1 "Tempus Fugit" [Part One]
How many people have to die,
before it becomes genocide?
Ashes of Lightning – The Legend of Syn-Avan-Dar
C.Y. 10138
Harper stood and stared, as the Eureka Maru burst from Slipstream. The massive, daunting shape of the Haephastos Black hole stared back at him, hauntingly. Harper held the cold, metal bar in the Maru, as Beka bought the ship to a stop.
"Its beautiful isn't it?" Beka asked him as she caught his eyes and followed them to the huge mass of spiralling dark gases.
"I guess," Harper said, "it's just that I'd hate to happen to me what happened to Dylan. To be pulled away from the life I knew, into a completely different one. Into a harsh new world. It scares me."
"Oh Harper. Getting a hint of wisdom in your old age!" Beka joked.
Just then the Maru's computers beeped to tell them that the Andromeda was approaching. The Andromeda had been on a mission to secure a shipment of Nova Bombs. Dylan felt that with the Magog on their way they had to do everything that they could to defend themselves.
Beka and Harper had been on a trading mission to a nearby drift. They had managed to gain an entire cargo pod full of spare parts and supplies. All it had cost was a fake Vedran gem that Harper had made. This particular sort of Vedran gem was very rare and people would pay good money for one. Beka had no problems with trading a fake one, seeing as most of those on the drift were corrupt merchants anyway. Dylan had of course objected at first, but since the Maru left the Andromeda there really little that he could do.
"Maru," Dylan's voice came over the comm, "I hope you've had as successful a time as we have?"
"We've got everything you wanted," Beka smiled.
"Thanks to yours truly," Harper interrupted with a smile on his face. "Just one fake Vedran Coronation Stone and we can have whatever we want."
"Within reason," Dylan frowned at Harper, but didn't conceal his smile very well.
"CODE RED," Beka and Harper suddenly heard Rommie's cry over the comm. "CODE RED. THAN WARSHIPS ON MULTIPLE VECTORS!"
Beka and Harper looked up to see hundreds of Than-Thre-Kull warships pouring through the Slipstream portal. Harper jumped down to Beka's side as she began to manoeuvre the Maru.
Than weapons pounded the Andromeda's hull. Explosions rippled across the ship's gleaming white surface.
"I thought the Than were supposed to be good guys," Harper cried.
"Be grateful they're not firing at us," Beka said.
Harper suddenly had an idea. He grabbed a wire from the console and plugged it in to the small implant on his neck. He was inside the Andromeda's systems. He made a few easy commands and he was looking through Rommie's eyes. He pressed a button and he began to record what he saw onto a data chip.
Rev Bem lay dead on the Command Deck floor. Conduits burst open and bullets of fire shot from the walls. Trance was hit. She went down.
"Bring us about," Dylan cried over the roar of fire, and the pounding of constant weapon strikes.
"Trying," Harper heard himself say in Rommie's body.
Fire erupted from the rear corridor and Rommie was knocked down. Harper felt the hope die within her. She looked up as Tyr fell to the deck dead. Then another weapon hit.
Harper screamed as Rommie cut him loose. He was on the Maru again. On the Maru, just watching the terror unfold.
"Help –" Dylan's final cry cut through the void. His last word.
Beka and Harper could do nothing but watch. A massive explosion rocked the Andromeda. She began to drift in space. Her weapons were disabled. Her slipstream drive was disabled. She couldn't even get to safety.
"Andromeda…" Beka cried breathlessly. Tears welling up in her eyes.
"What the hell is happening?" Harper shouted helplessly, fighting back his own tears.
Suddenly, the biggest explosion ripped across the ship. Harper leaned forward. Shocked. The Andromeda drifted so that it was at an angle with the Maru. Then.
All of a sudden, the Andromeda Ascendant erupted into golden, red flames. The devastating scene reflected through the Maru's window. And in Harper's eyes. Tears flowed openly down his face now. The Andromeda was gone. Now just a field of burning debris. A wreckage. A remembrance of the High Guard. A remnant of what was.
The Maru rocked violently. Harper fell to the deck. He was pulled back to reality. Back to real time again. Beka was now standing above the pilot's seat. She desperately thumped at the controls.
"Oh god." Harper heard her say. "The Than. They're trying to pull us aboard."
Harper watched as the long steal, mooring cables enveloped the Maru in a clever net. A Than ship grew gradually bigger and bigger as they were pulled aboard. The massive shape of the three branches, steming from the main hull cast a shadow across the Maru. Then they came to a shuddering holt. Beka grabbed the steal bar and Harper fell into the pilot's chair. The Maru jolted one final time as the came to rest in the Than docking bay.
"Oh god," Beka repeated.
"No." Harper cried in desperation.
"The doors have been secured. We're OK. For now." Beka tried to reassure Harper. It didn't work. They began to hear Than weapons pound at the doors.
There was a sudden flash. "We've gone to Slipstream," Beka announced.
"Why don't we just fire our weapons and get the hell out of here?" Harper cried as he wiped more tears away. He was vainly trying to think of way to escape the wrath of the Than-Thre-Kull.
"While we're in Slipstream?" Beka cried, her astonishment showing clearly on her face. "Firstly it would be too dangerous to leave now. We would be crushed as soon as we entered slipstream. And it would be too dangerous to use the weapons, so close to the docking doors." Beka turned to Harper and looked into his eyes. "What are we going to do?"
Just then, the Maru's doors burst open. Beka didn't turn around in time. She was shot with a Than pulse rifle. She fell over the bar, and thudded to the deck below. She was dead.
Harper grabbed his force lance and shot the nearest two Than. They fell. He ran at another of them and thrust him to the wall. He hit his elbow into the Than's face. He had enough time to grab the Than's throat and threaten him with the force lance.
He went to the door with his hostage, who was screaming something in that harsh Than language. The soldiers stopped in their tracks as they saw Harper and the Than. Harper counted on this being an important Than.
"Open the bay doors or he dies." Harper cried as he slammed the Maru's doors shut. He threw the Than to the floor, then kicked him in the head. The Than fell. Unconscious.
Harper jumped back into the pilot's chair. He saw the bay doors open. He saw that they were no longer in Slipstream.
"Obviously you're quite important to them," he shouted at the oblivious Than.
He lifted the Maru away from the platform and guided the ship carefully through the gap. As he came out, he saw thousands of Than ships. They surround a massive red planet.
"Wow!" Harper cried as he recognised the planet. It was San-Ska-Re, the homeworld of the Than-Thre-Kull species. He didn't know what to do. Where did he go from here? What was he supposed to do?
Suddenly, it was as if the choice had been made for him. Panels all around him exploded. The Maru rocked and began to fall towards San-Ska-Re.
Harper realised that the Than were firing on him. He felt like killing the hostage he had in retaliation but decided against it. It was the only advantage he had. Also, he needed to know what the hell was going on. The Than had some explaining to do.
He tried to dodge the Than missiles. He tried to fire back. All that he did, he did in vain. The Maru continued to descend. The Than weapons were a lot more advanced than the Maru's.
Harper gave up as he realised that they were going to crash land into the planet. Golden clouds now sped past the main view window. The clouds began to thin out.
"You obviously weren't THAT important to them," Harper cried enraged.
He could now see mountains. An endless range of mountains and desert. Dark golden sand and the glowing sun striking down on the harsh landscape.
As the mountains grew ever nearer, Harper got strapped into the chair and braced himself. Sweat and dirt covered his face. He bit his tongue. He fought back more tears but it was hard. In such a short time all of his friends had died. The life he had known was gone. And he determined that he wanted revenge. He wanted to find out why the Than had killed his friends. His family. He wanted to know what purpose all of this served.
He had no time to think of such things now though. The mountains were within only a few metres. It was only a matter of time before the Maru hit something.
And then it came. A grinding smash. Sparks flew from everywhere. Harper jolted uncontrollably. Fire roared through the Maru. She began to nose dive and collided with the sand.
Harper tried hard to stay conscious. The Maru continued at a terrifying speed through the mountains. He tried not to blink. He was worried that each time he saw darkness, it would be the last thing he ever saw. Then everything began to fade away. He only faintly heard the explosions rip through the ship. He only faintly saw the mountains and the sun. He only faintly felt the Maru come to a crushing stop. Everything paled into complete darkness. Into complete insignificance. Everything went dead.
1.1 TO BE CONTINUED…
How many people have to die,
before it becomes genocide?
Ashes of Lightning – The Legend of Syn-Avan-Dar
C.Y. 10138
Harper stood and stared, as the Eureka Maru burst from Slipstream. The massive, daunting shape of the Haephastos Black hole stared back at him, hauntingly. Harper held the cold, metal bar in the Maru, as Beka bought the ship to a stop.
"Its beautiful isn't it?" Beka asked him as she caught his eyes and followed them to the huge mass of spiralling dark gases.
"I guess," Harper said, "it's just that I'd hate to happen to me what happened to Dylan. To be pulled away from the life I knew, into a completely different one. Into a harsh new world. It scares me."
"Oh Harper. Getting a hint of wisdom in your old age!" Beka joked.
Just then the Maru's computers beeped to tell them that the Andromeda was approaching. The Andromeda had been on a mission to secure a shipment of Nova Bombs. Dylan felt that with the Magog on their way they had to do everything that they could to defend themselves.
Beka and Harper had been on a trading mission to a nearby drift. They had managed to gain an entire cargo pod full of spare parts and supplies. All it had cost was a fake Vedran gem that Harper had made. This particular sort of Vedran gem was very rare and people would pay good money for one. Beka had no problems with trading a fake one, seeing as most of those on the drift were corrupt merchants anyway. Dylan had of course objected at first, but since the Maru left the Andromeda there really little that he could do.
"Maru," Dylan's voice came over the comm, "I hope you've had as successful a time as we have?"
"We've got everything you wanted," Beka smiled.
"Thanks to yours truly," Harper interrupted with a smile on his face. "Just one fake Vedran Coronation Stone and we can have whatever we want."
"Within reason," Dylan frowned at Harper, but didn't conceal his smile very well.
"CODE RED," Beka and Harper suddenly heard Rommie's cry over the comm. "CODE RED. THAN WARSHIPS ON MULTIPLE VECTORS!"
Beka and Harper looked up to see hundreds of Than-Thre-Kull warships pouring through the Slipstream portal. Harper jumped down to Beka's side as she began to manoeuvre the Maru.
Than weapons pounded the Andromeda's hull. Explosions rippled across the ship's gleaming white surface.
"I thought the Than were supposed to be good guys," Harper cried.
"Be grateful they're not firing at us," Beka said.
Harper suddenly had an idea. He grabbed a wire from the console and plugged it in to the small implant on his neck. He was inside the Andromeda's systems. He made a few easy commands and he was looking through Rommie's eyes. He pressed a button and he began to record what he saw onto a data chip.
Rev Bem lay dead on the Command Deck floor. Conduits burst open and bullets of fire shot from the walls. Trance was hit. She went down.
"Bring us about," Dylan cried over the roar of fire, and the pounding of constant weapon strikes.
"Trying," Harper heard himself say in Rommie's body.
Fire erupted from the rear corridor and Rommie was knocked down. Harper felt the hope die within her. She looked up as Tyr fell to the deck dead. Then another weapon hit.
Harper screamed as Rommie cut him loose. He was on the Maru again. On the Maru, just watching the terror unfold.
"Help –" Dylan's final cry cut through the void. His last word.
Beka and Harper could do nothing but watch. A massive explosion rocked the Andromeda. She began to drift in space. Her weapons were disabled. Her slipstream drive was disabled. She couldn't even get to safety.
"Andromeda…" Beka cried breathlessly. Tears welling up in her eyes.
"What the hell is happening?" Harper shouted helplessly, fighting back his own tears.
Suddenly, the biggest explosion ripped across the ship. Harper leaned forward. Shocked. The Andromeda drifted so that it was at an angle with the Maru. Then.
All of a sudden, the Andromeda Ascendant erupted into golden, red flames. The devastating scene reflected through the Maru's window. And in Harper's eyes. Tears flowed openly down his face now. The Andromeda was gone. Now just a field of burning debris. A wreckage. A remembrance of the High Guard. A remnant of what was.
The Maru rocked violently. Harper fell to the deck. He was pulled back to reality. Back to real time again. Beka was now standing above the pilot's seat. She desperately thumped at the controls.
"Oh god." Harper heard her say. "The Than. They're trying to pull us aboard."
Harper watched as the long steal, mooring cables enveloped the Maru in a clever net. A Than ship grew gradually bigger and bigger as they were pulled aboard. The massive shape of the three branches, steming from the main hull cast a shadow across the Maru. Then they came to a shuddering holt. Beka grabbed the steal bar and Harper fell into the pilot's chair. The Maru jolted one final time as the came to rest in the Than docking bay.
"Oh god," Beka repeated.
"No." Harper cried in desperation.
"The doors have been secured. We're OK. For now." Beka tried to reassure Harper. It didn't work. They began to hear Than weapons pound at the doors.
There was a sudden flash. "We've gone to Slipstream," Beka announced.
"Why don't we just fire our weapons and get the hell out of here?" Harper cried as he wiped more tears away. He was vainly trying to think of way to escape the wrath of the Than-Thre-Kull.
"While we're in Slipstream?" Beka cried, her astonishment showing clearly on her face. "Firstly it would be too dangerous to leave now. We would be crushed as soon as we entered slipstream. And it would be too dangerous to use the weapons, so close to the docking doors." Beka turned to Harper and looked into his eyes. "What are we going to do?"
Just then, the Maru's doors burst open. Beka didn't turn around in time. She was shot with a Than pulse rifle. She fell over the bar, and thudded to the deck below. She was dead.
Harper grabbed his force lance and shot the nearest two Than. They fell. He ran at another of them and thrust him to the wall. He hit his elbow into the Than's face. He had enough time to grab the Than's throat and threaten him with the force lance.
He went to the door with his hostage, who was screaming something in that harsh Than language. The soldiers stopped in their tracks as they saw Harper and the Than. Harper counted on this being an important Than.
"Open the bay doors or he dies." Harper cried as he slammed the Maru's doors shut. He threw the Than to the floor, then kicked him in the head. The Than fell. Unconscious.
Harper jumped back into the pilot's chair. He saw the bay doors open. He saw that they were no longer in Slipstream.
"Obviously you're quite important to them," he shouted at the oblivious Than.
He lifted the Maru away from the platform and guided the ship carefully through the gap. As he came out, he saw thousands of Than ships. They surround a massive red planet.
"Wow!" Harper cried as he recognised the planet. It was San-Ska-Re, the homeworld of the Than-Thre-Kull species. He didn't know what to do. Where did he go from here? What was he supposed to do?
Suddenly, it was as if the choice had been made for him. Panels all around him exploded. The Maru rocked and began to fall towards San-Ska-Re.
Harper realised that the Than were firing on him. He felt like killing the hostage he had in retaliation but decided against it. It was the only advantage he had. Also, he needed to know what the hell was going on. The Than had some explaining to do.
He tried to dodge the Than missiles. He tried to fire back. All that he did, he did in vain. The Maru continued to descend. The Than weapons were a lot more advanced than the Maru's.
Harper gave up as he realised that they were going to crash land into the planet. Golden clouds now sped past the main view window. The clouds began to thin out.
"You obviously weren't THAT important to them," Harper cried enraged.
He could now see mountains. An endless range of mountains and desert. Dark golden sand and the glowing sun striking down on the harsh landscape.
As the mountains grew ever nearer, Harper got strapped into the chair and braced himself. Sweat and dirt covered his face. He bit his tongue. He fought back more tears but it was hard. In such a short time all of his friends had died. The life he had known was gone. And he determined that he wanted revenge. He wanted to find out why the Than had killed his friends. His family. He wanted to know what purpose all of this served.
He had no time to think of such things now though. The mountains were within only a few metres. It was only a matter of time before the Maru hit something.
And then it came. A grinding smash. Sparks flew from everywhere. Harper jolted uncontrollably. Fire roared through the Maru. She began to nose dive and collided with the sand.
Harper tried hard to stay conscious. The Maru continued at a terrifying speed through the mountains. He tried not to blink. He was worried that each time he saw darkness, it would be the last thing he ever saw. Then everything began to fade away. He only faintly heard the explosions rip through the ship. He only faintly saw the mountains and the sun. He only faintly felt the Maru come to a crushing stop. Everything paled into complete darkness. Into complete insignificance. Everything went dead.
1.1 TO BE CONTINUED…