"You know who this is, Lash. The time has come to take back what is ours. Rejoin Flak and Adder, and bring them to the coordinates on the back of this letter. For the Black Cadre never truly dies...it only sleeps."

-Mysterious letter received by Lash, a month after the Omega Land War.

-A-N-A-N-A-N-A-N-

Two weeks later…

The dark, roiling waves of the Omega Land Sea broke futilely against the dark, cold metal hull that forced its way through the waves, doggedly pushing through the inky blackness to its destination. The hull was that of a massive Battleship, its large, threatening cannons shining in the moonlight, their precise, machined lines highlighted by the light that shone out of the ship's bridge.

It was the pride of the Allied Nations Navy. It was their most powerful weapon, and their proud flagship. Officially named the Dauntless, it had been given the nickname Enterprise, thanks to the presence of its captain, who was unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on your opinion – called James Kirk.

Needless to say, the Star Trek jokes started to grate after a while.

The Dauntless was not alone in its turbulent journey, either. Looking out from the rear windows of the bridge, it was possible to make out the shadows of at least twenty Landers, and the accompanying fleet of twenty-three Cruisers. A small detachment of Black Boats skirted between the larger ships, ready to fix any damage as soon as it occurred. Below the waves and completely invisible thanks to the turbulent sea, fourteen submarines prowled above the seafloor, checking for any hidden mines and threats. At the rear of the fleet, three massive hulks of metal ploughed through the waves, their large expanses of deck empty. They were the aircraft carriers Sovereign, Miranda and Yorktown, the three most experienced and battle-hardened carriers the Allied Nations had. This was no welcoming party, to say the least. Inside the bridge of the Dauntless, two figures were sat by a small desk near the rear windows, engaged in a quiet conversation, oblivious to the bridge crew around them.

"Hey Rach," Jake said, looking at his superior with tired eyes. "Are we there yet?" The 'Rach' in question rolled her eyes and looked at him.

"You sound like a bored ten year-old," she said. "Of course we're not there yet, Captain Kirk would have told us by now." Jake grinned.

"Should I make the usual 'Star Trek' joke, or should you?" he said, his eyes drifting over to the Captain, who was standing at the front of the bridge.

"No, Jake," Rachel said, trying to hide a grin. "Just...no."

"Wonder if he likes his tea Earl Grey...and hot."

"Jake, that's Picard."

"...Oh. Eh, whatever."

A silence, occupied only by the distant crashing of the waves and the soft hum of the bridge equipment.

"So...are we, like, there yet?"

"ARGH!" Rachel threw her hands up in exasperation, drawing glances from the bridge crew. "No, Jake! We are not there yet! If you're that bored, help me with Sonja's latest reports!" Expecting a reply in a negative, Rachel was surprised when Jake shrugged, and replied with "Sure."

"Oh…o-okay, then…" Rachel said, handing Jake a folder identical to the one in front of her. "Take a look at these; they're detailed intel reports that look deeper into those strange readings we've found. Sonja's getting worried about these..."

There was a pause as Jake leafed through the reports in his folder; they were a series of graphs and various wave-like displays, with every other sheet stamped with the dark, whirlpool-like emblem of Black Hole, and the date at which the readings were taken – in this case, from half a year ago. The other sheets had no such emblem, and the date stamped was recent – some sheets had been printed the day before. Jake raised an eyebrow as he looked from one sheet to the next, and turned to Rachel.

"Yo, Rach...these readings are like, almost the same. Whassup with that?"

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Think, Jake," she said. "If those readings are similar to the Black Hole ones, what does it mean?"

"...That it's Black Hole out there?"

"Finally, Jake!" Rachel said, rolling her eyes. "It's nice to finally know you're not just a pretty face."

A pause.

"...I'm a what?"

"Eep! I err, I mean..." Rachel stuttered, blushing. "A-Anyway, moving on..."

"Yeah, moving on…" Jake said, averting his eyes and shifting uncomfortably, while Rachel continued. "Now that we know Black Hole's out there…"

Jake grinned. "We bounce on in and smack 'em down…"

-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-

The conference room was dark and shadowed, the lighting dimmed to highlight only the circular table in the centre, and the three people sat around it. The table was a deep, red wood, polished immaculately and carved ornately with an emblem of some sort. The colour of the table matches the walls – they were also a deep, blood red, although the diminished lightning gave them the appearance of being almost black. The three figures were seated in plush oak chairs with red leather; no expense was spared in giving the occupants a relaxing atmosphere, given their stressful, demanding jobs. One of the figures, a tall, svelte woman with long black hair, shifted in her seat slightly, before speaking.

"It's clear that they're moving large numbers of troops to this area. I, for one, am quite concerned. All remaining Black Hole outposts that they missed have been hunted down and wiped off the face of the map; and now they're coming this way." She waved a long-fingered hand, and continued. "I think they've picked up residual signals and have confused us with Black Hole."

A derisive snort came from the figure seated to her right. A petite, bright-eyed blonde female rolled her eyes, flicking back her short hair.

"So they've sent an army to combat what they think is a Black Hole presence here. Big deal. They can't have possibly sent that much, and our superior technology gives us a distinct advantage. You're worrying over nothing, Swift."

'Swift' glared back at the blonde. "I am not worrying over nothing, Diesel," she said angrily. "Have you even checked the General's recon reports on the advancing Allied Nations forces?" Swift kept glaring as Diesel looked off to her right, into a dark, shadowy corner next to the door. There was silence as a dark figure shifted slightly, turning its head to look at Diesel.

Silence.

A glint of something reflective and red leapt out of the darkness as the figure nodded, apparently giving her approval, as Diesel turned back and took a sheet of paper out of a folder marked 'SG Recon: AN Advance', and read, her blue eyes narrowing. Her lips pursed suddenly, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise, laying the piece of paper back down in front of her.

Swift smirked. "Didn't think there was that many, did you?"

"Bleh..."

The third figure of the 'trinity' sat at the table sighed gruffly, leaning his neck from side to side, cracking and popping his neck, ignoring the disgusted looks from his fellow CO's. Running a hand through his wavy, browny-grey hair in an attempt to tame it somewhat, he looked at the others with stone-grey eyes, scratching a stubbly beard.

"First things first," he growled, looking at them steadily, "We need more intel. Once we've verified the size and composition of their forces, we can order a stealthy mobilisation and placement of our army without alerting the public and causing a widespread panic. If we're lucky, we'll fend off the Allied Nation's attacks – if they actually happen, 'cause diplomacy isn't out of the question, even though it would alert them to our existence – which would distract the public's attention from our blatant deception."

Diesel looked at him incredulously. "Are you out of your mind, Cougar! Lying outright to the citizens we've sworn to protect?.!"

"What they don't know won't hurt them-"

"Don't you dare use that erroneous phrase on me, Cougar," Diesel growled back with surprising force. "They have a right to know! If we announce our intentions, we can deploy with much more speed, and cover urban areas much better, because we won't have to hide our movements!"

Swift rolled her eyes and sighed at the two arguing CO's as they went back and forth, retorts and counter-retorts being thrown. She looked past Diesel's angry face, looking at the dark shadow that was looking at the argument, whatever expression it had hidden in shadow. She looked back at the two just as Cougar thumped his fist on the table, trying a hammer a point home, and sighed once again as Diesel snapped an angry retort.

"It's completely shameful and unethical to lie to our populace, Cougar, for any reason!" Diesel shouted, glaring across the table at him. "We swore an Oath!"

"Oaths are made to be bro-"

"Calm down..."

Cougar, Diesel and Swift gasped and jumped slightly as they heard the, cool, calm hissing voice, and their heads swiveled to look at the shadow, its ruby-red gaze alighting on them. Cougar and Diesel fell silent immediately.

"There is no point in arguing about something like this," the figure said, its quiet, calm voice echoing slightly. "They are only days away from coming within range of our intensive scanners; only then can we get a precise report on their forces, as it would be too risky to send recon units directly into the path of that juggernaut of an army. Because of this, the next few days will be vital. I will place my share of our forces with the largest amount of secrecy I have at my disposal, while the rest of you go to the rest of the command staff and deliberate on the issue of alerting the public. With luck, I will be able to resist any inital push the Allied Nations might make, which would give us a viable reason to go to war."

Silence. Cougar and Diesel shifted nervously in their chairs, not sure if they were being reprimanded or not. Swift, however, was smiling softly. A low sigh and the swishing of a coat broughther back to the present. The figure had shifted slightly, uncrossing his arms as he stepped forward a few paces, his features becoming less shadowed, and more distinct.

A pale face.

Long brown hair.

Dark clothing.

A black trenchcoat with red trim.

Red-tinted sunglasses.

"We must make sure of one thing, though," Shade said, gazing at them all. "We must not lose..."