Beginning and End

"The other Son of the Empire has left the system, sir. Looks like she's not being followed."

The second after Rilas' comment, Kero stared at the spot on the screen where the clone of his own ship just disappeared into the distance at velocities far exceeding the speed of light. If his ship hadn't taken so much damage, he would've done it himself, with any volunteers. They had far less to lose anyway. But at the moment this was better after all. The other Son of the Empire had taken only minor damage in the battle and left with everyone ready to give his or her life. It all came down upon them. That ship now had to fill in the spot left by the Yzenthii's destruction. A powerful explosion, one that according to Ganyu, nearly disabled their shields and penetrated the hull, shocked the vessel so suddenly and violently that he had to grab the console to prevent himself from being launched out of his seat. A massive overload in the primary power distribution systems shorted things out for a second, until backup came online. With everything flickering, Kero frantically tried to find out what happened.

"A blast of Drej energy, sir! It almost fried everything. We're lucky we still got part of our shields."

The damaged ship was indeed hit by several smaller salvos fired by both Drej and Imperial fighters. Around them the battle was still going on and even seemed to intensify. But that direct hit from the Alahenena's long range weaponry turned out to be only a coincidence as the battle intensified in their favor.

"Reinforcements," Rilas growled with almost sadistic pleasure. "Looks like two of our taskforces made it back before they missed out on all the fun."

"Confirmed," Ganyu said with a nod, not letting his attention weaken even once, making use of whatever weapons and shields they still had. "They're attacking the enemy fleet from behind."

"There's no way they can win this," Kero grunted, still angry for the fact that they nevertheless seemed to try and cause as much damage as they could before they were forced to retreat to dampen their losses. And the Drej had no trouble replenishing their Slijah fighters with their carriers and the mothership still around. As the battle continued, with these new assets on their side and everyone studying the impact of their actions on the tactical situation, nobody had been paying any further attention to the trouble-minded Shezu. She rose gradually to her feet, taking a few small steps away from the chair on which Kero placed her. Until he suddenly noticed when he wanted to warn Dahké, Rilas and Ganyu for another one of Rajah's warships moving in to finish off an allied ship in distress. After he gave the order, he raised his voice and ordered her to sit back down. "Shezu! Listen to me! Stop walking around. You're gonna injure yourself." Of course she didn't listen. Instead, she had grabbed a piece of her curly golden hair and was wrapping it around her fingers. Absent-mindedly as she seemed to be talking to herself, or whoever it was she directed her mental abilities at. "Shezu!" His voice lashed like a whip, sharp and quick but it struck a wall of stone instead. She appeared to be impervious to whatever happened around her right now. "Damn it!"

Leaving the console for what it was, he stepped away from it and moved toward her, determined to snap her out of that trance she once again seemed to be caught up in.

"What is she doing?"

Rilas asked, throwing a quick angry look over his shoulder. He had no idea what she was doing. As he approached her, swiftly but carefully and on the lookout for any sudden moves, he noticed she was biting her fingers again. Pretty sure she could sense his approach, he still decided to turn around her first to face her from the front. But her eyes seemed to be focused on nothing and she was talking to someone. Someone beyond his perception.

"Shezu!" He had already stuck out his arm to touch her shoulder but before his fingertips could make contact, his hand seemed to reach some kind of invisible barrier, an impenetrable resistance. No matter how hard he tried he seemed to hit an energy field that pushed back with equal force. "What the?"

And then suddenly, the girl's eyes grew drastically in size again, as if terrified by something he couldn't see. She stopped biting her fingers and dropped her arm. Around her, a spherical field of psionic energy, interleaved with tiny electric bolts, began to grow in intensity, making her golden hair flutter. The claws of her feet scratched the deck as she seemed to brace herself for something. And then all of a sudden, her powers disappeared. For a second everything seemed frozen in place. Kero suddenly became aware of an odd, unnatural kind of silence. He was pretty sure that she was causing it. It was as if time grinded to a halt. Evidence of this were the slowly changing expressions on the faces of his crew as they seemed to sense this effect as well, turning around to find the cause. Shezu's lips formed the words but the sound echoed after it a lengthy second later.

"I'm here."

It sounded like a loud whisper. It was followed by a bright flash, one that hurt the eyes. A small shockwave washed over them, the air expanding and then contracting to fill the void that she left after her disappearance.

"Where the hell did she go?"

It was Dahké who asked the question but no one had an answer. Kero took a few quick breaths as he stared at the point where there was nothing left that could prove a girl of his own species had occupied that space mere seconds ago. The only thing he could think of was that she somehow teleported herself, using her incredible powers. Powers of which no one knew what of kind of limits they had. He had only seen once what she was capable of and that was an even younger version of her. Right now she was gone.

"Where is she? Where is my daughter?"

Ganyu was panting when he finally reached the throne hall, slipping to a halt, his feet, despite the sharp claws having temporarily lost their grip. Quickly regaining his balance afterwards he was forced to await his turn to speak as an emergency meeting was going on. All the attendants in the hall had formed a circle and inside this circle Zahn had taken a single step. He was also the one speaking and those who were listening were his advisors, rulers of smaller entities within the Empire and flag officers of the Imperial Guard.

"The Drej are back and managed to reach this far into our territory, aided by an Imperial force from a parallel universe determined to take control over everything that we call ours, and even more. Right now, up there, a battle is going on and the outcome will immediately decide the fate of this planet."

Zahn was very serious but his tone of voice was still calm and controlled, though powerful enough to reach all ears and add strength to his words. An Admiral, with quite a number of the Guard's highest honors covering his chest did a step forward, entering the circle to reply.

"My Lord, what would you have us do? Our forces have engaged the enemy and will not yield nor will they rest until the threat has been completely removed."

Zahn nodded

"I do not expect anything different. But my concern is for all our civilians. We must-"

Ganyu's presence hadn't gone unnoticed. When Zahn's eyes fell upon him, his voice trailed off and all the heads in the room turned toward the same target. With a few more steps the Emperor crossed the diameter of the circle, his guests creating an opening for him as Ganyu walked toward him too, meeting about a couple of steps from the circular row of people.

"Your Highness. Where is my daughter? Where's Stith?"

Detecting the enormous concern in the other Mantrin's eyes, Zahn took a breath and slowly exhaled through his nose. He was not going to lie. As a father he was concerned for the well-being of his children too, as for the well-being of every citizen of Sogowa and the brave soldiers fighting to protect them at this very moment.

"She's gone up. With Kero. She wanted to go after the evil counterpart of my youngest son, join the fight. He tried to kidnap my mate."

"No." With his teeth clenched together Ganyu stared at the floor between Zahn's feet. His tail lashed aggressively, the tip hitting the floor with audible slaps. His hands which were balled to fists were shaking and his flappy ears folded back on his head, after having gone down and back up once already. "No!" he shouted. Then spun around without giving Zahn but a single look and rushed out.

"Ganyu wait! I-"

But he quickly realized his attempt to stop him was futile. He knew what he felt, at least partly. As a father he wouldn't lie by telling himself he wasn't worried about Kero, or Stith or Rajah whenever they went out on a mission. But his children, and he considered Stith just as much a child of his and The'lah as Kero or Rajah, had grown up. They made their own decision. But with Ganyu it was different. He considered himself a failure for what happened to his daughter in the past. For losing her and leaving her on her own like that. And his behavior concerning her was extremely protective. He was going to find a way to be with her whatever the cost.

"Still no signs that we're being followed, sir,"

Dahké who continued to monitor for long range readings reported. The whole bridge was still on full alert and Kero had ordered all crew to stay on their posts in case it was some kind of trap. Even he had to admit, despite what damage they had taken, their escape had been relatively easy and the enemy seemed to have given up on any pursuit actions. Or maybe he was just constantly expecting the worst. Rajah's forces were much too busy fighting the Imperial force in the Sogowa system to be concerned with a single ship escaping. If getting help from another direction was their intention, they would never reach the Sogowa system in time. So maybe that was the simple logical reason why he had let them slip.

"Good. Stay on the lookout though. We can't afford to be surprised. Keep us on a direct course for Earth. The faster we get there the better."

"I'm so glad we still got her, Cale."

Cale and Akima had gone down to the Son of the Empire's sickbay where the doctors had dedicated a section of the place to young children. Although many parents had removed their children from the ship, there were still a couple younger children aboard, including two infants. And maybe these parents were right. Was there any place in the universe left where their children were actually 'safe'? Samantha giggled when she gently tapped her cheek with two fingers. The doctors had kept her a little apart from the other children as the human baby girl was much too fragile to play with Mantries. Still Samantha was much too curious and didn't seem afraid at all of those large beaked creatures that surrounded her and checked up on her on occasion. Of course the little girl had no idea of the kind of reality she was born into. She would leave it up to her parents to be concerned about everything. Cale gently caressed his daughter's head. When she stuck out her arms, he carefully picked her up and held her to his chest.

"She's getting bigger," he said, kissing her cheek. "And heavier too."

Akima smiled. Still, being together with her husband and daughter made her happy. Not everything had been taken away yet. It took them a few seconds to notice that a young nurse, who almost personally took care of the baby girl, looked at them from a small distance. The Orketh Mantrinesse was smiling and she stepped closer the moment Cale and Akima smiled back at her.

"She's very healthy. And she's been very quiet. You guys look so happy together."

"Thank you," Akima said. "We've been so glad that after everything that happened, we still have our daughter."

Of course the girl didn't know much of the details but she told them she heard rumors. Of them being from a universe parallel to this one where everything was destroyed by a dark version of the Empire allied with the Drej. And that the same thing almost happened here and could still happen if Sogowa's defenders failed to hold them off. But they wouldn't.

"My brother's fighting aboard one of those ships. They'll kick 'em back to where they came from."

She sounded so convincing and given her species' reputation they would back up that statement with the ferocity of a pack of hungry wolves that just spotted their prey.

"Hey, you guys are all here." Yani and Gune, sticking together almost like a brother and sister during these dark times joined them. Cale noticed how his wife looked at Gune, petting the alien's bald head as he leaned to her side. He saw the pity in her eyes. Even after all that happened Gune stuck with them. The mad scientist with the almost child-like side to him could've gone his own way a long time ago, yet there was something that kept him from leaving. Maybe because he had no idea where to go either. Ever since it was created, the new planet Earth had become his home too. He even served with them under the command of the new Republic. "So, have… you decided what you're going to do next? When we get to Earth I mean."

Watching the nurse resume her duties, attending a Mantrin infant, she patiently waited for a reply. Yani Cho had lost her old life as well. She wasn't married, nor did she have a boyfriend but she did have relatives on the Earth they lost. The same people on this Earth weren't her relatives but those of the other Yani Cho. She had to start over again too, a new life, practically as a new person. And so they told her what they had been discussing. About starting a new life on Earth, finding a nice quiet place far from their other selves. It was their best option, or so they figured and she had to agree with them.

"You and Gune are free to come with us. We'll stick together."

Looking at them, she smiled eventually.

"Thanks guys."

Transplacing herself like that might seem like an almost instant happening to ignorant bystanders who knew nothing about what it was like to be able to manipulate everything around you with just the power of your mind, but it was actually a complex process that also involved existing for a very brief moment as pure energy but with a degree of self-awareness, just enough to put herself together again in her corporeal form. And although she acted like an all-powerful being, her energy reserves definitely took a hit when the first gasp of air she took after moving away from the Son of the Empire, was Sogowa's. However, Shezu recovered quickly and she had to, for she was not alone. Within an instant, she reached out with her powerful mind, immediately aware of every tree, every living being and every object of significance within a radius large enough to be called her direct vicinity, even with the speeds at which she was able to move, if she exploited all the advantages her enhanced body and mind gave her. But the other mind she touched made her shiver, partly because it was a dark and twisted mind. She was close, the other version of herself. What she felt was identical to the inner darkness she felt lurking within herself. Something she vowed not to give into again. She made a promise to Prince Kero, who helped her to recover her old self. The sweet girl that she used to be. Before he tortured her. Emperor Rajah. Tormenting her mentally, using her deepest fears as a means of keeping her under control. Never again. But she was going to have a hard time, convincing herself once more that this was not the way. The one true enemy was the one she had been forced to serve for as long as she remembered. And this time, she wouldn't just have to fight her inner demons, but the embodiment of those within the appearance of her exact self. In the area around her she could only feel the primitive minds of small animals, the inhabitants the Sogowa's dense forests and jungles. She didn't know exactly where on the surface she ended up but apparently they were away from any populated areas. She was on relatively high ground though. Expanding her consciousness in all directions to explore the terrain, she noticed there were large cliffs to the right. The area was rather mountainous, the jungle moderately dense with the sun being able to penetrate the roof of leaves in only a few tiny spots. Small streams flowed through the landscape from the top of the taller mountain to her left and there was a small pond nearby that caught a few of these in a natural bowl. It was one of the things she remembered from the intense training sessions that made her into the living weapon that she had become. Using the environment to her advantage, if a fight was inevitable. Although she knew her opponent inside and out, she still froze for a second or two when she appeared, entering the natural circular outline created by the surrounding trees, like the arena of a tournament. There was little need for words actually but the other Shezu smirked maliciously, adding a brief joyless laughter as she confronted her mirror image. She was the same in every way. From her bodily appearance, her curly golden hair with the silver lines, her differently colored eyes and the tattooed face, to her clothes, the uniform of Rajah's corps of psi warriors. But this Shezu was her old self, loyal to Rajah and down here with only one thing on her mind. Carry out her orders and kill her other self. She didn't need to ask or probe her mind. She could feel it.

"So this is what's become of me. Master was right. You are all a bunch of pathetic weaklings." Shezu felt the edges of her beak curl into a faint smile. Maybe not the motion itself but the thought behind it was picked up by her evil self, for her eyes narrowed to slits. "What?" she hissed. "What're you not telling me? You're hiding something from me, isn't it? Tell me!"

Her outburst resulted in an equally powerful wave of emotion hit her like the waves of a stormy sea hitting a beach.

"If you only knew," she said, her voice a strange mixture of sadness and compassion but also a hint of amusement.

Amusement for the fact that her other self hadn't figured out yet that she was not the Shezu from this universe, but actually herself from a few days ahead in time.

"Knew what?" Stretching out her hand, her other self-initiated a powerful and well-targeted invasive attack on her mind. However after penetrating only the first layer, composed of the strongest emotions and direct thoughts, her attacked glanced off a powerful defensive barrier, shielding her deeper thoughts and memories. Shezu gasped, clenched her teeth and resisted with all her effort, to the frustration of her other self. Ceasing her mental attack she shouted out in anger. "Looks like I'm gonna have to weaken you first. But you are going to give up your little secret!"

Putting her feet, which had the shape of the other race that was part of her unique heritage, the Sogowan, a little further apart, Shezu decided to do the same. The energy levels of her opponent rose drastically, creating a visible spherical field around her, crackling with tiny electric shocks. The ground seemed to crack around her feet, pieces of dirt and grass flying in all directions. Bracing for her opponent's first attack she tried to anticipate her moves. It was a long time ago since the last time she had fought like this against an adversary that was in theory perfectly evenly matched, with the same body, the exact same fighting style. Therefore the outcome of this battle depended on more than skill and training. She would almost say that she needed a little luck right now. She could not allow herself to be defeated by this monstrous version of herself. She had made Kero a promise. And I'm going to keep it. With a powerful shout, her other self unleashed her strength, jumping toward her at breathtaking speeds, using her psionic energy to propel her body. Her right leg was stretched out, sharp claws glittering for a second, her foot ready for a powerful crushing motion. But instead of blocking such a head-on attack, Shezu evaded instead, launching herself a couple of meters into the air using her own incredible powers. The foot hit the spot she just occupied. Enhanced by her energy, the ground seemed to split under the devastating display of force, dirt and grass flying in all directions. Her adversary looked up, her face twisted in anger, teeth clenched, eyes burning with an intense anger that made her skin crawl. Cursing, she jumped into the air toward her in a similar fashion. Appearing in front of her, hovering at roughly the same height, she punched into her arms which she held up in a defensive position to block the attack. Her psionically enhanced punch was so powerful that it sounded like an explosion. The shockwave washed through the surrounding vegetation, breaking off small branches and stripping leaves like a storm wreaking havoc in a forest. But despite her opponent's strength, Shezu was moderately successful in defending herself, using the same power to absorb most of the attack. She was blown backwards at least two meters but continued to hover at about three meters above the ground. These moves had taken her opponent a mere two seconds but her unnaturally enhanced reflexes and perception allowed her to act accordingly. Lowering her arms, shaking the slightly curly locks that had slit in her field of vision out of her face, Shezu let go of the breath she had been holding during that moment and felt the edges of her own mouth curve into a faint smile. That same smile only angered her other self, who already seemed furious beyond reason and therefore resorted to using brute violence.

"Why are you fighting me? I know what's happened to you. What he's done to you. If you want to get your revenge, take it out on him."

"Shut up!" she shouted, snorting with anger, tears wetting her cheeks. "You're just saying that because you're weak! And because you know I'm gonna defeat you! That's why!"

Hearing her say that, with her voice, wearing her face triggered a wave of random emotions that were hard to control. She couldn't believe that this was her, less than a day ago. It hurt and at the same time she was feeling sorry for her other self. They weren't supposed to fight like this. Emperor Rajah destroyed her life just as much as he destroyed hers. He was their mutual enemy, not each other and not certainly not the people on this planet.

"You're wrong!" she yelled back, temporarily startling her.

She could've exploited that moment to attack but she didn't. The other Shezu laughed or actually it was a strange combination of anger, sadness and some twisted form of amusement. All of a sudden, the laughter died, her face nothing but a scowl, eyes glittering, or were they glowing? With a loud cry she pushed herself through the air to cross the small distance that separated them, discharging into a lightning fast attack. It's as if time slowed down around her. Her opponent launched a rapid flurry of punches and kicks on her, trying to break through her defense, trying to find a hole to knock her out. Again they were like small explosions, the shockwaves causing powerful turbulence in their surrounding area. But Shezu was no longer planning to play a passive role. First she blocked, her arms and legs getting pounded on, which really began to hurt. Then she evaded, striking back on occasion and only moments later it was a life or death battle with them dancing around each other, trying to make use of the environment to confuse each other and get the upper hand somehow. It was physically and mentally very exhausting. Shezu felt how her opponent was draining her energy reserves rapidly while the intensity of her attacks didn't lessen and even seemed to increase at some point. She felt the weakness, like a prey at the end of its run for the predator in pursuit. Jumping away from her and up into the air again, panting lightly, she tried to refocus. I've lost her! Where is she? Too late she realized her mistake when she mentally felt her presence behind her. Turning around, it was what she had been waiting for. The sadistic smirk on the copy of her own face, her right arm crossed over her chest, ready to strike.

"I'm here." She shouted in pain as the arm and first made contact with her middle with such force she was unable to stay aloft. Every bit of air was forcefully ejected from her lungs. Because of the height difference, she was slammed down at considerable speed. Despite the grass covering the ground was hard. Very hard. She was able to prevent any lethal harm from coming to her using her psionic powers but her back felt like it just split in two as she disappeared into a small cloud of dirt and grass, pulled a trench into the bottom of the forest and hit a nearby tree. Groaning, fearing that it would be over very soon she watched through blurry eyes how her opponent landed gently on her feet, mere inches away from her, the malevolent expression still on her face. "No place is big enough for the two of us," she spat, walking to her right side. Unable to act or defend herself, Shezu tried to catch her breath, preparing for any kind of torture, either physically or mentally. She was too much weakened to be able to resist anyway. "Only one of us will come out of this. And you know who that is? The strongest!"

She shouted again as she was kicked in the ribs. A veil of black fell in front of her eyes, temporarily blinding her as the pain surged through her body like an electric shock. Due to the force of the kick she sailed through the air a couple of meters before landing on her belly. Pain. She was aching all over. With her eyes still closed she felt the beating of her own hearts in her head. And she also sensed the subtle vibrations of footsteps yet again drawing closer.

I can't lose. I can't lose to her. She's going to kill so many others. Must keep my promise to Kero.

She didn't know where she got the strength from but her mind was still strong enough. Now she just needed to convince her body she was still determined to fight. Pushing herself away from the ground in an attempt to get up she took a rattling breath and coughed, watching droplets of blood and saliva spray the grass as she opened her eyes. She whined again as someone grabbed her hair and forcefully yanked her up. As she panted, forcing her mind to ignore the pain and come up with some kind of way out of her situation she felt the warmth of her opponent's breath against her left ear.

"This is where it ends," she whispered. "I expected you to last longer. It's almost pathetic."

There was but one way out. Something that always worked in her advantage until she swore never to take that path again, at least not with evil intent. She just needed to be careful not to let it consume her. But was she up for it? Remember who you are.

"You're wrong again," she said, her teeth clenched together, using her anger as a means to tap into a source of power far greater than what she had demonstrated so far.

Praying to Kirliya that she might prevent her from being consumed by the darkness within herself once more and that it might only lean its strength to her for the duration of this duel, she collected a concentrated pocket of psionic energy within her hand. For a moment her eyes glowed, the black curly tattoos covering her face seemed to pulsate, visible dark energies emanating from them like poisonous fumes. When she realized what she was trying to contain, her other self instantly let go of her hair. Strengthened by the incredible malevolent powers within herself Shezu rose back to her feet. Fear struck her opponent's face but even before she could do a step back, a force, only visible to those who could wield it hit her in the stomach area. It sent her flying backwards at speeds that would crush a normal body on impact with anything. That 'anything' became a very large and tall old tree, the trunk more than three times as wide as her figure. But she was being pursued. Following the invisible blast dealt with one fist, with her other hand Shezu had launched the pocket of energy, glowing blue and crackling with lightning-like lashes straight after her. The other Shezu cursed, then disappeared into an explosion of wood splinters that flew in all directions and disintegrated on the force field surrounding the attacker. A secondary much more powerful explosion followed as the concentrated energy was released upon impact. More splinters and large pieces of charred wood became deadly projectiles for unprotected objects. The old tree that had been standing here on this spot for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years broke like a mere matchstick, came crashing down with a thundering roar of breaking wood. But even the rumbling noise of the trunk, weighing dozens of tons, hitting the ground couldn't shake Shezu. She was staring in the direction of the target of her attack, for this duel was far from over. The cloud of smoke and dust was blown away as by a gush of wind coming from a source in the center of it. There in a sphere of the same energy surrounding her at the moment, was her opponent. She didn't come out of it entirely unscathed, blood oozing from a cut on her cheek which would heal soon due to her enhanced regenerative abilities. With her right hand stretched out, her hand in a crushing gesture, she was clamping her right side with her other hand. Blood glistened between her fingers and a dark stain had appeared on the fabric of her black shirt. Panting and filled with a hatred so intense she could feel it like one could sense the coming of a storm, she shouted out in all her frustration for the sudden and well-chosen moment of the attack.

"Well then. If there is fight left in you, let's finish it!"

Without further delay she pushed herself forward and a fraction of a second later Shezu did the same, with equal strength and determination, knowing how much more depended on the outcome than personal honor or the keeping of promise.