Author's Note:

The next "book" in this series is more of a "sub-book" than it is an "actual book." It'll be a collection of "short" chapters "detailing" how/why the Nex wasn't affected by the alteration to the timeline, and all the good parts of how the crew get everything back on track. As for this book... Well, Sam lit Widget on fire, LIT HIM ON FIRE!, and no one mentioned it in the comments. When that idea popped into my head, I was listening to Fireball by Pitbull. I laughed to myself when I wrote that scene. No one even justified it with a comment. No "That's not how Sam acts," or "That's very 'Un-Stargate-like'." Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Is humor not appreciated, should I be trying harder, or does it just not matter? Yes that's a serious question. There are parts of this series that are supposed to make you rage (the Ori successfully killing over two-hundred-thousand people in a city full of questionably innocent civilians), it's supposed to shock you (the Wraith hacking the Asurans in a desperate bid to survive Caldwell's wrath), and it's supposed to make you laugh (SAM SET WIDGET ON FIRE THEN WOKE UP THE NEXT DAY WITH A HALF-NAKED ALIEN IN HER BEDROOM!). In the book 3, there's a scene in it that's supposed to make you cry. Am I writing this for a bunch of emotionally stunted semi-humans, or was that scene simply not worth a comment? Let me know.

Other than that, Colonials on the Run is done. I hope you enjoyed!

Epilogue Part 1

The Edge of Tomorrow

The stars were shining brightly above them, the nearby planet in the distance dominating the bulk of their view of the heavens. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful sight to behold. The Speaker sat, surrounded on all sides by younglings, and told the story. It wasn't a story, not really. It was more a history lesson than anything else. The Speaker took a deep breath of the cool night air and opened brilliant green eyes to the many children from multiple species that sat in a ring around the fire, their sole source of warmth.

"It is getting late," the Speaker said matter-of-factly in an ever-saddened tone.

"That's not fair!" a young Turian said in a tone of frustration. "You said that you would tell us the whole story, and none of that even made sense! How do you survive an alteration to the timeline as severe as Ba'al stopping the Tau'ri from ever rising to power?"

"It is the ground work for a much larger tale," the Speaker replied calmly. "The story is far too long to be told in only one sitting. You must first come to understand the whys and hows that the Tau'ri came to be the power they were, and why they came to interfere in multiple universes. Then, and only then, will you understand the War."

"I've already heard all of this!" a young Human complained with arms crossed over her chest in defiance. "Every Human knows about the Battle for Earth, the Three Day Siege, and the Destruction of Asuras. I wanna hear about Sam and Widget's quest to fix the timeline! There's a whole year and half of history missing from the books that only they know, and they never told anyone! Let's get to the good parts!"

"Really?" a young Batarian asked in shock. "You thought that was boring? Your people fought off the Ori, went to war with the Wraith, launched an all-out assault on a hostile planet, and, as far as this ending tells us, lost your homeworld, half of your fleet, and several of the most familiar faces from the Telling, and you think that's boring!?"

"I want to hear more about Prophet and his fight against Nazara! Did he really win the fight against the Demon with nothing but his biotics?" a young Drell girl with bright black orbs for eyes asked excitedly.

"This one also wishes to know if that was mere war propaganda or if there is truth behind the claim," a Hannar said, its body pulsing with each 'spoken word.'

"Children, calm yourselves. The story of the Phoenix Effect comes after the story of General Carter and the crew of the Nex living on the Edge of Tomorrow," the Speaker interrupted their fighting. Then, with a sigh, the Speaker began anew. "The story isn't very long, but I will compress it further because much of it is retold by those who lived it when they manage to accomplish their task," the Speaker told them. "The story of how the Nex remained an island set aside from the river of time begins with the creation of the Stargates.

"When the Ancients first created the Gates, they experimented with the design until, one day, they dialed one Gate with another through a star at the exact moment that a solar flare intercepted the matter stream. Because of this accident, the Ancients learned that time travel was possible. To counter the possibility that something would go horribly wrong and one of them would go back in time and create a paradox, the Ancients, Furlings, Nox, and Asgard came together to create a new device.

"Time is like a river," the Speaker explained, the mental powers that is the Speaker's birthright allowing the Speaker to place images in the minds of those listening to the Telling. "We are submerged in its flow and carried down the stream by the current, but, if you are strong enough, you can swim against the current. This is the ability to travel through time. The Nex, along with one ship from each of the Four Great Races, was equipped with a unique device. This machine was called a Temporal Prison. It worked by building an island in the flow of time. Because the island was rooted in the stream of time, those living on the island would still grow old. However, because the top of the island stuck out above the water, those who lived on the island could watch over the flow of time.

"This set up allowed the Nex, the island in this analogy, to steadily progress through time with everyone else, but also immunized it from any alteration to the timeline made after the island was built. The Nex was put into its temporal prison twenty-seven-million years before Ba'al traveled back in time. Because of this, those present on the ship weren't affected by the alteration to the timeline. Just as the device was intended, it allowed the ship and its crew to watch over the flow of time and fix the alterations that Ba'al had made.

"Their quest began a few hours after the alterations took place for the Nex had suffered damage over Asuras and needed repair. It is here we will pick up tomorrow!" the Speaker stressed, much to the disappointment of the children. "For now, it is well past time for bed."