I don't own Star Ocean, this is a fanfiction.

As we went through the bridge of the ship Ilia tried her best to get my mind off things, and she began telling all these different commands a Captain could give to the crew in different situations, everything from going to combat readiness, to exploration commands.

Millie found this all very boring if her constant yawning was any indication. I, on the other hand, began to see similarities between maritime practices and what she was talking about, these commands were no different than one would give if the person was in charge of a combat vessel out to sea. I had to admit that one of my fondest reading materials when I was a kid, were the old pirate legends and stories.

As we walked into the bridge I saw that everyone was focused, well everyone except my cousin it would seem. She was more interested in how the stars looked, and she kept calling it pretty. Dazzling lights and different things that resembled cloud formations that were somehow visible even in the deep darkness of the space.

As we reached the one that looked like a mostly blue sphere and one that looked like a ball of snow I saw something that seemed out of the ordinary, something that was headed our way and fast. I don't know why I did it, but I felt I needed to do something or something bad was about to happen.

I went to a nearby button that thanks to what she told me I knew it was the ship intercom. "All hands on deck, I repeat all hand on deck, battle stations, this is not a drill. Enter battle stations and prepare to enter into combat. Let's send these scurvy dogs to a watery grave me hearties."

Ronix just walked over to me and decided to hit me on my head. "Rodick why are you calling for battle stations? Where is this supposed enemy we are going to send to the hear after?"

I decided to point the obvious, "Are you blind Ronix? That this is coming straight for us! If you don't act they will kill us. I am telling you that thing is our enemy." Ronix looked at me like I was insane except Millie was trying to figure what the heck that thing was in the first place.

A few minutes later the ship was almost right in front of us. 'Damn it if they open fire we are dead! We need to attack or we are dead!' A woman sitting right next to me looked at Ronix and looked quite perturbed.

"Captain we have a communication from a Lezonian ship. They are saying that they come in peace. That they have come in peace, they keep repeating this over and over. The communication read out states that they will lower their defenses if we assure them that we will not attack."

Ronix looked at her and told her to tell the Lezonians that his ship had no intention of doing anything hostile. As soon as he said that I heard Ilia and Ronix gasp from sheer shock. "Where in the world did that ship come from? How was it that we couldn't see it before?"

I looked at Ronix and then at Ilia. "What are you two talking about I been able to see it for nearly an hour. I warned you that this thing was coming towards us but you didn't believe me." That is when Ilia smacked her fist against her open palm.

"I see it's just like when it happened to the fellworm. You guys can see it because of your different blood chemistry, but I could not. I got it, I know why they infected the Planet Roak. They did it in order to create a new substance. They found that petrifying fellpool blood they can create invisible matter."

Millie looked at me and then at Ronix, "You mean to tell me they turned my people into statue just so they can make that monstrosity? That is worse treatment than people give dogs!" I could understand her outrage and Ilia was no different in that opinion if the way she was clenching her fist told me anything.

Ronix was not a ship Captain for nothing, and I knew that he would not let his emotions get the better of him, even though secretly I wished that he did let his anger get the better of him. I also knew we needed information and we could not obtain that information from a pile of corpses.

We landed on the place Ilia called a space station. Space station my eye, this thing was bigger than my entire village and the one up north of it put together. I decided to keep quiet and hear what these people had to say, before deciding to tell them my thoughts on the matter.

We were seated in a large room, the middle of the room had a massive table and the chief of the station was seated at the head of the table it seems, to keep us from ripping the Lezonians a new air hole since they still thought of us as primitive savages. That is what he told everyone in the room, not with those exact words but it was not that hard to decipher the true meaning of his words.

"Let me begin by telling you that we are sorry that we spread that virus on Roak, but we were under direct Orders and if we did not obey our planets would have been destroyed by a much more advanced and powerful civilization. They didn't care about the results of spreading the virus, they simply wanted the virus introduced into the planet's population."

"Fearing the worst we decided to make the best of a tragic situation, and we found that the petrified blood of the people on that planet could be used to make our ships invisible. Many in high positions in our government saw that this was the best chance for our civilization to survive should this advance people attack us."

"As for your request we searched all our data banks and even the little these mysterious people told us. The only thing that I can tell you is that the virus originated on Planet Roak, to be precise the virus came from the blood of a supposed Archdemon five hundred years ago. As such it is impossible to obtain blood from the host since he has long been dead."

I knew that I should remain calm, that fear was the little death that brought complete annihilation. I should not let the fear of what would happen to my people influence me, so I turned to the only option left to me and that was pure anger.

"So these mysterious people tell you if you don't obey their request they will destroy your worlds. They tell you to spread a five-hundred-year-old virus, and they don't give you any sort of vaccine to protect yourself from accidental exposure. You then turn around and try to make something from your victims and use it for your own benefit."

I got up from my seat and slammed my fists against the table creating a massive dent on the surface of the table making everyone stare at my bloody hands. "Did it ever occur to you that they planned to test the virus, to later change it so that it affects other races? Did it ever occur to you that they were also testing it on you as you had to release the virus? I know my people are not that advanced, but how stupid do you have to be to see this as a setup?"

"It could be that they planned to use it on your Planets next, or that they themselves wanted the invisible matter you idiots made without the labor or cost to develop. You say that you are sorry, but you say so only to be able to live with you own guilt! You say that you are sorry, but you benefited from doing that to my planet and my people!"

Ilia asked to sit next to her and she began spraying this strange liquid on my hands. The pain stopped and my hands slowly began to stop bleeding and healing. The chief of the station was not by any meaning of the words a spring chicken, he had the wisdom of experience and age, it was easy for me to see that in his looks, and his body language.

"Mr. Farrence I understand you anger and truly had this happen here on Earth I would probably react the same way. I, however, must inform you that since the virus came from your planet, and no foreign matter or technology was introduced into Roak. This, unfortunately, constitutes no violation of the Underdeveloped Planet Protection Pact, the same Pact that all members of the federation are subject to."

"The Lezonia Government has done something despicable, unethical, and for a lack of a better term inhumane, but in the end, they did not break any laws of the federation and such there is only one thing we can do. We will have to quarantine Roak to stop the potential spread of the virus, for the good of the entire federation we will have to seal Roak and we are sorry that you two are going to be the only fellpools left in the galaxy if the spread of the virus continues as our scientist has projected."

Millie had become so quiet and looked so sad that everyone simply chose to end the meeting right there and then. Ronix and Ilia invited us to eat and as the food was placed on the table. Millie finally spoke, "After all this, traveling so far to find a way to save Dorn and our people we find that we can't do anything to help! All our efforts are wasted, and you might as well call our planet the planet of the statue people."

I looked at her and began shaking my head, "It's too soon for us to give up. I might not know what to do since this is pretty much new and confusing to me, but I will not give up. There must be something we can do to correct these wrongs committed against the people of our planet. Don't give up hope Millie, for as long as there is hope we still can find a way!"

I saw Ronix finish his drink and look at me with a smile, "And I just happen to know where to find that way. They said that the virus originated on Roak but five hundred years in the past. During one of our mission we found a strange sentient gate, I believe the guardian will listen to our pleas and will help us find that host of the virus plaguing Roak."

Ilia was not liking this one bit if the way I saw her glare at Ronix told me anything, "Captain you are aware that even traveling to that planet is forbidden. No one may travel to that planet without suffering the consequences."

Ronix looked at her and smiled, "For those that don't know the planet she is talking about is one where on a mission we found a gate, a portal that makes it possible to travel through time. The guardian is the gate itself, only when the gate agrees to help someone it allows a person or a group of people to travel through time. The Planet is called the Planet Styx. It will be the only way for us to find a way to develop a vaccine to the virus that if left unchecked will destroy Planet Roak."

Ilia looked at Millie and then at me, and let out a big sigh, "Why must I be cursed with you being my Captain?" Millie looked at Ronix and then at Ilia, "I am sorry, I guess this is partially our fault for getting you involved in the plague."

Ilia looked at her and she them looked at me and smiled, "Don't worry about it, we promised that we would help you. Just that I don't like this one bit, I don't like to take gambles, and this is a major gamble. We could travel to see the Guardian and for all, we know it could very well deny us passage through time. Meaning we would have broken a law, face a harsh punishment and it would be for nothing."

Ronix began to laugh and I saw him looked at the people sitting around the table. "I don't see a problem at all, I always said, Nothing ventured, Nothing Gained. I think playing around of this particular Russian roulette is worth it for the fate of an entire planet, don't you?"

I saw them discuss basically the plan to steal a ship, Ronix decided to have the crew leave the ship telling them that it needed maintenance. In reality, I heard Ilia tell the crew to take the day off. I walked right by Ilia as the moment finally came, I looked at the man dressed in a strange uniform do a weird looking salute at Ronix.

"Captain Kenny, What are you doing back, sir? We have not received any instructions of the ship receiving any missions. Why are those two from Roak with you, sir?"

Ronix smiled and I wish he would not flat out tell the man the truth, "These two are apparently the last two survivors from Planet Roak, and since it was quarantined they are forbidden from returning. I and Ilia then decided since they can't return it would be a good idea to use the ship computer to provide them with a basic education."

The man began to nod his head in agreement. "Yes, they would be unable to survive in our level of development without a basic education, but I would also suggest that eventually, they receive a complete vaccination workup. There is no telling if Planet Roak had basic preventive medicine."

We all stepped into the ship and we walked towards the bridge. Ilia took control of one strange table with flashing lights and Ronix sat behind one on the opposite side of the row of strange flashing tables. "You don't need to worry you two, most of the things we need to travel through the star ocean is taken care off by the ship computer. You two just need to relax and enjoy the trip."

The trip was not much to enjoy since it was over pretty quickly. Once we were on the surface of Planet Styx, I saw the place was desolate, almost like nothing alive ever lived on the surface of this much-feared world. The gate looked like a large round doorway, and it did give me the impression that it was more than meets the eye, it was pristine white like it had never been dirty.

Ronix stepped towards the stepped that lead to the supposed gate with his arms opened. "Oh, Gatekeeper of Time, I implore thee, we are travelers seeking to right a wrong committed on an innocent race. We can not accomplish this without your aid, Mighty guardian of time. We seek to travel five hundred years into the long ago days of the Planet Roak. We humbly ask you for your aid, Oh Guardian hear our pleas."

I stood almost feeling nervous for some strange reason, Ilia took hold of my hand and held it in hers as a show of support. That was when the gate began to show a light in the center.

"Your request is granted, You must leave all your weapons, armor, and any other items from this time. Once you have done so, you may travel through the gate. I wish thee good fortune in thy endeavors."

Just as we did as the gatekeeper asked I saw Ronix and Millie jump through the light that illuminated the entire opening of the gate, Ilia and I were next but she tripped and thus we ended up jumping a full minute after Ronix and Millie did.