Sunday, July 23, 2006
TimeFighters: The Lunar Litany, Chapter 2
All works on the blog "TimeFighters: The Lunar Litany are of the sole property of Matthew Sparks-Freemont and cannot be copied, written, transmitted in part or entirety, released or used for personal use/gain without the expressed written and oral consent of myself. Exhibition of these works without my oral and written concent is prohibited. "Lunar", characters and items related to "Lunar" are the property of Working Designs and Ubisoft Entertainment.
Chapter 2
TimeLine: 216
Year: March 18th, 5639 A.D.
Location: StarQuest II, Rallypoint (Threashold)
Area: Athiest Squardon Ready Room
A good majority of the units of Athiest Squadron were either out on leave or taking a quick snooze after hours of being on standby combat alert. But there were a few though that hung out in their respective Ready Rooms. Despite the fact that the Starquest II was first and foremost a warship, it still had many of the original features of the first vessel of the same name. One of those said features being military ready rooms that double as a rec rooms and preperation stations. Though there were some officers and enlisted soliders in the ready room, most just treated it as their personally living room. A few officers playing chess, others lounging around reading the latest news or weapon reports on PDA's. One solider was actually getting a quick game of "DOOM" at the entertainment center, as if he didn't get enough of battling it out with demons. Be it computer generated or the SIA's reworked terror troops. Despite all the activity there was one fighter that did what she usually did when she had time to herself: She played with knives.
Sadari Kong once again twirled around her doublebladed weapon in her hands with expert wrist snaps and finger rolls. Observing every faset and angle of her well maintained wepaons. She personally made sure that they were clean and sharp before and after any engagement she faced against CIA forces. She was the only fighter in her unit that ever placed such trust and care into what many called "barbaric" weaponry. They just didn't understand why a woman like her would use such against her enemy that used the latest in ubertechnoloy. Those outside her unit just saw what they saw, a cute cambodian girl trying to get herself cut on sharp objects. But if only they saw her in action with such....
Sadari Kong was the age of 21 with the obvious characteristic features that earn her respect and trust with the men and women in her unit. She had the look of most asian women in times passed with black hair that she liked to keep long and away from her face. Her body was a lovely design that made most men look twice when she passed, espiecally when she happens to wear short skirts that she's been fond off since she was young. Slim waisted and fine legged, her outifts hugged her in all the right places. Her outfit of choice this evening being that of her ancestorial past that being of a Geisha, but with a few subtle changes of her fashioning: A blue silk dragon design wrap with flowing cape and billowy arms, a black shash around her slim waist, chopsticks for her hair and combats boots that reach her mid-shin. The dress of course was short to her liking. She thought about wearing black theigh high socks to cover her exposed legs but thought against it for this evening. She was trying her best today to not cover the small, subtle scars that were on her legs caused from her own childhood to battlescars.
Some of the women of athiest squardon asked her once if she dressed like that to try to catch the attention of a certain man or just to poke fun at the stiff necked, somewhat conservative CCDF officers/soliders of the other armed services. And everytime she'd respond with wide-eyed honesty that she just liked to dress as such. Even as she sat in the ready room she looked out of place with her late eastern outfit among the hightech settings, as if she was plucked off the set of Madam Butterfly. But those in her unit never questioned her on her sence of dress let alone what she did on her spare time.
As Sadari inspected her 6" blade in the ship's light, she kept thinking back asto why she loved blades and how she had come to rely on them in her short life. She always came back to the thought of being a little girl in her home village back in cambodia, when mom asked her to help cook the meals for her big family and see mom use the family butcher knife to prepare the day's catch. She even remembered how she begged mom time and time again in using it just once. And as always she was told that once she became of age, she would show her sweet daughter how to use one to prepare food for her and one day her future husband. Sadari set the knife down on the table as she let her mind drift to that time long ago, and of the day that she wished could have come but never did. A day that will never come thanks to the SIA. It's a train of thought that she knew by heart and does not to dwell on for it is better to think on the future, but tonight of all nights looking upon her weapons she thinks back on the life she had lost. And on the new chance of life she had gained from going thru the fires.....
She remembered being the age of 15, running with her brothers and sisters thru the fields back in Cambodia, playing like mosts kids would at that age. Happy to be living in a world, a country and time where things were relativily calm and peaceful. The new word she learned when she was little called "war" had ended many years ago allowing her father and uncles to come back to their native village to begin a new life. Too many, it looked like young Sadari was living in a tropical paradise. Perfect, carefree and fun. Despite the usual chores to be done, life was simple and good. School to attend, homework to do and lazy summers to run out into the fields to be the children that time allowed them to be. Those thoughts were in Sadari's young mind as she played tag and continued to live her life in the course of time. But as she played she began to notice that the light was fadding fast as if a thick cloud was moving to block the sun. It wasn't until her older sister made a noise of suprise that made Sadari to turn around and look up.
Instead to see a large cloud, she saw what she thought was some giant whale made of something metal. But this whale was something much bigger in the sky and something that wouldn't even be at home under the sea. And right next to that one was another, and another, and another. Till as far as the eye could see, the entire sky was dotted with these dark clouds. It wasn't until much later, and much too late, that Sadari learned that the things in the sky were called starships. Crafts that not only flew in the skies but among the stars. Sadari always loved to look at the stars at night and made sure to wish on the very first star to come out every night. So like always when she saw something out of the sky she did just that, she made a wish. But the answer that the giant, metal monstrocities gave was something she did not expect or wish on anyone: It set fire to her world.
The Satanic Imperial Alliance's 87th Conquest Fleet came to Timeline 037, Planet Earth with the standing order for every Temporal Earth: Conquer and destroy. As standing order, all major cities on the planet were laided to waste and all resistance crushed. The fleet's 280 warships laided waste to every major city all over the world with conventional and nuclear warheads. 10 megaton nukes, rail guns, plasma weapons, heavy bombs and ICBM type rockets were fired at the planet and onto a global populas that was unawares of the judgement day that was put upon them. Once the orbiting satalites and major cities were wiped out, the SIA moved in on secondary targets and counterattacking armies from around the world. Despite the best efforts of the countries individual armies, the United Nations and NATO, they were no match for the SIA and were quickly wiped out.
Then came the unarmed population.
Once resistance was crushed, landing craft were launch and ground operations began. Any that resisted the SIA were either executed or murdered in a manner that not even a wild animal would deserve. From there the population was captured and put into detention camps for future processing into the new world order. Sadari remembered seeing the metal whales opening up with heavenly light and setting fires in the direction of the city where her aunt lived, then screamed and ran toward her home with the rest of her family. Her mother and father were there to quickly take them in much like the rest of the families in the village. Some families were packing. Preparing to leave the village with memories of the past where forgien armies marched into town, killing people as they went. Instead of her family going with some of the families, they stayed behind and hid. All thru that while they heard the sounds of fire, whoosing of the wind and the flights of metal birds flying in the sky. Most looked like the airplanes she learned about in school but most looked too alien to be anything of this world.
Again and again she saw the airplanes fall from the sky and crash in the trees or into houses in the village. When her mother caught her looking out the window and not hinding underneath the table, she moved to grab her daughter and place her into saftey. That was probably the thing that saved her from dying when a stray shot from one of the alien craft hit her home. Sadari mother's body sheilded her from the blast and the heat that followed the stary shot into the house. Her family's simple bamboo hut when up in flames, scattering her family. Sadari awoke to find her mother still laying on top of her and still alive from the blast that set fire to her home. Some family memebers ran away in terror while others did what they could to save their home. Her dad came to her mom and helped them up and away from the flames. Villagers ran away from their homes only to find an army of evil beginning to enter their village. The invaders looked like nothing they had every encountered or witnessed in all their years in cambodia. They hardly looked human in their bulky outfits and oddly shaped heads. But the weapons they welded looked too familar for most in the village and began find cover. Some of the men, armed with blades, farm tools and single action rifles tried to fight off this invading army but were only cut down by the enemies weapons that emitted light and burned holes thru the men. Others were riddled with bullets or were sliced down with energy beams. The remaining villagers, Sadari's family among them, did what they could to not invoke the wrath of these strange beings.
As the troops approached, one noticed one of the villagers wearing a white cross around their neck. Without hesitation, they fired a full clip of ammo into the person blowing them in half. Sadari was horrified and clung onto her mother as the alien soilders approached closer. She could notice that all of them had some sort of star icon on the foreheads of their black helmets, a crudly drawn red star with a circle drawn around at all five points. Sadari later learned, once again too late, that it was the the marking of a pentagram: symbol of those that worship nature or the devil in some religions.
Stars in the sky she wished on at night...
Then all at once, the soliders was upon them. One of them made a motion at Sadari's eldest sister and said something in a language that was unfamilair to her. The lead solider nodded and the solider immediatly grabbed her sister and tried to force her out of her sarong. Everything then began to move so quickly that Sadari bearly had time to see all that was transpiring. Her father picking up the family butcher knife and charging the man that was trying to molest her sister, the lead alien soilder's main weapon firing hitting her father square in the back and her mother screaming as her husband crumbled to the ground. The solider violating Sadari's sister didn't even take notice of the action as he tore off clothing and began to undo his pants.
Mother screamed for the loss of her love and for the horror that was about to happen to her eledest daughter as two more soliders came forward and held her to the ground. Yet Sadari was still suprised to see her mother, in her weak state, pick up the fallen knife her father had dropped and charged the three men. She tried to yell and tell mother to stop but Sadari was frozen in that momen of terror as these alien beings had just killed her father, prepared to rape her sister and no doubt kill her mother. Sadari ran to catch up with her mother in hopes to save her from the fate of her father like much how mom saved her from the stray blast that cost them their home. The lead solider waited till mom got to the three men before he let off a round that took out mom's right leg. She screamed in pain as she fell to the ground but continued to drag herself to the scene of her eldests ultimate invasion. The leader took perverse pride as he sadisitcally shot off her other leg, then her arm, a peiace of her ear, then finally the hand that held the butcher knife.
All of this happened as Sadari tried to run to her mother's aide, only to reach her as she expired from this world.
She could hear her sister's screams as Sadari tried to soak in all that had just transpired into her young brain. The very world she had come to love and cherish was on fire. Just moments ago she was playing tag with her sister, only now she was being attacked by men that ruined her home and killed her parents. At the sight of the three soliders raping her sister, she did what she should never have done nor should have been permitted in any lifetime: She picked up the knife. She gripped it away from her mother's severed hand and with a burning hatred that she thought could never exist in her small body, charged the three men. She kept an eye on the leader as he too began to aim his weapon for her. She knew she could never dodge in time to evade a blast from that weapon and didn't care. She would not let her mother and father die in vain and have her sister scarred for life from those that wished to defile her.
She squeezed her eyes shut as she approached at a brisk run and lept into the air with her knife thrusting forward. She heard the shot meant for her fire but didn't feel the penetration. Instead she felt something hit her hard from the side, driving her to the ground. When she opened her eyes, she found herself on her back with someone leaning over here on all fours. She became afraid and feared that another one of those evil men were preparing to do what the other three were currently doing to her sister. But she noticed that this man's outfit was very different than the ones that were invading her village. This one's outfit was more human in shape and look. Instead of it being the color of black and having the star on the forehead, it was blue in color and had a red cross icon with green leaf branches on it's forearm. As her new surroundings sunk in, she began to notice that the leader that was trying to kill her was on his back,unmoving. And that the three men raping her sister as well layed on the ground as if they were dead. It wasn't till the registering of smoke rising from holes in their chest was seen to confirm to the young Sadari that they were truely dead.
Before she could resist, the man in blue armor picked her up in one arm and heafted a massive weapon in his other arm. He immidately moved with lighting quickness as he spun on his heel and began to mow down the men in black that began to charge and point their weapons as this blue stranger. All around Sadari, she saw men and woman appear from thin air in flashes of light, as if they were born of light, and began to converge on the men in black and the rest of the living villagers. Few of the men and women wore suits like the blue one that saved her life but instead wore armor that seemed more befitting to battle against these fiends. It looked so futuristic and bulky, almost like the gear that the enemy was wearing. And yet their outfits didn't seem to say evil or look so alien, if anything they did their best to show that the men and women who wore them were human. As battle was engaged, the person in blue carried Sadari to her surviving family and villagers and begain to lay down covering. His big weapon boom and shook as if it were a live animal as round after round was fired. Every shot found it's mark as the person in blue held back the fiends that did what they could to finish off the rest of her family.
During the firefight, the person in blue arched his head upward and his helmet slid up and back behind his head. The person then turned around to address the people and Sadari had her chance to see her would be hero. What she saw was something she never expected: A man, with dark skin and hair as blue as the ocean. Sharp were his cheekbones that she almost mistaken him for another of her kind. But then she looked upon his eyes and say not just the emotion bleed from them but also the image that shook her to the core: eyes as dark as the night. He then said something in a language she did not understand and made a hand gesture pointing to the other side of the village. To her new suprise, she heard the sound of a thousand wailing demons and viewed a giant metal bird landing where the blue man just pointed. On it's belly was the same image that was on the blue stranger's forearm. The gesture all too clear now, her family and the rest of the villagers made their way to the metal bird. All around them, men in black tried their best to gun them down along with their would-be saviors. Sadari wanted to let go from this blue stranger but despite the big gun he welded, despite the fact that he was the center of the firefight, she had never felt safer in all her years since the last wars and the current hell that was thrust upon her. Even when he tried to let her go to join her family she did not wish to release her grip. She could not help but continue to stare at his black eyes. Seeing the laser light reflect off them and the cold intent that showed thru them as he shot down again and again the people in black. It wasn't until she realized that he was slowing making his way back to her sister who was now huddling on the ground doing all she could in trying to dress herself in the ripped rags that now passed as clothing.
When he was finally upon her, he averted his eyes out of modesty and quickly gathered her up in his gun arm. Leaving himself vunerable he quickly began to run toward the metal bird. The enemy did all they could to shoot him down and indeed, they did land a few rounds into him. Sadari could feel the weapon impacts against his body. But he continued to run toward the metal bird as his comrads layed down covering fire for his retreat. Through it all Sadari was unafraid. She knew she and her sister would make it to the metal bird. That she and her sister would be united with what remained of their family and friends. At that point it call came into stark reality that her life had changed completely, that she no longer felt safe in her own time or her own family.
She now felt safe in his arms.
Just as this calm realization came to her, she felt her father's arms grabbing her out of the blue stranger's grip. She and her sister were now inside the metal bird she would later come to know as a dropship. She remembered seeing the blue man's face one last time as the dropship's doors closed up and thru the window, he saw him charge once more into the inferno that was now coming to be known as her old home.
Many years later as she grew and matured in her new surroundings, she came to know and understand the bitter conflict that not only spanned all of space but all of time. Sadari also came to know the God that this blue stranger apparently believed and fought for. Not just in his name but under the beliefs of an old systerm of government that resided in his time. Ideas such as Freedom, Justice, and Equality were alien to her much like the new language she was to learn in place of her common tongue. As time passed she came in contact with others of her race and she began to learn all that had transpired since her world was attacked: her world had been wiped out. Many of its inhabitants slaughtered by this Satanic Imperial Alliance. Those that were not killed were either capture as slaves for various sorts or conscripted into their armies. She also learned that those that were considered "Christian" were either executed or found worser things than dead. It is when she learned that being a christian during these times was a very dangerous decision indeed.
Yet despite such she did convert and knew the love that she never felt or known in her young life. She had indeed felt reborn and was willing to do all she could to help in the task of the injustices that now befalled all humanity.....
The flash of the knife's blade brought Sadari back from her thoughts of the past. She marveled on how she had been able to keep ahold of this knife after all these years. It was the very knife her mother used back at the village, the very knife she held tightly in her small hands as she was carried away from that hell. And know it was the very knife she reforged into a combat blade so that she may do battle against those that killed her past. Her blade was a link to the past, an anchor for the present, and tool for the future.
Suddenly, the alarms in the ready room came to life. "Attention, attention. All Athiest squadron personnel report to Staging Area D. All Athiest personnal report to Stageing Area D. This is not a drill, this is not a drill. All Athiest..." Sadari's PDA then came to life, reporting her squad leader's orders to be in formation along with the rest of her unit. All around her, the men and women who were in the room dropped all they were doing. From napping, to reading, even their quick gaming, they made tracks to their assigned stations. She placed her blade back in it's theigh sheath and joined her fellow soliders in leaving the ready room. As she left she wondered why she thought back to the past when she first met the man in blue. The man she came to learn was known as TimeRunner, Admiral of the CCDF. She didn't know why, but she felt that a closing of a circle was about to being. That she was about to fulfill her promise that she had made to herself the day she found herself in TimeRunner's arms.
Chapter 2
TimeLine: 216
Year: March 18th, 5639 A.D.
Location: StarQuest II, Rallypoint (Threashold)
Area: Athiest Squardon Ready Room
A good majority of the units of Athiest Squadron were either out on leave or taking a quick snooze after hours of being on standby combat alert. But there were a few though that hung out in their respective Ready Rooms. Despite the fact that the Starquest II was first and foremost a warship, it still had many of the original features of the first vessel of the same name. One of those said features being military ready rooms that double as a rec rooms and preperation stations. Though there were some officers and enlisted soliders in the ready room, most just treated it as their personally living room. A few officers playing chess, others lounging around reading the latest news or weapon reports on PDA's. One solider was actually getting a quick game of "DOOM" at the entertainment center, as if he didn't get enough of battling it out with demons. Be it computer generated or the SIA's reworked terror troops. Despite all the activity there was one fighter that did what she usually did when she had time to herself: She played with knives.
Sadari Kong once again twirled around her doublebladed weapon in her hands with expert wrist snaps and finger rolls. Observing every faset and angle of her well maintained wepaons. She personally made sure that they were clean and sharp before and after any engagement she faced against CIA forces. She was the only fighter in her unit that ever placed such trust and care into what many called "barbaric" weaponry. They just didn't understand why a woman like her would use such against her enemy that used the latest in ubertechnoloy. Those outside her unit just saw what they saw, a cute cambodian girl trying to get herself cut on sharp objects. But if only they saw her in action with such....
Sadari Kong was the age of 21 with the obvious characteristic features that earn her respect and trust with the men and women in her unit. She had the look of most asian women in times passed with black hair that she liked to keep long and away from her face. Her body was a lovely design that made most men look twice when she passed, espiecally when she happens to wear short skirts that she's been fond off since she was young. Slim waisted and fine legged, her outifts hugged her in all the right places. Her outfit of choice this evening being that of her ancestorial past that being of a Geisha, but with a few subtle changes of her fashioning: A blue silk dragon design wrap with flowing cape and billowy arms, a black shash around her slim waist, chopsticks for her hair and combats boots that reach her mid-shin. The dress of course was short to her liking. She thought about wearing black theigh high socks to cover her exposed legs but thought against it for this evening. She was trying her best today to not cover the small, subtle scars that were on her legs caused from her own childhood to battlescars.
Some of the women of athiest squardon asked her once if she dressed like that to try to catch the attention of a certain man or just to poke fun at the stiff necked, somewhat conservative CCDF officers/soliders of the other armed services. And everytime she'd respond with wide-eyed honesty that she just liked to dress as such. Even as she sat in the ready room she looked out of place with her late eastern outfit among the hightech settings, as if she was plucked off the set of Madam Butterfly. But those in her unit never questioned her on her sence of dress let alone what she did on her spare time.
As Sadari inspected her 6" blade in the ship's light, she kept thinking back asto why she loved blades and how she had come to rely on them in her short life. She always came back to the thought of being a little girl in her home village back in cambodia, when mom asked her to help cook the meals for her big family and see mom use the family butcher knife to prepare the day's catch. She even remembered how she begged mom time and time again in using it just once. And as always she was told that once she became of age, she would show her sweet daughter how to use one to prepare food for her and one day her future husband. Sadari set the knife down on the table as she let her mind drift to that time long ago, and of the day that she wished could have come but never did. A day that will never come thanks to the SIA. It's a train of thought that she knew by heart and does not to dwell on for it is better to think on the future, but tonight of all nights looking upon her weapons she thinks back on the life she had lost. And on the new chance of life she had gained from going thru the fires.....
She remembered being the age of 15, running with her brothers and sisters thru the fields back in Cambodia, playing like mosts kids would at that age. Happy to be living in a world, a country and time where things were relativily calm and peaceful. The new word she learned when she was little called "war" had ended many years ago allowing her father and uncles to come back to their native village to begin a new life. Too many, it looked like young Sadari was living in a tropical paradise. Perfect, carefree and fun. Despite the usual chores to be done, life was simple and good. School to attend, homework to do and lazy summers to run out into the fields to be the children that time allowed them to be. Those thoughts were in Sadari's young mind as she played tag and continued to live her life in the course of time. But as she played she began to notice that the light was fadding fast as if a thick cloud was moving to block the sun. It wasn't until her older sister made a noise of suprise that made Sadari to turn around and look up.
Instead to see a large cloud, she saw what she thought was some giant whale made of something metal. But this whale was something much bigger in the sky and something that wouldn't even be at home under the sea. And right next to that one was another, and another, and another. Till as far as the eye could see, the entire sky was dotted with these dark clouds. It wasn't until much later, and much too late, that Sadari learned that the things in the sky were called starships. Crafts that not only flew in the skies but among the stars. Sadari always loved to look at the stars at night and made sure to wish on the very first star to come out every night. So like always when she saw something out of the sky she did just that, she made a wish. But the answer that the giant, metal monstrocities gave was something she did not expect or wish on anyone: It set fire to her world.
The Satanic Imperial Alliance's 87th Conquest Fleet came to Timeline 037, Planet Earth with the standing order for every Temporal Earth: Conquer and destroy. As standing order, all major cities on the planet were laided to waste and all resistance crushed. The fleet's 280 warships laided waste to every major city all over the world with conventional and nuclear warheads. 10 megaton nukes, rail guns, plasma weapons, heavy bombs and ICBM type rockets were fired at the planet and onto a global populas that was unawares of the judgement day that was put upon them. Once the orbiting satalites and major cities were wiped out, the SIA moved in on secondary targets and counterattacking armies from around the world. Despite the best efforts of the countries individual armies, the United Nations and NATO, they were no match for the SIA and were quickly wiped out.
Then came the unarmed population.
Once resistance was crushed, landing craft were launch and ground operations began. Any that resisted the SIA were either executed or murdered in a manner that not even a wild animal would deserve. From there the population was captured and put into detention camps for future processing into the new world order. Sadari remembered seeing the metal whales opening up with heavenly light and setting fires in the direction of the city where her aunt lived, then screamed and ran toward her home with the rest of her family. Her mother and father were there to quickly take them in much like the rest of the families in the village. Some families were packing. Preparing to leave the village with memories of the past where forgien armies marched into town, killing people as they went. Instead of her family going with some of the families, they stayed behind and hid. All thru that while they heard the sounds of fire, whoosing of the wind and the flights of metal birds flying in the sky. Most looked like the airplanes she learned about in school but most looked too alien to be anything of this world.
Again and again she saw the airplanes fall from the sky and crash in the trees or into houses in the village. When her mother caught her looking out the window and not hinding underneath the table, she moved to grab her daughter and place her into saftey. That was probably the thing that saved her from dying when a stray shot from one of the alien craft hit her home. Sadari mother's body sheilded her from the blast and the heat that followed the stary shot into the house. Her family's simple bamboo hut when up in flames, scattering her family. Sadari awoke to find her mother still laying on top of her and still alive from the blast that set fire to her home. Some family memebers ran away in terror while others did what they could to save their home. Her dad came to her mom and helped them up and away from the flames. Villagers ran away from their homes only to find an army of evil beginning to enter their village. The invaders looked like nothing they had every encountered or witnessed in all their years in cambodia. They hardly looked human in their bulky outfits and oddly shaped heads. But the weapons they welded looked too familar for most in the village and began find cover. Some of the men, armed with blades, farm tools and single action rifles tried to fight off this invading army but were only cut down by the enemies weapons that emitted light and burned holes thru the men. Others were riddled with bullets or were sliced down with energy beams. The remaining villagers, Sadari's family among them, did what they could to not invoke the wrath of these strange beings.
As the troops approached, one noticed one of the villagers wearing a white cross around their neck. Without hesitation, they fired a full clip of ammo into the person blowing them in half. Sadari was horrified and clung onto her mother as the alien soilders approached closer. She could notice that all of them had some sort of star icon on the foreheads of their black helmets, a crudly drawn red star with a circle drawn around at all five points. Sadari later learned, once again too late, that it was the the marking of a pentagram: symbol of those that worship nature or the devil in some religions.
Stars in the sky she wished on at night...
Then all at once, the soliders was upon them. One of them made a motion at Sadari's eldest sister and said something in a language that was unfamilair to her. The lead solider nodded and the solider immediatly grabbed her sister and tried to force her out of her sarong. Everything then began to move so quickly that Sadari bearly had time to see all that was transpiring. Her father picking up the family butcher knife and charging the man that was trying to molest her sister, the lead alien soilder's main weapon firing hitting her father square in the back and her mother screaming as her husband crumbled to the ground. The solider violating Sadari's sister didn't even take notice of the action as he tore off clothing and began to undo his pants.
Mother screamed for the loss of her love and for the horror that was about to happen to her eledest daughter as two more soliders came forward and held her to the ground. Yet Sadari was still suprised to see her mother, in her weak state, pick up the fallen knife her father had dropped and charged the three men. She tried to yell and tell mother to stop but Sadari was frozen in that momen of terror as these alien beings had just killed her father, prepared to rape her sister and no doubt kill her mother. Sadari ran to catch up with her mother in hopes to save her from the fate of her father like much how mom saved her from the stray blast that cost them their home. The lead solider waited till mom got to the three men before he let off a round that took out mom's right leg. She screamed in pain as she fell to the ground but continued to drag herself to the scene of her eldests ultimate invasion. The leader took perverse pride as he sadisitcally shot off her other leg, then her arm, a peiace of her ear, then finally the hand that held the butcher knife.
All of this happened as Sadari tried to run to her mother's aide, only to reach her as she expired from this world.
She could hear her sister's screams as Sadari tried to soak in all that had just transpired into her young brain. The very world she had come to love and cherish was on fire. Just moments ago she was playing tag with her sister, only now she was being attacked by men that ruined her home and killed her parents. At the sight of the three soliders raping her sister, she did what she should never have done nor should have been permitted in any lifetime: She picked up the knife. She gripped it away from her mother's severed hand and with a burning hatred that she thought could never exist in her small body, charged the three men. She kept an eye on the leader as he too began to aim his weapon for her. She knew she could never dodge in time to evade a blast from that weapon and didn't care. She would not let her mother and father die in vain and have her sister scarred for life from those that wished to defile her.
She squeezed her eyes shut as she approached at a brisk run and lept into the air with her knife thrusting forward. She heard the shot meant for her fire but didn't feel the penetration. Instead she felt something hit her hard from the side, driving her to the ground. When she opened her eyes, she found herself on her back with someone leaning over here on all fours. She became afraid and feared that another one of those evil men were preparing to do what the other three were currently doing to her sister. But she noticed that this man's outfit was very different than the ones that were invading her village. This one's outfit was more human in shape and look. Instead of it being the color of black and having the star on the forehead, it was blue in color and had a red cross icon with green leaf branches on it's forearm. As her new surroundings sunk in, she began to notice that the leader that was trying to kill her was on his back,unmoving. And that the three men raping her sister as well layed on the ground as if they were dead. It wasn't till the registering of smoke rising from holes in their chest was seen to confirm to the young Sadari that they were truely dead.
Before she could resist, the man in blue armor picked her up in one arm and heafted a massive weapon in his other arm. He immidately moved with lighting quickness as he spun on his heel and began to mow down the men in black that began to charge and point their weapons as this blue stranger. All around Sadari, she saw men and woman appear from thin air in flashes of light, as if they were born of light, and began to converge on the men in black and the rest of the living villagers. Few of the men and women wore suits like the blue one that saved her life but instead wore armor that seemed more befitting to battle against these fiends. It looked so futuristic and bulky, almost like the gear that the enemy was wearing. And yet their outfits didn't seem to say evil or look so alien, if anything they did their best to show that the men and women who wore them were human. As battle was engaged, the person in blue carried Sadari to her surviving family and villagers and begain to lay down covering. His big weapon boom and shook as if it were a live animal as round after round was fired. Every shot found it's mark as the person in blue held back the fiends that did what they could to finish off the rest of her family.
During the firefight, the person in blue arched his head upward and his helmet slid up and back behind his head. The person then turned around to address the people and Sadari had her chance to see her would be hero. What she saw was something she never expected: A man, with dark skin and hair as blue as the ocean. Sharp were his cheekbones that she almost mistaken him for another of her kind. But then she looked upon his eyes and say not just the emotion bleed from them but also the image that shook her to the core: eyes as dark as the night. He then said something in a language she did not understand and made a hand gesture pointing to the other side of the village. To her new suprise, she heard the sound of a thousand wailing demons and viewed a giant metal bird landing where the blue man just pointed. On it's belly was the same image that was on the blue stranger's forearm. The gesture all too clear now, her family and the rest of the villagers made their way to the metal bird. All around them, men in black tried their best to gun them down along with their would-be saviors. Sadari wanted to let go from this blue stranger but despite the big gun he welded, despite the fact that he was the center of the firefight, she had never felt safer in all her years since the last wars and the current hell that was thrust upon her. Even when he tried to let her go to join her family she did not wish to release her grip. She could not help but continue to stare at his black eyes. Seeing the laser light reflect off them and the cold intent that showed thru them as he shot down again and again the people in black. It wasn't until she realized that he was slowing making his way back to her sister who was now huddling on the ground doing all she could in trying to dress herself in the ripped rags that now passed as clothing.
When he was finally upon her, he averted his eyes out of modesty and quickly gathered her up in his gun arm. Leaving himself vunerable he quickly began to run toward the metal bird. The enemy did all they could to shoot him down and indeed, they did land a few rounds into him. Sadari could feel the weapon impacts against his body. But he continued to run toward the metal bird as his comrads layed down covering fire for his retreat. Through it all Sadari was unafraid. She knew she and her sister would make it to the metal bird. That she and her sister would be united with what remained of their family and friends. At that point it call came into stark reality that her life had changed completely, that she no longer felt safe in her own time or her own family.
She now felt safe in his arms.
Just as this calm realization came to her, she felt her father's arms grabbing her out of the blue stranger's grip. She and her sister were now inside the metal bird she would later come to know as a dropship. She remembered seeing the blue man's face one last time as the dropship's doors closed up and thru the window, he saw him charge once more into the inferno that was now coming to be known as her old home.
Many years later as she grew and matured in her new surroundings, she came to know and understand the bitter conflict that not only spanned all of space but all of time. Sadari also came to know the God that this blue stranger apparently believed and fought for. Not just in his name but under the beliefs of an old systerm of government that resided in his time. Ideas such as Freedom, Justice, and Equality were alien to her much like the new language she was to learn in place of her common tongue. As time passed she came in contact with others of her race and she began to learn all that had transpired since her world was attacked: her world had been wiped out. Many of its inhabitants slaughtered by this Satanic Imperial Alliance. Those that were not killed were either capture as slaves for various sorts or conscripted into their armies. She also learned that those that were considered "Christian" were either executed or found worser things than dead. It is when she learned that being a christian during these times was a very dangerous decision indeed.
Yet despite such she did convert and knew the love that she never felt or known in her young life. She had indeed felt reborn and was willing to do all she could to help in the task of the injustices that now befalled all humanity.....
The flash of the knife's blade brought Sadari back from her thoughts of the past. She marveled on how she had been able to keep ahold of this knife after all these years. It was the very knife her mother used back at the village, the very knife she held tightly in her small hands as she was carried away from that hell. And know it was the very knife she reforged into a combat blade so that she may do battle against those that killed her past. Her blade was a link to the past, an anchor for the present, and tool for the future.
Suddenly, the alarms in the ready room came to life. "Attention, attention. All Athiest squadron personnel report to Staging Area D. All Athiest personnal report to Stageing Area D. This is not a drill, this is not a drill. All Athiest..." Sadari's PDA then came to life, reporting her squad leader's orders to be in formation along with the rest of her unit. All around her, the men and women who were in the room dropped all they were doing. From napping, to reading, even their quick gaming, they made tracks to their assigned stations. She placed her blade back in it's theigh sheath and joined her fellow soliders in leaving the ready room. As she left she wondered why she thought back to the past when she first met the man in blue. The man she came to learn was known as TimeRunner, Admiral of the CCDF. She didn't know why, but she felt that a closing of a circle was about to being. That she was about to fulfill her promise that she had made to herself the day she found herself in TimeRunner's arms.
# posted by TheTimeRunner : 7/23/2006 08:05:00 PM
Sunday, March 26, 2006
TimeFighters: The Lunar Litany: Chapter 1
All works on the blog "TimeFighters: The Lunar Litany are of the sole property of Matthew Sparks-Freemont and cannot be copied, written, transmitted in part or entirety, released or used for personal use/gain without the expressed written and oral consent of myself. Exhibition of these works without my oral and written concent is prohibited. "Lunar", characters and items related to "Lunar" are the property of Working Designs and Ubisoft Entertainment.
Chapter 1
TimeLine: 216
Year: March 18th, 5639 A.D.
Location: StarQuest II, Unknown sector in space.
Area: TimeRunner's Quarters
Finally a recess was called and Matt was able to return to his quarters for a breather. He looked at his bed and wondered how long it has been since he tried not to sleep in it. He knew it was only a few hours ago but at his current standpoint it felt like ages. So much was in the works since Xell reported in on the where abouts of the 666th fleet. Little did he realize that he also answered the question of the missing garrison ships in the former occupied SIA areas.
When word spread that the fleet ships of the SIA left their primary timelines, Temporal Speical Forces (TSF) were launched from their home starships to make a quick recon and assessment of the situation. High Command decided that if it was possible they could assertain the weakness in the newly weakened occupied zones and prepare operations to take back the timelines. According to High Command's Prognosication Engine the success rate of a blitzkreg was to be 87%.
Even with that percentile factor, the TSF were in for a suprise.
The lighter armed garrisons gave up without a fight.
And there was no sign of any hostile forces in the abandoned timelines.
It baffeled Matt as much as it did the rest of the High Command. He thought as much as he sat thru the meetings and debreifings. It was never the nature of those in the Satanic Imperial Alliance to just show their bellies when a battle was afoot. They usually fought tooth to claw literally with everything they had. To standard troops to the reworked demon troops, they made sure to have the CCDF pay for every inch of ground they take away from them.
And yet every report was the same from the TSF's. The troops that were there just gave up and literally begged not to be killed. Some even recited the old century Temporal Accords in treatment of temporal prisoners of war. "They never cared for that" Timerunner thought as he sat thru the meetings. At first CCDF Intelligence thought it was a trick to allow a small group to be capture only to turn vicious and try to kill as many people as they could in an attempt to produce low moral in the fleet. But during interigations all the troops and officers said the very same answer: They had been abandoned.
To Timerunner it made no sence. Why would Soldeed sacrifice so many troops and equipment in some timelines and yet strip others to as if they'd never occupied that timeline. Timerunner knew that the answer to that question lay not just in the blue world that Soldeed's 666th fleet orbited, but the small moon as well. A moon that was oddly tagged on the intel reports as "Lunar". He remember saying something of the sort on the bridge when he first saw the images but was a bit suprised to see the words that left his lips to appear on a Eyes Only intel reports hours later.
After all the branches of the CCDF gave their reports and assessments, they called a short recess so the Pleminary councel could sift thru the data accumilated. That gave Timerunner a chance to duck into his quarters and have a moments peace. "Peace" he thought. Now such is not the time nor place for such thoughts. He felt that his mind was running on overdrive, running line after line of thought in various directions only for them to converge on that silver star.
So much like the moon back on earth thought the young man. And yet he felt so drawn to it. The dreams he had, the feelings that resurfaced. Feelings and emotions he thought he locked up after....
Timerunner shook his head to try to clear it once more. No matter what he tried to do in concentration, his thoughts always came back to that moon. The more he thought about "Lunar" the more intent he wanted to know what it was all about. It was like a mystery wrapped in a riddle. Something far more than just a moon that Soldeed decided to occupy. He knew that when the Intel and anaylisty teams looked at this new situation, all they saw was just a orbiting satalite to be assess and exstrapelated. But what he saw was far more different. Like apples to oranges to letters and numbers, it was something that had to be peeled off or spelled out. And everything that came to the young mans mind was the same train of thought.
Beauty and Love
Althena
Lunar
Suffering and death.
The Blue Star
The Blue Star?
Where the hell did that come from? Thought TimeRunner. First the play on words about Lunar being a silver star and now this with the planet.
"I am beginning to sound like a hopeless romatic." thought the young man. With that, TimeRunner took a dive and jumped into bed. Though sleep was the last thing on his mind he thought it a good place to lay back and plan then just to stand in the middle of the room just looking at his bed. For once it felt good to actually lay down in his own bed and gaze out at the stars outside his window. For once the ships of the fleet were not blocking his view, making it much easlier for his mind to drift and enjoy the view.
Suddenly, the Blue Star and Lunar were visible in the window. Around it he saw ships of the SIA fleet orbitting the Blue Star, launching shuttle after shuttle to the surface. Meanwhile on Lunar, small explosions began to show itself on the surface. It looked like some kind of weapons test as the blasts blossomed. But as he watched this he began to hear something small in the distance. The more TimeRunner concentrated on the sound the more clear it became.
It was the sound of people screaming.
There a woman wailing, here a man suffering. But the worst cry of all was of the children. Crying out to parents and siblings, then finally their crys turning into high pitched squeals like that of a rabbit on the verge of being in the jaws of a wolf. The screams became more and more at once from not just a few but many people. Men, women and children crying as if they were about to die. Then just like that, silence. But not just a silence as if someone closed a door to a loud room, but silence like that which resides in a graveyard.
And from that silence, TimeRunner heard a woman weeping. It sounded so simple yet heartfelt, like one that doesn't cry often, that every tear shead was for the loss of something important than life itself. From this womans weeping, a face began to appear. A face lovely and smooth, with large blue eyes and hair the color of the sky. It was left down to frame her angelic face, it was like looking into the face of an angel. But an angel that was not of heaven but of a more earthly nature, one that weeps, one that stared straight into the face of TimeRunner as if she could see him and she knew he could see her. Blood began to rush to his head as this mystery girl's eyes locked with his and begged what her mouth could never come to fully express and speak with such feeling.
"Help us."
The young man found himself unable to move, then realizing with a start that he wasn't in bed anymore. It didn't feel like his bed. Infact it felt like he was laying in nothing at all. The ghostly image of this angelic beauty hovered over him, dressed in a gown of unknown make and style. Elegant it was as it drifted in the non-wind. It was all alien to the young TimeRunner and yet inviting. He felt scared and yet soothed to be in this lady's presence. "What is going on." He thought as the tears from this woman's face fell slowly to land on his chest.
She lifted her finger to TimeRunner's eye level and to his amazement it began to emit a soft glow. The tip of her finger pulsed lighty in a soft white light in such an errie way that it reminded him of a scene from an old movie. The light was so inviting as she began to move her finger to touch his forehead.....
TimeRunner awoke on his bed with a start, suprised that he had actually fallen asleep. He looked toward his rooms window and saw nothing but stars in the background once again. Yet another dream again but this one feeling more of one in wakeness. He didn't feel sleeply yet it felt like a dream. Infact he felt more energized than he had in a long time. A dream with people, a dream with a beautiful angel, a dream about....
Just then he had a thought and was about to ask the computer a task when TimeRunner began to notice the dull banging against the door of his quarters. It was banging quite strongly as if it had been going on for quite awhile. As he got out of bed to answer the door, it immediately came open and to his suprise found himself staring down the barrel of a CCDF security hand blaster. "Admiral!!" Said a woman's voice, "Are you alright." Just as the female security officer's words were spoken, three more officers entered the room and began to search. "We were orderd to gain access to your room when you did not respond to call prompts from the bridge and when you failed to answer your door." Said the female officer. Realizing she was pointing her blaster and the Admiral of the fleet, she pointed it down to the floor.
"On who's authority." Asked TimeRunner.
"On mine Admiral." Said a mocking voice.
It was Kandace.
Kandace walked into the room to assess the situation. "I'm sorry if I woke you up. I didn't think you'd be sleeping at a time like this. Most of us are not." Despite this she didn't make any motion to ask for the security officers to stop what they were doing. "I've been trying to call you on the comm for awhile now. When you didn't respond I assumed the worst."
Matt had to crack a smile to that statement. "I'm sorry to disapoint but thoughts of suicide are not the choice of design my dear." Kandace did her best to hide the blush slowly creeping in her face. "I was more worried about a possible assassination attempt. We are still on high alert afterall." One of the male security officers reentered the room after his primary search. "The room is clean admiral," he answered. "No sign of forced entry or communication's tampering. Just us and the admiral." Despite this report the security officers didn't holster their weapons. Kandace turned to Matt again, better composed this time. "So you were just napping then. Sorry to disturb you." Despite her better composure, he could tell in her eyes that she was genuenlly concerned for him. The intinal shock of having his room stormed thru slowly began to wear off as TimeRunner too assessed his personal situation. "Not really, I was just actually just laying down to think...." Just then all that he just experianced rushed back into him. The vision, the sounds, the feeling of weightlessness, of HER. The first thing TimeRunner did was touch his forehead only to find to his amazement that a small spot was warm. As if touched by a....
Matt then ran his hand down the front of his uniform tunic and found a few spots wet. As if someone's tears fell there...
He ran quickly to the bathroom to look at his image. The mirror showed nothing out of the ordinary yet, the bags under his eyes were gone. The redness in his eyes had all cleared up. It was as if he had slept for a week in only a few seconds! Concerned, Kandace and the security officers followed him into the bathroom. "Admiral?" Asked one of the officers. TimeRunner quickly turned around to face his audience. "I'm fine. yes I'm fine." he took a few steps out of the bathroom and ran his hand thru his hair. "Can you leave me alone with Admiral Wilkins please. As you can see I am alright." The female security officers took a glance at Kandace to see if it was alright. Kandace gave her nod of approval.
As the security team left, TimeRunner sat down at a chair near the main table. Kandace looked at him for awhile before she made a move till finally she decided a little drink was in order. She approached the rooms food dispenser and asked for two cups of water. Once they were pored she walked to the table and placed a glass next to TimeRunner. "Something tells me that you need this right now." she said as she sat at the ajacent side of the table with her glass. Matt didn't know where to begin in telling her what all he just experianced. This wasn't just something that comes along during battle fatigue nor was it mixed in with what he felt in reguards to his past failures with Zeanna. "Ready to talk about it." Kandace chimed in.
"What where you trying to get in touch with me about?"
"Something happened to you just now didn't it? Another dream? More about this Althena?"
"I'm not interested in talking about it right now. What where you trying to get in touch with me about?"
"Come on. A hint atleast. I just ordered to have your room entered SWAT style. Can I atleast save some inner face here."
Matt took a drink of the water he was given. "Not now. Please. I can hardly understand it myself yet." Kandace gave a sigh and decided to let it go for now. "Well the reason why I wanted to contact you was to give you this." Out of her pocket she pulled out a data chip. From the look of it it appeared compatible with a cranium port interface. "It's the latest intel about the situation with the 666th." she gave the chip a flick of her finger and sailed it across the table like a hockey puck.
Matt took the data chip and inserted it into his cranium port at the base of his skull. "I hate it when you do that." Kandace said. "I'm sorry my dear. I just thought..." Matt trailed off as the new information filled his mind. It was more about the specifics of the planetary bodies that came into play in the CCDF's new situation. Again the moon was designated as "Lunar" with the typical planetary catologing. But it wasn't till the file got to the blue world that TimeRunner sat straighter and took notice. "When was the planet designated this way?" he asked. Kandace only shrugged, "A half and hour. Why?"
He read it over again to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. The Blue world was now named "The Blue Star."
He read on to learn that they called the blue planet "The blue Star" because there was a planet to ship transmission interception caught by the sensor bouy describing the planet as such. "Then that truely makes you The Sliver Star does it not?" Matt said to himself. "What are you talking about?" Asked Kandace. Just then something came to TimeRunner's mind. "Were there any scans of lifesigns on either bodies?" He asked. "That information has not yet been fully compiled," answered Kandace. She crossed her legs as she tried to recall what she read in some of the files that came her way. "As I recall, the sensor buoy wasn't able to get any confirmed readings given how far it was and of the interference." That statement brought up a questionable look from the young man. "Interference? From what? Even if with the 666th's presence, temporal distortions and the planets gravitational flux, the buoy should be able to give a difinative confirmation of life."
"Well normally yes. That's what the deep temporal/space bouy's were designed for but there was too much EMP static. Our A/V techs are trying to clean up the readings without altering them too much."
" EMP? Last word was the 666th didn't know we had the drop on them. Why would they activate EMP if they don't know of our presence."
"They didn't activate EMP's. The EMP's are coming from the moon."
"The moon? A body like that shouldn't be capable of such."
"It would be if it's getting bombed to hell."
TimeRunner dropped his glass when he heard the news. He ejected the data chip from his cranium port and held it tightly in his hand. "Bombed? But why?" Even when he asked his question an icy lump was beginning to be felt in the pit of his stomach. Kandace stood up and walked to her friend. Seeing how troubled he became she put a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong? I mention that the moon is being bombarded with heavy weapons and you nearly lose it." She sets her glass down and makes to pick up TimeRunner's then adds. "Intel thinks that they might be terraforming the moon to make a base. Weather readings on the Blue Star show massive snow storms all over the planet..." she trails off when Kandace notices that TimeRunner is not listening to her. As she gets up with glass in hand to prepare to give TimeRunner a lecture on listening when talked to, he quickly grabs her hand that just picked up the glass he just dropped.
"It's happened," he said. "It's happening right now as we are talking." He looks into her face. "That's what she's talking about." Muttered TimeRunner. Kandace was about to ask what her friend was talking about when he unexpectly rose from his seat with a new vigor that she hadn't seen in him for awhile. "Have your people continue their A/V clean up. Doubletime. I need to speak with High Command. Also have Atheist Squadron put on possible deployment for space and ground theater."
"Whatever for?" Questions Kandace. "Do you mind telling me what's going on? We haven't fully accessed the situation sensory wise of the 666th location, why would you want to prep for military deployment?"
Matt made for the door and turned around just before leaving his quarters. "Because this temporal exploratory op just became a rescue mission."
Chapter 1
TimeLine: 216
Year: March 18th, 5639 A.D.
Location: StarQuest II, Unknown sector in space.
Area: TimeRunner's Quarters
Finally a recess was called and Matt was able to return to his quarters for a breather. He looked at his bed and wondered how long it has been since he tried not to sleep in it. He knew it was only a few hours ago but at his current standpoint it felt like ages. So much was in the works since Xell reported in on the where abouts of the 666th fleet. Little did he realize that he also answered the question of the missing garrison ships in the former occupied SIA areas.
When word spread that the fleet ships of the SIA left their primary timelines, Temporal Speical Forces (TSF) were launched from their home starships to make a quick recon and assessment of the situation. High Command decided that if it was possible they could assertain the weakness in the newly weakened occupied zones and prepare operations to take back the timelines. According to High Command's Prognosication Engine the success rate of a blitzkreg was to be 87%.
Even with that percentile factor, the TSF were in for a suprise.
The lighter armed garrisons gave up without a fight.
And there was no sign of any hostile forces in the abandoned timelines.
It baffeled Matt as much as it did the rest of the High Command. He thought as much as he sat thru the meetings and debreifings. It was never the nature of those in the Satanic Imperial Alliance to just show their bellies when a battle was afoot. They usually fought tooth to claw literally with everything they had. To standard troops to the reworked demon troops, they made sure to have the CCDF pay for every inch of ground they take away from them.
And yet every report was the same from the TSF's. The troops that were there just gave up and literally begged not to be killed. Some even recited the old century Temporal Accords in treatment of temporal prisoners of war. "They never cared for that" Timerunner thought as he sat thru the meetings. At first CCDF Intelligence thought it was a trick to allow a small group to be capture only to turn vicious and try to kill as many people as they could in an attempt to produce low moral in the fleet. But during interigations all the troops and officers said the very same answer: They had been abandoned.
To Timerunner it made no sence. Why would Soldeed sacrifice so many troops and equipment in some timelines and yet strip others to as if they'd never occupied that timeline. Timerunner knew that the answer to that question lay not just in the blue world that Soldeed's 666th fleet orbited, but the small moon as well. A moon that was oddly tagged on the intel reports as "Lunar". He remember saying something of the sort on the bridge when he first saw the images but was a bit suprised to see the words that left his lips to appear on a Eyes Only intel reports hours later.
After all the branches of the CCDF gave their reports and assessments, they called a short recess so the Pleminary councel could sift thru the data accumilated. That gave Timerunner a chance to duck into his quarters and have a moments peace. "Peace" he thought. Now such is not the time nor place for such thoughts. He felt that his mind was running on overdrive, running line after line of thought in various directions only for them to converge on that silver star.
So much like the moon back on earth thought the young man. And yet he felt so drawn to it. The dreams he had, the feelings that resurfaced. Feelings and emotions he thought he locked up after....
Timerunner shook his head to try to clear it once more. No matter what he tried to do in concentration, his thoughts always came back to that moon. The more he thought about "Lunar" the more intent he wanted to know what it was all about. It was like a mystery wrapped in a riddle. Something far more than just a moon that Soldeed decided to occupy. He knew that when the Intel and anaylisty teams looked at this new situation, all they saw was just a orbiting satalite to be assess and exstrapelated. But what he saw was far more different. Like apples to oranges to letters and numbers, it was something that had to be peeled off or spelled out. And everything that came to the young mans mind was the same train of thought.
Beauty and Love
Althena
Lunar
Suffering and death.
The Blue Star
The Blue Star?
Where the hell did that come from? Thought TimeRunner. First the play on words about Lunar being a silver star and now this with the planet.
"I am beginning to sound like a hopeless romatic." thought the young man. With that, TimeRunner took a dive and jumped into bed. Though sleep was the last thing on his mind he thought it a good place to lay back and plan then just to stand in the middle of the room just looking at his bed. For once it felt good to actually lay down in his own bed and gaze out at the stars outside his window. For once the ships of the fleet were not blocking his view, making it much easlier for his mind to drift and enjoy the view.
Suddenly, the Blue Star and Lunar were visible in the window. Around it he saw ships of the SIA fleet orbitting the Blue Star, launching shuttle after shuttle to the surface. Meanwhile on Lunar, small explosions began to show itself on the surface. It looked like some kind of weapons test as the blasts blossomed. But as he watched this he began to hear something small in the distance. The more TimeRunner concentrated on the sound the more clear it became.
It was the sound of people screaming.
There a woman wailing, here a man suffering. But the worst cry of all was of the children. Crying out to parents and siblings, then finally their crys turning into high pitched squeals like that of a rabbit on the verge of being in the jaws of a wolf. The screams became more and more at once from not just a few but many people. Men, women and children crying as if they were about to die. Then just like that, silence. But not just a silence as if someone closed a door to a loud room, but silence like that which resides in a graveyard.
And from that silence, TimeRunner heard a woman weeping. It sounded so simple yet heartfelt, like one that doesn't cry often, that every tear shead was for the loss of something important than life itself. From this womans weeping, a face began to appear. A face lovely and smooth, with large blue eyes and hair the color of the sky. It was left down to frame her angelic face, it was like looking into the face of an angel. But an angel that was not of heaven but of a more earthly nature, one that weeps, one that stared straight into the face of TimeRunner as if she could see him and she knew he could see her. Blood began to rush to his head as this mystery girl's eyes locked with his and begged what her mouth could never come to fully express and speak with such feeling.
"Help us."
The young man found himself unable to move, then realizing with a start that he wasn't in bed anymore. It didn't feel like his bed. Infact it felt like he was laying in nothing at all. The ghostly image of this angelic beauty hovered over him, dressed in a gown of unknown make and style. Elegant it was as it drifted in the non-wind. It was all alien to the young TimeRunner and yet inviting. He felt scared and yet soothed to be in this lady's presence. "What is going on." He thought as the tears from this woman's face fell slowly to land on his chest.
She lifted her finger to TimeRunner's eye level and to his amazement it began to emit a soft glow. The tip of her finger pulsed lighty in a soft white light in such an errie way that it reminded him of a scene from an old movie. The light was so inviting as she began to move her finger to touch his forehead.....
TimeRunner awoke on his bed with a start, suprised that he had actually fallen asleep. He looked toward his rooms window and saw nothing but stars in the background once again. Yet another dream again but this one feeling more of one in wakeness. He didn't feel sleeply yet it felt like a dream. Infact he felt more energized than he had in a long time. A dream with people, a dream with a beautiful angel, a dream about....
Just then he had a thought and was about to ask the computer a task when TimeRunner began to notice the dull banging against the door of his quarters. It was banging quite strongly as if it had been going on for quite awhile. As he got out of bed to answer the door, it immediately came open and to his suprise found himself staring down the barrel of a CCDF security hand blaster. "Admiral!!" Said a woman's voice, "Are you alright." Just as the female security officer's words were spoken, three more officers entered the room and began to search. "We were orderd to gain access to your room when you did not respond to call prompts from the bridge and when you failed to answer your door." Said the female officer. Realizing she was pointing her blaster and the Admiral of the fleet, she pointed it down to the floor.
"On who's authority." Asked TimeRunner.
"On mine Admiral." Said a mocking voice.
It was Kandace.
Kandace walked into the room to assess the situation. "I'm sorry if I woke you up. I didn't think you'd be sleeping at a time like this. Most of us are not." Despite this she didn't make any motion to ask for the security officers to stop what they were doing. "I've been trying to call you on the comm for awhile now. When you didn't respond I assumed the worst."
Matt had to crack a smile to that statement. "I'm sorry to disapoint but thoughts of suicide are not the choice of design my dear." Kandace did her best to hide the blush slowly creeping in her face. "I was more worried about a possible assassination attempt. We are still on high alert afterall." One of the male security officers reentered the room after his primary search. "The room is clean admiral," he answered. "No sign of forced entry or communication's tampering. Just us and the admiral." Despite this report the security officers didn't holster their weapons. Kandace turned to Matt again, better composed this time. "So you were just napping then. Sorry to disturb you." Despite her better composure, he could tell in her eyes that she was genuenlly concerned for him. The intinal shock of having his room stormed thru slowly began to wear off as TimeRunner too assessed his personal situation. "Not really, I was just actually just laying down to think...." Just then all that he just experianced rushed back into him. The vision, the sounds, the feeling of weightlessness, of HER. The first thing TimeRunner did was touch his forehead only to find to his amazement that a small spot was warm. As if touched by a....
Matt then ran his hand down the front of his uniform tunic and found a few spots wet. As if someone's tears fell there...
He ran quickly to the bathroom to look at his image. The mirror showed nothing out of the ordinary yet, the bags under his eyes were gone. The redness in his eyes had all cleared up. It was as if he had slept for a week in only a few seconds! Concerned, Kandace and the security officers followed him into the bathroom. "Admiral?" Asked one of the officers. TimeRunner quickly turned around to face his audience. "I'm fine. yes I'm fine." he took a few steps out of the bathroom and ran his hand thru his hair. "Can you leave me alone with Admiral Wilkins please. As you can see I am alright." The female security officers took a glance at Kandace to see if it was alright. Kandace gave her nod of approval.
As the security team left, TimeRunner sat down at a chair near the main table. Kandace looked at him for awhile before she made a move till finally she decided a little drink was in order. She approached the rooms food dispenser and asked for two cups of water. Once they were pored she walked to the table and placed a glass next to TimeRunner. "Something tells me that you need this right now." she said as she sat at the ajacent side of the table with her glass. Matt didn't know where to begin in telling her what all he just experianced. This wasn't just something that comes along during battle fatigue nor was it mixed in with what he felt in reguards to his past failures with Zeanna. "Ready to talk about it." Kandace chimed in.
"What where you trying to get in touch with me about?"
"Something happened to you just now didn't it? Another dream? More about this Althena?"
"I'm not interested in talking about it right now. What where you trying to get in touch with me about?"
"Come on. A hint atleast. I just ordered to have your room entered SWAT style. Can I atleast save some inner face here."
Matt took a drink of the water he was given. "Not now. Please. I can hardly understand it myself yet." Kandace gave a sigh and decided to let it go for now. "Well the reason why I wanted to contact you was to give you this." Out of her pocket she pulled out a data chip. From the look of it it appeared compatible with a cranium port interface. "It's the latest intel about the situation with the 666th." she gave the chip a flick of her finger and sailed it across the table like a hockey puck.
Matt took the data chip and inserted it into his cranium port at the base of his skull. "I hate it when you do that." Kandace said. "I'm sorry my dear. I just thought..." Matt trailed off as the new information filled his mind. It was more about the specifics of the planetary bodies that came into play in the CCDF's new situation. Again the moon was designated as "Lunar" with the typical planetary catologing. But it wasn't till the file got to the blue world that TimeRunner sat straighter and took notice. "When was the planet designated this way?" he asked. Kandace only shrugged, "A half and hour. Why?"
He read it over again to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. The Blue world was now named "The Blue Star."
He read on to learn that they called the blue planet "The blue Star" because there was a planet to ship transmission interception caught by the sensor bouy describing the planet as such. "Then that truely makes you The Sliver Star does it not?" Matt said to himself. "What are you talking about?" Asked Kandace. Just then something came to TimeRunner's mind. "Were there any scans of lifesigns on either bodies?" He asked. "That information has not yet been fully compiled," answered Kandace. She crossed her legs as she tried to recall what she read in some of the files that came her way. "As I recall, the sensor buoy wasn't able to get any confirmed readings given how far it was and of the interference." That statement brought up a questionable look from the young man. "Interference? From what? Even if with the 666th's presence, temporal distortions and the planets gravitational flux, the buoy should be able to give a difinative confirmation of life."
"Well normally yes. That's what the deep temporal/space bouy's were designed for but there was too much EMP static. Our A/V techs are trying to clean up the readings without altering them too much."
" EMP? Last word was the 666th didn't know we had the drop on them. Why would they activate EMP if they don't know of our presence."
"They didn't activate EMP's. The EMP's are coming from the moon."
"The moon? A body like that shouldn't be capable of such."
"It would be if it's getting bombed to hell."
TimeRunner dropped his glass when he heard the news. He ejected the data chip from his cranium port and held it tightly in his hand. "Bombed? But why?" Even when he asked his question an icy lump was beginning to be felt in the pit of his stomach. Kandace stood up and walked to her friend. Seeing how troubled he became she put a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong? I mention that the moon is being bombarded with heavy weapons and you nearly lose it." She sets her glass down and makes to pick up TimeRunner's then adds. "Intel thinks that they might be terraforming the moon to make a base. Weather readings on the Blue Star show massive snow storms all over the planet..." she trails off when Kandace notices that TimeRunner is not listening to her. As she gets up with glass in hand to prepare to give TimeRunner a lecture on listening when talked to, he quickly grabs her hand that just picked up the glass he just dropped.
"It's happened," he said. "It's happening right now as we are talking." He looks into her face. "That's what she's talking about." Muttered TimeRunner. Kandace was about to ask what her friend was talking about when he unexpectly rose from his seat with a new vigor that she hadn't seen in him for awhile. "Have your people continue their A/V clean up. Doubletime. I need to speak with High Command. Also have Atheist Squadron put on possible deployment for space and ground theater."
"Whatever for?" Questions Kandace. "Do you mind telling me what's going on? We haven't fully accessed the situation sensory wise of the 666th location, why would you want to prep for military deployment?"
Matt made for the door and turned around just before leaving his quarters. "Because this temporal exploratory op just became a rescue mission."
# posted by TheTimeRunner : 3/26/2006 08:41:00 AM
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Epilogue
Epilogue
TimeLine: 216
Year: March 17th, 5639 A.D.
Location: StarQuest II, Unknown sector in space.
Area: TimeRunner's Quarters
All works on the blog "TimeFighters: The Lunar Litany are of the sole property of Matthew Sparks-Freemont and cannot be copied, written, transmitted in part or entirety, released or used for personal use/gain without the expressed written and oral consent of myself. Exhibition of these works without my oral and written concent is prohibited. "Lunar", characters and items related to "Lunar" are the property of Working Designs.
“A blue white world covered with ice and snow. Cold and hard as my heart, scarred and in pain, yet it’s not dead but only in hibernation. Lying in wait until the day comes for it to reborn. For the time to come when Althena takes her people home”.
“Althena?”
“A blue white world looking cold but its warm light baths a moon nearby. It’s moon. A world like no other. A world covered with life and created to house her people, until they can come home. A world like Earth, untouched by any evil made by modern man. Primitive and wild the world is, where people must slave and work to make their livings. Cattle to raise, houses to build, and children to care for. Despite all the hardships, the people are happy with their primitive lives. Watching their children grow, living in the untamed bliss of this beautiful world, worshiping their Goddess and learning the teachings she has given to her people.”
“They live hard, but they yet hardly live.”
“Their lives so simple as they slave in the camps. Building high tech weapons, mining ores, raping the land like how the soldiers rape their women.”
‘WHAT?!?!”
“The people are suffering now, their world enslaves.”
“Everywhere on this little moon.”
“Little moon.”
“Hanging in space is the beautiful moon, in orbit of the Blue Star. Yet it fades away into the darkness. A skull with the star of Satan on its forehead appears before the moon. Vampiric teeth, sharp and dripping with saliva bites down on it.”
“Blood leaks out from the wounds it makes on the moon. It bites down harder, making more blood stream out of the moon as if it were a heart. Like an attack dog on a human throat, the skull sinks its teeth into it. Blood spraying out staining the skull, and all the while as this happens, people were screaming. Yet amongst the yelling and dying, he heard her voice. Zeanna’s voice. Pleading for him to save her. And when he didn’t, she screamed. The scream that she made when Soldeed ended her life. Her scream mingled with those of the others dying on this moon. The death screams finally ended when the skull crushed the moon, bursting it like an overripe fruit in a display of sickly disgust.”
“NO! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!”
TimeRunner bolts up from his bed, body dripping with sweat. “Not again.” TimeRunner mutters to himself as he gets out of bed, legs wobbling. “The same dream. Why?” he asks himself. Without realizing it TimeRunner finds himself breathing hard, as if he was running a marathon. His heart pounding in his chest. He looks up to the time display on his nightstand which reads 03:34.
The day was March 17th.
“It is bad enough of what has happened to me, must I relive my own failure.” he says to himself.
“Zeanna.”
Ever since the end of Operation “Third Millennium” the Archangel Attack group was busy around the clock not only repairing, refitting and rearming the various ships and vessels of the fleet but also sending recon units on a search for the remains of the SIA’s 666th fleet. Just before the STF squadrons were able to take out the rest of the enemy fleet, they performed a massive time fold taking them away from the battle. Even though the fold was hap standard and even destroy some of their crippled ships, a good majority of the 666th fleet was able to escape the wrath of the STF squadrons.
It was a calculated gamble that not even the StarQuest II’s temporal prognostication engine could predict, let alone a young admiral. But even still it had to have been one of their worst case scenarios should ever the battle went wrong for them. So while recon and search teams were out searching all time and space for where the 666th fleet could have gone, all fleet personnel were working 18, sometimes 20, hours a day trying to get the Archangel fleet back into fighting condition.
Even though the operation was a success, the fleet was still under a war footing and on yellow alert status. Anyone not involved flying defensive screens for the fleet or manning the anti-spacecraft guns for possible sneak attacks was either doing search and retrieval for missing STF pilots or salvage of what was left of the capital ships lost in the operation. Not only that but repairs were underway on all fleet ships and refitting of all the STF’s so they could be ready for a hot scramble. Enlisted techs and Noncoms helping to get the fleet back to 100% working order including all officers not on duty were throwing themselves to help get the fleet on track. TimeRunner forgot how many missiles he helped load into the StarQuest II’s forward launch bays or the prep work needed to get all the STF’s manned and ready on the ship. It took mostly two whole days straight to get the StarQuest II to full operational war status, not counting how long it took to get replacements for the casualties and destroyed STFs and the reshuffling of the table of organization on equipment for Sonic, Shadow, Wolf, Maverick and Atheist squadrons.
For an organization that was able to fight a temporal war you’d think they could find ways to speed things up.
But as the days passed after the battle, the fleet slowly licked its wounds and prepared for the next operation that the Christian Coalition Defense Force High Command (CCDF:HC) would have them do next. Up until now mostly it was to remain on location and stand by for future orders. In the meantime most just prepared the fleet and got some most deserved sleep when the opportunity arose. Yes sadly when TimeRunner would try to sleep he was plagued by this dream. No matter what time he chose to sleep it would always come to him. Forcing him to try to work it off, assuming the dreams were just from stress. It was not easy to be an admiral, especially when one did not wish for the job in the first place.
TimeRunner tried to find every excuse in trying not to sleep. From helping out in the repair/training efforts or working on his papers that keep building up on the various sections he was in command of. But not even working him to exhaustion helped, for the dreams still came….
TimeRunner got out of bed and made his way toward the bathroom in his quarters, located on the officer’s deck on the StarQuest II. “I might as well get dressed.” He said to himself. Stepping in for a sonic shower, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He was glad this blood shot eyes were gone and he no longer had bags under his eyes. And despite all the wear and tear his body had gone through over the years (or centuries if one counted all the time travel his body clocked in) he looked fit and lean as ever. Being an admiral hadn’t dulled his reflexes for combat nor made his body grow soft with a desk job. The muscle definition was still there along with all the scars that the war saw fit to give him. The only odd part was his angular face was beginning to grow some stubble.
“Wasn’t there something about men in the bible not shaving?” TimeRunner thought. He quickly brushed the thought aside as he stepped in the shower to clean the sweat off his body.
After a shaving and putting on his standard issue unisex CCDF uniform, TimeRunner stepped out of his quarters and made his way toward the ship’s bridge.
He was glad that there were few crewmembers in the corridors this early in the morning, despite the ship’s compliment being fewer than 400,000. So the salutes he received from the lesser ranking officers and enlisted men were few and far between. He never liked being saluted as if he were actually superior to anyone, but out of proper protocol and good moral TimeRunner returned the salutes he received with as much enthusiasm as the ones that saluted him. Thankfully he reached to turbo lift without anymore incidents.
The trip was short and with that the lift doors opened to the command center of the StarQuest II. Inside techs and other support staff continued their task of keeping the ship at full alert. Bridge officers and techs bent over their stations, thankfully not noticing his arrival. Except for one…
“ADMIRAL ON DECK!!!” Bellowed the young Yeoman that happened to glace away from her station. Practically every officer and noncom quickly stood up and gave their salutes to their commander in chief. Some chairs could be heard fall over due to some being too quick in standing for the admiral. Some officers actually removed their caps from their heads.
As all of this was happening, TimeRunner was trying his best to recover from the start he received when the young woman announced his arrival. He wanted to tell them all to stop saluting and to give the young yeoman a good brisk talking to on not getting the jump on him, but as he gazed on all the people on the bridge, seeing them giving him the respect that his rank demanded, he realized that they were not doing it out of protocol. But out of the dedication and affection that they held for him. Of the man and the character that he shows to others. No doubt they heard of all that he contributed in the operation and its aftermath. Yet he wished to tell them that he was not worthy of their salutes. For there was not just him that did all what was to be done. The ones lost in the battle, and those that now tend to the wounded. Those that took part in the battle to end the evil’s of SIA and the ones that now perform their duties to make it safe for not only Christianity to survive but all of humanity as well.
In TimeRunner’s eye, everyone that came back from the battle deserved a metal and not just those that performed beyond the call of duty. It was he that should be saluting them, for their dedication and courage to do what he thought was the right course of action. To actually think him a leader was something that he knew he was not worthy of.
“And that is why they salute,” TimeRunner thought. “Because they know what I think of them.” As he returned their salutes he swore that he would do his best not to let them down.
“As you were people, we can’t all go saluting every hard case that comes on the bridge.” Said a snide voice. The bridge crew began to return to their duties as Admiral Wilkins XVI, captain of the StarQuest II, arose from her command chair.
TimeRunner could not help but smile at the sight of his onetime teacher in the Alasram fighting arts. Every bit of an admiral, she wore the standard CCDF uniform like his and was thankful that she did not wear her traditional alasram fighting alien dress. She was a little under TimeRunner’s height by only two inches to his 6 foot height with dark shoulder length that she wore loose. Her face was one that could be stern the one moment but lovely the next. TimeRunner approached Kandace and gave her a crisp salute as was expected of him from the ones around him.
Kandace returned the salute and with her brown eyes made contact with his.
“Admiral Wilkins.”
“Admiral Matt TimeRunner.”
Matt found that address odd as they finished saluting.
“How are you Matt, it is good to see you in one piece. After hearing the charge that you led I am surprised you are still alive.” Kandace said.
“The same could be said about you my dear but God has seen fit that we live to fight another day.” Matt responded.
“Indeed.” Was all that she would say.
“Admiral Wilkins.” Spoke a voice from the lower command deck of the bridge. Wilkins walked over toward the balcony of the upper deck to view to the lower levels of the command center.
“What is it Mr. Pims?” asked Kandace. Captain Pims, second in command of SQII, finished monitoring a support tech’s screen before bringing his full attention to his commander. He was a man of average height for one of 34 years. Yet he basically fit the profile of mostly all that served aboard the StarQuest II with the exception of him being of black decent, hair cut short and uniform fitting snuggly on his body. He was assigned as Kandace’s second when Delilah Lillie resigned her commission to help format a new branch in the CCDF: Missionary Corp. Even though at times she and Prim’s never saw eye to eye on much, he was still a competent commander in his own right and a fairly decent officer when it came to battle.
“Sir, the fleet reports that they are mostly done with the recovery and salvage procedures. We should be getting the complete figures within the hour.”
“Very good Prims, I’ll take them in my relax room with TimeRunner. You’re in command until I return.” Kandace answered. She turned back to her friend. “Care for something to eat? We can while I wait for the fleet status report to arrive.”
As Matt came to think of it, he could not remember the last time when he had something to eat. “If that is okay my dear, I do not wish to be a burden.” Matt said. Kandace eyebrows beetle as she held her arms akimbo. “Not wishing to be a burden? May I ask why you came up here then?
“I just wanted to stretch my legs a bit and see what the situation is is all.”
“Can’t sleep huh?”
“Well, yes but…”
“Then we can overlook the figures together while we have something to eat.”
With that, Kandace made her way to her relax room. The StarQuest’s command set up was somewhat of a two story affair with in a confines of a room with was roughly the size of a half by half football field. The upper command deck was where the captain sat along with the tactical, communication, sensor and astronavigation stations. The upper deck was small compared to the more gargantuan lower deck which housed not only the second in command but the helms control, support systems, the ever so important temporal prognostication engine, threat assimilation stations and gunnery command center. In front of both of the decks was the view screen that practically took up the whole wall. Capable to project images including magnifications of 400% and screen within screen capabilities with just a punch of a command code from any of the stations within the command center.
The StarQuest II’s bridge was not as compact or as capable of all the functions that the original could do but it was the best the CCDF could do to mimic the first ship to be named StarQuest. But the good thing with the new ship was that instead of there being just one lift there were three and one could walk down to the lower deck from the sides.
Besides the major difference between the two is that the StarQuest II was built with human technology unlike the more alien retrofitted StarQuest I.
Matt followed Kandace into her relax room and sat down on the sofa that sat nearby a view port. He could see the last of the salvage ships depart from the CCDF New King James, which floated aimlessly out into space. It was one of the first capital ships to fall during the operation. As standard procedure, what was left would remain derelict and later destroyed by well placed mines planted by the salvage teams when the fleet has moved to a safe distance. Matt could not help but wonder what the final moments were like before the ship became “zero tolerant”.
“Earth to Matt, Hello! Please relay your time/space coordinates.” Kandace yelled, snapping Matt out of his musings.
“What? Did I miss something?” he asked.
“I was just wondering if you wanted your usual, I have the galley on the line and the chief says he can have it delivered,”
Before Matt could object, Kandace cut him off, “And don’t give me that “abusing powers” drek, that is how I eat most of the time now. Like I have time to tear myself away for this ship.”
“Time” Matt thought.
“Why can’t you just let Prims have control for awhile then?”
“I do but I would prefer to stay nearby when I’m on duty.”
“Well if you insist my dear, I will have my usual. And ask them if it is possible if they can bring up a bottle of the bittersweet elixir of life.”
Kandace gave a mockingly shocked look as she shut off her comlink. “Why Mr. T.R, I did not know you indulged this early in the morning.”
“It’s not what you think my dear; it’s my special code to the galley for my soda drink, Jolt.”
“I know silly, it’s on its way along with our food.”
Kandace got up from her desk, where she called in the order, and sat with Matt on the sofa. “But still it’s too early in the morning to be drinking such a caffenated drink.”
Matt exhaled and looked out into space, seeing the remaining ships of Archangel Fleet form up on their leader. “Like I told you, I can’t sleep. I might as well stay up then.”
“Matt, I’ve seen the work reports on this ship. You have been almost everywhere trying to help get this ship back in order,” Kandace grab a PDA from her uniforms pocket and activated it. “I have you at least working 20 hr shifts for 2 days trying to get the combat units ready and at least 16 hours working on various odd jobs from loading ordinance to going EVA outside to mend hull breaches.
“What can I say, I’ve been busy.” Matt got up from the sofa and walked to the center of the room. “And why are you keeping tabs on me all of a sudden?” Kandace got up as well and put her hands on her hips.
“Well someone has to watch your back. It’s bad enough that I can’t do that while you’re outside going tooth and toe on the front with me sitting here doing my best to be something that I’m not.”
Matt was not beginning to like where this talk was leading. “Please my dear…”
“And STOP calling me ‘my dear’, just because you came back from the dead does not make you God.”
Matt was now getting angry. “And being an admiral does not give you the right to hold back information.”
“Dido.”
“What do you mean by that my de….Kandace?”
“Matt, what’s wrong with you?”
“What makes you think something’s wrong?”
“The same reason why you are wondering why I’m dragging all of this up.”
“Stress?”
“Try again Matt.”
Just then the turbo lift sounded and the doors opened. Chief came out with a tray of food that began to make Matt’s mouth salivate. “Admirals? Am I bothering?” asked chief, no doubt sensing the tension levels in the room.
Kandace walked over to her desk and placed the PDA down. “No, it is quite alright. You can place the food on my desk thank you.” Chief bowed theatrically and did just that. He then tossed Matt a small plastic bottle.
“Careful, tis carbonated.”
“Funny, I was just going to tell you the same thing Chief.”
“Very funny admiral.”
With that said, Chief took his leave the way he came. Matt looked at the food steaming on the desk. Sure enough there was a plate of broccoli beef and a bowl of fried rise. Next to it was a plate of lamb chops, veggies with mashed potatoes and gravy. The delectable aroma wafted thru the room.
Matt looked down to his bottle drink and gave Kandace a once over.
“It would serve you right if I opened this on you my dear.”
“Now that would be childish and not becoming of an admiral Matt.”
“Let’s eat.”
Matt walked over and took the tray of food to the small table adjacent of the sofa. “Are you sure you are okay Matt?” Kandace asked.
“….”
“Well?”
“…”
“Will you stop placing the food out and look at me?”
Matt turned around to look at his friend. Even after all their years together she looked as striking as ever. She was slim and full bodied thru her rigorous workout sessions, and of genetics. Some called her athletic and others called her a knockout. But despite all that they have gone thru over the years and centuries all he saw in her was his teacher.
His comrade.
His friend.
“Well, Kandace….”
Just then, the comlink on Kandace’s desk sounds. She walks over and presses the answer stud.
“This is Kandace.”
“Admiral, this is Prims. We just received the final numbers. Shall I transmit them to your monitor?”
“If you would Mr. Prims. And thank you.”
Kandace cut the connection and glanced at Matt. “I guess we can chat later about our personal problems. Let’s get some work done.
And with that the two admirals began to sift thru all the information gained from the operation. They sat down and ate as they replayed every aspect of the battle from the monitors at their disposal, Kandace with her laptop and Matt with the built-in wall monitor. From all that was revealed by the numbers it appeared that despite the 45% prediction from the ship’s prognostication engine on the fleet being destroyed, in actuality it showed that things worked out far better than most of the CCDF analysts planned. The space tech fighters proved to be very effective in the z-gee theatre of deep space and according to analysts in the fleet the loss of the capital ships and light cruisers was acceptable.
“I never liked that in those reports Kandace,” Matt said as he finished the last calculations of the number’s report and took a pull from his drink. “It makes all of the loss and dying like nothing more than someone’s sad idea of a videogame.”
Kandace finished cutting a piece of meat from her lamb chop and made a note on yet another PDA. “What do you expect Matt, which is why they are called analysis reports. They don’t cover the personal aspect of the battle. Just the numbers. It’s not their fault that the numbers are too analytical.”
“But still, 342 estimated loss of life per capital ship. Kandace, we lost over 2 dozen capital ships. And that is just estimated losses. ESTIMATED.”
“Well if it makes you feel happy, those ships have a crew complimate of 650.” Kandace remarked.
“So basically we lost over half the crew in each capital ship.” Matt got up from the table and walked back to the view port. “Kandace, why are you not taking this hard? We lost people. People that we can’t get back. Despite what we can accomplish with time travel.”
“We are at war Matt, and people die in war. It’s something you have to expect. For you can’t save everyone.”
“I know. But it still bugs me my dear.”
“It bugs all of us Matt.”
Kandace got up from the table and joined Matt at the view port. “You’re the last person I expected to get bugged by this Matt. More so when you knowingly violate the temporal accords.”
Matt could not help but look over toward Kandace. “I was wondering when you would bring that up.”
Kandace just shook her head. “Like I said, I thought you were the last person to let things bug you. Especially since you were part of the group that wrote the accords.”
The Temporal Accords of Timeline 423 were enacted in the year 2025 for all organizations that had access to time travel technology. It basically placed a ban of any research or development of temporal weaponry. Time travel was tricky enough to control let alone harness. It was uanoumsly voted on by the old CCDF plenipotentiary council since temporal weapons were so erratic and practically impossible to predict on what ramifications the weapon would do in uncontrolled conditions. It was rumored that the eikanto government in timeline 211 tried to create such weapons before the accords became enacted. It is interesting to note that when timeline 211 mysteriously fell apart it was around the same time when the CCDF plenipotentiary council came to the TimeRunner and the TimeFighters for help in writing the guidelines for the Temporal Accords.
“The old CCDF council is a memory Kandace as is the temporal accords. It was only a matter of time before Soldeed and the SIA would begin to use them against us. You know this as much as I my dear. The ship’s prognostication engine said as such.”
Kandace placed her hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Just because that fancy time predictor says such things does not mean that it can happen. If my mind serves well, I think the probably factor was just only 58%.” Matt looked back out in to space. “Even still, thanks to the tretaory of that mole in Atheist squadron, we had no choice but to launch those temporal torpedoes. The engine said that the only way to counter balance the situation for it to work in our favor was to do something rash,”
“That is why I decided to launch Kandace. That is why I ordered the capital ships to run for it when the cruisers were called in. So just be glad we caught the guys sabotage before any real damage became of the StarQuest or that he never found out about the torpedo project.”
Kandace took her hand off of Matt’s shoulder. “Now who’s the one keeping information to himself?” Kandace said.
Matt walked back to the wall monitor and zeroed it. “I did what I had to do and I have to live with that. I am just glad that the torpedoes did not collapse this timeline, or destroy both fleets.” He turned to look at Kandace again. “I did what I thought was right, despite what the High Command will say when they get wind of this.”
“Matt, I’m not questioning your actions or the reason why you kept this secret from all of us. I’m just surprised you could get away with violating CCDF mandates and protocols in my fleet.”
“I can be tricky at times my dear.”
“So I have seen. Do you mind telling me why you decided to armor up and join the STF battle group during the operation?”
“Is that what you meant about me keeping information from you my dear?”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Sorry.”
“Now answer the question.”
“What question?”
“Don’t get cute with me mister.”
“Yes mommy.”
“Don’t start that either.”
“Then stop acting like that.”
Kandace began to walk toward Matt menacingly. “Damnit, why didn’t you tell me that you were going out there. You can’t just risk your life like that. You’re an admiral, not some hotshot flight armor power suit jock anymore.”
Matt leaned up against the wall and exhaled again. “And now we get to the heart of the matter don’t we my dear,” He decided that if he was not going to get grilled over the temporal accords then it was going to be about this. “I work far more effectively out in the field, not in some situation room aboard your ship.”
“Then why not use your command ship, the Time Jumper. It’s small enough to be able to tangle with a daemon squadron.”
“Kandace we have been over this, I won’t risk people to situations that I have no control over. I will not be responsible if they die under my command.”
“But you’re an admiral!”
“Against my will.”
“That’s not my point Matt.”
“Then what is it my dear?
Kandace was face to face with TimeRunner now. Practically nose to nose. “My point is you no longer have the ability to just act on your own discursion. You have a command now. You have people underneath you. People that you are responsible for. And no matter how you want things to be like it was before the TimeFighers disbanded, no matter how much you wish to still be a lieutenant, it does not change matters. You are what you are.”
“Even if it means me dying from the inside my dear?”
“Better that than you dying out there Matt.”
“And who says that I will.”
Kandace looked into Matt’s eyes yet again, and then walked back toward her desk.
“Because I am not out there with you that’s why.” And with that, she sat down in her chair. Matt looked at her as if she grew a second head. “Is that the reason why you are keeping tabs on me my dear? Are you worried that I am out to kill myself.”
“It’s like I said Matt, just because you came back from the dead does not mean you are God.”
“I’m surprised you did not say Jesus back there.”
“I know we are to strive to be like him but I won’t go there with you.”
“WWJD Kandace.”
“Spare me.”
Matt laughed and made his way back toward the sofa. “You miss it don’t you Kandace. Going out into battle and fighting the good fight. Flying around in your own FAPS unit against the enemy. Like the old times.”
Kandace averted her gaze from him. “I do at times, but I now have higher responsibilities. I have the Archangel Fleet to command. I can’t go out there no matter how much I want to,” She got up from her desk and joined Matt on the sofa.
“I’ve woken up Matt, why don’t you.”
“Kandace, what brought all this on?”
“Brought what?
“You all of a sudden become concerned for me my dear.”
“You don’t know what day it is don’t you?”
Matt froze.
“Is that the reason why you are trying to work yourself ragged Matt? As a ways to forget?”
Matt did not say a word.
“It’s the 17th Matt. Let Zeanna go.”
“I know what day it is.”
“It’s not a pleasant day for you is it?”
“March 17th is never a good day for me Kandace.”
Kandace then locked her gaze to TimeRunners again. “You can’t let her death get to you Matt. You should put it behind you.”
Matt looked back at her with as much scrutiny as he could muster. “I know Kandace, I know.”
Princess Zeanna Col’she of the Monarchy Alliance of timeframe 589 was Matt’s second in command of the elite time travel force, The TimeFighters, when he and his friends from Earth got mixed up in the world of time travel and adventure. At first they were nothing more than a time line fix-it operation, doing all they could to stopping temporal mistakes that occurred and did their best to capture one of the Monarchy Alliance’s most wanted criminals: The renegade scientist Soldeed Vain, Destroyer of Arphelag and murderer of the Monarchy Alliance’s Queen , Zeanna’s mother.
It was Zeanna that came to Matt and his friends and asked them to help her rid time of this evil enemy. It was Zeanna that created the TimePalm, a time machine that fit in the palm of one’s hand, which made time travel possible. It was Zeanna that came to rely on Matt as her friend. The one that comforted her when her mother was killed. He was her confidant, her commander, her best friend.
And he failed her on that March 17th.
Failed her…
Matt TimeRunner got up from the sofa and made his way to the view port yet again. He did not wish to speak about his situation to Kandace but he knew that she had figured him out all along.
“It has been a long time since I actually took the time to gaze out at the stars Kandace my dear. Ever since she died I’ve never taken the pleasure.”
“Matt, why do you torture yourself. You know you did all that you could to save her.” Kandace got off the sofa and stood behind her friend.
“It was all that you could do for her my friend. No one doubts that.”
He continued to look out into space. “I don’t know Kandace. Maybe if I met you sooner you could’ve taught me the Alasram Arts, trained me to move faster, think smarter, or carried more firepower into Soldeed’s gauntlet. I don’t know. If I was only lighter on my feet that day. I could’ve saved her.”
“But you didn’t Matt. Just let it go.”
Kandace wrapper her arms around Matt’s middle, pressing herself into his back. “You’re having those dreams again aren’t you?” Matt made no response to her question or to the closeness she now shared with him.
“You shouldn’t tear yourself up like this. I don’t like to see my friends suffer.”
“I’m not suffering Kandace. I’m dealing with it in my own way.”
“Letting dreams plague you that you wish not to sleep.”
“Just keep me busy and in combat and I’ll manage my dear.”
“But you can’t do everything. You’re not a superhero.”
“Perhaps if I was, I could’ve saved her Kandace.”
She let go of him with that remark and walked back to the sofa. “Matt, you can always tell me if anything is bothering you.”
She sits down and pats the area nearby her. “Please Matt.”
Matt turned from his view of the stars. “And if I don’t Kandace.”
She gave him her best concerned expression. “Please talk to me Matt. Not as your ally or your comrade or your teacher. But as your friend.”
He was not sure what made him do what he did that moment. But he was thinking that the “please” brought him to his senses.
“You know of the dreams I have right?” Matt asked.
Kandace nodded.
“Well my dear, there is something odd about the recent dreams I’ve been having,” he sat down beside his friend and after several restarts and hemming and hawing, Matt told her about the dream. He told her that it was not just Zeanna’s death that kept haunting his dreams these past days after the operation. That it was in fact something new. Something that he could not explain let alone understand.
A blue, white world.
Althena.
A world blessed with great beauty.
The skull.
Zeanna’s voice.
The dying.
Thru it all, Kandace listened intently on Matt’s dream. Only speaking when she wanted something clarified. She found all of this interesting yet did not cross the dream out as just battle fatigue. There was a reason why her friend was suddenly not just having the usual dream about his dear friend, but another about a world and a people that he swears he knows nothing about.
After all was said, Kandace got up from her seat and paced the room. “Matt I doubt that this is just some fever dream. Or the fact of the loss you see fit to carry with you like a bag on your back,” she then turns around to face Matt who still sits on the sofa.
“Did you run the name Althena thru the ships library?”
Matt then got up and recovered his drink that he left on the table. “Yes Kandace that was the first thing I did when I awoke from the first dream. All that the libraries found on the name was some Greek goddess of wisdom in Earth’s late past. But even the actual Greek goddess name was “Athena”, not Althena.”
Matt took another pull from his drink and settled down back on the sofa. “I also did a cross check of the various planets cataloged by not only the old CCDF but by LORIS during the old TimeLine explorations project. There are some that match the blue planet covered with snow but they don’t have satellites orbiting them.”
Kandace sat back down with Matt as he took another drink. “And from what I heard about this moon, it comes no where near anything that I know of in the planetary registry.” Kandace said.
“I know that Kandace. And that is what bugs me the most. There is something about this dream that makes it more than just a dream,”
“I just wish I knew why this dream is mingling itself with Zeanna.” Matt made a frustrating sound as he got up from the sofa again. “I’m practically racking my brain over this. I can’t get any sleep over it no matter how hard I work myself to make me exhausted enough to just go out like a night. It still comes to me Kandace. And I don’t know the faintest why.”
Kandace walked back to Matt and place her hands on his shoulders. “You are my friend,” she said in a soothing voice. “And if someone should hear about this dream they would think you are in need of some counseling,”
“But I know you and your not the time to let the stress of the situation to cause you to have strange dreams of worlds dying, I’ve trained you better than that,”
Matt looked away when she said all of this.
“As much as I have been praying for you to let go and let God handle your loss over Zeanna, I can’t understand why you would be having this dream either. But there has to be some meaning to it.”
“Thanks for understanding my dear. You are indeed a true friend.” Matt said.
“I know I am, just be glad I’m here for you. You big jerk.”
Kandace then slugged him in the arm.
“But there is one thing I can do for you,” Kandace said. “I can search the Alasram records for such a world as you speak of. Some of their planetary star charts go back supposedly before the creation of your earth.”
“Thanks Kandace, but I’m not sure that even they will have what I am looking for.” Matt said as he threw away his empty bottle in the nearby trash recycler. Just then Kandace’s comlink sounded on her desk again. “What is it?” she said when she hit the answer stud.
“Sorry to disturb you Admiral, this is Prims again. We are getting a priority one transmission from one of our recon ships in hyperspace. It’s Captain Han Xell of Atheist Squadron.”
“It’s one of your spitfires TimeRunner.” Kandace said.
Matt only shrugged. “Your guess is good as mine on why he would be calling us.” Kandace gave it some thought. “You can patch in here Prims.”
“I’m sorry admiral but I can’t do that. He says he will only speak with Admiral TimeRunner.”
“Tell the captain that TimeRunner is here with me.”
There was a brief pause before Prims spoke again. “Sorry admiral but he is still resistant.”
Kandace made a frustrating sound as she hit he pause button on her comlink. “There as untrusting as you are about the High Command aren’t they?” Matt only again gave a shrug. “What do you expect when the HC won’t allow them to change their name.” Matt shot back. Kandace unpaused the comlink. “Tell the captain that we are on our way to the bridge, have him stand by.”
“Understood admiral.”
Kandace then shut down the comlink. “Well Matt, shall we see what Captain Xell can only tell you in person.”
They then stepped out of the relax room where once again the yeoman on duty announced their arrive making both admirals to speak in unison, “As you were.” Prims immediately approached Kandace. “Admiral.” He saluted.
“What’s the situation?” Kandace asked.
“Well sir, we just received the transmission only a few seconds ago. From what we can make out it comes from the hyperspace. Other than that I don’t know much else. Xell was quite insistent in not saying anything else until he saw the Admiral TimeRunner.
“Then let’s not keep the good man waiting.” Matt said as he walked toward the balcony. “Can you put the captain on the forward screen?” he asked the com tech on station. With a nod the young comtech entered her code in the console and called up the proper command. “I have him online, five by five sirs.” With a flash of the screen the image of Han Xell came up. He was a man in his upper twenties with the look of a roguish character that not even the STF’s helmet could hide. Where as TimeRunner’s face was angular, Xells was set in delicate features that almost gave him a feline look. He was practically a walking poster boy for perfect WASP breeding Matt thought.
“Admiral TimeRunner,” began Xell. “Is it safe to say that this connection is secure?”
Matt looked at the comtech to confirm if the line was as it was. She nodded. “Go ahead Xell, your safe to talk.” Matt said.
“Thank you Admiral. I am pleased to inform you that I have found the remains of the 666th fleet.” Just then another commo tone sounded. Kandace immediately took the call as Xell continued with is findings. “From what I was able to scan before they got suspicious, it would appear that they have orbited themselves around a planet and are at best trying to make repairs to their ships.”
“Are you sure that what you saw was the remains of the 666th?” Matt asked? “It’s no doubt sir, I was even able to get some pictures before I had to bug out. I’m prepared to transmit them if you so wish admiral.”
“Hold that thought captain,” Kandace interrupted. “Matt, I just received a priority one transmission from CCDF High Command. Something big is going on. Reports are coming in that the SIA is beginning to strip their fleet garrisons from all their occupied Timeframes. Confirmed sightings are now coming in that SIA installations are being stripped of their planetary fleets. The 216th, 69th and 13th SIA space fleets are now down to an estimated 13%. Smaller garrisons appear to be getting pulled from their timelines and are even abandoning some bases.”
Matt did his best not to looked shocked. “Are you saying that the SIA are practically falling back,” Matt asked. “Is it possible that we actually hurt them that badly in our operation?”
“High Command is not sure about that,” Kandace answered. “But what appears to be happening is that the SIA is pulling out of their least occupied timelines and stripping their heavily fortified occupied timelines. As to what purpose is beyond them.”
“Do you think they are planning a new offensive?” Matt asked. “I am not sure,” Kandace answered. “But I’m putting Archangel Fleet on red alert status.”
“HOLY CRAP!!!!”
Everyone on the bridge jumped when Han yelled.
Matt and Kandace turned their attention back to Han. “What’s going on captain?” Matt asked.
“Your guess is beyond me sir, but the sensor buoy I left behind in that timeline is now reading a massive time fold operation. I mean it’s off the chart!”
“Well that must explain where the missing ships are now?” Prims chimed in. “Han, can the buoy you left behind be accessed to transmit live data?” Matt asked.
“I can sure try sir. I’ll patch in the live feed for you.” And with that, Xell’s face on the screen was replaced with a static image of what appeared to be a planet.
“Can you magnify the image Xell; get us as close as you can get with it.” Matt asked.
The image began a slowly zoom in on the planet but by the time the buoy reached it’s maximum capacity, the image as so raw and dirty that it could be barely be made out.
“Clean that image out.” Kandace ordered the graphic image officer on station. The officer nodded and began to work on what he was given. Matt began to notice blinking lights appear in the outbalance of the image. “Xell what do you make of those blinks on the screen?” Matt asked. “Well admiral, I’m not specialist but I bet you dollars to demons that those are de-time folding ship coming out of hyperspace.” Xell answered.
“Sir, I ran the image thru the filtering system.” Said the graphics officer. “I’m putting it up on screen.”
The dirty image was then replace with a crystal clarity image of what Xell had stumbled upon. Many on the bridge gasped as the say what was happening before their eyes. One by one, ships began to appear from holes made in hyperspace and make orbit around their planet of choice. Small ships, large ships, recon ships, ships of various size and class were making their way from the void of hyperspace. No one had to run the images thru IFF taggers to know what kind of ships they were.
But while the bridge crew began to assimilate the new date and began to prepare the fleet for red alert, as per Admiral Wilkins orders, Matt could not help but stare at the image on the bridge screen. All the sounds around him seemed to fade away as he focused on what he saw. Ignoring the questions asked by Xell or the controlled chaos beginning to brew on deck. He ignored the SIA ships coming out of hyperspace and the onscreen IFF tags being placed on the ships by the threat computers. The ships themselves began to vanish from his mind as he realized what planet they were orbiting. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things and pinched himself to make sure that he was in no dream.
He wasn’t. For what he saw before him was as real as the new situation that fell before the Archangel Fleet.
A blue white planet……
And in orbit of the planet was a silver moon….
Both items that he saw in his dream………..
TimeLine: 216
Year: March 17th, 5639 A.D.
Location: StarQuest II, Unknown sector in space.
Area: TimeRunner's Quarters
All works on the blog "TimeFighters: The Lunar Litany are of the sole property of Matthew Sparks-Freemont and cannot be copied, written, transmitted in part or entirety, released or used for personal use/gain without the expressed written and oral consent of myself. Exhibition of these works without my oral and written concent is prohibited. "Lunar", characters and items related to "Lunar" are the property of Working Designs.
“A blue white world covered with ice and snow. Cold and hard as my heart, scarred and in pain, yet it’s not dead but only in hibernation. Lying in wait until the day comes for it to reborn. For the time to come when Althena takes her people home”.
“Althena?”
“A blue white world looking cold but its warm light baths a moon nearby. It’s moon. A world like no other. A world covered with life and created to house her people, until they can come home. A world like Earth, untouched by any evil made by modern man. Primitive and wild the world is, where people must slave and work to make their livings. Cattle to raise, houses to build, and children to care for. Despite all the hardships, the people are happy with their primitive lives. Watching their children grow, living in the untamed bliss of this beautiful world, worshiping their Goddess and learning the teachings she has given to her people.”
“They live hard, but they yet hardly live.”
“Their lives so simple as they slave in the camps. Building high tech weapons, mining ores, raping the land like how the soldiers rape their women.”
‘WHAT?!?!”
“The people are suffering now, their world enslaves.”
“Everywhere on this little moon.”
“Little moon.”
“Hanging in space is the beautiful moon, in orbit of the Blue Star. Yet it fades away into the darkness. A skull with the star of Satan on its forehead appears before the moon. Vampiric teeth, sharp and dripping with saliva bites down on it.”
“Blood leaks out from the wounds it makes on the moon. It bites down harder, making more blood stream out of the moon as if it were a heart. Like an attack dog on a human throat, the skull sinks its teeth into it. Blood spraying out staining the skull, and all the while as this happens, people were screaming. Yet amongst the yelling and dying, he heard her voice. Zeanna’s voice. Pleading for him to save her. And when he didn’t, she screamed. The scream that she made when Soldeed ended her life. Her scream mingled with those of the others dying on this moon. The death screams finally ended when the skull crushed the moon, bursting it like an overripe fruit in a display of sickly disgust.”
“NO! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!”
TimeRunner bolts up from his bed, body dripping with sweat. “Not again.” TimeRunner mutters to himself as he gets out of bed, legs wobbling. “The same dream. Why?” he asks himself. Without realizing it TimeRunner finds himself breathing hard, as if he was running a marathon. His heart pounding in his chest. He looks up to the time display on his nightstand which reads 03:34.
The day was March 17th.
“It is bad enough of what has happened to me, must I relive my own failure.” he says to himself.
“Zeanna.”
Ever since the end of Operation “Third Millennium” the Archangel Attack group was busy around the clock not only repairing, refitting and rearming the various ships and vessels of the fleet but also sending recon units on a search for the remains of the SIA’s 666th fleet. Just before the STF squadrons were able to take out the rest of the enemy fleet, they performed a massive time fold taking them away from the battle. Even though the fold was hap standard and even destroy some of their crippled ships, a good majority of the 666th fleet was able to escape the wrath of the STF squadrons.
It was a calculated gamble that not even the StarQuest II’s temporal prognostication engine could predict, let alone a young admiral. But even still it had to have been one of their worst case scenarios should ever the battle went wrong for them. So while recon and search teams were out searching all time and space for where the 666th fleet could have gone, all fleet personnel were working 18, sometimes 20, hours a day trying to get the Archangel fleet back into fighting condition.
Even though the operation was a success, the fleet was still under a war footing and on yellow alert status. Anyone not involved flying defensive screens for the fleet or manning the anti-spacecraft guns for possible sneak attacks was either doing search and retrieval for missing STF pilots or salvage of what was left of the capital ships lost in the operation. Not only that but repairs were underway on all fleet ships and refitting of all the STF’s so they could be ready for a hot scramble. Enlisted techs and Noncoms helping to get the fleet back to 100% working order including all officers not on duty were throwing themselves to help get the fleet on track. TimeRunner forgot how many missiles he helped load into the StarQuest II’s forward launch bays or the prep work needed to get all the STF’s manned and ready on the ship. It took mostly two whole days straight to get the StarQuest II to full operational war status, not counting how long it took to get replacements for the casualties and destroyed STFs and the reshuffling of the table of organization on equipment for Sonic, Shadow, Wolf, Maverick and Atheist squadrons.
For an organization that was able to fight a temporal war you’d think they could find ways to speed things up.
But as the days passed after the battle, the fleet slowly licked its wounds and prepared for the next operation that the Christian Coalition Defense Force High Command (CCDF:HC) would have them do next. Up until now mostly it was to remain on location and stand by for future orders. In the meantime most just prepared the fleet and got some most deserved sleep when the opportunity arose. Yes sadly when TimeRunner would try to sleep he was plagued by this dream. No matter what time he chose to sleep it would always come to him. Forcing him to try to work it off, assuming the dreams were just from stress. It was not easy to be an admiral, especially when one did not wish for the job in the first place.
TimeRunner tried to find every excuse in trying not to sleep. From helping out in the repair/training efforts or working on his papers that keep building up on the various sections he was in command of. But not even working him to exhaustion helped, for the dreams still came….
TimeRunner got out of bed and made his way toward the bathroom in his quarters, located on the officer’s deck on the StarQuest II. “I might as well get dressed.” He said to himself. Stepping in for a sonic shower, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He was glad this blood shot eyes were gone and he no longer had bags under his eyes. And despite all the wear and tear his body had gone through over the years (or centuries if one counted all the time travel his body clocked in) he looked fit and lean as ever. Being an admiral hadn’t dulled his reflexes for combat nor made his body grow soft with a desk job. The muscle definition was still there along with all the scars that the war saw fit to give him. The only odd part was his angular face was beginning to grow some stubble.
“Wasn’t there something about men in the bible not shaving?” TimeRunner thought. He quickly brushed the thought aside as he stepped in the shower to clean the sweat off his body.
After a shaving and putting on his standard issue unisex CCDF uniform, TimeRunner stepped out of his quarters and made his way toward the ship’s bridge.
He was glad that there were few crewmembers in the corridors this early in the morning, despite the ship’s compliment being fewer than 400,000. So the salutes he received from the lesser ranking officers and enlisted men were few and far between. He never liked being saluted as if he were actually superior to anyone, but out of proper protocol and good moral TimeRunner returned the salutes he received with as much enthusiasm as the ones that saluted him. Thankfully he reached to turbo lift without anymore incidents.
The trip was short and with that the lift doors opened to the command center of the StarQuest II. Inside techs and other support staff continued their task of keeping the ship at full alert. Bridge officers and techs bent over their stations, thankfully not noticing his arrival. Except for one…
“ADMIRAL ON DECK!!!” Bellowed the young Yeoman that happened to glace away from her station. Practically every officer and noncom quickly stood up and gave their salutes to their commander in chief. Some chairs could be heard fall over due to some being too quick in standing for the admiral. Some officers actually removed their caps from their heads.
As all of this was happening, TimeRunner was trying his best to recover from the start he received when the young woman announced his arrival. He wanted to tell them all to stop saluting and to give the young yeoman a good brisk talking to on not getting the jump on him, but as he gazed on all the people on the bridge, seeing them giving him the respect that his rank demanded, he realized that they were not doing it out of protocol. But out of the dedication and affection that they held for him. Of the man and the character that he shows to others. No doubt they heard of all that he contributed in the operation and its aftermath. Yet he wished to tell them that he was not worthy of their salutes. For there was not just him that did all what was to be done. The ones lost in the battle, and those that now tend to the wounded. Those that took part in the battle to end the evil’s of SIA and the ones that now perform their duties to make it safe for not only Christianity to survive but all of humanity as well.
In TimeRunner’s eye, everyone that came back from the battle deserved a metal and not just those that performed beyond the call of duty. It was he that should be saluting them, for their dedication and courage to do what he thought was the right course of action. To actually think him a leader was something that he knew he was not worthy of.
“And that is why they salute,” TimeRunner thought. “Because they know what I think of them.” As he returned their salutes he swore that he would do his best not to let them down.
“As you were people, we can’t all go saluting every hard case that comes on the bridge.” Said a snide voice. The bridge crew began to return to their duties as Admiral Wilkins XVI, captain of the StarQuest II, arose from her command chair.
TimeRunner could not help but smile at the sight of his onetime teacher in the Alasram fighting arts. Every bit of an admiral, she wore the standard CCDF uniform like his and was thankful that she did not wear her traditional alasram fighting alien dress. She was a little under TimeRunner’s height by only two inches to his 6 foot height with dark shoulder length that she wore loose. Her face was one that could be stern the one moment but lovely the next. TimeRunner approached Kandace and gave her a crisp salute as was expected of him from the ones around him.
Kandace returned the salute and with her brown eyes made contact with his.
“Admiral Wilkins.”
“Admiral Matt TimeRunner.”
Matt found that address odd as they finished saluting.
“How are you Matt, it is good to see you in one piece. After hearing the charge that you led I am surprised you are still alive.” Kandace said.
“The same could be said about you my dear but God has seen fit that we live to fight another day.” Matt responded.
“Indeed.” Was all that she would say.
“Admiral Wilkins.” Spoke a voice from the lower command deck of the bridge. Wilkins walked over toward the balcony of the upper deck to view to the lower levels of the command center.
“What is it Mr. Pims?” asked Kandace. Captain Pims, second in command of SQII, finished monitoring a support tech’s screen before bringing his full attention to his commander. He was a man of average height for one of 34 years. Yet he basically fit the profile of mostly all that served aboard the StarQuest II with the exception of him being of black decent, hair cut short and uniform fitting snuggly on his body. He was assigned as Kandace’s second when Delilah Lillie resigned her commission to help format a new branch in the CCDF: Missionary Corp. Even though at times she and Prim’s never saw eye to eye on much, he was still a competent commander in his own right and a fairly decent officer when it came to battle.
“Sir, the fleet reports that they are mostly done with the recovery and salvage procedures. We should be getting the complete figures within the hour.”
“Very good Prims, I’ll take them in my relax room with TimeRunner. You’re in command until I return.” Kandace answered. She turned back to her friend. “Care for something to eat? We can while I wait for the fleet status report to arrive.”
As Matt came to think of it, he could not remember the last time when he had something to eat. “If that is okay my dear, I do not wish to be a burden.” Matt said. Kandace eyebrows beetle as she held her arms akimbo. “Not wishing to be a burden? May I ask why you came up here then?
“I just wanted to stretch my legs a bit and see what the situation is is all.”
“Can’t sleep huh?”
“Well, yes but…”
“Then we can overlook the figures together while we have something to eat.”
With that, Kandace made her way to her relax room. The StarQuest’s command set up was somewhat of a two story affair with in a confines of a room with was roughly the size of a half by half football field. The upper command deck was where the captain sat along with the tactical, communication, sensor and astronavigation stations. The upper deck was small compared to the more gargantuan lower deck which housed not only the second in command but the helms control, support systems, the ever so important temporal prognostication engine, threat assimilation stations and gunnery command center. In front of both of the decks was the view screen that practically took up the whole wall. Capable to project images including magnifications of 400% and screen within screen capabilities with just a punch of a command code from any of the stations within the command center.
The StarQuest II’s bridge was not as compact or as capable of all the functions that the original could do but it was the best the CCDF could do to mimic the first ship to be named StarQuest. But the good thing with the new ship was that instead of there being just one lift there were three and one could walk down to the lower deck from the sides.
Besides the major difference between the two is that the StarQuest II was built with human technology unlike the more alien retrofitted StarQuest I.
Matt followed Kandace into her relax room and sat down on the sofa that sat nearby a view port. He could see the last of the salvage ships depart from the CCDF New King James, which floated aimlessly out into space. It was one of the first capital ships to fall during the operation. As standard procedure, what was left would remain derelict and later destroyed by well placed mines planted by the salvage teams when the fleet has moved to a safe distance. Matt could not help but wonder what the final moments were like before the ship became “zero tolerant”.
“Earth to Matt, Hello! Please relay your time/space coordinates.” Kandace yelled, snapping Matt out of his musings.
“What? Did I miss something?” he asked.
“I was just wondering if you wanted your usual, I have the galley on the line and the chief says he can have it delivered,”
Before Matt could object, Kandace cut him off, “And don’t give me that “abusing powers” drek, that is how I eat most of the time now. Like I have time to tear myself away for this ship.”
“Time” Matt thought.
“Why can’t you just let Prims have control for awhile then?”
“I do but I would prefer to stay nearby when I’m on duty.”
“Well if you insist my dear, I will have my usual. And ask them if it is possible if they can bring up a bottle of the bittersweet elixir of life.”
Kandace gave a mockingly shocked look as she shut off her comlink. “Why Mr. T.R, I did not know you indulged this early in the morning.”
“It’s not what you think my dear; it’s my special code to the galley for my soda drink, Jolt.”
“I know silly, it’s on its way along with our food.”
Kandace got up from her desk, where she called in the order, and sat with Matt on the sofa. “But still it’s too early in the morning to be drinking such a caffenated drink.”
Matt exhaled and looked out into space, seeing the remaining ships of Archangel Fleet form up on their leader. “Like I told you, I can’t sleep. I might as well stay up then.”
“Matt, I’ve seen the work reports on this ship. You have been almost everywhere trying to help get this ship back in order,” Kandace grab a PDA from her uniforms pocket and activated it. “I have you at least working 20 hr shifts for 2 days trying to get the combat units ready and at least 16 hours working on various odd jobs from loading ordinance to going EVA outside to mend hull breaches.
“What can I say, I’ve been busy.” Matt got up from the sofa and walked to the center of the room. “And why are you keeping tabs on me all of a sudden?” Kandace got up as well and put her hands on her hips.
“Well someone has to watch your back. It’s bad enough that I can’t do that while you’re outside going tooth and toe on the front with me sitting here doing my best to be something that I’m not.”
Matt was not beginning to like where this talk was leading. “Please my dear…”
“And STOP calling me ‘my dear’, just because you came back from the dead does not make you God.”
Matt was now getting angry. “And being an admiral does not give you the right to hold back information.”
“Dido.”
“What do you mean by that my de….Kandace?”
“Matt, what’s wrong with you?”
“What makes you think something’s wrong?”
“The same reason why you are wondering why I’m dragging all of this up.”
“Stress?”
“Try again Matt.”
Just then the turbo lift sounded and the doors opened. Chief came out with a tray of food that began to make Matt’s mouth salivate. “Admirals? Am I bothering?” asked chief, no doubt sensing the tension levels in the room.
Kandace walked over to her desk and placed the PDA down. “No, it is quite alright. You can place the food on my desk thank you.” Chief bowed theatrically and did just that. He then tossed Matt a small plastic bottle.
“Careful, tis carbonated.”
“Funny, I was just going to tell you the same thing Chief.”
“Very funny admiral.”
With that said, Chief took his leave the way he came. Matt looked at the food steaming on the desk. Sure enough there was a plate of broccoli beef and a bowl of fried rise. Next to it was a plate of lamb chops, veggies with mashed potatoes and gravy. The delectable aroma wafted thru the room.
Matt looked down to his bottle drink and gave Kandace a once over.
“It would serve you right if I opened this on you my dear.”
“Now that would be childish and not becoming of an admiral Matt.”
“Let’s eat.”
Matt walked over and took the tray of food to the small table adjacent of the sofa. “Are you sure you are okay Matt?” Kandace asked.
“….”
“Well?”
“…”
“Will you stop placing the food out and look at me?”
Matt turned around to look at his friend. Even after all their years together she looked as striking as ever. She was slim and full bodied thru her rigorous workout sessions, and of genetics. Some called her athletic and others called her a knockout. But despite all that they have gone thru over the years and centuries all he saw in her was his teacher.
His comrade.
His friend.
“Well, Kandace….”
Just then, the comlink on Kandace’s desk sounds. She walks over and presses the answer stud.
“This is Kandace.”
“Admiral, this is Prims. We just received the final numbers. Shall I transmit them to your monitor?”
“If you would Mr. Prims. And thank you.”
Kandace cut the connection and glanced at Matt. “I guess we can chat later about our personal problems. Let’s get some work done.
And with that the two admirals began to sift thru all the information gained from the operation. They sat down and ate as they replayed every aspect of the battle from the monitors at their disposal, Kandace with her laptop and Matt with the built-in wall monitor. From all that was revealed by the numbers it appeared that despite the 45% prediction from the ship’s prognostication engine on the fleet being destroyed, in actuality it showed that things worked out far better than most of the CCDF analysts planned. The space tech fighters proved to be very effective in the z-gee theatre of deep space and according to analysts in the fleet the loss of the capital ships and light cruisers was acceptable.
“I never liked that in those reports Kandace,” Matt said as he finished the last calculations of the number’s report and took a pull from his drink. “It makes all of the loss and dying like nothing more than someone’s sad idea of a videogame.”
Kandace finished cutting a piece of meat from her lamb chop and made a note on yet another PDA. “What do you expect Matt, which is why they are called analysis reports. They don’t cover the personal aspect of the battle. Just the numbers. It’s not their fault that the numbers are too analytical.”
“But still, 342 estimated loss of life per capital ship. Kandace, we lost over 2 dozen capital ships. And that is just estimated losses. ESTIMATED.”
“Well if it makes you feel happy, those ships have a crew complimate of 650.” Kandace remarked.
“So basically we lost over half the crew in each capital ship.” Matt got up from the table and walked back to the view port. “Kandace, why are you not taking this hard? We lost people. People that we can’t get back. Despite what we can accomplish with time travel.”
“We are at war Matt, and people die in war. It’s something you have to expect. For you can’t save everyone.”
“I know. But it still bugs me my dear.”
“It bugs all of us Matt.”
Kandace got up from the table and joined Matt at the view port. “You’re the last person I expected to get bugged by this Matt. More so when you knowingly violate the temporal accords.”
Matt could not help but look over toward Kandace. “I was wondering when you would bring that up.”
Kandace just shook her head. “Like I said, I thought you were the last person to let things bug you. Especially since you were part of the group that wrote the accords.”
The Temporal Accords of Timeline 423 were enacted in the year 2025 for all organizations that had access to time travel technology. It basically placed a ban of any research or development of temporal weaponry. Time travel was tricky enough to control let alone harness. It was uanoumsly voted on by the old CCDF plenipotentiary council since temporal weapons were so erratic and practically impossible to predict on what ramifications the weapon would do in uncontrolled conditions. It was rumored that the eikanto government in timeline 211 tried to create such weapons before the accords became enacted. It is interesting to note that when timeline 211 mysteriously fell apart it was around the same time when the CCDF plenipotentiary council came to the TimeRunner and the TimeFighters for help in writing the guidelines for the Temporal Accords.
“The old CCDF council is a memory Kandace as is the temporal accords. It was only a matter of time before Soldeed and the SIA would begin to use them against us. You know this as much as I my dear. The ship’s prognostication engine said as such.”
Kandace placed her hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Just because that fancy time predictor says such things does not mean that it can happen. If my mind serves well, I think the probably factor was just only 58%.” Matt looked back out in to space. “Even still, thanks to the tretaory of that mole in Atheist squadron, we had no choice but to launch those temporal torpedoes. The engine said that the only way to counter balance the situation for it to work in our favor was to do something rash,”
“That is why I decided to launch Kandace. That is why I ordered the capital ships to run for it when the cruisers were called in. So just be glad we caught the guys sabotage before any real damage became of the StarQuest or that he never found out about the torpedo project.”
Kandace took her hand off of Matt’s shoulder. “Now who’s the one keeping information to himself?” Kandace said.
Matt walked back to the wall monitor and zeroed it. “I did what I had to do and I have to live with that. I am just glad that the torpedoes did not collapse this timeline, or destroy both fleets.” He turned to look at Kandace again. “I did what I thought was right, despite what the High Command will say when they get wind of this.”
“Matt, I’m not questioning your actions or the reason why you kept this secret from all of us. I’m just surprised you could get away with violating CCDF mandates and protocols in my fleet.”
“I can be tricky at times my dear.”
“So I have seen. Do you mind telling me why you decided to armor up and join the STF battle group during the operation?”
“Is that what you meant about me keeping information from you my dear?”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Sorry.”
“Now answer the question.”
“What question?”
“Don’t get cute with me mister.”
“Yes mommy.”
“Don’t start that either.”
“Then stop acting like that.”
Kandace began to walk toward Matt menacingly. “Damnit, why didn’t you tell me that you were going out there. You can’t just risk your life like that. You’re an admiral, not some hotshot flight armor power suit jock anymore.”
Matt leaned up against the wall and exhaled again. “And now we get to the heart of the matter don’t we my dear,” He decided that if he was not going to get grilled over the temporal accords then it was going to be about this. “I work far more effectively out in the field, not in some situation room aboard your ship.”
“Then why not use your command ship, the Time Jumper. It’s small enough to be able to tangle with a daemon squadron.”
“Kandace we have been over this, I won’t risk people to situations that I have no control over. I will not be responsible if they die under my command.”
“But you’re an admiral!”
“Against my will.”
“That’s not my point Matt.”
“Then what is it my dear?
Kandace was face to face with TimeRunner now. Practically nose to nose. “My point is you no longer have the ability to just act on your own discursion. You have a command now. You have people underneath you. People that you are responsible for. And no matter how you want things to be like it was before the TimeFighers disbanded, no matter how much you wish to still be a lieutenant, it does not change matters. You are what you are.”
“Even if it means me dying from the inside my dear?”
“Better that than you dying out there Matt.”
“And who says that I will.”
Kandace looked into Matt’s eyes yet again, and then walked back toward her desk.
“Because I am not out there with you that’s why.” And with that, she sat down in her chair. Matt looked at her as if she grew a second head. “Is that the reason why you are keeping tabs on me my dear? Are you worried that I am out to kill myself.”
“It’s like I said Matt, just because you came back from the dead does not mean you are God.”
“I’m surprised you did not say Jesus back there.”
“I know we are to strive to be like him but I won’t go there with you.”
“WWJD Kandace.”
“Spare me.”
Matt laughed and made his way back toward the sofa. “You miss it don’t you Kandace. Going out into battle and fighting the good fight. Flying around in your own FAPS unit against the enemy. Like the old times.”
Kandace averted her gaze from him. “I do at times, but I now have higher responsibilities. I have the Archangel Fleet to command. I can’t go out there no matter how much I want to,” She got up from her desk and joined Matt on the sofa.
“I’ve woken up Matt, why don’t you.”
“Kandace, what brought all this on?”
“Brought what?
“You all of a sudden become concerned for me my dear.”
“You don’t know what day it is don’t you?”
Matt froze.
“Is that the reason why you are trying to work yourself ragged Matt? As a ways to forget?”
Matt did not say a word.
“It’s the 17th Matt. Let Zeanna go.”
“I know what day it is.”
“It’s not a pleasant day for you is it?”
“March 17th is never a good day for me Kandace.”
Kandace then locked her gaze to TimeRunners again. “You can’t let her death get to you Matt. You should put it behind you.”
Matt looked back at her with as much scrutiny as he could muster. “I know Kandace, I know.”
Princess Zeanna Col’she of the Monarchy Alliance of timeframe 589 was Matt’s second in command of the elite time travel force, The TimeFighters, when he and his friends from Earth got mixed up in the world of time travel and adventure. At first they were nothing more than a time line fix-it operation, doing all they could to stopping temporal mistakes that occurred and did their best to capture one of the Monarchy Alliance’s most wanted criminals: The renegade scientist Soldeed Vain, Destroyer of Arphelag and murderer of the Monarchy Alliance’s Queen , Zeanna’s mother.
It was Zeanna that came to Matt and his friends and asked them to help her rid time of this evil enemy. It was Zeanna that created the TimePalm, a time machine that fit in the palm of one’s hand, which made time travel possible. It was Zeanna that came to rely on Matt as her friend. The one that comforted her when her mother was killed. He was her confidant, her commander, her best friend.
And he failed her on that March 17th.
Failed her…
Matt TimeRunner got up from the sofa and made his way to the view port yet again. He did not wish to speak about his situation to Kandace but he knew that she had figured him out all along.
“It has been a long time since I actually took the time to gaze out at the stars Kandace my dear. Ever since she died I’ve never taken the pleasure.”
“Matt, why do you torture yourself. You know you did all that you could to save her.” Kandace got off the sofa and stood behind her friend.
“It was all that you could do for her my friend. No one doubts that.”
He continued to look out into space. “I don’t know Kandace. Maybe if I met you sooner you could’ve taught me the Alasram Arts, trained me to move faster, think smarter, or carried more firepower into Soldeed’s gauntlet. I don’t know. If I was only lighter on my feet that day. I could’ve saved her.”
“But you didn’t Matt. Just let it go.”
Kandace wrapper her arms around Matt’s middle, pressing herself into his back. “You’re having those dreams again aren’t you?” Matt made no response to her question or to the closeness she now shared with him.
“You shouldn’t tear yourself up like this. I don’t like to see my friends suffer.”
“I’m not suffering Kandace. I’m dealing with it in my own way.”
“Letting dreams plague you that you wish not to sleep.”
“Just keep me busy and in combat and I’ll manage my dear.”
“But you can’t do everything. You’re not a superhero.”
“Perhaps if I was, I could’ve saved her Kandace.”
She let go of him with that remark and walked back to the sofa. “Matt, you can always tell me if anything is bothering you.”
She sits down and pats the area nearby her. “Please Matt.”
Matt turned from his view of the stars. “And if I don’t Kandace.”
She gave him her best concerned expression. “Please talk to me Matt. Not as your ally or your comrade or your teacher. But as your friend.”
He was not sure what made him do what he did that moment. But he was thinking that the “please” brought him to his senses.
“You know of the dreams I have right?” Matt asked.
Kandace nodded.
“Well my dear, there is something odd about the recent dreams I’ve been having,” he sat down beside his friend and after several restarts and hemming and hawing, Matt told her about the dream. He told her that it was not just Zeanna’s death that kept haunting his dreams these past days after the operation. That it was in fact something new. Something that he could not explain let alone understand.
A blue, white world.
Althena.
A world blessed with great beauty.
The skull.
Zeanna’s voice.
The dying.
Thru it all, Kandace listened intently on Matt’s dream. Only speaking when she wanted something clarified. She found all of this interesting yet did not cross the dream out as just battle fatigue. There was a reason why her friend was suddenly not just having the usual dream about his dear friend, but another about a world and a people that he swears he knows nothing about.
After all was said, Kandace got up from her seat and paced the room. “Matt I doubt that this is just some fever dream. Or the fact of the loss you see fit to carry with you like a bag on your back,” she then turns around to face Matt who still sits on the sofa.
“Did you run the name Althena thru the ships library?”
Matt then got up and recovered his drink that he left on the table. “Yes Kandace that was the first thing I did when I awoke from the first dream. All that the libraries found on the name was some Greek goddess of wisdom in Earth’s late past. But even the actual Greek goddess name was “Athena”, not Althena.”
Matt took another pull from his drink and settled down back on the sofa. “I also did a cross check of the various planets cataloged by not only the old CCDF but by LORIS during the old TimeLine explorations project. There are some that match the blue planet covered with snow but they don’t have satellites orbiting them.”
Kandace sat back down with Matt as he took another drink. “And from what I heard about this moon, it comes no where near anything that I know of in the planetary registry.” Kandace said.
“I know that Kandace. And that is what bugs me the most. There is something about this dream that makes it more than just a dream,”
“I just wish I knew why this dream is mingling itself with Zeanna.” Matt made a frustrating sound as he got up from the sofa again. “I’m practically racking my brain over this. I can’t get any sleep over it no matter how hard I work myself to make me exhausted enough to just go out like a night. It still comes to me Kandace. And I don’t know the faintest why.”
Kandace walked back to Matt and place her hands on his shoulders. “You are my friend,” she said in a soothing voice. “And if someone should hear about this dream they would think you are in need of some counseling,”
“But I know you and your not the time to let the stress of the situation to cause you to have strange dreams of worlds dying, I’ve trained you better than that,”
Matt looked away when she said all of this.
“As much as I have been praying for you to let go and let God handle your loss over Zeanna, I can’t understand why you would be having this dream either. But there has to be some meaning to it.”
“Thanks for understanding my dear. You are indeed a true friend.” Matt said.
“I know I am, just be glad I’m here for you. You big jerk.”
Kandace then slugged him in the arm.
“But there is one thing I can do for you,” Kandace said. “I can search the Alasram records for such a world as you speak of. Some of their planetary star charts go back supposedly before the creation of your earth.”
“Thanks Kandace, but I’m not sure that even they will have what I am looking for.” Matt said as he threw away his empty bottle in the nearby trash recycler. Just then Kandace’s comlink sounded on her desk again. “What is it?” she said when she hit the answer stud.
“Sorry to disturb you Admiral, this is Prims again. We are getting a priority one transmission from one of our recon ships in hyperspace. It’s Captain Han Xell of Atheist Squadron.”
“It’s one of your spitfires TimeRunner.” Kandace said.
Matt only shrugged. “Your guess is good as mine on why he would be calling us.” Kandace gave it some thought. “You can patch in here Prims.”
“I’m sorry admiral but I can’t do that. He says he will only speak with Admiral TimeRunner.”
“Tell the captain that TimeRunner is here with me.”
There was a brief pause before Prims spoke again. “Sorry admiral but he is still resistant.”
Kandace made a frustrating sound as she hit he pause button on her comlink. “There as untrusting as you are about the High Command aren’t they?” Matt only again gave a shrug. “What do you expect when the HC won’t allow them to change their name.” Matt shot back. Kandace unpaused the comlink. “Tell the captain that we are on our way to the bridge, have him stand by.”
“Understood admiral.”
Kandace then shut down the comlink. “Well Matt, shall we see what Captain Xell can only tell you in person.”
They then stepped out of the relax room where once again the yeoman on duty announced their arrive making both admirals to speak in unison, “As you were.” Prims immediately approached Kandace. “Admiral.” He saluted.
“What’s the situation?” Kandace asked.
“Well sir, we just received the transmission only a few seconds ago. From what we can make out it comes from the hyperspace. Other than that I don’t know much else. Xell was quite insistent in not saying anything else until he saw the Admiral TimeRunner.
“Then let’s not keep the good man waiting.” Matt said as he walked toward the balcony. “Can you put the captain on the forward screen?” he asked the com tech on station. With a nod the young comtech entered her code in the console and called up the proper command. “I have him online, five by five sirs.” With a flash of the screen the image of Han Xell came up. He was a man in his upper twenties with the look of a roguish character that not even the STF’s helmet could hide. Where as TimeRunner’s face was angular, Xells was set in delicate features that almost gave him a feline look. He was practically a walking poster boy for perfect WASP breeding Matt thought.
“Admiral TimeRunner,” began Xell. “Is it safe to say that this connection is secure?”
Matt looked at the comtech to confirm if the line was as it was. She nodded. “Go ahead Xell, your safe to talk.” Matt said.
“Thank you Admiral. I am pleased to inform you that I have found the remains of the 666th fleet.” Just then another commo tone sounded. Kandace immediately took the call as Xell continued with is findings. “From what I was able to scan before they got suspicious, it would appear that they have orbited themselves around a planet and are at best trying to make repairs to their ships.”
“Are you sure that what you saw was the remains of the 666th?” Matt asked? “It’s no doubt sir, I was even able to get some pictures before I had to bug out. I’m prepared to transmit them if you so wish admiral.”
“Hold that thought captain,” Kandace interrupted. “Matt, I just received a priority one transmission from CCDF High Command. Something big is going on. Reports are coming in that the SIA is beginning to strip their fleet garrisons from all their occupied Timeframes. Confirmed sightings are now coming in that SIA installations are being stripped of their planetary fleets. The 216th, 69th and 13th SIA space fleets are now down to an estimated 13%. Smaller garrisons appear to be getting pulled from their timelines and are even abandoning some bases.”
Matt did his best not to looked shocked. “Are you saying that the SIA are practically falling back,” Matt asked. “Is it possible that we actually hurt them that badly in our operation?”
“High Command is not sure about that,” Kandace answered. “But what appears to be happening is that the SIA is pulling out of their least occupied timelines and stripping their heavily fortified occupied timelines. As to what purpose is beyond them.”
“Do you think they are planning a new offensive?” Matt asked. “I am not sure,” Kandace answered. “But I’m putting Archangel Fleet on red alert status.”
“HOLY CRAP!!!!”
Everyone on the bridge jumped when Han yelled.
Matt and Kandace turned their attention back to Han. “What’s going on captain?” Matt asked.
“Your guess is beyond me sir, but the sensor buoy I left behind in that timeline is now reading a massive time fold operation. I mean it’s off the chart!”
“Well that must explain where the missing ships are now?” Prims chimed in. “Han, can the buoy you left behind be accessed to transmit live data?” Matt asked.
“I can sure try sir. I’ll patch in the live feed for you.” And with that, Xell’s face on the screen was replaced with a static image of what appeared to be a planet.
“Can you magnify the image Xell; get us as close as you can get with it.” Matt asked.
The image began a slowly zoom in on the planet but by the time the buoy reached it’s maximum capacity, the image as so raw and dirty that it could be barely be made out.
“Clean that image out.” Kandace ordered the graphic image officer on station. The officer nodded and began to work on what he was given. Matt began to notice blinking lights appear in the outbalance of the image. “Xell what do you make of those blinks on the screen?” Matt asked. “Well admiral, I’m not specialist but I bet you dollars to demons that those are de-time folding ship coming out of hyperspace.” Xell answered.
“Sir, I ran the image thru the filtering system.” Said the graphics officer. “I’m putting it up on screen.”
The dirty image was then replace with a crystal clarity image of what Xell had stumbled upon. Many on the bridge gasped as the say what was happening before their eyes. One by one, ships began to appear from holes made in hyperspace and make orbit around their planet of choice. Small ships, large ships, recon ships, ships of various size and class were making their way from the void of hyperspace. No one had to run the images thru IFF taggers to know what kind of ships they were.
But while the bridge crew began to assimilate the new date and began to prepare the fleet for red alert, as per Admiral Wilkins orders, Matt could not help but stare at the image on the bridge screen. All the sounds around him seemed to fade away as he focused on what he saw. Ignoring the questions asked by Xell or the controlled chaos beginning to brew on deck. He ignored the SIA ships coming out of hyperspace and the onscreen IFF tags being placed on the ships by the threat computers. The ships themselves began to vanish from his mind as he realized what planet they were orbiting. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things and pinched himself to make sure that he was in no dream.
He wasn’t. For what he saw before him was as real as the new situation that fell before the Archangel Fleet.
A blue white planet……
And in orbit of the planet was a silver moon….
Both items that he saw in his dream………..
# posted by TheTimeRunner : 11/10/2005 11:37:00 AM
