==Chapter 1==

Burning

"Systems malfunction-function…"

– XR, The Adventure Begins

Bridge of StarCruiser 42 in Gamma Quadrant: Sector One: Capital System, 4:49pm CCT

Buzz sank back in his chair and sighed as he closed his eyes. Another marital dispute over road maps solved, and Team Lightyear was eleven minutes from ending their shift.

"Can't we just call it a day?" he heard XR ask hopefully.

Buzz's eyes opened – slowly, a sure sign that he was being dragged down by the monotony of patrol-duty as much as his robot rookie. "Anything could happen in eleven minutes, Ranger." It took every ounce of his worn-down willpower to stifle a yawn. "Stay frosty."

Mira gave Buzz a knowing smirk that plainly said hypocrite. He glared right back at her, though the glare wasn't at full strength. One full week of patrol-duty could sap a veteran ranger quicker than a month of war – not that Buzz had ever fought in a true war himself, but that's what Commander Nebula had once told him. Boy, is he ever right.

"Yeah, a hornet attack could come and go easy in eleven minutes," Booster nodded. Good ole Booster.

"It's almost ten minutes now," XR amended, checking his Rolex.

Mira lifted an eyebrow, wondering where the 'bot had gotten such a nice watch, then figuring that the issue was best left alone.

Buzz gave up all attempts at being professional and said, "Just hang in there, team. We're almost done."

Control room of SCRDW Complex, Jupiter moon Io, Gamma Quadrant: Sector One: Capital System, 4:49 CCT

"78, are we good to go?"

Defected Brainpod 78 didn't look up from his console as he answered his boss, Jenkin Matthis, PhD. "We're waiting for the transformation and vector matrices to load up, Doc. Should take sixty seconds, and then we can let 'er rip."

Dr. Matthis nodded and turned to the two women on his team, Tangean Lt. Jeri Silvastra and Rhizomian Kada Fernon, M.S. They were busy double-checking the coordinates they would key into the vector matrix to create the wormhole. "Jeri? Kada?"

"We'll be ready when 78 is," Jeri said confidently. Kada merely smiled, her golden eyes sparkling with excitement.

These four scientists had been living together on the lonely Io for the past seven months as the team for the Star Command Research & Development of Wormholes. Over the months, they had been developing a prototype for an advanced wormhole-creating machine. Current wormhole-creators could only form wormholes from one point in Outer Space to another, never on a planet or moon to another planet or moon. The gravity fields always distorted the wormholes, but the team had worked tirelessly to overcome that obstacle.

Now, for the first time, that machine was about to be tested.

"90percent… 91… 92… blah-blah-blah, yada-yada-yada, tada-tada-tada… 99percent… 100percent!" 78 cried. "Matrix fully uploaded, all systems operational! We're a go!"

Kada keyed in the coordinates, briefly touched the earpiece of her headset while confirming that all commands were entered and awaiting the final switch, and gave Dr. Matthis a double thumbs-up. "Let's rock!"

The senior scientist nodded, clasping his hands behind his back in a stance reminiscent of a naval commander. "Commence ignition."

Lt. Silvastra began the countdown. "Ignition commencing in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Now." 78 pulled the lever back.

4:51 CCT

Below the small control room and visible through the huge transparisteel window above the consoles was the room commonly known as "the Theater." Here stood the huge complex of tall mirrors and the machinery that rotated them: the Land-Based Wormhole Complex – better known as the LBWC. The method of overcoming gravity fields was straightforward in theory, if not so easy in practice: the LBWC worked like a giant telegraph. Simply put, the machine literally took apart the traveling object or person, transmitted it through the wormhole, and reconstructed it upon arrival at destination. Current wormhole-creators simply sucked their travelers through whole, but this was something that could not be done within a gravitational field of planetary strength.

For this first test, CB-38, a cambot, was being sent from the Theater to a location halfway around the moon. The laptop-sized 'bot was really a fifth member of the team – or at least, that is what he always asserted.

As 78 pulled back the lever, the mirrors closed around CB, who stood in the center of the machine. He glanced around him nervously. "This won't hurt, right?" he asked in an edgy tone.

His question was answered a moment later as he felt himself being pulled apart at the atomic level. Even cambots were equipped with pain receptors, and those receptors registered violently at that moment. He let out a shrill, mechanical scream to which his teammates were helpless to respond. Once the process commenced, it could not be stopped.

For a few terrifying moments, CB-38 ceased to exist…

4:52 CCT

"Doctor!" Kada shouted. Matthis was at her side in an instant.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"The wormhole!" Jeri replied. "We must have miscalculated – it's taking CB to Capital Planet!"

"WHAT??" 78 cried.

"See for yourself!" Kada told him, pointing to the readouts on her console.

"Sweet mother of Venus!" Matthis breathed. "Pull him back as fast as possible!" This is not good.

Oh, if only he knew.

Pain.

It makes up your entire universe.

If you could see, you would see trillions upon trillions of shards of light burning your eyes. If you could hear, you would hear a roar and a shriek deafening your ears.

But you can't see. You can't hear.

Your body had ceased to be. It simply… isn't.

And you are fully conscious of it.

You felt it being torn apart, piece by piece, atom by atom…

Until here you are, wherever you are, the fragments of your body scattered.

You don't know how you can apparently still live outside of your shattered body, but obviously you do live, because this sure isn't Heaven or Hell…

No, it could be Hell, but you're really in too much pain to dwell on that puzzling thought for long.

Suddenly, you feel something strange. The pain is still there, but something beyond it…

And in a rush, you feelpiecesjoin…

You are coming back together.

The outside pain has faded away, though there is a lot of residual pain left in your body. Your eyes are scrunched shut; a sound like a wind rushes in your ears.

With a final scream that you just now realize you have been giving the whole time, you collapse from limbo to a solid surface. It's metal, and it's humming with warmth. You lay there, panting, your eyes still shut, just soaking up the warmth, the gentle vibration caressing your injured body.

Somewhere very near by, you hear a mechanized voice shriek, its words unregistered in your exhausted mind…

The Theater, SCRDW Complex, 4:55 CCT

"THAT WAS THE SINGLE WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE!!" CB screeched. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO THIS TO ME!! AFTER ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH!!"

Dr. Matthis hurried down from the control room to the Theater. Pain was something that had never factored into their plans, but now that he looked back on it, it should have. "Look, CB, I'm sorry – we had no idea –"

"YOU'RE SORRY?? YOU NEARLY TORTURED ME TO DEATH AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS 'I'M SORRY'??"

Matthis winced at CB's shrill voice, then his eyes flew wide open as he saw the other occupant of the mirrors' center. "CB, who's that girl?"

"Girl??" CB looked around, then down. "Aaaah! Where did she come from??"

Matthis held his head – he was going to seriously need Rhizomian Tylenol. "I expect she came from wherever you went to."

"And that's another thing – I thought I was going to the other side of the moon! Instead I ended up in a doctor's office full of humans!!"

"Oh boy," Matthis sighed. "We'll have to figure out where exactly we pulled her from and fly her back. If the LBWC can cause a robot that much pain, I'd hate to think of what it does to an organic. Jeri, Kada, come down here! I need you to carry this girl!"

The other three were already rushing down the ramp – a ramp instead of a staircase, so 78 could wheel down easily.

"Sweet mother of Venus!" Kada cried.

"Is she okay?" asked Jeri.

"Oh sure, you worry about HER and not ME!" CB grumbled.

"She's a civilian and not staff," 78 said pointedly.

You hear voices that sound distant, and you don't really care. You just want to give in to unconsciousness and let sleep wash away your pain…

But some instinct deep inside orders you to full awareness, and – however reluctantly – you obey…

Her eyes drifted open, and, for a moment, her surroundings still did not register. But when they did, they shocked her to full consciousness in a flash, and she bolted upright and screamed. "Where am I?? Who are you??"

It looked like something right out of a science-fiction movie, huge mirrors surrounding her and a warm, vibrating metal floor beneath her. Next to her was a machine that looked rather like a flattened camcorder, and it was hovering in the air! Kneeling at her side was a man in his sixties wearing a white lab coat. And coming to her were…

ALIENS??

NO WAY!!

But… the first person was a woman with cyan skin and black hair. The second was also a woman with a snout; long, pointed ears; gray, reptilian skin; and blond hair. The third and by far the weirdest looked like a brain in a jar connected to a robot body!

"Where am I?" she repeated, now thoroughly frightened. "Who are you?"

"Dr. Jenkin Matthis," the man replied. "You're on the Jupiter moon Io."

"IO??"

"Jenkin, the machine is starting to overheat," the blue-skinned woman told the man. "Whatever it did was too much for it to handle."

"Then we're in danger of an explosion," said Dr. Matthis.

"EXPLOSION??" the girl echoed.

Dr. Matthis turned to her. "Can you walk?"

"I-I…"

"I'll carry you," the blue-skinned woman told her. "Come on." Then she easily lifted the girl onto her back, piggy-back style.

"Who are you?" the girl repeated.

As the alien took her up to an adjacent room, she said, "I'm Lieutenant Jeri Silvastra of the Tangean Royal Navy."

"Tangean?" the girl echoed, her heart pounding wildly. Tangean… "You – you're… Tangean?"

"You couldn't tell?" Lt. Silvastra remarked wryly.

"But – but…"

"And you are?" The girl bit her lip, wondering if she should say. "Come on, kid – we need to know so we can get you home."

"I'm not sure… I'm not sure you can… Oh man, oh man, oh man…" By now, they were in some sort of control room, and the people were here and there doing… technical stuff. She had no idea – until she heard someone mention "reactor leak." Uh-oh, that she did understand – clearly. She'd read enough science fiction to know what a reactor leak was and what could happen.

Lt. Silvastra set her down gently in a chair. The girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Erin. Erin Frame."

"Jeri, you need to get her out of here," urged Dr. Matthis. "In case we can't lock this down –"

"I'm sending the distress beacon to the nearest Star Command unit!" 78 announced.

"STAR COMMAND?" Erin shrieked. Oh my goodness, I am dreaming, I am dreaming, I am dreaming…

"– I don't want her to be around if this thing blows!" Dr. Matthis finished.

"Jenkin –" Jeri began.

"Lieutenant Silvastra, consider that an order!"

"Yes, sir." Jeri eyed Erin, and the girl didn't like the cold look in the alien woman's sea-green eyes. "Come on." She hoisted Erin back up and jogged out of the room.

Bridge of StarCruiser 42, 4:57pm CCT

"Three minutes and –" XR's countdown was cut off by Mira.

"Buzz, I'm picking up a distress signal from Io! And a transmission!"

"Open the channel!" Buzz ordered, immediately snapping into alert-mode.

The image of a brainpod flickered to life on the pilot and copilot vidscreens. "SCRDW to Star Command – Buzz Lightyear!"

"78, what's going on?" Buzz demanded. He knew 78 – he had personally helped the brainpod escape Planet Z.

"We have a reactor leak!" 78 replied, panicked. "Trying to lock it down!"

"Sweet mother of Venus!" Booster cried.

"Mira, ETA to Io!" Buzz snapped.

"Three minutes!" she responded.

"Hang in there, 78: we're coming!" Buzz told the pod. He swung the StarCruiser around and threw down the throttle.

SCRDW Complex, 4:58pm CCT

"Reactor Meltdown in 60 seconds. Reactor Meltdown in 60 seconds," the central AI intoned.

Jeri flipped on her comlink as she ran with Erin. "Jenkin, get to the hangar! We'll meet you there!"

"Roger that," Matthis replied.

"We're all gonna die!" Jeri and Erin could hear CB wail in the background.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" they heard 78 snap right as Jeri was turning off her comlink.

"Lieutenant, let me down!" said Erin. "I'm slowing you down – I can run!"

Jeri nodded and let the girl down. "GO!!"

Erin didn't need to be told twice. She ran as she had never run before in her life – she had never known she was even capable of putting out so much speed. The huge bunker began to collapse around them, and fires were breaking out everywhere.

They were nearly to the hangar when Jeri stumbled and fell. A flaming beam crashed down onto her, pinning her to the ground. She tried to ghost out, but the fire was already starting to burn her, and it sapped at her concentration.

"LIEUTENANT!!" Erin screamed, whirling around to see her fallen comrade.

"Go, Erin!" Jeri shouted.

"NO way!" Erin rushed back to the Tangean and attempted to heave the beam off of her, trying not to notice the fire already eating away at the woman's body.

"Erin, I'm dying! Go!!"

"I'm not leaving you!"

"GO!!" Jeri screamed, using what strength remained to push Erin away.

"But –"

"ERIN, RUN!!"

Erin picked herself up from the floor and backed away, staring in terror at the burning woman. She coughed at the smoke, then turned to run. Her eyes burned with the acrid fumes… and tears.

A moment later, a mighty explosion rocked the self-destructing bunker.

Erin felt herself being thrown backwards from her feet, saw the floor rush up to meet her, heard the blood roaring in her ears… And then her world went black.

SCRDW Complex, 5:00pm CCT

Team Lightyear had just been catapulted out of the launch tubes when the complex exploded. "Hurry!!" Buzz shouted, zooming down to the burning bunker. "Somebody might have survived!"

The Space Rangers split up and headed to different sectors of the bunker. Mira ghosted into the hangar and picked a corridor to fly down. "Hello? Can anyone hear m–" She did not have to fly far.

Lying sprawled on the floor was a human girl. Mira swooped down, turned off her jetpack, and gasped. The girl was lying on her back, her face and body open to injury…

She was bleeding all over from shrapnel, from face to feet.

Mira quickly checked for a pulse. Shallow, but still there. Thank God. "Buzz!" she called, flipping open her communicator. "Buzz, I found a survivor! Young human woman!"

Her captain's face was solemn. "She's the only one, then. XR just did a scan for lifeforms – aside from her, it's just us. Brainpod 78 and their cambot didn't make it, either."

Mira swallowed hard, briefly looking up. When she did, she immediately wished she hadn't – directly ahead was the burning form of a Tangean woman. She clapped a hand over her mouth and turned away from the horrible sight. "Booster," she said in a thick voice, "hurry over here – I'm just beyond the hangar and I need you to get the survivor."

"Comin', Mira!" Booster cried.

A minute later, the whole team was there, and Booster picked up the girl. Buzz caught sight of the burning corpse nearby and instantly turned away, his face contorting with pain. He would never get used to seeing death – never.

And he didn't want to.

"Come on, team," he said, his own voice thick. "Let's get her back to Star Command ASAP."

The whole team was quiet in the six minutes it took to reach Star Command. The deaths they had just witnessed had shaken them all.

They were Space Rangers. They were the heroes, they were supposed to save the day, they were supposed to keep people alive. Buzz had been in this situation before – when he couldn't get there fast enough, when he just couldn't do it… It still bothered him.

The rookies had never seen death in duty at all.

Guilt – even imaginary guilt – is a powerful thing. If only is one of the most miserable phrases ever created.

They couldn't always be heroes, they couldn't always save the day, they couldn't always keep people alive.

They weren't invincible.

And they hated it.

…[Anakin had] never forgotten that dead star.

It had scared him.

"Stars can die –?"

…"Everything dies. In time, even stars burn out."

…his real fear, in a universe where even stars can die, is that being the best will never be quite good enough.

Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – the Novelization, Matthew Stover

Author's Note:

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