A/N: yes, ladies and gentlemen! Echoes has an end!

L.C. Brotherton: well, I hope there's enough BOOM in this chapter for you!

prin69: lol! I love Terla! that's why she keeps coming back... for now...

Jamieson Z: hehehe... BOOM!

Iara: next chapter? okay, since you command!

Vee017: yes! Boba FettStar Wars! Mike and Nick (And me!) are big Star Wars fans. Since I wouldn't let Mike's character be Boba Fett, he just took the extra 'b' out of it!

Maglenan Songbird: make them stop? whatever for:P

eris: :ducks thrown apples: AH! lol!

Chapter 42- Destruction

"We're too late," Veghn whispered as Beka feverishly piloted through the 'Stream.

The lighting had turned a subtle blue. "All crew are in position, all battle stations manned," Rommie said. Her reports of readiness faded into the background as Telemachus clenched the sides of his console, trying to make Andromeda go faster.

His homeworld was under attack by the Magog! This was the very reason he had campaigned against the restored Commonwealth two years ago!

"Everyone is at battle stations but us," Xena said in a low tone.

Rommie didn't turn to look at the pilots. "You are not part of my crew, nor the Commonwealth: therefore you are not under my authority."

"Well consider us under your command!" Jade announced. "Terazed, my home, is under attack! I can't stand around and do nothing!"

"There are three available slipfighters," Rommie replied.

"Will the Magog board us?" Boa asked, biting his lower lip.

"Most likely," Harper answered. "Scared, kid?"

"Beyond all belief," Boa said. "I'd like to stay aboard and fight them here, Nemay."

"I need you on the Shadow," Nemay protested.

"Nuria, Achilles, Winter: take the slipfighters," Jade ordered. "I'll go on the Shadow with Nemay."

"But-" Winter started.

"No 'buts'! Am I, or am I not still your leader?" Jade demanded. "Go, go!"

Nuria, Achilles, and Winter ran for the slipfighter bay, and Jade and Nemay dashed for Hanger Bay 2. If Jade had looked, she would have seen admiration and pride shining in her brother's eyes. If Telemachus had looked, he would have seen the same admiration reflected in Nemay's eyes.

XXX

"Take us out of Slipstream in the outer system," Trance said softly. "Nearer to the outermost planet."

"But Terazed is the fourth rock from the sun," Telemachus protested.

Trance looked at him evenly. "Exactly."

XXX

"I have a bad feeling about this," Winter said over the comm system in her borrowed fighter.

"You and me both, Storm," Achilles said. "You and me both."

"The last fight of Exile Squadron," Nuria said quietly. "The odds are against all of us surviving the coming battle."

XXX

A feeling of unease grew in Veghn as he stood next to his mother. He pulled on her sleeve. "Mommy, what's going to happen to us?"

Trance shook her head slowly. "I don't know," she said softly. "But if anything happens, stay with your father at all times."

"I don't wanna lose you," Veghn whispered, and he laid his head against her hip.

XXX

"Rommie didn't want to go up against the Magog again. Neither did Harper. The two exchanged nervous glances, expressing their mutual fear.

"It'll be okay, Rom-doll," Harper mouthed.

Rommie shook her head uncertainly.

XXX

"Boa," Nemay grasped his younger brother's forearm. "If everything gets shot to hell, tell our mother I love her."

Boa nodded. He and Xena stood outside the ramp of the Shadowdancer. Jade had all ready gone ahead and was powering up the ship.

None of them wanted to say good-bye, knowing that it may be the last time they saw each other.

Nemay drew his pistol and tipped it to his forehead in salute. He pulled free one of the cartridges and tossed it to Boa. "You might need this," he said, grinning sadly.

Boa caught it and looked it over, then slipped it into his pocket. "Good luck, big bro."

XXX

Xena checked the charge on her pistol and holstered it. She pulled a cross-brace of shurikens over her chest and put on her soft, silent leather boots. Xena hefted her huge Gauss gun that was the length of her outstretched arm and powered it up.

She and Boa took their positions with one of the Lancer squads.

"We're going to die," a young Than whispered, adjusting his helmet.

XXX

Terla stayed in her quarters, tongue between her teeth. She was preparing components for spells: Melf's Acid Arrow, Fireball, Summon Animal, etc.

"Andromeda, I need snakeskin," she murmured.

"What for?"

"It's the necessary component for this spell."

"Well, I don't carry snakeskin," Andromeda replied snottily. "I'm a warship, not a medicine shoppe."

"Damn!" Terla smacked a fist off the table and began to work on another spell.

XXX

Dylan was at his post on the bridge. He had been preparing for this for nearly four years, it seemed almost unreal that the first wave had finally come. Why Terazed of all places? It was the most defended planet in the entire Commonwealth. It would be impossible to destroy it... right?

XXX

Gaheris was watching his son. With a sudden regret, he realized that he would never fully know Veghn the way Trance did.

The Magog were coming. Gaheris had a feeling that nothing would ever be the same after this.

XXX

Jade sat in the cockpit of the Shadowdancer. After some arguing, Jade had persuaded Nemay to let her pilot. He had been reluctant until Jade had appealed to one of every Nietzschean's favorite things to do: blow stuff up.

Nemay slid into the copilot's chair.

"Are you scared at all?" Jade asked.

"Of the Magog? Who wouldn't be?"

Jade shrugged. "I just didn't think the first battle would be at Terazed."

XXX

Beka used every trick she knew, (and a few she made up) to try to get them to Terazed faster. She always hated to make this Slip jump because it was so difficult, but it seemed even worse than usual for some reason. "Ladies and gentlemen, we will be transiting from Slipstream in five, four, three-"

Andromeda whined and jumped out two seconds early, throwing the crew forward. "There's something wrong," Rommie announced. "I'm reading an asteroid field..." she paused. "Oh my God."

The visual came on the screen, along with a layout of the entire system. The visual showed wreckage from orbital stations and ships... and jagged rocks everywhere. The layout showed no ships, no stations, no moons, no planets, no nothing except the yellow dwarf and a huge blip in red on the viewscreen.

Andromeda panned her sensors slowly through the debris field. A freeze-dried corpse drifted past the projector, face burned beyond recognition.

"I'm sorry, Rhade," Rommie said softly. "Preliminary scans indicate... no survivors.

"Terazed has been destroyed."

The End

To Be Continued...

A/N: Wow. It actually had an end! There will be a sequel, 'Fallen Angel'. I still can't believe I actually finished this fic, and I'd like to thank: eris, L.C. Brotherton, Vee017, Maglenan Songbird, Iara, prin69, Jamieson Z, Dancing Princess, Dancing Queen, Dancer of Dreams, sticks-and-stones123, Mo Cat, vampiregirl081, Anastashia, starra, abcde, Christieanne-Anna, Oenone, Miikka, randomidiot, and midknight-kat01. Thanks for all your reviews! You guys are my inspiration always!

I wanna give a big thank you to my beta readers: Sam, Samantha, Casey, and Colleen. Without you guys I would never have written this good!

Thanks to my designer, Nick Morrison. I would never have been able to come up with the Maj-91 by myself!

Big thanks to everyone who gave me an o/c to work with: Iara, Oenone, Nick, Sam, Casey, Samantha, Colleen, and Mike.

IF I FORGOT ANYONE, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!

Preview of 'Fallen Angel'

The Worldship drifted nearer and nearer to the motionless, disabled Andromeda. Dylan struggled to stand up. "This can't be the end... I won't let them-" He fell to the floor with a pained cry...

XXX

A huge dark thing with wings swooped down the corridor at the approaching Magog, and was hit by laser blasts. It gave an inhuman scream and collapsed, wings smoking as it morphed into a gray humanoid wearing purple robes. Terla jittered uncontrollably before finally subsiding...

XXX

"Something, something, something's," Rommie's voice changed inflections and tones. "Wr-r-rong..." she collapsed to the floor, and the entire ship shut down with a whir.

"Rommie!"...

XXX

"Jade, you can't let them do this! It's crazy!"

"Crazy?" She laughed hysterically. "You have no idea, Nemay! They'll take you apart, and put you back together! You'll wish you were dead!" She laughed again, thenpaused suddenly. "They're coming for me..."

XXX

Xena lay on the ground before him, blood pouring out of her mouth and frothing.

"What did they do to you?" Boa shuddered uncontrollably, tears running down his face. "Xena, don't die," he sobbed. "Don't..."

XXX

"Achilles!" Nuria's face was lit by the ensuing explosion.

"Oh my God!" Winter screamed, spinning uncontrollably.

XXX

"Beka!" Telemachus screamed hoarsely as she collapsed, hit by the Magog laser blasts...

XXX

Trance's chest heaved in dry sobs as she tried to pull her husband's body out from under the wreckage. "Gaheris, no!" Tears ran down her face. "This isn't how it's meant to be!"...

XXX

Harper was hyperventilating. "Why here?" he pleaded. "Why now..."

XXX

Veghn blinked. "This is the end of everything we know," he whispered. "Nothing will ever be the same again..."