SM owns everything.

Read by several people, doesn't mean they caught everything.

Enjoy!


I will go east and go west
from whence came the moon and the sun
The moon and the sun will go
And the young man
With his reputation behind him

Theme from Harry's Game (translated) by Clannad


Prologue: Lock and Release

Date: September 21st, 2607(Earthborn Time)

Time: 17:34

Location: Aboard Empire Ship 17, Deep Space

"Sir, his hand… The nitrogen must of-"

"Nurse, do not tell me how to do my job. Hand me the laser saw."

"Sorry, doctor. Laser saw."

"Alright, hold him steady… And… Good, almost finished. Throw the hand in the hazard bin. He won't be able to use it."

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Is he ready to be awakened?"

"Now is the time. Raise the chamber."


Date: 150 years earlier

Time: 21:01

Location: Somewhere in the Himalayas, Earth

"Sir! They are flying in air support!" Kate shouts over the gun fire, pushing herself closer to the rocks for cover.

I curse loudly as I duck behind another boulder as a second round of fire comes towards us below. How many of them are there? "Damn it! How long until it gets here?!" I yell back, leaning around the corner and firing back.

"10 minutes, sir!"

"What?!" I glance at Kate wide eyed as she fervently types away on the computer on her lap.

"They have a secret base at the other end of the valley. Our satellites could have never detected it."

"Fuck!" I roar, firing another round into the dust they have created. I hear a few shrieks as some of them fall, but I can't celebrate now. "Call back up!"

This time, Alec answers. "From where? Camp 21 is dead."

"What?" I call over my shoulder.

"They disabled their suits, everyone is dead from exposure," Kate says, her voice grave.

But before I can respond, I hear a bang, followed by a soft grunt. A look over my shoulder reveals Kate, slouched over her laptop in her lap, a bullet wound the size of a golf ball in the back of her head. "They're coming up the hill!" I scream to the rest of my troop, scrambling to my feet and taking off into the rocks behind us. "Get back!"

There is a flurry of frantic dust as we all climb up the hillside, away from the fire. Alec and I are safely behind a rock when I see the first of them come up the hill.

They look like us. Yet there is something, maybe in the way they stand or stare, that is off about them. Maybe it is the near translucent skin, their pitch black eyes, or their oddly lengthy bodies. But one thing is for sure – they are not human. They are malicious killers.

One of them turns to check Kate's body. As his body turns I see the long, scaly tail. It's red. Fuck. It's a born and bred fighter.

It grunts as it looks at Kate's lifeless body, kicking her over so he can see the laptop. Obviously, nothing of interest is displayed on screen as he hurls it over the cliff with a laugh. Nobody moves, but I breathe an order to stay still into the radio in my helmet just in case someone tries to play hero. The last thing we could use right now is a hero.

The thing waits for the rest of his mates to join him on the landing before he goes any further.

Originals. That's what they are. At least, that is what they call themselves. They first landed on Earth five years ago, spewing some nonsense about how they were one of the first species to leave the void of the Universe and since then it has been their job to monitor those who are also self-aware throughout the universe.

They wanted us to join what they called "The Formidable." It was an alliance of several species across the universe, whose names I couldn't pronounce when they first spoke of them. Apparently, they had been monitoring humans for quite some time. Recently, however, we had reached the level of technological and intellectual sufficiency needed to join their alliance, so they came for us.

At first, several countries submitted to their request. They gave up their government to them, their military, their people. Even the United States bent their knee to them. They came in huge ships, like black claws that grasped the Earth as they landed. Their men, if you want to call them that, wielded guns we had never seen, that only responded to their touch.

But some of us refused to submit to their demands. We rallied against them, men and women from everywhere joining our ranks, learning the ways of combat. Now here we were five years later, with possibly only 50 men left and me, their leader sworn to protect them.

"Edward," Alec whispers from my side. "If we die…"

"We are not dying. Not today, Alec."

"Edward…" he warns, adjusting the holster of his gun so he can lay it over the rock like I am. "There is 30 of us. 3,000 of them. We are the last unit… There is no way we are making it out alive."

I glance over my shoulder at my marines, dotted across the rocky landscape above me. Their hands are shaking, but they have their guns pointed towards the enemy, waiting for my call. He's right. We are the last of them all.

I look back down at the aliens below us. Most of them are there speaking in tongues, clicks and guttural sounds that come from deep in their throat. Even in the blistering wind, it makes my skin boil and crawl. I sense Alec shuddering next to me. We don't move.

Finally, one of them with a gold tail – a captain – moves towards Kate's limp body. Alec stops breathing next to me. The alien holds up her arms, effectively hoisting her off the ground and waves her around, a Cheshire grin sprawled on its pale face.

"Cullen!" it calls into the rocks, his voice echoing off the mountainscape. "I'll make this very easy for you!"

I'm frozen in spot. I know he can't see me, but my limbs won't work. His chest is perfectly open. I could kill him, I know I could. Just one pull of the trigger. Yet, I can't move. All I can focus on is Kate's limp body dangling from his hand, dripping with blood.

"Either you reveal yourself," he growls, his voice barely audible above the howl's wind. "Or every single member of your platoon ends up looking like her."

I can't tell if he is bluffing or not. I have never been able to tell if they were lying or not from the minute they landed outside of D.C..

"Five…" he begins.

I look over at Alec, but his eyes are trained on Kate's lifeless body, his wife's lifeless body.

"Four!"

Over my shoulder, I can see every single one of my men and women staring back at me, their eyes wide. They know what this moment is. It is the moment I decide the fate for Earth.

"Isn't this what humans do? They count down to their children when they are angry with them. Three, Cullen!"

If I reveal myself, they will let humans join the Formidable peacefully. There will be a spot on their so-called Council for us. There will be planets waiting for us to colonize. But we will no answer to ourselves anymore at the end of the day. We will answer to them.

"Two…"

His troops raise their guns and point them at the cliff side. If I don't step out, they will pillage Earth. I remember the announcement as clear as day. "Stand down or we will destroy all of you. It is very simple."

"On–"

"I'm here! I'm right here," I grit out, pulling myself to my feet. Suddenly, my suit feels like thousands of pounds. My gun feels empty, left of all its charge. I hear Alec shuffle off into the darkness behind me.

"Edward Cullen." The captain stalks towards me, effortlessly pulling himself up the cliff side towards me. I try not to tremble, but my knees won't listen to me. I am stuck in my spot.

As soon as he is in front of me, I feel like I am seeing an Original for the first time. Despite their height and bleak eyes, they look almost human. Except I see his gold tail whipping back and forth behind him as he snarls in front of me, and he looks like a hungry mountain lion deprived of its prey.

He rips the helmet off my head and I choke loudly, the thin mountain air immediately affecting me. It does not deter him, for he grabs a hand full of my hair and pulls me towards his face, leaning down so we are eye to eye. "Do you know how easy it would be for me to kill you, Cullen? How easy it would be for me to simply… snap… your… neck?"

My only response is a handful of blood coughed at his feet.

"You don't do you?" he continues. "But I won't do it, because there is something much worse in store for you, my dear captain."


A/N: And there you have it. We will pick up from... well, 2607. From here on out we will be seeing it from EPOV and BPOV. Don't worry.

We are predicting about a 30-some chapter long story, posting once a week. Maybe even longer if I'm feeling devious, but we will be keeping it steady. I hope you join us for the ride!