Earth-Romulan War

[uniderth]

Chapter One - Confessions at Icarus

Captain James Kirk strode down the corridor on his way to the briefing room. He had a lot on his mind. Only a few hours ago he had barely defeated a Romulan ship. In fact, it was the first Romulan ship seen by humans in over one hundred years. It had crossed the Neutral Zone into Federation space and attacked several Earth outposts. The ouposts had been established after the conclusion of the Earth-Romulan War a century ago.
Kirk's victory over the Romulans was, however, bitter-sweet. During the battle only one member of his crew had been killed, Lieutenant Robert Tomlinson, whose wedding had been interrupted by the Romulan attack. He had just finished consoling Tomlinson’s ex-fiancee and now he had some more business to take care of. He had ordered his half-vulcan science officer, Commander Spock, and one of the ship’s navigators, Lieutenant Stiles, to wait for him in the briefing room...he needed an explanation. The doors to the briefing room swished open and Captain Kirk entered. Both Spock and Lieutenant Stiles stood up as he entered. Captain Kirk looked at both of them and nodded, telling them to sit down. He sat down at the angular table in the briefing room.
“Spock, Mr. Stiles,” Kirk said. He paused for a moment as he pondered on what he should say. “You know why I called you down here. I want an explanation.”
Both Mr. Spock and Stiles sat quietly. Kirk looked at Stiles.
“Mr. Stiles, this ship requires all officers to be at their peak performance,” Kirk said.
“Yes, I know sir,” replied Lieutenant Stiles. Kirk cut him off before he could continue.
“Your behavior during this conflict was unacceptable,” Kirk continued boldly.
Stiles felt ashamed for what he had said to Spock but the evil the Romulans had done to his ancestors was unforgivable. After learning that Romulans were very similar to Vulcans he was sure that Mr. Spock could have been a Romulan spy. After all, all he wanted to do was protect his ship, and being defeated by Romulans was the worst possible defeat.
"You told me of your family's historical involvement with the Romulans," Kirk said. As he searched for the word to appropriately reprimand the Lieutenant Stiles but also give him motivation to improve himself.
"I know sir," Stiles said. He tried to think of something to say to make this uncomfortable situation end quicker. "And you're right, it was their war, not mine." Stiles said, trying to appeal to Kirk's ego by quoting what the Captain had told him earlier on the bridge. He could see Kirk was thinking of what action he should take.
"Mister Stiles," Kirk began, but was cut off my Spock.
"Captain, I believe Mr. Stiles already feels regret for his actions earlier. I see no reason to persue it any further."
Kirk was well aware of Spock's logical, unemotional background as a Vulcan. But he also was aware of his human half and even though Spock refused it, he knew that Spock was affected by Lieutenant Stiles' sublime accusations. But he still had the human instinct to try and make Spock feel better.
“Sir, I’m sorry that I accused Spock of being a Romulan spy,” Stiles began, “He saved my life when the phaser room was damaged.”
“As I said earlier,” stated Spock matter-of-factly, “I did that to save a highly skilled navigator, nothing more.”
The mood of the room suddenly lightened as Kirk slightly chuckled. Even though Mr. Spock was unemotional he sometimes seemed to have an emotional motivation, like saving someone’s life out of care. And Kirk thought that sometimes he did this just to irritate him but Kirk was pretty sure that Spock would never give in to the emotional impulse of irritating somebody.
Realizing the lightness of the mood Stiles spoke up, “Actually Captain, while I was in the sickbay I had Mr. Spock helped me with some research. I found two very interesting things.”
Kirk looked at Spock as if startled. The thought half-jokingly crossed his mind that he could lose his navigator to the science section.
“And what are they,” Kirk asked.
Lieutenant Stiles was very excited about family history and was always excited about finding new things about his families past. While at Starfleet Academy his classmates sometimes teased him for spending so much time studying about the past.
“Well Captain,” said Stiles excitedly, “one of my ancestors during the Earth-Romulan war was a friend of Mr. Spock’s grandfather Skon.”
That’s interesting, Kirk thought. After one hundred years, and even more parsecs of space travel the descendants of those two people would meet and during a conflict with the Romulans no less.
Stiles spoke again, “and second the Stiles family has been involved in the Earth-Romulan War thousands of years before it began.”
Kirk was puzzled. From what he knew of the Earth-Romulan War it had only lasted three years and ended in the year 2160, one year before the founding of the United Federation of Planets, and Starfleet.
“What do you mean thousands of years,” asked Kirk.
Spock sensed that Lieutenant Stile might have difficulty explaining the historical event accurately and spoke up,“Captain, I may be able to explain. There were a few ancient events that lead up to the Earth-Romulan Wars.”
Kirk leaned back in his chair preparing himself to listen to one of Spock’s overly long and detailed explanations.
Spock continued, “The first events that lead to the war are clothed in ancient myth. I had not believed many of them true until speaking with Mr.Stiles. It started two thousand years ago on Vulcan during the revolution led by Surak to bring all Vulcans to logic...

Surak felt the small red pebbles through his thin sandals as he walked the path between the Trinam rainbow pools. The pools were so named for the beautiful rainbow of colors made by bacteria growing in the extremely hot water. Steam from the pools rose into the hot Vulcanian atmosphere. Surak inhaled deeply as he looked around the wide valley filled with various sized pools of boiling hot water. Then he saw it in the distance, the conference center.
The conference center was a large bowl shaped area with benches carved into the sides. The structure must have been thousands of years old. Carved by the hands of emotional, passionate Vulcanians long since dead. Now it would be the center for a conference to organize the new Vulcanian government. He could see his new world as clearly as he could see the bright sun shining above the horizon. A new world, a peaceful world. Surak knew the only way to gain peace was to purge all emotion from his people.
Surak stopped for a moment, inhaling the warm morning air. At last his vision would come true. He was quite regular for a Vulcanian as far as physical appearance was concerned, straight black hair, thin build. He was, however, a little shorter than most Vulcanians.
He was about to continue down the path leading to conference center, when he heard the sound footsteps behind him. He turned and saw a man walking up the pathway towards him. It was his friend, Shukel.
Shukel was a tall pale Vulcanian from one of the far off colonies. He would have been considered a common Vulcanian except for his unusual brown hair. It was because of this he had been teased as a child. However there was one child who had accepted him for who he was. That child was Surak. Even as a child Surak was unique. He never played like the other children. He always was studying something. It was books and knowledge that were his playground. Surak and Shukel got along well and both enjoyed playing intellectual games with each other. However Shukel and his family had moved away to a newly discovered colony when they where in their teens. Now in their early thirties. The two friends had reunited to save all of the Vulcanian people.
“Greetings, Shukel of Romulus, my friend” Surak said, as he put his hand up in the traditional Vulcan salute.
Shukel didn’t even smile at the sight of his friend. He simply returned the salute and said, “Greetings, Surak, father of the true way.”
The ‘true way’ was why Shukel didn’t smile at his friend. And it was the ‘new way’ that would save all Vulcanians. Up until now all Vulcanians were controlled by their emotions. Lead around like a dog on a leash by their impulses. They had even nearly destroyed their entire civilization all because of their emotions. But now all that would change. Surak and his teachings of logic were revolutionizing the Vulcanian culture. All people were taught to suppress their emotions and to think clearly and logically. This process was not easy and Surak had been ridiculed many times by his associates. But he had continued undeterred until now. Now was the climax of all the work Surak had done, it was time to form the new government that would govern the planet Vulcanis. A new government, based on logic.
Surak turned to walk along side Shukel and they both continued towards the conference center.
“How is our progress on Romulus,” asked Surak.
“Not good,” replied Shukel, “The Vulcanians on Romulus have begun enslaving the inhabitants from a neighboring planet Remus. It seems they will never give up their emotionalism.”
“Do not lose hope, my friend, I’m sure in time our brothers on Romulus will accept the ways of peace and logic.”

The sun was almost set over, Demak, the capital of Romulus. A large black palace glimmered on the horizon as the sun’s last few rays slipped below the horizon. This was the palace of Senak, the Preator of Romulus. The entire palace was constructed using Reman slaves. Senak was one of the first settlers of the planet Romulus and now was one of the most powerful. He commanded hundreds of his fellow Vulcanians and thousands of Reman slaves.
The sky grew dark and a hooded figure could be seen walking in the main courtyard of Senak’s palace. The figure walked along a cement pathway before finally entering a large, highly decorated door. The figure walked down a long dark corridor. His footsteps echoed in cold darkness of the corridor. He approached another large door. This door was decorated with a large relief of a bird holding two orbs in it’s claws. On either side of the door were two soldiers standing guard. They were dressed in full armour as dark as the night. Each guard held a large sword in his hands and as the figure approached the door the guards crossed their swords in his path.
“I have been summoned by Preator Senak,” croaked the figure.
The guards stood back at attention and the large door split in the middle and swung open. The figure cautiously entered the dark room. Blackness was all the figure saw when he entered the room, except for a column of light illuminating, from above, a large thrown. In the thrown sat Senak, his face concealed by shadow. There were also two other people present sitting at a semi-circular table. In the center of the table was a small pedestal. The figure could not make out what was on the pedestal but there was one object that seemed like gold.
The figure walked to the only empty chair at the table and sat down. There was along moment of silence until Senak finally spoke.
“Welcome my friends,” Senak said in a low, dark voice, “You all know of our problem. There is a Vulcanian from the home world who seeks to destroy our way of life.”
The three seated figures nodded in confirmation.
“He seeks to purge our society of emotions an passions,” Senak said, he paused for a moment then continued, “He must be stopped.”
One of the seated figures spoke up in a raspy voice, “But my Lord their numbers are too great compared to those of us from Romulus.”
The figure could almost feel Senak’s eyes pierce him to the core. He knew Senak was unhappy with his statement. But Senak just sat and stared at him.
After a few moments of silence Senak spake again, ”You three will be my generals in this war. I have constructed four weapons that will guarantee our victory in this war.”
Senak made a motion with his hand, signaling one of his Reman servants to come forward. The gargoyle-faced Reman stepped toward the pedestal in the center of the room. The Reman was very large and dressed in dark grey clothing. Senaks’s symbol of a bird holding two spheres in it’s claws was branded on his left cheek.
The Reman grabbed on of the objects sitting on the pedestal. He gave it the figure sitting at the right of the table.
“For you M’keth,” said Senak,”the Stone of Shimtak. This weapon will give you the power to keep your troops from dying even from the most serious injury.”
The Reman handed the Stone of Shimtak to the hooded figure sitting at the table. The Stone was an angular ‘V’ shape with two uncomfortable handgrips on both sides. There were some symbols carved around the outside edge of the Stone. The symbols read:

Tiral ke napatu,
Tirusa ke simkatu.

“This is the shadow language,” the figure spoke up.
“Yes,” Senak said smiling, “The language of the Remos, both from Romulus and Remus. It reads, ‘To fight is to hurt, To heal is to kill.’”
Senak nodded to the Reman. Who then picked up another object from the pedestal. This object had a diamond shaped body with two curved mandible-like projections protruding from one end. There were some figures carved into the top side of the object.
Senak followed the object with his gaze as it was handed to the figure seated at the center of the table.
“And for you, San’kuth, “ he said, “the Stone of Gol. It will give you the power to turn, against your enemies, the remaining emotions that dwell within them.”
The hooded figure stared in contemplation at this new weapon that had been given to him. He could almost feel the power surging from it.
Senak wasted to time, “For you J’lan, the Stone of Shigol.”
The Reman picked up one of the last two objects that remained on the pedestal and gave it to the last hooded figure. The figure gladly accepted to spider shaped weapon that was given to him. He looked at the weapon feeling it with his hands and then looked up at Senak.
“It will give you the power to make your troops unseen by your enemies,” Senak said with a slight grin.
Senak then stood up and stepped toward the pedestal. He grabbed the last remaining object on the table. It was a large crown-like object. It was made of an intricate golden carving of a bird with it’s wings outstretched. The wings reached backwards in a circle and almost touched at the tips, thus forming the headband. The head was turned upward, mouth open, as if screaming. In the claws of the carved bird were two clear orbs that had a faint blue glow it them.
“And finally,” he said, “the Crown of Senak.”
He placed the crown on his head. And the two orbs, which fit perfectly in front of his eyes, suddenly glowed brighter. Senak inhaled slowly and stood as he felt the power of the Crown flowing through him.
“The Crown,” Senak spoke, his voice sounding deeper and more evil than ever, “possesses all the powers your Stones possess but only stronger and more focused.”
A quite beep was heard and the Reman put a small communicator to his ear. He listened for a moment and then put the communicator down.
“Sir,” said the Reman, “The fleet stands ready to attack Vulcanis.”
“Good,” said Senak with an evil smile. He turned to the three figures, “Gentlemen, the war has begun!”.

Surak sat down on an ancient stone chair in the middle of a circular room. The morning sun shone through the squares holes cut in the stone for windows. He sta quietly. Putting himself into a state of meditation. He needed to clear his mind. Many of the Vulcanians at the conference still had not yet purged all of their emotions. Surak was sure this could be a potential problem. There were already several near emotional displays at the month long conference and it had only been one week since conference started. But Surak put all that behind him as he slid into a state of thoughtless meditation.
Suddenly there was a frantic pounding at the door.
“Surak, Surak,” a voice said, as close to panicking as an emotionless Vulcanian could be, “They have arrived!”
Surak’s meditation now broken, he stood up and walked to the door. He opened it and saw a young Vulcanian in his early twenties standing at the door.
“Who is here?,” asked Surak, his voice as calm as stone.
The young Vulcanian seemed almost out of breath as if he had ran the entire length of the conference center and back again.
“The colonists from Romulus,” he said.
“Ah so they have decided to join us after all,” Surak replied. Maybe things were beginning to look up.
“No, sir,” the Vulcanian said, “an army, from Romulus. They are attacking the capital of Tal’shana as we speak.”
This was worse than what Surak had ever imagined could happen. Dissensions, he had thought, maybe a few riots, but all-out war, it wasn’t possible.
“Are you sure?,” asked Surak.
“Yes, sir, they landed at daybreak. Tens of thousands of troops from the planet Remus led by those from Romulus.”
Surak remained calm and thought to himself, for a moment. He placed his hands in front of him with the fingers outstretched but fingertips touching.
“Tell the representatives at the conference,” Surak said, “Have them prepare their territorial defense forces.” Surak paused for a moment before continuing, “I do not want war, but it has been forced upon me.”
The young Vulcanian ran down the corridor toward the conference chambers. Surak however stayed in the room and activated a small view screen in the corner. For a second there was the face of a Vulcanian female saying something about the attack but then the image changed to one of the most horrific scenes that Surak had ever seen. There were thousands of Vulcanian troops lying dead in a dirt mud covered field that used to be Subik Park. The scene changed showing a shaky image of a line of troops surrounding a landing craft then suddenly being knocked dead by a seemingly invisible foe.
Surak shut off the view screen. This was the closest he had been to feeling rage in a long time. But even after witnessing this atrocity he remained emotionless. War was not the new Vulcanian way, but if they did not act soon they would all be dead and then there would be no new Vulcanians. Surak turned around, clasped his hands behind his back and walked out the door into the corridor.

A column of soldiers clad in bird-like armor parted as Senak strode triumphantly up the stairs of the capital building of Vulcanis. The capital was a large building, redish-pink in color. There was a large flight of stairs at the base of the entrance with large columns at the top supporting the gigantic stone roof. Here was housed all the political offices of the old Vulcanian government. But Senak was now in control of the capital. After a few days of fighting he had managed to take control of nearly one tenth of Vulcanis. And just as he had predicted Surak’s pacifistic teachings left the Vulcanians unprepared for a war.
Senak passed his three generals, each holding their weapon, before he reached the top of the stairs. He looked out over the large crowd of Reman warriors who had helped win the battles of the previous week. The sun glinted off the armor of thousands of Reman troops.
“Romulans, and Remans,” Senak shouted out over the crowd, “today is a historic day for all of us.”
He paused for a moment before continuing, “Today we have gained complete control of the Vulcanian captial, Tal’Shana.”
A slight cheer was heard through-out the crowd. Senak waited for them to quiet down before continuing.
“And with this victory,” Senak continued to shout, “I claim this planet as a territorial annex of the planet Romulus and hereby for the first ever, Romulan Star Empire!”
A load roar erupted from the crowd. Senak smiled, he was very pleased with himself. It was all going as he had planned. Then as the crowd quieted down he could hear something, a voice.
He heard it faintly then louder as the crowd became more hushed.
“Senak!”
Senak looked around before finally looking up at the stone slab roof of the capital. Then he saw him, Surak. Surak was standing on the roof of the capital. Surak noticed the look of disbelief on Senak’s face.
“I know this capital better than you could ever know it, Senak.”
“I can see that, Surak,” Replied Senak disbelievingly. “You made it past the front lines and my guards.”
Surak did his best to suppress his emotions at the sight of his enemy. He stared down at Senak.
“You’ve killed many peacelful Vulcanians, Senak,” Surak shouted. “You must realize that logic is the better way.”
Senak laughed. He knew where this conversation would go.
“And what,” Senak replied, “have my feelings kept up in a bottle never to be released? It’s not healthy!”
Surak sighed, how little Senak understood the way things really worked. Surak paused and then spoke again, “It’s not about you Senak. It’s about all of us, Vulcanians, Romulan, everyone. The universe doesn’t care about your emotional release. Or have you been too busy speaking your shadow language and forgotten the Philosophy of Nom?”
Senak stared up at Surak with an ever increasing hatred.
“No I haven’t forgotten your Vulcanian ‘nom’,” Senak shouted to Surak, “It means ‘all’ as in everyone of us, as in the betterment of society.”
Surak took his eyes off Senak and looked at the crowd of Reman soldiers. Hopefully he had stalled long enough. He looked back down as Senak.
“Then how is this war benefitting society?,” asked Surak, “It was wars like these that nearly destroyed our ancestors.”
Senak couldn’t help but see Suraks point, but knowing that Surak was right made him even more enraged. He thought of something to say that would tear down the Surak’s argument.”
“Well,” Surak said searching for words, ”It was irrational revolutionists like you that...”
Senak was cut off by the sound of many war horns being sounded. nearby. He turned around to look at his troops and saw them surrounded by thousands of Vulcanian troops. All at once the Vulcanian troops raised their projectile weapons at the Remans and opened fire.
The first few rows of Remans that were closest to the Vulcanians fell to the ground, their bodies riddled with Vulcanian bullets. The remaining Remans scrambled to grab their weapons and return fire. Many Vulcanians’ lives were quickly extinguished as the first dozen Reman troops began to return fire.
Senak’s three generals were taken by surprise with this sudden turn of events. They knew what to do however. M’keth raised the Stone of Shimtak and pointed it towards the Reman troops. Suddenly the Reman troops instead of falling to the ground after being shot, the marched forward and began to push the Vulcanian troops back.
Surak saw what had just happened. It was now time to act, he thought. He turn and began to run along the roof top towards the small hatch he had climbed up.
When Senak saw Surak run he suddenly realized Surak’s plan, he was after the Crown. Senak ran into the building, passing between the large columns and saw the Crown still hidden in the shadows, resting on a small pedestal. He grabbed the Crown and gently placed it on his head. The two orbs glowed a brilliant blue as they came top rest in front of his eyes. He looked back towards the opening and saw J’Lan raise the Stone of Shigol towards the Reman troops. And with that large number of the mass of Reman’s faded into invisibility.
Senak looked down the long, dark corridor that lead to the inner courtyard of the building. He braced himself and ran into the darkness. Senak vanished in the darkness but not because of how dark the corridor was, but because he too became invisible.
In the battle outside the Vulcanian troops were retreating but suddenly a few Vulcanian air-fighters passed over the Vulcanian troops and began spraying a thick red liquid. As the liquid hit the ground the shapes of Reman troops became visible as they became coated in the red liquid. They were now visible many of the Vulcanian troops turned and threw small explosives towards the Reman troops. Others tried hopelessly to gun down the advancing Remans but to no avail. The small bombs went of and the many of the red Reman forms were thrown in all directions. But as they hit the ground the stood back up and continued to fight.
An evil grin came across the face of Senak’s general, San’kuth, and he raised the Stone of Gol towards the Vulcanians. He knew they had to be feeling some degree of fear. And that was all he needed. The a faint ripple shot out from the Stone of Gol and encompassed many of the Vulcanians. They shrieked and began to writhe in agony as their own fears began to consume them. Then they feel to the ground dead. One of the air-fighters flew low over the Vulcanian troop as it’s pilot was consumed by the effects of the Stone of Gol. The pilot fell onto his controls, dead. With it’s pilot dead the air-fighter suddenly dove down and smashed into many of the advancing Reman troops and then exploded in a brilliant fireball.
The sound of explosions echoed in the inner courtyard of the building.
“This way,” said Surak’s friend Shukel as they rounded a corner and entered the inner courtyard.
“It must be here somewhere,” Surak said looking around for the Crown, “He wouldn’t leave it very far from him.”
“Here take this” Shukel said as he handed Surak a small sword.
“Shukel, you know I do not...”
But Shukel cut Surak of in mid sentence, “It may save your life, but if you die all we have done will be destroyed.”
Surak reluctantly took the sword from Shukel and strapped it around his waist.
“I’ll look over here,” said Shukel as he walked towards a large corridor leading to the front of the building.
“Take care, my friend, Senak probably knows our plan,” Surak said.
Surak walked quickly towards a smaller doorway and peeked inside. Nothing, it was just a small office space. The Crown was no where or to be seen.
“Surak!” screamed Shukel.
Surak turned to look at where Shukel was and he saw a the invisible form of a knife blade covered in green Vulcanian blood pull out from Shukel’s dying body. Shukel fell to the ground lifeless. Then the knife became visible as it was dropped on the ground from and invisible hand.
Surak gripped the handle of the small sword Shukel had given him. Surak was not keen on carrying sword as they where a representation of all the evil emotions he had fought to destroy. But it was now time to fight. He pulled the sword from its scabbard and held it in front of him at the ready.
Suddenly a small stone bench was lifted into the air, seemingly by itself. Then it hurtled toward Surak. He jumped out of the way as the stone bench smashed into pieces right where he had been standing. He stood up and swung his sword at the air. Then a he was knocked to the ground be a punch to his side. Surak lost his grip on the sword and it clattered to the stone floor. He turned around onto his back trying to find any clues as to where his invisible foe was at.
Suddenly he saw a faint ripple in the air. It moved towards him and encompassed his body. Surak felt a something very strange as if there was all of his suppressed emotions were being forced to the surface. He fought to control himself an his emotions. The strange feeling grew stronger an stronger, but Surak kept fighting. Surak remembered all his unhappy times in his childhood. It was if this, thing, whatever it was, was trying anyway to bring his emotions against him. But then almost as quickly as it had begun the rippling effect left him.



Surak’s starship entered orbit around the third planet in a nine planet system that was quite a few light-years away form Vulcanis.
“Sensor readings?” asked Surak.
“Seventy percent of the surface of the planet is covered in water.” said the Scientist, “It has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere with a much lower oxygen content than Vulcanis. The inhabitants are similar to Vulcanians in physical structure but in a primitive stage of development. I’d say class five.”
Surak looked out the bridge windows at the bright blue planet floating in space before him.
“There,” said Surak, pointing to a large island group in the northern hemisphere of the planet, “I will hide it there.”
“Yes sir,” replied the Scientist, “There are relatively few inhabitants. I doubt anyone should be able to find it.”
Surak left the bridge and boarded his small landing craft. The craft left the hanger bay on the underside of the ship and headed for the planet.

On the surface of the planet a wide field stretched out to the horizon. On one side of the field was a short cliff-face in which was a small cave. A few wards away Surak’s landing craft touched down causing slight depressions in the ground where it had landed. A small landing ramp lowered from the side of the ship and Surak walked down the ramp towards the cave.
He walked into the darkness of the cave and turned on a small light he was carrying. The cave lit up and he could see a small pool of water inside the cave. He pulled a small leather pouch from his pocket. He opened the pouch and inside he could see the faint glow of the eyepiece that he had broken from the Crown of Senak. He closed the pouch and tossed it into the pool of water.
“Never again will the Eye of Senak destroy the people of Vulcanis.” Surak said to himself out loud. He then left the cave and returned to his ship.
The leather pouch settled to the bottom of the pool until the eyepiece rolled out. The pouch then floated to the surface of the pool leaving the glowing orb sitting on the bottom pool.


Chapter Two - The Stiles Family

Captain Kirk looked up at Spock, “So, Surak left this eye thing on Earth?”
“According to legend,” Spock said, “However I was unaware that the planet he left it on was Earth until I spoke with Lt. Stiles.”
Captain Kirk moved in his chair and then looked at Lt. Stiles.
“I see,” said Kirk, “So Mr. Stiles how do you fit into all this?”
Lt. Stiles sat up in his chair ready to tell his part of the story. He clasped his hand on top of the Briefing Room table.
“Well sir,” said Stiles, “ Approximately nine hundred years ago during the mid fourteenth century I had an ancestor...

Sir William of Stiles stroked the neck of his horse and then looked up onto the battlefield. He saw the ranks of enemy soldiers lined up before him preparing for battle. There were rows of spear wielding soldiers dressed in simple padded armor. Followed by several foot soldiers carrying swords
behind them were knights whose armor glinted in the noonday sun. And although not entirely visible archers were lined up behind the knights.
William looked the best he could to the left and right of him through the eye slits in his helm. He saw the other soldier lined up ready for the charge. He felt a slight breeze come through the breathing holes in his helm but other than that he was sweltering. His armor was build for protection not ventilation.
Suddenly a great cry rose up from his fellow soldiers and the enemy soldiers as well. With tremendous noise he saw the first few rows of soldiers run towards each other. He gripped his sword and drew it from it’s scabbard. He held it high in the air and yelled at the top of his lung. He felt a few arrows ricochet of his armor as the first few volleys of arrows rained down upon his fellow soldiers. He even saw a few of the less protected men drop to the ground after being pierced by an arrow or two. He spurred his horse and charged into battle.
The sound of clashing weapons and armor grew louder as he charged into the battlefield. Through the narrow field of vision offered by his helm he found some vulnerable targets and swung his sword, slicing through thin armor and flesh. He looked up and saw one of the enemy knights charging towards him. He pulled his horse steady and prepared to attack this oncoming opponent. With a loud clang their swords met. William took the offence. He was doing the best he could to find the weakness in his enemies defenses.
Even though their encounter lasted only a few seconds it seemed like an eternity to William. He swung his sword at a perceived opening but his blow was quickly deflected. He noticed out of the corner of his eye a spear man running towards him. He turned and broke the end off the spear with his sword. He turned to face his original opponent but as he turn he felt a sharp pain in his left leg. He almost dropped his sword the pain was so severe. He looked at his opponent and saw him lift his blood covered sword in the air to make a killing stroke. William prepared to take the defense but as soon as he had readied his sword, the spear man used the broken end of his spear to pierce the side of William’s horse. The horse writhed in pain and fell to the ground pinning William’s leg underneath. His head hit the ground sharply and everything went black.

William blinked as he opened his eyes and saw the bright sun shining through the eye slits of his helm. Where was he? What was he doing? It slowly came back. He suddenly tensed up as he remembered...the battle! He felt a sharp pain in his left as soon as he tensed up.
Something was strange. He couldn’t hear to sound of the battle. He reached up and pulled off his helm. It made a slight clattering sound as he tossed it aside. There was a great weight on his right leg. He pulled his leg as hard as he could until it finally pulled free from beneath his horse. He looked around for some sort of natural shelter to escape the heat of the sun. He saw a small cliff face a quite a few yards away. He looked a little bit longer and saw what appeared to be a small cave entrance. He sat up. His leg was covered in blood from the wound he has sustained. He managed to painfully stand up. He carefully hobbled towards the cave entrance. When he was a few yards away his leg finally gave out. He fell to the ground a shockwave of pain shot from his leg up through his body. The cave was only a short ways away, he thought. He then began to pull himself by his arms towards the cave entrance.
Finally he reached the entrance and pulled himself deeper inside the cave. It was much cooler inside the cave. He could also hear the dripping of water. William looked into the darkness of the cave as his eyes adjusted but he saw nothing. It was completely black...except. Something caught his eye. He a very faint glow. As his eyes got used to the darkness he saw the glow shimmering of the walls of the cave. He did his best to pull himself towards the source of the glow. Suddenly his hand splashed into the cold wetness of what seemed to be an pool of water. He scooped some water into his hand and took a drink. The water was very refreshing.
He looked down and saw what seemed to be a small glass ball. It emitted the faint blue glow he had been seeing. It was at the bottom of the pool but within arms reach. William stretched his arm out and grabbed the orb and plucked kt from the water. He leaned up against the wall of the cave and looked at the object he now held in his hand. It seemed to glow brighter as he held it. Suddenly a sharp pain shot up his leg. He knew he must have lost a lot of blood. Perhaps if he could drink some more water. But before he could lean down to get another drink everything started going dim. Then finally black.

When William awoke he couldn’t tell how long he had been out. He felt something strange in his hand and then he remembered. It was the strange ball he had found in the water. He opened a small pouch on his belt and placed the ball inside. He sat back and thought of what he should do next or where he should go. But he felt different somehow. He reached his hand down to feel the wound on his leg. He touched the flesh of his leg but there was no gapping wound as he had expected. Instead there was only a slight bump. As if the wound had healed completely while he was asleep.
He tried standing up and accomplished it without any pain. In fact he felt better now than he had ever felt. He walked out of the cave and into the morning sunlight. He finally was able to view the battlefield and could see the bodies of both his friends and enemies. The bold colors of their clothing dimmed by the blood of hatred. He noticed the bodies were spread further down a small slope as if the enemy had begun to retreat and his allies had followed them.
But William knew he must return home. It would be quit a long walk. But ever since he had found the ball he seemed to have a newfound strength. He pulled the ball out of the pouch and looked at it. Maybe it was this thing that had healed him, he thought. Maybe it had some sort of magic.

William awoke from his sleep and sat up. He looked around and found himself in his own room. The room was large with tapestries hanging on the walls. The sun shown through a large window to his right. He looked to the left and saw it. A wave of relief washed over him as he picked up the small glowing orb and held it close to his chest. It was quite a few years since he had found this strange object in the cave. And he had since learned that it possessed many secrets. If he held it with three fingers and his thumb he could have influence over people, recover of even the most severest of wounds, and even render himself invisible.
Since his amazing discovery many years ago he had risen to the throne and created one of the largest kingdoms in the land. He was the most feared king in all the surrounding land. No other kingdom dared to attack him.
He stood up and called in his servants to help him dress. All the time he stared at the glowing orb. He seemed to be completely absorbed in it. After he finished dressing he placed the orb on a small pedestal in the middle of the room. He opened the door and set out towards the grand hall. He thought he heard someone call his name. He turned his head to look ans saw the orb sitting on the stand. Although it lasted only a few seconds it seemed as though he was staring at it for an eternity.
He walked down to the grand hall. The muffled sound of music grew louder as he arrived at the grand hall. Two armored guards opened the large doors and William entered. He breathed in the smell of delicious food.
Williams wife, Elizabeth, looked at him, a disapproving look on her face.
“You are late again, my dear husband,” Elizabeth said.
William sat down in a large chair next to his wife. Several servant crowded around him, preparing the table in form of him and putting food on his plate.
“I had my dream again,” William said.
“You always have that dream,” said Elizabeth, ”You haven’t dreamed anything else for the past four months.”
William began to eat. Then after a few bites he said, ”My dreams are my own. They don’t concern you.”
He took another bite of food, his thoughts were back in his room. He remembered all the conquests he had made, all the power he had gained since he had found the orb. Yet somehow he felt drained. The only source of energy he had was imagining the power and influence he had gained thanks to the orb.
“I’m your wife,” she replied after a few moments, “it should concern me.”
There was a long silence before she spoke again, “I wish you had never found that thing.”
William stopped eating, he looked up from the table, “What did you say?”
“I wish you had never found that orb.”
He sat there silently. Then suddenly with a loud thud he slammed his knife into the table.
“Without that orb I would have died and you would be nothing,” William shouted. Then his voice grew quiet as he thought of the orb, “But I did find it. And it obeys my will.”
He paused then spoke again, “It gave me life and power.” His voice was so soft that it seemed as though he were in a trance.
His wife stood up from the table. She began to storm out of the room. She paused at the door and turned towards William still sitting at the table staring blankly.
“I may have given you life, but it didn’t give you your life,” She said. Then she turned and walked out the door.
William remained at the table still staring blankly. He seemed to be entranced by the orb even though he was simply thinking about it.
The door opened to the King’s room and Elizabeth walked in. She stopped in her tracks. Her emotions were going wild. She was enraged at her husband, but she was also sad. William had gotten much worse as time had progressed. Now it seemed as though every waking moment he was centered on this strange orb. She longed for the days when she had been the center of her husband’s attention. If only there was some way...
She looked at the orb sitting on the pedestal. The orb glowed softly as she stepped toward it. She picked up the orb and examined its perfectly smooth surface. It seemed to have a strange pull on her. She could almost her it calling her name. If she wanted she could take it and rise above her husband. The power it possessed could be hers. All she had to do was use it. She stood silently for a moment, staring at the orb.
Suddenly she broke out of the trance. She looked at the orb and, remembering the all pain that it caused her, throw it out the window. Immediately after she threw it she put her face in her hands and began to cry.
The orb arced through the air and hit the water of the moat with a splash. The orb slowly sank to the bottom of the moat. It still glowed brightly as it settled to the bottom and was covered in a light layer of silt.


Chapter Three - A Strange Discovery

A slight breeze blew from the west as a small group of people was gathered around the base of a crumbling wall. The year was 2156 and the old wall of Stiles Castle was hundreds of years old and had been overgrown with vegetation. The group of people, students from Cochrane University, were noisily talking among themselves. To the right there was a slight slope that ran down into water filled moat. There were a few people excavating around the base of the wall.
A blonde haired woman in her late twenties quieted the group of students.
“This is the what’s left of the wall surrounding Stiles Castle,’ the blonde woman said to the students.
She pointed to the people excavating, “Over there we have some archeologists working on excavating around the base of the wall. The artifacts around the base of the wall consist of mostly garbage that was thrown over the wall. This garbage, however, tells us quite a bit about the lifestyle of the people who lived here.”
“So who is in charge of this excavation,” asked a student with a Scottish accent.
The woman paused for a moment and looked over at the excavators.
“His name is Jack Stiles,” she said as she looked for Jack among the workers.
She looked around for a moment longer and then saw him.
“Ah there he is,” she said pointing to a grey haired man kneeling down on a very steep part of the slope around he wall, “He can actually trace his ancestry directly back to the lord of this castle, King William.”
Jack was in his sixties. He was a native of Earth but, after his wife, Ellen, had died, he moved off-world. However, his intense love of archeology and of medieval times constantly brought him back to Earth for special digs. He looked up from where he was kneeling and looked over at the group. He saw the blonde woman leading the group and gave a friendly wave.
The blonde woman waved back. She looked back at the students, “You’ll be able to talk with him later. Now lets continue inside.”
Jack saw the group of student walk in through one of the gates in the wall. He looked back down at what he had been doing. The weather was very hot, Jack adjusted the small cooling device on his neck. How long will it take for them to invent a cooling device that works, he thought. He grabbed a little pick that he had been using to excavate and turned to continue with what he had been doing..
The dirt around the base of the wall was fairly soft and was easily removed. He chipped away at the dirt and found a small piece of metal. The metal was heavily rusted and looked fragile. He placed the metal fragment inside a small plastic bag and wrote some information on the bag.
Jack let out a sigh and leaned slightly back. I’m getting to old for this, he thought. He reached around to his right trying to find his water bottle. After fumbling around without success he looked around and saw that his water bottle had rolled down the slope a little ways. He began to stand up to go get his water bottle when the ground under his left foot gave way. He fell down and scrambled for something to grab as he tumbled down the steep slope.
He hit the water in the moat with a large splash. The other people working on the site turned to see what had happened and seeing that Jack had fallen began to work their way over to reach him.
The force of Jack falling down the hill cause him to sink into the water. He tried to push himself off the mud bottom, but his hand only sank into the soft, wet mud. He tried to pull his hand out and then he felt it...a small round object. As soon as he touched the object time seemed to stop. He pulled the object from the mud and looked at it. Through the murky water he could see the round object it glowed a brilliant blue color. It seemed as though he had stared at the object for an eternity before he finally pushed off the bottom.
Jack took a gasp of air after he broke the surface. He could see quite a few people scrambling towards him. He held the object firmly in his hand and began to swim the short distance to the bank. Upon reaching the bank he grabbed one of the outstretched hands. He was pulled from the water and sat down on the bank.
“Are you ok sir,” asked one of the excavators.
“Yeah I’m fine,” replied Jack as he ran his hand through his hair. He stood up and began to walk towards the small bridge that crossed the moat.

“And you found it in the moat,” asked an operator sitting next to a computer.
“Yeah, when I fell in,” replied Jack, now bathed and wearing a fresh set of clothes.
They were inside a tent that was filled with all sorts of scanning equipment and analysis computers. The glasslike ball that Jack found was sitting inside a scanning device.
The operator, Carl Mills, was a brown haired man in his late thirties. He was staring intensely at the computer screen.
“This is really strange,” said Carl.
“What,” asked Jack as he stepped near the computer.
“Look at this,” Carl said pointing to the computer screen, “I cant get any reading at all from this thing. No matter what scan I perform on it the computer just keeps saying there is an error. I don’t even know what it’s made of.”
Jack looked over at the glowing ball.
“That’s very strange,” said Jack, “Have you tried a electroscopic core scan?”
“Not yet,” replied Carl, “But I cant tell you what the results will be.”
Carl stood up and grabbed the ball. He placed it in a small metal tray. Then he placed the tray into a box like device and sat down at another computer terminal. He started the scanning process. Half way through scanning the computer emitted a very annoying beeping sound. A message popped up on the computer screen:

Error. No object in scanner or object un-scannable.
Please check to ensure object is inside scanner.

Carl spun in his chair to face Jack. “Told you,” he said.
Jack looked at the glowing ball, then at the computer screen, and then at Carl.
“Well if you cant tell me what it is, can you tell me what it isn’t,” asked Jack.