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The Saga Of

Erika

Shattered Glass

By S.

Character's created by Stefan Kemp

Date: March 21st 2007

Place: Phoenix Grace Central Command Building â€" Forever City â€" Altia Continent â€" Earth

Ivan Grace sat at his desk inside the massive fifty floor building that was controlling the centre of the intergalactic company, Phoenix Grace was the lead for most computer and bio-medical technology in the whole of the United Alliance. The "UA" was a powerful alliance of continents that had managed to settle there differences through the shadow of the last great war, a war of complete obliteration and devastating nuclear weapons.

But also...

A war of words and the failure of humans to listen to one another and eventually the loss of three quarters of the population. However out of the ominous shadow of the infamous "one-year" war, the phoenix of alliance had risen when the leaders of the great continents had decided to create a new world of peace for all of the continents. Phoenix Grace had emerged from this last war, only thirty years ago, in 1977 to become one of the most powerful companies in all of the alliance, it was not just commercially powerful but also militarily and politically. It's massive influence was felt almost everywhere, the last president of the United Alliance was receiving pay-offs to Phoenix Grace to turn a blind eye to their activities on the black market. However when president Ferora came to power in 2005, she adopted a more hard-lined approach with Phoenix Grace and would not accept their bribes.

Ivan's eye's twitched, he had been up for hours trying to help de-code the data stream he had received from one of his most distant facilities. In the early days of the company, Phoenix Grace was owned by Ivan's mother Cecelia, a strict and efficient leader of the company. She rose her late husband's small trading company into a ominous intergalactic company however ten years earlier, tragedy stuck, Cecelia was found dead in her chambers and her son assumed control. There were many questions about whether Ivan was truly Cecelia's son as he had only emerged after her death however DNA test proved his claim.

The small desk lamp on Ivan's overcrowded table flickered briefly catching his gaze why he wrote. Ivan's hair was a deep shade of brown with a mix of gold, which was amplified by the lamp. The lines on his face were getting more evident now even though he was in his thirties. Ivan smiled as he tapped on the table, he was a coldly efficient administrator.

His shadow was cast on the room's walls, the room was as large as a grand hall at some foreign palace, it had massive ten feet high windows that looked out over the rest of the glittering sky-scrapers. This was Forever City, a new, peaceful city on the edge of a large mountain range and surrounded by dense forest. Forever City was where the head of the United Alliance was too and the Orcananium, the government, a collection of people that led UA in making decisions, a democracy.

The interior of the room was a deep shade of blood red with an almost royal feel, the room was large and had polished marble flooring with no other furniture except for a desk in the middle of the room and a staircase that protruded down at the back of the room, made of pure marble with a large red rug draped down the stairs.

Ivan looked down at the calculations he had just made, this was one of his greatest ideas, he smiled again, a more focused, evil grin that showed the very blackness of his soul. A voice cut through his thought as it filled the room by way of the hidden loudspeakers that covered the room.

Ivan jumped but quickly perked up.

"My Lord?" said a females voice, it was much deeper than most.

Ivan spoke back with cold precision.

"Go ahead?" he called back into the darkness from where the voice had came. The woman was quick to respond. "The Viro'Leese report that they are ready to begin your operation. They have sent a small fighter to escort you to their ship."

"Excellent" said Ivan, he thought and talked with the same cold precision as his mother had. He sat back in his chair, it looked as though the human resurrection was going to go according to plan.

Date: March 22nd

Place: Forever Shipyards â€" Orbiting Earth

Ships crowed the dock, the old, rickety cargo vessels and the shining new luxury yachts all danced amongst the stars from one point to another. These ships however, despite of all their shapes and sizes were not as large as the vessel that sat in the dry-dock.

This vessel was old, mechanical, a remnant of the powerful "war-pulsars", one of the first intergalactic battleships created. This ship was about nine hundred metres across and was shaped in an unusual fusion. A war-pulsar's design was a common known piece of information. However it was now an outdated vessel by the new, more powerful vessels, the "Battleshade".

This ship sat with it engines powered down and most of it's systems offline. The large spider-like legs of the dry-dock protruded down to encase the ship while smaller, pod-like shuttles flew around the vessel, conducting repairs.

This vessel were lit up by the lights on the small work-pods that skimmed past the hull lighting up the nameplate.

UMSS Erika.

Inside the massive vessel, in a large, night-club like bar were many of the ships officers sat at tables that were directed towards the stage at the front of the large, red room. The room had the atmosphere of a bar on Earth if it was not for the windows that looked out to the stars.

Many of the uniformed officers were enjoying off-duty drinks and were chattering excitedly about what was to come.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning slashed down on the stage surrounded by a ring of fire as a figure emerged, on the floor, her slender bear legs sliding out from behind her red, sparkly dress.

The crowd of officers, both male and female, cheered and wolf-whistled while the woman in the centre of the stage climbed, ever sexy to her feet. She had shoulder-length black hair and the crown caught a glimpse of her absolutely stunning, emerald green eyes. Her face was shrouded with make-up that emphasized her beauty even further.

She turned her back to the crowd as the music began and then turned to sing in her, powerfully attractive voice.

"Where have all the good men gone?

And where are all the God's?

Where's the street-wise Hercules to fight the rising odds?

Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?"

She walked along the stage with her microphone, captivating everyone's attention in one go.

"Late at night, I toss and I turn and dream of what I need!"

Fire filled the stage and sparks went up with the power of the music that surrounded and blinded everyone.

As she continued the rest of the song, the male officers banged on the table and rooted for the sleek girl in the sparkly, red dress.

The sexy girl finished her song and looked into the cheering, adoring crowd. She loved to do this as a hobby.

After the ravenous applause and cheering, the black-haired woman smiled and then began to walk off the stage and disappeared behind the curtain. The officers then continued to chat amongst themselves. A woman in her twenties was sat at the table on her own, she was wearing a tight, blue leather uniform that was both formal and exciting. She had long, red hair and an unusual coloured lipstick.

"Hello captain?" called a man behind her, he had dark ginger hair and wore another uniform which was a lot more formal. The captain looked up and smiled as the man who was younger than her sat down at the table. "How was Doctor Chaos?"

"Good" she replied, taking a sip of her, light blue drink. "I've never seen her sing before, she was really good"

"Well she's been practicing" she ran her long-nailed fingers along the wet rim of the glass creating a howling sound. "Where are you going on shore leave?"

"Down to Wroxillia City. Beautiful city, gorgeous beaches and dense forest."

"Sounds like a great hot-spot" smiled the captain with a sarcastic.

"Yeah, well Flex, I guess you think that you're gonna go somewhere posh?"

Flex lifted her top lip at the other officer.

"Yes, thank you commander!" said Flex, she lifted her hand in the air reminding him that he was below her in rank. "No actually I'm going to Vermillion."

The young commander got up and walked to the bar, he retrieved a small drink, a glass of a red, exotic liquid and then returned to face Captain Flex.

"Vermillion eh? What's there? It's a barren, isolated world that is covered with sands and ruins of some ancient civilisation... Are you going ruin exploring? Or maybe a good sand scrub?" The commander than laughed. He would not usually get away with this behaviour but tonight was a...

special occasion.

Date: March 23rd â€" Resurrection Day â€" AM

Place: UMSS Erika â€" Flight-deck

"Commander Valentine?"

A figure ran up behind the young commander, he was wearing a blue jumpsuit. The flight-deck was overcrowded with people who were scuttling to the shuttles and carriers ready to get off the ship and go visit Earth.

Valentine turned round to look at the man, he always had a habit of looking people in the eye.

"Yes?"

"We've been picking up faint Hyperthrust signals coming behind Mars. Sensors indicated a massive body of ships."

"Have you entertained the idea that it could be a fleet of transport ships?"

"No sir!"

"You bothered me with this? If there's a problem, talk to Captain Flex!"

"Yes sir! Sorry sir!"

Valentine flicked his long red hair to the side of shoulders and scowled. People got so worried over silly things these days. He recalled when he was only a cadet in the military, he was always jumpy if any contacts showed up on sensors.

Commander Leviticus "Stef" Valentine had an unusual past, he was born on Serenity Island, a lost civilisation which was destroyed only a day after his mother took him to the mainland. His mother was called Karianna. He could still remember her slightly but she was now only a dim memory.

He always remembered her...

Sad...

His mother had wasted away with grief after his tribe's destruction, it was a sad tale. Karianna had fallen in love with an offlander, a stranger of the island that had become power crazed and tried to gain control of the ancient Sartos Stones that were inside the Sanctuary of the Ages on the hill overlooking the tribe's marble white city of Millennia which was now ruins. Stef's mother had wasted away with the guilt and a broken-heart, Stef had watched in pain as she fell to illness, losing the will to live. She died when he was only thirteen.

He then went into the military, vowing to keep the memory of his tribe inside of him. However after the Erika Incident that only took place four years he got a chance to visit his homeland and pay homage to the memory of his people. He also learned his real name, he was only known as Stef before then but he was born, Leviticus. So he decided to take the name of the kindly family he lived with after his mother's death.

Valentine

Then he combined it with his original name to honour his tribe but especially his sister, Genesis who had died with the rest of his tribe. As long as he existed. His people existed!

There was a shuttle waiting to take him down to Earth, he gestured to the officer who had previously talked to him and climbed into the small shuttle.

It was cramped inside, however he managed to find a comfortable seat but just as he sat down...

Action stations! An alarm blared throughout the dark corridors of the old vessel. All senior officers report to the FCC"

"Oh crap" sighed Stef. "And I was looking forward to a holiday"

Time: March 23rd â€" Resurrection Day â€" AM

Place: UMSS Erika â€" Flight and Command Centre (FCC)

"This better be more than a shipping accident!" shouted Captain Flex as she climbed up the ladder to the Flight and Command Centre (FCC).

The FCC was a multi-levelled command centre that was accessed by two ladders which could be climbed up into the captain's chair and the cockpit. Behind this tier laid out several more tiers, each of them with a few people sat in-between them with different computer consoles and performing different ship operations. Up the centre of these layers were a flight of stairs which protruded down towards the captain chair from a floor at the top.

"What have we got?" commanded Captain Flex to the man sat behind a console on the first tier. He was younger man, pale and with bright starry blue eyes. Flex could tell that he was new to the job, usually cadets came all starry eyed but then seasoned after a few years.

The pale boy of about nineteen looked up at her commanding presence. "Um...well, ma'am. Eh. We have a large mass of ships moving towards us. It's an unusual fleet... about 100,000 meters across... a big mass of ships moving towards eh... I mean... It could be a trading fleet... but..."

Captain Flex interrupted, the man was taking far to long to explain than she liked. "No civilian fleets have been ever known to travel with that mass"

"Well... yes captain."

Captain Flex turned round to face the large window at the front of the bridge, she saw the distant stars twinkle at her. She had to make a snap decision. Would she warn the nearest Battleshade? Her ship was in no condition to break out of dry-dock and engage this large mass of ships, no matter what they were. The Erika was still having her major engine parts replaced, ASE (Auto Sub-light Engines) were completely knocked out. The only engine that was working was Hyperthrust and that was unreliable over short distances.

Flex contemplated when Commander Valentine walked onto the bridge, he was wearing an unusual lime green and orange shirt.

The crew often mocked his dress sense.

"I guess this is more serious than I thought?" said Stef with one looked at Flex. "You seem to have your thinking face on, captain?"

Stef was absolutely right, in all the time that he had known Flex she always showed a particular face when faced with a problem. She appeared to be a usually light-hearted individual but this time she was looking straight at the large window that looked out into the heavens, contemplating. After standing in the same space for a minute without saying anything she turned to another officer who was sat on the middle of the three tiers behind her.

"Lieutenant De'sade. Which is the nearest ship in communications range?"

At this question the officer feverishly worked on the consoles that surrounded them. Technology aboard the Erika was quite crude in nature and a little slower than the newer and more powerful ships however Erika had one of the most effectively powerful anti-virus software in the entire fleet, it was able to locate and destroy even the newest and most deadly or potent viruses in just a few seconds.

De'sade looked back at the controls, as if that the information his console was showing was correct. He was older than most other members of the crew and a native of Serria, a small continent in the north known for it's extremely unstable government that were not members of the UA and completely totalitarian, favour their own military and government above the UA. This caused De'sade a lot of tension aboard the Erika and throughout his entire military career however Captain Flex was so impressed with his work and his devotion to duty that she had him promoted and decorated many times.

However some racist theories never die.

De'sade looked up at Captain Flex with his cold eyes, which was a common feature of people from Serria.

"The nearest ship would be the Ce'lestra, she's a small scout vessel with a crew of ten and limited defensive and offensive power. However... She does have high engine output so she could find out what we are dealing with."

"I agree" ordered Flex, she tapped a button of the arm of her chair and a sound of a man's voice filled the bridge.

"Captain Sioto of the Ce'lestra" his voice was proud but drew more cautious. "How may we be of assistance Captain Flex?"

The bridge crew waited in silence for Captain Flex to start speaking, they were accustomed to this, many of the crew had serve with Flex ever since she had taken command of the Erika. Never-the-less they knew protocol and waited.

"Ce'lestra this is Captain Flex of the UMSS Erika. We want to ask a favour, we are taking a large fleet of vessels across our system and they appear to be unlike any collection of ships that we have ever examined. There appears to be a fleet 100'000 metres across on our RADIS and we wondered if you could take a look?"

Captain Flex finished and waited for a reply while the captain of the Ce'lestra decided what to do. She could have made it an order because a captain of a battleship, like the Erika outranked, the captain of a scout vessel but that was not the way to make the other captain very compliant next time.

Commander Valentine went and sat down at the first tier, in one of the booth-like structures, he wanted to make sure the Erika was ready for anything however their had not been a known space war ever before only skirmishes against the Kelvanians and the Overcidians however there was never a full out war because of the treaties drawn up legalising all the boarders. Now they were their allies.

Captain Sioto finally spoke back through the hidden speakers surround the FCC.

"Understood, we will scout to the location of this fleet and report back with relevant information. In the meantime I suggest that you contact the Supreme Fleet Commander and inform him of the situation. Sioto out."

With that he closed the channel linking the two ships.

"I heard the captain" said a female voice as two small cylinders emerged from the ceiling and the floor creating a blue field around them from which a woman began to form. She had brilliant beauty which was limited by the fact that she was translucent and deep shade of blue.

A computer projection

However she was in complete control of the ship...

No...

She was the ship.

An artificial intelligence placed inside the vessel main circuitry which was designed to be more easier for the crew to interact with. The Erika was the only ship with this technology as all the others had broken down and eventually short circuited every junction on the ship however this one was the only successfully compatible version and made the ship feel...

Alive?

Time: March 23rd â€" Resurrection Day â€" 12:24pm

Place: Open space just beyond Mars â€" Position of Ce'lestra

The scout vessel Ce'lestra moved towards large and empty space, nothing had come up so far however the RADIS was saying that their was something that large just ahead. The Ce'lestra was a small sleek scout ship just larger than a shuttle, it was only supposed to carry ten crew however these vessels were sometimes used as a way to transport military leaders about without being detected. This was the only thing that made the "Warwasp" type scout vessel so effected, the fact it was made from material that could not be picked up by any known alien sensor nets.

The reason this technology had not been put on the other, more powerful vessels was that this material was very easily pierced and the smallest handgun could destroy the hull.

That was the secret of Magnacrosim â€" The wonder metal.

"There's nothing here!" moaned Captain Sioto. "I think we should turn..."

He stopped dead instantly...

A ship, about 100,000 meters long, of an alien race he had never seen before closed on him.

The ship was massive black mass that seemed to be in the shape of a large... well... it was hard to describe, a completely erratic design. The Erika's RADIS was wrong. This was not a fleet of ships, it was one ship.

The Ce'lestra was completely dwarfed by this absolutely, colossal ship, it could completely cover a shadow over Mars or even Earth. Why was it heading towards Earth.

Sioto only hoped it was peaceful.

Time: March 23rd â€" Resurrection Day â€" 12:30pm

Place: Dark side of the moon â€" Location of the Phoenix

Ivan Grace climbed onto the bridge of his new vessel. It was a highly advanced battleship with a unique design, a giant saucer-shaped "main hull" followed by two wings coming out from the underside of the saucer to give this vessel an incredible wingspan.

The bridge layout was only a black room with a screen in front of four consoles that surrounding a chair. From here Ivan could carry out his will most effectively, no other "untrustworthy" personnel was needed. Just the "great genius" of Ivan Grace versus the rest of the world.

He moved down, into the comfortable leather chair and positioned himself at the controls. Of course their was a crew but Ivan could issue orders much more effectively in a quiet, dark room with only a small raised platform on which he sat.

"Hm..." he hummed, speaking to himself. He did this commonly. "I'm guessing those UA idiots will try their best to attack the Viro'Leese Master-ship when it arrives at precisely one PM. This will leave their civilian vessels defenceless, so maybe I should show myself and destroy those ships?"

He paused for a few seconds, touching his lip with his finger and then leading it down to the control in front of him. An image of a man in a white suit appeared in the transparent display that appeared to be floating in the air.

"Keldon! Get me Grand Legate Ssk'ahh!"

The man bowed low. In fear maybe or just because he had become accustomed to it.

An alien voice bellowed through the dark-room. It was unusual and unlike anything ever heard before, even the translator had problems with the language.

"Eskk â€" You, Freyer â€" Are, Heedged â€" Ready, Kirky â€" To, Hgedfe â€" Attack?" The transponder was just getting warmed up at the time and as the conversation went on the dialect got easier to understand.

"My most humble Lord Ssk'ahh" begun Ivan, putting on an unusually kind tone. "I am ready, the UA will not be able to withstand you and you may colonise the world, using the humans too. I was thinking, should I destroy the civilian vessels as well?"

Ivan smiled when he got the reply and closed the channel.

"As you wish" he said laughing.

Ivan sat back in the chair, relaxing. From here, he could witness the fated resurrection of humanity, he need not act until it was complete. He only needed to stop any civilian ships from getting away.

Ivan smiled, he was helping to return the galaxy to its normal state. This ancient and powerful race called the Viro'Leese had been referred to in some ancient texts of different worlds. They were depicted as being "angels of death" or death itself. Although Ivan had never seen a Viro'Leese, he knew from what he had read that they were evil creatures, dark creatures that destroyed entire worlds.

So why lead them to Ivan's homeland? Simple. He was to leave nobody alive accept for him and his wife. To start a new human race, dominated by Ivan, giving him complete control and ensuring the continuation of his evil will. However his first son was a mistake...

Beside him, a girl emerged, a teenage girl of sixteen with long blond hair, she was almost completely transparent. A ghost, or a distant memory. She wore a distinctive white dress with a beautiful emerald green head-wrap, around her wrist lay some sort of shadowy shackles, dark bonds.

This was Ivan's true power.

He was not modern man but a re-incarnated four thousand old evil spirit who was referred to in many ancient texts.

Lucifer... The Fallen Angel... The Prince of Darkness... Cystatos...

He was real as anything else and he would try to wreak havoc however being in control of one of the most powerful company's in all of the United Alliance.

"What can you hope to achieve, Lucifer?" shouted the girl, she tried to moved towards him but a searing shield of heat burned her. Ivan just spun round to face her in his chair. "My dear Marianna, since you were so instrumental in correcting the flow of time last time that led to my destruction and the changes in the space-time continuum I thought it was easier just to catch you. This time you won't be able to help Valentine or Chaos in destroying me!"

Marianna looked round the room, frantically. The human race did not stand a chance if she did not act quickly! She had to do something, break these dark bindings!

"You're pure evil!" she screamed in Ivan's ear. He just smiled and whispered "I know."

Time: March 24th â€" Resurrection Day â€" 12:42pm

Location: Open space en route to Earth â€" Location of Ce'lestra.

The Ce'lestra narrowly missed the side of the massive Viro'Leese vessel, the ship was quickly picking up speed and Earth gradually began to appear to get nearer and nearer.

Under these circumstances Captain Sioto may have wanted to call in a more powerful vessel to deal with this threat however it appeared that no other vessel would do the job.

There was still a chance that the large colossus that moved with unbelievable speed towards Earth was not actually hostile.

Though the Ce'lestra was not getting anything from this ship. Captain Sioto was left with a decision, allow to travel to Earth if that was its destination and see what happens or shoot a weapons volley across its bow to ward it away.

"Captain, we need orders" said one of the younger officers. Captain Sioto still contemplated, weighing out the potential gain and losses between the two options.

"We'll report back to Erika" he said finally, ignoring both options. "Open a channel.

Time: March 24th â€" Resurrection Day â€" 12:43pm

Location â€" UMSS Erika â€" FCC (Flight and Command Centre)

"It's a ship! 100,000 metres long! I've never seen anything like it".

The bridge was silent as Captain Sioto talked out so the entire bridge rang with his deep voice.

"Erika, we are waiting for orders"

Captain Flex stared out the window and looked into the large blue, green orb that was Earth. Why?

Why was she getting this feeling in her stomach? She turned to signal Lieutenant De'sade to continue the communication channel.

"Ok, thanks Ce'lestra. You can come on home now."

"Ok under...."

The communications stopped with a buzz that could have only meant one thing.

The Ce'lestra had been destroyed!

Captain Flex shot a dark look across the room at Commander Valentine who was sat at his console. She did not even have to give the order. Suddenly the ship bleared to life with the sound of the battle siren, the lighting on the bridge went darker to such an extent that only half of Captain Flex's face could be seen.

Then an idea hit Flex, as clear as if someone had shot her. How was the Erika going to be much use to the fleet, she did not have any sublight engines to engage the unknown starship plus with her weapon systems in the middle of a refit. It was unlikely that the Erika would have been able to put up much of a fight against a powerful unknown enemy.

"Erika!" shouted Flex and a blue, holographic lady appeared. "What's the status of the engines, can we engage?"

"I'm afraid not, captain" replied, the stunningly gorgeous computer programme.

"What!?"

"Well I'm not a miracle worker. My ASE's are still disconnected and my weapons are only half installed. If you wanna get me into the action so you can see me get all shot up then fine but if you do all the crew will die. Cos I'll vent the oxygen from most of the decks. So just let the others deal with it. Ok?"

Flex was slightly taken back by this however this holographic model had always been slightly rude and disobedient but that only made this a slightly more fun vessel than any ship in the fleet.

"Thank you for not pulling any punches" said Flex and Valentine just turned around and smile. "Bring the weapons that are working online. I don't like to sit here defenceless"

Captain Wildcat then sat down in her command chair, it was a soft velvet like material that had a purple sheen to it.

"The best chair in the fleet!" that was what Admiral Gaverstone had told Flex when she took command of the Erika. Gaverstone was one of the older admirals in the fleet and he was the only one to protest about the new Battleshades replacing the old War-pulsar.

War-pulsar. Even the name sounded stupid, like a five year old child had thought of it and not the greatest minds of ship engineering on Earth.

Out of the corner of her eye, Flex saw it, a massive, 100,000 metre long vessel that struck fear into the hearts of all of the bridge crew. It was like a giant scorpion, with claw like devices on the front and a tale which was long and held position high above the ship. However there was something strange about this ship, as it approached Earth carefully it appeared to be expanding and contract, breathing? Was this vessel organic, it was sure to be?

As the ship approached to the centre of the viewing window, a large fleet of familiar human vessels swung towards the massive ship, what was the plan?

Flex had had no communication with the other vessels in the fleet except for the Ce'lestra. What was their plan? To make a show of strength or to employ force? Flex recognised the leading ship, it was an admiral vessel, there were only five of these ships made with the most advanced technology known to man. If they could not destroy this vessel than the human race was doomed.

Flex felt helpless, she wanted to do something, she had an idea. That was usually the way her mind worked extracting ideas from what she wanted to accomplish, she was proud of being so intelligent but she this did not make her by no means infallible.

"Corporal Matthews" she turned to skinny officer sat at the tactical console on the highest tier from her. He looked back at her expectantly, his face was older and beginning to grey. A hardened military man. "Lay down cover fire from our installed pulsar cannons."

She felt him...

Waited...

He began to speak, it was Lieutenant De'sade, who received several scowls from other crew members. He always object to the obvious flaws in Flex's plans but sometimes he just let it go. This was not a time to do that.

"Captain, if we do that, that makes us a target, we are at the moment having our armour and shielding refitted. If we became a target we would not last long."

De'sade looked straight into Flex's eyes, she was glad that he was there to object. Somebody had too. Commander Valentine had kept very quiet today, it was unlike him. He just stood there, gazing out amongst the stars. Could he feel something?

She wanted to know and she needed to make a decision as to how to go about it but that was for another time.

"Just do it" she said, frowning at Lieutenant De'sade, who instantly backed down without a fight. It was not wise to challenge the only person on the ship that was keeping you from being murdered.

Time: March 24th - Resurrection Day â€" 1:00pm

Place: Space surrounding Earth

The battle had come to a stale-mate, the entire fleet had been called to defend the home world. Four hundred and twelve ships all circling around the huge alien vessel however not even a scratch was made on the hull. This was a hopeless battle.

Several ships seemed to swerve around the gigantic vessel that how now stopped only a few parsecs from Earth.

Earth, not exactly the utopia everyone had expected it to be at the end of the war but it was a start. Now what did it face?

Destruction?

Enslavement?

Those guesses were the ones that ran through the fleet's captain's minds as they fired missile that seemed to detonate before even touching the vessel. Beam weapons seemed equally ineffective against the shields of the malevolent enemy.

The Erika however was the one firing the most, beams of violet light shot out of the cannons on her hull to intercept the enemy vessel however most of these missed as they were only meant to cover the allied two hundred and eleven ships, the full Earth force that were now trying desperately trying to get through the shields of the massive Viro'Leese mother-vessel. These ships were all of different sizes, creeds and colours that defined their operations however even mining freighters with only one drilling laser were joining in the attack.

The ship surged again, expanding and then contracting as if it was a living, breathing individual that was able to slay all the ships.

A dragon?

Some of the smaller vessels tried to hail the colossus however they were receiving not a single response. Maybe diplomacy was an ideal this race did not understand?

The "living-giant" as some of the captains called it as they passed communications around to each other began to surge with a terrible, piercing green light that blinded most of the captain's for the most.

Suddenly two hundred and eleven small tentacle like extensions shot out from nearly every part of the ship, each tentacle moved freely outwards, it had to be made of Liq-Oxycin, a substance that was basically as strong as titanium but was in a liquid state. This large metal claws destroyed all the ships they approached.

Leaving only debris!

Time: March 24th â€" Resurrection Day â€" 1:10pm

Place: UMSS Erika â€" FCC

Great explosions lit up the bridge of the last surviving battleship. Captain Flex stared into hell, she stood at the end of the abyss, she could not hold back tears. Now. Nothing stood between the ship and Earth as the sky lit up with the explosions of two hundred and eleven vessels. The entire fleet gone so quickly!

Flex cried, tears rolled down her face but she quickly composed her. Over four million souls were lost on those vessels.

However the crew would not benefit from a crying captain.

Commander Valentine collapsed to his knees in front of the whole crew, the pain was unbearable. It was like he was feeling the dead's pain all at once, it was a horrible feeling, like being swallowed alive.

Captain Flex turned and shouted at the nearest soldier.

"GET CHAOS HERE NOW!"

The soldier turned and ran out of the room.

"Captain! Earth!"

Flex did not want to turn around but she had no choice, she looked out the widow and became wide mouthed. The planet had changed as the massive Viro'Leese vessel shot out a beam of white energy at the planet that caused the green/blue planet to change shape and die. All vegetation was dying on the planets surface, the planet was dying, the blue sees dried up, leaving rock in there place and the planet began to be covered in this green, vain-like planet.

Earth had fallen.

Doctor Chaos darted onto the bridge to attend to Commander Valentine who had fallen into a huddle on the floor. She carried with her a medical kit and was wearing a military uniform with her hair pulled back in a tight bun however she still looked sexy.

"Ma'am!" shouted De'sade from behind his console. "A ship is approaching from behind the moon and heading straight for the shipyard. It's the phoenix! She's firing on the shipyard!"

Captain Flex looked back at De'sade, this puzzled her. Why was Phoenix Grace participating in humanity's destruction? This was impossible!

"WE CAN'T STAY HERE!" shouted De'sade as Flex began to freeze up at sight of this betrayal.

"If you are thinking of going to Hyperthrust, my engines have no coolant in them. If I go to Hyperthrust, the damage to my engines will be extreme" said Erika, appearing for only a few seconds and then disappearing again.

"Ok! But we have to!" said De'sade however Flex did not reply. "CAPTAIN!"

Flex snapped out of whatever trance she was in, this was more than she could bear. She finally regained her clarity and saw what she needed to do. If she stayed, there was no way she could fight both the unknown vessel and Ivan Grace's personal ship. She had to leave but where could she go?

"Ok then lock any co-ordinates into the computer and jump!"

De'sade worked quickly to calculate the equations needed to make the jump.

He was not quick enough.

The FCC shook hard and explosions from different conduits exploded all over the room. Flex fell backwards, caught in one of the explosions, this one had exploded right next to her face. She felt gravity pull her down as she toppled of the raised platform and down hitting the ground at the bottom.

"I'm engaging now!" shouted De'sade and he tapped the control panel in front of him.

The entire bridge began to spin and blur and on the screen in front a green portal appeared before the ship, moving towards it and engulfing it.

They had escaped!

Time: March 24th â€" Resurrection Day â€" 1:15pm

Location: Phoenix â€" Orbit of New Earth

Ivan took great glee in his handy work, he smiled to himself which watching the planet Earth become greener and greener, wrapped in these green plant-like vines.

He had completed his task...

Marianna was slanted down beside his chair, encased in her dark bindings.

"What have you done to my planet!?" she screamed at Ivan. He looked back of her with a matter of unconcern on his face, in his heart, he knew he had won. "Don't you like New Earth?" he said in a patronising voice.

Marianna began to cry, tears of light, she remembered she was not really in this physical world, she used to be but Ivan had killed her and now she was bounded to him, until he was destroyed.

"I've help the homeland become more efficient, the green vine down there that you see is a substance that causes parasites to hatch from it. These parasites come in through the air, through spores that the vines put out and hatch in the brain. The victim then becomes the slave of the creature, performing the Queen's will. There we are, a planet of degenerates turning into a perfect, unquestioning army!"

Ivan smiled fiercely at Marianna, his eyes flashed with human hatred. This is how the Viro'Leese operate, he knew that but he also knew that the planet would change as well, as it had did, killing all other life forms and draining water. He marvelled at the effectiveness of the Viro'Leese.

"Yeah!" shouted Marianna, she knew how to ruin his good mood. "But I thought I saw the Erika escape! I guess you won't have the chance to kill your son."

Ivan turned to face her, his face twitched and he smacked the chair clear of the platform. He grabbed Marianna by the throat looked her in the eye.

"I will kill them all! MARK MY WORDS!" he then flung Marianna back to where she was before he picked her up. "And unless you want to be banished to Hell then I would shut up!"

Marianna looked back at him fearfully.

She had to escape, somehow!

Time: March 25th â€" 9:27am

Location: Sector 656 â€" Xan'lexa System

All had been quiet in the small Xan'lexa system where there was binary stars, a large blue super giant and a white pulsar that sucked all the matter from the blue star into it, leaving a beautiful stream of blue matter trailing across the sky.

The Xan'lexa system only had three small planets and no moons. It was a system that was completely devoid of life however the third planet was the most interesting. There was a wealth of vegetation that covered the planet and blue oceans, there were also collections of stones that could have been ancient ruins but no people on the planet existed.

However the second planet was the one that could have been more important to the military if they had reached this far into space. This planet was composed almost entirely of Trydiryium, a compound that was used in all ship engines however it laid completely undiscovered.

Until now...

A small, ugly vessel approached the system, it was only about one deck in size for people but had a massive cargo hold for carrying supplies from long distances. The vessel was a long cylinder at the front which stretched out like a neck onto a large cylinder which was the cargo hold.

The vessel's nameplate read...

Black Beauty

The Black Beauty moved silently towards the second planet and slowly turned round so the back of the ship was facing the planet. The ship went to a full stop. The crew of the ship were eager to get home, there was only four of them and they had been snooping around outside of regulated space for about five months.

A green flash lit up the hull as another vessel emerged from the eerie Hyperthrust portal. This vessel dwarfed the small, mining ship in size. It was tiny against the hull of the Erika.

However the ship was not moving and she continued to drift while the glow of the twin suns glimmered against her hull.

Time: March 25th â€" 9:40am

Location: Black Beauty â€" Alongside UMSS Erika

Captain Syre Matthews was a very flamboyant man; he was on the verge of being homosexual. He was only in his late twenties but he had a feminine voice and tend to mince around.

However now he was wearing a tight black space-suit which he always complained about. He said that it was too negative and would give aliens the wrong impression. He was stood with the other three members of his crew, his first officer, Blakely Simons, his tech-specialist, Ivan Sorel and his pilot, Thomaas Cassiopeia all had served him well over this long voyage.

However now they were stood at the air lock of the Black Beauty. Inside the vessel was anything but beautiful, all the pipes hung from the ceiling and cables snaked down the walls. In front of the men was a large plastic tube that extended between the ships.

"Right" said Syre, he put his hand on his hips. "Remember not to touch anything, this is a military ship so who knows what defences there are."

Cassiopeia put his hand mockingly in the air and Syre pointed to him.

"Um... Mr Matthews, this isn't our first field trip"

The other crewmembers laughed.

"Well, I'd hate for any of you to end up like Tarot"

Ivan Sorel smiled and looked round quickly at Cassiopeia.

"That was that nice man, didn't you say he retired?"

"Eh..." Thomaas smiled and after a short silence. "Yeah"

Syre sighed and turned to the control panel, he pressed the buttons through his clumpy gloves and the door hissed open. The tube laid out in front of him and inside the ship was on emergency lighting, a dim red light.

"Ugh?" said Simons as they descended into the Erika. "How many are supposed to man this ship?"

"About two thousand"

"Oh I see".

Time: March 25th â€" 9:50am

Location: UMSS Erika â€" FCC

"Captain Wildcat!"

De'sade slid down the ladder to where Flex was laid in a pool of her own blood as she looked up at the dark ceiling. De'sade stroked her hair, she was still breathing, maybe there was a chance to save her.

Commander Valentine got up his position on the floor and thanked the good doctor. He looked straight into her eyes and saw genuine concern for her well-being. It was funny that he fainted in the middle of a battle, he never used to.

"Commander!" shouted De'sade from the pit in which Flex had fallen. Commander Valentine shot down the ladder and went to be by his friends side, he held her hand while Chaos checked her pulse, she was alive! Would she make it?

Chaos shook her head, her eyes filled with tears and she buried her head in Leviticus's arm, he held her.

It felt natural.

Leviticus looked down into his captain's pale blue eyes, he knew as well, she could not saved.

De'sade rested the captain's head on his lap and stroked her red hair. She looked back at her loyal crew, she smiled, a short smile and then opened her mouth.

"My... friends. Don't cry, my time is over." This made everyone feel worse and Leviticus sobbed a few tears. De'sade was even a little teary, he never usually got that way. "Com... Commander? Stef?"

Leviticus looked up, not many people knew his adopted name before he learned his real one. He preferred it, Stef; the mythical creature that descended from the ancient civilisation of Zelna, Stef was the keeper of the gates of heaven, it was a truly poetic name.

"You are... in command... of this ship... deliver them from this evil... to light of the gods... You have to make it work."

She then drew her last breath as some crewmembers looked down on her broken body. Her spirit still remained with this ship, she had been with this ship for seven years.

Stef looked back at the tearful Chaos, though deeply saddened by Flex's death he was puzzled by her last statement. He only had the knowledge of the ancient legend that had existed for millions of years, passed down onto each generation of humans, exactly word for word and then written in the "Book of Agathon", the holiest book of all in Earth's religions. All theories of the god's or God were produced from these books; these contained the nine great religions of Earthen philosophy.

The legend of god's light was one of the older tales in the Book of Agathon, it told of a group of humans that were taken captive by evil spirits, however these humans escaped on a barge, named "the light of the gods" and even though they were pursued by the devil, himself managed to find their way into Zelna, the mythical heavenly planet of humans that had reached a state of perfection, angle like beings.

Stef was concerned by this and he thought about it, even when a death-barge arrived, wreathed in Moonlight-syllias, a rare flower that only grew in graveyards, a pale blue flower it was traditionally used at funerals.

Some male officers carefully placed Flex onto the barge and carried it out to the morgue. The death barge was like a stretcher that was always covered in moonlight-syllias just encase somebody died.

Unfortunately it was the captain.

As Commander Valentine climbed back up on the FCC, five people were being pushed down the stairs in front of him by armed security. These men were different, they did not wear uniforms and their hair was all different, they wore darker checked like jackets that were worn, one of them wore a vest.

"Commander!" said the first officer, saluting tightly. Stef saluted back and smiled. "These men were caught trespassing on deck nine."

The man that looked like the leader turned and argued with the guard to let go of him however the guard slammed his weapon into the man's back, he raised the but of his rifle but Commander Valentine put his hand there to stop him.

"That will be all, corporal!" he ordered with a note of deep seriousness in his voice. All around him officers were receiving damage reports, he would deal with that in a minute after he had dealt with the intruders. "I'm sorry about my officers, they have been through a traumatic time. I'm Commander Valentine of the UMSS Erika and you are?"

The leader seemed to not be paying attention to him at all and continued to look around the FCC.

"Ewww!" he said loudly that the woman sat at the console in front of him frowned. "The colour scheme for this bridge is ghastly?" He then walked past Commander Valentine and walked around, looking especially at the walls and ceiling.

"He's Captain Syre Matthews, this is Ivan Sorel, Blakely Simons and I'm Thomaas Cassiopeia" said a ginger hair gentle man wearing a dirty white vest with a jacket over the top. "We are from the mining ship, Black Beauty. We haven't done anything wrong, we wanted to see if we could help."

"No! You wanted to see what you could steal!" said a voice from the back, top level of the FCC. Valentine turned around and glared at that row fiercely.

"Oh my god!" shouted Syre, dramatically putting his hand on his head. "Look at the state of these walls, they need something that says, POWER! Or Authority!"

Valentine sighed and looked back at Cassiopeia who spun his eyes.

"I think you and your crew better join me in my quarters" he said quietly. "We have much to discuss. Officer will you escort these men to my quarters please and make sure they are comfortable" he said, shooting a dark look at the solider that had brought them in the room. He hated it when officers like that attack unarmed people, it made him sick!

Syre complained about the uniforms as he walked up the stairs claiming that they made the woman too frumpy and suggested skin-tight leather jumpsuits for the woman.

"I'm glad he's not designing our ship!" said the young woman who had given him the original frown. Her name was Cadet Alica Romanox, she was a bright and bubbly member of the crew who was keeping together well despite the fact that her home, life and family had all been destroyed.

Commander Valentine permitted himself a small smile at the comment even though he did not feel like it. "Earth's just been mutilated and we're making jokes?" he found this completely absurd.

"All stations, damage report!" he commanded as the normal green lighting of the FCC came online. Many voices began to come from different directions in quick succession.

"ASE's are disconnected and circuit connectors have been destroyed, we cannot move until they have been replaced" replied a young male officer with dark hair from the back.

"Shields and armour plating are offline"

"Five lower decks have been flooded with Gamma Radiation"

"Only two pulse cannons are online, torpedo tubes are offline and as for the main Hyper-Cannon, it's in need of a replenishment of a whole lot of circuits" called De'sade from his usual work station.

Stef closed his eyes, he didn't want to say this but he knew he must. "Casualties?"

"Nine hundred were killed when the control consoles overloaded including Captain Wildcat" called De'sade in a sober voice.

"Nine hundred!" said a woman at the back in disbelief.

"Forty are experiencing radiation sickness from the leaking reactor on those decks."

Stef looked around the FCC, looked like everything was set against him, he needed options. The Erika could not stay here because the same ship may have tracked its course and be on its way to finish the job. However they were in no condition to wage war either, they had nowhere to retreat to except to death.

Time: March 25th â€" 10:03am

Location: UMSS Erika â€" Commander Leviticus Valentine's private quarters.

"So you mean to tell me that Earth and the people on it are probably dead by now?" said Syre, standing up in disbelief. Stef's quarters were quite modest, a one-room apartment with a double bed, sofa and a large window that looked out over the bright stars. These were standard issue quarters, however Stef had added a personal touch by choosing the red wall paint and décor however he also had items mounted on the wall. One of which was the hilt of a sword but with no blade on the end, it was given to him by his mother but he had never worked out how to utilise it.

"Yes" said Stef, taking his cup from the table and sipping the contents with a slight slurp. "Ivan Grace conspired with an unknown alien race to do something to our planet. Earth was not what it is now, our scans showed that this green vine that spread across the planet destroyed all water, all wildlife and all plant life."

Syre looked back at the other members of his crew, Ivan looked as shocked as he did.

"So what happened to the fleet, did they not destroy the alien vessel?" asked Ivan Sorel.

Commander Valentine put his head in his lap and let his hair down for a little while, it shimmered in the light. This had been an extremely stressful and trying time.

"The fleet did intervene however they were all destroyed."

The crew of the Black Beauty gasped.

"But there was over two hundred battleships!?"

"How can that be!?"

"What we gonna do!?"

Stef asked them to calm down and then spoke again. "We need to repair the Erika before the aliens come back, now you're a mining ship so you'd be very useful, we burnt up our full getting away. Let's concentrate at one problem at a time eh?"

The group nodded and Valentine felt that he had earned the trust of complete strangers.

Time: March 31st â€" 11:15am

Location: Phoenix â€" Gueslek System

"Commander I'm growing impatient!" shouted Ivan at the display, his eyes flashed with darkness.

"I know sir but there is too many variables! The Erika could have gone to any of about fifty systems along this trajectory, we have Viro'Leese warships out searching in other systems sir, we will find her eventually."

"YOU BETTER!" screamed Ivan and slammed his fist down on the control panel cancelling the communication. It had been a week since the war-pulsar Erika had escaped the fleets destruction and the purification and resurrection of Earth. Ivan was getting annoyed with the fact that they could not find the ship, along the way they had encountered many civilian ship which they had destroyed but no Erika.

"Ivan" said a voice from behind him, Marianna stood up, in a dress that was as white as snow, her black bindings around her legs and wrists were not there anymore.

No longer needed?

"Ivan, what's the matter?" called Marianna who slid her hands down over Ivan's back. Marianna was no longer transparent but made from the same flesh and blood that Ivan was. She had bright blue eyes, blond hair and skin as white as snow. However she had a black symbol on her cheek that did not belong to her, a sort of binding or tattoo.

"It's that damn ship. I can't find her anywhere" whispered Ivan as he relaxed in Marianna's arms. She massaged his back and whispered a song in his ear.

"God is with you in the world

He is great, soul like polished pearls

His love will stretch out to all

All leading to the human fall"

She then kissed his ear delicately. He giggled and kissed her on the lips.

"My dear Ivan, how stressed you've become, we have the world why is one little ship so important?"

Ivan looked back into her eyes. "I want everything or nothing, my son is also on that ship and I want to hunt him down."

Marianna glimpse in front of Ivan, to his console where she saw a picture of his son. They were quite alike, she tugged on Ivan's shoulder.

"Is that your son?" she asked, Ivan nodded. Ivan's son had been born when Ivan was in a different form and he needed to capture a woman's heart so he could manipulate her into giving him a dark power. He resented the child that was born as a result, he had been a constant trouble and he was the one that had destroyed him the first time.

"Now" said Ivan, he put his hand in front of the picture. "Where did you go?" he closed his eyes, he could feel his son's presence, even across the gulf of space.

"Xan'lexa" he whispered in his mind and he saw the Erika hanging in space there, badly damaged.

"Commander!" he shouted at the control console and the same pale face man appeared before him. "Go to the Xan'lexa system!"

The old pale faced man was completely loyal to Ivan's promise of a reborn world, they had been tricked. Earth had been colonised by the Viro'Leese and they had destroyed humanity's core herself.

"But sir, Xan'lexa is well out of UMSS controlled space..."

"Just do it!" cut in Ivan that made Marianna and the pale faced man.

"Your very quick and decisive" whisper Marianna sensually in Ivan's ear. "I like it"

"Call First Prelate Bee'ktal and tell him we have located the Erika and we require another vessel as back-up" said Ivan.

He did not want anything to go wrong; he wanted that ship destroyed, the last great warship of humanity.

The Erika would burn against the darkness of space!

Time:March 31st â€" 1:41pm

Location: Third planet of the Xan'lexa system

The grass remained wet from the rain which the planet had just received, it was amazing, from space you could make out the water and irregularly shaped continents however the ecosphere was just like Earth and there was lush vegetation growing inside and outside that forest that covered the mountain ahead with a beautiful clear mountain lake running nearby. However the team from Erika and Black Beauty were not interested in the beauty of the planet but more of the metal they could extract from it.

It was decided that the Erika had to be outfitted with some new hull armour and some metal was needed to place certain circuits and conduits. As for weapons, the crew of the Erika did not have the right materials for the job. One of the crew suggested that they go back to Earth and have a look in the ship's debris field of the old fleet however Commander Valentine soon stopped that idea by saying that if they did, it would not be long before they were debris themselves.

Now he was standing in the middle of a plain that looked out onto trees, water and mountains. This almost felt like home however if they stayed here, Ivan and the Viro'Leese would eventually find them here so they had to head out into deep space, to save themselves and humanity.

The Erika had also sent out a long-range communication that could only be read by Earth transceivers, to make all ships to come to the co-ordinates where the Erika was a regroup. However now he was on this planet surveying it with Chaos, Syre Matthews and Thomaas Cassiopeia. He had left De'sade in command of the Erika in which he collected several glares from different members of the crew.

He had just had to been to the funeral of Captain Wildcat and he had not enjoyed it. He had to stand in front of the whole crew and recruits words that the Book of Agathon told them to do. His pictured himself.

He was standing in a large metal hall with a large tube at the end of it, a torpedo tube. On the rails leading into the mouth of the tube sat a torpedo like coffin with the symbol of the UMSS draped over it. He stood on a platform overlooking a vast majority of people all in uniform and all sat in chrome chairs.

"Death is a journey that we should all take

For when life is no more, we are at God's sake

He will judge us once more

Into the light of the gods" recited Leviticus, he smiled as he finish.

"I don't know what to say..." he called out to the crowd from the platform.

"There is nothing that I can say that will take away the pain so lets just give her our goodbyes and continue on like she would have wanted us to."

He then tapped a control and the torpedo tube shot down and into space, the body was returned to motherland.

Valentine now was bent down over the grass taking a closer look, he wanted to catch a good look at grass as he had no idea where he was going to do but he knew that he would not see grass for a while.

He stumbled towards over the hills that flowers had grown on however it was the peak of summer and most of them had died. The sensors had picked up several ruined cities along just around this area and that where was he would hopefully find the materials in the stone that he was looking for.

He smiled at Syre who was just ahead and breathed in the air heavily, Chaos was behind him paying attention to the unusual selection of medicinal herbs that were in this location and she was busily classifying them and taking samples. She looked like an exciting school child.

Cassiopeia was out surveying the nearby hills and collecting samples of the rock, he was not interested in surveying the ruins but surveying the rock for metal.

Leviticus approached the top of the hill, it was a short, grassy plain that descended into a valley and in the centre of the valley was the marble white ruins of a town.

Syre quickly descended down into the valley and ran towards the town. Stef quickly followed, with his utility belt fastened round his ironed trousers.

On his utility belt was the ancient gift from his mother, the hilt of the sword, that was beautiful decorated with gems embedded in the hilt. The sunlight bounced of it marvellously, it was a true wonder, an ancient gift that had many different sides to it. There was no blade on this sword and it was just a handle.

Stef walked through a massive ten feet arch that served as the entrance to the ruined towns. There were pavements that lined the streets and carefully winded down the many back alley and streets. This was no town.

It was a city.

However the white marble was fading and the small hut-like houses had crumbled. There were also cracks in the pavements that allow grass to grow through them.

Syre stood in fascination of the city, he had never seen an ancient city before and this intrigued him, he went slightly ahead of Stef with his scanning equipment in hand. It beeped as he walked along with an awe-inspired face.

Stef had seen all this before though, his home village of Millennia on Serenity Island looked similar to this before it's destruction and the massacre of his tribe. Now he stood in front of living evidence that there tribe was not the only one in the universe and that other humans had been to this world but obviously left years ago.

As told in the book of Agathon...

Syre neared the main square of the town, there was a large fountain in the centre that contained a monument of a unicorn. This culture was definitely predominantly human!

Other humans!

Out here!

The concept of this was a complete bewilderment to Syre, the unicorn was the symbol on the flag of the continent of Verrox, back home. This was laid out almost exactly the same. A rising marble white unicorn with massive wings protruding out of either side of the horse.

"Syre?" said Stef quietly.

Syre turned around, he was still analysing his readings. He just smiled in complete happiness.

"I understand that the culture here, were technologically sophisticated and obviously left this planet or they may have been wiped out?"

Stef felt a little weary, standing in this ghost town was bringing up unpleasant memories of going back to Millennia, a few years after the civil war and seeing the level of destruction. However these structures were not as damaged as Millennia was and the stone was so perfectly crafted.

"We better get..."

Suddenly a blast of white energy cut across the air and flew right past Syre Matthews. Stef and Matthews dived in different directions and ducked behind some pillars, drawing their small handguns.

"Valentine to De'sade!" shouted Stef into the communicator on his wrist. Get us out of here!"

Time: March 31st â€" 2:00pm

Location: UMSS Erika - FCC

"We have a problem commander," shouted De'sade as the consoles on the FCC exploded one by one. De'sade sat in the command chair, he need a plan.

He was just doing a system diagnostic and planning to repair the sublight drive when WHAM! Out of Hyperthrust two small vessels of the same hull configuration of the vessel that attacked Earth appeared followed closely by the Phoenix. It's unusual saucer-shaped design was recognisable anywhere and now the Erika was under attack by these ships.

They had also caught them with their pants down.

The Erika was dead in space due to the repairs that her engines were taking and her shields were offline too.

De'sade hated to lose as well, he had grown up in Sierra, the totalitarian state that demand no losses or imperfections of any kind so it was only natural that he grown up a perfectionist.

"WEAPONS!" he shouted at the tactical officer who was trying his hardest to bring them online.

"We've got basic hull armour!" shouted the young female officer that commander Valentine had spoke to about Syre Matthews.

"Engage it!" ordered De'sade.

The Erika began to glow and green shield replaced the usual greyness of her hull. She was a good ship, if not a tiny bit out-of-date.

"We have no weapons online. The Phoenix has disabled the control systems. We only have the Giga-blast cannon!" shouted the younger officer as he was thrown about to avoid an explosion on his right.

"Can we use that? Radiation danger?" called De'sade, he was getting used to the burden of command. "De'sade to Milton." A young female voice filled the room, she sound young and beautiful.

"Yeah?"

"Cassandra, can you charge the Giga-Cannon?"

"Yup, but without shields..." argued Chief Cassandra Milton, the chief engineer aboard the Erika. She held the ship together with he infamous attitude and knack for fixing things.

"I'm aware but we have no choice. Charge the cannon! De'sade out!" he ended the conversation before Cassandra could argue back.

"If we fire the cannon!" shouted the tactical officer above the explosion and the ship rocking violently. "We will have to quarantine three decks and the people on it will..."

"It's either that or die? Which would you prefer? Secure the Black Beauty in our docking bay and prepare to fire, evacuated the decks that will be contaminated. Prepare to compensate power to shields and this weapon requires massive amounts of power!"

"What's going on?" shouted Commander Valentine through the comm-link. "We're pinned down and get out! We need you to get us Erika! Phase us up now!" shouted Leviticus in the pandemonium.

"Commander!" shouted De'sade, losing his temper, something he rarely did. "I'd love to but we're under attack so stand by and try to..."

Then they lost communication.

Time: March 31st â€" 2:10pm

Location: Ruin Town â€" Third Planet of Xan'lexa system.

The energy blast pinned Commander Valentine against the wall, he kept his gun in hand however the white blasts of energy were coming from the other side of the unicorn frontier.

"De'sade? Desade!" shouted Stef, realising that communication was blocked off. It had to be the mystery race that attack Earth and Phoenix Grace. However Stef had never seen portable energy weapons like this race had, Stef's gun was an automatic nine millimetre standard issue military sidearm. Scientists on Earth had been dreamed about personal energy weapons however nobody had ever come close to creating them. He was out of reach of the Erika and against an enemy with superior technology. Well at least he knew that much about them.

From where he was, he could see Syre also pinned down, there was no chance of getting up to return fire, they knew their exact location.

Leviticus poked his head out for a second and an energy blast almost took it off. These weapons almost certainly had scopes or some sort of tool for sniping.

Somebody waved to him from behind, he turned to see Chaos and Cassiopeia crawling along the floor and trying to get round the other side. They had obviously heard the weapon fire and came to assist however they were not going to get into a good vantage point if Leviticus did not give them some covering fire. He swallowed and poked himself around the pillar letting off a barrage of gunfire in any direction as Chaos and Cassiopeia went the back way to surprise them.

Someone screamed, it sounded like an old woman, a human woman however it was not Chaos as Stef could see her from his position, he had hit somebody. A civilian?

No!

This planet had no life on it.

Chaos snuck up the back alleys with an assault rifle that she had collected from the shuttle that had brought them down here. She needed to get behind the snipers and neutralise them, then she could get a good idea of their anatomy and analyse an entirely new species, an exhilarating prospect.

She hated playing army girl, she had once wanted to be a security officer however in the paintball and VR training she was always being shot. So she became a doctor however now she needed the skills that she had learned from her training and she needed to do this right!

She crept up behind the soldier who was wearing white and putting some cartridge into an unusual device. Beside him was a fallen comrade with long black hair, they were laying face down. Chaos did not hesitate as she often did in training, she shot the target in the back of the head.

A relatively painless way to die?

"Commander!" she shouted, calling him over. "I've got rid of the two snipers."

She watched Syre and Valentine come out from behind the pillars, this was the blown up building and it's remaining window slots gave the snipers perfect position and cover so how did the commander hit one?

Valentine walked in from the door. "Whoa!" he exclaimed "I didn't know I was that good."

He walked towards the two figures who were face down on the floor, they were both wearing some sort of leather uniform, he kicked one over so it was laying on his back.

He took a step back, Chaos let out a muffled scream. It was human

A human woman with only one difference. Her veins which should have been under her skin bulged in her face however they were green. The woman was old, in her sixties at least, it was like she had a green vine that climbed up her face, onto her forehead. The other attacker was a man that Chaos had shot and he was exactly the same, with his blood veins bulging with green, like a plant or a vine.

"MUM!" shouted a voice from the doorway and Syre Matthews ran to the dead woman's side. "What have you done!" shouted Syre, looking directly at Chaos, his eyes full of tears.

Chaos felt as though someone had dropped an anvil on her head, she tried to looked sympathetic however these "soldiers" were from Earth?

It obviously was something with the weapon that that ship fired! Had it changed Earth's population, brainwashed them?

"Syre" said Leviticus softly, he quickly took advantage of the awkward silence. "You mother was equipped with alien weapons and somehow sent her with the alien ships. She has obviously been manipulated somehow..."

"They're called the Viro'Leese actually" said a cold and powerful voice from the doorway. The team turned to face the intruder, he was a tall man with distinctive black hair, his face had been on many UMSS magazines.

Ivan Grace!

Time: March 31st â€" 2:17pm

Location: UMSS Erika â€" FCC

"Damage report!" order De'sade as a explosion on the FCC caused coolant from the drive systems to leak onto the FCC's floor. Lieutenant Carl Smithson worked hard quickly to compile all the parts of the damage report.

"Hull armour at twenty-seven percent" he called out with cool preciseness "Main cannon is at eighty-four power efficient, when it reaches one hundred we can fire. Causality reports coming in from all decks and the laser cannons on our hull are not making a dent in their ships, even the Phoenix has the same shield modifications..."

Carl's voice was then cut off by a voice the filled the FCC.

"Milton to FCC" she shouted. "We're getting all shot up down here, I don't know if I can hold her together! it will take another minute for the cannon to charge! Once it fires we're gonna lose all power to most of the ship!"

De'sade sat back in the commander chair and prayed, they had to survive!

Time: March 31st â€" 2:17pm

Location: Ruin Town â€" Third planet of the Xan'lexa system

"Ivan!" shouted Stef, looking fiercely into his eyes, his hatred for this man was tainted with something else, why did he get the feeling that they had met before. His mind was troubled with this but he could not remember. Ivan Grace was a known face of goodness and peace before his betrayal of humanity. Why would someone who devised shield technology and other products for the military want to destroy his own race?

Chaos fiddled with her gun, she was the type to shoot first and ask questions later, Ivan saw her and quickly shot his arm out from his black robes, Chaos fell back against the wall, hitting her head and becoming unconscious. Syre was cradling his mother and ran towards Ivan with hatred despite Stef calling him not to. Ivan quickly pushed him back, knocking him hard against the wall, like an invisible force.

Leviticus was alone, he had only a handgun which Ivan throw out of his as he tried to clasp it, he was alone and defenceless!

He looked into Ivan's dark eyes and saw something, a terrible soul, the darkness.

Himself!

Time: March 31st â€" 2:18pm

Location: UMSS Erika â€" Orbiting third planet in Xan'lexa system

"Fire!"

The front section of the Erika began to charge into blue light, electricity and power surged through the ship and collected on the blue abyss, then some purple energy collected from different points on the ship and then blasted into the front causing the energy to expand and then fire in a beam that expanded into space then exploded, both ships were caught in the blast radius and were immediately disintegrated and the Phoenix caught the edge of the explosion which ripped off its wing.

Tilting slightly, the Phoenix slowly slipped behind the planet. The Erika was dead in space and she had no power at all, she drifted, if the Phoenix came back then the Erika would definitely be destroyed.

Time: March 31st

Lieutenant (Acting Commanding Officer) Thorphyus De'sade â€" Personal Log

Date: Included above

The Erika has received a massive power shortage due to the first the firing of the Giga-Cannon. I am aware of UMSS protocol regarding this device, that it is only a defensive weapon and only as a last resort. Unfortunately due to lack of shields we now have radiation leaks of three decks, which could prove fatal, I have sent teams down to deal with this problem.

The Erika is now crippled in space, with no way of defending herself if she is attacked again which proves more and more likely as the Phoenix escaped. It is still a puzzle to me why the Phoenix Grace would so easily turn against us and participate in humanities destruction. However now we have to find the team down on the planet. In our last communication before interference from the planet cut us off, Commander Valentine was under attack from unknown soldiers and requested emergency phasing however we were unable to accomplish this because of the attack. I can only hope that they are alright and we will not leave until we've found them.

Lastly I am worried about a possible mutiny aboard this ship as some of the crew seem to oppose my command. I have dealt with prejudice from the military all my life however we are at war and I can't risk it! We need the command structure.

Log completed... Seal... Identification... Lieutenant Thorphyus De'sade.

Time: March 31st â€" 2:18pm

Location: Third planet in Xan'lexa system

"You must be wondering why?" said Grace, he talked in rather slow and calm dialect.

Leviticus looked straight in Ivan's eyes, with the power that he just saw Ivan do he could be dead before he hit the ground. He had to be careful.

Ivan was not human!

Leviticus edged over to Chaos, who was huddled on the floor, he felt her neck, she was alive but unconscious.

"Yes, I'm sorry about doing that" said Ivan, almost flippantly. "Well, I'm proud of you, taking this so well, the destruction of the human race however you are not one of them."

Stef frowned at Ivan, what did he mean by that, he knew he was a healthy human? Did he?

"You're confused as to what I mean" stated Ivan in an obvious enough fashion. "It must have taken it's toll on you, being around human's for your whole life and yes, you half human but you have a half of you that you were not even away of, a side of extraordinary powers."

Stef watch Ivan carefully, what mind-boggling rubbish was Ivan feeding him, telling him that he was not human. Was this a ploy to let down his guard? Ivan had not yet made any moves to try and kill him however that could change. Leviticus was completely defenceless and had no chance of surviving if Ivan attacked so it was best to reason with him.

"You are a Draconian" stated Ivan which made Stef step back in fear. The Draconians were commonly believed to be angels, descendants of the gods that once ruled over the universe, they were winged people that had naturally unusual powers and masters of technology however some loss interest in the gods and decided to become gods themselves. Twelve, all from different stars fell into the darkness and back the fallen angels or princes of darkness. They fought a war that lasts five hundred thousand years and were defeated but not before the entire race of Draconians were killed off leaving nothing behind but ruins on the planets they had inhabited.

Even thought this was an ancient story as told in the Book of Agathon, everyone still regarded it as a moral story and not as truth and that included Leviticus who had never really become as religious as his tribe was and tended to believe in science rather then God or god's.

Ivan took off his black robe and cast it down beside him, he wore a black leather tunic with black boots that made him look rather imposing. He seemed to be pushing backwards as if he was trying to get something off his back. He breathed a heavy sigh and two large black wings flew out from behind him.

Stef had never seen anything like it, the ancient texts were true! The Draconians did exist! Or was this a trick? Black feathers moulted off the wings leaving new ones in their place. Ivan Grace was an angel?

Stef felt something pierce through the skin on his back, like hot, sharp pains coming from within, he shouted in pain and looked up at Ivan as two large wings emerged from his back.

How was this possible? He was an angel, a Draconian? The same level as a god? How did Ivan know this, could he sense them or was he trying to trick him?

"This is no deception" he said, Stef looked round at his wings, the feathers were a brilliant white though he now felt a slight cool breeze on his back from where the wings had pierced his uniform. He had kept them inside himself for that long, not knowing that he had wings inside him. He stood amazed with his new limbs that connected onto his back.

"Why did they?"

"Hurt so much?" Ivan cut in sensing what he was about to say. "Because they have never been outside your body before?"

Stef wondered about asking about the colour difference between Ivan's and his but Ivan spoke first.

"You and me are the only Draconians left in this universe but unfortunately you have to die as you are also partly human and I pledged to destroy all pitiful humans."

Stef was taken back by what Ivan said and he retracted his wings back into his back with blood trickling from where they had emerged.

Ivan began to walk towards Stef with something in his hand, a weapon of some-sort? It was a hilt of a sword but with no blade. Wait a second!

He had one, he grabbed his out from his belt and then stopped to think. "Eh? How do I use this?"

He watched Ivan who twisted the gem on the top of the blade making water fall out of the blade and then solidifying to metal. He did the same, so that was how it worked. It used the same liquid metal that the Viro'Leese did when they destroyed the fleet.

Liq-Oxycin.

Ivan slashed forward however Stef quickly block him and rolled out the way of the blade's tip.

"So, she gave you the sword of angels" said Ivan who quickly rushed toward Stef making another slash however Stef dodge out of the way and countered quickly. He had never had sword training of any kind, it was the way of the ancients. Ivan was superior then him and if he did not get away from him, he would die.

Leviticus quickly kicked Ivan back, knocking him over and darted out of the door. Ivan followed Leviticus up the street and onto the square and Stef stood round the fountain of the unicorn. He had to think of a plan.

"Who?" asked Stef as Ivan neared him.

"That foolish mother of yours! She gave you what every draconian is given, the sword of angels or "Angelwraith"

Stef raised his sword and his grip tightened with the mention of his mother. He had grown up with her however she was never really there for him and suffered for years with grief of something in her past and was wasted away with illness. She would sit in her room for years and just cry with darkened windows and Stef could do nothing to make her feel better. He then went to an adoption agency and was adopted by another family that kept his name, his mother had always called him Stef. However he had not learnt that his real tribal name was Leviticus and he lived with his mother, father and sister. His sister Exodus had died in the civil war, along with his father however he and his mother had escaped and gone to live in Gradose City.

His mother had given him the blade as a birthday present and had asked to protect it forever. She had obviously known his Draconian roots.

Ivan blocked Stef who quickly attacked in blind rage at the thought of his mother. Ivan beat back Stef and as he swung the blade, it wrapped around his leg like a whip and brought him crashing down on the marble pavement.

Ivan then snapped the hilt of the sword in half and created another blade made of liquid metal. With one hand he held the whip wrapped around Stef's leg and in the other a sword that pointed down towards his throat.

"I'm afraid this is the end for you, my son"

Stef's eyes widened at the mention of son, he lifted his sword to bring it down in Stef's face when...

"Bang!"

Ivan slumped in pain as a bullet impaled itself in his should, he fell backwards and quickly fled down a back alley.

Stef looked back at his saviour, it was doctor Chaos who was standing over him with his assault rifle.

"Thought you needed a hand."

Stef smiled and picked himself up, he looked straight into Chaos's emerald green eyes and saw the care she had for him. However he was disgusted with what Ivan had said before he disappeared. Was he Ivan's son? Was Ivan his long lost father? One thing he did know was that he was a draconian, a descendant of the gods.

He moved closer to Chaos feeling the beat of her heart quicken and kissed her softly. Chaos pulled away slowly, her eyes filled with wisdom and happiness.

Chaos then began to flinch as she felt a sharp pain in her back. Stef noticed her pain and grabbed her asking her what the matter was. Chaos screamed and lent back as two massive white wings emerged out of her back.

How was this possible? Chaos was a draconian too? She then looked back at her wings and smiled.

"Well that was unexpected?"

Time: April 1st

Location: Commander Leviticus "Stef" Valentine â€" Personal Log

Date supplied above...

We managed to get the ASE's and the Hyperthrust drive online today and then just as we went to leave this system...

They failed.

I guess this is fate's April Fools.

However they appear to be stable now so the Erika is leaving the system. After we sent out the transmission only two other ships came out here, the Renaissance, a passenger liner and the Point Agathon, a cargo hauler that is over a thousand feet long. These ships offer me little hope that the rest of the human race were left unscathed. The captain of the Renaissance told me that Ivan Grace and the Viro'Leese have been searching all the systems in an attempt to destroy the entire civilian and other military vessels, they have succeeded for the most part however the Erika has been left alive. She's in bad shape though. Thanks to the Black Beauty we are alright for fuel however we have only two function laser cannons that did not seem to affect the Viro'Leese shields so we are working on a way to penetrate them.

However Doctor Chaos has discovered many things about our adversaries due to the dead human victims. The Viro'Leese are actually a race of plant-based parasites that enter the victim's brain from the spores of the mother plant and control the brain, injecting some sort of chemical into the blood stream, which caused the victim's veins and arteries to bulge and turn green. So now we understand that the population of Earth is alive however they are slaves to this race. Chaos has also determined that once infected there is no way to stop them.

In spite of this I find myself thinking about my dialogue with Ivan Grace on the planet. I have spent many hours immersed in the Book of Agathon in order to shine light on my predicament. Apparently there were only a few Draconians at the end of the fight between the princes of the darkness and the other Draconians. They settled a tribe on a deserted island and only a few cross-bred with humans before they died out. However only the princes of darkness had black feathers.

After a genetic test, Chaos and I discovered that we are from the same tribe of people however it appears that one of Chaos's parents were a Draconian but they died years ago. We have worked very close and I am growing closely attracted towards her. I have also got an idea of where to go which I will address the crew in due coarse...

Log completed...

Time: April 3rd

Location: Phoenix â€" Orbiting Tyrago V â€" Sector 476

"Ahhhh!" shouted Ivan, knocking back the medical officer who was stood behind him looking at his shoulder. There was a gun-shot that was beginning to heal.

The medical officer quickly left the room as Ivan slouched in his chair. He was so nearly at his goal however she had got in his way again! Those two were dangerous together!

"Oh Ivan, baby..." said Marianna, carefully touching Ivan and looking into his eyes, she was still transparent but felt real. "You'll get them in the end"

Ivan smiled back at Marianna, the dark curse that he had placed on her had been quiet effectively, now she had fallen in love with him.

"I'm guessing the Erika will be trying to get as far away as possible. I know my son. The Erika also has a small collection of ships, only three others but this means that human race could survive. The Viro'Leese would not be very happy about that."

Marianna leant over his other shoulder; the other side was bandaged up from where Chaos had shot her.

"But where exactly will they go?" asked Marianna, she looked at the control and tried to anticipate their location.

"I don't know but we'll find them" he turned the chair to face a console on his left. "Computer open a secure channel to the Mar'kas'line."

The translated that began to translate Viro'Leese into an earth language or common tongue as a voice filled the room.

"This... is.... Ssk'ahh, what do you want?"

The computer was now able to translate Viro'Leese speech perfectly, even though they were a parasitic race that invaded other people's bodies, they still had their own language.

"Lord Ssk'ahh, I have an idea. Send as many ships into your core worlds as you can. I have an idea and ready the Ce'lestra."

Ssk'ahh replied with a simple grunt. The Viro'Leese were not known for their talkative personalities.

Time: April 5th

Location: UMSS Erika â€" FCC

Commander Valentine stood in front of the crew in the assembly hall, the entire crew of the Erika with representatives from the Agathon point, Renaissance and Black Beauty. The hall was crowded with officers of every ranks and civilians that were anxious to hear the answer to the most important question that was circling the collection of odd vessels that now roamed the unfamiliar parts of the galaxy.

Where were they go? What place would offer them a chance to rebuild their society?

The Erika was heavily damage and in dire need of a refit and at the time of UMSS, there were not any allied alien powers. The Kelvanians would not want to get involved and neither would the Hasagawa who were a race that were paranoid and xenophobic.

"However, even though some of you believe that I should take the rank of captain I will not. I want the rank to be dedicated to Captain Wildcat and I'm not willing to belittle her. On another note" said Commander Valentine whose words rang true with most the crew that were in the hall. He would stay as commander. "I have decided who I shall make my first officer. It was a difficult decision however I have decided that it shall be Lieutenant Commander Thorphyus De'sade. Congratulations."

Valentine clapped along with Chaos and some of the crew however the majority stayed silent.

"I'm aware of the prejudice towards Commander De'sade however I will not allow this aboard my ship." Valentine pointed out towards the crew. "Any racist behaviour, even a minor comment will be an instant strip of rank and will be confined to quarters. We are not at war with ourselves! We have to survive and to that we must cast aside racial discrimination!"

De'sade stood very proudly next to Commander Valentine who shook his hand.

A hand shot out from the audience.

"Yes ensign!" shouted Leviticus

"Captain! How you can expect us to salute him and take orders from him!"

Commander Valentine gritted his teeth and asked the young, black-haired ensign to come out in front of the crowd, up on the stage that he was stood on. The ensign did exactly as he was told.

Quick as a flash, Stef whacked him straight in face causing him to role of the stage and then looked at the crew and raised an eyebrow.

"Anymore objections?"

The crew stayed silent. Stef smiled. Sometimes the hard lined approach was better to establish order.

"Good!" he laughed, De'sade looked almost horrified as what he did, as an officer De'sade had never taken a violent approach. He wanted to prove everyone wrong about everyone in Sierra being brutal thugs. "Now onto the question of where we will go. I have been doing some research and talking to the other captains of the fleet. We have decided that Erika is the protector of this collection of ships therefore there will be a martial law type government. The military will take care of all matters involving internal and external security."

Some of the civilians groaned, Stef shot a hard glare at them. He would have liked to see how far their small ships would get without the Erika's protection.

"As I was saying, I have been talking to the other captain's and there is only one definite place we can go to. We know from the Book of Agathon that we, the people of Earth did not originate from that planet but from a sister world that lies in the centre of our galaxy. We also know that the human race were the illicit and forbidden children or the Draconians Agathon and Sycilla. These two humans, named Adam and Eve were condemned by God and the minor god's and exiled from Eden on the planet of the Angels when they committed the original sin. I say it is time for us to seek their protection once again. We know where it is however we have to go through where a region of space that appears to be completely controlled by the race that attacked our home, the Viro'Leese. It is my intention to head back for Zelna, planet of the Angels."

There were many mutters in the crew and looks of shock, as far as everyone knew Zelna was a lost planet that could have been destroyed thousands of years ago.

"Well I agree" said De'sade, putting his hand on Stef's shoulder and smiling.

"So do I" shouted Chaos from the back row.

"This is foolish!" shouted Captain Matthews.

"Yes" said Commander De'sade "But it's a bit of hope for once!"

"Let's go home!"

The crew cheered and celebrated, the will of humanity restored. It was a spirit that was truly unbreakable.

Time: April 6th

Location: Chief Medical Officer Chaos â€" Personal Log

Date: Who cares?

The crew are a lot happier now, I keep passing smiling officers in the ships corridors. Commander Valen... No... Stef expects that if we stay on course without being detected we should be at Zelna in about six months.

Well at least we have a goal now rather then just wondering race like an orphaned child on Maxis City streets...

Sorry, getting a bit personal there.

I have been treating burns, cuts and scrapes for hours on since the Agathon Point arrived. The male crew members tried to keep making sexual comments to me. I sent them packing.

As for me and the Commander I not sure what happened when we kissed. I knew I had these wings in my back since I was a little girl but I never showed them. I had no idea that Stef was a Draconian as well.

He seems preoccupied with thoughts about Ivan Grace, does he think that what Ivan said was true. Is Stef his son?

That must mean that Stef is...

A fallen angel... Oh GOD! Oh Agathon! Don't condemn him as well. I can't help what I feel! I love him!

Shit!

Computer delete!

Time: 3rd May â€" 1:08pm

Location: Commander Leviticus Valentine's Private Quarters

Stef laid out his Tarot cards on his glass table, he looked deeply at them in the formation of cross with four cards descending from the right of the cross.

He watched as he drew, the tower and the devil. Stef put down the deck sensing what the cards would say and rose to his feet. He took off his purple dressing robe that he had put on for when he was off duty, it helped him relaxed.

He pushed hard, pushing his wings out his back and walked to the mirror in his en-suite bathroom. He gasped and stepped back.

The end of his wings were going as black as Ivan's! What did that mean.

Quickly, Stef shot over to the bookcase where he removed an old, white covered book with gold lettering on the spine.

"The Book Of Agathon"

Stef quickly skimmed through all of the pages, he was looking for a particular section. He found it and read it in his mind.

God Creates The Dark Angel Destiny

Come be with me, commanded God.

Though the spirits fell to the dark abyss of the universe.

God's angered speech placed the power of darkness upon the Draconians that fought his will.

God said, all the children of my fallen children

Will be forced to carry the burden of their parents for all eternity.

They will fall into insanity with the darkening of their mind.

They will turn into a shadow of thyself and die.

With their wings turning the colour of shadows.

Stef stared into the darkness of his quarters, he would go insane and that would kill him. He had the first symptom; it was only a short time to go. He needed to get off the ship when it happened or he might be a danger to everyone else.

"Commander Valentine to the FCC" a voiced interrupted Stef's thought pattern and he tried to cast the fear of death and insanity aside as he confronted what came next.

Time: 3rd May â€" 1:10pm

Location: UMSS Erika â€" FCC

The FCC was a hive of cheerful chatter when Ivan climbed up the ladder. The engineering crew were busy putting railings at the top of the ladders to stop anyone from falling down the pit again.

In memory of Captain Flex's death of course.

However the crew were extremely cheerful and even De'sade was chatting amongst them, especially to Ensign Julia Romani who was sat on the left of the first tier.

De'sade instantly stopped talking and walked towards Stef, he smiled and looked happy.

"Good news?" asked Stef, who was hardly in the mood for any.

De'sade smiled and asked Stef to take a look at the long-range sensors. Any day to Stef without running into the Viro'Leese was a good day however it had been a few weeks since the Erika had a battle and Stef believed that people might get a little sloppy in battle scenarios. Stef walked over to station were Chaos was sat, he leaned over her.

"It looks like the majority of the Viro'Leese vessels are located here," pointed Chaos, she smiled at Stef. "Near their core planets however our route is only a few light-years away so I suggest that we Hyperthrust to this location. Past their main fleet."

As usual Chaos made very valid suggestions.

"I agree" whispered Stef and then he raised his voice to the whole bridge. "Get the ships ready to make a jump to..."

He was interrupted by the tactical officer.

"Sir! Hyperthrust portal opening dead ahead!"

A blinding green flash filled the bridge from the window in front. Many of the crew covered their eyes, a ship emerged, it was smaller than the Erika and had familiar hull markings.

"She one of ours" shouted the Officer. His voice was raised in excitement. "It's the Ce'lestra!"

Stef looked stunned, how did it survive, he was sure it was destroyed.

"Their life support is failing!" called Chaos who had made a quick scan.

"There a military vessel and we must help. Chaos, De'sade, get over there quickly. Arm yourself as well."

Chaos and De'sade nodded then left the FCC.

"Keep an open comm"

Time: May 3rd â€" 1:14pm

Location: UMSS Ce'lestra â€" Control Room

De'sade and Chaos materialised in a battered and damaged control room. Chaos had a med-pack that was like a handbag, which hung from her shoulder, she also carried an assault rifle with a torchlight on it which she shone over the room. De'sade carried another large weapon, which was bigger than assault rifle; it was something had been developed by the study of Viro'Leese's superior technology. A phase based weapon.

Chaos moved round the room, with weapon in hand, she was hoping to be greeted by some member of the crew however maybe all of them had died and the ship had somehow got swept in a Hyperthrust portal and then exit just randomly in front of the Erika.

The Control room was small with only a commander chair in the middle, a console at the front of the ship and two consoles both left and right. There were windows in front of the commander chair and on a diagonal slant both left and right of the chair, gave better field of vision. After all the Ce'lestra was a scout vessel with a crew of only ten.

"This vessels Hyperthrust field is still be manually maintained so there are still life forms aboard this ship. I maybe able to bring main power online."

De'sade reached out at one of the control panels and the room suddenly went bright, dazzling both of them for a second before the large door to the bridge open and in walked Captain Sioto.

"Captain!" shouted Chaos, she was overcome with glee, the other ten officers were behind him and they were all wearing hoods, only showing the front of their faces. "I'm so happy to see you!"

Captain Sioto opened his mouth.

"Vectra mes'ka vindiece!"

The rest of the crew draw their weapons and fired at Chaos and De'sade who both ducked behind the front console, shielding them from the view of the soldiers.

Chaos poked her head out to fire off a few bullets before De'sade gave her time to reload. The cannon was powerful and De'sade felt the full kick of the weapon, a laser of brilliant white light pierced the skin of one of the crew and he fell to the floor.

However they were trapped behind the console.

Two against nine?

Not fair odds.

Time: May 3rd â€" 1:20

Location: UMSS Erika â€" FCC

"Commander... we're...pinned..." a voice cut through the hustle and bustle of the FCC as Stef sat in the command chair. It was Chaos's voice.

"Sir!" shouted the tactical officer. "The Ce'lestra has raised some sort of field, we cannot get our team out!"

Stef walked round to look at the direction the Ce'lestra was heading, she had turned to put her back on the Erika and stopped.

"SIR!" shouted another crewmember who was on the verge of panic. "I'm reading Hyperthrust portals, at least twenty, ships are immerging." He went silent for a second and suddenly Leviticus knew why this path had to seem clear. The Viro'Leese had pulled all their ships back because of the fact that Ivan knew where he was going. He had been reading Stef thoughts all along, that was how he answer Stef's question without even knowing! He was naturally psychic and could tap into anyone's mind from even across large distances. That's why Stef fainted on the FCC during the attack on Earth because Ivan had put him in an unconscious state to make his mind easier to probe and now Ivan knew where the ship was going and new exactly what system they were in. He had been telling the Viro'Leese this.

"I'm reading fifty Viro'Leese contacts at extreme ranging, coming from the planet and another twenty, including the Phoenix have emerged from Hyperthrust!"

That made seventy enemy vessels verses an old "War-pulsar" that had minimal weapons and power.

"It's not even a trap" thought Stef. "It's a massacre".