1 "Judicium Dies Diei" [Part Three]
Fate is a Cruel Instrument of the Divine.
Whenever You Try to Change Something, Fate Steps in the way.
And Everything Always Turns out Worse.
1.1.1 Kaydar May'lin – Wayist
C.Y. 10088
The Medical Bay was quiet. Beka and Rev were sedated. Trance was playing dead. Harper was bound in the corner, struggling but Obsidian's weapon locked on him. He could do nothing.
"I'll get my revenge on you yet," Harper cried. "You tortured me. Now its my turn."
"Tell me what you're talking about," the Ruby Than instructed in a harsh, but composed voice. He was trying to hide his anger and frustration. He usually knew everything that was going on. Everything. Before anybody. But this was different. This human knew something about him that he didn't.
"I get it now," Harper said, "there was no Nova Bombs. It wasn't us. You just blamed it on us. You destroyed Syn-Avan-Dar and you made a false recording and blamed it on us." He was wrong.
"I do not know you, and you do not know me," Obsidian let his rage loose and he shouted in anger. He pounded his fist against the console. It shattered.
"You do. You will. Or you would have done."
Obsidian continued to look at Harper. "I have no time for you know," he told the inferior human. "I have work to be done."
"You're planning to destroy Syn-Avan-Dar," Harper cried. "You have been all along. Now that the Overdiamond is dead, you want to take over the Hegemon's Guard and start a new Hegemony. Yourself."
"NO," Obsidian Rain shouted out, even louder than before.
"No," Harper complied. "The Sentinel," he was coming to realisation. "That's what Lightning said. He told me that the Sentinel and the Guard had been locked in civil war ever since this day. You started it. Here. On Syn- Avan-Dar. The war was because YOU destroyed the planet."
"You have no idea what you're talking about." Obsidian leaned in so that he was close to Harper's face. "You never will," he said. There was a sudden rip through the air as Obsidian was shot in the back. He was still alive. But he fell on Harper unconscious.
Soon, Trance pulled the Than away from Harper and unbound him. "You get to the Command Deck. I'll see to Beka and Rev."
"OK," Harper said, "leave him alone. Put him outside in the corridor. But when he wants to come for me. Let him come."
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On the surface everything was in chaos. Dark Thunder of Night led his troops in fierce battle against the Sentinel. They were bold. Fortune favours the bold. But not today. They were shot back. The Sentinel's superior fire power overcame them. Dark Thunder of Night watched in fear as buildings fell into ashes. The An-Tallith crumbled into a ruined tower of fire and ashes. It was coming to an end.
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"I still can't contact the ship," Rommie cried above the roar of fire on the Command Deck. "The Than must have control of my systems."
"Then we're sitting ducks," Tyr shouted. "That's no good. I WON'T ACCEPT THAT."
Dylan fired continuos streams of force lance energy through the door way. Than were trying to get into Command. He wouldn't let them. "We have to get out of here."
"That would be retreating," Rommie stated the obvious. "I've said it before, I'll say it again. I'm a warship, I don't like walking away from a fight." She said the last sentence with determination as she marched towards two Than that had made their way to the deck. They headed towards her. They didn't expect her to grab them by the throats. She did. They didn't expect her to break their necks. She did. "I'm a warship. If you compromise me, I will kill you," she cried at their already dead bodies.
Harper suddenly ran onto the deck. "Its OK," Harper said. "We're not responsible for Syn-Avan-Dar's destruction. We never were. It was a fabrication."
"I wouldn't be too sure," Rommie told him, "the Than have control of my systems. They could fire those Nova bombs whenever they want."
"No," Harper cried. The nightmare continued. "Obsidian Rain."
"Who?" Tyr questioned as he took up the pilot's station. He tried to guide the ship through the enemy fire but it didn't work.
"The leader of the Than rebels." Realisation flooded over Harper. He understood it all. He hoped. All along. The Sentinel had been led by Obsidian Rain. They destroyed Syn-Avan-Dar to gain their own power. But it went wrong. They started a civil war between the remaining Guard and Sentinel. Harper could change it. They had control of the Andromeda. Were they going to fire the Nova Bombs?
Again, Harper had little time to think. Obsidian Rain marched on to the deck. He was unopposed after he knocked Dylan out. Rommie tried but failed. Tyr went to him and fought him again. They locked in combat. Harper faced to a console. He quickly pressed illuminated keys to gain access to the weapons locker. He was trying to disarm the Nova Bombs.
"Dylan," he cried. He needed Dylan's command code. The computer would only accept the code, and voice recognition. But Dylan was out cold. It was no use. He felt himself thump against the deck. Tyr was lying on the deck; a pulse weapon wound gushing with dark blood onto his skin. Obsidian Rain took up the controls Harper had been using.
"HELP US!" The Guard leader. Dark Thunder of Night screamed over the comm.
Obsidian pounded at the consoles. They were in Vedran. Easy to understand. He had no hard work to do. He had already overridden all of Andromeda's systems. He had control.
"NO!!" Harper cried in desperation. Tears streamed down his face. He knew what was going to happen.
Suddenly, it happened. Two bright bolts shot from the Andromeda. They sparkled slowly. They fell down to the planet. The tinted blue shine reflected through Harper's tears. His endless tears. "This can't be happening," he told himself.
Obsidian Rain stood there. A look of utter delight on his face. Until Tyr hit him. The Nietzschean had a long rod of metal that he stole from the Andromeda's ruptured bulkheads. He hit out again.
The Nova Bombs continued to descend. Harper remembered the bombs as they impacted the surface. He remembered what he saw.
This time, he saw it for real. As they struck, an unimaginable flash of immense light glared out. But only for a second. Then, as quick as anything he had ever seen, Harper witnessed the blue streaks of burning fire rip across the surface. Everything was incinerated.
On the surface, Dark Thunder of Night saw sky high waves of burning flame rush towards him. It truly was the end.
Then it happened again. As Harper had seen it. The planet itself burst into chaos. It exploded into thousands of shreds of hope. Fire came pouring through space. It was over. The nightmare was over. It had ended.
Harper looked up. It was all he could do. He saw Dylan take up the pilot's control and guide them towards Slipstream. He heard Rommie tell them all that she had control of the systems again. She was fighting off the Than with internal weapons.
He watched.
Obsidian Rain and Tyr Anasazi fought. Tyr struck Obsidian again. "You will die, here today." He screamed. Tears were streaming down even Tyr's face. He could not imagine the scale of the genocide they had just witnessed.
"This is for Harper," he shouted as he struck the Than one last time. But the Than was strong. He got to his feet. He was ready to face Tyr. But he had no choice. A bullet of energy ripped through his chest. Strange, turquoise coloured blood stained his skin.
Harper grabbed his head as Obsidian held on to his last few seconds of life. "You loose," was what Harper said. He knew it wasn't true. He had just killed two billion Than. But then, nobody won.
The Ruby Than fell from Harper's arms. He was dead. Harper's tears flooded down his cheeks. He was prepared to crash against the floor himself. However, he was soon aware, that he was in Tyr's arms.
"Boy," Tyr was saying, "Its OK child."
Harper looked up. They were gliding through space again. They had escaped Syn-Avan-Dar. They had escaped, in a way. A few Than ships had managed to follow them, but they had been easily destroyed. The others. They would have been destroyed in the shock wave that Syn-Avan-Dar would have caused. Such devastation. Such genocide.
"Child," Tyr put on his most sympathetic tone, "child calm down."
Harper fell to his knees. He looked around. There was devastation everywhere. He was tired. He was exhausted. An entire day had passed since the first attack. He had hoped that by know it would all be over. He had been right, but not in the way he wanted.
Everything paled into insignificance as he fell to the deck himself. He lay there, unconscious. He was dreaming. The nightmares were back.
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The nightmares seemed to last forever. Fleeting images. Than faces. Unrecognisable faces. Faces he didn't know. But on them, on each one, was a face of horror. A terrified face. Tears streamed down his face as he slept. Still, tears came.
In his dreams, he remembered the recordings he had watched. He remembered the destruction of Syn-Avan-Dar. The modified end of a world. He remembered the chip he had given to the Overdiamond. He wondered exactly what was on that. Deep down, he didn't really care.
He was woken from his nightmares. This time he was glad. He was surprised to see Tyr's face staring down at him.
"Are you OK child?" the Nietzschean asked him.
"I will be," Harper said.
"There was nothing you could have done," Tyr tried to comfort him. "There was nothing any of us could have done."
"Thankyou Tyr," Harper said. "If it wasn't for you, Obsidian Rain would still be alive right now."
"You fired, the bullet," Tyr told him modestly. "Anyway. I did it for you. Don't think I care, but you are like a son to me."
"Thanks," Harper said, trying to feel amused by the Nietzschean's speech. "Don't think I care, but you're like a father."
They smiled at each other. Tyr tried to fight back that smile, but he couldn't. He just smiled. Harper remembered all that he had been through in the last months. And tried to forget it. It was over now. There was nothing he could do. No more fighting. No more nightmares. It was over. He could get on with his life. He hoped. He hoped it was over. He wished that it were the end. Could he get on with his life? The nightmares continued, for a time. But the real nightmare. The one true nightmare. That was over. It was over, forever.
THE END
1.2
Fate is a Cruel Instrument of the Divine.
Whenever You Try to Change Something, Fate Steps in the way.
And Everything Always Turns out Worse.
1.1.1 Kaydar May'lin – Wayist
C.Y. 10088
The Medical Bay was quiet. Beka and Rev were sedated. Trance was playing dead. Harper was bound in the corner, struggling but Obsidian's weapon locked on him. He could do nothing.
"I'll get my revenge on you yet," Harper cried. "You tortured me. Now its my turn."
"Tell me what you're talking about," the Ruby Than instructed in a harsh, but composed voice. He was trying to hide his anger and frustration. He usually knew everything that was going on. Everything. Before anybody. But this was different. This human knew something about him that he didn't.
"I get it now," Harper said, "there was no Nova Bombs. It wasn't us. You just blamed it on us. You destroyed Syn-Avan-Dar and you made a false recording and blamed it on us." He was wrong.
"I do not know you, and you do not know me," Obsidian let his rage loose and he shouted in anger. He pounded his fist against the console. It shattered.
"You do. You will. Or you would have done."
Obsidian continued to look at Harper. "I have no time for you know," he told the inferior human. "I have work to be done."
"You're planning to destroy Syn-Avan-Dar," Harper cried. "You have been all along. Now that the Overdiamond is dead, you want to take over the Hegemon's Guard and start a new Hegemony. Yourself."
"NO," Obsidian Rain shouted out, even louder than before.
"No," Harper complied. "The Sentinel," he was coming to realisation. "That's what Lightning said. He told me that the Sentinel and the Guard had been locked in civil war ever since this day. You started it. Here. On Syn- Avan-Dar. The war was because YOU destroyed the planet."
"You have no idea what you're talking about." Obsidian leaned in so that he was close to Harper's face. "You never will," he said. There was a sudden rip through the air as Obsidian was shot in the back. He was still alive. But he fell on Harper unconscious.
Soon, Trance pulled the Than away from Harper and unbound him. "You get to the Command Deck. I'll see to Beka and Rev."
"OK," Harper said, "leave him alone. Put him outside in the corridor. But when he wants to come for me. Let him come."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
On the surface everything was in chaos. Dark Thunder of Night led his troops in fierce battle against the Sentinel. They were bold. Fortune favours the bold. But not today. They were shot back. The Sentinel's superior fire power overcame them. Dark Thunder of Night watched in fear as buildings fell into ashes. The An-Tallith crumbled into a ruined tower of fire and ashes. It was coming to an end.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"I still can't contact the ship," Rommie cried above the roar of fire on the Command Deck. "The Than must have control of my systems."
"Then we're sitting ducks," Tyr shouted. "That's no good. I WON'T ACCEPT THAT."
Dylan fired continuos streams of force lance energy through the door way. Than were trying to get into Command. He wouldn't let them. "We have to get out of here."
"That would be retreating," Rommie stated the obvious. "I've said it before, I'll say it again. I'm a warship, I don't like walking away from a fight." She said the last sentence with determination as she marched towards two Than that had made their way to the deck. They headed towards her. They didn't expect her to grab them by the throats. She did. They didn't expect her to break their necks. She did. "I'm a warship. If you compromise me, I will kill you," she cried at their already dead bodies.
Harper suddenly ran onto the deck. "Its OK," Harper said. "We're not responsible for Syn-Avan-Dar's destruction. We never were. It was a fabrication."
"I wouldn't be too sure," Rommie told him, "the Than have control of my systems. They could fire those Nova bombs whenever they want."
"No," Harper cried. The nightmare continued. "Obsidian Rain."
"Who?" Tyr questioned as he took up the pilot's station. He tried to guide the ship through the enemy fire but it didn't work.
"The leader of the Than rebels." Realisation flooded over Harper. He understood it all. He hoped. All along. The Sentinel had been led by Obsidian Rain. They destroyed Syn-Avan-Dar to gain their own power. But it went wrong. They started a civil war between the remaining Guard and Sentinel. Harper could change it. They had control of the Andromeda. Were they going to fire the Nova Bombs?
Again, Harper had little time to think. Obsidian Rain marched on to the deck. He was unopposed after he knocked Dylan out. Rommie tried but failed. Tyr went to him and fought him again. They locked in combat. Harper faced to a console. He quickly pressed illuminated keys to gain access to the weapons locker. He was trying to disarm the Nova Bombs.
"Dylan," he cried. He needed Dylan's command code. The computer would only accept the code, and voice recognition. But Dylan was out cold. It was no use. He felt himself thump against the deck. Tyr was lying on the deck; a pulse weapon wound gushing with dark blood onto his skin. Obsidian Rain took up the controls Harper had been using.
"HELP US!" The Guard leader. Dark Thunder of Night screamed over the comm.
Obsidian pounded at the consoles. They were in Vedran. Easy to understand. He had no hard work to do. He had already overridden all of Andromeda's systems. He had control.
"NO!!" Harper cried in desperation. Tears streamed down his face. He knew what was going to happen.
Suddenly, it happened. Two bright bolts shot from the Andromeda. They sparkled slowly. They fell down to the planet. The tinted blue shine reflected through Harper's tears. His endless tears. "This can't be happening," he told himself.
Obsidian Rain stood there. A look of utter delight on his face. Until Tyr hit him. The Nietzschean had a long rod of metal that he stole from the Andromeda's ruptured bulkheads. He hit out again.
The Nova Bombs continued to descend. Harper remembered the bombs as they impacted the surface. He remembered what he saw.
This time, he saw it for real. As they struck, an unimaginable flash of immense light glared out. But only for a second. Then, as quick as anything he had ever seen, Harper witnessed the blue streaks of burning fire rip across the surface. Everything was incinerated.
On the surface, Dark Thunder of Night saw sky high waves of burning flame rush towards him. It truly was the end.
Then it happened again. As Harper had seen it. The planet itself burst into chaos. It exploded into thousands of shreds of hope. Fire came pouring through space. It was over. The nightmare was over. It had ended.
Harper looked up. It was all he could do. He saw Dylan take up the pilot's control and guide them towards Slipstream. He heard Rommie tell them all that she had control of the systems again. She was fighting off the Than with internal weapons.
He watched.
Obsidian Rain and Tyr Anasazi fought. Tyr struck Obsidian again. "You will die, here today." He screamed. Tears were streaming down even Tyr's face. He could not imagine the scale of the genocide they had just witnessed.
"This is for Harper," he shouted as he struck the Than one last time. But the Than was strong. He got to his feet. He was ready to face Tyr. But he had no choice. A bullet of energy ripped through his chest. Strange, turquoise coloured blood stained his skin.
Harper grabbed his head as Obsidian held on to his last few seconds of life. "You loose," was what Harper said. He knew it wasn't true. He had just killed two billion Than. But then, nobody won.
The Ruby Than fell from Harper's arms. He was dead. Harper's tears flooded down his cheeks. He was prepared to crash against the floor himself. However, he was soon aware, that he was in Tyr's arms.
"Boy," Tyr was saying, "Its OK child."
Harper looked up. They were gliding through space again. They had escaped Syn-Avan-Dar. They had escaped, in a way. A few Than ships had managed to follow them, but they had been easily destroyed. The others. They would have been destroyed in the shock wave that Syn-Avan-Dar would have caused. Such devastation. Such genocide.
"Child," Tyr put on his most sympathetic tone, "child calm down."
Harper fell to his knees. He looked around. There was devastation everywhere. He was tired. He was exhausted. An entire day had passed since the first attack. He had hoped that by know it would all be over. He had been right, but not in the way he wanted.
Everything paled into insignificance as he fell to the deck himself. He lay there, unconscious. He was dreaming. The nightmares were back.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The nightmares seemed to last forever. Fleeting images. Than faces. Unrecognisable faces. Faces he didn't know. But on them, on each one, was a face of horror. A terrified face. Tears streamed down his face as he slept. Still, tears came.
In his dreams, he remembered the recordings he had watched. He remembered the destruction of Syn-Avan-Dar. The modified end of a world. He remembered the chip he had given to the Overdiamond. He wondered exactly what was on that. Deep down, he didn't really care.
He was woken from his nightmares. This time he was glad. He was surprised to see Tyr's face staring down at him.
"Are you OK child?" the Nietzschean asked him.
"I will be," Harper said.
"There was nothing you could have done," Tyr tried to comfort him. "There was nothing any of us could have done."
"Thankyou Tyr," Harper said. "If it wasn't for you, Obsidian Rain would still be alive right now."
"You fired, the bullet," Tyr told him modestly. "Anyway. I did it for you. Don't think I care, but you are like a son to me."
"Thanks," Harper said, trying to feel amused by the Nietzschean's speech. "Don't think I care, but you're like a father."
They smiled at each other. Tyr tried to fight back that smile, but he couldn't. He just smiled. Harper remembered all that he had been through in the last months. And tried to forget it. It was over now. There was nothing he could do. No more fighting. No more nightmares. It was over. He could get on with his life. He hoped. He hoped it was over. He wished that it were the end. Could he get on with his life? The nightmares continued, for a time. But the real nightmare. The one true nightmare. That was over. It was over, forever.
THE END
1.2