AN: I understand that the other chapters might have been a bit hard to read because my computer messed up the page breaks, so I'm sorry and I'm trying something new for this chapter to see if it works. Thanks for the reviews, they really encourage me. I'm a bit angry with my family right now so if there's a lot of violence in this chapter, that's why. Well, here goes….
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As Dylan walked down the dirt road, the road in front of him had become deserted. People had simply packed up everything they were carrying, and ran to the nearest shelter they could find. He had been searching for hours, but had not had a chance to speak to any of the slaves. He walked closer to some of the houses and tried to peak into the windows to see if there was anyone there, but they had been painted black with ashes.
"Andromeda, any news yet?" He half whispered into his communicator. He was beginning to be a little overwhelmed about the solitary state of the street.
"Gees Dylan, you would have thought that you would wait until you landed to get a report." Beka sounded a little agitated.
"I've been searching the streets for hours and wondering if you've had any better luck." Dylan was confused at Beka's response to his previous question.
"Hours? How could you be searching for hours if you only left twenty minutes ago?" Beka questioned.
"I've been searching for five hours on this planet, and you can only give me credit for twenty minutes?" Dylan suddenly became angry. "I've got to find her." He said before flicking off his communicator and running up the street. He finally reached the end of the street and rounded a corner. When he turned to head up the new street, he realized what the slaves had been afraid of. Ten Nietzschean guards were cramped in the middle of the street. They were heavily armed and walked behind a young girl. She was short, about five feet, three inches, and wore a long green robe that hung loosely from her tiny frame. She was staring straight ahead, and barely moved as she walked. She was sickly pale and had dark brown hair with dark green streaks, that hung a bit lower than her shoulders. Some of the Nietzscheans were falling away from the pack and knocking down doors. Screams were echoing from some huts, as bloody Nietzscheans came out with eerie smiles. The girl quickened her pace a bit, but some of her guards grabbed her by her waist and pulled her back. Her eyes stayed fixed in front of her.
Dylan stood and looked at the carnage before him, blood trickled from doorways, and bloody Nietzscheans staggered from house to house. As he stood there, dumbfounded, a girl ran from a nearby hut ran out and pulled him into her house.
"Hey, what are you doing?" He asked the girl, but quickly regretted it as he looked around the small square house. Two small children crouched in the corner, the girl who had pulled him into the house looked to be about twelve. They were all dirty, and only one small chest filled the little house. He heard the Nietzscheans outside coming closer.
"Hurry," the little girl pulled him over to the chest and opened the lid. "Put these on." She handed him two tubes of leather that had bone blades protruding through them. He slid them onto his arms and through on a Nietzschean robe that the girl had handed to him. He looked at himself and had to smile. He looked a lot like Tyr. A Nietzschean pounded at the door, as the children screamed and rushed back into the farthest corner. Dylan put on the biggest fakest smile he could and opened the door.
"I got this one boys." He said to the Nietzscheans at the door. They looked at his bone blades and snarled at him, as they made their way to the next house. The chilling screams of the neighbors, howled through the thin walls, as the screams faded, Dylan looked at the children. The littlest ones were asleep in the corner, while the older girl was sobbing into the robe Dylan was wearing.
"Thank you," She whispered through quiet sobs. She hugged Dylan closer, and he put his arm around her. "Thank you."
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Jharden, Tyr and Harper sat terrified, as they watched the auction of helpless women.
"You do realize how torturous this is for me, don't you?" Harper looked at some of the women waiting to go onto the stage. They were war torn, and broken, but most of them had been beautiful. Once upon a time. They had been watching the show for hours, and Jharden was beginning to feel sick.
"I think I need to use the bathroom." He said as he clutched his stomach and winced.
"Me too." Harper looked at Tyr painfully.
"I'm not your mother, do what you want." Tyr looked at them and shrugged.
"What, you're actually letting me go some where unescorted?" It was a known fact that Tyr was overprotective of his son.
"Hey!" Harper said, hurt.
"Sorry." Jharden stood up and walked over to one of the guards. Harper was already talking to him when he got there.
"You see, my friend and I REALLY need to go and…" Harper couldn't finish, because at that moment, Jharden rushed past him and vomited behind an overflowing trashcan. "Never mind, we'll go right here on the street." Harper mocked his friend as he went over and rubbed his back. When he was finished, he stood up and wiped his mouth. As he did, the sky lit up and a streak of light shot across the sky, followed by another and another. Tyr charged his weapon and stood up. He motioned for Jharden and Harper to come over to him.
"Dylan, I'd say it's time to get back to the ship." Tyr called into his communicator over the screams and gunshots of the crowd. Some people behind them were screaming and yelling that the Commonwealth was attacking. Tyr saw Akais and his men form a group amid the chaos. They murmured to one another, and then collectively turned their heads to Tyr. "Let's go." Tyr called over the noise. The group ran to the Maru and closed the doors. The small ship rattled with the impact of Akais weapons. Tyr piloted the ship to where Dylan was standing in the middle of a street. He was wearing a strange outfit, and was carrying three small children. From afar, the street seemed to be made of brick, but as the Maru approached, it was clear that the dirt had been stained by the blood of dozens of slaves. Tyr landed the Maru just long enough for Dylan to bored, and then set a course for the Andromeda. As Dylan entered command, he took off the bone blades and robe and laid them on a stool.
"Whatever Beka did, it had better be for good reason, or she's…"
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"Dead! I'm dead!" Beka held her head in her hands. "Dylan's on his way up right now, and there's nowhere to hide."
"Well, I do have three vacant storage compartments on deck three, you could always..."
"Not helping!!" Beka stared at Holo-Rommie angrily. "This is serious."
"Not as serious as that." Jakob said quietly as he pointed to the view screen. A massive ship, about three times the size of Andromeda, appeared from behind the planet. It had a dark green hull, with grooves and markings that etched creases up and down the entire body. It was almost perfectly round, except for the front, which stuck out like a nicely rounded cone. Five long spikes were jutting out of the spherical body, and had bended tips. No one on the Andromeda had ever seen something like this before. All, except one.
"Uh, Ethan, can you come here please?" Beka whispered into the communicator. Her eyes were wide as the massive ship evened off with the Andromeda, so they were looking eye to eye.
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As Tyr circled the planet to bored the Andromeda, the radar systems on the Maru began to blink and flicker erratically. Dylan looked at the radar screen, and could make out the outlines of the Andromeda, and an anomaly directly in front of it. He looked at it quizzically and hailed the Andromeda.
"Beka, I'm reading a massive anomaly in front of you. It shows both density and weight, but according to scans, it is only a mass of particles." Dylan looked at his view screen.
"Yep, well, ummm." Beka's voice wavered a bit. "Switch to high resolution frequency scans."
"Switching," Harper said from his console on the Maru. Instantly, the picture grouped together to form a visual of the massive ship. The men on the Maru looked at the view screen in awe.
"Mr. Anasazi, if you will. I would appreciate haste." Dylan said to Tyr without looking away from the view screen. The Maru groaned with a sudden increase in speed. Tyr quickly docked, and ran with the rest of the men to Command. As Dylan turned the corner to command, he stopped and looked at the people already standing there. They all stood, facing Ethan who had his head bowed.
"Well, Ethan, spill. What is it?" Beka looked at the teenager anxiously. Ethan looked up with sad eyes at the huge ship that stared menacingly down at the Andromeda.
"Death."