EndTime - Part One

[Jairen]

Frederico lay back on the soft grass his legs crossed, watching the slow, lazy clouds drifting through the sky. He found it strange that so much was the same here in the Serene colonies. He had expected living on another planet to be a vibrant adventure, with alien skies and plants, but Aponomo Prime was disturbingly mundane. Forests, rivers, lakes, oceans, all were familiar and normal, and very disappointing. Even out here, in the wilds around the Aram river, it still felt normal.

A brief tug on his toe made him sit up, looking at the fishing line tied there. He followed it out with his eyes into the babbling river, grinning as he saw the tell-tale signs of a fish nibbling at the line. Grabbing the line with gentle hands, he cradled it, trying his best not to disturb it or send vibrations down the line. He watched and waited, patient, as the fish nibbled some more before biting down and swimming away, dragging the line with it.

With a howl of glee, Frederico pulled on the line, running towards the shallows and splashing into the water. He pulled hand over hand, drawing the fish in with each move, looking forward to a nice, smoked fish supper. He reached into the water and pulled the fish out into his hands. As he held it up towards the light, watching it flap about in the air, the sky turned to fire.

*****

John sat behind the wheel of his car, cruising at about one hundred feet, his son David strapped in safely in the back seat. It had been an interesting weekend round the in-laws, and his wife was doing well in her recovery. The operation had been quick, as most of them were these days with the new holographic techniques. The robot surgeons were very accurate when it came to removing problems.

"Looking forward to school next week?" he said, glancing back at his son.

"Yeah, Craig and Darren are gonna be there. I haven't seen them all summer."

"I'm sorry we weren't able to send you to Earth with the rest of your class, but you've had a good time here in Serene, haven't you?"

"Oh, it's been great Dad. Seeing Mom was the best, and she looked so much better."

John smiled glad that his son, though only twelve, was so grown-up. "Your aunt should be arriving tomorrow. Her patrol ship is due on the standard check run."

"Auntie Frannie!" David squealed. "Wonder what she'll have for me?"

John shook his head in amusement, flicking one of the car controls over to descent mode, his eyes tracking the skyline markers that led into the centre of Kirita City. Suddenly, a huge lance of energy, unlike anything he had ever seen, flashed through the sky and struck the ground. John had just enough time to scream before the sky turned to fire.

*****

Clara held the very full shopping bags up in front of her as she squeezed past several other summer sale shoppers. She had a feeling that her credit line was going to be severely depleted by the end of the day, but she didn't really care. She only got to do this sale rush once a year, when the end of summer sales kicked in and she had her bonus from the food generation plant. Right now, she had her eyes on a beautiful black slinky dress, and she could see at least two other people eyeing it as well.

"Move it or lose it," she shouted, forcing her way between two other shoppers. She reached the dress just before the other two and pulled it off the peg, shielding it from any chance of being taken from her in the melee that was the summer sales. She forced her way back through the crowds towards the till, waited the stupid amount of time to reach the front of the queue then slipped out into the crowded streets.

Jarak city was not the largest of metropolis' but it was a great place for fashion. Shows were held here yearly, with the latest fashions from both Earth and some of the other colony planets. Aponomo Prime may not be the centre of the Terran Empire, but it was a fashion icon. As Clara headed up the street she saw Kiean on the other side of the road. Waving at him, she crossed over and slipped one of her arms through his.

"Hiya Kiean, what you up to today?"

"Nothing much, hun, just checking out the sales, you?"

"Already done," she held up the multitude of bags in her other arm. "Got to start early on days like this."

"Fancy some lunch?"

"That would be lovely," Clara said, smiling up at him. She had been friends with Kiean for most of their lives, and recently those feelings had become something more. Having lunch was just another opportunity to spend more time with him.

"Sergio's?"

"Mmm, definitely."

Kiean motioned her down the street and they walked towards the large Sergio's sign about a hundred yards down the road. As she leaned in against him, enjoying this brief moment of isolation from the rest of the world whilst she was with him, the world was engulfed in a bright, blinding light. Moments later, the sky turned to fire.

*****

Hanging serenely in space, two moons following their orbital paths around its huge bulk, was the home of one of Earth's oldest colonies, Aponomo Prime. Currently home to over twenty-five million people, the Serene colonies had landed here nearly fifty years ago. In that time, the population had exploded, rapidly expanding to use large areas of the mostly unspoilt world.

Space around the planet was cluttered with the usual array of technology, comms satellites, defence arrays, television transmitters. In the short time that humanity had been on the planet they had changed it rapidly, cluttering the space around it in their inimitable style. Unknown to the people going about their day to day business, everything was about to change. Outside the range of the planet's immediate defence systems, the fabric of space seemed to tear, a huge rent opening into a pulsing, gyrating mass of energy. Through this tear poured twenty ships, all huge in size, their pulsating energy forming what could only be described as a five point star encased in glowing jelly. Cascades of red and white energy sparked along the spines, arcing between ships that were close enough together.

The ships began to spread, moving out from each other, forming an all-encompassing sphere of light around the planet. As they settled into the orbit so far into space, they seemed to flex, their jelly-like substance contracting and expanding, forcing the points of the stars down and towards each other. The ships were slow and deliberate, their movements measured. As the five points completed their arc, the energy rippled again, arcing down each spine to begin forming a huge glowing ball of energy at the point. The charge seemed to build, over and over, pulsating into greater and greater spheres.

For just a moment, everything seemed to pause, as if the universe itself was holding its breath, then the great spheres released there energy. Each ship's points fire inwards five scarlet beams of energy striking together in the centre, before firing down a beam of energy into the planet below. As the beams passed through the atmosphere, the sky seemed to turn to fire, great roiling clouds of smoke and flame expanding out across the planet's surface. In an instant, the beam penetrated the crust of the planet, punching down into the core, joining the other beams from the ships spaced around the planet. The energy was immense, ripping through the iron core and destroying it. The planet's heart was broken in the first attack.

The beams stopped, almost as soon as they started, their terrible destructive purpose achieved. The ships slipped away from the planet as the surface continued to boil, the great rip in space opening again to allow them to disappear back to wherever they came from. Behind them what was left of the Serene colonies burned. The entire atmosphere was now a swirling whirlwind of fire and ash. For several moments the planet remained, a beacon of light in its own solar system, then in slow motion it cracked, huge chunks of rock being thrown out into space, launched with enough force by the fractured core to break the hold of planet's gravity.

A large piece flew with enough force to strike the closer moon, shattering it, leaving a planet in ruins, with huge amounts of rock and dust scattered into the dead stillness of space.

*****

Daylan Wace sat with his feet up on the tavern table, a hot, extra-strong stim drink next to him. He glanced out the window at the now common-place vista of the curve of the Earth, the backdrop against which his ship was being loaded, ready for his next cargo run. The huge containers were being manoeuvred into place around the main drives of his old junk hauler. The ship wasn't anything fancy, but she got him from A to B on a regular basis, and she was stronger than most of the modern cargo haulers. They just didn't make them like this anymore, as the saying went.

"You gonna be out for long this time, Day?" the barman asked, stopping to collect some of the old glasses on the table near Daylan.

"Doubt it, Haze," he said, dropping his feet to the floor and grabbing his stim for a quick pull. "I'm running some stuff to my special clients, so a couple of days at most. They don't like me to hang around at their end."

"Don't tell me anything more," Haze said, grinning, "I don't want to have to lie if they ask me if you're smuggling."

"Me, smuggle? You wound me." Daylan said, downing the last of the stim and throwing the mug towards Haze. Haze's automatic reaction kicked in and he dropped everything he was holding to try and catch it. As he did this, Daylan whipped his jacket off the back of the chair and spun it on, slipping his arms through it. The jacket hung low, covering his waist and hips, and the blaster that was strapped in its holster at his side.

"Oops!" Daylan said, grinning. "Gotta go, Haze, see you in a few days."

"What about this mess?"

Daylan shrugged, the grin never leaving his face, and ran for the door.

"I'll put it on your tab!"

Daylan waved as he ran through the door into the space station corridor. The place was heaving, rammed with people. The Armistice Station was the main hub for cargo haulers moving stuff throughout the galaxy. Earth cargo was delivered to here for transport down to the planet, and any cargo to go into the depths of space passed through here on its way out. Weaving through the crowd, he headed towards docking bay 94, where the shuttle would be waiting to ferry him out to the junk that he was the proud owner of. Passing the fourth junction on the corridor he arrived to find several official looking people waiting for him.

"Daylan Joretson?" the first asked as he approached.

"Nope, not me, wrong guy," Daylan responded automatically. He didn't go by that last name anymore. He had disowned his privileged family a long time ago, after the death of his brother. He tried to push past them towards the docking bay door.

"Daylan Wace, then?" the man continued, the other two men with him blocking the way to the door.

"Who's asking?" Daylan asked, slouching back from the two men, giving himself some room. His hand flicked the edge of his coat back, giving him quick access to his blaster if he needed it.

"There is no need for that," the man said. "I am Garrik Vansen, and I am here on behalf of the Joret trust."

"I could guess that, what do you want?"

"Your father has asked for your presence. There are some matters he feels that must be discussed with you."

"I'm kinda busy at the moment," Daylan said, "besides, my father should know better by now. We don't talk."

"Regardless of previous issues, your father was quite insistent that you should attend him immediately."

"I think not," Daylan said.

Vansen moved his hand almost imperceptibly, and the two men sprang into action. They made a grab for Daylan, but Daylan was faster, spinning away from the first man, and allowing the second to remove his jacket as he stepped away from him too. His hand had his blaster out before he had even consciously thought of it.

"Now, I suggest you move out of the way, gentlemen," Daylan said, waving them to the side with the tip of the barrel. "And give my father a message from me, next time, he should come himself if he want's to talk to me."

Daylan stepped past the men, passing through the bay doorway, passing his hand over the scanner plate so that it could read his ident implant. The security sensors deactivated long enough for him to step through. Once on the other side, Daylan holstered his blaster.

"This is not over, Mr Wace," Vansen said. "Bring him back, gentlemen."

"I wouldn't do that," Daylan said, standing with his arms crossed.

The two men walked through the doorway and into the range of the security sensors. Daylan grinned, standing calmly in front of them as they approached.

"Detain," he said, not moving.

Alarms suddenly sounded, and the security sensors flared into life. Beams of energy shot out, filling the small passageway into the docking bay. In seconds, the two men had been immobilised, frozen in place, the only movement the rise and fall of their chests as they breathed and the movement of their eyes as they looked for a way to free themselves.

"All the docking bays are keyed to the ship captain renting them at the time," Daylan said, leaning towards the two men. He raised his voice enough to be heard past them. "I'm afraid security are approaching as we speak, Mr Vansen. I'm sure that you'll be able to talk your way out of this, but thankfully I will already be on my ship at that point, and you know better than to attempt to hijack me in the space lanes around here. The EDF don't look kindly on pirates."

"I'll deliver your message, Mr Wace," Vansen said, his face a stoic mask, "but be prepared when you return. I'm sure your father will still want to speak with you."

Daylan tipped an imaginary hat at the man, then turned and moved along the corridor to the entrance to the shuttle. Each docking bay had a small launch that would ferry passengers out to the actual dock area where the ship was being prepped. He walked into the small cabin and pulled the door hatch down behind him, locking it off and listening for the tell-tale whistle of the pressure seal securing itself. He reach over to the small console and hesitated for a moment over the button marked "Return to Dock".

"He'll try again if it's really important," he said to himself before shrugging and pushing the button. The shuttle rocked as the docking clamps released it, then the auto-pilot kicked in and the shuttle slipped away from the station and headed out in a gentle arc towards the active shipyards.

Daylan relaxed into the couch provided for the passengers, looking out of the small window and the expanding vista around him. The shipyards were huge, the main transfer ports for cargo throughout the galaxy. Regardless of its physical position in the universe, Earth was still the central hub of the Terran economy, and most ships passed through this particular port system. Hundreds of smaller personal vessels were docked throughout the inner yards, followed by the larger, luxury cruisers and transport ships in the middle tier. His shuttle wove its way through these masses of ships, following its pre-programmed path to the huge outer shipyards where the cargo haulers would dock for loading. Up ahead he could see his ship, the Daylan's Pride sitting quietly in space. The ship was one of the ugliest pieces of junk in sight, but she had four solid quantum gravity drives, in a standard four-point configuration, and at the core was a standard hyperspace well generator. At least, it had been standard before he had started tweaking it. She would travel as fast as a military grade ship now, even pulling several gigatons of cargo behind her. Of course, the inertia on re-entry could be a little difficult to handle, but the military grade retro-thrusters he'd negotiated for about six months ago had made it much easier now.

Hanging behind the ship, attached between the engines above, below and on either side, were the huge cargo canisters that had been fitted over the last few days. Huge tugs stilled hovered about, moving some additional containers into position and activating the gravitic shackles to ensure that the train would hold together during the buffeting they would receive in hyperspace. Daylan wondered what the local port authority might say if they knew that they were filled with trade goods intended for Egartan space. Whilst it wasn't illegal to trade with the Egartan, many humans, some in positions of power, did not like associating with the alien race.

The launch settled into position alongside the Pride's port side and a small umbilical extended to attach itself to the airlock opposite. The pressure seals activated, followed by a sudden rush of air into the now sealed space. The airlock light cycled for a moment, before switching to green indicating that it was now safe to travel. Daylan punched in the security code for his ship on the transponder attached to his wrist, deactivating the intruder alarm and countermeasures, then punched he door release. The walk across the short umbilical was always odd, as the artificial gravity generators did not cover that short piece of the ship. As he passed between the launch and the airlock on his own ship he felt that disorientating moment of weightlessness before the slightly dialled up gravity of his own ship took over. He always ran the ship at slightly more than one standard Earth gravity, it helped him exercise whilst in the depths of space, and kept his reflexes sharp when he visited regulation planets and stations.

The inside of the Pride was almost as ugly as the outside. Exposed pipework littered the small corridor's walls, as well as wiring looms and the odd tool scattered about. Daylan was never bothered about it, as most of this area was just for show. He passed through the small sleeping area and cooking station. The hydration unit was simple to use and helped provide most of the nutrition required on his trips; the bed was simple, comfortable and above all had a sound dampening field built-in that allowed him to sleep without the constant roar of the engines disturbing him.

The heart of the ship was the cockpit, where he had the main control systems routed in. Stepping up the door, he slapped the access panel and it slid open with only the slightest of whines. Inside was a large, comfortable looking chair, facing towards the door. He stepped through, the door closing behind him, and sat. A kick of his leg had the chair spinning around to face the large cockpit window in front of him. Whilst most of the modern ships no longer had a traditional style cockpit, their control centres usually deep inside with viewscreens to help them see, Daylan liked the traditional feel of seeing directly where he was going. The control board in front of him tripped into light as he started flicking the odd switch to bring the ship to life. A dull roar started in the lower registers, combining with a slight shudder as the engines sputtered for a moment then kicked in to life. Daylan kept the thrust at zero as he ran down his mental checklist. Before long, he knew the ship was ready to fly.

"Daylan's Pride to Armistice Station control. Loading is now complete."

"Understood Daylan's Pride," the voice rang out through the radio static. "You're clear for immediate departure on vector three seven two by twenty four by twelve."

"Thanks Armistice."

A quick scan of the interface again and Daylan charged up the drives, moving the throttle slider forward and lifting the engine power up to about point two of maximum. The rig juddered for a moment as it battled the inertia of the huge containers attached to it then began to glide forward. Daylan programmed in the approved exit vector for his ship and activated the guidance thrusters, feathering the power to the drives as the ship manoeuvred past other ships on the outer edge of the shipyards.

The sensors blipped suddenly and Daylan punched up the heads-up display, bringing up a three dimensional view of the shipyard surrounding his ship. Most of the markers showed the large lumbering tugs moving cargo, but weaving between them were three smaller markers, chasing a fourth. Glancing past the display he could see a small dart-like ship crossing in front of him, three Earth Defence Force single-seat pursuit craft trailing behind it. Flicking another switch, Daylan activated his scanner, picking up the security channel that the EDF pilots were talking on.

"…take the shot, we can't let that ship get into the cruiser lanes."

"Understood Commander, firing!"

Daylan watched as streams of light sliced out from the lead two EDF craft, lancing into the space that the dart ship occupied. Several showers of sparks followed by secondary explosions within the craft showed they had been successful. The ship appeared to list for a moment, its attitude twisting as the tail end span about, the light from the engine failing. Daylan could see atmosphere venting from the ship's cockpit and was surprised to see it suddenly shatter as a body came flying out, a small plume of exhaust showing that the pilot was using an escape harness.

Two of the pursuit craft moved in without hesitation, a gravity-web forming between them as they approached. Daylan watched as they scooped up the extra-vehicular escapee and headed off towards the private EDF shipyard on Galileo Station. The lane in front of his ship was now clear again, the third and final craft using a gravity scoop to move the last pieces of the broken craft out of the way. He saw his comm light flash.

"Daylan's Pride," he said, flicking it to talk.

"This is Office Andrew Morgan of the IEP, you are cleared to proceed."

The Interplanetary Enforcement Patrol? Daylan thought. Could have sworn they were EDF.

"Thanks, Daylan's Pride out."

Daylan rammed the idling engines up to power again, forcing the ship to judder again as it fought to move. Before long he was cruising again, out past the perimeter of the shipyards and into the space lanes. His exit vector was still clear, despite the short delay, so he reached over and tapped in the co-ordinates for his hyperspace jump. He heard the whine of the hyperdrive engine powering up, starting at the subtle low hum before building to a crescendo. The stars around him started to shake, become blurs as the engine exerted the tremendous forces required to penetrate the hyperspace barrier. The ship seemed to lurch for a second before a shimmering field of energy formed in front of it. The light flickered blue through the cockpit as Daylan stared into the chaotic mess that was the ether, before the shimmering field moved towards him, rapidly enveloping the ship in the shimmering light.

For seconds the ship hung there, the light hugging the surfaces, before everything collapsed and the light, and ship, disappeared into hyperspace.

*****

Commander Karen Irione sat with her legs crossed at the ankles, her left hand on the armrest of her command chair, her right hand tapping her knee. The viewport of the Errant Flight showed the mottled, chaotic swirl of hyperspace that was currently surrounding her ship, with a series of display graphics surrounding it.

"We’re coming up on re-entry point for Aponomo Prime, Commander," Lieutenant Erinov said, her hands flying over the control station in front of her. She glanced back over her shoulder towards Karen.

"Thank you Lieutenant, prepare for reversion to normal space." Karen's chaired swivelled as she turned towards her tactical office. "Lieutenant Vaughn, prepare an immediate sweep of the system on arrival."

"Understood Commander," he said, his hands moving easily over the control station, completing tasks he had done hundreds of times.

Karen was pleased with the team she had currently. The crew of the Errant Flight were well trained, and their experiences together over the last two years had really forged them into a cohesive team. She knew that she would trust either of her officers with her life. Lieutenant Francesca Erinov had been in basic training with her, and they had both worked hard to overcome some of the old boy's club attitude that still persisted, despite hundreds of years of equal rights for women. Karen had excelled in the command classes and had been fast tracked to her own ship, and she had taken Francesca along with her. Besides, she was the best navigator in the fleet, bar none.

Lieutenant Vaughn she had only met for the first time since taking command of the Flight and he had proven to be reliable, controlled, and very, very clever. There hadn't been a situation yet that he hadn't been able to give her valid advice on, and his tactical skills were excellent. She had been approached several times by senior Admirals looking to poach him away, but her own connections in the brass had allowed her to keep him, for now. She wasn't sure how long that would last. The rest of the fifty person crew were also known to her on some level, though she had to admit that she didn't know all of them as well as she thought she should. She had to walk a fine line between being their commanding officer and being their friends. She knew that Vaughn and several of the ensigns had a regular card game in the mess every off-duty cycle, but she hadn’t taken part in it. She wanted to maintain that air of command just in case they hit a bad situation.

"Re-entering normal space now," Lieutenant Erinov said, her hands flying over the console.

The Errant Flight reverted, the flickering, mottled blue skin receding from the surface of the ship as it settled back into normal space.

"Give me a visual," Karen said, glancing up at the display screen.

As the visuals appeared on screen, alarms began to sound throughout the ship. The ship lurched to one side, the visual slewing sideways.

"Engineering," Karen said, slapping her comm pad on the chair.

"Engineering Commander, we're experiencing some kind of shift in the gravity here. It's affecting the drives. I'm compensating as fast as I can."

"Keep me informed." She punched in a code on her small console to re-direct the comms system. "Errant Flight to Serene Colony, what is your status?"

"Commander!"

Karen looked up at Lieutenant Vaughn's shout, her eyes locking on to the scene in front displayed. She heard several gasps of dismay from the science stations at the rear of the bridge, and a sob escaped Erinov's mouth.

The planet was a barren wasteland, energy flickering back and forth between the surface and the two moons around it. A great, jagged scar of missing land ruined the once beautiful surface, and the fragmented moon in its slow orbit above the planet was already degrading towards what was left of the atmosphere.

"Give me a status report on that planet, now!" she shouted, her blood like ice, her mind numb with shock.

Lieutenant Erinov didn't respond, her eyes never leaving the display of the ruined planet. Karen got up from her chair and moved over to her.

"Lieutenant," she said, remaining firm despite what was now coming to her. "I need that information."

Lieutenant Erinov shook herself for a moment, then her training kicked in and her hands flew over the control station, bringing up information on the main display. All the indicators were flashing in the red. She stopped again, her hands pausing over the controls, seeming unsure of what to do next. Her eyes were locked on one of the stats towards the bottom of the display.

"Commander, the… the planet is on fire! Everything is burning, the rocks, the water, everything." She turned to look at Karen. "I… I… Commander, there are no life signs, none…"

"Lieutenant Vaughn, give me a tactical status on this system now. I want to know if this was caused by an asteroid or something else."

"Something else, Commander?" Lieutenant Vaughn said, glancing up from his console. "What else could it be, that much damage?"

"Let's not assume anything, Lieutenant. Get me tactical data, now!"

"They're all dead!"

Karen turned back to Lieutenant Erinov

"My family, my friends, everyone I grew up with…"

Lieutenant Erinov's eyes were lifeless as she looked up at Karen. Karen wanted nothing more than to grab and hold this dear friend, but the situation would not give her the time she needed.

"Lieutenant Erinov, you're relieved of duty. Ensign," she said, waving over one of the officers near the bridge exit, "please escort Lieutenant Erinov to the infirmary."

"Yes, sir," the ensign said, gently helping Erinov to her feet. He led her through the door into the corridor beyond.

"Can we get any closer to the planet? Perhaps there are survivors down there?" Karen said as a replacement officer to the navigation station.

"Read outs indicate that if we get any closer we risk being caught in the energy arcs coming from the moons and the planet," the navigation officer said, glancing up at Karen. "Our hull plating system would never be able to withstand the power that would be released should we be hit."

"Tactical status?" Karen asked, turning back to Lieutenant Vaughn.

"You were right, Commander, this wasn’t a natural disaster. Scans indicate over twenty identical holes bored down into the core of the planet. The angle and size say that it must have been something in space."

"I can't believe there are any pirates or renegades that would have the firepower required for this level of destruction. Give me a scan of the system, look for any ships that are still in the area or any energy signatures."

"There's nothing within sensor range, Commander, but I have been getting an odd ion trace around the planet. It doesn't match any known energy system used, by either us or the Egartan. However, the energy does appear to be from an organic source, and that is Egartan technology if I've ever seen it."

"I wouldn't put it past the Eggs to have invented something new like this," Karen said, the hatred clear in her voice.

When she had been a young girl, her father had been her idol. He was the commanding officer of a patrol ship just like hers and he had been patrolling the border of Egartan space when a renegade party of the aliens had made an incursion into Earth controlled space. Her father's patrol craft had been overwhelmed by the larger force, and her father had died. As she had grown up, her hatred for the Egartan had only grown, a dark, ugly stone in the centre of her being.

"Send EDF Command a sensor package drop and code in everything we have so far. Then get me more solid readings on that ion trail," she said.

"Do you think it's the Egartan?" Vaughn asked, looking across at her.

"What I believe doesn't matter," she said, "but if it is them, I'll personally take the price for this atrocity." She marched towards the bridge door. "The bridge is yours, Lieutenant Vaughn. I'm going to prepare a report for the Admiral. Once you've got the readings you need, set a course for Galileo station immediately, and take the shortest possible route through the jump points."

"Understood, Commander."

Karen wasn't even listening as the bridge door closed behind her. She walked along the corridor, her hatred for the Egartan warring with the numbness and shock that still tried to claw their way into her at the senseless loss of so many people on Aponomo Prime. Her quarters were only a deck away from the bridge, close enough for her to respond should she be needed. She felt the slight judder as the hyperdrive kicked in and dropped them into hyperspace, using her hand to steady herself for a moment as the disorientation swept through her. Despite the years she had been doing this, she still found the transition between normal space and hyperspace nauseating.

As she stepped through the doorway into her quarters she unclipped the collar of her uniform and pulled down the zip on the left side of her chest. The uniform slipped open, her tatty white t-shirt visible underneath. At heart, Karen knew that you had to look smart in the military, but the t-shirt had been with her since the academy and she felt secure and comfortable in it. She slid the rest of the jacket off her shoulders and let it flop on the edge of the chair back just inside the door. Like most of the furniture on the ship, the chair was mounted directly to the bulkheads, with a small swivel mount to let her turn it away from the small desk by it. She slipped into the seat and touched the screen in front of her, firing up the display interface.

"Begin recording," she said, looking at the images of the planet on screen. "September 14th, 2456. Errant Flight. Commander Karen Irione. Upon arriving in the Aponomo system, the Errant Flight encountered substantial gravity fluctuations. A scan of the system showed that Aponomo Prime had been decimated. Further investigation has indicated that this was not a natural phenomenon. I have attached all scans and conclusions, as well as a transcript of the bridge communications. The Errant Flight is returning to Earth for immediate debriefing." She paused for a moment. "Early indications appear to show organic technology at the heart of the attack.

"End message. Send."

"Message sent," the ship responded.

Karen moved over to the bed and sprawled out onto the mattress, rolling onto her back and staring up at the plain ceiling overhead.

"Lights," she said, putting her hands behind her head. The lights dimmed to nothing. "Music." A gentle melody began to play in the room as Karen tried to relax for the journey back to Earth.

*****

Daylan tapped the hyperspace re-entry switch, forcing his lumbering cargo transport to drop out of hyperspace, the hyperdrive whine fading to a dull hum and the mottled glow receding from his viewport. In moments normal space reappeared and his ship creaked under the sudden loss of momentum with the mass of cargo trailing behind him.

Up ahead was a large planet. Much like Earth it was a mass of land and sea, but had a ring orbiting it, probably the remains of a moon that hadn't formed correctly when the planet had been pulled together by the gravity plane of the solar system. Large, fluffy clouds moved across the sky, clear weather patterns visible, the odd flash from lightning. Closer than the planet were a series of space platforms, their odd shape and design a clear indication that he wasn't in EDF space anymore. He reached up to his dashboard and flicked the switch which activated his transponder.

"This is Captain Wace of Daylan's Pride to Kree'antae Station Control," he said, trusting their translation system to take over. "I'm just out of the Durio Sector, with a shipment of Ardock spice."

Durio was considered a free port, managed by both human and Egartan, and had full trade privileges with the rest of the Egartan empire. Daylan had made several contacts there over the years and through some hard work and a large number of bribes to the right people he had secured permission for himself and his ship to enter Egartan territory.

A burst of static, in which he could hear some of the melody of the Egartan words, came through just before the mechanised translation. "Daylan's Pride we have you on our sensors and have been expecting you. Please lock on to our control beacon. We expect to complete your docking cycle in approximately two hours, twenty-seven minutes."

"Understood. Daylan's Pride out."

Daylan did some quick maths in his head and knew that they were probably re-tasking a couple of the fleet ships on the other side of the station. Even with his permissions, he wouldn't be allowed close to the ships. Too many humans wanted access to the shielding technology that was at the heart of the Egartan systems. The huge station in front of him was a perfect example. Unlike the clunky, human based stations, this was all smooth, its skin covered in a smooth plates. Traced along those plates in a ribbon of metal were a series of runes, like those seen sometimes in very old earth archaeology digs. When the Egartan came under attack those runes would glow, the energy from them forming an impenetrable barrier to all but the largest of the EDF fleet ships. It was this technology that had maintained their ability to hold sway over humanity for those two centuries of enslavement. Mankind had no way of generating the kind of power required to smash its way through the shields, not until his several times great grandfather had led the raid to steal the technology behind the Egartan hyperdrive units.

Settling down into his chair, Daylan decided to take a moment to pull up the news feeds from Earth. Even out here, deep in Egartan space, he could tap into the hyperspace feeds and keep an eye on the rest of the galaxy. As he punched up the heads-up monitor the alarms started blaring throughout the ship. He ducked reflexively as something huge passed over the top of his ship, its shadow dwarfing him. He watched, his heart racing, as the strange ship moved closer to the station and the planet. It was massive, a flat disc-like thing, that looked oddly transparent, apart from five solid bars radiating out from a solid central piece. He could see energy arcing up and down the bars, and through the almost gelatinous-looking covering. The ship seemed to pulse as it moved, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.

Flicking a switch he cut off the alarms and then opened up the comm channels. They were alive with the almost musical flutter of the Egartan speech. He kept watching out the viewport as the ship moved further away from him. He could see others, spread out into the distance around the curve of the planet, moving with clear predetermined destinations.

The space around the nearest one was suddenly filled with Egartan Naval Patrol craft and Daylan watched in profound awe as they fired on the behemoth. The blasts appeared to do no damage, merely disappearing into the soft, pulsing surface of the ship. The five great points of the ship began to flex, and huge beams of energy started to pierce the darkness of space, carving up the ships around it as if they were a hot knives through butter.

"What the hell are they?!" Daylan shouted, shocked upright in his chair. His hands were already running over the board, powering down his systems and turning off his running lights. For all he knew, they could be aware of him already. He watched as the station opened up, the two fleet ships he had guessed were on the other side moving out of the shadows and joining their firepower to that of the station. The alien ship began to turn opaque where the blasts were landing, the increased power from the larger vessels actually causing them to attempt a defence. The great bars flexed again, the ship changing its angle, showing the broader base toward the destroyers. Daylan watched in horror as the five bars pointed in towards each other, the beams of energy firing again. They joined, all five points striking the station and carving along its length. The shield runes flared into life, and they energy field they created seemed to hold for a fraction of a second, before the beam punched through, penetrating the hull of the station. Explosions broke out along the side of the station and Daylan could see explosive decompression of several sections, the strange, lizard-like Egartan ejected into space.

The two destroyers didn't stand a chance. Even moving together to reinforce their shields did no good as the alien ship changed the direction of the beam, scoring along the edges of the vessels, huge chunks of them smashed off into oblivion. The alien ship moved past the burning hulks of the ships and station, ignoring the larger chunks that bounced off the surface. Daylan feathered up the power to his sensor systems, leaving them on passive to record as much data as possible without alerting the alien ship to his presence. The ship was settling into an orbit around the planet, slotting into a space in the pattern created by the other huge ship already encircling the planet.

Daylan held his breath, his mind trying to recognise what he was seeing. The ships were suddenly all firing, and the beams punched down with such ferocity that Daylan flinched back from his viewport. The tranquil sky was suddenly a roiling red and orange, as the clouds were blasted way by the intensity of the beams. He could see great gouts of dust flying up into the atmosphere as the blasts penetrated the core of the planet. What seemed like hours passed, as Daylan watched in shock, but in mere moments the planet was a husk of itself, chunks of rock blasting outwards as the ships moved away from the ruined world. Daylan waited in fear as the huge ship moved back towards him, but before it even got close it appeared to rip a hole in the fabric of space and disappeared. All around the planet the other ships were doing the same.

Daylan bought up the sensor logs for the attack, what little he had been able to record. The energy readings were off the scale, beyond anything he had seen before on even the big cruisers. In fact, he would equate it with closer to the output from an entire planet. He looked out at the devastation again in time to see several very large, very dangerous looking Egartan warships drop out of hyperspace. His alarms were suddenly going again as two of them turned towards him. He could already see trails from the launching fighter patrol craft.

"Daylan's Pride to ENP ships. I am not hostile, repeat, I am not hostile!"

"Ara nea vo qure, partuck!"

"That's not a good sign," Daylan said, worried that the Egartan had switched off their translation systems. A shot flew past the bow of his ship, close enough to make the speakers crackle. "Definitely not good."

Several more shots flew past, a couple of them grazing the huge cargo pods. Daylan tried to bring the Pride engines up, but the inertia of the cargo was making it slow going. A couple of shots splashed against the hull itself and Daylan knew he had no other choice.

"This is going to cost me a fortune!"

He pulled up the cargo manifold screen, punching in the emergency override code and activating the explosive release. A series of short, sharp bangs could be heard echoing along the length of the hull and suddenly the Pride was responding like a frolicking dolphin. Pulling out and away from the now derelict cargo pods, Daylan corkscrewed the ship into a dive that put him off-angle to the nearing pursuit fighters. Several more shots slammed into the cargo pods he had left behind, then the pursuit fighters had tracked him and his sensors warned him of the targeting beams seeking him.

Without warning a beam of energy crossed in front of the Pride causing Daylan to jink hard to the right, straight into the path of incoming fire from two of the fighters. He looked out the viewport at the larger vessel bearing down on him just as another beam burst out. He had to dive his ship again, taking more fire from the pursuing fighters. Sparks flew out from several panels on his right.

"Hold together baby!" he said, his hands running like mad over the consoles, punching in hyperdrive co-ordinates as fast as he could. He new he was shaving the edge of some of the larger systems, but the information he had, combined with the Egartan response, meant that for the first time he knew he would have to seek out the EDF.

The interface started flashing, showing that he had reached a region of space soft enough for him to activate the jump drives and drop into hyperspace. He doubled-checked his course again, knowing that the series of jump points would be cutting it very close to gravity wells, then his ship rocked again from another blast.

"Here goes nothing!"

He slapped the activation switch, his generators creating the blanket of hyperspace required to drag his ship out of normal space and into the depths of faster than light travel. In moments, he was gone, disappearing into the relative safety of the chaos of hyperspace.

"That was close," he said, pulling up the diagnostic system and starting a damage assessment. The display scrolled through each of his systems then began flashing an alert as it reached the hyperdrive subsystem. Daylan read the display with mounting apprehension, his hands clenching as the readout gave him more dire news. He felt the whine as the hyperdrive compensated for the first jump point change, re-orientating him to move past a series of gravity wells between him and the Sol system. There was a sudden clunk.

"And that is definitely not good."

The high-pitched whine kicked up a notch, now loud enough and annoying enough to start his ear ringing. He could feel the ship shuddering as it attempted to maintain the hyperspace blanket, but he could tell that there was no way he would make it back to Earth. He looked at the chart to see how far he had jumped. He was about three systems out, and there was no way the hyperdrive would make it through the remaining re-orientations without cutting out. Daylan's hands ran over the control interface, activating his bypass commands, and overriding the restrictions in place on the hyperdrive. He changed the path to a route that he didn't really like to use and re-activated the system, his ship now on a direct path, skirting the edge each of the systems. It was never recommended to do this, however he knew he had little choice. The Egartan has assumed that he, an Earth ship, had been involved in the attack. Even now, that information would be being relayed to the centre of the Egartan Empire, and they would be having a council of war.

The peace between their two races was fragile at the best of times, two races with little in common, and completely different moralistic attitudes. Humans, when they were good, could be superb, magnanimous, caring, kind, compassionate, but they also had a depth of cruelty that could be unsurpassed. The Egartan were a society based entirely on honour at least that was how they appeared to the humans on the outside. The closest similarity in humanities past would be the Samurai of feudal era Japan. It was an ideal that humanity would love to aspire to, however hundreds of years of compromising honour for achievement made that almost alien to the humanity of the 25th century.

Daylan looked at the readout on the display, checking the arrival time for Earth.

"Two days, three hours, twenty-three minutes. Not bad. Just enough time to go and have a look at the other damage."

He slipped up out of his seat and headed towards the aft compartment.

*****

It was a clear, sunny day in the London. The sky was filled with commuters about their normal work, he lanes blocked at times, but that was nothing new in the Earth's capital. The news crews were working overtime outside the World Government headquarters, where President Jonathon McKendry was holding a session regarding the latest work being done with the Egartan. The crowds were huge outside, gathered to catch a glimpse of the aliens that they would normally only see on the television news reports.

The limousine and its escorts dropped through the barriers blocking the majority of skycars from approaching, coming to a stop at the great steps leading up to the building. The escort vehicles discharged armed guards, forming a corridor between the door of the limousine and the entrance to the building. The door opened to the roar of the crowd, and President McKendry stepped out, waving to them as he straightened his jacket. A couple of support staff were coming down the human corridor, clipboards and other paraphernalia of the assistant wrapped up on their bodies. The President turned back to the limousine and waited as something climbed out, unfolding into the bright sunlight.

Etlathka Nri was one of the very few Egartan that was allowed to be on Earth at that time. Not only from the human perspective but also from the perspective of his own people he was unusual. Since being forced off the planet, they were not comfortable coming back to the place. It didn't fit with their sense of honour. Nri was different, more willing to expand his horizons to learn as much as he could about humanity and their science, so different to his own. He had been sent here on behalf of his family, the Sharae of the House of Virar, one of the five head families of the Egartan Empire. They were more forward thinking than most of their race, and more aware of the benefit of learning from the past. When the humans had requested that they work together on a project, his family had been the only one on the council to think that the request was worthwhile. He had volunteered for this as soon as the council had agreed that they could respond and take part. The opportunity to visit Earth, to meet humans and interact with them on a regular basis, had given him purpose again after so many years wandering what he would do after his graduate work.

Nri was average for his race, standing just shy of seven feet tall. His blunt brown reptilian face, with three nose slits and eyes that could look forward and sideways, combined with the sweeping bone crest that ran up and back behind him, made him sufficiently alien that he could never just walk down the street. He was dressed in the more casual attire of his race, a dress jacket with pants that covered his massive thighs and calves. He wore carefully placed covers that hid the goat-like cloven hooves that he walked on. He had read the historical, biblical texts and found it strange that the devil should be so similar in description as his own race. They had filled that role well during the nearly one hundred years that they had dominated the Earth.

He heard the crowd gasp as he unfolded to his full height. President McKendry stood next to him, waving to the crowd.

"Ready to go in, Nri?" McKendry asked out of the side of his mouth.

"Whenever you are Jonathon," Nri replied, the translator on his temple converting the sing-song words of his own speech into the language of the humans.

The two of them had become close friends over the years. Whilst Jonathon was now in his late fifties, he had been only thirty when he had started working with Nri on the Morrow Dawn project. They had become good friends over the years, though Nri had not appeared to age. The Egartan lived for much longer than the humans, some of them for over three hundred of what the Earth people called years. Their metabolism and natural healing abilities meant that their bodies could last for much longer in conditions or with injuries that would end a human's life without any hope of it being saved. The humans had reptiles similar on Earth, that could re-grow limbs and the like if they are lost. His people were much the same.

He turned with the President as they walked up the steps to the entrance to the great building. Nri knew that inside were the gathered leaders and scientific minds of the world, ready to receive his report on the Morrow Dawn project. They had reached a major milestone in the system only three weeks earlier, when they had proven the interface functionality for humans. It was the last system that they had been having problems with, the propulsion, weapons and defences all working fully. He had been able to make the ship do whatever he needed, but the interface was unresponsive to human control. It had taken the help of several human biologists and the input of a team of geneticists on his own planet to resolve the problem. The interface was now fully active and could be linked through a small wireless neural interface that could be attached to the side of the temple. They had modified the interface to include a small microphone and earpiece that would allow the crew to communicate, and Nri had programmed the full linguistic translation system into the ships computer so that they would be able to communicate without waiting for his slower module to keep up. Jonathon hadn't said anything yet, but he was sure that the President would make sure he was on the crew for the maiden voyage. He had made it clear that they would need an Egartan presence, at least initially, to ensure the functionality of the interfaces between the two technologies. There weren't enough humans at the moment that had a sufficient understanding of his systems to support them in times of trouble.

They walked through the great hallways to a side room, where several people were waiting for them.

"Nri, I'll have to ask you to wait here for a moment. I'm going to go into the hall and make a short speech then I'll bring you in to make your report. I know the majority of the people in there personally, so you should be fine. Some of them might be quite vocal against you, but there will not be any violence."

Nri waited for a moment as his translation device caught up. "I am not worried, Jonathon, I trust you and your men to keep me safe."

Jonathon nodded and disappeared through another door, followed by several of his guard. Nri seated himself on the larger of the couches, his legs folding up underneath him. One of the remaining guards moved to the doorway they had entered and waited. The other moved to stand next to the door that Jonathon had gone through. Nri shrugged in a human-like way and closed his eyes, letting his mind wander as he waited.

*****

"Order! Order!" the speaker called, banging his gavel on the podium in front of him. "Please be upstanding for President McKendry!"

The crowded hall came to its feet, the loud shuffle of people straightening themselves up as the door to the side of the chamber opened and Jonathon entered. He walked swiftly from across the back wall of the room and stepped up onto the dais, shaking hands with the speaker as he passed him, taking his place in front of the multitude of recording devices. Despite the importance of the information that he would be sharing here, the press had still been allowed access, part of the new freedom amendment that had been forced through by one of the many political sub-groups that believed in absolute openness with the public. He had argued till he was hoarse with the many representatives, trying to get them to understand that some stuff was kept from the public for their own safety, to ensure that they would not panic or respond in a way that would put others at risk. There had already been several cases where people had been killed due to a lack of tact by the press. It was too easy for sensationalistic headlines to whip the public into a frenzy, and cause the peace to break down. Jonathon maintained that individually, people were generally intelligent, but when put together as the mass that was "the public" they seemed to lose that intelligence and cave in to mob rule.

The applause that had suffused the room began to die down as he placed his hands firmly on the edges of the podium, looking out across the sea of faces, seeing friends, colleagues and more than a few opponents waiting in anticipation of what he would say. He gestured over at his aide, Rebecca, who was waiting to one side with the prompt for his speech. She slipped over to him, passing it into his hand, catching his eye for just a moment. He smiled, glad for her presence whilst he made this announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming together so quickly. I had wanted to prepare for this particular announcement for longer, but matters have progressed in such a way that I can not wait." A buzz moved through the hall at his words. "As you know, a little over twenty-five years ago, the World Council, under the guidance of President Grayson, enacted a project to work with the Egartan people on a way to better integrate our cultures. As part of this project, we have also been working on integrating our technologies."

There was a sudden roar around the room, as several of the leaders of some of the smaller countries realised what he was saying.

"We have now reached a stage in that work that has forced us to begin talks with the Egartan High Council. I am hereby announcing that a Council delegation will be sent to the Egartan home world, an unprecedented act of friendship on their behalf, to discuss the breakthroughs that we have discovered in combining our technologies together."

There was another rumble through the gathered crowd. The speaker moved forward again and slammed his gavel down.

"Order! Let the President speak."

The room came back under some semblance of quiet again, though there was now an undercurrent of noise as those close to each other in the crowd began to whisper under the President's words.

"As part of that co-operation, we have had a delegate from the Egartan working closely with us the past twenty-five years. He is here today to present to you some of the breakthroughs that have bought about this momentous occasion."

*****

Nri waited with infinite patience in the room attached to the side of the main chamber, his mind continuing with some of the power calculations that he had been working on prior to joining Jonathon here at the council. His eyes opened and he glanced towards the door, his superior hearing picking up on the approaching aide.

"Mister Nri," she said, coming through the door, "they will be ready for you shortly. Would you come with me?"

"Of course, Rebecca, and it is Nri, please."

She smiled at him hesitantly, "Very well, Nri, this way please."

Nri followed her through the door and along the small connecting corridor. A small display unit with audio was placed by the door into the main hall, allowing him to watch the proceedings inside. Jonathon was standing at the podium that he had described in one of their briefings leading up to this point.

"Please would you join me in welcoming our honoured guest, Etlathka Nri Sharae of the House of Virar," Jonathon said.

Rebecca swiped a hand over the sensor by the door and it slid open, allowing Nri his first unrestricted view of the council hall. He was struck by the similarity to the hall of his own peoples High Council.

It would appear that we have more in common than we would like to believe, Nri thought, ducking under the door lintel and making his way across the hall. He was surprised at the sudden silence that permeated the room, punctuated by an occasional cough or clearing of the throat. His strides took him across the floor in moments, where he stepped up onto the dais and joined his friend. He could see that Rebecca had joined them, standing back against he wall.

"Welcome, Etlathka Nri," Jonathon said, using his formal name. "It is an honour to have you join us this day,"

"The honour is mine," Nri said, the slight robotic lilt of his translator combining with the audio transmitters to create a moment of feedback. He could see a couple of technicians make quick re-adjustments at the back of the room.

"I give the floor to you."

"Thank you President McKendry," Nri said, using his friend's formal title, "People of the World Council of Earth, I am here today to brief you on the particulars of the Morrow Dawn project, a project jointly undertaken by both my government and your own to integrate human technologies."

Nri noticed Rebecca holding a hand to her ear, listening to something on her communication device. Her eyes widened for a moment, and she leant over to whisper something into Jonathon's ear. Nri stuttered for a moment then covered it with some unintelligible words that his translation device would not be able to handle.

"Sorry, my translator just needs a minor adjustment. Please forgive me whilst I make the change."

He grabbed the device mounted to the side of his head, much like the interfaces he had created for the Morrow Dawn project and pretended to play with it. Jonathon approached him as he was doing so.

"Nri, I need you to go with Rebecca and the guards immediately," he whispered, "we've just received a report that could mean trouble between our people, and I need to get you somewhere safe."

"Am I to be arrested?" Nri asked, sensing the tension in his friend.

"No, but I am going to secure you somewhere for you own protection. If what I have been told is true, it will mean war again between our people, and I do not wish to see you strung up by a mob."

"I understand. I will leave immediately."

Nri moved away from the podium, following Rebecca and the four guards to the exit door. Jonathon had moved back to the podium.

"Unfortunately, I have had to cut shot Etlathka Nri's speech due to unforeseen circumstances. We are placing the EDF on immediate alert. I recommend that you all return to your offices. A communiqué will be issued as soon as I have returned to mine."

The room exploded into noise as Jonathon left the stage and joined Nri, Rebecca and the guards through the side door.

*****

Arian Prime, the home world of the Egartan Empire, hung like a green jewel in the depths of space. It looked very similar to the Egartan colony that had recently been destroyed by the alien menace, each colony world selected for its similarity to this master work. The great ring that travelled around the planets equator was littered with giant factories and shipyards, a testament to the technological brilliance of the Egartan race.

On the largest of the continents, in the capital city of Shayush, the High Council hall was buzzing, news of the destruction of the Arc'Teta system and the colony based there on everyone's lips. In the huge hall, the Council of Ten were sat in session, looking down on the sea of people that had been able to fit in. The great display hologram was completing the sensor records of the attack, showing the Daylan's Pride jumping out under heavy fire.

"Children," the head of the Council, Corar of the House of Kora, shouted, "we cannot forgive what we have seen here this day."

The crowd roared their approval at the words, voices raised up in a melodious chant for blood.

"We can no longer trust the humans," Ferii of the House of Orri added, her voice cutting through the noise. "They have shown themselves to be without honour."

"We have this day ordered the fleet to begin an attack. We will go to Earth and take our vengeance to them." Corar roared, raising his fist in anger.

"Children," Ferii said, continuing the rehearsed speech, "return now to your homes and prepare yourselves for the great crusade ahead."

The Council Of Ten rose from their chairs and filed out of the chamber, Corar and Ferii joining them. They retired to a smaller chamber, where a large round table with ten chairs seated around it waited for them. Corar and Ferii took seats opposite each other, the remaining eight members taking seats either side. The council was made up of two members from each of the five families, a senior and junior member of the council. The council leader was re-elected each year by the council members and came from one of the senior members of the five families. This year, Corar of the warrior family, Kora, had been elected to lead, with Ferii of the Orri healers acting as his second.

"Have we done the right thing?" Corar said, settling into the throne-like chair of the council leader. "My family are the warriors, and even I have reservations over our choice in this."

"We have done only what is required of us within the prophetic chronicles," Ferii said, punching up a display of some of the earliest writings in the Egartan culture.

"But to go to war with the humans when we know it was not them," Corar said, "it is without honour!"

"Are you ready to tell the children the truth, the dark prophecy that foretells the end of our people? I cannot, but if you can, please, do so…"

"Enough Ferii, you know I cannot. All of us that come to this council swear an oath upon being raised that this knowledge shall pass from council member to council member. The children would not understand."

"I think you underestimate the strength of our people," Etlathka Mret said, the council leader for the Sharae of the House of Virar. "We already have one outside of the council who knows the truth. He did not falter under its weight."

"You have not?! The law forbids…" Corar said, coming to his feet.

"Enough," Mret said, coming to her feet to match his stance, a classic clash of honour. "What is happening now far transcends the law. When we knew they were coming it was easy to hide the sightings on the far edges of the galaxy. But now, when they have attacked so deeply into our territory, we can sure that this was no simple probe. They are ready, and they are moving. Their plans are in place and the prophecy tells us hints of what those plans may be."

"What have you done?" asked Ferii, much calmer than her counterpart.

"Etlathka Nri, my nephew, is on the human home world as we speak. I was able to get him placed on the Morrow Dawn project that the council approved nearly ten cycles ago. He has instructions to inform the humans of the threat of the Do'Shy'An should ever attack them. We cannot stand by and watch this galaxy be destroyed as we did the last one."

There were several gasps from around the table. Despite the prophecy being made available to all those within the council, only those of the Virar and the council leaders knew the whole truth. Several council leaders had been retired, forcefully, when they could not accept the truth.

"You go too far," Ferii said, "this knowledge is not meant for them."

"What knowledge?" Hreya of the Tueh asked, her voice still and calm.

"This isn’t the first time we have seen the Do'Shy'An," Mret said, punching in a few commands to bring up a display. "The House of Virar are the gatekeepers of the knowledge of the family. We have passed the true histories down through the ages, passing on information to each generation, informing the council leaders of the whole truth as each one was raised to office."

"And that truth is?" Hreya asked again, her voice still calm and controlled. The Tueh were the spiritual caste of the Egartan people. Their numbers included healers, warriors and workers, but were separate from the whole, aloof in their calling, followers of the ancient Saints.

"The ancient stores, the fables that we have told our children down through the ages, are not just julaa tales. At there core is a kernel of truth, the most ancient of teachings handed down through our family."

The display in the centre of the great table sprang into life, showing a world so similar to the one that they were on, yet familiar for other reasons.

"We once came from here, Egarlon, in a galaxy distant from this one that we now inhabit. We were a mighty race that spanned many star systems. We thought we were the only ones to have made it to the stars."

Great ships appeared in the space above the planet, ships that were so familiar after the destruction of the colony nearly a day ago. They pattern of attack was so different to what they had witnessed at the colony. The ships made no move to destroy the planet, but systematically subdued the defences, destroying ship and station, so that nothing could fight back.

"We were wrong. The Do'Shy'An came, the harbingers of the Ra'Kree, the end time, were upon us. They devastated our worlds and enslaved our people," the display continued to flicker from image to image showing the destruction and subjugation of the Egartan people, "until a great leader came, the Aurah, who restored our hope and led us in rebellion.

"He fought hard against the Do'Shy'An but ultimately he came to see that the cause was doomed. Rather than giving in to despair, he worked with the five families we are all descended from and came up with a plan of hope for the Egartan people. In secret, the chosen were selected, sampled and catalogued, stored in a great vessel that was being constructed on the edges of the galaxy, far from the Do'Shy'An centre of authority. It is those samples, those pieces of cell structure that were used by scientists to re-establish our race, here in this new galaxy."

"Are you telling me that we are descended from clones?" Goran of the Liin asked, fascinated by the technological basis of the story.

"There was no way for the Aurah to free our people, and so the great vessel was crewed by the five families and set out into the void between galaxies. It took them many generations, even with our technology, to cross that vast expanse and find this place to settle. We were given the task of chronicling that journey and ensuring that we never forget the threat of the Do'Shy'An, whilst never letting ourselves be overwhelmed by the threat into giving up our old ways."

"This makes no difference," Ferii said, dismissing the story with a wave of her hand, "we cannot simply tell the children of this. There will be a mass panic. By using the humans as a basis for the war, we can ensure that our troops and fleets are on full alert should the Do'Shy'An come at us."

"So instead we must condone an unjust war?" Hreya said, her eyelids sliding back and forth, moisturising her eyes.

"I see no other choice at this time," Corar said, "we must end the human threat, or at least neutralise them before the Do'Shy'An arrive in force."

"Why do we not ally ourselves with them?" Mret asked, "Was that not the purpose of the whole Morrow Dawn project in the first place?"

"That was before we knew the Do'Shy'An were already in this galaxy," Corar's shoulders heaved as he looked around the table, "things are different now. They cannot be trusted in something this dangerous. The peace between us has been fragile at best. They live too short a time for us to ever truly trust them, their memories too short, their history to easy for them to forget."

"So we blame their shorter lifespan for our inability to make peace with them?" Mret said, the slight colourisation of her skin and the flare of her middle two nostrils showing her true feelings on that thought. "I had thought better of you, of us all."

"Enough!" Ferii shouted, "The decision has been made. Even now elements of the fleet are gathering above us to depart for Earth. We will finish the threat of humanity once and for all before the Do'Shy'An come."

Mret shook her head and looked at the display screen again, its view now changed to show the gathering fleet above the planet.

*****

Nri sat in meditation, his legs crossed beneath him and his eyes closed. The room that he had been rushed away to was well appointed, with none of the comforts denied him, except one, the freedom to leave. Jonathon had informed him of the destruction of the human colony, and Nri had felt a moment of cold clarity at the description of the destruction. He had read it in the many archives that his family, as keepers of the histories, had looked after down the centuries since the great exodus. The similarity was too great to those ancient words, too clear to be a coincidence. The Do'Shy'An had returned, just as his elder Mret has forewarned.

The door chimed to indicate that he had a visitor, so Nri unfolded himself from his position on the floor and moved to one of the more comfortable chairs that they had provided him. The door slid open and Jonathon entered.

"Hello, my friend," Jonathon said, moving over to take one of the other chairs. Two of his guards moved just inside the door and it closed behind them, leaving two on the outside. "I am sorry that we must keep you in here this way, I understand the loss of your freedom must be felt keenly."

"Do not worry for me, friend Jonathon," Nri said, "worry instead for all of the people of this galaxy, yours and mine."

"I do not take you warning lightly, my friend," Jonathon said, "but I have been able to do nothing to substantiate your words. With the destruction of the colony, my people are angry and frightened, and justifiably so."

"I understand," Nri said, bowing his head a little. "I am shamed for not considering their feelings before I spoke."

"No Nri, never. Your words regarding the, the…"

"Do'Shy'An," Nri said, pronouncing the phrase again. He understood that the humans had trouble with the pacing of the three words that had been bonded to create the name. In his language it meant something close to "star devil" but not exactly. It was the closest his ancestors had been able to come up with when they had first fled the conquerors.

"It is difficult. We have known only the Egartan as our counterparts for so long, and you have never mentioned another sentient race in all our dealings."

"The Do'Shy'An are not from this galaxy," Nri said, his voice calm and patient. "They are an ancient race, from our home, far beyond the veil of stars and the expanse of darkness between the galaxies. It was they that we fled from, over ten thousand of your Earth years ago. They are the conquerors of our oldest stories."

"Why have they come?" Jonathon asked. Nri knew that he was searching for anything that might help him prove to his own advisors and staff that it was not the Egartan that had done this terrible thing. Their conversations over the last day since they had been rushed from the council chambers showed that the military believed it to be new Egartan technology, and that they should strike back to ensure that the weapon could not be used again.

"I do not know, but our prophecies said that they would. Little is known of them, even in our oldest records, only that we should fear them."

"Do you have any proof I can use to give to my people?" Jonathon said, coming back to his feet and running his hands through his hair. "I need something Nri, anything, to try and avoid this war. If what you say is true we can't afford to be fighting each other."

"There is nothing else I can offer you from here," Nri said, his eyelid flicking for a moment. "I would need to talk to my government and I believe that is unlikely at this moment."

"'Fraid so," Jonathon said, "even I don't have that kind of pull." He smiled at the tall alien who had become so close over the years. "We will sort this out Nri, I promise."

"I await the outcome with patience my friend," Nri said, his head dropping into a nod to one side, a strangely human expression.

Jonathon headed for the door, his guards activating it and leading him out. The door slid closed behind him without a sound. Nri watched it for a moment before pulling his legs up into a cross again and settling into his meditation.

*****

Daylan was lying on his bunk when he heard the high whine of the jump drive about to fail again. He sat up too quickly and slammed his head on the bulkhead just above him, causing him to roll out of bed onto the floor.

"Damn it!" he swore, rubbing his head and clambering to his feet. He ran through the small corridor in the centre of the ship and slapped the access panel, getting into the cockpit just as the drive failed. There was a prolonged wail as the hyperdrive failed and the ship was catapulted back into normal space, its attitude causing it to tumble. He clawed his way into the seat and spent several minutes bringing the craft back under control. He punched up the status display as he looked out of the cockpit at the huge orange glow of Jupiter.

"Drive's not completely shot," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. "But I won't be going anywhere yet."

He looked at the readouts that confirmed he was somewhere in space around the gas giant, then checked the distance calculations for the comms package he was running.

"Hmm, too far to send a signal through normal space, and the drop out seems to have fried my hyperspace signal generator."

The proximity alarm flared into life and Daylan felt a cold shudder pass through him as a familiar shadow seemed to engulf his ship. Without a second thought he activated the power down routine, sending his ship silent and cold in the depths of space.

The ships from the attack on the Egartan world tore their way into space around him, gathering into a cloud of ships that looked all the world like a school of jellyfish from the oceans back home. They looked like they were waiting for something.

"What is that?" Daylan said aloud as a small flicker began to expand in the distance. Seconds later, a huge ship, easily the size of ten of the smaller ones, appeared through the giant tear in space. Unlike the others, it was long and thin, with a single core that seemed to run its entire length, coated again in that clear protective substance that had served the ships so well in the Egartan system.

The ships gathered around it and all of them moved closer to Jupiter, spreading out in a formation that made them into a kind of umbrella over the surface. Daylan re-activated his sensor grid and began to record as much data as he could. He watched in fascination as the great gas clouds of the planet appeared to surge before tendrils escaped the gravity and were absorbed upward into the ships.

"What the hell are they doing?"

Daylan punched in a couple more commands to send the data to a file then set up a repeating program to attempt to send out the data as a burst.

With luck I might get through to a relay station, he thought, leaving the program to run. He stood up and headed out into the corridor, past his small bunk area and then opened the small door that led through to the hyperdrive bay. He turned the bar, freeing the seal and pulled the door open. He held his breath as the smoke from the overloaded drive billowed out around him. Waving it away, he stepped through and looked at the motivator that was still sparking. Several wires had melted in the failure, but it didn't look as bad as it could have been. Grabbing a pair of pliers from the magnetic strip on the wall to the side, he got to work stripping the wires back and separating out the bits and pieces from the whole.


End of Part One