed fedora. Fredrick walked up to the second one, who was staring at the scene laying before him. "nice hat." Fredrick said with a smile.

Chapter 16: insurection part 7

SHARDIA

1621999

captain Jason hunter ducked, as another bolt of magnetized energy flew over his head. The captain was leading a large team of security officers, attempting to rescue the crusaders from the governors palace, but in hindsight, he really shouldn't of thought it would be this easy to beat people who had apparently captured two crusaders. Jason fired back at the shardia guards, managing to hit one with a blue bolt of rail gun energy, and the guard fell to the ground, unmoving. "WERE GETTING THERE!" shouted the security chief. Jason was about to reply, when a blaring message was broadcast over the P.A system, stoping the fighting. "this is deputy governor ballasta. Shaid is dead. The revolution is over. Cease hostilitys." the security team from eldorado looked at the guards, who reluctantly layed down their weapons.

The eldorado strode threw the palace, arriving at the throne room. Shardia medics were attending to master tiix and her apprentice, who was motioning with his arm for the captain to come to him. Jason walked up to him and inquired what he wanted. "sir, it was... it was... some man. But not like any I have... seen before." dax stuttered, trying to concentrate threw the lose of blood and pain.

"he dueled shaid...like...like... nothing I have ever seen. The gov...ernor easily defeated me and my master, but this... man, he stomped him. And at the end... shaid just kinda exploded." the security chief who was listing piped up. "are you sure you're not just imaging things, kid?" dax shock his head and pointed to one of the walls. Jason and the security chief turned to look at the wall, and saw several words burnt deep into the wall. "there coming."

aboard the explorer, Jason studied the former governors weapon. He had seen this weapon before, and did not understand how a rouge crusader had gotten a hold of it. He sighed, and placed it in a small holster attached to his pilots chair. Fredrick leaned forwards to his control panel, punched in a course for dringer, before leaning back into his chair, and pulled his new, brown, hat over his eyes. With a flash of blue light, the explorer disappeared.

Chapter 17: apex predator part 1

STATION EPSILON

1622000

commander Hudson frowned at his amphibian second in command. "why are they sending us a apex predator? Why would any dignitary be interested in that?" ever since being reassigned to this "diplomatic station" Hudson had been outright bored. Sure, he had disobeyed orders a few times, but that was no excuse for reassigning him to what Basicly amounted to a zoo in space.

"the ambassadors from shardia will be arriving soon. Ever since that near-revolution a month ago, tension between them and the capital has been rising. This meeting is supposed to alleviate that rising tension" said kosp, his green skinned second in command. Hudson had been serving with her for two months now, but still wasn't quite used to being around cee's. They reminded him of humanoid salamanders. "but how does that justify bringing such a deadly creature aboard? Were supposed to be a petting zoo for Pete sake!" "the apex predator is the apex predator on shardia, and is being brought aboard to lend a sense of familiarity to the ambassadors stay." kosp said in a monotone voice.

Hudson rolled his eyes. "so to remind them of home, we will show them the wild animal from home that's most likely to kill them? What kind of sense does that make? The apex predator can survive in space for Pete sake! And another thing. Why is it called an apex predator? How unoriginal can you get? Couldn't they..." at that moment, commander Hudsons rant was cut of by a message over the intercom. "now here this. The aztec II IS arriving. Commander Hudson please report to the docking bay." Hudson sighed. "come on, kosp, lets get this over with." as the first and second command walked threw station epsilon, Hudson decided that even though he did not want to be here, the station was a thing of beauty.

It consisted of a box shaped Cantrell complex, with several long wings strutting out from the main body. Hudson's line of thought was cut of, when they arrived at the docking bay. The hanger was large enough for the 1667M long aztec II to easily fit inside. A boarding tube launched from the confederate frigate, soon connecting to the debarking platform, where Hudson and kosp were standing. The doors to the boarding ramp opened and Hudson almost gasped.

A confederate officar stumbled out, his whole body covered in blood, stuttering, trying to speak. As the two station commanders ran forwards to the man as he collapsed, the man managed to spit out. "it...got ..lo...se." before expiring.

Chapter 18: apex predator part 2

STATION EPISLON

1622000

Hudson and qosp sprang into action at the same time. Qosp ran to a communications panel, and signaled for a medical and security teams to report to the hanger immediately. Commander Hudson got to the control panel and quickly pushed the buttons to seal of the boarding tube. Soon the two emergency teams arrived. While the medical team examined the poor officer who had been killed by the creature, the security team charged there rail guns, and prepared to open the tube.

"wish we had some crusaders here." Hudson muttered to himself, picking up a rifle. The tube opened with a hiss, to thankful not revel an apex predator ready to slaughter them all. The security cautiously moved forwards into the tube, with commander Hudson following. "i strongly suggest you stay back here where its safe, sir" qosp said. Hudson smiled and replied. "i want to find out how bad this damage is. Besides, if I buy the farm, you would make a much better commander then me anyways."

soon the security team had arrived aboard the actual ship. The security leader suggested that they split up to hunt down the creature. Hudson pointed out that splitting up was a bad idea, and that they should move as one group to the bridge, were they could use the internal sensors to find the apex predator. they thankful did not run into the creature on the way, but on the other side, they found nothing but more dead crewmen. They finally made it to the bridge, but found it deserted. While some guards watched the door, another one activated the internal sensors and quickly turned white.

"s..sir" the dringite lieutenant stuttered. "the sensors don't read any life signs. Apex predator or other wise." Hudson felt a strong sense of saddnes. "the entire crew. All 500 of them." he said softly to himself, before breaking out of it. "can the scanners locate the creature?" the lieutenant shook her head. "no. apex predators have something in there skin that make them impervious to being located by scanners." Hudsons eyes bugged. "that would have been usefull information earlier! The apex predator can survive in a vacuum! It could already be aboard the station!" the commander motioned to the security team and they began to run out of the ship.

Hudson received a message on his messenger and opened it. "yes?" he asked. "this is qosp. Are maintenance officer would like to know if we are missing a 18 foot long, reptilian monster." Hudson stooped dead in his tracks. "found it" he muttered.

Chapter 19: apex predator part 3

STATION EPISLON

1622000

the security team was soon swelled to around forty, as commander Hudson lead them to the east wing, were the creature had last been sighted. "men." Hudson said turning around to address his troops. "we are after a very dangerous creature. Lord knows whos bright idea it was to bring that thing here in the first place, but that's not the point. Its about 18 feet long, and kinda like a reptilian tiger. Needles to say, don't get close or you will be ripped to shreds. Scanners cant sense it, so were basicly going in blind. If you have a family, I suggest you leave now."

a handful of guards left, the others reminded. Hudson nodded and took a deep breath. "lets go." the door to the east wing opened, for the solders to come face to face with the apex predator. "HOLY CRACK! OPEN FIRE!" the esteemed commander Hudson yelled, diving out of the way as a hail of rail gun fire flew forwards and slammed into the beast. It turned around and charged at an incredible rate. It dived into the scattering guards, feeling many of them. Hudson got up and noticed the dringite guard from earlier pulling a grenade. Hudson deiced to be the distraction and fired his rail gun rifle at the beasts eyes. It was enough for the beast to turn and charge the officer.

However it was stooped when there was a massive explosion which knocked the creature down. Hudson smiled at the brave guard, only for it to quickly be whipped of when the apex predator got up. The guard shrugged, and the two began running. "whats your name, officer?" Hudson shouted to her over the sound of the pursuing beast. "Emily, sir." the officer replied. "great to meat you Emily." Hudson suddenly noticed that they were running into the garbage section of the east wing. "grab something!" he yelled, as they ran into a decompression chamber. The creature quickly followed, but Hudson was ready. As soon as he saw that the apex predator was inside, and that emily was holding on to a handle, he grabbed the lever to blow the airlock.

With a loud whooshing sound the chamber was decompressed, with the two confederate officers barley managing to hold on, while the apex predator was blown out. Aboard the aztec II, now orbiting the station, qosp, who was overseeing the continued investigation of the ship, saw the creature flying out of the east wing. "fire on that beast" she ordered the officer at the gunners station. "what beast?" the officer questioned, his human eye site not able to pick up what qosps superior vision had. The second in command ran over and pushed the buttons herself. With a flash, the aztecIIs main rail guns fired, and as it turned out, apex predators are not inhumane capitol ship fire.

Back in the east wing, Hudson finally managed to pull the lever again, re pressurizing the chamber, causing both officers to fall back to the ground. "if the entire diplomatic mission is like this, we might be in trouble." he muttered to himself.

Chapter 20: mystery part 1

SERINITY

1622000

the peaceful, serene world of serinity, home to the greatest warrior guild in the galaxy. Or at least that's what everyone said. Samantha would like to debate that statement. She had first hand experience to the contrary. Samantha was about thirty by now, having served the order of crusaders for most of her life. Her masters had said she had promise. That she would be one of the best. That had changed two months ago.

Asinged to the criminal planet of calafrax. She and her squad had known it was a dangerous assignment, but no one expected what had happened. She walked through the command base, trying to ignore the stares and whispers from the younger crusaders. She was dressed in the normal white crusader armor, except that her broken spine had forced her to wear midriff bearing armor. Her red hair was cut short, while her battle hardened face was marred by an eye patch, covering her eye that had been ruined by a shattered helmet face plate. Samantha walked into the data storage room, where she had been spending most of her time. She sat in her normal chair, and opened a history data core, studying the contents.

The other crusaders had told her long ago that the opponent had just been an exceptionally skilled mercenary, but Samantha believed him to be something more. Hours later, she was still poring over the records, but still had not found anything on the strange man in the trench coat and fedora. She finally gave up, and angrily threw the data core away. She was never going to find any information on the man who had pretty much ruined her life. Samantha looked around the room in despair, before noticing the news was doing a piece on the near shardia revolution.

The announcer was talking about the dethroning of the rouge governor shaid, about a month ago. "there is still no word on the actual events, as they have been classified by both the confederacy and the crusaders. However rumors abound that this man was somehow involved. Meanwhile..." here, Samantha paused the messager. The grainy picture showed a very familer man, dressed in a brown trench coat and black fedora. Samantha almost ran out of the room, contacting the shuttle pad. "yes sir." she said. "prepare me a shuttle. I have some business on shardia to take care of".

Chapter 21: mystery part 2

SHARDIA

1622000

Samantha looked out the screen of her shuttle, as the large green orb of the planet shardia. Soon the shuttle touched down right outside of the capital palace. Samantha steeped out of the shuttle, and looked around. "well, time to get digging" she thought for herself, taking off for the governors palace. However, there was a fierce beast in the way: red tape.

An hour later, Samantha stomped out of the palace in frustration and disgust. All her attempts to do more research had given her nothing but a possible direction of a sub space anomaly headed for dringer. At this rate she was starting to doubt that the man had even been here. Samantha sighed and leaned against a building, deep in thought. She began bordely watching passerby's, trying to think of her next step. She deiced she was going to take a second look at the anomaly to see if there was anything important about it.

She was just leaving, when Suddenly a young man walked past, dressed in a dirty brown tunic, and a black fedora. Even though she had only seen it in the news broadcast, she could tell it was the same hat, ablate sewed back together. She ran up and grabbed the mans shoulder, causing him to jump. "where did you get that hat?" she demanded the man stared at her before replying "hello to you to. My name is turorer." Samantha rolled her eyes. "please, this is important." she said. Turorer pulled away from her. "this hat belonged to...a man. Wait, not a man. A hero. He was the man who saved us." Samantha was shocked. "he wasn't working for shaid?" she asked, as she had been expecting the man in the trench coat and fedora to be continuing his criminal works. Turorer laughed. "him? He didn't even know about shaid until I told him about him. And then, he went to go end him, not work for him"

Samantha contemplated this news, before bidding goodby to turorer. Running back to the palace, Samantha went to the records room, and began studying the confidantes. Using the computers, she managed to figure that it went directly to the eastern ruins on dringer. Anyone else would not have thought anything about it, as they believed the strange trench coat and fedora man to just be a mercenary. But Samantha was convinced that there was something more to the rouge. Taking the information with her back to the shuttle, firmly dedicated to solving the mystery.

Chapter 22: mystery part 3

DRINGER

1622000

with a roar from its solar engines, Samanthas shuttle flew over the north-eastern continent, flying low, just under the overcast before landing near the ruins. Steeping out, the crusader surveyed the land. Unlike the capital city continent, which was covered with civilization and bustling city's, the north-eastern one was mostly peaceful grass lands and hills, especially near the ruins. Samantha began looking around, when it started to rain heavily, soon turning into a down pour. Undeterred, Samantha continued, climbing the outer walls of what used to be an ancient castle.

The crusaders had once been based here, but had long ago moved to serenity to avoid any political power the confederacy might have had over them. Samantha saw something out of the corner of her eye and wheeled around to face it, but there was nothing there. There was a flash of lightning and this time Samantha was certain she saw a shadow dart across the ruins. "who goes there?" she barked, drawing a sword. A all to familiar figure stepped out of the shadows. "im sorry" it said. The figure came closer, and Samantha was proven correct about its identity. The strange man stood there in the down pour, brown wide brimmed fedora covering part of his face, will his brown trench coat fluttered slightly with his movement.

The two figures stared at each other, both contemplating there next move. Finally Samantha asked a simple question. "why?" the man appeared to be taken back by this. "why...what?" he asked. Samantha moved closer, still pointing her sword at him. "why did you cripple me? Why did you dethrone shaid if not for power? Why did you come here? What are you?" the man sighed deeply, and for the first time Samantha noticed the gleaming silver of a ring on his index finger. "i didn't mean to cripple you. I was young back than and not ready to face three of you at one time, especially not warriors of such high caliber." Samantha shrugged of the compliment.

"that doesn't answer my other questions" the man sighed again, trying to figure out how to explain himself. "i dethroned shaid because he was an evil and cruel man and while doing so I found something and the trail of that something lead me here. As for who I am, I am Fredrick." he said, extending his arm. Samantha immediately swatted it away. "you think that's a explanation? You think that explains who you are, or why you do what you do?" "no" Fredrick said, shaking his head. "its an explanation, not an excuse. Now, please put away you're weapon". Samantha continued to point the sword at Fredrick. "regardless of reasons or explanations, you are still a thief and I intend to bring you to justice for it, even if I lose my life in the process."

Fredrick sighed, pulled out a scroll and tossed it Samantha. She caught it, and noticed the paper was not getting wet in the rain fall. She opened it, and gasped. She couldn't explain it, but she somehow sensed something very powerful radiating from the piece of paper, covered in swirling circles. "what is this?" she managed to ask. "its the omniverse. A map of the endless, swirling eternity of existence." Fredrick replied, grim faced. Samantha knew what he was saying sounded ridiculous, but somehow she knew he was telling the truth. With a wave of his hand, Fredrick used telekinesis to retrieve the map, before continuing. "do you see? If this came into the hands of criminals, it would spell disaster for many people."

Samantha finally sheathed her sword, although she was still not entirely convinced. "ill let you go. But if we meat again, I may rethink my choice." with that she turned to leave, when she was called back. "what?" she asked Fredrick. "well" he said, shamefully. "i seem to have had my ship stolen."

Chapter 23: graveyard part 1

DEEP SPACE

1622000

the C.F.S eldorado floated lazily in deep space, engines flashing. Aboard, captain Jason hunter was sitting aboard the bridge, impossibly bored. "this is the last time I accept a deep space exploration mapping mission" he thought to himself.

He looked around his bridge, watching his crewmen. Zaharra and the security chief were talking to each other, while a third crewman ran the sensors. Jason sighed and was about to go back to reading his book, when the view screen sprang to life. "this is admiral talla, calling the Eldorado." Jason nodded at the communications officer to patch him threw. "im here, mam, what is it?" talla smiled, seeing her old friend aboard his ships bridge. "its an emergency. A group of pirates have been causing problems up and down this state. We haven't been able to locate them until now."

Jason nodded. "that implies you have found them." talla nodded in return and replied. "yes, there at the graveyard. And you're the best ship for the job, Jason." Jason frowned. "wouldn't it be a better idea to send a warship or two, instead of one frigate?" he asked. Talla shock her head. "it most certainly would be. But the confederacy only has so many warships, and there all tied up at the moment. If I have to send just one frigate, I will send you."

Jason nodded in understanding, knowing he had just received the exciting mission he had been hoping for. Tallas image winked of the screen, and Jason turned to zaharra. "mr. zaharra, set course for the graveyard." the helmsman nodded and sat down at her pilots seat and began punching buttons. "wow" Jason thought to himself as theeldorado sprang into life. "i missed this."

Chapter 24: graveyard part 2

GRAVEYARD

1622000

the graveyard. 328 years ago, in the year the confederacy was founded, there was a battle in the mirev system. The planets were almost destroyed by the amount of destruction. More interesting, for a tourist at least, was the graveyard itself, the remains of the two rival fleets, which were now floating aimlessly in space, took up a good percentage of space.

Unfortunately, Jason hunter and the eldorado were not tourists. "there still fowling us!" zaharra yelled from the pilots seat. " continue evasive maneuvers" Jason replied, as the confederate frigate was hit by enemy fire again. When they had arrived the pirates had fled, but before pursuing them, the eldorado had picked up a strange energy reading in middle of the graveyard. Unfortunately, before the confederate frigate could properly investigate, the pirates had returned, with reinforcements. Now the gracefullyeldorado flew threw the ancient, turning field of nearly destroyed ships, avoiding enemy fire from about 40 small ships.

"sir, we are coming back around to the signal" the security chief shouted. Jason thought for a second. " head towards that signal. Zaharra you and the security chief will take a shuttle to investigate, while we hold off the pirates." zaharra nodded. "i would go on any away mission if I could follow zaharra" joked the security officer. "ill second that motion." she joked back, smiling. Jason rolled his eyes at his flirty officers. "just do your jobs" he mumbled as the twp left for the shuttle bay. As the eldorado returned fire at the pirates with its rail guns, destroying three of them, the shuttle c.s.s serinity launched, and managed to make it to the energy signal without being spotted by the pirates.

The shuttle touched down, and the two confederate officers exited the vehicle in space suits to look around. They were walking on the hull of a massive and ancient warship, almost twice the size of the modern heavy warships. They didn't have to look far to find there target. They cut threw the bulkhead to discover a large, glowing green generator. They were about to examine it further, when there was a silent explosion behind them, they turned to see the remains of the serinity floating off. "we have company" the security chief said grimly, pulling his rail gun.

Chapter 25: graveyard part 3

THE GRAVEYARD

1622000

Zaharra and the security chief ducked into the ancient wreak of the battleship, as fire from the pirates rail guns raked the hulk, causing it to began to disintegrate. "we need to get to that generator" zaharra shouted. The other officer agreed, and the two confederate officers began moving towards the mysterious generator they had found. They managed to reach it, just as the part of warship they were on was blown away. "were not going to last much longer out here!" the security chief yelled, and zaharra had to agree with him.

Back aboard the eldorado conditions were improving. After the initial attack, the pirates were losing coordination and were beginning to separate. This provided the crew of the eldorado the chance they needed, and with a groan there ship wheeled about to face the criminal fleet. The frigates long shots and rail guns fired, raking into the rouges fleet, destroying several ships. Soon they began to retreat, heading for where the space debris were forming a kind of giant, tumbling almost maze like mass. "do we follow them sir?" asked the replacement helmsman. Jason hunter shook his head. "we need to pick up are crew members." the helmsman nodded and turned back towards were they dropped them off.

Meanwhile, zaharra and the security chief were hunching down behind the ten feet high generator, trying to get a reading on it. This was difficult, as there ancient warship was being torn apart by enemy fire. "well, not exactly how I wanted to go." the security chief muttered as the ancient ship finally separated in tow, blown to pieces by the passing pirate vessel. Suddenly, with a burst of blue rail gun fire the pirate ship was blown to pieces. The two officers cheered as the eldorado flew overhead, firing on the remaining pirates, causing them to flew. "were dispatching a shuttle to pick you up now." came a voice over the intercom in zaharras helmet. The helmswoman smiled at the chief. 'looks like were going to survive to fight another day." she said, before answering the hail on the radio. "acknowledged. We found something you will probably want a look at."

Chapter 26: conquest part 1

DEEP SPACE

1622001

the distant stars glinted lazily, as a fleet of six confederate vessels floated threw the void. Aboard the vessel in the middle, the eldorado, captain Jason hunter was walking down a long hallway to the engine room. After the confederacy had sent them enough back up to eradicate the rouge pirates, they and the fleet were now heading back to dringer at a slow pace.

They had been forced into taking it slow by the strange generator they had picked up had nearly over heated and exploded when they had tried to go full speed. Jason opened the door to the engine room to find his engineering staff and the visiting seven crusaders studying the device. He recognized two of the crusaders as the ones they had found on shardia, a young man talking to a young red skinned poq, and an older female cylops, talking to one of the engineers, but he couldn't identify the others.

He walked up to his head engineer, a blue skinned cee. "how is it going?" he asked. The engineers face didn't show any emotion, besides his big, blinking amphibian eyes. "talvera does not know. Talvera can not find the settings on the device." Jason rolled her eyes. Talvera always talked in third person, a trate not shared by other members of his species. Jason had never figured out why. He was about to ask the crusaders if they had found anything, but right then a message blared over the intercom.

"captain jason to bridge. There is a message from the victory." Jason sighed. They had had the generator on board his ship for about a month and he still wasn't going to figure out what it was. He walked back out and hurried back to the bridge. He stepped onto the bridge, just as the view screen flickered to life, the cylops captain of the C.F.S victory, appeared on it. "attention fleet." he said. "we have received a redirection to calafrax. We have received repeated requests for help from governor zevron. He claims he is being attacked by a outside force and needs backup. We are the only fleet in the area, so we are going to investigate. Malb out."

Jason nodded as the captains image winked out of his screen. Jason opened a intercom to engineering. "how much speed can you give us before the generator thing over heats?" "talvera guesses about 50,000 x.c" Jason nodded. "good. Take us out with the rest of the fleet." with a groan, four light frigates and two warships began moving towards the calafrax system.

Chapter 27: conquest part 2

CALAFRAX

1622001

the gladiuos maximus, centerpiece of the calafrax state, its capital and power holding, lay in ruble. Guards continued to patrol the area looking for any intruders faithfully. Ever that or they were just trying to loot the place. a long shadow was cast overhead, causing two dringites pirates to drop the scrape they had been arguing over it, to look up just in time to see a figure crash into them, knocking them out.

The figure stood up to revile himself to be a man dressed in a dusty brown trench coat and wide brimmed fedora. The figure than promptly began arguing with himself. "you were wrong. There are guards here." in truth, he wasn't talking to himself, he was communicating with the crusader warrior Samantha, who had joined him on his quest to get his omniverse traveling ship back. "if you think you could do a better job scanning for enemy's, be my guest." she muttered, not paying attention to him, but to the calafrax landscape. Or more correctly, what was left of it. Calafrax had never been a very bountiful planet, but now its atmosphere was a burnt red, while the landscape stretching out from the balcony Samantha was on was completely barren and dotted with canyons and lava.

"what did you say did this?" she asked into the intercom, going back to watching the scanners screen. "i told you, the conquerors" Fredrick said grimly, will taking out some more guards with a deft shot from his pistol. Samantha sighed. "i know that. But who are the conquers." "they come from a destroyed multiverse, and there named the conquerors. Put two and two together. But that's not why were here. Have you located zevron yet?" he demanded. Samantha did another scan of the screen. "no. still no sign of him. You know, you could be less rude. Then again, if I was a omniversal mercenary and I had my ship stolen, I would be grumpy to." she said.

"you would of lost your ship too if a dead guy came out of the sword you killed him with." Fredrick grumbled. He opened another door, but slammed it shut, feeling sick to his stomach. "i found zeltron. Or whats left of him." there was silence over the radio com. Fredrick was about to say something, when a very familiar sound came to his ears.

He ran outside to see the familiar, flat circle shape of the explorer beginning to take off. With out giving it a second thought, he ran and jumped over the banister of a destroyed wall, landing on the ships roof right before the ships engines fired and launched it into space.

Chapter 28: conquest part 3

CALAFRAX

1622001

the eldorado drifted lazily in orbit, alongside the other ships of the fleet. They were currently dispatching a shuttle with the visiting crusaders to the planet below. Aboard the bridge, Jason hunter was felling uncomfortable. Calafrax looked like it had been attacked by a massive fleet, but they couldn't find anything in the area. If it had been a fleet that had basicly destroyed calafraxes surface, it should have still been in the area.

"zaharra, I want you to widen your searches with the scan..." there was a sound like a tremendous explosion, the sound thundering through space, apparently unaware that sound doesn't travel through space. "WHAT WAS THAT?" Jason shouted as the confederate frigate bucked and rolled, knocked about by the shock wave. "no clue sir." zaharra gasped, holding onto her console. "wait. Were receiving a message from the victory. They want us to investigate with them." Jason climbed back into his chair, which he had been knocked out of, and nodded to the helmswoman, and the ship began to take of. The two confederate vessels quickly flew off, exiting the system. "CAPTAIN! WERE RECIEVING A MASSIVE ENERGY READING! SOMETHINGS MESSING UP THE GRAVITY AROUND HERE."

zaharra shouted, as there was another groan. The bridge crew looked up in time to see a large, glowing bolt of purple energy fly threw space and collide with the victory.Jason watched in horror as the mighty warship was instantly torn in two. "FULL SPEED AROUND. GET US BACK TO THE FLEET!" the eldorado attempted to wheel about, but another blast of energy flew by there ship, and the bridge basicly exploded. Jason managed to stand and managed to look around. The security chief appeared to be fine, as well as the most of the rest of his bridge crew. The controls, however, were almost completely destroyed.

Also, Jason felt a wave of saddnes sweep over him, when he saw zaharra, covered with blood and lying on the floor unmoving. Pushing away the sorrow of losing one of his crew and activated the intercom. "attention crew. We are heavily damage..." Jason cut of when he glanced at the view screen. Something was coming out of the black void of space. Something VERY big. The bridge crew was shocked into silence as a star sized, sphere shaped, giant ship rumbled into vision. "GET TO THE ESCAPE PODS. NOW!" Jason ordered over the intercom.

Chapter 29: conquest part 4

CALAFRAX

1622001

dax studied his right arm. Two months ago, he had lost his original hand, and now a shimmering piece of metal in the shape of a hand. He flexed his muscles and the arm moved with his muscles. Dax sighed. It had been months but he still wasn't used to it. He went back to watching his master and the other crusaders discussing with the mercenary's.

After landing, the seven crusaders, consisting of dax, master seww, alice and her new master, the crusader who had rescued the two of them from pirates (belik, dax believed his name was) and three others, had found a group of survivors on the war torn world who were now explaining what had happened. "it was incredible" there leader, a burly crustacean, said. "they easily over whelmed all governor zeltrons defenses. And when they caught him, well...i think well be needing a new governor." "who were they?" master seww inquired.

Before the mercenary could reply, the ground shook violently. The seven crusader and twenty or so mercenary's were in a valley, right outside of a cave, surrounded by some tall hills. And there appeared to be something covering those hills very quickly. "ITS THEM" shouted the mercenary leader. "GET TO THE CAVE." "well cover you" seww replied, as the seven crusaders held there ground and drew there swords.

By now, the "thing" that had been covering the hills was clearly visible and it shook dax to the core. It was a swarming army of what appeared to be human like beings, completely covered in grayish white armor and cloaks. Except for the bottom part of there face, which was covered in green, peeling skin. They were running on all fours and quickly approaching the crusaders. "steady" breathed seww, raising her pistol as well. With a ferocious war cry the creatures leaped at the warriors. There was the whizzing of metal and creature after creature fell to the blades of the crusaders swords..

The blood bath continued, until finally the creatures backed away. All seven crusaders were still standing, ablate much more tired and cut in some places. The creatures began glowing, with a shimmering purple light. "i have a really bad felling about this" dax muttered, as alice, who was closest to the creatures, raised her sword. With another war cry, three creatures charged forwards, going almost to quickly for dax to see. Unfortunately, Alice apparently couldn't see them either. She swung her blade, but the creatures dodged it and tackled her to the ground. Belik charged forwards and knocked the creatures away but it was to late to save Alice from the creatures.

Seww and the others looked around. In a matter of minutes the creatures had figured out how to defeat the crusaders and they were still surrounded by an army of them. "RETREAT!"

Chapter 30: conquest part 5

DEEP SPACE

1622001

as the eldorado shook violently, Jason and the rest of the crew ran threw the shuttering corridors towards the escape pods. After sending a distress call, the crew began evacuating the ship. As they burst into the room Jason grabbed the security chief and took him aside. "make sure everyone gets to the pods." he said, staring straight into his security chiefs eyes. "you're not coming sir?" Jason hunter shook his head. "someone needs to try to stop that thing."

"i agree" the security chief said, before punching him in the face. "the captains collapsed" he called. Two crew members grabbed Jason and took him towards one of the pods, as the security chief turned and ran back to the bridge. When he managed to dig threw the collapsing ruble of the ship to the bridge, he found zaharra standing, covered in blood, barley managing to hold herself up, pushing buttons on the control panel. The security chief ran up to her. "what are you trying to do?" she turned around and smiled weakly.

"im already done for. You can still escape." the security chief shook his head. "all the escape pods are already launched." zaharra sighed. "im trying to make the ship go full speed so the generator goes off. Accord...according to are energy readings it might be...be enough to destroy th...that thing." she stuttered out, quickly losing conscious while gesturing to the sun sized...thing as it passed by. The security grasped his hands with zaharras, placing them on the activate button. "i love you, dave" zaharra said. They embraced as they hit the button.

Jason watched with a heavy heart from the escape pod, as his brave crewman and his vessel, the C.F.S eldorado jumped into full speed and collided with the monstrous vessel. At first, it of course appeared the sun sized ship was unaffected. However, green energy began to ripple all over the ships surface. Within seconds, the entire vessel was covered in glowing green energy. With an explosive sound that carried threw the vacuum of space, the entire sun sized ship disappeared in a flash of energy that sent a shock wave colliding with the escape pods.

The intercom beeped as jason was thrown about in the bucking escape pod. When things finally calmed down he reached the intercom and answered it. "this is serenity command." a deep voice said from the communications port. "we are sending reinforcements." Jason nodded in acknowledgment before realizing that the crusader on the intercom couldn't see him nodding. "yes sir. I advise you get here as quickly as possible."

Chapter 31: conquest part 6

CALAFRAX

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the small valley that the crusaders and mercenary's were holding up in was almost waste high in body's. The survivors were backed up in the cave, under continuing attack from the fiendish creatures. Master seww, dax and the crustacean leader were the last survivors, continuing to fire on the seemingly never ending mass of creatures. Every time they got a upper hand, the creatures would be bathed in glowing purple energy and be able to over come what ever it was the survivors were using. "STAND FIRM. IF WE GO DOWN, WE GO DOWN FIGHTING" master seww called, as dax managed to claw his way out from under one of the creatures.

The mercenary leader was currently resorting to using his large limbs to smash his opponents. "this would appear to be the end" thought dax. "i have to admit. It wasn't that bad of life. But man, what a way to go" the mercenary leader was knocked to the ground by the sheer number of creatures and master seww was disarmed of her sword, as the creatures charged dax. Dax prepared for one last strike with his sword but the creatures suddenly stooped. They began howling and rolling in pain, as if something was burning them.

All of a sudden, more energy poured into the mass of creatures. However, this energy was glowing blue and tore into the creatures, incarcerating vile creature after vile creature. With a victory cheer, dax looked into the sky to see its blood red color darken with hundreds of crusader gunships flying low, and firing into the mass of screeching creatures. Figures clad in white armor began descending from the vessels, landing in the midst of the strange army. Now with out there adaptive ability gone and facing an entire army of crusaders, the creatures became quickly over whelmed. The three survivors thought there way threw the mass of creatures towards the arriving crusaders, picking up a crusader who had been assumed dead but had actually survived as they went.

They finally arrived at the make shift bass, were the crusader commander was directing the troops. By now, the gunships had also dropped off massive tanks and artillery, which were quickly ending the fight decisively in favor of the confederacy. As master seww began negotiating with the commander over the pardoning of the mercenary leader for helping the crusaders in the battle, dax slumped down by one of the landed gunships for some well earned rest.

The confederacy took many casualty's that day, but in the end they emerged victories against the strange invaders. There was only one more fight going on, its end deciding the future of the universe.

Chapter 32: conquest part 7

THE EXPLORER

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the explorer roared threw space and time, as Fredrick ducked and rolled as a shining blade of red energy hit where he had been standing just moments earlier. He was in the cargo bay, a large room, full of various crates, a small entry balcony and a large cargo door that allowed the ship to be loaded when landed. Shaid laughed crazily as he drew back the blade for another hit.

Spotting his opportunity, Fredrick ran forwards, dodged the blade and kicked shaid in the stomach, throwing him across the small cargo bay of the explorer. "you should be dead" Fredrick said grimly, drawing his kantanas. "you're one to talk, mister ride on the outside of a spaceship" shaid sneered back, righting himself. The two combatants charged each other again and there weapons meat in a spectacular clash. "why did you side with the conquerors?" Fredrick roared, ducking a return blow. "they offered me power. UNLIMITED POWER!" was shaids rational response as he tried to behead Fredrick.

"unlimited power? The confederacy doesn't seem to think so." Fredrick jeered, jumping out of shaids reach. Shaid just laughed. "fool! I never sided with the conquers, they are far to weak! I just used that as a front for my new ally. I sided with a much greater power. Do you know what destroyed the conquerors multiverse?" Fredrick snapped to attention as shaid continued. "yes, it wasn't them. It was my new ally. The one who brought me back to life. The one who will destroy you! The..." shaid was cut of when he was hit in the head with a thrown bit of metal. Shaid tried to stand up, but felt a crushing pain in his leg as fredrick stomped on it with his full force.

"i know what destroyed the conquerors multiverse. I was there." he said through gritted teeth, bending down to be face to face with his defeated openit. "you have one last chance shaid. Repent and I might spare you. Even you must believe what your "allays" did to zeltron was barbaric." shaid grinned evily. "actually, that was my idea." the fire of a thousand year war seemed to burn behind fredricks eyes. "wrong answer." Fredrick slammed his fist into the control panel for the door, sending the contents of the cargo bay, including a screaming shaid, into the howling void between universes.

Only Fredrick remained aboard the ship, standing in the cargo bay apparently unaffected by the vacuum. With a gesture of telekinesis the door slammed shut and Fredrick turned to go to his ships bridge. The conquest was over, but the war had only just begun.