Fanfiction by Rune

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By Rune, starstrike@softhome.net

"Xenogers: New Gospel"

Chapter VI, Section 4

Perhaps he was actually there. Perhaps I saw nothing. A year and a half
ago, I would have sworn to the deepest depths of my heart that Fei had stood
upon that rise, and had saved my life. I can no longer believe that... for
I have lost count of the number of times I have seen his shade in the past
year. Even in his absence, it seems that he watches over me... a guardian
that smiles upon me, as if to give me hope. Not a day went by where I
didn't see him out of the corner of my eye, or I awoke, reaching for him
beside me.

It was the day when I looking the mirror, and saw him behind me, that I
realized that I couldn't deal with his absence, the loss of the one man I
will ever love in my life. A loss, that I believe that I have caused by my
own actions. And so I threw myself into my work, absorbing myself to the
point where I noticed nothing else, working myself to the point where I
would fall into a dreamless sleep. It was the only thing that could stop
the visions... it was the only way to keep the dreams at bay...

And now has that shade returned? Can I not embrace any of my former life,
without embracing the pain of his loss?

-Elyham

"Elly, Elly, what is wrong?" Shitan held onto her, feeling the sobs rack
her body. She didn't respond, and he looked around, trying to spot what had
done this too her... she wasn't the type of person to break down after a
period of stress. "Elly, what about Fei? Did that thing hurt you? Elly?"

He held her for several minutes, feeling her slowly calm down. There was a
swirl of activity around them, as General Cheff's troops had arrived on the
scene. There were shouts of alarm at the creatures that surrounded both
Shitan and Elly, and one of the commanders picked up the carcass of one of
the creatures. Shitan glanced around, and slowly stood Elly up. She was
recovering now, and was beginning to take notice of the scene around her.

"Shitan, what's happening?" she asked weakly, holding onto his shoulder.
She glanced around, and whipped some of the tears out of her eyes. "Have
Cheff's troops arrived?"

"Yes, they have." Shitan replied, putting his hand over hers and helping
her across the battlefield. "A better question is... are you alright
Elly?"

She nodded, wiping her eyes on her wrist... Shitan noted that she probably
didn't notice that she no longer had a sleeve. "Yes, I'm fine... the shock
of using that much energy and then having to kill the other one... I just
overreacted, that's all." She turned to the group of troops approaching the
remaining Wels. "Shitan, you have to tell General Cheff not to kill them.
Hurry!"

Shitan nodded, and ran off towards the large group of soldiers. Elly sagged
a bit, and looked out towards the hill. Was that really him? Had he been
there, or was she starting to lose it again?

Several medics ran by, accompanied by a squad leader. Elly ran over, and
the squaddie saluted while the medics came to a stop. Elly glanced over the
patient, and was turning to the commander when she stopped. And turned,
looking over at whom was on the stretcher. "REMUS???"

The young man was covered in blood, with several large gashes along his arm
and legs. He moaned, and turned his head, smiling weakly. "Mistress...
Elyham..." he moaned before passing out again. The medics turned, and
started running off to the field camp that was being set up in a nearby
field. The squad leader remained, a large bundle slung over his shoulder.

"Madam, that boy of yours is absolutely amazing." he started, glancing
after the retreating stretcher. "I swear, I've never seen any of my men do
something like that."

Elly looked at the bag slung over his shoulder with an interested
expression. "What did he do?" The squad leader reached inside the bag, and
pulled out a large, dripping object. One of those 'thing's' head.

"We found the boy over a rise... he'd managed to pin the thing to the
ground with his knife, and was knocking the shi..." the commander glanced
at her, and grinned a sheepish grin. "Sorry, he was subduing it forcefully
with a large rock. He probably would have beaten the things body to a pulp
if we hadn't arrived."

Elly smiled, and thanked the guard for finding her aid. "Tell the medics
that I'll stop in to see him later, please?" The guard commander nodded,
and turned to follow the medical team. Elly turned, and saw that the army
units had managed to surround the Wels in a small group, surrounding them on
all sides. "Here we go again..." she muttered under her breath.

..

The Wels paced about, some of them hissing, others growling in a low,
menacing tone. All of them remained in the tight group at the center of the
clearing, staying as far away from the circle of guns that the army units
held as possible. All of them turned as a small passage opened in the
center of the ranks of the Nisan guards, shifting uneasily.

Elly walked through a rapidly clearing path in the soldiers' ranks, moving
with a determined stride to her step. The Wels seemed to shrink back
slightly, and then a few cautiously approached, sniffing the air carefully.

"Who issss thisss woman?" one of the Wels asked, forcing the words out with
its snake like tongue. Several others nodded, echoing the question. Elly
felt her heart soften somewhat. Most of the Wels that attacked Nisan were
from the town originally, and had some vendetta against the people living
there. But these poor creatures were apparently from the deep forests and
wilds, and were only now realizing that they were captured, and at the mercy
of foes whom they didn't even recognize.

A Wel moved forward, moving along elongated arms with an apelike grace,
stopping between the Wel pack and Elly. "This is the 'Great Lady of
Nisan'." it yowled, tearing at the ground with one massive fist. "The
woman who betrayed us, who transformed many of us into this hell that we
call our lives. Look well, for you finally set gaze upon the person
responsible for the hell we call out lives." A feral growl ran through the
Wels, many of them shifting in their places. Several of the Nisan guards
tightened their grips on their guns... the air nearly crackled with
tension.

Elly smiled, and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could start, one
of the Wels turned to the leader, hissing in disbelief. "Thissss isss the
Great Lady of Nisssan? Lady Elyham? What isss thisss lie you ssspeak of?"
The creature turned, and bowed slightly on its flexible torso. "Lady
Elyham... Pleasssse forgive me. I wassss there when the Ssssolvent
Sssssysssstem was dessstroyed... I ssssaw the anguish on your face for
thossssse Welssss that did not sssssurvive."

Elly walked towards the creature, kneeling down in front of it. There were
several gasps of surprise from the guards, who had taken an involuntary step
forward. Shitan raised his hand, motioning for them to hold their ground.
"Tell me, friend, what were the words that I spoke on that day?" she said
in a soft, soothing tone. As she spoke, she gently pulled out a knife from
her belt, holding it in front of her.

"Lady Elyham, you ssssaid that you cared about ussss, and that if it wassss
blood we required, then you would give ussss your blood, until you could
find a cure for ussss." Elly nodded, and started to draw the knife across
her hand, when the snake Wel put its hand on top of hers, shaking its head.
"No, Lady, that issss not necessssssary. I have tassssted your blood
once... sssseveral of usssss in thisssss group were there on that day. You
need not offer ussss again." The snake rocked back, staring at her. "You
ssssspoke of finding a cure? Have you found that cure, Lady?"

"Lies!" The ape Wel bellowed, turning to the rest of the pack. "You see
how she corrupts even close allies of ours with her evil words!"

"Ssssilence!" the snake Wel hissed, before turning back to face Elly.
"Lady, I did not follow you that day... I did not believe that you had
found a cure. But perhapsssss... Lady, I will follow you now. And
perhapssss, I can find a way to atone for the misssssdeedsssss I have
committed today."

"Do not listen to her! She speaks only lies! No Wel has ever lived under
her care... her cure is death! To embrace her is to embrace that death!"
The ape Wel continued to bellow, but he stopped, watching as his comrades
moved forward.

One of the more human Wels, a old woman whose hands had been stretched into
wicket talons and who's legs had fused into a solid mass, set her hand on
Elly's shoulder. "Child, even if Tirth's words are true, that your cure is
indeed death, then I shall still embrace you. Death is preferable to the
existence that we have lead these past few years."

Elly nodded, and stood slowly. "We do have a cure. It may not return you
to normal, but it will remove the cravings for blood and human flesh that
haunt you." Smiling, Elly put her hand on the Wel's shoulder. "Please,
forgive me for killing your friends..."

"Lady Elyham, those... things are not of our group. They were brought by
that fool..." the Wel gestured towards the spot where the creature
identified as Tirth stood. "...to help us hunt. He said they would make us
strong. But these things are hellspawn. They control minds, and they kill
for the pleasure of it." Tirth bellowed, and with a massive bound, leapt
over the live of guards. Guns tracked him, but before he could be brought
down, Elly shouted for them to stop.

"Let him go. None of these people wanted to come here, none of them wanted
to attack us." Elly turned to the Wels, and raised her voice. "If any wish
to depart, and leave for the wilds, then you are free to do so. But to
those who remain, I will try to help you to the best of my abilities, and
the abilities of those who serve under me." Several of the Wels turned, and
walked out of the circle into the hills beyond. But still over thirty
remained, lead by the snake and woman Wels. "Tell me, wise one. What is
your name?" The old Wel smiled, and wiped an tear from its eye.

"Child, none have asked me my name in months. You have no idea how much
that means to me. My name is Addershag, seer of the Kelemetros." The Wel
set its hand upon Elly's shoulder once more, a gesture Elly now recognized
as a greeting from that area of Ignas. The seer's eyes suddenly widened, in
a mixture of pain and surprise. "Young child... how can one so young bear
such a burden of pain upon her soul? You show compassion beyond your years,
perhaps even beyond those years which you do not yet remember..."

Elly gently wrapper her fingers around the Addershags hand, and lifted it
away from her shoulder. She had met a seer once, back in her days with
Gabler, and there were a strange lot, trancing themselves with strange
powders and essences to bring on their visions. There was no telling what
this woman was seeing... and Elly knew that if the Addershag continued
along the vein that she seemed to be following, she would break down again
in front of all these people. "Please, return with me to Nisan. We should
be able to help you there."

..

Garr walked along the road that Bart had pointed out as being the road to
Lady Elyham's home, lost deep in thought. The battle earlier in the day had
deeply disturbed the captain, and he had wanted to see if the Lady was
available for a few moments. There was a screen of shrubs between the path
and Lady Elyham's dwelling, so Garr was taken almost by surprise when he
arrived at the door.

The young man from before, Remus, stood in front of the door. Garr was
rather surprised to see him there, due to the fact that he was covered in
bandages. His left arm was hung in a sling, and he held a crutch with his
other hand, its need made obvious because of the splint around his right
leg.

"Officer Garr." he replied in a low, raspy voice. "I'm rather surpassed to
see you here. What can I do for you?"

Garr cleared his throat, looking over the condition of the young man in the
front of the door. What was Lady Elyham's aid doing standing outside her
door, obviously not in the best of shape from the days battle? Remus
continued to look at him expectantly, and Garr sighed, pulling out a small
data pad. "Captain Antonof ordered me to bring information to Lady Elyham
regarding the battle today. Is it possible for me to see her?"

Garr was utterly shocked when Remus shook his head in denial. "I'm sorry,
Officer Garr, but no one is allowed to see Mistress Elyham tonight. Please
try to understand, she's had a very difficult day."

"But... this is urgent. I MUST speak to her immediately." Garr looked
around, suddenly embarrassed. What could have happened to Lady Elyham that
she would not see anyone, even for an extremely important message?

Remus shook his head again, and seemed to grimace in pain. "No one is to
see Mistress Elyham tonight. No one. I'm very sorry Officer Garr, but your
report will have to wait until tomorrow."

..

"Are they gone?"

Remus shut the door, and glanced across the darkened room. "Yes. That was
the science officer from the Einhander, Garr. He said he had some sort of
information about the battle today."

A small amount of liquid swirled inside of a crystal goblet. "That means
I'll have to talk to Captain Antonof in the morning. Wonderful."

Remus paused, settling himself on his crutch. "Mistress Elyham, why are you
doing this to yourself? I can understand that you had a difficult day
today..." Remus smiled, thinking of the understatement behind his words.
He didn't even remember half of the battle, and several members of General
Cheff's forces had congratulated him on his 'kill'... one that he didn't
even remember making. Remus shook his head, and resumed his train of
thought. "...but you need to at least talk to someone. You haven't even
gone to your office since that battle."

Elly shook her head, swirling a bit of liquid in her glass before swallowing
it. "I'm sorry Remus... I know that I have some things that I didn't do
today." She turned and smiled at him. "If you're concerned, you could get
me some of the papers off the top bin of my desk and bring them back here."

Elly heard the door close as Remus exited, and slowly let her head sink into
her hands. "Well, what do you think old friend? Am I overreacting again?
Am I just going insane?"

"Elly, I don't think you CAN go insane. If you could, you would have done
so already. I can understand the pressure that you're under, and I can
understand why you are doing it." The shadow that had been speaking to her
detached itself from the wall, and Shitan walked over to the desk. "But why
is all of this work, and all of the pressure you are putting yourself under
not working now?"

Elly laughed, reaching for the flask of brandy sitting on her desk.
"Shitan, I don't even know why I keep seeing him... I was convinced that he
had left me for the first few months. Left me because I couldn't handle
what had happened to Nisan... what had happened because of me. Because I
let myself believe that I would be saving more people if I went to save Fei
from Krelian." Elly smiled a bitter, mocking smile, and downed the glass
she held.

Shitan sighed, thinking back on the past few months. Perhaps it was Elly's
dedication to her work that had kept her going all these months... there
had been little else. Many of the Solarians that had been her friends and
comrades had either sworn her off as a traitor, or had slowly withdrawn from
her in fear once the truth about Deus and the cataclysm that had followed
its resurrection had become known. But it had been Fei's departure that had
been the critical blow, over a year ago... when he had found her crying at
the edge of Lake Nisan.

"Elly, I can't help you fight the ghosts that are haunting you any more than
I could help Fei." Shitan smiled, and sat in the chair across from the
table from Elly. "But what I can tell you is that this won't help you."

He gently disengaged Elly fingers from the stem of the flask, and placed it
on the floor beside him. Elly shook gently, a few tears running down her
face. "I'm sorry Shitan... I am. You have enough to deal with... you
certainly don't need my troubles heaped upon your shoulders as well."

Shitan smiled gently, and clasped one of Elly's hands in his own. "Elly, no
one expected Fei to disappear. No one. He left for his own reasons, but he
cares enough about you to check in on you." Elly looked at him, and Shitan
sighed. "You know about the note that I found back during the last major
attack... you know that he was still thinking of you."

A thought crossed Shitan's mind... one that wasn't very pleasant. "Elly,
you did get my message about that, didn't you?"

Elly shook her head, and looked at him with an expression akin to a diamond,
or knife blade... one of razor sharp intensity. "Fei was seen in Nisan?
Why? What was he doing there?"

"I don't know... I didn't get a chance to speak with him. But I sent a
message to you... didn't you receive it?" She shook her head, and sighed.
Shitan wondered what had happened to that message... the list of people
that had seen it was not a long one. And that was what concerned him. "Fei
wrote a note, saying that he loved you. He was writing only to you."

Elly nodded. "Thank you, Shitan."

..

"What ARE you trying to do Elly? Kill yourself? I've heard of
self-sacrifice, you've tried it once already, but that is usually in one
grand dramatic gesture. Do you think that if you try to support the world
that fewer people will die?"

Elly was aware that this was a dream... she always knew. The sense of not
quite existing... of a boundless world around her, one made up of a gray
mist that defied all attempts to penetrate it.

"If even one less person dies, then all of my work is worth it. You were
the one who told me that self sacrifice was one of the most noble things a
person could do, even if I am the only person benefiting from it." Elly
felt a brief, irrational surge of anger. He wasn't even here, seeing the
suffering that she lived through every day, watching as families were torn
apart by the Limiter Virus, watching as orphans were brought into the city
after their families had been killed by Wels.

"Elly, love, there is a difference between self sacrifice and trying to burn
yourself out. You know that most of the responsibilities that you keep
heaping on yourself can be handled by either Shitan or Billy. Bart knows
the town government like the back of his hand by now... you've commented on
that yourself." the young man moved across the world of mists, standing
just out of sight, just out of vision. "You know quite well that all of us
working together are much stronger than all of us working separately... so
why do you insist on carrying everyone's burdens for them?"

Elly laughed, and looked down at her feet. She resisted the urge to turn,
to look at him... she resisted because she knew that if she saw him, she
would know that he was right. "You are one to talk. You're the one who ran
off, who left me... left all of us to fend for ourselves."

She could almost see the injured expression, and she felt him move closer to
her. "Elly, I am sorry... you know that I can't tell you why I had to
leave. But please, you have to trust me. If I hadn't left, there would
have been a tragedy beyond anything that Deus could have done to us."

"That doesn't mean that I have to like it." she snapped, still looking at
her feet. "Do you realize how much I've missed you... I feel like a part
of me is gone, missing..." she sniffled, a tear running down her cheek.
"Please, tell me that you'll return soon."

"I will."

At those words, Elly head snapped up, and she turned to face him. He hadn't
changed since she had last seen him, a year ago. His hair was perhaps a bit
longer, and there were a few small lines on his face, as if the worried
expression that he had sometimes worn had decided that it would take up
residence. He still wore that same cut of shirt, and still had that insane
lock of hair sticking out over his face. Nothing had really changed about
him, and the dream had still been the same... until now.

"You will?" she said, in a quite, almost amazed voice. "Please, tell me
that I heard you say that..."

"I did. Please, things will be difficult Elly. Some of us might not make
it. But I will return, and maybe then we can finally live in peace...
after five lifetimes, I think we deserve at least that." He gently placed
one finger on her lips, to stop any further words. "I can't tell you
anything else... besides, there are others who can explain better than I
can. Captain Antonof has had experience with the enemy... trust him. He
has connections into the highest reaches of the Federation, and once he
knows the truth, he will be glad to help."

Elly felt a start run through her. There was no way that he could know
about the visitors, let alone who they were. Captain Antonof himself had
admitted that the Einhander had stumbled across their planet completely by
accident, and it was only through luck that they had detected the colony
ships old transponder pod in orbit around the planet. "How can you know
about him? The Einhander?"

He smiled, and gently kissed her on the lips. Elly leaned into him,
whispering his name into his mouth. "Fei... please, I don't want you to
go... I don't want this to be a dream."

She felt his hands slide down her arms, and he kissed the hollow of her
neck. "If this is a dream, then lets make the most of it." he whispered in
her ear. "Elly, I can not begin to describe how much I've missed you..."

"Then do it with something other than words..."

..

Elly shot bolt upright in her bed, letting out a slight sob. She managed to
turn on the nightlight, and was reaching for the glass of water beside her
bed before she realized what she was doing. Her hands were trembling so
badly that she couldn't even managed to get a firm grip on the glass, so she
simply sat back, trying to keep the tears from falling.

The dreams had come back. Even through all the work, through her attempts
of exhausting herself to the point that she would collapse at the end of the
day, they had managed to come back. Elly put her hands over her eyes,
trying to remember what Fei had said. It should have been easy... ever
since the dreams had started, they had been building, little by little. At
one point, she could have recited their entire conversation... but there
had been something different.

"He said he was coming back." she whispered. That had been the part that
he had never said before. The rest... the rest she knew too well.
Sometimes they had only talked... but before she had attempted to stop
them, they had been significantly more... intimate.

Enough of this. Fei had known about Captain Antonof, and the Einhander.
Only a few people on the planet knew the name of the ship that sat above
Ingas, and she knew all of them. How had Fei found out about it? "For that
matter, how does he know about anything that has been going on here?" she
muttered, slipping into her nightrobe.

Her office was much the same as she had left it, except for the missing
brandy bottles, and the small stack of papers that had been added to her
desk. Elly walked over, leafing gently through the stack. That was nice of
Remus to drop these off, she thought as she picked up several thank you
notes from crewmember of the Einhander. That caught her attention. Hadn't
Remus mentioned that someone from the ship had stopped by, with a message.

-"That was the science officer from the Einhander, Garr. He said he had
some sort of information about the battle today."-

Garr. That was right, he had some sort of information about the battle,
something that was urgent enough for him to walk out to her residence in the
night... not the safest proposition, even in Nisan. Elly fingered the pack
of papers that she was looking at, trying to decide what the best course of
action would be. She wouldn't be able to talk to Garr or the Captain before
morning, and she doubted that Shitan or Remus were still awake. And it was
still some time until dawn.

Elly stood, and walked over to the dresser. Grabbing her old Solarian
uniform, she decided that it might be best to return to her office... at
least she would be able to get a head start on her work before the day
started.

..

The streets of Nisan had finally grown quiet... for the last few days, the
celebration had been almost continuous in some parts of the town, with at
least one of the Einhander's crew being at each of the sights where the
festivities had run through the night. Elly smiled, remembering how the
security chief had looked rather haggard the morning after the reception,
which had probably not ended for him until the next morning.

She stopped by a street light, checking over her bag to guarantee that all
the papers that Remus had dropped off were still there. There were several
reports from the engineers who maintained the barrier, two reports from the
doctors that were treating the Wels, and a message from Bart about several
people who refused to listen to anyone but 'The Great Lady of Nisan' about a
dispute over their property. The last made Elly smile. It seemed that as
long as there was a person in higher authority, people would always try to
bypass all the lower people, and try to get an answer from the top. And
everyone seemed to believe that instead of handling a problem or themselves,
they could just hand it to the person in charge, and it would be taken care
of for them.

Elly put the papers back, and shook her head. "Not anymore. I need to try
to get Bart and the town council to handle more of these problems." She
stopped, thinking over what she had just said. Wasn't that what Fei had
been telling her? That she needed to let people stand on their own, and not
try to take care off all their problems for them?

She shook her head, and tried to force her thoughts away from him. As much
as she might want it to be otherwise, it was just a dream... something her
imagination had created while she slept. Perhaps it was just her own way of
trying to convince herself that she was doing something wrong... Bart and
Remus had complained often enough that the only person that she would ever
listen to was Fei. She smiled at that. She had some apologies to give out,
when morning came.

A sparkle of light caught here eye... in a town that was asleep, there was
a window illuminated, where none should have been. Curious, she tracked the
light to its source... a small inn, one of the better ones in town,
situated in the town square. Elly turned, and walked towards the inn.
Obviously she wasn't the only one up late.

..

"Captain, I think I've managed to get this link working." Garr said
quietly, cupping the receiver to his ear. "That dish that Nuzio had set up
outside the Barrier is receiving, and we should have the link up with the
Einhander in a moment."

Captain Antonof nodded, looking out the window. "Do you have any idea why
Lady Elyham wouldn't see you tonight?" Garr shook his head in a negative,
and resumed tuning the radio. "Damn... this is rather urgent if Revers are
appearing on this planet. How soon do you think that you can establish
contact with the Einhander?"

"As I said Captain, I should have it in a minute." Garr replied, and
resumed working. Antonof turned, and started pace. The implications of the
attack today were no good... Revers were standard assault troops... they
were rarely left on the planet for any type of covert operation. They
tended to accomplish their objective, and then kill things without care to
which side they were on if not deactivated. Not exactly a weapon you leave
lying around on a planet.

Garr jerked his head up, and turned towards the door. A moment later, there
was gentle rapping sound, as someone knocked just loud enough that only the
person inside would hear... if they were awake. Captain Antonof sighed,
and walked over to the door, cracking it slightly. A moment later, he
quickly opened the door, and gestured politely for their visitor to enter.
A look of surprise shot across Garr's face as Elly walked into the room,
inclining her head to him.

"Lady Elyham... to what reason do we have the pleasure of this visit?"
Captain Antonof asked, waiting patiently until Elly had seated herself in
one of the room's big chairs.

Elly smiled and rested her chin on her hands, and leaned towards Captain
Antonof. "I suppose that asking you what you are doing this early in the
morning would be one of the reasons that I'm here... but then, I would have
to answer the same question. Call this an unscheduled visit from a friend
who can't sleep, and decided to see what you were doing." Elly smiled
again, and motioned for the Captain to sit. "And please, call me Elly. I
have Remus calling me Mistress Elyham all day, and titles are starting to
wear on my nerves."

Antonof grunted, and shook his head. "Lady Elyham, that simply wouldn't be
proper for a Lady of your rank..." he trailed off, staring at the look of
impatience on Elly's face.

"Captain. This. is. not. a. request. You. will. call. me. ELLY!!"

"Of course, Lady... er... Elly." Antonof replied, looking at Elly in
alarm. For a moment, he wondered what was wrong... her expression was one
that he had never seen before. A moment later, he realized that she was
trying to restrain herself from breaking into laughter.

"Im... so sorry... Captain... its just the expression on your face..."
she giggled, and leaned back in her chair, still trying to keep from
laughing. Garr chuckled, and returned to work on the uplink. Captain
Antonof chuckled, and relaxed as well.

"If you insist on being informal, then I must insist that you call me Ivan."
the captain replied. "Now perhaps if Garr has gotten that communication
link working, I can introduce you to my officer up on the Einhander."
Antonof turned to Garr. "William! Is that link working?"

Garr turned, and nodded his head. "We should have an uplink pretty soon."

..

"We are detecting a communication burst being directed to the Federation
ship."

"From the surface, or from space?"

"The surface lord."

"Our attack has failed. The barrier defending the surface is still intact,
and our forces have been destroyed. The Federation will be alerted to our
presence as soon as the scout ship can warm up its deep space communication
circuit."

"Your orders?"

"Destroy them."

..

"Andrev, are you there?" a voice crackled over the ships communication's
system. Andrew Cyver walked over to the communications panel, and pressed
the transmit button.

"Ivan, is that you? Finally got a communication link working, eh?" Andrew
watched as a static filled image appeared on the screen, revealing Captain
Antonof. "Ivan, this is a surprise. Isn't it rather early in the morning
down there?"

"That it is Andrev." Antonof turned, and gestured for someone outside the
line of view of the screen to move forward. "I have someone I'd like you to
meet. Andrev, this is Lady Elyham, ruler of the country of Nisan. Lady
Elyham..." she shot him a stern glance, and he smiled, "...this is Andrev
Cyver, my first officer."

Andrew bowed before replying. "Charmed, my Lady. Captain, I assume there
is some reason why you are so urgently contacting me?"

Antonof nodded gravely. "I need you to fire up the long range communication
link. Inform Central there we have encountered Hellion forces in this
system."

..

A vast shadow accelerated towards the planet, its passive sensors targeting
the small, Federation ship that sat in orbit above it.

..

"Commander, we're detecting some unusual activity about three light minutes
from the planet." one of the scanner techs reported, checking over his
screens. Andrew moved to stand behind him, looking at the unusual readings.

"Do you have any idea what it is?" he replied, staring at the readings.
There was something vaguely familiar about this reading... he had seen it
somewhere before... "SHIT!"

The scanner tech jerked his head around. "Sir?"

Andrew swore, and whirled to face the rest of the bridge. "Battle Stations!
Hellion vessel off port bow... attack imminent!"

..

The vessel seemed to pause in its tracks, as if it sensed its doom
descending upon it. Then, its targeting systems came online, lashing out at
its attacker. The larger vessel seemed to freeze, as if blinded by a sudden
light... or if in pain, as if the light itself repulsed it.

"Their commander has had much experience with out kind, to sense our
presence at this range. Gunner, you may fire as soon as the cloak drops."

..

Antonof watched in blank astonishment as the screen in front of him
dissolved in a burst of static. "What... William, what happened to the
uplink?"

Garr shook his head, checking over his readings. "I think... that the
uplink has been jammed. And its a pretty powerful jamming source..."

Antonof swore, and stalked over to the window. A moment later, he turned to
see that Elly had joined him, and he smiled. "I'm sure its nothing... just
a technical malfunction."

Elly smiled, and shook her head in a negative. "I do know what jamming is,
Ivan." she started, when there was a sudden burst of lights in the sky.
Both of them looked into the heavens, watching as two invisible forces
trades massive blows of energy and anti-matter.

Back in the room, William had gone pale. "Ivan... you should see this."

As Antonof and Elly walked back into the room, Garr pushed a button,
rewinding the message he had just recorded. "This is a burst transmission
from the Einhander... Captain, it doesn't look good." And with those
words, Garr pushed the play button.

Andrew reappeared on the screen, with much of the background of the bridge
in shambles. Wires hung everywhere, and several fires burned on control
panels. But the changed that caught Elly's eye the most were the bodies...
several of them, lying on the group or fallen over their stations.

The transmission was still full of static, but it was possible to make out w
hat Cyver was saying. "Ivan... damn, we just had a Hellion battlecruiser
decloak less than a light minute from us. We found them first, and managed
to cripple their cloaking system, but we've been mauled badly. There's only
the backups left now... Wedge, the chief engineer, died when two of the
coolant pipes ruptured..." The message dissolved into static, before
clearing again. "...n't know how much longer we can last. I'm ordering all
of our survivors to the escape pods... they might live through our last
attack. Sorry Ivan... I'm going to use the Omega Centuari contingency. We
might live through it... and it should cripple, if not destroy, those
Hellion bastards. Daspidania, Ivan." And the screen went blank.

And a hellish light filled the sky, filtering through the windows to cause
the room to be as bright as day. Captain Antonof shielded his eyes against
the light, and walked to the windows, throwing them wide open. Elly turned
to Garr, who was chewing on his lip, typing rapidly on his computer.

"Garr, what is the Omega Centuari contingency?" she asked, although she had
a good guess as to what it was.

Garr shook his head, watching a display on his monitor. "Commander Cyver
ejected our fuel core, and tractored it into the Hellion ship. He then
detonated it..." he replied, tapping on his screen. "According to our
scanner dish we were using for the uplink, both ships survived... but I
don't think that they can remain in orbit. Both the Einhander and that
other ship are about to make planet fall."

..

The strategy room beneath the cathedral was filled almost to capacity with
people, many of them clearly not quite awake. A lightly sadistic smile
crossed Elly's face, breaking through the gravity of the situation. This
was sure to wake them up.

Heads pointed in her general direction as she called for attention, but
there were a few exceptions that remained pointed in certain directions, not
moving even for her second call for attention. "I know that this is very
early for all of you to be here, but there was been several developments
that you should all be made aware of." Several people turned, all of them
with one question on their minds... had she simply gone nuts, or was there
an actually life threatening emergency in the making?

"Around three this morning, by our time, Captain Antonof's ship, the
Einhander, was attack by an unknown force." Elly cleared her throat, and
then continued in as level a voice as possible. "The Einhander was heavily
damaged, but in turn managed to cripple its opponent. Both of them have
crash-landed somewhere on our planet."

Shitan shook his head sadly. "Another force appeared and attacked the
Einhander? Do we know anything about these attacks?"

"All that Captain Antonof has told me is that they are called Hellions. The
Federation has fought a series of wars with them, wars that almost run back
to the time that our 'god' fell to this planet." Elly smiled. "He told me
that it is unlikely that the Hellions informed their superiors about a
scoutship, so we are fairly safe from an attack force showing up here."

"But what about the things that have landed on our planet? What will they
do?" Many people murmured at this shouted questions. Elly strained her
eyes to see who had yelled the question, but there were too many people in
the way.

"Hopefully, nothing. Captain Antonof has told me that the usual tactic for
these creatures is to await the arrival of reinforcements. But I'm having
security doubled around all of our key facilities in case they don't remain
complacent." There were a few dissatisfied murmurs around the room.
Increased security was a strain on both the resources and moral of everyone
in Nisan, which was why it was not used except in emergency situations. "I
know that most of you don't like the idea, but please try to bear with me.
Hopefully, this will be nothing more than a false alarm."

..

If anyone had still been living in the mountains east of Laham Village, they
would have noticed as the sphere hurtled towards the ground from the skies
above. They would have noticed the explosion as it kicked up a cloud of
dirt and debris that remained aloft for an hour. And, if anyone had been
brave enough to climb to the rim of the crater left in the aftermath of the
impact, they might have seen the smooth silver sphere open, and the
creatures inside step into the daylight.

The leader shaded his eyes against the light of the moon... bright, harsh
light to a being that was accustomed to the darkness of intersystem space.
It cursed silently, and gestured a segmented arm for its companions to move
into the open.

All of them stood seven feet high, and were encased in a massive shell of
armor. The armor itself resembled an old Christian demon, with curled
horns, and massive, reversed joint legs. Very little could be seen of the
creatures inside, save for the eyes, which glared out on the world with a
cold, malicious hatred.

<"This world is disgusting. Why were we ejected from the mother craft,
Commander?"> one of the things asked, turning to the first creature to step
from the ship.

The first creature waved its arm, and the pod they had stepped from vanished
in a shimmer of light. <"It is not our place to question the Lord. Our
orders are to terminate the humans who descended to this planet from the
Federation ship, and those are the orders we shall follow.">

..

In fact, there was one soul who saw all of this. He stood upon the lip of
the crater, watching the creatures trudge up the opposite side. The wind
caught hold of his hair, whipping it around him in a frenzy. He continued
to watch in silence, until the aliens had vanished from sight.

"I see... those you feared have arrived my brother. Your excuses are gone
to dust... your abandonment of your family has no basis. Return, and let
the final days begin. For when you set foot upon this planet once more, the
pen shall be set to the 'New Gospel'..." The man smiled, brushing a long,
tangled hair out of his eyes. "We had a favorite saying, during the old
days, Brother. 'Kill them all, and let God sort them out.' I shall be
quite happy to do both."

The man looked up, and his smile broadened. "Welcome home, brother."

..

Deep in the outer edge of the system, a mad whirling of energy formed within
an instant. There was no shape to it, for no part of order can exist within
the essence of chaos. And a moment later, order entered it.

The Path of Sephirot slammed shut, leaving only a vaguely manshaped object
floating in the space beyond the Ingas system. The object flexed its arms,
staring out into the space around it, trying to gain an understanding of its
place in the universe. It's gaze was drawn towards the small, blue green
planet with a sense of longing and fear, hanging in space for a moment. A
memory trigger... this had been a place it had called 'home'. For another
breath, it hung there, considering its options. Then it moved, streaking
towards the inner system within a stream of light.

..

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