Chapter One

A Home

The terrible sight blasted his soul like a raging firestorm; the familiar and beautiful landscape of the glowing valleys, the pluming valcanoes, the ever-shifting lava plains, and also his father's bridge where it was once all visible. It all made his heart ache. When the black sky was split by a menacing red streak, he knew what was coming, though he could not look away.

"Farewell, Prince Pyrus; Ruler of Planet Fire; Lord of the Golden Light!"

The words resounded in Pyrus's head, like a deafening echo that refused to fade. He watched in horror as his glorious home planet disappeared into the gaping jaws of the Beast Planet. The two black lids of the Beast's 'mouth' slammed shut, forever extinguishing the flames of his native world. And with it, the life of his lifelong friend and advisor, the Grand Vizier, also ended.

"The light of Fire will never die!"

Pyrus's eyes flew open and he jerked up in his bed, breathing heavily. It took him a moment to realize where and when he was. He let out a sigh of mixed relief and frustration as he clutched his head. He had lost count of all the times he'd had this disturbing dream. He ran his fingers through his flame hair, as if he could swipe the memory away like a cobweb.

"You gotta get a hold of yourself." Pyrus told himself firmly.

He checked the time. It was just about time to get up anyway. It was impossible to tell without checking the time. Dawn and dusk had no meaning on a battle moon. But then, none of the Alliance's worlds could enjoy a dawn or dusk, these days. Not until they could find a suitable solar system to inhabit.

Pyrus went to his palace window. Once again, instead of seeing the beautiful volcanoes, valleys and lava plains of his home planet Fire, all he saw was the barren and sterile wasteland of the battle moon. It seemed it was all he would ever see in the morning anymore. And he knew that, beneath the surface, his people were still living their lives as refugees; second class citizens to the people of Rock. Despite his friendship with Jade and her acceptance of him and his people, there still existed much animosity between the citizens of Rock and Fire. Pyrus tried to shake the unpleasant feeling that always came with this train of thought.

He continued through the rest of his morning routine and left his chambers to engage in his princely duties. He ate his breakfast on the run as he read a security report which Captain Blaze had left for him to read that morning. It seemed that there had been another petty conflict among his people in one of their settlements on the battle moon. His people, once perfectly peaceful and friendly to one another, had taken to fist fighting and vandalism over trivial things like walking space and extra food rations. This had been going on for a while. As much as he hated to do it, he had been forced to assign additional security personnel to monitor the settlements and keep the peace where necessary. It had helped to an extent, but the situation was worsening. The root of the problem was obvious enough to the Prince. His people had become edgy and restless in the wake of having to spend their days living on a stark and uncomfortable battle moon. They were homesick. Pyrus knew exactly how they felt. At first, he thought that he and his people could adapt to their new life on the battle moons. It was a necessity that nobody questioned. But those were the days of conflict with the Beast Planet. Now, in this new period of relative peace, the situation had festered into a serious problem.

"I'll have to bring this up at the next Alliance meeting." Pyrus said aloud to himself as he continued through the dimly lit catacombs of the moon.

Pyrus was keen on showing all the other Alliance leaders that he could be an independent leader, so he had been hoping to quietly find a solution on his own. However, it was clear that the problem was something he would need the others' cooperation to solve. Unlike any of them, he didn't have the resources of his own planet to satisfy his people.

As it happened, this month's Alliance meeting was next up on his agenda. Thus, he looked up from the security report to find himself in the moon's hangar bay.

"Ah, my Prince. Your ship is ready. You don't want to be late," came Captain Blaze's deferent call from across the pad.

"Thanks," Pyrus said as he approached the Captain, who was standing next to Pyrus's personal ship.

"Did you get my report this morning, sire?" Blaze asked. "I was thinking we should assign five more guards to patrol settlements three, six and eight. We should make sure they watch for-"

"I trust your judgment, Captain," Pyrus interrupted, not really wanting to be fully aware of gritty details. "I'll see if I can't get the Alliance's help in this matter."

"As you say, my prince" Blaze replied, and bowed as he left.

Suddenly, Pyrus was reminded of the Vizier, who always had useful and insightful advice in matters like this. "I bet you would know just what to do, wouldn't you. I wish you were still here to help me."

"Hey lavahead, guess who!" a familiar, high pitched voice suddenly crackled over his ship's com system. Pyrus was yanked back out of his somber reverie. He looked into the cockpit and, through the flame screen, saw the impudent visage of the Lady Zera, princess of Planet Ice.

Pyrus pretended not to see the image in the flame. He responded while averting his eyes. "Is that you, Femur? By the inferno, you sound sick this morning!"

"Oh ha ha, very funny!" Zera fired back, "Why don't you come out here and try to get away with a comment like that?"

Pyrus looked up at the opening in the roof of the hangar bay. He saw the unmistakable outline of Zera's personal Bladewing, the Borealis, zooming this way and that in an unending succession of aerial acrobatics.

"Is that a challenge, my lady, or an invitation?" Pyrus asked playfully.

Pyrus had been down all morning. But now, his depressing dreams and his troubles with his people had been temporarily forgotten. Pyrus found it impossible to be in a bad mood with Zera around. Their friendship had grown deep over the three years they had known each other, despite how, to the casual observer, they appeared to always be attacking each other with a verbal barrage of insults. It was an odd, love-hate relationship they both seemed to enjoy.

"Call it a fair warning, if you wish." Zera responded.

"I'd be happy to accept your invitation." Pyrus said as he leapt into his Fire craft and engaged the lift jets.

In mere moments, he had left the hangar bay far behind and was flying in an endless sea of stars. In the distance, he could see three of the four worlds of the Alliance, still on their long migration through space, propelled by the immense blasts of exhaust from the world engines. The engines had been a mysterious discovery that had saved all but one of their worlds from the Beast Planet. Nobody knew what alien civilization had created them, but they all clearly owed them their lives. Pyrus saw Planets Ice, Sand and Bone ahead of him, with Ice being the closest. Planet Rock was behind him, hidden from view by the battle moon.

Just then, something whizzed by the ship's window. It was Zera's bladewing. Their ships had come so close together that the blast from the bladewing's thrusters made his own ship shudder ominously, causing the fire prince's teeth to rattle.

"That's what you get for comparing me to that toad, Femur. Ingrate!" Zera called to him over the com.

"Hey, you almostslagged me! Are sure you know how to fly that thing?" Pyrus returned.

"For your meager information, I've been getting private instructions from some of my father's best pilots." Zera said, making sure to sound as snobby and superior as possible. "If you were in any real danger from me, you wouldn't even have had time to think about it."

"You talk big as usual," said Pyrus as he burned his jets to follow the ice ship, "But I happen to remember teaching you most of those fancy moves you were showing off."

"You're delusional as usual," Zera scoffed, "All you ever taught me was that awkward spin move that you always use to dodge attacks from behind."

"Why exactly are you here?" Pyrus inquired accusingly, "Shouldn't you be on Ice, preparing for the conference?"

"By the Glacier, don't remind me! I wanted to get in a bit of excitement before another boring Alliance meeting." Zera said, "Father tells me I need more diplomatic experience if I'm to take over for him some day."

"With your upstart attitude, I think your father has a point." Pyrus laughed.

"Alright charcoal brain! I gave you fair warning!"

Zera veered her ship around and made for another lunge at Pyrus's ship. But Pyrus dodged her this time. Fire ships were renowned for their unmatched maneuverability.

"Gotta catch me first!" Pyrus taunted, and made a mad dash for Planet Ice.

"Get back here, coward!" Zera called after him.

"No way. You're going to make me late for the meeting. See ya!"

"We'll just see about that." Zera said as she raced after Pyrus.

Inside the cockpit of her Bladewing, Zera tapped several buttons on her control panel. An image came to life on the small view screen in front of her. It was a targeting display, showing Pyrus's ship up ahead. She had put the ship in battle simulation mode. Her ship's computer would interface with Pyrus's ship's computer. She could now fire blank shots at the fire ship and the other computer would simulate battle damage by altering the ship's performance accordingly.

Meanwhile, Pyrus saw on his own screen that Zera was trying to initiate the simulation.

"Ah, so that's your game, huh Princess." He said over the com, "Alright, we'll see who can fight their way to Ice first."

Zera made no reply. Pyrus granted his mutual permission for the interface to take place and waited for Zera to make the first move.

Zera fired a few warning shots past the port and starboard engines of the fire ship to see how Pyrus would respond. Sure enough, he fell into that familiar spin pattern, which apparently had kept him alive during all those battles with the Beast ships. Zera easily predicted his future position and focused her fire there. Pyrus fell right into it and took a direct blow to his port thruster.

"Ah, Inferno!" Pyrus swore, as his ship simulated the blaster impact with an intense shudder, and then a disabled port thruster by automatically shutting that thruster off.

A little shaken by the impact, Pyrus's ship lost a bit of speed, simulating a momentary engine stall. Zera's bladewing shot past his cockpit window and sped toward planet Ice.

"A bit predictable today, aren't we." Zera mocked. "I was hoping for a challenge."

"You just watch yourself, Princess." Pyrus said in return. "I'm the one behind you now."

"You say that like it bodes well for you. I'm in the lead after all." Zera laughed.

"Not for long." Pyrus said as he burned his jets to catch up, and fired.

Zera's ship did not respond. He must have missed. He burned his jets a bit hotter to get closer, and fired again. Once again, the Bladewing made no indication of being struck. Pyrus was sure he had hit it. Then the truth struck him harder than Zera's earlier blaster strike.

"You cheater! You didn't set your computer to receive hits; only send them!" Pyrus yelled over the com.

"I swear I don't know what you're talking about, your highness." Zera called back, with false confusion.

Pyrus could hear the smile in her voice. They were more than two thirds of the way to Ice now.

"It looks like I win this round." Zera declared triumphantly as her ship continued on its way to the planet.

It was true. Historically, since Ice was so far removed from the cluster's main energy source, Fire, the Ice people had to design ships that were incredibly efficient in their expenditure of energy. Ice ships could keep a steady but swift pace over long distances. Conversely, the Fire people could afford to build ships which were not nearly as efficient, but much more maneuverable. Unfortunately, this also meant that swift speeds could only be maintained over short distances. Thus, the Fire ships were the sprinters and the Ice ships were the marathon runners. Without the ability to slow her progress with a simulated strike, there was no way Pyrus could beat Zera with the lead she now had.

"See you at the meeting, matchstick!" Zera called as her ship entered Ice's atmosphere, "See if you can get there before it's over."

Pyrus deactivated the simulation so that his ship would function normally again. However, his engines were so hot now that he had to reduce his speed. He would surely be late for the Alliance meeting. He fumed intensely at the injustice of it all, but inwardly, somehow, he was smiling.

"You'll get yours next time, Princess" He quietly said, although he knew their com link was disabled at that point.

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In the conference hall on Planet Ice, Princess Tekla waited anxiously for the Alliance leaders to convene. One by one, Jade, Cryos, Femur, and Graveheart entered the room and took their places at the table. Zera came a few minutes later, panting slightly.

"You're late, my daughter" Cryos said, with a hint of disappointment.

Zera lowered her eyes slightly as she took her place across from her disapproving father, "Sorry Father, I had to take care of something."

"You'd best get your priorities in order, Zera" Cryos scolded, but in a perfectly calm and serious tone, "This is important diplomatic experience for you."

Zera was silent. Graveheart decided to break the tension, "Well, why don't I open the council then. Tekla tells me she and Voxx have important news for us this time."

"Yes, that is true." Tekla took over, "It came into sensor range just last night."

"Hold on a sec!" Femur interrupted, "Where's the kid? Isn't he supposed to be here too?"

"Tha's right" said Jade, "I's not like Pyrus to be late."

As if by instinct, they all looked straight at Zera, much to her discomfort. They said nothing, but she knew they were all thinking the same thing.

"What?!" she demanded of them, just as the chamber door swung open.

Pyrus entered the room and confirmed everyone's suspicions with the burning glare he shot at Zera. Once again, Graveheart took it upon himself to clear the air.

"Glad you could join us, Pyrus." Graveheart said, "You haven't missed anything yet, so please have a seat."

"Thanks," Pyrus replied curtly.

He took his place a few seats away from Zera. His accusing eyes never left her.

"Tekla, you were saying?" Graveheart offered.

"Yes, Voxx and I have discovered a new solar system up ahead." Tekla explained as she activated a monitor, showing an image of the slowly growing star. "It fits the criteria. In fact, it is the best candidate for a new home the Alliance has encountered since the riddance of the Beast Planet. The star is not too young, so it emits a survivable range of electromagnetic radiation. It is not too old either, meaning that the outer gas giants have not drifted into the interior of the system and the sun will continue to be a viable supporter of life for the foreseeable future."

"Yeah, yeah. Cut the fancy talk, babe. The bottom line is we can finally shut down the world engines, right?" Femur cut in.

"Yes, very soon." Tekla replied.

"Oooh, that's great! I can finally work on my tan then." Femur said, rubbing his hands together.

"And my quarriors will finally be able to go through an entire trainin' session without havin' to shed their armor toward the end." Jade added.

"Yes, this is relieving news for all of us." Graveheart agreed, "We'll finally be able to deactivate the atmospheric containment fields."

The atmospheric containment fields were what kept the climate of each planet stable as it traveled through interstellar space. Without them, each planet would immediately freeze to death without a star; even Planet Ice. The only problem was, whenever the field was activated, the entire planet was locked into a single, unchanging season. Since the planets were no longer rotating or orbiting a star, there was no day or night either. Planet Bone had been stuck in what felt like a perpetual dark winter ever since their escape from their home system. Planet Rock constantly felt like an equally dark summer. It was not a big issue while they were fleeing the Beast, but now, all the peoples of the Alliance were eager to have their endlessly unchanging skies start changing again.

"Yep, that's good news alright… for those of us with planets!" Pyrus spoke up heatedly.

His negative feelings from earlier that morning had resurfaced. He had not intended for his words to come out as strongly as they did.

"Is there something on your mind, Pyrus?" Cryos calmly inquired, hoping to inspire calmness in Pyrus as well.

Though he immediately regretted the force he'd used, he knew he might as well continue, now that he had their attention.

"My people have had to take the terrible conditions of the battle moons for too long. Something more needs to be done for them. And simply finding a new sun won't be enough." Pyrus reported, with a meaningful look in Jade's direction, "I thought at first that I could handle the problem myself, but the situation is getting more serious. I got a security report this morning about another petty squabble between some of my people gone out of control. A woman and two children will be in the infirmary for at least three days. I need your help."

"And what exactly do you expect me to do 'bout it?" Jade demanded defensively.

"Jade has a point, Pyrus," Cryos said, "There really isn't anything more Planet Rock can offer your people, short of compromising their own resources."

Pyrus bit his tongue. He was desperate to find a real solution.

Secretly, Zera felt guilty, thinking that maybe her little prank had put Pyrus in a nasty mood. She decided to speak up.

"You might want to consider relocating some of your people to live on one of the other planets." Zera offered. "Perhaps they might feel at home on Planet Sand, since it's now the hottest of the four worlds."

Pyrus thought about it, but disliked that idea as well. Although the Alliance leaders were all on friendly terms, their respective peoples were often a different story. He saw everyday how his own people and the Rock quarriors shunned each other. He could not imagine his people being welcomed on any of the worlds. The Sand people were friendly enough, but they already shared their world with the Sun people, who were not nearly so open-minded.

"Hey, y'know what kid? There's plenty of food to go around on my planet." Femur said, "If your people wanna live there, they'd be as welcome as yourself."

"Gee thanks Femur," Pyrus softened a bit, "But… I don't know."

"Don't think we don't understand, Pyrus," Graveheart said, "But realistically, the battle moons are the closest thing your people have to a home of their own. I'm afraid relocating to another planet is the only other option."

Pyrus sank back into his seat. The grim solution to the whole problem was so obvious, but he had refused to see it until it was spoken aloud. He had promised his people that the proud light of Fire would never die. Would he have fulfilled that promise if his people had followed him only to be condemned to a life as second-class citizens on an alien world?

"Well, there is always the possibility that this new system we are approaching might offer another option." Tekla said, trying to cheer up the Fire prince.

But Tekla's optimism did little to cheer Pyrus up. The possibility of finding a whole new planet for his people was remote at best. The rest of the meeting was completely routine; with discussion of resource quotas and trade agreements. It seemed that the other four worlds would do just fine, especially now that they had found a new home.

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And so the day came that the Alliance worlds were to enter the new system. Tekla and Graveheart were on the bridge of the Aurora, which was leading the way into the system. Cryos, Femur and Jade were seeing to the preparation of their planets for permanent settlement. They had just finished traveling through a belt of comets marking the border of the system and the first of the gas giants had come into view.

"I've never seen anything like them." Graveheart said in amazement when he saw the first two giants, "They're just huge balls of swirling gas."

"My home system had them too." Tekla said. Her face darkened sadly at the memory of her own lost home, "Planet Storm was the first to fall to the Beast."

Graveheart noticed her expression, "You alright?"

"Yes… I am fine Graveheart." Tekla smiled to reassure him.

The monitor screens came to life again with an updated image.

"It seems there are two more gas giants, also lifeless," Tekla reported, glad for the distraction.

Graveheart looked up again as the next gas giant came into view. This one was truly a sight, with spectacular rings of ice lining its equator. He let out a low whistle.

"That one is huge!" Graveheart exclaimed.

"The next one will be even bigger." Tekla said.

"Princess Tekla, we are being hailed," the ice soldier manning the helm reported.

"What? I thought you said these gas giants were lifeless." Graveheart said.

"It would appear that the sensors missed something." Tekla responded, "Patch it through please."

The soldier obeyed and an image came on the screen above the bridge window. It was the image of a dark, seated figure; clearly a male, but his face was hidden in shadow.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the figure demanded gruffly.

Not feeling like this was a good start, Graveheart answered cautiously, "We are peaceful travelers from a distant solar system. We mean no harm."

"And what do you want?" the figure repeated.

"We are a group of worlds without a sun." Tekla answered this time, "We wish to settle peacefully in this system. It is the first chance we have had for a new home in two years."

"For what reason are you without a sun?" the figure pressed.

Graveheart and Tekla exchanged glances. They were reluctant to mention the Beast Planet as it might make this person think they were bringing a threat. But there was no way to avoid the subject.

"We were driven from our home system by a powerful destructive force which threatened to destroy our worlds if we stayed." Graveheart took a breath before continuing, "It… pursued us for over a year, but we have since ridden ourselves of it. We bring no threat with us-"

"What exactly was the nature of this destructive force?" the figure demanded.

He was leaning in close to the screen now. His voice had taken on an intensity that was a bit unnerving.

"We called it the Beast Planet," Graveheart admitted, "It was an enormous, black world which consumes all life-bearing worlds it encounters. But, as I said, we have since lost it."

The figure leaned back and relaxed in his seat, as though he had heard all he needed to hear.

"You say that this 'Beast Planet' does not know where you are and will not be coming this way?" He questioned.

"That is correct." Tekla replied, "We are simply looking for a new place to enjoy this time of peace."

"Then you may enter the system." The figure said simply, "If that is all-"

"Hold on." Graveheart raised a hand to stop him from leaving, "Would you mind telling us who you are? Are there others like you in this system?"

The figure was silent for a moment before answering, "I'm called Eclipse. I am the guardian of this system. I watch for threats from beyond this point."

"What sort of threats would you be expecting?" Graveheart asked, curiously.

"I should probably tell you that there is a single planet in this system which bears intelligent life." Eclipse continued without answering the question, "But they are still rather primitive. They have never encountered civilizations beyond their world before. They don't even know about me, their guardian. And you are NOT EVER to mention me to them if you want to stay in this system."

"Uh… we'll be sure to keep that in mind." Graveheart assured him, a bit taken aback.

"I should probably also mention that they have no unified government." Eclipse went on, more casually now, "Their world is divided up into hundreds of independent sovereign states called countries. But they're definitely going to know you're there. So, I'd watch my step if I were you."

"Thanks for the advice." Graveheart politely said.

"You're welcome. Goodbye then." Eclipse said abruptly before ending the transmission.

Tekla let out a sigh, "Well, that was not too bad."

"Hmm." Graveheart agreed, but he seemed perturbed, "Can you trace where that signal came from?"

"Voxx?" Tekla demanded of her action computer.

"Transmission originated from moon of gas giant." Came Voxx's mechanical reply.

"There!" Tekla pointed out the window to a large moon orbiting the ringed gas giant. It was completely obscured by cloud cover, "I do not understand why my scans do not show any life there, even though there is clearly someone there."

Graveheart stared at the clouded moon.

"Is something wrong?" Tekla asked, concerned.

"It's probably nothing," Graveheart finally said, "But doesn't it strike you as odd that he should be so interested in the Beast Planet, but not curious at all about the world engines?"

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Author's notes: Well, here is the first chapter of my latest story. My last story was quite a while ago and I am attempting to improve my writing style over what it was then. Also, Shadow Raiders is much closer to my heart and I plan to do the best job I can. I can also guarantee updates all the way to a conclusion, so I hope that makes you happy. I've seen many great writers on this site stop in the middle of their stories. The Shadow Raiders section seems woefully empty, so I'm happy to add to it. We need MORE. I will be updating the next chapter soon. However, HOW soon will depend on how many reviews I get to encourage me. ;)