Izakh took a sip from his mug of hot chocolate and continued. "But Hozelin is more a figurehead than the actual leader. It's goes something like this: Hozelin will work through your country's political system, while Chimaera is the 'decoy'. Soe-Ni Chu will usually act as the villain Chimaera is the 'decoy' for, but on occasion they'll reverse roles. Gonterix... Gonterix simply does whatever the voices in his head tell him to. He isn't the leader per se, but if he doesn't like one of Hozelin's plans the plan changes."

"And how long has your group been around?" Asked T.J. "I don't think worming your way into ninety percent of the world's government is something you can accomplish in a few years."

"I'll just say that Hozelin and Gonterix have had their eye on this place for a long time. Vathara and Soe-Ni Chu are the youngest; and... this is the place Vathara and I came for our honeymoon-"

"You keep saying 'this place'," Pete interrupted. "Like it's some replacement for a forbidden name. Not to mention the code names of the guys in your group, which are ridiculous."

"...Okay then. 'This place' means Earth, and my group is the remnants of an alien race called the Martistu. We have the powers to bend and reshape reality, and are very long lived. I said Hozelin and Gonterix have been watching Earth for a while; by that I meant since a few hundred years before the Trojan War. There. Satisfied?" Izakh raised an eyebrow.

T.J. and Pete chuckle. "Okay, really. Stop yanking our chain." Pete says. "You guys are definitely black ops or something like that."

"More like white ops: carrying out 'black ops' missions through reverse psychology." Even Randy chuckles at this, until he remembers something.

"Guys, wait... I think he's serious. Remember those gangsters that followed us?" Randy looks from T.J. to Pete. "Whatever Izakh used to bomb their car definitely couldn't have fit under the hood of a Three Hundred."

"That's correct," Izakh answered. "Now I have a very serious question. I can prove to you what I'm saying is true. But if I do, I'm going to need your complete trust. Since I personally extracted you from the sting, Hozelin will most likely assume you're in line with me. Again, I can prove to you that what I'm saying is true, but I need to know if I can count on you for support."

"I have a wife and kids," Pete stated. "If you're for real then there is no way I'm sticking my neck out for you. I won't risk getting them involved."

T.J. also has children, but they stay with his ex for most of the month. The divorce didn't go well, and it did a lot to turn his children away from him. He decides his decision will be based on what Randy says. "Tell us, mister Fagg: what's your choice?"

As frequently happens, the "buzz" enters Randy's brain as he's asked a direct question, and he is close to an answer but needs time to focus. "Gimme a minute..."

"Absolutely," Izakh said. "I need to know within the day, but take your time answering."

I have nothing else to do. "You can release yourself, but the only way is down!" Kinda like that, I think. Uh... okay... "...Sometimes Father Connely would say in a sermon, 'Sometimes it's like God is dangling you over a cliff and saying "Trust me!"' ...I just don't have anywhere to go from where I'm at in life right now, and can't see how I could make a living with what I have done. So... I guess what I'm saying is I'm on your side, but I need to know I can trust you too."

"If you watch my back, I'll watch yours. T.J.?"

"I'm in."

"Just like that?" Pete asks. "You just met this guy today."

"You know, I still love my ex, just like the first time I saw her. This is definitely a big risk but my gut's telling me I can trust Izakh."

Izakh turns to Pete. "Hozelin may still target you. I hate to say this, but no matter what you choose you'll still be involved one way or another. You could join with us and have it high risk high reward, or stay with your family. I could have certain documents 'disappear' so Hozelin might overlook you for a while, but there's only so much I can do if you're not with me. Your choice."

"My family. I'm not leaving them."

Izakh nods. "And that's perfectly fine-" Suddenly there was an explosion outside. Randy is startled, and his right hand twitches. "Stay here, I'll go see what that was." Izakh quickly sets down his hot chocolate and hops over the leather sofa, and pulls back the curtains. "Damn, walkers."

"What damn walkers?" T.J. asks, as the ground shakes slightly. Puzzled, he gets up and looks out the window next to Izakh. "You have got to be kidding me..."

"I wish I was. I still some things to explain, but they'll have to wait. We have to take down the AT-AT's before the storm troopers are deployed." Randy and Pete are coming towards the window now, not believing Izakh. There is another tremor, and then Izakh screams "Get down!" The laser cannons hit just in front of the window, but they shatter the wall and blow the guys back a few feet. "Get to the garage! This way!"

They hurry out of the living room, and Izakh kicks open the door to the garage. There is a Kawasaki Prairie Three Sixty ATV in the middle of the garage. Izakh walks over to a tool chest, but instead of pulling out the drawers he opens them like a door. Inside are four rocket launchers and ammo. "Shoot or drive?" Izakh asks.

"Shoot." Pete answers. He served two tours of duty in the Gulf War. Army.

"Drive." Said T.J. He was also in the Army, but was a translator.

Oh gosh... out of those two, I think I'd do less damage with the car... I THINK... "I'll drive," Randy answered.

"Alright," Izakh nods. "Randy, we'll go in the car. Know how to drive a stick shift?"

I barely know how to drive, period. "No." His left biceps clenches as there is another explosion.

"Okay." As he opens the garage door, Izakh shifts the transmission of the (now)Jeep 4x4 into automatic. "It's go time. Aim for the neck column!" He catches a rocket launcher from Pete and jogs out to the Jeep. He and Randy jump in. Randy's hand shakes as he turns the ignition, and backs out into the neighbor's yard. The AT-ATs are about seventy yards away, perpendicular to the street. "Head for the one on the right!" Randy nods and shifts into drive, and swerves off down the street. He hears Pete and T.J. come out of the garage behind him.

"Faster! It's aiming straight at us!" Randy steps on the gas, and they accelerate in time to avoid being blasted by the laser cannon. "Take a left at the intersection!"

Randy looks ahead at the cross roads. "There's a kind of a stop sign there."

"Nobody uses this road, don't worry!" But right as Izakh says this, a blue pickup drives by. "Faster!"

Randy speeds up again, going about forty miles an hour now. As he nears the stop sign and begins to decelerate for the turn, the laser cannon hits the road in front of them.

"Left!" Randy speeds up and makes the turn too fast, the Jeep's left wheels coming off the road a few inches. Ahead on the road he sees several cars, fleeing from the AT-ATs. A glance in the rearview mirror yields a glimpse of a distant fire truck, and ambulance. Izakh and Randy now have the AT-AT at eleven o'clock. The neck column is still obscured by the head, so Randy speeds up more. Another shot of the laser cannon hits the road ahead of them, and chunks of asphalt hit the windshield. From over to their left, they see the other AT-AT has taken a hit- not to the neck column, but close. "A little faster!"

The neck column is in sight now, and Izakh takes his shot. It hits on target, the shot being perfectly aimed. There is an explosion on contact, and a chain of several more blasts as the AT-AT is brought down. There is another shot from Pete and T.J., and this one hits just behind the head. "Take the next left, let's meet up with them!" Izakh says over the explosions. Randy slams on the brake and goes into a tail spin as he makes the turn, but Gran Turismo taught him well and he somehow drifted onto the street perfectly.

Holy crap, that was scary. And awesome. Down the street he sees the ATV, and Pete waves. In a few seconds they meet in the middle of the road. "Nice shot, Pete."

"Seconded," Izakh added. "Let's pull up over there." He said, incidating a house with some lawn furniture. They stop at the curb, and take a seat on the swing and lawn chairs. "Now do you believe me? Hozelin and the rest of the Dark Masters are for real. Now the AT-ATs: I know we're all wondering how the hell they showed up without warning, or at all. So here's another fact about the Martistu: their birth, as well as their awakening, exerts vast amounts of pressure on the fabric of space-time. So much, that it can fracture it and create pockets of sub-space, the development of which are influenced by the Martistu's psyche." Izakh looks to the others to make sure they're following him. "The creation of those sub-space pockets, for lack of a better word, twangs the fabric of space time, sending out a ripple effect of the changes. Those ripples... can be felt by other living beings. You would know them as dreams, or random flashes of inspiration."

"So you're saying the Martistu are indirectly responsible for all the progress here on Earth?" Asked T.J.

"No, not all of it. Most of the 'ripples' have no effect, or application to life."

Randy thought for a moment. "...What's the 'awakening'?"

"Martistu don't have their powers from birth. The potential is always there, but it requires an amount of energy that's expended at birth. So, it's commonly done by an elder Martistu, but sometimes happens naturally during adolescence."

Randy smiles. That would explain a lot of things. "And do the sub-space pockets just sit there?"

"That is what you and everyone else wants to know. The Martistu have fought wars over this: should the sub-space pockets develope without interference, or should they be ruled by the Martistu?"

"Where do the other guys from your group stand on that?" Pete asked.

Izakh exhaled. "Soe-Ni Chu and Chimaera are for ruling them, Hozelin is a megalomaniac who wants to rule everything, and Gonterix... gives off a vague desire to annihilate all of existence, but as I said before he simply does whatever the voices in his head tell him to." Izakh took a breath. "With enough training a Martistu can manipulate the sub-space pockets and travel to and from them. So this means that one or more of the Dark Masters was watching us leave Sonic."

"That leaves just one thing," T.J. said. "What was the offer you refused?"

"Hozelin revealed that he was planning to double-cross Soe-Ni Chu, Chimaera and Gonterix. He offered to make me his second in command after they were disposed of. Vathara... knew something was up. She made it clear she didn't trust Hozelin, and that the others would be damn fools to trust him, as well. Apparently, Gonterix had been given the same offer by Hozelin; and after he murdered Vathara for leverage, all hell broke loose. I've been on the run since." Izakh took another deep breath. "If they're finally getting sub-space weaponry involved, I'll have to do the same if I want to stand a chance." He looks to Randy. "Randy: would you be willing to come with me to recruit help?"

"Um, uh... I'm not quite sure what I have to do with this. I mean, I sure as hell wouldn't be a good spokesperson for Earth, and I don't know anything about Hozelin and the boys other than what you just said." Randy shrugged

"It could work," T.J. put in. "Just think of it like this recruitment mission is a product: what's happening to you could be happening to the... sub-space people, and you would be showcasing the effects their campaign has on the common man."

Pete nods. "Yeah. You're an actor, right? You could pull that off."

Randy thinks for a moment. This is happening so fast! Argh! Okay, focus! He said Hozelin may still target us... What Pete and T.J. said makes sense, but I really can't- TALK! Randy's conscience taps on his mental "door". "Hello, mind if I pop in? Thanks. Now listen, Fagg, when was the last time you were saying this?" When Kristi invited me to lunch with Izakh- but we've been over this before. "And what did I say each and every time? Huh?" Randy's conscience puts her hands on her hips. "And what happened when you met with Izakh and Kristi? You can't run forever- and that's something we've both said." I know! Randy countered, but every time it's just as hard, if not harder. It's the same mistakes and awkward pauses all the time. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse with a dead horse. Randy's conscience sang a line from Master of the Wind: "'For any day that stings, two BETTER days it brings! Nothing, is as bad... as it seems...' Remember that line? How many of those better days have you seen- don't answer me, just think. Randy's conscience puts her arms around his shoulder. And remember how you made it through those stingers? You fought, for every second. Don't be scared, because I know you can do it again." Randy turned and looked at his conscience. Why do you always have to be so logical, you big dummy? I hate you. Randy's conscience smiled. "I hate you too, my little Fagg." She gives him a hug. "Got your answer ready for Izakh?" Randy nods.

"I'll do it."