New Arrival

Chapter Five

Alarms and What They Mean

"nothing ever stops all these thoughts

and the pain attached to them

sometimes I wonder why this is happening

it's why nothing I can do will distract me when

I think of how I shot myself in the back again."

An excerpt from the song Figure 9 by late 20th, early 21st century rap/rock band Linkin Park.

"We can never get a moment alone," Trance sighed in mock frustration as she headed off towards command. "Typical life aboard the Andromeda," Hex joked, keeping pace with her.  Both statements were weak, however, as both of them felt the tension in the air.  Something was wrong, and it was bad, whatever it was.  Hex drew his sword and tossed Trance his handgun.  "Where do you think the others are?  I mean, they could've still been in the conference room, but I doubt it." "Me too.  They're probably heading to Command," Trance replied, skidding to a stop near a corner.  "We should be careful.  If we're being boarded or something, they might be around whatever corner we turn."  Hex nodded his silent approval and pressed himself against the wall next to her. "Ready," Hex whispered just loud enough to be heard over the alarms.  Trance gave a brief nod of confirmation, and Hex added, "On three."  He paused, and then began the countdown.  "One."  He got a tighter grip on his sword while Trance made a quick check of the handgun.  "Two."  Hex and Trance both tensed, waiting for the last portion of the countdown.  "Three," he let out in a hissing whisper, and the two of them dashed around the corner.  Trance stopped, prepared to fire, while Hex darted forward, sword at the ready. There was no one there. "Well, I guess that answers that question," Trance said jokingly.  Hex shook his head; the tension was still there. "We need to go to Command.  I can't tell what, but something big is happening up there." .................................... "Something big indeed," Ravonas Kincaid growled gleefully.  Dylan was unconscious, thrown against the far left wall of the Command Deck.  Harper was hiding behind a console, while Tyr was guarding the fallen Dylan Hunt, his Gauss Rifle pointed at Dylan's head.  Rommie was badly damaged, pulled behind the same console as Harper was hiding behind, her legs no longer functioning.  "Tell me, meek one," he growled, turning his reptilian gaze to Harper, "where is the Knight and his little bitch?"  A ball of white light flew just past the man's head, and he had his answer. "I'm right here," he replied, "but I don't see a bitch anywhere.  Trance is my equal, a concept you never understood, nor even bothered to try and fathom."  Hex strode onto Command, and the walls seemed to pulse with energy.  "What are you doing on this ship, dark one?"  Tyr found his gun being lifted into the air by an unknown force, and he was forced to simply stare as it floated over to Harper.  "Harper, take that and train it on Tyr.  If he so much as moves.." "Shoot 'im, I gotcha."  Harper took the Gauss Rifle from the air a bit uneasily, but once it was in his hands, he did as he was told. "I want my body, Knight," Ravonas growled.  "You can give me my body." "I won't do that, as you well know.  Now, as per the rules of engagement, either get the hell off this ship or the two of us should take this to a more open battlefield." "You already know which option I'll chose." "That I do.  Give me an hour, and I'll be ready.  I am the one being challenged, thus it is my right to choose the field of battle." "Uh.Hex, what's goin' on man?" "That is true, Knight.  So, where do you choose to fight?"  Hex pointed at the planet below on the viewscreen. "It is uninhabited, so we can do as much damage as we want without hurting anyone." "Except your friends here on the ship." "Even you aren't that foolish."  The tension between the two men-or one man and one reptilian humanoid-was so thick you could cut it with a knife.  After a long pause, Ravonas backed down. "You're right there," the scaly man replied.  "Tyr, you go to the flagship, lead the armies towards the edge of the second planet from our current position."  Ravonas returned his gave to Hex and continued, "That should be a safe enough distance, wouldn't you say, Knight?"  Hex began to reply, but was cut off as Trance screamed from behind him.  He spun, to see her floating through the air in the direction Tyr was headed.  "The prize, Knight, will be your bitch." .................................... "The prize, Knight, will be your bitch."  Tyr hadn't expected to hear those words.  He had been comfortable with taking Dylan, even killing him, but Trance.Trance was something else.  Truth be told, Tyr wasn't even certain he could keep her detained if she didn't want to be in that position.  Even if he did have confidence in his ability to detain what he theorized could very well be a goddess of some kind, would he?  It was a similar situation with the little engineer, even though that was at times a less civil relationship than he had with the Gold One.  Could he do it?  Could he kill her?

Yes, he decided, he could.  He was Tyr Anasazi.

....................................

"Dylan," Hex growled, less than ten minutes before he had to depart, "you're making this difficult."  They were all gathered in the conference room, except for Trance and Tyr.  They were both with Ravonas, on his flagship.

"I don't care!  Either you tell me exactly what's going on, or you aren't going down there," Dylan returned angrily.  Hex turned away and began walking towards Command.  "Where are you going?!"

"I don't expect you to understand, Dylan," Hex called back, forcing the others to follow him as he moved.  "But you can't stop me.  You couldn't no matter how hard you tried."  They passed through a door and inched closer to Command.  "You remember the fighting, Beka, Dylan."  The purposeful stride picked up the pace as they passed through another doorway.  "Harper, you remember the dent."  They could see Command.  "Rommie, you remember how I didn't appear on your sensors unless I wanted you to see me."  They entered Command.  "I am more powerful than you can imagine, all of you.  Now, I will be going down there.  Once I leave the ship, get to that space there."  He pointed to a space not too far from the planet.  "That space is safe.  When the time comes, you will receive a transmission from me.  Regardless of what you see or hear behind me, you will focus on my words and do exactly as I tell you."  He turned, bowed, and then said, "Now, I go."  With a flash of light, he was gone.  Silence descended on the crew of the Andromeda for moments that seemed like hours, until finally, Harper spoke.

"Oookay, so he DEFINITELY isn't human."

....................................

There was another flash of light down on the planet, and Hex appeared there.  It was followed, after a half hour, by a flash of black flame, and there stood Ravonas.  Hex had taken to sitting on a rock and sharpening his sword.  "It took you long enough," Hex stated, not even looking up from his work.

"Does it surprise you?"

"Not really.  You always used to be late, too."  Now Hex stood, and there was something vastly different about him.  It wasn't anything physical, but yet, it was.  His presence. . .it was suddenly far more powerful than it had been, and he suddenly appeared far more bold and regal than he had previously.  His sword was held at his side, and despite the casual position, he was obviously ready to use it at a moments notice.  "Even when dad dropped by and told you that you were getting lazy."

"I do believe we agreed never to bring up father's little visits again."

"When you killed the planet, you freed me from my bonds of honesty and morality."

"You act as if you aren't still a patron saint of the Knights."

"The Knights no longer exist," Hex said, stepping forward.  Ravonas stepped back and produced a sword of his own from one of his billowy sleeves.  "Our peoples no longer exist."  Rain began to pour down on the planet, and neither combatant seemed to notice or care.  "Our factions no longer exist."  Hex's sword gleamed from a sudden flash of lightning.  "The petty wars of our kind are over, Arcanis."  Hex took another step forward, his voice booming out across the craggy rocks of the planet.  "Our war has been the longest running, but now IT ENDS."  A bolt of lightning slammed into the ground about twenty feet away and scorched the red rock.  "Corrupter, Tormentor of Innocence, Butcher of the Gods, Devourer of Souls, and Destroyer of the World. . .your existence of darkness ends now!"

"I, too, have something to say, Silaris!"  Arcanis stepped forward now, silhouetted by a bolt of lightning.  "You prized yourself for your goodness and your light, and you hated me for my darkness-"

"No!"  Silaris rode right on overtop of Arcanis.  "I forgave you your darkness-"

"You PITIED me," Arcanis spat.  "You and all of your other little cardboard cut-outs of goodness!"

"Yes!  Yes, we PITIED you!"

"PITY.I did not need your PITY, brother!  I needed your love!"

"Do you know WHY we pitied you, oh ignorant one?!"  Arcanis opened his mouth to shout some retort, but Silaris stepped even closer and continued shouting.  "We pitied you because you had no choice but to be evil!  None of us did!  That is why there was such discontent among the forces of good in the later years of our planet's history!"

".What," Arcanis asked, taken aback.

"Yes, Arcanis.  It was a secret that our father never told us."  Silaris sighed, and for a moment he appeared to be a haggard old man instead of the young, angry warrior that he was.  "We.none of us.had any choice in our purposes or alignments.  We were appointed by father, and could not be any different than how he saw us when he made us."

". . .Be that as it may, we are who we are," Arcanis replied, a devilish grin growing across his face.

"Yes, I suppose we are," Silaris returned, and he again looked like the young warrior.

"Much like your very, very creative little girlfriend," Arcanis stated cockily.  He then waved his hand over toward a rock formation near the mouth of a cave.  The rocks flung away from each other to reveal Trance crouching behind them.  "Though, I must admit, I'm at a loss for just how she got down here."  Hex's eyes had widened to the size of billiard balls in a matter of seconds.  "My, my.  I do believe the only more comical facial expressions I've ever seen are those of humans when they are in the process of making love."  Hex flung out his hand and Arcanis was flung backwards, through two stalagmites, and halfway into a large boulder.  Hex then spun and stalked towards Trance.

"What the HELL are you DOING here?!"

"I came to help you," Trance returned, amazed at the amount of fire that was in his voice.

"Of all the stupid-Oh, just come on."  He grabbed Trance by the arm and began dragging her through the cave.  He had just reached the mouth and given her a little push when he heard it.

The sound of feet hitting ground.  It was followed almost immediately thereafter by the sound of a blast, and the mouth of the cave began to cave in.  Hex found his lower half buried under a rather large rock.  There wasn't time for him to dig himself out and still save Trance, so he merely stretched out his hand towards her.  "Run!  Run, and don't look back!"  At first Trance didn't move, but when she felt herself being shoved away in the same manner that Arcanis had been, if a good deal more gently, she turned and ran, tears welling up in her eyes.

....................................

Meanwhile, on board the Andromeda, the view screen blared to life.  They had been waiting for Hex's transmission since fixing their position, and now it was finally coming.  It was blurry, and they couldn't clearly see anything, but they distinctly saw Hex's face and heard his voice.  "Trance crrst.  Pick up crrrkleediately.  Scan. . .no time for coordisssk.  Good. . .bye."  With that, the transmission died.  All were silent as they moved down to the planet, scanning for Trance.  They didn't get a conclusive reading, but over their time together, they'd learned that the anomalous life sign in any scan was more than likely Trance.  When they finally did pick her up, Rommie escorted her straight to the Infirmary, where she could be checked out while reporting on what had occurred.

By the end of her story, she was a crying wreck, Dylan was trying to calm her, Harper cried onto Beka's shoulder, and Rommie leaned heavily against the wall closest to the door.

Hex Mason was dead, and all involved had lost something dear.

....................................

Down on the planet, an ominous storm was brewing.  Arcanis stood on a stalagmite, arms raised high in triumph, his face and body rejuvenating and becoming younger by the second.

Arcanis had succeeded.  May Silaris help the Universe.