The Cold Darkness--Chapter One

Van sat back and stared at the monitor. He was in own cruise ship the Lita. The room was large and had it all. Large Bed,huge holo-vision and news-monitor.

 'Look at this,' he mumbled to his servant,stroking his silver Draconian beard. 'That Krios place is opening.'

 'So it is,' the servant replied arriving at his feet.

 'I was thinking of going there,you know. It's meant to be the biggest Space Station built so far. Of course it would be most interesting to see. I dare say even the Emperor is attending, and he hasn't appeared publicly since those Dalek duplicates attacked him.'

 'Shall I inform the Captain of the co-ordinates?' the servant asked.

 'Hmm. Yes,yes I think it would be most splendid. I just hope there won't be too many of those pesky reporters...'

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WIA#1 THE COLD DARKNESS
CHAPTER ONE- WRAITH
BY DANIEL BURNETT
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 Space was well known for being far more effective than roads or even airways in some aspects. However in others it was known to cause difficulties. You could fly past a ship that is upside down. However,only to you it is upside down. In reality,you could be sideways and so forth. Another good aspect was that there really was plenty of room.

 The hundreds of thousands of ships lined up against one another. They came in as close as they could, and battleships had been called in for traffic reasons. There were all sorts of ships,little ones, big ones. Someone even reported a police box floating by at one stage, which was proved a hoax. Ships would be above or below one another and some even got very aggressive, ramming others out of the way.

 'Look at the sheer numbers of them! I heard there would be lots and lots of ships,but this really is amazing!' Alnor exclaimed looking through the view-screen.

 'There is a lot. Last time I saw so many was when the Daleks attacked that planet. What was it called?'

 'You served in the Dalek wars?' Jane asked with a grin. 'You could never get in the wars. What were you, the ship's cleaner?''

 'You forget. The wars have been going for some time now,' the Captain scolded.

 'Yes, yes, enough about that. How are we going to get to Krios itself?'

 'Good question!' the Captain replied.

 'These people look just as eager as us..' Jane muttered as a ship rammed into the side of theirs.

 'Indeed they are!' Alnor exclaimed. 'I knew we should have got here earlier. But you had to get drunk and crash into that hotel.'

 'Listen, don't make fun of your only ticket to Krios,OK? Or I'll turn this ship right around and finish off those repairs.'

 'The hell you will,' Jane replied angrily. 'You cost a fortune and we haven't even reached there yet!'

 'Can you blame the traffic on me?'

 'Yes, I can. When we could have arrived much earlier!' Alnor replied.

 The view-screen suddenly flared into life, bearing the image of a female Draconian. She studied the crew for a second.

 'Spectator or Reporter?' She asked.

 'Oh, Reporters,' Jane replied. 'We're from the Vona Expression Times.'

 'Please insert your pass card,' the Draconian stated.

 With that Alnor produced a tiny card from his pocket. He placed in a small slit on the console. The Draconian appeared to be scanning the data as it was transmitted to her.

 'The procedure is this. Your ship will be auto-flown into a hanger next to the moon Of Jika'more. You will be sterilized,as well as your clothes. After searched and scanned you will transmatted to Space Station Krios. That is all,' the Draconian stated coldly, with no sign of emotion.

 The ship started to turn away from the other ships and started to head for the hangar they were destined for, the eager occupants growing with anticipation. Little did they know, that not far away a ball of purple energy glided through space, leaving a kind of gas trail behind it.

 

An officer walked down the metallic stairs that twisted down to the huge Greeting hall. The room was gigantic, with stairs twisting up to the platforms edging off the sides. There was a huge domed roof, which had panels twisting on the edges, containing very powerful lights. The dome was clear, revealing the beauty of space. The officer wore the dark green uniform, with white gloves and boots.

 'A number of guests have begun to arrive already, sir,' a workman reported.

 'Excellent. The reporters will be on their way soon too. I trust the cage is ready?'

 'It is. The shields around it have been checked and double checked. From inside there they will be able to take pictures, however no projection of any kind can pass the shield surrounding it.'

 'Good. Then make sure the transmat power links are correct and prepare the dining center for the guests,' the officer ordered, unaware that the purple object flew past,just above the dome undetected.

 

Alnor waited in a pure white room. He was wearing a complete white uniform for complete sterilization. The door opened and Jane arrived with an angry face.

 'What's up with you?'

 'They took my cigarettes,' she complained. 'So how have you been?'

 'I've just recovered from the sterilization process. I'm going to have nightmares about that for years!' he exclaimed. The door opened and a man entered.

 'Follow me to the transmat booth.'

 The transmat booth lit up and the two humans appeared with a hum. The two stepped out of the booth and looked around them.

 'Sure does look new,' Jane commented. She breathed in. 'It certainly does have that new space-station smell.'

 'Now, we've only got one thousand pictures here. So let's use them well,' Alnor noted. Just when a member of the crew approached the two reporters.

 'Hello and welcome to Space Station Krios. To ensure the complete safety of our special guests could you please step into the reporters cage,' he asked them politely.

 'That certainly looks demeaning,' Jane giggled.

 'It sure does,' Alnor agreed seriously as they were ushered into the cage, along with a very large number of reporters.

 'Of course, the problem with this is, we have to fight our way to the front,' Jane complained.

 'These really are so ineffective!'

 Soon the guests began to arrive. At first the ones nobody really cared about, and people wondered why they were invited at all. In fact one of the guests had attempted to wage war with the Draconian race. However time revealed more important people. A few famous Dalek killers made their way up the stairs, being photographed by the many reporters. Soon the Minister of Defense made his way up the stairs. Some of his tactics were well known for good and bad reasons. The Draconian Princes made their way up the stairs, and bothered to bow at the reporters and other humans. (Purely for honor reasons,not for show.)

 Then the Draconian Emperor made his way up the stairs. He had grown old with age, and had the use of the scepter. His beard flowed down to his knees. He had been Emperor for many years and thought perhaps it was time to resign. However, first he had some matters to attend to, before he would resign this very night. He arrived at the top of the stairs. His eyes lit up in pain and fell to the floor. The sound was extremely loud and caused silence. The Emperor fell to the ground clutching his chest.

 He had been shot.

 The emergency room doors flew open. The Emperor was wheeled in as fast as possible and moved onto a cold, metal table.

 'Can you revive him?' the prince asked eagerly as the doctor entered the room.

 'Perhaps. We'll have to see the wound first,' the doctor replied studying the body. 'First, we have to remove this ceremonial armour.'

 'But it is said that the Emperor is to wear it on the occasion of..' the prince began.

 'Are you going to let him die, because of an ancient writing? I'm sure in a circumstance like this..'

 'Alright, alright. Just do it quickly!' the Prince replied.

 The doctor pulled out a strange device, which he used to peel the armour away.

 'Oh my god,' the doctor staggered back, as purple fumes spewed from the body, making a hissing noise.

 'What is wrong?' the prince asked.

 'I'm not sure..' the doctor replied returning to the body. 'I've never seen a wound like this before.. it's.. I am sorry. I can not save him.'

 'Why not? Curse you and your pathetic medical techniques!' The prince shouted,walking over to the body.

 The part where he had been injured had started to melt away. The area around it was singed purple, and his veins were purple as well. The prince closed the Emperor's eyes with his hands, and found that his arm had stained purple from the gas erupting.

 'What could have done this?' he asked astonished.

 

'The security system was supposed to have been checked? I want to know, how he was shot- when the only people around were the guards, under close surveillance and the other guests?' Jou shouted at one of the officers. She was second in charge of the station.

 'The poor security systems in an insult to the Draconian Race!' the second prince exclaimed.

 'I checked and double checked the cage. The shield was, and still is functioning perfectly and none of the guests,I repeat,none of the guests have weapons capable of such a thing!' the officer replied.

 'Then how was he killed?' Jou asked. 'Tell me that!'

 

'The Space Station Krios is in a state of emergency. The Draconian Emperor was shot upon his arrival. The crew are working frantically, as the high tech security system has been put into question along with the company's owner, Gamn O'ke. He says that his security systems are the best made and the fault is not his. But,if the security system did work,how was he killed?'

 

'We didn't kill him!' Alnor protested as he was handcuffed.

 'All reporters must be questioned to find the murderer. Come along and make both our jobs easier,' the guard asked.

 'What's the point when we're both innocent!' Jane exclaimed.

 'Just come along, or you'll be charged for resistance of arrest. I'm not going to ask nicely again,' the guard asked under the chaos surrounding them. People were kicking and screaming, others desperately attempting to resist arrest, only to be sedated.

 The doors slid open, and Alnor was jammed into a cell with Jane. There was barely any room and everyone was sweating and tired. Except for the Draconians that is.

 'This isn't exactly what I thought of when I was hoping to visit Krios,' Jane mumbled.

 'I bet the Emperor hadn't planned on that death either,' Alnor replied.

 'Perhaps not the Emperor. But someone did, and someone did it well!'

 'How do you mean?' Alnor asked Jane.

 'You saw the cage. There is no way we could have killed him!'

 'That is if one of us did kill him. We haven't seen the wound and the direction the blast came from,' Alnor noted.

 'Damn energy blasts. Just like bullets, you can't see the beam, so we don't know where it came from.'

 'Well the guests didn't and we didn't. Well possibly. So who else had the chance?'

 

Lan sat in his office and held his head. All this was giving him a headache.

 'How could someone kill the Emperor? And at a time like this?' he shouted. The table full of important people fell silent. 'This really could not have come at a worse time. We need the Draconians, especially as Dalek numbers are growing by the minute!'

 'A Dalek factory was destroyed last week sir..' someone notified.

 'They have plenty more where that came from. We need more forces to hold them back. Hell, this station was made for peace and what did it bring us?' he shouted.

 The door flew open and the two princes walked into the room. 'We wish to know the current situation,' the first one ordered.

 'So do we my friend. So do we,' Lan replied.

 'How dare you call me friend! I am here by business purposes only. And I don't intend to be killed!' the prince snapped.

 Lan stood up and glared at the Draconian.

 'With all respect, shouting at me or anyone else won't get us anywhere. We need to establish some sort of backbone here.'

 'Why wasn't that done before?' the second prince exclaimed. 'If we do not see action soon,it will not be you we will be shouting at. It will be the Draconian Defense Lord declaring an attack on Earth!'

 'And what does that accomplish?' Lan asked. 'You send us both into a war. We both get severely weakened and then.. the Daleks can come and destroy us both!'

 'The Daleks have nothing to do with this!'

 'Are you so sure? They could have been involved.'

 'But your security systems say that they can't have been. Are you contradicting yourself?' the prince asked with a grim smile.

 Total silence.

 'We will return in half an hour. We want to see action by this time,' the first prince said sternly, before leaving the room and closing the doors.

 'This is not good gentlemen,' Lan announced breaking the silence.

 TO----BE----CONTINUED-----

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