Uley threw himself to the ground and looked at Ryse. before coming to the barracks a week before he had never heard of a female knight before but now he was in a unit with two of them. Ryse wasn't too bad. She was timid but not as bad as the guy he had to share a bunk with who could barely form words out of his mouth. The real pain was Ryse's cousin Colin who would be on top of them in moments when she saw that the two of them were down.

Zayto and Pietre were on duty out int he streets and Colin had decided to keep them moving. Between all night runs in full armament and hours on the course he was beginning to see why there was such a turnover rate for knights in their first year of service. He had stupidly refused to sleep that first night and now he was paying for it. He knew he was strong enough to follow through and he would make it. He had to because this was technically his third chance his second had been when Zayto's parents had taken him in when he had no where else to go. Now he was here and though he had money now to go back to his home village if it didn't work out he didn't want to have to explain everything in shame about why he had run away from the farming life in the first place.

"Get up! Get up! This is not nap time for little children this is time to prove that you are indeed Knights!" Colin came marching over as one of the guys from Pietre's bunk fell ontop of Uley. Out of the the sixteen bunks that had probationary knights in them their three were the only ones working together right now. Pietre even did things on his own from time to time but Zayto and Colin seemed to lean heavily on each other building on each others strengths and weaknesses.

Ryse pulled herself to the ground and nodded. Uley did the same as the other guy spring boarded off of him and looked over to him, "I'll stop if you stop deal?"

"Agreed that way she has to get mad at both of us and not just one of us." Uley nodded as he dug his heels in and matched her pace.

As they rounded a corner alarms around the base began to sound and knights began to run back towards the barracks from all the stations.

KNIGHTS

Zayto looked down at his beacon, "Pietre we are all being recalled back to the Barracks!"

Pietre looked at Zayto, "We have almost served this last warrant of the day. Let's finish it and then go back."

Zayto turned the screen of his beacon around, "It says to cease and desist all orders immediately and return to the barracks immediately."

Pietre sighed and rolled the warrant up before turning to follow Zayto, "YOu really are a spoil sport you know that right?"

"Arriving back at the barracks they went through the reentry process and handed all of their side arms into the processing counter. By the sheer number of side arms being processed it was clear that whatever was happening had affected the entire base and not just the first years.

Out in the yard they lined up by their racks. Looking over at Ryse he noticed that he was two short. mouthing to her she just sunk her head and shook her head. He had hoped that by leaving them with Colin it would shake them up a bit but knew that their deciding to leave was of no great loss to the unit. He just wished he had been there to see them leave.

The commander came out and turned on the announcement screen, "The highest levels of our government has issued a state of emergency for the entire planet. Normally we wouldn't have to be this extreme this early on into an spacial atmospheric threat however this has not been a normal year for any of us. We have been challenged in numerous ways. Our ranks are not as strong as they should be thanks to many knights abdicating their ranks int he wake of the new laws that we are forced to follow which as Knights we follow to the best of our abilities and not halfway. We are also trying to do something that has never been done before and field break in probationary knights. Some of you are exemplary and proving that in the future our testing standards may be able to change while others of you are struggling and it is apparent that you were passed over for good reason."

Ryse nodded to Zayto as she tried to stay calm. They could both feel the over exuberance radiating off of Uley behind them as well as Colin's blazing intention to kick her smug underling to the moon.

"60 Rotations ago a team of explorers discovered a planet that we had the intent to colonize as our first colony world. A dream that has been put on hold because of events that happened in the days following. Many of you before me weren't even born yet while those of us who were, were still young enough that all we could do was watch in fear and wonder.

Our science team was evaluating the planet and collecting samples so that we would know more about the planet. It is a young planet teaming with life of all sorts. Not far from here known as Onyx to our allies. On their way back from the mission we received word from an ally that they had detected a new threat on another planet that they were calling the Sporix and that these spores came from an undetermined sector of space and seemed to have the ability to exist in the vacuum of space as easily as they could in the oxygen rich environments that we need to survive in. they had the ability to grow into creatures both like us and unlike us at the same time with a demonstrated ability to communicate like we do. We were warned that they had been seen moving towards our intended colony world. Upon inspection it was deemed correct and that our science team had not one but possibly hundreds of these Sporix on board.

When they tried to test the Sporix one of them grew and began to commandeer the ship. In the final seconds of the trip we were forced to blow the ship to one of our nearby planets and incincerate the planet in attempt to stop the Sporix. All signs and tests have indicated that there were no threat of the Sporix and that our efforts to stop them had been successful. That is until last night this was recorded by an aerial surveillance team." The commander turned to face the screen which showed documentation of a cloud rising up off of the planets surface. "To make matters worse we believe a few of them are already here on the planet because our orbital tracking system has detected microscopic entries into our atmosphere over the last few days. The entries track right back to the planet in question."

"All knights at all bases around the planet are being geared up but truth be told they have been hit just as hard as we have here in what ultimately is our only training station for new knights with the new laws. We will be going to a code red but before we activate code red you are all being urged to rerecord your final wills and update your tags because after red status has been activated there will be no further communication with the civilians you might care for. Until we know better what these Sporix want which seems to be destruction of anything in their path we will have no further communication with our civilian family wether they are or have been knights in the past."

The Commander left and while many waited to be dismissed there were a few of the younger knights not just among the first years who started to panic about not being allowed any communication with their families.

Colin just shrugged it off and looked at her own bunk, "They do this so that we don't worry about what is happening to them and they don't worry about what is happening to us. At points along the way they will announce death tolls in bulk for both sides. But our loved ones will think that we are all still out there fighting for them and we will think the same which will keep our morales up."

Zayto nodded, "Colin is right we just have to be strong and they will be strong for us as well. As the Commander has stated we have a few hours to process and to make the adjustments that are needed.

Being dismissed everyone seemed to go to the commissary where they could be together and look over what was in their files and anything that needed to be updated including loved ones or family members that may have passed.

Zayto looked at his file which included his mother and his father but given what had gone down recently he made sure to include his sister as well as Alward and their son Zayfrin. Though Zayfrin was currently too young if he survived he deserved to know who Zayto was even if the rest of his family perished. Under close friends Zayto made sure to state that Colin, Pietre, Uley and Ryse deserved to know his fate if they were ever separated. Though he had only known Ryse for less than a week he felt like she was integral to his being.

An attendant came up, "Zayto you have a highly unorthodox visiter in the call room."

Colin looked up and smiled as if to say "lucky."

Zayto followed the attendant who stood at the door, "You have three minutes with them make it count."

Zayto nodded and entered the room to find Gianna and Alward there. "We were here in the capital for a review of our union status. The orders came down but it seems your sister knew what was happening before it even was announced. She became very adamant that we got in to see you while we were here. I told her we could try but that visitors were not allowed on a good day and we haven't had very many of those recently. Then the news came down while we were waiting."

"Gianna has always been special and when she wants something she seems to know when she can get it. I only have three minutes." Zayto nodded as he looked at his sister.

Gianna grabbed his hand, "Zayto promise me that whatever happens you will fight and be brave. Prove that there will be a future for our people."

Zayto nodded at first thinking that she was talking about her son but then realized that in her tone she was talking about the general population. "Gianna I give you my word as your brother and as a knight that I will do everything that I can."

Gianna grabbed Zayto and hugged him in a way that Zayto remembered from their childhood. Hugging her back he rubbed her back. This was a hug of fear but also a hug of promise.

There was a pounding on the door and Zayto knew that his time was up. As he pulled away Gianna whispered, "The red light protects you as the other colors of the rainbow protect your friends."

Looking at Gianna Zayto looked at her strangely. He had always recognized that Gianna saw and felt things differently but he also knew her visions were always ones of hope and usually were very direct like telling him that he was a knight before he was even in school. But this vision which was whispered in her prophetic tone was very abstract and confusing, rainbows didn't protect they were illusions of shattered light.

Leaving the room his mind immediately went to the vision that the breeder had given him the week before about things falling from the sky. As he passed a window he sighed the sky wasn't orange nor was it raining fire but demons taking all and battles raging day and night that is what they were preparing for. Zayto held his breath. Why hadn't he asked his sister what she thought about those things. Turning he thought maybe he could catch her but ultimately he knew they were probably being shown to their transport as he hesitated. Questions were just one thing he had grown used to with Gianna and it was something that he was going to have to deal with now.

When he returned to the commisary he found that people had started to disperse but Colin and Pietre were still there. "We sent the lackeys on ahead. We are being urged to sleep if we haven't in the last few days. They have reportedly unlocked the unused bunks and telling others to just find a corner if they have to."

Zayto nodded, the thought of sleeping on the floor like an animal was how you knew they were desperate to get a head on whatever this threat was going to be like.

"What did your visitor want?" Colin asked as she breathed in hoping that Zayto had made it count.

"It was Alward and Gianna. They were here in the city for a union review. But Gianna I guess nearly became violent before the announcement was even proclaimed and demanded to see me. Alward fought tooth and nail but managed to get three minutes of my time."

"What was it like? I mean your sister seemed pretty cognizant on screen that one time. But you have also indicated that she isn't always shall we say grounded," Colin asked.

Zayto shook his ehad, "She was far from grounded today but she was present and that is what I needed. I needed to know that she would be alright. All she cares about is that we win and give our people a future. She also made this grand notion that the rainbow is protecting myself and my friends."

Pietre scratched his head, "Wait is your sister crazy like that breeder that smashed my face in?"

"I wouldn't call either of them crazy but her visions are usually a little more tangible than vague statements or doomsday scenarios."

"Oh good because if you said she had given you doomsday things I would tell you to board the crazy train. Did you know that my face still hurts from that guy? The medical center was able to alleviate the symptoms but he cracked a few bones that are taking a bit longer to heal." Pietre sighed, "I am having a hard time that we have these people among us who can predict the future."

Colin sighed, "Pietre they are all crazy, that is why they are breeders and not professors."

Zayto shrugged, "I don't know we are a telepathic species. Perhaps their brains are just wired differently. We used to have spiritual leaders what if these people that we call breeders just because they are genetically or cognitively different are just people who are in touch with a different level of reality?"

Colin shook her head, "I don't know about you but my mom was not any sort of visionary hopeful or doomsday related. the most she could talk about the future was what she wanted to eat."

"I'm not saying they all are the same but that some might not be the same as others. I mean you said it clearly the other day, if a young child can't solve the templars puzzle in bred knight households on a modified level they are automatically considered breeders and no further effort is put into them. what if they were just slow to develop and your father gave them an extra year or two to learn some additional discipline?" Zayto demanded as he turned away.

"Zayto you have something stuffed into the back of your belt." Pietre noted and reached for it before handing to the Zayto, "I am surprised the attendant didn't try and retrieve it from you."

"I am as well. the visit you just had was highly unorthadox and borderline forbidden given what we are going through right now. and right at the gate it is posted that giving a knight anything is absolutely forbidden unless it is in a care package during a sending period and then everyone knows that a council reviews everything in those packages before we even see them." Colin nodded as Zayto carefully unfolded the paper.

The paper contained a colored lead drawing of six individuals standing under a rainbow. this rainbow was atypical as it contained a black streak and some colors were out of order but there was a red, green, blue, pink, black and a yellow streak that was laced with gold. the individuals were drawn beautifully and while the helmets resembled a knight's helmet the garbs that they wore did not. they were unlike anything they had ever seen before.

Zayto refolded the paper quickly and shoved it into his pocket. he recognized the artwork and knew that Gianna had drawn it but he didn't know when or why she had just that it seemed to connect what she had said to him.