The road was rough. The pavement had been chewed up by different forms of weapons, both solid ammunition, and the energy kind used by the alien robots. The driver whirred his old muscle car around the war-torn potholes as best he could, but even so he couldn't go all out with the car, even though the faster they went the better chance they stood of getting out of Northern California. Peaking into the rear view mirror he could see the four people crammed into the backseat; three girls, and a guy practically asleep on top of each other. There faces showed the signs of dust, and smoke as well as dirt as they had gone all out to make it to where they were now. He hadn't known them very long either, only a few short days. But they had come to him, and he had done all that he could do make sure they made it safety. How much longer would there be safety though he wondered?
He hadn't done this feat alone. As he raced around down an unbroken piece of pavement, he glanced into the passenger seat to his occupant resting comfortably, and with an air of confidence, and determination as well. He was awake, almost more so than the driver, and sat with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He had almost a pretty boy look to him, like that of a Backstreet Boy or something like that. Maybe it was the fact that he still looked very clean amongst the rest of him. He was no older than the driver though, old enough to have just finished high school, or just beginning college. His dark curly hair though was what gave him his look. That combined with his somewhat built frame made him look intimidating, even when all he did was just sit there. The driver knew though that there was more to the guy than that though. He had seen him do some incredible things back there when those robots came for the five of them to try and return them to the camp. The guy had done something incredible, something the driver thought only happened in the movies.
The car bounced as it struck another bump, but the larger wheels with the big tires kept it on its course as it wound its way the final miles out of California. The road was empty, and the sunny day made visibility even better, so that they could cruise, and turn off the road if it looked like they were about to run across a patrol of droids or something like that. The driver would have enjoyed days like this, the days before the invasion. Those had seem like so long ago though, and he wondered if he was a different person back then as well too. It felt like he couldn't remember. His life had become the invasion, all their lives had become the invasion. His eyes floated down to the fuel needle, though he knew he had enough gas to get them out of here, it was still a habit when he drove cars. Quickly it returned the road, and far to the horizon where the road continued. But something was sitting on the edge of the horizon, a speck that was slowly getting bigger. Slowly the driver's eyes widen, as the speck was slowly starting to take shape and definition, he turned to his passenger to alert him to the danger, "Nick!"
Nick's eyes though were already upon them though. He knew the shape well, for the past month he had done nothing but fight them. "I see them," he told the driver. "It's a roadblock." Slowly he rolled down his window, and the fast moving air tore into the car's cabin, awaking the passenger in the back seat, and returning them to their cramped confinement. The window fully down, he turned his attention back to the driver, "Whatever happens, keep driving."
"Alright," said the driving, nodding as he did so. He watched as Nick's form began to glow, and suddenly burst into fire, becoming that of a fireball. He could feel the heat coming off the thing Nick had suddenly turned into, but it was only for an instant, as the ball of fire charged through the open window, and shot down the road. It flew faster than the car, and as it neared the squad of droids, the ball of fire exploded, and it revealed a fully morphed Solar Ranger, his arms at his sides as he continued to soar through the air. The droids reacted quickly, taking aim and firing at the Ranger, but their shots would not strike the determined hero.
"Flare Saber," cried Nick, as a strand of fire erupted from his hand, and then disappeared leaving a metallic blade in its place. "Charge." The metallic blade of the weapon became covered in flames once again, but this time remained that way, as the Ranger slid into the ground in front of him, his boots leaving trails behind him. Hitting the ground running was something he was all too accustomed too, and as his boots found the soft dirt, he charged the nearest droid, and sliced across its midsection, not even coming to a halt to do so, but racing into the center of a cluster of droids. The droids weren't fast enough though as the Ranger made his way into the center of the cluster, the sound of the fire on his weapon almost deafening. He slashed his saber forward, cutting diagonally across the chest of the robot, and then dropping to his knee, swings the saber over his head in a circle, removing the head of three more droids. All of the bodies seem to hit the ground at the same instant, as the self destructing acid begins to pore over their bodies. Slowly the Ranger stood, for he could find no remaining active droids, and his sense instead turn to the sound of the car's engine, as he turns to watch it coming towards him.
Slowly it comes to a halt, and the driver looks at the morphed ranger in both awe, and gratitude. "Get in."
There's a bright orange flash, and suddenly were the Ranger once stood, Nick's form now occupies the spot. The hero shakes his head at the driver. "You'll be safe the rest of the way."
"You're not coming?" replies the driver, a look of shock and awe fills his face.
"No," replies Nick. "I have to go back. There are more people to try and get out."
"Are you sure man?" continues the driver. "There are a shit ton of alien robots back that way."
Nick turns to look down the road, one he has seen many times before, but has gone no further down than this point. His gaze then turns towards the way he has came, and even though it is a bright sunny day, he swears that he can see the gathering of storm clouds off in the horizon. "Yeah, I'm sure." He watches as one of the girls climbs up front to take his seat, and smiles at him. He wonders if it had been another time, or another place if the girl still would of smiled at him. He'll never though. "Get out of here." The driver doesn't need any more incentive though as he puts the car in gear, and slowly roars back down the highway off towards the safety of the east. Nick buries his hands in his pocket, and slowly begins to walk back the way he came, wondering if he'll make it next time.
"Target identified," came the soft feminine thought of a Mobium. The older man shakes himself out of the deep thoughts that he had entertained, and opens his eyes. He looks across the very sleek, and clean room. There are several control panels which make up different stations that control different functions of the ship. Slowly though, he turns towards the woman who reported her findings. She is a younger woman than he, maybe perhaps only forty revolutions, compared to his almost seventy revolutions. She's attractive by Mobium standards, that much is apparent with her graceful looking form, and her dark purple hair. The male crosses his arms about his chest, and turns his attention to the large screen in front of him.
"Visualize," he responds telepathically to her. Slowly the image comes into resolution displaying as a light shines over a field of debris with a form hovering within the field, that recognized as a bipedal being. He recognizes the armor as well, for he knows it better than anyone else, including the person wearing it right now. He lets out a soft sigh, but it goes unheard by any of the other Mobiums that occupy their stations on the bridge. "Position the vessel for retrieval." Even through the dampeners, he can feel the movement of the craft as it positions itself to retrieve the being that floats helplessly in the void. He takes one last look as the form begins to slowly drift towards the craft, and then turns, announcing, "I will meet him in the Bay."
"Commander Storm," replies one of his officers. He turns to see his tactical officer turn to face him. His look is that of concern, and sternness. "Is that wise?" The Supreme Commander of the Fleet, the war hero of Mobius, the great Harabec Storm, only returns a look of equal sternness, before he turns around, and continues on the path he was heading on. The doors part before him as he issues the mental command for them to do so, and slowly he marches boldly down the corridor towards the very end of it. The Mobium's movements combine that of grace, and strength as each footfall is strong enough to be intimating, but soft as to echo the fact that he knows how to move silently. His form is strong, but nothing near the body builders on Earth. His hair is darker than most Mobiums, almost a jet black, but at the very tips of the strands, it has become silver. His eyes though are a soft blue, almost in contrast to the eyes that Lexa first bore when she arrived upon the Earth. If he were on Earth, he could easily be mistaken for a man entering his forties, not his early seventies, but then again, the Mobium year is a little shorter than the Earth one. His attire is akin to that which Polaris wore, except for one exception, which is the device that his adorned to his left wrist. There a band of silver sits with a clear jewel resting upon its surface in the center. It is without a doubt, the very first Power Lens ever created.
He walks the halls of his vessel confidently, as he makes a turn at the end of the hall, and then turns to continue down another hallway. The walls, and the floor are very metallic, with white lights almost piercing at the very top. Reaching the center of the hallway, the Mobium turns towards two very large doors that are shut. Examining the display next to him, he finds that the room has been repressurized, and that the atmosphere is again present within. The doors open, and slowly the Commander enters.
There's a noise, a soft pounding. It's all he can hear, but it echoes throughout his head. He wonders though when the last time he heard or thought anything was. He suddenly becomes aware that he's been unconscious for some time, because the last thing he remembers is the sound of the ship tearing its self apart as the singularity erupts within its bowels. His eyes snap open, but too fast as the glare of the bright lights above him. He barely recognizes the soft glow of his Heads Up Display on his visor, but it's the instinct in the back of his mind that seems to be the most pressing. He is no longer alone in the room. He fights to stand up, but finds that he no longer as the strength to move. Almost on cue, a voice enters his mind, one that he finds familiar, but cannot place. "You are safe." Almost on cue, Keith's armor shimmer, and then vanishes leaving a very weak human being wearing the same street clothes he sported when he first morphed.
Slowly Harabec leans down over the Red Ranger, and examines him. He had seen the reports Polaris had sent him, and knew how strong the boy was, but he never expected what he found when his vessel had arrived in orbit of this distant world. His protégé's ship had been destroyed, but strangely, he knew that there was a survivor, almost sensed the boy's presence, and had spent the past day looking for him. He was still two days ahead of the rest of the fleet that was coming at the Emperor's order to take the planet. This boy had done everything he could do to defend the world below them, but Harabec knew that the only thing that could be done was to leave before the rest of the fleet arrived. Standing again, and leaving the fallen Ranger upon the deck's surface, he marched over to the control panel on the wall, a black surface with only a single crystal on it. Touching his hand to the crystal, he issued the only telepathic order that he could, "Break Orbit, and set course for Mobius. You may initiate the hyper window when ready." He waited for no reply, as he turned back towards the Ranger. Slowly Keith's form began to raise off the ground though, but it was by Harabec's doing, as he carried the boy telepathically from the room.
The sun finally appeared on the horizon of the Earth, and its light casted itself onto the sleek edges of the starship in orbit around the planet. It was a metallic sheen that reflected back, as if the entire ship wasn't made up of different plates, but the entire hull had been poured at once. Not a rivet was visible, as the ship bared a striking resemblance to some of the vessels still on the drawing board at NASA, but had a slight twinge of Flash Gordon. Suddenly though it shot forward, alive with life, as it came about, the blue glow from the engines as they outlined themselves on the back of the ship. There was no sound in space though as the ship burst away from the planet, until finally a wave of energy swept from tip to end, like the light of a photo copier going over a page, leaving nothing in its wake as the vessel begun the trek that was faster than light, taking away the one person who could lead the fight against the Mobiums.
Regaining consciousness was slightly easier this time for Matt. He didn't have to even fight to open his eyes. He did notice immediately that the rhythm of the heart monitor was strangely absent, but he supposed that it was most likely because they didn't consider him in danger anymore. That was a reassuring thought to him. Taking a deep breath he sat up in his bed, and again looked around the room. Standard hospital issue it seemed. The walls were the almost blinding white color, the bed was in the center of the room, and on the plus side there was a window looking over a cityscape. The sun was bright, but then again it had been a month since he had been here, so they were what in July now? Matt continued to stare out the window, as he mulled over the amount of time he had been out for. An entire month, and the world was changing. The nurse had already mentioned something about ground zero, which meant that he had been only in the first part of something that gotten much worse. He could only guess that meant that the other Mobium forces had arrived as expected. What was going to happen now?
"You're awake," came a voice from the other side of the room. The voice, both familiar and masculine snapped him out of his deep thought, and caused him to cast his eyes to the doorway. A smile slowly crossed his face as he looked at the person in the doorway. "It's about time." Gaji stood with a small smirk on his face as he stared back at his teammate, though Matt noticed right away that his friend was holding onto a crutch at his side just to prop himself up.
"Sorry," replied Matt. "The bed was just too soft." Slowly Gaji moved inside the room and shut the door behind him. His movements weren't as graceful as the last time Matt had seen him. "It's good to see a friendly face. I didn't know what happened to anyone else? Are the others here?"
"No," replied Gaji solemnly. "I've been awake for a few weeks now, and I've gone up and down the hospital searching for the others, but you're the only one I could find." Taking a seat in one of the chairs, he placed his crutch aside, and glanced critically at Matt. "I see your lens is gone too." With panic Matt looked to his wrist, and was taken aback to realize that his friend was right. He kicked himself mentally for not realizing it earlier in the day. "Mine's gone too. The hospital doesn't have them, and considering they kept telling me they brought me in this way, I'm beginning to think we weren't morphed when they found us. Someone probably took them before they found us."
"Who would of taken them?" asked Matt. "Lenoa?"
"Or one of the Marines," replied Gaji. "You know how the government types are."
"But they know they can't use the lenses because of the DNA lock," said Matt.
"But they might try and backwards engineer new ones," said Gaji. "Besides with the way things are going, that might not be a bad idea for them."
Matt remained silent for a moment, before he asked, "How is it going out there?"
Gaji paused for a moment, turning his attention to the window, and the nice sunny day outside. He smiled at the irony of the situation, two of the people who started the war were now resting comfortably while everyone else was fighting it. "Not well. It's all out war. The fleet arrived as promised, and suddenly all hell broke loose. We have air superiority, but the Mobiums put up some kind of force channel field to allow their transports a clear corridor to land."
"How many droids are on the ground?" asked Matt, interrupting his friend.
"Too many," replied Gaji. "Northern California, Oregon, and parts of Nevada, and Idaho are under the control of the Mobiums. The eastern coast of China has fallen as well, and almost all of Africa except the very south is under their control."
Matt took a minute to let the news sink. To say the situation seemed grave would be an understatement. This had gone past the foothold scenario that Keith had postulated once upon a time, these pieces of the world the Mobiums had taken were now enemy territory. The war, if fought was going to be a hard one to try and take back all of the land that now rest under the control of the invading forces from above. "How long do they think it will take for the rest of the world to fall?"
"From what I see on the news," said Gaji folding his hands in front of him. "Most of the analysts on MSNBC, the only channel my damn television seems to get, it seems like it might only take several months. On the sunnier side of things, death cults are beginning to sprout up, but on the positive side there don't seem to be any sympathetic groups to the Mobium cause."
"Any word about Keith?" asked Matt, remembering the last time he saw his friend in the middle of battle with Polaris. If the Red Ranger had survived he would easily make a good deal of news, for he didn't seem the one to sit idly by.
"There are rumors that after our battle with the droids, there was a large explosion in orbit," explained Gaji. "Some people think it was Polaris's vessel, and most people tend to agree due to the fact that there has been no sign of Polaris since then."
"Hopefully Keith wasn't onboard if that did happen," offered Matt. "What about Lenoa?"
"Lenoa seems to have taken up command of the Mobium forces here in America," continued Gaji. "She's based out of San Francisco, which is so deep behind the front line, American boots may never tread there again."
"That bitch," said Matt shaking his head.
"I know," replied Gaji. "She's got a mean left hook to boot. That is, you know, when she's not telekinetically tossing you across the room."
"I just wish we could of taken her out when we had the chance," continued Matt, unabated by Gaji's comment. "Maybe we could of at least weakened part of what is happening now."
"Hey man, don't beat yourself up, because of you that one guy is no longer a problem," Gaji reminded. Matt quietly relived his encounter with Trius when he and Lexa had crashed, and had to protect not only Lexa, but the town they had come across. In his time paused state, he had almost forgotten that he had taken a life. Gaji for his part felt foolish though that he brought it up as he observed the look on Matt's face. He decided it was probably best to change the subject. "There hasn't been any word from Sean either, but I have feeling he's still around somewhere."
"I guess our first step should be finding him then," announced Matt, coming out of his funk.
"Our first step?" asked Gaji cynically. "Listen man, I know you just woke up, so you probably forgot, but our lenses are gone. We can't do a damn thing. Not to mention my leg is still pretty banged up, so it'll be a week before I can go anywhere."
"Yeah," said Matt, "but c'mon we need to at least run Sean down, and figure out what we can do next. Then we're going have to figure out who took our powers and get them back."
"Maybe I don't want my powers back," replied Gaji. Matt looked at him quizzically for a moment, and then opened his mouth to say something. Gaji beat him to it though, and added, "Listen we fought the good fight, and we lost. I don't know about you, but I feel pretty lucky to still be here, and if we go chasing after the bad guys again, whose to say if this time we'll be so lucky. If this thing is already a lock, and I have a feeling it is based on what everyone is saying, then we're going to have to go down with the ship. If the world's ending, I would kind of like to be with my family, you know?"
"But what about our responsibility to everyone?" asked Matt. "We are maybe the only two left who have the abilities to deal with the Mobiums on equal footing. I know we don't have our powers right now, but that doesn't mean we won't get them back."
"And then what?" asked Gaji. "Lead armies into battle. Take down Lenoa? Find away to take out the ships in orbit, and hope more don't replace them? You're holding onto a dream, we all were. Keith meant well when he did what he did, and made us Rangers, but the situation looks a whole lot different when your not in the middle of it. Its game time now, and we're overwhelmed. Not two of us, or even six of us could handle this even if we tried."
"We won't know unless we try," countered Matt. "We have no idea what the turnout will be."
"I'm fairly certain what the end result is going to be," said Gaji. "Just turn on the news and watch it for a day, and see if you still feel the same way. We're all hoping for the best, but everyone knows it just doesn't matter. If Keith was right about this whole thing, then they're going to start killing people pretty soon, and if they do that, then the human race is toast. I respect where you're coming from, but I think its idealistic at best, and stupid at worst."
"So you're just going to sit around and do nothing?" asked Matt critically. "What does that make us then? If we all just give up, and then they've already won no matter what. Dying with family members sounds good, but dying trying to stop these things before they happen sounds better. I don't know how Keith brought you into this, I wasn't there, but I have feeling he probably appealed to your sense of self sacrifice. You're acting like a coward, and I saw you ride, head first into a crap load of droids on a bike without doubt. Even if there is a sliver of a chance we can get our powers back, I say we get off our butts, and take it."
The two guys stared at each other from their positions in the room. Gaji's look of doubt was met head on with the sheer resolve on Matt's face. For a moment though, Matt thought he would be heading out on his own, trying to go on without everyone else. He wondered back to the beginning days when Keith had been the only Ranger, the person to make a change, and wondered if he too could do that. Fight on his own. He guessed though that if it came down to it, he probably would.
Gaji considered his teammate for the moment. He hadn't know Matt that well, having only been acquainted with him for a week prior. His dealings with the rest team had really been with Keith for the most part, and then Peter and Colleen. He realized how distant he felt from his teammate, but still felt like the title friend was something he could give to Matt. After all they had fought, and nearly died together in their last battle. Mostly though, Gaji had heard the words that Matt had used, and for the most part it reminded him of Keith. Keith had been the same way all the time, always seeing a brighter picture, always forcing people on. Keith had mentioned that he had found a replacement for himself in function should things go bad, and lo and behold they had. Gaji understood why Keith had made that choice.
"Look," started Gaji. "Why don't we find Sean, and we'll see how things go from there."
A sly smile slowly crossed Matt's face, and he nodded ever so slightly. "Okay." He didn't push the subject any further, just pleased that with the results of the outcome. He wouldn't have to go the first part alone at least, and that was a plus in his book. They'd find Sean, and then they would see what happened next. Turning his gaze away from Gaji, he briefly wondered what would happen next. He'd have plenty of time to wonder what was next on their search, but he idly wondered if Sean would point them on the right path, or if they would just run themselves into a dead end. Of course there were always the others to look for, and he felt it was partially his responsibility to get the team back together. That is if they were still alive. His thoughts then turned to Lexa. He felt guilty that even though he had only been awake for a short time that more of his thoughts hadn't dwelled on her. He wondered though, if maybe he had dreamt about her.
Matthew's dreams weren't the only ones focusing on a woman. Amidst the darkness, another mind dreamt, weeks before Matt would even wake. His though weren't of the potential future, but of the sorrowful past. Keith's dreams were of the one he lost. He dreamt of the fall. He could still remember her holding onto his hand. Above him the overwhelming pressure of Polaris's weapon forced his way downward, threatening with every second to terminate his life. He could see the look of resolution in her eeyes, and knowing what she was going to do next, he let out a cry of sadness in the depths of his mind. He could feel the grasp of fingers even through the armored gloves they both wore, as they slowly slipped from his own, and slowly she begun to slip away. In his dreams every second lasted an hour. Hours upon hours of pain came to him, as he could only watch in slow motion as she slipped away from him, and then slowly fell to her demise towards the sphere of energy at the heart of the mobium ship. In an instant she was gone, completely torn apart by the waves of intense energy, rippling through her form, and shattering every cell. Again, and again he could only watch in his own mind as she fell to the doom, and then in an instant Polaris's blade came down, and then everything was cold.
But the cold was the first sensation he could remember. It wasn't the same cold as before, this was different, this wasn't a natural cold. This was a cold that was generated artificially and filled the room. His skin reacted by tightening, and in the outer reaches of his extremities the chill felt almost like a burn. His eyes opened to a low level of light, almost as if the room had been dimmed, but it was painful in any kind. The room though was like nothing he had ever seen before. It was beyond that of human design, that much was very apparent to him, but still clearly a room. He was on a flat surface, almost like that of a platform, raised at a certain level off the ground. A sheet rested over him, and he noticed that he was no longer wearing the Guardian armor, and wondered if he was wearing anything at all.
He blinked several times, bringing his vision into focus, and instantly noticed that his vision had become clear, It had always been blurry without his glasses, or the help of the HUD in the Ranger suit. Taken aback by this discovery, he slowly sat up, and could feel the sheet in front of him slide forward. He was indeed clothed though, in a strange material he could not identify, that didn't even leave any kind of feeling to it. It was like he wasn't wearing anything at all. It was of course red in color, and as he pulled the sheet away, and turned to dismount from the platform he could see he was wearing it in the legs as well. It almost reminded him of a Roman tunic. He hopped off the bed, and landed on his bare feet, and could feel almost a metallic feel to it.
Common sense came to the forefront, and he realized he must be onboard a mobium starship. He could see another control crystal on the panel beside the door akin to that which had been at the door in the brig on Polaris's ship. Standing fully erect he could feel a lack of strength in his bones. Standing was easy, but he could tell his energy was diminished. His eyes locked on the door, and slowly he strode towards it. Looking around as he moved towards it he tried to find any form of surveillance device that might be watching his movements. Slowly he approached the doors, and as he extended his arm to touch the crystal, the doors parted in front of him. Standing where the doors met stood an older man than Keith, a mobium, with dark black hair, and clad in armor all too familiar to Keith. It was the armor of a Guardian. Keith stood motionless as he watched the Mobium regard him coolly. Slowly he entered the room standing proudly, his eyes completely fixed on the Ranger. The two men maintained their distance from each other, with Keith retreating as the mobium advanced slowly. The older one was the first to speak, his words coming through a mentally.
"You have awakened," he announced, appraising the situation for himself.
"Who are you?" replied Keith, though verbally. His guard was cautious, for while he had his suspicions to the man's identity, he wasn't going to risk his life on them.
Harabec's head fell slightly, but his eyes remained locked on the Ranger. He studied him carefully for a moment, and then raised his head again. Releasing a mellow sigh, the rush of air hit Keith causing a feeling of intimidation. "You know who I am. You have known since the first time we made contact. You sensed my presence here while you slept, just as I have sensed your presence as well. We are both aware of the identity of each other."
"The Supreme Commander," said Keith defiantly, as he slowly started walking to his side. Harabec's response to the question had shown a great deal of calm in the older man, and the original feeling of intimidation had worn off. Slowly Keith began to move as if in a circle with Harabec,
Harabec too copied these movements, and the two began to move in a circle, always staying directly across from each other. "The Prince…and a slayer of his own people."
"The Star Kingdom is no more," replied Keith, slightly enraged by the Mobium's comment, but not letting him get the verbal hand. "I think you had a hand in doing that."
"I sense a good deal of your mother in you," noted Harabec, ignoring the Ranger's comment, and offering a new topic. "It is more than just your genetics, it is in your demeanor as well. The two of you move the same way, with the same grace, and pride."
"You do not get to speak of her in my presence," returned Keith, his blood slowly beginning to warm at the mention of his mother, and the history that this man and her shared.
"Very well," Harabec returned calmly, "I shall respect that wish."
His patronizing tone set the Ranger off though, and forced him into a rage, "You'll respect more than that, Ranger Form, Energize!" He went through his normal morphing motions, but as his fingers struck his lens, nothing happened. His eyes glanced down to his lens, the crystal still glowing a fierce red, but still it did not activate. Confused, but still focused on his opponent, his eyes went back to Harabec, and he slowly lowered his arms. Harabec held his hand out, and immediately a rush of energy struck Keith, and through him across the room and into the wall. Pain shot through the Ranger's body, especially as his body dropped from the wall, and slowly folded into the deck. Pain gave away to anger though, and as the Ranger stood, he glared daggers at the Mobium commander. Anger subsided into reason though, and Keith realized that he was not going to be able to defeat this guy. Slowly he let his rage subside, and he cooled down back to a calmly state. "You're blocking my Lens."
"I am doing nothing of the sort," responded Harabec, "I have no need, for I could stop you in a fight if I have too." Keith glared back at the overconfident Mobium, convinced that he must be lying.
"Am I to be a gift to your emperor?" asked Keith cynically. "A latest display of your ability, and cunning. Another trophy on the Supreme Commander's mantle?"
Harabec eyed Keith critically, not willing to give the brasher man a foothold into the interior of his mind, but nonetheless, he felt the need to respond. His gaze turned away as he searched his mind for the words, that he could usually express with a thought to any other of his people. "You misunderstand my intentions, that is not why I am here at all."
"Your invasion fleet seems to say otherwise," observed Keith.
"It is not my fleet," returned Harabec. "I am not its Commander, nor do I have control over it. I am here for you, and you alone." He paused carefully, not for effect, but for the sheer embarrassment that it brought to his very confident ego. "Your assistance is required."
"You would dare ask a member of my family for their help," said Keith sternly, his voice rising in anger, and perhaps even a tinge of shock. Slowly the Ranger's fists began to clench as he stood opposed to the Mobium.
"I no longer serve the Emperor," replied Harabec attempting to cool the situation down. The two stopped circling each other and now stood in the opposite positions that they had before. "Things have changed, the galaxy has changed, and so have our people. The Emperor is not what he seems, and placing him in power was one of the worst mistakes I have ever made."
"Forgive me if I don't shed a tear for you," returned Keith, again with a cynical note to his voice. "I'm so sorry the Emperor and all his glory just didn't work out for you. Any human could tell you that that kind of thing tends to fizzle out, especially when one of the heroes of the people helps them rise to power. At least you're not clad in all black…it might be too much of cliché for future human historians."
Harabec could not quite understand what the younger man was talking about, but it appeared to him that the Ranger believed whatever he was saying. He felt like the boy didn't comprehend what he was trying to explain, so he decided that the best course of action would just be to be blunt. "The Emperor is a Zor."
Keith stopped dead. And not just that his expressions fell into shock, or his body turned rigid, but his entire thought process went dead. A Zor. That word had caused this catatonic state to strike the Ranger, and leave him in it, for never in his wildest dreams did he ever think that he would hear those words uttered. He knew what it was, and he also thought that it should have been impossible. If the Mobiums, with their pointed ears resembled elves, than the Zor would be akin to dark elves, minus though the difference in pigmentation. A thousand years ago, while Humans were fighting crusades, and living amidst the dark ages, the Mobiums leap into space, though they weren't the same as they were now. Their world was not unified either, and several factions, or states if you will were spread across the surface of the planet. The Mobiums were a divided people, and as the expansion into space began, their divisions began to become worse. There powers were just beginning to develop, some quicker then others. Some, more powerful than others.
Those within the ranks of the most powerful began to gather, and slowly they began to consider themselves apart of the race, and in some ways above it. There arrogance began to manifest itself in their powers, and slowly their powers began to distort the beings. The Zor were born when that happened. Attempting to wage war on the rest of the populous, the entire Mobius planet united against them, and forced them from their world, ejecting them into the cold depths of space. The planet revealed in its cohesion, and its ability to remove a threat to the planet. The leader of the movement to expel the Zor, and the being who brought peace to the small fledging Mobium Star Nation almost eight hundred years ago was the king of one of the larger continents of the planet, a direct ancestor to the Ranger that now stood before Harabec.
The Zor though did not take their exile well. Thrown into the void they began to plot their return, and with it their revenge on the people which had ejected them from their own world, a world they considered their domain by right of might. Using their great mental abilities, abilities that today would still dwarf even the Royal Families who were considered to possess the strongest mental attributes of the race, the Zor conquered other races on several systems, and slowly subverting the people to their rule, as well as genetic manipulation, the Zor began to build power, and power meant ships, and troops. Using the inhabitants of several worlds, they merged all of their species together to create one hybrid species that now stands in the place they had before, a race that took part of its name from its creators, they became know as the Zor'atan. For several centuries the Zor continued to amass power, while the Mobiums continued their expansion of space under their star kingdom, until reports began to emerge from deep space of contact with the Zor, and the power which they wielded. War seemed immient, but rather than risk open war with an opponent that was more powerful than they, the Royal Family of Mobius dispatched a fleet to confront the Zor's new homeworld head on. In a pre-emptive strike, the Mobiums wiped out the world from orbit, decimating the surface so that no thing could ever survive. Assassins were then sent forth on a zealous crusade to find the remaining Zor where ever they may lie, and wipe them out before they could regroup.
It sounds cruel, and something that a race of people like the Mobiums shouldn't be capable of, but for all of their space-faring history, it was perhaps the darkest moment, an extermination not only of a race of people, but a people that had descended from the Mobiums themselves. The fears that the Mobiums held though were well founded however. For the Zor indeed regrouped several times, and in their last great incursion two hundred years ago, shortly after the Constitution of the United States had been written, several billion Mobiums perished as the remaining Zor lead a death fleet, manned by the Zor'atan straight to Mobius, and nearly wiped out the homeworld itself. They would have succeeded had they not begun to quarrel amongst each other, and finally turn their weapons upon each other. The people had all been lead to believe that the Zor were now dead, that the only remament that remained behind was the Zor'atan, which had now become like pirates preying on ships beyond Mobium space. But it seemed that the Zor had indeed continued to exist. And now, one sat upon the throne of Mobius.
Keith eyed Harabec critically, "Are you sure?"
"I have just placed my person in an implication of treason against my people," remarked Harabec. "I do not believe I would attempt that if I did not have enough proof. However, perhaps we can work together to change this before it goes any further."
"Fifty three revolutions seems like enough time if you ask me," replied Keith skeptically. "You're responsible for delivering our people into the hands of our enemy, how can I trust anything you say?"
"Because if others see that a member of the royal family has returned to challenge the Emperor's rule," stated Harabec, "then maybe they'll join with us, and force the Emperor out of power. It's that very reason, that very fear that made the Emperor send Polaris after you to try and bring you in, or terminate your life. As long as you live, you can be a threat to his power. And if you lead a whole planet of warriors, like he believed that Earth may be, then you're power could only have been challenging."
Keith listened to him patiently, but he had already made his decision before Harabec had said anything, "I won't help you."
"How can you speak that?" asked Harabec. "These are your people, who need your help."
"This is your mistake," Keith replied, "and your responsibility to clean up, just like Earth, and the invasion force at its door is mine…y'know what…I'm done with all this, done with this war, and done being a ranger." He reached to his left wrist, and pulled off his lens, and casted it to the floor. "I'm done fighting," returned Keith softly. Harabec could feel the emotions lifting off Keith like the heat from a fire. He could feel the sorrow, and doubt enter Keith's mind, and most of all, he could feel the loss, the overwhelming loss that was still in Keith's every thought. "I started this to protect people, but now the only thing that happens is people keep asking me to fight for ideas, and ideologies. I fight for life, to protect life, no matter what they believe, or how they believe, and when I take a life, its only if it threatens another life. I have done that to the best of my ability. My battle….my war is over."
Harabec turned to regard the younger one softly, and his stare was intense piercing into the depth of the Ranger's soul. His gaze was that of amusement, but at the same time of that of worldly experience. His voice was stern, but soft as the same time as he responded carefully to what Keith said. "For beings of our nature, our conflicts never end." He neither waited for, nor cared for a response as he exited the room, the door closing behind him. Keith rushed after his captor, but found that the door had been sealed, and not even pressing his hand to the crystal allowed him escape. He was trapped, and in the hands of the man who had destroyed his mother's entire world.