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Episode 55: Camp of the Enemy
"Derek? Derek! What's going on up there?!" Nova exclaimed as her crewmate's scream of agony tore through her ears.
Not knowing what else to do, Nova reached forward and grabbed the young man by the shoulders.
"Derek! What's going on?" she tried again to no avail.
"What's happening to him?" She thought, worry beginning to creep into her mind and undermine her earlier confidence.
"I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory."
That voice again.
Nova looked around, eyes searching for the elusive voice.
"Who are you?" She asked, over her friend's expressions of great pain and fear.
"He is not of Israel, fool!" Said another voice, but this one was foul and rotten, like the smell of a fetid carcass – much like the voices she'd heard in the darkness of the engine room so recently.
"Perhaps not, but you have sought to force his hand – to make him decide in your favor." The wonderful voice said to the terrible one.
"But you have broken your agreement with your Mater. You have shown yourself!" The awful voice accused.
The majestic voice replied with a hearty laugh, "I have appeared to no one. I have merely spoken, foul one. I have done as Shaddai has told me. I have hindered you."
The dreadful voice let out a shriek of displeasure and pain.
Wildstar fell silent.
"Derek? Derek?!" Nova shook Wildstar's shoulder. She felt his head slump forward. "Wake up!" she exclaimed.
Derek didn't even so much as stir.
Nova looked around the back seat, trying to find something that could help their situation. As she searched she prayed, remembering the words she'd heard just before they'd entered this strange new world within the gate.
"There!" Nova reached out and triggered the emergency override. A second later the back of the pilot's seat unfolded in front of her and two panels, one to her right and one to her left transformed revealing a rough replica of the controls Derek was now unable to use.
She craned her neck to get a glimpse of whatever was outside the plane.
"He has gone, daughter of the promise." The wonderful voice spoke again, taking Nova's focus from what she was doing.
"Who – who are you?" she asked again, more quietly this time. "And who was the one with you?"
"I am…a friend." It replied, "The other is not. He seeks to destroy you all before you fulfill the mission upon which you embarked some months ago."
"Do you have a name?" Nova attempted again.
The voice laughed, seeming amused, "I do, daughter of the promise. But for you to know it now would serve no purpose. One day though, we will meet face to face. Then you will know my name."
"Are you an angel?" She asked, eyes wide.
"That is what you call us, yes." The voice replied. "Though… few of you truly know what we look like or how we go about the business of Shaddai."
"'Shaddai'?" Nova asked. She thought the name sounded familiar.
"You often address Him as 'God.'" The angel replied.
Nova didn't reply. Feelings of utter inadequacy fell over her.
"You need not fear, child of Shaddai. I am merely the messenger of the Most High, not His sword of vengeance – at least, not today." The smile in the being's voice was evident and Nova relaxed just a bit, then the worry of moments before crowded back into her small world.
"What do I do about Derek? What did that thing do to him? I can't seem to wake him up."
"Fear not." The angel replied, "He will wake on the other side of the gate."
"But what will we do when we come back through here? Won't that other thing – that… demon…be back?" Nova asked, scanning the controls around her. Finding the auto pilot, she reinitialized it.
"Ah…" The angel sighed. "I know you have met the enemy before, child of the One. I saw you as you led the advance on them, the words of long dead saints on your lips and the song of Shaddai in your heart. I will see to it that no harm comes to you. You are one of the children of my great Master, little one. He fears no fallen angel, nor does He worry Himself over the plans of the Darkened Seraph*."
"No… I suppose He doesn't." Nova said thoughtfully, a tiny smile appearing on her face.
"I will see you safely to the other side of this nether-gate. Once you are out, you must take great care. Many dangers await you on the other side."
"Thank… you…" Nova managed, then asked, "What should I call you?"
No answer came.
"Hello?" she called out to the angel. "Hello?"
He was gone.
Derek felt like he was floating through an immense void. Everywhere he looked there was only blackness – deep, dark and hopeless.
He reached out, trying to find something to grab on to that might anchor him in this strange place.
What seemed like hours later he was just about to give up trying when a glint of something caught his eye. He reached out and caught it. To his dismay it was nothing more than a small piece of metal. He held the object out in front of him to examine it.
The metal began to glow in his hand. Crimson light pulsed bright, then dim over and over.
Derek watched this puzzled.
The glow started to intensify, swelling to a height of brightness that blinded Derek with each brilliant flash.
He flung the thing away, the red light overwhelming his sense so much that he couldn't take it anymore. He covered his eyes with his free hand, trying to ward off the light.
The flashing stopped.
He hesitantly pulled his hand away from his eyes, expecting to see the glint of metal floating away. He looked around, but didn't see the object anywhere.
The sensation of something squeezing his arm grabbed his attention and he looked down at the hand that had been holding the object. To his horror, the metal piece was now wrapped around his forearm, glowing blood red.
Derek frantically swiped at the thing, trying to get it off.
He felt his arm become uncomfortably warm, then the sizzle of burning fabric met his ears and the pain of searing flesh slashed through his brain. Burning pain shot through his arm.
He cried out in agony, grasping at the metal again, trying once more to pry it from his wounded arm, but no matter how much he tried, he just couldn't rip it free.
He screamed in pain as the metal piece grew, crawling up his arm, burning away his uniform sleeve and charring his skin as it went.
He was tearing at the burning metal again when another crimson bar flew out of the surrounding darkness and clamped on to his other arm, bringing more pain with it.
Sheer agony stopped him from struggling against his new bonds and had he not been in zero gravity he would have fallen to the floor.
Despair riddled the young man's mind as he tried over and over to find a way out… and failed.
Two more glowing bonds streaked towards him and caught hold of his legs, turning what little bit of his mind he still had left into a burning prison of pain.
"You have overstepped." A mighty voice thundered across the void.
Derek heard the words, but couldn't concentrate on them long enough to know if the voice was talking to him.
"If you do not release him, I will." The voice came again.
"You have no authority to interfere. This is not one of your Master's precious children." Another voice, scraggly and mean replied.
"You have been charged not to force a choice on any involved in this." The first voice replied.
"I will not release him. He is mine!" The hissed reply came.
"YOU WILL OBEY THE WILL OF SHADDAI!' The booming reply echoed through the darkness, filling it to its brim.
That instant, Derek's bonds shattered into a million tiny specs of light, then they disappeared leaving no trace of their presence.
The relief that fell over the young man was so great that he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, and he fell into merciful slumber.
"Oh… man…." Derek groaned from the cockpit. "Get me the number off that truck…"
"You alright?" Nova asked from the back.
"Yeah…" He replied, the short conversation he'd heard moments ago still all too real. "Hey, Nova…?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yeah?" She replied.
"Did you… hear voices earlier?"
The young woman didn't reply for several seconds and for a moment Derek thought she hadn't heard him.
"I did." She finally replied. "So, you heard them too?"
"I don't know what I heard." He replied, the sense of fear he'd had when he'd been trapped in that burning blackness started to well up again. He quashed it, knowing fear would serve only to get them into more trouble than he could afford right now.
Nova reached out from the back seat and gripped his shoulder. "I know you don't believe in demons, and I don't know if you believe in angels, but what you just heard was a conversation between one of each."
Silence fell between them.
"I don't guess you'll let me off without an 'I told you so.'" Derek replied quietly.
"I suppose I can save it for another time." Nova replied, sensing that her friend was more deeply troubled by the encounter than he let on.
"Thanks." He replied softly. "So, where are we?"
"We're just inside the gate. I didn't want to go through with you unconscious." Nova replied.
"Yeah, I guess that wasn't such a bad idea." He replied. "No telling what's on the other side of this thing."
"I'll go ahead and let the crew know we got here." Nova recorded a brief message, then sent it off. "Alright, let's see what's out here."
Derek nodded and steered the small plane through the gate exit.
It felt strange going through the portal again, almost like being pushed out of a narrow straw.
They broke through the event horizon and instantly stopped.
"Uh, Nova, I don't think this is a good place to be right now." Derek said, eye wide as he beheld a host of ships laid out before him. Ships of all sizes and classes they'd ever seen – and some they hadn't seen – listed in the Gamilon tech database were stationed in orbit around a giant, dark planet ringed with angry red clouds. Derek recognized the world almost instantly from the information in Starsha's message. "Get another message off the Argo." Derek told Nova. "We've got a problem."
"It's been twelve hours." Mark muttered to himself, anxious to hear from Nova and Derek. They were supposed to contact the Argo when they reached the other side of the gate. "Maybe the signal couldn't get through." He thought, trying to ease his worry. He felt like he could fall asleep right where he sat. There hadn't been anything to do since Wildstar and Nova went into the gate. Another shift had come and gone without word from the pair. With each passing hour Mark grew more nervous that something had happened to them.
"Incoming signal." Homer announced, pressing a finger to his headset, a look of concentration on his face. "It's them!" He exclaimed. "They made it through!"
"Who is sending the message?" Avatar asked.
"Uh, Nova." Homer replied absently as he listened to the message one more time to make sure he'd heard everything correctly.
Captain Avatar and Sandor both looked at Homer in concern.
"Where's Wildstar?" the Captain asked the comm officer.
"Oh, he's okay." Homer replied, sending out a reply to the scout ship letting them know that Argo had received their transmission. "Nova said he didn't react well to the trip, but he'll be fine."
The rest of the bridge crew were visibly relieved at this news. Even Dash, who never really said much of anything to anyone except Eager, let out a muffled expression of gratitude.
"Good." Avatar nodded in approval. "We will await their return."
"Wait!" Homer's hand flew back to his headset, adjusting it so he could hear something else coming through the radio. "Something's wrong! There's an enemy armada on the other side of that gate, Captain!" Homer turned to the Captain, face grim. "We won't be able to get through. They're swarmed around Balan – the waypoint on Starsha's map."
Silence fell between the officer and his captain. All eyes turned to Captain Avatar.
The old captain folded his hands and took a deep breath, thinking, praying for an answer.
The Captain looked up. "Tell them to gather the coordinates of every ship they can. Then come back as quietly as possible. If they're spotted, tell them to return immediately."
"Aye, Sir." Homer replied, then relayed the message to Nova and Derek.
A few minutes later another transmission came back.
"They said they'll get everything they can, Sir." Homer replied.
"Very good, Mr. Glitchman. Now, we wait."
Elazar held out the Guardiana amulet again, examining it for the thousandth time since he'd acquired it from the Sentinel that had sought his life.
"What am I to do with this foul thing?" Elazar asked the woman sitting next to him.
"It may be a tool of darkness, my friend, but it may also be a way to understand our enemy." Nuray of Guardiana, First of Nine, replied. She reached out and Elazar handed the amulet over to her.
The woman held out the round object, turning it this way and that in the dim light. Still staring at it she stood and walked towards the pod she had been bound to until recently.
Nuray touched the surface of the empty pod and said a few words Elazar didn't quite catch. The Guardianan held the amulet out above the pod and waited.
Several seconds later a series of clicks and indecipherable bleeps and whistles emanated from the pod.
Nuray nodded thoughtfully and stepped away from it, the amulet still in her hand.
"Here." She returned to Elazar. "I do not know what to do with it either." Nuray sat back down, handing the amulet back.
"What did you just do?" He asked, feeling the amulet quake just a bit. It hadn't even done that before.
"The pods have a limited capacity for analyzing certain objects. I asked it to analyze the amulet. It wasn't powerful enough to give me any useful information about it." Nuray replied.
"Hmm." Elazar let the amulet drop into his lap. He sighed. "At least it doesn't have a tracking device in it, like some of them do."
"Oh, it has one." Nuray replied, "But it is not like the others." She said. "That was one thing the pod could tell me."
"What do you mean, 'not like the others'?" Elazar asked, a bit of concern in his face.
"Do not worry, my friend. The Sentinels cannot use it to trace our location. There seems to be something in that amulet that is triggered by proximity to something – what I have no way of knowing." Nuray replied.
A thought came to him. Elazar picked up the amulet again and stood. He held the talisman out in front of him and made a slow circuit around the world-core's central chamber.
Nuray watched him, wondering what he was doing. Every few feet he would stop and move the amulet around, almost like he was looking for something.
"What are you doing?" Nuray finally asked when Elazar approached the center of the room and crouched down, laying the amulet on the floor.
"I think this amulet… responds to the presence of… Guardianans." He replied, looking back at the woman with an expression of disbelief. "And you and your eight companions are not the only ones here. I feel it calling out to someone else."
Nuray cocked an eyebrow at Elazar. "You mean that witch Aurelia?"
"No, not her. She's seldom here on Phantom. There's another." Elazar picked up the amulet again and said to the world core, "Raise the stasis chamber."
Nuray looked on in amazement as a strange light appeared in the center of the floor and up from the ground floated a swirling container of light. In the midst of the stasis chamber a young woman rested.
Nuray looked at the young woman once, then twice, then again, lest her eyes be liars. "Who… is that?" Nuray asked.
"This is the girl I saved from the Sentinels – Constance Mariposa." Elazar supplied.
"You did not say she looked like this…" Nuray breathed.
"Why does it matter?" The man asked.
"Look at me, Elazar." Nuray commanded. "And tell me you see no resemblance."
Elazar looked from his friend to the young woman. "Perhaps there is a bit of similarity." He replied. "But I don't see –"
"She has the facial structure – the elongated hands and fingers. Even her hair texture and color – they all echo the same genetic markers as so many of us…" Nuray approached the stasis chamber and laid a hand against the cool surface. "But there is something about this one that is different. She holds something that none of the rest of us does." Nuray looked at Elazar who stood staring at Nuray. "Can't you see it, Elazar?"
The man's eyes returned to the sleeping young woman. He looked at her more intensely this time, and as he did he remembered…
"I do now…" He whispered. "She's the one. She's the heir to Guardiana's throne. That was why Aurelia brought her here to begin with." Understanding lit his face. "How could I not have seen it the instant I met her?"
"She looks like…" Nuray began, but could not finish her sentence.
"She looks like her mother. Yes, I know." Elazar said, "I hope she is well, wherever she may be."
"This amulet will be hers." Nuray said, confidence in her voice. "When it is time for her to wake – when we find someone who we can trust to take her to Guardiana, this amulet will guide her to its location."
Elazar nodded soberly. He reached out and touched the surface of the stasis chamber. A small opening appeared and through it, Elazar reached out and carefully hung the amulet around the neck of the sleeping princess.
He withdrew his arm and the opening sealed again. "Let us watch carefully for the coming of those who will take her home." Elazar said, remembering a time many years ago when another girl, this one much younger than Mariposa, had graced his presence.
"If only I knew where she was." He thought. "It would bring me great joy to see her again."
Episode 56: Connections
"How're we going to get through here without any of them noticing us?" Nova asked, eyeing the nearest destroyer.
"I guess we could hide in one of their exhaust trails." Derek replied. "It isn't fool-proof, but as long as none of them look out a viewport at the wrong time, we should be okay."
"How far in should we go?"
"'Til we get nervous, I suppose." Derek shrugged. "We won't be able to safely get too far in. Even staying in exhaust trails won't hide us forever with that many eyes staring our way. But we can cover the perimeter. That'll at least give us something to work with. Maybe Sandor can calculate how many ships are here or something like that."
"Maybe." Nova agreed.
"Well, let's get to it. I don't want to be stuck here any longer than we have to be. And I really really don't want to go back through that gate again, but the sooner we do it, the sooner it'll be over." Derek shuddered at the thought of returning to the nightmare he'd just left back inside the gate.
"We'll make it back through." Nova said, voice steady.
"And why're you so sure of that?"
"Because…" Nova began, wondering if what she wanted to say was too much too soon. "The angel you heard – the one that saved us – he told me we would be alright."
"And you believe him?" Derek asked.
"I do." Nova said, preparing some of the ship's systems to collect the data they needed.
"How do you even know he'll keep his promise?"
"He will." Nova said.
"But how do you know?"
Nova paused for just a second before replying, "I believe him, and the God Who sent him. He will keep his promise."
Derek didn't say another word. Instead, he set a course for the nearest Gamilon ship and slowly made his way into its exhaust trail.
"General Lysis." Dommel's second-in-command came through the door, a look of surprise on his face.
"What is it?" Dommel asked.
"The Eratite ship – The Ze'evim just sent a report saying that they were just outside one of the old gates."
"And?" Dommel asked, sensing that there was just more to this story.
"They reactivated it, Sir." The officer said. "We don't know how they managed it, but now that it's online, they've sent a small scout ship through. They're here somewhere right now."
Dommel nodded, "I see." He put his hand on his chin, considering the possible implications of what he was about to say. "Be watchful for them, but do not engage the scout ship. Letting them know we are aware of their presence will only alert them to the Ze'evim. We must not let them know they're being trailed."
"But what if they come through here? What if they bring their ship to Balan? We won't be able to avoid destroying them, Sir."
"Yes, we will." Dommel replied slowly. "As soon as the scout ship leaves again, send out an alert to all ships in the vicinity. I want a full evacuation. Then activate all the training simulations in the computers."
"All at once?" The officer asked, confused.
"Yes. Every one of them." Dommel replied.
"We're not going to stop them, Sir?" The officer asked.
"No." Dommel replied, "Not with the Iscandari onboard. I won't risk her safety."
"But, Sir –"
"There will be no argument on this." Lysis glared into his second's eyes. "Relay the information now so that they will all be ready to leave the instant the Eratite scout is gone."
"Yes… Sir…" The officer bowed and left.
"Frakken, I know you won't fail me. Whatever you have planned, it had better be good enough for me to risk my neck letting the Eratites come through here." Dommel stared out through a wide viewport, surveying the sea of ships gathered here at Balan. They'd intended to swarm the Eratite ship and destroy it once it reached this shipyard, but now… with the Iscandari princess on board, that was no longer an option – until Frakken pulled her out. After Princess Astra was of the ship, it would be all-out war.
The Princess would protest, most assuredly, but there would be nothing for her to do. She wouldn't be able to save the Eratites once the Ze'evim took her.
Dommel sighed. If only this conflict would end. Then he could go home to his beloved Elisa and hopefully never see the desolation of war again. He hated having to fight to survive again. He'd done it once, then twice. Now, the third time he'd been forced to fight for his and his people's lives, he found himself regretting ever taking the position as head of the GRN.
"If only I'd stayed back on Gamilon…" He thought wistfully. "Maybe I wouldn't be stuck in the middle of this."
He played the political game when he had to, but he hated every minute of it. That was what made him dislike Miezella Celestella so much. She was an avid political player. Every time Dommel saw her, he saw the manipulative light in her eyes. Everything she said rang false to him. Every time she spoke, Dommel knew there was at least one lie floating around in the mess of adulterated truth that spewed from her lips.
He shook his head. At least he didn't have to deal with that woman out here on Balan. That was one of the only advantages he could think of.
"Chirrup." She sound of rustling wings came to Dommel as Juji alighted on his shoulder.
"What is it?" He asked the funny bird.
"Chirp?" Juji tiled his head inquisitively at Dommel.
"I wish I knew when we'll be home again." Dommel replied. "But until then, we have a job to do."
"Chitter-chirp." The bird bobbed his head up and down, then patted Dommel on the head with his long beak.
"Thank you." Dommel returned the bird's affection and patted Juji on the head too. "We must be ready for the Eratites' arrival."
Juji nodded again in response to his owner's tone. Then the strange bird hopped down and waddled away, trumpeting his presence as he went.
"I think we've gotten everything we can. Let's get back." Derek said, turning the place back towards the gate. "I can't believe we made it all the way around without being seen."
Nova didn't reply.
"Hey, you okay back there?" He called back to Nova.
"I just…" She began, staring out the small window at a nearby Gamilon ship. "Nevermind. It's nothing."
"Okay." Derek replied with a shrug. "Let's get back to the Argo."
"Wait." Nova's voice sounded strange over the suit-com.
"What?" Derek asked, stopping just short of flipping the autopilot back on so they could get home.
"Something's wrong here…" Nova said quietly. "Something…. I don't know. I just thing we need to be really careful when we come back here."
"You think they saw us or something?" Derek asked.
"I don't know. I can't point to anything and tell you a reason why I feel this way… I just do." Nova said.
"Okay. Fine. Include it in the report or something." Derek said. "But can we get out of here now? Being in the middle of this many Gamilons at once makes my skin crawl."
"Yeah. We can go." Nova replied, still sounding spooked.
"Okay, here we go." Derek sent the ship back through the gate entrance, hoping that Nova was right about their angelic acquaintance protecting them during their long journey back to the Argo.
Hours dragged by without so much as a fit of turbulence, which was remarkable considering how much they'd encountered during their first trip through the gate.
Finally, they arrived back where they'd started from. The exit loomed before them and Derek sighed in heavy relief when they crossed the threshold back into normal space.
Landing the plane in the hangar set him even more at ease. At least here, on board the ship, he had some control over what happened.
He and Nova disembarked from the scout ship and he gave her a nod before taking off to get out of his EVA suit and back into his regular uniform.
He was half-way to the bridge when his comm unit buzzed for attention.
"All officers to the operations room for a meeting." It read.
Derek shrugged and adjusted his route. Minutes later he stood towards the front of the group of gathered officers. He looked around and spotted Nova standing near the far wall. He slipped between Eager and Dash and came to stand next to the radar officer.
"Guess the captain wanted to talk about our report." He whispered to Nova.
"I'm sure." She replied. "Heading straight into a swarm of enemy ships isn't something to be considered lightly."
"You think he'll do it?" Derek whispered back.
"I don't know." Nova replied, "But whatever he does, I'm sure he has a very good reason for it."
"Yeah, I know." Derek replied just before Captain Avatar stepped into the room and started the meeting.
"Ladies and gentlemen." Avatar nodded to his officers, "The news we received from our scouting party, " he gestured to Derek and Nova, "is grim to say the least."
A wave of murmurs ran through the group.
"But." Avatar held up a hand for silence. "It isn't hopeless. As soon as we received the data, Sandor put it through a cursory analysis. Preliminary results show that there is one possible route we might take to fight our way through the enemy armada. It's very risky to say the least, and the data is being processed more thoroughly as we speak, but I wanted to bring you all here now to discuss this possible course of action."
"So we might not even go through the gate?" Dash asked.
"It is a possibility, yes, Mr. Dashell." Avatar replied, "But braving the gate is not off the table yet."
"So how do we decide whether or not to go?" Eager asked.
"I've sent the information Sandor has compiled so far to your comm units. Please, take some time to study it." Avatar said. "We'll meet back here in three hours. By then Sandor's detailed analysis will be complete."
"Yes, Sir." Came the chorus of replies.
"Well, I guess we get to go stare at this stuff for a while now." Derek said to Nova at they all filed out the ops room. "Wanna catch something to eat while we do it?"
"I… suppose so." Nova replied hesitantly, opening Sandor's report and starting to browse through it.
"Derek!"
Wildstar turned to find Mark running to catch up to them.
"Hey, Venture. Anything interesting happen while we were gone?" Derek asked.
"Not a single thing." Mark replied, "Unless you count Royster going on about how we're all gonna die, but I think he does that at least once a week, maybe twice now that we're so close to the half-way point." Venture rolled his eyes. "It was so boring I caught myself wishing I was back on Mars in that little observatory we were crammed into for months."
Derek laughed, remembering some of the good times they'd had before Astra's ship crash-landed and they'd been forced to evacuate that old observation post. "Hey, you wanna join us. We're gonna go get something in the mess hall and talk about this crazy plan Sandor's cooking up." Derek said to Mark.
"Sure. Why not." Venture replied, glad to have something to do again.
"What's on the menu for today?" Wildstar wondered aloud, pulling up the mess hall schedule on his comm unit. "Well, it could be worse, I guess. Greens and some kinda mystery meat with a side of something that looks like it might have been carrots at some point."
"Hey, beats the mush we were stuck eating before we picked up all that food on Bemera." Mark said. "You remember that stuff, Nova?"
The radar officer didn't reply.
"Nova?" Mark poked the woman's shoulder.
"Oh! Sorry, I was reading Sandor's report." Nova jumped, startled by Venture's touch.
"I can't be that interesting." Derek said.
Nova looked back down at the document and kept walking.
Derek looked back at Mark and shrugged.
When the three finally made it to the mess hall there weren't many crewmen to be seen. Most were on duty shifts or sleeping.
The officers picked up their food and found a table in one corner of the huge room.
Once they'd sat down Nova finally looked up at Derek and Mark. "Something still doesn't seem right." She said.
"What's she talking about?" Mark asked Derek.
"When we left to come back she said something didn't feel right. I dunno. I didn't really see anything suspicious while we were there. I was too busy trying to keep up out of sight." Wildstar replied.
"Hey!" Homer appeared with a tray of food. "Can I sit with you guys?"
"Sure." Nova said, scooting over to the comm officer could join them.
"So what do you think about that report?" Homer asked immediately upon sitting down.
"Haven't looked at it yet." Derek said, "But Nova hasn't pulled her nose out of it since we left the ops room."
Homer turned to Nova. "Did you see the note at the end of section five?"
"Not yet." She replied, picking up her comm unit and quickly skipping to that part of the report. "What's so interesting about it?"
"Just read it." Homer replied.
Nova looked at the section note for a long time. Derek was starting to wonder how long the note was when Nova's face melted into an expression of concern.
"They sent a transmission right before we left." Nova said. "They saw us!"
Homer shook his head, "I don't know that that's what it was. Maybe it was just a routine report or something like that."
"But what if it wasn't?" Nova asked. "Is it possible they knew we were there the whole time?"
"I guess it's possible." Homer admitted, "But it's not likely in light of the fact that they didn't kill you on sight."
Nova thought about this for a moment then nodded slowly, "I guess you're right. If they'd really seen us, we'd probably be dead." She set her comm unit down on the table. "I just… don't know what to think."
"Me neither." Homer confessed, staring down at his food for a second before looking back at the radar officer, "But it's worth bringing up in the meeting."
"I agree." Nova said, "We have to consider everything if we're going to make the right decision about this."
With that, the four finally stopped talking and started eating.
Nova realized just how hungry she was when she didn't mind the strange taste of the Bemeran greens. Their taste was a touch caustic, but, all things considered, they weren't terrible.
She quickly finished her food and excused herself.
"I'm going to go sleep for a while." She said. "Maybe that'll straighten out some things for me."
Derek, Mark and Homer bid her farewell and started talking about the report again as they all began going through the document, this time together.
Leader Desslok sat in silence in his quarters. It was late afternoon and the sun's rays shone brightly through the window at his back. Very little natural light made its way down to Belarus, but when it did, it reminded them all of how it was before the tsarebetim plagued their home.
He stared at the strands of light as they danced on the floor in front of him. He watched as they moved from one side of the floor to the other with the passing minutes. He held out his hand, its shadow blocking one of the beams of light from hitting the floor. Instead, it shone on the back of his gloved hand.
Even though their sun was much farther away from the capitol now, its warmth didn't seem to have diminished that much.
The Leader took off his glove and let the beam of light fall on his unprotected hand, warming it with its touch.
This simplest of things made him wish fervently for the restoration of his world. If only there were a way to bring back the Gamilon they all knew and loved so well. If only there was a way to reverse the devastation… But there wasn't. He'd had science teams of every imaginable stripe working around the clock ever since he'd taken the throne. None of them had found the solution to their plight.
Desslok let the beam of light fall back to its place on the floor and replaced his glove.
It was in moments like this that he wished Masterson was still here. That he might offer his insight.
"If only you were here, my friend. What would you say? Other than telling me I'm dreadfully in the wrong. I know what you think of my efforts, but… what would you say about… our people? About their plight as men and women of Gamilon? What would you say to them if you were to meet them in the streets?"
He sighed heavily, wondering if he would ever see his old friend again at all.
"Are you well, my most infuriatingly moral of friends…?" Desslok fished out his communications device and looked down at it, turning it over and over, wondering what would happen if he tried to contact Masterson. Would the dark presence that so often haunted him truly go through with its threat to see to it that Masterson Talan's demise came swiftly and without mercy?
He activated the comm unit, feeling the weight of it in his hand as it sat staring back at him, wordless, emotionless, yet somehow crying out to him to defy his tormentor and summon his old friend to return.
He reached out and touched the device.
A list of names appeared before the Leader and he began reading through them, stopping at one in particular, "Eliora." Then his eyes passed on to another, "Naomi Talan", and another, "Dara." Then they passed over "Garen Krenshaw" and "Constance."
"So many have gone… in one form or another." He thought. Then his eyes came to the name he was looking for, "Masterson Talan."
He opened his mouth to say the name, but nothing came out. He tried again, but as hard as he tried, he simply could not say the name.
He was just about to reach out and touch the name when he heard someone at his door. He thought to ignore it, but whoever it was wouldn't go away.
With a frustrated growl he set the communicator down and went to see who required his presence.
He answered the door.
Seeing no one, he turned to one of the women standing guard and asked, "Was someone just here?"
"No, Sire. No one has been here since you entered your quarters." She answered.
The Leader nodded and went back in, letting the door seal behind him.
He returned to where he'd been sitting and picked up the communicator he'd left there.
He reopened the list of names and found the place where Masterson's name should have been.
It was gone.
He quickly went through the entire list several times, but no matter how many times he looked, he couldn't find Masterson's name anywhere.
"We know of your thoughts of rebellion…" The haunting voice whispered through the room, somehow darkened the mid-afternoon light. "Do not think that we will not find out should you choose to defy us."
The voice echoed through the room, and with it came an overwhelming cloak of despair.
The Leader slowly pocketed his comm unit, the threat clearly understood.
"When this is over, shéd, I will be sure to never cross paths with you again."
The voice hissed mockingly, "When this is over, man, you will have no other option but to cross paths with me."