"So what now?" Rook asked. Jessica was silent, she wasn't sure. There was an unsteady pause for several minutes. It was obvious that if they continued it was uncertain what would happen to them. It was Riconis who finally spoke.

"You know this David?" Jessica blinked at his causal response. Jessica nodded. "So you at least know each other, you and this reconstituted David." Riconis began. "And he is letting us have full run of the place. So he probably won't kill us, at least not outright." Jessica looked at Riconis, he had just hinted at something. She could feel Riconis on the edge of her mind, she knew they were similar in some way. She had felt that the first time they met, but right now she was more upset about what waited for them nine levels below. Riconis looked back and caught the glint of her eye, confirmation that she held a piece of the puzzle.

"What brought you here?" Rook asked politely.

"What brought you?" Riconis deftly answered with a smile.

"Well I will not hide my intentions. I am a translator and I am here to explore the ruins of this Rat'chatkan base. My associate here..." Rook said, indicating Blitz.

"Is just the hired help." Riconis finished for him. "I've seen him before."

"Riconis." The C3 computer called over the link.

"Yes?"

"I've detected several battle groups in orbit over the planet, they seem to be deploying for an attack."

"How soon?"

"Thirty minutes. Also a C1 has arrived and is preparing to land."

"A C1?" Riconis asked surprised. "Identify it."

"I can't seem to establish a link but it bares the markings of Galraten. It will arrive in five minuets."

"I see. Count it up."

"Understood."

"Galraten?" Jessica asked. "Who is that?" Then silently she asked the same question to Pegasus, who responded that she did not know.

"I think you should ask him." Rook answered. "If you can catch him." Jessica ran over to the shaft and saw Riconis falling swiftly away.

"After him!" At her order the other two activated their anti-gravity harness and jumped to pursue, Jessica was all ready falling after him into the dark pit.

"We have arrived." The Rubicon silently announced. Cable could feel the energy file rise to protect them from the harsh elements. Cable held out her hand to Firn.

"Come now, it's time." Firn gently took her hand and followed the blind girl out of the ship. They took a few steps then stooped. Firn looked at her in question. Cable smiled. Just then the ground beneath them opened and they began to float down. Cable smiled as she felt a familiar power flutter over her skin, familiar to her ancestral past. He knew they had arrived. She looked at Firn. "Soon, soon you will save us all." Firn did not understand what she meant but knew that somehow his parents would be with him again.

Jessica drew her rifle the moment she landed in the corridor that led to the ninth level. What was Riconis up to? Blitz and Rook landed shortly after her.

"This way." Riconis whispered from down the corridor. Jessica rushed after him, her mind only feeling anger at him. Blitz and Rook could not keep up as her enhancements propelled her forward. She rounded a bend and slid to a stop. Before her was a huge chamber with a vaulted ceiling rising high overhead. Riconis stood near a large device that dominated the room. His rifle was down as he looked over the device. He knew what was going on, he was part of this somehow. Jessica crossed the room in a flash. Just as she was about to strike, Riconis turned his head to her, his eyes looked at her knowingly. There was a flash of some energy as he caught her wrist, the knife tumbling to the floor. Her momentum slammed him against the side but he held her. They fell to the floor and Jessica struggled to break free. She brought her knee up to strike but was stopped by something. Rolling so that she was on top, she brought her head forward to hit him but hit some kind of force field. She panted through clenched teeth, looking menacingly at Riconis. Riconis still head her wrists and looked back at her calmly.

"You know, don't you." Jessica accused. Riconis smiled.

"A bit more than you."

"Let me go."

"Only if you promise not to kill me." Jessica smiled and relaxed, Riconis let go of her hands. They both stood up as Blitz and Rook arrived. "Good you're here. Get to work, translator." Riconis ordered. Rook began to translate the words written on the side of the device.

"And the time shall arrive that death and darkness shall swallow all creation." Rook began. "The fallen evil shall rise and destroy all that lives, taking for its own life. This void and end can only halt if the light burns with the power and authority of the truth. It will break the darkness and tear the evil asunder. Then the light will restore all that was destroyed by the darkness." Rook finished.

"It's written so poetically, like the Bible on Earth. What's it mean?"

Jessica mused as she looked over the inscription.

"Long ago the Rat'chatkan and a race calling them selves the True Ones were at war." Riconis began. "They fought all over the galaxy. The collateral destruction destroyed worlds and stars to no end. Another ancient race destroyed both of them to stop the destruction."

"How do you know that?" Jessica asked.

"I know a race that recorded it in their history."

"Humph." Blitz muttered but said nothing. Jessica knew there was more to it than that. There was always more than Riconis would say.

"Now there are more inscriptions here to translate."

"They tell of how the prophecy will be fulfilled." David's voice came from behind. Jessica's heart jumped to her throat, a jolt of fear shot through her. Standing above the door behind Riconis was David. A cloak hid his body but his face was plain to see.

"..david.." She said softly. "You're alive." With tears in her eyes she ran to him but Riconis caught her. "Let me go!"

"Look at him, it's not David!" Riconis held her strongly. She looked at David's face, so familiar, so handsome. He stood in a commanding stance. Almost ordering her to him. Her eyes fluttered just a bit and triggered her visual enhancements. Suddenly she could see that Riconis was right. Beneath the illusion was a twisted and deformed body, broken and misshapen. Tears filled her eyes again.

"Very good Riconis. Very good." David said with a low chuckle. "Your kind are hard to fool."

"What do you mean fulfilled?" Riconis demanded.

"Yes. Before they were destroyed the Rat'chatkans had made a weapon that would 'annihilate the darkness' and we were preparing to use it when the Radiate Ones betrayed us and destroyed our power. Preventing us from destroying the darkness."

"But now we shall." A girls voice called out. Above them in the center of the room a young girl and boy floated down to the top the giant machine in the middle of the room. "Soon the power will be ours to defeat..." A sudden blast from a plasma rifle knocked her to the floor.

"By the door!" Blitz squeaked. In the doorway stood several infested Kalpurnian warriors who began firing. Riconis dove to the side as Jessica fired. Sliding across the floor he caught his rifle.

"Jess!" At his voice she hit the ground like a stone. Riconis's rifle exploded to life, incinerating the doorway and the Kalpurnians. The others looked around for more. Jessica moved over to the girl. "Damn! I left it on auto!" Riconis muttered as he changed the clip. "She still alive?"

"Yes barely."

Queel-Thaar was informed that the advanced scout party had engaged the enemy. "Very well." he replied. "Carry on." His human experience told him they would not last. It would be him that would win the battle this day.

"Who is she?" Riconis called. Jessica looked over the girl, the wound would be fatal if not immediately cared for. The girl's pale eyes looked up at the young boy. Jessica looked up as well. The boy looked back blankly.

"I will take care of him." David's voice spoke softly. "Now I must save the boy and our hopes." With that he vanished. The room glowed and hummed, then went dark. Once their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw that the entire section around them had vanished, and the device in the center of the room was gone.

"Teleported, but to where?" Riconis muttered.

"And why?" Rook asked.

"There wasn't time to do whatever they needed to do here." Riconis answered.

Pegasus open the portal! Jessica commanded. Then to Riconis, she continued. "Whatever was here is gone. We better go as well." Riconis only looked around disappointed. Jessica picked up the limp girl. "Pegasus, where is the portal!"

"I can't open it, the air is too charged after that teleportation field."

"Quick, to the shaft." Riconis ordered. Rook and Blitz rushed ahead and began floating up. Jessica and Riconis were close behind. At the top Rook paused to catch his breath.

"So who is Galraten?" Rook asked Riconis. "You seemed to know it so well."

"It means Dark Eyes." Riconis said as he pushed Rook to continue. "According to legends, it was the symbol of a faction that had decided to help the Rat'chatkans long before the decision was made to destroy them. It's possible they helped develop the weapon but they were wiped out with the Rat'chatkans."

"A faction of the same race you know, you fly one of their ships don't you?"

"A ship is a ship." Riconis answered. "Fortunes of war and all." Rook smiled at the response. Just like Jessica and her ship, no answers, only questions.

As they came out of the complex Riconis opened up on several more Kalpurnians. The four ducked behind a wall. Jessica held the girl tight. Riconis fired randomly over the wall.

"They have us trapped." Blitz squeaked as a Kalpurnian fired.

"Cordjial! Any time." At Riconis's word an explosion that tore the far wall apart and enveloped the Kalpurnians. "Yes you got them done!"

"Yes sir!" The computer called back.

"Good now get up there and start clearing us an escape route!" They all ran for the Pegasus as the C3 rose into the sky.

And what of me? the voice came to Riconis's mind. He stopped and looked around. It was very familiar.

"Come on!" Rook shouted. Just then more Kalpurnians began firing. A round ricocheted off the edge of Blitz's suit and his anti-grav kicked in. Riconis ducked behind a wall and Rook ran for the Pegasus, which Jessica had already reached. Rook took a hit to the leg but fell into the door. Riconis caught sight of Blitz floating in the air.

"Help me!" Blitz screeched as he flailed around. Just then the Kalpurnians all shot at him at once. Blitz was blown to pieces. Riconis took advantage of the moment and broke into a run. Aided by his suit's kinetic power he raced out of sight as the Kalpurnians shot at him.

"Go on without me!" He called over his link. He turned a corner and found the Cordjial One, Rubicon. "Whoa, they were big." In a minute he reached the bridge. He looked over the controls. "Now how does one go about making a teleportation field?"

A small ship rose from the planet's surface, Queel-Thaar almost laughed that such a ship would challenge an entire battle group. "Destroy it." That was his last command. Ten ships opened fire on the small target but the ship swerved and weaved around the volley. "Impossible! No pilot could survive such sudden changes!" the human side of Queel-Thaar exclaimed. Then Queel-Thaar remembered a long ancient past. "Save one kind." The small ship fired a seemingly endless volley of light speed slugs into the ship, as light jumped from its surfaces to other ships, striking shields with incredible power. C3 concentrated its rails on the command ship. First the shields fell then the hull of the bridge was perforated like paper. All at once the attack stopped. The ship was gone, as were the two on the surface. The Rat'chatkan base was destroyed without further incident.
--Realm Scribe Shadren

After the base was destroyed, everybody aboard the ship breathed a sigh of releif. It was over--or,so they thought,for there was an intruder on board as well. And,he's out for revenge.
--Andrew Troy Keller (AndrewK17@Excite.com)

Hours after the Queel-Thaar's fleet left orbit, a lone figure appeared in the ravaged Rat'chatkan base and began to walk through the fused wreckage. David looked up into the stars, his eyes, or more correctly, the mass of nanites that made up the section of what passed for eyes, looked up into the black maw of space.

"I wish we could have had a chance to talk Jess.......I fear that was our last opportunity in this life....."

He continued to wander throughout the ruins until he came to a large sphere that was buried deep into the bedrock that had encased the base. It alone had survived the bombardment intact, its surface not marred in any way by the destruction that had melted stone and shredded exotic metals. David spoke out in an odd keening voice, all the more surprising since there was no air to carry the noise. The sphere began to glow with a dull amber light, and its surface began to ripple and undulate. David took one more look around and then put a hand out to the sphere. After a moment he stood back and watched the sphere explode in a intense white light. He could feel the beacon's signal hit him like a giant slap across his body as it shot out into space.

"Well friend and foe both will know what this signal entails, but it was necessary...."
--MHal9000

Inverness System- 4 inhabitated worlds, one of the outer core systems of the Terran Federal Commenwealth. Population in the billions, highly developed and industrialized.......

"As the human phrase goes, this system is ripe for picking." Purred Queel-Thaar while he bathed his extremities in a special neurochemical solution.

"Vooola-Theer, you will assemble the necessary resources to take each of the orbital defense installations in this system. I expect this to include all naval assets also. After this is accomplished, we will begin seeding the population centers with the first brood of bioformers maturing in the breeder vats now. With the destruction of the Rat'chatkans, our mission is simplified ten fold. When this system is fully assimilated, we will be unstoppable."

"As the Thaar commands." Vooola-Theer bowed deeply, and unfurled his occular tenticles from inside his hosts ears. They moved fluidly, performing a ritual older than both Humanity or Kalpurnia as he paid homage to his Thaar.
--MHal9000

What happens next? You decide. Write a sentence, a paragraph, or more, then send it to me and I will add it to the story.