Well, I always said if I got a review, I would update Earth Bound, and so, since I got one, I have updated Earth Bound. This chapter is shorter then most but I will tell you the next few chapters are action packed, because, well, its the end, I'm planning on only two more chapters before I move onto Generations, five at most. So for you who read the story and have been waiting for it to update, you can thank Tough is Tough for reviewing.

RaC: Nightmare Series- Earth Bound Chapter 27: Destiny

Marcadia, Army HQ

"Why?"

Stella looked up from the console she was working on, it had only been a few short months since the assault to retake Marcadia. Even since then Sky had been bugging Ratchet with a series of questions, and they all started with the same word.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Why are we doing this?"

"Why does everybody need to die?"

The last two Stella couldn't care about, in her view, every last man woman and child Terran had signed their death warrant when they had taken her mother from her. She was hurt that neither of her parents had told her about her future little sibling. But in hindsight she could understand why. Since entering the academy, neither of them had made much of an out reach to their parents.

"Dad, answer me. Why are we doing this? Isn't enough that we retook our galaxy?"

Stella shook her head and turned her attention back to her console. If she was honest with herself, sometimes she questioned her fathers goals as well. But all it took was a thought of her mother and her will was restored. Stella looked through the statistical data in front of her, wondering how the war had gone from so bad to so good so quickly.

The best thing she could figure was that Zen's fleet wasn't really organized for a coordinated strike back. After her family had taken back Marcadia and resumed control over the Void gate system. Ratchet had proceeded to use the void gate to extract ships that were struggling in fights to form them into one massive fleet. Then after he had railed everybody he opened the void gate right in the center of the largest fleet Zen had.

Clank had told her back when they were testing the void gate that the system was never designed to be opened in an occupied space. Bending reality to do so could have been disastrous. So after working with Clank to reconfigure the Void gate system to ignore any safeties that were first built into the project, and moving the station away from Marcadia just in case something did go wrong. They opened the gate.

From the early reports that had gotten fed back to her, the damage the gate opening had been intense. Reality stretching at its bounds to make the gate had shoved many of Zens ships into one another, smashing them to pieces. There was also a lot of oddly warped and twisted debris from the ship that the gate had formed in and quickly expanded.

Reports after that were of quickly concluded dog fights and slug outs with the rest of Zen's ships. Nobody in the fleet had apparently thought such a maneuver could be performed, so they were caught off guard and weren't ready for the surge of ships that appeared to attack them. After that it was a simple matter of repeating the process on the rest of Zens fleet. It had only taken a few weeks to complete decimate Zens ability to attack, and the rest of his fleet had grouped together to make a break back to the their own galaxy. They didn't get far, Stella had been studying them and realized what they were planning. She also had figured out where they had intended to escape the galaxy from.

All Ratchet had to do was wait, then he ordered the void gate opened and he and Stella had led the charge to destroy the last of Zens presence in the Galaxy. It had been just over a week since that day. A week that Ratchet had spent rallying the fleets to join him in a bid to strike back at Earth, to end the threat of the Terran's once and for all.

That was when Sky had come to her, wondering if Dad was doing something he would regret. After that fight, Stella had refused to even talk to Sky, and only made eye contact when forced too. She knew that she was acting like a child, but Sky should have felt the way she did. Their mother was gone, taken from them by some faceless guy that they had never even heard of until their dad had finally told them about their scouting mission to Earth all those years ago. Sasha deserved, no needed to be avenged.

Stella turned her attention back to the conversation between her brother and father.

"Dad, answer me, there has to be more to this attack then just because of what you keep telling everybody." Sky had planted himself in front of their father and Stella noticed for the first time that Sky was actually taller then their dad. Combined with the fact that Sky trained a lot in hand to hand combat he was a solid imposing figure who didn't get moved easily.

Ratchet finally acknowledged Sky's question. "Its to avenge your mother Sky."

Sky blinked "Do you really think that Mom would want you to exterminate an entire race for her?"

Ratchet narrowed his eyes "Don't try and pull that on me Sky, I'm still your dad. Now either your on board, or your not, I respect your decision, but either way. Move." The last word was the command from an Admiral to Commander and all three of them knew it.

Sky narrowed his eyes in return. "Yes sir, Admiral." Sky said with dislike dripping off the title. He side stepped crisply to the side and saluted as Ratchet stormed by, heading for the door. As it slid shut behind him Sky dropped the salute and raised his middle finger at the closed door.

Stella shook her head and Sky turned to face her, he walked over and stood in front of her console. Stella focused hard on the data that was being flung across her screen, and ignored her brother. Sky stood in front of her for several minutes before he leaned down and pulled a panel off the console. Before Stella could react, Sky stood up with a handful of cords clutched in his fist. There was a spark and the console Stella was working on died. She glared at Sky as he slammed the hand full of cords down on the console in front of her.

Sky was glaring right back at her "Time to grow up Stella and stop acting like a child. You can't honestly agree with Dad on this."

Stella crossed her arms "Oh yea, and why the hell not?"

Sky backed away surprise evident on his face "Are you for real? You can't honestly agree with Dad that the best way to avenge Mom is to wipe out an entire species! "

Stella crossed her arms and leaned back on one foot "Not only do I agree with him, I support it 100 percent and plan on leading the charge with him."

Sky shook his head "Stella please, I say again, you are supposed to be the smart one, so why can't you see that nothing good could come of this?"

Stella raised an eyearch at him "Oh and I suppose you want to send an envoy to Earth and ask Zen if he wants a cease-fire?"

Sky paused for a moment "Actually, yea, yea I do. Hell I'll do it even."

Stella shook her head slowly "It was a rhetorical question Sky. Zen's a manipulative grease stain. He would say anything to get us to back off while he rebuilt his fleets."

Sky stepped forward again "It took him 20 plus years to build his fleets for this attack, and we wiped them out in a little under a month. Even if he did that, somebody else would come into power in that time and they might listen to the reason that you say Zen won't. Did you ever think about that?"

Stella frowned "It doesn't matter Sky, I don't care if the war ends, I just want Zen dead, and if I have to carve through every Terran in my way, I'll gladly do so, the war gives me an excuse, and I need it." Stella paused "I was hoping you would be there helping me."

Sky put a hand on his face "No, no I won't Stella, there has to be another way to end this."

Stella's shook her head with a small growl. "I honestly thought you would understand Sky." She started walking towards the door "But I guess you just didn't love Mom as much as I did." Stella had timed her words perfectly so that the door slid shut behind her. She keyed the lock and quickly moved down the hallway, knowing that by the time Sky got the lock disengaged that she could be well away from him.

She needed some space to think.

Earth

"What do you plan on doing?"

Zen turned away from the window, where he had been watching the growing crowd of people. All there with one question on their lips. "About what?"

Saxon snorted "About all those tossers outside."

Zen smiled "Ah yes, the good old, Average Joe." Zen turned back to the window "To be honest I hoped the general populace would be contrite enough to just go along with my plans. But obviously they finally decided to start thinking for themselves."

Saxon glanced down at the still growing crowd "Obviously."

Zen turned back to Saxon "It turns out that Sasha was right." Saxon raised an eyebrow, Zen started walking as he spoke. "Sasha told me that Ratchet wasn't part of the counter attack on my fleets. Because if he was, I wouldn't have any fleets left. I tried to convince her that Ratchet had died aboard her ship trying to rescue her, and I myself almost believed it."

Saxon nodded "But since Marcadia..."

Zen nodded "Yes, you witnessed the devastation that he could bring to a field of battle. He also proved apt at the commanding bit as well. In the time it took you to get back here, he devastated most of the fleets in the Solona Galaxy."

Saxon nodded "I had heard, what about your break with his wife though?"

Zen frowned slightly "The questions I have asked have proved worthless to me now. I need a fleet to make use of that information. It took me over twenty years to get what fleets I had. In just three months I have just the fleet that surrounds Earth. I can tell you that if Ratchet showed up today, Earth would be decimated."

Saxon nodded but said nothing. After a moment Zen stopped. Saxon turned to face him. "I think its time you told me the truth Saxon."

Saxon just gave him a blank look "What do you mean?"

Zen snorted softly "Please, Saxon, I may be the leader of fools, but I am not one. I've been looking into you. You quite literally appeared exactly one month before my men captured you. Even then it was only after you killed fifteen of them and incapacitated twenty more, and all you had were your fists." Zen glared at him. "What are you?"

Saxon said nothing for a good while "What if I told you I could provide you with not only a fleet to rival Ratchets might and strength but also give you what you need to reach your end game."

Zens face hardened

Saxon snorted "Please, we both know that your war is just a means to the end. You want what all you humans want, well, my species achieved it." Saxon glanced down the hallway "You saw how I fought your men off, imagine an army of men and woman just like me. Each one a power house that could stand on their own and even rival Ratchet for his skill."

It was Zens turn to say nothing, he was thinking hard. "You could give me this army, and what I want?"

Saxon nodded "Yes, you've give me some ships and enough fuel to get me through space for two months and I can return with the army that you need." Saxon paused "I'll also bring you want you want most."

Zen blinked "How do I know your not playing me?"

Saxon shook his head "You want proof fine." He reached down to his leg and drew his knife, quickly drawing it across his arm. Before Zen could react, Saxon closed his eyes and a glow suffused the hallway. When it cleared

Zen nodded "I believe you."

Saxon lowered his arm "Its a deal then?"

Zen nodded again "Yes, its a deal. But I do have one request."

Saxon smiled inside, now he was in control and Zen didn't even realize it. "What?"

Zen gestured to his arm "Can you transfer some of that to another person."

Saxon nodded "Sure, but it wears off with in a few weeks, depending. Why?"

Zen grinned "Because, I just thought of a way to make sure that if Ratchet ever shows up, I'll make sure he never even lays a finger on me. All I need is some blood."

Saxon nodded "Okay, I'll get some blood drawn and be on my way. Before I go though, you should pacify those tossers out there."

Zen glanced down the hallway, where the noise from the crowd outside was beckoning them. "Good point. Come, I have made some last minute changes to my speech that I'll need you for."

Saxon followed as Zen led the way to the platform for his speech, as soon as he appeared the noise rose even more and the crowd roared its questions at him. Zen stepped up to the microphone and waited until the noise died down a little bit.

"Citizens of Earth, I know why you gather here today. You have come to ask one question of me: Why have the fleets I sent out stopped reporting in, why have I stopped releasing daily reports, and why haven't I told you whats going on these past months." Zen paused and let the crowd quiet as they waited for his next words "I come before you today with grave news, the enemy has proven their advanced technology, they posses the ability to open a gate of sorts wherever they want. I have stopped given you updates, because I have lost contact with all of our fleets, what reports I have gotten have confirmed the worst. The Aliens have amassed a fleet and are on the attack again. Using their technology that have struck decisive blows on all of our fleets."

Zen paused as the roaring grew again, instead of waiting this time for it to die down, Zen shouted into the mic, making his voice heard. "I have not told you of these new developments because I didn't want you to lose hope in this war, I didn't want you to lose faith that I could bring us victory against these attackers." Zen paused "Believe me when I say, I can, and not only can I, I will!" Zen turned to face Saxon and nodded him forward "A few years ago,w e found out that we are not alone in the universe. One of mankind's greatest questions was answered, but it also confirmed one of our greatest fears. The Aliens showed up under a banner of peace and used that to strike our beloved leader down."

Zen took his microphone and detached from his podium walking around on his platform "I come to you today though, to tell you, that we are not alone in our fight! I have been contacted, again by an alien race, but this one is fighting the same enemy we are. They have sent an envoy, and he has promised me their fleets, fleets strong enough to not only keep Earth safe, but to push the enemy force back into Solona!" Zen stopped pacing "I also am here to tell you why I have driven this war on. It started years ago, back before we united into One Earth. People called it Manifest Destiny, and many believed it over once we conquered Earth. I believe it just took time for us to turn our eyes heaven bound."

Zen had them now, Saxon could see it, the crowd was quiet as he delivered his speech like a pro, pausing at all the right points and moving his body in the right way to get them following him. "We landed men on the moon, we sent people out of our system, and we will expand, as is our given right, we as humans, we shall go where we want, and no one will stop us. I ask you for just one more year, one more year to fulfill our given rights to help secure mankind's place in the universe, once and for all." Zen paused again. "Are you with me?"

Saxon was nearly defended as the crowd roared its approval. He had to hand it to Zen, the guy knew what to do.

"Go now! Go to your Homes! I will begin the broadcasts again! I promise you that they will change, all we have lost will be retaken! All those who have died will be avenged! Go! Go and prepare to show the galaxy just what mankind can do!"

Zen put the microphone back on the podium as the crowd roared his name, he walked back into the white house with Saxon trailing behind. As they rounded the first bend in the hallway Saxon clapped his hands softly.. "Well done, very well done indeed."

Zen shrugged "I just told them what they wanted to hear, the rest was child's play." Zen stopped and faced Saxon "You have one year Saxon, I suggest you get moving."

Saxon nodded "I'll go drop of the blood then." Saxon turned to go, he raised an arm and gave a wave "See you in a few months, try not to break everything."

Zen watched him go, his mind working out the possible outcomes.

Again, sorry its short, but at least I'm still working on it. I hope that a little bit more clarity has been added to the overall plot line now, I know I left a lot of things hanging in this chapter, but believe me it will all get wrapped up. So just a few things left to say.

Again thanks to Tough is Tough for some encouragement to get me writing on this again, and the review too.

Second, I need to give another Birthday shout out here, One of my Friends since, well hell, middle school, has his birthday today, and since he reads this I'm sure he'll see this. Happy Birthday buddy.

Review, please.

Peace,

-Emile