Part One: The Beginning Of The End
January 3rd, 2001, Marlock Nebula…
LaRouche
Christmas and the new year came and went. None of us were in any mood to celebrate. David had cleared his shady attitude up a bit, but was still reclusive, brooding and tempered. Whatever had happened to him onboard the Eye of Akdor had affected him deeply. The few times I saw him outside of his quarters, his eyes were a violent crimson, so perhaps he had been crying alone.
Spike left us in the week before Christmas. The place on the head where Rico Muerte had hit him had blossomed into a concussion and we had to look after him for a while.
We dropped Spike off at a Skrit Na trading post in the Delmar system. He claimed to be on the way to visit a local doctor who could help him out with his tail. I didn't really see how, but he was very enthusiastic about it. Seems that Spike thinks he failed David, letting Rico knock him out like that and thus not being able to take part in that fierce battle in Hanger 18. Whatever the case, it was sad to see him go. He still held unnerving respect to David, and pledge to "take up the sword for the cause, If I must."
Cryptic.
On the third day of the new year, I awoke to Skorre's deep voice coming over the Anubis's intercom.
"Everyone to the bridge, David has called a meeting."
I pulled myself out of my bunk, pulled on my black pants and a white T-Shirt, and walked to the bridge.
I was the last to arrive. Everyone else was sitting in various places around the room, so I pulled myself up onto a table.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"David has a plan for the dogs…a way to win this war once and for all," Ripper said through his sharpened teeth.
"Oh? A plan? Really? Because every plan we've tried thus far has gotten us into huge battles and fights. The Emperor is DEAD, what more do we need to do to the Empire?" I said in response.
"The Empire is regrouping, and they are far from dead. Melkor 2120 has assumed control of the Empire on Mordoria," David said without emotion.
"Never heard of him," Aleks muttered.
"You wouldn't have. He was sent off in the mid '70s to conquer a race in Wild Space, called the Hockner. Apparentely, he and his task force succeeded, and he set himself up as the dictator of the Hockner system. He only returned last week, when he heard Sauron was dead."
"What was his rank?"
"Warlord of the Second Expeditionary Force. He was in power above any Visser. He answered only to the Council of Thirteen."
Aleks said, "He just show's up after more than twenty years, and they automatically give him total control of the entire Empire?"
"Not quite. He murdered Visser One when she questioned his authority. Melkor's been on a purge of anyone who's stood out of line, Vissers and Su-Visser's, Yeerk-Lords, anyone who fucks with him is getting a Dracon to the head."
Silence.
"So what is your plan?" Skorre asked.
"I have been in contact with an Anicatron scientist from Galafurn, Ceri Bumeros Gaufaustus. He is a leading member of the galactic scientific community. Unfortunetely, there has been a Yeerk presence on Galafurn for some time. Over two tenths of the race is under control, and the invasion is open, but not active at this time."
"Why?" Sara asked.
"The Andalites are more important. They've hit the homeworld and they have taken over three hundred thousand of the population. In all doubt, they will lose this war in a few months."
David took a breath, and continued, "Ceri has a device that we can use to put the muscle to the very core of the Empire itself. We can use it to ransom Earth, or any other planet. While we have this device, no army or navy in the universe can stand against us!"
Silence. Ripper said, "Just what is this device, boss?"
David smiled, a very rare thing these days, "You'll have to wait a while."
"How long?" Inquired Aleks.
"Not long. LaRouche, set our course for Galafurn!"
I nodded. Whatever David had cooking was bound to land us in even more trouble than we were already in. Working for David Taggart was now more like working for Saddam Huessein, or any other madman.
I dared not speak of my concerns in front of the others. Instead, I did as I was told and punched up the Z-Space co-ordinates for Galafurn. The darkness of space went a brilliant white, and we were off to see the doctor.
The doctor of death.
ALEKS
Galafurn was a six mooned planet set in the Hoose System. Covered in lush green jungles and sprawling blue/white oceans, it was a place of pure, unfiltered beauty.
We had been in orbit for a day until the Anicatron doctor, Ceri Bumeros Gafaustus, contacted us, with orders to land on a small island off of the southernmost continent, where his laboratory was located.
Within the hour we had landed. The island home of Ceri was a forboding place, the beaches covered in short, stubby boulders, dotted with several structures that looked like ancient pillboxes and guard towers. The interior of the island was a giant bog, where the laboratory was located.
Even though we were landed, we didn't set foot on the Galafurnian soil. Ceri had 'insisted' to David that he come out and guide us into his hideout.
That was all well and good with me. David had become more broody then ol' Hounder, before I wasted him over a couple syringes of Heroin. I doubted this little side-trip would amount to much more than a few dead Yeerks.
David was nuts, all right. Keeping to himself, snapping like an animal whenever you crossed his bad side, his eyes flaming with some violent and cruel emotion. He hadn't even told us what the Hell had happened on board the Eye of Akdor, so why the fuck did he even have an excuse to be shitting on us all?
Even Skorre, his usual number-one fan, had been silent on the subject.
I used this extra break to my advantage. I crept down to the engine room and sat in front of the pillar that held the stone, wires hooked all around it, feeding our ship with it's inner power.
I had seen things in it before. The past-MY past, in fact. Things going on right then, old friends, long dead. People who got out and shifted their shape, sometimes being all cool and happy, then turning violent and abusive.
It taught me. It taught me that there was a Machine and a Power, and that the Power was useless without the Machine. It wanted me to take it, claim it, make it my own, and all the privileges and joys that would come with it. But not just yet. It wasn't time for my ultimate glory just yet…but soon…
Ever since we had killed Honest Gjonn, a seedy old Na mechanic on Concord Dawn, it had been with us. Ever since we had taken it, things had gotten really interesting, starting with driving metal through the wrists of Tak Sistranus and crucifying him on Styx, a grim warning for all Bounty Hunters.
Then, taking the Sehkmet, destroying Taxxis. It showed me my old friends, Slip, Coil, and Roach, being brought back. It showed me everything.
I knew everything. It told me that David had fucked up on the Bug-planet, and wasted his big chance. Told me I would have to help him because the Dark Lord wanted us all dead.
Very confusing, not something too simple to understand.
It showed me, what would finally happen to me, when I made it my own.
I would Ascend, and become a God.
The time to take it was soon. Very soon. Not more than a few weeks and it would all be over. The ultimate destiny of this universe was at hand, and we were about to bring it about. Perhaps this visit to Galafurn would be fruitful, after all!
Most of all, it whispered into my mind that David must not know any of this at all. No, it was too dangerous for him to know right now, he was in conflict, turning into the man that he was meant to be.
One more thing…If I were to ever meet anyone who called himself "Hunting," I was to kill him. Not to let him come near David. Hunting would be dangerous to David AND the Stone, and that would not be a good thing at all, even though I deserved to be the leader.
But that couldn't happen, not a good chance, at least. Not unless some very big mistakes were made.
So I didn't make any shit of it. I looked into the beautiful, infernal crimson, completely prepared for the future.
As I peered into it, it said in a low, growling voice,
"I shall set you high in my councils, Mercenary, and I shall set you to BURN!"
If this Hunting showed his face here, there would be no good will towards him.
Hearing David over the intercom, I stood up and stalked upstairs. Ceri Bumeros Gafaustus had arrived and was ready to take us to his hideout.
Soon…
AUTHORS NOTE:
Sorry if that seemed a bit tedious. Episode seven will be the last, and the shortest. It will be finished on Christmas Eve, 2002, to tide you all over till the morning. It will be five or six parts long. Look for part two to be up tomorrow evening, and possibly part three as well.
-Colin