Alright then, first, I would like to say that fan fiction quick/edit is still not working for me, so, instead of waiting on them, which would make you people who actually like this story of mine wait, I have decided just to post this, and when quick edit finally works, I'll reformat the chapters I have put up, because they aren't going to look real good.

Secondly, in response to a review someone sent me. I'll explain the pairings. First off, nobody is gay. It is my personal belief that it is wrong, though many would argue, so just deal with it, and if you have a problem with that, stop reading. Thirdly, there are no pairings up to this point. Van and Fiona split ways, Irvine and Moonbay haven't seen each other for years, and Raven and Ryss were never meant for paring in my opinion. Are there going to be any? You'll just have to find out.

That is all, till then!

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Chapter 9 – War of the Outside Galaxy

Soon after Randal cut off the transmission with the reporting officer, he found himself pacing the room, deep in thought.

"Could those Humans on the planet really be-" He just shook his head, "No, they couldn't be, but I suppose it is possible."

He quickly got back onto his computer and attempted to contact one of his colleagues, only to be greeted by a "please wait" message.

"Just like him to be busy." Randal thought to himself. It didn't take long, however, before a man in a green polo shirt appeared. "Dr. Lewis!" Greeted Randal, "How have you been these days?"

"Stressed to the max as usual." Came the reply. "It isn't easy trying to conduct a war for unity. What are you up to these days?" He asked.

"I was wondering if you knew anything about the planet code named 'Zi'.

Lewis sat there for a minute, and then started typing something on another computer beside him. Soon after, his eyes lit up with a sign of discovery. "Aha. Yes. Zi. Well, a lot of the records here talk mostly about the Zoidians and their betrayal to the Confederacy. Says here that their betrayal made four other planets secede from the Confederacy soon after Zi did in hope to gain their own independence from the government and-"

Randal stopped him there, "Yes yes, I know that, how about after we left the planet? Are there any records?"

"Only a few. Why do you ask?" Lewis asked.

"Because a few startling discoveries I have made on that planet compel me to ask, what can you tell me?"

"Well it seems that the inhabitance from the planet "Lago" after the "Bloody Lago" were moved to "Zi" about 100 years ago."

'Bloody Lago' was a massacre on the planet Lago because of its refusal to rejoin with the Confederacy. The tragedy was not carried out with Guns and knives, but with nuclear weapons. After a while, the planet was mostly a smoldering crater and there weren't very many people left, and so the Confederacy moved these people to a new planet, Zi, in exchange for their loyalty.

When they continued to refuse to join, the Confederacy made them pay by attempting to brainwash these people into thinking that there was never a nuclear attack to begin with. The brain washing was used so that they wouldn't think badly of the Confederacy. If they didn't remember all the bombs, they wouldn't look at the Confederacy as a bunch of barbarians willing to slaughter millions of people just to take control. Eventually, they forgot.

The people numbered to about 20,000, and apparently have rebuilt their nation, and their culture on Zi, plus having discovered ancient Zoidian Technology, way back around the time when the Death Saurer had first risen. They seemed to be doing quite well for themselves. Already they had fought one really big war, and after peace negotiations created the "Guardian Force"

"You may recall that one of our colleges, Dr. Dura, moved down to the planet to study the people there, help rebuild their civilization, and gather any information of these people discovering anything in outer space such as our warships and such." Dr. Lewis reminded him.

"Yes, but I hear that he died quite sometime ago. Didn't he move down there with his grandson as well?" Randal asked.

"Yes, it seems so."

"Alright, thank you for your help." Randal nodded his head.

"Yes of course, but I was wondering. Why can't you just look all this up yourself?" Lewis asked.

"Apparently I'm not allowed to read files that are at Level B or above. But don't worry; I have every right to have this information. This is my invasion after all." Randal reminded him.

"Well alright. I better get back to work. Thank you for calling Randal."

"Yes of course."

And the transmission ended. The room got darker now that the screen was off. Randal thought in the dark silence for a while. He wondered how the inhabitants would react to the Confederacy now if they just explained their motives. After all, they wouldn't have to go through a big war. And perhaps the culture has changed enough to except the idea of a united government. The only problem was that one side had a Republic, and the other side had an Empire, uniting these governments took a strenuous amount of time and effort.

Randal put the screen back up with the two women that were reported to be Zoidians. Apparently they lost most of their memory, but seemed to regain it slowly.

"According to their records, they both exited their capsules at the ages of 13 (Fiona) and 7 (Ryss). I doubt that they would remember the invasion against their people 230 years ago, why back when we fought the Death Saurer. But would they remember such an event? Mere children probably wouldn't have understood what exactly was going on…but still." Randal was talking to himself out loud. "If we can eliminate these two, I can have my revenge, plus their deaths will mean a better chance at peace. If they wander around tarnishing our reputation and good name, we would have a serious war on our hands. Luckily they are the only two left. After that, I can think freely about negotiations with the rest of the planet." He loved the idea of the Zoidian Eradication plan already pretty much done before it really started.

After a little more thought on the matter, Randal brought the screen to the historical archives they retrieved from a Republic archive. He hadn't really read it a lot. Now that he realized these were actually humans, he thought it would be good to read up on their progress and their intentions for the future. He continued to skim over the words when a certain excerpt caught his eye.

"Death Saruer!" He exclaimed in a terrified whisper. "These people have the power to resurrect the Death Saruer!" He read each word carefully, analyzing what the full meaning behind each word was. "Van Flyheight: Slayer of the Death Saruer." He murmured. The he brought his attention to a particular girl. "Fiona, a.k.a. Aliesse Lanet."

It wasn't long until after a while, he found the names of Ryss, Hiltz, Gunther Prozen, Raven and the second Death Saurer

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Locke looked at his watch. "10:30" he yawned. "Only one more hour to go, and I can sleep."

Link came up behind look and rested his head over Locke's shoulder.

"Yes?" Locke asked.

"How are you doing Locke?"

"That's a rather awkward question to ask at a time like this." Locke commented.

"Is it?"

"What are you getting at Link?" Locke asked the green organoid. His tone was a little tenser then at the beginning of the conversation.

"Relax Locke. I just wanted to make sure you were ok. I heard what you said to Mark a little while ago, I was right there you know."

"I just don't feel comfortable enough to talk about it right now, ok?"

"But you have already told Ryss, Victor and myself. Why can't you tell Mark? You two share a bond that is extremely close. You two are the closest thing to brothers. You would lay down your life for him, and he would do the same for you. But you can't tell him what is on your mind?"

Link was a very persuasive debater. He could bring up pretty good point when it was necessary. Locke knew that what the organoid spoke of was true. The campfire was almost gone. Locke got up to throw in another log they had chopped and some twigs they found in a nearby forest. He had no idea what to say to the organoid, it wasn't often that he was at a loss for words; usually he would have some comment to fight back with, but not now. He didn't like to admit it, so he would just greet his inability to answer with silence.

Locke threw in a few extra twigs, making the campfire snap loudly. Mark didn't make any indication of waking up. He sat back down, and the organoid put his nose back on Locke's shoulder.

"Well?" He asked.

Locke didn't say anything for a while. He just rubbed the Organoid's snout on the left side and rested his head on the right. Soon after, a tear fell from Locke's eye and onto the organoid. It startled Link, but he didn't make a move, he just sat there in silence to get an explanation from Locke.

Finally, Locke took a deep breath and began to speak. "It is true that Mark and I are very good friends. But for some reason, I just don't feel comfortable talking to him about it right now."

"I can sense fear from you, why are you afraid?"

The tears began to flow a little more freely now. "What will he think if I tell him?" Locke finally admitted.

"Is that the true reason you are afraid?" Link asked.

Locke sometimes wondered how the organoid could be so insightful. He began to think there was more to the problem than what he had admitted to Ryss, Victor and his organoid.

"Why are you getting on my case so much?!?" Locke shouted with out thinking. Immediately after he yelled that he looked at Mark, who stirred around his sleeping bag, and then got up slowly.

"Locke?" He asked, "Why are you yelling at Link?"

"Sorry about that Mark," Locke apologized. "I'll take an hour off from my night shift to make up for that."

"No, that's ok, right now I want to know what is making you yell." Mark inquired.

"Sorry, I just got a little upset, I'm fine now, really." Locke replied.

"Sorry Mark, maybe I invaded into Locke personally thoughts a little to long." Link apologized as well. Though it was a little strange, Mark could understand what Link was saying every now and then. Sometimes he could hear the organoid in perfect English, other times, it would just be a bunch of growls.

Locke had his back turned to both Link and Mark right then. So Mark got up and took a couple steps toward his friend. He slowly advanced till he was right behind him. About a minute passed by, and nobody said a word or made a sound. Finally, Mark lightly touched Locke's shoulder. Before he could say anything, he felt a very small shaking from Locke's body. Mark looked at what he could at Locke's face and found more tears trailing down.

Mark nudged his friend to turn around and wrapped his arms around Locke and embraced him. Locke put his head on Mark's shoulder, and embraced his arms across Mark's back as well.

No one said anything. The only sounds they could hear were the wind blowing across the desert, the crackling of the fire, and the light sobs from Locke. After a while, Locke calmed down, and walked over to the fire again and sat down. Mark followed suite and put an arm on his shoulders.

The silence was finally broken when Locke spoke in small phrases. "Mark…" His voice trailed off and came right back. "Look, I'm sorry I haven't really been that honest with you or with Link. It just is really hard to admit this to you."

Now it was Mark's turn to speak. "Locke, I don't know what you are going through right now, but I just want you to be honest so that I can help you in anyway that I can. Even if it is just a small way, I really don't want to think back to this moment one day and wonder if I did the right thing to leave you alone. Locke you need to tell me. It could be quite serious if you don't. Link and I both love you Locke. We would never insult you or turn away from you if you ever had a problem, including now."

Locke sighed again. He was sure Mark would never look at him the same way again once he told him what was on his mind. Reluctantly, he gave in to his friend's pleas and began to speak. "I just can't take it anymore. This mission has really started getting to me. That last battle back there terrified me, and for the first time, I took into account that there was a chance that you could have been killed back there or at any time during this war that is about to begin."

"Locke," Link began, "I can sense a large amount of fear about you. You just aren't the same. What are you afraid of?"

"I want to go back home!" Locke finally shouted. "I don't mean back to Ryss, Victor and my peers, I mean back when I was with my parents. I miss my parents ok?!?"

"Locke…is this true?" Mark asked slowly.

"Yes!" Locke shouted again. "Are you happy now? Just don't lecture me now. I just don't want to hear it!"

"What are you talking about?" Mark asked. "Why would I lecture you?"

"Because of you lost your parents too! I don't need you to tell me to suck it up and move on. I've heard that phrase one to many times. I don't want to hear it again." Locke busted into tears. Mark was really shocked. He then realized what Locke was really saying.

"Locke, listen to me. Just because we both lost are homes on that day, and I'm not reacting the way you are doesn't mean that you're just a crybaby who needs to get over it. Locke, believe me, I had my session of tears about 2 years ago, and you are having yours now. I was hit before you and naturally got over my depression before you. You remember that, don't you?" Locke just nodded his head. "And," Mark continued, "You helped me the same way I'm helping you. Just being there and supporting each other is what friendship is about. All I wanted this whole time was for you to allow me to do my part. But before I could help you, you needed to tell me what was wrong."

Locke didn't say anything for a while. His organoid was to his left, and Mark was to his right at the time. The ones that he loved really surrounded him. He didn't know what to say. "I know." Was all he said.

Mark just smiled, this guy was always trying to uplift others, even when it meant putting himself down. "You are really humble, you know that?" Mark asked Locke in his head.

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And that's it, A little shorter, but not that much shorter. I hope I made things clearer for the Confederacy's point of view, I hadn't done much with them yet, and knew that before long it would be to far in to this story before I introduce them, better late than never I suppose. I hope you enjoyed!

LockeLink