VanStalker

by DarkBlade the Damned

This is a crossover of Vandread and the DeathStalker novels by Simon R Green. Chapter 9. Tensions amongst the crew reach boiling point causing Hibiki and Tam to flee the Nirvana.

9. VanStalker Chapter 7: Deep beneath the w...

Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or DeathStalker.

Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.

DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.

Vanstalker Chapter 6: Deep beneath the wake

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All was not quite as it should be on the Nirvana. The crew of a ship can tell when everything is as it should be. All ships have a vibe, a heartbeat. The combined noise of many items of machinery operating together as one becomes a background noise so familiar that it is only noticed by its absence, or when something disturbs it.

One of the repair crews were making a final sweep through the section of the ship that had formally been the Ikazuchi, the men's ship. Despite the fact that the two ships were now completely joined most of the women rarely ventured outside of the section that had been their ship before the bizarre incident with the plexis caused the two ships to merge. Partly because being women many were still faintly distrustful of anything male, despite the fact that they had grown accustomed to the four men now on board. But mostly it was because there was little of interest in the male section of the ship. The old section of the ship was a mass of old living quarters, workshops and machinery. Almost all of which was badly maintained and looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the colonisation days. So this section of the ship was almost unoccupied, save for the maintenance teams.

It had been a couple of weeks since the Nirvana's near disastrous battle in the asteroid field. Over that time the considerable damage the ship had sustained in the battle had gradually been repaired by Parfaits devoted teams of techs. The current team was performing a final inspection of the section when they heard the noises.

"What's that?" asked once of the female techs.

"What's what?" asked Celeste not looking up from the datapad she was consulting.

"That noise. Cant you hear it?" responded the tech. "It's a banging sound, like metal hitting metal."

Celeste and the other members of the repair detail stopped what they were doing and listened. Sure enough they could make out a faint chiming sound, characteristic of metal hitting metal. But the chiming was faint, as it was coming from a long way away.

"Where's it coming from?" asked another curiously

"From the core of this section, the workshops. Which is strange because there shouldn't be any repair teams down there." Commented Celeste.

"Should we check it out?" asked Louise.

"No" said Celeste firmly. "It's coming from the center of the ship, so it's outside our area of responsibility. We'll log a report but that's it. Besides our shifts almost over and I have an appointment at the Jacuzzi that I'm not going to miss."

The others laughed at this then started packing up their tools eager to finish the shift. Celeste grunted as she lifted the heavy gear bag to her shoulder.

"Damn it where's that man when you need him?" she commented softly, but not softly enough.

"What's that, you didn't just say you were missing Tam did you Celeste?" said Louise in mock surprise.

Celeste scowled but said nothing. For the last couple of weeks Tam had joined them in his old spot on the repair team. And though Celeste would never say it she had appreciated the help that the man had been. Especially when it came to lifting heavy objects! That didn't mean that she trusted him anymore though.

"Where is Tam anyway?" asked another of the Techs.

"Probably back in the Vanguard bay." Said Louise. "He was only with us to help us finalise the repairs while we were travelling intrasystem. Although I did hear him say that there was something else that he was going to be working on."

Celeste listened to this interestedly. 'Some other project the man was going to be working on. I wonder what that could be?'

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Later that day Magno and the other senior personnel of the Nirvana were meeting in the conference room behind the bridge. Present at the meeting for the first time was Duero, who Magno felt should be included as the senior medical officer on the ship.

"So that's about all Boss." Said Parfait. "The repair teams finished their final sweeps today and reported that everything checks out. We've fixed everything we can without access to a dockyard."

"Thank you Parfait. Gascognue, hows the supply situation?"

"Overall I would say fair boss." Commented the brawny commander of the register. "That last battle used up a lot of ordnance so we should try to ration missiles and mines as much as possible until we can resupply. Fuel and materials are no problem, we were able to scavenge a fair bit from the wreckage of the Harvester ships from the battle and from the automated mining facilities we found afterwards. The only thing that concerns me is fresh water and supplies. At the moment we still have a good supply of both but I still wouldn't mind stocking up."

"Agreed" said Magno. "We still have no idea what else we may encounter on this voyage that may delay our return to Mejere space. I'd rather have an excess of food as a safety net than continue on the assumption that the supplies will hold out. Ok we'll make resupplying a priority the next chance we get. Now Doctor do you have anything to report."

"Not much Captain." Said Duero reading from a dataslate in front of him.

"There are still a few members of the crew in sickbay. Mainly those that sustained broken bones in the last engagement. But they are all healing well and should be able to return to duty within a few weeks. The rest of the crew that were injured in the last battle have already returned to duty. In fact the only one that was seriously injured was Meia and as you know she was.. released from the sickbay later the same day."

As she listened Meia's expression did not change but inside she smiled slightly as the doctor said released. In fact Duero had been determined that she should stay in the sickbay for at least another 24 hours just so that he could be sure that there were no other injuries or unknown side effects of what she had been through. It was only when he realised that he would have had to tie her to the table to stop her that he had agreed to let her go, abet with extreme reluctance.

"Indeed." said Magno. "We are fortunate to have someone of your skills on board doctor."

Duero smiled at the comment. He had no doubt that the words were sincere but they also masked a hidden message. They had met after the battle and had agreed that the rest of the crew would not be told of the part Tam had played in Meia's recovery. Rumour's about the man's abilities had already spread wildly throughout the ship. There was no point in inflaming matters further.

"Well then, if that's all then I suggest we call it a day."

Unexpectedly BC responded. "Before we go boss, I noticed that Tam wasn't here today. Any particular reason for that?"

Magno looked at BC, slightly surprised that she had raised this question. 'Then

again' she thought to herself, 'BC has been showing quite a bit of interest in Tam since he started manifesting these strange powers. Looking round she realised that all the others in the room also looked interested in the answer. Even Meia. Although she was trying to hide it, feigning indifference, Magno could tell she was listening carefully.

"I didn't ask him along because this was just a routine meeting, none of his special skills seemed to apply. Also since the repairs were finished he asked me if he could requisition some equipment and resources to work on something that would help him do his job better. I agreed."

"Is that what he wanted that stuff for?" commented Gascognue

All eyes turned in her direction. Gascognue shrugged and continued.

"Tam came to the register a couple of days ago and asked to requisition some equipment. Since he had your authorisation Boss I let him have it."

"You didn't check to see what he was requesting?" asked BC in shock.

Gascognue turned to her. "Of course I did, I checked everything he took out. But it was all harmless stuff. He took a small amount of electronic components and tools, but the rest of it was a load of basic metals. A lot of iron, some copper, bronze and a few other things."

"That's all he took?" asked BC in surprise.

Gascognue leaned back in her chair and scratched her chin. "Well he also took a fair bit of synthleather, but I have no idea what he would have wanted that for."

The others looked around the room in puzzlement. Clearly confused by what Tam could have wanted with such basic items.

"Doctor have you any idea what he's up too?" asked Magno.

"I'm afraid I don't." said Duero. In fact I have seen very little of Tam or Hibiki for the last few days. Not even for training."

"Training?" asked Magno

Duero nodded. "Tam used to lead Hibiki and myself through an exercise routine each morning. But a few days ago he told me that he would be unable to attend for a while. Since that time I have seen very little of either him or Hibiki. They usually leave their cots before I get up and are usually asleep by the time I return from the sick bay."

"They gave no clue as to what they are doing?" asked BC.

"None" said Duero. "But what ever it is it must be exhausting, they both sleep like the dead."

"Is there anything else strange that you have noticed about their behaviour Doctor?" asked Magno.

Duero was about to shake his head, but then suddenly he looked thoughtful.

"Doctor?" persisted Magno.

Finally Duero sighed. "Well there is one thing. For the last couple of days Tam has been coming in briefly to make deposits of blood."

Duero was suddenly the recipient of the shocked stares of every woman around the table.

"What do you mean he's been making deposits of blood?" asked Meia in shock.

Duero shrugged. "Just that, he has been coming in and extracting a portion of his own blood for me to put in medical storage."

"And you did not find this surprising?" asked Gascognue in shock.

"Not really its fairly common practise on Tarak. We do not have haemoglobin regenerators like you do to regenerate a wounded person's lost blood. Replacement blood for the injured must come from transfusions or from donated blood that we keep in storage. I just assumed that Tam either wasn't aware of the haemoglobin regenerators or he simply wanted to have a stock of his own blood on hand should he need it."

"But why should he need it?" asked Parfait.

"Well he does have the current record for becoming seriously injured. It may be that he felt his own blood would assist his healing should he need it." Said Magno.

The other women on the table became silent as they contemplated this rather gruesome (to them) insight into Tarak medical techniques.

Unexpectedly it was Meia who restarted the conversation.

"Then where has he been for the last couple of days. I've been looking from him and Hibiki on the Vanguard deck but they haven't been there."

"You went looking from Tam Meia?" asked Gascognue a strange glitter in her eyes.

Meia almost, but not quite, flushed. "I wanted to talk to him and the brat about the role of their Vanguards into the defence of the ship. We need to discuss how to integrate them into the dread formations tactics."

"Ah you were interested in integration. Now it's all clear." Said Gascognue.

Meia looked at the register officer. Gascognue looked completely serious but it had almost seemed like there was another meaning behind that comment.

Then Magno started to speak again.

"When I gave him permission to use some of the facilities I assumed that he would be using the Vanguard bays. If he's not there then I have no idea where he and the kid could be."

"Um" Everyone turned to look at Parfait.

"Yes Parfait." Asked BC

"I didn't think anything of it at the time subcommander, but one of the repair teams mentioned that they heard some noises near the center of the lower hull."

"The lower hull." Commented Gascognue in surprise. "What's down there?"

"Its mainly old workshops from the colonisation era partly refitted by the men. We don't use them because what's down there is pretty primitive by our standards."

"Then what could Tam be looking for down there?" asked BC.

Suddenly Magno pushed away from her seat and stood up. The others turned to stare questioningly at her. He answer was simple "Lets go and find out."

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Magno lead the way for the first part of the trip. The sight of the ships senior officers all walking together got some surprised stares from the crew, but no one attempted to follow them or question what they were doing.

When they got to the lower level Magno faltered, as if unsure where to go. But suddenly Meia started striding purposefully down the corridors. Magno and the others blinked in surprise for a moment and then followed her. For several minutes they travelled down the corridors taking several turns. Magno was about to ask Meia where she was going when suddenly they all heard it.

Coming from up a head there came a steady noise. The rhythm varied slightly.

"Clang, clang clang clang. Clang"

Pause

"Clang, clang clang clang. Clang"

The rhythm continued to repeat itself.

The group looked at one another for a moment and then turned and moved towards the sound of the noise.

It became steadily louder as the moved on. Until bare minutes later they arrived at the door to a large room.

Parfait looked at the sign over the door curiously. "What does that sign say?"

"Metal workshop." Said BC distractedly. "But what would Tam want here?"

Magno moved forward and pressed the open button on the door. The clanging sounds suddenly increased dramatically. Strange odours and faint smoke flowed through the newly opened door. Puzzled and curious the others stared forward, and looked through.

Into a scene of Hell.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Or at least it must have seemed like one to any who were aware of the reference. Which perhaps fortunately none of them, except possibly Magno, were.

The interior of the room was dark and dimly lit with the exception of a roaring red glow in the center of the room.

A wave of heat assaulted them as they moved to enter the room. Sweeping over them. Forcing them back, making them instinctively cover their eyes. It was heat such as few of them had ever felt in their lives, save perhaps Duero who was familiar with the scorching desert winds that could sweep across the surface of Tarak in the summer.

Slowly blinking back the tears that automatically formed in their eyes they moved forward to stare inside. As their eyes adjusted to the bright red glow two figures could be seen. One was the diminutive form of Hibiki, he was clad only in a pair of shorts, sweat glistened on his body. They could see that he was pumping some kind of mechanism. His whole body moving with obvious effort in long easy strokes. They also noticed that as he completed each stroke the red glow seemed to increase in intensity before dying down. Only to flare again at the next stroke.

But little attention was paid to Hibiki, who was so focussed on his task that he did not notice them. Instead everyone's gaze was focussed on Tam.

Tam stood directly before the red glow. It outlined him so that more of him was visible in shadow than in light. Like Hibiki his chest was bear and glistened with sweat. Unlike Hibiki he wore a pair of pants, heavy boots and an apron made out of some dark material. In his hands he held a pair on tongs and a hammer, but it was what he was doing with them that caught everyone's attention.

Before him stood a large rectangle of dark metal. On its top surface was a glowing red object. The objects tips had started to darken but its center still glowed a fierce red. Fires played along the surface of the rectangle of dark metal. Tam was rhythmically beating the glowing object with the hammer while he held it firmly in place with the tongs. It was a strange process to watch. Tam hammered fast almost furiously, but there was no sense of anger or carelessness in what he did. Instead each stroke was delivered precisely, carefully, with an artistry that could not be denied for all that it was furious. And the noise was terrible. Here was the source of the clanging that they had heard on their journey here.

Magno had noticed that Tam had looked up as they entered and had nodded briefly.

But he had then gone back to his work, seemingly ignoring them. After a few moments Magno noticed BC starting to move forward her mouth open to speak. But Magno put her cane forward stopping her. BC glanced at her questioningly but Magno only shook her head and motioned to her to wait.

And so they waited and watched for several minutes on end as Tam hammered the glowing object on the rectangle. As the object gradually started to darken Magno noticed that there were dark patches on or within it. She also noticed that Tam seemed to be marking these out for special attention as he hammered. Finally when almost the entire length of the object had darkened to a dull red Tam picked it up with the tongs. He held it close to his face, inspecting it carefully. Then with a decisive moment he thrust it into the center of the bright red glow.

Then turning he set down the hammer and tongs and drank deeply from a vessel on the ground before making his way over to them.

"Captain." Said Tam respectfully. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Magno noticed that in addition to the sweat his body was covered with a layer of dust and grime. She also noticed small irregular burn marks all over his torso.

"Well I came to see what this project you were working on was. I realised that I ever actually asked you what you were planning to do."

Tam shrugged. "It's simple enough. I'm forging some weapons specifically a sword and a knife."

"You're forging weapons. By hand!" said Parfait incredulously. "Why do you want to waste time doing that? We have machines on the ship that could turn out a sword blade in the faction on the time it would take you to make one that way."

Tam turned and smiled at her. "I don't doubt you have machines that could make a sword Parfait, but it wouldn't be the kind that I need. I'm making a special kind of sword and it can only be made by hand. A machine couldn't do it."

Parfait looked decidedly unconvinced. Tam laughed at her expression. "I'll tell you what. Why don't you make a sword your way? When it's finished we'll compare it against mine and we'll see."

Parfait looked thoughtful and nodded at this, but before she could say anything Magno interrupted her. "Interesting as that may be it doesn't answer the question of why you need a sword in the first place."

Tam looked at Magno in mild surprise. "I thought I told you that already Captain. To better do my job."

"So how is this sword supposed to better help you pilot your Vanguard?"

"It wont." Responded Tam. "That wasn't the job I was thinking of. But if the Harvesters try to board us again, or we encounter them somewhere where we can't use the Dreads or the Vanguards, I'll be a greater asset if I have the weapons that I'm familiar with."

"What's the matter with your hammer?" Asked Gascognue.

"The hammers fine." Said Tam as he turned towards her. "But it's not my usual weapon, and if you remember I nearly died that time. I'll do better with a sword." This last was said with quiet confidence.

"What makes you think they're be a next time." Asked BC.

"What makes you think they won't?" Tam retorted.

The subcommander frowned but did not dispute this. "Still" she said. "I had thought that you would be working on some more effective weapons. There is only so much you can do with a sword."

"You would be surprised what you can do with a sword." Responded Tam. "But you are right. There are some other weapons that I intended to make, but I started with the sword as it was going to take the longest."

"What kind of other weapons?" asked BC.

Tam took on a guarded expression. "I would rather show you once I've completed them. I'm still not sure if they will work"

BC looked about to protest this but was interrupted by Magno.

"It's all very well for you to be making weapons against our enemy. But what if they attack while you are busy doing this?"

Tam turned to Magno in surprise. "I thought you said that the Harvesters have never attacked while you were in transit between systems."

"They haven't. Yet. What is to prevent them from doing so?"

Tam smiled ruefully. "Nothing." Then he reached out a hand and pointed at an object in the ceiling.

"Hibiki reconnected that alarm before we started work. It's linked to the ships central network. If the ship goes on alert then we can be in the Vanguard bay and launching within five minutes."

Magno looked this over and then appeared satisfied. "You have thought this out haven't you?"

Tam smiled but made no other reply.

Magno shook her head with a smile of her own. "Very well, I'll look forward to seeing the results of your work. When do you expect you will be finished?"

Tam looked thoughtful, then turned away to stare at the forge. In the background Hibiki could be seen sitting on a bench. Slowly drinking a cup of water.

"Two weeks." Said Tam finally. "Two weeks at the longest." It may be sooner but it should be no later."

Magno looked surprised. "Why so long."

Tam waved his hand. "Craft takes time." He said simply.

"Alright." Said Magno. "Two weeks then. I can hardly wait to see what you'll bring out. In the meantime we'll leave you to your work." And so she motioned with her cane and the others began to file out.

It was then Magno noticed that Meia was leaving heavily on the doorway.

"Meia are you all right?"

Meia turned to look at her. "Fine Boss. It's just the heat."

Magno could tell from her gaze that that was not all, but she made no comment. That would keep for another time.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

As she walked back with the others Meia contemplated what she had experienced. For the last few weeks her link with Tam seemed to have faded. She had still been aware of his presence and he of hers but that was all. They had hardly seen each other since their encounter after the battle. Their duties had kept them apart. She had thought that the link was disappearing on its own, but the moment she had seen him in that room, seen him in that bizarre act Parfait had called 'forging' it had suddenly come back with full force.

As she walked she remembered what she had seen.

The start of the vision had been similar to what she had seem Tam doing. She saw a small room, lit only by the glow of the forge fire. She saw a man, his frame slightly stooped with age, but still powerful hammering the steel. The person whose eyes she was seeing through, which she realised must be Tam, was working the bellows.

Finally the man took a break and Meia saw the two of them step outside of the forge.

What she saw had been beautiful.

The forge was built on a cliff face high on a mountain. Snow covered the ground. Far below she could see vast forests of dark green trees, partly covered with snow. Other mountains formed the boundaries of these forests. Grim grey sentinels. Overhead the sky was dark with storm clouds. As she watched the wind picked up. The clouds stared to broil and darken further, until thunder and lightening split the sky and the first hard cold droplets of rain began to fall.

Through Tam's memories Meia experienced all of this. She felt the sting of the wind and rain. Felt the bitter cold of the mountains. But Tam did not complain. He knew that to do so would only earn him a punishment from his grandfather. So he turned to look at the old man who sat half naked ignoring the wind and rain. His scarred and craggy features making him seem like the mountains themselves. Then suddenly the old man spoke.

"There is a legend. A very old one. Some say it dates back to the time when all humanity lived on but one world. They say the gods of the sky. The gods who command wind, thunder, rain and lightening made war upon the gods of the earth. The gods who commanded earth and fire. Who won that ancient war none can say, for it is notremembered. What is known is that it must have been terrible, for at the end they abandoned their greatest weapons on the battlefield. Those formed of the union of fire and earth. And so men first found steel."

Now the old man turned to face Tam and those eyes seemed to stare right through him and into his soul.

"We have come far since then. The times have changed. The weapons have changed. We now have weapons that the old gods may well envy. We travel the stars. Bend worlds to our will, reshape matter itself into a form to please us. But still steel stays with us. Despite all that has happened, all that has changed we carry steel still.

Why is that Boy? Why in this age do we keep to the old ways? Why after centuries of good and faithful service do we still live in such a way that many others dismiss us as 'primitives'?" The question was barked out harshly.

Meia remembered/felt Tam gulp and struggle to reply in a clear voice.

'To keep ourselves strong Grandfather. To keep ourselves true. To remember the riddle and the discipline of steel (1)."

"Yes." Said the old man with a long drawn out breath. "Remember this boy. Among men we are born like iron. Hard and strong. But we are also brittle, we will not bend but we can break. So like iron we must be beaten, hammered, tempered and forged if we are to become all that we can be, to become stronger. Do you know why we do this Tamorasp, son of my son? Why we must endure the forging?"

The old man went on without waiting for an answer. "Because we have accepted the duty and the honour or standing between the empire and its enemies. Now and always.

It is a duty that will drive you hard, use you fierce and leave you with little but loss (2). But it must be done, the price must be paid."

As he spoke the old mans voice shook with the strength on his emotion. Suddenly he reached out and grabbed the young Tam's hand. "Know this boy, when you walk this path it will lead you into dark places. And when you travel them you will learn that you can trust to nothing. Nothing except your own skills and your own strengths. That is why you must know the discipline and the riddle of steel. Nothing else can you trust. Not men, not women, not machinery, not beasts and certainly not aliens or AI's."

Suddenly the old man went silent. He leaned forward staring intently into Tam's eyes. As he did so he took out a knife and carefully placed the naked blade into the palm of the hand he held, then with infinite care he closed the boys palm around the naked blade. As he did so he spoke. Barely more than a whisper

"This you can trust."

Meia continued to walk. Those cryptic words still ringing in her mind.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Almost exactly two weeks later a crowd gathered in the Vanguard bay. It was a fairly small crowd, largely made up of all the crew who were off duty at that time and had nothing better to do. But it was a crowd nonetheless.

"I didn't realise that this was going to become a spectator event." Said BC to Magno as they viewed the crowd.

The Captain of the Pirates shrugged. "Word got around, the only thing that would have kept them out would be to order them away, and that would have caused unnecessary resentment. Besides they get little enough entertainment as it is."

"True. But I'm not sure what kind of entertainment it's going to be. Do you have any idea what kind of 'demonstration' it's going to be?" As she asked she turned to stare at the objects that littered the floor of the hangar.

There were a series of thick metal plates. Standing upright like doors. All set in a row.

There were a number of columns made out of dark metal standing haphazardly around the room. And finally there was a strange metal harness, on a stand at about chest height that stood at the end of the row of metal plates.

"Well why don't you ask him." Said Magno. "Looks like he's finally arrived."

Indeed. Tam and Hibiki had finally entered the Hanger. They stopped in surprise as they saw the crowd gathered before them. Then pressed on until they stood before Magno. As they approached she observed them. Hibiki was dressed in his usual orange jacket and baggy black pants. In his arms he held a small bundle.

Tam on the other hand looked different. He was dressed almost entirely in a skin suit made of dark brown sythleather. The heavy synthetic substance that looked like leather but was far hardier and stronger. It was used on Mejere to make protective clothing but few people wore it as standard dress. For one thing it was uncomfortable, for another it was so unstylish. But that was not the first thing that drew her attention.

Tam was also wearing armour. Thick plates of dark metal covered his shoulders. Segmented plates covered his chest and thighs. He wore solid metal bracers and greaves and his hands were covered by heavy segmented gauntlets. On his belt Magno could see the handle of a knife, but it was what was on his back that drew her attention the most.

A large cruciform hilt hung over his shoulder like a perched bird of prey. Magno could see the shape of a long thick sword blade behind his legs. The sword at his back was nearly as tall as he was and Tam was not a short man.

'What does he think he needs a sword like that for?' thought Magno. Then Tam was before her.

He saluted her, fist to chest in that curious manner he had.

"Captain." Then he turned to BC with a nod. "Subcommander." "I didn't expect am audience for our little demonstration."

Magno smiled. If Tam felt any unease at the prospect of performing before a group of the crew he hid it well.

"Well I wouldn't let it go to your head too much. It's just an indication of how bored everyone is getting." Then she quickly changed the subject. Pointing over his shoulder with her cane. "So is that the sword you've been working on?"

Tam smiled. "It is indeed." Then with a single quick motion he reached over his shoulder one handed and drew the sword with a flourish. There were a few gasps of shock as he did this and a few of the more paranoid security officers even started reaching for their weapons. But Tam merely brought the sword forward so that it rested in the palms of his hands and held it before Magno so that she could inspect it.

At first glance she was not impressed. The sword was very large, the blade almost four feet long and as wide as her palm. But it was very plain. The pommel was a simple ball of dull grey metal. The quillons and the crosspiece were simple and an even uglier dull black. And the grip looked to be made out of sandleather used for scouring metal (3). Finally she turned her attention to the blade and almost gasped in shock. She had thought the blade was made from more dull black metal but as she looked closer she could see that was not the case. Instead there were layers, ripples in the blade. Each layer was a difference colour. Some were black, others bright and silvery. Some had a copperish tint while others were tinted, blue, green and even red. The overall effect was strangely beautiful.

She looked up at Tam the silent question in her eyes. He appeared to read it there.

"The blade is New Damascus steel. It is made by folding together several different kinds of metals."

"Folding?" asked BC as she also inspected the blade. Tam nodded.

"That is what you saw me doing that day. I was folding the metals, wielding them together. That's what creates the ripple pattern that you can see on the blade."

"But why do that?" asked BC.

"Because it results in a blade that is both very flexible, very strong and very, very sharp. Nothing holds an edge like New Damascus steel."

As he spoke Magno ran a hand along the middle of the blade. Then she moved her finger closer to the edge and suddenly drew it back sharply. Tam and BC leaned over to see. There was a hair thin cut on the gloves that covered the finger. As they watched they could see a drop of blood start to form.

"Now" said Magno awkwardly as she started to suck the damaged finger. "That is sharp."

Tam looked shamefaced. "I'm sorry Captain I should have warned you."

"No harm done." She said around the finger in her mouth. "Now I believe that you have a challenge to face." She turned and pointed with her cane to indicate where parfait and a group of her techs were making their way toward them.

Parfait held a sword in her hands on the same way someone would hold a potentially dangerous reptile. But she presented it to Tam proudly.

"This is our sword for the challenge. Made with the best materials Mejere has to offer."

Tam looked it over. It was a nice sword. It had a blue lacquered scabbard. Its hilt was an elaborate cross guard of some shiny metal. The blade was quite thin, something between a rapier and a longsword. It was a beautiful blade and Tam was sure absolutely no use in the kind of fight he would have to face as he intended to show them.

"Ok who is going to use it for the challenge?"

Parfait looked at him blankly. "Well you are of course how else can we show which would serve you better. By the way what is the challenge?"

Tam couldn't argue with that so instead he moved to stand in the middle of the series of metal columns.

Turning he addressed the gathered audience. "As you can see I have set up a series of columns." He said waving his arm to indicate said columns.

"They are all of varying widths. For I intend to use them to test the effectiveness of the swords at cutting through armour.

There were a series of blank looks from the gathered crowd.

"How are you going to do that?" Someone called.

Tam smiled, and then he moved. In one smooth motion he drew the massive sword at his back and sliced one handed at the top of the nearest column. The massive blade sheared cleanly through the thick metal. The force of the blow sending the severed portion flying. But even before it hit the ground Tam was already moving, spinning on his feet with a dancer's elegance and the precision of a predator. As he moved to each of the columns he struck, at first single handed they as they became thicker with a two handed grip. Never once did he stop moving. Never was any motion wasted.

Standing in the crowd Hibiki grinned at the shocked expressions of the women around him. All of them would have heard of Tam's fighting skill by now. But few if any of them would ever have seen him in motion. And the reality was far more impressive than anything else they might have heard. But for all that Hibiki knew that it had been only a part of what Tam was capable of. Tam had not used the Boost

Tam finished his motion and smoothly slid that massive sword into the harness on his back. Then he moved towards Parfait. The chief engineer was so shocked by what she had just seen that she made no motion, except to jump back in shock after Tam drew the sword she carried, leaving her holding the empty scabbard.

Tam hefted the blade, feeling its weight and grip. The sword didn't feel right. The crossguard was too heavy for the light blade. But still better to put it to the acid test.

He stepped up to one of the untouched pillars. The thinnest one. Then taking a firm grip on the sword he checked his stance and swung with all his might. The blade connected with the column and shattered into a hundred pieces. The crowd gasped in shock. Tam stared down at the hilt and inch and a half of blade left in his hand. Then he turned and headed back to Parfait.

"I'm sorry" he said as he handed the hilt back to her. "I really didn't mean to do that."

The chief engineer gaped in shock, then stammered a reply.

"It's alright. Anyway you proved you point. That sword obviously wasn't suited for what you intend."

Tam nodded "Just one question Parfait. That blade, did you make it from pure steel?"

The engineer nodded. "As pure as we could get it. Why?"

Tam nodded as she confirmed his suspicion "Pure steel like that holds a wicked edge, but it's surprisingly brittle. It has a tendency to break under too much strain."

Tam left the chief engineer with a curious look on her face and made his way over to Magno.

"You proved your point with a remarkable lack of subtlety. Very mannish."

"Well I am a man." Replied Tam blandly.

"Hm. So what's the next part of your demonstration?"

"For the next part I need a volunteer."

There was a sudden surge as the crowd move back from where Tam was standing. Magno watched this with amusement.

"A volunteer to shoot me." The crowd seemed to shudder with shock at that statement. Then there was a tussle as two figures pushed themselves to the front. Barnette and Celeste. Tam looked at these two with a smile that was more than half a grimace.

The two stepped forward. Barnette in particular looked like she was about to shoot him on the spot. But a sharp movement from Magno stopped them.

"Wait! Tam what's all this about?"

Tam turned his arm and showed her his left vambrace. For the first time Magno noticed the glowing jewel embedded in it. "Pretty but what does it mean?"

"I constructed this vambrace to hold an energy shield. I want to show how it works."

Magno frowned. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"I've already tested it." Tam assured her.

"Very well then. Which one do you want to do the honours?" she said pointing at the two women.

Tam looked thoughtful. "Actually if Barnette has one of her projectile weapons with her it may as well be both."

Barnette indeed did. Tam moved until he was about 15 meters down the bay then stopped and turned. He pressed something on his vambrace and then turned to face the crowd, his left arm held out horizontally before him. "Ready!" he shouted.

Magno nodded to Celeste. The tech stepped forward, sighted down her laser ring and fired. A thin stream of red light shot straight towards Tam's chest. But at the last minute it flashed and flared against an oval shaped iridescent blue shield that snapped into place just in front of Tams outstretched arm.

Celeste and the crowd stared in shock. They knew about energy shields. Both the dreads and the Nirvana itself were equipped with them. But no one had ever been able to make one that was compact enough to be effectively used by an individual. Yet this man had apparently done so.

Suddenly Barnette stepped forward and stared firing a volley of shots. The sharp explosions of the projectile weapon she carried echoed loudly in the hanger.

The shield flared with each impact. And on the first shot Tam stepped back. Caught off guard by the force of the impact. But he had soon braced himself once again and the shoots had no further effect.

When Barnette had shot her clip, Tam bent and retrieved something, before moving over to the harness and attaching his vambrace to it. Then made his way back towards the crowd. He paused and passed something to Barnette on his way. Nine lead slugs, now crushed into almost flat ovoids by the force of the impact.

"Very impressive, said Magno as he made his way back towards them. "Do you have any other tricks to show us?"

"Just one. Hibiki."

Hibiki came forward and gave Tam one of the bundles he carried. Tam took it and slowly unwrapped it revealing a strange object which although it appeared to be some type of gun was otherwise unfamiliar to the pirates.

"And what does that do?" asked Magno

"It destroys thing." Replied Tam blandly. Then he lifted the weapon, pointed it down the line of steel plates he had set up and pressed the firing stud.

A searing bolt of energy surged from the gun and travelled down the line leaving destruction in its wake. Where as the pirates laser rings fired a thin beam almost to thin to be seen, this fired a thick oval projectile. It blew through the first plate leaving a smouldering watermelon sized hole. In the blink of an eye it continued down the line. It passed through all ten of the plates, each one made of two inch thick metal. Each time the hole left behind became smaller. But not by much. Finally it struck the energy shield which flared and sparked but absorbed the remaining force of the blast. The crowd stared in shock. A cannon from one of the Dreads may have been able to do more damage, but no hand weapon the pirates had could even come close.

Tam turned and held the weapon out to Magno, holding it in his palm.

"Imperial energy disrupter. Standard template. Standard issue."

Then the shit really hit the fan.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Magno sat in her ready room nursing a cup of tea as BC got ready to report on the results of the system scan they had just finished. After the last few days Magno was happy to be getting back to 'normal' problems.

The final part of Tam's demonstration had caused a near riot among the assembled crew. Between the crewmembers screaming that such a powerful weapon did not belong in the hands of a man, the technicians fighting over who would have access to the weapons to figure out how they worked and the enthusiasm of certain crew members who had wanted to try the weapons themselves. Magno realised that they were very lucky no one had been injured in the chaos that had followed.

Fortunately a couple of things had calmed the crowd down. The first had been Tam's willingness to hand over the 'disrupter' he had built to Magno. The second had been the realisation that powerful as it was the disrupter required at least 30 seconds to recharge between shots. In the fast moving style of combat that the pirates employed 30 seconds was a lifetime, so interest in the weapon dropped of markedly. The only one they had not been able to calm down was Parfait, who had demanded that Tam immediately show her how he had been able to create such items. But even she had deflated when Tam had showed her that the key was in the crystals that he had received, seemingly from the Plexis itself. Last Magno heard, Parfait had resorted to actually sitting in the plexis chamber, begging it to give her a crystal to experiment with.

Magno decided that she really did not want to know how that was going. She didn't know what was more disturbing, that her chief engineer had resorted to begging a giant energy producing crystal. Or that it might actually work.

She was broken out of her reverie when she realised that BC was speaking.

The view screen in front in front of her suddenly focused in on an aquamarine planet.

'This is an ocean planet." Reported the subcommander as she stood beside the view screen. "99 of its surface is covered with water. There is also an atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen in the main part. It satisfies the conditions to support human life."

As BC spoke the view screen continued to show the results of the detailed scans of the planets make up. Suddenly the view screen focused in further on the planets surface, revealing a construction of some kind. What looked like a series of rings spreading out from a central point.

"We can see an island." Continued BC. "The inhabitants appear to be humanoid. We also detected the signs of some colonisation remains under the sea."

Magno sat back and smiled. "Well then. Shall we go and say hi to our friends?"

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The Nirvana moved steadily towards the planet. Taking up a position in high orbit.

On the bridge all attention was focused on the emerald/blue sphere before them.

"What a pretty planet" exclaimed one of the bridge crew.

Suddenly one of the consoles started beeping a warning.

"What is it?" asked BC.

Ezra looked up from her console. "Enemies detected on the opposite side of the planet!"

Almost as soon as she said this a view screen appeared, showing Bart in his piloting tank. "L..let's run away." Stammered the cowardly pilot.

The others ignored him. More than used to his outbursts by now.

"How many?" demanded BC.

'Ten or more units of cube types and… I can see a strange machine." Reported Ezra.

Suddenly the machine came into view as they came around the horizon of the planet.

"What the hell is that?" asked Magno

The machine was indeed strange. It resembled a giant red clove of garlic, with the bulbous end pointed at the planet below them. Cube units, the standard machines that they had seen used by the harvesters, clustered around it. They appeared to be making repairs or adjustments to the machine. However as the Nirvana neared they're attention suddenly shifted to the approaching ship and they broke off what they were doing to attack.

On the Nirvana Tam and Hibiki raced to the Vanguard hanger in response to the call to battle stations. Hibiki streaked ahead of the older man. After the past few weeks spent on the ship Hibiki was eager for some action. He had just reached the hangar deck when a blinding white light stopped him in his tracks.

Female laughter echoed in the hangar. "So, you're here." Came Jura's voice.

Squinting his eyes against the glare Hibiki could barely make out the shadowed outline of two female figures and two high powered lights. One of them must be Jura. Which meant that the other was likely to be Barnette.

"You get it. This time you must unite with Jura."

As he shielded his eyes Hibiki sighed. The blonde haired woman had been trying to get him to unite with her ever since she had seen him and Dita unite in that first battle. And since he had accidentally united with Meia she had only become more persistent with her requests. That was why Hibiki had been more than happy to help Tam forge his sword and weapons over the past two weeks. The work may have been hard and at times boring. But at least it had kept him away from both the Blonde and the irritating redheaded girl.

"Well that should do it right?" asked Jura in a quiet voice.

"Perfect" replied Barnette, who was capturing all of this on a hand held video camera.

Hibiki was just contemplating what to do when Tam reached the deck behind him and pulled him away towards the Vanguards. Completely ignoring Jura and Barnette.

"Come on little brother. No time to dawdle, there's work to do."

Jura stared after then incredulous that this man had spoilt her moment.

"W..wait I haven't finished yet! Grrr. In that case Barnette, quickly, second stage!"

"I know" replied Barnette with a long suffering sigh.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Dread fighters streamed from their launch bays to intercept the incoming cubes. Hibiki's Golden Vanguard also streamed a head to intercept the enemy while

Tam's Black Vanguard hung back setting itself between the Nirvana and the enemy.

Its lower speed making it the obvious choice for close in defence.

Cube fighters started opening up with their main guns as Hibiki approached. The Vanguard ducked and spun, avoiding the worst of the fire. Then as Hibiki came within range he let loose with a vicious slash at a cube fighter. Which missed completely. Hibiki was still looking around in surprise when another cube fighter slammed into his Vanguard from above. The impact sending both of them spinning towards the planet below.

Hibiki finally managed to disengage from the cube, destroying it with a quick slash of his sword. Just in time to see Jura red dread fighter bearing down on him.

"So, you feel like uniting now?" asked Jura.

"Damn it!" said Hibiki. But he didn't get a chance to complete the sentence. Suddenly Ditas voice rang out over the comms.

"Mr Alien. Watch out!"

Hibiki spun his Vanguard, barely in time to avoid colliding with Dita's Dread.

"If you're going to unite with anyone do it with Dita, Ok" came the voice of the redhead.

"Damn you all" muttered Hibiki as he drove himself on another group of cubes. Determined to take out his frustrations on someone.

Unfortunately the cubes did not appear in the mood to oblige him.

The cubes ducked and weaved around his blows, allowing none of them to connect. While another cube fighter snuck up behind him and let fly with its guns.

"What the?" said Hibiki as he struggled to stabilise his Vanguard after the impacts. "When did these guy's learn to dodge?"

On the bridge of the Nirvana, BC and Magno were pondering the same thing.

"The enemy's movements appear to have gotten better since before." Said BC

'They're reading our techniques." Replied Magno. "What an irritating enemy."

Suddenly a voice over the comm's interrupted they're thoughts.

"Everybody listen up."

They looked up in surprise to see Jura's face on the vid screen.

"Today I will definitely show you my magnificent transformation!"

One of the bridge crew gave an exasperated sigh. "She's started that again."

Then Hibiki's face appeared on the view screen. "Hey, that's not your decision alone! What makes you think I'm going to unit with someone like you?"

Suddenly a series of explosions rocked the Nirvana's shields. In his tank Bart cried out in shock.

"Will you take this seriously. This is no time to play around."

At the same time Tam's voice cut over the comms. "Would you two quit your grandstanding and pay attention to the enemy!" He yelled as his Vanguard sliced another cube as it finished its strafing run.

Tam was trying to keep the cubes from attacking the Nirvana, but he was hampered by his Vanguards lack of speed and by the number of cubes that were getting through. Cubes that the others should be engaging instead of chatting on the comm net.

Hibiki attacked another cube. This time he used one of the tricks Tam had taught him. He swung wilding with the sword in his Vanguards left hand, then as the cube came in after the stroke he reached behind with his left hand, pulling out his second sword and slicing the cube in two. But Hibiki had no time to be satisfied at his first kill of the day. A sudden cry made him look up.

Dita's dread streaked past, a cube fighter in hot pursuit. Hibiki was about to go to her aid when suddenly Meia's voice came over the comm's/

'Don't look away!"

But it was too late. A trio of cube fighters had surrounded his Vanguard. Suddenly they slammed into him as one, knocking his swords from his hands. The whole mass of them started falling towards the planet below.

"Mr Alien!" yelled Dita as she saw him fall.

Dita and Meia's Dreads started heading down, trying to intercept Hibiki before he was burned up in re-entry. But fire from the other cube fighters forced them to break off.

"I can't get close to Mr Alien." Yelled Dita.

Suddenly a red blur shot through thru cube formation, heading for the falling Vanguard.

Below Hibiki's Vanguard was starting to glow red hot as it entered the atmosphere. Already one of the cube fighters had broken away and burnt up due to the friction of re-entry.

Above Jura's Dread streaked down towards him. The fighter's shields straining to hold against the forces applied against them. Inside the cockpit, Jura leant over her controls eagerly.

"Barnette. Are the cameras running?" she called out.

"What the kind of question is that at a time like this!" came Barnette incredulous voice.

As her Dread homed in on Hibiki's falling Vanguard Jura laughed softly to herself.

"Show me." She said. "The third stage has started."

And with that the two connected in a flash of blinding white light. But they did not stop falling. Instead a single blazing object hit the ocean below like a meteor. Causing a massive explosion of water upwards and sending a shockwave ripping for miles around.

"They seem to have crashed into the water, near the island city." Reported Ezra on the bridge.

"Jura! Hibiki! Are you ok? Respond!" called out BC.

A group of the harvester cube fighters swarmed over the site where the Vanguard and Dread had crash. The cubes seemed to look around almost curiously but there was no movement to be detected. The Waters from the impact subsided and were still.

Above in orbit the others from the Nirvana called out over the comms. Desperate to get a response, unwilling to believe that their companions were gone. But no answer came.

Then suddenly it happened.

In a sudden spray of water a massive ruby red shape surged out of the ocean. Its massive shape hovered over the ocean surface. Below it hovered a large disc. A ring of eight smaller discs's hovered in a ring above it.

On the bridge of the Nirvana, the others reacted to the new sight.

"Huh, a new one came out!" said Magno in surprise.

"But.. but that looks like." BC struggled for words.

One of the other bridge crewmembers was able to put it better. "A Crab?"

The others shock however was nothing next to Jura's disappointment.

……………………………………………………………………………………

"Noooooo!" she yelled as she stared at an external vid pick up. "This cant be Jura's!"

Hibiki in the mean time, more practically minded, was trying to figure out the bizarre new Vandreads controls.

Unlike the other Vandreads he and Jura were not sharing a single piloting seat. Instead the two of them had individual chairs in a circular control room. The chairs rotated around a circular console in the center of the room. Over the console hovered an orange holograph display.

In the meantime, the cube fighters took advantage of the pilot's confusion and started firing on the newly emerged Vandread.

'This is so uncool. This is the worst. Shit how am I supposed to move this?' thought Hibiki as he tried to work out the unfamiliar controls.

Jura's continued complaints suddenly cut through his thoughts. "Turn it back the way it was." Complained the Blonde pilot.

"Shut Up!" Yelled Hibiki "This isn't the time for that! Counterattack!"

Hibiki's yell surprised the blonde into silence. But only for a moment.

"NO" she yelled peevishly as she slammed both hands against the console in from of her.

This had the effect of doing something. However unintended.

Thrusters suddenly flared to life and the red Vandread suddenly shot away from its attackers over the ocean. The move was so sudden that a few of the cube fighters were swamped in its wash. The others quickly gave chase.

In the cockpit Hibiki was still trying to work out the controls.

"Shit" he muttered "which ones the weapon."

Far above, the Nirvana bridge crew watched they're progress.

"This is bad." Stated BC. "They're headed towards the island city."

"What about Meia, Dita and Tam?" asked Magno.

'They're busy fighting off the enemy's in orbit." Reported one of the bridge crew.

Magno Sighed in annoyance.

Meanwhile, the cube fighters continued they're attack on the red Vandread.

Hibiki swore as another impact rocked the hull. "Damn they're making a punching bag out of us."

"No! I don't want this anymore! Let me off!" Yelled Jura.

Hibiki looked at the blonde in surprise and annoyance. "Shut up cooperate properly!"

But Jura just shook her head from side to side as she continued protesting.

Suddenly Hibiki grasped one of the control stick on his chair.

"Huh what's this?"

Suddenly one of the Vandreads long grappling arms shot out smashing one of the attacking cube fighters.

Hibiki grinned in satisfaction. But it was short lived. He continued manipulating the arms trying to smash the attacking cubes. But it was like a man trying to swat flies. After the initial surprise strike the cubes avoided the clumsy attacks with ease and started pounding the Vandread once again.

Meanwhile Jura continued to pay attention to nothing except her own disappointment.

"What is this?" She yelled "This is so Uncool."

Hibiki unceremoniously shoved her out of the way to access the consol she had been sitting before. "Shut up!" he yelled. "If you have time to complain look for a weapon!"

But Jura only continued her trilabe "No! Let me off!"

Suddenly Hibiki spotted a button on the consol. "How about this one!" he yelled as he slammed his palm down on it.

Suddenly the disc that had been hovering below the Vandread shot up to hover over it. Rays of green energy shot out, linking the large disc to the eight smaller ones that now hovered below it. Suddenly each of the smaller discs spun to face outward and let loose a massive beam of energy. Eight massive beams carved furrows in the sea as they shot outward from the Vandread in a circular formation. All of the attacking cubes were caught in the blast and destroyed completely.

"Yes!" yelled Hibiki in victory. But even now Jura could not summon any enthusiasm for the ugly appearance her "magnificent transformation' had taken.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Above in space the dread teams mopped up the last of the remaining cube fighters.

Meia's image suddenly appeared on the bridge view screen. "Enemy cube types destroyed. But we can't seem to damage that strange machine."

"For the time being return back. Good Work." said Magno

"Understood." Said Meia as she signed off.

Meanwhile BC was staring at the strange machine that dominated the view screen,

"That might be the machine used for 'the harvest'."

"Well…" said Magno. "Shall we ask the people down there?"

After a few minutes a signal was picked up from the surface.

"Communication coming through!" reported Ezra.

'Put it on the main monitor." Replied Magno.

The main screen lit up to show the figure of a young woman. She was pale skinned with long Blonde hair. She was wearing a baggy blue dress that appeared to have some kind of mask attached over her chest.

"Nice to meet you." She said. "My name is Fanita. Welcome to the most beautiful planet in the universe. Anpatos."

"Anpatos?" asked Magno. "Is that the planets name?"

"Yes." Responded Fanita. "We call it that. We have waited long for you."

"Waited?" asked Magno in surprise.

"Yes. You are Muunya, right?" asked Fanita.

"Unfortunately we're not called Muunya." Responded Magno "Would it be ok to land at your city. There are several things I would like to ask you?"

Fanita looked shocked at Magno's statement that they were not Muunya, but she seemed to recover quickly.

"Because the timing of the ritual is close, I'm afraid that we can't offer you a big welcome."

"That's Ok." Responded Magno.

She then set about making preparations for the trip down. Perhaps the most surprising of these was her decision to leave Bart in charge of the ship as both she and BC would be heading down to the planet. The cowardly pilot would have probably protested this had she not cut him off with a final comment of "oh and no running away."

A final unexpected addition to the expedition was Tam, who turned up at the shuttle bay fully equipped with his weapons and armour asking to accompany them to the planet below. After a moments consideration Magno agreed, as BC had pointed out they had no idea what kind of ties these people had to the Harvesters and Tam had amply demonstrated that he could handle himself in a fight.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Oh the surface of the planet Hibiki jumped down from his Vanguard onto a sandy beach. They had finally managed to get they're machines separated once again. A fact for which both pilots were grateful. Now Hibiki stared out at the city around him. The buildings were all connected together and made of stone in a style someone in another age would have called Mediterranean. The city was dominated by a massive cylindrical tower that rose many times higher than the tallest buildings. As he watched he could see people setting up brightly coloured banners and carrying trays laden with food and drink. A few stopped to stare at him curiously.

'A festival?' though Hibiki as he stared around.

Looking back over his shoulder he called out to Jura. Asking if the other pilot wanted to take a look around. But Jura still devastated that her 'magnificent transformation' had not been everything she had hoped it would be, sat on top of her dread, unresponsive. Hibiki was about to call out again, when he noticed the shape of one of the Nirvana's shuttles descending towards the city. Immediately he set off for its landing site.

When the shuttle touched down Magno, BC and Tam were met by Fanita and two men wearing identical clothing except in orange. If the pirates found anything strange about men and women apparently existing together they gave no sign.

They greeted them and then started to follow them through the city. AS they walked Tam scanned the crowds around them. Alert for possible threats. But it was BC who spotted it. A strange curved symbol, repeated on banners all around the city.

'That symbol' she though. 'It seems familiar. But why?"

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Elsewhere something else was happening. It began subtly, barely noticed by anyone watching. Out in space, a second far larger Harvester ship sent a pulse of energy to the one that hung in orbit over Anpatos. On board that ship, instruments came on line and machinery long dormant came alive as it started to fulfil its intended function.

On the planet below waves began to form on the planet where before the oceans had been calm.

Suddenly four long spikes started to emerge from the top of the cylindrical tower that dominated the city. The inhabitants looked on with surprise and awe. They gradually, but in ever increasing numbers they began to abandon what they had been doing and make their way towards the tower. The time, long prophesised, was now at hand.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

The group from the Nirvana now stood within the vast cylindrical tower. Fanita and her two acolytes had led then here from the landing field. Along the way Hibiki had joined them. They stood now investigating their surroundings. The Tower turned out to be hollow and was almost as featureless inside as it was outside. Save for near the bottom which was dominated by strange carvings along the walls. The inside was dominated by a massive staircase that rose all the way to the top of the tower. A second tower within the tower itself.

"This is the Temple that leads to the holy path." Said Fanita.

"Well?" asked Magno. "Who is this Muunya that you are waiting for?"

"He is the one who brought our ancestors to this planet." Said Fanita, her head bowed in devotion. "We are grateful. Muunya is the founder of Anpatos"

"What is he coming to do?" asked BC

"Muunya needs us." Said Fanita. "We too are waiting for Muunya."

"Need? Need for what?" asked Hibiki.

"Muunya needs the spiral code." Said Fanita, the blank look on her face indication that she was repeating something by rote without really understanding what she was saying."

"Spiral code?" asked BC

"What the hell is that?" said Hibiki, blunt as ever.

Suddenly BC gasped as her eyes went wide in shock. Suddenly she new why that symbol was familiar and what the 'spiral code' was and the knowledge was chilling.

"The spinal cord! You're just a part of the harvest! This Muunya is coming to harvest your spinal cords!"

The others looked at her in shock. Then with an awful dawning comprehension.

"It all makes sense really." Said Magno quietly as the others watched wave after wave of the inhabitants flock within the temple. "Everyone we have seen here so far is in their youth. All of around the same age. Where are all the young, the old?"

"I do not know of what you speak." Said Fanita "When we are young we are placed here. In time we go to meet Muunya and then the next generation will come. The time of meeting Muunya is a time of blessing. There is no hesitation in this."

"Huh" grunted Magno. "You try to sound calm but aren't you getting goose bumps from fear under that pretty dress?"

"There is no fear." Said Fanita, but her voice was not quite as calm as it had been before. "Everything is for Muunya. That is the custom of Anpatos."

Magno narrowed here eyes. But before she could speak again a chime from the communicator interrupted her.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Back on the ship Bart was quickly being driven insane. It seemed that ever pirate on the ship had a question for him. Will we be getting supplied with food and water? I want to change my locker. What's happening outside. When can we go down to the planet? And a thousand other queries had bombarded him.

He had just succeeded in shutting them down when something else came to his attention. The larger Harvester ship they had not noticed before was now within sensor range, and it was moving towards the smaller one in orbit of the planet.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

"It…it's the enemy." Reported Bart in a shaky voice.

"How many?" asked BC

"One. It looks like a big container."

"It's the harvest ship." Said BC. "Boss" she yelled as she spun around.

"It seems like this Muunya, that you have been waiting for is finally here." Said Magno to Fanita.

Fanita and the acolytes around her reacted with expressions of delight.

"He's here!" said Fanita with a look of bliss. "At last the time has finally come."

All the while this had been happening people had been steadily coming into the temple and making their way up the staircase. Lately the flood of people had dropped off to a trickle. Suddenly s Hibiki jumped in surprise as a small wave of water swept over his feet.

"What the?" he exclaimed in surprise.

"They thought it out well." Said BC looking around. "If they do this everyone will gather in one place."

"Just like sheep to a slaughter." Said Tam speaking for the first time. 'But these people are even worse than sheep, they're practically bearing they're necks and begging for the cut. This phoney religion of theirs has them prepared to sacrifice themselves for this Muunya without a second thought!"

For the first time Fanita looked almost angry. "Stranger watch your words lest Muunya refuse to show you her favour and gather you too her with the rest of us."

"What!" said Magno angrily. "We refuse to be harvested by your legend!"

"Resisting against us cannot be forgiven." Sad Fanita, her face now serene again.

"Stop talking crap!" Yelled Hibiki "Don't you think all this is a little strange?"

"It is custom." Replied Fanita with that unflappable serenity."

Hibiki turned to Magno in exasperation. "Grandma we can't let them go through with this."

"He he." Magno laughed quietly. "Custom, legend, religion… aren't those convenient words for those who can't decide anything on their own?" she said as she locked gazes with Fanita.

"A custom is a custom." Responded the blonde haired women as she lifted the mask from her dress and settled it on her face. "Fate cannot change."

'There is no such thing as fate." Said Tam. "Our own choices decide our own destiny."

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Up in space the Harvester ship continued to close on the planet. Bart at Meia's urging ordered the launch of the Dreads and placed them and the Nirvana in a defensive line between the Harvester ships and the planet.

If the Harvesters were to be stopped the defensive line would have to hold.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

'This is the right thing to do!" said the masked face of Fanita.

"Is that really so?" Countered Magno. "How can you say that. This seems to be the only large city on the planet. For someone who's just clinging to a tiny bit of land in a huge planet of water, what can you know? What have you come to understand in your youth!" spat Magno her words now passionate, almost angry.

"The most beautiful planet in the universe. What do you have to compare that against?"

"This is something that has been decided." Said Fanita, the mask giving her words an almost dead quality. "In the first place you people just came intruding in here and then you decided to insult our God. Your words are extremely rude!" This last was said with the first true emotion that they had heard from Fanita. As they watched they could see her arms were shaking with barely controlled emotion.

"God huh?" said Magno. "I guess there's no use in talking anymore. No choice."

But as Magno started to turn away she suddenly gave a cry of pain and collapsed to her knees.

The ones from the Nirvana immediately clustered around her in concern.

"Of all the times for this to happen. My back. I can't move" cried out Magno in pain.

"I refuse to get mixed up in this and die." Said the old lady through gritted teeth.

"Kid!" she yelled, looking up at Hibiki.

He started in surprise. "Grandma?" he asked confused. The comprehension dawned and he gave a cry and sprinted for the door.

He was only barely able to stop in time before the door slammed shut before him trapping him inside.

"What! What's going on?" yelled Magno.

"No one may leave once the ritual has started." Said Fanita whose voice now contained a trace of satisfaction. "Unworthy as you are you will now share our fate."

Magno glared at Fanita angrily, but before she could reply another voice interrupted her.

"We'll see about that." Tam moved away from Magno's side and towards the door.

He gently pushed aside Hibiki, who was futilely banging on the door with his fists.

"Step aside little brother, I'll deal with this."

Reaching out he drew, not the sword that hung on his back, but the long dagger in the red sheath at his waist. Magno noticed that the blade of the dagger was not straight, but oddly bent. As Magno watched he knelt down and gripped the dagger by the handle upside down in his right hand. His left he braced against the closed door.

Magno was about to ask what the hell he was doing, when suddenly she noticed the dagger glow with a faint blue sheen. In the same instant Tam plunged the dagger forward. It effortlessly sank to the hilt in the heavy stone door. With no obvious effort Tam dragged the dagger upwards, around and then down again. A carving an archway almost as large as the door had been. Once finished he stepped back spun on his heel and unleashed a massive kick against the door. The archway he had cut exploded outwards to land with a massive crash against the rocks outside.

All within, Hibiki, Magno and BC included stared at Tam in shock. Tam gave Hibiki a short salute with the dagger, now in his left hand.

"Get going little brother. I'll stay here and watch over the old lady."

Hibiki gave Tam a quick nod and then ran through the doorway. Heading for his Vanguard.

Magno looked over at Tam with a curious smile. "I suppose that you just forgot to tell me about that during you demonstration earlier?"

Tam smiled back. "A man has to have a few secrets. Besides aren't you glad now?"

Magno snorted in reply. Then turned back to look at Fanita. "We'll then how shall we kill the time?"

The look of hate from the other could be felt even through her mask.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Hibiki ran through the now deserted city until he reached the area where his Vanguard and Jura's Dread was moored.

"Hey! We're launching." He yelled as he neared the Dread. But Jura did not respond.

"Hey, can't you hear me?"

"Shut up! Leave me alone." Yelled the Blonde pilot, still in a deep funk.

"How long are you gonna sulk." Yelled Hibiki as he jumped from one of the cities walkways onto the floating Dread. "This about the situation!"

'Don't wanna." Said Jura sulkily.

"Don't you get it?" yelled Hibiki as he stood over the kneeling pilot. "We're the only ones who can stop this thing now. Hey!" he yelled when there was still no response.

"It's not my business." Said Jura softly.

"Damn it." Said Hibiki angrily. He moved to grab her shoulder, to shake some sense into her. Then he stopped and looked at her. Then slowly gently he put is hand on her shoulder.

The blonde pilot flinched slightly, but did not shrug him off and slowly she turned to meet his eyes.

"Don't give up on it so easily." Said Hibiki. "Isn't it you precious partner."

Jura continued to stare at him. For a moment she seemed to consider what he had said. Then once again she turned away.

Hibiki dropped his hand and turned away with a sigh. Then an idea came to him.

"It's a shame really. Everyone would have been so surprised. Protecting an entire planet. Its something no one has ever done before."

Hibiki was about to turn away a final time when he heard Jura's voice.

"That's not bad."

Suddenly the blond stood up and turned around abruptly.

"Well it's decided then. Let's Unite! I won't forgive you if you slow me down!"

Hibiki stared at this seeming transformation. 'Geez women change their minds fast.'

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Up in space a savage dogfight was taking place. Dread fighters repeatedly strafed the Harvester ships with cannons and missiles. But these had very little effect against the massively armoured ships.

Meanwhile groups of cube fighters continued to attack both the dread fighters and the Nirvana itself. The fighting was getting heavy. But for the moment the defensive line was holding. But only just.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Meanwhile on the planet below a new drama started to unfold.

"Defilers. You have mocked our traditions, our sacred customs and the very divinity of Muunya itself. For these crimes I unleash the servants of Muunya to punish you!"

No sooner had Fanita finished speaking then a loud cracking sound could be heard in the chamber. The party from the Nirvana immediately spun around to face the source of the noise. One of the carvings on the walls of the chamber was collapsing. Long cracks appeared on its surface and widened before their eyes, suddenly with a loud crash and a shower of rock the carving gave way. Revealing a sight that was familiar but no less terrifying.

A Harvester robot stood there. It was of a type that they had never encountered before, but the technology that had formed it was unmistakable. It clumped forward on two broad legs. It had four sets of arms. Two massive grabbing arms and two smaller appendages equipped with cutting implements. It had a barrel chest and a wedge shaped head with a single red eye. That red eye focused on the group from the Nirvana and it started to move towards them.

"Now unbelievers." Cried out the voice of Fanita. "Witness the power of Muunya!"

Suddenly a shot rang out. The discharge of an energy weapon. A bolt of energy impacted the robot squarely in its barrel chest. The bolt vaporised more than half of the machines chest. The remains of the robot took a final step forward. They the light faded from its eye and it crashed to the ground.

All present turned to stare at Tam and the disrupter pistol he held in his right hand.

Tam turned to face Fanita.

"Not. Impressed." He stated calmly.

Fanita and her acolytes stared at him. Their shock apparent even behind the masks they wore. Finally Fanita shook herself.

"Your foul craft may have saved you once unbeliever. But it will not save you against the full force of Muunya's servants."

As she spoke more cracks could be heard. One by one more and more machines could be seen emerging from alcoves hidden in the walls. There had to be twenty of them at least.

Tam stood and calmly viewed the approaching machines. Then he turned to BC.

"Subcommander" he called out. When she glanced up at him he tossed her the energy disrupter. She caught it in her left hand.

"Take care of the Captain." Said Tam as he turned away and started to move towards the approaching machines.

"Tam. What are you going!" rang out Magno's voice.

Tam replied over his shoulder. "My job Captain. Fulfilling my oath."

And with that he reached over his shoulder and drew his sword with his right hand.

Bringing both hands together he saluted his enemies as he smiled a deaths head grin.

Then slowly, then faster and faster he closed the gap to his enemies. And on the planet of Anpatos, its temple suddenly rang with the sound of his battle cry.

"SHANDRAKOR!"

Fanita and her acolytes stared at Tam in shock as he charged the oncoming mass of the machines.

"There is no way for him to win." She said to Magno. "You should call him to surrender. You should all surrender to Muunya's will."

"Heh." Laughed Magno. "Shows what you know. Let me tell you something girl. I have had countless near death experiences. During those times I cursed by incompetence. I cursed that I was unable to do anything for those who were going to die. At other times when I thought I was going to die, I remember how regretful I was. How I thought of all the things I still had left to do. Now I no longer think those thoughts. Do you know why? Because I remember how everyone, everyone who died never gave up until the end! They all tried to shine until the very end. I remember all those great people and because I know them, because I know the members of my crew. Because I know people like that man that is fighting over there I can't forgive naïve weaklings like you who leave your fates to others!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

In orbit, Bart was struggling against his instincts. So far he had held the Nirvana firm in the center of the line. Despite all that was thrown at them. But now the enemy were intensifying their attack. More and more strikes were getting through. Slamming against the Nirvana's weakened shields.

'I mustn't run away'. He thought. 'I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away'

"You're in the way! MOVE IT!"

Bart barely had time to move the Nirvana sharply to the side as Hibiki and Jura's red Vandread shot up from the planet through the space the ship had just occupied.

"Leave the rest to me and go take a nap!" yelled Hibiki from his seat in the cockpit.

"You linger around and I'll wipe you out together." Chimed in Jura.

Suddenly the Vandread brought its forearm claws together. Emerald green power crackled over them and over the eight discs that hovered over the hull. Suddenly all eight of the disc's shot away. Each positioning itself at a specific point in orbit over the planet. As soon as all were in place they started to emit waves of emerald energy. The waves continued to build until the entire planet was enclosed in a glowing sphere of emerald energy.

In her piloting seat Jura was ecstatic. "It covered the entire planet! No one else can do that."

"It's too early to be happy." Yelled Hibiki as he pushed her away from the console.

Indeed. Even as he spoke the two parts of the Harvester ship connected with one another. The mouth of the cargo container suddenly opened wide and began to suck in anything before it. Including more than a few of the Harvesters own cube fighters.

In his control chair Hibiki smiled. 'I'll Let you eat as much as you want now." He yelled as he slammed his fist down on one of the controls.

Instantly a portion of the shield went down, allowing the Harvesters tractor beam to work on the planet below. But this did not target the city as the Harvesters had intended. Instead the large disc hovering before the Vandread redirected the beam down into the world's oceans.

Instantly a massive column of water shot up from the surface of the planet and into orbit. Pulled up by the massive power of the Harvester tractor beam the massive column of water was redirected straight into the gaping maw of the Harvester cargo ship. Millions of giga litres of water flew up from the planet like it was sucked by the straw of a thirsty god.

The Vandread shook with the strain of maintaining the field as the massive column of water sped past.

"It's going to break." Yelled Jura.

"Shut up and watch." Said Hibiki

The harvester ship was a truly massive construction. But there was a limit to how much it could hold. A good part of a planets ocean definitely exceeded that limit.

All over the ship hull plates and bulkhead burst outward as the ship began to literally burst at the seams. Finally, stressed beyond endurance it exploded. Leaving a massive asteroid of water behind it.

"We did it!' Yelled Jura and Hibiki in triumph.

"How reckless.' Thought Meia as she cruised past the red Vandread in her fighter.

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted.

"Meia. Respond!" Meia started at BC's voice.

"Yes, Subcommander. Enemy ship is destroyed, we are mopping up the remainder of the.."

"Never mind that! Get a security team and a medical squad down to the planet right now! Tam's in trouble.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Tam swung his sword single handed in an overhead swing. The keen edged blade of New Damascus steel sliced through the vulnerable joints of the robots upper arms. Severing them both in a shower of sparks. As the robot was still trying to stabilise itself after this loss, Tam dived forward thrusting with the Kukri in his left hand. The monofilament blade plunged it the heart of the machine severing its power core. Its power source cut, the robot sank to the ground, the light in its single scanner eye fading. Even as it fell, Tam withdrew his Kukri with a twist and spun away ready to face a new opponent. But there were none to be had.

The hulks of destroyed robots littered the floor of the temple. Some seemed partially intact. The small almost surgical marks on their chests, just over their power plants, the only evidence of damage.

Others were missing limbs, had been hacked apart or as was the case with several, almost blown in half. BC had proved herself to be very competent with the energy disrupter. It might only have been able to fire every 30 seconds. But the Subcommander had made each of those shots count.

As for Tam, he felt almost disappointed. The battel had almost been too easy. The machines looked impressive and probably would have been unstoppable to the unarmed inhabitants of the planet. But to someone with Tams skills they had been easy meat. His affinity with machines had once again served him well. Showing him just where to strike to cripple and destroy the robots. His natural speed and skill had done for the rest. HE had not even needed to use the Boost. The machines were slow and cumbersome, obviously not intended for real combat. So it had not been a very challenging fight. But despite that Tam felt a deep surge of satisfaction.

He flexed his hands around he grips of the sword and Kukri he held. Savouring the familiar weight and feel. The armour he wore, which many would have found restrictive, he found comforting. For the first time in a long time, he felt complete. He felt whole and he revealed in the familiar sensations and the familiar pains of bruised and aching muscles. There was some pain. But it was a familiar pain, a good pain. Proof that he was alive.

"Well!" Tam heard the voice of Magno ring out. "So much for the servants of your God."

Tam turned to the sound of the voice. Magno was slowly getting back to her feet. Her back apparently better. BC was at her side supporting her. His energy disrupter still held in her hand, covering the three figures before them.

The two acolytes still stood where they always had. Their features unreadable behind their masks. But Fanita had dropped to her knees. Her mask fell from her face to ring against the floor.

Suddenly she looked up at Magno her blue eyes blazing with hate.

"How.. how is this possible. How can you come here and violate our most sacred customs. Speak sacrilege in this most holy place. Destroy Muunya's servants. Defy Muunya himself! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT?" she screamed.

Magno stared back at her impassively. "We are free." She said simply. "That gives us the right to choose our own fate, our own path. You were so set on your one path that you never even considered another. But freedom is the ability to make a choice. And we made ours." With that Magno turned and started to walk away. BC and Tam flanked her. They were almost at the door when they heard Fanita laughing softly behind them. They turned to look at her.

She stared at them with mad eyes.

"You say freedom is the ability to make a choice? Then here is mine!"

Then she started chanting, her voice high and shrill. The two acolytes behind her started their shock apparent even under the masks they wore.

The words that Fanita chanted were unfamiliar, but somehow Tam could understand them.

"Deep beneath the wake.

The Kraken sleepeth.

Kraken, lord of the end times hear me now!"

The people have turned from the path of Muunya.

They have forgotten the teachings of old.

Rise up now and bring destruction upon them!

Let the final harvest begin!"

"What is she saying?" asked BC

"I don't know." Said Magno. "But it can't be good"

"Its not." Confirmed Tam.

Magno looked at him questioningly, but any question she may have wanted to ask was cut short.

Suddenly the entire temple started to shake. Streams of dust and piles of loos stone rained down from the roof. Massive cracks appeared in the floor surrounding the great staircase in the center of the temple. The cracks grew wider and wider until something began to emerge from them. Shining metallic tentacles started to rise up from the cracks in the floor. Slowly, one or two at first, but then more and more arose until there were dozens stretching their way up the chamber. Some of them were tipped with grabbing arms, some with cutting blades. But all were made of the same shinning metal, and there seemed to be no end to their length. As they watched they tentacles started to reach out towards them.

"Back to the ship NOW!" Yelled Magno. The three of them hurried towards the door Tam had cut. Magno and BC quickly passed through it. Tam was almost at the door when something made him stop and turn around.

Gazing in horror he saw a group of tentacles reach out for a young girl, high on the staircase. Four with arms grasped her. One by each limb. She went into their embrace without a struggle, a joyous look on her face. Then as the other arms held her a cutting arm moved behind her. With one quick slash it sliced open the back of her robe. The girl's expression became worried. Then the tentacle started to cut into her back. She threw her head back and started to scream. But it was abruptly cut short. The tentacle made a series of quick cuts. Then another arm appeared and extracted the girl's spinal cord in one quick motion. This done the other tentacles released her. Allowing the now lifeless body to fall to the floor. Tam felt bile rise in his throat. He had memories of more horrifying scenes, but never ones with such mechanical detachment.

Tam looked around. Everywhere he looked the scene was being repeated. Tentacles were harvesting the spinal cords of the inhabitants before the horrified eyes of their fellows. But the inhabitants were no longer accepting the deadly embrace meekly. Instead, their eyes exposed to the horror of the truth, they tried to run. To avoid the tentacles. But there was nowhere to run. They were trapped on the stairway.

"Tam!" he turned to the sound of his name. Magno and BC stood outside the temple doorway, beckoning to him. He stood and watched them for a moment, then he turned his eyes to the grisly scene behind him and he knew what he had to do.

Turning back to Magno he slowly shook his head. Then he turned and drew his weapons, his pace quickening as he closed the distance to this new enemy and once more his battle cry rang out through the temple.

"SHANDRAKOR!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………

"Tam? TAM!" Yelled BC as she watched Tam charge back into the temple. 'What does he think he's doing?" she yelled angrily.

"He's making his choice." Said Magno softly.

BC stared at her for a moment. "Boss we have to get you back to the ship!"

"And just leave him here?" asked Magno quietly. "That man. He's still a mystery in so many ways. He's strange, he's dangerous. Maybe it would be the safer option to just leave him here. But then again maybe it would not. Dangerous or not he's still a member of my crew." She mused to herself.

"BC!" the subcommander started at the command. "Contact Meia, tell her to get a security team down here. With as many heavy weapons as we have!"

"But Boss." Protested BC.

"I've made my decision BC." Said Magno, and the subcommander could see from the look in her eye that she would not be moved. So BC swallowed her objections and reached for the communicator at her belt.

………………………………………………………………………………………...

If Tam had felt fighting the robots before was not enough of a challenge, he was regretting those thoughts now. 'Be careful what you wish for' he reminded himself 'because you just mite get it.' Fighting the tentacles was unlike anything he had ever faced before. It was like fighting a whirlwind of blades while running through a forest at top speed. The grabbing arms and cutting blades came at him from all sides. He was having to use all of his senses, all of his training just to keep them at bay. What was worse the sheer number of tentacles impeded his progress. His sword could cut through two or even three tentacles easily. But not ten or a dozed at once. His Kukri could. The keen monofilament blade able to slice through almost anything. But more often that not he needed that blade to fend off attacks that were coming at him.

They were coming more and more frequently. The majority of the tentacles had abandoned the harvest of the inhabitants and focused their attention on him. It was a complement he could have done without.

He was boosting now, liquid lightening flowing through his veins. His movements faster, stronger and more precise than any normal mans could be. He was fully submerged in the dance. His mind and body at one with his blades. His only thoughts on the threats around him.

But it wasn't enough. Slowly but surely the tentacles wore him down. Small cuts appeared over his body, barely more than scratches. But each slowed him down if only slightly, and each bit of energy the boost took to heal his wounds left him that much less with which to fight.

Finally he succumbed. A failed slash, a fraction of a second too slow left his arm open to attach and it was quickly grabbed by a tentacle. Even as he struggled to break free other tentacles grabbed his other limbs. Holding him prone. He struggled with all his strength. But even his boost assisted muscles were insufficient to the task.

Finally he ceased struggling as exhaustion overcame him.

He lay there. Suspended in the grip of the tentacles. Every muscle in pain. He was soaked with sweat and with blood. He could feel the pain of half a hundred tiny cuts all over his body. He knew he had no more to give, that he was going to die.

'But at least.' He thought to himself. 'I die in the service of my duty."

"NO!"

The memory crashed into his mind like an exploding supernova.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

He remembered lying where he had fallen on the dirt of the training field. His Practise sword lay two feet away where his grandfather had knocked it. His ribs ached from the vicious blow he had received. He was tired and hungry and he shivered in the icy cold rain.

"What do you think that was boy? What do you think will happen to you if you do that when you face one of the empire's enemies. Do you think you can best serve the empire as an impressive corpse? Now again!" said the old man, gesturing sharply with his practise sword.

From where he lay on the ground the younger Tam whispered through trembling teeth. "I can't"

The old man stared down incredulously. "What!"

"I can't grandfather. I'm too tired. I can't do this any more!" he yelled in anguish.

With two quick steps the old man crossed the distance between them. With viper quick speed the reached down and grabbed the younger Tam's hair. Twisting it, forcing him to look up at him.

"What is the fear of death?" he asked quietly.

'Grandfather Oww" protested the young Tam.

"WHAT IS THE FEAR OF DEATH." Yelled the old man as he shook Tams head angrily.

"That we die our task incomplete." Said the young Tam through clenched teeth.

At these words the old man released him and stepped back.

"What is the glory of life?" he asked again quietly.

The young Tam clutched his head, but he looked up and answered his Grandfather in a firm voice. "That we may die our work fulfilled."

"Yes." Said the old Man as he looked at him satisfied.

"Remember this son of my son. Your life belongs to the empire. It is not your duty to sacrifice that life in service to the empire. It is to ensure the empires enemy's sacrifice they're lives in whatever foul cause they serve.

There will be times when you will be pushed to the breaking point. When you give everything you have until you feel you have nothing more. But it is at these times you must dig deep within yourself and find the strength to go on. Until you finish the task you have been set, you cannot claim that you have earned your rest.

Pain, fear, exhaustion, these are all but excuses. Signs of cowardice.

Remember. 'A coward dies a thousand deaths.

"A brave man only one." They finished together.

"Now." Said the old man. "Again!"

And slowly, painfully, the young Tam got to his feet. Picked up his sword. And turned to face his Grandfather once again.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

Tams eye's snapped open. His body still felt exhausted. His muscles still burned with fatigue. But a fire had been lit in his soul.

'NO.' he thought. 'No, I will not die like this. I am Tamorasp Naghanashar. Officer of the Empire. Soldier of a long line of Soldiers and I will not die until my task is complete!"

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back. One of the cutting arms had broken though his armour and was starting to cut into his back. The pain was white hot in his mind. He screamed and struggled. He put all his will, all his defiance into his resistance, struggling with every part of his being.

And then it happened.

Deep within his mind something clicked. A connection forged of his pain and his will. A door opened and a passage was shown and once again Tam found that deep reserve of power that dwelled deep, deep in his mind. Beyond the back brain, beyond the undermind he found it. It lay there like a massive river. Like an untapped weir. It welcomed him. He felt it acknowledge his presence. Knew that he had been here before and would be again. But for now he had a task to compete. So he gathered the power to him. As much as he felt he could hold and returned to his conscious mind.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

In the doorway of the temple Magno and BC stared in horror. Tam hung in the grip of the tentacles. Struggling but unable to break free. They watched as a bladed tentacle started to cut into his back.

BC suddenly raised the disrupter she held, pointing it at Tam.

"BC, what are you doing?' yelled Magno. "That thing isn't accurate enough. There's no way you can avoid hitting Tam!"

'I know." Said the subcommander quietly as she turned her head to look at Magno. "But its better than letting him be harvested."

Magno looked at her, torn with indecision. But shortly the decision was taken out of their hands.

Suddenly the air in the room felt heavy. Charged. Something was coming. They felt it as if it was the beating of giant wings. Suddenly it filled the temple. A force primal and powerful, and not to be denied.

Tams head suddenly snapped up. His eyes opened and they could see they glimmered with barely contained power. His head flew back and he screamed his battle cry.

"SHANDRAKOR!"

A wave of energy radiated outwards from his body. The tentacles that held him disintegrated in the force of the storm. The tentacles destroyed Tam dropped towards the ground. He landed lightly, on the balls of his feet. His weapons ready in his hands and he started moving almost before he hit the ground.

He charged through the tentacles, making his way around the base of the giant staircase. The tentacles tried to stop him but they had no chance. He was faster, stronger more deadly even that when he had been in the boost.

His sword cut through massed ranks of tentacles as if they were wheat before a scythe. His Kukri flashed too fast for human eyes to follow. Severing any tentacles that got past the sword. And all the while he kept moving unrelenting and unstoppable.

Finally he seemed to reach his goal. A massive mosaic on the floor. It depicted the bowing shape of a human, and showed the spiral code (spinal cord) symbol rising up to meet Muunya. Now he ignored the tentacles. Quickly he reversed the sword in his left hand, holding it point down. Grasping it by the hilt in both hands he brought it over his head and then with a massive blow sent it plunging into the center of the mosaic. The sword sank to the hilt into the stone and Tam sank to his knees with it. He sat there hands still gripped around the swords hilt as the tentacles plunged towards him.

Magno and BC felt rather than saw it. Once again the air grew heavy and charged, like just before a storm. Once again Tam's head was thrown back as a battle cry burst from his lips. They felt rather than saw the massive burst of energy that he released. Felt it make the stones beneath their feet tremble. Felt it pass through the sword and through the rock below them. Down and down until in reached the secret heart of the machine buried deep underground, where it smashed it completely.

Almost instantly the tentacles dropped to the ground. Deprived of any form of control they became completely inert. Magno and BC saw the frightened survivors of the inhabitants crawl out of what ever cover they had found. Staring around in shock.

Quickly they hurried over to where Tam knelt. He was slowly getting to his feet.

He looked around at the destruction around him and started to smile. They with a jerk he pulled his sword from the ground and lifted both his blades high above his head.

That was how the security detail from the Nirvana found them. The terrified inhabitants and their Captain and Subcommander. Clustered around a tall figure in scarred black armour who held his weapons high above him, his head throw back in triumph as he screamed his victor to the skies.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The city was quietly returning to life. The inhabitants gathered together to bury their dead and take care of the living. They had agreed to supply the Nirvana with food. They found that they now had an excess of it. They had an excess of more than that.

Hibiki and Jura's novel form of attack had served to significantly reduce the levels of the oceans on the planet. Already miles and miles of slowly drying land could be seen around the city. And in the distance what looked like the wreck of an old colonisation ship, revealed after centuries underwater. These people now had far more material resources than they had had before. What they lacked was purpose.

Fanita and her two acolytes had died when the 'Kraken' attacked. Magno thought that there was some justice in that they had received the opportunity to serve Muunya as they had always wanted. But their deaths left the others without guidance or direction.

"What should we do now?" one of the new elders had asked Magno.

"Whatever you want to. You're free." She responded. "From now on you all decide whether you want to live or die."

"But what will we do without or God?" The woman had asked.

"A God is someone who never says anything to you. Nor does anything for you." Replied Magno. "More than anything it never expects anything in return. It just watches over you. Over foolish humans who are lost."

Magno looked over the ocean as she considered what she had said. Yes there were still a few adventurous souls left amongst the humans here. In time they would be able to find their own way.

BC called out to let her know that the shuttle was ready to lift off. She nodded absently and started making her way towards it. Then she stopped as she noticed another figure. Tam sat on the edge of one of the walkways staring out at the ocean.

He still wore his scarred and stained armour. Scabs and untreated cuts still crisscrossed his face and although his sword was on the harness at his back, he still held that bent knife, which he called a Kukri, in his hand.

Magno sighed. None of the crew had wanted to get near him after what they had seen in the temple. That small display had scarred them. If they had seen the whole thing they would be even more scarred. She thought. Magno was more than a little frightened herself. 'But' she remedied herself, 'even if the powers Tam seemed to have were scary, the man had shown himself to be loyal and trust worthy. He deserved the benefit of the doubt'.

Slowly she walked up to him. "Tam?" she called. "Its time to go."

He looked up and Magno was faintly shocked to see a contented smile on his face.

"Oh Captain." He said as he got to his feet. "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting."

"Not at all." Replied Magno. "You seem very happy about something?"

Tam smiled slightly. "I found a part of myself here. Something I did not know was missing. I feel more complete now. More at peace than I have before."

Magno smiled. "If you're at peace then isn't it time to put that away?" she asked as she pointed to the Kukri.

Tam looked down at the knife in his hands. "You're right." He said. But to Magno's surprise he did not immediately sheath the knife.

Instead he brought his right arm to his mouth and loosened the straps of a vambrace with his teeth. Then with the bare skin below it exposed he took the Kukri in his left hand and ran the blade over the exposed skin. Leaving a shallow cut that bled freely. That done he refastened the vambrace and wiped the blood from the Kukri against its red scabbard, before finally sheathing the knife.

Tam looked up to see Magno's shocked face.

"Its an old custom." He explained. "Once drawn one of these blades cannot be sheathed until they have drawn blood."

"Isn't that a little barbaric?' asked Magno.

Tam laughed. "Yes. But it also prevents us from drawing our blades without good reason. What can I say captain. I'm human like they are." He said gesturing at the people of the city around them.

"Why should I be any more immune to foolish customs?"

Magno just shook her head as she held out her hand for Tam to help her walk to the shuttle. 'She was not going to touch that one today' she decided. After all it had been a long day and all she wanted was a chance to rest. But it wasn't over yet.

Now she had to deal with Bart and the results of leaving him in charge.

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End of Chapter.

Next Chapter: The long awaited meeting between Tam and Rabat.

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WOO HOO. Another massive chapter. I think with this one I should finally crack the 100,000 word mark. I think congratulations are in order.

I feel I should apologise for how long it has taken me to finish this chapter. At least part of it is due to laziness. For a while I just could not get up the enthusiasm to continue my work. This is where I would like to send a big thank you to all my reviewers. Your comments and appreciation always reenergise me and make me want to continue my work.

The other reason for the delay is I have been fighting off a monster case of the flu. I have been attempting to write for the last few days but the flu has hampered my efforts. As a result if this chapter is not up to my usually standards then I apologise. Much of it was written while I was having difficulty thinking straight.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed that chapter. The next one Tams encounter with Rabat will hopefully be ready fairly soon. Based on reviews to date I will give out these spoilers, if you don't want to know don't read.

Rabat will be an evil character. Unlike in the TV series. He and Tam will fight and nether will escape unscathed. I will also be changing Rabat in a few ways. Mainly no Utan. As you may have noticed there is also no Puero in the story.

Well that's all for now.

As always all reviews and comments, even criticism are appreciated.

(1) Anyone care to guess where this comes from?

(2) Anyone care to guess where this paraphrase comes from?

(3) Sandleather, something I imagined for convenience. Imagine a cross between leather and sandpaper. The reason I made this is that I have hear that the very best material for a swords grip is shark leather, which feels a lot like sandpaper. Shark leather has a very rough texture which means that it provides a very good grip. Contrary to popular belief you do not want a smooth sword grip. Main reason being it is easier to lose your grip, and as you can imagine in the middle of a fight that's a bad thing.