CHAPTER 2
LOG ENTRY 928
When I woke up from my cryo-sleep, my dream troubled me. Not only that, but I had a nice slash down my left arm. The cryogenics had frozen the wound, but that still doesn't explain how I got it. The chamber is nigh impregnable, so nothing could have gotten in, and if it had, why only a cut and not a kill? No matter, I'm approaching the moon around Vhazon, yet the signal is no longer coming from the moon, but the surface of the planet. It looks like I'll be going in now.
Lita out…
The planet looked dead. It was shrouded in a darkness that seemed to permeate to the core of the planet. Further inspection of diagrams revealed that Vhazon was a very cold planet on the surface. This came as a result of its nearest star being destroyed in what was considered the worst spacebound war to occur in any of the known cosmos.
Now, most of Vhazon's inhabitants lived in subterranean abodes, where the core of the planet still provided heat. The basis for energy was steam and geothermal heat, but the ingenious Vhazonians developed a safe and clean burning fuel from the ore within their planet's crust.
Vilonium, as they called it, was a non-radioactive, non-volatile element, yet it had all of the intensive properties of a vastly successful fuel. Its cool violet glow was a signal of life for the average Vhazonian, and if an outsider were to discover it, the planet itself could be considered ruined, for the Vilonium was created by the natural leaking of the core of the planet. If pirates or merchants were to discover it, the core of the planet would surely be drained, leaving the planet a barren and cold wasteland through and through.
As Lita's ship waded through the dismal atmosphere, something in the back of her mind told her that it was similar to the planet visited in Operation: Shattered Ice.
Suddenly, Lita snapped back in her seat.
What were these memories? They weren't hers. She had never actually been to LC-269, or even seen any visuals or sketches for that matter. She had only seen what was written in the debriefing reports…
The console began beeping, signaling the landing at the destination.
Lita bundled up and began arming herself with what she felt might be warranted.
When she exited her craft, the experience was like no other.
The air was bitterly cold, but more of an effect was the startling absence of weather as we know it. There was no wind, no clouds, no precipitation, just bitter cold and darkness. This phenomenon shot to Lita's core and she immediately felt like she had been frozen.
To the left of the ship, she saw a stone structure resembling a house. She decided that's where the signal must have originated.
When Lita entered the crude building, she found that it provided no shelter from the cold. She searched around, looking for any sign of civilized life or technology. After a quick inspection (that's all it took, since the building was mostly empty), Lita went up a case of stairs that led to the top of the building.
She peeked her head out and looked around.
Just as she was about to descend, a small glimmer caught her eye. On the very corner of a ledge was a small pulsing green light.
Lita finished climbing the stairs and walked over to the item. It was a Galactic Federation standard issue communicator.
When she picked it up, she noticed a message on the LCD screen.
"WHEN YOU GET THIS, ENTER THE 'CAVE' BEHIND THIS BUILDING."
"That's strange," Lita said aloud as she turned to look off of the back of the structure.
Before her stood quite a range of mountains, yet at the bottom was a sizeable hole bearing a faint violet light.
Inside the cave, she saw something standing. It stayed for a moment, then simply turned and disappeared inside.
"What do I have to lose? Nobody back home knows I'm here, so I might as well go along with it," Lita sighed as she dropped down off of the back of the building.
The purple light within the cave engulfed Lita as she entered. As surprising as the light was, it was nothing compared to the relief from the assaulting cold she had just experienced. Her face, ears, and hands tingled as they regained feeling inside what turned out to be a most hospitable hole in the ground.
Lita looked around and noticed that the cave was more of a road or path that led deeper within the mountain.
She proceeded, noting that the farther she went, the warmer it became.
Eventually, she had to shed both of the outer coats she had donned, as well as her gloves and over-boots.
Now she remained in her black bodysuit and the belts and straps that held her weapons and ammunition.
Lita gathered her extra garments and tried stashing them in a hole in the side of the tunnel.
"What a sight! It gets awfully tiresome looking at the mundane Vhazonian women all day," said a voice from behind Lita.
She spun to face it with plasma pistols drawn.
"Whoa, there, no need to bear arms against me, soldier. I know why you're here…but as to why you're here alone…that's the puzzle," the man said.
"Who are you?" Lita asked, still brandishing her sleek weaponry.
"I sent the beacon. I figured it was time for me to regain my involvement in the Galactic Federation…not to mention the conflict that's about to reach as far as any has ever seen," the man explained.
The cold had obviously affected Lita, as well as her latest dreams and experiences. Her brain tried to decipher what the man had told her, then she remembered.
"You didn't answer my question. Who are you?" she maintained.
"You needn't be so gruff. I am Adam Malkovich, but you might know me as Galactic Federation Vice Admiral Adam Malkovich," Adam replied.
"Y-you…I…I don't believe you," Lita forced as her hands began to shake.
"You don't have to. It won't change anything, just like you aiming those pistols at me…and besides, you'd miss quite terribly if you were to fire them right now," Adam said.
Lita's arms shook worse, then dropped to her sides as she fell to her knees and looked up at Adam.
"I know what you're thinking. I'm not supposed to be alive. In all actuality, I concur. I should be long dead by now," Adam remarked.
"What are you talking about?" Lita probed.
"That whole flux capacitor time travel hooplah…yeah, that was all developed under my command and 'watchful eye'. You're a time cop, right? You're a result of all of that research," Adam construed.
"So you invented…" Lita started.
"Noooo, no, no, kid. I didn't invent a thing. I'm a soldier, not a scientist. When I first became Vice Admiral, one of the divisions with which I was entrusted was the research division. In that span, they had developed a flux capacitor and a limited time travel device. After witnessing the effects on some of the trials, I ordered it to cease, but some powerful GF lobbyist paid the Grand Admiral enough money to get me pulled from the command of that division," Adam explicated.
"Marcusson…" Lita whispered to herself.
"Of course, I protested my removal, but once again, the almighty dollar was the judge. The Grand Admiral administered an honorable discharge to remove me of my power, and to the lobbyist, remove me of my opposition. The series of events afterwards is a blur, but in the end, I wound up here, on this desolate planet, where the inhabitants are primitive, yet content, and there is no struggle for power," Adam elucidated.
"Would you believe me if I told you that I knew what the source of the problem was?" Lita asked.
"Given that you're a time traveler, I would be more than willing to give you the benefit of the doubt…Why? Do you know?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The benefactor…was his name Marcusson?" Lita inquired.
"I never knew his last name, but the Grand Admiral called him 'James', and he always kept his face out of the light…he was a very suspicious character, especially to be so secretive and have so much money," Adam said.
"It had to be… Vice Admiral…" Lita started.
"Please, call me Adam," Adam said.
"…Adam… is there a place a little more comfortable for this conversation?" Lita queried.
"Yeah, let's head this way, we're just outside of town," he said.
"Town?" Lita retorted.
